Madrasi Blacks

ethnonym for dravidians, emphasizing their kinship with other branches of the black or negroid macro-race.

in fact, negro-dravidian madrasis are often considered blacker than negro-africans: “mamitz … she was a black woman, too black to be pure negro, probably with some madrasi east indian blood in her, a suspicion which was made a certainty by the long thick plaits of her pentiful hair. she was shortish & fat, voluptuously developed, tremendously developed, & as a creole loves development in a woman more than any other extraneous allure, mamitz (like the rest of her s-x in all stations of life) saw to it when she moved that you missed none of her charms. but for the last nine weeks, she had been ‘in derricks’, to use celestine’s phrase.” (110); “fat, easy-going” (111); “large, slow-moving, voluptuous, with her thick, smooth hair neatly plaited & her black skin shining” (116) (‘triumph’, clr james, cited in ‘caribbean women writers and globalization’ by helen scott. aldershot, uk: ashgate publg ltd., 2006, p.57)

due to the fear they inspire in us aryan males, which is deepened by shudra p-n-s envy, the british adopted the mughal preference for telinga sipahis. thus, madrasi blacks were employed to conquer & police indo-aryan lands like bengal & oudh: “black madrasi sepoys with loaded sten guns were constantly moving over the whole city. the deserted roads were ghostly …” (‘let me speak’, a. m. biswas. calcutta: firma k. l. mukhopadhyay, 1974, p.144)
1) shan describes madrasi blacks thus: “and the people, from red-faced giant pathans & pink kashmir maidens in the north, through various shades of brown in the plains down to black madrasis in the south – you never saw a more multi-ethnic, multi-cultural & multi-racial country.” (‘in my own name: an autobiography’, sharan-jeet shan. london: women’s press, 1985, p.57).
2) “there are a number of madrasis & coringhis {telugus}, black-skinned & aboriginal in type.” (‘the silken east: a record of life & travel in burma’, vincent c. scott o’connor. 2nd ed. london: hutchinson, 1928, p.351)
3) “i myself am a black-skinned madrasi.” (`samlee’s daughter: a novel’, vivek iyer. 8/iv. london: polyglot publications, 2007)
4) “he was a madrasi: black, plump, & about 40.” (‘mission tours, india’, j f mcglinchey. 2nd ed. boston: archdiocese of boston, 1925, p.86)
5) “experienced travelers warned me that it would be necessary to have a native servant who spoke several of india’s 242 languages, so i acquired an ebony-black madrasi whose name i couldn’t pr-nounce” (‘i found no peace: the journal of a foreign correspondent’, webb miller & roy wilson howard. 2nd ed. ny: simon & schuster, 1936, p.206).
6) “the skin colours of indians varied as remarkably as one would expect from a huge continent, ranging from a european colour to the almost black hue of madrasis & tamils.” (‘the years of hope’, philip snow, london: radcliffe press, 1997, p.44)