Padval (Konkani: पडवळ , ಪದವಲ್ ) is a minor caste and surname among the Mangalorean Catholics.
History
During the sixteenth and seventeenth century, a significantly large number of Goan Catholics, migrated to Canara due to a variety of reasons. The arrival of the Christians, particularly from Goa to the Canara was neither completely voluntary no completely peaceful. The migration was the result of religious, political, economic, cultural, social and other causes. Padvals were the local Catholic converts of South Canara and did not mix with the Christian immigrants from Goa. Padval is evidently the konkanised form of a Jain Bunt surname Padival, and thus historian Severine Silva in his The Marriage Customs of the Christians in South Canara, India (1965), speculates that the Padvals in the Christian community were Jain converts. Their descendants constitute a minor caste among the Mangalorean Catholics of Dakshina Kannada. According to Mangalorean genealogist Michael Lobo, the major Padval clans are the Rodrigues family of Ambepol, Bantwal, Bejai, Nod and Kadri; Tauro family of Bantwal, Kodialbail and Kankanadi; Lobo family of Bellore, Derebail and Mermajal; and D'Souza family of Bejai, Kadri and Vamanjoor.