4. Kondaikatti. Said[60] to consider themselves as the highest and proudest of the Vellālas, because, during the Nabob’s Government, they were employed in the public service. They are extremely strict in their customs, not allowing their women to travel by any public conveyance, and punishing adultery with the utmost severity.
Kondaikatti literally means one who ties his hair in a knob on the top of his head, but the name is sometimes derived from kondai, a crown, in connection with the following legend. A quarrel arose between the Kōmatis and Vellālas, as to which of them should be considered Vaisyas. They appeared before the king, who, being unable to decide the point at issue, gave each party five thousand rupees, and told them to return after trading for five years. The Vellālas spent one-fifth of the sum which they received in cultivating land, while the Kōmatis spent the whole sum in trading. At the end of the allotted time, the Vellālas had a bumper crop of sugar-cane, and all the canes contained pearls. The Kōmatis showed only a small profit. The king was so pleased with the Vellālas, that he bestowed on them the right to crown kings.
5. Kumbakōnam. Vellālas, who migrated from Kumbakōnam in the Tanjore district to Travancore.
6. Kummidichatti. Recorded, in the Manual of the North Arcot district, as a sub-division, regarded as low in position, which carried the pot (chatti) of fire at Vellāla funerals. It is said that, in default of Kummidichattis, ordinary Vellālas now have to carry their own fire at funerals.
7. Nangudi or Savalai Pillaimar. (See Nangudi.)
8. Tendisai (southern country). They are found in the Coimbatore district, and it has been suggested that they are only a branch of the Konga Vellālas.
9. Tenkānchi. Vellālas, who migrated from Tenkāsi in the Tinnevelly district to Travancore. (See Todupuzha Vellāla.)
10. Tuluva. Immigrants from the Tulu country, a part of the modern district of South Canara. Mr. Nelson[61] is of opinion that these are the original Vellālas, who were invited to Tondamandalam after its conquest by the Chōla King Adondai Chakravarti. They are now found in all the Tamil districts, but are most numerous in North and South Arcot and Chingleput. It is noted, in Carr’s “Descriptive and historical papers relating to the Seven Pagodas,” that “Adondai chiefly distinguished Kānchīpuram (Conjeeveram) and Tripati as his place of residence or capital. The era of Adondai is not higher up than the seventh century of our reckoning. He is said to have brought the Brāhmans from Srī Sailam in Telingāna, and certainly attracted a large colony of Sūdra Vellālas, or agriculturists, from Tuluva or northern Canara.” At Conjeeveram, there are a Nāttar and a Dēsayi, whose authority, in olden times, extended over the whole Presidency. The Nāttar must be a Tuluva Vellāla, and the Dēsai a Ralla Balija. The two offices conjointly are known as the Nādu Dēsam. The authority of these officers has in great measure ceased, but some still go to the Nādu Dēsam for appeal. For purposes of caste organisation, Conjeeveram is regarded as the head-quarters. All sections of the Tondamandalam Vellālas are divided into twenty-four kōttams and seventy-nine nādus. The latter are subject to the former.
The following legendary account of the Tondamandalam Vellālas is given in the Baramahal Records. “During the reign of a certain Rāja of Chōladēsa, a kingdom supposed to have comprised the present provinces south of the river Kāvēri, the countries between the Kistna and Kāvēri were quite a wilderness, in which many families of the Kurbavar caste or shepherds resided here and there in villages surrounded by mud walls. On a time, the Rāja came forth into the wilds to take the diversion of hunting, and, in traversing the woods, he came to a place in the vicinity of the present town of Conjeeveram in the Kingdom of Arcot, where he met with a Naga Kanya or celestial nymph, fell in love with her, and asked her to yield to his embraces. She replied, ‘If I consent to your proposal, and bear you a son, will you make him your successor in the kingdom?’ He rejoined ‘I will,’ and she asked him who should witness his promise. He answered ‘the earth and sky,’ but she said that two witnesses were not sufficient, and that there must be a third. There happened to be a tree called adhonda near them, and the Rāja replied ‘Let the fruit of this adhonda tree be the third witness.’ When she was satisfied respecting the witnesses, she granted the Rāja his desires, and, after he had remained with her a short time, he took his leave, and returned to his metropolis, and, in a little while, abdicated his throne in favour of his eldest son, who managed the affairs of the kingdom. To return to the Naga Kanya, she conceived and brought forth a son, who remained with her three or four years, and then visited the different Rishis or hermits who resided in the forest, and learnt from them to use the sword, the bow and arrow, and the art of war, and obtained from them a knowledge of the whole circle of sciences. By this time he had attained the age of sixteen years, and, coming to his mother, he requested her to tell him who was his father. She answered ‘Thy father is the Chōla Rāja.’ He replied ‘I will go to him, but who is to bear witness to the truth of your assertion?’ She rejoined ‘The earth, sky, and the fruit of the adhonda tree are witness to what I have told you.’ The son plucked one of the berries of the adhonda tree, hung it by a string to his neck, took his sword and other weapons, and set out for his father’s capital. He one day took an opportunity of accompanying some of the nobles to the darbar, and called out to the old Rāja ‘Behold your son.’ The Rāja replied ‘I know nothing of thee;’ upon which the young man repeated everything which his mother had told him, but it had no effect on the Rāja. When the son found that his father was determined not to acknowledge him he challenged him to single combat, but the Rāja, not thinking it proper to accept a challenge from a rash youth, demanded if he had any witnesses to prove his claim. He answered ‘The earth and sky, and the fruit of the adhonda tree, which I wear suspended from my neck, are witnesses to the truth of my assertion.’ This circumstance brought the old occurrence to the Rāja’s recollection, and he owned his son, and told him that, as he had already abdicated the throne, he trusted he would not insist upon the fulfilling of the promise which had been made to his mother, but consent to live in a private station under the dominion of his elder half-brother. The young man nobly replied ‘I with pleasure waive the performance of your promise, but point out to me your enemy, and assist me with some troops, and I will conquer a kingdom for myself.’ The Rāja gave him an army, and directed him to subdue the Kurubavāru or shepherds, to clear the woods, and to form himself a kingdom between the rivers Kistna and Kāvēri. He accordingly advanced into the wilderness, and, without meeting much opposition, soon subjected the Kurubavāru, who, knowing nothing of cultivation or sinking of tanks or watering the country from the rivers, and the conqueror wishing to introduce agriculture among them, he was obliged to repair to his father, and make known his difficulties. The Rāja was much pleased with the enterprising spirit of his son, conferred on him the title of Adhonda Chakra, wrote and permitted him to take with him such of the Vellāla caste as chose to emigrate. The young Rāja held out great encouragement, and got a number of adventurers of that caste to accompany him back, to whom he gave large grants of waste land, and told them to pitch upon such spots of ground as met with their approbation, and they fixed upon the forts, districts, and villages belonging to the Kurubavāru caste, which consisted of twenty-four forts, eighty-one districts, and one thousand and nine hundred villages. This country was formerly named Dandaka Aranya. Dandaka is the name of a famous Rakshasa or Giant, who is mentioned in the Rāmāyana, and Aranya signifies a wilderness. It was also called Dhuntra Nādu, or the middle country, and the new Rāja named it Dhanda Mandalam, or country of the tree dhonda, alluding to the fruit of the adhonda or dhonda tree, which bore testimony to his descent. The emigrants of the Vellāla caste surnamed themselves Dhonda Mandala Vellāla vāru, and are now corruptly called Tondamandala Vellāla vāru.”
