# Castes and Tribes of Southern India/Pandāram

​Pandāram.——Pandāram is described by Mr. H. A. Stuart * as being "the name rather of an occupation than a caste, and used to denote any non-Brāhmanical priest. The Pandārams seem to receive numerous recruits from the Saivite Sūdra castes, who choose to make a profession of piety, and wander about begging. They are in reality very lax in their modes of life, often drinking liquor and eating animal food furnished by any respectable Sūdra. They often serve in Siva temples, where they make garlands of flowers to decorate the lingam, and blow brazen trumpets when offerings are made, or processions take place. Tirutanni is one of the chief places, in which they congregate."
It is recorded, in the Gazetteer of the Trichinopoly district, that "the water for the god's bath at Ratnagiri is brought by a caste of non-Brāhmans known as Tirumanjana Pandārams, who fetch it every day from the Cauvery. They say that they are descended from an Āryan king, who came to the god with the hope of getting rubies from him. The god, in the guise of a Brāman, tested his devotion by making him fill a magic vessel with Cauvery water. The vessel would not fill, and the Āryan stranger in a fit of anger cut off the Brāhman's head. The dead body at once turned into a lingam, and the Āryan was ordered to carry water for the temple till eternity."
Pandāram is used both as the name of a caste, and of a class composed of recruits from various castes (e.g.. ​Vellāla and Palli). The Pandāram caste is composed of respectable people who have settled down as land-holders, and of Sanyāsis and priests of certain matams (religious institutions), and managers of richly endowed temples, such as those at Tiruvādudurai in Tanjore and Mailām in South Arcot. The common name for these managers is Tambirān. The caste Pandārams are staunch Saivites and strict vegetarians. Those who lead a celibate life wear the lingam. They are said to have been originally Sōzhia Vellālas, with whom intermarriage still takes place. They are initiated into the Saivite religion by a rite called Dhīkshai, which is divided into five stages, viz., Samaya, Nirvāna, Visēsha, Kalāsothanai, and Achārya Abhishēkam. Some are temple servants, and supply flowers for the god, while others sing dēvaram (hymns to the god) during the temple service. On this account, they are known as Meikāval (body-guard of the god), and Oduvar (reader). The caste Pandārams have two divisions, called Abhishēka and Dēsikar, and the latter name is often taken as a title, e.g., Kandasāmi Dēsikar. An Abhishēka Pandāram is one who is made to pass through some ceremonies connected with Saiva Āgama.
The mendicant Pandārams, who are recruited from various classes, wear the lingam, and do not abstain from eating flesh. Many villages have a Pandāram as the priest of the shrine of the village deity, who is frequently a Palli who has become a Pandāram by donning the lingam. The females are said to live, in some cases, by prostitution.
The Lingāyat Pandārams differ in many respects from the true Lingāyats. The latter respect their Jangam, and use the sacred water, in which the feet of the Jangam are washed, for washing their stone lingam. ​To the Pandārams, and Tamil Lingāyats in general, this proceeding would amount to sacrilege of the worst type. Canarese and Telugu Lingāyats regard a Jangam as superior to the stone lingam. In the matter of pollution ceremonies the Tamil Lingāyats are very particular, whereas the orthodox Lingāyats observe no pollution. The investiture with the lingam does not take place so early among the Tamil as among the Canarese Lingāyats.
For the following note, I am indebted to Mr. C. Hayavadana Rao. " Dr. H. H. Wilson * is of opinion that the word Pandāram is 'more properly Pānduranga, pale complexioned, from their smearing themselves with ashes. It is so used in Hēmachandrā's history of Mahāvīra, when speaking of the Saiva Brāhmans.' A more popular derivation of the name is from Bandāram, a public treasury. A good many well-to-do Pandārams are managers of Siva temples in Southern India, and accordingly have the temple treasuries under their care. It is, however, possible that the name has been acquired by the caste by reason of their keeping a yellow powder, called pandāram, in a little box, and giving it in return for the alms which they receive.
Opinions are divided as to whether the Pandārams are Lingāyats or not. The opinion held by F. W. Ellis, the well-known Tamil scholar and translator of the Kural of Tiruvalluvar, is thus summarised by Colonel Wilks.† "Mr. Ellis considers the Jangam of the upper countries, and the Pandāram of the lower, to be of the same sect, and both deny in the most unequivocal terms the doctrine of the metempsychosis. A manuscript in the Mackenzie collection ascribes the origin of the Pandārams as a ​sacerdotal order of the servile caste to the religious disputes, which terminated in the suppression of the Jain religion in the Pāndian (Madura) kingdom, and the influence which they attained by the aid which they rendered to the Brāhmans in that controversy, but this origin seems to require confirmation. In a large portion, perhaps in the whole of the Brāhmanical temples dedicated to Siva in the provinces of Arcot, Tanjore, Trichinopoly, Madura and Tinnevelly, the Pandāram is the highest of the temple, and has the entire direction of the revenues, but allows the Brāhmans to officiate in the ceremonial part according to their own good pleasure, as a concern altogether below his note. He has generally the reputation of an irreproachable life, and is treated by the Brāhmans of the temple with great reverence, while on his part he looks with compassion at the absurd trifles which occupy their attention. These facts seem to point to some former revolution, in which a Jangam government obtained a superiority over the Brāhmanical establishments, and adopted this mode of superseding the substantial part of their authority. It is a curious instance of the Sooder (Sūdra) being the spiritual lord of the Brāhman, and is worthy of further historical investigation." Dr. Wilson *also thinks that the Pandārams are Lingāyats. Mr.H. A. Stuart † says that they are a class of priests who serve the non- Brāhman castes. They have returned 115 sub-divisions, of which only two are sufficiently large to require mention, Āndi of Tinnevelly and Malabar, and Lingadāri of Chingleput and Tinnevelly. Āndi is a quasi-caste of beggars recruited from all castes, and the Lingadāri Pandārams are the same as Jangams. ​Pandāram is, in fact, a class name rather than the name of a caste, and it consists of priests and beggars. Mr. C. P. Brown* thinks that the Pandārams are not Lingāyats. 'The Saiva worshippers among the Tamils are called Pandārams: these are not Vira Saivas, nor do they wear the linga or adore Basava. I name them here chiefly because they are often mentioned as being Vira Saivas, whereas in truth they are (like the Smartas) Purva Saivas, and worship the image of Siva in their houses.' It must be remarked that Mr. Brown appears to have had a confused idea of Pandārams. Pandārams wear the linga on their bodies in one of the usual modes, are priests to others professing the Lingāyat religion, and are fed by them on funeral and other ceremonial occasions. At the same time, it must be added that they are — more especially the begging sections — very lax as regards their food and drink. This characteristic distinguishes them from the more orthodox Lingāyats. Moreover, Lingāyats remarry their widows, whereas the Pandārams, as a caste, will not.
