The Ravuthers of Kerala and Tamil Nadu to this day address their fathers as Atha. 'Ata' means 'father' in Turkish and other Turkic languages. 'Ataturk' in Turkish means 'Father of the Turks', the title given to Mustafa Kemal, the first President of Turkey. However, in modern Turkish it means 'ancestor/forefather'.Nowadays, the Persian loanword 'Baba' has replaced 'Ata'. What is more interesting is that the word in Turkic/Turkish is pronounced exactly the same way as pronounced by the Ravuthers.
The Codex Cumanicus, a 13th century, linguistic manual in used by Catholic missionaries to communicate with the Cumans, an ancient Turkic people mentions the use of the word 'Ata'. Cuman language is known to be the best known of early Turkic languages. The second part of the Codex comprises of word lists, grammatical paradigms and Cuman translation of texts for use in religious services. The Lord's Prayer in the Codex begins with the word 'Atamiz' which means 'Our Father'.
It is also said that the word 'Atha' used by Tamil Ravuther Muslims originate from the Tamil word 'Attan'. However it is not used to address one's father in Tamil.
Although the claim that the Ravuthers of Kerala and Tamil Nadu claim descent from the Turks is disputed, what they do share in common is that their following the Hanafi Madhab and using the word 'Atha/Ata' to address their fathers.
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