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

The Balija are a Telugu-speaking trading community primarily living in the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and in smaller numbers in Telangana and Kerala.[1] Balijas are known as Banajigas in Karnataka.[2]

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.[3]

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'.[4]

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.[5] 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').[6] The terms balanjya-setti and balija were also used for these traders, and in later times naidu and chetti.[7] 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.[8] They spread all over South India, Sri Lanka, and also some countries in the Southeast Asia.[9]

Velcheru Narayana Rao et al. note that the Balijas were first mobilised politically by the Vijayanagara emperor Krishnadevaraya.[10] 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.[10] Cynthia Talbot believes that in Andhra the transformation of occupational descriptors into caste-based descriptors did not occur until at least the 17th century.[11]

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.[lower-alpha 1] 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.[12]

Balija branches

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

  • Balija Chettis (or Chetti Balija): Mentioned in several Vijayanagar accounts as wealthy merchants who controlled powerful trading guilds.[13][14] To secure their loyalty, the Vijayanagar kings made them Desais or "superintendents of all castes in the country."[15] They were classified as right-hand castes.[16][17] 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.[18]
  • Gavara is a trading community and is a sub-caste of Balija.[19] Kavarai is the tamil name for Balijas, who have settled in Tamil Nadu.[20] That is the Tamilised rendition of Gavara.[21]
  • 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 rein 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.[22][23][24]

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.[25]

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.[26]

Dynasties

The Vijayanagara empire was based on an expanding, cash-oriented economy enhanced by Balija tax-farming.[27] Some Balija families were appointed to supervise provinces as Nayaks (governors, commanders) by the Vijayanagara kings,[28] some of which are:

Warriors

Zamindar

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.[43] Based on the Brahmanical conceptualisation of caste during the British Raj period, Balijas were accorded the Sat Shudra position.[44][45][46] 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.[47][48]

