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வாணியர் (Vaniyar) அல்லது வாணிய செட்டியார் (Vania Chettiar) Vaniya Chettiar is a subcaste of Chettiars living primarily in the south Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. Their major professions are running oil mill and selling groceries( food grains). Vaniyambadi (near Vellore-Ambur) was originally a Vaniya Chettiar town(Now most of the Chettiars have moved to neighboring towns). In Tamil Nadu, Sizable numbers of this caste can be found in the Coimbatore,Erode,Vellore,Madurai,Paramakudi, Krishnagiri, Cudalore, Periyakulam, Tirunelveli. Kanyakumari and Villupuram districts (basically erstwhile undivided Arcot/Chengalpattu Districts).In Kerala, they are living in Kottayam, Idukki,Ernakulam, Thrissur and Palakkad districts. Though not in large enough numbers to command a vote bank, People of the community in small towns in these areas can still be found running Chekku (oil press); oil pressing mills are now mostly electric driven rather than bull driven(ancient method). Vaniya chettiyar community perform upanayanam and wear yellow coloured sacred thread.They employ Brahmins as their priests. Their rituals and customs are almost like that of Brahmins. They observe birth and death pollution for ten days exactly like that of Brahmins. They belong to the Vysya Varna and Vysya purana is the holy book of vaniya chettiyar. There are many communities having similarity in their caste name with that of vaniya chettiyar always makes confusion.The various Census reports like Madras census report of 1891 & 1901 describes about many castes having different social status as one mistakenly because of the similarity in their names. But they can be identified by their customs and rituals. Generally they trade in oil and foodgrains. The word "vanuvan" is used for people who sells food grains. Ancient Tamil texts of Sangham era like Tolkappiyam mentions about people who sell food grains as "Koola vanigar" means they sell eight different types of food grains. Many poems in the "Purananooru", a book belongs to the ancient Sangham literature were also written by them. While some sections of the community have taken to education in the past couple of generations and made a mark as IT pros, entrepreneurs and business men with their traditional business acumen have been very successful others still find studies a difficult task. Late R.K.Shanmugam Chettiyar, free India's first finance minister belonged to this community.The South India Vaniya Chettiyar Education Trust (SIVET) College at Medavakkam on Tambaram Velachery road is one of the many educational institutions run by the community.The community has a large population in Kerala. In kerala the community is known in different names Vanian, Vanika, Vanika Vaisya, Vanibha Chetty, Vaniya Chetty, Ayiravar, Nagarthar etc. From ancient time in India, vegetable oils were obtained by crushing oilseeds in village, using an oil-press - or Ghana or chekku. In Sanskrit literature of about 500 BC there is a specific reference to an oil-press, or Ghanis, chekku although it was never described (by Monier-Williams, M. 1899. A Sanskrit-English dictionary, Delhi, India, Motilal Banarsidass. Reprinted 1963). As per Manu dharma sastra there are four varnas - Brahmana, Kshatriya, Vysya & Shudra. The Brahmins were priests in temples and interpreters of vedas, sashtras and puranas. There were acting as advisers to rulers and people on dharma, astrology etc. and also as record keepers in villages (Karnams). Kshatriyas were the rulers and aristocrats, land lords. The vysya were the merchants and business people. All the other people engaged in various vocations i.e., carpenters, potters, gold smiths, iron smiths, washer men, barbers etc. In olden times oil was extracted by crushing and grinding oil seeds in a wooden drum usually of 1 meter diameter on which a heavy cylindrical wooden log is placed for rotation. This log is attached through a shaft to which an ox was harnessed. The ox moves in circles and rotates the heavy log in the drum. In this process the oil seeds are crushed and ground and the oil oozes from the seeds and gets collected at the bottom of the wooden drum. This extracted oil comes out of the wooden drum through a wooden canal which is fixed to the hole at the bottom of the drum. Some were using one ox and some two oxen for harnessing the mill. The information is taken from reference web sites and material, this website doesn't take responsibility for any individual to use this info. The individual needs to verify the authenticity of information before using.