Tamilnadu muslims can be generally divided in two groups.
1) Tamil speaking muslims who are natives of coastal districts of TN ( Nagore,Tharangampadi,Rameswaram etc). Their conversion to Islam might be due to early trading links with Arabs and have been there even before Malik or any other muslim ruler's invasion on TN. They do not speak Urudu.
2) Urudu speaking muslims who in general live in the districts in the non coastal areas such as Vellore,Vaniyambadi,Ambur,Salem,Erode,Tirupur,Dindigul etc might be the descendants/Migrants due to ruling of Tippu sultan and other muslim rulers who came from outside TN
One reason is the Pandyans have gone weak.During the time of Maravarman Kulasekara Pandya (the father of the 2 quarelling Pandyas) the empire was not powerful.
one proof :A Sambuvaraya feudatory ruler Ekambaranatha Sambuvarayar who was ruling portions of tondaimandalam started to rule independently from 1306 AD.An inscription in Tiruvannamalai district tells about this.The Pandyan ruler at that time was the above mentioned Maravarman Kulasekara Pandya.
The Pandyans thus were too weak to control even a feudatory ruler.
I think there is a derisive/colloquial term that originates from Turks that is evenly applied to all Muslims in TN. Which points to the fact that the Urdu speaking Muslims - sometimes also called as 'Pathani' {origin from the ethnic Pashtuns/Pathans} are one of the groups that were forcibly converted, mixed with the invading Muslim rulers and descendants of them.
> 2) Urudu speaking muslims who in general live in the districts in the non coastal areas such as Vellore,Vaniyambadi,Ambur,Salem,Erode,Tirupur,Dindigul etc might be the descendants/Migrants due to ruling of Tippu sultan and other muslim rulers who came from outside TN
i think this is a very valid point. most people do not know the large periods of time tamilnadu was under muslim rule first madurai sultanate( 14th centurY) then other sultanates of of deccan. even the madurai nayaks at one time paid taxes to them them then arcot nawab and others, maruthanayakam included then hyder and tipu whop held large areas of taminadu under their sway finally the weakened arcot nawabs . persian was propably the court language of tamilnadu before the british took over.
migration was possible during any of these periods.
> > Regards > M.A.Eswaran > > >Reason number one - Indians, in particular Tamils, are never united! > >Reason number two - Malik must have had naval support too, to > infiltrate coastal areas as most of the coastal > > >Tamilnadu is having large muslim population > > > even today ! > > > >veegopalji >
I think tamil muslims could be broadly divided as thulukar and ravuthar. similarly in other states we have two divisions of muslims. bohras and others i think this is due to their origins and language spoken
pathans must have frequented all parts of india ( tagore writes about one too) and cinema kept their image alive till michel madanakamarajan