Saurashtrian Tamils

S. BALAKRISHNAN

Saurashtrian Tamils or Tamil Saurashtrians?! This may sound queer – how can a Saurashtrian be a Tamil or a Tamil be a Saurashtrian? But the Saurashtrians from Gujarat, settled in Tamil Nadu since centuries ago, have so well assimilated with the Tamil population that they are an inseparable part of the State and its culture. Maybe they can be called as IDPs (Internally Displaced People), though such a term was not in use then.

          They were forced to move out of their Saurashtra soil in Western Gujarat due to repeated invasions, not only to save their lives & wealth but also to protect and preserve their religious tradition. The situation particularly aggravated due to Mahmud of Ghazni’s (Born 971 - Died 1030) numerous invasions and his attempts to loot Somnath Temple. The Saurashtrians, therefore, moved out, first to Maharashtra, then down South to the Vijayanagar Empire, then further onwards to the Nayak-ruled Madurai in Tamil Nadu, then to Thanjavur which was ruled by the Serfojis (Marathi dynasty), and other parts of Tamil Nadu like Salem, etc. As they were expert silk weavers, the early settlers were called Pattu (silk) nool (thread) kaaran (people), silk thread people / silk weavers. Naturally, therefore, the Saurashtrian weavers’ expertise was utilized by the royals of Vijayanagar Empire and Nayakar dynasty to prepare royal vestments.

          I am writing this because of a chance encounter with a Saurashtrian youth as my co-passenger during my return journey from Madurai (where their concentration is high) to Chennai. As an introvert I was reluctant to speak to him; we both pretended as if the next seat passenger did not exist. We read the Tamil & English newspapers supplied free on the Tejas train, then tried to catch some sleep, then stare out of the window. It was when he spoke in a queer language that I decided to investigate what language it was. I could guess a few words because of my touch with Hindi but yet it sounded so different. His name was Suraj, he said to the TTE; so he was not a Tamil guy, which I had already guessed.  Saurashtra language is a mixture of Gujarati, Maharashtri Prakrit, Konkani, Sanskrit, with a sprinkling of dialects from western Rajasthan and Sindh; now it has a lot of words from Tamil and Telugu also. Though the language is spoken at home, not many can read or write it, Suraj said. As a matter of fact he does not know Hindi which is different from his mother tongue.

          ‘We are mostly Vaishnavaites and vegetarians; of course, with changing time, the younger generation takes non-veg food also.’ His full name is Suraj Juttu Hariharan; ‘Juttu’ is the family name and his father’s name is Hariharan Iyer. They have adopted Tamil names and even titles/surnames like Iyer, Iyengar, Rao.  Well, during 1966-69, when I was in class 6-8 in Madurai, I had two Saurashtrian classmates, but now (after 56 years) I do not remember their names. As a playful boy I never bothered to know about their customs, language, etc. ‘From being temple priests, merchants and weavers, we have now diversified and are in the IT field also’, he added. He himself was in the IT sector in Chennai, living with his nucleus family. He did his Engineering degree in the KLN College in Madurai, an autonomous self-financed minority institution run by their community.

          ‘No’, he said emphatically to my query if he missed his ancestors’ land (Saurashtra); ‘ for many centuries we are living here; neither we are concerned about it nor is Gujarat concerned about us, though in 2009, when Narendra Modi was the Gujarat CM, he had interacted with the Saurashtrian population in Madurai. Now we are fully integrated with Tamil Nadu; we are more Tamils than Saurashtrians. In our own family we have even married out of our community in a Tamil family. Times are changing. Love is spreading its net far & wide’, he joked.  

(Suraj Jattu)

          True to his statement, we have many Saurashtrians who have done proud to Tamil Nadu in various fields; the name of T.M. Soundararajan comes to my mind immediately. A versatile Tamil playback singer, his melodious voice so effortlessly matched the top heroes of those days. They are evergreen songs! There are many male and female actors too. Then we have M.V. Venkatram, Sahithya Akademi awardee writer/author, K. Amarnath Ramakrishna, famous archaeologist, and countless others.

          As per 2011 Census, there are about 2,38,556 Saurashtrians in Tamil Nadu (Male-1,20,084 and Female–1,18,472). They are classified as Linguistic Minority, which is not of much benefit. They worship Hindu deities, and their wedding takes place during day time only, he patiently answered my probing questions.

          Another valuable input that he gave was that while booking train tickets in Vande Bharat, Tejas and other trains, we can opt out of the catering service, saving our money & stomach, which strategy I did not know. The food was not to the mark in both the Vande Bharat (during my onward trip) and Tejas. I profusely thanked him for this healthy suggestion and for patiently enlightening me about the Saurashtrian Tamils. 

Suraj Juttu Hariharan took leave of this ‘Boomer Uncle’ by teaching ‘Thore naav kato?’, meaning ‘What is your name?’ Does not it sound similar to Hindi “Tera naam kya?”, I wondered. Tamil Nadu is hailed as ‘the land that embraces everyone and also enriches their life’ (“Vundhaarai vaazha vaikkum Tamilagham”). Saurashtrians are no exception. In turn, the Saurashtrians have also undoubtedly enriched Tami Nadu, their land of adoption.          

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