Kondaikatti Vellalar

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Kondaikatti Vellalar
Regions with significant populations
Tamil Nadu, India
Languages
Tamil
Religion
Hinduism
Related ethnic groups
Tamil people

Kondaikatti Vellalar is a Tamil caste who traditionally pursued agriculture as a profession in the Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and northeastern parts of Srilanka. They are part of the larger Saiva Vellalar social group of people. They were originally settled in Tondaimandalam but spread to other areas in south India over time.[1] Since they historically used the Mudaliar title, they are sometimes referred to as Thondaimandala Vellala Mudaliars[2][full citation needed] or simply Thondaimandala Mudali.[3][need quotation to verify] However, Kathleen Gough considers them to be a separate subcaste of the Thondaimandala Mudali,[4] as does Susan Neild.[5]

Etymology[]

The word Vellalar may come from the root Vellam for flood.[citation needed] The word Kondaikatti was used to denote someone who bound his hair up in a tuft on top of the head.[6]

Caste structure[]

The caste is divided into a number of unranked patrilineal exogamous clans called gotras.[7] In addition, the caste is composed of four hierarchically ranked endogamous units called Vakaiyaras (varieties or kindreds). The members belonging to the higher Vakaiyaras will not interdine, intermarry or accept food or water from the lower Vakaiyaras. The Vakaiyaras comprise the same gotras and span across multiple village clusters. In the late 1920s, the more progressive members advocated the abrogation of the Vakaiyara system and after much deliberation, the caste passed a resolution to drop it.[8]

Varna Classification[]

The Varna status of the Vellalars is a contested and complex topic, they have been classified as high ranking Shudras by various historians.However the traditional chaturvarna (four varnas) system was inapplicable to South India where there existed only 3 classes: Brahmin, Non-Brahmin and Dalit.All non-Brahmins were classified as Shudra irrespective of their status and function.[9]

See Also[]

Notable people[]

  • Sekkizhar,[1] the author of the Periyapuranam. A few believe that Kulothunga Chola II turned into a staunch Saivite after studying the Periyapuranam of Sekkizhar Ramadeva and then persecuted the Vaishnavite philosopher Ramanuja.[citation needed]
  • Pedro Kanakaraya Mudaliar, Chief dubash for the French East India Company.
  • M. Bhakthavatsalam,[10] politician and former Chief Minister of Madras state.

References[]

Citations

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b KK Pillay & ps, pp. 23–24.
  2. ^ Donald B. Rosenthal. The City in Indian politics. Thomson Press (India), 1976. p. 104.
  3. ^ Indian Council of Agricultural Research. Farmers of India, Band 2. Indian Council of Agricultural Research, 1961. p. 120.
  4. ^ Gough, Kathleen (1982). Rural Society in South East Asia. Cambridge University Press. p. 25. ISBN 978-0-52104-019-8.
  5. ^ Neild, Susan M. (1979). "Colonial Urbanism: The Development of Madras City in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries". Modern Asian Studies. 13 (2): 217–246. doi:10.1017/S0026749X00008301. JSTOR 312124.
  6. ^ Raghavan (1971), p. 133
  7. ^ Anthony Good, p. 180
  8. ^ Barnett (1973), pp. 130–141
  9. ^ A Comprehensive History of India: Pt.2 No special title. 2008. ISBN 9788173045615.
  10. ^ Jump up to: a b Eugene F. Irschick. Tamil revivalism in the 1930s. Cre-A, 1986. p. 152.
  11. ^ Christopher John Baker, D. A. Washbrook. South India. Springer, 1976. p. 174. Similarly, the principal Kondaikatti-Thondamandala-Vellala association included among its leaders M. Subramania Mudaliar and his nephew P.T. Rajan from Madura, whom local political tactics had taken into the Justice Party.

Bibliography

  • Kolappa Pillay Kanakasabhapathi Pillay (1977). The Caste System in Tamil Nadu. University of Madras, 1977.
  • M. D. Raghavan. Tamil Culture in Ceylon: A General Introduction. Kalai Nilayam, 1971.
  • Barnett, Steve (1973). Urban Is As Urban Does: Two Incidents On One Street In Madras City, South India. Urban Anthropology, vol. 2, no. 2, 1973, pp. 129–160.
  • Anthony Good, Lecturer Department of Social Anthropology Anthony Good (1991). The Female Bridegroom: A Comparative Study of Life-crisis Rituals in South India and Sri Lanka. Clarendon, 1991.
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