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Balija

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Indian caste
It has been suggested that Banajiga be merged into this article. (Discuss) Proposed since December 2024.

Balija
ReligionsHinduism
LanguagesTelugu, Kannada, Tamil
CountryIndia
Populated statesAndhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Telangana, Kerala

The Balija are a Telugu-speaking mercantile community primarily living in the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and in smaller numbers in Telangana and Kerala. In Tamil Nadu, they are known as Kavarais.

Etymology

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

Another version for etymology states that Balija is derived from the Sanskrit word Bali, a sacrifice made during 'Yagna' ritual and Ja meaning born. Therefore, Balija means 'born from sacrifice'.

Origins

Beginning in the 9th century, references are found in inscriptions throughout the Kannada and Tamil areas to a trading network, which is sometimes referred to as a guild, called the Five Hundred Lords of Ayyavolu that provided trade links between trading communities in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. From the 13th century, inscriptions referring to "Vira Balanjyas" (warrior merchants) started appearing in the Andhra country. The Vira Balanjyas, whose origins are often claimed to lie in the Ayyavolu, represented long-distance trading networks that employed fighters to protect their warehouses and goods in transit. The traders were identified as nanadesi (of 'many countries') and as swadesi ('own country'). The terms balanjya-setti and balija were also used for these traders, and in later times naidu and chetti. These traders formed collectives called pekkandru and differentiated themselves from other collectives called nagaram, which probably represented Komati merchants. The pekkandru collectives also included members of other communities with status titles reddi, boya and nayaka. They spread all over South India, Sri Lanka, and also some countries in the Southeast Asia.

Medieval history

Kakatiya period

Balija as a community is seen for the first time in an inscription of the Kakatiya period. According to Prataparudra charitra and Siddheswara charitra mentioned that the balijas lived at Orugallu, the capital of the Kakatiya kingdom.

Post-Kakatiya period

In the caste-based hierarchy, Balijas hold a high position along with Kammas, Reddis and Velamas. they also served as military generals (Nayakas) and warriors under the Musunuri Nayakas and Kondavidu kingdom.

Vijayanagara period

Balijas served as ministers, military generals, and provincial governors in the Vijayanagara Empire. A number of the Nayaka dynasties of the Vijayanagara and post-Vijayanagara periods were of Balija origin, including the Nayaka rulers of Madurai, Thanjavur, Gingee, Belur, Channapatna, Rayadurgam and Kandy.

Velcheru Narayana Rao et al. note that the Balijas were first mobilised politically by the Vijayanagara emperor Krishnadevaraya. Later, in the 15th and 16th centuries, they colonised the Tamil country and established Nayaka chieftaincies. At this time, Balijas were leaders of the left-hand section of castes. These Balija warriors were noted as fearless and some stories speak of them assassinating kings who interfered with their affairs. Cynthia Talbot believes that in Andhra the transformation of occupational descriptors into caste-based descriptors did not occur until at least the 17th century.

British period

The classification of people as Balija was one of many challenges for the census enumerators of the British Raj era, whose desire was to reduce a complex social system to one of administrative simplicity using theories of evolutionary anthropology. Early Raj census attempts in Madras Presidency recorded a wide variety of people claiming to be members of Balija subcastes but who appeared to share little in common and thus defied the administrative desire for what it considered to be a rational and convenient taxonomy. Those who claimed to be Chetty had an obvious connection through their engagement in trade and those who called themselves Kavarai were simply using the Tamil word for Balija but, for example, the Linga Balija based their claim to Balija status on a sectarian identification, the Gazula were bangle-makers by occupation, the Telaga had Telugu origins and the Rajamahendram also appeared to be a geographic claim based on their origins in the town of Rajahmundry. Subsequent attempts to rationalise the enumeration merely created other anomalies and caused upset.

