Current Condition
Many of the Mukkuvars do a variety of jobs, including engineering, education, clerical, etc., though major part of the community does fishing or fishing related works. However there are many entrepreneurs and educationists among them. In India, there is a misinformation that a social seggregation based on fishers and boat owners exists in this community, with the boat owner’s today claiming to be a separate caste called Arayan or Aravan. However this seggregation is not of much significance because poor fishers buying boats and becoming boat owners is very common. Similarly many boat owners of the past become poor fishers after losing the boats due to misfortunes. This should be considered as a normal happening in any dynamic working community. It should be noted that both boat owners and poor fishers identify themselves as belonging to the same caste/community and inter-marriage is not prohibitted. Amongst Malayalee Mukkuvas, the word Mukkuva was considered derogatory previously. However due to the increasing affluence of this community in the recent years, this is no longer a hindrance to their social interaction and mixing with other communities. As an example, the reluctance which existed among the Malayalee Syrian Christans in the previous centuries to recognize the Mukkuva Latin Christians as their equals no longer exists now. In Sri Lanka, amongst Sinhalese and Tamil Mukkuvas, it is not generally considered to be derogatory.
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