Udayar (caste)

The Udayar are a caste found in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. The Udayar are "socially higher" than the Vellalar community, and, together with the Pallar and Kallar, are a "dominant caste" in the region variously known as Ramnad and the Maravar country.

At least some are Roman Catholic Christians. In Ramnad and the nearby areas of Pudukottai, Madurai, Salem, Nammakal, 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, the 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 Hindus also observe it.

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