Balija
Encyclopedia
Balija is a social group spread across the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh
(concentrated in the Rayalaseema
region), Tamil Nadu
, Karnataka
and Kerala
. Balijas are considered a sub-castes of the Kapu
, Golla
, Gavara
and Reddy
.
Jamwal,
Katoch,
Cholas,
Gujjar,
Khatri,
Kurmi,
Bisen,
Sikarwar,
Rathore,
Agrawal,
naidu,
reddy,
kapu,/
kapu-reddy-naidu-balija are of south indian settlers of syrya vanshi_agni angala kulla[agni kulla]
[raging fire =agniangala sanskrit] to bless them this branch desendents of shree ram are known as agni angala kulla.
hence they are are surya vanshi -agniangala kulla -balijana kshatria .
the balija cast is futher divided into two groups known as 1] mulla-origanal,2] namdar -namesake
the above title is only for mula jana as they origanate from kshatria kulla ,
the namdars are those people of the other casts who were living in the kingdome of balija peta at that time the ,
mulla jana and namdars dont marry as they are from different casts .
futher more the hindu gotra system plays a key role to identifi who is who ,
suryavanshi-agniangala kulla ksharitias being from uppercasts have guru gotras [names of gurus of their bloodline]in the balija mula jana ,and the namdars being lower casts have ganda gotras [names of goods sold in traditional merchant shops known as
gandaga angadi]hence there is clears difference between these classes.
The original group of Balijas seem to have been a fierce group of warrior-merchants.
, Khatri
, Balija, Barnwal
together constituted 5% of the population. However, in the census of 1981, Balija formed 27.5% of the total population of Andhra Pradesh.
while those of Karnataka speak Kannada. Periyar E. V. Ramasamy
, the father of Dravidian Politics was a Kannada speaking Balija. The descendents of Kandy Nayaks from their matrimonial ties with the Madurai Royal Family originally spoke Tamil
and Telugu
however merged into the Sinhalese
and spoke the Sinhala language for ruling purposes.
David Rudner claims that the Balija Chettis fissioned off as a separate caste from the Balija Nayaks warriors as recent as the 19th century; and accordingly they have closer kinship ties to the Nayak warriors than to Chetti merchants. However, the Balija Chettis were mentioned as rich traders and merchants during the Kakatiya Dynasty associated with some very old trading guilds concentrated in Bellary, Karnataka. Veera Balingyas (Vira Banajigas) were mentioned in the inscriptions of the Chalukyas of Badami
and the Kakatiya dynasty as powerful and wealthy merchants who were known as "Five Hundred Lords of Ayyavolu
". They have also been mentioned in Vijayanagar inscriptions. Some Balija Chettis today assume the spelling variation Shetty [శెట్టి].
There are numerous branches of Balija. Some were named after places, such as Gonuguntla Desayi Chettis (named after a village Gonuguntla) and Gandavarapu (Gonuguntla balijas who migrated to Cuddapah); while others had odd names like Mulaka (which is also name of a tribe), Miriyala (pepper traders), Vyasa
, and Tota.
The Nayaka term was first used during the Vishnukundina dynasty that ruled from the Krishna and Godavari deltas during the 3rd century AD. During the Kakatiya dynasty, the Nayaka title was bestowed to warriors who had received land and the title as a part of the Nayankarapuvaram system for services rendered to the court. The Nayaka was noted to be an officer in the Kakatiya
court; there being a correlation between holding the Nayankara, the possession of the administrative title Angaraksha and the status title Nayaka.
A more widespread usage of the Nayaka title amongst the Balijas appears to have happened during the Vijayanagar empire where the Balija merchant-warriors rose to political and cultural power and claimed Nayaka positions.
Colonial writers such as Edgar Thruston and RV Russel noted that other castes succeeded in obtaining admission into the Balija caste by way of assuming the title "Naidu". The Census of India, 1901, Vol. 1, notes that: Caste titles and names are; however, of recent origin and little can be inferred from them, whatever their meaning may be shown to be. Another census report noted that wealth is a very potent factor, both in the way of levelling down caste heights and filling up social depths....a wealthy member of the Dhedh
caste is actually the Dharmakartha of a Siva temple in Southern India and a Sathani (Sattada Srivaisnava temple servant) becomes elevated into a Balija often in the course of a few years ; so also a Palli into a Mudaliar
.
Kshatriya
s. The Balijas claimed to be descendents of Mahabali
.
Bana was also called Balijata. The clan of Mahabali was called Bali-Kula and Bana was called a descendent of Balikula. It is also seen from several inscriptions that the Bana chieftains are said to have belonged to the Balikula clan only.
The interest of Bali Vamsa in general, and the branch ruling in Kisukad
in particular, is provided in Epigraphia Indica, Volume 15, By Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarkar. It mentions an inscription edited by Dr. Fleet, Vol XIII, p.185, in which Turagavedanga (Thiruvenkata ?) is mentioned as the "scion of Bali race" as Kishkinda-puravar-sevara and Bali-vamsa-odbhava. Another incomplete inscription was also found mentioning "Turagavedanga, the illustrious lord of the world-renowned Kiskinda, a best town, born in Bali vamsa race".
While referring to the origin of the Chalukyan feudatories in the 12th century, namely the Bappura family of the Bali Vamsa that ruled over Kisukad, an inscription speaks of its origins from the caverns ('Vala' or 'Bala') of Mount Kishkinda in connection to Parashurama
's visit to the place. The inscription apparently indicates that after Parashurama
's extirpation of the Kshatriyas, a new branch arose deriving their name from 'Bala'.
A grant dated 1142 AD mentions that Janmajeya gave a village to the Brahmans of Kodanganur. However, King Vishnuvardhana gave them a better village and settled them at Kellangere. They were of the Bali-vamsa, and are said to be 200 ornaments of Soma-drinkers. Nagamangala
is referred as Kellangere in inscriptions. An undated record of a Vijayanagar king Devaraya in the Mallikarjuna temple states that Kellangere was famous because of Bhattarakadeva (a Jain thirthankara) and a certain Varadayyanayaka of Kellangere caused the construction of this temple in the eastern part of the village with garbhagriha, sukhanasi, and rangamantapa, converting the village, a Shudravada into an Agrahara, and named it Varadarajapura. He restored the tank, named it Varadaraja Samudra and gave grants to the services of the god.
One of the earliest mention of the Banas in authentic historical records is from the middle of the 4th century when their king Brihad-Bana has been referred to as the contemporary of the first Kadamba king
The Balikula or Banakula chieftains ruled in various parts of India and Ceylon at various points in time. The Banas were a prominent feudatory family figuring in inscriptions of almost all the great powers of Southern India from the 4th century to the 16th century; and were connected with most of them through matrimony. The earliest mention of Banas in authentic history were as the feudatories of the Satavahana
and early Pallava
s.
and the Shrimad Bhagavatham narrate the story of Jaya-Vijaya
, the Gandharva
doorkeepers of Vishnu
who fell from Vaikuntha, due to a curse by four sages, and entered the womb of Diti
, the wife of Kashyapa. Jaya and Vijaya were given the option of being born on Earth seven times as devotees of Vishnu or three times as the enemies of Vishnu to be killed (given moksham) by the Lord Himself. Jaya and Vijaya chose the latter. Thus they were born first as Hiranyaksha
and Hiranyakashipu
, next as Ravana
and Kumbhakarna
, and finally as Sishupala and Dantavaktra. As Hiranyaksha and Hiranyakashipu, they were killed by the Varaha
and Narasimha
avataras of Maha Vishnu respectively. In their second birth as Ravana and Kumbhakarna, they were killed by Rama
and in their third birth as Sishupala and Dantavaktra, they were killed by Krishna
.
In the Shrimad Bhagavatham 11.12.3-6, Krishna
mentions the following as having attained His supreme abode: Vṛtrāsura (Vritra
), Prahlada
, Vṛṣaparvā (Vrishparva
), Bali, Banasura
, Maya, Vibhishana
, Sugriva
, Hanuman
, Jāmbavān, Gajendra, Jaṭāyu, Tulādhāra, Dharma-vyādha, Kubjā
The daitya
Vrishparva
's daughter Sharmishtha
Daiteyi married Yayati
. Vrsaparva, the asura, is thus the ancestor of the Kurus
and the Pandu
s through Asurendra suta. Asurendra is an epithet for Bali, the grandson of Prahalada
Bali is supposed to have been the great-grandson of Kasyapa; but it is probable that Hiranya was a son of Kasyapa who married the daughter of Biswanara. Even on this supposition, it is impossible that Bali could be the great-great grandson of Kasyapa and many generations must have been omitted from the Tables; for Banasura the son of Bali was contemporary with Sri Krishna and his son Virat was engaged in the great war on the side of the five sons of Pandu.
The Epigraphia Indica, by Bhandarakar, Volume 42, p. 37, informs us that Vishnuvardhana IV, the father of Vijayaditya II, is credited with a victory over certain Bali and is compared, on that account, with god Vishnu, in His fifth or Vamana incarnation.
and their crest was a Bull. Yashoda Devi mentions in her book The History of Andhra Country, 1000 A.D.-1500 A.D.: Administration, literature and society that "The Banas humbly state that they were appointed as the door-keepers by God Paramesvara". An inscription from the Bilvanatheswara Temple of Thiruvallam that records the gift of land by a goldsmith to the temple with the approval of the king Mahavalivanaraya mentions:
"Om. Obeisance to Siva! Hail! Prosperity!
In the sixty-second year (of the reign) of king Vijaya-Nandivikramavarman, while the glorious Mavalivanaraya, - born from the family of Mahabali, who had been made door-keeper by the lord of gods and demons, Paramesvara (Siva), who is worshipped in all the three worlds,- was ruling the Vadu[gava]li twelve-thousand..".
A Bana queen is said to have built the Shiva temple at Nandi (Nandidurg) before 806 AD, and the Kalamukhas, adherents of the Pashupatha system were at that time established on the hill and places around it.
Hastings notes in the "Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics" that the defeat of Bana by Krishna points to the supersession of the Shiva-cult by that of Vishnu, and refers to an early period. He brings out the tendency for cults to harmonise after such events, through assimilation of their devotion identities, which was reflected in the bearing of their crests. Presently, amongst the Balijas, there are both Saivites and Vaishnavites, the latter being more numerous than the former.
Many of the Poligars, the local military chieftains of South India, belonged to the Balija social group. The Vijayanagar rulers had a policy of consolidating power by granting the Poligars / Palaiyakkarar
s local Administrative rights. They in turn relied on the bands of soldiers that these Poligars put at the disposal of the Vijayanagar rulers in times of war.
Some Balija families were appointed to supervise provinces as Nayaks (governors, commanders) by the Vijayanagara kings and after the empire lost power, they continued to rule parts of southern Andhra Pradesh and northern Tamil Nadu independently. These include the Madurai Nayaks, Thanjavur Nayaks
, and the last rulers of Sri Lanka, the Kandy Nayaks, before the British occupied Sri Lanka
.
The Encyclopedia of World History states, Balijas were originally part of the great Telugu migrations southward into the Tamil country in the 15th and 16th centuries, Balija merchant-warriors who claimed these Nayaka positions rose to political and cultural power and supported an ethos that emphasized non-ascriptive, heroic criteria in legitimizing political power. The new egalitarian ethos made it easier for claimants from a variety of communities to succeed to political control .
Velcheru Narayana Rao and Sanjay Subrahmanyam opined in their work "Notes on Political Thoughts in Medieval and Early Modern South India" that the emergence of left-hand caste Balijas as trader-warrior-kings was evidence in the Nayak period as a consequence of conditions of new wealth, produced by collapsing two Varnas, Kshatriya
s and Vaishya
s into one. In the brahmanical conceptualization of castes, Balijas were accorded the Shudra
position though this classification and also the four fold Smrithi varna concept has never been acceptable to the Southern Indians. The Varna designation of Balijas is a contested issue.
In Southern India, occupational divisions have existed since the times of Tolkāppiyam
. But early southern Indian literature does not mention the Chatur-Varna institution. Elements of caste pre-date varna; and social networks with elements of caste have been in existence since pre-vedic times. Southern India fell outside the region of Āryāvarta
where Chaturvarna was followed. Hence, the Southern Indians were outside the Indo-Aryan social organization of the varna system.
Chatur-Varna is first mentioned in a late Vedic text
(circa 1000 BC), and by the time of Manusmriti (200 BC - 200 AD), varna and jati (or "caste") co-exist as isomorphically ranked social orders. Based on the usage of the terms Brahmana and Kshatriya in Pali canon
it has been suggested that Varna was a theoretical construct tied to upper categories, while a person’s identity during the time of Buddhism depended on a person’s occupation, kula (lineage) and jati (caste).
The tribal society in a pre-varna era followed a system of clan kinship as tribal social structures are based on totemic clans. The traditional gotra lists, contained in Pravara Prasnas and Ganapatha of Panini, include all types of gotras, both brahmanical (Arsa) as well as non-Brahmanical. Such a list may also indicate a process of assimilation as in the case of Nishada-gotra which has been mentioned in the Ganapatha of Pāṇini. Such an inclusion would not have been possible unless some brahmanas had been adsorbed from non-brahmanical groups or had served non-brahmins as priests. Village names used as gotras by non-brahmanical groups were not bereft of complexities either. Panini uses the term kula (clan). However Panini’s kula was explained by commentators as non-famous Gotras.
A group of related families living homogenously in a given locality were called a kula (clan) ruled over by a kulapati (head of the clan). A group of related kulas formed a grama (also called vis or settlement) presided by a Vispati or Gramani. The terms grama and vis originally denoted a group of kinsfolk related by blood, but later came to mean village or canton, and embraced all the castes and families of the village population, whether related or not.
Despite professing gotras based on kula (clan) and vis (settlement), south Indian social structures largely ignored the four-varna system; for there is no evidence of a chaturvarna system during the tribal states. A transitional state began during the time of Satavahana dynasty when Varna terms penetrated Southern-Indian society. Although the transitional character of the society is clearly observed historically, yet it was noted that there was little relevance for varna status among various professional groups. It has been argued that varna divisions were never functioning groups of social order and varna structures offered upward and downward mobility. The principal points of social interaction had remained families (vamsa), lineages (gotra), clans (kula) and jatis (occupations), without the usage of varnas.
The presence of Buddhism
and Jainism
may have overshadowed and stymied the presence and progression of a Varna system, during and after the Satavahana dynasty. The earliest historical monuments of Andhra are Buddhist, with Buddhism having reached Andhra Desa during the lifetime of Gautama Buddha
(563 BC – 483 BC) himself. Extant literary and archeological evidences demonstrate that Andhra was one of the earliest recipients of Jainism as well. The earliest Andhra writers were Jainas and several Jain caves and inscriptions have been found across Andhra Desa. Both Buddhism and Jainism enjoyed prevalence and popularity on an equal scale. Historically several dynasties which ruled in Andhra were Buddhist or Jain or a mix of both, such as the Andhra Ikshvaku
s, Eastern Chalukyas
(Jain), Rashtrakuta
Kingdom (Jain) and Ganga dynasty
(Jain); while others such as Satavahana dynasty were partly Hindu and partly Buddhist.
The process of peasantisation of tribals (conversion of hunter-gatherers into peasants) and state formation of tribal communities continued unhindered until in some place it was hindered by Mughal invasions. Several kingdoms that arose from tribal states claimed Dvija status over time. The many forms of the integration of tribal groups into Hindu society are discussed by Kulke (1976 and 1984) and Kosambi (1962 and 1996). As tribal chiefs became Hindu rajas, tribal deities became state gods, and sustained royal patronage of those gods, as is seen in the case of Gajapati chiefs
and the Jagannatha temple of Orissa.
: ಬಲಿಜಾ) is a social group spread across the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh
(concentrated in the Rayalaseema
region), Tamil Nadu
, Karnataka
and Kerala
. Balijas are considered a sub-castes of the Kapu
, Golla
, Gavara
and Reddy
.
Jamwal,
Katoch,
Cholas,
Gujjar,
Khatri,
Kurmi,
Bisen,
Sikarwar,
Rathore,
Agrawal,
naidu,
reddy,
kapu,/
kapu-reddy-naidu-balija are of south indian settlers of syrya vanshi_agni angala kulla[agni kulla]
[raging fire =agniangala sanskrit] to bless them this branch desendents of shree ram are known as agni angala kulla.
hence they are are surya vanshi -agniangala kulla -balijana kshatria .
the balija cast is futher divided into two groups known as 1] mulla-origanal,2] namdar -namesake
the above title is only for mula jana as they origanate from kshatria kulla ,
the namdars are those people of the other casts who were living in the kingdome of balija peta at that time the ,
mulla jana and namdars dont marry as they are from different casts .
futher more the hindu gotra system plays a key role to identifi who is who ,
suryavanshi-agniangala kulla ksharitias being from uppercasts have guru gotras [names of gurus of their bloodline]in the balija mula jana ,and the namdars being lower casts have ganda gotras [names of goods sold in traditional merchant shops known as
gandaga angadi]hence there is clears difference between these classes.
The original group of Balijas seem to have been a fierce group of warrior-merchants.
, Khatri
, Balija, Barnwal
together constituted 5% of the population. However, in the census of 1981, Balija formed 27.5% of the total population of Andhra Pradesh.
while those of Karnataka speak Kannada. Periyar E. V. Ramasamy
, the father of Dravidian Politics was a Kannada speaking Balija. The descendents of Kandy Nayaks from their matrimonial ties with the Madurai Royal Family originally spoke Tamil
and Telugu
however merged into the Sinhalese
and spoke the Sinhala language for ruling purposes.
David Rudner claims that the Balija Chettis fissioned off as a separate caste from the Balija Nayaks warriors as recent as the 19th century; and accordingly they have closer kinship ties to the Nayak warriors than to Chetti merchants. However, the Balija Chettis were mentioned as rich traders and merchants during the Kakatiya Dynasty associated with some very old trading guilds concentrated in Bellary, Karnataka. Veera Balingyas (Vira Banajigas) were mentioned in the inscriptions of the Chalukyas of Badami
and the Kakatiya dynasty as powerful and wealthy merchants who were known as "Five Hundred Lords of Ayyavolu
". They have also been mentioned in Vijayanagar inscriptions. Some Balija Chettis today assume the spelling variation Shetty [శెట్టి].
There are numerous branches of Balija. Some were named after places, such as Gonuguntla Desayi Chettis (named after a village Gonuguntla) and Gandavarapu (Gonuguntla balijas who migrated to Cuddapah); while others had odd names like Mulaka (which is also name of a tribe), Miriyala (pepper traders), Vyasa
, and Tota.
The Nayaka term was first used during the Vishnukundina dynasty that ruled from the Krishna and Godavari deltas during the 3rd century AD. During the Kakatiya dynasty, the Nayaka title was bestowed to warriors who had received land and the title as a part of the Nayankarapuvaram system for services rendered to the court. The Nayaka was noted to be an officer in the Kakatiya
court; there being a correlation between holding the Nayankara, the possession of the administrative title Angaraksha and the status title Nayaka.
A more widespread usage of the Nayaka title amongst the Balijas appears to have happened during the Vijayanagar empire where the Balija merchant-warriors rose to political and cultural power and claimed Nayaka positions.
Colonial writers such as Edgar Thruston and RV Russel noted that other castes succeeded in obtaining admission into the Balija caste by way of assuming the title "Naidu". The Census of India, 1901, Vol. 1, notes that: Caste titles and names are; however, of recent origin and little can be inferred from them, whatever their meaning may be shown to be. Another census report noted that wealth is a very potent factor, both in the way of levelling down caste heights and filling up social depths....a wealthy member of the Dhedh
caste is actually the Dharmakartha of a Siva temple in Southern India and a Sathani (Sattada Srivaisnava temple servant) becomes elevated into a Balija often in the course of a few years ; so also a Palli into a Mudaliar
.
Kshatriya
s. The Balijas claimed to be descendents of Mahabali
.
Bana was also called Balijata. The clan of Mahabali was called Bali-Kula and Bana was called a descendent of Balikula. It is also seen from several inscriptions that the Bana chieftains are said to have belonged to the Balikula clan only.
The interest of Bali Vamsa in general, and the branch ruling in Kisukad
in particular, is provided in Epigraphia Indica, Volume 15, By Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarkar. It mentions an inscription edited by Dr. Fleet, Vol XIII, p.185, in which Turagavedanga (Thiruvenkata ?) is mentioned as the "scion of Bali race" as Kishkinda-puravar-sevara and Bali-vamsa-odbhava. Another incomplete inscription was also found mentioning "Turagavedanga, the illustrious lord of the world-renowned Kiskinda, a best town, born in Bali vamsa race".
While referring to the origin of the Chalukyan feudatories in the 12th century, namely the Bappura family of the Bali Vamsa that ruled over Kisukad, an inscription speaks of its origins from the caverns ('Vala' or 'Bala') of Mount Kishkinda in connection to Parashurama
's visit to the place. The inscription apparently indicates that after Parashurama
's extirpation of the Kshatriyas, a new branch arose deriving their name from 'Bala'.
A grant dated 1142 AD mentions that Janmajeya gave a village to the Brahmans of Kodanganur. However, King Vishnuvardhana gave them a better village and settled them at Kellangere. They were of the Bali-vamsa, and are said to be 200 ornaments of Soma-drinkers. Nagamangala
is referred as Kellangere in inscriptions. An undated record of a Vijayanagar king Devaraya in the Mallikarjuna temple states that Kellangere was famous because of Bhattarakadeva (a Jain thirthankara) and a certain Varadayyanayaka of Kellangere caused the construction of this temple in the eastern part of the village with garbhagriha, sukhanasi, and rangamantapa, converting the village, a Shudravada into an Agrahara, and named it Varadarajapura. He restored the tank, named it Varadaraja Samudra and gave grants to the services of the god.
One of the earliest mention of the Banas in authentic historical records is from the middle of the 4th century when their king Brihad-Bana has been referred to as the contemporary of the first Kadamba king
The Balikula or Banakula chieftains ruled in various parts of India and Ceylon at various points in time. The Banas were a prominent feudatory family figuring in inscriptions of almost all the great powers of Southern India from the 4th century to the 16th century; and were connected with most of them through matrimony. The earliest mention of Banas in authentic history were as the feudatories of the Satavahana
and early Pallava
s.
and the Shrimad Bhagavatham narrate the story of Jaya-Vijaya
, the Gandharva
doorkeepers of Vishnu
who fell from Vaikuntha, due to a curse by four sages, and entered the womb of Diti
, the wife of Kashyapa. Jaya and Vijaya were given the option of being born on Earth seven times as devotees of Vishnu or three times as the enemies of Vishnu to be killed (given moksham) by the Lord Himself. Jaya and Vijaya chose the latter. Thus they were born first as Hiranyaksha
and Hiranyakashipu
, next as Ravana
and Kumbhakarna
, and finally as Sishupala and Dantavaktra. As Hiranyaksha and Hiranyakashipu, they were killed by the Varaha
and Narasimha
avataras of Maha Vishnu respectively. In their second birth as Ravana and Kumbhakarna, they were killed by Rama
and in their third birth as Sishupala and Dantavaktra, they were killed by Krishna
.
In the Shrimad Bhagavatham 11.12.3-6, Krishna
mentions the following as having attained His supreme abode: Vṛtrāsura (Vritra
), Prahlada
, Vṛṣaparvā (Vrishparva
), Bali, Banasura
, Maya, Vibhishana
, Sugriva
, Hanuman
, Jāmbavān, Gajendra, Jaṭāyu, Tulādhāra, Dharma-vyādha, Kubjā
The daitya
Vrishparva
's daughter Sharmishtha
Daiteyi married Yayati
. Vrsaparva, the asura, is thus the ancestor of the Kurus
and the Pandu
s through Asurendra suta. Asurendra is an epithet for Bali, the grandson of Prahalada
Bali is supposed to have been the great-grandson of Kasyapa; but it is probable that Hiranya was a son of Kasyapa who married the daughter of Biswanara. Even on this supposition, it is impossible that Bali could be the great-great grandson of Kasyapa and many generations must have been omitted from the Tables; for Banasura the son of Bali was contemporary with Sri Krishna and his son Virat was engaged in the great war on the side of the five sons of Pandu.
