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.
