Udayar (caste)
The Udayar also called Parkavakulam is a caste found in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. They are composed of various sub groups such as Srutiman, Nathaman, Malayaman, Moopanar and Nainar.[1]
| Udayar or Parkavakulam | |
|---|---|
| Religions | Hinduism, Christianity |
| Languages | Tamil |
| Country | India |
| Original state | Tamil Nadu |
| Populated states | Tamil Nadu |
| Related groups | Tamil people, Velir |
Etymology
The word Udayar in Tamil means Lord or Possessor as in Possessor of land or kingdom.[2][3]
Origin
Malayaman was the hereditary title of the Velir chiefs of Miladu who served as feudatories of the Medieval Cholas. They ruled with Tirukoilur as their capital. The most famous among them was Malayaman Thirumudi Kaari.[4] It is of interest to note that the mother of Rajaraja Chola I was a princess of Malayaman family.[5] Similarly the title Srutiman was borne by many officials of the Chola dynasty, for example, the chief of the elephant corps of Rajaraja Chola I was one Srutiman Nakkan Chandiran.[6] Their primary occupation seems to have been agriculture as they are recorded as cultivators of the left-hand class in an inscription (dated 1218 CE) of Kulothunga Chola III.[7]
Present Status
According to Selva Raj, the Udayar are "socially humbler" than the Vellalar community[8] 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.[9]
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.[10]
See also
References
- V. Annamalai. Formation and Transformation of Power in Rural India. Discovery Publishing House, 1996 - Panchayat - 179 pages. p. 70.
- Kumar Suresh Singh; R. Thirumalai; S. Manoharan. Tamil Nadu, Part 2, Volume 40 of People of India, Kumar Suresh Singh, Volume 2 of People of India: Tamil Nadu, Anthropological Survey of India, Volume 40 of State series, Tamil Nadu, Anthropological Survey of India. Affiliated East-West Press [for] Anthropological Survey of India, 1997. p. 1183.
- P. Arunachalam, Sir Ponnambalam Arunachalam. Polonnaruwa Bronzes and Siva Worship and Symbolism. Asian Educational Services, 2004 - Art - 34 pages. p. 4.
- V. Kanakasabhai. The Tamils Eighteen Hundred Years Ago. Asian Educational Services, 1989 - Tamil (Indic people) - 240 pages. p. 102.
- Raj Pruthi; Rameshwari Devi; Romila Pruthi (1999). "Feminism". Encyclopaedia of Status and Empowerment of Women in India: Status and position of women in ancient, medieval and modern India. Mangal Deep Publications. p. 175.
- Ramesh Chandra Majumdar. The History and Culture of the Indian People: The struggle for empire. G. Allen 8 Unwin, 1951 - India. p. 165.
- Indian History Congress. Proceedings, Volume 37. p. 109.
- Raj, Selva J. (2010). "Serious Levity at the Shrine of St. Anne in South India". In Raj, Selva J.; Dempsey, Corinne G. (eds.). Sacred Play: Ritual Levity and Humor in South Asian Religions. SUNY Press. p. 87. ISBN 9781438429793. Retrieved 2012-05-01.
- Raj, Selva J. (2002). "Transgressing Boundaries, Transcending Turner: The Pilgrimage Tradition at the Shrine of St. John de Britto". In Raj, Selva J.; Dempsey, Corinne G. (eds.). Popular Christianity in India: Riting Between the Lines. SUNY Press. p. 86. ISBN 9780791455197. Retrieved 2012-05-01.
- Raj, Selva J. (2002). "Transgressing Boundaries, Transcending Turner: The Pilgrimage Tradition at the Shrine of St. John de Britto". In Raj, Selva J.; Dempsey, Corinne G. (eds.). Popular Christianity in India: Riting Between the Lines. SUNY Press. p. 87. ISBN 978-0-79145-519-7.
- Palanithurai, Ganapathy; Ragupathy, Varadarajan (2008). Communities Panchayats and Governance at Grassroots. Concept Publishing Company. p. 138. ISBN 9788180695636. Retrieved 2012-05-01.
Further reading
- Burkhart, Geoffrey (June 1972). "Ranges of Endogamy in a Tamil Group". Indian Anthropologist. 2 (1): 1–6. JSTOR 41919203.
- Burkhart, Geoffrey (January 1976). "On the absence of descent groups among some Udayars of South India". Contributions to Indian Sociology. 10 (1): 31–61. doi:10.1177/006996677601000102.