Pariah
early 17th century: from Tamil paṛaiyar, plural of paṛaiyan ‘(hereditary) drummer’, from paṛai ‘a drum’.
wiktionary
From Tamil பறையர்(paṟaiyar), from பறையன்(paṟaiyaṉ, “drummer”), from பறை(paṟai, “drum”) or from Malayalam പറയർ(paṟayar), from പറയൻ(paṟayan, “drummer”), from പറ(paṟa, “drum”). Parai in Tamil or Para in Malayalam refers to a type of large drum designed to announce the king’s notices to the public. The people who made a living using the parai were called paraiyar; in the caste-based society they were in the lower strata, hence the derisive paraiah and pariah.
etymonline
pariah (n.)
1610s, "member of a low caste in southern India, shunned as unclean," from Portuguese paria or directly from Tamil (Dravidian) paraiyar, plural of paraiyan "drummer" (at festivals, the hereditary duty of members of the largest of the lower castes of southern India), from parai "large festival drum." "Especially numerous at Madras, where its members supplied most of the domestics in European service" [OED]. Applied by Hindus and Europeans to any members of low Hindu castes and even to outcastes. Extended meaning "social outcast" is attested by 1819.
