ARTICLE

Mukkulathor

The Thevar people (Thevar literally meaning "celestial beings divine natured-people in Sanskrit")http://books.google.com/books?id=N1Q_TdiGzVIC&pg=PA11&dq=thevar+descended&cd=6#v=onepage&q=thevar%20descended&f=false collectively forms the Mukkulathor (meaning: people of the three clans). native to the Southern districts of Tamil Nadu The name "Mukkulathor" alludes to the three roughly designated groups, Agamudaiyar, Kallar,
Maravar which make up this large endogamous social group.Thevars are warriors and vikings of Tamil nadu. Kallar and Maravar were inhabitants of the Palai region during the Sangam period. The literature during the Sangam period divided the regions based on climate and topography. Palai was mainly a desert-like region with little to no rain.

Nowadays, Mukkulathors are found all over the southern districts of Tamil Nadu. There is also a small community in Chattisgarh where they migrated to during British rule. The Royal houses of Sivagangai, Ramnad and Pudukkottai all belong to the Mukkulathor

Maravar

Thevar Statue in T.Kallupatti

Maravar (Tamil: மறவர்) also "Maravan" (meaning "Grateful Warrior") are one of the oldest social groups to be mentioned by the Sangam Tamil literature[14]. This indicates an association with the Tamil land which is at least 2,000 years old. The writers of the Sangam Age place them in rural settlements withdrawn from cities. Maravars are the courageous breed and were involved in the major wars that Tamilnadu witnessed. The Kingdom of Ramnad was a Maravar kingdom and was ruled by the Setupati kings[15]. Ramanathapuram , Sivagangai and Singampatti Zamin of thirunelveli are Maravars strongholds from ancient times.

Maravars are courageous breed and were involved in almost all the major battles and wars that ancient Tamilnadu witnessed. Maravars are found predominantly in the Southern districts of Tamilnadu viz., Madurai, Theni, Sivagangai, Ramanathapuram, Dindigul, Virudhunagar, Thirunelveli, Thoothukudi and Kanyakumari districts of Tamil Nadu. They ruled the vast land mass of Tamilnadu along with the coastal rulers,Paravars. Both these tribes seems to have common origin,Tamil nagas. The Southern martial arts of Kalarippayattu, Silambam, Varma Kalai have been practiced primarily by Kallars, Thevars,Parathavars and Villavars of erstwhile Travancore areas.

The Maravar have close relation with Kalabhars even though they Maravars are a non-aryan, non-Kalabhar group.Another aristocratic caste called Paravars are akin to Maravars. They were ancient rulers of Pandya kingdom of coastal land and inland from the First Sangam Tamil age. Their leaders were given the title "Meenavan" and "Pandyan" respectively. Edgar Thurston (1855–1935) a British museologist and ethnographer identified the use of the boomerang by Kallars and Maravars of South India.

Large number of Maravars served in the armies of many princely states of Kerala. But during the 18th and 19th centuries, most of them were assimilated in to the Tamil Padam Nair subcaste of the Nair community. The Maravar regiment of the Travancore army was known as "Maravar Padai", which supplemented Nair Pattalam, the larger indigenous military unit.[16] Tamil Padam Nair is recognized as a part of the Malayala Kshatriya social grouping. The Ramnad Zamindar's are accorded the title Sethupathi (protector of the Sethu bridge) even to this day.

Pandiyan Dynasty

Historians postulate that Pandians are Maravar. The discovery of Indian copper plate inscriptions provided a relative abundance of new evidence for use in evolving a chronicle of India's elusive history.Till date Singampatti,Thenkasi and Kayathar,which are the last royal houses of pandians are dominated by Maravars.

Sub-divisions

There are 2 major subdivisions among the Maravar community. One is Appa Nattu Kondyankottai Maravar and another one is Chembiya Nattu Maravar. The Kondyan Kottai Maravars are related to the Vellalars and are still maintaining Killai(branches) as their sub sects. The Killai is inherited from mother. So a boy or girl will not marry in their same Killai. It is assumed that they are brother & sister. Such a practice is no longer prevailing amongst other maravars. The married women of kondyankottai maravers wear "Thali" (Thirumangalyam) in the shape of Shiva lingam. So it is called "Linga Thali". Most of the Tamil castes wear the same type of "Linga Thali".

Kondaynkottai Maravar

Most of the Polygars (palayakkarar) who ruled Southern Tamilnadu as part of the Madurai Nayak dynasty and into the Colonial rule were Kondayankottai Maravars . One of them was Puli Thevar.

