The first half of the paper engages the interpretation of 44 occurrences of the word “parai” in the Tamil Sangam corpus based on translations by Vaidehi Herbert as well as analysis with my Tamil language assistant, Dr. My overarching question is, what is the parai’s historical narrative of status change that led to it becoming untouchable and how does this trajectory reflect changes in the caste system in the last 2000 years? To determine these changes in status and the parai’s religio-political and symbolic meaning at various points in this history, I introduce musicological evidence from, and interpretation of, Tamil Sangam literature (300BCE-600 CE) and Hindu temple iconography to investigate the drum’s shape, playing technique, its variety of names, performance contexts, the identity and status of its performers and their relationship to other people, especially royalty. Specifically, I investigate the history of the parai frame drum of Tamil Nadu, India, the polluting drum of the so called outcaste or untouchable Tamil communities that has recently been reclaimed as an empowering icon of the Dalit (anti-caste) civil rights movement.
This Humanities Forum Seminar engages historical material from my book manuscript in progress, Drumming Our Liberation: The Spiritual, Cultural, and Sonic Power of the Parai Drum.
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