Nalkes and Pombadas, devil-dancers, and are further employed in
the manufacture of baskets and umbrellas. Socially, they occupy a
higher position than the Nalkes, but rank below the Pombadas. The
bhuthas (devils) whose disguise they assume are Kodamanitaya and the
Baiderukalu, who may not be represented by Nalkes; and they have
no objection to putting on the disguise of other bhuthas. Paravas
are engaged for all kinds of devil-dances when Nalkes are not
available. (See Nalke.)
Paravan.--Concerning the origin of the Parava fishing community of the
south-east coast, the following legends are current. [73] The author of
the Historia Ecclesiastica (published in Tamil at Tranquebar in 1735)
identifies them with the Parvaim of the Scriptures, and adds that,
in the time of Solomon, they were famous among those who made voyages
by sea; but it does not appear that there is any solid foundation
for this hypothesis. It is the general belief among the Paravas that
their original country was Ayodhya, or Oudh; and it appears that,
previously to the war of Mahabharata, they inhabited the territory
bordering on the river Yamuna or Jumna. At present they are chiefly
found in the seaport towns of the Tinnevelly district in the south
of India, and also in some of the provinces on the north-west coast
of Ceylon. With regard to their origin, there is a variety as well
as discordancy of opinions. Some of the Tantras represent them to be
descended from a Brahman by a Sudra woman, while the Jatibedi Nul
(a work of some celebrity among the Tamils) states them to be the
offspring of a Kurava (or basket-maker) begotten clandestinely on a
female of the Chetty (or merchant) tribe. But the Paravas have among
themselves quite a different tradition concerning their origin, which
is founded on mythological fable. They relate that their progenitors
were of the race Varuna (god of the sea), and on the occasion,
when Siva had called Kartikeya (god of arms) into existence, for
destroying the overwhelming power of the Asuras (evil spirits), they
sprang up with him from the sacred lake Sarawana, and were like him
nursed by the constellation Kartika. At the close of the last kalpa,
when the whole earth was covered with a deluge, they constructed a
dhoni or boat, and by it escaped the general destruction; and, when
dry land appeared, they settled on the spot where the dhoni rested;
hence it is called Dhonipura, or the city of the boat. The Paravas
were once a very powerful people, and no doubt derived much of their
ascendancy over other tribes from their knowledge of navigation. They
had a succession of kings among them, distinguished by the title of
Adiyarasen, some of whom seem to have resided at Uttara Kosamangay,
called at that time the city of Mangay, a famous place of Hindu
pilgrimage in the neighbourhood of Ramnad. In the Purana entitled
Valevisu Puranam we meet with the following fable. Parvati, the
consort of Siva, and her son Kartikeya, having offended the deity
by revealing some ineffable mystery, were condemned to quit their
celestial mansions, and pass through an infinite number of mortal
forms, before they could be re-admitted to the divine presence. On
the entreaty of Parvati, however, they were allowed, as a mitigation
of the punishment, each to undergo but one transmigration. And, as
about this time, Triambaka, King of the Paravas, and Varuna Valli
his consort were making tapas (acts of devotion) to obtain issue,
Parvati condescended to be incarnated as their daughter under the
name of Tiryser Madente. Her son Kartikeya, transforming himself
into a fish, was roaming for some time in the north sea. It appears,
however, that he left the north, and made his way into the south sea,
where, growing to an immense size, he attacked the vessels employed
by the Paravas in their fisheries, and threatened to destroy their
trade. Whereupon the King Triambaka made a public declaration that
whoever would catch the fish should have his daughter to wife. Siva,
now assuming the character of a Parava, caught the fish, and became
re-united to his consort. In that section of the Mahabharata entitled
Adiparva it is said that the King of the Paravas, who resided on the
banks of the Jumna, having found an infant girl in the belly of a fish,
adopted her as his own daughter, giving her the name of Machchakindi,
and that, when she grew up, she was employed, as was customary with the
females of the Parava tribe, to ferry passengers over the river. On
a certain day, the sage Parasara having chanced to meet her at the
ferry, she became with child by him, and was subsequently delivered of
a son, the famous Vyasa who composed the Puranas. Her great personal
charms afterwards induced King Santanu of the lunar race to admit her
to his royal bed, and by him she became the mother of Vichitravirya,
the grandsire of the Pandavas and Kauravas, whose contentions for the
throne of Hastinapura form the subject of the Mahabharata. Hence the
Paravas boast of being allied to the lunar race, and call themselves
accordingly, besides displaying at their wedding feasts the banners
and emblems peculiar to it. In the drama of Alliarasany, who is
supposed to have resided at Kudremalle on the north-west coast of
Ceylon, the Paravas act a conspicuous part. We find them employed by
the princess in fishing for pearls off the coast, and that under a
severe penalty they were obliged to furnish her with ten kalams of
pearls every season.
