Cheraw

The Cheraw people, also known as the Saraw or Saura, were a Siouan-speaking tribe of indigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands, in the Piedmont area of North Carolina near the Sauratown Mountains, east of Pilot Mountain and north of the Yadkin River. They lived in villages near the Catawba River. Their first European and African contact was with the Hernando De Soto Expedition in 1540. The early explorer John Lawson included them in the larger eastern-Siouan confederacy, which he called "the Esaw Nation."

After attacks in the late 17th century and early 18th century, they moved to the southeast around the Pee Dee River, where the Cheraw name became more widely used. They became extinct as a tribe, although some descendants survived as remnant peoples.

Name

Originally known as the Saraw, they became known by the name of one of their villages, Cheraw. They are also known as the Charáh, Charrows, Charra, Charaws, Charraws, Chara, Sara, Saura, Suali, Sualy, Xualla, and Xuala. The name they called themselves is lost to history but the Cherokee called them Ani-suwa'ii and the Catawba Sara ("place of tall weeds"). The Spanish and Portuguese called their territory Xuala (or Xualla).

Saura (disambiguation)

Saura may refer to:

People

Places

Saura (Hinduism)

Saura is a religion and denomination of Hinduism, originating as a Vedic tradition. Followers of Saura worship Surya as the Saguna Brahman. At present the Sauras are a very small movement, much smaller than other larger denominations such as Vaishnavism or Shaivism. There was a rapid decline of the Sauras in the 12th and 13th century CE.

Surya worship

Saura followers worship Surya as the Saguna Brahman. The worship of Surya has been mentioned in the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. Adi Shankara included Surya into the forms of Brahman worshipped by the Smartas.

References