Kongu Vellalar: Difference between revisions

 

| state                  = [[Tamil Nadu]]

| populated_states      =[[Tamil Nadu]], [[Karnataka]], [[Kerala]]  

| languages              = [[Kongu Tamil]]

| related                =

|jati=Vellalar|ethnicity=Kongu Vellalar|feudal_title=Kavundar|family_names=Gounder|endogamous=within Kongu Vellalar|subdivisions=Patrilineal Descent clans called Koottam, Gotra|historical_grouping=[[Vellalar]] (Land owning)|status=Dominant Caste|other_reservation=OBC|population=70,00,000|guru=}}

 

'''Kongu Vellalar''' is a Tamil-speaking land-owning agrarian community predominantly found in the [[Kongu Nadu]] region of Southern India. They are also known as Kongu Nadu Vellalar, Kongu Gounders. Kongu Vellalars are considered one of the dominant communities in the region and have a rich cultural heritage.

The Kongu Vellalar were classified as a [[Forward Caste]] (General class) at the time of [[Partition of India|Indian independence]] but they successfully requested to be reclassified as an [[other Backward Class]] in 1975.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-tamilnadu/article277921.ece | newspaper=The Hindu| title=Looking to create a Kongu stronghold | date=8 May 2009 | first=K.V. | last=Prasad | access-date=22 May 2016}}</ref>

The [[Vellalar]] of the [[Kongunadu|Kongu country]] came to be known as Kongu Vellalar. They are also known by names such as "Bupaalan", ''Gangavamsam'', ''Kudiyaanavar'' and ''Vivasaayi'', and use the title [[Gounder]] as a caste lastname in their personal names.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ez9uAAAAMAAJ&q=Buvaisya|title=Salem cyclopedia: a cultural and historical dictionary of Salem District, Tamil Nadu|last=Rajannan|first=Busnagi|location=Salem, India|date=1992|publisher=Institute of Kongu Studies|page=340|isbn=978-8-19002-880-6|language=en}}</ref>

According to the ''Kongu Vellalar Puranam'', a 19th-century work by Mahavidwan Kandasamy Kavirayar, the Vellalar of the Kongu country trace their origin to Marabalan, a mythical figure who was created from the river [[Ganges]] to rid the world of hunger. Marabalan turned to agriculture and his descendants became the [[Vellalar]]. Marabalan had various titles such as Gangavamsa, Devar, Vellalar, Bupaalan, etc.<ref name="indianexpress">{{cite web|url=https://www.newindianexpress.com/states/tamil-nadu/2015/sep/13/Purana-of-Kongunadus-Conventional-Farming-813729.html|title=Purana of Kongunadu's conventional farming|website=The Indian Express|access-date=2020-07-09}}</ref>{{sfnp|V. Manickam|p=540|ps=}}<ref>{{cite wikisource|chapter=422|wslink=Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 7.djvu|plaintitle=Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 7.djvu|last=|first=|year=|publisher=|page=|wspage=|scan=}}:”The Vellālas were also called the Gangakula or Gangavamsa, because they derived their descent from the great and powerful tribe named Gāngvida, which inhabited the valley of the Ganges, as mentioned by Pliny and Ptolemy. A portion of Mysore which was peopled mostly by Vellālas was called Gangavādi in the tenth and eleventh centuries of the Christian era. ”</ref> Interestingly the [[Vokkaliga#Gangadikara_Vokkaliga|Gandadikara Vokkaligas]] of the neighbouring parts of [[Karnataka]] also claim origin from the banks of the [[Ganges]].<ref>{{cite wikisource|chapter=288|wslink=Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 2.djvu|plaintitle=Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 2.djvu|last=|first=|year=|publisher=|page=|wspage=|scan=}}</ref><ref name=“Gangadikara”>{{cite book |last1=Nanjundayya|first1=H.V|first2=L.K Ananthakrishna|last2=Iyer|date=1930|title=The Mysore Tribes and Castes|volume=3|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.22885/page/n255/mode/2up|location=Mysore |publisher=The Mysore University|page=175-185}}:”Gangadikara is a contraction of the term Gangawadikara (A man of Gangavadi)”</ref>  According to [[Burton Stein]] and most historians, the Gangadikaras and the Kongu Vellalars were linked. They use lastname ''Gowda'' which is similar to ''Gounder.'' Cuisine and dialects between them is also similar. <ref>{{Cite book|title=Peasant State and Society in Medieval South India|last=Stein|first=Burton|date=1980|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4SsKAQAAIAAJ&q=Gangadikara+peasantry+of+Gangavadi+|publisher=Oxford University Press|pages=319|location=Delhi|isbn=978-0-19-563507-2}}:”The Gangadikara peasantry of Gangavadi appears to have been more significantly linked to the Kongu peasantry to the south than to peasant peoples in the central and northern parts of medieval Karnataka. Similarly, the Marasu Vokkaligas of eastern Bangalore and central and southern Kolar districts appear to have been linked to Tondaimandalam”</ref>

Being land owners, the traditional roles of this community are [[agriculture]] and [[Cattle|cattle-rearing]], but over time they came to be educationalists, [[weaving]], [[Merchant|traders]] and [[money-lenders]].<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K85NA7Rg67wC&pg=PA24 |page=24 |title=The First Great Political Realist|author-link=Roger Boesche |first=Roger |last=Boesche|isbn=978-0-73910-607-5 |date=1 March 2003 }}</ref>