Paraiyars belong to the Right-hand caste faction(or) the Valangai was made up of castes with an agricultural basis while the Idangai was made of metal workers, weavers, etc. i.e. castes involved in manufacturing.[10]Valangai which was better organized, politically, than the Idangai.[11],and has most of the agriculture based higher castes. The Paraiyas are its chief support, as a proof of which they glory in the title ‘Valangai-Mougattar’, or friends of the Right-hand.
Historical personalities
- Thiruvalluvar, Tamil poet.
- Auvaiyar,Tamil poetess.
- Nandanar (நந்தனார் or "திருநாளைப் போவார் நாயனார்", "Thirunalai Povar Nayanar"), Tamil Saivite saint, One of the 63 Nayanmar
Social reformers and activists
- Iyothee Thass Pandithar (1845–1914), founded the Sakya Buddhist Society (also known as Indian Buddhist Association)
- Rettamalai Srinivasan (1860–1945), a Dalit activist, politician from the Indian state of Tamil Nadu.
- M. C. Rajah (1883–1943), a Dalit politician, social and political activist from the Indian state of Tamil Nadu
- J. Shivashanmugam Pillai (1901–1975), first Dalit mayor of Madras and first speaker of Madras Legislative Assembly since India's independence.
- N. Sivaraj (1892–1964), Indian lawyer and politician. Served as Mayor of Madras and Member of Lok Sabha.
Tamil saint thiruvalluvar wrote thirukkural the holy book of Tamil people called as 'the Tamil veda', 'mupuri nool'. Tamil saint auvaiyar made many contributions such as 'aathichudi', 'naladiyar', 'konrai vendan' etc. Divan rettamalai srinivasan started a newspaper 'paraiyan', which fought against British rule. The five great epics of Tamil literature (silapathigaram, manimegalai, seevega sinthamani, valayapathi, kundalagesi) mostly based on buddhism principles. The saint 'illango' is also a Buddhist. These are the evidences that Buddhists (paraiyars) are the original inhabitants of Tamil Nadu.
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