It is noted, in the Madras Census Report, 1901, that "there are
in reality three castes which answer to the name Paravan, and
which speak Tamil, Malayalam, and Canarese respectively. Probably
all three are descended from the Tamil Paravans or Paratavans. The
Tamil Paravans are fishermen on the sea coast. Their head-quarters is
Tuticorin, and their headman is called Talavan. They are mostly Native
Christians. They claim to be Kshatriyas of the Pandyan line of kings,
and will eat only in the houses of Brahmans. The Malayalam Paravans
are shell collectors, lime burners and gymnasts, and their women act
as midwives. Their titles are Kurup, Varakurup, and Nurankurup (nuru,
lime). The Canarese Paravas are umbrella-makers and devil-dancers." It
has been suggested that the west coast Paravas are the descendants
of those who fled from Tinnevelly, in order to avoid the oppression
of the Muhammadans.
In the Census Report, 1871, the Paravas are summed up as being a
fishing caste on the Madura and Tinnevelly coast, who "were found by
the Portuguese, on their arrival in India, to be groaning under the
Muhammadan yoke, and were assisted by the Portuguese on condition of
their becoming Christians. This general conversion, for political
ends, explains why the fishing population of the present day along
the south-east coast is to a considerable extent Roman Catholic." It
is noted by Mr. S. P. Rice [74] that the fishermen "who live in the
extreme south are devout Catholics, and have preserved the Portuguese
names by which their fathers were baptized into the Church, so that,
incongruous as it sounds, Jose Fernandez and Maria Santiago are but
humble folk, catching fish in a primitive way, with no more clothing
on than a small loin cloth and a picture of the Virgin."
Concerning the Paravas, Baldæus [75] writes as follows. "The kingdom of
Trevancor borders upon that of Coulang: All along the Sea-shore inhabit
the Paruas, who being for the most part Christians, you see the Shore
all along as far as Comoryn, and even beyond it to Tutecoryn, full of
little Churches, some of Wood, others of Stone. These People owe their
Conversion to Franciscus Xaverius, he being the first who planted
the Principles of Christianity among them; they being so much taken
with the reasonableness of the Ten Commandments, that they receiv'd
Baptism in great numbers, tho an accidental Quarrel between a Parua
and a Mahometan prov'd a strong Motive to their Conversion.... The
Paruas being sorely oppress'd by the Mahometans, one John de Crus,
a Native of Malabar, but who had been in Portugal, and honourably
treated by John, the then king of Portugal, advised them to seek for
Aid at Cochin against the Moors, and to receive Baptism. Accordingly
some of the chief Men among them (call'd Patangatays in their Language)
were sent upon that Errand to Cochin, where being kindly receiv'd,
they (in honour of him who had given His Advice) took upon them
the Sirname of Crus, a name still retain'd by most Persons of Note
among the Paruas. In short, being deliver'd from the Moorish Yoke,
and the Pearl-fishery (which formerly belong'd to them) restor'd to
the right Owners, above 20,000 of them receiv'd Baptism."
