[radikal]

"F.S.Gandhi vandayar"

Many Thanks for your interesting posting of rich information....

// Good imagination thiru sudhama. Mudaliyar did not specify scholar title.//

Dear Mr. Gandhi vandayar...You mean MY IMAGINATION?... Ha Ha..... For your information... out of about 113 Threads of this Forum (as on To-day) ,.... I am participating... on various Topics... only about 4 Threads of Tamil-Poems including Paazhai Kural and Tamil- Pudhirhalh...... where I post my compositions of Tamil-Poems... I apply my imagination... as is naturally desired of.

At all other Threads including this one ... my informations posted are ENTIRELY... based on my knowledge gained during the past about 60 years...by reading thousands of Rich Knowledgeable Books .... mostly from Libraries... as also from several Seminars... and from various Experts personal friends and Relatives... .

So to say... I am only a Parrot. / Tape- recordeer... just pouring out the Stored Stuff.

Perhaps... if your view is different from others ... you will call the others as Imaginary.... Why Not the other way?

//The people who did agriculture were considered as people of high rank because Agriculture job was considered as high ranking job in olden days. See thirukkural ' Sulandrum air pinathu ulagam'-means all jobs are centred through agriculture.//

Yes.... that was the Indian way of Life in general... especially the Tamilians.... Even the Festivals of Tamilians... are mostly inter-related with Agriculture and its Seasons relevance.

That is why... in the International arena... even now... Idia is named as the Agricultural- country.

//The caste vellala was formed like this. vellam+all-means overrule water. (see 'vellalar nagarigam' by maraimalai adigal)//

Vaelhaanhmai (§ÅÇ¡ñ¨Á) in Tamil means Agriculture... So those who are involved in Agriculture are called as Vaelhaalhar (§ÅÇ¡Ç÷)
... which is the name of Occupation... similar to Thachchar, Koththanaar and the like.. names became the Caste names.

I am unable to understand... how that Tamil-Scholar Maraimalai-Adigal... relates "Vaelhaalhar" with "Velhlham" ... more than the Root-word "Vaelhaanhmai"

// In brahminical hierchy , vellalars are placed first as equally as brahmins//

In fact... Vaelhaalhar denotes the persons involved in Agriculture... and most of them being Brahmins .. in the Kings days... since the Lands were granted to Brahmins as Remuneration for their Vedic-services and the like... (towards the welfare of the common people)....

We can see in the Ancient days Epigraphics... by Copper-plates, and Temple Stone inscriptions... as also the Legal- Documents of several so called Forward-castes including Brahmin, Mudaliar, Pillai and Naicker as well...

.. such as.... " I the Sankara Iyer performing Vaelhaalah thozhil"...

.//..... 'mudali / mudaliyar'(means first in brahminical system). //

What do you mean by Brahminical-System ?

There have been so called Mudhalis eemployed by Saiva mataadhipathis as well as Vaishnava Acharyas as Epert-Advisors.

For example... in the Life-History of Ramanujacharya, we find the abundant mention of the word... MUDHALI.. meaning the Scholars / Experts in different fields

During the Annual functions... such of thoseScholars... in various Fields.. like Silpis engaged in Sculpture and Temple-construction, Artist- Painters, Vedic-Homa-Agama Scholars, Literature-Scholars and the like have been duly honoured and rewarded for each achievement they made during the year... Those people belonnged to different Castes irrespective of Brahmins or other castes.

And Ramanujacharya had always with him some Mudhalis ... the Experts in Vedic philosophy and Tamil-Literature...for discussions and references
It has been so recorded that the Acharya frequently referred with the "MUDHALIS"... which means the "TOPPER" or the Scholar.

// Note mudaliyar is surname not main caste. There is no mudaliyar caste in tamilnadu but called like that because their surname is mudaliyar. Castewise they are vellalars only.//

Yes... Partly that is my point... but I differ to say that Mudhalis were from all the castes... being the Topper in various Fields unconnected to each other.

A Linguistic-Scholar was called as Pandithar.. And similar Scholars / Experts in other Fields of Goldsmithy, Sculpture, Artistic-painting, Construction-Architect... were HONOURED as Mudhali...

I CONFIRM and ..assert once again.... Not my Imagination... but the FACT

//The other varieties of mudaliyar surname is due to their previous job before they transformed into agriculturists. This shows the perception of people of yesteryears to become higher rank caste by adapting agriculture.//

One of the Reasons for the people's strict maintenance of castes was... STATUS.

One Sanskrit Pandithar wants to become a Sambandhi of a Tamil- Pandit... and enters into the Marriage-alliance for their Son and Daughter...

Similarly... a Topper so honoured for a new Invention of a Yarn .. gets his Daughter married to the Son of another Topper so honoured by the King.. for his new Discovery in the field Astronomy and so on..

... irrespective of Castes... but maintenance of equal Status...

... which HEIRARCHY became the Caste... with honour as Mudhali+yaar.

like Arasiyaar, Valhlhalaar, Aiyanaar, Saamiyaar .. etc. to mean RESPECT.