Malabars (Malayalam: [mɐlɐbaːr] ) is a term used for Indians originating from the Malabar region. The region includes the northern part of present state of Kerala in India, i.e. the southwestern coast of the country. [1]
Captain João Ribeiro in his History of Ceylon presented to the King of Portugal in 1685 mentions that Jaffnapatam (present-day Jaffna in Sri Lanka) is inhabited by Malabars. [2] This designation stemmed from the presence of Tamils in Jaffna, whose customs and religion closely resembled those of the Hindus on the Malabar Coast of India. [3]
Additionally, to European traders and scholars, Tamil was commonly known as the Malabar language. In the 18th century, J. P. Fabricius described his Tamil-English Dictionary as the "Dictionary of Malabar and English," wherein he explained words and phrases of the Tamil language, commonly referred to by Europeans as the Malabar language, in English. [4]