Maravar Explained
Maravar (also known as Maravan and Marava) are a Tamil community in the state of Tamil Nadu. These people are one of the three branches of the Mukkulathor confederacy.[1] Members of the Maravar community often use the honorific title Thevar.[2] [3] [4] They are classified as an Other Backward Class or a Denotified Tribe in Tamil Nadu, depending on the district.[5]
The Sethupathi rulers of the erstwhile Ramnad kingdom were from this community.[6] The Maravar community, along with the Kallars, had a reputation for thieving and robbery from as early as the medieval period.[7] [8] [9] [10] [11]
Etymology
The term Maravar has diverse proposed etymologies;[12] it may come simply from a Tamil word maram, meaning such things as vice and murder.[13] or a term meaning "bravery".[14]
Social status
The Maravars were considered as Shudras and were free to worship in Hindu temples.[15] According to Pamela G, Price, the Maravar were warriors who were in some cases zamindars. During the British colonial era, the Maravars were sometimes recorded as Kshatriyas by the legal officers involved in Zamindari litigation proceedings but more often they classified as Shudras. Maravars were the only ruling castes of Tamil origin in Tamil Nadu. The zamins of Singampatti, Urkadu, Nerkattanseval, Thalavankottai, all ruled by members of Maravar caste.[16] Occasionally the Setupathis had to respond to the charge they were not ritually pure.[17]
During the formation of Tamilaham, the Maravars were brought in as socially outcast tribes or traditionally as lowest entrants into the shudra category.[18] The Maravas to this day are feared as a thieving tribe and are an ostracised group in Tirunelveli region.[19] [20]
Notable people
See also
Notes and References
- Book: Dirks, Nicholas B. . Nicholas Dirks
. The Hollow Crown: Ethnohistory of an Indian Kingdom . University of Michigan Press . 1993 . 978-0-47208-187-5 . 73 . Nicholas Dirks.
- Book: Neill, Stephen . Stephen Neill
. A History of Christianity in India: The Beginnings to AD 1707 . Stephen Neill . Cambridge University Press . 2004 . 978-0-52154-885-4 . 76.
- Book: Hardgrave, Robert L. . The Nadars of Tamilnad: The Political Culture of a Community in Change . University of California Press . 1969 . 280.
- Book: Pandian, Anand . Crooked Stalks: Cultivating Virtue in South India . Duke University Press . 2009 . 978-0-82239-101-2 . 286.
- Web site: List of Backward Classes Approved.
- Book: Kingship and Political Practice in Colonial India. Pamela G. Price. 14 March 1996. Cambridge University Press, 14-Mar-1996 - History - 220 pages. 26. 9780521552479.
- Book: Ramaswamy, Vijaya . 2007. Women and Work in Precolonial India: A Reader. 74. Sage Publications. 9789351507406 .
- Book: Dirks, Nicholas . 2007. The Hollow Crown: Ethnohistory of an Indian Kingdom. 74. University of Michigan Press. 9780472081875 .
- Book: Balasubramanian, R . 2001. Social and Economic Dimensions of Caste Organisations in South Indian States . 88. University of Madras.
- Book: Oscar Salemink, Peter Pels . 2002. Colonial Subjects. 160. Wiesbaden. 0472087460 .
- Book: Ferro-Luzzi, Gabriella Eichinger . Gabriella Eichinger Ferro-Luzzi . 2002. The Maze of fantasy in Tamil folktales. Glossary. Wiesbaden. 9783447045681 .
- Book: VenkatasubramanianIndia, T. K. . Political Change and Agrarian Tradition in South India, C. 1600-1801: A Case Study . 1986 . Mittal Publications . 49.
- Book: Bayly, Susan. 2004. Saints, Goddesses and Kings Muslims and Christians in South Indian Society, 1700-1900. 213. Taylor and Francis. 9780521372015 .
- Book: Ramaswamy, Vijaya . Historical dictionary of the Tamils. 2007. Scarecrow Press. 978-0-8108-5379-9. 143.
- Book: Singer. Milton B.. Structure and Change in Indian Society. Cohn. Bernard S.. 1970. Transaction Publishers. 978-0-202-36933-4. en.
- Book: Stuart, Andrew John . 1879. A Manual of the Tinnevelly District in the Presidency of Madras . 24 . E. Keys, at the Government Press .
- Book: Price, Pamela . 1996. Kingship and Political Practice in Colonial India. 62. University of Cambridge. 9780521552479 .
- Book: Ramasamy, Vijaya . 2016. Women and work in Precolonial India. 62. SAGE. 9789351507406 .
- Book: Ramasamy, Vijaya . 2016. Women and work in Precolonial India. 62. SAGE. 9789351507406 .
- Book: Parkin, Robert . 2001. Perilous Transactions. 130. Sikshasandhan . 9788187982005 .
- Book: [[Eugene F. Irschick]] . Tamil Revivalism in the 1930s. 1986. Cre-A. 239. en.