Balija branches

  • Balija Chettis (or Chetti Balija): Mentioned in several Vijayanagar accounts as wealthy merchants who controlled powerful trading guilds. To secure their loyalty, the Vijayanagar kings made them Desais or "superintendents of all castes in the country." They were classified as right-hand castes. 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.
  • Gavara is a trading community and is a sub-caste of Balija. They have marital relationship with the Balijas. Kavarai is the Tamil name for Balijas who have settled in Tamil Nadu and is the Tamilised rendition of Gavara. The often use the title Naidu and Chetti.
  • 24 Manai Telugu Chettiar are also called as Janappan. They seem to be a section of the Balijas, though now they are considered to be a distinct caste. They are also called Sadhu Chetty and Saluppa Chetty.
  • Dasa Banajiga are also called as Jaina Kshatriya Ramanuja-Dasa Vaniyas and Sadu Banajiga as they were formerly Jain Kshatriyas who were converted into Vaishnavism by Ramanujacharya during the reign of Bitti Deva. They are mostly found in Channapatna near Bangalore. They are clean in their habits, pure vegetarians, follow the doctrines of Ramanujacharya, worship Vaishnava gods, speak Kannada, and cremate their dead.

Relation to Kapu

Kapus are closely related to Balijas and both are often enumerated together in government, sociological and psephological contexts. Sri Andhra Vignanamu mentions four sections in Telaga community — Telagas (or Naidus), Ontaris (or Doras), Balijas, and Kapus. Anthropological Survey of India notes that Kapus of Coastal Andhra are ethnically similar to Balijas of Rayalaseema.

Various sources note the similarities between the communities of Kapu, Telaga, Balija, and Ontari. These terms are often used as synonyms and are mentioned as sections of each other. Kapu, Telaga, and Balija are considered as variant names of the same community in different regions. Andhra Pradesh government's Kapu Welfare and Development Corporation refers to Kapu, Telaga, Balija, and Ontari communities collectively as Kapu.

Caste titles

Some Balijas use surnames such as Naidu or Nayudu, 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.

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

Dynasties

The Vijayanagara empire was based on an expanding, cash-oriented economy enhanced by Balija tax-farming. 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 in the Nayaka period is a consequence of conditions of new wealth produced by collapsing two varnas, Kshatriya and Vaishya, into one. Based on the Brahmanical conceptualisation of caste during the British Raj period, Balijas were accorded the Sat Shudra position. 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.

Notable people

Warriors

Zamindars

Social Activists

Notes

  1. The Raj theories of evolutionary anthropology, typified by the work of H. H. Risley, are nowadays considered to be scientific racism.

