Mamattirar, amattiyar

Mamattirar, amattiyar

 

Paranjyoti, because is moved away from the Brahmin caste, leaving the rituals, into wordly jobs he belongs to the caste called "Maha matrar". It is called in the periapuranam as maamattirar. Like maamattirar there is another caste called amattiyar. In Sanskrit amatiyan means minister. This amatyan became amaichar in Tamil. It maitthunan became machan. Nowadays, some think that mantra is a Sanskrit word and therefore chose the word amaichar, thinking it is a Tamil word! Manicka vachakar swamigal was a amatya Brahmin. He was the minister for the pandya king and wont the title the "tennavan piramarayan". Because he was Brahmin: the "pira". Because he was the officer of the king: "rayan". Chola kings have kept Brahmin officers and given them the piramaraya titles. Leaving the rituals, the Brahmins who joined the civil administration of the kingdom to serve on the executive side, were classified as amattiyar. The Brahmins who went another step further to join the military service were called mamattirar. This caste of people has also gone into medicine. This caste interestingly, did the two tasks of joining the army and taking lives of others, as well as served as doctors to save lives of others! Paranjyoti was of that caste. Nowadays he is grouped into the worker class and made popular.