Maravar

Tamil community in Tamil Nadu

Maravar

Bhaskara Sethupathi, former Marava ruler of Ramnad kingdom

Regions with significant populations
India: Ramnad, Madurai, Tirunelveli regions of Tamil Nadu
Languages
Tamil
Religion
Hinduism
Related ethnic groups
Kallar, Agamudayar, Tamil people

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[edit]

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[edit]

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][citation needed] The Maravas to this day are feared as a thieving tribe and are an ostracised group in Tirunelveli region.[18][19]

## See also[edit]

* Uthumalai
* Kallar
* Agamudayar

## References[edit]

1. ^ Dirks, Nicholas B. (1993). The Hollow Crown: Ethnohistory of an Indian Kingdom. University of Michigan Press. p. 73\. ISBN 978-0-47208-187-5.
2. ^ Neill, Stephen (2004). A History of Christianity in India: The Beginnings to AD 1707. Cambridge University Press. p. 76\. ISBN 978-0-52154-885-4.
3. ^ Hardgrave, Robert L. (1969). The Nadars of Tamilnad: The Political Culture of a Community in Change. University of California Press. p. 280.
4. ^ Pandian, Anand (2009). Crooked Stalks: Cultivating Virtue in South India. Duke University Press. p. 286\. ISBN 978-0-82239-101-2.
5. ^ "List of Backward Classes Approved".
6. ^ Pamela G. Price (14 March 1996). Kingship and Political Practice in Colonial India. Cambridge University Press, 14-Mar-1996 - History - 220 pages. p. 26\. ISBN 9780521552479.
7. ^ Ramaswamy, Vijaya (2007). Women and Work in Precolonial India: A Reader. Sage Publications. p. 74\. ISBN 9789351507406.
8. ^ Dirks, Nicholas (2007). The Hollow Crown: Ethnohistory of an Indian Kingdom. University of Michigan Press. p. 74\. ISBN 9780472081875.
9. ^ Balasubramanian, R (2001). Social and Economic Dimensions of Caste Organisations in South Indian States. University of Madras. p. 88.
10. ^ Oscar Salemink, Peter Pels (2002). Colonial Subjects. Wiesbaden. p. 160\. ISBN 0472087460.
11. ^ Ferro-Luzzi, Gabriella Eichinger (2002). The Maze of fantasy in Tamil folktales. Wiesbaden. p. Glossary. ISBN 9783447045681.
12. ^ VenkatasubramanianIndia, T. K. (1986). Political Change and Agrarian Tradition in South India, C. 1600-1801: A Case Study. Mittal Publications. p. 49.
13. ^ Bayly, Susan (2004). Saints, Goddesses and Kings Muslims and Christians in South Indian Society, 1700-1900. Taylor and Francis. p. 213\. ISBN 9780521372015.
14. ^ Ramaswamy, Vijaya (2007). Historical dictionary of the Tamils. Scarecrow Press. p. 143\. ISBN 978-0-8108-5379-9.
15. ^ Singer, Milton B.; Cohn, Bernard S. (1970). Structure and Change in Indian Society. Transaction Publishers. ISBN 978-0-202-36933-4.
16. ^ Stuart, Andrew John (1879). A Manual of the Tinnevelly District in the Presidency of Madras. E. Keys, at the Government Press. p. 24.
17. ^ Price, Pamela (1996). Kingship and Political Practice in Colonial India. University of Cambridge. p. 62\. ISBN 9780521552479.
18. ^ a b Ramasamy, Vijaya (2016). Women and work in Precolonial India. SAGE. p. 62\. ISBN 9789351507406.
19. ^ Parkin, Robert (2001). Perilous Transactions. Sikshasandhan. p. 130\. ISBN 9788187982005.

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