details.........

Religion

They are traditionally Hindus. Today they constitute a significant part of the Tamil community in India, Sri Lanka, and in other parts of the world.

[edit]

In Inscriptions

Inscription, from 1655, records an accord between the Sthanathar, the Chetti merchant community, and the Nattar to contribute fifty Kalanju of gold to the Elunattu Mutt at Chidambaram. Link [1]

[edit]Current Status

Although a great many of the members are still agriculturalists, many have also progressed up the social ladder as doctors, engineers, entrepreneurs, politicians and civil servants. Large number of people from the community are serving the nation as military men. Large number of people serving the tamilnadu police department.

[edit]The code of Predatory Warfare and Self-sacrifice by Maravars and warrior castes in ancient Tamilnadu

Avippali, Thannai, Verttal, Vallan pakkam, Pun Kilithu Mudiyum Maram and Marakkanchi: the forms of martial self-sacrifice and suicidal battle of the warrior as the ultimate expression of honour and his loyalty to his King. These six forms of martial self-sacrifice are defined as described by the works referred to above.

Pulla Vazhkai Vallan Pakkam – the martial attitude of the warrior who goes forth into suicidal battle is mentioned by Tholkappiyam. The other works refer to it as Thannai Verttal. Duarte Barbosa describes the practice among the Nayar(of the Chera kingdom). It was later noticed by British officials as well. It was also prevalent among the Maravar (of the Pandya kingdom) from whom the Aapathhuthavi bodyguard was selected. Thannai Verttal also refers to the self-sacrifice of a warrior on hearing that his king or commander has died (Purapporul Venpa Malai). Punkilithu Mudiyum Maram is the martial act of a warrior who commits self-sacrifice by tearing apart his battle wound.

Another form of martial self-sacrifice mentioned by all the works except Veera soliyam, is Avippali. Tamil inscriptions speak of it as Navakandam. Inscriptions found in many parts of Tamilnadu provide greater information on the practice. Navakandam is the act of a warrior who slices his own neck to fulfil the vow made to korravai – the Tamil goddess of war – for his commanders’ victory in battle. The Kalingathu Parani – a work which celebrates the victory of the Chola king Kulotunga and his general Thondaman in the battle for Kalinga, describes the practice in detail. “The temple of korravai is decorated with lotus flowers which bloomed when the warriors sliced their own necks”; “they slice the base of their necks; the severed heads are given to the goddess”; “when the neck is sliced and the head is severed, the headless body jumps with joy for having fulfilled the vow”

The epics of Chilapadikaram (5: 79-86) and Manimekalai (6: 50-51) mention the practice. To ensure the complete severing of the head, the warrior tied his hair to a bamboo bent taut before he cut his neck. Hero stones depicting this practice are found all over Tamil Nadu, and are called Saavan Kallu by locals. The warriors who thus committed self-sacrifice were not only deified in hero stones (saavan kallu) and worshipped but their relatives were given lands which were exempted from tax.

An area handbook (Tharamangalam) of the Tamilnadu archeology department notes that “the Nava Kandam sculpture which is found widely all over Kongu Nadu (Coimbatore, Salem) is to be seen at the Tharamangalam Kailasanathar kovil also. The people call it Saavan Kallu. “The practice of Nava Kandam existed in Kongu Nadu till the early part of this [i.e., 20th] century.”

A Saavan Kallu at Thenkarai Moolanatha sami Kovil in Madurai, depicting the act of a warrior holding his hair with his left hand and slicing his neck with his right – 14th century – is said to be annually worshipped by the Conjeevaram Mudaliyars. The Conjeevaram Mudaliyars are Kaikolar, a presentday weaving caste which was militarized under the Chola empire and was made into a special military body; there are indications that Kaikolar warriors practiced Nava Kandam

Apart from these codified forms of martial self-sacrifice, a method called Vadakkiruththal is mentioned in Tamil heroic poetry. It is the act of a warrior king fasting to death, if some dire dishonour were to come upon him. The Tamil teacher, and the Dravidian propagandist, turned the song of the legendary Chera king Irumborai who committed self-sacrifice when he was taken captive by his enemies into a compelling theme in Tamil renaissance.

The Avippali form of martial self-sacrifice as the ultimate expression of loyalty to one’s commander, is deeply embedded in the Tamil psyche. Senchorru-kadan (the debt of red rice) is a phrase that is widely used today by Tamils as an expression of loyalty. One frequently hears of it in a popular Tamil song. The phrase sands for the ritual of partaking of rice by which Maravar and other Tamil military caste warriors bound themselves to their king or commander to die in suicidal battle for him, or to commit self-sacrifice on the day he was slain. Of Avippali, the Puraporul Venba Malai ([verse] 92) says, “thinking of nothing but the red (blood) rice the Maravar give their life as offering in battle.”

The ritual of red or blood rice was described by two Muslim travellers who had visited the Tamil country in the 9th century. “A quantity of cooked rice was spread before the king, and some three or four hundred persons came of their own accord and received each a small quantity of rice from the king’s own hands, after he himself had eaten some. By eating of this rice, they all engage themselvesto burn themselves on the day the king dies or is slain; and they punctually fulfill their promise.” In modern times it has been observed that “when a Maravar takes food in the house of a stranger, he will take a pinch of earth and put it on the food before he commences his meal.” act freed him from the debt of blood rice.