Idangai
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Idangai or the left hand is a caste-based division of communities in Tamil Nadu that was in vogue from ancient times right up to the 19th and even the early decades of the 20th century AD. Since India's independence, the differences have practically vanished.{{sfnp|Ghurye|1991|p=359|ps=}}{{sfnp|Alcock|D'Altroy|Morrison|Sinopoli|2001|p=269|ps=}} The corresponding division is Valangai.
Constituent castes
From ancient times, there was intense rivalry between the left-handed and right-handed factions.{{sfnp|Ghurye|1991|p=358|ps=}} The Idangai faction was numerically inferior to the Valangai and comprised six castes as opposed to the sixty of the Valangai.{{sfnp|Ghurye|1991|p=359|ps=}} It was also unclear as to which castes constituted each faction. Some castes considered to be left-handed in some areas were regarded as right-handed in others and vice versa.{{sfnp|Yandell|Paul|2000|p=30|ps=}} Roughly speaking, the Valangai or right-handed faction was made up of castes with an agricultural basis while the Idangai was made of metal workers, weavers, etc. i.e. castes involved in manufacturing.{{sfnp|Siromoney|1975|ps=}}The core groups in Idangai were the five castes called Anchalar/ Panchalar. ie-
- Kannar
- Thattar
- Asari
- Kollar
- Thachan
Further castes were added at various times.{{Cite web|url=https://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/28091/8/08_chapter%205.pdf|title=The Right and Left hand divisions|last=|first=|date=|website=Shodhganga|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=}}
The Valangai faction was better organized, politically, than the Idangai.{{sfnp|McGilvray|1982|p=105|ps=}}
See also
References
Citations
{{reflist|2}}
Bibliography
{{refbegin}}
- {{citation |title=Empires: Perspectives from Archaeology and History |last1=Alcock |first1=Susan E. |page=269 |first2=Terence N. |last2=D'Altroy |first3=Kathleen D. |last3=Morrison |first4=Carla M. |last4=Sinopoli |year=2001 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |isbn=978-0-521-77020-0}}
- {{citation |title=Caste and Race in India |last=Ghurye| first= G. S. |author-link=G. S. Ghurye |year=1991 |orig-year=1932 |publisher= Popular Prakashan |location=Bombay |isbn=9788171542055|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nWkjsvf6_vsC}}
- {{citation |title=Caste Ideology and Interaction |last=McGilvray |first=Denis B. |year=1982 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |isbn=978-0-521-24145-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n-88AAAAIAAJ}}
- {{citation |url=http://www.cmi.ac.in/gift/Epigraphy/epig_tambarammore.htm |title=More inscriptions from the Tambaram area |accessdate=21 September 2008 |year=1975 |first=Gift |last=Siromoney |journal=Madras Christian College Magazine |volume=44}}
- {{citation |title=Religion and public culture: Encounters and Identities in Modern South India |last1=Yandell |first1=Keith E. |first2=John Jeya |last2=Paul |year=2000 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-7007-1101-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v8UeAgAAQBAJ}}
{{refend}}
Further reading
- {{cite book |title=Constructing the Colonial Encounter: Right and Left Hand Castes in Early Colonial South India |first=Niels |last=Brimnes |publisher=Psychology Press |year=1999 |isbn=9780700711062 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HdSABP70H9sC}}
- {{cite book |title=Castes of Mind: Colonialism and the Making of Modern India |first=Nicholas B. |last=Dirks |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=2001 |isbn=9780691088952 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5rAzycuxf9gC}}
- {{cite book |title=Economic Development and Social Change in South India |first=Trude S. |last=Epstein |year=1962 |publisher=Oxford University Press |url=https://archive.org/details/economicdevelopm0000epst|url-access=registration }}
- {{cite book |title=When the World Becomes Female: Guises of a South Indian Goddess |first=Joyce Burkhalter |last=Flueckiger |publisher=Indiana University Press |year=2013 |isbn=9780253009609 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rFlE0PO0x1AC}}
- {{cite book |title=The Warrior Merchants: Textiles, Trade, and Territory in South India |first=Mattison |last=Mines |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1984 |isbn=9780521267144 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y089AAAAIAAJ}}
- {{cite book |title=Public Faces, Private Voices: Community and Individuality in South India |first=Mattison |last=Mines |publisher=University of California Press |year=1994 |isbn=9780520914599 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0FTO6p3ZMnIC}}
- {{cite book |title=The View from Below: Indigenous Society, Temples, and the Early Colonial State in Tamilnadu, 1700-1835 |first=Kanakalatha |last=Mukund |publisher=Orient Blackswan |year=2005 |isbn=9788125028000 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5BMljBxJXtoC}}
- {{cite book |title=Trade and Politics on the Coromandel Coast: Seventeenth and Early Eighteenth Centuries |first=Radhika |last=Seshan |publisher=Primus Books |year=2012 |isbn=9789380607252 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lo-KjFtqC7sC}}
- {{cite book |title=Coastal Histories: Society and Ecology in Pre-modern India |editor-first=Yogesh |editor-last=Sharma |publisher=Primus Books |year=2010 |isbn=9789380607009 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FTTGWSme30YC}}