Nattar
Encyclopedia
Nattars were an administrative body in the Tamil kingdoms of Chola, Pandya and Pallava
, who had the right to sell and purchase land, and make them tax-free whenever such a request was made. Nattar generally meant an official of an area called nadu.
The institution of the nattar was well-defined. It was in charge of all matters pertaining to a village, including water-management. It was noted that: "If ruling class is taken to mean those with the power and authority to manage community resources, then the nattar was this class in Tamil country".
, Trichy District). A seventeenth regnal year inscription of Jatavarman Sundarapandiya records that the nattar of Pandikulasani valanadu and Vadakarai Rajaraja valanadu exempted taxes on certain lands which were given to the temple for lamps, offerings and festivals. Another inscription presents the name of a nattar accountant as Muththaiyil Udaiyan. It was noted that despite the role of the nattars as an administrative body, their modus operandi was not clear.
The book Feudalism and Non-European Societies by TJ Byres and Harbans Mukhia, speaks of Tamil peasant militias in the Chola kingdom domains as stratified peasant groups with dominance exercised by one group identified with the nadu locality as a nattar. From the nattars, one lineage provided chiefs called araiyar of the locality. Settlements within the nadu included centres of commerce called nagaram (resided in by nagarathar
s) and settlements supporting brahmanical functions called brahmadeya (resided in by brahmins). The nattars were the highest of the peasant groups with entitlement (called kani) to the major share (called melvaram) of the agrarian production. While ordinary peasant families were suggested to have received minor entitlement (called kudivaram), the field labourers had no fixed share. All these groups were ranked and had endogamous groupings, the highest of which claimed a status of purity and learning as sat-shudra
, with the lowest being regarded as polluting to the touch.
Ceremonial establishments of brahmin villages in the nadus to pursue dharmic ends were important in effecting links beyond the nadu. The brahmadeyas of different nadus created a network of ritual specialists and in doing so fortified the standing of the nattar upon whose patronage this depended. As per Arun Majumder in Structural Evolution of Indian Economy, whenever the Chola overlords failed to reward its rural base of clients, that is, the nattars, the system began to corrode from within. That was because, apart from various administrative functions, the jobs of temple construction and giving landgrants to brahmins depended on the nattar.
Nattar as a political body was recognized by the Pallava
s and Pandyas. The Pallava
and Pandya copper plates regarding grants of land had nattars mentioned in them.
“The local counterparts of the new British elite were the nattars whose economic interests included agriculture, trade and production. Nattars were influential city patrons...” Their social life was captured in the work, Sarva Deva Vilasa, a eulogy to the city life of merchant princes, written around 1800. “Nattars were cultured high caste vellalars or brahmins with reputations gained from local social status and service to indigenous regimes. They played an important role as representative of multi-skilled jathis, collective bargaining / kinship bodies, at the higher councils or the nadus”.
“Nattars were of orthodox religion, supported temples and patronised Sanskrit learning and the arts. Although they maintained homes in Madras and FSG (a privilege only accorded to influentital Indians), their village links were never severed. Individuals like Manali Mudaliya were owners of extensive tracts of land in the city, but most seemed to prefer smaller suburban gardens in the older temple centres or villages outside the city wall. In the city, Pachaiyappa Mudaliar
and his friends lived in the leafy exclusive residential suburb of Komaleswaram Kovil on the banks of Cooum River. Nattars travelled regularly to their country homes to fulfil their traditional duties, kaniyatchi associated with dominion over land.
The Tamil identity, high social status and intimate knowledge of diplomacy and local social and political networks made the nattars indispensable to the Company as its administrative role expanded. Some Telugu and Maratha Brahmins, with kaniyatchi status, served as agents in the revenue administration of the Carnatic and offered their skills to the British. Members of such establishment families served on the Madras Council that governed the city.”
