Karave caste and Kurus

[Raveen Satkurunathan]

On Tue, 9 Jan 2001 18:28:48 +0000, N. Ganesan <naga_ganesan at HOTMAIL.COM>
wrote:

>For the Sri Lankan caste name, Karava, please consider
>the tamil name kaLamar. (More on Jaffna naLavar,
>Kannada kaLabaru who were ruling TN their name
>sanskritized as Kalabhra, karunATu 'black country'
>(Cf nallamalai hills in AP where nalla = black
>and river Krishna) ..)
>
>BTW, karaiyar 'shore folk, fisherman' is different from
>karavar.

The equivalent Tamil caste name is Karaiyar (not Karavar,  still found in
TN and Jaffna), it became Karava or Karave in Sinhalese via Kaurava.
(Karaiyar->Kaurava -> Karava ?) By the late 13th century in Tamil Nadu
Karaiyar had Sanskritized their name to Kaurava(r). Similalrly Parathavar
another fisher caste had Sanskritized its name into Bharatha(r), all
alluding North Indian 'Aryan' Kshatriya ancestry. These castes always had a
dominant element in them; there were not all poor fisher folks. The
fish 'mudalalis' (merchants) were wily entrepreneurs who had made a lot of
money in colonial period trading. When these Karaiyar found themselves in
Sri Lanka (just before and after Portuguese colonial period) it was easy
for them to use the Kaurava ‘origin myth’ to assimilate with the dominant
Indo-Aryan Sinhalese. Although “high” caste Sinhalese Buddhist prelates
still will not accept these caste members into their Buddhist orders.

Some of the South Indian derived Karave, Salagama (cinnamon peelers) and
Durave (toddy tapers) were able to use the colonial education system to
become the new Sinhala elites. Thus began their ‘heavily funded’ effort to
Arayanize them in local books and newspapers. There are number of website
dedicated to this caste myth.


For your reference try

Nobodies to Somebodies - The Rise of the Colonial Bourgeoisie in Sri Lanka'
by Kumari Jayawardena, 2000, Social Scientists' Association and Sanjiva
Books.  ISBN 955-9102-26-5.

Caste Conflict and Elite Formation, The Rise of the Karava Elite in Sri
Lanka 1500 - 1931. Michael Roberts 1982, Cambridge, Cambridge University
Press. ISBN 81-7013-139-1

Social Change in Nineteenth Century Ceylon. Patrick Peebles. 1995, Navrang
ISBN 81-7013-141-3.


Following is a book written due to the ‘heavy’ funding of the Karava
elites :-) But it is useful in understanding the caste myth.

The Karava of Ceylon - Society and Culture' M. D. Raghavan, Emeritus
Ethnologist, National Museums of Ceylon, K. V. G. de Silva 1961
.

For Tamil Nalavar of Sri Lanka it most probably have to be derived from
Sinhala Nahalava. They are the reverse of the Karave, Duarve and Salagama.
They are Sinhalese who have become Tamils over a period of time.

Raveen


> In Dravidian, -m-/-v- does not become -y-.
>Dravidian makes skt svAmi as sAmi,sAvi, sOvi, sOmi
>but not sAyi. Saayi happens in the North India
>For example in Bengal gosAyi.
>
>That's why Gowda and foll. him, Emeneau's derivation
>of sAyaNa from sAyi utterly fanciful. It is much easier
>to get it from Dravidian words.
>
>Regards,
>N. Ganesan
>
>
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