Velir

File:The Hindu Sage Agastya.jpg

The Purananuru, one of the Eight Anthologies of Sangam literature, praises King Irunkōvēl, a 49th generation descendant of the Vēlir clan whose ancestors appeared from the pitcher (தடவு) of a Northern sage (Agastya), and said to have ruled Thuvarai (Dvārakā) with a fort containing tall huge walls made of bronze.{{cite book | last1=Hart | first1=G.L. | last2=Heifetz | first2=H. | title=The Four Hundred Songs of War and Wisdom: An Anthology of Poems from Classical Tamil, the Purananuru | publisher=Columbia University Press | series=Translations from the Asian Classics | year=2002 | isbn=978-0-231-51252-7 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mVdBeeiYxh4C&pg=PA127 | access-date=2023-05-16 | page=127}} According to a commentary on Tholkappiyam, the earliest long work of Tamil literature, eighteen clans of the Velirs came from the city of Tuvarapati under the leadership of the sage Agastya.Pivot politics: changing cultural identities in early state formation processes By M. van Bakel page 165: "The Velir were an instrusive group in South India... It is now suggested that (...) may have been associated with the Yadava of Dvaraka..."[https://books.google.com/books?id=TXOc1WJVpoQC&pg=PA165]{{cite book|title=Ancient Indian Social History: Some Interpretations|author=Romila Thapar|publisher=Orient Blackswan, 1978 - India - 341 pages|page=224}} The legend goes that all the gods and sages went to the Himalayas to attend the marriage of Siva with Parvati due to which the earth started tilting to one side. Agastya was then requested to proceed south to restore the balance. On his way south, Agastya married Lopamudra and is said to have brought with him sage Jamadagni's son Trnadhumagni or Tholkappiyar, the author of Tamil grammar, and eighteen members of the Vrishni family along with eighteen crore Velir and Aruvalar.{{cite book|title=Insights into Hinduism|author=Ramchandra Narayan Dandekar|publisher=Ajanta Publications, 1979|page=376}} It has been suggested by some like Thapar and Champakalakshmi, that the ancestors of the Velir may have been related to the Yadava of Dvaraka and the inhabitants of the post Harappan Chacolithic Black and Red ware sites. According to Thapar, the Yadava may have belonged to a non Indo-Aryan language group. They eventually reached Tamraparni, and as the Velir-Perumakan group, cultivated its ancient society as a political, sociocultural and economic structure in South India and Sri Lanka.{{cite book |last1=Thapar |first1=Romila |last2=Champakalakshmi |first2=Radha |last3=Gopal |first3=Sarvepalli |title=Tradition, Dissent and Ideology: Essays in Honour of Romila Thapar |date=1996 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780195638677 |page=309 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ay9uAAAAMAAJ&q=velir+perumakan |access-date=5 July 2019 |language=en}}

Historian R. Nagaswamy writes that quite a number of these velirs were indigenous and natives of Tamil country but some of the velirs seem to have migrated from dvaraka.

The Irunkōvēl kings trace their lineage to the clan of Krishna; one of the inscriptions at Kodumbalur belonging to one of the kings in the Irunkovel line, namely Tennavan Irunkōvēl.{{cite book | author=India. Archæological Dept | title=Epigraphia Indica | series=[Reports].: New imperial series | issue=v. 12 | year=1913 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4LBCAAAAYAAJ&q=The+Ko%E1%B8%8Dumb%C4%81%C4%BC%C5%ABr+inscription+of+Vikramak%C4%93sari+,+also+called+Tennavan+Ilang%C5%8Dv%C4%93l,+declares+that+he+belonged+to+the+Yadava+race | language=it | access-date=2022-12-20 | page=122}} The Moovar Koil record of Irukkuvel chief Boothi Vikramakesari lauds his father, Samarabirama, as Yadu-vamsa-ketu (Banner of the Yadu race).{{cite book | title=Indica | publisher=Heras Institute of Indian History and Culture, St. Xavier's College. | issue=v. 32 | year=1995 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4hZDAAAAYAAJ&q=Vikramakesari+yadhu | access-date=2022-12-20 | page=93}} Historians consider the Ay velirs originated from the pastoralists of Ayars and they gained preeminence at an early stage in Tamil history.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pzgaS1wRnl8C&pg=RA1-PA33 |title=Temples of Kr̥ṣṇa in South India: History, Art, and Traditions in Tamilnāḍu |publisher=Institute of Asian Studies |date=2001 |first=T. |last=Padmaja |pages=33–34|isbn=9788170173984 }}{{cite book | title=Environment, Development and Society in Contemporary India:An Introduction | publisher=Macmillan India | year=2008 | isbn=978-0-230-63530-2 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Xt9KHerkrkAC&pg=PA23 | access-date=2022-12-12 | page=23}}{{cite book | last=Matlock | first=G. | title=India Once Ruled the Americas! | publisher=iUniverse | year=2000 | isbn=978-0-595-13468-7 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nlnQmHpVSh8C&pg=PA100 | access-date=2022-12-12 | page=100}}

