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{{Short description|Telugu speaking castes based communities from Tamil Nadu, India}}<br />
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The '''Vaduga''' or '''Vadugar''' comprise three distinct [[Telugu people|Telugu]] [[Caste system in India|caste]]-based communities found in present-day [[Tamil Nadu]], [[India]]. Their caste identities are as [[Kamma (caste)|Kammavars]], [[Balija|Balijas]], and [[Rajakambalam Nayakar|Kambalathars]]. Emerging as a dominant socio political force during the [[Vijayanagara Empire]], they transitioned from imperial military commanders to independent rulers known as [[Nayaka dynasties|Nayakas]]. Following the collapse of the central Vijayanagara authority in 1565, these communities established powerful dynasties in [[Madurai Nayak dynasty|Madurai]], [[Thanjavur Nayak kingdom|Thanjavur]], [[Nayaks of Vellore|Vellore]] and [[Nayaks of Gingee|Senji]], fundamentally shaping the administrative, cultural, and architectural landscape of the Tamil country for over two centuries.<ref name="dirks">{{cite book |title=The Hollow Crown: Ethnohistory of an Indian Kingdom |first=Nicholas B. |last=Dirks |authorlink=Nicholas Dirks |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1987 |isbn=0-521-32604-4 |pages=60–70, 174}}</ref><br />
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== Etymology ==<br />
The term ''Vadugar'' is derived from the Tamil word ''Vadu'' (North), literally translating to "Northerners." [[File:Codice Casanatense Badagas.jpg|thumb|, who inhabited the southeastern coast of India]]<br />
[[File:Codice Casanatense Orissans.jpg|thumb|People from Orissa, in the eastern coast of India]]<br />
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== History ==<br />
The term Vadugar was used initially to refer to the people occupying the regions north of Tamil Nadu. In Sangam literature it was applied to the chief of [[Old Mysore region|Erumainadu]] (roughly Southern Karnataka) and to the people of [[Tirupati|Vengadam]] (roughly the regions around Tirupathi).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Andhra Parishattu Varidhi |first=Kashi |url=http://archive.org/details/KiMm_rajata-utsava-samputamu-1911-1935-andhra-parishattu-varidhi-kashi |title=Rajata Utsava Samputamu 1911 1935 Andhra Parishattu Varidhi, Kashi}}</ref> [[Sekkilhar|Sekkiliar]] used the term "'''''Vaduka Karunadar Mannan'''''" to refer to the [[Kalabhra dynasty|Kalabhra]] invaders of Madurai in [[Periya Puranam]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Andhra Parishattu Varidhi |first=Kashi |url=http://archive.org/details/KiMm_rajata-utsava-samputamu-1911-1935-andhra-parishattu-varidhi-kashi |title=Rajata Utsava Samputamu 1911 1935 Andhra Parishattu Varidhi, Kashi|quote=This is confirmed by the fact that the Periya-Puranam refers to an invader of Madura as the king of the Vaduka Karnatakas (Vaduka Karunadar Mannan). The Vadukas are therefore here identified with the Karnatakas themselves justifying the Badagas being equated with the Vudukas of the northern frontier. This is still further confirmed by inscriptional references to the Hoysala invasions of the south being referred to as Periya Vadukan Kalaham, the confusion or the revolution created by the invasion of the great Vadukan. These references are to the Hoysala invasions. Therefore it is clear that the Kannada speaking people, Sanskritised into Karnatakas, (Kannada being known in pure Tamil Karunadam as the language) were known to the Tamils as Vudukas.}}</ref> The [[Hoysala Kingdom|Hoysalas]] invasions were called "'''''Periya Vadukan Kalaham"''''' in inscriptions.<ref name=":0" /> [[Badagas|Badaga]] is derived from Vaduga.<ref name=":0" /> Therefore historians believe the term was initially used to refer to [[Kannadigas]].<ref name=":0" /> However it was largely used to refer to [[Telugu people]] later.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Andhra Parishattu Varidhi |first=Kashi |url=http://archive.org/details/KiMm_rajata-utsava-samputamu-1911-1935-andhra-parishattu-varidhi-kashi |title=Rajata Utsava Samputamu 1911 1935 Andhra Parishattu Varidhi, Kashi|quote=Somehow or other that name for the Kanarese folk seems to have been forgotten, and modern usage in Tamil restricts the term Vudukar to that section of the Vadukar who occupied the eastern borderland of the Tamil land; and the Telugus proper as well as those living to the South of them are known-now a daysas Vudukar and the language Telugu itself is known Vaduka.}}</ref><br />
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Historical figures such as [[Veerapandiya Kattabomman]], [[Tirumala Nayaka]], [[Mangammal|Maharaani Mangammal]], and Virupatchi Gopala Naicker were prominent leaders and rulers of the Vaduga [[Nayaka dynasties|Nayaka]] kingdoms in Tamil Nadu.<ref name="dirks" /><br />
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== References ==<br />
{{reflist}}<br />
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[[Category:Social groups of Tamil Nadu]]<br />
[[Category:Indian castes]]<br />
[[Category:South Indian communities]]<br />
[[Category:Telugu people]]<br />
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{{India-ethno-stub}}</div>Venu ji yes