Sourashtrians - The Genuine Aryans

gokulkr · April 5, 2004

The history of Greater Saurashtra and the Saurashtrians in South India

More than 225 thousand Saurashtrians in South India have been preserving the old linguistic and cultural heritage of Saurashtra (now merged with Gujarat). This is a remarkable phenomenon of the cultural history of the Greater Saurashtra. Our literary and cultural institutions, our men of learning and our political and social leaders have not taken sufficient cognizance of this phenomenon so far; this is a significant illustration of our usual negligence of our historical and cultural traditions. The mere fact that more than 225 thousand Saurashtrians are staying in various parts of South India from good old days is not generally known to the people of Saurashtra.

The history of Greater Saurashtra:

The people of Saurashtra and Gujarat are adventurous, brave, adept in trade and commerce, and therefore they have established many commercial colonies in foreign countries, from ancient times. Men of adventure like Amulakh (1 bookmark), a Brahmin of Bulsar, established such Gujarati colonies in Africa, and the caravans of Gujaratis were moving in the Negro countries long before the white nationals of Europe made their entry in the dark continent of Africa. The Saurashtrians and Gujaratis, had settled not only in Africa, but also in Mauratius, Ceylon (2 bookmark), Burma, Indonesia (Java), Sumatra, Indo China, Cambodia, Malayasia and Philipines, and even today there is some population of the Saurashtrians and Gujaratis in these countries. The Saurashtrians and Gujaratis are also spread over various parts of the Indian homeland, taking prominent part in the commercial field, which is more suitable to their nature. It is quite natural that the origin of many words of trade, commerce, business and measurements found in various Indian languages can be traced to Gujarati language.

Bookmark 1:

This has been a patent theme of some of the historical or Semi-historical novels (such as ‘Dariyalal’) of Shri.Gunvantray Acharya, a prolific storywriter of Gujarat. Of course, there is more of fiction than historical fact in Acharya’s novels, but the basic fact of Gujarati, Kutchhi and Saurashtrian adventurers settling in the innermost areas of Africa remains true.

Bookmark 2:

“From the tradition preserved in ‘Mahavamsa’, it is known that it was due to Prince Vijaya of ‘Lata’ that the name ‘Sinhala-Dvipa’ was given to Ceylon, the language of the island was known as the Sinhalese language and the impact of the Aryan culture was made on the people of this island. The foreigners have often referred to Gujarat by the name of ‘Lata’. Prince Vijay was the son of Sinhabāhu and Sinhabāhu was ruling in Sinhapur (Modern ‘Shihor’, situated near Bhavnagar in Saurashtra). Vijay was forced to go in exile because of his unlawful activities. Therefore Vijay accompanied by some of his adventurous followers went to the South by sea-route. After staying for some time at ‘Surpāraka’ (modern ‘Sopara’, situated in the Thana district of the Bombay State), he went to Ceylon and he must have reached there about 483 B.C., some time before the attainment of Nirvana (beatitude) by Gautam Buddha”. (“the Cambridge History of India”: Vol.I,P.605). There is an old proverb in Gujarati: “Lankāni lādi ane Ghoghāno var”, meaning “the bride of Lanka and the bridegroom of Ghogha”. Lanka is obviously Ceylon and Ghogha is a minor port in the vicinity of Bhavnagar in Gujarat. The history of prince Vijay of Shihor marrying the princess of Ceylon is probably referred to in this proverb. Prince Vijay might have gone to Ceylon from Shihor via Ghogha. It is possible that the seashore was not very far from Shihor. A direct communication between Shihor and Ghogha might have been there. There is a mosque built by the Muslim Sailors of Ghogha on Chamaradi hills near Shihor and the Muslim sailors are coming there even these days to offer their prayers on some auspicious days every year. This fact supports the probability of this direct communication. The research scholars of Ceylon also believe that Prince Vijay belonged to Gujarat. (Ref. The essay by Shri.A.L.Busham in the Ceylon Historical Journal Vol.I, P.6163-71). Another belief also prevails that Prince Vijay belonged to Bengal. :

Unique characteristics of the Saurashtrians in South India:

This history of the Greater Saurashtra and Greater Gujarat is very glorious and interesting. In this history of the Greater Saurashtra, it is remarkable that the Saurashtrians who have settled in South India are distinguished clearly, in some important aspects, from the other Saurashtrians who have migrated to other places inside or outside India. There are some unique characteristics, which draw our special attention.

Firstly, the Saurashtrians who have migrated to other places have not gone there collectively in larger groups at a time; while the Saurashtrians in South India have migrated there in larger collective groups at a time in a planned manner.

Secondly, these Saurashtrians in South India had gone there, equipped with the art of weaving silken cloth. The whole community or tribe has got remarkable skill in this single profession, and yet their mode of living as well as their family-names are obviously Brahminical. They are introducing themselves even to day as Saurashtri Brahmins. The other Saurashtrians who have migrated to other places have not taken with them a collective industry or art and the groups of Brahminical mode of living have not gone elsewhere in a collective manner.

