Padmashali or Padmasali is a Telugu weavers caste, predominantly residing in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Tamil Nadu. They are identified by different names in various regions throughout India.
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There are two interpretations for the origin of the word "Padmashali" and its group, one from Vaishnava group and the other from Shaiva. Some anthropologists believe it is derived from the Sanskrit.
However, linguistic construction of Dravidian languages traces its root to Proto-South-Dravidian word saal. In Tulu, Saalye or Taalye means "spider". Also, saaleedu (Telugu ) means spider in Telugu. Probably, symbolising the weaving activity with the spider's web, this word was coined for weavers. In Tamil, it's called as Padmasaliyar. In Kannada, it is Shaaliga or Shaaliya. In Malayalam, Chaaliyan. In Telugu, it's Saalidu (Telugu సాలిడు). Though Padmashalis(padmasaliyars) are traditionally and popularly known as Padmashalis, but called as Shalollu among rural people.
They profess to have been following all the religious rites prescribed for Brahmans till in the beginning of the Kali age. One of their caste named Padma-saka declined to reveal the virtues of a miraculous gem which Brahma had given to their caste to Ganapathi who sought to learn the secret which they had been enjoined to keep, and who on his wish not being gratified cursed them to fall from their high status. It is said however that one Parabrahmamurti born is Srirama Agrahara pleased Ganapathi by his tapas, and got the curse removed, so that after 5000 years of the Kali-Yuga, they should regain their last position. This Parabrahmamurti otherwise known as Padmabavacharya, it is said redistributed the caste into Ninety-Six gotras arranged in eight groups and established four Mathas with gurus for them. Similar to the Brahminical class, Padmashalis also follow the gotra system.
It appears likely that weaving occupation began with manufacture of coarse blankets from the wool of the sheep tended by shepherds. With the dawn of an era of agriculture, cotton and later silk, came to be used. The weaving occupation thus become specialised and split up in different caste and sub-caste. Later on, it was also split up by religious differences, come much under the influence of lingayatism.[1]
All Padmashalis are reported to have originated from the Satavahana empire and their mother tongue remains Telugu, except for a few migrants who had taken longer and numerous stages of migration such as the Shettigars of Dakshina Kannada. Most Padmashalis in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Chatttisgadh, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa speak Telugu as mother tongue.
Padmashalis are spread all over the world, but have a visible tendency towards urbanization since the occupation of weaving and marketing cloth becomes easy from urban and semi-urban centers. This community produces cloth from cotton and animate yarn (silk).
Caste communities involved in the leather and wool-based household industries - which perhaps have an older history than cloth weaving - have developed an integrated process of production of raw material and its conversion into commodities. But unlike them, the Padmashalis developed exclusively cloth-weaving skills. They produce cloth as a marketable commodity, without having any organic links or skills in the production of the raw material. The Padmashali men have no expertise in ploughing and their women lack seeding and crop-cutting skills. Thus, their skill structure, over a period of time, became one-dimensional. By the time the British arrived, the Padmashalis were producing huge quantities of cloth and controlled a leading cottage industry of India.
The introduction of the railways - starting 1853 - by the colonial British government helped penetrate the self sufficient rural economy. With the forced introduction of machine manufactured goods, especially finished cotton goods from the factories of Birmingham (making use of advances from the Industrial Revolution) etc., from imperial Britain, the domestic textile industry suffered losses. Being an important node in the rural economy, the Padmashali community also naturally felt the impact. Today, many urban Padmashalis have abandoned their ancestral profession and have diversified into other activities. One can see an increasing number of Padmashalis become engineers, doctors, politicians, bureaucrats, businessmen, advocates professionals etc.