See also

Notes

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

References

  1. ↑ Jakka Parthasarathy, ed. (1984). Rural Population in Indian Urban Setting. B.R. Publishing Corporation. p. 52. ISBN 9788170181392. Balija are the chief Telugu trading caste , scattered ! throughout Andhra Pradesh , Karnataka and Tamil Nadu
  2. ↑ John Henry Hutton, ed. (1951). Caste in India: Its Nature, Function and Origins. G. Cumberlege, Oxford University Press. p. 275.
  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
  4. ↑ Venkatesa Iyengar, ed. (1932). The Mysore Tribes and Castes. Vol. 2. Mittal Publications. p. 100.
  5. ↑ Stein, Burton; Arnold, David (4 February 2010). A History of India. John Wiley & Sons. p. 120. ISBN 978-1444323511.
  6. ↑ Stein, Burton (4 February 2010). A History of India. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-1-4443-2351-1.
  7. ↑ 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.
  8. ↑ 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.
  9. ↑ Sarma, M Somasekhara; Sōmaśēkharaśarma, Mallampalli (1948), History of the Reddi Kingdoms (circa. 1325 A.D. to Circa 1448 A.D.), Andhra University, p. 396
  10. 1 2 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. These Balija fighters are not afraid of kings: some stories speak of their killing kings who interfered with their affairs.
  11. ↑ Talbot, Cynthia (2001). Pre-colonial India in Practice: Society, Region, and Identity in Medieval Andhra. Oxford University Press. p. 86. ISBN 978-0-19803-123-9.
  12. ↑ 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.
  13. ↑ Stein, Burton (1989). Vijayanagara. The New Cambridge History of India. Cambridge University Press. p. 87. ISBN 978-0-521-26693-2.
  14. ↑ Brimnes, Niels (1999). Constructing the Colonial Encounter: Right and Left Hand Castes in Early Colonial South India. Routledge. p. 3. ISBN 9780700711062.
  15. ↑ Brimnes, Niels (1999). Constructing the Colonial Encounter: Right and Left Hand Castes in Early Colonial South India. Routledge. p. 20. ISBN 9780700711062.
  16. ↑ Neild, Susan M. (1977). Madras: the growth of a colonial city in India, 1780–1840. University of Chicago (PhD dissertation). p. 224.
  17. ↑ Bowmen of Mid-India: a monograph of the Bhils of Jhabua [M. P.] and adjoining territories, Volume 2, page 243
  18. ↑ Rudner, David West (May 1987). "Religious Gifting and Inland Commerce in Seventeenth-Century South India". The Journal of Asian Studies. 46 (2): 361–379. doi:10.2307/2056019. JSTOR 2056019. S2CID 162764761.
  19. ↑
  20. ↑
  21. ↑
  22. ↑ Iyengar, Venkatesa (1932). The Mysore. Mittal Publications. p. 104.
  23. ↑ Karnataka State Gazetteer: Bangalore rural district. Director of Print, Stationery and Publications at the Government Press. 1990.
  24. ↑ Karnataka State Gazetteers: Kodagu District. Office of the Chief Editor, Karnataka Gazetteer. 1993.
  25. ↑ 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.
  26. ↑ Stearns, Peter N. and Langer, Leonard W. (2001). The Encyclopedia of world history, p. 368
  27. ↑ Velcheru Narayana Rao, David Dean Shulman, Sanjay Subrahmanyam, ed. (1992). Symbols of Substance Court and State in Nāyaka Period Tamilnadu. Oxford University Press. p. 10. ISBN 978-0-19-563021-3. Originally part of the great Telugu migrations southward into the Tamil country in the 15th and 16th centuries, the Balija merchant- warriors reveal the rise of hitherto marginal, and only recently politicized.. These mobile, aggressive, land-hungry, Telugu-speaking warriors...helped to build the Nāyaka state-system and to impregnate it with their particular cultural vision; strong surviving traditions; supported by contemporary evidence, assert Balija origins and / or marital connections for the major Nāyaka dynasties in the Tamil country quite apart from the well-known Balija role in restructuring the revenue systems of Nāyaka Tanjavur and Madurai{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: editors list (link)
  28. ↑ 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.
  29. 1 2
    • Andhra Pradesh Archives, Andhra Pradesh State Archives & Research Institute, ed. (2007). Itihas. Vol. 33. Director of State Archives, Government of Andhra Pradesh. p. 145. ....It is told that the Nayak Kings of Madurai and Tanjore were Balijas , who had marital relations among themselves and with the Vijaya Nagara rulers
    • Muzaffar Alam, ed. (1998). The Mug̲h̲al State, 1526-1750. Oxford University Press. p. 35. ISBN 978-0-19-563905-6. As an arrangement, the Golconda practice in the first half of the seventeenth century was quite similar in crucial respects to what obtained further south, in the territories of the Chandragiri ruler, and the Nayaks of Senji, Tanjavur and Madurai. Here too revenue-farming was common, and the ruling families were closely allied to an important semi-commercial, semi-warrior caste group, the Balija Naidus.
  30. ↑
    • Biplab Auddya, ed. (2017). Research in Multidisciplinary Subjects. Vol. 6. The Hill Publication. p. 18. ISBN 9788196477660. Many later rulers were also of different castes, such as the Madurai Nayaks, Balijas (traders) who ruled from 1559 to 1739
  31. 1 2
    • K. Narayana Desai, ed. (1937). Balija Kula Charitra (in Telugu). Gowthami Grandhalayam, Rajahmundry. p. 116.
