1802–1803, the 1840s and the late 1870s/early 1880s. Dyron Daughrity has said that the conversions were "largely because of the increase in social status that could be effected" but adds that However, the combination of Jesuit pressure and then also that of the Goan Padroados, who came to agree that the ritual role of the jati was detrimental to belief, caused the gradual erosion of the jati's powers of patronage and organisation. This situation was assisted by the growing number of people aspiring to be members of the elite and those who disputed the validity of the succession as a consequence of the female lineage. The ceremonial role of the jati in religious observance and ceremony was gradually reduced, including the removal of status symbols such as the special seat that he occupied for Mass, and with these actions went much of his influence over the caste. By 1900 there were strikes taking place among the pearl and chank divers, often for frivolous reasons; the jati was unable to impose the discipline upon them which once had been a primary role. As the caste hierarchy disintegrated, becoming a range of groups each seeking to assert their position, the role of the jati thalavan became more and more impossible and was eventually abandoned, the last occupant of the post having been installed in 1926. The introduction of new technologies in the post-World War II era such as such as nylon fishing nets, refrigeration and motorisation made fishing more lucrative as an occupation in its own right which removed the economic differences between those who laboured and those who either traded or lived off the organisation of labour. With this difference gone, the distinction between the Paravar elite and the majority of the community lost its basis and became obsolete, and the hierarchy within the community disappeared. Post-independence In 1947, the fisheries became a monopoly of the new independent Indian government. In the 1970s the power of the jati thalaivan and the Paravar elite was shattered by the repatriation of Tamil traders from Sri Lanka. In the present-day, the ritual significance of the jati thalaivan has been replaced by some of the more prosperous families involved in export of seafood. It is usually one of these families who pulls first at the Golden Carriage during Our Lady of Snows festival and is the chief donor for the associated rites. , Paravars were