Friday, April 4, 2008

Migrants from Africa or inhabitants of Lemuria?

The following story is today's hot news.


A person from Madurai belonging to Piramalai kallar, (a tribal clan) has been identified as belonging to the oldest (so-far identified) aborigines of Africa who lived 70,000 years ago.



It is assumed that his ancestors had migrated out of Africa and settled in Madurai long ago.



On reading this and connecting this with the inputs from old Tamil texts,

I infer that no migration had taken place,

as the land at that time was huge

and connected the Indian part of the Lemuria with Australia, Africa and Malaysia.

The people who had lived in that land of Lemuria

got separated due to drifts and submersions.




From Puranic texts also we infer that human kind evolved in the South of the equator.

Daksha Prajapathi is the personification of wholesome evolution of all mankind in the South.

The Pithru loka in the South is also the symbolic indication of

mankind springing up in the South or from the South.




In Surya Siddhantha, there is information about Bhadrashava in the east

which lies in the east of Malaysia.

This Bhadhrashva is located presently at Japan.

Ketumala in the west refers to Kusha dweepa in the west which is Africa.

There is reference to Uttar Kuru, north of Himalayas,

but no mention of what is in the South.

It means this Bharatha varsha was in the south,

which is often referred to in Tamil texts as lying in the South of Himalayas.




This huge landmass contained the land of Rakshasas like Ravana

and Yakshas like Kubera.

It also contained Tamils whose origin in recorded texts date back to

more than 10,000 years ago.




The present Madurai had a literary history for 1850 years which started some time after the

migration of Pandyas to the mainland due to submergence of Kumari kandam.

This submergence coincides with the submergence of Dwaraka after Krishna's departure.
Marine archaeologists have proof of this.

It seems a rise in sea waters led to submergence at many locations around the earth.

From Sanatanic point of view this period coincides with end of a major yuga

when deluges happen.

What was experienced then was yuga-pralaya.




Before this period,

Pandyans of the South had a literary history for 3,700 years.

This also came to an end by a wave of submergence.




Prior to that the Pandyans existed in further deeper south

and had a literary history for 4,440 years.

It means Tamils or Pandyans had literary history for 8,000 years prior to Kali yuga,

or had been known for their literary excellence from more than 13,000 years ago.



(The above duration in years is found in Irraiyanaar AgapporuL urai, supposed to have been written in 9th century AD.)




Such being the antiquity of the people in this part,

it is pre-mature to say that Africans migrated to India

(on the basis of this find on a person from Kallar community.)




Instead it would be logical to explore

whether the sunken continent of Lemuria which obviously housed

the Tamils and Pandyans of yore,

had a mix of people from Africa, Australia and Malaysia

or whether the land of Lemuria contained these lands too.




If it is proved to be so,

the migration theory would not work

but commonness of a single culture over a vast area can be vindicated.


The indicators are about the latter only!



Kallars




Kallars are said to be one among the MukkulatthOr - a group of three kulams.

MukkulatthOr consists of Kallar, Maravar and Agamudaiyaar.




Maravar is the name that one comes across very often in the old Tamil texts.

Maravars are soldiers known for their courage, valour and proficiency in warfare.

In PuranaanUru we find verses on maravars who are local chieftains

assigned with the job of protecting cattle and

discouraging any adventures from enemies.




It is to be noted that stealing the cattle is the first act of aggression.

This is an aryan practice, which is also found in Tamil culture.

Stealing the cattle was done by kauravas to bring Arjuna to the open

when he was hiding in the 13th year of exile.



In Tamil lands too,

"aanirai kavarthal" is the first sign of aggression by an enemy

which is found as an accepted practice in "pura-th-thiNai".

The stealing of cattle happens in the the fringe areas of the kingdom

which is usually protected by a ring of forests.




The forest areas at the border of the country used to be the first line of defense.

Forest tracts are known as Mullai in Tamil lands, which were inhabited

by cow-herds or aayars or yadhavas or kovalars or idaiyars.




Here comes the Kallars.

there is a word in Tamil dictionary - 'Kalla-bhoomi'.

Kalla-bhoomi is a place prepared in times of war.

It is a trap, made by digging big pits and hiding them with wastes.

They are like land mines - but without explosives.

The unsuspecting in-coming army of the enemies would fall into these traps and be caught.




