Ethnicity in Sri Lanka
Ethnic group
Bharatha People
(
Sinhala
:
????
,
romanized:
Bh?rata
,
Tamil
:
?????
,
romanized:
Paratar
) also known as
Bharatakula
and
Paravar,
is an ethnicity in the island of
Sri Lanka
.
[2]
Earlier considered a caste of the
Sri Lankan Tamils
, they were classified as separate ethnic group in the 2001 census.
[3]
They are descendant of
Tamil
speaking
Paravar
of
Southern India
who migrated to Sri Lanka under
Portuguese rule
.
[4]
They live mainly on the western coast of Sri Lanka and mainly found in the cities of
Mannar
,
Negombo
and
Colombo
.
[5]
[6]
Etymology
[
edit
]
Scholars derive
Bharatha
, also pronounced as
Parathar
, from the
Tamil
root word
para
meaning "expanse" or "sea".
[7]
The word has been documented in ancient
Sangam literature
, describing them as maritime people of the
Neithal
Sangam landscape
.
[8]
[9]
Colonial archives refer them as
Paruwa
, a corrupted form of "Paravar".
[10]
According to other scholars is
Bharatha
a name the community took from the
Hindu
epic
Mahabharata
, the clan of
Bh?ratas
, who were the ancestor of the heroes in the epic, following their origin myth from
Ayodhya
.
[11]
[12]
History
[
edit
]
They were traditionally occupied in seatrade,
pearl diving
and fishing. They included the chiefs of the coastal regions, who ruled there as subordinates of the
Pandyan kings
.
[14]
The Muslims of
Kayalpatnam
obtained a lease on pearl fishery by
Marthanda Varma
. The Bharatas aligned with the
Portuguese
and overthrew the overlordship by the Muslims and for return were over 20,000 Bharathas converted to
Roman Catholicism
by the saint
Francis Xavier
.
[15]
Several hundreds of Christian converted Bharathas were brought from Indian mainland to the western shores of Sri Lanka by the
Portuguese
to wrest control on the pearl trade.
Cankili I
, king of
Jaffna Kingdom
, ordered the death of 600 Christian Bharathas who were settled in the
Mannar District
.
[16]
[17]
Paravar are to be found all over Sri Lanka. Amongst
Sri Lankan Tamils
Paravar are still a fishing and trading caste although commonly confused with the
Karaiyar
. The Bharatas or Bharatakula identity is maintained by a relatively prosperous merchant group from India that settled amongst the Sinhalese in the Negombo area.
[18]
Assimilation
[
edit
]
Along with
Colombo Chetty
and other relatively recent merchant groups from South India, there is rapid
Sinhalisation
or assimilation with the Sinhalese majority. But unlike the Colombo Chettys many still speak Tamil at home and even have marital relationships in India.
According to recent Sri Lankan census categories in July 2001, Bharatakula has been moved out of
Sri Lankan Tamil
category to simply as a separate ethnic group
Bharatha.
[1]
Areas of inhabitation
[
edit
]
They are primarily found in capital
Colombo
and in towns north of it, namely
Negombo
in the Western Province.
Names
[
edit
]
Common last names adopted by Bharatkulas include Matchado, Perez, Corera's,Coonghe, Cruz, de Cruz, Fernando, Ferdinandes, Paiva, Miranda, Motha, Corera, Costa, Rayan, Rayen, Rodrigo, Leon, Vaz, Gomez, Victoria, Kagoo, Carvalho, Almeida and Rubeiro. Fernando is one of the most common last names.
See also
[
edit
]
Notes
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"A2 : Population by ethnic group according to districts, 2012"
. Department of Census & Statistics, Sri Lanka. Archived from
the original
on 2017-04-28
. Retrieved
2012-10-23
.
- ^
"Census of Population and Housing 2011"
.
www.statistics.gov.lk
. Archived from
the original
on 2017-04-28
. Retrieved
2018-01-24
.
- ^
Orjuela, Camilla (2008-09-16).
The Identity Politics of Peacebuilding: Civil Society in War-Torn Sri Lanka
. SAGE Publications India.
ISBN
9788132100249
.
- ^
Roberts, Michael; Raheem, Ismeth; Colin-Thome, Percy (1989).
People Inbetween: The burghers and the middle class in the transformations within Sri Lanka, 1790s-1960
. Sarvodaya Book Pub. Services. p. 253.
ISBN
9789555990134
.
- ^
Peebles, Patrick (2015-10-22).
Historical Dictionary of Sri Lanka
. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 55.
ISBN
9781442255852
.
- ^
Lanka, Social Scientists Association of Sri (1984).
Ethnicity and Social Change in Sri Lanka: Papers Presented at a Seminar Organised by the Social Scientists Association, December 1979
. Social Scientists' Association. p. 146.
- ^
Korean Studies
. Vol. 8. University Press of Hawaii: Center for Korean Studies. 1984. p. 47.
- ^
Civattampi, K?rttik?cu (2005).
Being a Tamil and Sri Lankan
. Aivakam.
ISBN
9789551132002
.
- ^
Congress, Indian History (1981).
Proceedings of the Indian History Congress
. p. 84.
- ^
The Catholic Church in Sri Lanka: the Dutch period : original documents
. Tisara Prakasakayo. 1983.
- ^
Maloney, Clarence (1974).
Peoples of South Asia
. Holt, Rinehart and Winston. p. 234.
ISBN
9780030849695
.
- ^
Sinnakani, R. (2007).
Tamil Nadu State: Thoothukudi District
. Government of Tamil Nadu, Commissioner of Archives and Historical Research. p. 276.
- ^
"Population by ethnic group, census years"
(PDF)
. Department of Census & Statistics, Sri Lanka. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on 13 November 2011
. Retrieved
23 October
2012
.
- ^
Ramaiah, T. G. (2013).
Role of Exclusive Credit Linkage Programme for Occupational Dynamics Among Fisherwomen: A Study in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu States
. National Institute of Rural Development, Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India. p. 15.
ISBN
9788185542898
.
- ^
Menon, T. Madhava; Linguistics, International School of Dravidian (2002).
A handbook of Kerala
. International School of Dravidian Linguistics. p. 653.
ISBN
9788185692319
.
- ^
Gunasingam, Murugar (2005).
Primary Sources for History of the Sri Lankan Tamils: A World-wide Search
. M.V. Publications for the South Asian Studies Centre, Sydney. p. 62.
ISBN
9780646454283
.
- ^
Briggs, Philip (2018-01-02).
Sri Lanka
. Bradt Travel Guides. p. 290.
ISBN
9781784770570
.
- ^
imitri Mascarenhas and the Negombo connection
The Nation - August 19, 2007
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