Ajila is a common surname of the Bunt people, the landed gentry of

Tulu Nadu Tulunad or Tulu Nadu, also called Bermere sristi or Parashurama Srishti, is a region and a proposed state on the southwestern coast of India. The Tulu people, known as 'Tuluva' (plural 'Tuluver'), speakers of Tulu, a Dravidian language, ar ...

region in the south west of

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. It is also the name of the

Jain Bunt The Jain Bunt are the Jainists of Bunt caste from Tulunaad area of India. It has been said that the Jain Bunts also have the highest per capita income in India. They have a feudal and martial race heritages, because of ties to the erstwhile r ...

Dynasty who ruled the principality of

Venur Venur or Venoor is a small village on the banks of the Phalguni river in Belthangady Taluk, Dakshina Kannada of Karnataka, India. It was once the seat of Jainism and the capital of the Ajila Dynasty. It is on the Dharmasthala-Moodabidri-Karkala ...

for several centuries(1154 to 1786 C.E). The most notable of the Ajila kings was Veera Timmannarasa Ajila IV who erected the monolith of

Bahubali Bahubali (), a much revered figure among Jains, was the son of Rishabadeva (the first ''tirthankara'' of Jainism) and the brother of Bharata Chakravartin. He is said to have meditated motionless for a year in a standing posture (''kayotsarg ...

in 1604 C.E.The descendants of the Ajila rulers still survive and inhabit the Aladangady Aramane (Ajila Palace).The succession to the Ajila throne was as per the Bunt custom of matrilineal inheritance (

Aliyasantana Aliyasantana, literally " son in law as heir" in Kanarese, is the matrilineal system of inheritance practiced by Tuluver community in the Tulunaad area of Karnataka, India. It is similar to the ''Marumakkathayam'' system of the Malabar region. ...

). The present head of the Ajila dynasty is Padmaprasad Ajila, fourteenth in line through the matrilineal lineage of Veera Timmannarasa Ajila IV. An inscription in Old Kannada by Veera Timmannarasa Ajila IV unearthed in 2006 reads

References

{{reflist Dynasties of India Jain dynasties Bunt community surnames

See also

References