"The commencement of the Roman Catholic Mission in Tinnevelly,"
Bishop Caldwell writes, [76] "dates from 1532, when certain Paravas,
representatives of the Paravas or fishing caste, visited Cochin for
the purpose of supplicating the aid of the Portuguese against their
Muhammadan oppressors, and were baptized there by Michael Vaz,
Vicar-General of the Bishop of Goa. The same ecclesiastic, with
other priests, accompanied the fleet which sailed for the purpose
of chastising the Muhammadans, and, as soon as that object was
accomplished, set about baptizing the Paravas all along the coast,
in accordance with the agreement into which their representatives
had entered. The entire Parava caste adopted the religion of their
Portuguese deliverers and most of them received baptism. Some,
however, did not receive baptism for some cause till Xavier's time,
ten years afterwards. Xavier, on his arrival in the south, could
not speak Tamil, and spent some months in committing to memory Tamil
translations of the Creed, Lord's Prayer, Ave Maria, and Decalogue. He
then proceeded to visit all the villages of the coast, bell in hand,
to collect the inhabitants, and gave them Christian instruction. The
Paravas thus christianised--called generally at that time the Comorin
Christians--inhabited thirty villages, and numbered, according to the
most credible account, twenty thousand souls. These villages extended
all the way along the coast at irregular intervals from Cape Comorin to
the island promontory of Ramesvaram, if not beyond. It does not appear
that any village in the interior joined in the movement." "It appears,"
Mr. Casie Chitty states, "that the Portuguese treated the Paravas
with great kindness, permitted intermarriages, and even allowed them
to assume their surnames, so that we find among them many Da Limas,
Da Cruzs, Da Andrados, Da Canhas, etc. They gave the chief of the
Paravas the title of Dom, and allowed him the exclusive right of
wearing a gold chain with a cross as a badge of nobility. [The name
of a recent hereditary chief or Jati Talaivan or Talaivamore of the
Paravas was Gabriel de Cruz Lazarus Motha Vas.] As soon as the Dutch
took possession of Tutocoryn (Tuticorin) and other adjacent towns
where the Paravas are found, they employed Dr. Baldæus and a few other
ministers of their persuasion to suppress the Roman Catholic faith,
and to persuade the Paravas to adopt their own in its stead; but in
this they met with a total failure, and were once very nearly bringing
on a general revolt. Notwithstanding the intolerance of the Dutch
with regard to the Romish Church, the Paravas still remember them with
gratitude, as they afforded them the means of extensive livelihood by
establishing in their principal town (Tutocoryn) a public manufactory
of cloth, and thus maintaining a considerable working capital."
Concerning the history of the Paravas, and their connection with
the pearl-fisheries on the Indian side of the Gulf of Manaar, much
information is given by Mr. J. Hornell, [77] from whose account
the following extracts are taken. "When the Portuguese rounded Cape
Comorin, they found the pearl fisheries of the Gulf of Manaar in the
hands of the Paravas, whom tradition shows to have had control of
this industry from time immemorial. Of the origin of these people
we know extremely little. We know, however, that in the old days,
from 600 B.C. and for 1,500 years or more thereafter, the country
now comprehended in the districts of Madura and Tinnevelly formed the
great Tamil kingdom of Pandya. And, in the old Tamil work called the
Kalveddu, the position of the pearl-fishing caste to this monarchy is
incidentally mentioned in the following extract: 'Vidanarayanen Cheddi
and the Paravu men who fished pearls by paying tribute to Alliyarasani,
daughter of Pandya, king of Madura, who went on a voyage, experienced
bad weather in the sea, and were driven to the shores of Lanka, where
they founded Karainerkai and Kutiraimalai. Vidanarayanen Cheddi had
the treasures of his ship stored there by the Paravas, and established
pearl fisheries at Kadalihilapam and Kallachihilapam, and introduced
the trees which change iron into gold.' In the Maduraik-kanchi the
Paravas are described as being most powerful in the country round
Korkai. 'Well fed on fish and armed with bows, their hordes terrified
their enemies by their dashing valour.' The Maduraik-kanchi describes
Korkai as the chief town in the country of Parathavar and the seat
of the pearl fishery, with a population consisting chiefly of pearl
divers and chank cutters. [78] When the Pandyan kingdom was powerful,
the Paravas had grants of certain rights from the monarchy, paying
tribute from the produce of the fisheries, and receiving protection
and immunity from taxation in return. The conditions under which the
Paravas lived at the opening of the sixteenth century are graphically
set forth in a report, dated 19th December, 1669, written by Van Reede
and Laurens Pyh, respectively Commandant of the coast of Malabar and
Canara and senior merchant and Chief of the sea-ports of Madura. Under
the protection of those Rajas there lived a people, which had come to
these parts from other countries [79]--they are called Paravas--they
lived a seafaring life, gaining their bread by fishing and by diving
for pearls; they had purchased from the petty Rajas small streaks
of the shore, along which they settled and built villages, and they
divided themselves as their numbers progressively increased. In these
purchased lands they lived under the rule of their own headmen, paying
to the Rajas only an annual present, free from all other taxes which
bore upon the natives so heavily, looked upon as strangers, exempt
from tribute or subjection to the Rajas, having a chief of their own
