Arundhatiyar

The Arundhatiyar mainly comprise the Chakkiliyan of Tamil Nadu. They are also called the Madiga and include the Madiga,

Madari and Pagadai communities. Their name is derived from the mythical woman Arundhaty.

Their traditional occupation is making leather goods. The villagers compensate them for their services by giving them a

fixed quantity of grain. They are also engaged in rearing pigs, goats and sheep, or working in industries, construction and

other kinds of manual work. They are known to adorn their bodies with tattoo designs. Both men and women consume local made

alcohol.

They speak the Dravidian languages and are also conversant with other regional languages. They eat beef and pork too. Their

staple cereal is rice. The Arundhatiyar women participate in economic activities and also contribute to the family income.

Some of the Arundhatiyar are artists, painters, craftsmen and engaged in leather and embroidery work, while others are

teachers, businessmen and in defense personnel.

Marriages between cross-cousins and uncle and niece alliances are permitted. Their marriage rituals are performed at the

bridegroom's place. The elders of the community officiate at the social functions.

The majority of the Arundhatiyar are treated as untouchable. They worship community deity Matamma. They have separate wells

and burial grounds.

In spite of the implementation of various developmental programs for education, they have not made much progress and have a

literacy rate of only 15 percent. 

MY Personal View 

As i have seen two kind of Arunthathiar people one they speak Telugu language and some speak tamil mostly i have seen around salem,namakkal,dharmapuri.marriages i have seen mostly happens on brides home with their community elders and they have their own temples

telugu speaking peoples job were mostly leather work and agriculture but the scene has changed now the education level has increased they are also ready to work on different professions  like banks,teachers,nurses it etc but most of the generation are first graduates in their families its good they have also stared to shine mainstream and many are ver successful in business and politics. Telugu people havemany (kolams) or godras each and every kolam have their own temple name kula deviam which i have mostly seen the god is (Perumal and Veermathi ) placed in different places  every kolam conduct functions every 5 years once rest the temple will be kept closed but it opens in important function days people from different places make their visit to temples this people have thier own pujaris they dont marry in same kolam but still backward is there what i have read on many news from different sources but i thing coming generation will not face the same caste discrinimation what their parents had in past years arunthathiar people dont have a combined l vote bank which i think it was a great set back to develop them selves as a powerful in democratic country which Pallan  and parayan got most benifits from all goverments  they had a good leader and good vote bank now arunthathiyar people have spread all over india and working in  good places like mumbai and delhi and aborad also.

Geographical Location of Arunthathiyar dalit

Eighty  lakhs(80,00000) of Arunthathiar dalit of TamilNadu state, live mostly in western districts namely-  Coimbotore, Erode, Salem, Dharmapuri, Namakkal , Karur, Dindigul, Nilgris, and Madurai.