Guest guest Posted September 17, 2002 Report Share Posted September 17, 2002 INDOLOGY, "vpcnk" <vpcnk@H...> wrote: > Just because the word "ambattan" is used to denote barbers in Tamils > does not necessarily mean that the ambatta in Digha nikhaaya is a > barber. In the incident it is very clear that the person in question > is a brahmin - because the Buddha himself says that the man was born > of a wed lock between a brahmin and a fisher woman. Also historically > which barber has exhibited the caste pride of a brahmin? > If you read P. V. Jagadisa Ayyar'r books (1920s, 1930s), PVJ gives South Indian villages having ambaTTans as nAdsasvaram experts, officiating in weddings, ... The interaction of Natyacharyas with BrahmaNas was high in old times (inscriptions). Also, note the prefix am- for the service jobs of the then Indian society. > Also it is necessary for temple priests to be proficient in the > Vedas - even if they're brahmins. Sivaachaarya priests do not learn > the Vedas - they learn only the Saiva Aagamaas. > Atleast from Pallava times, that is roughly for a period of 1500 years, the Siva temples have Sivacharyar priests. Their knowledge of agamas is well known, tho' they also utter few Vedic slogans. In sangam times, the priests were Velan, KaNiyan, VaLLuvan , ... and mostly not Vedic brahmins. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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