Sengunthar
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Sengunthar or Kaikolar are a large Tamil and Telugu socially backward caste [1][2] of weavers in the states of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh in southern India. They have close ties of kinship with the Devadasi[3][4]. Traditionally, one girl in every family from the Sengundar/ Kaikolar caste was set apart to be dedicated to temple service and becomes a Devadasi (meaning female servant of god). In the temple, the girl is considered married to the temple deity and she learns traditional music and dancing[5][6][7]. Sengunthar are also known as Kaikolar. This dual name of Senguntar or Kaikolar was used for over 1200 years based on literary evidence. Sengunthars form a significant proportion of population in various districts of Tamilnadu esp. in Arcot, Kanchipuram, Chingleput, Salem, Erode, Coimbatore, Dharmapuri.
Origin
The Kaikolars also called as Sengunthar, are a large Tamil and Telugu socially backward caste[1][2] of weavers in the states of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh in southern India. Their name comes from a mythical hero and from the words "kai" (hand) and "kol" (shuttle used in looming or spear). They consider the different parts of the loom to represent various gods and sages.
They are also known as Sengunthar, which means a red dagger, which is traced to the legend of the earth being harassed by demons, which led to the people asking the god Shiva to help them. He was furious with the demonic giants and sent six sparks from his eyes. Parvati, his wife became frightened and retired to her chamber but dropped nine beads from her anklets. Shiva converted those beads into nine women, each giving birth to a hero, complete with moustache and daggers. These nine led by Subramanya, with a large army destroyed the demons. Kaikolans or Sengundar claim descent from one of the nine heroes. There are seventy-two subdivisions (nadu or desams).These legends were created at a time when the weaver community had lost its social status and the formuale were efforts at self-glorification[4].
Brief History of Sengunthar/Kaikolar Devadasis in South India
The Kaikolars also called as Sengundar, are a large Tamil and Telugu socially backward caste[1][2] of weavers in the states of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh in southern India.
Sengunthars Military Exploits
In Journal of the Bombay Historical Society, [8]the authors state that in the Army of Later Cholas from 900-1200 AD, many commanders and captains were drawn from the ranks of Sengunthar. Further records of exploits of Sengunthar in Ceylon, Bengal, Burma and Indonesia are recorded in temple inscriptions.[9][10]
According to Carla M. Sinopoli in the book The Political Economy of Craft Production: Crafting Empire in South India, [11] evidence for Kaikkola armies appear from the Chola period.[12] They describe that Sengunthars were both weavers and merchants and maintained armies to guard their regional trading ventures. Throughout the chola period, trading and military activities of Sengunthar are predominant. Sengunthar were members of the Ayyavole 500 regional trading corporation.[13] Sengunthar armies are mentioned in several 12th century inscriptions and individual Sengunthar are frequently referred to as members of the Chola emperor's royal bodyguard.[14][15]
Sengunthars Temple Trustees
According to India Before Europe by Catherine Ella Blanshard Asher, Cynthia Talbot, Sengunthas attained positions of responsibility at the two major Vaishnavite temples of Srirangam and Tirupati. In Tirupati, they were in charge of distributing the consecrated food offerings to the worshippers. [16]
In the book The Political Economy of Commerce: Southern India, 1500-1650, author Sanjay Subrahmanyam states that many Senguntha families were rich enough to contribute both land and gold to temples. [17][18][19]
According to Ruth Barnes in Textiles in Indian Ocean Societies, in AD 1418 in Tiruvannamalai, Sengunthars were given the right to blow the conch, ride palanquins and elephants and wave the temple fly whisk. [20] [21]
Community Legends and festivals
The Sura Samhara festival is a ritual tradition practised a long time ago by the Sengunthars.[4]. According to the mythology of weaver community, the Sengunthars weavers were born out of nine gems that were scattered from Parvati's anklet. At the Sura Samhara festival, they dress up as the nine warriors of Virabahu, the lieutenant of Lord Karthikeya and enact the killing of the demon Narakasura[4].
