Chakkiliyan
Contents |
Chakkiliyan
As in 1909
This section is an excerpt from Government Press, Madras |
The Chakkiliyans,” Mr. H. A. Stuart writes,2 “are the leather-workers of the Tamil districts, corresponding to the Mādigas of the Telugu country. The Chakkiliyans appear to be immigrants from the Telugu or Canarese districts, for no mention is made of this aste either in the early Tamil inscriptions, or in early Tamil literature. Moreover, a very large proportion of the Chakkiliyans speak Telugu and Canarese. In social position the Chakkiliyans occupy the lowest rank, though there is much dispute on this point between them and the Paraiyans. Nominally they are Saivites, but in reality devil-worshippers. The āvaram plant (Cassia auriculata) is held in much veneration by them,3 and the tāli is tied to a branch of it as a preliminary to marriage. Girls are not usually married before puberty. The bridegroom may be younger than the bride. Their widows may remarry. Divorce can be obtained at the pleasure of either party on payment of Rs. 12–12–0 to the other in the presence of the local head of the caste. Their women are considered to be very beautiful, and it is a woman of this caste who is generally selected for the coarser form of Sakti worship.
They indulge very freely in intoxicating liquors, and will eat any flesh, including beef, pork, etc. Hence they are called, par excellence, the flesh-eaters (Sanskrit shatkuli).” It was noted by Sonnerat, in the eighteenth century,4 that the Chakkiliyans are in more contempt than the Pariahs, because [3]they use cow leather in making shoes. “The Chucklers or cobblers,” the Abbé Dubois writes,5 “are considered inferiors to the Pariahs all over the peninsula. They are more addicted to drunkenness and debauchery. Their orgies take place principally in the evening, and their villages resound, far into the night, with the yells and quarrels which result from their intoxication. The very Pariahs refuse to have anything to do with the Chucklers, and do not admit them to any of their feasts.” In the Madura Manual, 1868, the Chakkiliyans are summed up as “dressers of leather, and makers of slippers, harness, and other leather articles. They are men of drunken and filthy habits, and their morals are very bad. Curiously enough, their women are held to be of the Padmani kind, i.e., of peculiar beauty of face and form, and are also said to be very virtuous.
It is well known, however, that zamindars and other rich men are very fond of intriguing with them, particularly in the neighbourhood of Paramagudi, where they live in great numbers.” There is a Tamil proverb that even a Chakkili girl and the ears of the millet are beautiful when mature. In the Tanjore district, the Chakkiliyans are said6 to be “considered to be of the very lowest status. In some parts of the district they speak Telugu and wear the nāmam (Vaishnavite sect mark) and are apparently immigrants from the Telugu country.” Though they are Tamil-speaking people, the Chakkiliyans, like the Telugu Mādigas, have exogamous septs called gōtra in the north, and kīlai in the south. Unlike the Mādigas, they do not carry out the practice of making Basavis (dedicated prostitutes). [4] The correlation of the most important measurements of the Mādigas of the Telugu country, and so-called Chakkiliyans of the city of Madras, is clearly brought out by the following figures:—
The Chakkiliyan men in Madras are tattooed not only on the forehead, but also with their name, conventional devices, dancing-girls, etc., on the chest and upper extremities.
It has been noticed as a curious fact that, in the Madura district, “while the men belong to the right-hand faction, the women belong to and are most energetic supporters of the left. It is even said that, during the entire period of a faction riot, the Chakkili women keep aloof from their husbands and deny them their marital rights.”
In a very interesting note on the leather industry of the Madras Presidency, Mr. A. Chatterton writes as follows. “The position of the Chakkiliyan in the south differs greatly from that of the Mādiga of the north, and many of his privileges are enjoyed by a ‘sub-sect’ of the Pariahs called Vettiyans. These people possess the right of removing dead cattle from villages, and in return have to supply leather for agricultural purposes. The majority of Chakkiliyans are not tanners, but leather-workers, and, instead of getting the hides or skins direct from the Vettiyan, they prefer to purchase them ready-tanned from traders, who bring them from the large tanning centres. When the Chuckler starts making shoes or sandals, he purchases the leather and skin which he requires in the bazar, and, taking it home, first proceeds with a preliminary currying operation.
