Sembadavar or Parvatha Rajakulam is a traditional fisherman community found mainly on the

Coromandel coast The Coromandel Coast is a coastal region along the southeastern front of the Indian peninsula. Its delimitations are numerous, but generally admitted to be bounded by the Krishna River, Krishna river River mouth, mouth to the north, the Bay of B ...

of the Indian states of

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

and

Pondicherry Pondicherry, officially known as Puducherry, is the Capital city, capital and most populous city of the Puducherry (union territory), Union Territory of Puducherry in India. The city is in the Puducherry district on the southeast coast of Indi ...

. They also take the title

Nattar 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 ...

. Sembadavar are a maritime community who are occupied primarily as inland and river fishermen and primarily fish with

fishing net A fishing net or fish net is a net (device), net used for fishing. Fishing nets work by serving as an improvised fish trap, and some are indeed rigged as traps (e.g. #Fyke nets, fyke nets). They are usually wide open when deployed (e.g. by cast ...

s. Some Sembadavars migrated to

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (ISO 15919, ISO: , , AP) is a States and union territories of India, state on the East Coast of India, east coast of southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, seventh-largest state and th ...

and

Telangana Telangana is a States and union territories of India, state in India situated in the Southern India, south-central part of the Indian subcontinent on the high Deccan Plateau. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, ele ...

to form a caste called Sambuni Reddi. There are many theories as to their origins but they have since ancient times been recorded in the area of

and

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

Etymology

The name ''Sembadavar'' is mythologically connected to the principal Hindu god

Shiva Shiva (; , ), also known as Mahadeva (; , , Help:IPA/Sanskrit, ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐh and Hara, is one of the Hindu deities, principal deities of Hinduism. He is the God in Hinduism, Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions w ...

. The name is derived from the

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

words ''Sambu,'' a name of Shiva and ''Padavar'' meaning boatmen thus literally meaning "Shiva's boatmen".

History

Mythological origin

According to one legend, Shiva was fond of one of their chief deity ''Ankalamman''. Out of the union was ''Parvatha Rajan'' (king of the Parvata Kingdom) born who disguised himself as a boatman. His boat was made of copper, the

Vedas FIle:Atharva-Veda samhita page 471 illustration.png, upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the ''Atharvaveda''. The Vedas ( or ; ), sometimes collectively called the Veda, are a large body of relig ...

assumed the form of his fishing net and the

Rakshasa Rākshasa (, , ; ; "preservers") are a race of usually malevolent beings prominently featured in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Folk Islam. They reside on Earth but possess supernatural powers, which they usually use for evil acts such as ...

s took the form of the pisces. Accidentally was a

rishi In Indian religions, a ''rishi'' ( ) is an accomplished and enlightened person. They find mention in various Vedic texts. Rishis are believed to have composed hymns of the Vedas. The Post-Vedic tradition of Hinduism regards the rishis as "gre ...

caught in his net, who angered called Parvatha Rajan a "Sembu Padavar" meaning "copper boatmen" and cursed his descendants to become fishermen. From this myth do they call themselves as Sembadavar or also ''Parvatha Rajakulam'' (meaning descendant of Parvatha Raja).

Post-independence

In 1947, the fisheries became a monopoly of the new independent Indian government. , Parvatharajakulam is classified as a Most backward caste by the Governments of

and

References

External links

List of Backward Classes approved by Government of Tamil Nadu Latest updated list of OBCS notified by the UT of Puducherry Central list of OBCS for the UT of Puducherry Central list of other Backward classes
{{Use dmy dates, date=October 2017 Tamil society Indian castes Sri Lankan Tamil society Social groups of Tamil Nadu Converts to Christianity Fishing castes Indian castes by profession Ethnic groups in India South Indian communities