The Valanjiyars/Gavaras are a famous Tamil Trading Guild along with Nanadesis and Nagarathars. They dominated the trade routes of South East Asia.They are present in Coastal Andhra regions and Inner Tamilnadu region.
The people of Valanjiyar guild are said to be highly courageous and were popularly known as Veera Valanjiyar in Tamil Counry, Veera Balanjiya in Kannada and Veera bhanju in canareese.They have very strict mercantile code of conduct which they refer it as veera dharma sasthram. Due to their complete trading activity they were uniformly settled in entire south india including srilanka to conduct trading activities.
ORIGINS
The Valanjiyars now referred as Gavara people living in Tamil Nadu has their origins in the Tamil Country even though some historians claim they have their origins in Srilanka but it wasn't proved since most of the available records clearly shows they migrated to srilanka from Tamil Country to access Trade operations.
The Valanjiyars are one of the oldest recorded uild in History of India.The Valanjiyars were dominant trading caste who exerted their powers stretching to present day Indonesia.
Valanjiyars are said to be a sub sect of Vanniyar caste.According to the culavamsha ( famous Srilankan historical book) the valanjiyars were a subsect of vanniyar caste in which vanniyar caste(denoted as Kshatriya velaikkara community though still many historians doubt the authenticity of this claim) dealt as warriors and valanjiyars maneuvered themselves as trading caste later.The claim of culavamsha is supported by many significant similarties between vanniyars and valanjiyars. Both of the caste share same origin of solar race and earlier were said to be the superior warriors for their fighting skills and were employed in large numbers during the Chola period.While subjecting this recorded inscription to a DNA test suprisingly the DNA of Gavaras in present day tamilnadu showed more resemblance towards the nayakar,padayatchi of vanniyar caste in present day tamilnadu.
In the early century when the pandiyan kingdom was on its peak the valanjiyars along with Natukottai chettiar community dominated the whole trading.They exerted excessive powers and even kings had to be dependant on their wealth.
In the time of cholan rule the cholas gave full powers to the their own valanjiyar community which led to the complete domination of this community in trading sector.They were said to posses wealth as equal as kings.
Historical Reference:
Many Historical Reference of Vira Valanjiyar has been found in recent times. The Valanjiyar of Tennilangai or Sri Lanka was active in the Pandya Country, whose close trade relations helped many of them to operate in this country and their contributions to local Siva and Vishnu temples are recorded. Thus a member of Tennilangai, Valanjiyar guild was responsible for the construction of the Amman shrine in Sundarersvara temple in Aruppukkottai in Virudhunagar District.The Valanjiyar at Tirunelveli had the katranmai right of lands of the local temple in return for certain services to the temple. The presence of Valanjiyar at Ennayiram in South Arcot District is recorded in the 11 th century.
Sarkarperiyapalayam inscription records the meeting of the various guilds which conducted the awakening ceremony in a temple. The tisayayirrattuainnurruvar made a donation of 15 kalanju pon for two perpetual lamp to the god for the merit of a Valanjiyar who died in a dispute among the merchant community. In a joint venture the valanjiyar and ainnurruvar constructed a portion of the stone temple dedicated to Tiruvelvikudi udayar.
An inscription found at Melnangavarm, Karur district described a gift of a garden which was named as valanjiyar Ainnurruvar and was guarded by a militia. According to Nalavenba, a Tamil poetic literature, the merchants of Pandya country were the ideal citizens with an ennobling character. They were excelling in personal greatness in relation to morality and chivalry. In addition to that, they co-operated with the king in the maintenance of social justice and monarchial rule. There were many lands donated as devadana in the name of Ainnurruvar merchants. Ayyapolil Avanivanta Ramanallur was a devadanam which was an example to this gesture. The valanjiyar merchants also acted as patron of mutts. Some of the mutts were named after Valanjiyar mutts.
They followed various creeds Saivism, Jainism and others. They comprised of various sections such as Viravalanjiyar, Virakkodaiyar which indicates that an army unit was associated with their guild for safeguarding the merchandise in their warehouses and in transit. They worshipped the plough share and the peddler's pack.They are said to have padinensamaya, vishya and bhumi.
e historians refer to it to warriors. They were enlisted for extraordinary military service. K.A.Nilakanta Sastri suggested that they were the most permanent and dependable troops in the royal service. They were ever ready to defend the king and his cause with their lives when occasion arose. The Tamil Lexicon also gives us the same meaning as devoted servants.Since the Valanjiyar were the militant merchant guild, the historians had of different opinions. Because of their militant nature they could have served in the army. The militant component of the overseas trading organization is visible in many of the South Indian epigraphs, but most obviously in the Kongu Nadu inscriptions
The Valanjiyar guild denoted by the term 'viravalanjiyar' meaning the armed guards. They enforced the code of mercantile conduct known as 'Viravalanjiyar dharma'. A Valanjiyar chief of Iluppaiyur was living in a place called Pandi Perunderu. In A.D.1224, he set up the idol of Lingapuranadeva.
