Sri Lankan Vellalar

Sri Lankan Vellalar
Religions Hinduism, Christianity
Languages Tamil
Subdivisions
Related groups Tamil people, Vellalar

Sri Lankan Vellalar (Tamil: இலங்கை வெள்ளாளர், lit. 'Ilaṅkai veḷḷāḷar') is caste found in Sri Lanka, who comprise about half of the Sri Lankan Tamil population. They were traditionally mostly involved in agriculture and trade, but also included landowners and temple patrons.[1][2] They also form part of the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora.[3]

They are reputed as a ritually and numerical dominant caste, who have contributed among the political elites of the Sri Lankan Tamils.[4] Many of the Tamil Mudaliyars, a high colonial rank, were drawn from the Vellalar caste.[5] In Eastern Sri Lanka are the Vellalars further divided into kudi's or matrilineal clans.[6]

Etymology

The word Vellalar is derived from their art of irrigation and cultivation.[7] The word comes from the Tamil words, veḷḷam ("flood", "water" or "abundance") and āṇmai ("lordship" or "management"), thus the word literally mean "those who manage water" or "Lord of the floods".[8][9] Dutch archives registered the Vellalar and the Govigama under the term Bellalas.[10]

History

Mythological origin

They claim according to their myth to be the children of the Hindu goddess Parvati.[11] According to the myth of the Pallars, are the Vellalar and Pallar descendant of two farmer brothers.[12] The property of the younger brother Pallan got destroyed by a storm. The older brother Vellalan gave his younger brother Pallan shelter for him and his family.[13][14] After the death of Vellalan, became the wife of Vellalan the owner of the property and made the Pallan and his family their agricultural labor.[15]

Early history

The Sri Lankan Vellalars share common origins with the Vellalars of Tamil Nadu. The Vellalar traditionally inhabited the Sangam landscape of Marutham.[16] The earliest reference to the Vellala is attested in the Tolkāppiyam, which divided the society in four classes Arasar, Andanar, Vanigar and Vellalar.[17][18] There were two types of the Vellalars, the cultivators called Velkudi Ulavar and the wealthy landowners called Kaniyalar or Kodikkalar.[19] The Vellalar tribes are described as a landed gentry who irrigated the wet lands and the Karalar (use Vellalar as title) were the landed gentry in the dry lands. Karalar means "Lord of clouds".[20]

Medieval era

The Kailayamalai, an account on Kalinga Magha, the founder of Jaffna Kingdom, narrates the migration of Vellalar Nattar chiefs from the Coromandel Coast of South India.[21] It was a common practice by the Jaffna kings to take Vellalar women as concubines.[22] The offsprings were known as Madapallis.[23] In the time of Portuguese Ceylon, were the Vellalars described as husbandman, who were involved in tillage and cattle cultivation.[24]

Colonial era

Arumuka Navalar, a 19th century Shaivite scholar and reputed patron of Shaiva Siddhanta.

According to S. Arasaratnam, was the Vellalar dominance strengthen by Dutch colonizers after the fall of the Portuguese.[25] The Dutch interpreted the local laws, later codified as Thesavalamai, as allowing landlords to own slaves. Thus the Vellalar chiefs and other landlord castes had the Koviars and also the Panchamar ("the fives") consisting of the Nalavars, Pallars, Paraiyars, Vannars and Ambattars working under them as domestic servants altogether known as Kudimakkal.[26][27][28] The Thesavalamai mentions the Koviars as descendant of the Vellalars, and intermarriage between them was not uncommon.[29] According to historians did the Vellalar population increase between the 17th and 19th century due to other castes and communities assimilating in Vellalar society after the fall of Jaffna Kingdom, which included castes such as the Agampadaiyar (palace servants), Chettiars (merchants), Thanakkarar (temple managers), Madapallis (palace cooks and stewards) and Malayalis.[30][31][32][33] There used to be a concept of Periya Vellalan and Chinna Vellalan, where the latter was a subdivision compromising the castes who had assimilated in the Vellalar identity.[34][35]

During colonial times did sections of the Vellalars convert to Christianity.[36] The conversation allowed them to held land properties and also holding government offices.[37] However due to the effort of the religious reformer, Arumuka Navalar, was conversion to Christianity of many Hindu Vellalars prevented.[38] Under Dutch rule in the 18th century did Vellalars earn fortunes on tobacco cultivation.[39] The Vellalars began becoming a dominant caste in the Jaffna Peninsula and became the most numerous in the Dutch census.[40] The Vellalars, under patronage of Navalar, became strict followers of Shaiva Siddhanta, who achieved dominance through ritual design.[41][42] High class Vellalars of Jaffna and Colombo formed one of the political Sri Lankan Tamil elites, one of such being the Ponnambalam-Coomaraswamy family.[43][44]

