Giraavaru people

The Giraavaru people (Tivaru people) are the indigenous people of Giraavaru Island, part of the Maldives. Of Dravidian origin, and the earliest island community of the Maldives, their presence predates Buddhism and the arrival of a Northern kingly dynasty in the archipelago. Their ancestors were Tamils from the Malabar Coast (modern Kerala). Their former status was rather like the toddy-tapping lower castes of Kerala and other Divehis regarded them as impure. They themselves averred that their customs and morals were purer then those of other Divehis.

The Giraavarus were isolated and thus an endogamous society with a relatively low population for more than a millennium. As a result, the population showed a number of heritable genetic disorders when they were forcibly assimilated with a larger population in the forties.

The Giraavaru origins are most probably in fishermen from the Malabar coast of the Subcontinent that settled the Maldives in very ancient times. They are mentioned in the legend about the establishment of the capital and kingly rule in Malé, where the Giraavaru people granted permission to a visiting king Koimala Kalo prior to the foundation of his kingdom on Malé. Although the Giraavaru was much larger and civilized at the time, most of the island has eroded due to changing weather (Gira means eroding and varu could have come from faru meaning reef). Until the twentieth century the Giraavaru people displayed recognisable physical, linguistic and cultural differences to the nearby islands. They were strictly monogamous and prohibited divorce. Their folklore was preserved in song and dance. Their music was audibly different from that of the other islanders. The most distinct items were the necklaces of tiny blue beads which no other Maldivian wore.

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