Thulukkar - Thurukkar - Turkish

Muslims in Tamil Nadu are referred by many as Thulukkar. I don't remember how, but I got the impression many years back that this was a derogatory term and never used it. Recently I was reading a historic book that referred to Muslims as Thullukar and it kindled my curiosity to research.

Thulukkar is a derived form of Thurukkiyar. People from Turkey are called Thurukkiyar in Tamil. It is a combination of Turki and -yar which is suffix in Tamil to address people with respect, like Indhiyar (people from India).

But why Turkish? Somehow all the Muslims that invaded India were Mughals in my mind, and Babur was from Uzbekistan. To my surprise, that notion was proven completely wrong by few seconds of googling. Mahmud of Ghazni from Turkey was one of the first Muslim invaders of India. Guess that's why we have the Turkish name for Muslims.

It is also interesting to note that Sanskrit has the word Thurushka for Muslims, which has the same root - Turkish. 

When the Muslim invaders invaded Srirangam in Tamil Nadu in the 14th century, the devotees carried the utsava murthy of God Ranganatha and traveled around the country to save the idol (I will strongly recommend the Tamil book "Thiruvarangal Ula" / "Ranganatha's procession" for anyone interested in the details of the travel). During that period, Swami Vedantha Desika wrote Abheethi Stava to pray for the protection of the worshippers of God Ranganatha. This composition has the line " thurushka yavanAdhibhir jagathi jrumbhamANam bhayam" in the 22nd slokha. 

It is also interesting to note that the Srirangam Ranganatha temple has a complex for "Thulukka Naachiyar" or Muslim Goddess. It's a long story and I will recommend reading https://kshetrapuranas.wordpress.com/2009/03/07/the-saga-of-thulukka-naachiyaar-sri-rangam/.  

It is really interesting to understand the reason behind a name, and the history associated with it. It is even more interesting to wonder why some innocent terms are being given bad conjectures!