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39-864: Susan Neild notes the Kondaikatti Vellalar , Thondai Mandala Saiva Vellalar / Saiva Mudaliyar as being the "predominant" subcastes of the Thondamandala Vellala.They practice endogamy and have a least two subgroups themselves, being the higher-status Melnadu and the lower-ranked Kilnadu. According to Burton Stein , She noted a link between the Thondaimandala Vellalar and the Morasu Vokkaligas of Bangalore and Kolar based on geographical proximity although two communities are distinct. In her study concentrated on two villages in 1951-53, Kathleen Gough noted

78-428: A kula . A kula is equal to a particular family, or equal to modern-day "clans". A kula relates to a caste . Marriages within the gotra ('sagotra' marriages) are not permitted under the rule of exogamy in the traditional matrimonial system. The compound word 'sagotra' is a union of the words 'sa' and 'gotra', where 'sa' means same or similar. It is common practice in preparation for Hindu marriage to inquire about

117-473: A caste of non-cultivating land-holders and some of them were administrators under various south Indian dynasties. Their original homeland was Thondaimandalam and from there they spread to other areas in south India and northeastern parts of Sri Lanka. Since they historically used the Mudaliar title, they are sometimes referred to as Thondaimandala Mudaliar. However, Kathleen Gough considers them to be

156-764: A person of first rank. However, in the view of many of the Company officers, the term "Mudali" carried a pejorative meaning. Mudalis were despised by the British because they were considered both essential actors and great threats to individual British and Company operations." As a direct result of this confrontation and hostile British policy, many of the Kondaikatti Velaalar were persecuted and eventually lost their mirasi rights and ownership of their lands. They were systematically replaced by tenants from other castes who were essentially outsiders and strangers to

195-633: A separate subcaste of the Thondaimandala Mudali, as does Susan Neild. The word Kondaikatti was used to denote someone who bound his hair up in a tuft on top of the head. Velaalar in the ancient Tamil society were of two kinds, the Uzhuthunbor or those who eat by ploughing their fields and the Uzhuvithunbor , that is those who ate by getting their fields ploughed by tenant cultivators. The Kondaikatti Velaalar belonged to

234-642: A share of the agricultural produce based upon the percentage of ownership. Some of the Kondaikatti Velaalar were employed as dubashes , literally, a person who could speak two languages, in the Company. When the British took over the Jagir , that is the agrarian area of the Thondaimandalam region, in the late eighteenth century (1782 CE), these Mirasidars and Dubashes put up a sustained and effective fight to thwart British attempts to control and collect taxes from this region. Historian Eugene Irschick who did

273-577: A study on the nature of the political society of the Thondaimandalam region between 1795 CE and 1895 CE notes: "Many of these Kondaikatti vellala Dubashes were connected by kinship to Kondaikatti vellala Mirasdars in the Poonamallee and other rural areas of the Jagir. In contemporary documents these Kondaikattis were knowns as Mudalis-later lengthened to "Mudaliyar"-a term that literally meant

312-441: A tortoise, Taittiri from titer, partridge bird. Similarly, the origin of other rishis is attributed to animals, Rishyasringa to an antelope, Mandavya to a frog, Kanada to an owl. The usual characteristic of totemism is that the members of a clan regard themselves as related to or descended from, the animals or trees from which the clan takes its name, and abstain from killing or eating them. A gotra must be distinguished from

351-410: Is both distinct from and overlaps with the orthodox sanskritic tradition." The Kondaikatti Vellalar are one of the six ancient vegetarian Vellalar castes of Tamil nadu. The Kondaikatti Vellalar do not avail any benefits under the reservation quota for Backward castes . Notes Citations Bibliography Gotra Traditional In Hindu culture , the term gotra ( Sanskrit : गोत्र)

