The word "Dheevara" is of
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
origin, and has been used to describe fishermen in
''Gautama Dharmasutra
''Gautama Dharmasūtra'' is a Sanskrit text and likely one of the oldest Hindu Dharmasutras (600-200 BCE), whose manuscripts have survived into the modern age.
The ''Gautama Dharmasutra'' was composed and survives as an independent treatise, unat ...
'' and
''Mahabharata
The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; sa, महाभारतम्, ', ) is one of the two major Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epics of ancient India in Hinduism, the other being the ''Ramayana, Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the s ...
''. The Dheevara community is a powerful caste in
Kerala
Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...
. These castes were traditionally employed as fisherman. Dheevara Mahasabha
'' ("Dheevara Great Assembly"), which is a politically powerful organization. Guru VedaVyasa was born into the Dheevara caste. Vyasa , the legendary author of the Mahabharata, Vedas and Puranas, some of the most important works in the Hindu tradition. He is also called Veda Vyāsa, was born to this community. The community was formed by
Arayan,
Valan and other castes to lobby for the fishers' rights, and to seek
caste-based reservations in government jobs.
The following castes are categorized as Dheevara in the Government's list of
Other Backward Classes
The Other Backward Class is a collective term used by the Government of India to classify castes which are educationally or socially backward. It is one of several official classifications of the population of India, along with General castes, ...
:
See also
*
Dhimar and
Dhivar, fishing castes of North India, whose names are also derived from the word "Dheevara",and they are not related with malayali dheevarar
References
Bibliography
*
*
*
Castes and Tribes of Southern India Edgar Thurston
Edgar Thurston CIE (1855– 12 October 1935) was the British Superintendent at the Madras Government Museum from 1885 to 1908 who contributed to research studies in the fields of zoology, ethnology and botany of India, and later also publish ...
Castes And Tribes Of Southern India Vol.7 (t-z)br>
Indian castes
Fishing communities in India
{{Kerala-stub