OF BHARATAVARSA OR INDIA. 
83 
worshipped the god, and, after the lapse of sorae time, was 
able to communicate his discovery to the king. As the king 
was very proud of his power, the god Jagannatha, in order 
to punish his pride, did allow him to build the temple, but 
did not manifest himself personally to Indradyumna. This 
favor was granted him after prolonged delay, and it was 
only with the help of the Savara Basu that the image could 
finally be obtained and removed. Until very recently, 
pilgrims of all castes and outcastes frequented Puri and par- 
took together of their meals, as the presence of Jagannatha 
is said to destroy all distinctions of caste, race, and faith ; 
but now out-castes are no longer allowed to enter the 
sanctuary and to join in the eating of holy food, though 
the food prepared and sanctified at Puri can be eaten by 
Brahmans anywhere, even in the presence of the lowest 
people. The descendants of Basu are thus debarred from 
worshipping personally their own divinity. 
Many Pariahs have attained high renown as poets and 
saints. Take for example, Tinivalluva Ndyandr, the author 
name of the entire community, a Pareyar is chosen to represent the bride- 
groom. In Madras, too, the mercantile caste, and in Vizagapatam the 
Brahmans, had to go through the form of asking the consent of the lowest 
castes to their marriages, though the custom has not died out." See J. 
Gribble's Manual of Cuddapah, p. 241. 
Comparative Grammar of the Bravidian Langnageshy Bishop Caldwell, 
second edition, p. 548 : " Thus, at the annual festival of Egattal, the only 
mother — a form of Kali, and the tutelary goddess of the ' Black Town ' of 
Madras— when a tali, or bridal necklace (answering to our wedding ring), 
was tied round the neck of the idol in the name of the entire community, a 
Pareiya used to be chosen to represent the people as the goddess' bridegroom ." 
I am indebted to the Rev. H. Jensen of the Danish Lutheran Mission 
for my statement concerning the continuation of the service of a Pariah at 
the EgattaJ temple in Black Town. 
Major J. S. F. Mackenzie has contributed on p. 36 of volume VIII of 
the hidian Antiquary an article on the " Customs of the Comti Caste." Most 
of the statements that note contains I have repeatedly heard in Madras, and 
I myself possess some documents confirming them. I quote this subject here 
merely as it ought not to be entirely omitted, and as it affords strong evidence 
of the great influence and authority once enjoj'ed by the now -despised 
Pariahs — an influence which apparently is exercised even at the present 
time. 
