Sri Lankan Chetties

  

The Chetty community – variably referred to as the Setti, Hetti, Etti, or Situ community, but while most of us have a vague notion of their being their own minority group, they are – more often than not – incorrectly assumed to be a branch of the Sinhalese, Tamil, or Burgher communities.

The Chetties can trace their lineage all the way back to the Tana Vaisya trading caste in India, who inhabited areas in and around Coorg and Benares until they were driven to the South of India following the Mogul invasion of the North. Their presence in Sri Lanka is said to be the result of trade connections that go back centuries.

Today, is composed of approximately 150,000 individuals domiciled in the Western and North Western provinces of the country.

It is commonly believed that the earliest ancestors of the Chetty community engaged in trade with Sri Lanka, resulting in mass migration to the island during the colonial periods. However, while it is historical fact that a large number of Chetties moved to Sri Lanka during the Portuguese and Dutch periods of rule, some historical texts indicate that their presence in the island can be traced back much further.