Mr. Anantha Krishna Iyer that "though slavery has been abolished many years ago, the name valliyal (a person receiving valli, i.e., paddy given to a slave) still survives."
By the Penal Code it is enacted that —
Whoever imports, exports, removes, buys, sells, or disposes of any person as a slave, or accepts, receives, or detains against his will any person as a slave, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to seven years, and shall also be liable to a fine.
Whoever habitually imports, exports, removes, buys, sells, traffics or deals in slaves, shall be punished with transportation for life, or with imprisonment for a term not exceeding ten years, and shall be liable to a fine.
Whoever unlawfully compels any person to labour against the will of that person, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year, or with a fine, or with both.
"Very low indeed," Mr. S. Appadorai Iyer writes,*[1] "is the social position of these miserable beings. When a Cherumar meets a person of superior caste,he must stand at a distance of thirty feet. If he comes within this prohibited distance, his approach is said to cause pollution, which is removed only by bathing in water. A Cherumar cannot approach a Brāhman village or temple, or tank. If he does so, purification becomes necessary. Even while using the public road, if he sees his lord and master, he has to leave the ordinary way and walk, it may be in the mud, to avoid his displeasure by accidentally polluting him. To avoid polluting the passer-by, he repeats the unpleasant sound 'O, oh, O —'. [In some places, e.g., Palghāt, one may often see a Cheruman with a dirty piece of cloth spread
- ↑ * Calcutta Review, 1900.
