Information AboutChettiar |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT CHETTIAR | |
| indian castes | |
| kerala society | |
| karnataka society | |
| tamil society | |
| indian family names | |
| sri lankan tamil society | |
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ORIGIN OF THE WORD It is commonly belived to be derived from the title for traders in Prakrit , namely Shresta. However, not all agree with its Indo-Aryan lingusitic origins and think root of the word could be of Dravidian linguistic origin. Similar title usage in South Asia A similar title Seth is used amongst Gujarati speakers. In Kannada and Tulu it is '''Shetty''', '''Shettar''' and '''Shettigar'''. In Sinhalese it is '''Hetty'''. In Nepal amongst Newar i residents of Kathmandu it is '''Shresta'''. PRIMARY USAGE OF TITLE As noted many castes of different ethnic origins use the title today. The foremost one in Tamil Nadu is Natukotai Chetties who are ethinically Tamil and originally hailed from Nattukotai region. Other castes in Tamil Nadu using this are Ethnic minority Telugu speaking ''Ayira Vysyas''' a subsect of Komati Settys from Andhra Pradesh and also 24 Manai Telugu Chettiars . USAGE AMONG VARIOUS CASTES Though typical Chetty is conceived to be a trader, various social groups(non-merchant) sport this surname. In Tulu Nadu , Shetty s are part of Landed Castes . In Karnataka and Kerala , Shettigar, Chettiar or Chetty is used by members belonging to weavers' caste. However, most of Chetties are supposed be part of Edagai caste which included many depressed or lower castes. Old records even talk about Porter s also being identified as Chetties. Probably, Chetty encompassed a broad social spectrum previously, before caste system narrowed it down. Most of the non-Tamil castes use it as an affix to their profession specific names. Telugus use it as in Komati Setty where Komati represents a name of the group and Setty represents trading. Kannada and Malayali weavers use it as in Devanga Chetty or Sali Chetty, where Devanga and Sali represent the name of the group. Other castes using the title
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