References

  2. ^
  3. Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarkar; Archaeological Survey of India (1983). "Epigraphia Indica". Epigraphica. 18: 335. ISSN 0013-9572. LCCN sa66006469. As regards the derivation of this word, the late Mr Venkayya says:- In Kanarese banajiga is still used to denote a class of merchants. In Telugu the word balija or balijiga has the same meaning. It is therefore probable that the words valañjiyam, valanjiyar, balañji, banañji, banajiga and balija are cognate, and derived from the Sanskrit vanij
  9. Talbot, Cynthia (2001). Pre-colonial India in Practice: Society, Region, and Identity in Medieval Andhra. Oxford University Press. p. 75. ISBN 978-0-19803-123-9.
  10. Talbot, Cynthia (2001). Pre-colonial India in Practice: Society, Region, and Identity in Medieval Andhra. Oxford University Press. p. 81. ISBN 978-0-19803-123-9.
  11. Sarma, M Somasekhara; Sōmaśēkharaśarma, Mallampalli (1948), History of the Reddi Kingdoms (circa. 1325 A.D. to Circa 1448 A.D.), Andhra University, p. 396
  17. Noboru Karashima, ed. (1999). Kingship in Indian History. Manohar Publishers & Distributors. p. 192. ISBN 9788173043260. To understand the historical process of the reducing of the Nayakas as an open status group into a mere shell of what they had formerly been and the growth of respective caste identities, the Telugu Balija caste and its history may give an important clue. Many Nayakas, including the three major Nayakas in the Tamil area and the Nayakas of Cannapattana, Beluru, and Rayadurga in the Kannada area, are said to have been Telugu Balijas.
  18. ^
  19. ^ Rao, Velcheru Narayana; Shulman, David Dean; Subrahmanyam, Sanjay (1992). Symbols of substance: court and state in Nāyaka Period Tamilnadu. Oxford University Press. pp. 10, 74. ISBN 978-0-19-563021-3.
  20. Cynthia Talbot (2001). Pre-colonial India in Practice: Society, Region, and Identity in Medieval Andhra. Oxford University Press. p. 86. ISBN 978-0-19803-123-9.
  21. Baker, Christopher John (1975). "Figures and Facts: Madras Government Statistics 1880-1940". In Baker, Christopher John; Washbrook, D. A. (eds.). South India. Springer. pp. 222–223. ISBN 978-1-34902-746-0.
  23. Brimnes, Niels (1999). Constructing the Colonial Encounter: Right and Left Hand Castes in Early Colonial South India. Routledge. p. 20. ISBN 9780700711062.
  25. Rudner, David West (1987). David West Rudner (ed.). "Religious Gifting and Inland Commerce in Seventeenth-Century South India". Journal of Asian Studies. 46 (2). University of California Press: 361–379. doi:10.2307/2056019. JSTOR 2056019. Thus Balija Chettis, for example, are actually a caste that fissioned off from the Balija Nayak ('warrior') caste as recently as the nineteenth century. Accordingly, they have closer kinship ties to these Nayak "warriors" than to Chetti merchants.
  27. G. Karunanithi, ed. (1991). Caste and Class in Industrial Organisation. Commonwealth Publishers. p. 45. ISBN 9788171691425. A section of the Naidu migrants in Tamilnadu call themselves Kavarais. They are included in the list of backward classes. They have marital relationship with the Balijas.
  32. Prasada Bhoopaludu, ed. (1939). Andhra Vignanamu. Vol. 3. The Razan Electric Press. pp. 1381–1383.
  36. Talbot, Cynthia (September 1994). "Political intermediaries in Kakatiya Andhra, 1175-1325". The Indian Economic and Social History Review. 31 (3): 281. doi:10.1177/001946469403100301. S2CID 145225213.
    • Peter N. Stearns, William Leonard Langer, ed. (2001). The Encyclopedia of World History Ancient, Medieval, and Modern, Chronologically Arranged. Houghton Mifflin. p. 368. ISBN 9780395652374. The Vijayanagara Empire developed, in its second half, into what is known as the nayaka state-system, in which administrative and political relations differed significantly from what had gone before. While the Vijayanagara rulers continued to hold ultimate power over a broad belt of territory, they shared authority locally with a number of military chiefs, or nayakas. Originally part of the great Telugu migrations southward into the Tamil country in the 15th and 16th centuries, Balija merchant-warriors who claimed these nayaka positions rose to political and cultural power and supported an ethos that emphasized nonascriptive, heroic criteria in legitimizing political power.
    • Daniel D'Attilio, ed. (1995). The Last Vijayanagara Kings. University of Wisconsin--Madison. p. 81. ......many of the Telugu migrant groups who settled in Tamil Nadu from the fourteenth to sixteenth centuries were led by Balija warriors . These Balijas and their descendants became local rulers under the auspices of Vijayanagara.
    • Christopher Chekuri, ed. (1997). All in the Family: Nayaka Strategies in the Making of the Vijayanagara Empire, South India. University of Wisconsin--Madison. p. 29. Balija trading families in South India had significant influence in the outcome of seventeenth century Vijayanagara politics
