Tharakan (Hindu caste)


Tharakan is a Hindu caste from the Palakkad district of Kerala, South India. The majority of the Tharakans are located in Valluvanad, with major agglomerations around Vayillyamkunnu, Katambazhippuram, Sreekrishnapuram, Mangode, Thiruvazhiyodu, Chethallur and Mannarkkad. Many Sanskrit scholars and popular astrologers originated from this community.

Etymology

The word Tharakan literally means the holder of document of Raja. They are so called because they were the recipients of 'Tharaku' or writ of social privilege issued to them by the ruling head of the Zamorins of Calicut.
Tharakan is an honorific title possessed by ancient traders. The word is rooted from Tamil word Tharaku/Tharavu-which means brokering or commission. The word is also linked with placing an order, tax or tariff and commodity trade. Sometimes the word is also related to lending money. In Tamil to denote a broker, people use Tharakar or Tharagar. So it can be assumed that a tharakan is the one who intermediates between manufacturer and buyer.

Gothram

Tharakans belong to Kshatriya group and are Saivites. Tharakan trace their origin from Chola mandalam and claims that they belong to Kannaki’s community. Mannadiyar, Guptan, Moothan, and Pathukudi are the related ethnic groups. A section of Tharakan community in Angadippuram became Nairs as per the advice of king.
Agriculture and business were their traditional ways of earning a living in times past. They follow Makkathaayam traditions and the after death pollution time for family members is 10 days.
Male members are identified by their family name and female members move in with their husband's family after marriage and keep the husband's family name. The title "Guptan" is common after middle age. Married female members were earlier addressed as "AkathaaL" and with time, the suffix transformed to "Ammal" and later to Amma and Gupta.

Origin

Legend

There are some details available about the origin of this community – in 'KOTTICHEZHUNNALLATH' . It points to the era way back to 13th−14th century which says about the asylum of a minister and his men from a local kingdom in the bank of river Kaveri of then Cholamandalam – to the king of Calicut – The dispute arose from the decision of local king to marry the clever daughter of the minister who had found out a solution for a challenging problem which was haunting the king for days together. The legend – The challenge was to make a necklace within 41 days, using a bowl of peculiar pearls which was gifted by some foreign traders to the king. Being curved holes inside, many famous brilliant pandits had tried and failed to make a pearl necklace. However the intelligent teenage daughter of the minister could succeed in finding a solution for the challenge and making the necklace with the help of some ants by using a ghee applied thread making it a pearl necklace. Impressed up on the extraordinary intelligence of the girl who made the pearl necklace the ruling king wanted to marry her. But as the king was inferior in caste, the minister and his related families disagreed. The angry king gave ultimatum for accepting the marriage or all vaishyas to leave the kingdom. Due to this the entire vaishya population in the desom consisting of many sections, around 7200 families, had to travel away from chola-desam and were segregated in groups. Some of the groups traveled towards west to Cheranaadu.
As they had a bitter experience of living in a kingdom where they could not get the justice from their king, they decided to settle in a Desam where the ruling king has vision and justice. To find that, they used to present a pot filled with gold but covered with a layer of sugar on top. They had the habit of sitting before the king of Kozhikkode for land. They had the same test with Zamorin. But King Zamorin got annoyed of their sitting and asked his minister " Mangattachan" to check the pot. After finding the golden powder in the pot Zamorin appraised of their cleverness but to check their integrity, asked them to come again next day. To test them, Zamorin made the sitting place muddy but they again sat there after spreading a cloth, though it was muddy. After this, the king understood it was not that they did not want to respect the king but it was their habit. Impressed by their intelligence and straight forwardness, Samoothiri gave permission to build 'nagarams' and sent pathinaayirathil nair – The chieftain who can arrange that much warriors on demand by zamorin – along with them and asked them to meet the king after construction of their Kuladevatha temples.
They built four 'nagarams' called Puthanangadi, Thiruvazhiyode, Vayillyamkunnu and Mangode for cultivation and trade. After construction of temples, they met samoothiri along with their acharya. Impressed by the acharya's sivapooja and devotion, Samoothiri gave more land and arranged adiyantharakkar for them but as per the local tradition, samoothiri restricted the wearing of poonool to upanayanam & marriage time only and later the tradition has been discontinued.

