Balija

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Balijas
Religions Hinduism (India), Jainism (India), Buddhism (Sri Lanka)
Languages Telugu, Tamil, Kannada
Populated States Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Orissa, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra
Subdivisions
Related groups Kapu
Status Forward Classes
‡ Shared by other groups

Balija is a social group of the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Kerala. In Karnataka, they are known as Banajigas. They are classified as a forward caste.

Origins

Variations of the name in use in the medieval past were Balanja, Bananja, Bananju, and Banijiga, with probable cognates Balijiga, Valanjiyar, Balanji, Bananji[1] and derivatives such as Baliga,[2] all of which are said to be derived from the Sanskrit term Vanik or Vanij, for trader.[1]

The Banajigas comprised a trade guild, Five Hundred Lords of Ayyavolu, in the medieval period.[2][3]

The term 'Balija' came to include the Boyas, Gollas, Gavaras, and other castes during the period of the Vijayanagara king, Krishnadevaraya.[4]

Balija branches

There are numerous branches, sub-divisions or social groups which make up the larger Balija social group.

  • The Kondeti Balija claim to have migrated from the princely state of Kondaveedu while the Gopathi Balija, who mainly inhabit Chittoor and Ananthapur, claimed to have divided from the Perike Balija or Gonegunta Balija over cattle.[5]
  • Balija Chettis (or Chetty Balija or Shetty Balija): Mentioned in several Vijayanagar accounts as wealthy merchants who controlled powerful trading guilds.[6][7] To secure their loyalty, the Vijayanagar kings made them Desais or "superintendents of all castes in the country."[8] They were classified as right-hand castes.[9][10] David Rudner claims that the Balija Chettis became a separate caste from the Balija Nayak warriors as recent as the 19th century; and accordingly they have closer kinship ties to the Nayak warriors than to Chetti merchants.[11] However, Veera Balingyas or Vira Banajigas were mentioned in the inscriptions of the Chalukyas of Badami and the Kakatiya dynasty as powerful and wealthy merchants who were known as the Five Hundred Lords of Ayyavolu.[12]
  • Gajula Balija/Kavara Balija/Sugavansi (pure) Balija: Mythic records say that Shiva's wife Parvati did a severe penance in order to look beautiful for Shiva. Himavanta (father of Parvati) sacrificed a bull to Brahma and from the fire emerged a person who brought forth combs, bangles, perfumes, sandals, powder, beads, and colored palf-leaf rolls for the ear for Parvati.[13] Titles found amongst them are Naidu, Nayakkan, Chetti, Setti and Nayak. Kavarai or Gavarai is said to be a corrupt form of Kauravar or Gauravar; as they claim to be the Kurus or Kuru descendents of Mahabharata.[14]
  • Rajamahendravaram Balija or RajaMahendram Balija: A numerically strong group across Andhra Pradesh, they are said to have originally belonged to Rajahmundry where their ancestors were employed in the army.[15]
  • Kambalatars/Thottiyans: The Gollavar, Sillavar and Tokkalavar were the subdivisions of the Raja Kambalattars and functioned as strictly endogamous units.[16] TK Venkatasubramanian states

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The Kambalattar (Kambalaththu Nayakar) are practically extinct. Remnants of their traditional agnates or cognates in the Telugu country are not to be traced. The polegars of Ettayapuram and Panchalamkurichi belong to this community. Their ancestry is traced to a community of hunters. Being dwellers of quasi-agricultural surroundings they were experts in reclaiming waste lands.[17]

Caste titles

Some Balijas use surnames such as Naidu and Naicker, which share a common root. Nayaka as a term was first used during the Vishnukundina dynasty that ruled from the Krishna and Godavari deltas during the 3rd century AD. During the Kakatiya dynasty, the Nayaka title was bestowed to warriors who had received land and the title as a part of the Nayankarapuvaram system for services rendered to the court. The Nayaka was noted to be an officer in the Kakatiya court; there being a correlation between holding the Nayankara, the possession of the administrative title Angaraksha and the status title Nayaka.[18]

A more widespread usage of the Nayaka title amongst the Balijas appears to have happened during the Vijayanagar empire where the Balija merchant-warriors rose to political and cultural power and claimed Nayaka positions.[19]

