ABSTRACT

This chapter argues that the Aruloor data suggest the importance of the matrilateral affinal kin in Tamil kinship has been greatly underestimated. These kin were the traditional focus of Non-Brahmin kinship in Aruloor, and it is probably the fact that affines were matrilateral that largely accounts for the comparatively high status of Non-Brahmin Tamil women. The chapter focuses on the kinship ideas of four Non-Brahmin Tamil castes and two of the three Brahmin castes in Aruloor. The four Non-Brahmin Tamil castes are: the “untouchable” Pallars, the upwardly mobile agriculturist Muthurajahs, the “untouchable” Roman Catholic Paraiyars, and the wealthy Vellan Chettiars. The two Brahmin castes are the Telugu Brahmins, who are the dominant Brahmin group in the Brahmin street, and the Tamil Brahmins, who number only a few households. The chapter examines the traditional kinship systems of Non-Brahmin Tamils and Brahmins. Dravidian, or Tamil, kinship has a cross-kin marriage system. It addresses some implications of the blood-bond concept.