Vellalar

The earliest occurrence of the term Velaalar (வேளாளர்) in Sangam literature is in Paripadal where it is used in the sense of a landowner.{{cite book|title=From Tribe to Caste|author=Dev Nathan|publisher=Indian Institute of Advanced Study|year=1997|page=233}} The term Velaalar (வேளாளர்) can be derived from the word Vel (வேள்), Vel being a title that was borne by the Velir chieftains of Sangam age among other things.{{cite book|title=Tamil Culture in Ceylon: A General Introduction|author=M. D. Raghavan|publisher=Kalai Nilayam|year=1971|page=136}}

The word Vellalar (வெள்ளாளர்) may come from the root Vellam 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.{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SWeBAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA64| title= Societas to Civitas: evolution of political society in South India: pre-Pallavan Tamil̤akam | publisher= Kalinga Publications |year= 1993 |first= T. K. |last=Venkatasubramanian | page=64| isbn= 9788185163420 }}

File:Vellālas worshipping lingam, snake-stones and Ganēsa..jpg (1909).]]

The Vellalars have a long cultural history that goes back to over two millennia in southern India,{{cite web |url=http://www.harappa.com/arrow/meluhha_and_agastya_2009.pdf |title=Meluhha and Agastya: Alpha and Omega of the Indus Script |author=Iravatham Mahadevan |page=16 |quote=The Ventar-Velir-Velalar groups constituted the ruling and land-owning classes in the Tamil country since the beginning of recorded history |access-date=2011-06-07 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110607212814/http://www.harappa.com/arrow/meluhha_and_agastya_2009.pdf |archive-date=7 June 2011 }} where once they were the ruling and land-owning community.{{cite book |title=Al-Hind: Early medieval India and the expansion of Islam, 7th-11th centuries |author=André Wink |year=2002 |page=321 |quote=Not only were the Vellalas the landowning communities of South India,... |publisher=Brill Academic Publishers |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g2m7_R5P2oAC&pg=PA321 |isbn=9004092498}} 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.{{cite book|title=Applied Anthropology and Challenges of Development in India|author=P. R. G. Mathur|publisher=Punthi-Pustak|year=1994|page=152}}

The Vellalar are spoken of as a group of people right from the Sangam period and are mentioned in many of the classical works of Sangam literature. The Tolkappiyam does not contain the term Vellalar but refers to a group of people called Velaan Maanthar who apart from practising agriculture had the right to carry weapons and wear garlands when they were involved in affairs of the state.{{cite book|title=Chieftains of the Sangam Age|author=Ka. Ta Tirunāvukkaracu|publisher=International Institute of Tamil Studies|year=1994|page=33}} The term Vellalar itself occurs in the sense of a landowner in Paripadal. The poem Pattinappaalai lists the six virtues of Vellalar as abstention from killing, abstention from stealing, propagation of religion, hospitality, justice and honesty.{{cite book|title=An Outline of the Cultural History and Principles of Hinduism|author=C. Sivaratnam|publisher=Stangard Printers|year=1964|page=269}}

In the years that immediately followed the Sangam age (from third to sixth century CE), the Tamil lands were ruled by a dynasty called Kalabhras.{{cite book|title=Madurai Through the Ages From the Earliest Times to 1801 A.D.|author=D. Devakunjari|year=1979|publisher=Publisher: Society for Archaeological, Historical, and Epigraphical Research|page=72}} Historians believe that the Kalabhras belonged to the Vellalar community of warriors who were possibly once the feudatories of the Cholas and the Pallavas.{{cite book |last=Chakrabarty |first=D.K. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EIAyDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT84 |title=The Geopolitical Orbits of Ancient India: The Geographical Frames of the Ancient Indian Dynasties |publisher=OUP India |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-19-908832-4 |page=84 |access-date=2023-01-16}} Scholar and historian M. Raghava Iyengar identifies the Kalabhras with the Kalappalar section of the Vellalar and equates king Achyuta Vikranta with Achyuta Kalappala the father of Meykandar.{{cite book|title=Social and Cultural History of Tamilnad: To A.D. 1336|author=N. Subrahmanian|publisher=Ennes|year=1993|page=67}} Buddhadatta, the Pali writer who stayed in the Chola kingdom and authored Buddhist manuals refers (in the Nigamanagātha of Vinayavinicchaya, verse 3179) to his patron Achyuta Vikranta who was then (fifth century CE) ruling the Chola kingdom as Kalamba-kula nandane meaning the favourite of the Kalamba family.{{cite book|title=The Colas, Second Edition|author=K. A. NILAKANTA SASTRI, M.A., Emeritus Professor of Indian History and Archaeology, University of Madras. Professor of Indology. University of Mysore.|publisher=G. S. Press, Madras|year=1955|page=108}} In Pali language as in Tamil, the word Kalamba or Kalambam (in Tamil) means the Kadamba tree, the sacred totemic symbol that is associated with Tamil god Murugan.{{cite book|title=Pāli, A Grammar of the Language of the Theravāda Tipiṭaka|author=Thomas Oberlies, Richard Pischel|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|year=2001|page=88}}{{cite book|title=Temples of South India|author=K. R. Srinivasan|publisher=National Book Trust|year=1979|page=8}}

