dvija varNa

[N. Ganesan]

LC>>And subsequently in Ceylon and South-East Asia.

Dr. Raveen Satkurunathan:
 >As far as Sri Lanka (Ceylon) is concerned there is not a Single
 >"true" Brahmin Sinhala Buddhist except caste members such as the
 >Salagama (formerly Cinnamon Peelers) claiming to be Namboothiri
 >Brahmins from Kerala.

Dr. Lance Cousens:
>Quite true. It is in South-East Asia where they remain.

The foll. point is not mentioned so far in the
discussion, and may be relevant.

The situation in Ceylon and SE Asia is quite different in medieval
times. Then, SE Asia had thriving Shaivism and kings professing
Shaivaite religion are many. In Ceylon, no such recordings. Since
ancient times from the east coast of India, Shaivism played a major
role in SE Asia, but not among the Buddhists of Ceylon.
By looking at the Brahmins in SE Asia, we cannot project many
brahmins present in medieval Sinhala society.

Dr. Lance Cousens:
>I doubt this. It seems much more likely that brahmins played some role in
>the capital cities and courts, at least down until the arrival of the
>Portuguese. Exactly as they do subsequently in South-East Asia. I agree
>that there is no evidence that their numbers were ever very large.

See above. Brahmins in SE Asia is due to Shaivism. In art, we have
huge Shaivaite temples in Khmer, monumental Hindu bronzes in
Thailand, Indonesia, the entire script of SE Asia shows South Indian
influence. In Indonesia, the word for moon is tiGkaL (a Drav. word
in tamil, kannada; A. C. Burnell, vamza-brAhmaNa). There was a large
syncretism between Mahayana Buddhism and Saivism in SE Asia
happening for centuries.

Buddhists of Ceylon constructed myths of much antiquity in the first
some centuries CE. This is projected back by the West and IE
specialists onto Buddha legends, as Ven. Tantra indiactes. The dating
of Buddhist texts have vested interests, and are quite doubtful from
a scholarly perspective.

Regards,
N. Ganesan

Reference:

a) Tamil shaivaite hymns were long used in Thailand's royal
coronation ceremonies;

See: Chulalongkorn, King of Siam, 1853-1910.

Main Title:
Phrar¯atchaphith¯i tr¯iyamphaw¯ai-tr¯ipaw¯ai, (ch¯ak
Phrar¯atchaphith¯i  12 d¯uŽan) [microform] / phrar¯atchaniphon nai
Phrab¯at Somdet Phra Chunlach¯omkl¯ao Ch¯aoy¯uhua.

Published/Created:
[Bangkok] : Phray¯a Chonlam¯akphich¯an, 2477 [1934]
Notes:
In Thai.
"Phray¯a Chonlam¯akphich¯an `Athib¯od¯i Krom Chonlaprath¯an phim
m¯uŽa pen Phray¯a Y¯uŽn chingch¯a."
Description of a royal ceremony in which two Tamil devotional works,
Tirupp¯avai by ¯Ant¯al and Tiruvemp¯avai by M¯anikkav¯acakar are
recited.

b) For some other Tamil texts in Thailand:
Neelakanta Sarma,
Textes sanskrits et tamouls de Thailande.
Introd. par Jean Filliozat, 1972, Pondichery

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