Rowther

Rowther
இராவுத்தர்/ராவுத்தர்
Tamil Muslims of Madras presidency in 1830
Regions with significant populations
Tamilnadu, Kerala, Malaysia, Singapore
Languages
Tamil (Mother Tongue) • Malayalam
Religion
Islam (Sect – Sunni, Madhab – Hanafi)
Related ethnic groups
Tamil People • Tamil Muslims • Indo-Turkic

The Rowther (anglicised as Irauttar, Rawther, Ravuttar, Ravutta, Ravuthar, Ravuthamar) are a distinct Muslim community living largely in the south Indian states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala.[1] They are descent from the Turkic people who came to settle in chola kingdom for horse trade and cavalry and majorly people who converted to Islam by preacher Nathar Shah in the 10th to 11th century.[2][3][4] Even after conversion they retained their Ravuttar caste name. They were elite cavalrymen of the Chola and Pandya kingdoms.[5] They were traditionally a martial clan like the Maravars,[6] and constitute large part of the multi-ethnic Tamil Muslim community.[7] Rowthers have also been found as Tamil polygars, zamindars and chieftains from the 16th to 18th centuries.[8] The traditional homelands of the Rowthers were in the interior of Southern Tamilakam.[9][10][11][12][13][14]

  1. ^ More, J. B. Prashant (1997). The political evolution of Muslims in Tamilnadu and Madras, 1930–1947. Hyderabad, India: Orient Longman. pp. 21–22. ISBN 81-250-1011-4. OCLC 37770527.
  2. ^ Mohan, A. (24 July 2012). Utopia and the Village in South Asian Literatures. Springer. ISBN 978-1-137-03189-1.
  3. ^ Singh, K. S. (1992). People of India: pt.1-3 Kerala. Anthropological Survey of India. ISBN 978-81-85938-99-8.
  4. ^ "Veneration of the prophet Muhammad in an Islamic Pillaittamil. - Free Online Library". www.thefreelibrary.com. Retrieved 18 February 2023.
  5. ^ Tschacher, Torsten (2001). Islam in Tamilnadu : varia. Halle (Saale): Institut für Indologie und Südasienwissenschaften der Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg. pp. 94, 95. ISBN 3-86010-627-9. OCLC 50208020.
  6. ^ Hiltebeitel, Alf (1988). The cult of Draupadī. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. p. 13. ISBN 0-226-34045-7. OCLC 16833684.
  7. ^ Singh, K. S., ed. (1998). People of India: India's communities. New Delhi, India: Oxford University Press. pp. 3001–3002. ISBN 0-19-563354-7. OCLC 40849565.
  8. ^ Hiltebeitel, Alf (1988–1991). The cult of Draupadī. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. pp. 13–14, 102. ISBN 0-226-34045-7. OCLC 16833684.
  9. ^ More, J. B. Prashant (2004). Muslim Identity, Print Culture, and the Dravidian Factor in Tamil Nadu. Orient Blackswan. ISBN 978-81-250-2632-7.
  10. ^ Rājāmukamatu, Je (2005). Maritime History of the Coromandel Muslims: A Socio-historical Study on the Tamil Muslims 1750–1900. Director of Museums, Government Museum.
  11. ^ Jairath, Vinod K. (3 April 2013). Frontiers of Embedded Muslim Communities in India. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-136-19679-9.
  12. ^ Hussein, Asiff (2007). Sarandib: An Ethnological Study of the Muslims of Sri Lanka. Asiff Hussein. ISBN 978-955-97262-2-7.
  13. ^ Cite error: The named reference :4 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  14. ^ Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).