Thursday, January 5, 2012

History of Origin:


The word 'Beary' is said to be derived from the Tulu word 'Byara` which means business. Thus Beary meaning business man, it is said that the community was in trade relations with Arab business men traveling to coastal South India. Another popular theory is that the word 'Beary' comes from Arabic Baharie (Bahar) which means sailor or sea man.
The word 'Beary' is said to be derived from the Tulu word 'Byara', which means trade or business. Since the major portion of the community was involved in business activities, particularly trading, the local Tuluspeaking majority called them as Beary or Byari.[6]
According to the census of 1891, Dakshina Kannada had 92,449 Muslim businessmen consisting of 90,345 Bearys, 2,104 Nawayathsand 2,551 non-Muslims. This means that the district had 95,000 individuals involved in business activities. Records prove that, towards the end of 19th century, the percentage of Muslim traders in the district was as high as 97.3 and hence the local Tuluvas rightly named this community as Bearys.[7]
Another popular theory is that the word Beary comes from Arabic word Bahar (Arabic: بحر). Bahar means ocean and Bahri (Arabic: بحري) means sailor or navigator. It is said that Beary community had trade relations with Arab businessmen travelling to coastal South India, especially the coastline of Tulunadu and Malabar. Inscriptions are found in Barkur that proves the Arab trade links with Tulunadu.
A third theory says that the word Beary is derived from the root word Malabar. The great Islamic Da'ee,Malik bin Deenar had arrived on the coast of Malabar during the 6th century with a group of Da’ees, or Islamic propagators. A member from his group, Habeeb bin Malik travelled through Tulunadu and preached Islam. He had also built mosques in Kasaragod, Mangalore and Barkur.[5]

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