Nadars of Tamilnadu

The Nadars have had a turbulent and colourful history. Their efforts to rise above their depressed condition assumed dramatic form in the series of escalating confrontations between the caste and its antagonists. From the breast-cloth controversy the sack of Sivakasi to the Nadar Mahajana Sangam, the Nadars rise, encapsulating the processes of social mobility in Indian sopciety, has given rich texture to the analysis of a community in change.