The leather is damped and well stretched, and dyed with aniline, the usual colour being scarlet R.R. of the Badische Anilin Soda Fabrik. This is purchased in the bazar in packets, and is dissolved in water, to which a little oxalic acid has been added. The dye is applied with a piece of rag on the grain side, and allowed to dry. After drying, tamarind paste is applied to the flesh side of the skin, and the latter is then rolled between the hands, so as to produce a coarse graining on the outer side. In making the shoes, the leather is usually wetted, and moulded into shape on wooden moulds or lasts. As a rule, nothing but cotton is used for sewing, and the waxed ends of the English cobbler are entirely unknown. The largest consumption of leather in this Presidency is for water-bags or kavalais, which are used for raising water from wells, and for oil and ghee (clarified butter) pots, in which the liquids are transported from one place to another. Of irrigation wells there are in the Presidency more than 600,000, and, though some of them are fitted with iron buckets, nearly all of them have leather bags with leather discharging trunks. The buckets hold from ten to fifty gallons of water, and are generally made from fairly well tanned cow hides, though for very large buckets buffalo hides are sometimes used. The number of oil and ghee pots in use in the country is very large.
The use of leather vessels for this purpose is on the decline, as it is found much cheaper and more convenient to store oil in the ubiquitous kerosine-oil tin, and it is not improbable that eventually the industry will die out, as it has done in other countries. The range of work of the country Chuckler is not very extensive. Besides leather straps for wooden sandals, he makes crude harness for the ryot’s cattle, including leather collars from which numerous bells are frequently suspended, leather whips for the cattle drivers, ornamental fringes for the bull’s forehead, bellows for the smith, and small boxes for the barber, in which to carry his razors. In some places, leather ropes are used for various purposes, and it is customary to attach big coir (cocoanut fibre) ropes to the bodies of the larger temple cars by leather harness, when they are drawn in procession through the streets. Drum-heads and tom-toms are made from raw hides by Vettiyans and Chucklers. The drums are often very large, and are transported upon the back of elephants, horses, bulls and camels. For them raw hides are required, but for the smaller instruments sheep-skins are sufficient. The raw hides are shaved on the flesh side, and are then dried. The hair is removed by rubbing with wood-ashes. The use of lime in unhairing is not permissible, as it materially decreases the elasticity of the parchment.” The Chakkiliyans beat the tom-tom for Kammālans, Pallis and Kaikōlans, and for other castes if desired to do so.
The Chakkiliyans do not worship Mātangi, who is the special deity of the Mādigas. Their gods include Madurai Vīran, Māriamma, Mūneswara, Draupadi and Gangamma. Of these, the last is the most important, and her festival is celebrated annually, if possible. To cover the expenses thereof, a few Chakkiliyans dress up as to represent men and women of the Marāthi bird-catching caste, and go about begging in the streets for nine days. On the tenth day the festival terminates. Throughout it, Gangamma, represented by three decorated pots under a small pandal (booth) set up on the bank of a river or tank beneath a margosa (Melia azadirachta), or pīpal (Ficus religiosa) tree, is worshipped. On the last day, goats and fowls are sacrificed, and limes cut.
During the first menstrual period, the Chakkiliyan girl is kept under pollution in a hut made of fresh green boughs, which is erected by her husband or maternal uncle. Meat, curds, and milk are forbidden. On the last day, the hut is burnt down. At marriages a Chakkiliyan usually officiates as priest, or the services of a Valluvan priest may be enlisted. The consent of the girl’s maternal uncle to the marriage is essential. The marriage ceremony closely resembles that of the Paraiyans. And, at the final death ceremonies of a Chakkiliyan, as of a Paraiyan, two bricks are worshipped, and thrown into a tank or stream. Lean children, especially of the Māla, Mādiga, and Chakkiliyan classes, are made to wear a leather strap, specially made for them by a Chakkiliyan, which is believed to help their growth. At times of census, some Chakkiliyans have returned themselves as Pagadaiyar, Madāri (conceit or arrogance), and Ranavīran (brave warrior).