Gods/Goddesses
Sengunthars are predominantly Shaivites. They possess a Clan God as most of the castes in Tamil Nadu. Mostly, it is some form of Amman i.e Parvati or Murugan. Since Sengunthas are considered to be descended from the armies of Lord Muruga, Murugan is their chief god. Sengunthas are historically associated with Shiva Temples in Andhra Pradesh temples like Srisailam, Srikalahasti, Kotappa Konda ..etc
Kootam/kulam
Kootam defines birth from a single male ancestor. Kootam is transferred patrilineally i.e., via the father of a person. Hence people belonging to the same kootam are considered brothers and sisters. So marriage between a male and female belonging to the same kootam is prohibited however distantly they may be related.
Historically there were many kootams in Sengunthar in the 72 nadus of ancient past. Each kootam had a leader. The head leader in Kanchipuram was the head for all these leaders. This was used to manage disputes within the community.
Nowadays, the kootams have merged into one another and there is no well defined leader for each kootam. It is used only for setting up marriage alliances.
A list of Kootam has been removed from this section awaiting authentication by accurate reference material.
Warrior Clans
During Chola rule Sengunthars served as soldiers and were called "Terinja kaikolar padai". (Terinja means "known" in Tamil and Padai means "regiment"), so "terinja-kaikolar padai" were the personal bodygurads. Sengunthars who were initially weavers were militarised during the Chola empire and formed a major part of the Chola army from 8th century to 13th century. There were no Sengunthar army before or after the Chola empire.
They formed many regiments in the Chola army. Some of those regiments are:
Singalantaka-terinda-Kaikkolar (a regiment named after Singalantaka i.e. Parntaka I)
Virasola-terinja-Kaikkolar
Kodandarama-terinja-Kaikkolar
Danatonga-terinja-Kaikkolar
Parantaka-terinia-Kaikkolar
Muttavalperra-Kaikkolar - (meaning the "recipient of the pearl ornamented sword" in Tamil)
Samarakesarit-terinja-Kaikkolar
Vikramasingat-terinja-Kaikkolar
Adityapanma-terinda-Kaikkolar
Karikala-Chola-terinja-Kaikkolar
Arumolideva-terinja Kaikkolar
Parttivasekarat-terinja-Kaikkolar
Gangadaditta-terinja-Kaikkola
Madurantaka-terinja-Kaikkolar
Pirantaka-terinja-Kaikkolar
The link below indicates that Sengunthars were prominent members of Tamil society even during the 10th century AD during Chola rule.
[22] Smarakesarit-terinja-Kaikkolar and Vikramasingat-terinja-Kaikkolar derived their names from possible titles of Parantaka[23] [24] [25] [26] Udaiyar-Gandaradittatterinja-Kaikkolar[8] must have been the name of a regiment called after king Gandaraditya, the father of Uttama-Chola. [27] [28] Singalantaka-terinda-Kaikkolar (a regiment named after Singalantaka i.e. Parntaka I) [29] [30] Danatonga-terinja-Kaikkola (regiment or group). The early writing of the record and the surname Danatunga of Paranataka I suggests its assignment to his reign. [31] [32] [33] Muttavalperra seems to indicate some special honour or rank conferred on the regiment by the king. [34] [35] [36] [37] [38] [39] [40]
Weaving Clans
The end of Chola rule brought the end to Sengunthars role in the army. Reasons are unknown, but Sengunthars took up weaving on a mass scale or continued their weaving business exclusively for pretty much the next six to seven centuries. Even though there may have been a few rich Sengunthars doing various businesses including agriculture, the vast majority of Sengunthars were involved in weaving which was not a profitable business due to the industrial revolution.
There were 4 desai nadus, 16 peria nadus and 72 nadus in the Sengunthar. All these have now disappeared as Sengunthar have embraced the modern growth of India.
Modern Clans
While the 4 desai nadus, 16 peria nadus and 72 nadus in the Sengunthar have now disappeared as Sengunthar have embraced the modern growth of India, there is still a lot of diversity among Sengunthars.
Certain regions of Sengunthars are still very much separated both by distance, culture and marriage relations. They are
a. Kanchipuram (more than 2 major subgroups)
b. Tiruvannamalai
c. Salem, Erode (more than 10 subgroups)
d. Coimbatore
e. Madurai and southern districts (multiple subgroups)
f. Tanjore, Tiruchi(multiple subgroups)
g. Kerala (Cochin, Trivandrum)
h. Andhrapradesh (Chittoor, Nellore, Prakasam, Hyderabad, etc)
i. Karnataka (Kolar, Bangalore, Mangalore, etc)
Even within these geographical regions many exogamous (no intermarriage) subgroups exist.