The Velir were an ancient group of Tamil chieftains who claimed Yadava (Yadu) descent.{{cite book|title=Mathurā.The Settlement Pattern and Cultural Profile of an Early Historical City|author=Vijaya Laxmi Singh|publisher=Sundeep Prakashan|year=2005|page=121}} 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 Irunkovel or Irukkuvel chieftains were another ancient Velir clan who ruled from their capital Kodumbalur (near Pudukottai district). They were related to the Cholas by marriage.{{cite book|title=The City in Indian History. Urban Demography, Society, and Politics|editor=Indu Banga|publisher=South Asia Publications|year=1991|page=61}} In an inscription of Rajadhiraja Chola an Irukkuvel feudatory who was a high-ranking military officer (Dandanayaka) of the king is described as a Velala.{{Efn|1=Records in his third year gift of 90 sheep for a lamp by Velala Madurantakam alias Tandanayakan Rajadhiraja Ilangovelan of Nadar, a village in Tiraimur-nadu which was a sub-division of Uyyakondan-valanadu in Solamandalam.{{cite book|title=South Indian Shrines|author=P. V. Jagadisa Ayyar|year=1993|page=53|publisher=Asian Educational Services}}}}

The Irungovels 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}}

According to the anthropologist Kathleen 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".{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GZwD7EqLcAUC|title=Rural Society in Southeast India|last=Gough|first=Kathleen|publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2008|isbn=9780521040198|page=29|language=en}}

Two identical Tamil inscriptions from Avani and Uttanur in Mulbagal Taluk dated in the 3rd year of Kulottunga 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 is Tondaimandalam) conquered and colonized southern Karnataka (Kolar district) by the grace of Rajendrachola (Kulottunga I).{{cite book|title=Essays on Indian History and Culture. Felicitation Volume in Honour of Professor B. Sheik Ali|author=B. Sheikh Ali|editor=H. V. Sreenivasa Murthy|publisher=Mittal Publications|pages=105–107|year=1990}}

Historian Burton Stein who has done a detailed analysis of this inscription equates the Valangai military forces and the Velaikkara troops of the Cholas with the Vellalas and notes that the contents of the above inscription confirm this identification.{{cite book|title=Peasant State and Society in Medieval South India|author=Burton Stein|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1994|pages=190–191}} The Velaikkara 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 like Rajaraja-terinda-valangai-velaikkarar, that is the known (terinda) forces of king Rajaraja Chola I.{{cite book|title=A Military History of Medieval India|author=Gurcharn Singh Sandhu|publisher=Vision Books|year=2003|page=208}} 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.{{cite book|title=Contributions to Indian Sociology Volumes 29-30 of Contributions to Indian Sociology: Occasional Studies|author=École pratique des hautes études (France). Section des sciences économiques et sociales, University of Oxford. Institute of Social Anthropology, Research Centre on Social and Economic Development in Asia|publisher=Mouton|year=1995|page=265}} The Chalukya kings were also known by the title Velpularasar, that is kings of Vel country (pulam means region or country in Tamil) and as Velkulattarasar, that is kings of the Vel clan (kulam), in epigraphs and in the old Tamil lexicon Divakaram.{{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, M.A., Professor of Indian History and Archaeology University of Madras|publisher=Thompson & Co., Ltd., Printers, Madras|year=1937|page=11}}