Niels Brimnes wrote in Constructing the Colonial Encounter (page 157):
In the early days of the 19th century the offices of the nattar and desayi appear as important institutions of leadership within the right hand division. The nattars were village headmen and came from agricultural communities, such as the Vellalas. The desayi constituted a kind of petty chief in some areas and the office was closely associated with the Telugu community of Balija
s. Transformed into the urban context of Madras, these offices seem to have been primarily concerned with questions of caste. In early 19th century Madras, the office of nattar was held by the Vellala Arnachellum Mudali, and the office of desayi was held by Vencata Kistnama Chetti of the Balija community. Apparently the co-existence of these two offices did not give rise to any problems. Instead, the established positions of leadership were challenged from outside.
The book, Castes and Tribes of Southern India by Edgar Thurston and K Rangachari, states that 12,000 individuals returned themselves as Nattan in the census of 1901. They called it a "vague term meaning people of the country, reported by some to be a main caste and by others to be a sub-caste of Vellala". Nearly all of them who returned the name were cultivators from Salem possessing the title of Servai, which usually denotes an Agamudaiyan.
Thurston and Rangachari noted that the term was also used as a title of the Sembadavan and Pattanavan fishing castes, and of the Vallambans. Since the portions of the Tamil
country were divided into areas called nadus administered by a nattan or nattar as a predominant element, an example was provided, as in the case of the Vallambans and Kallans who were called the Nattars of the Palaya Nadu in the Sivagangai Zamindari of Madurai
. The Nattar was noted to have taken the lead in dealing with affairs of each nadu.
In the old times, the Mudali community was engaged in village administration, the Pillai
community in village accounting, the Maravar community in policing villages, the Brahmin community in education and the Chetty community in trading. Individuals from these communities were said to have been designated as a Nattar or Saandror, as a terminology or designation for an "eminent personality".
Kanakalatha Mukund in his book The Trading World of the Tamil Merchant, noted the presence of a caste / class called Mahanattar in Pondicherry.
s who ruled in the middle parts of the river basin of the Vellar valley. In the 15th century, they were independent as an authority and in addition to their ancient title of Nattar, they added the more fashionable Tamil equivalent of a Nayaka
as Nayanar
.
In the 18th century, the Vallambars of Karaikudi, helped the Maruthu brothers fight many wars against the British. The Vallambars were subsequently declared rulers of Karaikudi
and 15 other villages, or one pallayam (also see: Poligars), by the Shivagangai King. Vallambars were then given the surname Amballam and came to be known as Pallaya Nattars or the citizens of Pallaya Nadu.
According to the Peasant State and Society in Medieval South India by Burton Stein (page 110), during the 19th century, Kallar
s were divided into 10 endogamous divisions by territory (nadu). And during the same century, within each Kallar locality, one Kallar sub-division was accorded the title of Nattar and assumed a dominant place in the society.
In the Madras Presidency, the East India Company employed Nattars to collect land revenue. Like other land-owners in South India (known as Mirasidars), the Nattars employed padiyals and pannaiyals (workers), and claimed on their behalf the right to a share of the harvest. Before the grain on the threshing floor was divided between the state share (melvaram) and the cultivator’s share (kutivaram), several deductions were made, including one for the paraiyar
, padiyals and pannaiyals. This share was known as tuṇạu (remnant) or kalavāsam (Tamil “kal ̣avācam”).
Pallava
The Pallava dynasty was a Tamil dynasty which ruled the northern Tamil Nadu region and the southern Andhra Pradesh region with their capital at Kanchipuram...
, who had the right to sell and purchase land, and make them tax-free whenever such a request was made. Nattar generally meant an official of an area called nadu.
The institution of the nattar was well-defined. It was in charge of all matters pertaining to a village, including water-management. It was noted that: "If ruling class is taken to mean those with the power and authority to manage community resources, then the nattar was this class in Tamil country".
Description
Dr R Kalaikkovan and Dr M Nalini studied eighty three inscriptions from various parts of the temple complex of Saptarishisvara at Thiruthavathurai (LalgudiLalgudi
Lalgudi is a town in Tiruchirapalli district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu.-Geography:Lalgudi is a town located around 20KM from Tiruchirapalli on NH227 Tiruchirapalli-Chidambaram. Lalgudi lies close to Coleroon River...
