Thiya
"Thiya" is a community who are originally residents of Tamil Nadu, India, and were speaking Tamil as their mother tongue. Thousands of years ago one of the Tamil kings employed warriors from the Thiya Community to fight against Sinhalese king in Sri Lanka. The king eventually won the war with the help of Thiya warriors. The king had promised these warriors employment or Jagirs (agricultural land) after the war and the same was not fulfilled by the king. The Thiya community was deprived of all the promises made by the King and were upset.
When the families found it difficult to survive, most of them decided to migrate from Tamil Nadu to other places like kingdom of Kerala, India, in search of employment. They started working in Kerala as bonded labourers under Jamindhars (land lords) and started their settled life in some of parts of Kerala. Gradually some Thiya community members started acquiring few agricultural lands for farming and growing coconut palms.
These group also started moving from Kerala to north Kerala particularly Kasargod District, Kerala, India, where they had more opportunity to live a better life. They then started developing from a down trodden status to the lower middle class through agriculture and coconut farming. They also started migrating to Kasargod district of Kerala, South Canara dist of Karnataka particularly Mangalore, Udupi, Beltangandi etc in Karnataka, India.
The Thiya Community GeneRally speaks a Malayalam dialect which has no script. This Malayalam language words are derived originally from Tamil language and later mixed with Malayalam, Kannada and Tulu languages. Tulu is particularly a Dravidian language used in South Karnataka districts (South Canara) like Tamil, which has no Sanskrit words. These languages are spoken presently by Thiyas, fisher folks and Muslim communities from Kasargod, (Kerala) and Mangalore District. Another Tulu speaking community exist in Dakshin Kannada district of Mangalore and Udupi in Karnataks is know as "Billavas". There is a similarity between customs and cultural activities of Billavas and Thiyas. Marriages take place between both the communities and the rites and rituals of theses communities are similar, even though Thiyas are mainly worshipers of Goddess Bhagwathi. There are 18 Temples of Goddess Bhagawathi in Kasargod and South Canara districts. The Thiyas have their own Family Deities also known as "Kul Devathas" or "Tharavad Deities".
Thiyas are considered in Kerala, Karnataka and Maharashtra as one of the Other Backward Class (OBC) communities by the respective governments which was represented by Mr. Yadav Rao, Mumbai, India, for considering the OBC Status by the Government of Maharashtra, India. For more details on the Thiya Samaj and its activities log on to "thiyasamaj.com" In Karnataka and Maharashtra these Thiya Community are also called Belchadas and Malayalee Billavas. The Billava community is a Tulu speaking majority community of Tulu Nadu, or South Karnataka, India. Their customs and social systems and profession are similar to Thiyas. They speak only Tulu dialect which has a old script which is similar to Malayalam script.