"Pandārams speak Tamil. They are of two classes, the married and celibate. The former are far more numerous than the latter, and dress in the usual Hindu manner. They have the hind-lock of hair known as the kudumi, put on sacred ashes, and paint the point between the eyebrows with a sandal paste dot. The celibates wear orange-tawny cloths, and daub sacred ashes all over their bodies. They allow the hair of the head to become matted. They wear sandals with iron spikes, and carry in their hands an iron trisūlam (the emblem of Siva), and a wooden baton called dandāyudha (another emblem of Siva). When they go about the ​streets, they sing popular Tamil hymns, and beat against their begging bowl an iron chain tied by a hole to one of its sides. Married men also beg, but only use a bell-metal gong and a wooden mallet. Most of these help pilgrims going to the more famous Siva temples in the Madras Presidency, e.g., Tirutani, Palni, Tiruvānnāmalai, or Tirupparankunram. Among both sections, the dead are buried in the sitting posture, as among other Lingāyats. A samādhi is erected over the spot where they are buried. This consists of a linga and bull in miniature, which are worshipped as often as may be found convenient.
"The managers of temples and mutts (religious institutions), known as Pandāra Sannadhis, belong to the celibate class. They are usually learned in the Āgamas and Purānas. A good many of them are Tamil scholars, and well versed in Saiva Siddhānta philosophy. They call themselves Tambirāns — a title which is often usurped by the uneducated beggars."
In the Census Report, 1901, Vairāvi is returned as a sub-caste of Pandāram, and said to be found only in the Tinnevelly district, where they are measurers of grains and pūjāris in village temples. Vairāvi is further used as a name for members of the Mēlakkāran caste, who officiate as servants at the temples of the Nāttukōttai Chettis.
Pandāram is a title of the Panisavans and Valluvan priests of the Paraiyans.
A class of people called hill Pandārams are described*by the Rev. S. Mateer as "miserable beings without clothing, implements, or huts of any kind, living in holes, rocks, or trees. They bring wax, ivory (tusks), and other ​produce to the Arayans, and get salt from them. They dig roots, snare the ibex (wild goat, Hemitragus hylocrius) of the hills, and jungle fowls, eat rats and snakes, and even crocodiles found in the pools among the hill streams. They were perfectly naked and filthy, and very timid. They spoke Malayālam in a curious tone, and said that twenty-two of their party had been devoured by tigers within two monsoons." Concerning these hill Pandārams, Mr. N. Subramani Aiyar writes that they live on the banks of streams in crevices of rocks, caves, and hollows of trees. They are known to the dwellers on the plains as Kāttumanushyar, or forest men. They clad themselves in the bark of trees, and, in the rainy and cold seasons, protect their bodies with plantain leaves. They speak a corrupt form of Tamil. They fear the sight of other men, and try to avoid approaching them. A former European magistrate of the Cardamom Hills took some of them to his residence, but, during their three days' stay there, they refused to eat or talk. There is a chieftain for every four hills, but his authority is little more than nominal. When women are married, the earth and hills are invoked as witnesses. They have Hindu names, such as Rāman, Kittan (Krishna), and Govindan.
In a lecture delivered some years ago at Trivandrum, Mr. O. H. Bensley described the hill Pandārams as being "skilful in catching fish, their mode of cooking which is to place the fish on roots on a rock, and cover them with fire. They keep dogs, and, by their aid, replenish their larder with rats, mungooses, iguanas (lizard, Varanus), and other delicacies. I was told that the authority recognised by these people is the head Arayan, to whom they give a yearly offering of jungle produce, receiving in exchange the scanty clothing required by them. We had an opportunity of examining their stock-in-trade, ​which consisted of a bill-hook similar to those used by other hillmen, a few earthen cooking-pots, and a good stock of white flour, which was, they said, obtained from the bark of a tree, the name of which sounded like ahlum. They were all small in stature, with the exception of one young woman, and, both in appearance and intelligence, compared favourably with the Urālis."
* ↑ * Manual of the North Arcot district.
* ↑ * Works, I, 225, foot-note.
* ↑ † History of Mysore.
* ↑ * op. cit.
* ↑ † Madras Census Report, 1891.
* ↑ * Madras Journ. Lit, and Science, XI, 1840.
* ↑ • Native Life in Travancore.