Why are Brahman Temple Priests Highest in the Caste Hierarchy? : A Case of Chidambaram Natarāja Temple, South India

ship revolving around the concepts of purity and impurity.If the ranking of castes is to be explained by means of the concepts of purity and impurity, does this mean, then, that the power ladder grounded in political and economic factors does not exist?This is not the case, and Dumont recognizes that even in a caste society one cannot disregard factors such as political power and economic dominance.But it is not possible to comprehend caste society by such means, since the reason that the Brahman caste occupies the highest position in the caste hierarchy does not lie in its power or in the amount of land that it owns, but is to be sought in a religious cause, namely, its superior purity.In the words of Dumont, the ideology of purity and impurity "encompasses" political and economic factors.According to Dumont, Indian society is a world of relationships.This is because castes are not exclusive groups, but are marked by interdependence, and this interdependence is ensured by a gravitation towards the "whole."Dumont writes as follows: "The caste isolates itself by submission to the whole, like an arm which does not wish to marry its cells to those of the stomach."(Dumont 1980: 41) In other words, castes too, which would appear to be discrete entities observing the principle of mutual nonintervention, 'isolate themselves for the very reason that they submit to the "whole."In their relations with the whole, the castes are not in a relationship of conflict and competition with one another, but in a relationship of interdependence.This means that upper castes and lower,castes stand in a complementary relationship that presupposes a hierarchy.By introducing the concept of the "whole," Dumont discovered between upper castes and lower castes, which would appear to be related to one another by mutual exclusion, a relationship of interdependence.Underlying this is a religious concept involving a hierarchy Qf purity and impurity.But a closer examination of Dumont's caste theory reveals a second relationship of interdependence that can also not be disregarded.This concerns the relationship, alluded to above, between religion'on the one hand and politics and economics on the other.Dumont does state that on the whole the relationship between the two is that of one encompassing the other, but when explaining the concrete example of, for instance, the relationship between the "pure" Brahman caste and the dominant caste,of landowners, who wield power, he does not employ the ideology of purity and iMpurity, but instead introduces the logic of var4a, closely related to the class system of ancient Indian society." Vicir4a" refers to four classes, consisting of brahmana (priests), ksatrtya (kings and warriors), vaisy'a (merchants, peasants, etc.), and s'u-dra (serfs).According to Dumdnt, the relationship between Brahmans and the'dominant caste in contemporary India cannot be understood without taking into account the relationship between the brahma4a and ksatrtya in ancient times.This was a relationship whereby, through their solidarity, these two classes ruled all else.The brdhma4a required the patronage of the ksatrtya, while in'exercising his power the ksatrtya needed the religious sanction of the brOhma4a.A similar relationship may also be found between Brahmans and the dominant