Origin of Vellalas- The lords of the land

Vellalas (வேளாளர்) or Velalas (வெள்ளாளர்) is an agrarian caste, whose domicile is predominantly in Tamil Nadu. They are also spread at neighboring states like Andhra, Karnataka and Kerala and neighboring countries like Srilanka. They form the most significant community in the extended tamil diaspora which includes Srilanka, Singapore, Malaysia, South Africa and Caribbean islands. Recently, due to progressive socio-economic status they have migrated to European, Australian and North American counties. The vellala community is one of the most ancient communities in India and has an undistrubted lineage which can be traced back to Indus valley civilization (IVC). They have once dominated the entire India. While the history of Vellalas has been well documented by several historians, right from early 19th century, recent archeological and genetic studies have deepened our understanding about the origin of this ancient community.

The earliest reference of Vellalas is found in Tholkapiyam, the oldest known literature in tamil. It indicates that stage Agathya, one of the well renounced vedic stages, went to Dwaraka and requested Lord Krishna to send with him 18 Velir kings and 18 cores Vellalas, to the Southern part of India. As per Indian mythology, the whole world gathered at Mount Kailash to witness the Shiva-Parvathi wedding, because of which the earth titled towards the North. In order to restore the balance, Lord Shiva requested stage Agathya to move to the Southern part of India. It was believed that, even though the stage was of dwarf stature, because of his tremendous yogic power, he would be able to balance the tilted earth. It was during this voyage towards South, that the stage went to Dwaraka (which is there in the present day Gujarath) and requested lord Krishna to send the Velir kings and Vellalas with him. This is basically because, the Vellalas in general were excellent city planners and were capable of tilting the forest and creating agricultural land and can thereby establish civilization. As expected, the Vellalas moved with stage Agathya. During the voyage, the stage carried with him, his wife Goddess Lobamuthra (princess of Vitharba), in form of water, in his holy pot (kamandalam). When he was doing his daily rituals at mount Kudagu (in the Western ghats), Lord Ganesha, in form a crow, toppled his holy pot, thereby spilling the water, which started following as river Cavery. A group of vellalas stayed back at that place, cleared the forest and started farming. They established Thuluva naadu and they were called the Thuluva vellalas. Thus, thuluva vellalas were the first group to branch out from the main tree of Velirs. The remaining vellalas and Velir kings followed stage Agasthya, to Mount Pothigai, which is in the Southern tip of India. These Vellalas cleared the forest and established the first tamil country, namely the Pandya kingdom. These Vellalas were called the Narkudi 48000 Vellalas, since they migrated en mass as a group of 48000 individuals. Latter, a group of these Vellalas migrated to the West and established the Chera kingdom (Cherakula Vellalas). Another groups of Vellalas migrated directly from the fertile gangetic plains to the Cauvery delta region and established the Chola kingdom (Choliya Vellalas). This is documented in the famous Thiruvalankadu copper plate inscriptions, which clearly mentions that the ancestral chola king was a direct decent of Isavagu dynasty, the famous dynasty into which lord Rama himself was born. Thus, the Vellalas established the Chera-Chola-Pandya kingdom. Latter one of the Chola prince, Athondai (born to Kulothanga Chola I and a Nagar girl) was not able to become the Chola king, since his mother was not from the Vellala clan. Hence he decided to establish his own kingdom towards the north of Chola kingdom, for which he again brought a group of 12000 vellalas, from the Pandya kingdom, who fought and defeated the Kurumbars (who were inhabiting the dense forest of the present day Northern Tamil Nadu, which is between Thirupathi and River Pallar). They craved a separate kingdom for the king and named it after him, which came to be known as Thondainadu. The Thondainadu itself was called as Thondaimandalam and was divided into 96 naadus (countries). The king honored the Vellalas by making them the king of each naadu and bestowing them with the honorary title, Mudaliyar. Athondai became the king of these kings and hence was called Athondai Chakravarthy. Finally, when a Chola princess married a Chera king, as usual a group of Choliya Vellalas accompanied her. They craved a separate kingdom between the Chera and Chola kingdoms, which became the Kongunadu. Latter, vellalas from Thondai, Chola and Chera kingdoms migrated to Kongunadu. These Vellalas together formed the Kongu vellalas.