It is probable to link this with the kallars.

kallars are tribes of hills and forests who are skilled in detecting

the presence of foreigners or even animals by their keen sense of hearing.

kallars are skilled in the use of Boomerang, which Austrialain tribes are known to use.

This goes to show the common origin or common culture shared by them

in their antiquated past in Lemuria

which contained Australia and Africa too.





There is every possibility to link Kallars to the job of

detecting the movement of enemies in the forest,

intimating about it to the Maravars

and laying traps for the enemies.




kalla-bhoomi also means a false- land or deceptive land,

a trap made to look like normal surface.

It is perhaps from this, they got their name as Kallar.




But that they are the forests dwellers is not just known from their habitat as forest

but also from their worship of kallazhagar - Vishnu or Thirumaal!

The prefix to Vishnu as Kalla, a thief or a one who is fond of deceiving the co-inhabitants

may be perhaps to do with the deception that Kallars carry out to trap the enemies.

Thirumaal is the Lord of forest tracts, known as mullai.

It is in Mullai that Kalla bhoomi is made.

The dictionary meaning of kallazhagar is that he is the Lord of the land of Kallars

which has Azhagar malai!




This brings us to the next understanding

that kallars might have been involved in raising cattle!

It is possible to relate their defense in boomerang,

their sense of hearing in detecting any predator to their cattle and

their simple ways of catching the enemy by traps!




This further brings in the next level of understanding

that they are indeed the olden tribes who lived in the submerged Kuamri

in the kingdom of Pandyas!



From Kalitthogai and PuranaanUru we know of the clan of Mullai

as being thol kudi'

or 'mudu-kudi'

which existed in the Pandyan kingdom in the Kumari kandam.



From these texts we know that

they migrated to the present day Madurai along with their king Pandyan.




How kallars are part of Mukkulatthors?



We saw the note on Maravars as per PuranaanUru.

Agamudaiyaar is not found explicitly mentioned

but there is mention on AgatthOr and aga-naattudaiyOr etc.



The sub-category of the PuraththiNai, named Vuzhigjai is

"agatthOn selvam" (Thol kaappiyam sutra 10)

"aga naadu" is found mentioned in 28 th vesre of PuranaanUru

which defines whatever is possessed of by a king or chief or leader.

Agam means inner.

Agamudaiyaar means those who have something in them as possession.

In Tamil texts and as per sutras, it is known that this term is used to indicate

someone who possesses vast riches.

Usually it is indicative of a king.



In the context of Mukkulatthor in having grouped the 3 clans together,

we get a different interpretation which is in accordance with their present status too.

I take into account the present status,

because until a couple of generations ago almost all clans in India

maintained their kula-vazhakkam (traditional practices)




The three formed a good combination or alliance in protecting their territories and interests.


Agamudaiyaars could either be kings or local kings or local rich persons

and engaged in bringing riches by trade.

The maravars took up the role of protecting the territories.

The kallars played a subsidiary role to maravars by stealth practices

in deceiving and winning enemies.

Their forest produce and cattle produce could have been marketed by Agamudaiyaars.

They had their location in forest tracts or mullai.

Thus all the three had a mutual benefit in co-existence.




This could have been of a later development,

that took shape after they migrated inland to madurai.

Earlier in the land of Kumari,

the agamudaiuyaars and maravars could have had a fused existence,

and so also with maravars and kallars.

The cattle-rearers were known for their wrestling skills,

Maravars for archery

and Agamudaiars for protection of their riches and subjects.





-jayasree

also refer

http://www.halfvalue.com/wiki.jsp?topic=Kallar

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Madurai family traces its roots 70,000 yrs back



http://www.asianage.com/presentation/leftnavigation/news/top-story/madurai-family-traces-its-roots-70,000-yrs-back-.aspx

By Kumar Chellappan

Chennai, April 3:

A 30-year-old systems administrator hailing from a sleepy village close to Madurai in Tamil Nadu has been identified as one of the direct descendants of the first ever settlers in India, who had migrated from the African coast some 70,000 years ago.


The DNA of Virumandi Andithevar, one of the 700-odd inhabitants of Jothimanickam village, matched the white chromosome marker scientifically labelled "M130", which is a gene found only among the descendants of the African migrants who had spread across the world tens of thousands of years ago. "This young man and 13 members of his nine-generation clan carried the same marker in their genes. It means that his ancestors in all probability settled in this village several generations ago," said Prof. Rm Pitchappan, who led a team of scientists tracking the "M130" DNA and ended up at Virumandi’s little house.


