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==Origins==
==Origins==


Some historians hold that all Brahmins who migrated to the far-south during and after the age of the [[Gupta Empire|Gupta Emperors]], came to be classified as Vadama.<ref>"History of Tamilnad", N. Subrahmanian, Koodal Publishers, Tamil Nadu, 1977</ref>

According some the first known "immigration" from north by "vadamas" occured during krita yuagam when sreeman narayanan(mahavishnu) descended upon earth as vamanan and tamed and blessed king mahabali. The brahmin retinue that accompanied vamanan is held to have been "first vadamas". The second known immigration was co-ordinated by lord narayanan in treta yugam when he came down as parasuraman and fought with corrupt kings. He is known to have visited have worshipped lord sivan near villupuram and then presented 36 veli of land to temple while appointing personnel to conduct yaagams. The brahmins appointed by him are held to have been " second wave of vadamas". The third such migration occured during the same treta yugam when lord raman was on his way to lanka. He worshipped lord haran near salem and presented the temple with gold and personnel for services. These people are held to have been "third wave of vadamas". The fourth wave of vadama immigration occured during dwapara age when pandava arjuna came down on piligrimage. he built a temple of sivan near coimbatore and appointed personnel for services. They are held to have been vadamas. The last known immigartaion occurred toards the end of dwpara age when a descendant of pandavas called janamejayan after having completed the snake sacrifice came to absolve himself at chidambaram.he is known to have created a temple for lord siva outside chidambaram and also created colonies for serving personnel. This is known to have been fifth wave of vadamas.No matter how many great royal races come and go in bloody catastrophic battles "vadamas" continue to flourish without losing a hair from their body right to the end of kali age. This is greatest wonder of world.

The actual facts(duly noted)

They are held to have been the “land-lords“ and “head-men “ of the Brahmin villages called agraharams[14]. The supposed rule by pagan “vijayanagar” and “nayaks” was completely illegal and illegitimate. This group of “brahmins” is heterogenous, coming from various racial backgrounds, converted and admitted on basis of utility. The literature of this period is both obscure as well as dubious. Some pseudo-scholars have by taking out of context and misinterpreting a few words of sangam tamil , have attempted propogate falseful theory giving the existence of this group in tamilnadu during sangam times. This is both ridiculous as well as absurd as the words using which they have constructed this pseudo-history could hardly have referred to any community. The rest of the rogues have cited an obscure and fabricated migration chart and put up a date of 800 .C.E for this group, this is absolute gibberish, as we know that period was the hey day of chola /pallava emperors whose rule was absolutely blemishless and that the rogue deccan dynasties which housed this group were inveterate enemies to these illustrious clans. The ones who attempt to propogate such non-sense are such a perfect and habitual liars that they can make A.Q.Khan blush for shame. No puranic literature known till date, however vague, re-written, corrupted and irrelevant, make a mention of existence of this group or explain its origin. The fact that these groups do not have worship rights in any of the ancient temples(let alone in the south) further establishes its duplicity and fraudulent nature. Certainly the heterogenuity points to a classless budist/jain predecessorship. It is further noted that this group was behind the smuggling, forgery and re-writing of many ancient documents belonging to previous dynasty and also smuggling the leftover of their bronze works. To attempt to manipulate evidences, history, thieving identity etc are extremely evil and points to the excessive wickedness and oppurtunism of the group that can certainly be dangerous for its survival. Citizens are forewarned against any cheating by this group members and alerted to approach law and order agencies including the federal ones incase of any suspicion.


===First Millennium A.D.===
===First Millennium A.D.===

Revision as of 14:16, 1 June 2009

Vadama
வடமா
File:Dikshitar.pngFile:S. Subramania Iyer.gif
Sir C. P. Ramaswami Iyer · Muthuswami Dikshitar · Sir S. Subramania Iyer
Regions with significant populations
Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh
Languages
Brahmin Tamil
Religion
Hinduism
Related ethnic groups
Iyer, Vadagalai Iyengar, Tamil people

Vadama (Tamil: வடமா) meaning "Northerners" are a sub-sect of the Iyer community of Tamil Brahmins. While some believe that their name is an indication of the fact that they were the most recent Brahmin migrants to the Tamil country others interpret the usage of the term "Vadama" as a reference to their strict adherence to the Sanskrit language and Vedic rituals which are of northerly origin. Like other Iyer communities, they follow the Advaita philophy propounded by Adi Shankara. A proportion of the Vadama community converted to Vaishnavism, and are thus believed to have given rise to the Vadagalai Iyengar community.