These are a legacy of the old classification of Sengunthars.
Historical Personalities
Ottakoothar[41] was a court poet of three Chola kings namely Vikrama Chola. Kulotunga-II and Rajaraja II. He wrote poems in praise of these three kings namely Vikrama Cholan Ula, Kulothunga Cholan Ula and Rajarajan Ula. Ottakoothar had also written Kulothungan Pillai Tamil in praise of Chola king Kulothunga II and Saraswathy Andhadhi in praise of Saraswathi the Goddess of learning Sekizhar the minister of chola dynasty wrote periyapuranam his native is kundrathur near chennai kambar who wrote ramayana in Tamil he is also from chola empire kamban veetu kattu tharium kavipadum
Associations
There are many associations for Sengunthars.
They are:
Socio Economic Service Society (SES) in Nungambakkam - Chennai.
Sengunthar Mahajana Sangam.
Business Establishments
Modern Personalities
Politics
Pulavar Govindhan: Former Speaker of Tamil Nadu Assembly.
Governor of the State of Uttar Pradesh Shri T.V. Rajeswar [42]
Arts
Prashanth actor
Thyagrajan actor
perumal mudaliar national pictures
Business
Ariyanatha Mudaliar : Founder of Chennai SIlks
ethiraj mudaliar: Chairman, Binny Group, partner Ramachandra medical college.
M. Nandagopal Executive Chairman, Mohan Breweries and Distilleries Limited, Chennai
Education
Vallal sabapathi mudaliar: vallal sapabathy mudaliar educational trust.
Prof. Dr.Arumuga perumal.S, Professor of Computer Science,Fellow of IETE.
Philanthropist Raja Sir Ramasamy Mudaliar a well known phillanthropist endowed a hospital and dispensary in the Native Infirmary [43]
Bold text===Miscellaneous===
Dr.Prakasam Annamalai Mudliar Ph.D
Dr.Prakasam Annamalai Mudliar Ph.D., Born in a small town of Rasipuram Taluk named Palapalayam, comes under Namakkal Dist, Tamilnadu state of India. He is a 32 years dedicated young Scientist working in the field of Neuroscience and Ophthalmology in the United States of America for the betterment of mentally retard (loss of memory function) and Blind people (vision loss). He is one of the best phillanthropist among the Mudliar Community, he contributed his generocity for the community marriage hall development in palapalayam,new school building in Koonavelam patti Pudur and other social activities. He has been working towards to unite all the Mudliar Community (Sengunthars, Kaikolars, Arcot Mudaliars, Veera Chozia Mudaliars and Pillaimars) under one umbrella organization and uplift the welfare of the community. He formed MUNA (Mudaliars Union of North America) to bring unity and prosperous among Mudaliars living in United States. He has been working with Dr. Venkat Mani, Director of American Analytical and prominent Mudaliars in America for the community betterment.
References
- ^ a b c List Of Backward Classes Approved
- ^ a b c Central List Of Other Backward Classes
- ^ Artisans in Vijayanagar Society, Vijaya Ramaswamy, Indian Economic & Social History Review, Vol. 22, No. 4, 417-444 (1985), http://ier.sagepub.com/cgi/content/citation/22/4/417
- ^ a b c d Weaver Folk Traditions as a Source of History, Vijaya Ramaswamy, Indian Economic & Social History Review, Vol. 19, No. 1, 47-62 (1982), http://ier.sagepub.com/cgi/content/citation/19/1/47?ck=nck Cite error: The named reference "Weaver Folk Traditions as a Source of History, Vijaya Ramaswamy, Indian Economic & Social History Review, Vol. 19, No. 1, 47-62 (1982), http://ier.sagepub.com/cgi/content/citation/19/1/47?ck=nck" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
- ^ Contending identities: Sacred prostitution and reform in colonial South India Priyadarshini Vijaisri A1, A1 Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), New Delhi, South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies Publisher: Routledge, part of the Taylor & Francis Group Issue: Volume 28, Number 3 / December 2005 Pages: 387 - 411. http://journalsonline.tandf.co.uk/link.asp?id=jv31l27518262711
- ^ Unreached People Groups - South Asia Region
- ^ Journal of the Bombay Historical Society v.5-6 1939,1941
- ^ Mines, Mattison 1984. The Warrior Merchants: Textiles, Trade and Territory in South India.
