Nawayath


The Nawayath are an Indian community and a subgroup of Konkani Muslims.
The Indian historian Omar Khalidi says they are one of three groups of Indian Muslims who has used the Nawayarh name. These groups have common origins in the Arabian Peninsular and the Persian Gulf regions, where they were mariners and merchants. and that they have also been called Nait, Naiti, Naita. groups is based mainly in the Hassan, Bhatkal, Tonse, Malpe, Shiroor, Gangolli,Sagar, Kandlur, Murdeshwar -Hassan- Karnataka, while another is nowadays found in Chennai around Royapettah who have moved from Meenambur, a small village located between Gingee and Villupuram in the Villupuram District in the State of Tamil Nadu. A third group are generally known today as Konkani Muslims, after the region in which they live.

History

Nawayats are migrants predominantly from Yemen, who married into another trading community of India, the Jains who had been converted to Islam more than 1,000 years ago. With this a new caste system emerged.