90 
ON THE OEIGINAL INHABITANTS 
confined to Southern India, its centre being at Kancipuram, 
the Beat of so many religious and political dissensions, where 
there are to this day special halls for both parties, called 
Valankai-mantapams and Itankai-mantapams.^^ As the 
Pallar and the Pariahs belong to different hands and the 
Valluvar are the priests of both, the division into right-hand 
and left-hand castes must very probably have taken place 
after the Yalluvar had obtained this position. At the time of 
Bhagavat Rdnmmjdcdrija this division into right-hand and 
left-hand castes was already an acknowledged institution, as 
different hours were assigned to right and left hand people 
for entering the Celvapillai temple at Melkota, which place is 
also called Patifcqidvanalisetm, i.e., the field where even out- 
castes can be purified. The influence of the Jainas was 
perhaps strongest in towns where the artisan classes form an 
important and powerful portion of the population, while the 
Brahmans appealed to the land-owning and agricultiu'al 
classes, whom they won over by entreaties or by threats. 
The Brahmans have not joined and strictly speaking do not 
belong to either side, but their interests lie mainly with the 
right side. As in various localities the same castes have 
embraced different sides, it is difficult to assign to all a 
permanent position. Yet, on the whole, the principal parties 
on both sides are always the same.^^ 
mony, whose performance is a privilege of the Bralimans, and that the Kam- 
salajati ranked according to tlie Dharmasastra among tlie Gramacandalas. 
The Court concurred in this ^■iew and the case was dismissed, Ramalingachari 
pajong costs. See Selnm JiUa Tirmtiiinru, lladras, 18S6. 
*8 On p. 326 of the Jdtisanfirahasdin (in Tami] S^ik^ irS'S^Tjru:^ 
is mentioned a copperplate order or TdmrtUii.'<ti>inm which confirms the 
position of the Vatmiyar, they held at Kniici during the reign of Sukhakal- 
ydim in the 762nd year of Salivahana Saka ; Init, though it is stated there, 
that this Sasanam is still preserved, no one seems ever to have seen it. 
The quarrels and actual fights which occurred between these hostile par- 
ties have given rise to much litigation before Jilagisti-ates and Judges, espe- 
cially in the Cliingleput and North-Arcot districts. The judgment of 
George Coleman, Judge and Magistrate of Chinglcput, dated the 25th July 
