The Pallar, who prefer to be called Mallar, are an agricultural community from the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka.
The Pallars traditionally inhabited the fertile wetland area referred to as Marutham in the literary devices of the Sangam landscape.
Today, they are the dominant Dalit community of southern Tamil Nadu and have developed a reputation for being assertive about their rights.
There is literary evidence that suggests that Pallars were traditional farmers who produced large quantities of food grains, and that some were probably rulers (Pallava dynasty) in the Tamil region.
[3][7] The change of name from "Mallar" to "Pallar" is believed to have been imposed upon them after the decline of their rule, when the leaders of competing tribes such as Vijayanagara Empire and the succeeding Nayakars wanted to suggest a degradation in status.
[8][9][10] The Pallars traditionally inhabited the fertile wetland area referred to as Marutham in the literary devices of the Sangam landscape.
[4] The socio-economic position of the Pallar as bonded servants working on farms is a central theme of Pallu poetry popular in the 17th century.
Krishnaswamy was highly critical of the government's response and advocated for strong Dalit resistance to Thevar aggression, bringing him significant support from Pallar youth.
The new title implies 'an alternative, superior, non-untouchable identity' and carries an implicit claim for a higher social status.
[24] Since the 1990s, community members have preferred to refer to themselves as Devendrakula Velalar (DKV), literally "Vellalars of the clan of Devendra.
[3] The Puthiya Tamilagam (PT), founded by Krishnaswamy in 2001, has campaigned for the appellation of DKV to be applied to the Pallar, Kudumbar, Kaladi, Mooppan, Devendra Kulathan and Pannadi communities since the 1990s and between 2006 and 2011 a one-man commission looked into it on behalf of the state government, then controlled by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK).
The PT then allied with the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in the hope that this would lead to the renaming but by 2015 had become frustrated with the inaction and was organising protests.
[26] In 2016, the centre announced it would appoint anthropologists to investigate the DKV claim in relation to the Pallar, Kudumbar, Pannadi, Kaladi, Kadayan, Devendra Kulathan and Vadhiriyar communities.
It said that the decision was not motivated by a desire for political support from the affected communities but rather a reaction to a petition organised by the Thevendrar Thannarva Arakattalai (TTA) that had attracted over 500,000 signatories.
[27] Whilst the TTA said at the time that the change of name would have no effect on the Scheduled Caste status enjoyed by the communities under India's system of positive discrimination, by 2018 the PT leader, K. Krishnasamy, was demanding that they be removed from that classification.
It was argued that the Vellalar term implied that the communities were adopting the sanskritisation process and that this would further emphasis caste divisions in a society that should be lessening them.
This has meant that in villages where Pallars form a significant population, they have higher rates of land ownership, corresponding to educational and economic advancement.