  32. 1 2
  33. 1 2
    • K. A. Nilakanta Sastri, ed. (1946). Further Sources of Vijayanagara History. University of Madras. p. 302. 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.
    • Bulletin of the Government Oriental Manuscripts Library, Madras. Superintendent Government Press. 1954. 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
  34. 1 2
    • The Quarterly Journal of the Mythic Society (Bangalore, India). Vol. 11–12. The Society. 1920. p. 47. Then Virabhadrappa Nayaka ascended the Gadi and retiring to Bidarur ruled over his country more peacefully than before. His rule lasted for 15 years from 1551 to 1566. During his reign the rule of Vokkaligas came to an end and was replaced by the rule of Banajigas. Sivappanayaka , grandson of Chikkasankanna Nayaka , was the head of administration as Yuvaraja under Virabhadra Nayaka.
    • Leelavati N. Pujar, Dr.S.S.Wani, ed. (2021). Review of Research, volume - 10, issue - 12 (PDF). lbp.world. p. 1. The Keladi rulers were of the Vokkaliga and Banajiga ranks and were Veerashaivas by faith.
  35. 1 2 3
    • Benjamin Lewis Rice, ed. (1909). Mysore and Coorg from the Inscriptions. A. Constable & Company, Limited. p. 164. The Channapatna chiefs generally bore the name Rana . Jagadēva - Rāya , after the founder of the family in Mysore. He was of the Telugu Banajiga caste and had possessions in Bāramahāl . His daughter was married to the Vijayanagar king
    • Traffic Management Plans for Major Towns in Bangalore Metropolitan Region (PDF). Bangalore Metropolitan Region Development Authority. 2010. p. 170. CHANNAPATNA: The village was ruled by the King Timmapparaja urs. Later Rana Jagadevaraya of Telugu Banajiga Balija Community chooses it as his Capital city. Rana Jagadeva Raya and his family ruled the territory of Baramahal along with Mysore.
    • Ranjit Kumar Bhattacharya, S. B. Chakrabarti, ed. (2002). Indian Artisans: Social Institutions and Cultural Values. Ministry of Culture, Youth Affairs and Sports, Department of Culture, Government of India. p. 36.
  36. ↑
    • 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
    • Konduri Sarojini Devi, ed. (1990). Religion in Vijayanagara Empire. Sterling Publishers. p. 100. 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."
    • Lennart Bes (2022). The Heirs of Vijayanagara: Court Politics in Early Modern South India (PDF). Leiden University Press. p. 79. 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
  37. ↑ V. Narayana Rao (1988). Heroes and heroines in Telugu folklore. University of Pennsylvania. p. 144.
  38. ↑ C. Hayavadana Rao, ed. (1915). The Indian Biographical Dictionary. Forgotten Books. p. 344.
  39. ↑ 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.
  40. ↑ Jaidev (2022). Thaamba. Notion Press. p. 35. ISBN 9798887493114.
  41. ↑ C. Hayavadana Rao, ed. (1915). The Indian Biographical Dictionary. Forgotten Books. p. 344.
  42. ↑
    • The Feudatory and zemindari India. Vol. 9. the University of California. 1938. p. 250. He was a lineal descendant of the famous warrior and diplomat Rama- bhadra Nayak who had held the post of Fouzdar or Military Chief and Collector of Revenue under his relative Viswanatha Nayak of the House of Vijianagar , King of the Pandyan country
    • The Who's who in Madras: ... A Pictorial Who's who of Distinguished Personages, Princes, Zemindars and Noblemen in the Madras Presidency. Pearl Press. 1938. p. 52. Dewan Bahadur V. Ramabhadra Naidu , member of a family which had close relations with the ruling house of Madura , the Great Tirumal Nayak. Belongs to an ancient Palayagar family of Madura.
    • A. Vadivelu, ed. (1915). The Ruling Chiefs, Nobles and Zamindars of India. Vol. 1. G.C. Loganadham. p. 679. The Honourable Diwan Bahadur V. Rama Bhadra Naick Garu is one of the most prominent noblemen of South India . As a representative of the zamindari interests of the Southern Group , he has , since 1910 , been in the reformed Legislative Council of Madras. He represents the ancient house of Vadagarai , and is the lineal descendant of the famous Rama Bhadra Naick . To trace the ancestry of the founder of this well - known ancient family we have to go back to the events that had occurred three centuries ago , that is , to the period when the power of the once famous kingdom of Vijianagar was at its height , Rama Bhadra Naick I is said to have been a follower as well as a close relation of the well - known Kottiya Nagama Naick , the Revenue Collector and Commander of the Vijianagar army in the South.
  43. ↑ 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.
  44. ↑ Pollock, Sheldon I. (2003). Literary Cultures in History: Reconstructions from South Asia. University of California Press. p. 414. ISBN 9780520228214.
  45. ↑ Indo-British Review. Indo-British Historical Society. 1987. p. 52.
  46. ↑ సి. పాపయ్యశాస్త్రి, ed. (1960). ఆంధ్ర సాహిత్య పరిషత్ పత్రిక - Journal of the Telugu Academy (in Telugu). Vol. 49. p. 92.
  47. ↑ Krishnan-Kutty, G. (1999). The political economy of underdevelopment in India. Northern Book Centre. p. 172. ISBN 978-81-7211-107-6.
  48. ↑ Krishnan-Kutty, G. (1986). Peasantry in India. Abhinav Publications. p. 10. ISBN 978-81-7017-215-4.

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