- ^ Textiles and Weavers in Medieval South India by Vijaya Ramaswamy - Business & Economics - 2006
- ^ The Political Economy of Craft Production: Crafting Empire in South India
- ^ Mines, Mattison 1984. The Warrior Merchants: Textiles, Trade and Territory in South India.
- ^ Mines, Mattison 1984. The Warrior Merchants: Textiles, Trade and Territory in South India.
- ^ Mines, Mattison 1984. The Warrior Merchants: Textiles, Trade and Territory in South India.
- ^ The Everyday Politics of Labour: Working Lives in India's Informal Economy By Geert de Neve
- ^ India Before Europe by Catherine Ella Blanshard Asher, Cynthia Talbot
- ^ The Political Economy of Commerce: Southern India, 1500-1650 by Sanjay Subrahmanyam
- ^ Textiles and Weavers in Medieval South India by Vijaya Ramaswamy - Business & Economics - 2006
- ^ The Everyday Politics of Labour: Working Lives in India's Informal Economy By Geert de Neve
- ^ Textiles in Indian Ocean Societies By Ruth Barnes
- ^ Mines, Mattison 1984. The Warrior Merchants: Textiles, Trade and Territory in South India.
- ^ South Indian Inscriptions-Volume-XIX-Inscriptions of Parakesarivarman @ whatisindia.com
- ^ South Indian Inscriptions-Volume-XIX-Inscriptions of Parakesarivarman @ whatisindia.com
- ^ South Indian Inscriptions Volume_13 - Inscriptions of Rajakesarivarman @ whatisindia.com
- ^ South Indian Inscriptions Volume_13 - Cholas Inscriptions @ whatisindia.com
- ^ South Indian Inscriptions - Volume 17 Inscriptions collected during the year 1903-04 @ whatisindia.com
- ^ South Indian Inscriptions Volume_13 - Inscriptions of Rajakesarivarman @ whatisindia.com
- ^ South Indian Inscriptions - Inscriptions collected during the year 1908-09 @ whatisindia.com
- ^ South Indian Inscriptions Volume 2 - Rajarajesvara Temple Inscriptions at Tanjavur @ whatisindia.com
- ^ South Indian Inscriptions Volume_3 - Nagesvarasvamin & Umambesvara & Adimulesvara Temples Inscriptions @ whatisindia.com
- ^ South Indian Inscriptions-Volume-XIX-Inscriptions of Parakesarivarman @ whatisindia.com
- ^ South Indian Inscriptions Volume_13 - Inscriptions of Rajakesarivarman @ whatisindia.com
- ^ South Indian Inscriptions-Volume-XIX-Inscriptions of Parakesarivarman @ whatisindia.com
- ^ South Indian Inscriptions-Volume-XIX-Inscriptions of Parakesarivarman @ whatisindia.com
- ^ South Indian Inscriptions - Inscriptions of Rajaraja I @ whatisindia.com
- ^ South Indian Inscriptions - Tiruvarur (Thiruvarur) Temple Inscriptions @ whatisindia.com
- ^ South Indian Inscriptions - Inscriptions collected during the year 1906-07 @ whatisindia.com
- ^ South Indian Inscriptions - Inscriptions collected during the year 1908-09 @ whatisindia.com
- ^ South Indian Inscriptions - Inscriptions collected during the year 1908-09 @ whatisindia.com
- ^ South Indian Inscriptions - Inscriptions collected during the year 1908-09 @ whatisindia.com
- ^ ttp://books.google.com/books?id=1j5KCYjYl_EC&pg=PA336&dq=cenkuntar&ei=vk1VR5GvKILusgPi8ZTxAg&sig=uWlVbXlegm6DRC0y1gnxrNAHA7I#PPA78,M1
- ^ New Page 4
- ^ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Medical_College