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'''Coastal South West India''' is a [[geo-cultural region]] in the [[Indian Subcontinent]] that spans entire Coastal South Western India.<ref name="ref1">Studies in {{IAST|Skanda Purāṇa}}, By Ganesh Vasudeo Tagare, Published 1996 Motilal Banarsidass, {{ISBN|81-208-1260-3}}</ref> The region was referred as ''Sapta Konkan'' region in the [[Skanda Purana]].<ref name="ref1"/>

[[File:Coastal South West India.jpg|thumb|Coastal South West India]]

==Region==

Coastal South West India spans across the entire [[Arabian Sea]] coastline of the Indian subcontinent from the coastline of the [[Gulf of Kutch]] in its westernmost corner and stretches across the [[Gulf of Khambhat]], and through the [[Salsette Island]] and [[Mumbai]] along the [[Konkan]] and southwards across the [[Raigad district|Raigad]] region and through [[Kanara]] and further down through Mangaluru ([[Mangalore]]) and along the [[Malabar Coast|Malabar]] unto the southernmost tip to [[Kanyakumari]] (Cape Comorin). In ancient tradition Coastal South West Indian Subcontinent extends till [[Ceylon]].<ref name="ref1"/>

==People==

The people along coastal south west India exhibit vast diversity along an underlying commonality as a result of long history of contact with [[Western Asia|west Asian]] [[Mediterranean region|Mediterranean]] traders along the Arabian sea coastline.

The region includes [[Gujarati people|Gujarati]]s in the westernmost region, [[Maharashtrians]] and [[Goan]]s along the western coastline, [[Kannadiga]]s in its south western coastline and [[Tulu people|Tuluvas]] and [[Malayali]]s in its southernmost region of [[South India]].

[[File:Indo-Roman trade.jpg|450px|thumb|[[Indo-Roman trade and relations|Roman trade with ancient Coastal South West India]] according to the ''[[Periplus Maris Erythraei]]'' 1st century CE.]]

===Intermingling with the West Asian world===

As a result of the thriving trade between the [[Mediterranean world]] and South West Indian coastline along the Arabian sea,<ref name="Blandstrom">Bjorn Landstrom (1964) "The Quest for India", Double day English Edition, Stockholm.</ref><ref name="Miller">Miller, J. Innes. (1969). The Spice Trade of The Roman Empire: 29 B.C. to A.D. 641. Oxford University Press. Special edition for Sandpiper Books. 1998. {{ISBN|0-19-814264-1}}.</ref><ref name="puthiakunnel">Thomas Puthiakunnel, (1973) "Jewish colonies of India paved the way for St. Thomas", The Saint Thomas Christian Encyclopedia of India, ed. George Menachery, Vol. II., Trichur.</ref><ref name="periples">''Periplus Maris Erythraei'' "The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea", (trans). Wilfred Schoff (1912), reprinted South Asia Books 1995 {{ISBN|81-215-0699-9}}</ref> there has been significant [[intermingling]] between the people of Coastal South West India and the [[Western Asia|west asia]]n world. Several west Asian communities have also settled and become part of the diversity of coastal south west India. These include the [[Parsi]]s,<ref name="Hodivala">Hodivala, S. (1920), Studies in Parsi History, Bombay</ref> [[Mustaali|Bohras]]<ref name="Shibani">The Dawoodi Bohras: an anthropological perspective, by Shibani Roy. Published by B.R. Publishing, 1984.</ref> and [[Baghdadi Jews]]<ref name="Sargon">Sargon, J(1987) 'Baghdadi Jews of India and the Sassoons' in Jewish Daily Israel Today, Perspectiv/Opinion; Tuesday 25 August</ref> in the westernmost region, the [[Bene Israel]] along the South western region the descendants of mediterranean traders along [[Coorg]] and [[Mangalore]], the [[Jonakan Mappila]]s <ref name="malieckal">Bindu Malieckal (2005) Muslims, Matriliny, and A Midsummer Night's Dream: European Encounters with the Mappilas of Malabar, India; The Muslim World Volume 95 Issue 2</ref> along Malabar region, and the [[cochin jews]]<ref name="Blandstrom"/><ref name="Miller"/><ref name="puthiakunnel"/><ref name="malieckal"/><ref name="koder">Koder S. "History of the Jews of Kerala". ''The St. Thomas Christian Encyclopaedia of India'', Eg
. G. Menachery,1973.</ref><ref name="brown">Leslie Brown, (1956) ''The Indian Christians of St. Thomas. An Account of the Ancient Syrian Church of Malabar'', Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1956, 1982 (repr.)</ref><ref name="menachery">Menachery G (1973) The St. Thomas Christian Encyclopedia of India, Ed. George Menachery, B.N.K. Press, vol. 2, {{ISBN|81-87132-06-X}}, Lib. Cong. Cat. Card. No. 73-905568; B.N.K. Press</ref> and [[Syrian Malabar Nasrani|Syriac Nasranis]]<ref name="Blandstrom"/><ref name="Miller"/><ref name="puthiakunnel"/><ref name="malieckal"/><ref name="koder"/><ref name="brown"/><ref name="menachery"/> along the southernmost region of [[South India]].

