Pore caste in Nepal
N. Ganesan
naga_ganesan at HOTMAIL.COM
Tue Feb 13 21:05:56 UTC 2001
"During the cosmogonic New Year festival of Bisket jAtrA at
Bhaktapur, Bhairava is erected as the linga in the form of the
cross-shaped pole ....
On the last day of the year (Caitra masant), a buffalo is sacrificed
at the pITha of Bhadra-Kali and the Untouchables (Pore) bring
its head up to the central Taumadhi square ..."
(p.184, Criminal Gods and Demon Devotees, 1989).
Ethnographers record buffalo sacrices to village goddesses
done by ex-untouchables in South India, and scholars usually connect
the tamil term, pulaiyar 'outcaste' with meat, blood.
TuLu "pole" (menstrual blood); Tamil pulAl/pulavu 'meat'.
OTL entry:
pulavu 1. dislike, abhorrence; 2. flesh, raw meat, fish;
3. smell of flesh or fish; 4. blood;
English words pilaf/pulao, though wrongly assigned to Persian
origin, appear to be from Dravidian. Sangam texts, for example, talk
of rice mixed with meat ('pulavu') several centuries before.
Is the caste name Pore in Nepal related with say, Poleya in Karnataka,
or Pulaya in Kerala?
Regards,
N. Ganesan
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