election, whose descendants are still called kings of the Paravas,
and who drew a revenue from the whole people, which in process of
time has spread itself from Quilon to Bengal. Their importance and
power have not been reduced by this dispersion, for they are seen
at every pearl fishery (on which occasions the Paravas assemble
together) surpassing in distinction, dignity and outward honours all
other persons there. The pearl fishery was the principal resource and
expedient from which the Paravas obtained a livelihood, but as from
their residence so near the sea they had no manner of disposing of
their pearls, they made an agreement with the Rajas that a market day
should be proclaimed throughout their dominions, when merchants might
securely come from all parts of India, and at which the divers and
sutlers necessary to furnish provisions for the multitude might also
meet; and, as this assemblage would consist of two different races,
namely, the Paravas and subjects of the Rajas, as well as strangers and
travellers, two kinds of guards and tribunals were to be established
to prevent all disputes and quarrels arising during this open market,
every man being subject to his own judge, and his case being decided
by him; all payments were then also divided among the headmen of the
Paravas, who were the owners of that fishery, and who hence became
rich and powerful; they had weapons and soldiers of their own, with
which they were able to defend themselves against the violence of
the Rajas or their subjects. The Moors who had spread themselves over
India, and principally along the coasts of Madura, were strengthened
by the natives professing Muhammadanism, and by the Arabs, Saracens,
and the privateers of the Sammoryn, [80] and they began also to take
to pearl-diving as an occupation, but being led away by ill-feeling
and hope of gain, they often attempted to outreach the Paravas,
some of whom even they gained to their party and to their religion,
by which means they obtained so much importance, that the Rajas joined
themselves to the Moors, anticipating great advantages from the trade
which they carried on, and from their power at sea; and thus the
Paravas were oppressed, although they frequently rose against their
adversaries, but they always got the worst of it, until at last in a
pearl fishery at Tutucoryn, having purposely raised a dispute, they
fell upon the Moors, and killed some thousands of them, burnt their
vessels, and remained masters of the country, though much in fear that
the Moors, joined by the pirates of Calicut, would rise against them
in revenge. The Portuguese arrived about this time with one ship at
Tutucoryn; the Paravas requested them for assistance, and obtained
a promise of it, on conditions that they should become Christians;
this they generally agreed to, and, having sent Commissioners with
some of the Portuguese to Goa, they were received under the protection
of that nation, and their Commissioners returned with priests, and a
naval force conveying troops, on which all the Paravas of the seven
ports were baptized, accepted as subjects of the King of Portugal,
and they dwindled thus from having their own chiefs and their own
laws into subordination to priests and Portuguese, who however
settled the rights and privileges of the Paravas so firmly that
the Rajas no longer dared interfere with them, or attempt to impede
or abridge their prerogative; on the contrary they were compelled
to admit of separate laws for the Paravas from those which bound
their own subjects. The Portuguese kept for themselves the command
at sea, the pearl fisheries, the sovereignty over the Paravas, their
villages and harbours, whilst the Naick of Madura, who was a subject
of the King of the Carnatic, made himself master at this time of the
lands about Madura, and in a short time afterwards of all the lower
countries from Cape Comoryn to Tanjore, expelling and rooting out all
the princes and land proprietors, who were living and reigning there;
but, on obtaining the sovereignty of all these countries, he wished to
subject the Paravas to his authority, in which attempt he was opposed
by the Portuguese, who often, not being powerful enough effectually
to resist, left the land with the priests and Paravas, and went to
the islands of Manaar and Jaffnapatam, from whence they sent coasting
vessels along the Madura shores, and caused so much disquiet that the
revenue was ruined, trade circumscribed, and almost annihilated, for
which reasons the Naick himself was obliged to solicit the Portuguese
to come back again. The Political Government of India, perceiving the
great benefit of the pearl fishery, appointed in the name of the King
of Portugal military chiefs and captains to superintend it, leaving
the churches and their administration to the priests. Those captains
obtained from the fisheries each time a profit of 6,000 rix-dollars
for the king, leaving the remainder of the income from them for the
Paravas; but, seeing they could not retain their superiority in that
manner over the people, which was becoming rich, luxurious, drunken,
with prosperity, and with the help of the priests, who protected them,
threatening the captains, which often occasioned great disorders,
the latter determined to build a fort for the king at Tutucoryn,
which was the chief place of all the villages; but the priests who
feared by this to lose much of their consequence as well as of their
revenue, insisted that, if such a measure was proceeded with, they
would all be ruined, on which account they urged on the people to
commit irregularities, and made the Paravas fear that the step was a
preliminary one to the making all of them slaves; and they therefore
raised such hindrances to the work that it never could be completed.
