If one looks into recent history, one finds nearly 46 towns in South India alone, where 4,50,000 people speak Sourashtram as their mother tongue. Madurai, Paramakudi, Thanjavur, Kumbakonam, Tiruchi and Salem are the most notable towns. The social customs and the dress patterns of this community vary from place to place. Generally speaking, these people adapt in Weaving cotton and Silk fabrics.

Quite a large number of Sourashtrians have gone down in the history of Indian Independence owing to their patriotic fervor. One great instance is that of Rastrabandhu Sri L.K. Thulasiram who bravely defeated the British Government's ban of Bharatiar's Songs and sang them aloud in the Assembly. These people are also remarkable for their religious fervor. The installation of the "Navagrahas" (Nine Planets) in the Meenakshi Amman Temple and the formation of the "Rajagopuram" (Supreme Tower) at the Koodal Azhagar Perumal Temple are the works of this community.

At the time of Independence there were about 280 small "Samasthanams" and "Jamins" ruling themselves as independent regions. When our leaders conceived the idea of Indian Union, all these regions were placed together to form Sourashtram, which meant "the affluent state". ("Sou" means wealth or goodness). This is the present-day Gujarat State. Originally the Gujarathis and the Marathis belonged to the same state, but when linguistic bifurcation occurred in 1960, Gujarat and Maharashtra became separate states. The state of Gujarat, then known as Sourashtram and Kathiavar, is quite renowned for its world famous temple of Somanathar on the seashore. History makes it clear that from this ancestral home that the forefathers of Sourashtrians migrated to different parts of the country. Especially Tamilnadu, probably, as Sir Athul Chatterji remarks, in Search of a region conductive to silk-fabric weaving. Since then, these people who have settled in Tamilnadu for generations, never left  for the home of their origin.

Their contact with Gujarat is barely a verbal one during betrothals, when the parents-in-law of  both families, represented by their eldest members, narrate the history of their origin through a question-answer system called  "Bahulwas". They would describe themselves as having started on a  pilgrimage from Sourashtra and migrated to Madhirapuri. Apart from this reference, there is hardly any contact between Gujarat and  Sourashtrians who have migrated from there. Neither marital nor trade relations prevail. At present, Sourashtrians live their lives in Tamilnadu. The influence of Tamil on their language and lives have been increasing since they settled in that state. As they do not learn their mother-tongue at school, children of this community use only Tamil words to express their thoughts. The accomplishments and virtues of Sourashtrians have been glorified in ancient history, as the Motocross culverts bear evidence. They are adored not only as excellent silk-weaving artisans but also as magnificent warriors. They lived decent and dignified lives and established close contacts with royal families. They never compromise for self-respect, independence and truthfulness. Being keen on doing social good, they often invest their hard-earned money in temples and arrange their management through Sabhas (Communal Assemblies). In recent times, apart from their name as "Pattunoolkaarar" (Silk-weaving class), quite a large number of these people have earned a name for their immense aptitudes for learning and research. However, they are highly religious. They are not a daring and adventurous lot as of yore.

Sourashtrians came under the influence of the Telugu-speaking Andhras also when they moved to Andhra Pradesh. The language and culture of Sourashtrians underwent a great change as Sourashtrian women increasingly imbibed the traditions and cultural accomplishments of Andhras. Even to-day, one may see the impact of Andhra culture on many Sourashtrian families in Tamilnadu. (In the later part of 13th Century, most of the Sourashtras were evacuated from Vijayanagar and they settled in Tamilnadu). One of the distinct features of Sourashtra is their traditional recognition of family names. Whatever caste they may belong to, they are always known by their family names such as Kuttuva, Gujuluva, and Posanna. Following the South-Indian custom, they place their family names before their own. (Eg-Thoguluva Rajalakshmi).

