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Vellalar
Vellalars (also, ''Velalars'', ''Vellalas'') were, originally an elite caste of Tamil agricultural landlords in Tamil Nadu, Kerala states in India and in neighbouring Sri Lanka; they were the aristocracy of the ancient Tamil order (Chera/Chola/Pandya/Sangam era) and had close relations with the different royal dynasties. The Vellalar were during ancient and medieval period landlords and part of the elite caste who were major patrons of literature.〔The New Cambridge History of India: Vijayanagara by Burton Stein p.134〕〔The Trading World of the Tamil Merchant: Evolution of Merchant Capitalism in the Coromandel by Kanakalatha Mukund p.166〕〔Al-Hind, the Making of the Indo-Islamic World: Early Medieval India and the making of the Indo-Islamic World by André Wink p.321〕 During the Chola period the Vellalar community was the dominant secular aristocratic caste, providing the courtiers, most of the army officers, the lower ranks of the bureaucracy and the upper layer of the peasantry.〔Rural Society in Southeast India by Kathleen Gough p.29 Cambridge University Press ISBN 978-0-521-23889-2〕
==Etymology==
There are different theories concerning the meaning of the word 'Vellalar'. One theory postulates it is derived from ''Vellam'' (meaning flood in Tamil) and ''alar'' (ruler or controller), so Vellalar means "Lord of the floods".〔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..."()〕 The Journal of Indian History, Vol VII, explains that Vellalars, the controllers of the flood, irrigated their fields when the rivers were in flood, and raised the rice-crop on damp rice-fields; while the Karalars were controllers of the rain, who looked up to the sky for watering their fields and stored rain water in tanks.〔Journal of Indian History, Vol VII, 1928 states: "To proceed from Mullai to Marudam ; in the lowermost reaches of the rivers lived the farmers, of whom there were two classes, (1) the Vellalar, the controllers of the flood, who irrigated their fields when the rivers were in flood, and raised the rice-crop on damp rice-fields with the extraordinary patience and industry which only the Indian peasant is capable of; (2) the Karalar, controllers of the rain, who looked up to the sky for watering their fields, who stored the rain water in tanks and ponds and dug wells and lifted the water by means of water-lifts of different kinds.." ()〕 The ''Journal of Kerala Studies, Vol 14'', says the etymological interpretations connecting Vellalar with Velir are unconvincing.〔The Journal of Kerala Studies, Vol 14, p.6-7: "Also some modern scholars have tried to equate them with the Vellalar caste. However, such etymological interpretations to connect Vellalar with Velir appear unconvincing".〕 It suggests that the word Vellalar comes from the root Vellam for flood, which gave rise to various rights of land; and it is because of the acquisition of land rights that the Vellalar got their name. Rangaswamy and Araṅkacāmi say the Vellālars are probably the descendants of the Vēlir; but the words Veļļālar, Vēļāņmai, Vēļālar, are derived from their art of irrigation and cultivation rather than from their original chieftainship.〔The surnames of the Caṅkam age: literary & tribal, by M. A. Dorai Rangaswamy, Mor̲appākkam Appācāmi Turai Araṅkacāmi, p.151-155: "The commentators on Tolkappiyam speak of two kinds of cultivators the Melvaramdars and the Kilvaramdars, relying upon like ‘Kutipurantarunar param ompi’ (Patir 13, line 24), ‘safeguarding the burden of those who protect the cultivators’, - and of some cutrams in Akatinnai Iyal (24, 29, 30) and the Marapiyal (80, 81, 84)...Tolkappiyar is not concerned with the codification of the actual habits and social conditions of the castes as contrasted with the literary tradition. Therefore one is tempted to look upon these as interpolations of a later age. Therefore the attempt at confusing the velir with vellalar and at identifying the Vellalar with the Sudras of the Smritis, is misleading. The word Vellalar comes from the root Vellam, the flood of the water which the Vellālar directed into proper channels; the name Kārālar is an exact equivalent of this word. But this does not mean the Vellālars may not be the descendants of the Vēlir; probably they are; but the words Veļļālar, Vēļāņmai, Vēļālar, are derived from their art of irrigation and cultivation rather than from their original chieftainship.."〕〔( Madras journal of literature and science, Volume 13 By Madras Literary Society and Auxiliary of the Royal Asiatic Society, p.41 )〕
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