Kollakar

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This article is an excerpt from Castes and Tribes of Southern India By Edgar Thurston, C.I.E., Superintendent, Madras Government Museum; Correspondant Étranger, Société d’Anthropologie de Paris; Socio Corrispondante, Societa,Romana di Anthropologia. Assisted by K. Rangachari, M.A., of the Madras Government Museum. Government Press, Madras 1909.

Kollakar

There are about seven hundred members of this community at Cochin, to which place the Kollakars, or people of Kollam, are said to have come from Quilon (Kollam) in Travancore one or two centuries ago. The majority of the men work as coolies on board steamers, and a few as fishermen. The women of the poorer classes twist rope and sell fish, while the others make lace. A few hold appointments under the Government, and, in 1907, two had passed the Matriculation examination of the Madras University. They are Roman Catholics, and are said to have been converted to Christianity by the Portuguese. They marry among themselves. The Kollakars are also found at Calicut, Cannanore, Mahē, and Tellicherry, and are mainly occupied in fishing, rope-making, and making fishing-nets. A few at Tellicherry are employed as carpenters, tailors, and petty shopkeepers.