History tells us how Sourashtra provided a significant base for commercial interaction and religious integration. The ancient Greeks and Romans are said to have held strong trade relations with Sourashtrians who rolled in wealth and luxury. Yuvan T-Suang  the famous Chinese Pilgrim, marvels at their affluence as follows: "scores of export and import goods lie piled up in Vala Town; hundreds of millionaires can be seen reveling in the joy of prosperity. And all religions here go hand in hand in perfect harmony". The truth of  Yuan T Suang's observations is borne out by the fact that Sourashtram, which had been rooted in Saivism, gave room for Vaishnavam, another significant sect of Hindu religious tradition, to flourish.  Puranas say that Krishna, the Lord of the Vaishnavites moved  from Madhura to Sourashtra to rescue the Yadhavas from the atrocities of Jarasandhan, and the whole of his later life was spent in Sourashtram. The fusion of Saivism and Vaishnavam is exemplified by the episode in which the Lord Krishna worshipped Somanathar, the presiding deity of Sourashtram.

For centuries - South, especially Tamilnadu and Andhra, enormously influenced Sourashtrians linguistically and culturally, but these people have successfully kept their own identity in both aspects. Their custom of putting family names before their maiden names has  already been mentioned. Several family groups of this Community owing to their orthodox bring up and their capacity for dispensing justice, have been held in high esteem as the "governing class". "Govindan" and "Nattamai", two instances of such governing  families, had and still have the habit of smearing the white holy ash on their foreheads and arms, which is a symbol of  Saivite orthodoxy. Saunin is another family group that was regarded with great respect by other members of the community. Yet another group traditionally respected was "Bhavthuls" (Singers of the Lord's praise), who  were steeped in devotion to God and showed the other folks the way to lead a good life.

Apart from their distinctions in the society, family names were classified in accordance with the places they occupied (Gujili, Vontivillu, Sagalavan), the names of ancestors (Royallu, Ramana, Seshdasu, Regupathy), Professions (Setti, Javuli, Banalnu, Govla meaning merchants, textile-dealers, cracker-manufacturers and shepherds respectively), and also nicknames based on their (bad) habits: (Kulithbhathun - baked horsegram, Velepeisun filtered rice-water, Dheimpanin-buttermilk, Dhovrakholan - aged fox, Buskaan-waste thread).

The origin is certain, and research has proved the current day Sourashtra spoken by us is a modern form of pre-Gujarati spoken thousands of years ago.. Their home language (Sourashtra language) is still a modern form of the old Saurashtri or Pre-Gujarati as it was over a thousand years ago, which was the language they brought with them through Maharashtra and Andhra Desa to Tamilnadu. This language preserves, naturally enough many archaic features in Gujarati and at the same time shows influence of the sister Aryan languages of Konkani and Marathi and of Dravidian Telugu besides of course Tamil which has now virtually become the second mother tongue of the Sourashtrians...."says Suneetkumar Chatterjee a famous linguist.

But the time period when they migrated from Saurashtra region to South is still uncertain.

Theory # 1 :
The first theory is that, during the times when the infamous Ghazani Mohammed invaded Norther India from Afghanistan, a few families might have migrated South to escape from the series of invasions.

Theory #2 :
Another assumption is a few families that came with entourage of Shatrapathi Shivaji when he invaded South, might have stayed back to form their own community.

Theory # 3 :
This is the most popular and widely accepted theory by historians. During the Vijayanagaram Empire rule in Northern India, the Nayakars ruled the South as part of the empire with Madurai as their capital. During that period a few families from the Saurashtra region were called into Madurai to be the "Royal Weavers" for the Nayakars. This would explain very high concentration of Sourashtrians still today around the Thirumalai Nayakar Mahal, the Nayakar's place. Since Sourashtrians are Silk Weavers by profession it would also disprove the theory that they came with Shivaji.

Later Sourashtrians settled in Madurai, spread around to Trichy, Salem, Kumbakonam and other surrounding areas as the population grew, but still managed to keep their unique language, and culture intact. Current day, Sourashtrians, refer themselves as Tamilians as their identities and still speak Sourashtra at home. An estimated half a million Sourashtrians are living now mostly in Tamilnadu and a few are spread around all over the world. These days Sourashtrians are working in different fields and living in countries like U.A.E., Oman, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, UK, Japan, Australia and the United States of America. I'll be in India, visiting Madurai from 1st Aug until 19th Aug'99. Would you let me know your office address and telephone number where you are contactable. It'll be my pleasure to meet you around this time, if you happen to be in Madurai, as well.