No edit summary Tags: Mobile edit Mobile app edit |
m 3Aum3 moved page Vaniyan to Vaniyan(Vaniya Nair): Corrected the title name |
(No difference)
|
Revision as of 09:48, 22 November 2017
The Vaniya people are also called Bania or vani. The word Vaniya is derived from 'Vaniji', which means 'trader' in Sanskrit. Origin of vaniya caste is gujarat and it falls in to uppercaste trio along with Brahmin and Rajput,(In kerala vaniya falls in to broad Nair category after they migrated to kerala from sourashtra;Thus being the only arya-vysya origin subcaste in nair caste).The Vaniya community has gotras such as Agarwal,kashyap, Dasora, Dishawal, Kapol, Nagori, Vagada, Modh and Nagar'. Vaniya community perform upanayanam and wear yellow sacred thread'.
Many of these names are based on the names of the place they are from or settled.Vaniyamkulam in kerala, The Agrawal ;though they are settled mainly in North Gujarat take their name from the Agar Town. The Jharola live in Eastern Gujarat and the come from Jalor of Rajasthan and Maharashtra. The titles used by the Vania are ,Shah, Shroff,Nair ,Parikh, Chokshi, Seth, Gandhi,kothari, etc.
The Vania community consists of two religious divisions, namely Vaishnava and Jain. Business, trade, jewellery-making and agriculture are the traditional occupations of the Vania. Floor painting and folk songs represent the Vania's art and culture. The naming of the newborn ritual is performed by a Jangam priest by putting a thread around the infant's neck.
The Vania are Hindu by religion. They are Vaishnavite and devotees of Shrinathji in north india&Devotees of muchilot Bhagavathi in kerala . A section of them are from the Jain community. The Vania maintain intercommunity linkages with the Brahmin, Valand, Soni and other communities through trade and service. The Vania in the state of Maharashtra are mostly the followers of the Lingayat Cult.
The term Vaniya is derived from Vaniyam or Vanibham means trade or business. The person who is doing oil selling is a Vaniyan. Plural of Vaniyan is Vaniyar. Regarding the Vaniyas of Kerala, a relation was established with Vanikkus of Kanchipuram in South India. The social custom of Vanikkus of Kanchipuram and Vaniyas of Kerala are similar. The Vanikkus worship the virgin Goddess Kanchipuram Kamakshi( Kamakshi Amman Temple) the Vaniyas worship the virgin goddess Muchilot Bhagavathi And their socioculttural arts are also same.
About the origin of Vaniya community there is an interesting popular folk story. Srikrishna's grandson Aniruddha married the daughter of Banasura and Ushadevi and took her to Dwaraka. Along with his daughter Banasura sent many female musicians and dancers. Banasura had also sent some Baniyas to extract perfume oil and supply to those artists. The same Baniya people later went to Sourastra and have become very famous traders. Gradually these trader community moved to South India also through the coastal area. Some traders went also to Tamilnadu and settled in Kaveripoompatinam on the bank of the river Kaveri near present Thanjavoor. In those days Kaveripoompatinam was a very rich country. These traders established their trade there and were called as Vaniyas. They were physically strong, handsome, hardworking and very sincere and were people of self respect. While Kaveripoompatinam was very wealthy, these Vaniyas were flourishing in their business. When the Kaveripoompatinam was affected by famine those Vaniyas moved from there to further South and South East. Thus they reached Chera Desha.
There is a story regarding migration of Vaniyas from Kaveripoompatinam. One day two merchants came and gave some pearls to the king there. The king happily received them and asked his people including the 'Manthri' to make 'sara' necklace using the pearls. No one came forward to prepare the sara by using them because the pearls had no holes to pass the thread to make it a necklace. Finally the king called a Vaniyan and ordered him to prepare the sara by passing thread through them. The king gave him 24 hours time and declared that if he fails he would be punished. Vaniyan received them and went home. He called his daughter an told her about the kings order and somehow to make a 'sara'. She took them and went to her room. Then the intelligent vaaniya girl brought some sugar and gum. She arranged the pearls in a row and put the gum mixed with the sugar to the touching points of each of the pearls and went out of the room. Next morning when she entered the room the sugar was completely eaten by the ants and they had mad holes from one end to another. She took a thread and made a 'sara'. She gave it to her father. He went to the king and handed over the 'sara' to the king. On seeing the 'sara' the king was extremely happy and praised the girl for her intelligence. He wanted to marry the girl. So he conveyed his desire to her father. But as the vaaniyas are the people of high self respect, the father rejected the kings proposal and decided to move out of the country. After that the king lost interest in everything. By the time the famine affected the Kaveripoompattinam. These Vaniyas moved from there towards South and eastern coastal areas and settled in various parts of the Southern region including Kolothnad of Kerala. In Kolothnad ie the present North Malabar these people are called as Vaniyas and they were running a very rich profession.
In Northern Kerala, this community is being called Vaniyan Nair,Adding Nair to name is not denotifying the nair caste, but as a "title" honoured by the then ruling Nair kings to Vaniya community members who supply oil to their state as a token of appreciation. This is often misused or people get confused for as a caste. This let the way for some Malayalam speaking vaniya members having nair surname titles getting absorbed into the larger Nair community, thus losing the identity of their old generation created.The vaniya or North kerala counterpart of [baniya]community of india is the result of migration of baniyas from sourashtra(gujarat) to malabar districts of kerala centuries ago for trade purposes.
Northern Kerala is a testimony to this scenario. The Vaniya of North Malabar have their own place of worship called Muchilot Kavu. The presiding deity is Muchilot Bhagavathi . They have an annual festival running for 3–4 days called as Kaliyattam.Thousand of people are fed food for all the 3–4 days. In some Muchilot this festival takes place once in a decade or more and is called as Perumkaliyattam .This attracts lakhs of people.
Notable peoples
Thunchath ramanujan ezhuthachan
It is believed thatThunchath Ramanujan Ezhuthachan (Well-known as father of malayalam language)was born in to vaniya nair community of kerala
Rao Bahadur V.P Menon
C.P Krishnan Nair
Prasanth Nair IAS
M.V Shankaran
The founder of Gemini international circus,Jumbo circus Moorkoth Vengakandy Shankaran is also a notable person from vaniya community
The Vaniyan(Vaniya) Nair community also runs the Thunchath acharya educational and charitable Trust in Kannur. The well-known Thunchath Acharya Vidyalayam, a Senior Secondary CBSE affiliated school at Eda Chovva, Kannur, functions under this trust. http://www.thunchathacharya.com/
References
C. P. Krishnan Nair http://discoveringindia.net/muchilot-bhagavathy-theyyam-the-story-and-photosn/