Nankudi Vellalar

Nankudi Vellalar (Nangudi Vellalar or Sivakalai Pillaimar), is a Tamil sub caste of Vellalar found in Tamil Nadu, India. These group of people are considered to be believers and followers of Shaivism (Religion that preaches Lord Shiva as the Supreme God). They come under the Suryakula Kshatriya Clan as per the ancient Indian Varuna System.^[1] They also claim descent from the Velir hereditary of Irungovel Pandyas ^[2] The hereditary headman of the caste was always invested with the title Irungovel. Their origination is from Melaselvanur in Ramanathapuram District. These group of people actually belong to Maravar Caste ( Mukulatoor / Thevar) as they also follow the Kilai System just as Maravar, the rituals performed in the Marriage and Funeral ceremony of Nankudi Vellalars are almost the same as Maravars and there are a lot more similarities as well. The exactly sub caste that they come under is Kondaiyankottai Maravar, these group of people started using ‘Pillai’ as their title in recent years, but in earlier and ancient times they used ‘Thevar’ as their title. As per the documentations and proofs submitted by Dr. Chidambaram Pillai in 1920 to the High Court of Judicature at Madras, Madras Presidency, British India, it is considered that the Nankudi Vellalars are the direct descendants from lineage of 201st Pandya King “Poitidia Irungovel Pandya Thevar”, who ruled the Pandiya Kingdom with Korkai as its capital. As they immigrated to Sivagalai they were highly involved in agriculture activities. Their original stronghold seems to have been southern districts of Tamil Nadu, viz. Thoothukudi, Tirunelveli, Korkai, Ambasamudram, etc. Some of them migrated to Srivaikuntam during the course of time and came to be known as Kottai Vellalar or "Kottai Pillaimar"as they built and lived in forts.^[3]

H.R Pate (1917), the former district collector of Tirunelveli describes them as great Rulers, Administrators, Agriculturists, Merchants and Traders and as a remarkably prosperous and an energetic community.^[4]

Nankudi Vellalar is derived from the words Nar(good), Kudi (community) and Vellalar (farmers), so they were essentially a good community of farmers.^{[citation needed]}

The caste is made of a number of matrilineal exogamous clans called Kilais or branches descending from the female line.^[5][6]

Citations

Bibliography

● The history of Nankudi Vellalar was described in a tamil book named நற்குடி வேளாளர் வரலாறு (நூல்)