, Trichy District). A seventeenth regnal year inscription of Jatavarman Sundarapandiya records that the nattar of Pandikulasani valanadu and Vadakarai Rajaraja valanadu exempted taxes on certain lands which were given to the temple for lamps, offerings and festivals. Another inscription presents the name of a nattar accountant as Muththaiyil Udaiyan. It was noted that despite the role of the nattars as an administrative body, their modus operandi was not clear.
The book Feudalism and Non-European Societies by TJ Byres and Harbans Mukhia, speaks of Tamil peasant militias in the Chola kingdom domains as stratified peasant groups with dominance exercised by one group identified with the nadu locality as a nattar. From the nattars, one lineage provided chiefs called araiyar of the locality. Settlements within the nadu included centres of commerce called nagaram (resided in by nagarathar
Nagarathar
The Nagarathars is a Chettiar community in Shaivism that originated in Kaveripoompattinam under the Chola kingdom of India. They are a prominent mercantile Vaishya, caste in Tamil Nadu, South India...
s) and settlements supporting brahmanical functions called brahmadeya (resided in by brahmins). The nattars were the highest of the peasant groups with entitlement (called kani) to the major share (called melvaram) of the agrarian production. While ordinary peasant families were suggested to have received minor entitlement (called kudivaram), the field labourers had no fixed share. All these groups were ranked and had endogamous groupings, the highest of which claimed a status of purity and learning as sat-shudra
Shudra
Shudra is the fourth Varna, as prescribed in the Purusha Sukta of the Rig veda, which constitutes society into four varnas or Chaturvarna. The other three varnas are Brahmans - priests, Kshatriya - those with governing functions, Vaishya - agriculturalists, cattle rearers and traders...
, with the lowest being regarded as polluting to the touch.
Ceremonial establishments of brahmin villages in the nadus to pursue dharmic ends were important in effecting links beyond the nadu. The brahmadeyas of different nadus created a network of ritual specialists and in doing so fortified the standing of the nattar upon whose patronage this depended. As per Arun Majumder in Structural Evolution of Indian Economy, whenever the Chola overlords failed to reward its rural base of clients, that is, the nattars, the system began to corrode from within. That was because, apart from various administrative functions, the jobs of temple construction and giving landgrants to brahmins depended on the nattar.
Nattar as a political body was recognized by the Pallava
Pallava
The Pallava dynasty was a Tamil dynasty which ruled the northern Tamil Nadu region and the southern Andhra Pradesh region with their capital at Kanchipuram...
s and Pandyas. The Pallava
Pallava
The Pallava dynasty was a Tamil dynasty which ruled the northern Tamil Nadu region and the southern Andhra Pradesh region with their capital at Kanchipuram...
and Pandya copper plates regarding grants of land had nattars mentioned in them.
Colonial Times
Shanti Jayewardene-Pillai notes in her work Imperial Conversations (page 30):“The local counterparts of the new British elite were the nattars whose economic interests included agriculture, trade and production. Nattars were influential city patrons...” Their social life was captured in the work, Sarva Deva Vilasa, a eulogy to the city life of merchant princes, written around 1800. “Nattars were cultured high caste vellalars or brahmins with reputations gained from local social status and service to indigenous regimes. They played an important role as representative of multi-skilled jathis, collective bargaining / kinship bodies, at the higher councils or the nadus”.
