| 释义 |
panchama India.|ˈpʌntʃʌmə|
[Skr., = fifth.]
A member of the fifth division of early Indian society, outside the four main divisions of Brahmin, Kshatrya, Vasiya and Sudra; a pariah, an outcaste. This caste was also called Pancham Bandam.
1800F. Buchanan Jrnl. 30 Apr. in Journey from Madras (1807) I. i. 19 Their farms they chiefly cultivate by slaves of the inferiour casts, called Súdra, and Panchum Bundum. The Panchum Bundum are by far the most hardy and laborious people of the country. 1874Madras Census Rep. 1871 I. xi. 168 We now come to that great division of the people, spoken of by themselves as the ‘fifth caste’, and described by Buchanan and other writers as the Pancham Bandam. 1909E. Thurston Castes & Tribes of S. India VI. 44 The Government ruled that there is no objection to the proposal that Paraiyas and kindred classes should be designated Panchama Bandham or Panchama in future, but it would be simpler to style them the fifth class. Ibid., Panchama students under training as teachers get stipends at rates nearly double of those for ordinary Hindus. 1917Rangoon Gaz. 10 Oct. 12/1 A mass meeting of Panchamas (depressed classes) was held in Madras. 1932G. S. Ghurye Caste & Race in India i. 10 In the Tamil and Malayalam regions..sometimes the village is divided into three parts: that occupied by the dominant caste in the village or by the Brahmins, that allotted to the Sūdras, and the one reserved for the Panchamas or untouchables. 1968N. W. Ross Hinduism, Buddhism, Zen 29 Outside the four main caste divisions,..there has also existed from the earliest times a group familiarly known as the Untouchables. They were called Panchamas, literally ‘the fifths’. |