| Vellalar | |
|---|---|
| Religions | Hinduism,Jainism,[1]Christianity[2] |
| Languages | Tamil |
| Subdivisions | [3] |
| Related groups | Tamil people |
Vellalar is a group ofcastes in theIndian states ofTamil Nadu,Kerala and northeastern parts ofSri Lanka.[a][b][c] The Vellalar are members of several endogamous[d][e] castes such as the numerically strongArunattu Vellalar,Chozhia Vellalar,Karkarthar Vellalar,Kongu Vellalar,Thuluva Vellalar andSri Lankan Vellalar.[9][10]
The earliest occurrence of the termVelaalar (வேளாளர்) inSangam literature is inParipadal where it is used in the sense of a landowner.[11] The term Velaalar (வேளாளர்) can be derived from the word Vel (வேள்), Vel being a title that was borne by theVelir chieftains of Sangam age among other things.[12]
The wordVellalar (வெள்ளாளர்) may come from the rootVellam for flood, which gave rise to various rights of land; and it is because of the acquisition of land rights that the Vellalar got their name.[13]
The Vellalars have a long cultural history that goes back to over two millennia in southern India,[14] where once they were the ruling and land-owning community.[15][16] Though the Vellalar have generally been associated with the landed gentry and agriculture, they are not a homogenous group and various people from diverse backgrounds have identified themselves as a Vellalar in the course of history.[6]
The Vellalar are spoken of as a group of people right from theSangam period and are mentioned in many of the classical works ofSangam literature. TheTolkappiyam does not contain the termVellalar but refers to a group of people calledVelaan Maanthar who apart from practising agriculture had the right to carry weapons and wear garlands when they were involved in affairs of the state.[17] The termVellalar itself occurs in the sense of a landowner inParipadal.[11] The poemPattinappaalai lists the six virtues of Vellalar as abstention from killing, abstention from stealing, propagation of religion, hospitality, justice and honesty.[18]
In the years that immediately followed the Sangam age (from third to sixth century CE), the Tamil lands were ruled by a dynasty calledKalabhras.[19] Historians believe that the Kalabhras belonged to the Vellalar community of warriors who were possibly once the feudatories of theCholas and thePallavas.[20] Scholar and historianM. Raghava Iyengar identifies the Kalabhras with the Kalappalar section of the Vellalar and equates king Achyuta Vikranta with Achyuta Kalappala the father ofMeykandar.[21]Buddhadatta, the Pali writer who stayed in theChola kingdom and authored Buddhist manuals refers (in theNigamanagātha ofVinayavinicchaya, verse 3179) to his patron Achyuta Vikranta who was then (fifth century CE) ruling the Chola kingdom asKalamba-kula nandane meaningthe favourite of the Kalamba family.[22] InPali language as inTamil, the word Kalamba or Kalambam (in Tamil) means theKadamba tree, the sacredtotemic symbol that is associated with Tamil godMurugan.[23][24]
TheVelir were an ancient group of Tamil chieftains who claimed Yadava (Yadu) descent.[25] TheAy Vels were one such Velir group that ruled the territory in and aroundVenad during the Sangam period. The word Venad is derived fromVel -nadu, that is the country ruled byVel chieftains.[26] We know of a queen of Vikramaditya Varaguna, an Ay king of 9th century who is referred to as Murugan Chenthi and as Aykula Mahadevi from inscriptions. Her father, an Ay chief called Chathan Murugan is described as a Vennir Vellala that is a Vellala by birth,[27] in the Huzur plates of king Karunandakkan, the predecessor of Vikramaditya Varaguna.[28]
TheIrunkovel or Irukkuvel chieftains were another ancient Velir clan who ruled from their capitalKodumbalur (near Pudukottai district). They were related to the Cholas by marriage.[29] In an inscription ofRajadhiraja Chola an Irukkuvel feudatory who was a high-ranking military officer (Dandanayaka) of the king is described as a Velala.[f]
The Irungovels are considered to be of the same stock as theHoysalas as in one of the Sangam poems, the ancestor of the Irungovel chieftain is said to have ruled the fortified city of Tuvarai. This city is identified with the Hoysala capitalDwarasamudra by some historians.[31] Also, the legend of the chief killing a tiger (Pulikadimal) has a striking resemblance to the origin legend of the Hoysalas where ‘'sala'’ kills the tiger to save a sage.[32] As per historian Arokiaswami, the Hoysala title ‘'Ballala'’ is only a variant of the Tamil word ‘'Vellala'’.[33] The Hoysala kingVeera Ballala III is even now locally known as the ‘'Vellala Maharaja'’ inThiruvannamalai, the town that served as their capital in 14th century.[34]
According to the anthropologistKathleen Gough, "the Vellalars were the dominant secular aristocratic caste under the Chola kings, providing the courtiers, most of the army officers, the lower ranks of the kingdom's bureaucracy, and the upper layer of the peasantry".[16]
Two identicalTamil inscriptions from Avani and Uttanur inMulbagal Taluk dated in the 3rd year ofKulottunga I (about 1072-1073 CE) describe how the great army of the right hand class (perumpadai valangai mahasenai) having arrived with great weapons of war from the 78-nadus of Chola-mandalam and the 48000-bhumi of Jayangonda-cholamandalam (the northern districts of Tamil Nadu that isTondaimandalam) conquered and colonized southern Karnataka (Kolar district) by the grace of Rajendrachola (Kulottunga I).[35]