Modern social standing

Vellala political and ritual dominance was severely restricted due to the post-1983 Sri Lankan civil war domination of Tamil politics by the main rebel group Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) whose top leaders, such as Velupillai Prabhakaran, were mostly of the Karaiyar caste.[45][46] The LTTE did not have caste distinctions and one of their ideologies were anti-casteism, seeking a united Tamil identity through recruiting of other castes and achieving a mixed-caste leadership.[47][48] Many of the Vellalars were supporters of the LTTE who also contributed as leaders and cadres.[49]

The People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE), Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization (TELO) and Eelam Revolutionary Organisation of Students (EROS) were Vellalar dominated organizations, with several Vellalar cadres of these organization later joining the LTTE.[50][51][52]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Bush, Kenneth (2003-12-09). The Intra-Group Dimensions of Ethnic Conflict in Sri Lanka: Learning to Read Between the Lines. Springer. p. 52. ISBN 9780230597822.
  2. ↑ Derges, Jane (2013-05-20). Ritual and Recovery in Post-Conflict Sri Lanka. Routledge. ISBN 1136214887.
  3. ↑ Pfaffenberger, Bryan (1985). "Vellalar domination". Man. 20 (1): 158. JSTOR 2802228.
  4. ↑ Welhengama, Gnanapala; Pillay, Nirmala (2014-03-05). The Rise of Tamil Separatism in Sri Lanka: From Communalism to Secession. Routledge. p. 168. ISBN 9781135119713.
  5. ↑ Manogaran, Chelvadurai; Pfaffenberger, Bryan (1994). The Sri Lankan Tamils: ethnicity and identity. Westview Press. p. 35. ISBN 9780813388458.
  6. ↑ Thurnheer, Katharina (2014-06-30). Life Beyond Survival: Social Forms of Coping After the Tsunami in War-affected Eastern Sri Lanka. Transcript Verlag. p. 143. ISBN 9783839426012.
  7. ↑ Rangaswamy, M. A. Dorai; Araṅkacāmi, Mor̲appākkam Appācāmi Turai (1968). The surnames of the Caṅkam age: literary & tribal. University of Madras. p. 152.
  8. ↑ Kent, Eliza F. (2004-04-01). Converting Women: Gender and Protestant Christianity in Colonial South India. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780198036951.
  9. ↑ Journal of the Ceylon branch of the Royal Asiatic Society By Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Ceylon Branch, Colombo: "'Vellalar' is also said to be a contract form of 'Vella-Alar', meaning 'the lords of the Vellam', flood..."[1]
  10. ↑ Dewasiri, Nirmal Ranjith (2007-12-12). The Adaptable Peasant: Agrarian Society in Western Sri Lanka under Dutch Rule, 1740-1800. BRILL. p. 189. ISBN 9789047432821.
  11. ↑ David, Kenneth (1977-01-01). The New Wind: Changing Identities in South Asia. Walter de Gruyter. p. 204. ISBN 9783110807752.
  12. ↑ Vincentnathan, Lynn (1987). Harijan Subculture and Self-esteem Management in a South Indian Community. University of Wisconsin--Madison. p. 385.
  13. ↑ Manogaran, Chelvadurai; Pfaffenberger, Bryan (1994). The Sri Lankan Tamils: ethnicity and identity. Westview Press. p. 149. ISBN 9780813388458.
  14. ↑ David, Kenneth (1977-01-01). The New Wind: Changing Identities in South Asia. Walter de Gruyter. pp. 189–190. ISBN 9783110807752.
  15. ↑ Contributions to Indian Sociology. University of Oxford: Mouton. 1993. p. 69.
  16. ↑ Murthy, H. V. Sreenivasa (1990). Essays on Indian History and Culture: Felicitation Volume in Honour of Professor B. Sheik Ali. Mittal Publications. ISBN 9788170992110.
  17. ↑ Chattopadhyaya, Brajadulal (2009). A Social History of Early India. CSC and Pearson Education. p. 34. ISBN 9788131719589.
  18. ↑ Ramachandran, C. E. (1974). Ahananuru in Its Historical Setting. University of Madras. p. 58.
  19. ↑ History of People and Their Environs: Essays in Honour of Prof. B.S. Chandrababu. Indian Universities Press. 2011. ISBN 9789380325910.
  20. ↑ India's Communities. Oxford University Press. 1998. ISBN 9780195633542.
  21. ↑ Holt, John (2011-04-13). The Sri Lanka Reader: History, Culture, Politics. Duke University Press. p. 84. ISBN 0822349825.
  22. ↑ Robb, Peter (1995). The Concept of Race in South Asia. Oxford University Press. p. 128. ISBN 9780195637670.
  23. ↑ Maniegar, Simon Casie Chitty (1865). "An Outline of the Classification of the Tamul Castes". Transactions of the Ethnological Society of London. 3: 95. doi:10.2307/3014159. JSTOR 3014159.
