78 
ON THE ORIGINAL INHABITANTS 
and exacts honors from, the surrounding chiefs and princes. 
The active life which the Maravan leads in the open air has 
imparted to him great bodily strength. He can be easily 
distinguished from other natives by his good figure and 
generally erect and proud bearing.^^ 
The Pariah, Paharia, Parheya, the Brahui, Bar or Bhar 
and the Mar, Mhar or Mahar of our day should, as I hope to 
have proved, be regarded as the descendants of the original 
Dravidian population. I am of opinion that all these tribes, 
whose names contain the letter r, are the representatives 
of the first and oldest stratum of the Dravidian race, and that 
the descendants of the Malla or Palla are those of the second 
stage, from which the other part of the present Dravidian 
population has been gradually evolved. 
Religious and Social Privileges enjoyed by 
Pariahs. 
In Mysore the HoUya or Holeya (soj^Ooa:, scjs^oi) 
takes the place of the Pariah. The word Holiya may be 
another form for Palaiya, unless we assume that the / in 
Holiya is a change from r and connect the word Holiya with 
Paraiya. 
However despised a position the Pariah and the Holiya 
occupy in the places where they live, they have preserved 
and still cherish, as the Mhar and Bhar do, the memory 
of former greatness and regard themselves as the original 
owners of the soil. Political revolutions, about which we 
now know nothing, have most probably been the cause of 
*5 Maravan also means originally mouniax»fC)\ but Mr. Nelson in his 
Manual of Madura, has quoted (II, p. 39) a legend, according to which the 
Maravar sided with Rama against Kavana, and Kama thanked them and 
" exclaimed in good Tamil, Mararcii or ' I will never forget ' ; and that they 
" have ever since been called Mara vans. With more probability the name 
"maybe connected with the word maraiii, ldjdlo, which means killing, 
" ferocity, bravery and the like.'" See Nelson's Manual, II, p. 3S-42, on 
the Maravar. 