The Epigraphia Indica, by Bhandarakar, Volume 42, p. 37, informs us that Vishnuvardhana IV, the father of Vijayaditya II, is credited with a victory over certain Bali and is compared, on that account, with god Vishnu, in His fifth or Vamana incarnation.
and their crest was a Bull. Yashoda Devi mentions in her book The History of Andhra Country, 1000 A.D.-1500 A.D.: Administration, literature and society that "The Banas humbly state that they were appointed as the door-keepers by God Paramesvara". An inscription from the Bilvanatheswara Temple of Thiruvallam that records the gift of land by a goldsmith to the temple with the approval of the king Mahavalivanaraya mentions:
"Om. Obeisance to Siva! Hail! Prosperity!
In the sixty-second year (of the reign) of king Vijaya-Nandivikramavarman, while the glorious Mavalivanaraya, - born from the family of Mahabali, who had been made door-keeper by the lord of gods and demons, Paramesvara (Siva), who is worshipped in all the three worlds,- was ruling the Vadu[gava]li twelve-thousand..".
A Bana queen is said to have built the Shiva temple at Nandi (Nandidurg) before 806 AD, and the Kalamukhas, adherents of the Pashupatha system were at that time established on the hill and places around it.
Hastings notes in the "Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics" that the defeat of Bana by Krishna points to the supersession of the Shiva-cult by that of Vishnu, and refers to an early period. He brings out the tendency for cults to harmonise after such events, through assimilation of their devotion identities, which was reflected in the bearing of their crests. Presently, amongst the Balijas, there are both Saivites and Vaishnavites, the latter being more numerous than the former.
Many of the Poligars, the local military chieftains of South India, belonged to the Balija social group. The Vijayanagar rulers had a policy of consolidating power by granting the Poligars / Palaiyakkarar
s local Administrative rights. They in turn relied on the bands of soldiers that these Poligars put at the disposal of the Vijayanagar rulers in times of war.
Some Balija families were appointed to supervise provinces as Nayaks (governors, commanders) by the Vijayanagara kings and after the empire lost power, they continued to rule parts of southern Andhra Pradesh and northern Tamil Nadu independently. These include the Madurai Nayaks, Thanjavur Nayaks
, and the last rulers of Sri Lanka, the Kandy Nayaks, before the British occupied Sri Lanka
.
The Encyclopedia of World History states, Balijas were originally part of the great Telugu migrations southward into the Tamil country in the 15th and 16th centuries, Balija merchant-warriors who claimed these Nayaka positions rose to political and cultural power and supported an ethos that emphasized non-ascriptive, heroic criteria in legitimizing political power. The new egalitarian ethos made it easier for claimants from a variety of communities to succeed to political control .
Velcheru Narayana Rao and Sanjay Subrahmanyam opined in their work "Notes on Political Thoughts in Medieval and Early Modern South India" that the emergence of left-hand caste Balijas as trader-warrior-kings was evidence in the Nayak period as a consequence of conditions of new wealth, produced by collapsing two Varnas, Kshatriya
s and Vaishya
s into one. In the brahmanical conceptualization of castes, Balijas were accorded the Shudra
position though this classification and also the four fold Smrithi varna concept has never been acceptable to the Southern Indians. The Varna designation of Balijas is a contested issue.
In Southern India, occupational divisions have existed since the times of Tolkāppiyam
. But early southern Indian literature does not mention the Chatur-Varna institution. Elements of caste pre-date varna; and social networks with elements of caste have been in existence since pre-vedic times. Southern India fell outside the region of Āryāvarta
where Chaturvarna was followed. Hence, the Southern Indians were outside the Indo-Aryan social organization of the varna system.
Chatur-Varna is first mentioned in a late Vedic text
(circa 1000 BC), and by the time of Manusmriti (200 BC - 200 AD), varna and jati (or "caste") co-exist as isomorphically ranked social orders. Based on the usage of the terms Brahmana and Kshatriya in Pali canon
it has been suggested that Varna was a theoretical construct tied to upper categories, while a person’s identity during the time of Buddhism depended on a person’s occupation, kula (lineage) and jati (caste).
The tribal society in a pre-varna era followed a system of clan kinship as tribal social structures are based on totemic clans. The traditional gotra lists, contained in Pravara Prasnas and Ganapatha of Panini, include all types of gotras, both brahmanical (Arsa) as well as non-Brahmanical. Such a list may also indicate a process of assimilation as in the case of Nishada-gotra which has been mentioned in the Ganapatha of Pāṇini. Such an inclusion would not have been possible unless some brahmanas had been adsorbed from non-brahmanical groups or had served non-brahmins as priests. Village names used as gotras by non-brahmanical groups were not bereft of complexities either. Panini uses the term kula (clan). However Panini’s kula was explained by commentators as non-famous Gotras.
A group of related families living homogenously in a given locality were called a kula (clan) ruled over by a kulapati (head of the clan). A group of related kulas formed a grama (also called vis or settlement) presided by a Vispati or Gramani. The terms grama and vis originally denoted a group of kinsfolk related by blood, but later came to mean village or canton, and embraced all the castes and families of the village population, whether related or not.
Despite professing gotras based on kula (clan) and vis (settlement), south Indian social structures largely ignored the four-varna system; for there is no evidence of a chaturvarna system during the tribal states. A transitional state began during the time of Satavahana dynasty when Varna terms penetrated Southern-Indian society. Although the transitional character of the society is clearly observed historically, yet it was noted that there was little relevance for varna status among various professional groups. It has been argued that varna divisions were never functioning groups of social order and varna structures offered upward and downward mobility. The principal points of social interaction had remained families (vamsa), lineages (gotra), clans (kula) and jatis (occupations), without the usage of varnas.
The presence of Buddhism
and Jainism
may have overshadowed and stymied the presence and progression of a Varna system, during and after the Satavahana dynasty. The earliest historical monuments of Andhra are Buddhist, with Buddhism having reached Andhra Desa during the lifetime of Gautama Buddha
(563 BC – 483 BC) himself. Extant literary and archeological evidences demonstrate that Andhra was one of the earliest recipients of Jainism as well. The earliest Andhra writers were Jainas and several Jain caves and inscriptions have been found across Andhra Desa. Both Buddhism and Jainism enjoyed prevalence and popularity on an equal scale. Historically several dynasties which ruled in Andhra were Buddhist or Jain or a mix of both, such as the Andhra Ikshvaku
s, Eastern Chalukyas
(Jain), Rashtrakuta
Kingdom (Jain) and Ganga dynasty
(Jain); while others such as Satavahana dynasty were partly Hindu and partly Buddhist.
The process of peasantisation of tribals (conversion of hunter-gatherers into peasants) and state formation of tribal communities continued unhindered until in some place it was hindered by Mughal invasions. Several kingdoms that arose from tribal states claimed Dvija status over time. The many forms of the integration of tribal groups into Hindu society are discussed by Kulke (1976 and 1984) and Kosambi (1962 and 1996). As tribal chiefs became Hindu rajas, tribal deities became state gods, and sustained royal patronage of those gods, as is seen in the case of Gajapati chiefs
and the Jagannatha temple of Orissa.
: ಬಲಿಜಾ) is a social group spread across the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh
(concentrated in the Rayalaseema
region), Tamil Nadu
, Karnataka
and Kerala
. Balijas are considered a sub-castes of the Kapu
, Golla
, Gavara
and Reddy
.
Jamwal,
Katoch,
Cholas,
Gujjar,
Khatri,
Kurmi,
Bisen,
Sikarwar,
Rathore,
Agrawal,
naidu,
reddy,
kapu,/
kapu-reddy-naidu-balija are of south indian settlers of syrya vanshi_agni angala kulla[agni kulla]
[raging fire =agniangala sanskrit] to bless them this branch desendents of shree ram are known as agni angala kulla.
hence they are are surya vanshi -agniangala kulla -balijana kshatria .
the balija cast is futher divided into two groups known as 1] mulla-origanal,2] namdar -namesake
the above title is only for mula jana as they origanate from kshatria kulla ,
the namdars are those people of the other casts who were living in the kingdome of balija peta at that time the ,
mulla jana and namdars dont marry as they are from different casts .
futher more the hindu gotra system plays a key role to identifi who is who ,
suryavanshi-agniangala kulla ksharitias being from uppercasts have guru gotras [names of gurus of their bloodline]in the balija mula jana ,and the namdars being lower casts have ganda gotras [names of goods sold in traditional merchant shops known as
gandaga angadi]hence there is clears difference between these classes.
The original group of Balijas seem to have been a fierce group of warrior-merchants.
, Khatri
, Balija, Barnwal
together constituted 5% of the population. However, in the census of 1981, Balija formed 27.5% of the total population of Andhra Pradesh.
while those of Karnataka speak Kannada. Periyar E. V. Ramasamy
, the father of Dravidian Politics was a Kannada speaking Balija. The descendents of Kandy Nayaks from their matrimonial ties with the Madurai Royal Family originally spoke Tamil
and Telugu
however merged into the Sinhalese
and spoke the Sinhala language for ruling purposes.
David Rudner claims that the Balija Chettis fissioned off as a separate caste from the Balija Nayaks warriors as recent as the 19th century; and accordingly they have closer kinship ties to the Nayak warriors than to Chetti merchants. However, the Balija Chettis were mentioned as rich traders and merchants during the Kakatiya Dynasty associated with some very old trading guilds concentrated in Bellary, Karnataka. Veera Balingyas (Vira Banajigas) were mentioned in the inscriptions of the Chalukyas of Badami
and the Kakatiya dynasty as powerful and wealthy merchants who were known as "Five Hundred Lords of Ayyavolu
". They have also been mentioned in Vijayanagar inscriptions. Some Balija Chettis today assume the spelling variation Shetty [శెట్టి].
There are numerous branches of Balija. Some were named after places, such as Gonuguntla Desayi Chettis (named after a village Gonuguntla) and Gandavarapu (Gonuguntla balijas who migrated to Cuddapah); while others had odd names like Mulaka (which is also name of a tribe), Miriyala (pepper traders), Vyasa
, and Tota.
The Nayaka term was first used during the Vishnukundina dynasty that ruled from the Krishna and Godavari deltas during the 3rd century AD. During the Kakatiya dynasty, the Nayaka title was bestowed to warriors who had received land and the title as a part of the Nayankarapuvaram system for services rendered to the court. The Nayaka was noted to be an officer in the Kakatiya
court; there being a correlation between holding the Nayankara, the possession of the administrative title Angaraksha and the status title Nayaka.
A more widespread usage of the Nayaka title amongst the Balijas appears to have happened during the Vijayanagar empire where the Balija merchant-warriors rose to political and cultural power and claimed Nayaka positions.
Colonial writers such as Edgar Thruston and RV Russel noted that other castes succeeded in obtaining admission into the Balija caste by way of assuming the title "Naidu". The Census of India, 1901, Vol. 1, notes that: Caste titles and names are; however, of recent origin and little can be inferred from them, whatever their meaning may be shown to be. Another census report noted that wealth is a very potent factor, both in the way of levelling down caste heights and filling up social depths....a wealthy member of the Dhedh
caste is actually the Dharmakartha of a Siva temple in Southern India and a Sathani (Sattada Srivaisnava temple servant) becomes elevated into a Balija often in the course of a few years ; so also a Palli into a Mudaliar
.
Kshatriya
s. The Balijas claimed to be descendents of Mahabali
.
Bana was also called Balijata. The clan of Mahabali was called Bali-Kula and Bana was called a descendent of Balikula. It is also seen from several inscriptions that the Bana chieftains are said to have belonged to the Balikula clan only.
The interest of Bali Vamsa in general, and the branch ruling in Kisukad
in particular, is provided in Epigraphia Indica, Volume 15, By Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarkar. It mentions an inscription edited by Dr. Fleet, Vol XIII, p.185, in which Turagavedanga (Thiruvenkata ?) is mentioned as the "scion of Bali race" as Kishkinda-puravar-sevara and Bali-vamsa-odbhava. Another incomplete inscription was also found mentioning "Turagavedanga, the illustrious lord of the world-renowned Kiskinda, a best town, born in Bali vamsa race".
While referring to the origin of the Chalukyan feudatories in the 12th century, namely the Bappura family of the Bali Vamsa that ruled over Kisukad, an inscription speaks of its origins from the caverns ('Vala' or 'Bala') of Mount Kishkinda in connection to Parashurama
's visit to the place. The inscription apparently indicates that after Parashurama
's extirpation of the Kshatriyas, a new branch arose deriving their name from 'Bala'.
A grant dated 1142 AD mentions that Janmajeya gave a village to the Brahmans of Kodanganur. However, King Vishnuvardhana gave them a better village and settled them at Kellangere. They were of the Bali-vamsa, and are said to be 200 ornaments of Soma-drinkers. Nagamangala
is referred as Kellangere in inscriptions. An undated record of a Vijayanagar king Devaraya in the Mallikarjuna temple states that Kellangere was famous because of Bhattarakadeva (a Jain thirthankara) and a certain Varadayyanayaka of Kellangere caused the construction of this temple in the eastern part of the village with garbhagriha, sukhanasi, and rangamantapa, converting the village, a Shudravada into an Agrahara, and named it Varadarajapura. He restored the tank, named it Varadaraja Samudra and gave grants to the services of the god.
One of the earliest mention of the Banas in authentic historical records is from the middle of the 4th century when their king Brihad-Bana has been referred to as the contemporary of the first Kadamba king
The Balikula or Banakula chieftains ruled in various parts of India and Ceylon at various points in time. The Banas were a prominent feudatory family figuring in inscriptions of almost all the great powers of Southern India from the 4th century to the 16th century; and were connected with most of them through matrimony. The earliest mention of Banas in authentic history were as the feudatories of the Satavahana
and early Pallava
s.
and the Shrimad Bhagavatham narrate the story of Jaya-Vijaya
, the Gandharva
doorkeepers of Vishnu
who fell from Vaikuntha, due to a curse by four sages, and entered the womb of Diti
, the wife of Kashyapa. Jaya and Vijaya were given the option of being born on Earth seven times as devotees of Vishnu or three times as the enemies of Vishnu to be killed (given moksham) by the Lord Himself. Jaya and Vijaya chose the latter. Thus they were born first as Hiranyaksha
and Hiranyakashipu
, next as Ravana
and Kumbhakarna
, and finally as Sishupala and Dantavaktra. As Hiranyaksha and Hiranyakashipu, they were killed by the Varaha
and Narasimha
avataras of Maha Vishnu respectively. In their second birth as Ravana and Kumbhakarna, they were killed by Rama
and in their third birth as Sishupala and Dantavaktra, they were killed by Krishna
.
In the Shrimad Bhagavatham 11.12.3-6, Krishna
mentions the following as having attained His supreme abode: Vṛtrāsura (Vritra
), Prahlada
, Vṛṣaparvā (Vrishparva
), Bali, Banasura
, Maya, Vibhishana
, Sugriva
, Hanuman
, Jāmbavān, Gajendra, Jaṭāyu, Tulādhāra, Dharma-vyādha, Kubjā
The daitya
Vrishparva
's daughter Sharmishtha
Daiteyi married Yayati
. Vrsaparva, the asura, is thus the ancestor of the Kurus
and the Pandu
s through Asurendra suta. Asurendra is an epithet for Bali, the grandson of Prahalada
Bali is supposed to have been the great-grandson of Kasyapa; but it is probable that Hiranya was a son of Kasyapa who married the daughter of Biswanara. Even on this supposition, it is impossible that Bali could be the great-great grandson of Kasyapa and many generations must have been omitted from the Tables; for Banasura the son of Bali was contemporary with Sri Krishna and his son Virat was engaged in the great war on the side of the five sons of Pandu.
The Epigraphia Indica, by Bhandarakar, Volume 42, p. 37, informs us that Vishnuvardhana IV, the father of Vijayaditya II, is credited with a victory over certain Bali and is compared, on that account, with god Vishnu, in His fifth or Vamana incarnation.
and their crest was a Bull. Yashoda Devi mentions in her book The History of Andhra Country, 1000 A.D.-1500 A.D.: Administration, literature and society that "The Banas humbly state that they were appointed as the door-keepers by God Paramesvara". An inscription from the Bilvanatheswara Temple of Thiruvallam that records the gift of land by a goldsmith to the temple with the approval of the king Mahavalivanaraya mentions:
"Om. Obeisance to Siva! Hail! Prosperity!
In the sixty-second year (of the reign) of king Vijaya-Nandivikramavarman, while the glorious Mavalivanaraya, - born from the family of Mahabali, who had been made door-keeper by the lord of gods and demons, Paramesvara (Siva), who is worshipped in all the three worlds,- was ruling the Vadu[gava]li twelve-thousand..".
A Bana queen is said to have built the Shiva temple at Nandi (Nandidurg) before 806 AD, and the Kalamukhas, adherents of the Pashupatha system were at that time established on the hill and places around it.
Hastings notes in the "Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics" that the defeat of Bana by Krishna points to the supersession of the Shiva-cult by that of Vishnu, and refers to an early period. He brings out the tendency for cults to harmonise after such events, through assimilation of their devotion identities, which was reflected in the bearing of their crests. Presently, amongst the Balijas, there are both Saivites and Vaishnavites, the latter being more numerous than the former.
Many of the Poligars, the local military chieftains of South India, belonged to the Balija social group. The Vijayanagar rulers had a policy of consolidating power by granting the Poligars / Palaiyakkarar
s local Administrative rights. They in turn relied on the bands of soldiers that these Poligars put at the disposal of the Vijayanagar rulers in times of war.
Some Balija families were appointed to supervise provinces as Nayaks (governors, commanders) by the Vijayanagara kings and after the empire lost power, they continued to rule parts of southern Andhra Pradesh and northern Tamil Nadu independently. These include the Madurai Nayaks, Thanjavur Nayaks
, and the last rulers of Sri Lanka, the Kandy Nayaks, before the British occupied Sri Lanka
.
The Encyclopedia of World History states, Balijas were originally part of the great Telugu migrations southward into the Tamil country in the 15th and 16th centuries, Balija merchant-warriors who claimed these Nayaka positions rose to political and cultural power and supported an ethos that emphasized non-ascriptive, heroic criteria in legitimizing political power. The new egalitarian ethos made it easier for claimants from a variety of communities to succeed to political control .
Velcheru Narayana Rao and Sanjay Subrahmanyam opined in their work "Notes on Political Thoughts in Medieval and Early Modern South India" that the emergence of left-hand caste Balijas as trader-warrior-kings was evidence in the Nayak period as a consequence of conditions of new wealth, produced by collapsing two Varnas, Kshatriya
s and Vaishya
s into one. In the brahmanical conceptualization of castes, Balijas were accorded the Shudra
position though this classification and also the four fold Smrithi varna concept has never been acceptable to the Southern Indians. The Varna designation of Balijas is a contested issue.
In Southern India, occupational divisions have existed since the times of Tolkāppiyam
. But early southern Indian literature does not mention the Chatur-Varna institution. Elements of caste pre-date varna; and social networks with elements of caste have been in existence since pre-vedic times. Southern India fell outside the region of Āryāvarta
where Chaturvarna was followed. Hence, the Southern Indians were outside the Indo-Aryan social organization of the varna system.
Chatur-Varna is first mentioned in a late Vedic text
(circa 1000 BC), and by the time of Manusmriti (200 BC - 200 AD), varna and jati (or "caste") co-exist as isomorphically ranked social orders. Based on the usage of the terms Brahmana and Kshatriya in Pali canon
it has been suggested that Varna was a theoretical construct tied to upper categories, while a person’s identity during the time of Buddhism depended on a person’s occupation, kula (lineage) and jati (caste).
The tribal society in a pre-varna era followed a system of clan kinship as tribal social structures are based on totemic clans. The traditional gotra lists, contained in Pravara Prasnas and Ganapatha of Panini, include all types of gotras, both brahmanical (Arsa) as well as non-Brahmanical. Such a list may also indicate a process of assimilation as in the case of Nishada-gotra which has been mentioned in the Ganapatha of Pāṇini. Such an inclusion would not have been possible unless some brahmanas had been adsorbed from non-brahmanical groups or had served non-brahmins as priests. Village names used as gotras by non-brahmanical groups were not bereft of complexities either. Panini uses the term kula (clan). However Panini’s kula was explained by commentators as non-famous Gotras.
A group of related families living homogenously in a given locality were called a kula (clan) ruled over by a kulapati (head of the clan). A group of related kulas formed a grama (also called vis or settlement) presided by a Vispati or Gramani. The terms grama and vis originally denoted a group of kinsfolk related by blood, but later came to mean village or canton, and embraced all the castes and families of the village population, whether related or not.
Despite professing gotras based on kula (clan) and vis (settlement), south Indian social structures largely ignored the four-varna system; for there is no evidence of a chaturvarna system during the tribal states. A transitional state began during the time of Satavahana dynasty when Varna terms penetrated Southern-Indian society. Although the transitional character of the society is clearly observed historically, yet it was noted that there was little relevance for varna status among various professional groups. It has been argued that varna divisions were never functioning groups of social order and varna structures offered upward and downward mobility. The principal points of social interaction had remained families (vamsa), lineages (gotra), clans (kula) and jatis (occupations), without the usage of varnas.
The presence of Buddhism
and Jainism
may have overshadowed and stymied the presence and progression of a Varna system, during and after the Satavahana dynasty. The earliest historical monuments of Andhra are Buddhist, with Buddhism having reached Andhra Desa during the lifetime of Gautama Buddha
(563 BC – 483 BC) himself. Extant literary and archeological evidences demonstrate that Andhra was one of the earliest recipients of Jainism as well. The earliest Andhra writers were Jainas and several Jain caves and inscriptions have been found across Andhra Desa. Both Buddhism and Jainism enjoyed prevalence and popularity on an equal scale. Historically several dynasties which ruled in Andhra were Buddhist or Jain or a mix of both, such as the Andhra Ikshvaku
s, Eastern Chalukyas
(Jain), Rashtrakuta
Kingdom (Jain) and Ganga dynasty
(Jain); while others such as Satavahana dynasty were partly Hindu and partly Buddhist.
The process of peasantisation of tribals (conversion of hunter-gatherers into peasants) and state formation of tribal communities continued unhindered until in some place it was hindered by Mughal invasions. Several kingdoms that arose from tribal states claimed Dvija status over time. The many forms of the integration of tribal groups into Hindu society are discussed by Kulke (1976 and 1984) and Kosambi (1962 and 1996). As tribal chiefs became Hindu rajas, tribal deities became state gods, and sustained royal patronage of those gods, as is seen in the case of Gajapati chiefs
and the Jagannatha temple of Orissa.
Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh , is one of the 28 states of India, situated on the southeastern coast of India. It is India's fourth largest state by area and fifth largest by population. Its capital and largest city by population is Hyderabad.The total GDP of Andhra Pradesh is $100 billion and is ranked third...
(concentrated in the Rayalaseema
Rayalaseema
Rayalaseema is a geographic region in the state of Andhra Pradesh in India. It includes the districts of Anantapur, Chittoor, Kadapa, Kurnool. These Telugu speaking districts were part of Madras Presidency until 1953 when Telugu speaking districts of Madras presidency were carved out to form...
region), Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh...
, Karnataka
Karnataka
Karnataka , the land of the Kannadigas, is a state in South West India. It was created on 1 November 1956, with the passing of the States Reorganisation Act and this day is annually celebrated as Karnataka Rajyotsava...
and Kerala
Kerala
or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....
. Balijas are considered a sub-castes of the Kapu
Kapu
Kapu refers to the ancient Hawaiian code of conduct of laws and regulations. The kapu system was universal in lifestyle, gender roles, politics, religion, etc. An offense that was kapu was often a corporal offense, but also often denoted a threat to spiritual power, or theft of mana. Kapus were...
, Golla
Golla
Golla Oy is a Finnish design company making cases and bags for portable electronic devices. The company's products are aimed at devices such as mobile phones, MP3 players, digital cameras, laptops and game consoles. One of the central aspects of these products is their unique design. Golla employs...
, Gavara
Gavara
Gavaras or Gavara Naidu are one of the many small communities or caste of Andhra who live mostly in the north coastal districts. Large concentrations of Gavara population are distributed in and around Anakapalle in Visakhapatnam district...
and Reddy
Reddy
Reddy is a social group or caste of India, predominantly inhabiting Andhra Pradesh. They are enlisted as a forward caste by the government. Traditionally, they are a high-caste community of nobility, warriors and cultivators. According to academics, they were a warrior caste in the remote past and...
