Copyright by Hilda Raj 1959 , PERSISTENCE OF CASTE IN SOUTH INDIA - AN ANALYTICAL STUDY OF THE HINDU AND CHRISTIAN NADARS by Hilda Raj Submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The American University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Signatures of Committee: . Chairman: D a t e ; 7 % ^ / < f / 9 < r f W58 7 a \ The American University Washington, D. 0. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am deeply thankful to the following members of my Dissertation Committee for their guidance and sug­ gestions generously given in the preparation of the Dissertation: Doctors Robert T. Bower, N. G. D. Joardar, Lawrence Krader, Harvey C. Moore, Austin Van der Slice (Chairman). I express my gratitude to my Guru in Sociology, the Chairman of the above Committee - Dr. Austin Van der Slice, who suggested ways for the collection of data, and methods for organizing and presenting the sub­ ject matter, and at every stage supervised the writing of my Dissertation. I am much indebted to the following: Dr. Horace Poleman, Chief of the Orientalia Di­ vision of the Library of Congress for providing facilities for study in the Annex of the Library, and to the Staff of the Library for their unfailing courtesy and readi­ ness to help; The Librarian, Central Secretariat-Library, New Delhi; the Librarian, Connemara Public Library, Madras; the Principal in charge of the Library of the Theological Seminary, Nazareth, for privileges to use their books; To the following for helping me to gather data, for distributing questionnaire forms, collecting them after completion and mailing them to my address in Washington: Lawrence Gnanamuthu (Bombay), Dinakar Gnanaolivu (Madras), S. Vedakkan James (Tanjore), S. Kumara Sundaram (Bombay), A. C. Paul Nadar (Tuticorin), Appadurai Rajanayakam (Vlrudhunagar, Ramnad District), Canon Thomas Sltther (Nazareth, Tlnnevelly District), and D. A. Thangaswamy (Palamcottah). I am also Indebted to S. Chelliah Nadar for sup­ plying a plan for the village of Puthiamputhur, and to Vincent Nadar for the plan of the village of Karuvaikkulam. I am deeply in debt to those men and women of the Nadar caste (they must remain anonymous) who by completing the questionnaire forms, and by writing out their auto­ biographies contributed valuable material which has been Incorporated in the Dissertation. TABLE OP CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. INTRODUCTION.............................. 1 Field of inquiry - The Nadar Caste of South India.................... 1 The Problem-Perslstence of Caste in the Protestant Nadar Group............ 2 Objectives.............................. 3 Sources and Collection of Data.......... 5 Terms and their Usages.................. 7 Nadar Population........................ 9 ~ - Organization of Subject Matter............ 12 M e t h o d s ...................................13 II. CASTE IN INDIA.............................. 16 Studies on Caste.......................... 16 Caste in North India and South India. 27 Caste as a Social System with Cultural Accumulation.................. 31 Disintegrating Forces.................... 37 Definitions of Caste in India and A Caste in India.......................... 40 General Observations on Caste ...... 4l III. CASTE AND RELIGION. ....................... 47 The Place of Religion in Society.......... 48 The Association of Hinduism with the Caste System............................ 32 vl CHAPTER PAGE Opinions of Western European Missionaries and Others on the Relationship of Caste to Hinduism....................... 57 Attitude of Christian Missionaries to C a s t e ................ 64 Roman Catholic......................... 66 Protestant............................. 68 Caste Persistence Among Christians in South I n d i a ......................... 75 IV* THE RADAR CASTE OF SOUTH I N D I A ............. 78 The District of Tinnevelly, Home of the Nadars........................... 78 Historical Background..................... 81 Traditional Origin of the Caste........... 82 Occupation and Status in Caste Society . 84 Language - T a m i l ......................... 90 Material Culture ........................ 91 Religion..................................97 Social Organization - Family, Kinship System, Crisis Ceremonies............... 99 Special Institutions.....................Ill Progress of the N a dars............*,* • Law Applicable to the Hindu Nadar........ 113 vli CHAPTER PAGE V. CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE NADAR CHRISTIAN GROUP.....................................119 Earliest Christians From the Nadar Caste, Roman Catholic................ 119 Conversions by Protestant Missionaries from England.......................... 120 Founding of Christian Villages and Social Stability .................... 