Sanskritization and Tamil Castes: Karaiyar an example

Topic started by Raveen S. Nathan (@ ) on Thu Feb 24 15:31:30 .
All times in EST +10:30 for IST.

There is a caste called as Karaiyar/Karave in India and Sri Lanka. They claim like many other OBCs) that they are of Aryan Kashtriya origin. Other examples are Nadar, Vanniar, Maravar, Goundar, Telugu Chettys etc., practically all Tamils claim immigrant Aryan status in one form or the other including Sengunthar the caste in which Dravidian movement leader Annadurai was born in.
Karaiyar becoming Kauravas is a classic case of made up folk etymology in which purely dravidian people claim Aryan origin also known as Sanskritization.

Karave/Karayar is a composite caste. That means many nations, clans and tribes have assumed this caste title due to many reasons.

Before Tamils/Dravidians converted to Hinduism they did not have castes but had Tribes and Clans. Ancestors of Karai(ar) caste were simply put dwellers of the coast (Karai - In Tamil, Kara in Malayalam/Divehi) These coast dwellers were rulers, fishermen, pearliers, (overseas) traders who had common totemic tribal origin(s).

Once Tamils and other South Indians converted to Hinduism after the 9th century A.D there was a race in earnest to find Aryan roots among the Sudras (All South Indians became Sudras as new converts) to socially upgrade them.

Folk etymology of Karaiyar claimed that they are "Kaurava" Kshatriya Aryans from north India just like Komati Cheetis claimed Arya Vysya origin and Reddys calimed Arya Kshatriya origin.

As Karaiyars originally were a coastal people many among them were powerful petty rulers due to the monopoly they had over trade, pearling, fishing etc. But it does not mean that every Karai person was a ruler. There were rulers and subjects like in any normal society.

Once some Karaiyar migrated to Sri Lanka they were able to use this myth about Aryan origin to assimilate with the Indo-Aryan Buddhist Singhalese as a caste of Singhalese. But this assimilation happened only because the Portuguese converted most of the coastal people in Sri Lanka including the Singhalese to Roman Catholic religion. This process eliminated the cultural impediment to assimilation. During the last 100 years many Catholic coastal Singhalese including the assimilated Karaiyar (Karave in Singhalese) have become Buddhist thus completing this Singhalization process.

Those Karaiyar who remained faithful to their ancestral religion are still known as Tamils. Karaiyar in the North and East as well one single surviving village in the west (Udappu in Tamil and Udappuva in Singhalese) close to Negambo have remained faithful to their ancestral Hindu religion and are still called as Tamils and pay a price due to that in the current civil war. It is a paradoxical war in which many Karave are fighting and killing fellow Karaiyar just because one segmant has been able to assimilate with the majority community.

Udappu has a popular temple dedicated to Draupati (Amman), a popular character from the Mahabharat epic to which the local Hindus pay homage. This shows how this popular folk etymology of Karaiyar origin from Kaurava/Kuru, a legendary tribe from Mahabharat epic has penetrated the popular culture of these people.
The following site is created to maintain this myth, which has no real historical, anthropological, and archeological basis except in the hearts and minds of some people.

http://www.freetown.com/TheWaterFront/HarborHighway/1076

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