Nadar (caste)

[5] The title Nadar is believed to be derived from the Nelamaikkarars, the aristocrats of the Shanar community who had previously used it exclusively.

Nadars claim that the original name of the community was Shantror or Shandrar (noble one) which, in course of time, was corrupted to Shanar.

They also claimed that the Nayak rulers of Tamil Nadu imposed Deshaprashtam (ostracism) on the ancient Nadars to ensure that they would not rise.

The traditions followed by the Nelamaikkarars and the existence of the ruins beneath the Teri palmrya forests of Tiruchendur and the Pandyan capital city of Korkai, where the Nadar population is predominant, suggest they could very well be the heirs of the Early Pandyas.

[15] In the early nineteenth century, the Nadars were a community mostly engaged in the palmyra industry, including the production of toddy.

[17][18] At this time, the majority of Nadars lived south of the Thamirabarani River, and formed 80 – 90 per cent of the population between there and Cape Comorin.

[19] Although numerically dominant in the area, the Nadars had a minimal interaction with other communities and they were themselves divided by their various endogamous subcastes, and thus lacked communal cohesion.

[17] These Nadans either held their position directly under Nayak rulers in the Tiruchendur area or as petty lords under the Palaiyakkarar.

They commanded high respect among the population, including from groups such as the Nadar climbers, the minority Vellalars and the Brahmins.

In areas where the Nadar climber population consisted of only a few families in a village, they faced discrimination from major upper castes.

One example of the social disabilities was that Nadar climber women were not allowed to cover their bosoms to punctuate their low status.

[27] Discontented with their social status, a large number of Nadar climbers embraced Christianity and became upwardly mobile.

Eventually, with assistance from the Travancore authorities, British Christian Missionaries and Vaikunta Swamy, the depressed Nadar climber women won the right to wear their upper cloth in the manner of their Nadan counterparts.

They established sophisticated pettais (fortified compounds) and urvinmurais (local caste associations) to ensure safety for their goods.

Members of the uravinmurai, who were known as muraikkarars, would contribute a portion of their income to the association as mahimai (literally, to glorify oneself), in order to use the facilities of the pettais and to improve the common good.

As the wealth of the Northern Nadars increased they began also to adopt the customs of the North Indian Kshatriyas in order to improve their social status, in a process now known as Sanskritisation.

To demonstrate their wealthy and powerful social position, the Nadars of Sivakasi hired Maravar palanquin bearers.

However, the Sankritisation movement was a failure initially and the Nadar climbers, who lived as minorities, were still discriminated by the majority castes.

[33][34][35] The separate Nadar associations of the six Ramanad towns were unable to support a community that was becoming more dispersed as many began to migrate to other parts of Madras Presidency.

The situation got out of hand when Nadar leaders tried to intimidate the climbers, by using tenets of their cult, to give up their occupation as toddy tappers.

The two prominent Nadars Sangams constantly pressurized the government and eventually the enforcement of these regulations gradually eased.

The Nadar Mahajana Sangam acted in the interests of such climbers, using the strength and influence of the community at large.

In situations where the matter went to court, the Sangam would not provide financial support for the Nadar claimant to contest the case, but would rather see that the claim is properly heard.

After independence of India, the Sangam took advantage of the constitutional provisions encouraging a caste-less society and also supported government attempts to promote this vision.

The Northern Nadars joined the Justice party in its attack against Brahmins on cultural and religious front.

[48] However, in the late 1940s the Nadars' support shifted to Indian National Congress, in part because of the political success of K. Kamaraj, whose opinions had originally been disliked by his own community.

[55] Crawford Young has said that: Today, the Nadars are recognized as an "advanced" community – a status reversal accomplished over the past century through caste horizontal mobilization of caste solidarity, challenge to servile traditional ascription through ritual transformations, effective utilization of modern opportunity through education and commerce, and skilful communal exploitation of the political arena.

[2][3] The legend of the origin of the Nadars tell of the birth of seven sons; with the death of two, the remaining five father the separate divisions of the community.

It is the largest of the five subcastes and constitutes about 80 percent of the entire community, including the aristocratic Nelamaikkarars and the climbers beneath them.

They are believed originally to have been palanquin bearers for the Pandyan kings or menial slaves of the Nelamaikkarar family, having descended from illegal unions within the Nadar community.