.
Peasant origin
- Some historians surmise that the Balija grouping was formed by a small social change that occurred amongst some sections of the Kapu community.
- Balijas supposedly shared the same history with KunbiKunbiKunbi is a generic term applied to castes of traditionally non-elite tillers in Western India. These include the Dhonoje, Ghatole, Hindre, Jadav, Jhare, Khaire, Lewa , Lonari and Tirole communities of Vidharbha. The communities are largely found in the state of Maharashtra but also exist in the...
and KurmiKurmiThe Kurmi are a Hindu agricultural Jāti in India.The group has been associated with the Kunbi, though scholars differ as to whether the terms are synonymous. In 2006, the Indian government announced that Kurmi was considered synonymous with the Kunbi and Yellam castes in Maharashtra...
s. Kunbhee in Hindustani is known as Kapu in Telugu. Kurmis state that they emigrated from the south about 1200 years ago.
- balija is in short in full form its balijana in sanskrit, in sanskrit bali/bala means power ,jana means people hence balija translats into powerfull people .they origanated from the kapu clan ,who are realated to
Jamwal,
Katoch,
Cholas,
Gujjar,
Khatri,
Kurmi,
Bisen,
Sikarwar,
Rathore,
Agrawal,
naidu,
reddy,
kapu,/
kapu-reddy-naidu-balija are of south indian settlers of syrya vanshi_agni angala kulla[agni kulla]
Merchant-Warrior origin
- It is believed that the Sanskrit term vanijya for a trader, became balanja and balija, just as it became it became baniya in other places.
- Thurston and Rangachari describe the Telugu trading classes as fire-born merchant and artisan castes: Balijas (with their offshoots Kavarais and Janappans) believe they originated when their God Chamundeshwari threw rice into the sacrificial fire from which a host of warriors sprang out.
- The Kavara and Gajulu Balija trace their mythological origins to Himavanta (father of Parvati) when he sacrificed a bull to Lord BrahmaBrahmaBrahma is the Hindu god of creation and one of the Trimurti, the others being Vishnu and Shiva. According to the Brahma Purana, he is the father of Mānu, and from Mānu all human beings are descended. In the Ramayana and the...
and from the fire emerged a person who brought forth combs, bangles, perfumes, sandals, powder, beads, and colored palf-leaf rolls for the ear for ParvatiParvatiParvati is a Hindu goddess. Parvati is Shakti, the wife of Shiva and the gentle aspect of Mahadevi, the Great Goddess...
.
- in thretayuga when parshu ram went on rampage killing all kshatrias 21 times around the world,after this act there were very few ksharitias left to protect the land ,hence post ramyana in thretayuga shree rams son`s lava and kusha with the help of brmhareshi and other sages conduct an great yagna ,post yagna the fire god him self appeared and blesed them with the boon that shree rams leanage will grow [uddar]and protect the akandabaratha from evil, since the fire god him self appared in the raging fire
[raging fire =agniangala sanskrit] to bless them this branch desendents of shree ram are known as agni angala kulla.
hence they are are surya vanshi -agniangala kulla -balijana kshatria .
the balija cast is futher divided into two groups known as 1] mulla-origanal,2] namdar -namesake
the above title is only for mula jana as they origanate from kshatria kulla ,
the namdars are those people of the other casts who were living in the kingdome of balija peta at that time the ,
mulla jana and namdars dont marry as they are from different casts .
futher more the hindu gotra system plays a key role to identifi who is who ,
suryavanshi-agniangala kulla ksharitias being from uppercasts have guru gotras [names of gurus of their bloodline]in the balija mula jana ,and the namdars being lower casts have ganda gotras [names of goods sold in traditional merchant shops known as
gandaga angadi]hence there is clears difference between these classes.
Mixed origins
- The Madras District Gazetter's Survey of Castes mentions: "The Telugu ryots are known by the general name Kapu, a term which is loosely applied to the caste groups otherwise known as Reddis, Kammans, Telegas and VelamaVelamaVelama or the Velama Doralu is a social group found mainly in Andhra Pradesh. Velamas are classed as "Upper Shudras". The history of Velama's is as old as Telugu bravery. Military exploits of Velamas form an important part of Telugu tradition, history and folklore...
s, and even Balijas, and is extended to the Kanarese Vakkiligas also.... The exact relationship between these castes has not yet been clearly determined; it is probable, however, that they, together with the Balijas and the RazusRajusThe Raju are a Telugu caste inhabiting Andhra Pradesh, India.-Etymology:Raju is a Telugu variation of the Sanskrit word Raj and Raja meaning king, prince or lord...
), come originally of the same stock, and settled in the District in the wake of the Vijaynagar conquests. The Telagas, Balijas and RazusRajusThe Raju are a Telugu caste inhabiting Andhra Pradesh, India.-Etymology:Raju is a Telugu variation of the Sanskrit word Raj and Raja meaning king, prince or lord...
) claim military antecedents, and there is evidence for classing the KammaKammaKamma may refer to:*Kamma , a caste or social group found largely in Southern India*The Pali and Ardhamagadhi term for karma*Bava Kamma, a traditional Jewish civil law procedure dealing largely with damages and compensation....
s as Balijas". It is therefore apparent that some KammasKamma (caste)Kamma or the Kammavaru is a social group that are classed as Upper Shudras is found largely in the Southern Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Tamilnadu and Karnataka. The Kamma population was 795,732 in the year 1881. According to 1921 census they constituted about 4.8% of Andhra Pradesh...
were classed as Balijas when the census was taken in the year 1918.
The original group of Balijas seem to have been a fierce group of warrior-merchants.
- Mixed origins are also stated by Vijaya Kumari and Sepuri Bhaskar in their book 'Social Change Among Balijas' (page 3) which mention that the "Balija kings of Madurai and Tanjore claim to be Kshatriyas of Kasyapa gotra, while the Vijayanagara Rais say that they are lineal descendants of the sage Bharadwaja. Others trace their ancestry to the Kauravas of the Mahabharata. These kshatriya descendents are an offshoot of the Kammas or Kapus, or they are a mixed community recruited from these and other Telugu castes".
Population data
According to the 1891 census data, the merchant groups of AgrawalAgrawal
Agrawal or Agarwal is a large and influential community in India. Agrawals are Kshatriya by birth of the Solar Dynasty but after the adoption of Vanika dharma by king Agrasena, Agrawals started dealing in business...
, Khatri
Khatri
Khatri is a caste from the northern Indian subcontinent. Khatris in India are mostly from Punjab, region but later they migrated to regions like Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Jammu, Uttarkhand, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Balochistan, Sindh and Khyber...
, Balija, Barnwal
Barnwal
Barnwal , also spelt as Baranwal, Varanwal or Barnawal, is a Baniya community in India and Nepal.-Legend:According to a Hindi-language historical account Baranwal Darshan, the Baranwal community is descended from King Ahibaran, a Suryavanshi Kshatriya and the great grandson of the legendary king...
together constituted 5% of the population. However, in the census of 1981, Balija formed 27.5% of the total population of Andhra Pradesh.
Language
There are two major linguistic branches among Balijas: Telugu speaking and Kannada speaking. The Balijas of Andhra speak TeluguTelugu language
Telugu is a Central Dravidian language primarily spoken in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India, where it is an official language. It is also spoken in the neighbouring states of Chattisgarh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Orissa and Tamil Nadu...
while those of Karnataka speak Kannada. Periyar E. V. Ramasamy
Periyar E. V. Ramasamy
Erode Venkata Ramasamy , affectionately called by his followers as Periyar , Thanthai Periyar or E. V...
, the father of Dravidian Politics was a Kannada speaking Balija. The descendents of Kandy Nayaks from their matrimonial ties with the Madurai Royal Family originally spoke Tamil
Tamil language
Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in the Indian union territory of Pondicherry. Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore...
and Telugu
Telugu language
Telugu is a Central Dravidian language primarily spoken in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India, where it is an official language. It is also spoken in the neighbouring states of Chattisgarh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Orissa and Tamil Nadu...
however merged into the Sinhalese
Sinhalese people
The Sinhalese are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group,forming the majority of Sri Lanka,constituting 74% of the Sri Lankan population.They number approximately 15 million worldwide.The Sinhalese identity is based on language, heritage and religion. The Sinhalese speak Sinhala, an Indo-Aryan language and the...
and spoke the Sinhala language for ruling purposes.
Balija branches
There are numerous sub-divisions among Balijas, many of which are divided based on the trade or occupation. Some sub-castes include:- Balija Chettis or Shettis ( Chetty Balija or Shetty Balija): They have been mentioned in several Vijayanagar accounts as wealthy merchants who controlled powerful trading guilds. To secure their loyalty, the Vijayanagar kings made them DesaiDesaiDesai is an administrative title and surname derived from the Vedic Sanskrit words "desh sai" meaning "lord of the land." 'Desai' is a surname attributed to Hindus who were feudal lords and revenue collectors...
s or "superintendents of all castes in the country". They were classified as right-hand castes
David Rudner claims that the Balija Chettis fissioned off as a separate caste from the Balija Nayaks warriors as recent as the 19th century; and accordingly they have closer kinship ties to the Nayak warriors than to Chetti merchants. However, the Balija Chettis were mentioned as rich traders and merchants during the Kakatiya Dynasty associated with some very old trading guilds concentrated in Bellary, Karnataka. Veera Balingyas (Vira Banajigas) were mentioned in the inscriptions of the Chalukyas of Badami
Badami
Badami , formerly known as Vatapi, is a town and headquarters of a taluk by the same name, in the Bagalkot district of Karnataka, India. It was the regal capital of the Badami Chalukyas from 540 to 757 AD. It is famous for rock cut and other structural temples...
and the Kakatiya dynasty as powerful and wealthy merchants who were known as "Five Hundred Lords of Ayyavolu
Five Hundred Lords of Ayyavolu
The Five Hundred Lords of Ayyavole were a merchant guild from Aihole that provided trade links between agrarian communities in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. They have been mentioned in inscriptions from the 9th century...
". They have also been mentioned in Vijayanagar inscriptions. Some Balija Chettis today assume the spelling variation Shetty [శెట్టి].
- Gajula Balija / Kavarai Balija / Sugavansi (pure) Balija: Myth is that SivaShivaShiva is a major Hindu deity, and is the destroyer god or transformer among the Trimurti, the Hindu Trinity of the primary aspects of the divine. God Shiva is a yogi who has notice of everything that happens in the world and is the main aspect of life. Yet one with great power lives a life of a...
's wife ParvatiParvatiParvati is a Hindu goddess. Parvati is Shakti, the wife of Shiva and the gentle aspect of Mahadevi, the Great Goddess...
did a severe penance in order to look beautiful for Shiva. A man sprung from the sacrificial fire bringing forth cosmetics and this person was the ancestor of the Gajula Balija. The Gajulu Balija are known as Kavarai in Tamil Nadu. Titles found amongst them are Naidu, Nayakkan, Chetti, Setti and Nayak. Kavarai or Gavarai is said to be a corrupt form of Kauravar or Gauravar; as they claim to be the Kurus or Kuru descendents of Mahabharata.
- Kambalattars / Thottiyans: The book "Political change and agrarian tradition in South India" by T.K.Venkatasubramanian states "The Kambalattar (Kambalaththu Nayakar) are practically extinct. Remnants of their traditional agnates or cognates in the Telugu country are not to be traced. The polegars of Ettayapuram and Panchalamkurichchi belong to this community. Their ancestry is traced to a community of hunters. Being dwellers of quasi-agricultural surroundings they were experts in reclaiming waste lands." The Gollavar, Sillavar and Tokkalavar were the subdivisions of the Raja Kambalattar caste and functioned as strictly endogamous units. The famous chieftain Veerapandiya KattabommanVeerapandiya KattabommanVeerapandiya Kattabomman also known as Kattabomman was an 18th century Palayakarrar chieftain from Panchalankurichi of Tamil Nadu, India and the 47th King of Panchalankurichi who fought the British. His ancestors migrated to Tamil Nadu from areas in present day Andhra Pradesh during the...
Naicker belonged to this branch of Balija caste. Kambalattars primarily practiced Vaishnavism. In the colonial period, Thottiyans returned themselves in caste census as Kamballatar
- Rajamahendravaram Balija or Musukamma Balija. They are traders named after a special ear ornament worn by women. They are named after the Rajamahendram town of Rajahmundry.
- Kannadiyan: Also known as Ravuth, Ravuthan or Rowthan.
- Adi Balija: a sub-caste of Balijas living in the Hyderabad Karnataka area.
There are numerous branches of Balija. Some were named after places, such as Gonuguntla Desayi Chettis (named after a village Gonuguntla) and Gandavarapu (Gonuguntla balijas who migrated to Cuddapah); while others had odd names like Mulaka (which is also name of a tribe), Miriyala (pepper traders), Vyasa
Vyasa
Vyasa is a central and revered figure in most Hindu traditions. He is also sometimes called Veda Vyasa , or Krishna Dvaipayana...
, and Tota.
Caste titles
Not all Balijas use the Naidu / Naicker surname.The Nayaka term was first used during the Vishnukundina dynasty that ruled from the Krishna and Godavari deltas during the 3rd century AD. During the Kakatiya dynasty, the Nayaka title was bestowed to warriors who had received land and the title as a part of the Nayankarapuvaram system for services rendered to the court. The Nayaka was noted to be an officer in the Kakatiya
Kakatiya
The Kakatiya dynasty was an Indian dynasty that ruled most parts of what is now Andhra Pradesh, India from 1083 CE to 1323 CE, with Orugallu , now Warangal , as its capital. Orugallu is also called 'Eka Sila Nagaram'...
court; there being a correlation between holding the Nayankara, the possession of the administrative title Angaraksha and the status title Nayaka.
A more widespread usage of the Nayaka title amongst the Balijas appears to have happened during the Vijayanagar empire where the Balija merchant-warriors rose to political and cultural power and claimed Nayaka positions.
Colonial writers such as Edgar Thruston and RV Russel noted that other castes succeeded in obtaining admission into the Balija caste by way of assuming the title "Naidu". The Census of India, 1901, Vol. 1, notes that: Caste titles and names are; however, of recent origin and little can be inferred from them, whatever their meaning may be shown to be. Another census report noted that wealth is a very potent factor, both in the way of levelling down caste heights and filling up social depths....a wealthy member of the Dhedh
Dhedh
Dhedhs or Dheds or Dhedhas are one of the scheduled caste of India. They were one of the out-caste and deprived class of Hindu society of India....
caste is actually the Dharmakartha of a Siva temple in Southern India and a Sathani (Sattada Srivaisnava temple servant) becomes elevated into a Balija often in the course of a few years ; so also a Palli into a Mudaliar
Mudaliar
Mudaliar also Mudali, Moodley is a title used in Tamil diaspora. It is derived from the honorary title Mudali meaning a person of first rank in the Tamil language which was bestowed upon top-ranking bureaucratic officials and army commanders in medieval South India...
.
Etymology of Balija
While seeking a Kshatriya varna position in the Census of 1901, a reference was made to the Srimad Bhagavatham, Vishnu Puranam and Brahmanda Puranam to seek classification as SomavanshiAilas
The Ailas were a dynasty of kings of ancient India. Pururavas, the son of Ila was the founder of this dynasty. The Mahabharata mentioned about the Ailas as, "The numerous royal lines and other ordinary Kshatriyas all represent themselves to be the descendants of Aila and Ikshwaku...
Kshatriya
Kshatriya
*For the Bollywood film of the same name see Kshatriya Kshatriya or Kashtriya, meaning warrior, is one of the four varnas in Hinduism...
s. The Balijas claimed to be descendents of Mahabali
Mahabali
Mahabali , also known as Bali or Māveli was a benevolent Asura King, and the grandson of Prahlada. The festival of Onam commemorates his yearly homecoming after being sent down to the underworld by Vamana, the fifth avatar of Vishnu.-Conquest of the Universe and banishment:Bali, an asura, was the...
.
The interest of Bali Vamsa in general, and the branch ruling in Kisukad
Kishkinta
Kishkinta is a theme park located in Chennai, India....
in particular, is provided in Epigraphia Indica, Volume 15, By Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarkar. It mentions an inscription edited by Dr. Fleet, Vol XIII, p.185, in which Turagavedanga (Thiruvenkata ?) is mentioned as the "scion of Bali race" as Kishkinda-puravar-sevara and Bali-vamsa-odbhava. Another incomplete inscription was also found mentioning "Turagavedanga, the illustrious lord of the world-renowned Kiskinda, a best town, born in Bali vamsa race".
While referring to the origin of the Chalukyan feudatories in the 12th century, namely the Bappura family of the Bali Vamsa that ruled over Kisukad, an inscription speaks of its origins from the caverns ('Vala' or 'Bala') of Mount Kishkinda in connection to Parashurama
Parashurama
Parashurama , is the sixth avatar of Vishnu and belongs to the treta yuga, and is the son of a Brahmin father Jamadagni and mother Renuka. He is considered one of the seven immortal human. He received an axe after undertaking a terrible penance to please Shiva, from whom he learned the methods of...
's visit to the place. The inscription apparently indicates that after Parashurama
Parashurama
Parashurama , is the sixth avatar of Vishnu and belongs to the treta yuga, and is the son of a Brahmin father Jamadagni and mother Renuka. He is considered one of the seven immortal human. He received an axe after undertaking a terrible penance to please Shiva, from whom he learned the methods of...
's extirpation of the Kshatriyas, a new branch arose deriving their name from 'Bala'.
A grant dated 1142 AD mentions that Janmajeya gave a village to the Brahmans of Kodanganur. However, King Vishnuvardhana gave them a better village and settled them at Kellangere. They were of the Bali-vamsa, and are said to be 200 ornaments of Soma-drinkers. Nagamangala
Nagamangala
Nagamangala is a panchayat town in Mandya district in the Indian state of Karnataka.-Demographics: India census, Nagamangala had a population of 16,050. Males constitute 51% of the population and females 49%. Nagamangala has an average literacy rate of 71%, higher than the national average of...
is referred as Kellangere in inscriptions. An undated record of a Vijayanagar king Devaraya in the Mallikarjuna temple states that Kellangere was famous because of Bhattarakadeva (a Jain thirthankara) and a certain Varadayyanayaka of Kellangere caused the construction of this temple in the eastern part of the village with garbhagriha, sukhanasi, and rangamantapa, converting the village, a Shudravada into an Agrahara, and named it Varadarajapura. He restored the tank, named it Varadaraja Samudra and gave grants to the services of the god.
One of the earliest mention of the Banas in authentic historical records is from the middle of the 4th century when their king Brihad-Bana has been referred to as the contemporary of the first Kadamba king
The Balikula or Banakula chieftains ruled in various parts of India and Ceylon at various points in time. The Banas were a prominent feudatory family figuring in inscriptions of almost all the great powers of Southern India from the 4th century to the 16th century; and were connected with most of them through matrimony. The earliest mention of Banas in authentic history were as the feudatories of the Satavahana
Satavahana
The Sātavāhana Empire or Andhra Empire, was a royal Indian dynasty based from Dharanikota and Amaravati in Andhra Pradesh as well as Junnar and Prathisthan in Maharashtra. The territory of the empire covered much of India from 230 BCE onward...
and early Pallava
Pallava
The Pallava dynasty was a Tamil dynasty which ruled the northern Tamil Nadu region and the southern Andhra Pradesh region with their capital at Kanchipuram...
s.
- The kingdom of Banas, PerumbanappadiPerumbanappadiPerumbanappadi was the original home of the historic Bana Chieftains of the early Pallava period. It extended from the South Pennar to the Tirupati hills. Perumbanappadi was made up of sub-divisions such as the Thiruvenkata-Kottam , and many Nadus such as Tuy-nadu, Puli-nadu, Vada Pulinadu, and...
, lay to the west of Andhrapatha. Andhrapatha developed into Andhramandala borne by a Bana grant of Vadhuvallaba Malladeva Nandivarman in AD 338.
- The Bhagavatha Purana mentions one Andhra, who was one of the six sons begotten by the Rishi DirghatamasDirghatamasDīrghatamas was an ancient sage well known for his philosophical verses in the RgVeda. He was author of Suktas 140 to 164 in the first Mandala of the RgVeda.-Background:...
on Sudesana, the wife of Bali, king of the lower gangetic valley. His patrimony lay down south and he gave his name to his people and kingdom. Presumably that was the Andhrapatha of PallavaPallavaThe Pallava dynasty was a Tamil dynasty which ruled the northern Tamil Nadu region and the southern Andhra Pradesh region with their capital at Kanchipuram...
Shivaskandavarman. The Mayidavolu plates of Shivaskandavarman prove that Andhrapatha or the region of Andhra was made up of the Krishna district with Bezwada as the capital.
- Various inscriptions describe the region ruled by Banas as a country to the west of Andhrapatha. They are also called rulers of Ganga, lords of Nandagiri (Nandi hills) and of Paruvipura. However, the country ruled by Banas is also called Andhrapatha itself.
- The Banas ruled in the regions of KolarKolarKolara is a city in the South Indian state of Karnataka. It is the headquarters of Kolar District. It is known for being one of the gold mining sites in India....
district in the 9th century.
- The Banas had frequent matrimonial ties with the Pallavas. However, the Pallava king Mahendradhiraja's conquest of the Banas, in the 9th century, in Puli-Nadu earned him the title "destroyer of the Mahabali-race". Supposedly, their ties with the Pallavas soured after a Bana chief (persumably Vijayabahu Vikramaditya II), married Arinjigap-Pirattiyar, the daughter of Pillaiar (Junior Prince) Arikulakesari Deva of the Chola dynasty; and the sister of Sundara Chola Parantak II (AD 957-973). After their defeat, they sought refuge in the Rashtrakuta court of Krishna III.
- Subsequently, we find that Srivijaya, the dandanayaka or commander general of the Räshtraküta king Indra III (AD 915—917) (aka King Narendra, the grandson of Krishna III) is mentioned as belonging to "family of Bali-Kula" {see Dânavulapâdu inscription }.
- The Banas were also feudatories of the Chalukyas. A stone inscription from Kondupalli, Ananthapur district mentions gift of land when Vikramaditya Bali Indra Banaraja of Balikula was governing Turumara vishaya in the 23rd regnal year of the Chalukya overlord.
- The Vijnapti of the Chirrur plates issued in the sixth year of Nrpatunga was Muttaraiyan, who also had the title Paranjaya. He was a Bana and is called a descendent of Balikula. He is also called Agatrayesa and Saila trayendra (names of the Trikuta mountain of the Himalayas). Rulers of eminence assumed the title Trikutachalapati to mark their valour. The Cholas, a little later, assumed the little MummudiMummadiMost people carrying the family name of Mummadi come from the South Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. Many people with the family name Mummadi are seen across the globe, originating across the whole of South India. For example, a Google search for "Mummadi" has a link that points to...
which in all probability refers to Trikuta. The Punganur record mentions that Kadupatti Muttaraiya raided Koyattur in the reign of Bana Vijayaditta Virachulamani Prabhumeru.
- Between 224 to 614 AD, Balikula nadu, the land of Banas, lay to the west of Andhrapatha. It initially comprised the modern KadapaKadapaKadapa , formerly Cuddapah, is a city in the south-central part of Andhra Pradesh, India . The city's name originated from the Telugu word "Gadapa" meaning threshold or gate...
(Cuddapah) and ChittoorChittoorChittoor also known as Chittur, is a City and municipal corporation located in the Chittoor District of Andhra Pradesh, India. It is conveniently located on major highways linking the cities of Bangalore and Chennai....
districts and was later made up of the Cuddapah and NelloreNelloreNellore , is a city and headquarters of Potti Sri Ramulu Nellore District, formerly Nellore district.And in the state of Andhra Pradesh. Ancient name of Nellore was "Vikrama Simhapuri"....
districts with Pottapi as its capital, a city that figured in many later Telugu Chola inscriptions. This dynasty was affiliated with the Tamil Chola dynasty.
