Deepa Mehta's _Fire_

[Sudalaimuthu Palaniappan]

In a message dated 1/23/99 1:01:23 PM Central Standard Time, mrabe at ARTIC.EDU
writes:

> Can anyone cite an early Tamil, or
>  Sanskritic textual reference to the latter practice.

The closest I can think of is the story of nantan2Ar, the untouchable saint,
in periyapurANam. In the case of nantan2Ar, the purification by fire is done
as instructed by ziva. The brahmins of Chidambaram built the fire. When
nantan2Ar emerges from the fire he is ritually purified and becomes a brahmin.

An analysis of this story is found in "Nandanar the Dalit Martyr: A Historical
Reconstruction of His Times" (1990) by S. Manickam.

Regards
S. Palaniappan