temple priests - Page 13

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Your satement is totally incorrect. Among Brahmins, there is a big group which owes allegiance to Adi Sankara. They are known as Smarta Brahmins. This group includes castes such as VADAMAS, VATHIMAS, BRIHACHCHARANAM, ASHTASAHASRAM and so on. These castes have nothing to do with the temples. There is another small group called AADHI SAIVAR, also called GURUKKAL or SIVACHARIARS. They may not even be 1% of the Tamil Brahmins. It is these GURUKKALS or SIVACHARYAS who do pooja in all
Siva, Vinayaka, Muruga & Devi temples. ARUMUGA NAVALAR, a VELLALA from Jaffna, Sri Lanka, came to India and said that the GURUKKALS WERE NOT
BRAHMINS AND THAT THEY WERE NON-BRAHMINS ORIGINALLY & THAT THEY
BECAME BRAHMINS SUBSEQUENTLY. So if at all you can blame anybody, it is only the GURUKKALS.

We Brahmins consider ourselves Tamilians but it is anti-Brahmin folks like yourself & the DK & DMK people who say that Brahmins are not Tamilians. You people consider even Telugu,Kannada & Urdu speaking people as Tamilians.
As for "jaathi veri", it is non-Brahmins such as Vellalas, Thevars & Vanniyas who are very caste-conscious.
As for Vaishnavite temples, I can't say anything because I am not a Vaishnavite. But even there a separate caste called BHATTACHARYAS are the archakas.May I know why you say nothing about a religious community which has been killing lakhs of people throughout the world by indulging in terrorism?

how come gurukkals don't come under fold of brahmins? they have the rishi gotras.
may be you are confused with shiva adhinams who are vellars by caste.
I think that they don't come under smartha category but they are counter parts of vaishnav brahmins who give importance to vishnu while gurukkals to shiva and smarthas in between.
I noted that vaishnav brahmins don't follow the follow the veda that eulogize shiva while smartha recognize veda only and these people value both agamas and veda.
one of reason the brahmin power is shrinking is the disunity among the community..lets give up this sterotype and revive lost glory.

It is because I did not want to create disunity among Brahmins, I was keeping quiet all these days & did not say anything about this. It was this person "THIVYA" who made me say all this. How can other Brahmins be held responsible for what the GURUKKALS do? The common man does not know the difference between a Gurukkal and a Smartha Brahmin & he refers to both of them as "IYERS".

I am really sorry that this thread is going in this direction. Historical research shows that the brahmins who started working in temples as priests learned Agamas.Most of them were not expert in Vedas. So the Vedic Pundits looked down on these experts in Agamas. No where it has been told that Gurukkal is not a brahmin but they were considered as slightly inferior in the heirarchy.Ramachander

Please read he following:
"Conversion of Adhi Saivas"

"The priests of the KOILs, known as Adhi Saivas, are a separate class by themselves. Though they are called as brahmins by others, they do not regard themselves as such. The nomenclature of the cook and assistant in Siva temples as Brahmana Pillai, meaning a brahmin youth, shows that the Adhi Saivas were not brahmins. In those days of strict compartmentalisation of society and taboos on eating food touched by others, the new settlers could have refused to take the food prepared by the Adhi Saivas and appointed one of their own group in each temple for this purpose.

The Adhi Saivas were initiated into brahminism with the wearing of the sacred thread like the brahmins. They were also taught a few portions of the Vedas, like Rudram and Chamakam, for reciting during the worship of Siva. Even today, the Adhi Saivas learn only these hymns and not the entire Vedas."
The above-mentioned porion has been taken from the following website:

http://encyclopedia.quickseek.com/in...out_by_Vadamas

I do not know Saiva agamas and therefor I am not qualified to reply to the above facts.Such analysis of brahminism abound in Tamil Nadu. I am not sure that they are true or false. I prefer to close this topic at this stage. Ramachander