390-599: Is considered to be equivalent to lineage . It broadly refers to people who are descendants in an unbroken male line from a common male ancestor or patriline . Generally, the gotra forms an exogamous unit, with marriage within the same gotra being regarded as incest and prohibited by custom. The name of the gotra can be used as a surname, but it is different from a surname and is strictly maintained because of its importance in marriages among Hindus, especially among castes. Pāṇini defines gotra as apatyam pautraprabhrti gotram (IV. 1. 162), which means "the word gotra denotes

429-424: Is divided into a number of unranked patrilineal exogamous clans called gotras . In addition, the caste is composed of four hierarchically ranked endogamous units called Vakaiyaras (varieties or kindreds). The members belonging to the higher Vakaiyaras will not interdine, intermarry or accept food or water from the lower Vakaiyaras. The Vakaiyaras comprise the same gotras and span across multiple village clusters. In

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468-629: Is essentially a Hindu classification system that categorises people hierarchically whereas certain section of the Kondaikatti Vellalar were originally Jains . Dr. Kamala Ganesh, former Professor and Head of Department of Sociology at the University of Mumbai, states in her research that the Varna classification does not apply to certain sections like the Kondaikatti Velaalar. She further notes: "Barnett's detailed work (1970) on

507-523: Is named after plants, animals, and natural objects. These are universal among tribes but occur also in Hindu castes. The commonest totem names are those of animals, including several which are held sacred by Hindus, as bagh or Nahar, the tiger; bachhas, the calf; murkuria, the peacock; kachhua, the tortoise; nagas, the cobra; hathi, the elephant; bhains, the buffalo; richaria, the bear; Kuliha, the Jackal, Kukura,

546-465: Is no restriction of Sagotra marriage. While the gotras are almost universally used for excluding marriages that would be traditionally incestuous , they are not legally recognized as such, although those within "degrees of prohibited relationship" or who are "sapinda" are not permitted to marry. Khap panchayats in Haryana have campaigned to legally ban marriages within the same gotra. A convener of

585-421: Is permission for marriage between cross-cousins (children of brother and sister) as they are of different gotras. Thus, a man is allowed to marry his maternal uncle's daughter or his paternal aunt's daughter but is not allowed to marry his paternal uncle's daughter. She would be considered a parallel cousin , of the same gotra, and therefore to be treated as a sister. North Indian Hindu society not only follows

624-483: Is prohibited. A possible workaround for Sagotra marriages is to perform a 'Data' (adoption) of the bride to a family of different gotra (usually data is given to the bride's maternal uncle who belongs to different gotra by the same rule) and let them perform the ' Kanyadanam ' ('kanya' (girl) + 'danam' (to give)). Such workarounds are used in rare cases, and the acceptability is questionable. Vedic Hinduism recognizes eight types of marriages, thus predominantly following

663-582: Is relatively more recent, first recorded around the mid-1st millennium BCE (e.g., Chandogya Upanishad ). These "lineages" as they developed among the Brahmins of that time meant patrilineal descent. The Brahmanic system was later adopted by other communities, such as the Kshatriyas and Vaishyas According to the Vedic theories, the Brahmins are direct descendants of seven sages who are believed to be

702-697: The 1901 census; with the Government of Madras recognising that the 4-fold division (four varnas) did not describe the South Indian, or Dravidian, society adequately. While the Shudras are described as the slaves of the other three Varna , the Vellalas are not described in such terms in the Tolkappiyam ( Velaan Maanthar ) or in other Sangam literature ( Paripaadal ). Moreover, the Varna system

741-667: The Kadyan Khap, Naresh Kadyan, petitioned the courts to seek an amendment to the Hindu Marriage Act to legally prohibit such marriages. However, the petition was dismissed as withdrawn after being vacated, with the Delhi High Court warning that the Khap would face heavy penalty costs for wasting the time of the court. In the 1945 case of Madhavrao vs Raghavendrarao , which involved a Deshastha Brahmin couple,

780-546: The Kondaikatti Vellalas defines them, both transactionally and attributionally, as a combination of the brahmanical and kshatriya models. This finding reflects a historically established fact, viz., in South India, vegetarian Vellalas, a sizeable and influential segment of the population do not fit into the four varna scheme and have constituted what could perhaps be called a parallel classical tradition which

