Dheevara is a grouping of castes from the
Kerala
Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...
state of South India, who are categorised as Other Backward Class in India.
They are designated as Other Eligible Community by the State Govt of Kerala.
Etymology
The word ''Dheevara'' is of
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...
origin, and has been used to describe fishermen in ''
Gautama Dharmasutra
''Gautama Dharmasūtra'' is a Sanskrit text and likely one of the oldest Hindu Dharmasutras (600-200 BCE), whose manuscripts have survived into the modern age.
The ''Gautama Dharmasutra'' was composed and survives as an independent treatise, unat ...
'' and ''
Mahabharata
The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; , , ) is one of the two major Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epics of ancient India revered as Smriti texts in Hinduism, the other being the ''Ramayana, Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the events and aftermath of the Kuru ...
''. The Dheevara community was formed by
Arayan,
Valan and other castes to lobby for the fishers' rights, and to seek
caste-based reservations in government jobs. The members of the community formed "Akhila Kerala Dheevara Sabha"(AKDS) and''Dheevara Mahasabha'' ("Dheevara Great Assembly"), which are politically powerful organizations.
Listed castes
The following castes are categorized as "Dheevara" in the Government's list of
Other Backward Classes:
See also
*
Dhimar
*
Fishing communities in Maharashtra
References
Bibliography
*
*
*
Castes and Tribes of Southern India Edgar Thurston
Edgar Thurston (1855– 12 October 1935) was the British Superintendent at the Madras Government Museum from 1885 to 1908 who contributed to research studies in the fields of zoology, ethnology and botany of India, and later also published ...
Castes And Tribes Of Southern India Vol.7 (t-z)br>
Indian castes
Fishing communities in India
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