The oldest historical references to Vadamas date from the first millennium A.D. A large number of Vadamas migrated to Kerala during the medieval period, so that Vadamas along with the Brahacharnam form the majority of the Kerala Iyer community. A section of the Vadama community also migrated north to the Telugu country and Maharashtra where they were known as "Dravidas".

Vadamas have a more martial tradition as compared with the other Iyer communities. They are believed to have been the protectors of Brahmin villages or agraharams and served as administrators and advisors to Tamil and Telugu kings during the medieval and early modern period.

Etymology of the term

The term Vadama may have originated from the Tamil term 'Vadakku' meaning North, indicating the Northern origin of the Vadama Brahmins[1]. This claim is supported by the fact that, unlike other subsects of Iyers, some Vadama pay oblations in their daily Sandhyavandanam to the river Narmada in Central India.[2]. It is not certain is whether 'North' refers to northern Tamil Nadu/Southern Deccan, or regions further north. Other scholars are of the opinion that rather than the superficial indication of a northern origin for the people, the term "vadama" would rather refer to proficiency in Sanskrit and Vedic ritual, associated with the north prior to the first millennium.[3][4]

Sub-categories

They have further sub-categories among themselves based on the region or place of origin. They are:

  • Vadadesa Vadama (Vadamas of the northern country)
  • Choladesa Vadama[5][6](Vadamas of the Chola country)
  • Sabhaiyar(member of the conference (Sabha))
  • Injee[4] and
  • Thummagunta Dravida.

Intermarriage with other Iyer sects has been increasing in recent times, while earlier, most marriages were arranged only within the same subsect of Vadama. Such a degree of exclusion has become rather uncommon now. Exceptions did exist, such as the marriage of Kurratalwan's sons, which took place outside the Iyer fold. [7]

Origins

Some historians hold that all Brahmins who migrated to the far-south during and after the age of the Gupta Emperors, came to be classified as Vadama.[8]

First Millennium A.D.

There is a perception that some Kashmir-linked Vadama settled in Tirunelveli between 750 and 800 AD. This has been suggested based on an inscription at the temple of Tiruvalishvaram one of the earliest Nataraja temples in South India[citation needed]. An interesting fact corroborating this migration may be had from the treatise called Natyashastra written by Bharata Muni, held by some to have been from Kashmir and by others to be from the south, formed the basis of the dance-form Bharatanatyam which is particularly associated with Tamil Nadu[9].Art Historians such as Vasundhara Filliozat claim that there are inscriptional evidences to prove the continuous migration of teachers from Kashmir to South[9]. Such scholars also state that some other South Indian Saivaite and Tantric traditions were also introduced by teachers from Kashmir.[9]

It appears that the Sabhaiyar group of the Vadama, were present in the Chola Empire in the ninth century, since the grant of the entire village of Chirri[dai]yarru excluding the kani of Samgappadi-kilan was made to the temple of Mahadeva at Tirumalpperu as a tax-free devadana in the 21st year (892 A.D) of the reign of Chola Aditya I and the administration of the charity was entrusted to the sabhaiyar of Puduppakkam in Purisanadu.[10]

The Srivaishnava hold that their guru Ramanujacharya was born a Vadama. It would appear from his biography, that his family had settled well into the region around modern-day Arcot and spoke Tamil at home. Though the exact period of his existence is subject to speculation, it is unequivocally agreed upon that he lived in the 10th-11th century A.D. thus indicating the likelihood of a substantial Vadama presence by the 11th century.

Second Millennium A.D.

A tradition from Kerala holds that the Vadama amongst the Palghat Iyers came in fleeing the destruction created by the armies of Alauddin Khilji, and directly settled in Kerala, rather than taking the more common, albeit more circuitous, route of most Palghat Iyers, of sojourning in the Tanjore and Madurai areas before migrating there.[citation needed] This might, perhaps, be on account of the Sultan's armies taking the route to, and reaching Madurai, before turning back north by way of Trichinopoly. It is also noteworthy to observe that the Tugluq armies, which followed the route of the Khilji invasions, succeeded in setting up the short-lived Madurai Sultanate, in the early 14th century, thus giving additional reason for Hindus to avoid Madurai. However, since most Kerala Iyers migrated from different regions of modern Tamil Nadu into Kerala in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries in the reign of the Kerala Varmans and many Palghat Vadama trace their origin to the same families and villages as many Tanjore Vadama, the origins of this tradition are uncertain.