The Velir were prominent in the Sangam period of Tamil polity, economy, and society. They are traced to the Yadavas (Yadu descent) of Dvaraka and linked up with all important dynasties of South India including the Chalukyas, Hoysalas, and Andhras.{{cite book |last=Nākacāmi |first=I. |title=South Indian Studies |publisher=Society for Archaeological, Historical & Epigraphical Research |series=SAHER pub |issue=v. 2 |year=1978 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eW5DAAAAYAAJ&q=yadavas |language=de |access-date=2022-12-22 |page=51}} In Sangam literature, they are portrayed as independent chieftains who ruled in bordering areas of three major ruling dynasties, had considerable collective power and marriage alliances with Three Crowned Kings.{{cite book |last=Ganesh |first=K. |title=Boundary Walls: Caste and Women in a Tamil Community |publisher=Hindustan Publishing Corporation |series=Studies in sociology and social anthropology |year=1993 |isbn=978-81-7075-023-9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EShuAAAAMAAJ&q=velir |access-date=2022-12-20 |page=49}} "

{{div col|colwidth=13em}}

• Haihayas
• Kadambas
• Nulambas
• Vaidhumbas
• Dhandakas
• Satavahanas
• Kalachuris
• Pallavas
• Andhras{{cite book | author=Biodiversity Heritage Library | title=Journal of the Ceylon Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society | publisher=Colombo Apothecaries Company | issue=v. 20, no. 60 - v. 21, no. 62 | year=1909 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jN0lAAAAMAAJ | access-date=2022-12-22 | page=21}}
• Kunthalas
• Dhayanas
• Yadhavas{{cite book |editor-last=Nākacāmi |editor-first=I. |title=Studies in South Indian History and Culture |publisher=V.R. Ramachandra Dikshitar Centenary Committee |year=1997 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_kRuAAAAMAAJ |access-date=2022-12-22 |page=192}}
• Hoysalas{{cite book |last=Ali |first=B.S. |title=The Hoysaḷa Dynasty |publisher=Prasaranga, University of Mysore |year=1972 |language=la |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5o8ZnsSwL0kC&q=velir+sangam |access-date=2022-12-21 |page=48}}
• Rashtrakutas
• ChalukyasPrācī-jyoti Digest of Indological Studies volumes 16-17 (1984), p. 115
• Banas
• Moryas
• Thondayars

{{div col end}}

While most of the rulers are substantiated by epigraphs and literatures, some of their history of ruling some dynasties is not recorded.

Also, some of the medieval dynasties of the western half of the peninsula claim to be descended from Yadhavas lineage and the Ay chiefs of Ay dynasty of the ninth century A.D. claim to be the Vrishni-kula as also the Mushika kings who link themselves with Haihaya origins.{{cite book | last=Thapar | first=R. | title=Ancient Indian Social History: Some Interpretations | publisher=Orient Longman | year=1978 | isbn=978-81-250-0808-8 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fK3VTUrWsD0C&pg=PA224 | access-date=2022-12-21 | page=224}} The Periya Puranam describes about a Haiheya clan king Eyarkon Kalikama Nayanar, he was a Vellalar saint and Commander-in-chief of the Chola army.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RYjXAAAAMAAJ&q=Eyarkon%20vellala|title=Slaves of the Lord: The Path of the Tamil Saints|publisher=Munshiram Manoharlal|year=1988|last=Dehejia|first=Vidya|page=178 |isbn=978-8-12150-044-9}}{{cite book |title=The Religion And Philosophy Of Tevaram With Special Reference To Nampi Arurar In Four Volumes: Rangaswamy, M. A. Dorai |date=2015-06-30 |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.90325/page/n463/mode/2up?q=eyarkon |access-date=2022-12-22}} The Ay velir chieftains, who settled down in Ay county (near Kanyakumari), were quite prominent in Tamil Nadu during the sangam age.{{cite book |last=Padmaja |first=T. |title=Temples of Kr̥ṣṇa in South India: History, Art, and Traditions in Tamilnāḍu |publisher=Abhinav Publications |year=2002 |isbn=978-81-7017-398-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pzgaS1wRnl8C&pg=PA127 |language=la |access-date=2022-12-22 |page=127}}

