Paraiyans, and date from time immemorial. Throughout the whole of the Tamil country it is usual to find that the land allotted for house-site (nattam) is in two portions in every village (Ūr). One part is known by the Sanskrit name grāmam (village), the inhabited place. The other is called by the Dravidian name chēri (gathering place).
Sometimes the latter is called by the fuller title parachēri (Anglice parcheri, parcherry), i.e., the gathering place of the Paraiyans. In the grāmam live the Brāhmans, who sometimes dwell, in a quarter by themselves known as the agrahāra, and also other Hindus. In the parachēri live the Paraiyans. The parachēri and the grāmam are always separated, at least by a road or lane, and often by several fields. And not only is it usual thus to find that, in every village, the Paraiyans as a community possess a house-site, but there are many cases in which more than one chēri is attached to a grāmam. This seems to repudiate the suggestion that at some period or periods the higher castes relegated the Paraiyans to these chēris. Indeed, in some cases, the very names of the chēris suggest what appears to be the more correct view, viz., that the chēris had a distinct origin. For instance, the whole revenue village of Teiyar near Chingleput consists of one Sūdra grāmam and seven Paraiyan chēris, each with a name of its own, Periyapilleri, Komanchēri, etc. In other cases, e.g., Ideipālayam in the north of the district, and Varadarājapuram near Vandalūr, only Paraiyan hamlets exist; there is no grāmam. In South Arcot there are at least two villages, Govindanallūr and Andapet, inhabited only by Paraiyans, where even the Maniyakkāran (munsiff or village headman) is a Paraiyan. Other instances might be quoted in proof of the same opinion. And, when the ceremonial