It is quite possible that the Vellalas could have migrated from the fertile Indo-gangetic plains, along with Lord Krishna when he decided to shift his capital from Mathura to Dwaraka. It is documented in Mahabaratha that Lord Krishna in order to protect his people, from the evil Jayaradha, the Magadha king, decided to move to far South-West and established a kingdom for himself. It is Vellalas from Mathura and adjoining areas who migrated with him and helped him establish the new civilization at Gujarath. It is for this reason the Vellalas were called as Ganga puthiras (sons of river Ganges), in almost all the inscriptions. Recent genetic studies have shown close similarity between the Vellala DNA and an archival DNA isolated from Rakhigarhi (important Harappan site). So it looks like the Vellalas were the true Indus Valley Civilization (IVC) people who migrated to Southern India and established the Dravidian civilization. The Vellalas might have migrated to the South, after the migration of Aryans (the Steppe-Pastoralist), from Central Asia. Another interesting aspect of this study is that the IVC DNA itself showed strong similarity to people of Sumerian civilization, which means that the vellalas were the original inhabitants of Sumerian civilization, who migrated to India, establishing the IVC, and latter migrated to the South, establishing the Dravidian kingdom. It is interesting to note that, out of several castes which inhabited tamilnadu, Edgar Turson in his famous book Castes and Tribes of Southern India, has classified only Vellalas as dravidians, while the Brahmins were classified as Aryans and other castes under mixed naga tribes. The Sumerian civilization might be the lost Kumari civilization which has several mentions in the sangam literature including Silapathigaram and manimegalai. The Kumarai kandam which was submerged during oceanic eruption might actually be the land scape which was submerged under the present day Persian Gulf. The Kabba which is being worshipped in Mecca might actually be the foremost Shivalinga which was worshipped by the Vellalas. Tamil might be an ancient language which was spoken in Sumaria. The Sumerian Vellalas were predominantly priest kings and the vestiges of which are even now being seen in the Vellala athenams of Tamil Nadu. Thus, it would be prudent to say it’s the ancient Vellala community from Sumerian Civilization brought Tamil, one of the oldest language of the world and Saivam to Southern India.

Vellala is basically not a caste as indicated today, but is actually a Sumerian race which migrated from Sumeria to Indus Valley and then to Southern India. Being a race they were the first to follow varna system. The Chithiramelzi (The holy plouq) inscriptions which belong to the early chola period were recovered right from Solapur in Maharashtra to Middle tamil nadu. In these inscriptions the vellalas were referred with several honorific titles including gangakula, bhupala, bhumiputhra, chathurvarna kulothpavana, etc. Out of these titles, the Chathurvarna Kulothpavana is a very important title. It clearly says that, the Vellalas belong to four varnas- Priests (Anthanar), Kings (Arasar), Merchants (Vanigar) and Landlords (Velalar), but no Suthras. The Suthra were those who didn’t come under these four varnas and worked for the Vellalas. The aathisaivars (hereditary priests in Shiva temples), vaikanasa (hereditary priests in Vishnu temples), mukkaniyars (hereditary priests in Thiruchendur Subramaniya Temple) and Choliyars, might have been originally Vellalas who belong to the Brahmin varna (Anthana Vellalas). We see several inscriptions with reference to Vellala Pattans (Pattan is an honorary title used only by temple priests in those days) living in Chathurvedimangalam (Land owned by brahmins well versed in four vedas), gifting lamps to temples. Kambar in his famous “Thirukai Vilakam” says Vellalas had the right to learn both Vedas and Aagamas. Saint Meikandar, a Vellala who lived in 14th Century, was the first person to write the treatise for aagamas, which was called Sivagnanapothagam.