SheldonCruce at 00:34, 22 May 2025

2025-05-22T00:34:41Z

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{{Short description|Tamil community in Tamil Nadu}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2020}}
{{Infobox ethnic group
| group = Maravar
| image = Bhaskara Sethupathy of Ramnad.jpg
| caption = Bhaskara Sethupathi, former Marava ruler of Ramnad kingdom
| poptime =
| popplace = [[India]]: [[Ramnad]], [[Madurai]], [[Tirunelveli]] regions of [[Tamil Nadu]]
| langs = [[Tamil language|Tamil]]
| rels = [[Hinduism]]
| related = [[Kallar (caste)|Kallar]], [[Agamudayar]], [[Tamil people]]
| native_name =
| native_name_lang =
}}

'''Maravar''' (also known as '''Maravan''' and '''Marava''') are a [[Tamil people|Tamil]] community in the [[States and union territories of India|state]] of [[Tamil Nadu]]. These people are one of the three branches of the [[Mukkulathor]] confederacy.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Hollow Crown: Ethnohistory of an Indian Kingdom |first=Nicholas B. |last=Dirks |publisher=University of Michigan Press |year=1993 |isbn=978-0-47208-187-5 |page=73 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cegr6zH9PFEC&pg=PA73 |authorlink=Nicholas Dirks}}</ref> Members of the Maravar community often use the honorific title ''[[Thevar]]''.<ref>{{cite book |title=A History of Christianity in India: The Beginnings to AD 1707 |first=Stephen |last=Neill |authorlink=Stephen Neill |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-52154-885-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dbVNvsZWH5EC&pg=PA76 |page=76}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=The Nadars of Tamilnad: The Political Culture of a Community in Change |first=Robert L. |last=Hardgrave |publisher=University of California Press |year=1969 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KZ9mqiLgkdEC&pg=PA280 |page=280}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Crooked Stalks: Cultivating Virtue in South India |first=Anand |last=Pandian |publisher=Duke University Press |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-82239-101-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pOqgYpCgCXsC&pg=PA286 |page=286}}</ref> They are classified as an [[Other Backward Class]] or a [[Denotified Tribes|Denotified Tribe]] in Tamil Nadu, depending on the district.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.bcmbcmw.tn.gov.in/bclist.htm|title = List of Backward Classes Approved}}</ref>

The [[Sethupathi]] rulers of the erstwhile [[Ramnad kingdom]] were from this community.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aqKSTs4ajsAC&q=setupati+maravar+caste&pg=PA26|title=Kingship and Political Practice in Colonial India|author=Pamela G. Price|date=14 March 1996|publisher=Cambridge University Press, 14-Mar-1996 - History - 220 pages|page=26|isbn=9780521552479}}</ref> The Maravar community, along with the Kallars, had a reputation for thieving and [[robbery]] from as early as the medieval period.<ref name=" Vijaya Ramaswamy">{{cite book | first= Vijaya | last= Ramaswamy | year=2007| title= Women and Work in Precolonial India: A Reader| page=74| publisher= Sage Publications| isbn= 9789351507406 | url= https://books.google.com/books?id=TzxwDQAAQBAJ&q=medieval+kallar+robbers&pg=PT104 }}</ref><ref name="Nicholas B Dirks">{{cite book | first= Nicholas | last=Dirks | year=2007| title= The Hollow Crown: Ethnohistory of an Indian Kingdom| page=74| publisher= University of Michigan Press| isbn=9780472081875 | url= https://books.google.com/books?id=cegr6zH9PFEC&q=maravar++bandits&pg=PA74 }}</ref><ref name=" Dr R Balasubramanian ">{{cite book | first= R | last= Balasubramanian | year=2001| title= Social and Economic Dimensions of Caste Organisations in South Indian States | page= 88| publisher= University of Madras| url= https://books.google.com/books?id=wG3aAAAAMAAJ&q=criminal+tribes+act+maravar }}</ref><ref name=" Peter Pels, Oscar Salemink ">{{cite book | first= Peter Pels | last= Oscar Salemink | year=2002| title= Colonial Subjects| page= 160| publisher= Wiesbaden| isbn= 0472087460 | url= https://books.google.com/books?id=R9YPYpVE64wC&q=criminal+tribes+act+maravar&pg=PA160 }}</ref><ref name=" Gabriella Eichinger Ferro-Luzzi ">{{cite book | first= Gabriella Eichinger | last= Ferro-Luzzi |author-link=Gabriella Eichinger Ferro-Luzzi | year=2002| title= The Maze of fantasy in Tamil folktales| page= Glossary| publisher= Wiesbaden| isbn= 9783447045681 | url= https://books.google.com/books?id=XFD0Py9zBpwC&q=maravar+bandits&pg=PA187 }}</ref>