The Vellalar also contributed to the Bhakti movement in south India from the seventh century CE onwards and helped revive Hinduism. Many of the Nayanmars, the Shaiva saints, were Vellalar.{{cite book|title=Religion and Public Culture: Encounters and Identities in Modern South India|author=Keith E. Yandell Keith E. Yandell, John J. Paul|publisher=Routledge|year=2013|page=249}}{{cite book|title=A History of India|author=Professor of Asian History Hermann Kulke, Dietmar Rothermund|publisher=Psychology Press|year=2004|page=143}} In the 12th century CE, saint Sekkilan Mahadevadigal Ramadeva sang the glories of these Nayanmars in his magnum opus, the Periyapuranam.{{cite book|title=A Survey of the Sources for the History of Tamil Literature|author=Muthusamy Govindasamy|publisher=Annamalai University|year=1977|page=135}} Sekkizhar was born in a Vellala family in Kundrathur in Thondaimandalam and had the title Uttama Chola Pallavaraiyan.{{cite book|title=Temples of Tamilnadu Kancheepuram District, Volume 1|author=C. Chandramouli|publisher=Controller of Publications|year=2003|page=54}}{{cite book|title=Tillai and Nataraja|author=Balasubrahmanyam Venkataraman|publisher=Mudgala Trust|year=1994|page=65}}{{cite book|title=The City of the Cosmic Dance: Chidambaram|author=B. Natarajan|publisher=Orient Longman|year=1974|page=32}} Sekkilan Mahadevadigal Ramadeva was an elder contemporary of Kulothunga Chola II, the king who is said to have persecuted the Brahmin philosopher Ramanuja for his Vaishnavite preachings by forcing him to sign a document stating Shiva is the greatest god.{{cite book|title=Chidambaram Golden Temple|author=Caṇmukam Meyyappan̲|publisher=Manivasagar Pathippagam|year=1992|page=13}}{{cite book|title=Sri Ramanuja. Makers of Indian literature.|author=Madabhushini Narasimhacharya|publisher=Sahitya Akademi|year=2004|page=25}}

{{Main|Sri Lankan Vellalar}}

The Vellalars of Sri Lanka have been chronicled in the Yalpana Vaipava Malai and other historical texts of the Jaffna kingdom. They form half of the Sri Lankan Tamil population and are the major husbandmen, involved in tillage and cattle cultivation.{{Cite journal|last=Fernando|first=A. Denis N.|date=1987|title=PENINSULAR JAFFNA FROM ANCIENT TO MEDIEVAL TIMES: Its Significant Historical and Settlement Aspects|journal=Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Sri Lanka|volume=32|page=84|jstor=23731055}} Local Sri Lankan literature, such as the Kailiyai Malai, an account on Kalinga Magha, narrates the migration of Vellala Nattar chiefs from the Coromandel Coast to Sri Lanka.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Kj_aWm4DeFEC|title=The Sri Lanka Reader: History, Culture, Politics|last=Holt|first=John|publisher=Duke University Press|year=2011|isbn=978-0822349822|page=84|language=en}}

Their dominance rose under Dutch rule and they formed one of the colonial political elites of the island.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Xj9FAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT73|title=The Politics of Reconstruction and Development in Sri Lanka: Transnational Commitments to Social Change|last=Gerharz|first=Eva|date=3 April 2014|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781317692799|page=73|language=en}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Aob8AgAAQBAJ|title=The Rise of Tamil Separatism in Sri Lanka: From Communalism to Secession|last1=Welhengama|first1=Gnanapala|last2=Pillay|first2=Nirmala|publisher=Routledge|year=2014|isbn=9781135119713|page=168|language=en}}

At present, most of the Tamil Jains are from the Vellalar social group. Also, the Saiva Velaalar sect are originally believed to have been Jainas before they embraced Hinduism.{{Efn|1=It is also widely believed that the Saiva Vellalas of Madras State who are stricter vegetarians than even Tamil Brahmins, were Jainas.{{cite book|title=Religion and Politics in Medieval South India. Papers of a Seminar Held by the Institute of Asian Studies and Andhra University|author=Andhra University|publisher=Institute of Asian Studies|page=15|year=1972}}}} The Tamil Jains refer to the Saiva Velaalar as nīr-pūci-nayinārs or nīr-pūci-vellalars meaning the vellalars who left Jainism by smearing the sacred ash or (tiru)-nīru.{{Efn|1=All of those who feared for their lives converted to Saivism (and not any other religious sect) adorning the sacred ash, 'throwing away their sacred threads', they assumed the identity of Saiva (nir-puci) vellalars or nir-puci-nayinars (the Jainas who smeared sacred ash).{{cite book|title=Reading History with the Tamil Jainas. A Study on Identity, Memory and Marginalisation. Volume 22 of Sophia Studies in Cross-cultural Philosophy of Traditions and Cultures|author=R. Umamaheshwari|publisher=Springer|year=2018|page=222}}}} While some of the Jains assign this conversion to the period of the Bhakti movement in Tamil nadu others link it to a conflict with a ruler of the Vijayanagar empire in the 15th century. 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.{{cite book|title=Reading History with the Tamil Jainas. A Study on Identity, Memory and Marginalisation. Volume 22 of Sophia Studies in Cross-cultural Philosophy of Traditions and Cultures|author=R. Umamaheshwari|publisher=Springer|year=2018|page=223}}