"M130 is actually present sporadically among the population along the Western Ghats and around Madurai," said Dr Pitchappan, who heads the School of Biological Sciences at Madurai Kamaraj University. His research was part of the "Genographic Project", a global initiative launched by National Geographic and a team of reputed scientists for unravelling the mystery of human migration. "The genetic studies carried out using M130 told us about the first human migration to India. We identified the marker of the first coastal migration in our Madurai samples. The search took us to Virumandi, who belongs to the Piramalai Kallar community, whose DNA matched M130, establishing him as one of the direct descendants of the first migrant from the African coast, who must have come here some 70,000 years ago," Dr Pitchappan told this newspaper.


Understandably, Virumandi is on cloud nine since learning from the professor that he is among the direct descendants of India’s first family. "This is God’s gift to me, to be told that my roots go back to 70,000 years. They used to say that our village of 700 people had spawned from just three ancestors and I had often wondered from where and when they came. Now I have the answer — they came 70,000 years ago from Africa," Virumandi said.


A graduate in science, he is now working as a systems administrator at a call centre in Trichy. The oldest man in Jothimanickam is about 90 years old and is full of stories of his robust grandparents, so is Virumandi’s 60-year-old father. "Until recently, most of our activities and even marriages were confined to a radius of less than 10 km. We were such a closed clan," Virumandi told this newspaper.


It took five years for the Pitchappan team of 10 scientists to establish the DNA link between Virumandi and the first migrants to the subcontinent. The studies also proved that though the migration to India took place some 70,000 years ago, the first settlement in the South happened about 10,000 years later.


"More than half of the Australian aborigines carry this M130 gene. The marker is also present among some people in Philippines and the tribals of Malaysia," said Dr Pitchappan.


The Genographic Project will gather all data in collaboration with indigenous and traditional people around the world. The public is invited to join the project by purchasing a Genographic Project public participation kit. The proceeds from the sales go to further field research and the Genographic Legacy Fund, which in turn supports indigenous conservation and revitalisation projects.


Virumandi Andithevar is being presented before the media by the Discovery Channel in Chennai on Friday during the national launch of its serial The Story of India.

16 comments:

PRR said...

thaks for making me to more proud to be a p.k . we are orgins of the homosapiens

Jayasree Saranathan said...

Thanks Raja. Every one has a proud background and history in this country. Distinct Groups have existed in symbiotic relationship - with each group carrying out respective jobs for a collective good. Magasthanes also had noted in 3rd century BC about a group that existed somewhere in the North, probably near Taxila- the description of which is similar to Kallars.


It is important to note that Kallars have some connection with Kallazhagar of Madurai and if you can give me some inputs on the worship practices of your families, I will be happy to learn more.

Pakkam said...

Hello there,
thank you for this wonderful article. Some of my thoughts are tamizh word kallu means an intoxicating drink. I believe kallu in Hindi means black or dark colour. Our ancestors were proud about their land and language and culture. I am curious about your thoughts on rest of the Tamils in Tamilnad. Their origins and ancestry. I am sure at some point all of us Tamils are related in one way or the other.
Pakkam Rajasekaran

Jayasree Saranathan said...

Thnaks Mr Rajasekaran for the comemnt.
KaLLazhagar - Thirmaal is the deity of KaLLars. Every group has some meaning by origin. I have written on Paraiyar. Please browse my blog to read them.

Anonymous said...

there is no mention of maravar in sanga tamil as caste of clan.maravar and marathiar are people who live in palai land and there is no palai land in tamil country only mullai and kurinji lose their respective characters and become palai.so people of all sect including the kuravars and vanniars are called maravars in some form or the other.if you read the caste and tribes of southern india the ramnad maravars were never fond of kallars during the 15th century after wards as they looted cattles from them.they banish or execute kallars in the vicinity of maravar nadu. even some vanniar polygars who ruled sivagiri became maravars by caste now.so there is a constant mix and amalgamation between the tamil caste society.as you can see the kallar sarithiram and caste and tribes of southern india the original home of kallars is not madurai but it is thondaimandalam. the present day kancheepuram and chengelpet.they migrated to the western ghats after that during middle ages or after which is not very clear. there is no archaeological or geological proof for a continent called lemuria or kumari kandam in south of cape commorin but it may had been a small land mass.first you should know about plate tectonics and continental drift before seconding a myth like lemuria.but your dissertations are good and intelligent and iam looking forward for more.

