The Arcot Mudaliar and Arcot Vellala sects are classified as Forward Class[1]inTamil Nadu, while the other sects of Thuluva Vellala are classified as Other Backward Class (OBC) at the Central[2][3] and State level[3] as serial no.1 Agamudayar including Thuluva Vellala. where as, Thuluva Vellala, Agamudi Mudaliar and Aghamudi Vellala are classified as Backward Class (D) in Andhra Pradesh under the ‘Mudhaliar’ title.[4]
The term Vellalar may be derived from the word Vellam meaning water (flood), denoting their ability to control and store water for irrigation purposes.[14] Since they migrated from the Tulu region of ancient Tamizhagam, they are called Thuluva Vellalar.[10][11][12]
An early Tamil tradition states that a king known as Ādonda Chakravarthi brought a large number of agriculturists (now known as the Tuluva Vellalas) from the Tulu areas in order to reclaim forest lands for cultivation in Thondaimandalam.[15] Scholar M. Arokiaswami identifies Tondaiman Ilandiraiyan with king Adondai Chakravarthi, the legendary figure who is referred to in the Mackenzie Manuscripts.[16]
Sometimes this migration of Tuluva Vellalas is also assigned to later Chola times when Hoysala Ballalas of Karnataka had occupied portions of Kanchipuram and Trichy.[17]
Tuluva Vellalars are progressive and prosperous[10] in the society. They are considerably advanced in the matter of education[20] and the community was eagerly involved in business, Government and Non- governmental institutions.
The community commonly use Mudaliar[21] and Udayar titles. However Naicker,[22] Gounder, Reddy and Pillai titles are also present in some pockets.
^Susan Bayly has noted of the Vellalar communities generally that "they were never a tighly-knit community ... In the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries Vellala affiliation was a vague and uncertain as that of most other south Indian caste groups. Vellala identity was certainly thought of as a source of prestige, but for that very reason there were any number of groups who sought to claim Vellala status for themselves".[6]
^"CENTRAL LIST OF OBCs FOR THE STATE OF TAMILNADU"(PDF). www.bcmbcmw.tn.gov.in. Department of Backward Classes and Most Backward Classes and Minorities Welfare, Tamil Nadu. p. 1. Retrieved 11 March 2021. Entry.No 1
^Staff Reporter (12 December 2016). "'Mudaliar' title added in BC (D) list". The Hindu. ISSN0971-751X. Retrieved 6 February 2021.:”The State government has decided to add the title ‘Mudaliar’ in the first line of Sl. No. 39 of Group D of BC list following a request from the Mudaliar community. This will benefit Agamudimudaliar, Aghamudian, Aghamudiar, Agamudivellalar, and Agamudimudaliar, including Thuluva Vellalas.”
^Jacob Pandian (1987). Caste, Nationalism and Ethnicity: An Interpretation of Tamil Cultural History and Social Order. Popular Prakashan. p. 115.
^ abcTañcai Tamil̲p Palkalaik Kal̲akam, Tañcai Tamiḻp Palkalaik Kaḻakam (1994). Glimpses of Tamil Civilization. Articles from the University Quarterly, Tamil Civilization. https://archive.org/details/dli.jZY9lup2kZl6TuXGlZQdjZU6kuUy/page/142/mode/1up?q=Vel. Tamil University. p. 142. Tuluva Vellala is a prosperous and progressive caste in Tamil Nadu and they migrated from Tulu Nadu to Tamil Nadu in ancient times.{{cite book}}: External link in |others= (help)
^ abAnthony R. Walker (1994). New Place, Old Ways, Essays on Indian Society and Culture in Modern Singapore. Hindustan Publishing Corporation. p. 200. The names of these four main Vellalar divisions are the Tondaimandalam (residents of the Pallava country), the Sōliyan (of the Cōla country), the Pandya (from the ancient Pandyan kingdom) and the Konku (from Konku country). Each of these four great divisions is further divided on a territorial basis. For example, the Tuluva are that branch of the Tondaimandalam Vellalar with origins in the Tulu country.
^ abM. D. Raghavan. Tamil Culture in Ceylon: A General Introduction. Kalai Nilayam, 1971. p. 130. The Thondaimandalam Vellalas are sub-divided into the Tuluvas, originally of the Tulu country.
^Vijaya Ramaswamy (2007). Historical Dictionary of the Tamils. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. p. 390.
^Krishnaswamy Ranaganathan Hanumanthan. Untouchability: A Historical Study Upto 1500 A.D. : with Special Reference to Tamil Nadu. Koodal Publishers. p. 101.
^M. Arokiaswami (1954). The Early History of the Vellar Basin, with Special Reference to the Irukkuvels of Kodumbalur. A Study in Vellala Origin and Early History. Amudha Nilayam. p. 72.
^Proceedings and Transactions of the All-India Oriental Conference. 1964.
^India. Office of the Registrar (1962). Census of India, 1961. Manager of Publications. p. xxii.
^A. Krishnaswami (Professor of History) (1975). Topics in South Indian From Early Times Upto 1565 A.D. History. p. 212.
^"3". Census Book of India 1961 (in Tamil). Vol. 9 North Arcot District. Madras: The Director of stationery and Printing, Madras. 1961. p. 31.
Neild, Susan M. (1979). "Colonial Urbanism: The Development of Madras City in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries". Modern Asian Studies. 13 (2): 217–246. doi:10.1017/S0026749X00008301. JSTOR312124. S2CID144309252.
