AntoniaWhetsel0: brief corrected layout for consistency and updated info based on references

2026-03-19T18:07:21Z

brief corrected layout for consistency and updated info based on references

← Older revision		Revision as of 23:37, 19 March 2026
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	{{Use dmy dates\|date=February 2014}}		{{Use dmy dates\|date=February 2014}}
	'''Idangai''' or the '''left hand''' is a caste-based division of communities in [[Tamil Nadu]] that was in vogue from ancient times right up to the 19th and even the early decades of the 20th century AD. Since India's independence, the differences have practically vanished.{{sfnp\|Ghurye\|1991\|p=359\|ps=}}{{sfnp\|Alcock\|D'Altroy\|Morrison\|Sinopoli\|2001\|p=269\|ps=}} The corresponding division is [[Valangai]].		'''Idangai''' or the '''left hand''' is a caste-based division of communities in [[Tamil Nadu]], India, that was in vogue from ancient times right up to the 19th and even the early decades of the 20th century AD. Since India's independence, the differences have practically vanished.{{sfnp\|Ghurye\|1991\|p=359\|ps=}}{{sfnp\|Alcock\|D'Altroy\|Morrison\|Sinopoli\|2001\|p=269\|ps=}} The corresponding division is [[Valangai]].

	== Constituent castes ==		== Constituent castes ==
	From ancient times, there was intense rivalry between the left-handed and right-handed factions.{{sfnp\|Ghurye\|1991\|p=358\|ps=}} The ''Idangai'' faction was numerically inferior to the ''Valangai'' and comprised six castes as opposed to the sixty of the ''Valangai''.{{sfnp\|Ghurye\|1991\|p=359\|ps=}} It was also unclear as to which castes constituted each faction. Some castes considered to be left-handed in some areas were regarded as right-handed in others and vice versa.{{sfnp\|Yandell\|Paul\|2000\|p=30\|ps=}} Roughly speaking, the ''Valangai'' or right-handed faction was made up of castes with an agricultural basis while the ''Idangai'' was made of metal workers, weavers, etc. i.e. castes involved in manufacturing.{{sfnp\|Siromoney\|1975\|ps=}}The core groups in Idangai were the five castes called Anchalar/ Panchalar. ie-		From ancient times, there was intense rivalry between the left-handed and right-handed factions.{{sfnp\|Ghurye\|1991\|p=358\|ps=}} The ''Idangai'' faction was numerically inferior to the ''Valangai'' and comprised six castes as opposed to the sixty of the ''Valangai''.{{sfnp\|Ghurye\|1991\|p=359\|ps=}} It was also unclear as to which castes constituted each faction. Some castes considered to be left-handed in some areas were regarded as right-handed in others and vice versa.{{sfnp\|Yandell\|Paul\|2000\|p=30\|ps=}} Roughly speaking, the ''Valangai'' or right-handed faction was made up of castes with an agricultural basis while the ''Idangai'' was made of metal workers, weavers, etc. i.e. castes involved in manufacturing.{{sfnp\|Siromoney\|1975\|ps=}}The core groups in Idangai were the five castes called Anchalar/ Panchalar. i.e.-

	# Kannar		# Kannar
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	# Thachan		# Thachan

	Further castes were added at various times.<ref>{{Cite web\|url=https://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/28091/8/08_chapter%205.pdf\|title=The Right and Left hand divisions\|last=\|first=\|date=\|website=Shodhganga~~\|url-status=live~~\|archive-url=\|archive-date=\|access-date=}}</ref>		Further castes were added at various times.<ref>{{Cite web\|url=https://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/28091/8/08_chapter%205.pdf\|title=The Right and Left hand divisions\|last=\|first=\|date=\|website=Shodhganga\|archive-url=\|archive-date=\|access-date=}}</ref>

	The ''Valangai'' faction was better organized, politically, than the ''Idangai''.{{sfnp\|McGilvray\|1982\|p=105\|ps=}}		The ''Valangai'' faction was better organized, politically, than the ''Idangai''.{{sfnp\|McGilvray\|1982\|p=105\|ps=}}

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{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2014}}
'''Idangai''' or the '''left hand''' is a caste-based division of communities in [[Tamil Nadu]] that was in vogue from ancient times right up to the 19th and even the early decades of the 20th century AD. Since India's independence, the differences have practically vanished.{{sfnp|Ghurye|1991|p=359|ps=}}{{sfnp|Alcock|D'Altroy|Morrison|Sinopoli|2001|p=269|ps=}} The corresponding division is [[Valangai]].