Dynasties

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See also: Balija dynasties

The Vijayanagar empire was based on an expanding, cash-oriented economy enhanced by Balija tax-farming.[20] Some Balija families were appointed to supervise provinces as Nayaks (governors, commanders) by the Vijayanagara kings, some of which are:

Varna status

Velcheru Narayana Rao and Sanjay Subrahmanyam say that the emergence of left-hand caste Balijas as trader-warrior-kings was evidence in the Nayak period as a consequence of conditions of new wealth, produced by collapsing two varnas, Kshatriya and Vaishya, into one.[26] In the brahmanical conceptualisation of castes, Balijas were accorded the Shudra position.[27] The fourfold Brahmanical varna concept has not been acceptable to Non-Brahmin social groups and some of them challenged the authority of Brahmins who described them as shudras.[28][29]

In Southern India, occupational divisions have existed since the times of Tolkāppiyam.[30] But early southern Indian literature does not mention the varna institution. Elements of caste pre-date varna; and social networks with elements of caste have been in existence since pre-vedic times.[31] Southern India fell outside the region of Āryāvarta where Chaturvarna was followed. Hence, the Southern Indians were outside the Indo-Aryan social organisation of the varna system.

While seeking a Kshatriya varna position in the Census of 1901, a reference was made to the Srimad Bhagavatham, Vishnu Puranam and Brahmanda Puranam to seek classification as Somavanshi Kshatriyas.[32]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Kumar Suresh Singh (1998). People of India: Volume 4, p.219-223
  6. ↑ Vijayanagara, Volume 1, Burton Stein, p.87
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Madras: the growth of a colonial city in India, 1780–1840, page 224
  10. ↑ Bowmen of Mid-India: a monograph of the Bhils of Jhabua [M. P.] and adjoining territories, Volume 2, page 243
  11. ↑ "Religious Gifting and Inland Commerce in Seventeenth-Century South India", by David West Rudner in The Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 46, No. 2 (May 1987), page 361
  12. ↑ Archaeological Survey of Mysore, Annual Reports: 1910–1911
  13. ↑ Government of Madras Staff, Gazetteer of the Nellore District: brought up to 1938, page 105.
  14. ↑ Alf Hiltebeitel (1999). Rethinking India's oral and classical epics: Draupadī among Rajputs, Muslims and Dalits, p.466
  15. ↑ Kumar Suresh Singh (1998). People of India: Volume 4, p.227
  16. ↑ Singh KS, Thirumalai R, Manoharan S (1997). People of India: Tamil Nadu, p.592
  17. ↑ Venkatasubramanian, T.K (1993). Political change and agrarian tradition in South India, c. 1600–1801: a case study, P.51
  18. ↑ The Indian economic and social history review, Volume 31, p. 281
  19. ↑ Stearns, Peter N. and Langer, Leonard W. (2001). The Encyclopedia of world history, p.368
  20. ↑ Velcheru Narayana Rao, David Dean Shulman and Sanjay Subrahmanyam (1992). Symbols of substance: court and state in Nāyaka Period Tamilnadu, p.10 and p.218
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ Sanjay Subrahmanyam. Improvising empire: Portuguese trade and settlement in the Bay of Bengal, 1500–1700, page 206
  24. ↑ [1]
  25. ↑ K.V. Raman. Sri Varadarajaswami Temple, Kanchi: A Study of Its History, Art and Architecture. Abhinav Publications, 2003. ISBN 81-7017-026-5, ISBN 978-81-7017-026-6
  26. ↑ Velchuru Narayana Rao and Sanjay Subrahmanyam Notes on Political Thought in Medieval and Early Modern South India. Modern Asian Studies (2009), 43:175–210 Cambridge University Press. Page 204
  27. ↑ Sheldon I Pollock. (2003). Literary cultures in history: reconstructions from South Asia, p.414. University of California Press
  28. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  29. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  30. ↑ ES Varatarāja Aiyar. (1987). Tolkappiam—Porulatikaram: Akattinai iyal, Kalaviyal, Karpiyal, and Poruliyal. Annamalai University
  31. ↑ Brajadulal Chattopadhyaya. (2009). A social history of early India, p. xxxix. Pearson Education India [2]
  32. ↑ Census of India, 1961, Volume 9, Part 6, Issue 29, p.19-22

Further reading

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