Malbars

Malbars is derived from the word Malabar, a term which was used often by the French and other Westerners to refer to all Southern Indians, including the Tamils, Malayalees, Telugus and Kannadigas.

Indian workers came to Réunion from South India, mostly from the current-day Tamil Nadu but also from Andhra Pradesh, through the French settlements of Pondicherry (Pondichéry) and Karaikal (Karikal).

[8] The Malbars desire to learn their ancestors' culture, and started studying their language and religions especially from Tamil Nadu.

[1] Recently many Malbars, particularly those of upper and middle classes, have started to become completely Hindu rather than nominally Christian.

[9] A genetic study has shown that the majority of the Indian origins of Malbars lie in the South-east of India.