819-472: The Sanskrit word 'sahara' (सहर) meaning co-uterine or born of the same womb. In communities where gotra membership passed from father to children, marriages were allowed between a woman and her maternal uncle, while such marriages were forbidden in matrilineal communities, like Tuluvas , where gotra membership was passed down from the mother. A much more common characteristic of South Indian Hindu society

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858-503: The Thondaimandalam country. Those tenants who were amenable to British rule and who were willing to abide by British taxation laws were gradually given more rights from the time of tax collector Lionel Place (1794 CE) and were eventually made Mirasidars. Since the taxes were directly proportional to the produce, the British also deemed all uncultivated land regardless of ownership as Company property and redistributed these lands to those who were willing to cultivate and pay taxes . The caste

897-590: The Thondamandala Vellala subjects there to have been traditionally "landlords, warriors, and officials of the state class". She thought it likely that they had moved to their present area in Thanjavur around the 15th century when the Vijayanagaras were making incursions on their former heartland of Kanchipuram in the Pallava country . She noted those households studied as being the highest-ranked members of

936-613: The concept of arranged marriage rose to prominence, which still today is predominant ritual for a marriage between two individuals. There is no harm in Sagotra marriage if the individuals are not related for six generations on both maternal and paternal sides. This is expressed in chapter 5 of Manu smriti in mantra 60, which states, सपिण्डता तु पुरुषे सप्तमे विनिवर्तते । समानोदकभावस्तु जन्मनाम्नोरवेदने, which means that sapinda ends after seven generations. Section 5(v) of Hindu Marriage Act 1955 also prohibits Sapinda relationship but there

975-487: The definition of gotra as descending from eight sages and then branching out to several families was thrown out by the Bombay High Court. The court called the idea of Brahmin families descending from an unbroken line of common ancestors as indicated by the names of their respective gotras "impossible to accept." The court consulted relevant Hindu texts and stressed the need for Hindu society and law to keep up with

1014-813: The descendance (or descendants), apatya , of a couple consisting of a pautra , a son and a bharti , a mother, i.e. a daughter-in-law." (Based on Monier Williams Dictionary definitions.) According to the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 2.2.4, Kashyapa, Atri, Vasistha, Vishvamitra, Gautama Maharishi, Jamadagni and Bharadvaja are seven sages (also known as saptarishi ) and Jambu Maharishi is another sage (also known as Renuka , who belongs to Kashyapa). The progeny of these eight sages are declared to be gotras. This enumeration of seven primary & one secondary gotra seems to have been known to Pāṇini. The offspring ( apatya ) of these seven are gotras and others than these are called gotrāvayava. One who follows

1053-436: The dog; kursaal, the deer; Hiran, the black-buck and so on. The utmost variety of names is found, and numerous trees, as well as rice and other crops, salt, sandalwood, cucumber, pepper, and some household implements such as pestle, rolling slab, serve as the names of clans. Thus the name of the rishi Bharadvaja means a lark bird, and Kaushika means descended from Kusha grass, Agastya from Agassi flower, Kashyapa from kachhap

1092-455: The kula-gotra (clan lineage) of the bride and groom before approving the marriage. People within the gotra are considered as siblings and marrying such a person can lead to higher chances for the child to get genetically transferred diseases. In almost all Hindu families, marriage within the same gotra is not practiced (since they are believed to be descended from the same Lineage). Marriages between different gotras are encouraged; marriage within

1131-530: The late 1920s, the more progressive members advocated the abrogation of the Vakaiyara system and after much deliberation, the caste passed a resolution to drop it. Some of the Kondaikatti Velaalar were originally Jains . The significant portion of the Saiva Velaalar social group, to which the Kondaikatti Velaalar belong, are also believed to have been Jainas before they embraced Hinduism although