According to some traditions, a large number of Dikshits from Thrayambak (near Nasik) on the banks of the river Godavari fled Thrayambak in the face of Muslim raids and found refuge with the Vijayanagar kings. They then migrated further south, receiving the patronage of the rulers of Kancheepuram and Vellore. When Nilakanta Dikshitar was gifted Paalaamadai and other villages by Thirumala Naick of Madurai, he is said to have invited his kin to share his gift. Most of the Vadadesa Vadamas of Tirunelveli trace their origins to the two families of Nilakanta Dikshitar and Srinivasa Dikshitar. These families migrated to other villages in the course of time and are found in large numbers in Kadayam, Gangaikondan, Cheranmahadevi, Pathamadai, Paalaamadai and Tharuvai amongst several others. [citation needed]

Instability prevailed in Peninsular India in the aftermath of the establishment of the Moslem sultanates in the Deccan and the Mogul invasion of Peninsular India in the reign of Aurangzeb. It must also be remembered that it was early in the reign of Aurangzeb that the depredations of the Deccan by the Mahrattas under Shivaji began. A combination of these belligerent powers and the desolation they helped create may have made the relative peace offered in the far south of the country under the Hindu kings of Travancore, Madurai, Tanjore and Mysore, far more desirable and could have induced many Hindus to migrate there. A fact supporting this idea, we have from English chroniclers in the 1600s, is that their procurement of goods along the west coast of India, along the Concan and Canara coasts, suffered severely after the Mogul invasions and the mass depopulation of the peninsula they caused [11]. Another statement often encountered in their annals is that the economic growth of the factory at Fort St. George, Madras was in a large measure attributable to the fact that many people chose to settle there to escape the chaotic conditions farther north [11]. When we consider, in conjunction with these two facts, Fort St. George's position as a newly-established, well-fortified and growing settlement in Aurangzeb's time, and therefore a secure refuge, a mass exodus southwards seems to have occurred in the period in question.

An interesting point which provides an insight into Vadama origins, is that the Vadama who migrated to what are today Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh in the 17th century called themselves Dravida Brahmins.[12]

Further information: Aaraama Dravidulu and Ashtagrama Iyer

It is also not uncommon for many Iyengars even to this day, especially Vadakalai Iyengars, to claim this community as their origin.[13] Also, Some of the Gurukkal in temples in Tamil Nadu, are Vadama, though not recognised as such by the community, since they have certain practices that are prohibited for the Vadama.[4]

There is also evidence that some South Indian brahmins settled in Kashmir. The actual sect of their origin is not known. [14]

There is a perception that some Aarama Dravidulu Brahmins of Andhra Pradesh hold that their ancestors migrated in the 13th and 14th centuries, from Saurashtra to the banks of the River Cauvery in Tamil Nadu, whence some of them migrated to Andhra Pradesh, by all accounts before the 18th century. [15]

Traditional occupation

They are held to have been the land-lords and head-men of the Brahmin villages called agraharams[16]. They may also have organised the agraharams' defence in turbulent times[16]. A proverb still prevalent amongst the Aiyers indicating the supposed short-temper of Vadama Brahmins, may be indicative of their martial past.[citation needed] They were among the Brahmin nobles and administrators under the Nayaka, Travancore and Vijayanagar rulers. Administrative practices adopted by them were strictly in accordance with those prescribed in the Hindu Dharma-Shastras, as may be observed from the records of the kings themselves and the writings of travellers, most prominently Ibn Battuta and Jean-Baptiste Tavernier.

But, as with other Brahmins, their primary duties were to study the Vedas, teach them and perform the ceremonies they entailed. The vast majority of them, until the nineteenth century, were household priests with some even being temple-priests, particularly in Travancore.

Many were great scholars and served in the courts of kings. Nilakanta Dikshitar was a minister to Thirumalai Naick of Madurai. Sri Visakam Thirunal Rama Varma of Travancore had several Vadama in his court as Tharka Sastrys, whose duty was to advise the king.[citation needed]

In the nineteenth century, as with other Iyers, many of the Vadama joined, the judiciary of British India as lawyers and judges, or served in the Indian Civil and Revenue Services. Many others continued in the service of the kings of the princely states of Travancore, Mysore, Pudukottai, and Ramnad.[17]

Religious practices

While the religious rituals of the Vadama are, in almost all respects, identical with those of other Iyers, there are a few minor deviations from them. One of these lies in the practice of some men applying Gopi Chandanam, an yellow pigment of mineral origin similar in appearance to that obtained from sandalwood, on the forehead, instead of Vibhuthi. However, there were some others like Appayya Dikshitar's family who applied only Vibhuti, being staunch devotees of Shiva. While it was more common in former times, the use of Gopi Chandanam continues, being replaced by Vibhuthi otherwise.