Even though at present, the term "Vellalar" is uncertain, a number of non-cultivating landholding castes like Kaarukaatha Velaalar and the Kondaikatti Velaalar who served ruling dynasties in various capacities also identify themselves as Vellalar.{{Efn|1=Among the Tamil castes, both Karkattar Vellalas (Arunachalam, 1975) and Kondaikatti Vellalas (Barnett, 1970) have much the same profile as the KP (Kottai Pillaimar): both are non-cultivating land-holders, with a history of service to ruling dynasties.{{cite book|title=Gender and the Household Domain. Social and Cultural Dimensions|editor= Karuna Chanana, Maithreyi Krishna Raj|publisher=Sage Publications|year=1989|page=92}}}} Likewise, the Kottai 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.{{cite book|title=Boundary Walls. Caste and Women in a Tamil Community|author=Kamala Ganesh|publisher=Hindustan Publishing Corporation|year=1993|page=27}} Similarly, the Vellala Chettis, a branch of the Chozhia Vellalars were traders and merchants.{{cite book|title=Caste and Race in India|author=Govind Sadashiv Ghurye|publisher=Popular Prakashan|page=209|year=1969}} The Adi-saiva vellalar sect is a strictly vegetarian Saivite group that traditionally served as priests.{{cite book|title=Population and Social Change in an Indian Village. Quarter Century of Development in Managadu [i.e. Mangadu] Village, Tamil Nadu|author=A. Aiyappan, K. Mahadevan|publisher=Mittal Publications|year=1988|page=42}}

The Vellalar were considered to be of high status and enjoyed a high rank during the Chola period. They helped promote and stabilize Shaivism 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.{{cite book|title=Poems to Siva The Hymns of the Tamil Saints|author=Indira Viswanathan Peterson|publisher=Princeton University Press|page=45,54|year=2014}} They were more orthodox than the Brahmins in their religious practices.{{citation | author=Madras (India : State). Record Office | title=Tanjore District Handbook | publisher=Superintendent Government Press | year=1957 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wNsBAAAAMAAJ&q=vellala+orthodox | language=sl | access-date=2023-01-04 | page=128}}{{citation | last=Rajaraman | first=P. | title=The Justice Party: A Historical Perspective, 1916-37 | publisher=Poompozhil Publishers | year=1988 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GGMmAAAAMAAJ&q=vellalar%20orthodox | access-date=2023-01-04 | page=17}} The Vellalar nobles had marriage alliances with Chola royal families.{{citation | last=Gough | first=K. | title=Dravidian Kinship and Modes of Production | publisher=Indian Council of Social Science Research | series=Publication (Indian Council of Social Science Research) | year=1978 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qnYsAAAAMAAJ&q=chola+married+vellala+nobility | access-date=2023-01-04 | page=10}}

The Smarta Brahmins have always competed with the Tamil Shaivites for religious influence in the temples in the Kaveri 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 as Shaivites and started worshipping in Shiva temples.{{cite book|title=Poems to Siva The Hymns of the Tamil Saints|author=Indira Viswanathan Peterson|publisher=Princeton University Press|pages=54–55|year=2014}}

{{POV section|date=August 2022}}

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.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L4t9BgAAQBAJ&pg=PA37|title=An Untouchable Community in South India: Structure and Consensus|last=Moffatt|first=Michael|publisher=Princeton University Press |year=2015 |isbn=978-1-40087-036-3 |page=37}}

• Pallavaraiyan
• List of Vellalars
• List of Vellalar sub castes
• Ponnambalam-Coomaraswamy family

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• {{cite book |title=Globalising Migration History: The Eurasian Experience |first1=Jan |last1=Lucassen |first2=Leo |last2=Lucassen |publisher=BRILL |year=2014 |isbn=978-9-00427-136-4}}

Category:Social groups of Tamil Nadu

Category:Indian castes