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The constitution has made untouchability illegal, but caste is still alive in our society. Our goal is to have caste itself banned," says Ravi Kumar, a Dalit MLA. A noisy meeting of tribal students in Cuddalore District, south of Chennai, leaves Ravi Kumar hoarse. But he resolutely prepares for his next meeting in his constituency — the historic Vaishnava temple town of Kattumannarkoil.Kumar is one of the two MLAs from the Viduthalai Siruthaigal (Dalit Liberation Panthers) in the assembly, which has 44 Dalits. His party leader is Thol. Thirumavalavan of the Parayar community, that for centuries announced village deaths by drumming on the parai (a local drum). From the name of this formerly 'untouchable' community had originated the derogatory 'paraiah'. Today, however, 64 per cent of the 1.1 crore Dalits in the state are literate, just 10 per cent behind the state average of 74 per cent."This high literacy level among Tamil Dalits is not due to the Dravidian movement," says Ravi Kumar. "In British Raj, only two communities had a good English education: Brahmins and Dalits. The Brahmins, because they served the British in offices and the Dalits, for serving them at home as cooks, bearers and personal attendants. A Tamil Dalit, Rettamalai Sreenivasan, attended the Round Table Conference in London with Dr Ambedkar."Dalit political awareness in Tamil Nadu began as early as 1895 with the Adidravida Mahajanasabha founded by M Chinnathambi. His son, MC Raja, made a Rao Bahadur by the British, published a Dalit magazine Parayar (which also means 'to speak out') between 1893 and 1900, with a circulation rivalling The Hindu.However, the last 40 years of the Dravidian movement have not helped Tamil Dalits because of caste demographics."Forward castes, including Brahmins, Muslims and Christians, constitute 13 per cent of Tamil Nadu. Scheduled Castes are 19 per cent and Scheduled Tribes one per cent. The rest are intermediary castes who control political power," says P Radhakrishnan, Professor of Sociology at the Madras Institute of Development Studies and author of the study, 'Religion, Caste and State' (2007).Says Ravi Kumar, "Of the 234 MLAs in the present assembly, only two are Brahmins: Jayalalitha and SV Shekhar of the Mylapore constituency. Middle castes have run the government for 40 years. So who is responsible for Dalit non-inclusion?" In the 2004 general elections, the Liberation Panthers and another major Dalit party, the Puthiya Tamilagam, were kept out of the Democratic Progressive Alliance (DPA) led by M. Karunanidhi of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK).Atrocities against Dalits continue, mostly perpetrated by the two most dominant backward castes — the Thevars (mostly AIADMK supporters) and the Vanniyars (the PMK's vote bank). Two years ago at Thinniyar in Tiruchirapalli district Thevars forced Dalits to eat human excrement. Six months later, Dalits were forced to drink urine at Gounderpatti near Dindigul.

when will we react to this atrocities?

பறையன் :
In archaic Tamil, the word "paRai" (பறை) meant "drum", a reference to the kettle drum often used to make announcements. They are attested to in the earliest Tamil literature as bearers and players of the paRai, though it is impossible to tell whether it was an occupational or caste grouping. They are mentioned in late Sangam era literature as a specialized group within the larger social groups associated with paRai (drum) playing for ceremonial and shamanistic purposes.



ParaiyarFrom Wikipedia,
Paraiyar/Sambavarபறையர்'Total population1,860,519 (2001 census)Regions with significant populationsIndian states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Sri Lanka, Mauritius, Seychelles, FijiLanguagesTamilReligionHinduism, Atheism, ChristianityRelated ethnic groupsTamil people, Dalits, PulayarsParaiyar, Parayar or Sambavar also called Adi-Dravida are a social group found in the Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and in Sri Lanka (see Caste in Sri Lanka). The Indian census of 2001 reported the Paraiyar/Adi-Dravida population about 90 Lakhs (9 Million) (pdf).Paraiyars in Southern Tamilnadu are called Sambavar. "Adi-Dravida" is a modern name of Paraiyar given by Government of Tamilnadu, it denotes only the Paraiyar Caste. Paraiyar/Adi-Dravida are the Majority among the Scheduled Castes in Tamil Nadu. As the Adi-Dravida community is majority among Scheduled castes, therefore all the scheduled castes are generally called 'Adi-Dravidar' by the Government of Tamilnadu. The term 'Adi-Dravidar' means Ancient Dravidians in Tamil.

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