Tamil Brahmins are an ethnoreligious community of

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

-speaking

Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

Brahmin Brahmin (; ) is a ''Varna (Hinduism), varna'' (theoretical social classes) within Hindu society. The other three varnas are the ''Kshatriya'' (rulers and warriors), ''Vaishya'' (traders, merchants, and farmers), and ''Shudra'' (labourers). Th ...

s, predominantly living in

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

, though they number significantly in

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (ISO 15919, ISO: , , AP) is a States and union territories of India, state on the East Coast of India, east coast of southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, seventh-largest state and th ...

Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...

and

Telangana Telangana is a States and union territories of India, state in India situated in the Southern India, south-central part of the Indian subcontinent on the high Deccan Plateau. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, ele ...

in addition to other regions of

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. They can be broadly divided into two denominations:

Iyengar Iyengars (also spelt Ayyangar or Aiyengar, pronounced ) are an ethnoreligious community of Tamil-speaking Hindu Brahmins, whose members follow Sri Vaishnavism and the Visishtadvaita philosophy propounded by Ramanuja. Iyengars are divided i ...

s, who are adherents of

Sri Vaishnavism Sri Vaishnavism () is a denomination within the Vaishnavism tradition of Hinduism, predominantly practiced in South India. The name refers to goddess Lakshmi (also known as Sri), as well as a prefix that means "sacred, revered", and the god Vi ...

, and

Iyers Iyers () (also spelt as Ayyar, Aiyar, Ayer, or Aiyer) are an ethnoreligious community of Tamil-speaking Brahmins. Most Iyers are followers of the '' Advaita'' philosophy propounded by Adi Shankara and adhere to the Smarta tradition. This is ...

, who follow the Srauta and

Smarta tradition The ''Smarta'' tradition (, ) is a movement in Hinduism that developed and expanded with the Puranas genre of literature. It reflects a synthesis of four philosophical strands, namely Uttara Mīmāṃsā, Advaita, Yoga, and theism. The Smar ...

s. Although they form a tiny minority within their society, the Ceylonese Tamil Brahmins have been an integral part of the

Sri Lankan Tamil Sri Lankan Tamils ( or ), also known as Ceylon Tamils or Eelam Tamils, are Tamils native to the South Asian island state of Sri Lanka. Today, they constitute a majority in the Northern Province, form the plurality in the Eastern Province a ...

community since the foundation of the

Jaffna Kingdom The Jaffna kingdom (, ; 1215–1619 CE), also known as Kingdom of Aryachakravarti, was a historical kingdom of what today is northern Sri Lanka. It came into existence around the town of Jaffna on the Jaffna peninsula and was traditionally t ...

by potentially a family of Tamil Brahmins, namely the

Aryacakravarti The Arya Chakravarti dynasty (, Sinhalese: ආර්ය චක්‍රවර්තී රාජවංශය) were kings of the Jaffna Kingdom in Sri Lanka. The earliest Sri Lankan sources, between 1277 and 1283, mention a military leader of ...

dynasty. Their community was mainly strengthened by the more recent settlement of Tamil Brahmins from the Iyer caste in

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

, mostly from the second half of the 18th century.

Denominations

Tamil Brahmins are divided into two major denominations: Iyers, who follow the

, and Iyengars, who adhere to the tradition of

Iyer

Iyers are '' Shrauta-

Smarta The ''Smarta'' tradition (, ) is a movement in Hinduism that developed and expanded with the Puranas genre of literature. It reflects a synthesis of four philosophical strands, namely Uttara Mīmāṃsā, Advaita Vedanta, Advaita, Yoga (philo ...

'' Brahmins, whose members follow the '' Advaita'' philosophy propounded by

Adi Shankara Adi Shankara (8th c. CE), also called Adi Shankaracharya (, ), was an Indian Vedanga, Vedic scholar, Hindu philosophy, philosopher and teacher (''acharya'') of Advaita Vedanta. Reliable information on Shankara's actual life is scant, and h ...

. They are concentrated mainly along the

Cauvery The Kaveri (also known as Cauvery) is a major river flowing across Southern India. It is the third largest river in the region after Godavari and Krishna. The catchment area of the Kaveri basin is estimated to be and encompasses the states o ...

Delta

districts A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions ...

Nagapattinam Nagapattinam (''nākappaṭṭinam'', previously spelt Nagapatnam or Negapatam) is a town in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Nagapattinam district. The town came to prominence during the period of Medieval ...