Thirdly, the Saurashtrians who have migrated to other provinces or foreign countries have been in some sort of direct contact with the original homeland. For example, the Saurashtrians who had migrated to Africa have always returned (at least some of them and at least for some time) to the homeland sooner or later. In the case when these Saurashtrians have lost the link with the homeland, they have not been able to preserve the linguistic and cultural heritage of the homeland. On the contrary the Saurashtrians in South India have lost all the direct contact with their homeland, to such an extent that for some time, they did not know exactly where the homeland Saurashtra was geographically situated ; but even then they have been proud of being Saurashtrians and with a sense of pride they have preserved the old language and culture of Saurashtra. They knew only a few years ago where the homeland Saurashtra was exactly situated. Even now some of them have a notion that South Gujarat is a part of Saurashtra (3 bookmark). Even though they had lost the correct geographical location of the homeland Saurashtra, they had not forgotten or lost the language and culture of Saurashtra. They have persevered strongly to preserve the linguistic and cultural tradition of Saurashtra as it existed eight hundred years ago when they migrated from Saurashtra. No other Saurashtra migrants have preserved the tradition to this extent inspite of their being cut off completely from the homeland. They forgot the exact geography of the homeland, but the pride of the homeland was a life-force with them; the original language and culture were never obliterated.

Bookmark 3:

“A History of the Saurashtras in Southern India “ P.1:

New light on the form of the old language of Saurashtra :

If we study the linguistic, literary and cultural tradition of the Saurashtrians in South India, we find, to a certain extent, very obviously, the Marathi, Kannada, Tamil and Telugu influence, external as well as internal, in its formation. If we can isolate this influence, it is probable that a study of the residual material will throw a new light on the language, literature and culture of Saurashtra as it existed eight hundred years ago. The English colonists who have migrated to Iceland and other islands (4 bookmark) have preserved in a pure form some special characteristics of the old English language such as old pronunciations and typical form of the old English language. This has supplied some important material for tracing the evolution of the English language. Similarly the study of the Southern Saurashtri language can supply some important material pertaining to the old language of Saurashtra and Gujarat. The Parsis (5 Bookmark) who have migrated from Persia to Gujarat have adopted the Gujarati language almost as the mother tongue, and they have not continued the usage of their original language even in their intra group communication. But the Southern Saurashtrians have preserved very strongly their original linguistic traditions. Their pride of being Saurashtrians and their insistence on being called Saurashtrians are very strong. They had lost the geographical idea of their original homeland Saurashtra, and one Saurashtrian had once said “the Gujarati language itself has evolved from the Saurashtri language”. One Saurashtri Pandit had once said: “What right have you got for publishing a newspaper by the name of ‘Saurashtra’? That is our name.” This has been said because of the want of the proper geographical and historical knowledge, but it shows how much pride they take in being called Saurashtrians.

Bookmark 4:

Similarly the English dialect spoken by the Apelisian hill tribes is more akin to the eighteenth century English than the modern English; the French spoken in Canada is more akin to the French of the Seventeenth century than the French of the modern Paris. The Yiddish is nearer to the fifteenth century German than to the modern German; similarly the Portuguese of Brazil is nearer to the old Portuguese than to the modern Portuguese of Lisbon.

(Ref. ‘The story of Language’ by Mario Pei., Page 50.)

Bookmark 5:

A fanciful idea had once taken the possession of an editor of a Tamil daily. He thought that there is a remarkable verbal similarity between the word “Saurashtra” and the word “Jarthusra” (Zoroaster), the founder of the Zoroaster religion of the Parsis; and therefore there must be some relation between the two. This fanciful idea can be supported with the observation that the worship of the Sun is common to both; but this is just a fanciful idea and not much consideration should be given to it.

The areas populated by the Southern Saurashtrians:

The population of the Saurashtrians in South India is calculated at more than 2 lacs and 25 thousand (6 Bookmark). Amongst them, their maximum population, more than one third, amounting to 75,000 or so, is seen in the city of Madurai. Moreover they are residing in other 47 places in South India. The list (7 Bookmark) of these 47 places is as follows: Dindigul, Nilkottai, Vatsalkundu, Melamangalam, Periyakulam, Palani, Paramkudi, Yamaneshvaram, Palumkottah, Virnan Allur, Vellumkudi, Padukudi, Kottarsutti, Timachi, Uraiyur, Tanjore, Ayyam Pettai, Amma Pettai, Ammai Appun, Arantongi, Pudukottai, Tirunappur, Genpur, Parampur, Kumbhakonam, Tuvarankurichi, Tarapuram, Tuibhuvanam, Namakkal, Parmatti, Rasipuram, Shenvapet, Salem, Valajapet, Anari, Banglore, Ambur, Vellore, Kanjivaram, Bhuvangir, Pasikakaudai, Sovali, Madras, Ramnad, Ariyalur, Pondicherry and Kurnjipidi. Their population as registered in the 1931 census was one lac and four thousand (8 bookmark), and it included their population of 50,000 in Madurai (9 bookmark), 20,000 in Tanjore, and 15,000 in Trichinapalli. They have been registered in the census as the Saurashtra Brahmins. They had raised their protest against their registration as the ‘Patnulkāran’ (a weaver community) and consequently they have been registered as the Saurashtra Brahmins (10 bookmark). It is possible that some of them might have been registered as belonging to the Patulkāran community of weavers, and this might have been confused with the other communities; due to this mixed registration their population as the Saurashtrians might have been noted in a lesser proportion than its actual existence (11 bookmark).

Bookmark 6:

Memorandum and answers to the Backward Class Commission questionnaire (1953); P.1.

Bookmark 7:

This list has been given by Shri.Viprabandhu K.V.Padmanabh Iyer, the Editor of the Saurashtra Periodical “Saurashtra Mitran”.

Bookmark 8:

‘Census of India’; 1931 (Vol. XIV-Madras. Part II Table;15, P.294-5).

Bookmark 9:

79,972 in Madurai District according to the Census of 1961. (1,55,392 Saurashtrians staying in the Madras state, according to the Census of 1961)..

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