Marowtherjew3

Before invasion of Moghul, Chola King invited Turkish of the Seljuk Turks from Ottoman Empire from the factions of Hanafi school (Known as Rowther in Tamil Nadu) for trade link in 1212 AD. A biggest armada of Turks traders and missionaries settled in Tharangambadi, Nagapattinam, Karaikal, Muthupet, Koothanallur and Podakkudi. Turkish Rowthers were unable to convert Hindus in Tanjore regions since Hindus were very stubborn in their belief, so the Turkish mission and traders settled in this area's with their armada and expanded to a moderate size of Islam community. These new settlements were now added to the Rowther community. Hanafi franctions have a mix of fair and darker complexions because they were more closely connected with the Turkish than others in South, they also follow purdah same as Turks and Iranian compared to Marakkars who just wear sarees. There are some Turkish Anatolian and Turkish Safavid Inscriptions found in wide area from Tanjore to Thiruvarur mainly in Koothanallur Big Mosque and Chinnapalli and in many villages. These inscriptions seized by Madras Museum and are available for public viewing. Contact Archeologic Division at Madras Museum, for viewing and further research. Some Turkish inscriptions also stolen from Big Mosque of Koothanallur in 1850.
There are two factions of Rowthers in Tamil Nadu, Sultan Ala-ud-din Khilji's (Moghul) clan covers majority of Tamil Nadu while Turkish clans remains in Tharangambadi (Nagapattinam), Karaikal, Muthupet, Koothanallur and Podakkudi until now. Both Moghul and Turkish Hanafi expanded with population of almost 1 million Rowthers