1170-516: The latter group, that is they were landlords. The Kondaikatti Velaalar are natives of Thondaimandalam . During the Colonial era, this landed gentry were known as Mirasidars , named after the Arabic / Urdu term mirasi . The mirasi system was similar to a co-operative society where lands in a village were collectively owned by a group of people called Mirasdars. The Mirasidars were entitled to

1209-548: The majority of the group are followers of Saivism. The Tamil Jains referred by the Saiva Velaalar as nīr-pūci-nayinārs or nīr-pūci-vellalars meaning the Jains ( Nayinars ) who left Jainism and adopted Shaivism by smearing ( pūci ) the sacred ash or (tiru)-nīru . During the British colonial period, the Vellalars who were land owners and tillers of the soil and held offices pertaining to land, were ranked as Sat- Shudra in

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1248-467: The paradigm behind arranged marriages. The last three are prohibited as per Manu Smriti , out of which the last two are condemned. The Gandharva marriage is analogous to the modern-day love marriage, where the individuals have the liberty to choose their partners. Though Gandharva marriage had its due prominence in the Shastras, with the advancement of time, Vedic Hinduism giving way to classic Hinduism,

1287-466: The principles as stated in the Manu Smriti , referring to eight types of marriages, the roles, and responsibilities of husband and wife, and the purpose of marriage. Eight types of marriages are, (1) Brahma Vivaha, (2) Arsa Vivaha, (3) Daiva Vivaha, (4) Prajapatya Vivaha, (5) Gandharva Vivaha , (6) Asura Vivaha, (7) Rakshasa Vivaha, and (8) Paishacha Vivaha. The first four types of marriages reflect

1326-462: The rules of gotra for marriages but also has many regulations which go beyond the basic definition of gotra and have a broader definition of incest. Some communities in North India do not allow marriage with certain other clans, based on the belief that both clans are of the same patrilineal descent. In other communities, marriage within the gotra of the mother's father, and possibly some others,

1365-479: The same Vedic sage: One should not choose (the bride) from the same gotra or born in the line of same sage. (One may choose) from (descendants of) more than seven (generations) on the paternal side and more than five (generations) on the maternal side. As a Rigvedic term, gotra simply means "forward moving descendants". (गौः) गमन means forward moving and (त्र:) stands for Offspring. The specific meaning "family, lineage kin" (as it were "herd within an enclosure")

1404-470: The same gotra started to happen later. For example, Jats , Gurjars , and Rajputs have 13,000 Gotras . And Mudirajas of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu have 2,600 Gotras. Gotra is always passed on from father to children among most Hindu communities. However, among the Tulu people it is passed on from mother to child. The tatsama words 'sahodara' (brother) and 'sahodari' (sister) derive their roots from

1443-633: The sons of Brahma, born out of his mind through yogic prowess. They are (1) Atri , (2) Bharadvaja , (3) Gautama Maharishi , (4) Jamadagni , (5) Kashyapa , (6) Vasishta and (7) Vishvamitra . To this list, Agastya is also sometimes added. These eight sages are called gotrakarins, from whom all 108 gotras (especially of the Brahmins) have evolved. For instance, from Atri sprang the Atreya and Gavisthiras gotras. According to Robert Vane Russell , many gotras of Hindu religion are of totemic origin which

1482-590: The system defined by three sages defines himself as Tri-a-Vishay . Similarly, for five sages, it is Pancha-Vishay , and for seven sages, it is Santa-Vishay . There exists another theory about gotra: sons and disciples of a sage would have the same gotra; it is believed that they possess similar thoughts and philosophies. People of the same gotra can be found across different castes. Each gotra comprises pravaras . While Hindu texts prescribe marrying within one's own community, they prohibit individuals from marrying those who belong to their own gotra , or lineage from

1521-476: The village community after the Brahmins , and possibly to have in some cases increased their wealth and land by being appointed as revenue collectors for the Kingdom of Mysore when it took over the area in the period after 1780. Notes Citations Bibliography Kondaikatti Vellalar Kondaikatti Velaalar or Thondaimandala Mudaliar is a Tamil caste in south India. Historically, they were

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