104 
ON THE ORIGINAL INHABITANTS 
the most ojDpressed races in the Tamil country. The Pariahs 
or Pallar. who despaired of their sad lot, had at least a 
chance of improving it by running away from their oppres- 
sors without being caught again ; but even this prospect 
was denied to the unfortunate Pulayan. Hemmed in on all 
sides by mountains, woods, backwaters, swamps, and the 
sea he could not hope to escape and to better his position ; 
even if he evaded recapture, he had to face death in another 
cruel form in the wilderness in which he found himself 
entangled, and out of which he could not extricate himself. 
Like the Pallan, the Pulayan, when well treated, has 
shown himself to be possessed of creditable mental and 
physical powers. In the census report of Travancore it is 
said of them that " they are an extremely useful and hard- 
working race, and are sometimes distinguished by a rare 
character for truth and honor, which their superioi*s in the 
caste scale might well emulate." 
The degree of contempt with which the Pulayan is treated 
is evident from the disgraceful etjTiiological derivation of 
his name from Pula, pollution, as has been already men- 
tioned. Like every other Hindu, the Pulayan takes a pride 
in his caste and despises, in his turn, all those whom he 
regards as beneath him. As has also been remarked, the 
highest class among the Pariahs and the Pulayai- is that of 
the Valluvar, who are moreover the priests of the Pariahs 
and Pallar. This seems to be another proof of the identical 
origin of the Pallan and Pulayan. 
l^'he chief deities of the Pulayan ai'e Mddan and the Five 
Pdndavas. 
As a Pariah found at Melkota the image of Celvapillai, 
as a Savara was originally in possession of the sacred stone 
of Jagannatha, so also is the worship of Padmanabha in 
Trivandrum intimately connected with a Pulayan. Once a 
Piilacci or Pulaya woman, who was li^iug ■n'itli her husband 
in the Anantakadu jungle, suddenly heard the cry of a baby. 
