Udayar (caste) explained

Caste Name:	Udayar
Religions:	Hinduism, Christianity
Country:	India
Populated States:	Tamil Nadu
Languages:	Tamil
Related:	Tamil people

The Udayar is a title used by multiple caste in the state of Tamil Nadu, India.^[1]

Present status

According to Selva Raj, the Udayar are not "socially humbler" than the Vellalar community^[2] but, together with the Pallar and Kallar, form the Marava castes, who are quite dominant in the region variously known as Ramnad and the Maravar country.^[3]

Religion

In Ramnad and the nearby areas of Pudukottai, Madurai, Salem, Namakkal, Tanjore and Trichy, they and their two fellow Maravar caste groups are prominent in their cult worship of the shrine at Oriyur that commemorates John de Britto, a 17th-century Portuguese Jesuit missionary and martyr. Raj says, "A notable feature of the Britto cult is that it is centered around caste identities rather than religious affiliation", and thus members of the caste-group, irrespective of their religious affiliation regard Britto as their clan-deity.^[4]

Some Udayars are Roman Catholic Christians.^[5]

Notable people

• Channaiah Odeyar (died 2007), Indian politician
• N. Karupanna Odayar, Indian politician
• N. P. V. Ramasamy Udayar (1936–1998), Indian industrialist
• T. S. Swaminatha Odayar, Indian politician

Further reading

• Geoffrey . Burkhart . Ranges of Endogamy in a Tamil Group . Indian Anthropologist . 2 . 1 . June 1972 . 1–6 . 41919203.
• On the absence of descent groups among some Udayars of South India . Geoffrey . Burkhart . 10.1177/006996677601000102 . Contributions to Indian Sociology . January 1976 . 10 . 1 . 31–61. 143260084 .

Notes and References

1. Web site: List of Backward Classes Approved.
2. Book: Raj, Selva J.. Sacred Play: Ritual Levity and Humor in South Asian Religions. SUNY Press. 2010. 9781438429793. Raj. Selva J.. 87. Serious Levity at the Shrine of St. Anne in South India. 2012-05-01. Dempsey. Corinne G..
3. Book: Raj, Selva J. . Transgressing Boundaries, Transcending Turner: The Pilgrimage Tradition at the Shrine of St. John de Britto . Popular Christianity in India: Riting Between the Lines . Selva J. . Raj . Corinne G. . Dempsey . SUNY Press . 2002 . 86 . 9780791455197 . 2012-05-01.
4. Book: Raj, Selva J. . Transgressing Boundaries, Transcending Turner: The Pilgrimage Tradition at the Shrine of St. John de Britto . Popular Christianity in India: Riting Between the Lines . Selva J. . Raj . Corinne G. . Dempsey . SUNY Press . 2002 . 87 . 978-0-79145-519-7 . https://books.google.com/books?id=zv42cV5dQmYC&pg=PA87.
5. Book: Communities Panchayats and Governance at Grassroots. Palanithurai. Ganapathy. Ragupathy. Varadarajan. Concept Publishing Company. 2008. 9788180695636. 138. 2012-05-01.