Arunthathiyar

Arunthathiyar
ClassificationScheduled caste
ReligionsHinduism • Christianity
LanguagesTamil • Telugu • Kannada
Country India
Populated statesTamil Nadu • Kerala • Karnataka • Andhra Pradesh
RegionNorthern and western Tamil Nadu
EthnicitySouth Asian
Population2,150,285
SubdivisionsArunthathiyar • Chakkiliyar • Madari • Madiga • Pagadai • Thoti • Adi Andhra[1]

Arunthathiyar is a scheduled caste community mostly found in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The term has two distinct usages: for the purposes of the state government's positive discrimination program, in 2009 it was designated an umbrella term for the Arunthatiyar, Chakkiliyar (Sakkiliyar[2]), Madari, Madiga, Pagadai, Thoti and Adi Andhra communities with a total population of 2,150,285, accounting for 14.89% of the Scheduled Caste population according to the 2011 Census of India.[3][4][5] While the Office of the Registrar-General, which administers the census of India, does not recognize all of those communities as one.[6]

Specifically, within Arunthathiyar caste it is reported that there were 1,084,162 individuals in Tamil Nadu, being 7.52 percent of the Scheduled Caste population of the state.[6]

  1. ^ "Caste in Tamil Nadu - III". Economic and Political Weekly. 48 (8): 7–8. 5 June 2015.
  2. ^ S. Gunasekaran. "Documenting a Caste: The Chakkiliyars in Colonial and Missionary Documents in India". brandeis.edu. p. 52. ..the correct pronunciation of the caste name, from Siclar to Chakkiliyar and Sakkiliyar, correlates with the long process...
  3. ^ "India - A-10 Appendix: District wise scheduled caste population (Appendix), Tamil Nadu - 2011". censusindia.gov.in. Retrieved 16 September 2023.
  4. ^ "Tamil Nadu Government Gazette" (PDF). Government of Tamil Nadu. 12 March 2009. p. 3. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
  5. ^ "Caste in Tamil Nadu - III". Economic and Political Weekly. 48 (8): 7–8. 5 June 2015.
  6. ^ a b "Tamil Nadu Date Highlights: The Scheduled Castes Census of India 2001" (PDF). Office of the Registrar-General. Retrieved 5 April 2015.