"The Paravas," Mr. Hornell continues, "although the original holders of
the fishery rights, had begun, prior to the arrival of the Portuguese,
to feel the competition of the restless Muhammadan settlers on the
coast, who, coming, as many must have done, from the coast of the
Persian Gulf, knew already all there was to know of pearl-fishing. The
descendants of these Arabs and their proselytes, known as Moros to
the Portuguese, are the Moormen or Lubbais of to-day. Their chief
settlement was Kayal, a town situated near the mouth of the river
Tambrapurni, and which in Marco Polo's time (1290-91) was a great
and noble city. It shared with Tuticorin for fully 500 years the
honour of being one of the two great pearl markets of the coast--the
one being the Moor, the other the Parava, head-quarters.... Menezes,
writing in 1622, states that for many years the fisheries had become
extinct because of the great poverty into which the Paravas had
fallen. Tuticorin, and the sovereignty of the pearl banks and of the
Paravas, passed to the Dutch in 1658.
In the report of the pearl fishery, 1708, the following entries occur
in the list of free stones according to ancient customs:--
96 1/2 to the Naick of Madura--4 Xtian, 92 1/2 Moorish;
10 to Head Moorman of Cailpatnam--5 Xtian, 5 Moorish.
60 to Theuver--60 Moorish.
185 to the Pattangatyns of this coast--all Xtian stones.
"The 185 stones," Mr. Hornell writes, "given to the Pattangatyns or
headmen of the Paravas was in the nature of remuneration to these men
for assistance in inspecting the banks, in guarding any oyster banks
discovered, in recruiting divers, and in superintending operations
during the course of the fishery.... In 1889, the Madras Government
recorded its appreciation of the assistance rendered by the Jati
Talaivan, and directed that his privilege of being allowed the take
of two boats be continued. Subsequently, in 1891, the Government,
while confirming the general principle of privilege remuneration to the
Jati Talaivan, adopted the more satisfactory regulation of placing the
extent of the remuneration upon the basis of a sliding scale, allowing
him but one boat when the Government boats numbered 30 or less, two for
31 to 60 boats, three for 61 to 90 boats employed, and so on in this
ratio. The value of the Jati Talaivan's two privilege boats in the
1890 fishery was Rs. 1,424, in that of 1900 only Rs. 172." The Jadi
Talaivan is said to have been denominated by the Dutch the prince of
the seven havens. It is noted in the pearl fishery report, 1900, that
"the Paravas are a constant source of trouble, both on the banks and in
the kottoo (shed), where they were constantly being caught concealing
oysters, which of course were always confiscated. Only one Arab was
caught doing this, and his companions abused him for disgracing them."
According to Mr. Casie Chitty, the Paravas are divided into thirteen
classes, viz.:--
Headmen.
Dealers in cloth.
Divers for corals.
Sailors.
Divers for pearl-oysters.
Divers for chanks.
Packers of cloth.
Fishers who catch tortoises (turtles).
Fishers who catch porpoises.
Fishers who catch sharks and other fish.
Palanquin bearers.
Peons, who wait about the person of the Chief.
Fishers, who catch crabs.
It is noted by Canon A. Margoschis that the Parava females are
famous for the excessive dilatation of the lobes of the ears, and for
wearing therein the heaviest and most expensive gold ear jewels made of
sovereigns. Ordinary jewels are said to cost Rs. 200, but heavy jewels
are worth Rs. 1,000 and even more. The longer the ears, the more jewels
can be used, and this appears to be the rationale of elongated ears.