The Vadama traditionally claim to be superior to other classes of Iyers[18]. However it was not uncommon for other brahmin sects to talk proudly about their own superiority. One ritualistic difference from other Iyers, arises in their having to recite the following verse in honour of the River Narmada, and to ward of serpents, as part of their Sandhyavandanam:

Narmadayai namah pratah Narmadayai namo nisi Namostu Narmade tubhyam pahi mam visa-sarpatah[19]

Also, in some parts of Kerala, as Nambudiri Brahmacharis were not commonly found[20], a Brahmachari belonging to the Vadadesa Vadama was required to pour water into the hands of a Nambudiri sanyasi as part of the rituals connected with the latter's breakfast.[21]

List of Vadamas

References

  1. ^ "South Indian Studies", Harogadde Manappa Nayak, Balakrishnan Raja Gopal, T. V. Mahalingam, Geetha Book House, 1990
  2. ^ "Journal of the Asiatic Society", India Asiatic Society, 1832
  3. ^ "Peasant state and society in medieval South India", Burton Stein, Oxford University Press, 1980
  4. ^ a b c All About Hinduism
  5. ^ "Caste in Indian Politics", R. Kothari, Orient Longman, 2004
  6. ^ "Inequality and Its Perpetuation: A Theory of Social Stratification", Victor Salvadore D' Souza, University of California Press, 1981
  7. ^ Srivaishnavism
  8. ^ "History of Tamilnad", N. Subrahmanian, Koodal Publishers, Tamil Nadu, 1977
  9. ^ a b c Art and Culture in Ancient Kashmir
  10. ^ What Is India News Service
  11. ^ a b "A New Account of the East Indies", Captain Alexander Hamilton, published 1739, A. Bettesworth and C. Hitch, London
  12. ^ "Rahul Dravid - A Biography", Vedam Jaishankar (ISBN 817476481X). Publisher: UBSPD Publications, January 2004
  13. ^ "Rural Society in Southeast India", Kathleen Gough, Cambridge University Press, 1982
  14. ^ http://vitasta.org/2001/1.6.html This website references Kalhana's Rajatarangini which says that some Dravid Brahmins were settled at Sempora when Raja Jaya Simha (1128-1149) ruled over Kashmir
  15. ^ http://www.vepachedu.org/manasanskriti/aaraamadraavida.html This reference quotes "Aaraamadraavida Vamsacharitra," written (1935) by Anantapadmanaabham Dvivedula (1888-1947), published by Venkataramarao Dvivedula, Samkhavaram, Andhra Pradesh - 533446.
  16. ^ a b "Journal of the Andhra Historical Society", Andhra Historical Research Society, Rajahmundry, Madras Presidency, 1929
  17. ^ "From Landlords to Software Engineers: Migration and Urbanization among Tamil Brahmans", C. J. Fuller and Haripriya Narasimhan, London School of Economics and Political Science, 2008
  18. ^ "Tanjore District Handbook", Madras Record Office, Madras, India, 1957
  19. ^ Vedic Vocalisation and the Regional Languages from the Chapter "Siksa", in Hindu Dharma : kamakoti.org:
  20. ^ Frequently Asked Questions
  21. ^ "Castes and Tribes of South India", Edgar Thurston and K. Rangachari, Government Press, 1909
  22. ^ "Indian Music", Bigamudre Chaitanya Deva, Indian Council for Cultural Relations, 1974
  23. ^ "Facets of Indian Culture", Ramanuja Srinivasan, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, 1962
  24. ^ "A Dictionary of South Indian Music and Musicians", P. Sambamoorthy, Indian Publishing House, 1952
  25. ^ "Studies in Arts and Sciences", S. Thiruvenkatachari, Ram Bros., 1978
  26. ^ "Bharati and the Fine Arts", T. S. Parthasarathy, publ. in "Shanmukha", 1982
  27. ^ "Sri Krishna Leela Tarangini" by Nārāyaṇatīrtha, Balasubrahmanya Natarajan, Balasubrahmanyam Venkataraman, Balasubrahmanyan Ramachandran, Mudgala Trust, 1990
  28. ^ Ramanuja
  29. ^ a b "History of Sri Vaishnavism in the Tamil Country: Post-Ramanuja", N. Jagadeesan, Koodal Publishers, 1977
  30. ^ A Kali Yuga woman saint
  31. ^ 'Sri Appayya Dikshita', N. Ramesan, Srimad Appayya Dikshitendra Granthavaliu Prakashana Samithi, Hyderabad, India, 1972
  32. ^ http://kalviviswam.org/kalpathy/Publication1_files/page0002.htm
  33. ^ Autobiography of Swami Sivananda

See also

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