The Culavamsha also recorded that valanjiyar have contributed to the construction of temple of tooth relic in srilanka.
The Culavamsha also in detail explains the chola's conquest of srilanka. The chola forces after conquering srilanka left two of the their infantry regiments in control of the conquered places in srilnka.The infantry mostly composed of velaikara and vira valanjiyar troops.
Rajendra Cholan Rule:
During the rule of Rajendra Chola trading activity of the mighty chola kingdom was competed by the aihole guild which was backed by the chalukyan empire. The Cholas were in constant fight with Chalukyan kingdom which made trading a bit difficult for various guilds operated during this time. By this time the chalukyan empire was greatly benefited from the trade with china which led them to have superior arms than their chola conterparts. This imbalance of power made rajendra chola to empower the vira valanjiyar community to settle largely in chalukyan empire to carry out trade with these european and chineese traders. These vira valanjiyars are referred as vira balanjiyars in kannada and the traders greatly benefited by their special privilege of Emperor Rajendra Cholan.
By this time the daughter of Rajendra cholan Ammanaga Devi was married to the prince of Eastern Chalukyan Empire Raja Raja Narendra. They have a son named Vira Narendra Rajendra who was taken care by the vira valanjiyar community as by the orders of Rajendra cholan. This Vira Narendra Rajendra later succeeded the chola kingdom as Kulothunga Cholan due to sudden succession crisis in the Chola Kingdom.
Later Chola Period:
By around 1279 Maravarman Kulasekara Pandiyan I defeated the combined army of cholas and Hoysala which ended the chola dynasty in south india completely.This battle made the vira valanjiyars to settle in Hoysala ruling regions since the victorious pandiyas were rampaging the chola kingdom mainly plundering the trading communities.
Vijayanagar Kingdom:
After Islamic Conquest of South India the mighty pandiyans were now instable and the great madura kingdom has now been reduced to a tiny village. With total damage in trading of Non Islamic Communities there emerged Vijayanagar Kingdom in the ruins of once mighty hoysalas they resisted the islamic invasion and soon repelled the islamic forces from south india completely.
By this time all the valanjiyars settled in the Vijayanagar Kingdom now known as Balanjiyas or Banajigas had marrital Alliance with Aihole Trading Communities which later emerged to a different community of Balija Guilds. Some resisted these marrital alliance and they themself considered higher among the other groups considering their rich heritage started calling themselves as Gavaras. The name Gavaras were chosen since these valanjiyar guild people were hardcore shaivites.They Had their own temple built in Hampi with its supreme God as Gavareshwara(Lord Shiva) and its wife Gowri. Hence they started calling themselves as the proud followers of Gavareshwara and later shortened as Gavara guilds.Mostly they had surnames as Kavarayar.Most of the Gavara guilds by this time rather than speaking tamil were having both kannada and telugu as their language depending upon the area they settled during pandiyan conquest of chola.Even now the Gavara community scarcely populated in the Coastal Andhra region and inner Tamilnadu do not encourage marrital alliance with other communities.
Journey back to Tamilnadu:
The Vijayanagara Prince Kumara Kampana Udayar who freed the kingdom of madurai from the clutches of Sultan rule now enthroned a local pandiyan as the ruler of madurai and also made him viceroy of Pandiyan kingdom.
Nearly 13 Pandiyan rulers were said to be ruled under Vijayanagara Viceroys and one of the Meenakshi Amman temple Gopuram was built during the rule of five pandiyan kings of Madurai famously called as panja pandiyargal during this period.
When the rule of famous Krishnadevaraya a commander of Gavara guild named Nagamma Kavarayar(born in present day tiruvannamalai) was called off by the emperor and sent to the lands of Madurai to protect the pandiyan king who was defeated by a small chola force. The Nagamma Kavarayan captured the madurai from chola forces and refused to obey the words of krishnadeva raya to enthrone the deposed pandiyan king named chandrasekhara pandiya.
This greatly angered the Emperor Krishnadevaraya who called of his loyal son vishwanatha kavarayan and bestowed him the title of nayaka(meaning commander/leader) and was ordered to arrest nagama and make the chandrasekhara pandiyan to have his throne.
The Viswanatha Nayaka now captured madurai from his father arrested him and later produced him to krishnadeva raya. The Emperor now happy about the loyalty rewarded Vishwanatha nayaka as the Viceroy of Madurai kingdom which was ruled poorly by its weak chandrasekhara pandiyan.
Due to Weak rule of Chandrasekhara pandiyan the people suffered a lot with Madurai in a worst condition to resist even a small invasion force.These continued consequence made Ariyanatha Mudaliyar the dalaway of Madurai to depose the weak ruler Chandrasekhara Pandiyan and invited Vishwanatha Nayaka to take charge as the Ruler of Madurai.Chandrasekhara Pandiya though deposed from Madurai Seat maintained a friendly co ordinal relationship with Viswanatha Nayaka which made him to gain autonomy rule over Tinnelvely. The relationship was sealed with marrital alliance with Nayaks which made many local lords to accept the Nayaks as highlords.
