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'''Idangai''' or the '''left hand''' is a caste-based division of communities in [[Tamil Nadu]], India, that was in vogue from ancient times right up to the 19th and even the early decades of the 20th century AD. Since India's independence, the differences have practically vanished.{{sfnp|Ghurye|1991|p=359|ps=}}{{sfnp|Alcock|D'Altroy|Morrison|Sinopoli|2001|p=269|ps=}} The corresponding division is [[Valangai]].<br />
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== Constituent castes ==<br />
From ancient times, there was intense rivalry between the left-handed and right-handed factions.{{sfnp|Ghurye|1991|p=358|ps=}} The ''Idangai'' faction was numerically inferior to the ''Valangai'' and comprised six castes as opposed to the sixty of the ''Valangai''.{{sfnp|Ghurye|1991|p=359|ps=}} It was also unclear as to which castes constituted each faction. Some castes considered to be left-handed in some areas were regarded as right-handed in others and vice versa.{{sfnp|Yandell|Paul|2000|p=30|ps=}} Roughly speaking, the ''Valangai'' or right-handed faction was made up of castes with an agricultural basis while the ''Idangai'' was made of metal workers, weavers, etc. i.e. castes involved in manufacturing.{{sfnp|Siromoney|1975|ps=}}The core groups in Idangai were the five castes called Anchalar/ Panchalar. i.e.-<br />
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# Kannar<br />
# Thattar<br />
# Asari<br />
# Kollar<br />
# Thachan<br />
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Further castes were added at various times.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/28091/8/08_chapter%205.pdf|title=The Right and Left hand divisions|last=|first=|date=|website=Shodhganga|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=}}</ref><br />
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The ''Valangai'' faction was better organized, politically, than the ''Idangai''.{{sfnp|McGilvray|1982|p=105|ps=}}<br />
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== See also ==<br />
* [[Caste system in India]]<br />
* [[Valangai]]<br />
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== References ==<br />
'''Citations'''<br />
{{reflist|2}}<br />
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'''Bibliography'''<br />
{{refbegin}}<br />
*{{citation |title=Empires: Perspectives from Archaeology and History |last1=Alcock |first1=Susan E. |page=269 |first2=Terence N. |last2=D'Altroy |first3=Kathleen D. |last3=Morrison |first4=Carla M. |last4=Sinopoli |year=2001 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |isbn=978-0-521-77020-0}}<br />
*{{citation |title=Caste and Race in India |last=Ghurye| first= G. S. |author-link=G. S. Ghurye |year=1991 |orig-year=1932 |publisher= Popular Prakashan |location=Bombay |isbn=9788171542055|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nWkjsvf6_vsC}}<br />
*{{citation |title=Caste Ideology and Interaction |last=McGilvray |first=Denis B. |year=1982 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |isbn=978-0-521-24145-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n-88AAAAIAAJ}}<br />
*{{citation |url=http://www.cmi.ac.in/gift/Epigraphy/epig_tambarammore.htm |title=More inscriptions from the Tambaram area |accessdate=21 September 2008 |year=1975 |first=Gift |last=Siromoney |journal=Madras Christian College Magazine |volume=44}}<br />
*{{citation |title=Religion and public culture: Encounters and Identities in Modern South India |last1=Yandell |first1=Keith E. |first2=John Jeya |last2=Paul |year=2000 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-7007-1101-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v8UeAgAAQBAJ}}<br />
{{refend}}<br />
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== Further reading ==<br />
*{{cite book |title=Constructing the Colonial Encounter: Right and Left Hand Castes in Early Colonial South India |first=Niels |last=Brimnes |publisher=Psychology Press |year=1999 |isbn=9780700711062 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HdSABP70H9sC}}<br />
*{{cite book |title=Castes of Mind: Colonialism and the Making of Modern India |first=Nicholas B. |last=Dirks |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=2001 |isbn=9780691088952 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5rAzycuxf9gC}} <br />
*{{cite book |title=Economic Development and Social Change in South India |first=Trude S. |last=Epstein |year=1962 |publisher=Oxford University Press |url=https://archive.org/details/economicdevelopm0000epst|url-access=registration }}<br />
*{{cite book |title=When the World Becomes Female: Guises of a South Indian Goddess |first=Joyce Burkhalter |last=Flueckiger |publisher=Indiana University Press |year=2013 |isbn=9780253009609 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rFlE0PO0x1AC}}<br />
*{{cite book |title=The Warrior Merchants: Textiles, Trade, and Territory in South India |first=Mattison |last=Mines |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1984 |isbn=9780521267144 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y089AAAAIAAJ}}<br />
*{{cite book |title=Public Faces, Private Voices: Community and Individuality in South India |first=Mattison |last=Mines |publisher=University of California Press |year=1994 |isbn=9780520914599 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0FTO6p3ZMnIC}}<br />
*{{cite book |title=The View from Below: Indigenous Society, Temples, and the Early Colonial State in Tamilnadu, 1700-1835 |first=Kanakalatha |last=Mukund |publisher=Orient Blackswan |year=2005 |isbn=9788125028000 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5BMljBxJXtoC}}<br />
*{{cite book |title=Trade and Politics on the Coromandel Coast: Seventeenth and Early Eighteenth Centuries |first=Radhika |last=Seshan |publisher=Primus Books |year=2012 |isbn=9789380607252 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lo-KjFtqC7sC}}<br />
*{{cite book |title=Coastal Histories: Society and Ecology in Pre-modern India |editor-first=Yogesh |editor-last=Sharma |publisher=Primus Books |year=2010 |isbn=9789380607009 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FTTGWSme30YC}}<br />
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[[Category:Indian castes]]</div>AntoniaWhetsel0