Jayasree Saranathan said...

Please type Kumari and search my blog, you will get many articles and the literary proof for submerged Kumari.

The sad part is that none of the politicians of India, particularly of Tamilnadu who do lip service to Tamil care less to take clues from literary evidence and archeological evidence to initiate steps to explore the seas near Poompuhar, Mahabalipiram and off Kumari.

Foreigners have started that job.
Please refer to Graham hancock’s web site and the findings by Dr Glen Milne.
http://ghan.ronny.amazing-internet.net/hancock_deravy_dialogue.php?p=12

and also the morphological features of Bay of Bengal released by National Institute of Oceanography. The pics and links and literary evidence have been recorded in my blog at several places.

Mahabalipuram mentioned in Silappadhikaram tells this place as Bali’s place where he was won by Vamana by 3 steps. It was there, Krishna did the Kudak kootthu to get back his grandson from captivity. Tamil’s past and literature have many important clues to the past of India itself such as this. Maamallan set a bad precedence to our present day politicians by changing the name of that famed place and anointed his name to satisfy his ego.

The so-called Tamil researchers tainted by Dravidian thoughts (or mis-thoughts) habitually disregard all those valuable clues saying that they were fanciful thoughts dictated by Aryan influence. If you read Sangam texts with commentary by these writers and the original ones with commentaries written in times of yore retrieved by Dr U.VE. Sa, you will find a glaring difference and the bias of the present day writers. I go by Dr U.VE. Sa’s ‘Moonalmum Uraiyum’.

In one such moola urai, I came across the mention of eastern sea (bay of Bengal ) as ‘Thodu kadal” or “Thondappatta kadal” – sagararaal thondappatta kadal (dug by Sagara) – which Ramayana also says. You can read all these in this blog.

Similarly, at many places in Sangam texts we come across the mention of kumari spread beyond the equator and submerged 3 times in the past.
The last time it happened was mentioned in Kalith thogai by the aayar magal on how they – the olden clans (moottha kudi) along with Pandyan king managed to escape and came to the present land.

When we have such literary evidence, it is for the archeological dept to take clue and do the marine explorations. I don’t expect them to do. The lack of funds, inspiration and political apathy are too obvious to note. Only Durham explorators have worked on this line so far.

The Durham geologists led by Dr. Glen Milne have shown in their maps that South India between 17,000-7,000 years ago extended southward below Cape Comorin (Kanya Kumari) incorporating present day Ilankai/ Sri Lanka. It had an enhanced offshore running all the way to the Equator. The maps portray the region as no history or culture is supposed to have known it. The much larger Tamil homeland of thousands of years ago as described in the Kumari Kandam tradition is proved in this explorations. It supports the opening of the Kumari Kandam flood tradition set in the remote pre-historic period of 12,000 to 10,000 years ago. The inundation specialists confirm that between 12,000-10,000 years ago Peninsular India coastlines would have been bigger than what they are today before they were swallowed up by the rising seas at the end of the Last Ice Age.

If you look at the underwater maps of South India and Indian Ocean you will the continuing eastern ghats as Kumari with its peak (Kumarik kodu) somewhere near equator. This mountain ranges goes upto Australia.

About your other contention on maravar etc, you are talking about very recent history, whereas I am talking about very old history. Maravar does find mention in Purananuru. Please read all my articles in this blog.

Jeyannathann Karunanithi said...

Jayashree i ahve a doubt. I would like to know about the subsects in agamudayar. My fathers native is Irumbhuthalai in Thanjavur and we have a surname called Pillai. Why are we having a surname of PIllai which is so prevalent in kerala and thirunelveli. By our community as in my birth certificate is Agamudayar. Am coonfused about my origins. Help me out.

Jayasree Saranathan said...

Sorry for the delay Mr Jeyanathann.
Can you tell me your family deity? May be from that we can deduce.

Sharmalan Thevar said...

The Kallars, Maravars and Agamudayars are people of the same racial stock. I believe that Agamudayar could be a branch that split at a later stage.

Fustat to Thanjavur said...

Jeyasree. Been a really long delay . By the way , Our kula deivam is Azhagiya Vembu Ayyanar with Brihannayagi . The Village where our kuladeivam is Nagathi .

