The Touch-me-nots and Untouchables of Early Kongu

Decades ago, whenever the people of a village in the yesteryear Coimbatore wanted to know the message in a stone inscription found on the wall of an ancient temple, a Brahmin priest would be telling them that it could not be deciphered, since it was written by an Asura in Paisaci language. Nevertheless, later on, an epigraphist from Tamil Nadu Archeology Department, discovered that the inscription was in Tamil and it contained mentions about the grants given to the shrine. He also ensured that the block of the stone containing the inscription, dated back to the Chola period and was, inadvertently, placed upside down, while the temple was reconstructed at some point of time in its history!

Though the Brahmin was entitled to be a temple priest based on his 'birth right', he hardly knew anything about the shrine's history that he cooked up a myth behind the God's abode.

Kovai Kizhar C.M.Ramachandran Chettiar, the first historian of Coimbatore, says in his book Engal Naattupuram that the people from other castes called the Brahmin priest in reverence 'Swamy'. On the other hand, he addressed them only in singular. What's more, the touch-me-not Brahmin, never had a draught of water from the houses of other castes, though, on some occasions, his wife was too ill to cook for him.

As castes in the early day rural Coimbatore were based on the respective occupations of the people, the central government's proposal to amend the Child Labour Act, allowing children below 14 years to assist their parents in their 'family trade’ created a fear that it would revive the structure of the yesteryear caste-ridden Kongu society a few years ago.

Since members of the respective castes ought to practice only their traditional occupations in the Kongu society, the washermen eked out a living by washing clothes and the barbers by cutting hair. Nevertheless, members of the Kongu Vellalar community, who owned plenty of farmlands, dominated lower castes like the Vannaar, Navithar, Oddar, Pallar Arunthathiyar, and so on and utilized their respective services. The dominant Kongu Vellalars paid them annually by providing a certain quantity of their land's produce as salary. Also, the discriminatory practice was that the lower caste people were only to live on the borders of the village.

However, the ones who were in 'decent' professions like Maniyakarar (Village head), Karnam (Accountant), Vaidhyar (Indigenous medical practioner), Ubathiyayar (Teacher) and Joshiyar (Astrologer) were mostly from the intermediate castes like Konguvellalar, Kaikolar, Pillai and so on.

Also, with the people being little rational those days, the Vaidhyar would provide medicine to the patient only at the 'auspicious' minute, though the poor one was battling for life!