{"id":151762,"date":"2015-10-03T02:27:16","date_gmt":"2015-10-02T20:57:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=151762"},"modified":"2015-10-04T22:31:16","modified_gmt":"2015-10-04T17:01:16","slug":"early-tamil-society-was-free-of-caste","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/early-tamil-society-was-free-of-caste\/","title":{"rendered":"Early Tamil Society Was Free Of Caste"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>At a time when <a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Caste&amp;x=7&amp;y=7\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">caste<\/span><\/a> is all pervasive in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Tamil&amp;x=10&amp;y=5\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Tamil<\/span><\/a> society, a new book by V.S. Rajam, former professor of the Pennsylvania University, said the ideas of caste discrimination and untochability find no reference in Sangam Tamil literature.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI could not find casteism and untouchability in Sangam literature, but found them only in the commentaries on Silapathikaram by Adiyarkku Nallar and U.Ve. Swaminatha Iyer and Nammazhawar\u2019s Thiruvaimozhi ,\u201d she has said in her forthcoming book Sanga Ilakkiyangalil Saathi, Theendami, Inna pira (Caste, Untouchability etc., in Sangam Literature).<\/p>\n<p>Read more in <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/news\/cities\/chennai\/early-tamil-society-was-free-of-caste\/article7262547.ece\">the Hindu<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/economic-condition-of-dalits.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-39365\" src=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/economic-condition-of-dalits.jpg\" alt=\"A low-caste - dalit or the oppressed - H\" width=\"610\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/economic-condition-of-dalits.jpg 610w, https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/economic-condition-of-dalits-300x196.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 610px) 100vw, 610px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":39365,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,3402],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-151762","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-editors-choice"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.3 - 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