HistorianBurton Stein who has done a detailed analysis of this inscription equates theValangai military forces and theVelaikkara troops of the Cholas with the Vellalas and notes that the contents of the above inscription confirm this identification.[36] TheVelaikkara troops were special units of armed forces drawn from the right-hand castes that were close to the king. The units were generally named after the king likeRajaraja-terinda-valangai-velaikkarar, that isthe known (terinda) forces of kingRajaraja Chola I.[37] The Chola inscriptions state that the Velaikkara forces pledged under oath to commit suicide in case they failed to defend their king or in the event of his death.[38] The Chalukya kings were also known by the titleVelpularasar, that is kings ofVel country (pulam means region or country inTamil) and asVelkulattarasar, that is kings of theVel clan (kulam), in epigraphs and in the old Tamil lexicon Divakaram.[39][40]
The Vellalar also contributed to theBhakti movement in south India from the seventh century CE onwards and helped revive Hinduism. Many of theNayanmars, theShaiva saints, were Vellalar.[41][42] In the 12th century CE, saintSekkilan Mahadevadigal Ramadeva sang the glories of these Nayanmars in his magnum opus, thePeriyapuranam.[43] Sekkizhar was born in a Vellala family inKundrathur inThondaimandalam and had the title Uttama Chola Pallavaraiyan.[44][45][46] Sekkilan Mahadevadigal Ramadeva was an elder contemporary ofKulothunga Chola II, the king who is said to have persecuted theBrahmin philosopherRamanuja for hisVaishnavite preachings by forcing him to sign a document statingShiva is the greatest god.[47][48]
The Vellalars of Sri Lanka have been chronicled in theYalpana Vaipava Malai and other historical texts of theJaffna kingdom. They form half of theSri Lankan Tamil population and are the majorhusbandmen, involved in tillage and cattle cultivation.[49][9] Local Sri Lankan literature, such as theKailiyai Malai, an account onKalinga Magha, narrates the migration of Vellala Nattar chiefs from theCoromandel Coast to Sri Lanka.[50]
Their dominance rose underDutch rule and they formed one of the colonial political elites of the island.[51][52]
At present, most of theTamil Jains are from the Vellalar social group.[1] Also, the Saiva Velaalar sect are originally believed to have been Jainas before they embracedHinduism.[g] The Tamil Jains refer to the Saiva Velaalar asnīr-pūci-nayinārs ornīr-pūci-vellalars meaning the vellalars who left Jainism by smearing the sacred ash or(tiru)-nīru.[h] While some of the Jains assign this conversion to the period of the Bhakti movement inTamil nadu others link it to a conflict with a ruler of theVijayanagar empire in the 15th century.[54] The villages and areas settled by the Saiva Velaalar even now have a small number of Jaina families and inscriptional evidence indicate that these were earlier Jaina settlements as is evident by the existence of old Jaina temples.[55]
Even though at present, the term "Vellalar" is uncertain, a number of non-cultivating landholding castes likeKaarukaatha Velaalar and theKondaikatti Velaalar who served ruling dynasties in various capacities also identify themselves as Vellalar.[i] Likewise, theKottai Pillaimar who were traditionally land-holders and lived inside forts, neither lease land for agriculture nor do they till their own fields. They also do not supervise cultivation directly due to the stigma attached to farming and manual labor.[57] Similarly, the Vellala Chettis, a branch of the Chozhia Vellalars were traders and merchants.[58] The Adi-saiva vellalar sect is a strictly vegetarianSaivite group that traditionally served as priests.[59]
The Vellalar were considered to be of high status and enjoyed a high rank during the Chola period. They helped promote and stabilizeShaivism during the Chola era and many of the cult's leaders were drawn from the ranks of the Vellalar. They were a prosperous community of farmers and landowners who had provided economic support to Shiva temples in the Tamil country. In the Tamil region, Vellalar like Mudaliyar and Pillai along with certain other non-brahmin groups enjoyed a status equal to that of the Brahmins. The Vellalar also had more authority, power and status than the Brahmins in some social and ritual contexts.[60] They were more orthodox than the Brahmins in their religious practices.[61][62] The Vellalar nobles had marriage alliances with Chola royal families.[63]
TheSmarta Brahmins have always competed with the TamilShaivites for religious influence in the temples in theKaveri delta region. The Smarta adopted the worship of Hindu deities and combined their Sanskritic background with Tamil Saiva and Vaishnava devotionalism and eventually identified themselves asShaivites and started worshipping inShiva temples.[64]
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From the Sangam period to the Chola period of Indian history (A.d. 600 to 1200), state-level political authority was in the hands of relatively low, Vellalar chieftains, who endowed local and nonlocal Brahmins with land and honors, and were in turn legitimized by them.[65]
The Ventar-Velir-Velalar groups constituted the ruling and land-owning classes in the Tamil country since the beginning of recorded history
Not only were the Vellalas the landowning communities of South India,...
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