Historical background

It is believed that the groups consisting of Tharakan along with members of Guptans community reached valluvanad were of Eralpuram, Adithyapuram, Paschimapuram & Ramapuram nagarams under the leadership of the minister SANKARA NAYANAR and they took their kuladevatha Bhagavathy and acharya Gyanasivacharya along with them.. Thiruvazhiyode nagaram was considered the "Melnagaram" among the four nagarams and the tradition of giving "Nagarappanam" to Thiruvazhiyode group during marriage was followed in earlier days. This ritual was to mark respect for the "Aadi Nayanar".
The name Tharakan was assigned to this group belonging to valluvanad region, by Zamorin through Punnasseri Nambi Neelakanta Sharma and sometimes as Ezhssan, Menon, Andaar. The title was initially started at Punnassery Namby Gurukulam, Pattambi where prominent Sanskrit scholar and astrologer CK Krishna Guptan was the beloved disciple of Sri Nambi. Later Guptans became part of the history of valluvanadan area. DESAYANAM published by samabhavini books – which narrates the history of Vayillyamkunnu desam of pre-independence era – gives more details about Guptans and their history.

Religion and hereditary

Durga of "Ardhanareeswara" concept of Lord Siva was predominant and reflected in their traditions and customs. "Saktheya" upasana was very common in Tharakan families in olden days. It was a tradition to conduct Saktheya pooja once in a year in each family earlier, for overall prosperity and still some families are following this tradition. Suryanarayanan Ezhuthachan and his nephew Devaguru – Thunchan's beloved disciples – were performing Saktheya pooja and their successors of Chozhiyath family of Mangalamkunnu perform Saktheya poojas even now. The usage of Thunchath, Chozhiyath, Chokkath by locals were popular in this area until the second half of the 20th century.
In the family goddess concept, each Tharakan family is attached to one of the three Bhagavathi Temples, viz. Panamkurussi, Vayillyamkunnu and Thiruruvaraykkal situated in the erstwhile Valluvanad area of the Palakkad District. Vayillyamkunnu Bhagavathy temple is considered as one of the three Thirumandhamkunnu Temples along with Angadippuram & Kongad,. A story related to Samoothiri about the power of Panamkurussy Bhagavathy on his way to Karimpuzha is still popular in Chethallur area. The other Nagara temple of "Mangode" is attached to related community "Tharakan". Moothans of Palakkad town and the Mannadiyars of Nenmara and Kollengode are other similar community groups related to them.

Demography

Tharakan population is spread within Palakkad district only. The major pockets being Katampazhippuram, Mangalamkunnu, Thiruvazhiyode, Punchapadam, Sreekrishnapuram, Mannampetta, Pulappetta, Peringode, Kongad, Mannarkkad, Thachanattukara, Attasseri, Olavakkode, Edathanattukara, Chethallur, Chunangad, Mangode, Pookottukav, vellinezhi, etc.

