Karaiyar

Karaiyar
ReligionsHinduism, Christianity
LanguagesTamil
Subdivisions
  • Meelongi Karaiyar
  • Keelongi Karaiyar
Related groupsTamil people, Karava, Pattanavar

Karaiyar is a Sri Lankan Tamil caste found mainly on the northern and eastern coastal areas of Sri Lanka, and globally among the Tamil diaspora.[1]

They are traditionally a seafaring community that is engaged in fishing, shipment and seaborne trade.[2][3] They fish customarily in deep seas or on shore, and employ gillnet and seine fishing methods.[4] The Karaiyars were the major maritime traders and boat owners who among other things, traded with pearls, chanks, tobacco, and shipped goods overseas to countries such as India, Myanmar and Indonesia.[5][6][3] The community known for their maritime history, are also reputed as a warrior caste who contributed as army and navy soldiers of Tamil kings.[7] They were noted as the army generals and navy captains of the Aryacakravarti dynasty.[8]

The Karaiyars emerged in the 1980s as strong representatives of Sri Lankan Tamil nationalism.[9] The nuclear leadership of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam have background in the wealthier enterprising section of the Karaiyars.[10]

Historically, they have also been referred to as Kurukulam, Varunakulam and Karaiyalar. Sharing similar origins and status are the Sinhalese Karava and the Pattanavar of Tamil Nadu.[11]

  1. ^ Raj, Selva J. (1 April 2016). South Asian Christian Diaspora: Invisible Diaspora in Europe and North America. Routledge. ISBN 9781317052296.
  2. ^ Wilson, A. Jeyaratnam (2000). Sri Lankan Tamil Nationalism: Its Origins and Development in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries. UBC Press. pp. 18–24. ISBN 9780774807593.
  3. ^ a b Clarance, William (2007). Ethnic warfare in Sri Lanka and the UN crisis. Pluto Press. p. 44. ISBN 9780745325255.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference :14 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference :5 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference :7 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Das, Sonia N. (2016). Linguistic Rivalries: Tamil Migrants and Anglo-Franco Conflicts. Oxford University Press. pp. 63, 236. ISBN 9780190461782.
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference :12 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Wilson, A. Jeyaratnam (2000). Sri Lankan Tamil Nationalism: Its Origins and Development in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries. UBC Press. p. 19. ISBN 978-0-7748-0759-3.
  10. ^ Heiberg, Marianne; O'Leary, Brendan; O'Leary, Lauder Professor of Political Science and Director of the Solomon Asch Center for the Study of Ethnopolitical Conflict Brendan; Tirman, John (2007). Terror, Insurgency, and the State: Ending Protracted Conflicts. University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 268. ISBN 978-0-8122-3974-4.
  11. ^ McGilvray, Dennis B. (2 September 1982). Caste Ideology and Interaction. Cambridge University Press. p. 17. ISBN 9780521241458.