- An inscription in the Thirunageshwaram temple of KumbakonamKumbakonamKumbakonam , also spelt as Coombaconum in the records of British India , is a town and a special grade municipality in the Thanjavur district in the southeast Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Located 40 kilometres from Thanjavur and 272 kilometres from Chennai, it is the headquarters of the Kumbakonam...
mentions "the heroic achievements in Simhala (Ceylon) of a Bana chief (name lost) ‘the ornament of Bali-kula’". The Bana chief, killed in a battle in Ceylon, was mentioned as the brother-in-law of a Chola monarch. However, another Bana king Malladeva Nandivarman, is said to have been disloyal to the Chola authority and helped Sundara Pandya in his wars against the Cholas
Puranas and mythologies
The Padma PuranaPadma Purana
Padma Purana , one of the major eighteen Puranas, a Hindu religious text, is divided into five parts.In the first part of the text, sage Pulastya explains to Bhishma about religion and the essence of the religion. The second part describes in detail Prithvi...
and the Shrimad Bhagavatham narrate the story of Jaya-Vijaya
Jaya-Vijaya
Jaya and Vijaya are the two demigod gatekeepers of the abode of Vishnu, known as Vaikuntha .-Curse of the four Kumaras:...
, the Gandharva
Gandharva
Gandharva is a name used for distinct mythological beings in Hinduism and Buddhism; it is also a term for skilled singers in Indian classical music.-In Hinduism:...
doorkeepers of Vishnu
Vishnu
Vishnu is the Supreme god in the Vaishnavite tradition of Hinduism. Smarta followers of Adi Shankara, among others, venerate Vishnu as one of the five primary forms of God....
who fell from Vaikuntha, due to a curse by four sages, and entered the womb of Diti
Diti
In Hinduism, Diti is an earth goddess and mother of the Maruts with Rudra. She is also the mother of the Daityas with the sage Kashyapa. She wanted to have a son who would be more powerful than Indra and so she practiced magic and kept herself pregnant for one year. Indra used a thunderbolt to...
, the wife of Kashyapa. Jaya and Vijaya were given the option of being born on Earth seven times as devotees of Vishnu or three times as the enemies of Vishnu to be killed (given moksham) by the Lord Himself. Jaya and Vijaya chose the latter. Thus they were born first as Hiranyaksha
Hiranyaksha
In Hinduism, Hiranyaksha [golden-eyed] was an Asura of pre-ancient India and the son of Diti and Kashyapa. He was slain by the god Vishnu after he took the Earth to the bottom of what has been described as the "Cosmic Ocean". His name in Sanskrit literally means "Goldeneye"...
and Hiranyakashipu
Hiranyakashipu
Hiranyakashipu [golden-haired] is an Asura from the Puranic scriptures of Hinduism. The Puranas describe Hiranyakashipu as an Asura. His younger brother, Hiranyaksha was slain by Varaha, one of the Avatars of Vishnu and angered by this, Hiranyakashipu decided to gain magical powers by performing...
, next as Ravana
Ravana
' is the primary antagonist character of the Hindu legend, the Ramayana; who is the great king of Lanka. In the classic text, he is mainly depicted negatively, kidnapping Rama's wife Sita, to claim vengeance on Rama and his brother Lakshmana for having cut off the nose of his sister...
and Kumbhakarna
Kumbhakarna
Kumbhakarna , is a rakshasa and brother of Ravana in the Indian Ramayana epic...
, and finally as Sishupala and Dantavaktra. As Hiranyaksha and Hiranyakashipu, they were killed by the Varaha
Varaha
Varaha is the third Avatar of the Hindu Godhead Vishnu, in the form of a Boar. He appeared in order to defeat Hiranyaksha, a demon who had taken the Earth and carried it to the bottom of what is described as the cosmic ocean in the story. The battle between Varaha and Hiranyaksha is believed to...
and Narasimha
Narasimha
Narasimha or Nrusimha , also spelt as Narasingh and Narasingha, whose name literally translates from Sanskrit as "Man-lion", is an avatar of Vishnu described in the Puranas, Upanishads and other ancient religious texts of Hinduism...
avataras of Maha Vishnu respectively. In their second birth as Ravana and Kumbhakarna, they were killed by Rama
Rama
Rama or full name Ramachandra is considered to be the seventh avatar of Vishnu in Hinduism, and a king of Ayodhya in ancient Indian...
and in their third birth as Sishupala and Dantavaktra, they were killed by Krishna
Krishna
Krishna is a central figure of Hinduism and is traditionally attributed the authorship of the Bhagavad Gita. He is the supreme Being and considered in some monotheistic traditions as an Avatar of Vishnu...
.
In the Shrimad Bhagavatham 11.12.3-6, Krishna
Krishna
Krishna is a central figure of Hinduism and is traditionally attributed the authorship of the Bhagavad Gita. He is the supreme Being and considered in some monotheistic traditions as an Avatar of Vishnu...
mentions the following as having attained His supreme abode: Vṛtrāsura (Vritra
Vritra
In the early Vedic religion, Vritra , is an Asura and also a serpent or dragon, the personification of drought and enemy of Indra. Vritra was also known in the Vedas as Ahi...
), Prahlada
Prahlada
Prahlada is a character from the Puranic texts of Hinduism, wherein he is famed for his exclusive devotion to Vishnu, despite attempts in the story by his father, Hiranyakashipu, to turn him to the contrary...
, Vṛṣaparvā (Vrishparva
Vrishparva
In Hindu mythology, Vrishparva was a Danava king. He fought many wars with Indra with the help of his main priest Shukracharya. He made many attempts to kill Kacha, the son of Brihaspati...
), Bali, Banasura
Banasura
Bana , in Hindu mythology, was a thousand-armed asura and son of Bali. Banasura was a powerful and terrible asura. All people, even the king of earth and Devas of heaven, were afraid of him. Bana was a follower of Siva. Banasura ruled in present-day central Assam with his capital at Sonitpur ,...
, Maya, Vibhishana
Vibhishana
Vibhishana or Bibhishan is a character in the epic Ramayana. He was the younger brother of the demon Ravana. Though a half-demon himself, Vibhishana was of a noble character and advised Ravana, who kidnapped and abducted Sita, to return her to her husband Rama in an orderly fashion...
, Sugriva
Sugriva
In the Hindu epic Ramayana, Sugriva , also spelled Sugreeva or Sugreev, was the younger brother of Bali, whom he succeeded as ruler of the vanara or monkey kingdom Kishkindha. Ruma was his wife. He was the son of Surya, the Hindu deity of the sun...
, Hanuman
Hanuman
Hanuman , is a Hindu deity, who is an ardent devotee of Rama, a central character in the Indian epic Ramayana and one of the dearest devotees of lord Rama. A general among the vanaras, an ape-like race of forest-dwellers, Hanuman is an incarnation of the divine and a disciple of Lord Rama in the...
, Jāmbavān, Gajendra, Jaṭāyu, Tulādhāra, Dharma-vyādha, Kubjā
The daitya
Daitya
In Hinduism, the Daityas are a clan or race or Asura as are the Danavas. Daityas were the children of Diti and the sage Kashyapa. They were a race of giants who fought against the Devas because they were jealous of their Deva half-brothers...
Vrishparva
Vrishparva
In Hindu mythology, Vrishparva was a Danava king. He fought many wars with Indra with the help of his main priest Shukracharya. He made many attempts to kill Kacha, the son of Brihaspati...
's daughter Sharmishtha
Sharmishtha
In Hindu mythology, Sharmistha, also known as Sharmista, was the daughter of Demon king Vrishparva, who was also friend of Devayani. She was given as dowry to Yayati of Yadav dynasty, when he married Devayani, the daughter of Sage Shukracharya, the guru of all Asuras.-the Legend:Once when Devayani...
Daiteyi married Yayati
Yayati
Yayati was a Puranic king and the son of king Nahusha and one of ancestors of Pandavas. He was a great scholar of Vedas. He had five brothers, Yati, Samyati, Ayati, Viyati and Kriti. He had two wives, Devayani and Sharmishtha. Devayani was the daughter of Shukracharya, the priest of Asuras ....
. Vrsaparva, the asura, is thus the ancestor of the Kurus
Kurus
Kuruş is a Turkish currency subunit. Since 2005, one new Turkish lira is equal to 100 kuruş. The kuruş was also the standard unit of currency in the Ottoman Empire until 1844, and from that date until the late 1970s was a subdivision of the former lira. It was subdivided into 40 para , each of...
and the Pandu
Pandu
In the Mahābhārata epic, King Pandu is the son of Ambalika and Rishi Ved Vyasa. He is more popularly known as the father of the Pandavas and ruled Hastinapur.-Birth:...
s through Asurendra suta. Asurendra is an epithet for Bali, the grandson of Prahalada
Controversies
The publication "Genealogies of the Hindus, extracted from their sacred writings, pg. 48-49" mentions:Bali is supposed to have been the great-grandson of Kasyapa; but it is probable that Hiranya was a son of Kasyapa who married the daughter of Biswanara. Even on this supposition, it is impossible that Bali could be the great-great grandson of Kasyapa and many generations must have been omitted from the Tables; for Banasura the son of Bali was contemporary with Sri Krishna and his son Virat was engaged in the great war on the side of the five sons of Pandu.
The Epigraphia Indica, by Bhandarakar, Volume 42, p. 37, informs us that Vishnuvardhana IV, the father of Vijayaditya II, is credited with a victory over certain Bali and is compared, on that account, with god Vishnu, in His fifth or Vamana incarnation.
Historical notes
Historically, the Banas were devotees of Vishnu and minted coins bearing the Garuda, Shanka and Chakra insignia. Their flag displayed a BlackbuckBlackbuck
Blackbuck is a species of antelope native to the Indian subcontinent. Their range decreased sharply during the 20th century. Since 2003, the IUCN lists the species as near threatened....
and their crest was a Bull. Yashoda Devi mentions in her book The History of Andhra Country, 1000 A.D.-1500 A.D.: Administration, literature and society that "The Banas humbly state that they were appointed as the door-keepers by God Paramesvara". An inscription from the Bilvanatheswara Temple of Thiruvallam that records the gift of land by a goldsmith to the temple with the approval of the king Mahavalivanaraya mentions:
"Om. Obeisance to Siva! Hail! Prosperity!
In the sixty-second year (of the reign) of king Vijaya-Nandivikramavarman, while the glorious Mavalivanaraya, - born from the family of Mahabali, who had been made door-keeper by the lord of gods and demons, Paramesvara (Siva), who is worshipped in all the three worlds,- was ruling the Vadu[gava]li twelve-thousand..".
A Bana queen is said to have built the Shiva temple at Nandi (Nandidurg) before 806 AD, and the Kalamukhas, adherents of the Pashupatha system were at that time established on the hill and places around it.
Hastings notes in the "Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics" that the defeat of Bana by Krishna points to the supersession of the Shiva-cult by that of Vishnu, and refers to an early period. He brings out the tendency for cults to harmonise after such events, through assimilation of their devotion identities, which was reflected in the bearing of their crests. Presently, amongst the Balijas, there are both Saivites and Vaishnavites, the latter being more numerous than the former.
Dynasties
The Vijayanagar empire was based on an expanding, cash-oriented economy enhanced by Balija tax-farming.Many of the Poligars, the local military chieftains of South India, belonged to the Balija social group. The Vijayanagar rulers had a policy of consolidating power by granting the Poligars / Palaiyakkarar
Palaiyakkarar
Palaiyakkarar, Poligar, Polygar or Palegar or Polegar was the feudal title for a class of territorial administrative and military chiefs appointed by the Naicker rulers of South India during 16th - 18th centuries...
s local Administrative rights. They in turn relied on the bands of soldiers that these Poligars put at the disposal of the Vijayanagar rulers in times of war.
Some Balija families were appointed to supervise provinces as Nayaks (governors, commanders) by the Vijayanagara kings and after the empire lost power, they continued to rule parts of southern Andhra Pradesh and northern Tamil Nadu independently. These include the Madurai Nayaks, Thanjavur Nayaks
Thanjavur Nayaks
Thanjavur Nayaks were the rulers of Thanjavur principality of Tamil Nadu between the 16th to the 17th century C.E. The Nayaks were subordinates of the imperial Vijayanagara emperors, and were appointed as provincial governors by the Vijayanagar Emperor who divided the Tamil country into three...
, and the last rulers of Sri Lanka, the Kandy Nayaks, before the British occupied Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
.
The Encyclopedia of World History states, Balijas were originally part of the great Telugu migrations southward into the Tamil country in the 15th and 16th centuries, Balija merchant-warriors who claimed these Nayaka positions rose to political and cultural power and supported an ethos that emphasized non-ascriptive, heroic criteria in legitimizing political power. The new egalitarian ethos made it easier for claimants from a variety of communities to succeed to political control .
Varna status
See also Varna Status of ReddysVelcheru Narayana Rao and Sanjay Subrahmanyam opined in their work "Notes on Political Thoughts in Medieval and Early Modern South India" that the emergence of left-hand caste Balijas as trader-warrior-kings was evidence in the Nayak period as a consequence of conditions of new wealth, produced by collapsing two Varnas, Kshatriya
Kshatriya
*For the Bollywood film of the same name see Kshatriya Kshatriya or Kashtriya, meaning warrior, is one of the four varnas in Hinduism...
s and Vaishya
Vaishya
Vaishya is one of the four varnas of the Hindu social order. According to Vedic tradition, this caste primarily comprises merchants, farmers, cattle-herders and artisans.-Duties of Vaishyas:...
s into one. In the brahmanical conceptualization of castes, Balijas were accorded the Shudra
Shudra
Shudra is the fourth Varna, as prescribed in the Purusha Sukta of the Rig veda, which constitutes society into four varnas or Chaturvarna. The other three varnas are Brahmans - priests, Kshatriya - those with governing functions, Vaishya - agriculturalists, cattle rearers and traders...
position though this classification and also the four fold Smrithi varna concept has never been acceptable to the Southern Indians. The Varna designation of Balijas is a contested issue.
In Southern India, occupational divisions have existed since the times of Tolkāppiyam
Tolkappiyam
The Tolkāppiyam is a work on the grammar of the Tamil language and the earliest extant work of Tamil literature. It is written in the form of noorpaa or short formulaic compositions and comprises three books - the Ezhuttadikaram, the Solladikaram and the Poruladikaram. Each of these books is...
. But early southern Indian literature does not mention the Chatur-Varna institution. Elements of caste pre-date varna; and social networks with elements of caste have been in existence since pre-vedic times. Southern India fell outside the region of Āryāvarta
Aryavarta
Āryāvarta is a name for Northern India in classical Sanskrit literature. The Manu Smriti gives the name to "the tract between the Himalaya and the Vindhya ranges, from the eastern to the Western Sea"....
where Chaturvarna was followed. Hence, the Southern Indians were outside the Indo-Aryan social organization of the varna system.
Chatur-Varna is first mentioned in a late Vedic text
Purusha sukta
Purusha sukta is hymn 10.90 of the Rigveda, dedicated to the Purusha, the "Cosmic Being". One version of the Suktam has 16 verses, 15 in the meter, and the final one in the meter...
(circa 1000 BC), and by the time of Manusmriti (200 BC - 200 AD), varna and jati (or "caste") co-exist as isomorphically ranked social orders. Based on the usage of the terms Brahmana and Kshatriya in Pali canon
Pāli Canon
The Pāli Canon is the standard collection of scriptures in the Theravada Buddhist tradition, as preserved in the Pāli language. It is the only completely surviving early Buddhist canon, and one of the first to be written down...
it has been suggested that Varna was a theoretical construct tied to upper categories, while a person’s identity during the time of Buddhism depended on a person’s occupation, kula (lineage) and jati (caste).
The tribal society in a pre-varna era followed a system of clan kinship as tribal social structures are based on totemic clans. The traditional gotra lists, contained in Pravara Prasnas and Ganapatha of Panini, include all types of gotras, both brahmanical (Arsa) as well as non-Brahmanical. Such a list may also indicate a process of assimilation as in the case of Nishada-gotra which has been mentioned in the Ganapatha of Pāṇini. Such an inclusion would not have been possible unless some brahmanas had been adsorbed from non-brahmanical groups or had served non-brahmins as priests. Village names used as gotras by non-brahmanical groups were not bereft of complexities either. Panini uses the term kula (clan). However Panini’s kula was explained by commentators as non-famous Gotras.
A group of related families living homogenously in a given locality were called a kula (clan) ruled over by a kulapati (head of the clan). A group of related kulas formed a grama (also called vis or settlement) presided by a Vispati or Gramani. The terms grama and vis originally denoted a group of kinsfolk related by blood, but later came to mean village or canton, and embraced all the castes and families of the village population, whether related or not.
Despite professing gotras based on kula (clan) and vis (settlement), south Indian social structures largely ignored the four-varna system; for there is no evidence of a chaturvarna system during the tribal states. A transitional state began during the time of Satavahana dynasty when Varna terms penetrated Southern-Indian society. Although the transitional character of the society is clearly observed historically, yet it was noted that there was little relevance for varna status among various professional groups. It has been argued that varna divisions were never functioning groups of social order and varna structures offered upward and downward mobility. The principal points of social interaction had remained families (vamsa), lineages (gotra), clans (kula) and jatis (occupations), without the usage of varnas.
The presence of Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
and Jainism
Jainism
Jainism is an Indian religion that prescribes a path of non-violence towards all living beings. Its philosophy and practice emphasize the necessity of self-effort to move the soul towards divine consciousness and liberation. Any soul that has conquered its own inner enemies and achieved the state...
may have overshadowed and stymied the presence and progression of a Varna system, during and after the Satavahana dynasty. The earliest historical monuments of Andhra are Buddhist, with Buddhism having reached Andhra Desa during the lifetime of Gautama Buddha
Gautama Buddha
Siddhārtha Gautama was a spiritual teacher from the Indian subcontinent, on whose teachings Buddhism was founded. In most Buddhist traditions, he is regarded as the Supreme Buddha Siddhārtha Gautama (Sanskrit: सिद्धार्थ गौतम; Pali: Siddhattha Gotama) was a spiritual teacher from the Indian...
(563 BC – 483 BC) himself. Extant literary and archeological evidences demonstrate that Andhra was one of the earliest recipients of Jainism as well. The earliest Andhra writers were Jainas and several Jain caves and inscriptions have been found across Andhra Desa. Both Buddhism and Jainism enjoyed prevalence and popularity on an equal scale. Historically several dynasties which ruled in Andhra were Buddhist or Jain or a mix of both, such as the Andhra Ikshvaku
Andhra Ikshvaku
The Andhra Ikshvakus were one of the earliest recorded ruling dynasties of Andhra Pradesh and are said to have been the first Kshatriya rulers in the Andhra region. They ruled the eastern Andhra country along the Krishna river during the later half of the 2nd century CE. . Their capital was...
s, Eastern Chalukyas
Eastern Chalukyas
Eastern Chalukyas were a South Indian dynasty whose kingdom was located in the present day Andhra Pradesh. Their capital was Vengi and their dynasty lasted for around 500 years from the 7th century until c. 1130 C.E. when the Vengi kingdom merged with the Chola empire...
(Jain), Rashtrakuta
Rashtrakuta
The Rashtrakuta Empire was a royal dynasty ruling large parts of the Indian Subcontinent between the sixth and the 10th centuries. During this period they ruled as several closely related, but individual clans. Rastrakutas in inscriptions represented as descendants of Satyaki, a Yadava well known...
Kingdom (Jain) and Ganga dynasty
Ganga Dynasty
Ganga Dynasty is a name used for two unrelated dynasties who ruled parts of India:* The Western Ganga Dynasty, a kingdom in southern India, based in southern Karnataka, from the 3rd to the 10th centuries...
(Jain); while others such as Satavahana dynasty were partly Hindu and partly Buddhist.
The process of peasantisation of tribals (conversion of hunter-gatherers into peasants) and state formation of tribal communities continued unhindered until in some place it was hindered by Mughal invasions. Several kingdoms that arose from tribal states claimed Dvija status over time. The many forms of the integration of tribal groups into Hindu society are discussed by Kulke (1976 and 1984) and Kosambi (1962 and 1996). As tribal chiefs became Hindu rajas, tribal deities became state gods, and sustained royal patronage of those gods, as is seen in the case of Gajapati chiefs
Gajapati Kingdom
The Gajapatis were a medieval Hindu dynasty that ruled over Kalinga , large parts of Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal, and the eastern and central parts of Madhya Pradesh and the southern parts of Bihar from 1434-1541. Gajapati dynasty was established by Kapilendra Deva in 1434...
and the Jagannatha temple of Orissa.
Balija ruling clans
Balija ' onMouseout='HidePop("83621")' href="/topics/Kannada_language">KannadaKannada language
Kannada or , is a language spoken in India predominantly in the state of Karnataka. Kannada, whose native speakers are called Kannadigas and number roughly 50 million, is one of the 30 most spoken languages in the world...
: ಬಲಿಜಾ) is a social group spread across the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh , is one of the 28 states of India, situated on the southeastern coast of India. It is India's fourth largest state by area and fifth largest by population. Its capital and largest city by population is Hyderabad.The total GDP of Andhra Pradesh is $100 billion and is ranked third...
(concentrated in the Rayalaseema
Rayalaseema
Rayalaseema is a geographic region in the state of Andhra Pradesh in India. It includes the districts of Anantapur, Chittoor, Kadapa, Kurnool. These Telugu speaking districts were part of Madras Presidency until 1953 when Telugu speaking districts of Madras presidency were carved out to form...
region), Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh...
, Karnataka
Karnataka
Karnataka , the land of the Kannadigas, is a state in South West India. It was created on 1 November 1956, with the passing of the States Reorganisation Act and this day is annually celebrated as Karnataka Rajyotsava...
and Kerala
Kerala
or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....
. Balijas are considered a sub-castes of the Kapu
Kapu
Kapu refers to the ancient Hawaiian code of conduct of laws and regulations. The kapu system was universal in lifestyle, gender roles, politics, religion, etc. An offense that was kapu was often a corporal offense, but also often denoted a threat to spiritual power, or theft of mana. Kapus were...
, Golla
Golla
Golla Oy is a Finnish design company making cases and bags for portable electronic devices. The company's products are aimed at devices such as mobile phones, MP3 players, digital cameras, laptops and game consoles. One of the central aspects of these products is their unique design. Golla employs...
, Gavara
Gavara
Gavaras or Gavara Naidu are one of the many small communities or caste of Andhra who live mostly in the north coastal districts. Large concentrations of Gavara population are distributed in and around Anakapalle in Visakhapatnam district...
and Reddy
Reddy
Reddy is a social group or caste of India, predominantly inhabiting Andhra Pradesh. They are enlisted as a forward caste by the government. Traditionally, they are a high-caste community of nobility, warriors and cultivators. According to academics, they were a warrior caste in the remote past and...
.
Peasant origin
- Some historians surmise that the Balija grouping was formed by a small social change that occurred amongst some sections of the Kapu community.
- Balijas supposedly shared the same history with KunbiKunbiKunbi is a generic term applied to castes of traditionally non-elite tillers in Western India. These include the Dhonoje, Ghatole, Hindre, Jadav, Jhare, Khaire, Lewa , Lonari and Tirole communities of Vidharbha. The communities are largely found in the state of Maharashtra but also exist in the...
and KurmiKurmiThe Kurmi are a Hindu agricultural Jāti in India.The group has been associated with the Kunbi, though scholars differ as to whether the terms are synonymous. In 2006, the Indian government announced that Kurmi was considered synonymous with the Kunbi and Yellam castes in Maharashtra...
s. Kunbhee in Hindustani is known as Kapu in Telugu. Kurmis state that they emigrated from the south about 1200 years ago.
- balija is in short in full form its balijana in sanskrit, in sanskrit bali/bala means power ,jana means people hence balija translats into powerfull people .they origanated from the kapu clan ,who are realated to
Jamwal,
Katoch,
Cholas,
Gujjar,
Khatri,
Kurmi,
Bisen,
Sikarwar,
Rathore,
Agrawal,
naidu,
reddy,
kapu,/
kapu-reddy-naidu-balija are of south indian settlers of syrya vanshi_agni angala kulla[agni kulla]
Merchant-Warrior origin
- It is believed that the Sanskrit term vanijya for a trader, became balanja and balija, just as it became it became baniya in other places.
- Thurston and Rangachari describe the Telugu trading classes as fire-born merchant and artisan castes: Balijas (with their offshoots Kavarais and Janappans) believe they originated when their God Chamundeshwari threw rice into the sacrificial fire from which a host of warriors sprang out.