== Constituent castes ==
From ancient times, there was intense rivalry between the left-handed and right-handed factions.{{sfnp|Ghurye|1991|p=358|ps=}} The ''Idangai'' faction was numerically inferior to the ''Valangai'' and comprised six castes as opposed to the sixty of the ''Valangai''.{{sfnp|Ghurye|1991|p=359|ps=}} It was also unclear as to which castes constituted each faction. Some castes considered to be left-handed in some areas were regarded as right-handed in others and vice versa.{{sfnp|Yandell|Paul|2000|p=30|ps=}} Roughly speaking, the ''Valangai'' or right-handed faction was made up of castes with an agricultural basis while the ''Idangai'' was made of metal workers, weavers, etc. i.e. castes involved in manufacturing.{{sfnp|Siromoney|1975|ps=}}The core groups in Idangai were the five castes called Anchalar/ Panchalar. ie-

# Kannar
# Thattar
# Asari
# Kollar
# Thachan

Further castes were added at various times.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/28091/8/08_chapter%205.pdf|title=The Right and Left hand divisions|last=|first=|date=|website=Shodhganga|url-status=live|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=}}</ref>

The ''Valangai'' faction was better organized, politically, than the ''Idangai''.{{sfnp|McGilvray|1982|p=105|ps=}}

== See also ==
* [[Caste system in India]]
* [[Valangai]]

== References ==
'''Citations'''
{{reflist|2}}

'''Bibliography'''
{{refbegin}}
*{{citation |title=Empires: Perspectives from Archaeology and History |last1=Alcock |first1=Susan E. |page=269 |first2=Terence N. |last2=D'Altroy |first3=Kathleen D. |last3=Morrison |first4=Carla M. |last4=Sinopoli |year=2001 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |isbn=978-0-521-77020-0}}
*{{citation |title=Caste and Race in India |last=Ghurye| first= G. S. |author-link=G. S. Ghurye |year=1991 |orig-year=1932 |publisher= Popular Prakashan |location=Bombay |isbn=9788171542055|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nWkjsvf6_vsC}}
*{{citation |title=Caste Ideology and Interaction |last=McGilvray |first=Denis B. |year=1982 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |isbn=978-0-521-24145-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n-88AAAAIAAJ}}
*{{citation |url=http://www.cmi.ac.in/gift/Epigraphy/epig_tambarammore.htm |title=More inscriptions from the Tambaram area |accessdate=21 September 2008 |year=1975 |first=Gift |last=Siromoney |journal=Madras Christian College Magazine |volume=44}}
*{{citation |title=Religion and public culture: Encounters and Identities in Modern South India |last1=Yandell |first1=Keith E. |first2=John Jeya |last2=Paul |year=2000 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-7007-1101-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v8UeAgAAQBAJ}}
{{refend}}

== Further reading ==
*{{cite book |title=Constructing the Colonial Encounter: Right and Left Hand Castes in Early Colonial South India |first=Niels |last=Brimnes |publisher=Psychology Press |year=1999 |isbn=9780700711062 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HdSABP70H9sC}}
*{{cite book |title=Castes of Mind: Colonialism and the Making of Modern India |first=Nicholas B. |last=Dirks |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=2001 |isbn=9780691088952 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5rAzycuxf9gC}}
*{{cite book |title=Economic Development and Social Change in South India |first=Trude S. |last=Epstein |year=1962 |publisher=Oxford University Press |url=https://archive.org/details/economicdevelopm0000epst|url-access=registration }}
*{{cite book |title=When the World Becomes Female: Guises of a South Indian Goddess |first=Joyce Burkhalter |last=Flueckiger |publisher=Indiana University Press |year=2013 |isbn=9780253009609 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rFlE0PO0x1AC}}
*{{cite book |title=The Warrior Merchants: Textiles, Trade, and Territory in South India |first=Mattison |last=Mines |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1984 |isbn=9780521267144 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y089AAAAIAAJ}}
*{{cite book |title=Public Faces, Private Voices: Community and Individuality in South India |first=Mattison |last=Mines |publisher=University of California Press |year=1994 |isbn=9780520914599 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0FTO6p3ZMnIC}}
*{{cite book |title=The View from Below: Indigenous Society, Temples, and the Early Colonial State in Tamilnadu, 1700-1835 |first=Kanakalatha |last=Mukund |publisher=Orient Blackswan |year=2005 |isbn=9788125028000 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5BMljBxJXtoC}}
*{{cite book |title=Trade and Politics on the Coromandel Coast: Seventeenth and Early Eighteenth Centuries |first=Radhika |last=Seshan |publisher=Primus Books |year=2012 |isbn=9789380607252 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lo-KjFtqC7sC}}
*{{cite book |title=Coastal Histories: Society and Ecology in Pre-modern India |editor-first=Yogesh |editor-last=Sharma |publisher=Primus Books |year=2010 |isbn=9789380607009 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FTTGWSme30YC}}

[[Category:Indian castes]]

Idangai - Revision history

AntoniaWhetsel0: brief corrected layout for consistency and updated info based on references

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