Vadama

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 the Vadama were associated with Vijayanagara Empire as nobles and administrators and therefore got associated with telugu and kannada regions. With the fall of Vijayanagar kingdom, many returned back to tamil kingdoms.People whose origin was north of chola empire were classified as vadesha vadama. It is very likely that the vadamas linked with vijayanagar empire were vadesha vadamas. This is indicated by the relationship which leading vadesha vadamas like appaiah deekshitar and neelakanta deekshitar had with nayaka rulers of vellore and madurai.( Chinnabomma nayaka and tirumalai nayaka)

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 Central India. Some authors 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, which were generally associated with the north, both at the turn of the first millennium and previously.

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.

Origins

A belief that is held within the community itself is that its members arrived at various points of time in the far south of the Indian Peninsula, and proceeded to get assimilated into the Vadama on the basis of similarity in beliefs and practices. It is this stage-wise migration that is believed to have given rise to the sub-divisions within the group. For instance, one group is called the Vadadesa Vadama, which means the 'Vadama of the North', while another group is called the Choladesa Vadama, meaning the 'Vadama of the South'. 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.

A tradition from Kerala holds that the Vadama amongst the Palghat Iyers came in the late 13th century A.D. fleeing the destruction created by the armies of Alauddin Khilji, and settled in Kerala.

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 . 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 . 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.

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.

Traditional 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.

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.

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 similar to that obtained from sandalwood, on the forehead, instead of Vibhuthi. While this was more common in former times, the practice has gradually given way to the use of Vibhuthi, which is almost ubiquitous now.

Also, it was required that a Vadama man of the Vadadesa Vadama pour water into the hands of a Nambudiri sanyasi as part of the rituals connected with the latter's breakfast( A par6t of kerala iyer tradition)

Eminent Vadama

• Syama Sastri, one of the doyens of Carnatic Music, a descendant of a group of Vadadesa Vadama who fled Conjeeveram in the wake of a Muslim attack.
• Sundara Swamigal, a Hindu religious exponent of the mid 19th century and philosophical mentor of the famed Carnatic musician Maha Vaidyanatha Iyer
• Gopalakrishna Bharathi, his father Ramaswami Bharathi and grandfather Kothandarama Bharathi, a family of eminent Carnatic musicians
• Ramaswamy Dikshitar (1735-1817?) and his son Muthuswamy Dikshitar, eminent Carnatic musicians
• Avadayakkal, a Saivite saint
• Appayya Dikshitar and nephew Neelakanta Deekshitar legendary scholars who re-established Advaita philosophy's predominance in the South belonged to the Vadadesa Vadama sect and migrated from places near Nasik.
• The Vaishnava saints Ramanuja, Tirumalai Nambi and Mudaliyandan were born Vadama.