Lifestyle and occupation

According to Gundert, they were originally warehouse-keepers at Palghat. Tharakans are Kshetram Ooralans of many famous temples like Thiruvaraikkal temple and Vayilyamkunnu temple. Tharakan houses are called Tharavads. Each tharavad has a unique name. Mostly tharavad names ends with ‘Ath’ or ‘Athu’- which means home in Tamil. The Marriages between the members from same Tharavad is prohibited in this caste.Tharakans follow Makkathayam tradition.
Tharakans were traders in ancient days. However they turned to agriculture sector after they migrated into Malabar land. Families without even a small paddy field was very rare in those times. The cross section of the community was a blend, ranging from poor farmers to big feudal land lords. Most of their houses were called "Kalam" which means the place for after – harvesting activities of paddy. After the land reforms, the attraction of agriculture was in the downward trend and some have shifted to plantation field and later focused on education, business and service sectors. Teaching was the most popular profession in earlier days among the community and many prominent Teachers with their proud disciples had positively contributed towards the improvement of their community as well as the society in general. Today's generations are more focused on professional education and many have excelled in the fields of Engineering, Medical Science, Robotics, Space Technology, Computer Software, Defence etc. But there is almost a vacuum in the area of political and civil administration.
Food habits are a mix of vegetarian and non-vegetarian. Though many women still prefer to be vegetarian but majority of men eat non- vegetarian food. Other than the normal Hindu festivals like Onam, Vishu& Thiruvathira, another special festival related to Onam, 'POTTA THIRUVONAM' used to be celebrated in olden days mainly for showing the sister's affection to their brothers – similar to the concept of Rakhi of North India. One major occasion of family get together of these groups are during the annual temple 'pooram' festival of their respective paradevatha temples.

Marriage customs and traditions

Tharakan's marriage related processes start from "Ashtamangalyam" function – the engagement at bride's residence. After horoscope matching, on the day of "Ashtamangalyam", a "Thamboola Prasnam" – astrological prediction based on Beettle leaves and Deepam – will be conducted as a ritual and results of the "Prasna" will be interpreted to all relatives assembled there.. Other customs connected to this function are tying of horoscopes of bride & groom together symbolically for the fixation of marriage and "Pon veykkal" by Groom's relatives followed by feast. Dowry system is not in this community and rather a tradition of giving ONAPPUDAVA – giving clothes – by groom to the relatives is still followed during marriage as part of taking blessings from elders.
Marriage is normally called "PAANIGRAHANAM" and it is a simple function nowadays. Today's marriages are for one day and some major customs still followed are "Nadhaswaram" – treated as sacred music will be accompanied, THALAPPOLI – receiving function at bride's residenceby girls with a tray of flowers and oil lamp, KAALU KAZHUKAL – Bride's younger brother will clean the groom's feet while receiving him to the mandapam, THALIKETTU – Tying the thali chain in the bride's neck and exchange of rings there after, PAANIGRAHANAM – Bride's uncle will perform the "kanya daanam" by keeping the hand of bride into the hand of groom and AGNI PRADHAKSHINAM – after holding the hands mutually by a knot of their small fingers, groom and bride together move around the "Vivaha-homa agni"-the sacred fire. Palum Pazhavum' and 'Kavukeral' are other customs related to marriage.
Kaikottikkali, an important art form by women folk used to be performed in bride's house and groom's residence in olden days. Elite class used to conduct Kathakali too. '

Birth-related rituals

On birth of a child in the family, the main rituals are 'Irupathettu' – the first birth day as per lunar calendar and 'Choroon' – first feeding of food in 6th month along with child's naming ceremony. Shashtipoorthy – 60th birthday & Sathabhishekam – seeing of 1000 full moon/84th birth day, are celebrated widely.

Death rituals

Tharakan observe 10 days of defilement. After cremation, the eldest son will follow deeksha for these days. On 9th day is 'Athazha oottu' and on 10th day, 'Sanchayanam' – collection of bones of the demised person – followed by 'Baliitharppanam' by 'seshakriyakkar'. 'Nimanjanam' of the collected bones will be done at Thirunelli, Thirunavaya or in a nearby river on 10th day or after a year.

Cultural and Social Heritage

Vayillyamkunnu was one of the major cultural centers in south Malabar during pre-independence era due to the excellence of many Sanskrit scholars in the area. It is believed that great Thunchan and Sree Punnassery Nambi had blessed this place because of the presence their beloved disciples. The community has produced a number of scholars.
Tharakan mingled well with other communities in the region. Some initiative took place in the direction of caste cohesion during the 1980s when 'Arya Vaisya Samajam' was launched and it works for the welfare of the members by promoting academic excellence, etc. 'Aryayogam Matrimonial Services' is another initiative in the social front today.

Important personalities