The Chalukyas and Kadambas belonging to Manavya gotra as being the descendants of the original ancestress Hariti.{{cite journal |last=Krishnarao |first=B. V. |title=The Origin and the Original Home of the Calukyas |journal=Proceedings of the Indian History Congress |publisher=Indian History Congress |volume=3 |year=1939 |issn=2249-1937 |jstor=44252388 |pages=386–410 |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/44252388 |access-date=2022-12-22}} The Karmandala Satakam states that the Velirs of karmandalam belong to the same "Manavya" Gotra.{{cite journal |journal= "Karmandala Satakam: Politico-Socio-Cultural Analysis of Medieval Tamil Literature on the Vellala Community of South Karnataka |year=2010 |last=Vijayalakshmi |first=Usha R |title= Karmandala Satakam: Politico-Socio-Cultural Analysis of Medieval Tamil Literature on the Vellala Community of South Karnataka |volume=71 |page=430 |jstor=44147510}} The Chalukya kings were called Velpularasar and Velkulattarasar by some communities, that is kings over Vel country (pula means region or country).{{cite book|title=Encyclopaedia of Untouchables Ancient, Medieval and Modern|author=Raj Kumar|publisher=Gyan Publishing House|year=2008|page=179}}{{cite book|title=The Colas|author=K. A. Nilakanta Sastri |publisher=Thompson & Co., Ltd., Printers, Madras|year=1937|page=11}} Later day references to them in Choļa inscriptions puts the Chalukyas under the Velir community ruling in Deccan.

File:South India in Sangam Period.jpg in the Sangam Period ]]

The Ay Vels were one such Velir group that ruled the territory in and around Venad during the Sangam period. The word Venad is derived from Vel -nadu, that is the country ruled by Vel chieftains.{{cite book|title=History of Kerala|author=R. Leela Devi|publisher=Vidyarthi Mithram Press & Book Depot|page=117}} 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,{{cite book|title=Peasant State and Society in Medieval South India|author=Burton Stein|publisher=Oxford University Press|page=350|year=1994}} in the Huzur plates of king Karunandakkan, the predecessor of Vikramaditya Varaguna.{{cite book|title=Encyclopaedia of Untouchables Ancient, Medieval and Modern|author=Raj Kumar|publisher=Kalpaz Publications|year=2008|page=181}}

The Irunkōvēl lines of Velir kings are considered to be of the same stock as the Hoysalas 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 capital Dwarasamudra by some historians.{{cite book|title= The Tamilian Antiquary Volume 1, Issue 5|author= T.A. Society (Tiruchchirāppalli, India)|publisher=Asian Educational Services|year=1986|page=28}} 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.{{cite book|title= The Early History of the Vellar Basin, with Special Reference to the Irukkuvels of Kodumbalur. A Study in Vellala Origin and Early History|author= M. Arokiaswami|publisher= Amudha Nilayam|page=28}} As per historian Arokiaswami, the Hoysala title "Ballala" is only a variant of the Tamil word "Vellala".{{cite book|title= The Early History of the Vellar Basin, with Special Reference to the Irukkuvels of Kodumbalur. A Study in Vellala Origin and Early History|author= M. Arokiaswami|publisher= Amudha Nilayam|page=29}} The Hoysala king Veera Ballala III is even now locally known as the "Vellala Maharaja" in Thiruvannamalai, the town that served as their capital in 14th century.{{cite book|title=The Gopuras of Thiruvannamalai|author= F. H. Gravely|publisher=Commissioner of Museums, Government of Tamil Nadu|year=2002|page=2}}

