Mulukanadu

The Mulukanadu Brahmins are a sub-group of Telugu-speaking Vaidiki Smartha Brahmins. Variations of the name of the community include: Murikinadu, Muluknadu, Mulukanadu, Mulakanadu, Moolakanadu and Mulikinadu.

Etymology

The name ''Mulukanadu'' follows the usual conjoint formulation of Brahmin communities: the word ''Naadu'' means "country" in all the south Indian languages; this is suffixed to the country whence the community hails, being in this case "Muluka". Thus, ''Muluka''+''Naadu''=''Mulukanadu'', "people of the Muluka land." Muluka or Mulaka is identified and it is also known as Moolaka or Moolaka desha along with Ashmaka in shatavahana regime. Aurangabad, Nashik, Jalna, Vashim are parts of Mulaka. Pratishthanapura or present day Paithan is the capital of Mulaka desh.

T. V. Venkatachala Sastry's study of caste genealogy and sociology titled ''Mulukanadu Brahmanar'' traces the genealogy of the Mulukanadu sect and its origins, customs and prevailing cultures.

Origins of the name

Mulukanadu has been called variously across an assorted array of inscriptions found in the region. The Brahmin community from this sect has an incessant relationship with the Telugu language and it can be deduced that the region corresponding to the origin of this sect is the middle Pennar region which is based entirely in the Cuddapah district. The area is itself known under different names during different periods of time. Dommaranandyala plates inscribed by Punyakumara mentions this region as ''Hiranya Rashtra.'' The first inscription that explicitly talks about ''Mulkinadu'' is of the Rashtrakuta king Krishna in Pushpagiri as ''Mulkinadu naidu maharajyam.'' Along with Mulkinadu, various other locations in the vicinity are called ''Renadu, Marjavadi, Pottapinadu, Pedanadu'' and so on.

There is another inscription by the king Kayasta Ambadeva (This is the same king who reigned the southern region of the Andhra Pradesh under the Kakatiya ruler Rudrama Devi) dated ''Saka'' 1214 corresponding to 1292 CE. Along with Mulkinadu, he also refers to other regions ''Penavadi, Pulivendla'' (Present day Pulivendula), ''Sirivodu'' and ''Pottapi.''

Another king of the Kakatiya dynasty Prataprudra who ruled between 1289 CE and 1323 CE had got inscribed in his ''Chanduvayi inscription'' in the Siddhavatam Taluk of Cuddapah district about the region of Mulikinadu in the year 1319 CE. The fact that these inscriptions also refer to other regions that are close by attests that the region Mulkinadu or Mulukanadu is indeed a region in Cuddapah district.

See also

*Advaita Vedanta
* Forward Castes

The historical version I heard was Mulk in Urdu is land. All the muslim states specially Nizam state was known as Mulk and we were all given Mulki certificates indicating we belong to telangana. From there i heard that this situation of being driven by land where ever Muslim rulers invaded Hindustan and attacked temples those priests had to save their lives by running away from Central Bharat and Maharastra and fortunately Vijayanagaram Kakateeya and southern kings were kind enough to provide a shive temple with adequate lend for temple archana and for their livelihood. Since they came from Mulk uslim landand were incharge of shiva temples and smarthas they formed a group of their own identity. As i know there were several educated people tried to bring them together time to time by marriage ties. we can trace their origin to Nanded, Aurangabad Hyderabad, Agra and other erstwhile muslim ruled states.

References

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Telugu Brahmin communities
Social groups of Andhra Pradesh