Aryans and Dravidians are basically the same

Though there were large scale immigration from the north-west in ancient times, the Indians of north and south are mostly basicaly the same with various foreign and indigenous tribal admixtures. Even the medieval muslim immigration also did not effect the ethnicity of Indians much since the muslims who settled in ndia were mostly Central Asians, Pathans and Persians who had integrated into Indian society even in pre-Islamic times.

The following article traces the history of famous Kuru Clan of north India integrating into Tamil society of south India.

Karave also Kaurava or Kurukulam is the traditional military or warrior caste or social group found predominantlt in the south, western and northern coastal areas of Sri Lanka[citation needed]. Amongst Sri Lankan Tamils they are known as Karaiyar
Contents[hide]
1 Origins
2 Traditional occupation
3 Sanskritisation
4 Social position
5 Political influence
6 Some Karava Ge names
7 See also
8 References
9 External links

[edit] Origins
Along with many other Sinhala and Tamil language speaking social groups or castes, Karave, Sri Lankan Muslims, Mukkuvar and Paravar, are mostly coastal inhabitants of Sri Lanka. Karava lore as well as historical manuscripts such as the Mukkkara Hatana [1],[2] and royal grants[3] indicate that they migrated mainly from the area previously known as Kuru Mandalam Coromandal coast of South India. Related Karaiyar caste in India are found north of Tanjore in Tamil Nadu well into the Andhra Pradesh coastal areas.

[edit] Traditional occupation
Traditionally, Karavas were the naval and military caste in Sri lanka providing mercenaries to kings in India and Sri Lanka. Their leaders were regional rulers Patangatims, mainly of the coast and ports and a great many of them were simple soldiers and mercenaries. Some members of the social group were also were fishers and pearl divers. With the fall of Sri Lankan kingdoms to Dutch and British colonialism they lost their royal patronage and relevance and took to other occupations such as deep sea fishing, cultivation, and trading.

[edit] Sanskritisation
Along with South Indian dynasties such as the Pandyans they appear to have Sanskritized their name to Kurukulam, indicating an origin from the Kauravas of the Kuru (kingdom) in Mahabharata and Kshatriya origin. It should be noted that related Paravas have upgraded their name to Bharathas In Sri Lanka too the Karave claim Kuru ancestry thus assimilating with the Indo-Aryan-speaking majority Sinhalese people. Karavas north of Chilaw still speak Tamil but south of Colombo, along with all other Sri Lankan communities now calling themselves Sinhalese, the Karavas too are now Sinhala speakers and have become devoted Catholics and Buddhists with very little vestige of their former Hindu religion. With Salagama and Durave, they make a sizeable number of people among the coastal Sinhalese sub group (See Caste in Sri Lanka).

[edit] Social position
In Sri Lanka they are an influential and prominent caste both among the majority Sinhalese and minority Sri Lanka Tamils. With the inversion of the traditional caste system under Dutch and British rule they are now said to be behind the Govigama (among the Sinhalese) and Vellalar (among the Tamils). The Karave community today has many indigenous and migrant peoples as part of its group as indicated by the hereditary ancestral names also known as "Ge" names.
Most Karave were initially converted to the Catholic religion by the Portuguese colonials after their arrival in 1505 CE. Thus introduced to the market economy via the colonial connection, Karave began their social and economic climb from nobodies to elites as noted by sociologists. Although the strides made thus far by a few lineages are impressive, and many members of the community are leading professionals and businessmen, a great many of them now languish at the bottom of the economic order with very little opportunity for material wealth.

[edit] Political influence
Currently the Karaiyar among Sri Lankan Tamils are overwhelmingly represented in the Tamil militant group LTTE, whereas Karave are very vocal about their Sinhala Buddhist identity and drive the nationalistic political parties such as the SLFP and JVP, both aligned to Sinhala nationalism. Some sociologists have commented that the current civil war in Sri Lanka has become a vehicle by which both the Karaiyar and Karave have sought to marginalize the post-colonial elites by taking extremely partisan but opposite views.

[edit] Some Karava Ge names
Ge names are equivalent to family names in the western world. They denotes a person's ancestry, caste, social status of an illustrious ancestor or the village of origin. Some of the most prevalent Karava Ge names are:
Arachchige - From the house of the military officer
Arasa Marakkalage - Royal Mariner
Buduge – Variant of Vaduge
Hennedige - Armoured military officer
Hewage - Soldier
Kankanamage – Supervising military officer
Marakkalage - Ship owner or captain
Mestrige - Expert/Master
Patabendige - Sub king
Tantrige - Expert in military strategy
Vaduge – Northerner, for Nayaka soldiers
Varnakula Aditya Arasanilayitta, Varnakula Suriya posessing kingly status
Vidanage – Civil officer
Vedage – Expert in the Vedas
Apart from Ge names, they also use Iberian-derived surnames such as De Silva, Perera, Fernando and Mendis owing to their initial contact with Portuguese colonials.