Kanadukathan Chettinadu Palace, an example of Chettinadu architecture.

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]

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 978-981-4786-66-9.:”
  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

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