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{{short description|Tamil caste}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2020}}
{{Use Indian English|date=August 2020}}
{{Infobox caste|caste_name=Ambattar|classification=|languages=[[Tamil language|Tamil]]|religions=[[Hinduism]]|related=[[Tamils]], [[Sri Lankan Tamils]]|subdivisions=}}'''Ambattar''' (also known by many other names) is a [[Tamils|Tamil]] [[caste system in India|caste]] found in the [[India]]n state of [[Tamil Nadu]] and northeastern part of [[Sri Lanka]]. Their traditional occupations are [[physician]]s,[[Midwife|midwives]] and [[barbers]].<ref name="Sinha BP">{{Cite book|title=Kayastha in making of modern Bihar|last=Sinha|first=BP|publisher=Impression Publisher|year=2003|location=Patna|pages=14–15|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?&id=_yhFAAAAYAAJ&dq|title=Rural change in southeast India: 1950s to 1980s|last=Gough|first=Kathleen|date=1989|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=|isbn=|location=|pages=|language=en}}</ref><ref name="Béteille 1965">{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/casteclasspowerc0000bete|url-access=registration|title=Caste, Class, and Power: Changing Patterns of Stratification in a Tanjore Village|last=Béteille|first=André|last2=Beteille|first2=Professor Emeritus of Socio Logy Andre|date=1965|publisher=University of California Press|year=|isbn=9780520020535|location=|pages=[https://archive.org/details/casteclasspowerc0000bete/page/89 89]|language=en}}</ref> Leslie in his comparative study of Asian medical systems explains that '''Vaidya''' title is adopted by members of '''Ambathans''' in Tamil Nadu, only some of them practice medicines and are more highly esteemed than the others who are barbers.<ref name="Leslie2">{{cite book|last=Leslie|first=Charles M.|title=Asian Medical Systems: A Comparative Study|year=1998|publisher=Motilal Banarasidass Publishers|isbn=81-208-1537-8|url=https://books.google.co.in/books?id=pcgQSKFL-DsC&pg=PA38&dq=ambastha+kerala&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj4ycfzw9_vAhWbzzgGHSL9AOM4FBDoATAAegQIABAD#v=snippet&q=Ambastha&f=false}}</ref>

== Etymology and synonyms ==
The name ''Ambattar'' is a Tamilised word originally from [[Sanskrit]] word ''[[Ambashtha]]''. The word is derived from the two Sanskrit words ''amba'' meaning "near" and ''stha'' meaning "to stand" thus meaning "one who stands nearby" in reference to their occupation as barbers and physicians.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Menon|first=T. Madhava|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TjVuAAAAMAAJ|title=A handbook of Kerala|last2=Linguistics|first2=International School of Dravidian|date=2002|publisher=International School of Dravidian Linguistics|year=|isbn=9788185692319|location=|pages=764|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Sircar|first=Dineschandra|title=Studies in the Society and Administration of Ancient and Medieval India|date=1967|publisher=Firma K. L. Mukhopadhyay|year=|isbn=|location=|pages=109|language=en}}</ref>

They have also been referred to as ''Maruttuvar, Pariyari'' and ''Vaidiyar'', which are all synonyms for physicians.<ref name="Béteille 1965" /><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OugcAQAAMAAJ|title=Census of India, 1961: Madras|last=General|first=India Office of the Registrar|date=1966|publisher=Manager of Publications|year=|isbn=|location=|pages=7|language=en}}</ref> Other names are also synonymous with Ambattar, including ''Navidhar'', ''Nasuvan'', ''Chakkara Kathi'' and ''Kudimagan''. According to one member of the caste, the name used varies from one village to another.<ref>{{cite book |title=Black Coffee in a Coconut Shell: Caste as Lived Experience |editor1-first=Perumal |editor1-last=Murugan |editor2-first=C. S. |editor2-last=Lakshmi |publisher=SAGE Publishing India |year=2017 |isbn=978-9-35280-499-3 |page=75|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7RpBDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT75}}</ref>

