The Udayar is a title used by multiple

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 ...

in the state of

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

, India.

Etymology

The word ''Udayar'' in

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 ...

means ''Lord'' or ''Possessor'' as in ''Possessor of land or kingdom''.

Present status

According to Selva Raj, the Udayar are "socially humbler" than the

Vellalar Vellalar is a generic Tamil term used primarily to refer to various castes who traditionally pursued agriculture as a profession in the Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and northeastern parts of Sri Lanka. The Vellalar are members of several ...

community but, together with the

Pallar The Pallar, who prefer to be called Mallar, are an agricultural community from the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The Pallars traditionally inhabited the fertile wetland area referred to as ''Marutham'' in the literary devices of the Sangam landsc ...

and Kallar, form the Marava castes, who are quite dominant in the region variously known as

Ramnad Ramanathapuram (), also known as Ramnad, is a town and a municipality in Ramanathapuram district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the administrative headquarters of Ramanathapuram district and the second largest town (by population) in ...

and the

Maravar Maravar (also known as Maravan and Marava) are a Tamil community in the state of Tamil Nadu. These people are one of the three branches of the Mukkulathor confederacy. Members of the Maravar community often use the honorific title ''Thevar''. The ...

country.

Religion

In Ramnad and the nearby areas of

Pudukottai Pudukkottai is the administrative headquarters of Pudukkottai District in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is a large city located on the banks of the Vellar River. It has been ruled, at different times, by the mutharaiyar dynasty , Cholas, ...

, Madurai, Salem,

Namakkal Namakkal () is a special grade municipality and the headquarters of Namakkal district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the first ISO 14001-2004 certified municipality in Asia for environmental management, specifically the provision a ...

Tanjore Thanjavur (), also Tanjore, Pletcher 2010, p. 195 is a city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Thanjavur is the 11th biggest city in Tamil Nadu. Thanjavur is an important center of South Indian religion, art, and architecture. Most of the Gr ...

and

Trichy Tiruchirappalli () ( formerly Trichinopoly in English), also called Tiruchi or Trichy, is a major tier II city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Tiruchirappalli district. The city is credited with bein ...

, they and their two fellow Maravar caste groups are prominent in their cult worship of the shrine at

Oriyur Oriyur is a small village in Ariyalur taluk, Ariyalur district, Tamil Nadu, India. As of the 2011 Census of India The 2011 Census of India or the 15th Indian Census was conducted in two phases, house listing and population enumeration. The ...

that commemorates

John de Britto John de Britto (also spelled ''Brito''; pt, João de Brito), also known as Arul Anandar, (born in Lisbon, Portugal on 1 March 1647 – died at Orur, Tamil Nadu, India on 4 February 1693) was a Portuguese Jesuit missionary and martyr, often calle ...

, a 17th-century

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Tho ...

and

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...

. Raj says, "A notable feature of the Britto cult is that it is centered around caste identities rather than religious affiliation", and thus members of the caste-group, irrespective of their religious affiliation regard Britto as their clan-deity. Some Udayars are

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

Christians.

Notable people

G. K. Moopanar Govindaswamy Karuppiah Moopanar (19 August 1931 – 30 August 2001) known as G. K. Moopanar was a Tamil Nadu Congress Committee leader, parliamentarian, and social worker.He was served as Member of the Rajya Sabha , president of Tamil Nadu Cong ...

- Founding President of the Tamil State Congress. * N. B. V. Ramasamy Udayar - Founder of Sri Ramachandra University *

G. K. Vasan G. K. Vasan (born Govindaswamy Karuppiah Vasan, 28 December 1964) is an Politician, Indian Politician and son of G. K. Moopanar, G. K Moopanar, a veteran Indian National Congress, Indian National Congress Leader. G K Vasan is currently the p ...

- Former Union Minister of Shipping and Statistics * T. R. Paarivendhar - Founder of Indian Democratic Party. *

T. Rajender Thesingu Rajendar (born 9 May 1960), also known as Vijaya T. Rajendar or T. R., is an Indian actor, filmmaker, musician, cinematographer and distributor who works primarily in Tamil film industry. He is also a politician in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. ...

– Actor and Politician *

Silambarasan Silambarasan Thesingu Rajendar, nicknamed as Simbu or his initials S. T. R., is an Indian actor, filmmaker and musician in Tamil cinema. He began his acting career by playing roles as a child artist in films directed by his father T. Rajendar, b ...

- Actor *

A. T. Pannirselvam Rao Bahadur Sir Arogyaswami Thamaraiselvam Pannirselvam (1 June 1888 – 1 March 1940) was an Indian attorney, landlord, politician and leader of the Justice Party (India), Justice Party. He was born in a royal family of Udayar (caste), Udayar c ...

- leader of the Justice Party * V. Ponnusamy Udayar

Etymology

Present status

Religion

Notable people

References

Further reading