Cantar (also spelled ''Shandar'' or ''Sandar'', they are also known as ''Shanar'' and ''Shandrar'') is a
Tamil
Tamil may refer to:
* Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia
** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils
**Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia
* Tamil language, nati ...
caste
Caste is a form of social stratification characterised by endogamy, hereditary transmission of a style of life which often includes an occupation, ritual status in a hierarchy, and customary social interaction and exclusion based on cultura ...
found in
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
. They are traditionally occupied in Oil-pressing and cultivation.
Etymology
The Cantars are also known as ''Shanar.'' The term is proposed as an etymologically corruptive derivative of ''shandrar'', the older term for the community.
History
They were originally tree-climbers and toddy tappers. They claim origin from the
Shanars
Nadar (also referred to as ''Nadan'', ''Shanar'' and ''Shanan'') is a Tamil caste of India. Nadars are predominant in the districts of Kanyakumari, Thoothukudi, Tirunelveli and Virudhunagar.
The Nadar com ...
of
South India
South India, also known as Dakshina Bharata or Peninsular India, consists of the peninsular southern part of India. It encompasses the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana, as well as the union territo ...
, who settled in Sri Lanka, initially in the
Puttalam region, due to social clashes and overpopulation in South India.
The
Jaffna Kingdom
The Jaffna Kingdom ( ta, யாழ்ப்பாண அரசு, si, යාපනය රාජධානිය; 1215–1624 CE), also known as Kingdom of Aryachakravarti, was a historical kingdom of what today is northern Sri Lanka. It came i ...
were known for exporting elephants, which were caught in the
Vanni region and maintained by the Cantars.
[{{Cite book, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yI4cAAAAMAAJ, title=Early Settlements in Jaffna: An Archaeological Survey, last=Ph.D. Ragupathy, first=Ponnampalam, date=1987, publisher=Thillimalar Ragupathy, isbn=, location=University of Jaffna, pages=210, language=en] The Cantars had to pay taxes to the Jaffna kings for producing
jaggery
Jaggery is a traditional non-centrifugal cane sugar consumed in the Indian Subcontinent, Southeast Asia, and Africa. It is a concentrated product of cane juice and often date or palm sap without separation of the molasses and crystals, and can ...
and ''pinattu'' (a sweet or pulp, made of dried
palmyra fruit
''Borassus flabellifer'', commonly known as doub palm, palmyra palm, tala or tal palm, toddy palm, wine palm or ice apple, is native to South Asia (especially in Bangladesh & South India) and Southeast Asia. It is reportedly naturalized in Socot ...
).
The Cantars have in recent centuries taken to
oil milling, specializing in
gingelly oil
Sesame oil is an edible vegetable oil derived from sesame seeds. The oil is one of the earliest-known crop-based oils. Worldwide mass modern production is limited due to the inefficient manual harvesting process required to extract the oil. O ...
.
See also
*
Nadar
Gaspard-Félix Tournachon (5 April 1820 – 20 March 1910), known by the pseudonym Nadar, was a French photographer, caricaturist, journalist, novelist, balloon (aircraft), balloonist, and proponent of Aircraft#Heavier-than-air – aerodynes, h ...
References
Sri Lankan Tamil castes
Brewing and distilling castes