Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 20:28, 19 August 2016

(கள்ளர்), Meaning "Brave People" The Caste who makes the History of Tamilnadu, The Imperial clan is one of the three castes which constitute the Mukkulathor confederacy. "a fearless community show many signs of independence and non-submission to any form of subjugation".There are Abundant records pertaining to this clan, where the Peoples ruled from unknown antiquity (Chola, Thondaiman) till the independence of india, The Kallar King Raja Rajagopala Thondaiman (1928 -1948) was the only king of Tamilnadu Rulling Pudhukkotai even after independence. Kallars are found largely in Thanjavur (40 % of Tanjavur Population), Trichy, Pudukkottai, Theni, Madurai, Dindigul, Sivagangai, Karur, kanchipuram, and Ramanathapuram districts of Tamil Nadu.

Mukkulathor (Thevar)

Mukkulathor Means Three clans (Kallar, Maravar and Agamudayar) Combinedly called as Thevar (Estimated population 1,30,00,000). Kallar, Maravar and Agamudayar are siblings and the Descendents of the Three clans chera, chola and Pandian. Thevar (Derived from Sanskrit Devar) means God early days Kings were portrayed as god and called as Thevar. Later the descendents of Muvenders were called as Thevars. Pasumpon Muthuramalinga Thevar, is the Undisputable Leader of Mukkulathor (From Subcaste – Maravar). Kallar MeaningKallar Means "Brave People", Historians postulate the word Kallar Derived from Kalla means Black in Sanscrit and Tamil (கள்வனென்கிளவி கரியோனென்ப' - திவாகரம்} Historians postulate Dravidians were called by Aryans as Kalla.

Kalavar Means People who fight in Kalam(Battlefield), Kalavali Narpathu (களவழி நாற்பது), Tamil literature of the post-Sangam age Praises Kalavar and Kalam.

A king Named Pulli was Mentioned as Kallar Kooman Pulli in Purananuru.

A pandian King was mentioned as Kallar Perumagan Thennavan

A muthiraiyar King was Mentioned as Kallar Kalvan Perumbidugu Muthirayan.

Indiran or devendiaran (Devar) also Mentioned as Kalla

Thirumal is also stated Mal to meant he is Black In olden days Black Dravidians were stated as Kalla to state their Bravery.

Many Historians postulate Kallar Means Black, to state their Bravery and to relate their the lineage from Chola and Pallava.

M.Srinivasa Iyengar (ம. சீனிவாசையங்கார்)

N.M Venkataswmy Nattar (நாவலர் பண்டித ந மு வேங்கடசாமி நாட்டார் )

Vengaswamy Rao (வெங்காசாமி ராவ்)

Dr.Barnal

Etymology

Kallar is a Tamil language word meaning "thief". Their history has included periods of banditry. Other proposed etymological origins include "black skinned", "hero", and "toddy-tappers".

The anthropologist Susan Bayly notes that the name, as with that of Maravar, was a title bestowed by Tamil poligars (warrior-chiefs) on pastoral peasants who acted as their armed retainers. The majority of those poligars, who during the late 17th- and 18th-centuries controlled much of the Telugu region as well as the Tamil area, had themselves come from the Kallar, Maravar and Vaduga communities. Kallar is synonymous with the western Indian term, Koli, having connotations of thievery but also of upland pastoralism. According to Bayly, Kallar should be considered a "title of rural groups in Tamil Nadu with warrior-pastoralist ancestral traditions".

Caste origins

Bayly notes that the Kallar and Maravar identities as a caste, rather than as a title, "... were clearly not ancient facts of life in the Tamil Nadu region. Insofar as these people of the turbulent poligar country really did become castes, their bonds of affinity were shaped in the relatively recent past". Prior to the late 18th-century, their exposure to Brahmanic Hinduism, the concept of varna and practices such as endogamy that define the Indian caste system was minimal. Thereafter, the evolution as a caste developed as a result of various influences, including increased interaction with other groups as a consequence of jungle clearances, state-building and ideological shifts.

Culture

Among the traditional customs of the Kallar noted by colonial officials was the use of the "collery stick" (Template:Lang-ta), a bent throwing stick or "false boomerang" which could be thrown up to 100 yards. Writing in 1957, Louis Dumont noted that despite the weapon's frequent mention in literature, it had disappeared amongst the Pramalai Kallar.

Diet

The Kallar were traditionally a non-vegetarian people, though a 1970s survey of Tamil Nadu indicated that 30% of Kallar surveyed, though non-vegetarian, refrained from eating fish after puberty. Meat, though present in the Kallar diet, was not frequently eaten but restricted to Saturday nights and festival days. Even so, this small amount of meat was sufficient to affect perceptions of Kallar social status.

Martial arts

The Kallars, along with the Nadars and Thevars, traditionally practised a Tamil martial art variously known as adi murai, chinna adi and varna ati. In recent years, since 1958, these have been referred to as Southern-style Kalaripayattu, although they are distinct from the ancient martial art of Kalaripayattu itself that was historically the style found in Kerala.

References

1. Dirks, Nicholas B. (1993). The Hollow Crown: Ethnohistory of an Indian Kingdom (2nd ed.). University of Michigan Press. p. 242. ISBN 9780472081875.
2. Kuppuram, G. (1988). India through the ages: history, art, culture, and religion, Volume 1. Sundeep Prakashan. p. 366.
3. ^ Bayly, Susan (2001). Caste, Society and Politics in India from the Eighteenth Century to the Modern Age. Cambridge University Press. p. 39. ISBN 978-0-521-79842-6.
4. ^ Bayly, Susan (2001). Caste, Society and Politics in India from the Eighteenth Century to the Modern Age. Cambridge University Press. p. 61. ISBN 978-0-521-79842-6.
5. Bayly, Susan (2001). Caste, Society and Politics in India from the Eighteenth Century to the Modern Age. Cambridge University Press. p. 385. ISBN 978-0-521-79842-6.
6. Sir Henry Yule; Arthur Coke Burnell (1903). Hobson-Jobson: a glossary of colloquial Anglo-Indian words and phrases, and of kindred terms, etymological, historical, geographical and discursive. J. Murray. pp. 236–. Retrieved 21 March 2012.
7. Louis Dumont; A. Stern; Michael Moffatt (1986). A South Indian subcaste: social organization and religion of the Pramalai Kallar. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 21 March 2012.
8. Criminal gods and demon devotees: essays on the guardians of popular Hinduism - Alf Hiltebeitel
9. Food, ecology, and culture: readings in the anthropology of dietary practices - John R. K. Robson - Google Books
10. A South Indian subcaste: social organization and religion of the Pramalai Kallar - Louis Dumont, A. Stern, Michael Moffatt - Google Books
11. Zarilli, Philip B. (2001). "India". In Green, Thomas A. (ed.). Martial Arts of the World: An Encyclopedia. A – L. Vol. 1. ABC-CLIO. p. 177. ISBN 978-1-57607-150-2.

• Mukkulathor