“Nattars were of orthodox religion, supported temples and patronised Sanskrit learning and the arts. Although they maintained homes in Madras and FSG (a privilege only accorded to influentital Indians), their village links were never severed. Individuals like Manali Mudaliya were owners of extensive tracts of land in the city, but most seemed to prefer smaller suburban gardens in the older temple centres or villages outside the city wall. In the city, Pachaiyappa Mudaliar
Pachaiyappa Mudaliar
Pachaiyappa Mudaliar was a Madras merchant, philanthropist and dubash of the 18th century.- Early life :Pachaiyappa Mudaliar was born in a poor family in Periyapalaiyam in Thiruvallur district...
and his friends lived in the leafy exclusive residential suburb of Komaleswaram Kovil on the banks of Cooum River. Nattars travelled regularly to their country homes to fulfil their traditional duties, kaniyatchi associated with dominion over land.
The Tamil identity, high social status and intimate knowledge of diplomacy and local social and political networks made the nattars indispensable to the Company as its administrative role expanded. Some Telugu and Maratha Brahmins, with kaniyatchi status, served as agents in the revenue administration of the Carnatic and offered their skills to the British. Members of such establishment families served on the Madras Council that governed the city.”
Niels Brimnes wrote in Constructing the Colonial Encounter (page 157):
In the early days of the 19th century the offices of the nattar and desayi appear as important institutions of leadership within the right hand division. The nattars were village headmen and came from agricultural communities, such as the Vellalas. The desayi constituted a kind of petty chief in some areas and the office was closely associated with the Telugu community of Balija
Balija
Balija is a social group spread across the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh , Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala...
s. Transformed into the urban context of Madras, these offices seem to have been primarily concerned with questions of caste. In early 19th century Madras, the office of nattar was held by the Vellala Arnachellum Mudali, and the office of desayi was held by Vencata Kistnama Chetti of the Balija community. Apparently the co-existence of these two offices did not give rise to any problems. Instead, the established positions of leadership were challenged from outside.
Other Usage
Nattar as a title was used by several castes, groups and communities.The book, Castes and Tribes of Southern India by Edgar Thurston and K Rangachari, states that 12,000 individuals returned themselves as Nattan in the census of 1901. They called it a "vague term meaning people of the country, reported by some to be a main caste and by others to be a sub-caste of Vellala". Nearly all of them who returned the name were cultivators from Salem possessing the title of Servai, which usually denotes an Agamudaiyan.
Thurston and Rangachari noted that the term was also used as a title of the Sembadavan and Pattanavan fishing castes, and of the Vallambans. Since the portions of the Tamil
Tamil people
Tamil people , also called Tamils or Tamilians, are an ethnic group native to Tamil Nadu, India and the north-eastern region of Sri Lanka. Historic and post 15th century emigrant communities are also found across the world, notably Malaysia, Singapore, Mauritius, South Africa, Australia, Canada,...
country were divided into areas called nadus administered by a nattan or nattar as a predominant element, an example was provided, as in the case of the Vallambans and Kallans who were called the Nattars of the Palaya Nadu in the Sivagangai Zamindari of Madurai
Madurai
Madurai is the third largest city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. It served as the capital city of the Pandyan Kingdom. It is the administrative headquarters of Madurai District and is famous for its temples built by Pandyan and...
. The Nattar was noted to have taken the lead in dealing with affairs of each nadu.
In the old times, the Mudali community was engaged in village administration, the Pillai
Pillai (community)
Pillai is a Tamil speaking community from the Indian states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala. They are a landowning upper caste, feudal community.-Origin of Vellalar:...
community in village accounting, the Maravar community in policing villages, the Brahmin community in education and the Chetty community in trading. Individuals from these communities were said to have been designated as a Nattar or Saandror, as a terminology or designation for an "eminent personality".
Kanakalatha Mukund in his book The Trading World of the Tamil Merchant, noted the presence of a caste / class called Mahanattar in Pondicherry.