The Chembiya Nattu Maravars are Surya vamsam[citation needed]. They are historically from Thanjavur. Kondayan kottai maravars women were having habits of maruthalli. But Chembiya Nattu Maravars women were having habit of Udankattai yeruthal (Sati which is now banned and hence not in practise).

Kallar (caste)

Kallar (Tamil: கள்ளர்) are one of the three related castes which constitute the Mukkulathor confederacy. The community shows many signs of independence and non-submission to any form of subjugation. They strongly resisted every British attempt to subjugate them. Kallars are found largely in the Thanjavur, Trichy, Pudukkottai, Madurai, Theni, Dindigul, Sivagangai, Ramanathapuram, Karur and Kanchipuram districts of Tamil Nadu. Significant Kallar populations are also found in Srilanka, Malaysia and other south east Asian countries. The Royal House of Pudukottai belongs to the Kallar community.

Meaning of Kallar

Kallar means "brave people". Historians like Srinivasa Iyengar, Venkataswmy Nattar postulate the word Kallar, derived from Kalla, means "black" in Sanskrit and Tamil. (கள்வனென் கிளவி கரியோனென்ப' - திவாகரம்) They also postulate Dravidians were called Kalla by Aryans. The name Thirumal (Mal Means black) also Derived from Black..

Mukkulathor

Kallar are one of the castes in the Mukkulathor (meaning three clans) community. The other two are Maravar and Agamudayar and together they are called Thevar. The royal title "Thevar/Devar" means Divine. In olden days the people viewed kings as a representation of Gods and were accorded titles of respect..

Surnames

In Tamil Nadu, Kallars are called by various surnames, which came to them during various times by the places they have ruled, battlefields and to state their strong valour and bravery in the battle with foreign forces. It is a general practice in Southern Tamil Nadu to address a Thevar woman as Nachiyar. .

YDNA

Some members belong to the first migrant lineages to the subcontinent dating 70,000 years back. Virumandi Andithevar from piramali kallar community in Jothimanickam village belongs to Y chromosome marker M130 (Haplogroup C). C .

Kallar’s community also has members from recent indo-european migrant lineages Y chromosome marker M17 (Haplogroup R1a). r1a-YDNA
Majority of Kallars seems to belong to marker M20 (Haplogroup L, that is primary found in Dravidian language speakers ). L

Sangam Age

Kallar, along with Maravar, are one of the ancient clans mentioned in the Sangam literature. The literature from the first Tamil Sangam period is dated around the last centuries of the pre-Christian era.

Pallavas

The word Pallava (Tamil: பல்லவர்) means branch in Sanskrit, denoting that they are a later offshoot (Kilai) of Cholas. The Pallava kingdom was a medieval Dravidian Tamil dynasty of South India that had its capital at Kanchipuram and ruled Northern Tamilnadu and Andhra Pradesh (till Northern Circars) around the 4th century CE.

They rose in power during the reign of Mahendravarman I (571 – 630 CE) and Narasimhavarman I (630 – 668 CE) and dominated the Andhra Pradesh and Northern parts of Tamil Nadu for about six hundred years until the end of the 9th century.

"Pallava" is rendered as Tondaiyar in the Tamil language. The Pallava kings at several places are called Thondamans or Thondaiyarkon. The territory of the Pallavas was known as Tundaka Visaya or Tundaka Rashtra. The Sanskrit meaning of Pallava is Kilai The Tamil Thondai means the same, it shows that Pallavas are descendants (Kilay or Pirivu) of Cholas.

Pathupattu, one of the Sangam literatures, reads that the King Thondaiman Ilandirayan ruled this town around 2,500 years ago. The Pallavas are told as the descendents of Thondaiman Ilandirayan.

They were also called by surnames like Sethurayar, Pallavarayar, Vandarayar, Kadurayar, Vallavarayar, Vanathirayar, Kaliyarayar..

Link With Pandiyan

Historians postulate that Pandians are Maravar but some Pandiyan kings were Kallar.
A Pandiyan king was mentioned as Kallar Perumagan Thennavan. Also the bulk of Kallar warriors were serving in the Pandian army.

After the end of Pandian Rule, then Pandi nadu, also known as Kallar nadu, Was ruled by Kallar Ambalakkarrars.

Link With Cheras

The title Servaikkarar, used by Mukkulathors and derived from Chera Avaikkarar,
means people who served in Chera avai.

