Bharatha people

[5][6] Scholars derive Bharatha, also pronounced as Parathar, from the Tamil root word para meaning "expanse" or "sea".

[15] Several hundreds of Christian converted Bharathas were brought from Indian mainland to the western shores of Sri Lanka by the Portuguese to wrest control on the pearl trade.

The Bharatas or Bharatakula identity is maintained by a relatively prosperous merchant group from India that settled amongst the Sinhalese in the Negombo area.

[18] Along with Colombo Chetty and other relatively recent merchant groups from South India, there is rapid Sinhalisation or assimilation with the Sinhalese majority.

Common last names or family names of Bharatakulas include Machado, Perez, Coonghe, Cruz, de Cruz, Pereira, Mascarenhas, Fernando, Ferdinandes, Fernandez, Paiva, Miranda, Motha, Corera, Costa, Rayan or Rayen, Rodrigo, Leon, Vaz, Gomez, Victoria, Kagoo, Carvalho, Almeida and Rubeiro.