Here are pics from my Kula Deivam which was documented by a researcher two decades before.

http://library24.library.cornell.edu:8280/luna/servlet/view/all/where/Nagathi,%20Nagathi%20Block,%20Thanjavur%20District%20(Tamil%20Nadu,%20India)?sort=TITLE

Jayasree Saranathan said...

Dear Mr Jeyannathann.

The deity you had shown is a 'oor deivam' - or grama devatha whom the inhabitants started worshiping as a result of some event related to that deity and the welfare of the grama. This is a recent - may be few centuries- development - after your ancestors had settled there or in the vicinity or in someway related to the deity - perhaps by way of some commitment to offer worship as a way out from some suffering in the family at that time.

Agamudayar is a community name, but Pillai is only a title. Thurston's book on castes recorded a century ago gives a derogatory background for this title Pillai. Read here http://www.archive.org/stream/castestribesofso06thuriala#page/198/mode/2up

But in my opinion it was not so originally. There is a "Azhagiya MaNavaaLap pillai Nayanar" who authored famous Vaishnava texts in 11- 12th century. PiLLaai (பிள்ளாய்) is a common term to any one who is young. In Andal's Thiruppavai, there comes an expression "Pillaai ezhunthiraai" which is not used as a derogatory one but just used as a reference to someone young. Andal refers to female girls is a point to be noted. So Pillaai is a gender common. From Pillaai, pillai could have come.

Looking at the inscriptional evidence, there was a "PiLLaan siRiyaan" (பிள்ளான் சிறியான் ) belonging to "Paiyyar" koottam (பையர் கூட்டம்) who made donations to Villeeswarar temple (வில்லீஸ்வரர்) in Idikarai (இடிகரை) in the 14th century. paiyyan also refers to young chap. Why they had such groups is a question to be explored. But the fact is that they were VeLLaala and possessed landed property and raised crops.

This is confirmed in another inscription of the same century in Avinasi where there exists an inscription of "SiRuvan aaNdaan" (சிறுவன் ஆண்டான்), a Vellaalan who sold cultivable lands. The possession of landed property and raising crops is thus associated with Pillaan named persons. Here also the name "siRuvan" meaning young chap is note worthy. But coming as siRuvan aaNdaan, it is clear that this guy had come to control the property in an young age, as a chap / boy. Perhaps the descendants of such people started being called as Pillaan / pillai in course of time.

The association of landed property with these names, do go well with the feature associated with "Agamudayar" - as those who were in possession of something - inner or houses etc.

Now coming to your ancestry, location in Tanjore which is a region of rich cultivable lands do indicate the possibility of land owning Agamudayar tag. These tags were identified as caste names by the British and made permanent ones nowadays.

Sharmalan Thevar said...

"Looking at the inscriptional evidence, there was a "PiLLaan siRiyaan" (பளா சிறியா ) belonging to "Paiyyar" koottam (ைபய ட) who made donations to Villeeswarar temple (வலவர) in Idikarai (இகைர) in the 14th century."

This may refer to the Kongu Vellalar branch known as Paayiran kootam.

Sharmalan Thevar said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
suba said...

Very nice explanations. I have heard the saying" Kallar, Maravar, kanathathor Agamudayar, mella mella vantha vellalar". From my grandma explanation ," kallars are the oldest ones. They developed and having marriage with other tribes and their groups changed and called as maravar, then Agamudayar and then vellalar. In this piramalai kallars are the who never have intercaste marriages, if so they kept them at distance and they call it by different names.." . Piramalai means maybe from piranmalai...or think like "piralatha malainattu kallars".. not changing oldest kallars...

yogi said...

dear mam,

paiyyar kootam which is also known as paithalai, have their origin in vaishali... their copper plates clearly mentions that gave a person from paraiyar community with his permission for a purpose n so they had paraiyan as a title... even dr. nagasamy has written an article mentioning this confusion but he is not aware of our copper plates... I don't find ur wrong mention in no way as paraiyar as inferior n gounders are superior or anything like it. konga paraiyars follow the dharma n so they are too valangai... n they have a huge history here. BUT in no way a false conception should be provoked unknowingly... that is y I commented here mam... if u really want more primary sources about the paithalai, vaithalai, vellathalai clans n their origin from madhya gauda desam, please contact me. thank-you, jaivanth

Anonymous said...

Excellent article relates to Tamil Nadu ancient communities. My father was Tamil professor, mentioned about Tamil literature referring Kadal konda desam and sanga illakyangal.. jeyasree mam, your references are great facts. I can relate to it’s time and history. Thanks