Admissions to the Paraiyan caste from higher castes sometimes occur. Mr. Clayton records having met an Aiyangar Brāhman who was working as a cooly with some Paraiyan labourers at Kodaikānal on the Palni hills. He had become infatuated with a Paraiya woman, and had consequently been excommunicated, and became a Paraiyan.
In every Paraiya settlement a small number of the more important men are known as Panakkāran (money-man). The application of the term may, Mr. Clayton suggests, be due to their comparative opulence, or may have arisen from the custom of paying them a small sum (panam) for various services to the community. But Panikkar or Panakkar is usually said to be derived from pani, meaning work. They form a committee or council to decide ordinary quarrels, and to amerce the damages in cases of assault, seduction, rape, and adultery. They have power to dissolve marriages on account of the wife, or if the husband has deserted his wife. In these cases their authority is really based on the public opinion of the paracheri, and goes no further than that public opinion will enforce it. There is no headman in a Paraiya hamlet corresponding to the munsiff or village magistrate of the Hindu village (grāma). In modern practice the Paraiyans are, for police purposes, under the authority of the munsiff of the grāma, and there is a growing tendency on their part to refer all disputes and assaults to the munsiff, or even directly to the police. On the other hand, cases of a more domestic nature, such as disputes about betrothals, seduction, etc., are still dealt with, generally acutely and fairly, by the village council. It should be added that the rank of Panakkāran is hereditary, and is regarded as honourable.