== History ==
=== Myth ===
According to ''[[Manusmriti]]'', an ancient Hindu text, the Ambattar or [[Ambashtha]] are the offspring of a [[Brahmin]] father and a [[Vaishya]] mother.<ref name="Ridgeon">{{cite book|last=Ridgeon|first=Lloyd|title=Major World Religions: From Their Origins To The Present|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HFKBAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA45|publisher=RoutledgeCurzon|year=2003|page=45|isbn=978-1-13442-935-6}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TekcAAAAMAAJ|title=The Karāva of Ceylon: Society and Culture|last=Raghavan|first=M. D.|date=1961|publisher=K.V.G. De Sīlva|year=|isbn=|location=|pages=89|language=en}}</ref>

=== Ancient India ===
Mukharji explains that the term was also used for identifying certain ethnic groups in ancient Indian history and protohistory. They find contemporary mention in Indian, Greek and Roman sources.<ref name="PBMukharji">{{cite book|last=Mukharji|first=Projit Bihari|title=Doctoring Traditions: Ayurveda, Small Technologies, and Braided Sciences|url=https://books.google.co.in/books?id=bzPqDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA45&dq=ambastha+ayurved&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiTvrTQ8uzvAhXw8XMBHUJ-BTw4ChDoATABegQICRAD#v=onepage&q=ambastha%20ayurved&f=false}}</ref> An Ambashtha king named Narada has been mentioned in Aitreya Brahama in 500 BC. Greek and Roman sources also mention a republic kingdom of Ambashtha people in the Chenab region during the time of [[Alexander]]'s invasion. The epic Mahabharata mentions Ambashtha living in Punjab region and Brihaspati Artha Shashtra mentions their region between Kashmir and Sind. Later around 140 AD, [[Ptolemy]] mentions Ambashtha settlement in Mekala region, so does Markandeya Purana and Brihat Samhita. These sources support their chronological southward migration till Mekala. BP Sinha, an eminent archeologist, details the bifurcation in their migration from Mekala in present-day Madhya Pradesh. One eastward from Mekala and the other towards southward (called Ambattar). From Mekala the Ambashtha appear to migrate to Bihar and concentrated today in that region, mostly in central districts of Bihar. A community called Ambashtha exists as a sub-caste of [[Kayastha]] in Bihar. Sinha further details that some migrated to Bengal also and a community called [[Baidya|Vaidya]] exists there which according to the code of Manu set for the profession of physicians.<ref name="Sinha BP"/> Thereby making the Ambattar distantly related to [[Baidya]] and [[Kayastha]] of northern India.

=== Migration ===
Sinha suggests that the Ambashtha who migrated southward initially carried out the profession of physicians but later took up other professions such as that of barbers. The social life of Tamil Ambashtha is regulated by Brahmanical code, who act as priest in their marriage ceremonies. Like the orthodox North-Indian upper castes, traditionally widow remarriage was not there and the dead are cremated. They perform as priests in marriage ceremonies of the Vellas of Salem district. They may be Shaiva or Vaishnava. The Vaishnava abstain from meat, fish and liquor. Their population is quite large in Salem district. Similar group is also found in South Travencore who work as physicians, midwives, barbers and priests. They have respectable social status. Ambashtha held high positions during [[Chalukya]] and [[Pandya]] kingdoms.<ref name="Sinha BP"/>

=== Early Tamil history ===
The [[Siddhar]]s, the ancient Tamil physicians who claimed to have attained ''[[siddhi]]'', hailed mostly from the Ambattar community.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wygbAAAAIAAJ|title=Madras District Gazetteers: Tiruchirappalli (pt. 1-2)|last=State)|first=Madras (India |last2=Baliga|first2=B. S.|last3=Bahadur.)|first3=B. S. Baliga (Rao|date=1999|publisher=Superintendent, Government Press|year=|isbn=|location=|pages=1447|language=en}}</ref>

=== Sri Lanka ===
According to the folklore of the Ambattar of Sri Lanka, they arrived in the [[Jaffna Kingdom]] as attendants of warriors. Since they came without their wives, they married [[Sri Lankan Vellalar]] women.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The New Wind: Changing Identities in South Asia|last=David|first=Kenneth|date=2011-06-03|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|year=|isbn=9783110807752|location=|pages=189|language=en}}</ref>

== See also ==

* [[Velakkathala Nair]]
* [[Isai Vellalar]]

== References ==
<references />

[[Category:Social groups of Tamil Nadu]]
[[Category:Sri Lankan Tamil castes]]

Ambattar - Revision history

CleanupBot at 04:00, 2 January 2022