- The Kavara and Gajulu Balija trace their mythological origins to Himavanta (father of Parvati) when he sacrificed a bull to Lord BrahmaBrahmaBrahma is the Hindu god of creation and one of the Trimurti, the others being Vishnu and Shiva. According to the Brahma Purana, he is the father of Mānu, and from Mānu all human beings are descended. In the Ramayana and the...
and from the fire emerged a person who brought forth combs, bangles, perfumes, sandals, powder, beads, and colored palf-leaf rolls for the ear for ParvatiParvatiParvati is a Hindu goddess. Parvati is Shakti, the wife of Shiva and the gentle aspect of Mahadevi, the Great Goddess...
.
- in thretayuga when parshu ram went on rampage killing all kshatrias 21 times around the world,after this act there were very few ksharitias left to protect the land ,hence post ramyana in thretayuga shree rams son`s lava and kusha with the help of brmhareshi and other sages conduct an great yagna ,post yagna the fire god him self appeared and blesed them with the boon that shree rams leanage will grow [uddar]and protect the akandabaratha from evil, since the fire god him self appared in the raging fire
[raging fire =agniangala sanskrit] to bless them this branch desendents of shree ram are known as agni angala kulla.
hence they are are surya vanshi -agniangala kulla -balijana kshatria .
the balija cast is futher divided into two groups known as 1] mulla-origanal,2] namdar -namesake
the above title is only for mula jana as they origanate from kshatria kulla ,
the namdars are those people of the other casts who were living in the kingdome of balija peta at that time the ,
mulla jana and namdars dont marry as they are from different casts .
futher more the hindu gotra system plays a key role to identifi who is who ,
suryavanshi-agniangala kulla ksharitias being from uppercasts have guru gotras [names of gurus of their bloodline]in the balija mula jana ,and the namdars being lower casts have ganda gotras [names of goods sold in traditional merchant shops known as
gandaga angadi]hence there is clears difference between these classes.
Mixed origins
- The Madras District Gazetter's Survey of Castes mentions: "The Telugu ryots are known by the general name Kapu, a term which is loosely applied to the caste groups otherwise known as Reddis, Kammans, Telegas and VelamaVelamaVelama or the Velama Doralu is a social group found mainly in Andhra Pradesh. Velamas are classed as "Upper Shudras". The history of Velama's is as old as Telugu bravery. Military exploits of Velamas form an important part of Telugu tradition, history and folklore...
s, and even Balijas, and is extended to the Kanarese Vakkiligas also.... The exact relationship between these castes has not yet been clearly determined; it is probable, however, that they, together with the Balijas and the RazusRajusThe Raju are a Telugu caste inhabiting Andhra Pradesh, India.-Etymology:Raju is a Telugu variation of the Sanskrit word Raj and Raja meaning king, prince or lord...
), come originally of the same stock, and settled in the District in the wake of the Vijaynagar conquests. The Telagas, Balijas and RazusRajusThe Raju are a Telugu caste inhabiting Andhra Pradesh, India.-Etymology:Raju is a Telugu variation of the Sanskrit word Raj and Raja meaning king, prince or lord...
) claim military antecedents, and there is evidence for classing the KammaKammaKamma may refer to:*Kamma , a caste or social group found largely in Southern India*The Pali and Ardhamagadhi term for karma*Bava Kamma, a traditional Jewish civil law procedure dealing largely with damages and compensation....
s as Balijas". It is therefore apparent that some KammasKamma (caste)Kamma or the Kammavaru is a social group that are classed as Upper Shudras is found largely in the Southern Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Tamilnadu and Karnataka. The Kamma population was 795,732 in the year 1881. According to 1921 census they constituted about 4.8% of Andhra Pradesh...
were classed as Balijas when the census was taken in the year 1918.
The original group of Balijas seem to have been a fierce group of warrior-merchants.
- Mixed origins are also stated by Vijaya Kumari and Sepuri Bhaskar in their book 'Social Change Among Balijas' (page 3) which mention that the "Balija kings of Madurai and Tanjore claim to be Kshatriyas of Kasyapa gotra, while the Vijayanagara Rais say that they are lineal descendants of the sage Bharadwaja. Others trace their ancestry to the Kauravas of the Mahabharata. These kshatriya descendents are an offshoot of the Kammas or Kapus, or they are a mixed community recruited from these and other Telugu castes".
Population data
According to the 1891 census data, the merchant groups of AgrawalAgrawal
Agrawal or Agarwal is a large and influential community in India. Agrawals are Kshatriya by birth of the Solar Dynasty but after the adoption of Vanika dharma by king Agrasena, Agrawals started dealing in business...
, Khatri
Khatri
Khatri is a caste from the northern Indian subcontinent. Khatris in India are mostly from Punjab, region but later they migrated to regions like Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Jammu, Uttarkhand, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Balochistan, Sindh and Khyber...
, Balija, Barnwal
Barnwal
Barnwal , also spelt as Baranwal, Varanwal or Barnawal, is a Baniya community in India and Nepal.-Legend:According to a Hindi-language historical account Baranwal Darshan, the Baranwal community is descended from King Ahibaran, a Suryavanshi Kshatriya and the great grandson of the legendary king...
together constituted 5% of the population. However, in the census of 1981, Balija formed 27.5% of the total population of Andhra Pradesh.
Language
There are two major linguistic branches among Balijas: Telugu speaking and Kannada speaking. The Balijas of Andhra speak TeluguTelugu language
Telugu is a Central Dravidian language primarily spoken in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India, where it is an official language. It is also spoken in the neighbouring states of Chattisgarh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Orissa and Tamil Nadu...
while those of Karnataka speak Kannada. Periyar E. V. Ramasamy
Periyar E. V. Ramasamy
Erode Venkata Ramasamy , affectionately called by his followers as Periyar , Thanthai Periyar or E. V...
, the father of Dravidian Politics was a Kannada speaking Balija. The descendents of Kandy Nayaks from their matrimonial ties with the Madurai Royal Family originally spoke Tamil
Tamil language
Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in the Indian union territory of Pondicherry. Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore...
and Telugu
Telugu language
Telugu is a Central Dravidian language primarily spoken in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India, where it is an official language. It is also spoken in the neighbouring states of Chattisgarh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Orissa and Tamil Nadu...
however merged into the Sinhalese
Sinhalese people
The Sinhalese are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group,forming the majority of Sri Lanka,constituting 74% of the Sri Lankan population.They number approximately 15 million worldwide.The Sinhalese identity is based on language, heritage and religion. The Sinhalese speak Sinhala, an Indo-Aryan language and the...
and spoke the Sinhala language for ruling purposes.
Balija branches
There are numerous sub-divisions among Balijas, many of which are divided based on the trade or occupation. Some sub-castes include:- Balija Chettis or Shettis ( Chetty Balija or Shetty Balija): They have been mentioned in several Vijayanagar accounts as wealthy merchants who controlled powerful trading guilds. To secure their loyalty, the Vijayanagar kings made them DesaiDesaiDesai is an administrative title and surname derived from the Vedic Sanskrit words "desh sai" meaning "lord of the land." 'Desai' is a surname attributed to Hindus who were feudal lords and revenue collectors...
s or "superintendents of all castes in the country". They were classified as right-hand castes
David Rudner claims that the Balija Chettis fissioned off as a separate caste from the Balija Nayaks warriors as recent as the 19th century; and accordingly they have closer kinship ties to the Nayak warriors than to Chetti merchants. However, the Balija Chettis were mentioned as rich traders and merchants during the Kakatiya Dynasty associated with some very old trading guilds concentrated in Bellary, Karnataka. Veera Balingyas (Vira Banajigas) were mentioned in the inscriptions of the Chalukyas of Badami
Badami
Badami , formerly known as Vatapi, is a town and headquarters of a taluk by the same name, in the Bagalkot district of Karnataka, India. It was the regal capital of the Badami Chalukyas from 540 to 757 AD. It is famous for rock cut and other structural temples...
and the Kakatiya dynasty as powerful and wealthy merchants who were known as "Five Hundred Lords of Ayyavolu
Five Hundred Lords of Ayyavolu
The Five Hundred Lords of Ayyavole were a merchant guild from Aihole that provided trade links between agrarian communities in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. They have been mentioned in inscriptions from the 9th century...
". They have also been mentioned in Vijayanagar inscriptions. Some Balija Chettis today assume the spelling variation Shetty [శెట్టి].
- Gajula Balija / Kavarai Balija / Sugavansi (pure) Balija: Myth is that SivaShivaShiva is a major Hindu deity, and is the destroyer god or transformer among the Trimurti, the Hindu Trinity of the primary aspects of the divine. God Shiva is a yogi who has notice of everything that happens in the world and is the main aspect of life. Yet one with great power lives a life of a...
's wife ParvatiParvatiParvati is a Hindu goddess. Parvati is Shakti, the wife of Shiva and the gentle aspect of Mahadevi, the Great Goddess...
did a severe penance in order to look beautiful for Shiva. A man sprung from the sacrificial fire bringing forth cosmetics and this person was the ancestor of the Gajula Balija. The Gajulu Balija are known as Kavarai in Tamil Nadu. Titles found amongst them are Naidu, Nayakkan, Chetti, Setti and Nayak. Kavarai or Gavarai is said to be a corrupt form of Kauravar or Gauravar; as they claim to be the Kurus or Kuru descendents of Mahabharata.
- Kambalattars / Thottiyans: The book "Political change and agrarian tradition in South India" by T.K.Venkatasubramanian states "The Kambalattar (Kambalaththu Nayakar) are practically extinct. Remnants of their traditional agnates or cognates in the Telugu country are not to be traced. The polegars of Ettayapuram and Panchalamkurichchi belong to this community. Their ancestry is traced to a community of hunters. Being dwellers of quasi-agricultural surroundings they were experts in reclaiming waste lands." The Gollavar, Sillavar and Tokkalavar were the subdivisions of the Raja Kambalattar caste and functioned as strictly endogamous units. The famous chieftain Veerapandiya KattabommanVeerapandiya KattabommanVeerapandiya Kattabomman also known as Kattabomman was an 18th century Palayakarrar chieftain from Panchalankurichi of Tamil Nadu, India and the 47th King of Panchalankurichi who fought the British. His ancestors migrated to Tamil Nadu from areas in present day Andhra Pradesh during the...
Naicker belonged to this branch of Balija caste. Kambalattars primarily practiced Vaishnavism. In the colonial period, Thottiyans returned themselves in caste census as Kamballatar
- Rajamahendravaram Balija or Musukamma Balija. They are traders named after a special ear ornament worn by women. They are named after the Rajamahendram town of Rajahmundry.
- Kannadiyan: Also known as Ravuth, Ravuthan or Rowthan.
- Adi Balija: a sub-caste of Balijas living in the Hyderabad Karnataka area.
There are numerous branches of Balija. Some were named after places, such as Gonuguntla Desayi Chettis (named after a village Gonuguntla) and Gandavarapu (Gonuguntla balijas who migrated to Cuddapah); while others had odd names like Mulaka (which is also name of a tribe), Miriyala (pepper traders), Vyasa
Vyasa
Vyasa is a central and revered figure in most Hindu traditions. He is also sometimes called Veda Vyasa , or Krishna Dvaipayana...
, and Tota.
Caste titles
Not all Balijas use the Naidu / Naicker surname.The Nayaka term was first used during the Vishnukundina dynasty that ruled from the Krishna and Godavari deltas during the 3rd century AD. During the Kakatiya dynasty, the Nayaka title was bestowed to warriors who had received land and the title as a part of the Nayankarapuvaram system for services rendered to the court. The Nayaka was noted to be an officer in the Kakatiya
Kakatiya
The Kakatiya dynasty was an Indian dynasty that ruled most parts of what is now Andhra Pradesh, India from 1083 CE to 1323 CE, with Orugallu , now Warangal , as its capital. Orugallu is also called 'Eka Sila Nagaram'...
court; there being a correlation between holding the Nayankara, the possession of the administrative title Angaraksha and the status title Nayaka.
A more widespread usage of the Nayaka title amongst the Balijas appears to have happened during the Vijayanagar empire where the Balija merchant-warriors rose to political and cultural power and claimed Nayaka positions.
Colonial writers such as Edgar Thruston and RV Russel noted that other castes succeeded in obtaining admission into the Balija caste by way of assuming the title "Naidu". The Census of India, 1901, Vol. 1, notes that: Caste titles and names are; however, of recent origin and little can be inferred from them, whatever their meaning may be shown to be. Another census report noted that wealth is a very potent factor, both in the way of levelling down caste heights and filling up social depths....a wealthy member of the Dhedh
Dhedh
Dhedhs or Dheds or Dhedhas are one of the scheduled caste of India. They were one of the out-caste and deprived class of Hindu society of India....
caste is actually the Dharmakartha of a Siva temple in Southern India and a Sathani (Sattada Srivaisnava temple servant) becomes elevated into a Balija often in the course of a few years ; so also a Palli into a Mudaliar
Mudaliar
Mudaliar also Mudali, Moodley is a title used in Tamil diaspora. It is derived from the honorary title Mudali meaning a person of first rank in the Tamil language which was bestowed upon top-ranking bureaucratic officials and army commanders in medieval South India...
.
Etymology of Balija
While seeking a Kshatriya varna position in the Census of 1901, a reference was made to the Srimad Bhagavatham, Vishnu Puranam and Brahmanda Puranam to seek classification as SomavanshiAilas
The Ailas were a dynasty of kings of ancient India. Pururavas, the son of Ila was the founder of this dynasty. The Mahabharata mentioned about the Ailas as, "The numerous royal lines and other ordinary Kshatriyas all represent themselves to be the descendants of Aila and Ikshwaku...
Kshatriya
Kshatriya
*For the Bollywood film of the same name see Kshatriya Kshatriya or Kashtriya, meaning warrior, is one of the four varnas in Hinduism...
s. The Balijas claimed to be descendents of Mahabali
Mahabali
Mahabali , also known as Bali or Māveli was a benevolent Asura King, and the grandson of Prahlada. The festival of Onam commemorates his yearly homecoming after being sent down to the underworld by Vamana, the fifth avatar of Vishnu.-Conquest of the Universe and banishment:Bali, an asura, was the...
.
The interest of Bali Vamsa in general, and the branch ruling in Kisukad
Kishkinta
Kishkinta is a theme park located in Chennai, India....
in particular, is provided in Epigraphia Indica, Volume 15, By Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarkar. It mentions an inscription edited by Dr. Fleet, Vol XIII, p.185, in which Turagavedanga (Thiruvenkata ?) is mentioned as the "scion of Bali race" as Kishkinda-puravar-sevara and Bali-vamsa-odbhava. Another incomplete inscription was also found mentioning "Turagavedanga, the illustrious lord of the world-renowned Kiskinda, a best town, born in Bali vamsa race".
While referring to the origin of the Chalukyan feudatories in the 12th century, namely the Bappura family of the Bali Vamsa that ruled over Kisukad, an inscription speaks of its origins from the caverns ('Vala' or 'Bala') of Mount Kishkinda in connection to Parashurama
Parashurama
Parashurama , is the sixth avatar of Vishnu and belongs to the treta yuga, and is the son of a Brahmin father Jamadagni and mother Renuka. He is considered one of the seven immortal human. He received an axe after undertaking a terrible penance to please Shiva, from whom he learned the methods of...
's visit to the place. The inscription apparently indicates that after Parashurama
Parashurama
Parashurama , is the sixth avatar of Vishnu and belongs to the treta yuga, and is the son of a Brahmin father Jamadagni and mother Renuka. He is considered one of the seven immortal human. He received an axe after undertaking a terrible penance to please Shiva, from whom he learned the methods of...
's extirpation of the Kshatriyas, a new branch arose deriving their name from 'Bala'.
A grant dated 1142 AD mentions that Janmajeya gave a village to the Brahmans of Kodanganur. However, King Vishnuvardhana gave them a better village and settled them at Kellangere. They were of the Bali-vamsa, and are said to be 200 ornaments of Soma-drinkers. Nagamangala
Nagamangala
Nagamangala is a panchayat town in Mandya district in the Indian state of Karnataka.-Demographics: India census, Nagamangala had a population of 16,050. Males constitute 51% of the population and females 49%. Nagamangala has an average literacy rate of 71%, higher than the national average of...
is referred as Kellangere in inscriptions. An undated record of a Vijayanagar king Devaraya in the Mallikarjuna temple states that Kellangere was famous because of Bhattarakadeva (a Jain thirthankara) and a certain Varadayyanayaka of Kellangere caused the construction of this temple in the eastern part of the village with garbhagriha, sukhanasi, and rangamantapa, converting the village, a Shudravada into an Agrahara, and named it Varadarajapura. He restored the tank, named it Varadaraja Samudra and gave grants to the services of the god.
One of the earliest mention of the Banas in authentic historical records is from the middle of the 4th century when their king Brihad-Bana has been referred to as the contemporary of the first Kadamba king
The Balikula or Banakula chieftains ruled in various parts of India and Ceylon at various points in time. The Banas were a prominent feudatory family figuring in inscriptions of almost all the great powers of Southern India from the 4th century to the 16th century; and were connected with most of them through matrimony. The earliest mention of Banas in authentic history were as the feudatories of the Satavahana
Satavahana
The Sātavāhana Empire or Andhra Empire, was a royal Indian dynasty based from Dharanikota and Amaravati in Andhra Pradesh as well as Junnar and Prathisthan in Maharashtra. The territory of the empire covered much of India from 230 BCE onward...
and early Pallava
Pallava
The Pallava dynasty was a Tamil dynasty which ruled the northern Tamil Nadu region and the southern Andhra Pradesh region with their capital at Kanchipuram...
s.
- The kingdom of Banas, PerumbanappadiPerumbanappadiPerumbanappadi was the original home of the historic Bana Chieftains of the early Pallava period. It extended from the South Pennar to the Tirupati hills. Perumbanappadi was made up of sub-divisions such as the Thiruvenkata-Kottam , and many Nadus such as Tuy-nadu, Puli-nadu, Vada Pulinadu, and...
, lay to the west of Andhrapatha. Andhrapatha developed into Andhramandala borne by a Bana grant of Vadhuvallaba Malladeva Nandivarman in AD 338.
- The Bhagavatha Purana mentions one Andhra, who was one of the six sons begotten by the Rishi DirghatamasDirghatamasDīrghatamas was an ancient sage well known for his philosophical verses in the RgVeda. He was author of Suktas 140 to 164 in the first Mandala of the RgVeda.-Background:...
on Sudesana, the wife of Bali, king of the lower gangetic valley. His patrimony lay down south and he gave his name to his people and kingdom. Presumably that was the Andhrapatha of PallavaPallavaThe Pallava dynasty was a Tamil dynasty which ruled the northern Tamil Nadu region and the southern Andhra Pradesh region with their capital at Kanchipuram...
Shivaskandavarman. The Mayidavolu plates of Shivaskandavarman prove that Andhrapatha or the region of Andhra was made up of the Krishna district with Bezwada as the capital.
- Various inscriptions describe the region ruled by Banas as a country to the west of Andhrapatha. They are also called rulers of Ganga, lords of Nandagiri (Nandi hills) and of Paruvipura. However, the country ruled by Banas is also called Andhrapatha itself.
- The Banas ruled in the regions of KolarKolarKolara is a city in the South Indian state of Karnataka. It is the headquarters of Kolar District. It is known for being one of the gold mining sites in India....
district in the 9th century.
- The Banas had frequent matrimonial ties with the Pallavas. However, the Pallava king Mahendradhiraja's conquest of the Banas, in the 9th century, in Puli-Nadu earned him the title "destroyer of the Mahabali-race". Supposedly, their ties with the Pallavas soured after a Bana chief (persumably Vijayabahu Vikramaditya II), married Arinjigap-Pirattiyar, the daughter of Pillaiar (Junior Prince) Arikulakesari Deva of the Chola dynasty; and the sister of Sundara Chola Parantak II (AD 957-973). After their defeat, they sought refuge in the Rashtrakuta court of Krishna III.
- Subsequently, we find that Srivijaya, the dandanayaka or commander general of the Räshtraküta king Indra III (AD 915—917) (aka King Narendra, the grandson of Krishna III) is mentioned as belonging to "family of Bali-Kula" {see Dânavulapâdu inscription }.
- The Banas were also feudatories of the Chalukyas. A stone inscription from Kondupalli, Ananthapur district mentions gift of land when Vikramaditya Bali Indra Banaraja of Balikula was governing Turumara vishaya in the 23rd regnal year of the Chalukya overlord.
- The Vijnapti of the Chirrur plates issued in the sixth year of Nrpatunga was Muttaraiyan, who also had the title Paranjaya. He was a Bana and is called a descendent of Balikula. He is also called Agatrayesa and Saila trayendra (names of the Trikuta mountain of the Himalayas). Rulers of eminence assumed the title Trikutachalapati to mark their valour. The Cholas, a little later, assumed the little MummudiMummadiMost people carrying the family name of Mummadi come from the South Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. Many people with the family name Mummadi are seen across the globe, originating across the whole of South India. For example, a Google search for "Mummadi" has a link that points to...
which in all probability refers to Trikuta. The Punganur record mentions that Kadupatti Muttaraiya raided Koyattur in the reign of Bana Vijayaditta Virachulamani Prabhumeru.
- Between 224 to 614 AD, Balikula nadu, the land of Banas, lay to the west of Andhrapatha. It initially comprised the modern KadapaKadapaKadapa , formerly Cuddapah, is a city in the south-central part of Andhra Pradesh, India . The city's name originated from the Telugu word "Gadapa" meaning threshold or gate...
(Cuddapah) and ChittoorChittoorChittoor also known as Chittur, is a City and municipal corporation located in the Chittoor District of Andhra Pradesh, India. It is conveniently located on major highways linking the cities of Bangalore and Chennai....
districts and was later made up of the Cuddapah and NelloreNelloreNellore , is a city and headquarters of Potti Sri Ramulu Nellore District, formerly Nellore district.And in the state of Andhra Pradesh. Ancient name of Nellore was "Vikrama Simhapuri"....
districts with Pottapi as its capital, a city that figured in many later Telugu Chola inscriptions. This dynasty was affiliated with the Tamil Chola dynasty.
- An inscription in the Thirunageshwaram temple of KumbakonamKumbakonamKumbakonam , also spelt as Coombaconum in the records of British India , is a town and a special grade municipality in the Thanjavur district in the southeast Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Located 40 kilometres from Thanjavur and 272 kilometres from Chennai, it is the headquarters of the Kumbakonam...
mentions "the heroic achievements in Simhala (Ceylon) of a Bana chief (name lost) ‘the ornament of Bali-kula’". The Bana chief, killed in a battle in Ceylon, was mentioned as the brother-in-law of a Chola monarch. However, another Bana king Malladeva Nandivarman, is said to have been disloyal to the Chola authority and helped Sundara Pandya in his wars against the Cholas
Puranas and mythologies
The Padma PuranaPadma Purana
Padma Purana , one of the major eighteen Puranas, a Hindu religious text, is divided into five parts.In the first part of the text, sage Pulastya explains to Bhishma about religion and the essence of the religion. The second part describes in detail Prithvi...
and the Shrimad Bhagavatham narrate the story of Jaya-Vijaya
Jaya-Vijaya
Jaya and Vijaya are the two demigod gatekeepers of the abode of Vishnu, known as Vaikuntha .-Curse of the four Kumaras:...
, the Gandharva
Gandharva
Gandharva is a name used for distinct mythological beings in Hinduism and Buddhism; it is also a term for skilled singers in Indian classical music.-In Hinduism:...
doorkeepers of Vishnu
Vishnu
Vishnu is the Supreme god in the Vaishnavite tradition of Hinduism. Smarta followers of Adi Shankara, among others, venerate Vishnu as one of the five primary forms of God....
who fell from Vaikuntha, due to a curse by four sages, and entered the womb of Diti
Diti
In Hinduism, Diti is an earth goddess and mother of the Maruts with Rudra. She is also the mother of the Daityas with the sage Kashyapa. She wanted to have a son who would be more powerful than Indra and so she practiced magic and kept herself pregnant for one year. Indra used a thunderbolt to...
