Vannar is a

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 ...

caste found primarily in the Indian state of

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 ...

and northeastern parts of

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, ...

. The community has traditionally been involved in

War War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...

. also agricultural workers They are in Tamil Nadu classified as Most Backward Class.

Etymology

The word ''Vannar'' is thought to be derived from the

word ''vannam'' meaning "beauty". The chief of this community uses the title ''Kattadi'', meaning exorcist.

History

The Vannars traditionally occupy the

Sangam landscape The Sangam landscape (Tamil language, Tamil: அகத்திணை "inner classification") is the name given to a poetic device that was characteristic of love poetry in classical Tamil language, Tamil Sangam literature. The core of the devi ...

''Marutham''. The Vannars are known as the descendants of

Virabhadra Virabhadra (), also rendered Veerabhadra, Veerabathira, and Veerabathiran, is a fierce form of the Hindu god Shiva. He is created by the wrath of Shiva, when the deity hurls a lock of his matted hair upon the ground, upon hearing of the self- ...

and are considered to be the ancient inhabitants of the state The Vannars were also involved in the practice of Ayurvedic medicine. The Vannars served as

domestic servant A domestic worker is a person who works within a residence and performs a variety of household services for an individual, from providing cleaning and household maintenance, or cooking, laundry and ironing, or childcare, care for children and ...

s, who also gave importance as ceremonial officiators. The Vannas became the god of their clan

Murugan Kartikeya (/ kɑɾt̪ɪkejə/; ), also known as Skanda ( /skən̪d̪ə/), Subrahmanya (/ sʊbɾəɦməɲjə/, /ɕʊ-/), Shanmukha ( /ɕɑnmʊkʰə/) and Murugan (/ mʊɾʊgən/), is the Hindu god of war. He is generally described as the ...

worship Worship is an act of religious devotion usually directed towards a deity or God. For many, worship is not about an emotion, it is more about a recognition of a God. An act of worship may be performed individually, in an informal or formal group, ...

ed and all his

Temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...

s are decorated with

Priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

Legacy

What is now available are the inscriptions on the famous Vannar monastery at

Chidambaram Chidambaram is a major town and municipality in Cuddalore district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, on the banks of the Vellar River where it meets the Bay of Bengal. It is the headquarters of the Chidambaram taluk. The town is believed to b ...

, which are available in two volumes. It is also known to have been established during the reign of King Vijayanagara. It is said that the first book of the three books and the second book of the same book belong to the same period. Among these, the Shivalingam, Nandi, Sulaam,

Surya Surya ( ; , ) is the Sun#Dalal, Dalal, p. 399 as well as the solar deity in Hinduism. He is traditionally one of the major five deities in the Smarta tradition, Smarta tradition, all of whom are considered as equivalent deities in the Panchaya ...

Chandra Chandra (), also known as Soma (), is the Hindu god of the Moon, and is associated with the night, plants and vegetation. He is one of the Navagraha (nine planets of Hinduism) and Dikpala (guardians of the directions). Etymology and other ...

, Veeramanavalar

Devi ''Devī'' (; ) is the Sanskrit word for 'goddess'; the masculine form is Deva (Hinduism), ''deva''. ''Devi'' and ''deva'' mean 'heavenly, divine, anything of excellence', and are also gender-specific terms for a deity in Hinduism. The concept ...

, etc. are said to have been carved in the sculptures, and it is said that the Vannarmadam was renovated during the reign of King Vijayanagara Meykirti and Krishnadevarayar and Achutharayar. Datsun, Isan's father-in-law, who was created by

Isan Northeast Thailand or Isan (Isan language, Isan/, ; ; also written as Isaan, Isarn, Issarn, Issan, Esan, or Esarn; from Pāli ''isāna'' or Sanskrit ईशान्य ''īśānya'' "northeast") consists of 20 provinces in northeastern Thai ...

to destroy him and the gods and goddesses who volunteered to perform the sacrifice without inviting Isan. Both destroyed the gods and goddesses in the same way. The gods and goddesses who destroyed both were then revived by the Lord and Goddess for the welfare of the world, and the blood of the wounds inflicted on them by Veerapathira and

Kali Kali (; , ), also called Kalika, is a major goddess in Hinduism, primarily associated with time, death and destruction. Kali is also connected with transcendental knowledge and is the first of the ten Mahavidyas, a group of goddesses who p ...

was immortal on them. In order to remove that blood,

Eason Eason is a surname of English and Scottish origin. In the case of English, it may be a variant of Eastham (disambiguation), Eastham or Easton (surname), Easton; in the case of Scottish, it is a variant of Esson (disambiguation), Esson. A variant of ...

orders Varuna to rain, and Varuna rains in the same way. However the blood stain remained on the clothes. So Eason ordered the warriors to remove that stain, and he was created one of the lineage. He is named Veeran and is sent to bleach the clothes of the gods and goddesses. Those who came in the way of the heroes and the way of the hero were called Vannar. They came to earth and did the same business

Inscriptional sources

News about the Vannars has been available since ancient times, but back then the Vannars were not civil servants but paid laborers. such as vannar kanam, vannar karkasu are derived from vannar, vannars were

Textile arts Textile arts are arts and crafts that use fiber crop, plant, Animal fiber, animal, or synthetic fibers to construct practical or decorative Physical object, objects. Textiles have been a fundamental part of human life since the beginning of ...

landowners In common law systems, land tenure, from the French verb "" means "to hold", is the legal regime in which land "owned" by an individual is possessed by someone else who is said to "hold" the land, based on an agreement between both individuals ...

and

donor A donor in general is a person, organization or government which donates something voluntarily. The term is usually used to represent a form of pure altruism, but is sometimes used when the payment for a service is recognized by all parties as re ...

s of land and temple artifacts to the temple. It is not known when these people became civil servants, but it is said to have been donated in the 14th century to the Karichunthamangalam Perumal temple as a gift.

Notes of Vannars

The castes on the

right Rights are law, legal, social, or ethics, ethical principles of freedom or Entitlement (fair division), entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people according to some legal sy ...

were castes engaged in

Agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

work, while the

Left Left may refer to: Music * ''Left'' (Hope of the States album), 2006 * ''Left'' (Monkey House album), 2016 * ''Left'' (Helmet album), 2023 * "Left", a song by Nickelback from the album ''Curb'', 1996 Direction * Left (direction), the relativ ...

were castes were non-agricultural castes engaged in handicrafts such as metal workers and

weavers Weaver or Weavers may refer to: Activities * A person who engages in weaving fabric Animals * Various birds of the family Ploceidae * Crevice weaver spider family * Orb-weaver spider family * Weever (or weever-fish) Arts and entertainment ...

. The place followed during the Chola period is about the right-wingers in the history of the right-wing caste About Tamil Vannar and Vaduka Vannar As told in the histories of Bharatavarsha

Srilankan Vannars

In Sri Lanka, the Vannars worship King Periyathambiran, the ruler of the city of Valavai, as their tribal deity Each community is shown their identities by the "Nikandu Sulamani" in that order In the

Tolkāppiyam ''Tolkāppiyam'', also romanised as ''Tholkaappiyam'' ( , ''lit.'' "ancient poem"), is the oldest extant Tamil grammar text and the oldest extant long work of Tamil literature. It is the earliest Tamil text mentioning Gods, perhaps linked to ...

, Thumbai is taken as a department and Thumbai is said to be a separate grammar for the

Notable peoples

* Bannari Amman -a powerful goddess from the Tamil and Kannada folklore.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Official website
Social groups of Tamil Nadu Sri Lankan Tamil castes Indian castes South Indian communities Other Backward Classes Ethnic groups in India