124 A New Sect of Christian Nadar............ 132 Education - Immigration - Urbanization . 135 Legal Position After Conversion to Christianity......................... 144 The Christian Nadar, a New Social Group. 150 VI. A NEW SUB-CASTE - THE CHRISTIAN NADAR. 152 The Christian Nadar Studied as a Sub-caste.......... 152 Background of the Christian Nadar. 155 Distribution .............. 154 Occupation...............................154 Language - T a m i l ........................ 155 Material Culture ...................... 156 Religion............ 159 Social Organization - Family, Kinship System, Crisis Ceremonies.............. l6l vili CHAPTER PAGE Special Institutions......................179 Caste Institutions Shared with Hindu Nadars..................................182 Definition of A Caste in India Applied to the Christian Nadar..................184 Dominant Features of Culture............. 184 VII. ANALYSIS AND THEORETICAL CONCLUSIONS. 188 Purpose of Chapter: Analysis of Subject Matter with Reference to the Problem............................188 Model for Analyzing C a s t e ............... 190 Ego's Position in a Caste - Diagrams X and Z ........................191 Model Applied to Analysis of Hindu and Christian Nadars....................193 Discussion based on Analysis............. 201 Elements of Culture Common to Hindu and Christian Nadars - Figure 1 . 206 Aspects of Caste Existing in the Christian Group ...................... 208 Analysis and Discussion Show the Group to be a Sub-caBte of the Nadar Caste. 213 Explanation for Persistence of Caste. 213 Need for Continuity of Social Group . 213 ix CHAPTER PAGE Values that Christian Nadar Finds in his Culture........................ 219 Values in the Culture of Caste............. 221 Conclusions............................. 233 BIBLIOGRAPHY......................................235 APPENDIX .................. ............ 249 Appendix A. Map of South India................250 Appendix B. Map of the Tinnevelly District. 251 Appendix C. Plans of two villages in the Tinnevelly District .............. 252, 253 Appendix D. Nadar Kinship System..............254 Appendix E. Nadar Kinship T e r m s ..............255 Appendix F. Report on Life-HistoryMaterial . 257 Appendix G. Extracts from Personal Documents of Christian Nadars .............. 261 Appendix H. Questionnaire Form............... 267 Appendix I. Glossary..........................269 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION The subject matter of this thesis lies vlthln the field of oaste In India, with special reference to the Nadar caste of South India. The Hindu Nadar caste has been In existence for centuries. Some of Its members were converted to Christianity by Roman Catholic mis­ sionaries In the seventeenth century, and later. Their descendants form an exclusive group, living mostly In South India. A Protestant group came Into being In the nineteenth century, In the Tinnevelly district, as a re­ sult of evangelisation by missionaries from England. Members of the Nadnr caste, Hindu and Christian, are now found In large numbers In the southern districts of Tinnevelly, Ramnad, Madura, and In the southern districts of Travaneore.1 Besides spreading to other parts of India, many families have migrated to Ceylon, Burma and Malaya. An account of caste In India will be given as a background to a study of the Nadars, with certain ob­ jectives In view. The title of the thesis Is Persistence of Caste A ' 1 The London Missionary Society has been working In the Travaneore State slnoe 1806. Conversions from the Nadar oaste are referred to In Bishop Vsskom Pickett's Christian Mass Movements In India. New York, Cincinnati, Chicago: tfheAb ingdon Presa, . In South India - an analytical study of the Hindu and Christian Nadars. The problem Is the persistence of caste In the Protestant group, whose members are the descend­ ants of the converts of the Tinnevelly district. The latter group vas selected for study rather than the Roman Catholic group,2 and the basis for the selection Is ex­ plained below. The early European Protestant missionaries, espec­ ially those who came from England, condemned as "heathen" the caste customs which the converts persisted In prac­ tising. The missionaries thought that there vas "func­ tional inconsistency" between belief and practice when the Nadar converts differentiated between their own oaste group and Christians drawn from other castes, purely on 3 the basis of caste. The Protestant Nadar group. In spite of all opposition from their Church authorities, con­ tinued to preserve their caste Identity by using the caste label and by following oaste customs. In trying to 2 See Chapter III, Caste and Religion, for toler­ ance of oaste praetloes by Roman Cathollo missionaries, and the example set by Robert de Noblll who reaohed South