, the wife of Kashyapa. Jaya and Vijaya were given the option of being born on Earth seven times as devotees of Vishnu or three times as the enemies of Vishnu to be killed (given moksham) by the Lord Himself. Jaya and Vijaya chose the latter. Thus they were born first as Hiranyaksha
Hiranyaksha
In Hinduism, Hiranyaksha [golden-eyed] was an Asura of pre-ancient India and the son of Diti and Kashyapa. He was slain by the god Vishnu after he took the Earth to the bottom of what has been described as the "Cosmic Ocean". His name in Sanskrit literally means "Goldeneye"...
and Hiranyakashipu
Hiranyakashipu
Hiranyakashipu [golden-haired] is an Asura from the Puranic scriptures of Hinduism. The Puranas describe Hiranyakashipu as an Asura. His younger brother, Hiranyaksha was slain by Varaha, one of the Avatars of Vishnu and angered by this, Hiranyakashipu decided to gain magical powers by performing...
, next as Ravana
Ravana
' is the primary antagonist character of the Hindu legend, the Ramayana; who is the great king of Lanka. In the classic text, he is mainly depicted negatively, kidnapping Rama's wife Sita, to claim vengeance on Rama and his brother Lakshmana for having cut off the nose of his sister...
and Kumbhakarna
Kumbhakarna
Kumbhakarna , is a rakshasa and brother of Ravana in the Indian Ramayana epic...
, and finally as Sishupala and Dantavaktra. As Hiranyaksha and Hiranyakashipu, they were killed by the Varaha
Varaha
Varaha is the third Avatar of the Hindu Godhead Vishnu, in the form of a Boar. He appeared in order to defeat Hiranyaksha, a demon who had taken the Earth and carried it to the bottom of what is described as the cosmic ocean in the story. The battle between Varaha and Hiranyaksha is believed to...
and Narasimha
Narasimha
Narasimha or Nrusimha , also spelt as Narasingh and Narasingha, whose name literally translates from Sanskrit as "Man-lion", is an avatar of Vishnu described in the Puranas, Upanishads and other ancient religious texts of Hinduism...
avataras of Maha Vishnu respectively. In their second birth as Ravana and Kumbhakarna, they were killed by Rama
Rama
Rama or full name Ramachandra is considered to be the seventh avatar of Vishnu in Hinduism, and a king of Ayodhya in ancient Indian...
and in their third birth as Sishupala and Dantavaktra, they were killed by Krishna
Krishna
Krishna is a central figure of Hinduism and is traditionally attributed the authorship of the Bhagavad Gita. He is the supreme Being and considered in some monotheistic traditions as an Avatar of Vishnu...
.
In the Shrimad Bhagavatham 11.12.3-6, Krishna
Krishna
Krishna is a central figure of Hinduism and is traditionally attributed the authorship of the Bhagavad Gita. He is the supreme Being and considered in some monotheistic traditions as an Avatar of Vishnu...
mentions the following as having attained His supreme abode: Vṛtrāsura (Vritra
Vritra
In the early Vedic religion, Vritra , is an Asura and also a serpent or dragon, the personification of drought and enemy of Indra. Vritra was also known in the Vedas as Ahi...
), Prahlada
Prahlada
Prahlada is a character from the Puranic texts of Hinduism, wherein he is famed for his exclusive devotion to Vishnu, despite attempts in the story by his father, Hiranyakashipu, to turn him to the contrary...
, Vṛṣaparvā (Vrishparva
Vrishparva
In Hindu mythology, Vrishparva was a Danava king. He fought many wars with Indra with the help of his main priest Shukracharya. He made many attempts to kill Kacha, the son of Brihaspati...
), Bali, Banasura
Banasura
Bana , in Hindu mythology, was a thousand-armed asura and son of Bali. Banasura was a powerful and terrible asura. All people, even the king of earth and Devas of heaven, were afraid of him. Bana was a follower of Siva. Banasura ruled in present-day central Assam with his capital at Sonitpur ,...
, Maya, Vibhishana
Vibhishana
Vibhishana or Bibhishan is a character in the epic Ramayana. He was the younger brother of the demon Ravana. Though a half-demon himself, Vibhishana was of a noble character and advised Ravana, who kidnapped and abducted Sita, to return her to her husband Rama in an orderly fashion...
, Sugriva
Sugriva
In the Hindu epic Ramayana, Sugriva , also spelled Sugreeva or Sugreev, was the younger brother of Bali, whom he succeeded as ruler of the vanara or monkey kingdom Kishkindha. Ruma was his wife. He was the son of Surya, the Hindu deity of the sun...
, Hanuman
Hanuman
Hanuman , is a Hindu deity, who is an ardent devotee of Rama, a central character in the Indian epic Ramayana and one of the dearest devotees of lord Rama. A general among the vanaras, an ape-like race of forest-dwellers, Hanuman is an incarnation of the divine and a disciple of Lord Rama in the...
, Jāmbavān, Gajendra, Jaṭāyu, Tulādhāra, Dharma-vyādha, Kubjā
The daitya
Daitya
In Hinduism, the Daityas are a clan or race or Asura as are the Danavas. Daityas were the children of Diti and the sage Kashyapa. They were a race of giants who fought against the Devas because they were jealous of their Deva half-brothers...
Vrishparva
Vrishparva
In Hindu mythology, Vrishparva was a Danava king. He fought many wars with Indra with the help of his main priest Shukracharya. He made many attempts to kill Kacha, the son of Brihaspati...
's daughter Sharmishtha
Sharmishtha
In Hindu mythology, Sharmistha, also known as Sharmista, was the daughter of Demon king Vrishparva, who was also friend of Devayani. She was given as dowry to Yayati of Yadav dynasty, when he married Devayani, the daughter of Sage Shukracharya, the guru of all Asuras.-the Legend:Once when Devayani...
Daiteyi married Yayati
Yayati
Yayati was a Puranic king and the son of king Nahusha and one of ancestors of Pandavas. He was a great scholar of Vedas. He had five brothers, Yati, Samyati, Ayati, Viyati and Kriti. He had two wives, Devayani and Sharmishtha. Devayani was the daughter of Shukracharya, the priest of Asuras ....
. Vrsaparva, the asura, is thus the ancestor of the Kurus
Kurus
Kuruş is a Turkish currency subunit. Since 2005, one new Turkish lira is equal to 100 kuruş. The kuruş was also the standard unit of currency in the Ottoman Empire until 1844, and from that date until the late 1970s was a subdivision of the former lira. It was subdivided into 40 para , each of...
and the Pandu
Pandu
In the Mahābhārata epic, King Pandu is the son of Ambalika and Rishi Ved Vyasa. He is more popularly known as the father of the Pandavas and ruled Hastinapur.-Birth:...
s through Asurendra suta. Asurendra is an epithet for Bali, the grandson of Prahalada
Controversies
The publication "Genealogies of the Hindus, extracted from their sacred writings, pg. 48-49" mentions:Bali is supposed to have been the great-grandson of Kasyapa; but it is probable that Hiranya was a son of Kasyapa who married the daughter of Biswanara. Even on this supposition, it is impossible that Bali could be the great-great grandson of Kasyapa and many generations must have been omitted from the Tables; for Banasura the son of Bali was contemporary with Sri Krishna and his son Virat was engaged in the great war on the side of the five sons of Pandu.
The Epigraphia Indica, by Bhandarakar, Volume 42, p. 37, informs us that Vishnuvardhana IV, the father of Vijayaditya II, is credited with a victory over certain Bali and is compared, on that account, with god Vishnu, in His fifth or Vamana incarnation.
Historical notes
Historically, the Banas were devotees of Vishnu and minted coins bearing the Garuda, Shanka and Chakra insignia. Their flag displayed a BlackbuckBlackbuck
Blackbuck is a species of antelope native to the Indian subcontinent. Their range decreased sharply during the 20th century. Since 2003, the IUCN lists the species as near threatened....
and their crest was a Bull. Yashoda Devi mentions in her book The History of Andhra Country, 1000 A.D.-1500 A.D.: Administration, literature and society that "The Banas humbly state that they were appointed as the door-keepers by God Paramesvara". An inscription from the Bilvanatheswara Temple of Thiruvallam that records the gift of land by a goldsmith to the temple with the approval of the king Mahavalivanaraya mentions:
"Om. Obeisance to Siva! Hail! Prosperity!
In the sixty-second year (of the reign) of king Vijaya-Nandivikramavarman, while the glorious Mavalivanaraya, - born from the family of Mahabali, who had been made door-keeper by the lord of gods and demons, Paramesvara (Siva), who is worshipped in all the three worlds,- was ruling the Vadu[gava]li twelve-thousand..".
A Bana queen is said to have built the Shiva temple at Nandi (Nandidurg) before 806 AD, and the Kalamukhas, adherents of the Pashupatha system were at that time established on the hill and places around it.
Hastings notes in the "Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics" that the defeat of Bana by Krishna points to the supersession of the Shiva-cult by that of Vishnu, and refers to an early period. He brings out the tendency for cults to harmonise after such events, through assimilation of their devotion identities, which was reflected in the bearing of their crests. Presently, amongst the Balijas, there are both Saivites and Vaishnavites, the latter being more numerous than the former.
Dynasties
The Vijayanagar empire was based on an expanding, cash-oriented economy enhanced by Balija tax-farming.Many of the Poligars, the local military chieftains of South India, belonged to the Balija social group. The Vijayanagar rulers had a policy of consolidating power by granting the Poligars / Palaiyakkarar
Palaiyakkarar
Palaiyakkarar, Poligar, Polygar or Palegar or Polegar was the feudal title for a class of territorial administrative and military chiefs appointed by the Naicker rulers of South India during 16th - 18th centuries...
s local Administrative rights. They in turn relied on the bands of soldiers that these Poligars put at the disposal of the Vijayanagar rulers in times of war.
Some Balija families were appointed to supervise provinces as Nayaks (governors, commanders) by the Vijayanagara kings and after the empire lost power, they continued to rule parts of southern Andhra Pradesh and northern Tamil Nadu independently. These include the Madurai Nayaks, Thanjavur Nayaks
Thanjavur Nayaks
Thanjavur Nayaks were the rulers of Thanjavur principality of Tamil Nadu between the 16th to the 17th century C.E. The Nayaks were subordinates of the imperial Vijayanagara emperors, and were appointed as provincial governors by the Vijayanagar Emperor who divided the Tamil country into three...
, and the last rulers of Sri Lanka, the Kandy Nayaks, before the British occupied Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
.
The Encyclopedia of World History states, Balijas were originally part of the great Telugu migrations southward into the Tamil country in the 15th and 16th centuries, Balija merchant-warriors who claimed these Nayaka positions rose to political and cultural power and supported an ethos that emphasized non-ascriptive, heroic criteria in legitimizing political power. The new egalitarian ethos made it easier for claimants from a variety of communities to succeed to political control .
Varna status
See also Varna Status of ReddysVelcheru Narayana Rao and Sanjay Subrahmanyam opined in their work "Notes on Political Thoughts in Medieval and Early Modern South India" that the emergence of left-hand caste Balijas as trader-warrior-kings was evidence in the Nayak period as a consequence of conditions of new wealth, produced by collapsing two Varnas, Kshatriya
Kshatriya
*For the Bollywood film of the same name see Kshatriya Kshatriya or Kashtriya, meaning warrior, is one of the four varnas in Hinduism...
s and Vaishya
Vaishya
Vaishya is one of the four varnas of the Hindu social order. According to Vedic tradition, this caste primarily comprises merchants, farmers, cattle-herders and artisans.-Duties of Vaishyas:...
s into one. In the brahmanical conceptualization of castes, Balijas were accorded the Shudra
Shudra
Shudra is the fourth Varna, as prescribed in the Purusha Sukta of the Rig veda, which constitutes society into four varnas or Chaturvarna. The other three varnas are Brahmans - priests, Kshatriya - those with governing functions, Vaishya - agriculturalists, cattle rearers and traders...
position though this classification and also the four fold Smrithi varna concept has never been acceptable to the Southern Indians. The Varna designation of Balijas is a contested issue.
In Southern India, occupational divisions have existed since the times of Tolkāppiyam
Tolkappiyam
The Tolkāppiyam is a work on the grammar of the Tamil language and the earliest extant work of Tamil literature. It is written in the form of noorpaa or short formulaic compositions and comprises three books - the Ezhuttadikaram, the Solladikaram and the Poruladikaram. Each of these books is...
. But early southern Indian literature does not mention the Chatur-Varna institution. Elements of caste pre-date varna; and social networks with elements of caste have been in existence since pre-vedic times. Southern India fell outside the region of Āryāvarta
Aryavarta
Āryāvarta is a name for Northern India in classical Sanskrit literature. The Manu Smriti gives the name to "the tract between the Himalaya and the Vindhya ranges, from the eastern to the Western Sea"....
where Chaturvarna was followed. Hence, the Southern Indians were outside the Indo-Aryan social organization of the varna system.
Chatur-Varna is first mentioned in a late Vedic text
Purusha sukta
Purusha sukta is hymn 10.90 of the Rigveda, dedicated to the Purusha, the "Cosmic Being". One version of the Suktam has 16 verses, 15 in the meter, and the final one in the meter...
(circa 1000 BC), and by the time of Manusmriti (200 BC - 200 AD), varna and jati (or "caste") co-exist as isomorphically ranked social orders. Based on the usage of the terms Brahmana and Kshatriya in Pali canon
Pāli Canon
The Pāli Canon is the standard collection of scriptures in the Theravada Buddhist tradition, as preserved in the Pāli language. It is the only completely surviving early Buddhist canon, and one of the first to be written down...
it has been suggested that Varna was a theoretical construct tied to upper categories, while a person’s identity during the time of Buddhism depended on a person’s occupation, kula (lineage) and jati (caste).
The tribal society in a pre-varna era followed a system of clan kinship as tribal social structures are based on totemic clans. The traditional gotra lists, contained in Pravara Prasnas and Ganapatha of Panini, include all types of gotras, both brahmanical (Arsa) as well as non-Brahmanical. Such a list may also indicate a process of assimilation as in the case of Nishada-gotra which has been mentioned in the Ganapatha of Pāṇini. Such an inclusion would not have been possible unless some brahmanas had been adsorbed from non-brahmanical groups or had served non-brahmins as priests. Village names used as gotras by non-brahmanical groups were not bereft of complexities either. Panini uses the term kula (clan). However Panini’s kula was explained by commentators as non-famous Gotras.
A group of related families living homogenously in a given locality were called a kula (clan) ruled over by a kulapati (head of the clan). A group of related kulas formed a grama (also called vis or settlement) presided by a Vispati or Gramani. The terms grama and vis originally denoted a group of kinsfolk related by blood, but later came to mean village or canton, and embraced all the castes and families of the village population, whether related or not.
Despite professing gotras based on kula (clan) and vis (settlement), south Indian social structures largely ignored the four-varna system; for there is no evidence of a chaturvarna system during the tribal states. A transitional state began during the time of Satavahana dynasty when Varna terms penetrated Southern-Indian society. Although the transitional character of the society is clearly observed historically, yet it was noted that there was little relevance for varna status among various professional groups. It has been argued that varna divisions were never functioning groups of social order and varna structures offered upward and downward mobility. The principal points of social interaction had remained families (vamsa), lineages (gotra), clans (kula) and jatis (occupations), without the usage of varnas.
The presence of Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
and Jainism
Jainism
Jainism is an Indian religion that prescribes a path of non-violence towards all living beings. Its philosophy and practice emphasize the necessity of self-effort to move the soul towards divine consciousness and liberation. Any soul that has conquered its own inner enemies and achieved the state...
may have overshadowed and stymied the presence and progression of a Varna system, during and after the Satavahana dynasty. The earliest historical monuments of Andhra are Buddhist, with Buddhism having reached Andhra Desa during the lifetime of Gautama Buddha
Gautama Buddha
Siddhārtha Gautama was a spiritual teacher from the Indian subcontinent, on whose teachings Buddhism was founded. In most Buddhist traditions, he is regarded as the Supreme Buddha Siddhārtha Gautama (Sanskrit: सिद्धार्थ गौतम; Pali: Siddhattha Gotama) was a spiritual teacher from the Indian...
(563 BC – 483 BC) himself. Extant literary and archeological evidences demonstrate that Andhra was one of the earliest recipients of Jainism as well. The earliest Andhra writers were Jainas and several Jain caves and inscriptions have been found across Andhra Desa. Both Buddhism and Jainism enjoyed prevalence and popularity on an equal scale. Historically several dynasties which ruled in Andhra were Buddhist or Jain or a mix of both, such as the Andhra Ikshvaku
Andhra Ikshvaku
The Andhra Ikshvakus were one of the earliest recorded ruling dynasties of Andhra Pradesh and are said to have been the first Kshatriya rulers in the Andhra region. They ruled the eastern Andhra country along the Krishna river during the later half of the 2nd century CE. . Their capital was...
s, Eastern Chalukyas
Eastern Chalukyas
Eastern Chalukyas were a South Indian dynasty whose kingdom was located in the present day Andhra Pradesh. Their capital was Vengi and their dynasty lasted for around 500 years from the 7th century until c. 1130 C.E. when the Vengi kingdom merged with the Chola empire...
(Jain), Rashtrakuta
Rashtrakuta
The Rashtrakuta Empire was a royal dynasty ruling large parts of the Indian Subcontinent between the sixth and the 10th centuries. During this period they ruled as several closely related, but individual clans. Rastrakutas in inscriptions represented as descendants of Satyaki, a Yadava well known...
Kingdom (Jain) and Ganga dynasty
Ganga Dynasty
Ganga Dynasty is a name used for two unrelated dynasties who ruled parts of India:* The Western Ganga Dynasty, a kingdom in southern India, based in southern Karnataka, from the 3rd to the 10th centuries...
(Jain); while others such as Satavahana dynasty were partly Hindu and partly Buddhist.
The process of peasantisation of tribals (conversion of hunter-gatherers into peasants) and state formation of tribal communities continued unhindered until in some place it was hindered by Mughal invasions. Several kingdoms that arose from tribal states claimed Dvija status over time. The many forms of the integration of tribal groups into Hindu society are discussed by Kulke (1976 and 1984) and Kosambi (1962 and 1996). As tribal chiefs became Hindu rajas, tribal deities became state gods, and sustained royal patronage of those gods, as is seen in the case of Gajapati chiefs
Gajapati Kingdom
The Gajapatis were a medieval Hindu dynasty that ruled over Kalinga , large parts of Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal, and the eastern and central parts of Madhya Pradesh and the southern parts of Bihar from 1434-1541. Gajapati dynasty was established by Kapilendra Deva in 1434...
and the Jagannatha temple of Orissa.
Balija ruling clans
Balija ' onMouseout='HidePop("50047")' href="/topics/Kannada_language">KannadaKannada language
Kannada or , is a language spoken in India predominantly in the state of Karnataka. Kannada, whose native speakers are called Kannadigas and number roughly 50 million, is one of the 30 most spoken languages in the world...
: ಬಲಿಜಾ) is a social group spread across the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh , is one of the 28 states of India, situated on the southeastern coast of India. It is India's fourth largest state by area and fifth largest by population. Its capital and largest city by population is Hyderabad.The total GDP of Andhra Pradesh is $100 billion and is ranked third...
(concentrated in the Rayalaseema
Rayalaseema
Rayalaseema is a geographic region in the state of Andhra Pradesh in India. It includes the districts of Anantapur, Chittoor, Kadapa, Kurnool. These Telugu speaking districts were part of Madras Presidency until 1953 when Telugu speaking districts of Madras presidency were carved out to form...
region), Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh...
, Karnataka
Karnataka
Karnataka , the land of the Kannadigas, is a state in South West India. It was created on 1 November 1956, with the passing of the States Reorganisation Act and this day is annually celebrated as Karnataka Rajyotsava...
and Kerala
Kerala
or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....
. Balijas are considered a sub-castes of the Kapu
Kapu
Kapu refers to the ancient Hawaiian code of conduct of laws and regulations. The kapu system was universal in lifestyle, gender roles, politics, religion, etc. An offense that was kapu was often a corporal offense, but also often denoted a threat to spiritual power, or theft of mana. Kapus were...
, Golla
Golla
Golla Oy is a Finnish design company making cases and bags for portable electronic devices. The company's products are aimed at devices such as mobile phones, MP3 players, digital cameras, laptops and game consoles. One of the central aspects of these products is their unique design. Golla employs...
, Gavara
Gavara
Gavaras or Gavara Naidu are one of the many small communities or caste of Andhra who live mostly in the north coastal districts. Large concentrations of Gavara population are distributed in and around Anakapalle in Visakhapatnam district...
and Reddy
Reddy
Reddy is a social group or caste of India, predominantly inhabiting Andhra Pradesh. They are enlisted as a forward caste by the government. Traditionally, they are a high-caste community of nobility, warriors and cultivators. According to academics, they were a warrior caste in the remote past and...
.
Peasant origin
- Some historians surmise that the Balija grouping was formed by a small social change that occurred amongst some sections of the Kapu community.
- Balijas supposedly shared the same history with KunbiKunbiKunbi is a generic term applied to castes of traditionally non-elite tillers in Western India. These include the Dhonoje, Ghatole, Hindre, Jadav, Jhare, Khaire, Lewa , Lonari and Tirole communities of Vidharbha. The communities are largely found in the state of Maharashtra but also exist in the...
and KurmiKurmiThe Kurmi are a Hindu agricultural Jāti in India.The group has been associated with the Kunbi, though scholars differ as to whether the terms are synonymous. In 2006, the Indian government announced that Kurmi was considered synonymous with the Kunbi and Yellam castes in Maharashtra...
s. Kunbhee in Hindustani is known as Kapu in Telugu. Kurmis state that they emigrated from the south about 1200 years ago.
- balija is in short in full form its balijana in sanskrit, in sanskrit bali/bala means power ,jana means people hence balija translats into powerfull people .they origanated from the kapu clan ,who are realated to
Jamwal,
Katoch,
Cholas,
Gujjar,
Khatri,
Kurmi,
Bisen,
Sikarwar,
Rathore,
Agrawal,
naidu,
reddy,
kapu,/
kapu-reddy-naidu-balija are of south indian settlers of syrya vanshi_agni angala kulla[agni kulla]
Merchant-Warrior origin
- It is believed that the Sanskrit term vanijya for a trader, became balanja and balija, just as it became it became baniya in other places.
- Thurston and Rangachari describe the Telugu trading classes as fire-born merchant and artisan castes: Balijas (with their offshoots Kavarais and Janappans) believe they originated when their God Chamundeshwari threw rice into the sacrificial fire from which a host of warriors sprang out.
- The Kavara and Gajulu Balija trace their mythological origins to Himavanta (father of Parvati) when he sacrificed a bull to Lord BrahmaBrahmaBrahma is the Hindu god of creation and one of the Trimurti, the others being Vishnu and Shiva. According to the Brahma Purana, he is the father of Mānu, and from Mānu all human beings are descended. In the Ramayana and the...
and from the fire emerged a person who brought forth combs, bangles, perfumes, sandals, powder, beads, and colored palf-leaf rolls for the ear for ParvatiParvatiParvati is a Hindu goddess. Parvati is Shakti, the wife of Shiva and the gentle aspect of Mahadevi, the Great Goddess...
.
- in thretayuga when parshu ram went on rampage killing all kshatrias 21 times around the world,after this act there were very few ksharitias left to protect the land ,hence post ramyana in thretayuga shree rams son`s lava and kusha with the help of brmhareshi and other sages conduct an great yagna ,post yagna the fire god him self appeared and blesed them with the boon that shree rams leanage will grow [uddar]and protect the akandabaratha from evil, since the fire god him self appared in the raging fire
[raging fire =agniangala sanskrit] to bless them this branch desendents of shree ram are known as agni angala kulla.
hence they are are surya vanshi -agniangala kulla -balijana kshatria .
the balija cast is futher divided into two groups known as 1] mulla-origanal,2] namdar -namesake
the above title is only for mula jana as they origanate from kshatria kulla ,
the namdars are those people of the other casts who were living in the kingdome of balija peta at that time the ,
mulla jana and namdars dont marry as they are from different casts .
futher more the hindu gotra system plays a key role to identifi who is who ,
suryavanshi-agniangala kulla ksharitias being from uppercasts have guru gotras [names of gurus of their bloodline]in the balija mula jana ,and the namdars being lower casts have ganda gotras [names of goods sold in traditional merchant shops known as
gandaga angadi]hence there is clears difference between these classes.