Usage in later times
The book The New Cambridge History of India (by Gordon Johnson, Christopher Alan Bayly, JF Richards, pg.78), noted of work by Karashima where they wrote of local chiefs known as VanniyarVanniyar
Vanniyar , refers to a very large social group of people spread all across South India. Vanniyars primarily live in modern Tamil Nadu where they speak Tamil, while in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala they speak their native South Indian Dravidian languages namely, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam...
s who ruled in the middle parts of the river basin of the Vellar valley. In the 15th century, they were independent as an authority and in addition to their ancient title of Nattar, they added the more fashionable Tamil equivalent of a Nayaka
Nayak (title)
Nayak, Nayaka, Nayakar, Nayakkar, Naik, Naiker, Naicker, Naickan, Naiken, Nayakkan, Naidu, Nayudu or Naidoo is a common title used by various caste and ethnic groups across India. They are all derivatives of the original Sanskrit Nayaka, meaning a leader...
as Nayanar
Nayanar
Nayanar can refer to:*Nayanars, Shaivite saints from Tamil Nadu, India.*Nayanar , an honorific title used by certain clans of Nair caste from the north Malabar region of Kerala, India.*Nayanar, title used by Isai Vellalar of Tamil Nadu...
.
In the 18th century, the Vallambars of Karaikudi, helped the Maruthu brothers fight many wars against the British. The Vallambars were subsequently declared rulers of Karaikudi
Karaikudi
Karaikudi is a town in Sivaganga District in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu.Chettinad literally 'Chetti land' in Tamil, is a collection of 76 villages/towns. Chettinad stretched from Ramnad District and Pudukottai State of 'British' India. The Chettiars, or more properly the Nattukottai...
and 15 other villages, or one pallayam (also see: Poligars), by the Shivagangai King. Vallambars were then given the surname Amballam and came to be known as Pallaya Nattars or the citizens of Pallaya Nadu.
According to the Peasant State and Society in Medieval South India by Burton Stein (page 110), during the 19th century, Kallar
Kallar
Kallar may refer to:* Kallar caste, one of the three communities which make up the Mukkulathor.* Kallar, Kanhangad near Kanhangad, Kerala, India.* Kallar, Trivandrum in Trivandrum district in Kerala, India....
s were divided into 10 endogamous divisions by territory (nadu). And during the same century, within each Kallar locality, one Kallar sub-division was accorded the title of Nattar and assumed a dominant place in the society.
In the Madras Presidency, the East India Company employed Nattars to collect land revenue. Like other land-owners in South India (known as Mirasidars), the Nattars employed padiyals and pannaiyals (workers), and claimed on their behalf the right to a share of the harvest. Before the grain on the threshing floor was divided between the state share (melvaram) and the cultivator’s share (kutivaram), several deductions were made, including one for the paraiyar
Paraiyar
Paraiyar, Parayar, and Sambavar, anglicised by Europeans as Pariah are a social group found in the Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and in Sri Lanka . In the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, though they have been enumerated under three different caste names, they have generally been referred to as...
, padiyals and pannaiyals. This share was known as tuṇạu (remnant) or kalavāsam (Tamil “kal ̣avācam”).
See also
- Ancient Tamil countryAncient Tamil countryThe Sangam period is the classical period in the history of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and other parts of South India, spanning about the 3rd century BCE to the 3rd century CE...
- VelirsVelirsVelirs were a royal house of minor dynastic kings and aristocratic chieftains in Tamilakkam in the early historic period of South India. Extolled in Sangam literature for their charity and truthfulness, they were the ancestors and head of the modern Tamil Vellalar caste...
- Kallar (caste)Kallar (caste)Kallar are a community found in the central and south-eastern parts of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Kallar means thiefs. The Kallar, along with the Maravar and Akamudayar, constitute the Mukkulathor confederacy, a united social caste on the basis of parallel professions, though their locations...
- VellalarVellalarVellalars were, originally, an elite caste of Tamil agricultural landlords in Tamil Nadu, Kerala states in India and in neighbouring Sri Lanka; they were the nobility, aristocracy of the ancient Tamil order and had close relations with the different royal dynasties...
- Padayatchi
- Parathavar
- MukkulathorMukkulathorThe Mukkulathor community is native to the southern districts of Tamil Nadu, India. The name "Mukkulathor" alludes to the three roughly designated groups and which make up this large endogamous social group...
- Vallambar Official Website