# Castes and Tribes of Southern India/Marakkāyar

CASTES AND TRIBES
OF SOUTHERN INDIA.
VOLUME V.
MARAKKĀYAR.—The Marakkāyars are described, in the Madras Census Report, 1901, as " a Tamil-speaking Musalman tribe of mixed Hindu and Musalman origin, the people of which are usually traders. They seem to be distinct from the Labbais (q.v.) in several respects, but the statistics of the two have apparently been confused, as the numbers of the Marakkāyars are smaller than they should be." Concerning the Marakkāyars of the South Arcot district, Mr. Francis writes as follows."* "The Marakkāyars are largely big traders with other countries such as Ceylon and the Straits Settlements, and own most of the native coasting craft. They are particularly numerous in Porto Novo. The word Marakkāyar is usually derived from the Arabic markab, a boat. The story goes that, when the first immigrants of this class (who, like the Labbais, were driven from their own country by persecutions) landed on the Indian shore, they were naturally asked who they were, and whence they came. In answer they pointed to their boats, and pronounced the word markab, and they became in consequence known to the Hindus as Marakkāyars, or ​the people of markab. The Musalmans of pure descent hold themselves to be socially superior to the Marakkāyars, and the Marakkāyars consider themselves better than the Labbais. There is, of course, no religious bar to intermarriages between these different sub-divisions, but such unions are rare, and are usually only brought about by the offer of strong financial inducements to the socially superior party. Generally speaking, the purebred Musalmans differ from those of mixed descent by dressing themselves and their women in the strict Musalman fashion, and by speaking Hindustāni at home among themselves. Some of the Marakkāyars are now following their example in both these matters, but most of them affect the high hat of plaited coloured grass and the tartan (kambāyam) waist-cloth. The Labbais also very generally wear these, and so are not always readily distinguishable from the Marakkāyars, but some of them use the Hindu turban and waist-cloth, and let their womankind dress almost exactly like Hindu women. In the same way, some Labbais insist on the use of Hindustāni in their houses, while others speak Tamil. There seems to be a growing dislike to the introduction of Hindu rites into domestic ceremonies, and the processions and music, which were once common at marriages, are slowly giving place to a simpler ritual more in resemblance with the nikka ceremony of the Musalman faith."
Of 13,712 inhabitants of Porto Novo returned at the census, 1901, as many as 3,805 were Muhammadans. "The ordinary vernacular name of the town is Farangipēttai or European town, but the Musalmans call it Muhammad Bandar (Port). The interest of the majority of the inhabitants centres in matters connected with the sea. A large proportion of them earn their living either as owners of, or sailors in, the boats which ply ​between the place and Ceylon and other parts, and it is significant that the most popular of the unusually large number of Musalman saints who are buried in the town is one Mālumiyar, who was apparently in his lifetime a notable sea-captain. His fame as a sailor has been magnified into the miraculous, and it is declared that he owned ten or a dozen ships, and used to appear in command of all of them simultaneously. He has now the reputation of being able to deliver from danger those who go down to the sea in ships, and sailors setting out on a voyage or returning from one in safety usually put an offering in the little box kept at his darga, and these sums are expended in keeping that building lighted and whitewashed. Another curious darga in the town is that of Araikāsu Nāchiyar, or the one pie lady. Offerings to her must on no account be worth more than one pie (1/192 of a rupee); tributes in excess of that value are of no effect. If sugar for so small an amount cannot be procured, the devotee spends the money on chunam (lime) for her tomb, and this is consequently covered with a superabundance of white-wash. Stories are told of the way in which the valuable offerings of rich men have altogether failed to obtain her favour, and have had to be replaced by others of the regulation diminutive dimensions. The chief mosque is well kept. Behind it are two tombs, which stand at an odd angle with one another, instead of being parallel as usual. The legend goes that once upon a time there was a great saint called Hāfiz Mir Sāhib, who had an even more devout disciple called Saiyad Shah. The latter died and was duly buried, and not long after the saint died also. The disciple had always asked to be buried at the feet of his master, and so the grave of this latter was so placed that his feet were opposite the head ​of his late pupil. But his spirit recognised that the pupil was really greater than the master, and when men came later to see the two graves they found that the saint had turned his tomb round so that his feet no longer pointed with such lack of respect towards the head of his disciple." *
In the Madras Census Report, 1901, the Jōnagans are separated from the Marakkāyars, and are described as Musalman traders of partly Hindu parentage. And, in the Gazetteer of South Arcot, Mr. Francis says that "the term Jōnagan or Sōnagan, meaning a native of Sōnagan or Arabia, is applied by Hindus to both Labbais and Marakkāyars, but it is usually held to have a contemptuous flavour about it." There is some little confusion concerning the exact application of the name Jōnagan, but I gather that it is applied to sea-fishermen and boatmen, while the more prosperous traders are called Marakkāyars. A point, in which the Labbais are said to differ from the Marakkāyars, is that the former are Hanafis, and the latter Shāfts.
The Marakkāyars are said to admit converts from various Hindu classes, who are called Pulukkais, and may not intermarry with the Marakkāyars for several generations, or until they have become prosperous.
In one form of the marriage rites, the ceremonial extends over four days. The most important items on the first day are fixing the mehr (bride-price) in the presence of the vakils (representatives), and the performance of the nikka rite by the Kāzi. The nikka kudbha is read, and the hands of the contracting couple are united by male elders, the bride standing within a screen. During the reading of the kudbha, a sister of ​the bridegroom ties a string of black beads round the bride's neck. All the women present set up a roar, called kulavi-idal. On the following day, the couple sit among women, and the bridegroom ties a golden tāli on the bride's neck. On the third or fourth day a ceremony called pāpārakkolam, or Brāhman disguise, is performed. The bride is dressed like a Brāhman woman, and holds a brass vessel in one hand, and a stick in the other. Approaching the bridegroom, she strikes him gently, and says "Did not I give you buttermilk and curds? Pay me for them." The bridegroom then places a few tamarind seeds in the brass vessel, but the bride objects to this, and demands money, accompanying the demand with strokes of the stick. The man then places copper, silver, and gold coins in the vessel, and the bride retires in triumph to her chamber.
Like the Labbais, the Marakkāyars write Tamil in Arabic characters, and speak a language called Arab-Tamil, in which the Kurān and other books have been published. [See Labbai.)
* ↑ * Gazetteer of the South Arcot district.
* ↑ * Gazetteer of the South Arcot district.