Once Chera country was ruled by eight Chera kings who combined their armies and chose one king to lead them. Avai is known as Enperayam or Chera Avai..

People belonging to Cheraavai are called Cheravaikkarar or Servaikkarar. One of the famous kings with this title, Maruthu Pandiyar Servaikkarar, belongs to Agamudaiyar.

Tamil copper-plate inscriptions

The discovery of Indian copper plate inscriptions provided a relative abundance of new evidence for use in evolving a chronicle of India's elusive history.

During Chola rule there were many small kings(Araiyar) ruling there respective areas under the Chola. Some of the names are seen in Tamil copper-plate inscriptions are also mentioned in Ponniyin Selvan (a Tamil historical novel written by Kalki Krishnamurthy)

Historical evidences proves that the Chola, Pandya and Pallava Kings were from the Kallar community.

• Thondaiman

• Paluvettaraiyar

• Malayaman

• Vallavaraiyar

• Muniaraiyar

• Puvaraiyar

• Velar

• Vanataraiyar

• Vengalappar

During Vijayanagar Empire

The downfall of the Mukkulathors occurred in 1345 with the fall of Vira Pandyan IV and the subsequent conquest of Madurai by the Delhi Sultanate However, the southern territories of the Sultanate soon asserted their independence and the Mukkulathors recovered under the Vijayanagar Empire and later under the Nayak dynasty during whose period they served as Polygars or chieftains.

The south-western parts of Tamil Nadu except for Kongu Nadu was called Kallar Nadu and was governed by Kallar Palayakkarar.

Agamudayar

Agamudayar(Tamil: அகமுடையார்)

The word Agamudaiyan or Ahamudaiyan is derived from the root Aham which in Tamil means Land and
or House. Signifying that Agamudaiyars are Landlords and Householders; the suffix Udaiyar
indicates ownership. The word is also used in another form, Ahampadiyar, derived from another
meaning of the same root, i.e., inside. And, in this derivation, it signifies a meaning of a
particular profession, whose office it was to attend to the business in the Interior's of the
King's Palace or in the Pagoda". The name," Mr. J. H. Nelson writes, "is said by the Rev. G. U.
Pope, in his edition of the Abbe Dubois' work to be derived from aham, a temple, and padi, a step,
and to have been given to them in consequence of their serving about the steps of temples. But,
independently of the fact that Madura pagodas are not approached by flights of steps, this seems
to be a very far-fetched and improbable derivation of the word. Or, perhaps, the name comes from
aham in the sense of earth, and pati, master or possessor."

In Tamilnadu south districts, Agamudayars are famously known by their title Servaikaaran(servai)in Pandiya nadu. They make expert soldiers,warriors and constituted the bulk of chola & Pandya armies.
Agamudayars are famously known by their title Servai - "A community show many signs of independence and non-submission to any form of subjugation".In South districts the legendary Marudhu Brothers' came from the Agamudayar (Servai) community.Father of maruthu brothers, who worked as a minister in sivagangai force(samasthanam).Famous wordings of maruthu pandiyars " Engalukku Paaya Theriyum Pathunga Theriyum Aanal Bayapada Theriyaadhu " when 29 April 1789, the British forces attacked Kollangudi. It was defeated by a large body of Marudhu.'It is said that the Marudhu brothers could kill a tiger without using any weapons'british forces afraid of maruthu brothers for their bravery attack using the "Valari"- a weapon closely resembling a boomerang. The lands the community owns are actually rewarded for their loyal and valuable service rendered for the cause of the Kings and the nation.

The Agamudayars are largely found in the Southern and Central districts of Pudukkottai, Trichy, Sivagangai, Ramanathapuram, Thanjavur, Thiruvarur (In Taluks of Mannargudi, Vedharanyam and Mayiladuthurai the large group of Agamudayars are found ), Nagapattinam, Madurai, Coimbatore and North and South Arcot districts & Also in Karnataka state Hiriyur Taluk, Aranakatte & Maskal matti where Agamudayars are living in large groups.
The Agamudayars Sub-sects & Titles:
Agamudayar including Thozhu or Thuluva Vellalars are related to Vellalars of ancient Tamilakam.

• Kottai Patru (or Pathinettu Kottai Patru),

• Servaikkaran,

• Raajakulam,

• Irumbuththalai,

• Desikar,

• Malainaadu,

• Aivali Nattan,

• Naattumangalam,

• Raajaboja,

• Raajavaasal,