  41. ^
  43. ^ N. Venkataramanayya (1951). Raghunatha Nayakabhyudayamu. T.M.S.S.M Library, Thanjavur. p. 21. The history of thé family, as described in the Raghunathabhyudayam and Raghunathanayakabhyudayam, begins practically with Pina-Chevva one of the four sons of Timma, who is otherwise unknown. It is sometimes said that the ancestors of Pina Chevva were related to the royal family of Vijayanagara and that they held high offices in the imperial army ; but this is mere speculation unsupported by evidence. Pina Chevva came of an obscure Balija family.
  44. ^
  45. ^
    • Noboru Karashima, ed. (1999). Kingship in Indian History. Manohar Publishers & Distributors. p. 192. ISBN 9788173043260. To understand the historical process of the reducing of the Nayakas as an open status group into a mere shell of what they had formerly been and the growth of respective caste identities, the Telugu Balija caste and its history may give an important clue. Many Nayakas, including the three major Nayakas in the Tamil area and the Nayakas of Cannapattana, Beluru, and Rayadurga in the Kannada area, are said to have been Telugu Balijas.
    • M.M.Kalburgi, ed. (1994). Karnatakada Kaifiyattugalu (in Kannada). Kannada University , Hampi. p. 118.
    • B. Lewis Rice, ed. (1998). Epigraphia Carnatica. Vol. 11. Mysore: Kannada Adhyayana Samsthe, Mysore University. p. XVI. Belur chiefs who are sometimes called Balam chiefs
  46. ^
    • V.R. Acarya, ed. (1954). Sri Prasanna Venkatesvara Vilasamu. Bulletin of the Government Oriental Manuscripts Library, Madras. p. 49. The above said Peda Kōnēti Nṛpati ( Nayak ) First , king of Penukonda . ( 1635 A.D. ) then of Kundurti ( 1652 A.D. ) and of Rayadurga ( 1661 A.D. ) was a Balija by caste , having the surname Vānarāsi . His father Kastūri Nāyak and grand father bencama Nayak had enjoyed high favour with the fallen kings of Vijayanagar who were ruling at Chandragiri. Kōnēti Nayak himself had married the daughter of ( apparently the fruit of left handed marriage ) Āraviti Vīra Venkatapati Rāyalu of Vijayanagar family.
    • K. A. Nilakanta Sastri, ed. (1946). Further Sources of Vijayanagara History. University of Madras. p. 302. A description of the way in which Venkatapatiraya of Raya-Veluru granted the government of Penugonda to the Raya-dalavayi Pedakoneti Nayadu. On Sravana ba. 10 of Yuva of 146 years ago corresponding to S. S. 1558, (the Raya) granted the government of Penugonda to Koneti Nayadu, the son. of Kastuiri Nayadu, the son of Akkapa Nayadu, who was the son of Canca(ma) Nayadu of Candragiri, a member of the Vasarasi family of the Balija caste. The ayakat of the territories of Rajaraja Sri Raya-dalavayi who ruled the forts of Penugonda, Kundurpi, Rayadurgam..... great prosperity.
    • Peram Sivaiah, ed. (2021). Vijayanagara Forts in Rayalaseema: A Study. LAP Lambert Academic Publishing. p. 254. ISBN 9786203410815.
  47. ^
  48. Rao, Velchuru Narayana; Subrahmanyam, Sanjay (January 2009). "Notes on Political Thought in Medieval and Early Modern South India". Modern Asian Studies. 43 (1): 204. doi:10.1017/s0026749x07003368. JSTOR 20488076. S2CID 145396092.
    • T. Chandrasekharan, ed. (1951). A Descriptive Catalogue of the Telugu Manuscripts (PDF). Vol. 13. The Government Oriental Manuscripts Library, Madras. p. 2863. No.2607 KOTIKAMVARI KAIFIYATU - A Kaifiyat relating to Garikipati Viswanathanayaka of Balijakula who was given Pandya kingdom by Atchutadevaraya.
    • K. A. Nilakanta Sastri, ed. (1946). Further Sources of Vijayanagara History. University of Madras. p. 176. Moreover, Acyutadeva Maharaya formally crowned Viswanatha Nayadu of the Garikepati family of the Balija caste as the king of Pandya country yielding a revenue of 2 and 1/2 crores of varahas; and he presented him the golden idols of Durga, Laksmi and Lakshmi-Narayana and sent him with ministers, councillors and troops to the south. Visvanatha Nayudu reached the city of Madhura, from which he began to govern the country entrusted to his care. - taken from the Kaifiyat of Karnata-Kotikam Kings, LR8, pp.319-22
    • Lennart Bes (2022). The Heirs of Vijayanagara: Court Politics in Early Modern South India. Leiden University Press. p. 79. ISBN 9789087283711. The dynasty's first ruler was Vishvanatha Nayaka, son of the imperial courtier and military officer Nagama Nayaka. He belonged to one of the Balija castes, which originated in the Telugu region and whose members undertook both military and mercantile activities. Vishvanatha was possibly installed at Madurai around 1530 and reigned until c. 1563
    • Konduri Sarojini Devi, ed. (1990). Religion in Vijayanagara Empire. Sterling Publishers. p. 100. ISBN 978-81-207-1167-9. According to the Kaifiyat of the Karnata Kotikam Kings, "Acyutadeva Maharaya formally crowned Visvanatha Nayadu of the Garikepati family of the Balija caste as the King of Pandya country yielding a revenue of 2 and 1/2 crores of varahas; and he presented him with golden idols of Durga, Lakshmi and Lakshminarayana and sent him with ministers, councillors and troops to the South."
