Koviyar

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Koviyar
Religions
caste deity is observed by the Koviar.[2] They are reputed as a ritually dominant caste and regarded as the "cousin" caste of the more numerical dominant caste, Sri Lankan Vellalar.[3][4]

Etymology

The name "Koviyar" can be used exchangeably with the names Kovilar and Kovalar, which have roots in the Tamil word Kōn, signifying "king". This term may have originated from the Tamil word kōl, representing a king's

scepter.[5]

The

prisoners of war, and that Koviyar is a Tamilised form of the Sinhala Goviya.[8] Tamil dirge songs sung by Vellalar women during funeral rituals carried out by Koviyar refer to them as Sinhalas ("O you Kovia, Sinhala").[9]

In the Yalpana Vaipava Malai composed during the Dutch colonial period, explains the etymology of the term Koviyar as deriving from Kovilar, meaning servants of the temple (Kovil). It says that the Koviyar were once servants and protectors of the temples who later on, because of poverty and war, sold themselves to the temples as workers. When the Portuguese colonists arrived and destroyed all the Hindu temples in Jaffna, the Kovilar were said to have been sold off as slaves by the Portuguese. The chronicle also speaks of a people of a "high caste" who due to poverty were sold off as slaves.[10]

History

Early period

They are mentioned in the

Tamilnadu.[6]
Vellalar men often took concubines from the Koviyar community, and the children are entitled to Vellalar status as well as certain paternal inheritances.[13]

The Koviyars were looked upon as the local henchman of the Sri Lankan Vellalar by the colonial powers. They collected taxes for the Vellalar from the people who worked in their farmlands, these people included the "kudimakal" Pallar, Nalavar in promise to get goods, money and lands in return from the landowners.

Colonial period

The political rise of the Vellalar under Dutch Ceylon, pushed the Koviyar along with the Pallar and Nalavar into slavery through the legalisation of the Thesavalamai law, who were a group initially bound to only serve the state as tenant farmers.[14][15][16] They were after the abolishment of slavery considered as domestic servants or Kudimakkal for a section of dominant castes, and had the role as ceremony officiators.[17][18]

Koviyar together with the Vellalar and the Sinhalese Govigama got more administrative roles during the British rule. According to M.D Raghavan, Koviyar dominance was strengthened by British colonizers after the fall of the Dutch. Koviyar who were pushed to slavery by the Portuguese and oppressed during the Dutch, now saw a resurgence in the economical and socio-political arena.[19]

Modern period

After Sri Lanka’s independence from

LTTE that was also seen as to be associated with Karaiyar caste in Jaffna.[citation needed
]

The civil war and the Black July pogroms have retarded most of these gains and many have escaped the deprivations by seeking refugee status in India, Europe and North America. They are merging with the host populations and/or the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora.[20]

See also

References

  1. ^ Sri Lankan Tamil Nationalism: Its Origins and Development in the Nineteenth from A. Jeyaratnam Wilson
  2. ^ Lewis, John Penry; Senaveratna, John M.; Bell, Harry Charles Purvis (1922). The Ceylon Antiquary and Literary Register. p. 12.
  3. ISBN 9780226789491
    .
  4. ^ a b Hellmann-Rajanayagam, Dagmar (1993). "The Jaffna Social System: Continuity and Change under Conditions of War". Internationales Asienforum. 24 (3–4): 256.
  5. ^ M. D. Raghavan- Tamil Culture in Ceylon: A General Introduction, p168-170
  6. ^ a b Pillay, Kolappa Pillay Kanakasabhapathi (1963). South India and Ceylon. University of Madras. p. 168.
  7. ^
    ISBN 9789559261162
    .
  8. ^ Indrapala, K. (1965). Dravidian settlements in Ceylon and the beginnings of the kingdom of Jaffna.
  9. ^ R. S. Perinbanayagam - The Karmic Theater: Self, Society, and Astrology in Jaffna, p27
  10. ^ M. D. Raghavan- Tamil Culture in Ceylon: A General Introduction, p171-184
  11. ISBN 9780521096645
    .
  12. ISBN 9780226789491
    .
  13. ^ R. S. Perinbanayagam - The Karmic Theater: Self, Society, and Astrology in Jaffna, p27
  14. ISSN 0019-4646
    .
  15. ISBN 9780870233746
    .
  16. ISBN 9783110807752
    .
  17. ^ Hocart, Arthur Maurice (1968). Caste, a Comparative Study. Russell & Russell. p. 10.
  18. ^ Holmes, Walter Robert (1980). Jaffna, Sri Lanka 1980. Christian Institute for the Study of Religion and Society of Jaffna College. p. 215.
  19. ^ M. D. Raghavan- Tamil Culture in Ceylon: A General Introduction, p171-184
  20. ISBN 978-0-7619-3221-5. Retrieved 2008-06-04. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help
    )

External links
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