The Madurai Nayaks were never crowned as emperors until the rule of Tirumalai Nayaka who stopped paying the tributes to Vijayanagara kingdom and established the strong Madurai Nayaka Dynasty.
The pandiyas though deposed of ruling madurai continued ruling tenkasi and tirunelvi with some initial supports of nayaks of Madurai. It is said that pandiyas have matrimonial alliance with Madurai Nayak Family.Later sons of the pandiyan king started a rebellion to demand stop paying tributes to the vijayanagar kingdom which was put off by ariyanatha mudaliyar.After this incident again the friendship Between two kingdoms which saw repeated marrital alliance.Some Historians argue that pandiyan princes were too granted nayaka title since one of the princess was married to Achuty Deva Raya the emperor of Vijayanagara Kingdom himself.
Emperor Krishnadeva raya was succeeded by his brother Achutya Deva Raya.During his rule the ruling pandiyas of tinnelvely made a deal to help them protect against the raids from malayalam country. As per the deal Pandiyan Princess Varadambika was married to the Achutya Deva Raya. The Pandiyan princess was accompanied by her sister martiambal to the courts of Achutya Deva Raya.
Another Ruler of Same Gavara guild was sevappa Gavarayan who was the cousin of Vishwanatha Nayaka of Madurai won the trust of emperor also distinguished himself as a great commander in several wars against sultans of bijapur was married to the pandiyan princess who was the sister of wife of Achutya deva Raya. As a Dowri Sevappa Kavarayan was given the title of Nayaka and been appointed as the viceroy of Tanjore comprising present day tiruchirpalli and ramanathapuram as a part of dowri.
This sevappa nayaka later founded the Tanjore Nayaka Kingdom but the kings always been loyal and faithful to the Vijayanagar Kings which made them in constant fights with Madurai Nayakas.
After the fall of Madurai Nayaks the Nawab of Carnatic reduced all the powers from them to avoid any attacks in future.
Current Position in TamilNadu:
In Tamilnadu they are identified as Gavaras. They are reserved as Backward Class in Tamilnadu. They have large population in Madurai,Theni,Virudhunagar,Salem,Thirupur,Tanjore,Karur. Gavaras are considered to be a subsect of Balija considering their long history but till date marriage alliance are not made often between these two communities. All the Gavara community has Naidu as their title since Naidu is the corrupted Telugu meaning for the sanskrit word Nayaka.
Economic Position in Tamilnadu:
Due to the oppression in the hands nawabs of carnatic many members were stripped of their lands and forced to migrate to some vast lands and proceed agriculture as their occupation.Even now majority of the community people follow agriculture as their major occupation.
Political Power:
As far Political Situation hardly one or two MLA's so far have been elected from Gavara Background since majoriy of vote percentage of the community is foreshadowed by the Naidu factor but the reality is they haven't got any real power in politics.
Celebrities
Vijayakanth a famous actor and founder of DMDK is from Gavara Community.His wife premalatha is from kammavar community.
Dhanush another famous actor is also from Gavara Community.
Vijay Sethupathi is also from Gavara Community.
Selva Raghavan Director and brother of actor Dhanush
References:
- S.A.Q.Husaini, The History of the Pandya Country, Selvi Pathippagam, Karaikudi, 1962, p.126. 2
- Henry Heras, South India under the Vijayanagar Empire, The Aravidu dynasty, Vol.1,Cosmo Publications, New Delhi,
- M.N.Venkata Ramanappa, Outline of South Indian History-II, revised Edition, Vikas Publishing Home Pvt., Ltd., New Delhi, 1975
- An Arab Geographer and the brother of the first Madurai Sultan visited Madurai in A.D.1334
- Henry Heras ,Op.cit., Vol 1,p.102. 7 K.N.Chitnis, Socio-Economic History of Medieval India, Atlantic Publishers and Distributors, New Delhi, 2002,
- K.Rajayyan, Tamilnadu- A real History, First Edition, Ratna Publications, Madurai, 2005, P.174
- M.Arumairaj, Jesuit Contribution to the Historiography of Tamilagam, Anand Amaldoss (Ed),Jesuit Presence in Indian History, Gujarat Sahitya Prakash, P.B.70, India,
- Leon Besse LA MISSION DU MADURE- Vol III,Trichinopoly, 1914, P.440.(MPJA Shenbaganur)
- Culavamsha(Srilankan Historical Book)
- 3 K.A.Nilakanta Sastri, A History of South India from Pre -Historic times to the end of Vijayanagar, III edn, Oxford University press, 1966
- P.Shanmugam, Pattadai and Industries in the Tamil country under the Vijayanagar rule, Journal of Asian and African studies No.37,1989,
- P Chandrasekar & S Chandravanan Panjampatti kalvettu, , Aavanam , A Journal of Tamilnadu Archaeological society, Issue 5, July 1994.
Comments
Post a Comment