Mixed origins
- The Madras District Gazetter's Survey of Castes mentions: "The Telugu ryots are known by the general name Kapu, a term which is loosely applied to the caste groups otherwise known as Reddis, Kammans, Telegas and VelamaVelamaVelama or the Velama Doralu is a social group found mainly in Andhra Pradesh. Velamas are classed as "Upper Shudras". The history of Velama's is as old as Telugu bravery. Military exploits of Velamas form an important part of Telugu tradition, history and folklore...
s, and even Balijas, and is extended to the Kanarese Vakkiligas also.... The exact relationship between these castes has not yet been clearly determined; it is probable, however, that they, together with the Balijas and the RazusRajusThe Raju are a Telugu caste inhabiting Andhra Pradesh, India.-Etymology:Raju is a Telugu variation of the Sanskrit word Raj and Raja meaning king, prince or lord...
), come originally of the same stock, and settled in the District in the wake of the Vijaynagar conquests. The Telagas, Balijas and RazusRajusThe Raju are a Telugu caste inhabiting Andhra Pradesh, India.-Etymology:Raju is a Telugu variation of the Sanskrit word Raj and Raja meaning king, prince or lord...
) claim military antecedents, and there is evidence for classing the KammaKammaKamma may refer to:*Kamma , a caste or social group found largely in Southern India*The Pali and Ardhamagadhi term for karma*Bava Kamma, a traditional Jewish civil law procedure dealing largely with damages and compensation....
s as Balijas". It is therefore apparent that some KammasKamma (caste)Kamma or the Kammavaru is a social group that are classed as Upper Shudras is found largely in the Southern Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Tamilnadu and Karnataka. The Kamma population was 795,732 in the year 1881. According to 1921 census they constituted about 4.8% of Andhra Pradesh...
were classed as Balijas when the census was taken in the year 1918.
The original group of Balijas seem to have been a fierce group of warrior-merchants.
- Mixed origins are also stated by Vijaya Kumari and Sepuri Bhaskar in their book 'Social Change Among Balijas' (page 3) which mention that the "Balija kings of Madurai and Tanjore claim to be Kshatriyas of Kasyapa gotra, while the Vijayanagara Rais say that they are lineal descendants of the sage Bharadwaja. Others trace their ancestry to the Kauravas of the Mahabharata. These kshatriya descendents are an offshoot of the Kammas or Kapus, or they are a mixed community recruited from these and other Telugu castes".
Population data
According to the 1891 census data, the merchant groups of AgrawalAgrawal
Agrawal or Agarwal is a large and influential community in India. Agrawals are Kshatriya by birth of the Solar Dynasty but after the adoption of Vanika dharma by king Agrasena, Agrawals started dealing in business...
, Khatri
Khatri
Khatri is a caste from the northern Indian subcontinent. Khatris in India are mostly from Punjab, region but later they migrated to regions like Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Jammu, Uttarkhand, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Balochistan, Sindh and Khyber...
, Balija, Barnwal
Barnwal
Barnwal , also spelt as Baranwal, Varanwal or Barnawal, is a Baniya community in India and Nepal.-Legend:According to a Hindi-language historical account Baranwal Darshan, the Baranwal community is descended from King Ahibaran, a Suryavanshi Kshatriya and the great grandson of the legendary king...
together constituted 5% of the population. However, in the census of 1981, Balija formed 27.5% of the total population of Andhra Pradesh.
Language
There are two major linguistic branches among Balijas: Telugu speaking and Kannada speaking. The Balijas of Andhra speak TeluguTelugu language
Telugu is a Central Dravidian language primarily spoken in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India, where it is an official language. It is also spoken in the neighbouring states of Chattisgarh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Orissa and Tamil Nadu...
while those of Karnataka speak Kannada. Periyar E. V. Ramasamy
Periyar E. V. Ramasamy
Erode Venkata Ramasamy , affectionately called by his followers as Periyar , Thanthai Periyar or E. V...
, the father of Dravidian Politics was a Kannada speaking Balija. The descendents of Kandy Nayaks from their matrimonial ties with the Madurai Royal Family originally spoke Tamil
Tamil language
Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in the Indian union territory of Pondicherry. Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore...
and Telugu
Telugu language
Telugu is a Central Dravidian language primarily spoken in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India, where it is an official language. It is also spoken in the neighbouring states of Chattisgarh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Orissa and Tamil Nadu...
however merged into the Sinhalese
Sinhalese people
The Sinhalese are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group,forming the majority of Sri Lanka,constituting 74% of the Sri Lankan population.They number approximately 15 million worldwide.The Sinhalese identity is based on language, heritage and religion. The Sinhalese speak Sinhala, an Indo-Aryan language and the...
and spoke the Sinhala language for ruling purposes.
Balija branches
There are numerous sub-divisions among Balijas, many of which are divided based on the trade or occupation. Some sub-castes include:- Balija Chettis or Shettis ( Chetty Balija or Shetty Balija): They have been mentioned in several Vijayanagar accounts as wealthy merchants who controlled powerful trading guilds. To secure their loyalty, the Vijayanagar kings made them DesaiDesaiDesai is an administrative title and surname derived from the Vedic Sanskrit words "desh sai" meaning "lord of the land." 'Desai' is a surname attributed to Hindus who were feudal lords and revenue collectors...
s or "superintendents of all castes in the country". They were classified as right-hand castes
David Rudner claims that the Balija Chettis fissioned off as a separate caste from the Balija Nayaks warriors as recent as the 19th century; and accordingly they have closer kinship ties to the Nayak warriors than to Chetti merchants. However, the Balija Chettis were mentioned as rich traders and merchants during the Kakatiya Dynasty associated with some very old trading guilds concentrated in Bellary, Karnataka. Veera Balingyas (Vira Banajigas) were mentioned in the inscriptions of the Chalukyas of Badami
Badami
Badami , formerly known as Vatapi, is a town and headquarters of a taluk by the same name, in the Bagalkot district of Karnataka, India. It was the regal capital of the Badami Chalukyas from 540 to 757 AD. It is famous for rock cut and other structural temples...
and the Kakatiya dynasty as powerful and wealthy merchants who were known as "Five Hundred Lords of Ayyavolu
Five Hundred Lords of Ayyavolu
The Five Hundred Lords of Ayyavole were a merchant guild from Aihole that provided trade links between agrarian communities in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. They have been mentioned in inscriptions from the 9th century...
". They have also been mentioned in Vijayanagar inscriptions. Some Balija Chettis today assume the spelling variation Shetty [శెట్టి].
- Gajula Balija / Kavarai Balija / Sugavansi (pure) Balija: Myth is that SivaShivaShiva is a major Hindu deity, and is the destroyer god or transformer among the Trimurti, the Hindu Trinity of the primary aspects of the divine. God Shiva is a yogi who has notice of everything that happens in the world and is the main aspect of life. Yet one with great power lives a life of a...
's wife ParvatiParvatiParvati is a Hindu goddess. Parvati is Shakti, the wife of Shiva and the gentle aspect of Mahadevi, the Great Goddess...
did a severe penance in order to look beautiful for Shiva. A man sprung from the sacrificial fire bringing forth cosmetics and this person was the ancestor of the Gajula Balija. The Gajulu Balija are known as Kavarai in Tamil Nadu. Titles found amongst them are Naidu, Nayakkan, Chetti, Setti and Nayak. Kavarai or Gavarai is said to be a corrupt form of Kauravar or Gauravar; as they claim to be the Kurus or Kuru descendents of Mahabharata.
- Kambalattars / Thottiyans: The book "Political change and agrarian tradition in South India" by T.K.Venkatasubramanian states "The Kambalattar (Kambalaththu Nayakar) are practically extinct. Remnants of their traditional agnates or cognates in the Telugu country are not to be traced. The polegars of Ettayapuram and Panchalamkurichchi belong to this community. Their ancestry is traced to a community of hunters. Being dwellers of quasi-agricultural surroundings they were experts in reclaiming waste lands." The Gollavar, Sillavar and Tokkalavar were the subdivisions of the Raja Kambalattar caste and functioned as strictly endogamous units. The famous chieftain Veerapandiya KattabommanVeerapandiya KattabommanVeerapandiya Kattabomman also known as Kattabomman was an 18th century Palayakarrar chieftain from Panchalankurichi of Tamil Nadu, India and the 47th King of Panchalankurichi who fought the British. His ancestors migrated to Tamil Nadu from areas in present day Andhra Pradesh during the...
Naicker belonged to this branch of Balija caste. Kambalattars primarily practiced Vaishnavism. In the colonial period, Thottiyans returned themselves in caste census as Kamballatar
- Rajamahendravaram Balija or Musukamma Balija. They are traders named after a special ear ornament worn by women. They are named after the Rajamahendram town of Rajahmundry.
- Kannadiyan: Also known as Ravuth, Ravuthan or Rowthan.
- Adi Balija: a sub-caste of Balijas living in the Hyderabad Karnataka area.
There are numerous branches of Balija. Some were named after places, such as Gonuguntla Desayi Chettis (named after a village Gonuguntla) and Gandavarapu (Gonuguntla balijas who migrated to Cuddapah); while others had odd names like Mulaka (which is also name of a tribe), Miriyala (pepper traders), Vyasa
Vyasa
Vyasa is a central and revered figure in most Hindu traditions. He is also sometimes called Veda Vyasa , or Krishna Dvaipayana...
, and Tota.
Caste titles
Not all Balijas use the Naidu / Naicker surname.The Nayaka term was first used during the Vishnukundina dynasty that ruled from the Krishna and Godavari deltas during the 3rd century AD. During the Kakatiya dynasty, the Nayaka title was bestowed to warriors who had received land and the title as a part of the Nayankarapuvaram system for services rendered to the court. The Nayaka was noted to be an officer in the Kakatiya
Kakatiya
The Kakatiya dynasty was an Indian dynasty that ruled most parts of what is now Andhra Pradesh, India from 1083 CE to 1323 CE, with Orugallu , now Warangal , as its capital. Orugallu is also called 'Eka Sila Nagaram'...
court; there being a correlation between holding the Nayankara, the possession of the administrative title Angaraksha and the status title Nayaka.
A more widespread usage of the Nayaka title amongst the Balijas appears to have happened during the Vijayanagar empire where the Balija merchant-warriors rose to political and cultural power and claimed Nayaka positions.
Colonial writers such as Edgar Thruston and RV Russel noted that other castes succeeded in obtaining admission into the Balija caste by way of assuming the title "Naidu". The Census of India, 1901, Vol. 1, notes that: Caste titles and names are; however, of recent origin and little can be inferred from them, whatever their meaning may be shown to be. Another census report noted that wealth is a very potent factor, both in the way of levelling down caste heights and filling up social depths....a wealthy member of the Dhedh
Dhedh
Dhedhs or Dheds or Dhedhas are one of the scheduled caste of India. They were one of the out-caste and deprived class of Hindu society of India....
caste is actually the Dharmakartha of a Siva temple in Southern India and a Sathani (Sattada Srivaisnava temple servant) becomes elevated into a Balija often in the course of a few years ; so also a Palli into a Mudaliar
Mudaliar
Mudaliar also Mudali, Moodley is a title used in Tamil diaspora. It is derived from the honorary title Mudali meaning a person of first rank in the Tamil language which was bestowed upon top-ranking bureaucratic officials and army commanders in medieval South India...
.
Etymology of Balija
While seeking a Kshatriya varna position in the Census of 1901, a reference was made to the Srimad Bhagavatham, Vishnu Puranam and Brahmanda Puranam to seek classification as SomavanshiAilas
The Ailas were a dynasty of kings of ancient India. Pururavas, the son of Ila was the founder of this dynasty. The Mahabharata mentioned about the Ailas as, "The numerous royal lines and other ordinary Kshatriyas all represent themselves to be the descendants of Aila and Ikshwaku...
Kshatriya
Kshatriya
*For the Bollywood film of the same name see Kshatriya Kshatriya or Kashtriya, meaning warrior, is one of the four varnas in Hinduism...
s. The Balijas claimed to be descendents of Mahabali
Mahabali
Mahabali , also known as Bali or Māveli was a benevolent Asura King, and the grandson of Prahlada. The festival of Onam commemorates his yearly homecoming after being sent down to the underworld by Vamana, the fifth avatar of Vishnu.-Conquest of the Universe and banishment:Bali, an asura, was the...
.
The interest of Bali Vamsa in general, and the branch ruling in Kisukad
Kishkinta
Kishkinta is a theme park located in Chennai, India....
in particular, is provided in Epigraphia Indica, Volume 15, By Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarkar. It mentions an inscription edited by Dr. Fleet, Vol XIII, p.185, in which Turagavedanga (Thiruvenkata ?) is mentioned as the "scion of Bali race" as Kishkinda-puravar-sevara and Bali-vamsa-odbhava. Another incomplete inscription was also found mentioning "Turagavedanga, the illustrious lord of the world-renowned Kiskinda, a best town, born in Bali vamsa race".
While referring to the origin of the Chalukyan feudatories in the 12th century, namely the Bappura family of the Bali Vamsa that ruled over Kisukad, an inscription speaks of its origins from the caverns ('Vala' or 'Bala') of Mount Kishkinda in connection to Parashurama
Parashurama
Parashurama , is the sixth avatar of Vishnu and belongs to the treta yuga, and is the son of a Brahmin father Jamadagni and mother Renuka. He is considered one of the seven immortal human. He received an axe after undertaking a terrible penance to please Shiva, from whom he learned the methods of...
's visit to the place. The inscription apparently indicates that after Parashurama
Parashurama
Parashurama , is the sixth avatar of Vishnu and belongs to the treta yuga, and is the son of a Brahmin father Jamadagni and mother Renuka. He is considered one of the seven immortal human. He received an axe after undertaking a terrible penance to please Shiva, from whom he learned the methods of...
's extirpation of the Kshatriyas, a new branch arose deriving their name from 'Bala'.
A grant dated 1142 AD mentions that Janmajeya gave a village to the Brahmans of Kodanganur. However, King Vishnuvardhana gave them a better village and settled them at Kellangere. They were of the Bali-vamsa, and are said to be 200 ornaments of Soma-drinkers. Nagamangala
Nagamangala
Nagamangala is a panchayat town in Mandya district in the Indian state of Karnataka.-Demographics: India census, Nagamangala had a population of 16,050. Males constitute 51% of the population and females 49%. Nagamangala has an average literacy rate of 71%, higher than the national average of...
is referred as Kellangere in inscriptions. An undated record of a Vijayanagar king Devaraya in the Mallikarjuna temple states that Kellangere was famous because of Bhattarakadeva (a Jain thirthankara) and a certain Varadayyanayaka of Kellangere caused the construction of this temple in the eastern part of the village with garbhagriha, sukhanasi, and rangamantapa, converting the village, a Shudravada into an Agrahara, and named it Varadarajapura. He restored the tank, named it Varadaraja Samudra and gave grants to the services of the god.
One of the earliest mention of the Banas in authentic historical records is from the middle of the 4th century when their king Brihad-Bana has been referred to as the contemporary of the first Kadamba king
The Balikula or Banakula chieftains ruled in various parts of India and Ceylon at various points in time. The Banas were a prominent feudatory family figuring in inscriptions of almost all the great powers of Southern India from the 4th century to the 16th century; and were connected with most of them through matrimony. The earliest mention of Banas in authentic history were as the feudatories of the Satavahana
Satavahana
The Sātavāhana Empire or Andhra Empire, was a royal Indian dynasty based from Dharanikota and Amaravati in Andhra Pradesh as well as Junnar and Prathisthan in Maharashtra. The territory of the empire covered much of India from 230 BCE onward...
and early Pallava
Pallava
The Pallava dynasty was a Tamil dynasty which ruled the northern Tamil Nadu region and the southern Andhra Pradesh region with their capital at Kanchipuram...
s.
- The kingdom of Banas, PerumbanappadiPerumbanappadiPerumbanappadi was the original home of the historic Bana Chieftains of the early Pallava period. It extended from the South Pennar to the Tirupati hills. Perumbanappadi was made up of sub-divisions such as the Thiruvenkata-Kottam , and many Nadus such as Tuy-nadu, Puli-nadu, Vada Pulinadu, and...
, lay to the west of Andhrapatha. Andhrapatha developed into Andhramandala borne by a Bana grant of Vadhuvallaba Malladeva Nandivarman in AD 338.
- The Bhagavatha Purana mentions one Andhra, who was one of the six sons begotten by the Rishi DirghatamasDirghatamasDīrghatamas was an ancient sage well known for his philosophical verses in the RgVeda. He was author of Suktas 140 to 164 in the first Mandala of the RgVeda.-Background:...
on Sudesana, the wife of Bali, king of the lower gangetic valley. His patrimony lay down south and he gave his name to his people and kingdom. Presumably that was the Andhrapatha of PallavaPallavaThe Pallava dynasty was a Tamil dynasty which ruled the northern Tamil Nadu region and the southern Andhra Pradesh region with their capital at Kanchipuram...
Shivaskandavarman. The Mayidavolu plates of Shivaskandavarman prove that Andhrapatha or the region of Andhra was made up of the Krishna district with Bezwada as the capital.
- Various inscriptions describe the region ruled by Banas as a country to the west of Andhrapatha. They are also called rulers of Ganga, lords of Nandagiri (Nandi hills) and of Paruvipura. However, the country ruled by Banas is also called Andhrapatha itself.
- The Banas ruled in the regions of KolarKolarKolara is a city in the South Indian state of Karnataka. It is the headquarters of Kolar District. It is known for being one of the gold mining sites in India....
district in the 9th century.
- The Banas had frequent matrimonial ties with the Pallavas. However, the Pallava king Mahendradhiraja's conquest of the Banas, in the 9th century, in Puli-Nadu earned him the title "destroyer of the Mahabali-race". Supposedly, their ties with the Pallavas soured after a Bana chief (persumably Vijayabahu Vikramaditya II), married Arinjigap-Pirattiyar, the daughter of Pillaiar (Junior Prince) Arikulakesari Deva of the Chola dynasty; and the sister of Sundara Chola Parantak II (AD 957-973). After their defeat, they sought refuge in the Rashtrakuta court of Krishna III.
- Subsequently, we find that Srivijaya, the dandanayaka or commander general of the Räshtraküta king Indra III (AD 915—917) (aka King Narendra, the grandson of Krishna III) is mentioned as belonging to "family of Bali-Kula" {see Dânavulapâdu inscription }.
- The Banas were also feudatories of the Chalukyas. A stone inscription from Kondupalli, Ananthapur district mentions gift of land when Vikramaditya Bali Indra Banaraja of Balikula was governing Turumara vishaya in the 23rd regnal year of the Chalukya overlord.
- The Vijnapti of the Chirrur plates issued in the sixth year of Nrpatunga was Muttaraiyan, who also had the title Paranjaya. He was a Bana and is called a descendent of Balikula. He is also called Agatrayesa and Saila trayendra (names of the Trikuta mountain of the Himalayas). Rulers of eminence assumed the title Trikutachalapati to mark their valour. The Cholas, a little later, assumed the little MummudiMummadiMost people carrying the family name of Mummadi come from the South Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. Many people with the family name Mummadi are seen across the globe, originating across the whole of South India. For example, a Google search for "Mummadi" has a link that points to...
which in all probability refers to Trikuta. The Punganur record mentions that Kadupatti Muttaraiya raided Koyattur in the reign of Bana Vijayaditta Virachulamani Prabhumeru.
- Between 224 to 614 AD, Balikula nadu, the land of Banas, lay to the west of Andhrapatha. It initially comprised the modern KadapaKadapaKadapa , formerly Cuddapah, is a city in the south-central part of Andhra Pradesh, India . The city's name originated from the Telugu word "Gadapa" meaning threshold or gate...
(Cuddapah) and ChittoorChittoorChittoor also known as Chittur, is a City and municipal corporation located in the Chittoor District of Andhra Pradesh, India. It is conveniently located on major highways linking the cities of Bangalore and Chennai....
districts and was later made up of the Cuddapah and NelloreNelloreNellore , is a city and headquarters of Potti Sri Ramulu Nellore District, formerly Nellore district.And in the state of Andhra Pradesh. Ancient name of Nellore was "Vikrama Simhapuri"....
districts with Pottapi as its capital, a city that figured in many later Telugu Chola inscriptions. This dynasty was affiliated with the Tamil Chola dynasty.
- An inscription in the Thirunageshwaram temple of KumbakonamKumbakonamKumbakonam , also spelt as Coombaconum in the records of British India , is a town and a special grade municipality in the Thanjavur district in the southeast Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Located 40 kilometres from Thanjavur and 272 kilometres from Chennai, it is the headquarters of the Kumbakonam...
mentions "the heroic achievements in Simhala (Ceylon) of a Bana chief (name lost) ‘the ornament of Bali-kula’". The Bana chief, killed in a battle in Ceylon, was mentioned as the brother-in-law of a Chola monarch. However, another Bana king Malladeva Nandivarman, is said to have been disloyal to the Chola authority and helped Sundara Pandya in his wars against the Cholas
Puranas and mythologies
The Padma PuranaPadma Purana
Padma Purana , one of the major eighteen Puranas, a Hindu religious text, is divided into five parts.In the first part of the text, sage Pulastya explains to Bhishma about religion and the essence of the religion. The second part describes in detail Prithvi...
and the Shrimad Bhagavatham narrate the story of Jaya-Vijaya
Jaya-Vijaya
Jaya and Vijaya are the two demigod gatekeepers of the abode of Vishnu, known as Vaikuntha .-Curse of the four Kumaras:...
, the Gandharva
Gandharva
Gandharva is a name used for distinct mythological beings in Hinduism and Buddhism; it is also a term for skilled singers in Indian classical music.-In Hinduism:...
doorkeepers of Vishnu
Vishnu
Vishnu is the Supreme god in the Vaishnavite tradition of Hinduism. Smarta followers of Adi Shankara, among others, venerate Vishnu as one of the five primary forms of God....
who fell from Vaikuntha, due to a curse by four sages, and entered the womb of Diti
Diti
In Hinduism, Diti is an earth goddess and mother of the Maruts with Rudra. She is also the mother of the Daityas with the sage Kashyapa. She wanted to have a son who would be more powerful than Indra and so she practiced magic and kept herself pregnant for one year. Indra used a thunderbolt to...
, the wife of Kashyapa. Jaya and Vijaya were given the option of being born on Earth seven times as devotees of Vishnu or three times as the enemies of Vishnu to be killed (given moksham) by the Lord Himself. Jaya and Vijaya chose the latter. Thus they were born first as Hiranyaksha
Hiranyaksha
In Hinduism, Hiranyaksha [golden-eyed] was an Asura of pre-ancient India and the son of Diti and Kashyapa. He was slain by the god Vishnu after he took the Earth to the bottom of what has been described as the "Cosmic Ocean". His name in Sanskrit literally means "Goldeneye"...
and Hiranyakashipu
Hiranyakashipu
Hiranyakashipu [golden-haired] is an Asura from the Puranic scriptures of Hinduism. The Puranas describe Hiranyakashipu as an Asura. His younger brother, Hiranyaksha was slain by Varaha, one of the Avatars of Vishnu and angered by this, Hiranyakashipu decided to gain magical powers by performing...
, next as Ravana
Ravana
' is the primary antagonist character of the Hindu legend, the Ramayana; who is the great king of Lanka. In the classic text, he is mainly depicted negatively, kidnapping Rama's wife Sita, to claim vengeance on Rama and his brother Lakshmana for having cut off the nose of his sister...
and Kumbhakarna
Kumbhakarna
Kumbhakarna , is a rakshasa and brother of Ravana in the Indian Ramayana epic...
, and finally as Sishupala and Dantavaktra. As Hiranyaksha and Hiranyakashipu, they were killed by the Varaha
Varaha
Varaha is the third Avatar of the Hindu Godhead Vishnu, in the form of a Boar. He appeared in order to defeat Hiranyaksha, a demon who had taken the Earth and carried it to the bottom of what is described as the cosmic ocean in the story. The battle between Varaha and Hiranyaksha is believed to...
and Narasimha
Narasimha
Narasimha or Nrusimha , also spelt as Narasingh and Narasingha, whose name literally translates from Sanskrit as "Man-lion", is an avatar of Vishnu described in the Puranas, Upanishads and other ancient religious texts of Hinduism...
avataras of Maha Vishnu respectively. In their second birth as Ravana and Kumbhakarna, they were killed by Rama
Rama
Rama or full name Ramachandra is considered to be the seventh avatar of Vishnu in Hinduism, and a king of Ayodhya in ancient Indian...
and in their third birth as Sishupala and Dantavaktra, they were killed by Krishna
Krishna
Krishna is a central figure of Hinduism and is traditionally attributed the authorship of the Bhagavad Gita. He is the supreme Being and considered in some monotheistic traditions as an Avatar of Vishnu...
