Thimilar (

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 ...

: திமிலர்) is a Sri Lankan Tamil caste found in the northern and eastern coastal areas of

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, ...

, and globally among the

Tamil diaspora The Tamil diaspora refers to descendants of the Tamil people, Tamil speaking Emigration, immigrants who emigrated from their native lands in the southern Indian subcontinent (Tamil Nadu, Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry and Sri Lanka) to ...

. They are traditional artisanal fishers primarily engaged in shallow-water

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment (Freshwater ecosystem, freshwater or Marine ecosystem, marine), but may also be caught from Fish stocking, stocked Body of water, ...

. In Eastern Sri Lanka are they also involved in cattle cultivation. Historically, they have also been known as ''Sindhu nāttar'' (people of Sindh), following their own myth origins.

Etymology

The word Thimilar is derived from the word ''thimil'', a

word for boat, and the honorific suffix -''ar'', thus Thimilar is literally translated as ''Boatmen''. The

Akanaṉūṟu The ''Akananuru'' (, literally "four hundred oemsin the akam genre"), sometimes called ''Nedunthokai'' (''lit.'' "anthology of long poems"), is a classical Tamil poetic work and one of the Eight Anthologies (''Ettuthokai'') in the Sangam li ...

of the

Sangam literature The Sangam literature (Tamil language, Tamil: சங்க இலக்கியம், ''caṅka ilakkiyam''), historically known as 'the poetry of the noble ones' (Tamil language, Tamil: சான்றோர் செய்யுள், ''Cā ...

, mentions ''Thimilan'', as a boat using fisherman.

History

The ''Vaiyapadal'' mentions the Sindhu Natar, a name of the Thimilar, as one of the communities inhabiting the

Jaffna Peninsula The Jaffna Peninsula (, or ) is a region in the Northern Province of Sri Lanka. It is home to the capital city of the province, Jaffna, and comprises much of the former land mass of the medieval Jaffna Kingdom. The peninsula was historically ...

. They are mentioned in the

Mattakallappu Manmiyam ''Mattakkalappu Maanmiyam'' (; ''The Glory of Batticaloa'') is a Tamil language historical book concerning the history of Batticaloa. It was compiled by F. X. Nadarajah from the collections of palm-leaf manuscripts, copper plate inscriptions and ...

as one of the fishing tribes living in the eastern part of

, who lost a battle to the

Mukkuvar Mukkuvar is a maritime ethnic group found in the Indian states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu and the Eastern and North Western coastal regions of Sri Lanka. They are mostly found on the Malabar Coast, and Kanyakumari district, Tamil Nadu, who have tradit ...

who were in alliance with the

Pathans Pashtuns (, , ; ;), also known as Pakhtuns, or Pathans, are an Iranic ethnic group primarily residing in southern and eastern Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan. They were historically also referred to as Afghans until 1964 after the ...

. Place names in the Batticaloa region are derived from the battle such as Sathurukondan (meaning "were enemy was killed", referring to the execution of the Thimilar chief) and Pathiyai-thookia-palai (where the Thimilar chieftess was hanged).

References

{{Reflist Sri Lankan Tamil castes

Etymology

History

See also

References