Thanjavur Thanjavur (), also known as Thanjai, previously known as Tanjore, Pletcher 2010, p. 195 is a city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the 12th biggest city in Tamil Nadu. Thanjavur is an important center of southern Indian religion, art ...

Tiruvarur Thiruvarur () also spelt as Tiruvarur is a municipality in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the administrative headquarters of Thiruvarur district and Thiruvarur taluk. The temple chariot of the Thyagaraja temple, weighing and measuring ...

and

Tiruchirapalli Tiruchirappalli (), also known as Trichy, is a major tier II city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Tiruchirappalli district. The city is credited with being the best livable and the cleanest city of Ta ...

where they form almost 10% of the total population. However the largest population reside in

Nagercoil Nagercoil, natively spelt as Nāgarkovil (, "Temple of the Nāgas", or Nagaraja-Temple), is a Municipal Corporation city and the administrative headquarters of Kanyakumari District in Tamil Nadu state, India. Situated close to the tip of the ...

, making up to 13% of the city's population. G. S. Ghurye, Pg 393 Migration and Urbanization among Tamil Brahmans, Pg 5 They are also found in significant numbers in

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

, Migration and Urbanization among Tamil Brahmans, Pg 15

Coimbatore Coimbatore (Tamil: kōyamputtūr, ), also known as Kovai (), is one of the major Metropolitan cities of India, metropolitan cities in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located on the banks of the Noyy ...

Madurai Madurai ( , , ), formerly known as Madura, is a major city in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the cultural capital of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Madurai District, which is ...

Thiruchirappalli Tiruchirappalli (), also known as Trichy, is a major tier II city in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Tiruchirappalli district. The city is credited with being the be ...

Palakkad Palakkad (), Renaming of cities in India, also known as Palghat, historically known as Palakkattussery, is a city and a municipality in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kerala. It is the administrative headquarters of P ...

Alappuzha Alappuzha (, आलप्पुळ) or Alleppey is a municipality and town on the Laccadive Sea in the southern Indian state of Kerala. It is the district headquarters of the district, and is located about north of the state capital Thiruvana ...

Kozhikode Kozhikode (), also known as Calicut, is a city along the Malabar Coast in the state of Kerala in India. Known as the City of Spices, Kozhikode is listed among the City of Literature, UNESCO's Cities of Literature. It is the nineteenth large ...

Ernakulam Ernakulam () is the central business district of the city of Kochi, Kerala, India. It is the namesake of Ernakulam district. The eastern part of Kochi city is mainly known as Ernakulam, while the western part of it after the Venduruthy Bridge ...

Kannur Kannur (), formerly known in English as Cannanore, is a city and Municipal corporation (India), municipal corporation in the state of Kerala, India. It is the administrative headquarters of the Kannur district and situated north of the maj ...

, and

Thiruvananthapuram Thiruvananthapuram ( ), also known as Trivandrum, is the Capital city, capital city of the Indian state of Kerala. As of 2011, the Thiruvananthapuram Municipal Corporation had a population of 957,730 over an area of 214.86 sq. km, making it the ...

Iyengar

The Iyengars subscribe to the

Visishtadvaita Vishishtadvaita (IAST '; ) is a school of Hindu philosophy belonging to the Vedanta tradition. Vedanta refers to the profound interpretation of the Vedas based on Prasthanatrayi. Vishishta Advaita, meaning "non-duality with distinctions", is a ...

philosophy propounded by Ramanuja. They are divided into two denominations: Vadakalai (Northern art) and Tenkalai (Southern art), each with minor differences in religious rites and traditions. They adhere to the tradition of Sri Vaishnavism.

Adi Saivas/Gurukkal

Brahmins who serve as priests in temples following the Vaishnavite and Shaivite tradition and perform

pujas () is a worship ritual performed by Hindus to offer devotional homage and prayer to one or more deities, to host and honour a guest, or to spiritually celebrate an event. It may honour or celebrate the presence of special guests, or their mem ...

are offered a distinct category classified outside the community by the Government of Tamil Nadu as '703.Adi Saivar' and '754.Saiva Sivachariyar' as distinct from the '713.Brahmanar' (Brahmin) in the list of forward castes. These priests are called "Bhattar" in the Vaishnavite tradition and in the Pandya regions of Tamil Nadu, and "Ayyan" or "Gurukkal" in the shaivite tradition and in northern ones. In

Kongu Nadu Kongu Nadu, also known as Kongu Mandalam, is the geographical region comprising the western and north-western part of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Tamil Nadu and in some instances, parts of southeastern Karnataka a ...

