The Padmasaliyar Kulapurana contains the story of a curse. The story helps the community to understand together its high tradition and the position it later held in the social order as weavers. As this is a sensitive subject, we have written every statement here with a note of who is saying it.
Kulapurana / what the community says
Written / research record
Yet to be verified
The story the Kulapurana tells
Different versions of the story
As this is an oral tradition, there are small differences in the details.
Number of gotras: Most accounts say 101 gotras; one blog mentions 96 gotras.
Name of the gem: Some accounts give the name, some say only “a miraculous gem”.
Effect of the curse: Some accounts say that because of the curse they came to be regarded as Vaishya, others as Shudra. The community’s own accounts say that the community never regarded itself as Shudra.
A calculation
The researchers’ view
To be verified
The exact text of this passage in a copy of the Kulapurana (the name of the gem, the name Padmasaka).
Which place “Srirama Agraharam” is, and a date for Parabrahmamurti (Padmabhavacharya).
The names and places of the four mathas (the record of tradition is in Chapter 10; it must be confirmed from manuscripts and inscriptions).
The period of Tata Acharya and Pattabhi Ramaswamy, and the book in which they are recorded.
The oral form in which this story is told in your families.
At a glance
Statement
Category
Brahma’s gem, Padmasaka, Ganapati’s curse
Kulapurana
The penance of Parabrahmamurti; 5,000 years
Kulapurana
101 (or 96) gotras, eight groups, four mathas
Yet to be verified
The Sanskritisation view; the efforts of the Mahasabha
Research record
The explanation of “Brahmin status by conduct”
The community’s self-explanation
Next chapter
12. The colonial period and its records — what Thurston, Rangachari and the Census records say about the Padmasaliyar, and how to read them.
Have a comment or a correction?
If you find an error or a variant in anything here, or have more information, please tell us. Copies of the Kulapurana, old manuscripts, family traditions and village histories are very valuable. It helps if you send the source and the permission along with it.