Tamil Panar

The Tamil Panar (or Pāṇar, பாணர்) were an ancient musical community of the Tamil area in India, attested from the classical Sangam texts onwards through medieval inscriptions. They sang their songs to the accompaniment of the yāl harp.[1]

Social status through the ages

The community has traditionally been treated as untouchables by the Tamil hagiographical literature. In reality they have never been untouchable till today. In fact medieval inscriptions present evidence for their performing Sanskrit drama and for singing and training temple dancers in Brahmanic temples.[2] As Palaniappan states therein: "What is interesting about the traditional views regarding the social status of the Pāṇars is that they were not informed by any real data on the Pāṇars actually living in Tamil Nadu during medieval times. Such real data are indeed available to us from Tamil inscriptions, which present a drastically different picture of the social status of the Pāṇars"

Notable personages

See also

References

  1. ↑ Zvelebil, Kamil Veith (1995). Lexicon of Tamil literature. Leiden: E.J. Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-10072-5.
  2. ↑ Palaniappan, S. "Hagiography Versus History: The Tamil Pāṇar in Bhakti-Oriented Hagiographic Texts and Inscriptions", The Archaeology of Bhakti II: Royal Bhakti, Local Bhakti, Institute Francais de Pondichery, 2016.


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