![]() Bhaskara Sethupathi, former Marava ruler of Ramnad kingdom | |
Regions with significant populations | |
---|---|
India: Ramnad, Madurai, Tirunelveli regions of Tamil Nadu | |
Languages | |
Tamil | |
Religion | |
Hinduism | |
Related ethnic groups | |
Kallar, Agamudayar, Tamil people |
Maravar (also known as Maravan and Marava) are a Tamil community in the state of Tamil Nadu. These people are one of the three branches of the Mukkulathor confederacy. [1] Members of the Maravar community often use the honorific title Thevar . [2] [3] [4] They are classified as an Other Backward Class or a Denotified Tribe in Tamil Nadu, depending on the district. [5]
The Sethupathi rulers of the erstwhile Ramnad kingdom were from this community. [6] The Maravar community, along with the Kallars, had a reputation for thieving and robbery from as early as the medieval period. [7] [8] [9] [10] [11]
The term Maravar has diverse proposed etymologies; [12] it may come simply from a Tamil word maram, meaning such things as vice and murder. [13] or a term meaning "bravery". [14]
The Maravars were considered as Shudras and were free to worship in Hindu temples. [15] According to Pamela G, Price, the Maravar were warriors who were in some cases zamindars. The zamins of Singampatti, Urkadu, Nerkattanseval, Thalavankottai, all ruled by members of Maravar caste. [16] Occasionally the Setupathis had to respond to the charge they were not ritually pure. [17]
During the formation of Tamilaham, the Maravars were brought in as socially outcast tribes or traditionally as lowest entrants into the shudra category. [18] [ citation needed ] The Maravas to this day are feared as a thieving tribe and are an ostracised group in Tirunelveli region. [18] [19]