  53. Richman, Paula (2001). Questioning Ramayanas: A South Asian Tradition. University of California Press. p. 166. ISBN 978-0-520-22074-4. Raghunathanayaka, a Balija who ruled Tanjavur during the early seventeenth century, also wrote a Ramayana.
  55. Vuppuluri Lakshminarayana Sastri, ed. (1920). Encyclopaedia of the Madras Presidency and the Adjacent States. University of Minnesota. p. 453. The illustrious House of the great Komarappa Naidu of the South Arcot District traces its ancestry to Tupakula Krishnappa Naidu, the ruler of the Ginji Fort under the aegis of the now Forgotten Empire of Vijayanagar. This ruler of Ginji constructed many new temples and renovated the old and time-honoured temple of Tirukoilur. We find inscriptions bearing the name of Tupakula Krishnappa in several temples of the South Arcot District. Komarappa Naidu belonged to the Kshatriya Balija caste; and his caste- men, who had been warriors till the advent of the Muhammadans, took up trade as their profession thereafter. It can be seen from the existing records that as early as 1752 Komarappa Naidu was carrying on his trade, which mainly consisted in the export of Indian goods to foreign countries in his ships and the import of precious stones, horses, elephants and the products of other countries. He owned sixteen ships and in a few years he made enormous profits. He constructed the Komarappa Naickenpettai, a suburb of Tiruvendipuram in 1780 to attract weavers from other parts of the country. He rendered substantial pecuniary help to the weavers and thus enabled them to purchase the looms and other necessary appliances. The East India Company, which had just settled in India for carrying on trade between India and England, sought the help of the famous overseas merchant, Komarappa Naidu and established commercial relations with him which remained cordial throughout. Komarappa Naidu, who had been religiously disposed from his boyhood, left his entire business in the hands of his son Sankariah Naidu, shortly after the latter came of age and spent the remaining years of his life in religious study. It was during this, his age of retirement, that he built many new temples and gave a fresh lease of life to the old ones in the district. The pious Komarappa used to feed large numbers of Brahmins and pandits daily and more so on festive occasions. He breathed his last in peace in 1819 at the age of eighty-five. We find the image of Komarappa carved on the stone pillars in the Mantapams of the Tiruvendipuram and Tirupapuliyur temples. A monumental Shaivite temple has been erected over his remains in one of his gardens on the bank of the Gadilam river, in which Archana is daily performed. His wife, Mangammal, has renovated the shrine of Sri Dagaleswar Perumal at Tirukoilur, in a prominent part of which we find an inscription bearing her name. Sankariah Naidu, who was sixty-five years of age at the time of his father's demise, had already risen to prominence. He considerably improved the trade of the family, particularly that with the East India Company and constructed more ships. He acquired considerable landed property in the South Arcot, Chinglepet and Tanjore districts. In 1809 he purchased the small Zamindari of Chennappa Naiken Poliem, a few miles to the west of Cuddalore, which also includes the village of Naduvirapattu. To facilitate his export and import trade, he established ports at Cuddalore, Pondicherry, Porto-Novo and Karaikal. He had a big firm at Madras, on the grounds of which now stand the Madras Christian College, the Anderson Hall and the buildings of Messrs. Parry and Company. He constructed a number of choultries among which those at Chidambaram and Tirupapuliyur deserve special mention. Sankariah Naidu married two wives. He had one son, Devanayagam Naidu by his first wife and four sons by his second wife, Ramaswami, Chandrasekhara, Balakrishna and Chinna Devanayagam. Sankariah Naidu died in 1826.
  59. Arvind P. Jamkhedkar, ed. (2018). Dictionary of Martyrs: India's Freedom Struggle (1857-1947) (PDF). Vol. 5. Indian Council of Historical Research. p. 90. Kanneganti Hanumayya: Popularly known as Kanneganti Hanumanthu, he was a resident of v. Minchalapadu, t. Palnad, distt. Guntur, Andhra Pradesh. An agriculturist belonging to Balija community, he became the leader of his village and took part in the Non Cooperation movement (1921-22) and the Forest Satyagraha in 1922. Over sending cattle into the forest without paying the grazing fees, in response to the No Tax campaign, he was shot dead by a police Sub Inspector on 26 February 1922.

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