Vadama: Difference between revisions
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It is also not uncommon for some [[Iyengar]]s, especially Vadakalai Iyengars, to claim this community as their origin. This may be indicative of the fact that during Ramanuja's time, some Iyers joined his movement. |
It is also not uncommon for some [[Iyengar]]s, especially Vadakalai Iyengars, to claim this community as their origin. This may be indicative of the fact that during Ramanuja's time, some Iyers joined his movement. |
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Although some members of the Saurashtra community claim to be Brahmins, and also to belong to a particular group such as the Vadama or Brahacharanam, they are strictly not included by the Brahmins amongst their numbers. Further the Saurashtrians are known to have emigrated to the far south only in the 18th century in the wake of the Mahratta rulers of Tanjore and Madurai, long after the last immigrations of Vadama. Neither are the Saurashtrians known to have ever been allowed into the Agraharams of the Brahmins nor have they been known to lay claim to belong to a particular sub-group such as the Vadadesa or Choladesa Vadama. This effectively settles as false, certain unsubstantiated hypotheses regarding the descent of the Vadama from the Saurashtrians. |
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| ⚫ | 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 |
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| ⚫ | 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 <ref name="Hamilton">[Source: "A New Account of the East Indies", Captain Alexander Hamilton, published 1739, A. Bettesworth and C. Hitch, London] </ref> 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 <ref name="Hamilton"/>. 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 certainly occurred in the period in question. |
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| ⚫ | The immigration from the Upper Deccan during the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries is noted in the 'Malabarische Manual' and 'Conversations in Tranquebar' by the German missionary Zeigenblag who was stationed in the service of the Danish East India company at Tranquebar during the late 17th and early 18th centuries in his works. He observes that these immigrants were referred to as "Vadagas". {{Fact|date=December 2007}} |
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| ⚫ | The immigration from the Upper Deccan during the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries is noted in the 'Malabarische Manual' and 'Conversations in Tranquebar' by the German missionary Zeigenblag who was stationed in the service of the Danish East India company at Tranquebar during the late 17th and early 18th centuries in his works. He observes that these immigrants were referred to as "Vadagas". {{Fact|date=December 2007}} |
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==References== |
==References== |
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Revision as of 16:09, 28 January 2008
 | This article may require copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone, or spelling. (January 2008) |
Vadama ("Northerners") is a sub-group of the Iyers who are believed to have originated in the regions north of the Tamil Kingdoms. Some of them came south at the height of the Vijayanagar Empire as nobles and administrators. Disputes existed, at various times, between the southern peninsular states, such as the Cholas and Pallavas, and the dynasties of the upper Deccan and hence it is not probable that the Vadamas might have come during the rule of the far south by the Pallava, Chola, Chera and Pandya kings. Certain accounts state that the latest wave of their migration came as late as the late 1600s and early 1700s, during the late Nayaka and early British periods. Their migration is often considered to have started in the aftermath of the fall of the Vijayanagara Empire in 1565 A.D, when many Vijayanagar subjects emigrated further south. The descendants of Brahmins amongst the migrants became the Vadama Iyers.
Etymology of the term
The term Vadama is believed to have originated from the Tamil term 'Vadakku' meaning North. This claim is substantiated by the fact that, unlike other subsects of Iyers, some Vadama pay oblations in their daily Sandhyavandanam to the river Narmada in North India.
Sub categories
They have further sub-categories among themselves based on the region or place of origin. Some of these are the Vadadesa Vadama, the Choladesa Vadama,the Sabhaiyar and the Injee. Though still a separate Iyer community, intermarriage with other Iyers has been increasing in recent times.
Occupation
They are held to have been the land-lords and headmen of the Brahmin villages known as 'agraharams'. They may also have led the 'agraharams' defence in turbulent times. A proverb still prevalent amongst the Aiyers indicating the supposed short-temper of Vadama Brahmins, may be indicative of their martial past. They constituted the majority of the Brahmin nobles and administrators under the Nayaka, Travancore and Vijayanagar rulers. Administrative practices adopted were strictly in accordance with those prescribed in the Manusmriti and the Arthashastra, as may be observed from the records of the kings themselves and the writings of travellers, most prominently Ibn Battuta and Jean-Baptiste Tavernier.
Well known members
Some well-known members of this group include Appaiah Dikshitar, Muthuswamy Dikshitar, Syama Sastri, Ramayya Dalawai (Dewan of King Marthanda Varma of Travancore), Dewan Peshkar Neelakanta Aiyer (teacher of Moolam Thirunal Maharajah of Travancore and in the administrative service of that state), Sir C. P. Ramaswami Iyer (last Dewan of Travancore), Govinda Deekshitar (noble of Madurai Nayak chief Raghunatha Nayak(1650A.D)), Sir K. Sheshadri Aiyar(Dewan of Mysore), Subbaramaiyer (Chief Engineer, Sir Sheshadri Aiyer Hydro-Electric power project, Mysore state, 1901 A.D.), Sir S. Subrahmanya Aiyer (second Indian Judge of the Madras High Court), Sir C. V. Raman, Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, Dr. U. V. Swaminatha Iyer (Tamil Scholar), T.N Seshan, Kanchi Sankaracharya Jayendra Saraswathi, R. K. Narayan (English writer), R.K.Laxman (Cartoonist), Viswanathan Anand, Sowmya (Carnatic singer), Prof. N. K. Sastri(historian), Raghuram Rajan (IMF), L. Siva Ramakrishnan (Cricketer), Mani Ratnam, K. Balachander and Subrahmanyan Swamy(BJP politician).
Disputes concerning origin
It is also not uncommon for some Iyengars, especially Vadakalai Iyengars, to claim this community as their origin. This may be indicative of the fact that during Ramanuja's time, some Iyers joined his movement.
Although some members of the Saurashtra community claim to be Brahmins, and also to belong to a particular group such as the Vadama or Brahacharanam, they are strictly not included by the Brahmins amongst their numbers. Further the Saurashtrians are known to have emigrated to the far south only in the 18th century in the wake of the Mahratta rulers of Tanjore and Madurai, long after the last immigrations of Vadama. Neither are the Saurashtrians known to have ever been allowed into the Agraharams of the Brahmins nor have they been known to lay claim to belong to a particular sub-group such as the Vadadesa or Choladesa Vadama. This effectively settles as false, certain unsubstantiated hypotheses regarding the descent of the Vadama from the Saurashtrians.
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 [1] 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 [1]. 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 certainly occurred in the period in question.
The immigration from the Upper Deccan during the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries is noted in the 'Malabarische Manual' and 'Conversations in Tranquebar' by the German missionary Zeigenblag who was stationed in the service of the Danish East India company at Tranquebar during the late 17th and early 18th centuries in his works. He observes that these immigrants were referred to as "Vadagas". [citation needed]
References
1. Hamilton, Capt. Alexander, 'A New Account of the East Indies', published 1739, A. Bettesworth and C. Hitch, London
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