  24. ↑ Fernando, A. Denis N. (1987). "PENINSULAR JAFFNA FROM ANCIENT TO MEDIEVAL TIMES: Its Significant Historical and Settlement Aspects". Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Sri Lanka. 32: 84. JSTOR 23731055.
  25. ↑ Gerharz, Eva (2014-04-03). The Politics of Reconstruction and Development in Sri Lanka: Transnational Commitments to Social Change. Routledge. ISBN 9781317692799.
  26. ↑ A., Geetha, K. (2010-07-01). "In Need of Translation: An Analysis of Sri Lankan Tamil Dalit Literature". ARIEL. 41 (3–4). ISSN 0004-1327.
  27. ↑ Geetha, K. A. (2015-01-12). Contesting Categories, Remapping Boundaries: Literary Interventions by Tamil Dalits. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. ISBN 9781443873048.
  28. ↑ Raghavan, M. D. (1971). Tamil culture in Ceylon: a general introduction. Kalai Nilayam. p. 167.
  29. ↑ Tambiah, Henry Wijayakone (1954). The laws and customs of the Tamils of Ceylon. Tamil Cultural Society of Ceylon. p. 59.
  30. ↑ Wilson, A. Jeyaratnam (2000). Sri Lankan Tamil Nationalism: Its Origins and Development in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries. Hurst. pp. 17–18. ISBN 9781850655190.
  31. ↑ Ramasamy, Rajakrishnan (1988). Sojourners to citizens: Sri Lankan Tamils in Malaysia, 1885-1965. 24: R. Rajakrishnan.
  32. ↑ The Journal of Asian Studies, Volume 49. Cambridge University Press. 1990. p. 81.
  33. ↑ Wickramasinghe, Nira (2015). Sri Lanka in the Modern Age: A History. Oxford University Press. p. 274. ISBN 9780190225797.
  34. ↑ Civattampi, Kārttikēcu (1995). Sri Lankan Tamil society and politics. New Century Book House. p. 20. ISBN 9788123403953.
  35. ↑ David, Kenneth (1977-01-01). The New Wind: Changing Identities in South Asia. Walter de Gruyter. p. 19. ISBN 9783110807752.
  36. ↑ Lee, Jonathan H. X.; Nadeau, Kathleen M. (2010-12-21). Encyclopedia of Asian American Folklore and Folklife [3 volumes]. ABC-CLIO. p. 1044. ISBN 9780313350672.
  37. ↑ Manogaran, Chelvadurai; Pfaffenberger, Bryan (1994). The Sri Lankan Tamils: ethnicity and identity. Westview Press. p. 43. ISBN 9780813388458.
  38. ↑ Sugirtharajah, R. S. (2005-06-16). The Bible and Empire: Postcolonial Explorations. Cambridge University Press. p. 165. ISBN 9780521824934.
  39. ↑ Manogaran, Chelvadurai; Pfaffenberger, Bryan (1994). The Sri Lankan Tamils: ethnicity and identity. Westview Press. ISBN 9780813388458.
  40. ↑ Indian Antiquary, A Journal of Oriental Resarch. Popular Prakashan. 1873. p. 229.
  41. ↑ Holt, John (2011-04-13). The Sri Lanka Reader: History, Culture, Politics. Duke University Press. ISBN 0822349825.
  42. ↑ Bergunder, Michael; Frese, Heiko (2011). Ritual, Caste, and Religion in Colonial South India. Primus Books. ISBN 9789380607214.
  43. ↑ Welhengama, Gnanapala; Pillay, Nirmala (2014-03-05). The Rise of Tamil Separatism in Sri Lanka: From Communalism to Secession. Routledge. p. 168. ISBN 9781135119713.
  44. ↑ Bush, Kenneth (2003-12-09). The Intra-Group Dimensions of Ethnic Conflict in Sri Lanka: Learning to Read Between the Lines. Springer. p. 52. ISBN 9780230597822.
  45. ↑ Cheran, R. (2009-04-11). Pathways of Dissent: Tamil Nationalism in Sri Lanka. SAGE Publications India. p. 50. ISBN 9788132104322.
  46. ↑ Wilson, A. Jeyaratnam (2000). Sri Lankan Tamil Nationalism: Its Origins and Development in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries. UBC Press. p. 20. ISBN 9780774807593.
  47. ↑ Thurnheer, Katharina (2014). Life Beyond Survival: Social Forms of Coping After the Tsunami in War-affected Eastern Sri Lanka. transcript Verlag. p. 32. ISBN 9783839426012.
  48. ↑ Wilson, A. Jeyaratnam (1994). S.J.V. Chelvanayakam and the Crisis of Sri Lankan Tamil Nationalism, 1947-1977: A Political Biography. Hurst. p. 140. ISBN 9781850651307.
  49. ↑ Sociological Bulletin. University of Bombay: Indian Sociological Society. 1989. p. 133.
  50. ↑ Krishna, Sankaran (1999). Postcolonial Insecurities: India, Sri Lanka, and the Question of Nationhood. University of Minnesota Press. p. 109. ISBN 9781452903873.
  51. ↑ Wilson, A. Jeyaratnam (2000). Sri Lankan Tamil Nationalism: Its Origins and Development in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries. Hurst. p. 126. ISBN 9781850655190.
  52. ↑ Holt, John (2011-04-13). The Sri Lanka Reader: History, Culture, Politics. Duke University Press. p. 518. ISBN 0822349825.
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