===Heritage===

The linguistic diversity of the Coastal south west India includes Languages of the [[Dravidian language family]] including [[Malayalam]], [[Tulu language|Tulu]], and [[Kannada]]; languages belonging to the western zone of [[Indo-Iranian languages|Indo Iranian language families]] including [[Gujarati language|Gujarati]], [[Marathi language|Marathi]], [[Konkani]] and languages belonging to the central zone of the Indo-Iranian language families including [[Urdu]] and [[Persian language|Persian]]. The region also has speakers of [[Semitic language]]s like [[Arabic]], [[Hebrew]] and [[Aramaic]]. The common elements of the people of coastal south west India includes [[cuisine]] that consists of agrarian and coastal products and clothing that involves long flowing drapes with bare midriff for both men and women suited for humid and warm climate.<ref name="Boulanger">Boulanger, Chantal; (1997) Saris: An Illustrated Guide to the Indian Art of Draping, Shakti Press International, New York. {{ISBN|0-9661496-1-0}}</ref> Throughout the region women wear drapes called [[Sari|saree]] in various styles.<ref name="Boulanger"/> In the western corner of the region the drapes are called as [[Dhoti]] for men.<ref name="Boulanger"/> and [[Chaniya choli]] for women,<ref name="Boulanger"/> further southwards the drapes are called as [[lungi]] or [[mundu]] for men.<ref name="Boulanger"/> and [[veshti]] for women.<ref name="Boulanger"/> Another common cultural element of coastal south west India includes relatively more role for women in social system.<ref name="Boulanger"/> Towards the southernmost tip of coastal south western India the social system is considerably more [[Matrifocality|matri-focal]] with instances of matrilineal and [[matriarchal]] tradition like amongst the [[Bunt (community)|Bunt]] community of [[Tulu people|Tulus]] and the [[Marumakkathayam]] of the [[nair]]s and a section of [[Mappila]] [[Muslim]]s.<ref name="RLSmith">Smith R.T. (2002) Matrifocality, in International encyclopedia of the social and behavioral sciences (eds) Smelser & Baltes, vol 14, pp 9416.</ref> This is also manifested in feminine deity oriented festivals and rituals celebrating [[Shakti]] or feminine power <ref name="Dikshitar">Dikshitar, V. R. Ramachandra, The Lalita Cult, Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Pvt. Ltd. (Delhi, 1942, 2d ed. 1991, 3d ed. 1999).</ref> like [[Navratri]] festival among the Gujarati People and [[Thiruvathira]] festival among the Malayali people.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{South India topics|state=expanded}}
{{Geography of India}}

[[Category:Regions of India]]

Coastal South West India - Revision history

>SdkbBot at 22:23, 29 June 2021