Who Are the Paraiyars?
The Paraiyars (also called Parayar or Maraiyar) are one of the largest Dalit communities in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Sri Lanka. Their presence in Tamil society goes back to the Sangam period — roughly 300 BCE to 300 CE. Early Tamil literature mentions groups like the Pulaiyar and Kinaiyar, some of whom later came to be identified as Paraiyars. They were associated with drumming and ritual roles, not with the stigma that would be attached to them later.
What Happened Under Successive Rulers
Under the Chola, Nayak, and later British administrations, the Paraiyars were systematically excluded from land ownership, cultural participation, and social recognition. Their "low-caste" status became official — written into colonial records and reinforced by local power structures. But the full picture is more complicated than that. Archival records also show Paraiyars serving as temple patrons, holding sub-chieftainships, and organising politically. The colonial image of a uniformly degraded "outcast" community was always a distortion.
Fighting Back
Starting in the late 1800s, leaders like Iyothee Thass, M. C. Rajah, and Rettamalai Srinivasan launched reform movements that refused the label "Paraiyar" outright. They pushed for Adi Dravida — "Original Dravidians" — as a name that carried dignity and historical truth instead of caste stigma. By 1914, the Madras Legislative Council formally censured the use of "Paraiyar" as a caste label and adopted "Adi Dravida" in official records. That was over a hundred years ago.
Where Things Stand Now
The community is recognised as a Scheduled Caste in Tamil Nadu today. Its members are active across arts, politics, academia, and civil society. The story of the Paraiyars is not one of victimhood — it's one of people who were pushed down and pushed back, repeatedly, across centuries.