Beary

The Beary (also known as Byari) are a community concentrated along the southwest coast of India, mostly in the Mangalore district of the south Indian state of Karnataka.

The Beary community of Tulunadu is one among the earliest Muslim inhabitants of India, with a clear history of more than 950 years.

Etymology
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 Tulu-speaking majority called them as Beary or Byari.

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 the Beary community had trade relations with Arab businessmen travelling to Coastal South India, especially the coastline of Tulunadu Malabar. Inscriptions have been found in Barkur that prove Arab trade links with Tulunadu.

A third theory says that the word Beary is derived from the root word Malabar. The Islamic Da'ee, Malik bin Deenar, had arrived on the coast of Malabar during the 7th 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.

Other sources
Ahmed Noori, a journalist and himself a member of the Beary community, claimed that there are several documents available which suggest that at least 90 years prior to the invasion of Muhammad bin Qasim in North India, Hadhrami and Persian Muslim businessmen were thriving in the South India. This would prove that Islam was prevalent in South India much before Muslim conquerors came to North India.

Noori disputes the claim that the first Muslims came to India along with Alauddin Khalji between 1296 and 1316 AD and points out that according to historian Henry Miers Elliot, writing in 1867, the first ship bearing Muslim travellers was seen on the Indian coast as early as 630 CE. Noori also notes that Hugh George Rawlinson (1913) claimed the first Hadhrami Muslims settled on the Indian coast in the last part of the 7th century and that Bartholomew also has similar things to say about the early Muslim settlers in India, while J. Sturrock (1894) said that Parsi and Hadhrami businessmen settled in different places of the Malabar coast during the 7th century. Noori has quoted these and other sources to validate his argument that the Arab and other settlers came to India much before the Arab, Turk and Afghan conquerors came to North India.

Language
The language spoken by Beary community is known as Beary base (language). While the Nawayath Muslims of Uttara Kannada speak a dialect of Konkani, and the Mappila Muslims of Kerala speak Malayalam (Mappila Malayalam), Beary language is made of Tulu phonology and grammar with Malayalam idioms. Due to the trading role of the community, the language acquired loan words from other languages of Tulu, Malayalam, Kannada and also from Perso-Arabic sources. This language is traditionally recognized as a dialect of Malayalam because of the similarities with Old Malayalam. The language uses the Arabic and Kannada scripts for writing.

World Beary Convention
In April 2006, The World Beary Convention was held in Dubai under the banner World Beary Sammelana & Chammana 2006. A similar event was held in 2010.

Ornaments
The beary women have a love of ornaments and use them on occasions such as Mangila, Sunnat Mangila, Appate Mangila, Birnd, Moilanji and other social gatherings. There were different types of ornaments used by the Beary community in past which is at the verge of vanishing today due to the cultural invasion and urbanisation. These ornaments are made out of mainly gold and silver and used for the ornamentation of head, ears, neck, waist, wrist, fingers and feet. Beary research scholars are of the opinion that Beary ornaments were largely influenced by Jain ornament patterns. The ornament storage box used by Bearys was made out of brass and other metals was also used by Jain community and was called Kharjana by both Bearys and Jains.

Cuisine


Beary cuisine is highly influenced by the South Indian cuisine. Just like Mangalorean cuisine it uses a lot of coconut, curry leaves, ginger, chilli and spices like pepper and cardamom. Beary cuisine includes a type of biryani which is very different from types made elsewhere. Rice preparations, both fresh and dry fish, meat and eggs feature in Beary daily menus.

Beary literature
The Beary Sahitya Academy is an association of Beary-speaking people located mainly in Tulu Nadu, which includes the coastal districts of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi in Karnataka state and Kasaragod in Kerala state. In 2022, the foundation-laying ceremony for the construction of a new building for Karnataka Beary Sahitya Academy at Thokkottu was held.

Beary organisations
Karnataka Beary Sahithya Academy

With the establishment of Karnataka Beary Sahithya Academy, the language got formal recognition and academic status from the government of Karnataka. This led to a boom in Beary literary and cultural activities and a script was developed for the language in 2020.

The main motive of the Academy is to reckon the rich culture and heritage of Bearys and to cultivate and motivate the emerging young talents in the Beary community. By creating awareness of Beary culture, language and literature, the Academy aims to accomplish its goal in overall development of Beary language to build a healthy society.

In 2022, the foundation-laying ceremony for the construction of a new building for Karnataka Beary Sahitya Academy at Thokkottu was held.

Bearys Welfare Association
In 2010, the Bearys Welfare Association, based in Bengaluru, distributed 80 scholarships for the needy.

Bearys Welfare Forum
The Bearys Welfare Forum (BWF) of Abu Dhabi is an association of Beary expatriates in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. It was established in 2004 with an intention of working for all sections of the society. It has helped the victims of Communal riots in Mangalore by providing medical assistance and other aids. It The BWF has organised several mass marriage ceremonies in Mangalore.

Bearys Cultural Forum
Bearys Cultural Forum, in the United Arab Emirates, was constituted to provide education to the people of the coastal parts of the State of Karnataka. BCF's main objective is to promote, educate and create social, cultural and educational awareness amongst the Bearys and the population of the coastal Karnataka State and the UAE. The BCF regularly conducts cultural, sports, talent search, educational activities, Career Guidance Seminars, Iftar Party, etc. every year. BCF also provides educational scholarships to students for pursuing their higher studies in the field of Medicines, Engineering, Pharmacy, Business, Nursing, Journalism, Dentistry, etc.

In April 2012, 'Chammana 2012' hosted by Bearys Cultural Forum, Dubai, at the Radisson Blue Hotel, Dubai, attracted more than 1,200 people to its programme.

In August 2018, BCF distributed scholarship to the downtrodden community.

Other sources

 * Bearys of the coast, Article in Deccan Herald 12 December 1997 by B.M. Hanif.
 * Muslims in Dakshina Kannada: a historical study up to 1947 and survey of recent developments, Author Wahab Doddamane, A. Green Words publication. Mangalore, 1993.