The Irungovel chieftains were related to the Cholas through matrimony.{{cite book | author=Indu Banga | author2=Urban History Association of India | author3=Nehru Memorial Museum and Library | title=The City in Indian History: Urban Demography, Society, and Politics | publisher=South Asia Publications | year=1991 | isbn=978-0-945921-17-2 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M2TaAAAAMAAJ&q=irukkuvel%20chola%20matrimonial | access-date=2022-12-20 | page=61}}{{cite book | last=Tirumalai | first=R. | title=Collected Papers: Studies in South Indian Epigraphy and History of Land Organisation, Development and Accounts and Select Chola, and Pandyan Townships | publisher=Department of Archaeology, Government of Tamilnadu | series=T.N.D.A. pub | year=1994 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-C9uAAAAMAAJ&q=irukkuvel+chola+matrimonial | access-date=2022-12-20 | page=177}} These princes assumed both the Chola and Irungovel titles like for example there was one Adavallan Gangaikonda Cholan alias Irungolan during the time of Kulottunga I and then there was a certain Sendamangalam Udaiyan Araiyan Edirili Cholan alias Irungolan during the reign of Kulottunga III.{{cite book | last1=Balasubrahmanyam | first1=S.R. | last2=Venkataraman | first2=B. | last3=Ramachandran | first3=B. | title=Later Chola Temples: Kulottunga I to Rajendra III (A.D. 1070-1280) | publisher=Mudgala Trust | year=1979 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9ujVAAAAMAAJ&q=Gangaikonda+Cholan+alias+Irungolan+during+the+time+of+Kulottunga+I | language=jv | access-date=2022-12-20 | page=80}}

Kaluvul was a velir chieftain of Kamur who fought against the chera supremacy.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DH1uAAAAMAAJ&q=kaluvul+velir|title=

History of Kongu: Pre-historic period to 1300 A.D|last= V |first= Ramamurthy|publisher= International Society for the Investigation of Ancient Civilization|year=2008|page=104}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GnoOAAAAYAAJ&q=kaluvul+chera|title=

Social and Cultural History of Tamilnad: To A.D. 1336|last= C. E. |first= Ramachandran |publisher= University of Madras|year=1974|page=50}} Perum chera irumporai along with fourteen chieftains attacked kamur but perum chera irumporai was impressed with Kaluvuls resistance in battle field and let him rule kamur and accepted friendship from him.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GnoOAAAAYAAJ&q=kaluvul+chera|title=

Social and Cultural History of Tamilnad: To A.D. 1336|last= N |first= Subrahmanian |publisher= Ennes|year=2008|page=42}} Some of the velirs under Kaluvul joined the chera after the defeat.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JXkOAAAAYAAJ&q=kaluvul|title=

A Study of the Literature of the Cēra Country Upto 11th Century A.D.|last= Ci|first= Pālacuppiramaṇiyan̲ |publisher= University of Madras|year=2007|page=29}}

The Purananuru, one of the Eight Anthologies of Sangam literature, praises King Irunkōvēl, a 49th generation descendant of the Vēlir clan whose ancestors appeared from the pitcher (தடவு) of a Northern sage (Agastya), and said to have ruled Thuvarai (Dvārakā) with a fort containing tall huge walls made of bronze.

File:Moovar Koil Temple.jpg Temple Complex built by Irunkovel chieftain Boothi Vikramakesari]]

Athiyamān Nedumān Añci and his son Ezhini, were Athiyamān chieftains, based in Tagadur (present day village located in Dharmapuri district). They were contemporaries of Auvaiyar. The Sangam poem "Thagadur yathirai", now lost, was written about his battle with the Chera king. Another Velir was Irunkōvēl who ruled over Konaadu, the area in and around Pudukottai, with their capital in Kodumbalur.{{cite book|title=Studies in the History of Ancient Townships in Pudukkottai|first=R.|last=Tirumalai|publisher=Institute of Epigraphy, State Department of Archaeology, Government of Tamil Nadu|year=1981|page=1}} Nannan was another Velir chieftain who hailed from Tulu Nadu.{{cite book|title=Culture of Creativity: Footprints of Indian Civilization, Volume 3 of Panorama of Indian Culture|isbn=8178880253|author=Rohan Peter, Utsav Manihara|publisher=Dominant Publishers and Distributors|year=2001|page=10}} Yet another Velir chief was Pekan of the Vel Avi family who ruled over Pothini, the modern Palani near Madurai.{{citation needed|date=July 2020}} Other ancient Velir chiefs of repute include Alumbil Vel, Alandur Vel, Ilanji Vel and Nangur Vel.{{cite book |editor1-last=van Bakel |editor1-first=Martin |editor2-first=Renée |editor2-last=Hagesteijn |editor3-first=Piet |editor3-last=van de Velde |first=Sudharshan |last=Seneviratne |chapter=The Twilight of the Perumakan: South Indian Polity Restructured and Incorporated |title=Pivot Politics: Changing Cultural Identities in Early State Formation Processes |year=1994 |publisher=Het Spinhuis |location=Amsterdam |isbn=978-90-5589-007-1 |page=172 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TXOc1WJVpoQC}}

• History of Tamil Nadu
• Ay dynasty
• Agastya

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Category:Tamil history

Category:History of Kerala

Category:History of Tamil Nadu

Category:Sri Lankan Tamil history