Maravar
Tamil community in Tamil Nadu From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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]
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 |
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. 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]
Notable people
- Pasumpon Muthuramalinga Thevar, freedom fighter[20]
See also
References
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