Kingdom of Kandy
They were under Portuguese rule, along with the Karaiyar and Nair recruited as Lascarins and were converted to Catholicism. Large Catholic Karava communities exists ever since, who were Hindus prior to conversion. The Catholic Karava chieftains sided with the Kingdom of Kandy and the kingdom's Dutch allies against the Portuguese empire, and the King bestowed honors and titles to the Karava chieftains.