, they are called Adi Saivas (among other spellings Asishaivas, Adi-Shaivas, etc.; from Sanskrit , ), or the Sivacharyas. They follow the

Agamas Religion *Āgama (Buddhism), a collection of Early Buddhist texts *Āgama (Hinduism), scriptures of several Hindu sects *Jain literature (Jain Āgamas), various canonical scriptures in Jainism Other uses * ''Agama'' (lizard), a genus of lizards ...

and the

Vedas FIle:Atharva-Veda samhita page 471 illustration.png, upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the ''Atharvaveda''. The Vedas ( or ; ), sometimes collectively called the Veda, are a large body of relig ...

Notable people

* Sage Agastya, Indian sage revered in

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Hypernymy and hyponymy, umbrella term for a range of Indian religions, Indian List of religions and spiritual traditions#Indian religions, religious and spiritual traditions (Sampradaya, ''sampradaya''s) that are unified ...

, Tamil Siddhar in the

Shaivism Shaivism (, , ) is one of the major Hindu denominations, Hindu traditions, which worships Shiva as the Para Brahman, supreme being. It is the Hinduism#Demographics, second-largest Hindu sect after Vaishnavism, constituting about 385 million H ...

tradition, and author of

Agattiyam __NOTOC__ ''Agattiyam'' (), also spelled as ''Akattiyam'', according to Tamil tradition, was the earliest book on Tamil grammar. It is a non-extant text, traditionally believed to have been compiled and taught in the First Sangam, (circa 300 B ...

, an early grammar of the Tamil language Companion Studies to the History of Tamil Literature, Appendix III, The Case of Akattiyam; Sanskrit and Tamil; Kankam, Pg 235–260 *

Rukmini Devi Arundale Rukmini Devi Arundale (née Sastri; 29 February 1904 – 24 February 1986)Sharma, Shoba and Gangadean, Ashok (January 31, 2004 Naatya.org. Retrieved on 10 December 2018. was an Indian theosophist, dancer and choreographer of the Indian cl ...

, Indian classical

Bharatanatyam ''Bharatanatyam'' is a Indian classical dance form that came from Tamil Nadu, India. It is a classical dance form recognized by the Sangeet Natak Akademi, and expresses South Indian religious themes and spiritual ideas of Hinduism and Jainism.< ...

dancer, theosophist, choreographer and an

animal welfare Animal welfare is the quality of life and overall well-being of animals. Formal standards of animal welfare vary between contexts, but are debated mostly by animal welfare groups, legislators, and academics. Animal welfare science uses measures ...

activist *

Subramania Bharati Subramania Bharati (Born Chinnaswami Subramaniyan; 11 December 1882 – 11 September 1921) was an Indian writer, poet, journalist, teacher, Indian independence activist, social reformer and polyglot. He was bestowed the title ''Bharati'' for hi ...

, Indian independence activist and poet *

Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar (; 19 October 1910 – 21 August 1995) was an Indian Americans, Indian-American theoretical physicist who made significant contributions to the scientific knowledge about the structure of stars, stellar evolution and ...

, Nobel Prize-winning Indian astrophysicist * J. Sai Deepak, Supreme Court lawyer most famous for his representations in the case on the entry of women to Sabarimala Temple. *

Shyamala Gopalan Shyamala Gopalan (December 7, 1938 – February 11, 2009) was a biomedical scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, whose work in isolating and characterizing the progesterone receptor gene has stimulated advances in breast bio ...

, American-Indian biomedical scientist, Mother of U.S. Vice President

Kamala Harris Kamala Devi Harris ( ; born October 20, 1964) is an American politician and attorney who served as the 49th vice president of the United States from 2021 to 2025 under President Joe Biden. She is the first female, first African American, and ...

Alladi Krishnaswamy Iyer Dewan Bahadur Sir Alladi Krishnaswamy Iyer (14 May 1883 – 3 October 1953) was an Indian lawyer and member of the Constituent Assembly of India, which was responsible for framing the Constitution of India. He also served as the advocate gener ...

