Chettiar

Chettiar (also spelt as Chetti and Chetty) is a title used by many traders, weaving, agricultural and land-owning castes in South India, especially in the Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka.[1][2][3]

"Chetty", "Chetti", and "Chetties" redirect here. For the Sri Lankan community, see Sri Lankan Chetties.
Kanadukathan Chettinadu Palace, an example of Chettinadu architecture.

Etymology

Chettiar/Chetty is derived from the Sanskrit word Śreṣṭha (Devanagari: श्रेष्ठ) or Śreṣṭhin (Devanagari: श्रेष्ठीन्) meaning superior, Prakritised as Seṭhī (Devanagari: सेठी), and then Śeṭ (Devanagari: शेट) or Śeṭī (Devanagari: शेटी) in modern Indo-Aryan dialects.[4][5][6][7][8][9]

See also

References
  1. "Chettiar Band, AVM To FM". Outlook. Retrieved 9 April 2016.
  2. "Chettiars reign where wealth meets godliness". The Economic Times. Retrieved 9 April 2016.
  3. "BBMP move shocking: Puttanna Chetty's grandson".
  4. Jalal, Ayesha (1995). Democracy and Authoritarianism in South Asia: A Comparative and Historical Perspective. Cambridge University Press. p. 204. ISBN 978-0-521-47862-5.
  5. Raychaudhuri, Tapan; Habib, Irfan; Kumar, Dharma (1982). The Cambridge Economic History of India: c.1200–c.1750. Cambridge University Press Archive. pp. 27–28. ISBN 978-0-521-22692-9.
  6. "The Dawn and Dawn Society's Magazine". 12. Calcutta: Lall Mohan Mullick. 1909: 91. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help):”In all the early Indian literatures, the word is applied to a very wealthy class of merchants, who invariably belonged to the Vysya class”
  7. Belle, Carl Vadivella (2017). Thaipusam in Malaysia. Singapore: ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute. ISBN 9789814695756.:”Although the Chettiars were originally a Sudra caste, in more recent times they have made claim to be considered as Vaisyas.”
  8. Intirā Pārttacārati (2008). Ramanujar: The Life and Ideas of Ramanuja. Oxford University Press. p. 98. ISBN 978-0-19-569161-0. The Chetti, Vaisya, or merchant caste
  9. Population Review. Indian Institute for Population Studies. 1975. p. 26.

Further reading
  • Christine Dobson, Asian Entrepreneurial Minorities, Curzon Press UK, 1996. (A chapter in the book is devoted to the Chettiars who set up businesses in Burma.)
  • Rajeswary Brown (1993) "Chettiar capital and Southeast Asian credit networks in the inter-war period". In G. Austin and K. Sugihara, eds. Local Suppliers of Credit in the Third World, 1750-1960. (New York: St. Martin's Press).
  • Kudaisya, Medha M. (2009). "Marwari and Chettiar Merchants. 1850s-1950s: Comparative Trajectories". In Kudaisya, Medha M.; Ng, Chin-Keong (eds.). Chinese and Indian Business: Historical Antecedents. Leiden: BRILL. ISBN 9789004172791.
  • David Rudner (1989) Banker's Trust and the Culture of Banking among the Nattukottai Chettiars of Colonial South India. Modern Asian Studies 23 (3), 417-458.
  • Heiko Schrader (1996) Chettiar Finance in Colonial Asia. Zeitschrift fur Ethnologie 121, 101-126.
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