From one Generation to another. Ruptures and continuities in ‘traditional’ knowledge transmission within a Southern Indian community: Ruptures and continuities in ‘traditional’ knowledge transmission within a Southern Indian community

International audienceIn India, the traditional association of a jāti with its occupation is deeply embedded within the caste system. Yet, this social organisation that prevailed in the past is slowly but surely changing, due to social and economic changes that contemporary Indian society has to face. If one cannot deny that the relationship between jāti and occupation does still remain, transmission modalities of the different kinds of knowledge related to a traditional jāti’s occupation are nevertheless deeply changing, whether they are discontinued, or revived in new perspectives. In Tamil Nadu, practice of astrology and indigenous medicine has never been the prerogative of one community, even if these toḻil, castes’ occupations, generally fall to high castes, not to say Brahmins. However, in this south-eastern Indian state, an Ex-Untouchable community, the Valluvars, seems to have a preeminent role in cōciyam and nāṭu-maruttuvam (or nāṭu-maruntu), respectively the practice of astrology and indigenous medicine. Indeed, Valluvars are seen as the best astrologers, cōciyaṉ, as well as the ‘traditional’ physicians, nāṭu-maruttuvaṉ, of Tamil country