https://indianpedia.org/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=ChettiarChettiar - Revision history2026-07-30T07:08:22ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.45.4https://indianpedia.org/index.php?title=Chettiar&diff=398491&oldid=prevAjay Kumar at 14:37, 23 July 20232023-07-23T14:37:14Z<p></p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{Short description|South Indian title}}<br />
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2015}}<br />
{{Use Indian English|date=November 2015}}<br />
{{redirect-multi|3|Chetty|Chetti|Chetties|the Sri Lankan community|Sri Lankan Chetties}}<br />
[[File:Kanadukathan Chettinadu Palace entrance - chettinadu architecture.jpg|thumb|Kanadukathan Chettinadu Palace, an example of Chettinadu architecture.]]<br />
'''Chettiar''' (also spelt as '''Chetti''' and '''Chetty''') is a title used by many traders, weaving, agricultural and land-owning [[caste]]s in [[South India]], especially in the [[States and union territories of India|Indian states]] of [[Tamil Nadu]], [[Kerala]] and [[Karnataka]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.outlookindia.com/article/chettiar-band-avm-to-fm/282336 |title=Chettiar Band, AVM To FM|work=Outlook |access-date=2016-04-09}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2003-08-19/news/27516947_1_tamil-nadu-banking-southern-film-industry |title=Chettiars reign where wealth meets godliness |work=The Economic Times |access-date=2016-04-09}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://bangaloremirror.indiatimes.com/bangalore/others/kp-vishwanath-sir-m-puttanna-chetty-town-hall-bbmp/articleshow/28562233.cms |title=BBMP move shocking: Puttanna Chetty's grandson}}</ref><br />
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== Etymology ==<br />
Chettiar/Chetty is derived from the [[Sanskrit]] word {{IAST|Śreṣṭha}} ([[Devanagari]]: श्रेष्ठ) or {{IAST|Śreṣṭhin}} ([[Devanagari]]: श्रेष्ठीन्) meaning superior, [[Prakrit]]ised as {{IAST|Seṭhī}} ([[Devanagari]]: सेठी), and then {{IAST|Śeṭ}} ([[Devanagari]]: शेट) or {{IAST|Śeṭī}} ([[Devanagari]]: शेटी) in modern Indo-Aryan dialects.<ref>{{cite book |first=Ayesha |last=Jalal |title=Democracy and Authoritarianism in South Asia: A Comparative and Historical Perspective |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mHPok4epvlIC&q=South+india |year=1995 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-47862-5 |page=204}}</ref><ref name="isbn_978-0-521-22692-9 pages 27-28">{{cite book |first1=Tapan |last1=Raychaudhuri |first2=Irfan |last2=Habib |author-link2=Irfan Habib |first3=Dharma |last3=Kumar |title=The Cambridge Economic History of India: c.1200–c.1750 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L-s8AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA26 |year=1982 |publisher=Cambridge University Press Archive |isbn=978-0-521-22692-9 |pages=27–28}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |date=1909|volume=12|title= The Dawn and Dawn Society's Magazine|publisher=Lall Mohan Mullick |location=Calcutta|page=91|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o7Q5AQAAIAAJ&q=chettiar}}:”In all the early Indian literatures, the word is applied to a very wealthy class of merchants, who invariably belonged to the Vysya class”</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Belle|first=Carl Vadivella|year=2017 |title= Thaipusam in Malaysia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kB1qDwAAQBAJ&q=chettiar+sudra&pg=PT126 |location=Singapore|publisher=ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute|isbn=9789814695756}}:”Although the Chettiars were originally a Sudra caste, in more recent times they have made claim to be considered as Vaisyas.”</ref><ref name="Pārttacārati2008">{{cite book|author=Intirā Pārttacārati|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-T4aAQAAIAAJ|title=Ramanujar: The Life and Ideas of Ramanuja|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2008|isbn=978-0-19-569161-0|page=98|quote=The Chetti, Vaisya, or merchant caste}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Nwu3AAAAIAAJ|title=Population Review|date=1975|publisher=Indian Institute for Population Studies|pages=26|language=en}}</ref><br />
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== See also ==<br />
* [[Nagarathar]]<br />
* [[Vallanattu Chettiar]]<br />
* [[Twenty four Manai Telugu Chettiars]]<br />
* [[Devanga|Devanga Chettiar]]<br />
* [[Pattanavar]]<br />
* [[Chitty]]<br />
* [[Kandangi|Kandangi sari]]<br />
* [[Pattusali]]<br />
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== References ==<br />
{{reflist}}<br />
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== Further reading ==<br />
* Christine Dobson, ''Asian Entrepreneurial Minorities,'' Curzon Press UK, 1996. (A chapter in the book is devoted to the Chettiars who set up businesses in Burma.)<br />
* Rajeswary Brown (1993) "Chettiar capital and Southeast Asian credit networks in the inter-war period". In G. Austin and K. Sugihara, eds. ''Local Suppliers of Credit in the Third World, 1750-1960''. (New York: St. Martin's Press).<br />
*{{cite book |chapter=Marwari and Chettiar Merchants. 1850s-1950s: Comparative Trajectories |first=Medha M. |last=Kudaisya |title=Chinese and Indian Business: Historical Antecedents |editor1-first=Medha M. |editor1-last=Kudaisya |editor2-first=Chin-Keong |editor2-last=Ng |publisher=BRILL |location=Leiden |year=2009 |isbn=9789004172791 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eQJfjnWly5wC&pg=PA85}}<br />
* David Rudner (1989) ''Banker's Trust and the Culture of Banking among the Nattukottai Chettiars of Colonial South India''. ''Modern Asian Studies'' 23 (3), 417-458.<br />
* Heiko Schrader (1996) ''Chettiar Finance in Colonial Asia''. ''Zeitschrift fur Ethnologie'' 121, 101-126.<br />
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[[Category:Chettiar| ]]<br />
[[Category:Social groups of Kerala]]<br />
[[Category:Indian surnames]]<br />
[[Category:Sri Lankan Tamil society]]<br />
[[Category:Social groups of Tamil Nadu]]<br />
[[Category:Indian castes]]<br />
[[Category:Merchant castes]]<br />
[[Category:Agricultural castes]]</div>Ajay Kumar