, Indian lawyer and member of the

Constituent Assembly of India Constituent Assembly of India was partly elected and partly nominated body to frame the Constitution of India. It was elected by the Provincial assemblies of British India following the Provincial Assembly elections held in 1946 and nominated ...

responsible for framing the

Constitution of India The Constitution of India is the supreme law of India, legal document of India, and the longest written national constitution in the world. The document lays down the framework that demarcates fundamental political code, structure, procedures ...

Ramanuja Ramanuja ('; Middle Tamil: Rāmāṉujam; Classical Sanskrit: Rāmānuja; 1077 – 1157), also known as Ramanujacharya, was an Indian Hindu philosopher, guru and social reformer. He is one of the most important exponents of the Sri Vaishnavi ...

(c. 1077–1157 CE), Indian Hindu philosopher, preacher and a social reformer. * U. V. Swaminatha Iyer, Indian researcher and Tamil scholar * S. Jaishankar,

Foreign Minister of India The minister of external affairs (or simply, the external affairs minister ''Hindi:'' ''Videsh Mantri'') is the head of the Ministry of External Affairs (India), Ministry of External Affairs of the Government of India. One of the senior-most of ...

Kachiyapper Kachiyappar () was an 8th-century Tamil temple priest as well as a poet and Vedantist. He is the author of the '' Kanda Puranam'', written between the years 600 and 750 CE. Personal life Kachiyappar was born in a Shaivite Brahmin family and of ...

(8th century), Indian poet and Vedantist and the author of

Kanda Puranam The ''Skanda Purana'' (IAST: Skanda Purāṇa) is the largest '' Mukhyapurāṇa'', a genre of eighteen Hindu religious texts. The text contains over 81,000 verses, and is of Shaivite literature, titled after Skanda, a son of Shiva and Parvat ...

K. S. Krishnan Sir Kariamanikkam Srinivasa Krishnan (4 December 1898 – 14 June 1961) was an Indian physicist. He was a co-discoverer of Raman scattering, for which his mentor C. V. Raman was awarded the 1930 Nobel Prize in Physics. Early life Kariama ...

, Indian physicist, co-discoverer of the

Raman scattering In chemistry and physics, Raman scattering or the Raman effect () is the inelastic scattering of photons by matter, meaning that there is both an exchange of energy and a change in the light's direction. Typically this effect involves vibrationa ...

Iravatham Mahadevan Iravatham Mahadevan (2 October 1930 – 26 November 2018) was an Indian epigraphist and civil servant, known for his decipherment of Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions and for his expertise on the epigraphy of the Indus Valley civilisation. Early lif ...

, Indian

epigraphist Epigraphy () is the study of inscriptions, or epigraphs, as writing; it is the science of identifying graphemes, clarifying their meanings, classifying their uses according to dates and cultural contexts, and drawing conclusions about the wr ...

and civil servant * Paridhiyaar, medieval Tamil scholar and

Kural The ''Tirukkuṟaḷ'' (), or shortly the ''Kural'' (), is a classic Tamil language text on commoner's morality consisting of 1,330 short couplets, or Kural (poetic form), kurals, of seven words each. The text is divided into three books wit ...

commentator *

Parimelalhagar Parimelalhagar (), sometimes spelled Parimelazhagar, born Vanduvarai Perumal, was a Tamil poet and scholar known for his commentary on the ''Thirukkural''. He was the last among the canon of ten medieval commentators of the Kural text most hi ...

, medieval Tamil scholar and Kural commentator *

V. S. Ramachandran Vilayanur Subramanian Ramachandran (born 10 August 1951) is an Indian-American neuroscientist. He is known for his wide-ranging experiments and theories in behavioral neurology, including the invention of the mirror box. Ramachandran is a disti ...

Indian-American Indian Americans are Americans whose ancestry originates wholly or partly from India. The terms Asian Indian and East Indian are used to avoid confusion with Native Americans in the United States, who are also referred to as "Indians" or "Am ...

neuroscientist A neuroscientist (or neurobiologist) is a scientist specializing in neuroscience that deals with the anatomy and function of neurons, Biological neural network, neural circuits, and glia, and their Behavior, behavioral, biological, and psycholo ...

specializing in

behavioral neurology Behavioral neurology is a subspecialty of neurology that studies the impact of neurological damage and disease upon behavior, memory, and cognition, and the treatment thereof. Two fields associated with behavioral neurology are neuropsychiatry a ...

and known for inventing the

mirror box Mirror therapy (MT) or mirror visual feedback (MVF) is a therapy for pain or disability that affects one side of the patient more than the other side. It was invented by Vilayanur S. Ramachandran to treat post-amputation patients who had phantom ...

