Paravar (also known as Bharathar) is a predominantly Catholic Tamil maritime community, mainly living in the state of Tamil Nadu, and in Sri Lanka. Historically, they were inhabitants of the Neithal (coastal) lands of Tamil Nadu, and find mention in various ancient Tamil literary works.
In modern India, Paravars are concentrated along the coastal belt extending along the Gulf of Mannar, from Kilakarai to Kanyakumari (Cape Comorin). They also live in some pockets along the Arabian Sea coast in Kanyakumari District as well as central Kerala. Paravars have been significant among the population of the port city of Thoothukudi and Ramanathapuram, since the 1580s. Apart from Thoothukudi and Ramanathapuram, Paravars also live in many of the big cities and towns in South Tamilnadu like Tuticorin, Nagercoil, Tirunelveli, Rameshwaram, Thiruchendur and Madurai where they are into diverse professions.
In Sri Lanka, the Paravas (called Bharathas in Sri Lanka) have been a more affluent, merchant community since the British colonial times. Today, they are found in significant numbers in the cities of Negombo and Colombo. A section of the Bharathakula community in Sri Lanka has been classified as a separate ethnic group since 2001, whereas another section which identifies itself as Sri Lankan Tamil live in towns such as Vankalai in Mannar District and Puttalam.People of Sri Lanka (2017) - https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/UNDPLKA-People_of_Sri_Lanka.pdf
The Paravars have a rich history, starting from their major economic contributions to the coffers of the ancient Pandya kings through their pearl-harvesting and trade, to their later interactions with the Portuguese in the 16th century and later. The arrival of Portuguese soldiers and missionaries in their midst, including the great missionary St. Francis Xavier, resulted in their conversion to the Catholic faith, adoption of Portuguese surnames and also protection against marauding enemies.
Etymology The name Paravar literally means "dwellers on seacoast" and is derived from the Old Tamil word paravai meaning "sea" or "expanse". The Paravars may have been the Paradavar mentioned in Sangam literature, who are mentioned in the Pattinappaalai. They were maritime inhabitants of the littoral Sangam landscape known as Neithal, who were involved in pearls-harvesting, boat-building, salt-making, fishing, among other maritime activities. Professor Subramaniam says, they were “ferocious warriors” and constituted the most part of Tamil Navy at all times Subrahmanian p. 159, 301 The name Parathavar may have been derived from the Tamil root word paravai.
The Paravars prefer to call themselves Parathar, also written Bharathar, which may be a corrupted form of the Tamil word padavar meaning "boat men". Another theory proposes that the community originated from ancient Ayodhya and are descendants of the Bharatas clan from the Hindu epic Mahabharata, who were the ancestors of the heroes in the epic.
History
Pandyan dynasty
The Pandya kings, eventually, moved their capital to Madurai. Pandyas were rulers with fish on their flag. There is also a theory that the etymology of the name Meenakshi, for whom the great Meenakshi Temple, Madurai was built, is derived from the Tamil words meen (fish) and aatchi (rule).Excerpt for the etymology of Meenatchi from "A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the Tamil Language, Vol. VII, PART - II", page 68: மீனாட்சி, Mīṉāṭci, பெ. (n.) மதுரையை உறைவிடமாகக் கொண்ட தெய்வம்; Umā, the tutelary Goddess of Madurai. [மீன் + ஆட்சி. மீனைக் கொடியில் சின்னமாகக் கொண்டவள்.] Translation: [ Meen + Aatchi. Her who put the fish as symbol for the flag.] (மீன் - Mīṉ which means "fish", ஆட்சி- āṭci which means "rule") Thus, some researchers point to the fact that the Pandyans may have been from the Neithal lands of ancient Tamil country, which were then mostly occupied by the Bharathars. Also, in the ancient Tamil epic Cilappatikaram, the Pandyan king is referred to as Korkai Pandyan by Kannagi, which gives credence to the theory that the Pandyas were originally from Korkai, where the Bharathars lived.The History of the Pearl Fishery of the Tamil coast - by S. Arunachalam (1952), Page 88 The Cilappatikaram praises Bharathavars as one who sails high seas, killed whales, one who did pearl and valampuri shell diving, one who runs world’s famous kingdom and city, and kings.
Pearls were major exports from the Pandya Kingdom by the first century AD, and was a major source of revenue for the kingdom.Bayly p. 322 (The pearl diving season usually lasted 20 – 30 days, around March).Neill p. 141 The Paravas were skilled in diving and in the harvesting of pearls, which were done scientifically. Thus, the control of the Paravas and the Pearls trade led to many skirmishes in the region, right from the ancient Pandyas to the friction between the Muslims, the Portuguese and the Dutch, in later centuries.THE DUTCH TRADE ON THE PEARL FISHERY COAST by S. Ravichandran
The Pandyan kings allowed the Paravars to manage and operate the pearl fisheries because of their already ancient skills in that activity, which required specialist seamanship abilities, knowledge of how to tend the oysterbeds and also knowledge of their location. The Pandyan kings exempted the Paravars from taxation and allowed them to govern themselves in return for being paid tribute from the produce extracted.
