VANNIYAR HISTORY

Vanniyar or Vanniya Kula Kshathriyar are the tamilians who live in Northern districts of Tamil Nadu.Vanniyars belong to the Agni Kula.Vanniyakula Kshatriya or Vanniar is one of the major communities in Tamil Nadu. The name Vanniar originated from the Tamil word Vanni denoting agni or fire in Sanskrit. The community includes around 92 sub-castes. Vanniar, Vanniyakula Kshatriya, Naicker, Nayagar, Padayachi are prominent among them. They are one among the various castes, who are communally well-organized, politically well supported and well-versed.

Though Vanniars live in all the places of the state they are more populated in Erode, Kanchipuram, Dharmapuri, Vellore, Salem, Thiruvannamalai, Tiruchi, Villupuram, Thanjavur, Cuddalore, Namakkal, Krishnagiri, Perambalur, Ariyalur, and Nagapattinam districts.

The Gothra of most vanniyars is Shambu Maharishi Gothra.Sambhu Maharishi was the son of Lord Krishna who later became a sage .

Vanniyars as the name indicated hold the great Vanni tree or Banni tree as their holy tree.The stem of this tree holds a ritual in Our marriages as it was later used by Sambu Maharishi to perform Yagna invoking the blessings of Lord Shiva and Lord Muruga from the flames Rudra Vanniyar(ancestor of vanniyars) emerged to kill the demons Mahi and Vatapi.After the battle of victory his descendent's were told to settle in Northern parts of Tamil Nadu by Lord Muruga.Vanniyars are the only caste of Tamil Nadu to have a history of a book of their own called as Vanniyar Puranam.

Kshatriyas mainly belong to 3 Vamsham/ Vansh/ Clan such as

Surya Vansh,

Chandra Vansh and

Agni Vansh.

Present Kshatriya across North and south India largely belong to Agni vansh and other Kshatriyas (Surya Vansha and Chandra Vansh) were ruling in pre Kali Yug

Vanniyar in Tamil Nadu,

Vahni Tigala in Karnataka,

Agnivanshi Raju in AP and

Rajput/ Paramar in North Indian states are belonging to Agni vansh

Their common surnames are Gounder in TN, Gowda in KK, Raju in AP and Singh/Thakur in North

These Kshatriyas normally were ruling the world as bellow

Soorya Vansh- Tetra Yug

Chandra Vansh- Dwapar Yug

Agni Vansh- Kali Yug

Vanniyars of Tamilnadu are of Agnivansh clan Kshatriyas where their information is available in Agni Puran itself.

Other castes which are normally ruled by Vanniyars in villages, Vanniyars are the Gounder of many north-west region of Tamilnadu (Gounder is a title given to head of a village which equivalent to Thakur of North India)

Vanniyars are normally superior in villages which other caste are suppressed for ages and therefore these castes those are lower in status than Vanniyars started propaganding Vanniyars aren't Kshatriyas but agricultural labours which seems wrong as there is an evidence in mythology itself that's Agni Puran and a sacred tree Shami vriksh/ Banni Vriksh/ Vanni maram is held sacred by Vanniyars just like Rajputs of north India

One other fact is none can just claim themselve as Kshatriya or any other varna if they aren't so.

And they worship Droupadi, Dharmaray-Yudhishtir and Pandawas as their Gods. There so many Droupadi Dharmaraya temple in Vanniyar villages and these temples are called Bharatha Koil (Maha Bharat temple). A sub cast of Vanniyars in Karnataka is called Tigala (Thi Kula :- Agni Kul) or Vanni Kul Kshatriya s in Bengaluru they have Dharma Raya Droupadi temple at Corporation, the yearly mela is world famous “Karaga/ Karagam“ is held by them.

Thereby all these prove Vanniyars are Kshatriyas.