. * C. V. Raman,

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; ; ) are awards administered by the Nobel Foundation and granted in accordance with the principle of "for the greatest benefit to humankind". The prizes were first awarded in 1901, marking the fifth anniversary of Alfred N ...

-winning Indian physicist *

Srinivasa Ramanujan Srinivasa Ramanujan Aiyangar (22 December 188726 April 1920) was an Indian mathematician. Often regarded as one of the greatest mathematicians of all time, though he had almost no formal training in pure mathematics, he made substantial con ...

, Indian

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...

Alladi Ramakrishnan Alladi Ramakrishnan (9 August 1923 – 7 June 2008) was an Indian physicist and the founder of the Institute of Mathematical Sciences (Matscience) in Chennai. He made contributions to stochastic process, particle physics, algebra of matrices, ...

, Indian physicist and founder of the Institute of Mathematical Sciences (Matscience) in

Vivek Ramaswamy Vivek Ganapathy Ramaswamy (born August 9, 1985) is an American entrepreneur and politician. He founded Roivant Sciences, a Biotechnology, biotech Pharmaceutical industry, pharmaceutical company in 2014 and was its Chief executive officer, CEO ...

, American politician and candidate

2024 Republican Party presidential primaries Presidential primaries and caucuses of the Republican Party took place within all 50 U.S. states, Washington, D.C., and five U.S. territories between January 15, 2024, and June 4, 2024. These elections selected most of the 2,429 delegates to ...

Sivananda Saraswati Swami Sivananda Saraswati (; 8 September 1887 – 14 July 1963), also called Swami Sivananda, was a yoga guru, a Hindu spiritual teacher, and a proponent of ''Vedanta''. Sivananda was born in Pattamadai, in the Tirunelveli district of mode ...

, Indian

yoga Yoga (UK: , US: ; 'yoga' ; ) is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines that originated with its own philosophy in ancient India, aimed at controlling body and mind to attain various salvation goals, as pra ...

guru, Hindu spiritual teacher, and proponent of

Vedanta ''Vedanta'' (; , ), also known as ''Uttara Mīmāṃsā'', is one of the six orthodox (Āstika and nāstika, ''āstika'') traditions of Hindu philosophy and textual exegesis. The word ''Vedanta'' means 'conclusion of the Vedas', and encompa ...

* C. S. Seshadri, Indian mathematician. *

T.N.Seshan Tirunellai Narayana Iyer Seshan (15 May 1933 – 10 November 2019) was an Indian civil servant, bureaucrat who served with the Indian Administrative Service and as a politician. After serving in various positions in Madras and in various minist ...

, Chief Election Commissioner *

Nirmala Sitharaman Nirmala Sitharaman (born 18 August 1959) is an Indian economist, politician and a senior leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) serving as the Minister of Finance and Minister of Corporate Affairs of the Government of India since 2019. ...

Finance Minister of India The minister of finance (Vitta Mantrī ) (or simply, the finance minister, short form FM) is the head of the Ministry of Finance of the Government of India. One of the senior most offices of the Union Cabinet, the finance minister is r ...

(2019-present), former Defence Minister of India * Tolkappiyar, earliest known author and grammarian in Tamil language *

S. R. Srinivasa Varadhan Sathamangalam Ranga Srinivasa Varadhan, (born 2 January 1940) is an Indian American mathematician. He is known for his fundamental contributions to probability theory and in particular for creating a unified theory of large deviations. He is re ...

, Indian mathematician and Abel Prize laureate *

Ramaswamy Venkataraman Ramaswamy Venkataraman (, 4 December 191027 January 2009), also known as R. Venkataraman, was an Indian lawyer, independence activist and politician who served as a union minister and as the president of India. Venkataraman was born in Rajam ...

, Indian lawyer, independence activist and politician, who served as the eighth president of India

References

* {{Prone to spam, date=November 2021 Brahmin communities of India Social groups of Tamil Nadu Vegetarian communities

Denominations

Iyer

Iyengar

Adi Saivas/Gurukkal

Notable people

See also

References