Cave engravings from the third century BC, found in 2003, reinforce this view as they suggest that the Paravars were the chieftains (Velirs) of the coastal region during this period, ruling as subordinates of the Pandyas. Previously, in the 1920s, Iyengar had noted that the caste name was used in ancient scripts to mean both boatmen and chiefs of the Madurai country.Iyengar p. 139 A report written in 1669 made it clear that in so far as they were kings, they were only kings of their own people and not of any wider constituency; furthermore, that these "kings" were referred to as such only by the Paravars. However, in the Sangam work Mathuraikkanci, the author Mankudi Maruthanar, refers to his patron, the Pandya sovereign Talaiyanganam Nedunjeliyan, as the Lord of Korkai and the Warlord of the southern Parathavar (Then Parathavar por yere).Subbarayalu, Y. 2014. 'Early Tamil Polity', in A Concise History of South India: Issues and Interpretations, ed. Noburu Karashmia, pp. 52–53. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.
The community was also involved in sea salt production,Iyengar p. 12 which was a relatively easy task on the Indian coast as the hot temperatures evaporated the water without the need for firewood.
The 1901 Madras Census noted that the Tamil-speaking Paravars "claim" to be kshatriyas (warriors) serving under the Pandyan kings, the word used suggesting some official doubt regarding the issue.Thurston p. 143
Little is known about the Paravas during the Middle Ages. Indeed, Donkin has argued that with one exception, "there are no native literary works with a developed sense of chronology, or indeed much sense of place, before the thirteenth century", and that any historical observations have to be made using Arab, European and Chinese accounts.Donkin p. 152 Southern India came under the control of the Cholas in the ninth century but reverted to Pandyan control around the mid-1200s following a series of battles. They maintained control, despite several challenges, until the 16th century.Donkin p. 160
Arab arrival Regardless of any doubt regarding their claims to be warriors under the liege of Pandyan kings, the Paravars certainly did have armies at a later time, these being created to protect the fisheries and their people from attack.Bayly p. 326
The Arab Muslim invasion began in 712 AD at the Sindh Valley and by around 1300 AD they had taken over the entire northern India. However, even prior to the invasion there were Arabs in southern areas such as Calicut, Quilon and Malabar, chiefly traders interested in the spices, pearls, precious stones and cottons which were available there. Another advantage of the location was that it was on a major sea trade route running through south-east Asia and on to China.Donkin pp. 129–130 Some of these Arabs were also pearl divers, having gained their experience in the waters of the Persian Gulf. Some Paravars adopted Islam, whose women also were married off to Muslim traders. These claimed to be descendants of the biblical figure Noah. The descendants of these Muslim people became known as the Lebbais and their main settlement was the town of Kayal, a presence which was noted by Vasco da Gama and Duarte Barbosa by the early sixteenth century.Neill p. 142
There is some ambiguity regarding this town: there was a harbour on the Tamraparani River in Pandyan times which was known as Korkai and when the river at this point became too silted to use (it is situated approximately 8 km inland nowadays), it was replaced by a port called Kayal, thought to be situated variously either at the mouth of the river or at the village of Palayakayal which was 4 km downstream of Korkai but is itself nowadays about 3 km inland. Marco Polo described Kayal as a bustling port and the centre of the pearl trade in 1292 but by the mid-16th century this too had probably ceased to operate and was replaced by another port, Punnaikayal (new Kayal) under the influence of the Portuguese colonists. Punnaikayal was again at the mouth of the river, which as part of an estuary was under constant change, around 4 km from Palayakayal. It is difficult to determine with any consistency which of these locations is being referred to at various times by various authors but what does appear to be a common factor is that this was until modern times a major port for the pearl trade. Kayal is the Tamil and Malayalam word for a backwater.Donkin p. 158
The 1901 Madras Census noted three groups who called themselves Paravars. It speculated that their common root were the mostly Christian Tamil-speaking Paravars, The other groups were the Canarese-speaking Paravars, who were umbrella makers and devil-dancers and the Malayalam-speaking Paravars, who were lime burners, gymnasts, midwives and shell collectors. It has been further speculated that the splitting of the latter two groups from the first may have been as a consequence of a desire to move away from the ancient tribal area when faced with the arrival of Muslims.
The Paravar belief of being the Paravaims of the biblical scriptures and the lost tribes of Israel added to the differences with the Arabs, which is acknowledged by Fr.Henrique Henriques by his claim of kinship.
Arrival of the Portuguese and Catholicism
There are differences of opinion regarding events up to the early 1500s. Donkin and Ray believe that the Muslims gained influence over the Paravars to the point that the latter became at best hired labour and at worst enslaved, and Neill has claimed that there was a belief among Paravars that the Muslims sought completely to exterminate them following various squabbles. However, Mannar and Chandrasekaran have said that up to the 16th century the Paravars had held almost a monopoly of the rights to exploit the pearl fisheries, having negotiated with successive kings to achieve this.
By this time, Maynard has claimed, the south Indian coastal areas around Kanyakumari were "the greatest pearl fishery in the world", and that the Hindu people who fished for oysters there " ... were known as the Paravas". He says that the Hindus were essentially peaceful in nature and temperamentally unsuited to counter physical threat,Maynard pp. 111–112 although Frykenberg has described them as a "... proud and venturesome seafaring folk engaged in fishing, pearl diving, trading, and piracy." Hastings has pointed out that the piracy (and some smuggling) was only an occasional activity and that their more normal occupations demanded courage, strength and stamina, which made them "hardened adventurers".