==Etymology==
The term ''Maravar'' has diverse proposed etymologies;<ref>{{cite book|title=Political Change and Agrarian Tradition in South India, C. 1600-1801: A Case Study |year=1986 |first=T. K. |last=VenkatasubramanianIndia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i8dp_b7GBrEC&pg=PA49 |publisher=Mittal Publications |page=49}}</ref> it may come simply from a [[Tamil language|Tamil]] word ''maram'', meaning such things as ''vice'' and ''murder''.<ref>{{cite book | first= Susan| last= Bayly | year=2004| title= Saints, Goddesses and Kings Muslims and Christians in South Indian Society, 1700-1900| page=213| publisher= Taylor and Francis| isbn= 9780521372015 | url= https://books.google.com/books?id=Fxqtx8SflEsC&dq=maravar+sin&pg=PA213
}}</ref> or a term meaning "bravery".<ref name="Ramaswamy2007">{{cite book|first=Vijaya |last=Ramaswamy|title=Historical dictionary of the Tamils|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H4q0DHGMcjEC&pg=PA143|year=2007|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=978-0-8108-5379-9|page=143}}</ref>

==Social status==

The Maravars were considered as Shudras and were free to worship in Hindu temples.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Singer|first1=Milton B.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_g-_r-9Oa_sC&q=Maravars+shudras&pg=PA305|title=Structure and Change in Indian Society|last2=Cohn|first2=Bernard S.|date=1970|publisher=Transaction Publishers|isbn=978-0-202-36933-4|language=en}}</ref> According to Pamela G, Price, the Maravar were warriors who were in some cases [[zamindar]]s. The zamins of Singampatti, Urkadu, Nerkattanseval, Thalavankottai, all ruled by members of Maravar caste.<ref>{{cite book | first= Andrew John | last= Stuart | year=1879| title= A Manual of the Tinnevelly District in the Presidency of Madras | page=24 | publisher= E. Keys, at the Government Press | url= https://books.google.com/books?id=DyYPAQAAIAAJ&dq=maravar%20poligars&pg=PA24}}</ref> Occasionally the Setupathis had to respond to the charge they were not ritually pure.<ref>{{cite book | first= Pamela | last= Price | year=1996| title= Kingship and Political Practice in Colonial India| page=62| publisher= University of Cambridge| isbn= 9780521552479 | url= https://books.google.com/books?id=aqKSTs4ajsAC&dq=Maravar+sudra&pg=PA62}}</ref>

During the formation of Tamilaham, the Maravars were brought in as socially outcast tribes or traditionally as lowest entrants into the shudra category.<ref name="Vijaya Ramasamy">{{cite book | first= Vijaya | last= Ramasamy | year=2016| title= Women and work in Precolonial India| page=62| publisher= SAGE| isbn= 9789351507406 | url= https://books.google.com/books?id=TzxwDQAAQBAJ&dq=maravar+kshatriyas&pg=PT110 }}</ref>{{cn|date=June 2021}} The Maravas to this day are feared as a thieving tribe and are an ostracised group in Tirunelveli region.<ref name="Vijaya Ramasamy">{{cite book | first= Vijaya | last= Ramasamy | year=2016| title= Women and work in Precolonial India| page=62| publisher= SAGE| isbn= 9789351507406 | url= https://books.google.com/books?id=TzxwDQAAQBAJ&dq=maravar+kshatriyas&pg=PT110 }}</ref><ref name="Robert Parkin University of Oxford">{{cite book | first= Robert | last= Parkin | year=2001| title= Perilous Transactions| page=130| publisher= Sikshasandhan | isbn= 9788187982005 | url= https://books.google.com/books?id=vIuL8n5hHCUC&q=maravar+shudra }}</ref>

== Notable people ==

* [[Pasumpon Muthuramalinga Thevar]], freedom fighter<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ToZuAAAAMAAJ|title=Tamil Revivalism in the 1930s|last=[[Eugene F. Irschick]] |date=1986|publisher=Cre-A|pages=239|quote= |language=en}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Uthumalai]]
*[[Kallar (caste)|Kallar]]
*[[Agamudayar]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Mukkulathor]]
[[Category:Social groups of Tamil Nadu]]
[[Category:Other Backward Classes]]
[[Category:Denotified tribes of India]]

Maravar - Revision history

SheldonCruce at 00:34, 22 May 2025