In the 21st century
From The Joshua Project
Basic facts
Population in India 12,93,000, presumably as in 2011
Population in the World 1,325,000
Main Language Tamil
Largest Religion Hinduism (90.86%)
Christian 9.11%
Total Countries in which they live 2 (India and Sri Lanka)
The states in which they mainly live
Total States 19
The 15 States with their largest populations
Tamil Nadu 12,20,000
Kerala 46,000
Andhra Pradesh 11,000
Maharashtra 4,600
Karnataka 3,500
Puducherry 2,800
Delhi 2,200
Telangana 1,200
West Bengal 400
Andaman and Nicobar 300
Chhattisgarh 200
Madhya Pradesh 200
Odisha 200
Gujarat 100
Chandigarh 70
Alternate Names
Arava Chakali, Arava Chakkali, Arava Chakkali/Kristava Arundhatiyar, Arundhatiyar, Cakkala, Cakkali, Cakkoli, Chakka, Chakkala, Chucklers, Kristava Arundhatiyar, Madari, Pagadai, Toti, Vattakkadan, चक्कीलियनएसी
Introduction / History
The main occupation of the Chakkiliyan community is mending leather products especially chappals, shoes ,etc. Today, most of them in south india are well literate, occupying administrative positions both in private and public sectors.
Along with social groups associated with those who wash clothes for other Dalits, they are one of the most backward castes. Some work as night soil removers. In this aspect they have similar castes across India. The most notable one is Chandala and Bhangis of North India.
Due to their association with night soil, others have been reluctant to associate with them including other Dalit castes. But they are also used as general agricultural and manual workers across Western and Northern Tamil Nadu. They are usually live in a place that is apart from the main village as the other Dalits. Many place names in India and Sri Lanka are named for this community.
Profile Source: Mohan Nitheesh
Affirmative action
The State Government [in November 2010] said that Arunthathiyars were given a special reservation of three per cent, out of 18 per cent meant for Scheduled Castes, in education and Government employment following the Governor's address in the Assembly in 2008 that they were “still remaining as untouchables among the untouchables.”
A. Vishwanath Shegaonkar, Principal Secretary, Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare Department, made the submission in a counter affidavit filed, on his behalf as well as the Law Secretary, before a Division Bench comprising Justice R. Banumathi and Justice T. Raja at the Madras High Court Bench here.
The court was seized of a public interest litigation petition challenging the Tamil Nadu Arunthathiyars (Special Reservation of Seats in Educational Institutions including Private Educational Institutions and of appointments or posts in the Services under the State within the Reservation for Scheduled Castes) Act, 2009.
Mr. Shegaonkar said that a one-man commission, appointed before the enactment of the legislation, found out that there was not even a single person from Arunthathiyar community from among 32 Indian Police Service officers belonging to the Scheduled Castes in the State.
Likewise, only one person from Aruthathiyar community had made it to the Indian Administrative Service. “Thus it is crystal clear that notwithstanding the lapse of 58 years from the commencement of the Constitution… none from the Arunthathiyar community is able to represent it in the IPS cadre.
“Weakest of the weak”
“The Arunthathiyar community is the lowest and the last and the weakest of the weak from among the castes of the Scheduled Castes as per the Presidential Notification,” he said and pointed out that the Government of Punjab had also made such special reservation for Balmikis and Mazhabi Sikhs.
It was the one man commission which recommended special reservation of three per cent to seven caste groups — Arunthathiyar, Chakkiliyan, Madari, Madiga, Pagadai, Thoti and Adi Andhara — collectively called as the Arunthathiyar community. The recommendation was also approved by the Cabinet.
The affidavit also stated that the Government had not in any way violated Article 34 (1) of the Constitution which empowers the President to specify the castes, races or tribes which shall be deemed to be Scheduled Castes. “By virtue of the Tamil Nadu Arunthathiyars Act, the Government has neither included nor excluded any Scheduled Caste community from the ambit of reservation.
“The State Government has merely grouped together the various classes falling under the Arunthathiyar community, their being the most backward among the backward classes and being the most disadvantaged, and allotted to them the sum total of reservation already accruing to them,” it read.
