Q: Fair Tamil Castes

[Raveen Satkurunathan]

On Tue, 14 Nov 2000 12:26:22 +0530, Samar Abbas <abbas at IOPB.RES.IN> wrote:

>Raveen Satkurunathan wrote:
>> ... the Tamils ...migrating overland from around the Mediterranean...
>>joined the Negroid peoples who were already settled on the sub-continent.^
>
>  Do the fairer-skinned Tamils form a separate caste/s today ? What would
>be the names of these castes (if any)? Does Tamil literature describe
>these castes as historically fairer than others ? Like all others on this

Dear Samar,
It was Eric Miller not me who wrote that and I was referencing him from his
book. I don’t have any credible references on the color composition of
Tamil castes but if it is not done yet it obviously would be a good
project. What I can very (pseudo?) 'un'scientifically conclude from my
observation is that as you go higher up in the caste structure you will
find fairer people. It is like a journalist who once visited Port au Prince
in Haiti commented how as he moved away from the suburbs towards the slums
the color of the people changed from white, brown to black. I am not sure
whether the contrast in Tamil society is as sharp as in Haiti, but it is
noticeable, as you get deep into it. It has regional variations too.
Saiva Vellalar one of the early Sanskritized Tamil castes are generally
fairer than others, but you will find all sorts of combination within one
family “high” caste or not including the Brahmins. I have also noticed a
tendency for richer and educated grooms (from all backgrounds) preferring
fairer brides thus as people elevated them from a lower status their family
color too eventually changes not different from the peculiar condition
which prevails in Latin America. (Where it is called bettering of ones Rasa
=Race)
About the linguistic divide between different layers of human groups, which
has settled South India, it is a virgin territory. Dr. Witzel has alluded
to the possibility of studying the substratum languages in the Nilgiris
massif linguistic refuge area. The Toda and Kota are enigmas and have not
been explained away to anyone’s satisfaction yet, although, some attempts
have been made such as one suggesting a Saka origin to Todas by Asko
Parpola.  I think the time to investigate them is almost run out. If we do
have a window of opportunity it is very narrow one indeed.

Regards
Raveen