01-17-2007, 09:33 PM
The key to understand caste composition in South India is the fact that most of South India accepted the Lord Buddha and Mahavira's message and were their followers from 250BC to 750 AD (~ 1000 years).
The Hindu revival in South India was due to the efforts of the 23 Nayanars, the Pallava and Chola kings, and Adi Sankara. They were able to reverse the logic of Buddhism gradually with minimal violence. This lead to a new Hindu soceity which was getting Vedicised and the varna accretion was in process when the Islamic and the European colonialisms attacked and stopped the process. The plethora of South Indian castes are actually occupations that have not been accredited to a particular caste when they were enummerated by the Brits.
The Modern Dravidianist reaction is the late flowering of the reaction to the Hinduisation of South India which was encouraged by the British. The Sri Lanka LTTE tussle also has elements of this.
Recall that in the background of Silipaddiakaram is a tussle between two faiths-Hindu and Buddhist.
The Hindu revival in South India was due to the efforts of the 23 Nayanars, the Pallava and Chola kings, and Adi Sankara. They were able to reverse the logic of Buddhism gradually with minimal violence. This lead to a new Hindu soceity which was getting Vedicised and the varna accretion was in process when the Islamic and the European colonialisms attacked and stopped the process. The plethora of South Indian castes are actually occupations that have not been accredited to a particular caste when they were enummerated by the Brits.
The Modern Dravidianist reaction is the late flowering of the reaction to the Hinduisation of South India which was encouraged by the British. The Sri Lanka LTTE tussle also has elements of this.
Recall that in the background of Silipaddiakaram is a tussle between two faiths-Hindu and Buddhist.