60 
ON THE ORIGINAL INHABITANTS 
That their name, in spite of its usual derivation from para 
or jyarr^', drum, should rather he connected with the name 
of the original Dravidian population, seems to me to admit 
of no question. The supposition that the Pariahs are the 
drummer-caste and have obtained their name from that 
instrument appears to rest on a weak foundation. It is most 
probably an afterthought, the more easily explicable since 
the lower classes delighted in the noise of the drum, and the 
name of the drum-beating class was transferred to the instru- 
ment by which the Pariah made his presence known. The 
lute of the Oandala (the canddla-vallaki, canddlikd, cdndalikd, 
kandoll or kandola-vind) is similarly named after the Candala, 
and not the Candala after the lute. Moreover, the word para 
or parai is, except in Malayalam and Tamil, not found in 
the other Dravidian languages in the sense of drum and at 
the same time as the name of the Pariahs ; for the Pariah is 
called Holeya in Kanarese in spite of pare signifying a drum, 
and in Telugu he is known as Mdlavddu, which word origi- 
nally signifies mountaineer (see p. 84). If the Pariahs were 
really the caste of drummers, they would most probably be 
called so, wherever they are found in India. 
I regard the Pariah as the representative of the ancient 
Dravidian population, and as having been condemned to 
supply his name to the lowest layers of the population, as 
the ancient Sudi-as after their subjugation gave their name 
to the Sudra caste. It will be subsequently sho-\ra that the 
Canddlas are among the Gaudians, what the Pariahs are 
among the Dravidians. This connection is even indicated 
by the name of the Candalas, which resembles those of the 
Kandaloi, Khands and Gonds. 
I think that the word Pariah, the Paramrl of the Maratha 
country, is intimately connected with the names of the Paratas, 
Paradas, Paravar, Pardhis, Parheyas, Paharias or dialer, 
Bars (Bhars), Brahuis, Mara (Mhars), t*tc., &c., and tliat it 
designated originally a mountaiucer, from the Dravidian root 
