Wikipedia

Isai Vellalar

Isai Velalar is a community found in India in Tamil Nadu. They are traditionally involved as performers of classical dance and music in Hindu temples and courts of the patrons.[3] The term "Isai Velalar" is a recent community identity, people of minstrel occupation from various castes such as, Melakkarar, Nayanakkarar and Nattuvanar come under this term.[4][5][6]

Isai Velalar
ClassificationOther Backward Class[1]
ReligionsHinduism
LanguagesTamil, Telugu
Country India
Populated statesTamil Nadu • Kerala • Andhra Pradesh • Karnataka
RegionNorthern Tamil Nadu, Southern Andhra Pradesh
EthnicitySouth Asian
Subdivisions •  • Nayanakkarar • Nattuvanar • Melakkarar [2]

Isai Vellalars are a micro community. Out of all the divisions, Melakkarars are the predominant Isai Vellalars. Edgar Thurston noted that the community had two linguistic sects within the state; being Tamil and Telugu. Tamil-speaking Melakkarars traditionally performed both ‘Chinna Melam’(nautch music) and/or ‘Periya Melam’(nadaswaram), while Telugu-speaking Melakkarars of Tamilnadu performed only ‘Periya Melam.’ Telugu Melakkarars had surname like ‘Reddi’ and ‘Naidu’, while the Tamil sect used ‘Pillai’ title.The former speak Tamil, and, in most of their custom.In customs and practices Telugu Chinna Melam is alike to that of Telugu Brahmins.[7] There are also other sects like Nattuvanar, barber-musicians, etc. under Isai Vellalar label.[8] Some from this community were made devadasis until its abolition.

Social status

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They come under MBC (Most Backward Classes) category in the state of Tamilnadu.[9]

Etymology

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The term Isai Vellalar derives from the Tamil words Isai meaning "music" and vellar a generic term roughly meaning "cultivator", thus translates as "cultivators of music".[6] This term was introduced after the legal abolition of the Devadasi system as a result of the reform and anti-nautch movement in 1947.[3]

History

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The Isai Velalar communities were originally nomads.[10] Bardic traditions are referred in early Sangam literature and well into the early Pallava and Pandya periods. These were primarily ritualistic and defensive in nature. The artistic side of music and dance came to be strengthened during the Chola and Vijayanagara period.

Early Chola inscriptions mentions Tevaratiyar as recipients of food offering and ritual performers of the temples, and was a term carrying honorific and high connotations.[11] Inscriptional evidences indicates devadasis to have been independent professionals who enjoyed property (made large land donations to temples) and a respectable position in the society. The 11th-century inscription of Rajaraja I states that the Tevaratiyar were invited to serve the Brihadisvara Temple and were given land near the temple.[12]

Under the patronage of the Nayaks of Tanjavur and Thanjavur Maratha kings, Telugu musicians and Devadasis from Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra migrated to the Thanjavur region. The Melakkarars of Thanjavur are therefore divided in two distinct linguistic groups – the Tamil and Telugu Melakkarar.[3]

With the entry of Colonial India, great loss of temple patronage resulted the Tevaratiyar to perceive other ways of income which degraded their social status.[12] The Devadasi system was legally abolished in 1947 after the campaigns of the social reformers Moovalur Ramamirtham and Muthulakshmi Reddi. The entry of Tamil Brahmins in music and dance was seen as a threat to the traditional performers of these art forms. This led communities traditionally associated with music and dance to start forming a politicized non-Brahmin caste association which they coined as "Isai Velalar Sangam" and thereby created a political unified identity.[3]

Notable people

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Historical personalities

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Social activists

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Politicians

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Business personalities

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Arts

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Cinema

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References

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  1. ^ Kerala, Government. "The Kerala State Commission for Backward Classes" (PDF). kscbc.kerala.gov.in.
  2. ^ "Caste in Tamil Nadu - III". Economic and Political Weekly. 48 (8): 7–8. 5 June 2015.
  3. ^ a b c d University, Vijaya Ramaswamy, Jawaharlal Nehru (25 August 2017). Historical Dictionary of the Tamils. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 114–115, 161–162. ISBN 9781538106860.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  4. ^ Bannerji, Himani; Mojab, Shahrzad; Whitehead, Judith (2001). Of Property and Propriety: The Role of Gender and Class in Imperialism and Nationalism. University of Toronto Press. p. 162. ISBN 9780802081926.
  5. ^ Soneji, Davesh (15 January 2012). Unfinished Gestures: Devadasis, Memory, and Modernity in South India. University of Chicago Press. pp. 143–144. ISBN 978-0-226-76809-0.
  6. ^ a b Pillai, Swarnavel Eswaran (27 January 2015). Madras Studios: Narrative, Genre, and Ideology in Tamil Cinema. SAGE Publications India. p. 231. ISBN 9789351502128.
  7. ^ "Castes and Tribes of Southern India/Mēlakkāran - Wikisource, the free online library". en.wikisource.org. Retrieved 27 August 2024.
  8. ^ "Isai Vellalar and their history". 24 April 2024.
  9. ^ "state obc list tn".
  10. ^ Arunachalam, M. (1979). The Kalabhras in the Pandiya country and their impact on the life and letters there. University of Madras. p. 90.
  11. ^ Orr, Leslie C. (9 March 2000). Donors, Devotees, and Daughters of God: Temple Women in Medieval Tamilnadu. Oxford University Press. pp. 5, 52, 56. ISBN 9780195356724.
  12. ^ a b Bhattacharya, Sabyasachi (2011). Approaches to History: Essays in Indian Historiography. Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR). p. 206. ISBN 9789380607177.
  13. ^ "source". 17 March 2022.
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