.
In the Shrimad Bhagavatham 11.12.3-6, Krishna
Krishna
Krishna is a central figure of Hinduism and is traditionally attributed the authorship of the Bhagavad Gita. He is the supreme Being and considered in some monotheistic traditions as an Avatar of Vishnu...
mentions the following as having attained His supreme abode: Vṛtrāsura (Vritra
Vritra
In the early Vedic religion, Vritra , is an Asura and also a serpent or dragon, the personification of drought and enemy of Indra. Vritra was also known in the Vedas as Ahi...
), Prahlada
Prahlada
Prahlada is a character from the Puranic texts of Hinduism, wherein he is famed for his exclusive devotion to Vishnu, despite attempts in the story by his father, Hiranyakashipu, to turn him to the contrary...
, Vṛṣaparvā (Vrishparva
Vrishparva
In Hindu mythology, Vrishparva was a Danava king. He fought many wars with Indra with the help of his main priest Shukracharya. He made many attempts to kill Kacha, the son of Brihaspati...
), Bali, Banasura
Banasura
Bana , in Hindu mythology, was a thousand-armed asura and son of Bali. Banasura was a powerful and terrible asura. All people, even the king of earth and Devas of heaven, were afraid of him. Bana was a follower of Siva. Banasura ruled in present-day central Assam with his capital at Sonitpur ,...
, Maya, Vibhishana
Vibhishana
Vibhishana or Bibhishan is a character in the epic Ramayana. He was the younger brother of the demon Ravana. Though a half-demon himself, Vibhishana was of a noble character and advised Ravana, who kidnapped and abducted Sita, to return her to her husband Rama in an orderly fashion...
, Sugriva
Sugriva
In the Hindu epic Ramayana, Sugriva , also spelled Sugreeva or Sugreev, was the younger brother of Bali, whom he succeeded as ruler of the vanara or monkey kingdom Kishkindha. Ruma was his wife. He was the son of Surya, the Hindu deity of the sun...
, Hanuman
Hanuman
Hanuman , is a Hindu deity, who is an ardent devotee of Rama, a central character in the Indian epic Ramayana and one of the dearest devotees of lord Rama. A general among the vanaras, an ape-like race of forest-dwellers, Hanuman is an incarnation of the divine and a disciple of Lord Rama in the...
, Jāmbavān, Gajendra, Jaṭāyu, Tulādhāra, Dharma-vyādha, Kubjā
The daitya
Daitya
In Hinduism, the Daityas are a clan or race or Asura as are the Danavas. Daityas were the children of Diti and the sage Kashyapa. They were a race of giants who fought against the Devas because they were jealous of their Deva half-brothers...
Vrishparva
Vrishparva
In Hindu mythology, Vrishparva was a Danava king. He fought many wars with Indra with the help of his main priest Shukracharya. He made many attempts to kill Kacha, the son of Brihaspati...
's daughter Sharmishtha
Sharmishtha
In Hindu mythology, Sharmistha, also known as Sharmista, was the daughter of Demon king Vrishparva, who was also friend of Devayani. She was given as dowry to Yayati of Yadav dynasty, when he married Devayani, the daughter of Sage Shukracharya, the guru of all Asuras.-the Legend:Once when Devayani...
Daiteyi married Yayati
Yayati
Yayati was a Puranic king and the son of king Nahusha and one of ancestors of Pandavas. He was a great scholar of Vedas. He had five brothers, Yati, Samyati, Ayati, Viyati and Kriti. He had two wives, Devayani and Sharmishtha. Devayani was the daughter of Shukracharya, the priest of Asuras ....
. Vrsaparva, the asura, is thus the ancestor of the Kurus
Kurus
Kuruş is a Turkish currency subunit. Since 2005, one new Turkish lira is equal to 100 kuruş. The kuruş was also the standard unit of currency in the Ottoman Empire until 1844, and from that date until the late 1970s was a subdivision of the former lira. It was subdivided into 40 para , each of...
and the Pandu
Pandu
In the Mahābhārata epic, King Pandu is the son of Ambalika and Rishi Ved Vyasa. He is more popularly known as the father of the Pandavas and ruled Hastinapur.-Birth:...
s through Asurendra suta. Asurendra is an epithet for Bali, the grandson of Prahalada
Controversies
The publication "Genealogies of the Hindus, extracted from their sacred writings, pg. 48-49" mentions:Bali is supposed to have been the great-grandson of Kasyapa; but it is probable that Hiranya was a son of Kasyapa who married the daughter of Biswanara. Even on this supposition, it is impossible that Bali could be the great-great grandson of Kasyapa and many generations must have been omitted from the Tables; for Banasura the son of Bali was contemporary with Sri Krishna and his son Virat was engaged in the great war on the side of the five sons of Pandu.
The Epigraphia Indica, by Bhandarakar, Volume 42, p. 37, informs us that Vishnuvardhana IV, the father of Vijayaditya II, is credited with a victory over certain Bali and is compared, on that account, with god Vishnu, in His fifth or Vamana incarnation.
Historical notes
Historically, the Banas were devotees of Vishnu and minted coins bearing the Garuda, Shanka and Chakra insignia. Their flag displayed a BlackbuckBlackbuck
Blackbuck is a species of antelope native to the Indian subcontinent. Their range decreased sharply during the 20th century. Since 2003, the IUCN lists the species as near threatened....
and their crest was a Bull. Yashoda Devi mentions in her book The History of Andhra Country, 1000 A.D.-1500 A.D.: Administration, literature and society that "The Banas humbly state that they were appointed as the door-keepers by God Paramesvara". An inscription from the Bilvanatheswara Temple of Thiruvallam that records the gift of land by a goldsmith to the temple with the approval of the king Mahavalivanaraya mentions:
"Om. Obeisance to Siva! Hail! Prosperity!
In the sixty-second year (of the reign) of king Vijaya-Nandivikramavarman, while the glorious Mavalivanaraya, - born from the family of Mahabali, who had been made door-keeper by the lord of gods and demons, Paramesvara (Siva), who is worshipped in all the three worlds,- was ruling the Vadu[gava]li twelve-thousand..".
A Bana queen is said to have built the Shiva temple at Nandi (Nandidurg) before 806 AD, and the Kalamukhas, adherents of the Pashupatha system were at that time established on the hill and places around it.
Hastings notes in the "Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics" that the defeat of Bana by Krishna points to the supersession of the Shiva-cult by that of Vishnu, and refers to an early period. He brings out the tendency for cults to harmonise after such events, through assimilation of their devotion identities, which was reflected in the bearing of their crests. Presently, amongst the Balijas, there are both Saivites and Vaishnavites, the latter being more numerous than the former.
Dynasties
The Vijayanagar empire was based on an expanding, cash-oriented economy enhanced by Balija tax-farming.Many of the Poligars, the local military chieftains of South India, belonged to the Balija social group. The Vijayanagar rulers had a policy of consolidating power by granting the Poligars / Palaiyakkarar
Palaiyakkarar
Palaiyakkarar, Poligar, Polygar or Palegar or Polegar was the feudal title for a class of territorial administrative and military chiefs appointed by the Naicker rulers of South India during 16th - 18th centuries...
s local Administrative rights. They in turn relied on the bands of soldiers that these Poligars put at the disposal of the Vijayanagar rulers in times of war.
Some Balija families were appointed to supervise provinces as Nayaks (governors, commanders) by the Vijayanagara kings and after the empire lost power, they continued to rule parts of southern Andhra Pradesh and northern Tamil Nadu independently. These include the Madurai Nayaks, Thanjavur Nayaks
Thanjavur Nayaks
Thanjavur Nayaks were the rulers of Thanjavur principality of Tamil Nadu between the 16th to the 17th century C.E. The Nayaks were subordinates of the imperial Vijayanagara emperors, and were appointed as provincial governors by the Vijayanagar Emperor who divided the Tamil country into three...
, and the last rulers of Sri Lanka, the Kandy Nayaks, before the British occupied Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
.
The Encyclopedia of World History states, Balijas were originally part of the great Telugu migrations southward into the Tamil country in the 15th and 16th centuries, Balija merchant-warriors who claimed these Nayaka positions rose to political and cultural power and supported an ethos that emphasized non-ascriptive, heroic criteria in legitimizing political power. The new egalitarian ethos made it easier for claimants from a variety of communities to succeed to political control .
Varna status
See also Varna Status of ReddysVelcheru Narayana Rao and Sanjay Subrahmanyam opined in their work "Notes on Political Thoughts in Medieval and Early Modern South India" that the emergence of left-hand caste Balijas as trader-warrior-kings was evidence in the Nayak period as a consequence of conditions of new wealth, produced by collapsing two Varnas, Kshatriya
Kshatriya
*For the Bollywood film of the same name see Kshatriya Kshatriya or Kashtriya, meaning warrior, is one of the four varnas in Hinduism...
s and Vaishya
Vaishya
Vaishya is one of the four varnas of the Hindu social order. According to Vedic tradition, this caste primarily comprises merchants, farmers, cattle-herders and artisans.-Duties of Vaishyas:...
s into one. In the brahmanical conceptualization of castes, Balijas were accorded the Shudra
Shudra
Shudra is the fourth Varna, as prescribed in the Purusha Sukta of the Rig veda, which constitutes society into four varnas or Chaturvarna. The other three varnas are Brahmans - priests, Kshatriya - those with governing functions, Vaishya - agriculturalists, cattle rearers and traders...
position though this classification and also the four fold Smrithi varna concept has never been acceptable to the Southern Indians. The Varna designation of Balijas is a contested issue.
In Southern India, occupational divisions have existed since the times of Tolkāppiyam
Tolkappiyam
The Tolkāppiyam is a work on the grammar of the Tamil language and the earliest extant work of Tamil literature. It is written in the form of noorpaa or short formulaic compositions and comprises three books - the Ezhuttadikaram, the Solladikaram and the Poruladikaram. Each of these books is...
. But early southern Indian literature does not mention the Chatur-Varna institution. Elements of caste pre-date varna; and social networks with elements of caste have been in existence since pre-vedic times. Southern India fell outside the region of Āryāvarta
Aryavarta
Āryāvarta is a name for Northern India in classical Sanskrit literature. The Manu Smriti gives the name to "the tract between the Himalaya and the Vindhya ranges, from the eastern to the Western Sea"....
where Chaturvarna was followed. Hence, the Southern Indians were outside the Indo-Aryan social organization of the varna system.
Chatur-Varna is first mentioned in a late Vedic text
Purusha sukta
Purusha sukta is hymn 10.90 of the Rigveda, dedicated to the Purusha, the "Cosmic Being". One version of the Suktam has 16 verses, 15 in the meter, and the final one in the meter...
(circa 1000 BC), and by the time of Manusmriti (200 BC - 200 AD), varna and jati (or "caste") co-exist as isomorphically ranked social orders. Based on the usage of the terms Brahmana and Kshatriya in Pali canon
Pāli Canon
The Pāli Canon is the standard collection of scriptures in the Theravada Buddhist tradition, as preserved in the Pāli language. It is the only completely surviving early Buddhist canon, and one of the first to be written down...
it has been suggested that Varna was a theoretical construct tied to upper categories, while a person’s identity during the time of Buddhism depended on a person’s occupation, kula (lineage) and jati (caste).
The tribal society in a pre-varna era followed a system of clan kinship as tribal social structures are based on totemic clans. The traditional gotra lists, contained in Pravara Prasnas and Ganapatha of Panini, include all types of gotras, both brahmanical (Arsa) as well as non-Brahmanical. Such a list may also indicate a process of assimilation as in the case of Nishada-gotra which has been mentioned in the Ganapatha of Pāṇini. Such an inclusion would not have been possible unless some brahmanas had been adsorbed from non-brahmanical groups or had served non-brahmins as priests. Village names used as gotras by non-brahmanical groups were not bereft of complexities either. Panini uses the term kula (clan). However Panini’s kula was explained by commentators as non-famous Gotras.
A group of related families living homogenously in a given locality were called a kula (clan) ruled over by a kulapati (head of the clan). A group of related kulas formed a grama (also called vis or settlement) presided by a Vispati or Gramani. The terms grama and vis originally denoted a group of kinsfolk related by blood, but later came to mean village or canton, and embraced all the castes and families of the village population, whether related or not.
Despite professing gotras based on kula (clan) and vis (settlement), south Indian social structures largely ignored the four-varna system; for there is no evidence of a chaturvarna system during the tribal states. A transitional state began during the time of Satavahana dynasty when Varna terms penetrated Southern-Indian society. Although the transitional character of the society is clearly observed historically, yet it was noted that there was little relevance for varna status among various professional groups. It has been argued that varna divisions were never functioning groups of social order and varna structures offered upward and downward mobility. The principal points of social interaction had remained families (vamsa), lineages (gotra), clans (kula) and jatis (occupations), without the usage of varnas.
The presence of Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
and Jainism
Jainism
Jainism is an Indian religion that prescribes a path of non-violence towards all living beings. Its philosophy and practice emphasize the necessity of self-effort to move the soul towards divine consciousness and liberation. Any soul that has conquered its own inner enemies and achieved the state...
may have overshadowed and stymied the presence and progression of a Varna system, during and after the Satavahana dynasty. The earliest historical monuments of Andhra are Buddhist, with Buddhism having reached Andhra Desa during the lifetime of Gautama Buddha
Gautama Buddha
Siddhārtha Gautama was a spiritual teacher from the Indian subcontinent, on whose teachings Buddhism was founded. In most Buddhist traditions, he is regarded as the Supreme Buddha Siddhārtha Gautama (Sanskrit: सिद्धार्थ गौतम; Pali: Siddhattha Gotama) was a spiritual teacher from the Indian...
(563 BC – 483 BC) himself. Extant literary and archeological evidences demonstrate that Andhra was one of the earliest recipients of Jainism as well. The earliest Andhra writers were Jainas and several Jain caves and inscriptions have been found across Andhra Desa. Both Buddhism and Jainism enjoyed prevalence and popularity on an equal scale. Historically several dynasties which ruled in Andhra were Buddhist or Jain or a mix of both, such as the Andhra Ikshvaku
Andhra Ikshvaku
The Andhra Ikshvakus were one of the earliest recorded ruling dynasties of Andhra Pradesh and are said to have been the first Kshatriya rulers in the Andhra region. They ruled the eastern Andhra country along the Krishna river during the later half of the 2nd century CE. . Their capital was...
s, Eastern Chalukyas
Eastern Chalukyas
Eastern Chalukyas were a South Indian dynasty whose kingdom was located in the present day Andhra Pradesh. Their capital was Vengi and their dynasty lasted for around 500 years from the 7th century until c. 1130 C.E. when the Vengi kingdom merged with the Chola empire...
(Jain), Rashtrakuta
Rashtrakuta
The Rashtrakuta Empire was a royal dynasty ruling large parts of the Indian Subcontinent between the sixth and the 10th centuries. During this period they ruled as several closely related, but individual clans. Rastrakutas in inscriptions represented as descendants of Satyaki, a Yadava well known...
Kingdom (Jain) and Ganga dynasty
Ganga Dynasty
Ganga Dynasty is a name used for two unrelated dynasties who ruled parts of India:* The Western Ganga Dynasty, a kingdom in southern India, based in southern Karnataka, from the 3rd to the 10th centuries...
(Jain); while others such as Satavahana dynasty were partly Hindu and partly Buddhist.
The process of peasantisation of tribals (conversion of hunter-gatherers into peasants) and state formation of tribal communities continued unhindered until in some place it was hindered by Mughal invasions. Several kingdoms that arose from tribal states claimed Dvija status over time. The many forms of the integration of tribal groups into Hindu society are discussed by Kulke (1976 and 1984) and Kosambi (1962 and 1996). As tribal chiefs became Hindu rajas, tribal deities became state gods, and sustained royal patronage of those gods, as is seen in the case of Gajapati chiefs
Gajapati Kingdom
The Gajapatis were a medieval Hindu dynasty that ruled over Kalinga , large parts of Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal, and the eastern and central parts of Madhya Pradesh and the southern parts of Bihar from 1434-1541. Gajapati dynasty was established by Kapilendra Deva in 1434...
and the Jagannatha temple of Orissa.
Balija ruling clans
- Vijayanagara EmpireVijayanagara EmpireThe Vijayanagara Empire , referred as the Kingdom of Bisnaga by the Portuguese, was an empire based in South Indian in the Deccan Plateau region. It was established in 1336 by Harihara I and his brother Bukka Raya I of the Yadava lineage. The empire rose to prominence as a culmination of attempts...
- Madurai Nayaks
- Tanjavur Nayaks
- Kandy Nayaks who ruled Sri Lanka
- GingeeGingeeGingee is a panchayat town in Viluppuram district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The nearest town with a railway station is Tindivanam, 28 km away....
Nayaks / Chenchi Nayaks, Thundeera - Veerapandiya KattabommanVeerapandiya KattabommanVeerapandiya Kattabomman also known as Kattabomman was an 18th century Palayakarrar chieftain from Panchalankurichi of Tamil Nadu, India and the 47th King of Panchalankurichi who fought the British. His ancestors migrated to Tamil Nadu from areas in present day Andhra Pradesh during the...
- first indian fought against british in the year 1799
- Nayaks of Keladi Keladi NayakaKeladi Nayaka Kingdom were an important ruling dynasty of post-medieval Karnataka, India. They initially started to rule as a feudatory of the Vijayanagar Empire...
- ChannapatnaChannapatnaChannapatna is a small city located 60 km south-west of Bangalore, India on Bangalore-Mysore state highway.The city is famous for its wooden toys and lacquerware. In the native language , Channapatna is also called as "goMbegaLa ooru" meaning toys town in English. These toys are manufactured...
Rayas who ruled Bangalore area
- PenukondaPenukondaPenukonda or Penu Konda is a small town in the Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh, India. It is 70 km away from Anantapur town.-Geography:Penukonda is located at...
- KalyandurgKalyandurgKalyandurg or Kalyandurgam is a census town located in the Anantapur district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh.-Geography:Kalyandurg is located at . It has an average elevation of 591 metres .-History:...
- Ananthapur
- Bukkarayapatnam
- Dharmavaram: [Balijas of Hande
Family] - Tadipatri and Poddatur: Hande Malakappa Naidu (1595–1619), 1st Son Devappa Naidu and his descendents
- Ramagiri
- Rayadurgam
- ChandragiriChandragiriChandragiri , is a suburb of Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh, India. Recently it is included under Municipal Corporation limits of Tirupati...
:Kasturi Nayadu and Peda Koneti Nayudu of the Vasarasi family belonged to the Balija caste. - UdayagiriUdayagiriUdayagiri is the name of many places in India, among them:*Udayagiri Fort, one in Tamil Nadu and the other in Andhra Pradesh...
- Poligars: Some of the tax collectors of Tamil Nadu were of Balija origin.
- Metla RajuluMetla RajuluMetla Rajulu, also called Metlu Rajas, ruled in Cuddapah. They were the last princely state to be captured by the British when Rayalaseema was ceded to them by the Nizam after laying seize to the fort for a couple of months...
- Konderpi and Kanakal: Hande Malakappa Naidu (1595–1619), 3rd Son Lingappa Naidu and his descendents
- Kotakonda (Kothi konda)
- Bellari, Kurgodu and Sourrounding Districts: Hande Malakappa Naidu (1595–1619), 2nd Son Chinna Ramappa Naidu and his descendents
See also
- BanavasiBanavasiBanavasi is an ancient temple town in Uttara Kannada District bordering Shivamogga district in the South Indian state of Karnataka .-History:Banavasi is one of the oldest towns in the Karnataka state...
/ Vanavasi, the capital of the Kadamba kingdom - Bana KingdomBana KingdomThe Banas were a dynasty of South India, who claimed descent from the asura Mahabali. The dynasty takes its name from Bana, the son of Mahabali. The Banas faced opposition from several neighbouring dynasties and served some major dynasties such as the Cholas and Pandyas as feudatories, sometimes...
(Balikula Nadu) of south India - Bana (clan)Bana (clan)Bana is a gotra of Jats found in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh in India. Banas are descendants of King Banasur. Their capital was at Bayana in Bharatpur. Vana Ganga river gets name from Banas. The princess of Bayana was Usha married to Anirudh. There is a temple at Bayana constructed in memory of Usha...
of Jats - BahubaliBahubaliAccording to Jainism, Bahubali, called Gomateshwara , was the second of the hundred sons of the first Tirthankara, Rishabha, and king of Podanpur. The Adipurana, a 10th century Kannada text by Jain poet Adikavi Pampa According to Jainism, Bahubali, called Gomateshwara , was the second of the...
- Jain culture of Banas
- KaithalKaithalKaithal is a city and a municipal council in Kaithal district in the Indian state of Haryana. Kaithal was previously a part of Karnal District and later, Kurukshetra District until 1 November 1989, when it became the headquarters of the Kaithal District of Haryana. Kaithal shares common boundary...
in Haryana - SaramaSaramaIn Hindu mythology, Sarama is a mythological being referred to as the bitch of the gods, or Deva-shuni . She first appears in one of Hinduism's earliest texts, the Rig Veda, in which she helps the god-king Indra to recover divine cows stolen by the Panis, a class of demons. This legend is alluded...
- Kapi Dhwaja.
- Balihika, King of MagadhaMagadhaMagadha formed one of the sixteen Mahājanapadas or kingdoms in ancient India. The core of the kingdom was the area of Bihar south of the Ganga; its first capital was Rajagriha then Pataliputra...
, founder of Andhrajatika dynasty. - Andhras, Andhrajatiya, Andhrabhrityas
- Kapisthala
- Kapisthalam in Kumbakonam
- Bana Kings, Mavali-Vanarasa (MahabaliMahabaliMahabali , also known as Bali or Māveli was a benevolent Asura King, and the grandson of Prahlada. The festival of Onam commemorates his yearly homecoming after being sent down to the underworld by Vamana, the fifth avatar of Vishnu.-Conquest of the Universe and banishment:Bali, an asura, was the...
), Malladeva Nandivarman, Bana-Kandarppan, Banavidyadhara, Vijayaditya Prabhumeru, King Banarasa. - Bappura family (Batpura lineage) of Mahasamanta Dadiga, Pulakesi I, Durlabhadevi and Satyasraya Dhruvaraja Indravarman related to the Chalukyas.
General
- Balijavaaru Puraanam, by Sri Salem Pagadaala Narasimhalu Nayudu.
- Balijakula Charithra, by Kante Narayana Desayi
- Andhrula Sankshiptha Charitra, by Balarama Murthi
- Munnuru Kapu Kulabhyudayamu, written by Sri Bojjam Narsimlu.
- Questioning Ramayanas, by Paula Richman
- The Literary Cultures in History, by Sheldon I Pollock
- Further Sources of Vijayanagara History, by K A Nilakanta Sastry
- Penumbral Visions, by Sanjay Subrahmanyam
- Caste and Race in India, by G.S.Ghurye
- The Wars of The Rajas - by Charles Philip Brown
- The View from Below, by Kanakalatha Mukund
- Caste & Class Articulation of Andhra Pradesh
- Genetic Evidence on Caste Origins
- Caste politics in the North, West and South India before Mandal
- Kerala information http://nfwa-kerala.com/ABOUT.HTM
- The Madura Country, by James Henry Nelson
- Konduru: structure and integration in a South Indian village, Paul G. Hiebert, P.21-22.
- The Journal of Sir Thomas Roe an ambassodor of England to Emperor Jahangeer AD 1744
- The Warrior Merchants, by Mittison Mines
- India's Silent Revolution, by Christophe Jaffrelot
- Social Change in Modern India, by M N Srinivas
- The Trading world of the Tamil Merchant, by Kanakalatha Mukund
- Gazetteer of the Nellore District - by Government of Madras
- Constructing the Colonial Encounter, by Niels Brimnes
- Religion and Public Culture, by John Jeya Paul
- The World of the Weaver in Northern Coromandel, C.1750- C.1850, by P. Swarnalatha
- Manual of the Bellary District, by John Kelsall, 1869
- Social Changes among Balijas (by Vijaya Kumari and Sepuri Bhaskar)
