Kallar (caste)
| Regions with significant populations | |
|---|---|
| Tamil Nadu, Sri Lanka, Malaysia | |
| Languages | |
| Tamil | |
| Religion | |
| Saiva Siddhantam, Hinduism | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Mukkulathor |
The Kallar (or Kallan, formerly spelled as Colleries) are one of the three related castes of southern India which constitute the Mukkulathor confederacy.[1] The Kallar, along with the Maravar and Agamudayar, constitute a united social caste on the basis of parallel professions, though their locations and heritages are wholly separate from one another.
Etymology
Kallar also refers to thieves since their history has included periods of banditry.
Caste origins
Bayly notes that the Kallar and Maravar identities as a caste, rather than as a title, "... were clearly not ancient facts of life in the Tamil Nadu region. Insofar as these people of the turbulent poligar country really did become castes, their bonds of affinity were shaped in the relatively recent past".[2] Prior to the late 18th-century, their exposure to Brahmanic Hinduism, the concept of varna and practices such as endogamy that define the Indian caste system was minimal. Thereafter, the evolution as a caste developed as a result of various influences, including increased interaction with other groups as a consequence of jungle clearances, state-building and ideological shifts.[3]
Culture
Among the traditional customs of the Kallar noted by colonial officials was the use of the "collery stick" (Tamil: valai tādi, kallartādi), a bent throwing stick or "false boomerang" which could be thrown up to 100 yards (91 m).[4] Writing in 1957, Louis Dumont noted that despite the weapon's frequent mention in literature, it had disappeared amongst the Piramalai Kallar.[5]
Diet
The Kallar were traditionally a non-vegetarian people,[6] though a 1970s survey of Tamil Nadu indicated that 30% of Kallar surveyed, though non-vegetarian, refrained from eating fish after puberty.[7] Meat, though present in the Kallar diet, was not frequently eaten but restricted to Saturday nights and festival days. Even so, this small amount of meat was sufficient to affect perceptions of Kallar social status.[8]
Martial arts
The Kallars, along with the Nadars and Thevars, traditionally practised a Tamil martial art variously known as adi murai, chinna adi and varna ati. In recent years, since 1958, these have been referred to as Southern-style Kalaripayattu, although they are distinct from the ancient martial art of Kalaripayattu itself that was historically the style found in Kerala.[9]
References
- ^ Price, Pamela G. (1996). Kingship and Political Practice in Colonial India (Reprinted ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 62, 87, 193. ISBN 978-0-52155-247-9.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Bayly2001p61was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cite error: The named reference
Bayly2001p39was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Sir Henry Yule; Arthur Coke Burnell (1903). Hobson-Jobson: a glossary of colloquial Anglo-Indian words and phrases, and of kindred terms, etymological, historical, geographical and discursive. J. Murray. pp. 236–. Retrieved 21 March 2012.
- ^ Louis Dumont; A. Stern; Michael Moffatt (1986). A South Indian subcaste: social organization and religion of the Pramalai Kallar. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 21 March 2012.
- ^ Criminal gods and demon devotees: essays on the guardians of popular Hinduism - Alf Hiltebeitel
- ^ Food, ecology, and culture: readings in the anthropology of dietary practices - John R. K. Robson - Google Books
- ^ A South Indian subcaste: social organization and religion of the Pramalai Kallar - Louis Dumont, A. Stern, Michael Moffatt - Google Books
- ^ Zarilli, Philip B. (2001). "India". In Green, Thomas A. (ed.). Martial Arts of the World: An Encyclopedia. A – L. Vol. 1. ABC-CLIO. p. 177. ISBN 978-1-57607-150-2.