{{Short description|Title in Indian caste system}} {{pp-extended|small=yes}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2020}} {{Use Indian English|date=August 2020}} {{infobox caste | caste_name = Udayar | image = | caption = | classification = | religions = Hinduism, Christianity | country = India | state = | populated_states = Tamil Nadu | languages = Tamil | region = | related = Tamil people }} The '''Udayar''' is a title used by multiple caste in the state of Tamil Nadu, India.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.bcmbcmw.tn.gov.in/bclist.htm|title=List of Backward Classes Approved}}</ref>
== Present status == The Udayar, together with the Pallar and Kallar, form the Marava castes, which predominate in the region variously known as Ramnad and the Maravar country.<ref>{{cite book |chapter=Transgressing Boundaries, Transcending Turner: The Pilgrimage Tradition at the Shrine of St. John de Britto |first=Selva J. |last=Raj |title=Popular Christianity in India: Riting Between the Lines |editor1-first=Selva J. |editor1-last=Raj |editor2-first=Corinne G. |editor2-last=Dempsey |publisher=SUNY Press |year=2002 |page=86 |isbn=9780791455197 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zv42cV5dQmYC |accessdate=2012-05-01}}</ref>
== Religion ==
In Ramnad and the nearby areas of Pudukottai, Madurai, Salem, Namakkal, Tanjore and Trichy, they and their two fellow Maravar caste groups are prominent in their cult worship of the shrine at Oriyur that commemorates John de Britto, a 17th-century Portuguese Jesuit missionary and martyr. Raj says, "A notable feature of the Britto cult is that it is centered around caste identities rather than religious affiliation", and thus members of the caste-group, irrespective of their religious affiliation regard Britto as their clan-deity.<ref name=Raj2002p87>{{cite book |chapter=Transgressing Boundaries, Transcending Turner: The Pilgrimage Tradition at the Shrine of St. John de Britto |first=Selva J. |last=Raj |title=Popular Christianity in India: Riting Between the Lines |editor1-first=Selva J. |editor1-last=Raj |editor2-first=Corinne G. |editor2-last=Dempsey |publisher=SUNY Press |year=2002 |page=87 |isbn=978-0-79145-519-7 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zv42cV5dQmYC&pg=PA87}}</ref>
Some Udayars are Roman Catholic Christians.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pxdhTsNWzTMC|title=Communities Panchayats and Governance at Grassroots|last1=Palanithurai|first1=Ganapathy|last2=Ragupathy|first2=Varadarajan|publisher=Concept Publishing Company|year=2008|isbn=9788180695636|page=138|accessdate=2012-05-01}}</ref><ref name="Raj2002p87" />
==Notable people== *Channaiah Odeyar (died 2007), Indian politician *N. Karupanna Odayar, Indian politician *N. P. V. Ramasamy Udayar (1936–1998), Indian industrialist *T. S. Swaminatha Odayar, Indian politician * A. T. Pannirselvam, Indian attorney and political leader.
==References== {{reflist}} {{Portal|Tamils|India|Hinduism}}
==Further reading== *{{cite journal |first=Geoffrey |last=Burkhart |title=Ranges of Endogamy in a Tamil Group |journal=Indian Anthropologist |volume=2 |issue=1 |date=June 1972 |pages=1–6 |jstor=41919203}} *{{cite journal |title=On the absence of descent groups among some Udayars of South India |first=Geoffrey |last=Burkhart |doi=10.1177/006996677601000102 |journal=Contributions to Indian Sociology |date=January 1976 |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=31–61|s2cid=143260084 }}
Category:Social groups of Tamil Nadu Category:Christian communities of India Category:Surnames of Indian origin Category:Surnames of Hindu origin Category:South Indian communities