TELUGU Community in Madurai - In sync with local customs

The Telugu population has completely amalgamated with the city’s profile.

If there is one community that has assimilated totally to the Madurai way of life, without even a trace of their origin, customs or festivals, it is perhaps the people from Andhra Pradesh.

With an estimated population of 200,000 in the city, the Naidus, Reddiars, Arya Vysyas (Telugu Chettiars) and numerous other groups, besides Brahmins – in the order of their numerical strength - settled down in these parts during the 200-year Nayak rule between the late 16th and early 18th centuries.

History

It was the time when Vijayanagar empire extended its control into Pandya kingdom after coming at the behest of a Pandya king to help oust Muslim invaders. After vanquishing the invaders, the Vijayanagar king appointed dependents or Nayaks to govern the land, paving the way for the Nayak dynasty.

According to S. Rajagopal of Small Industries Product Promotion Organisation, to facilitate ease of administration and protect the territory, the Nayak appointed 72 ‘Palayakkarars,’ who took up agriculture during peacetime. For this, ‘Kammas’ (warriors) were put in charge.

“Before the arrival of these people, Madurai region relied on river and canal irrigation. Coming as they were from a dry region (believed to be Rayalaseema region) where well-water irrigation system was prevalent, they introduced the same here, replacing ‘etham’ with ‘kamalai’ (process of pumping water to the fields).”

Work culture

For making the ‘kamalai’ made of leather, the ‘madhyas’ (cobblers) were brought. Soon, well diggers, carpenters and others started settling down here, the reason why many manual workers in Madurai speak Telugu.

There are ‘Kammas,’ ‘Balijas,’ ‘Velamas’ (of the Madurai Muniyandi Vilas fame) and other sub-sects in Madurai. While Telugu - with a generous mixture of Tamil - is spoken at home in some families, a majority of the Naidus know nothing but Tamil, and play a major role in political, financial and literary spheres in the State.

Edifices

It is to the credit of the Nayaks that many grand edifices such as Tirumalai Nayak Mahal, Rani Mangammal palace (now Gandhi Museum), besides Mariamman Teppakulam, and temples were built in and around Madurai.

Reddiars, though not as many as Naidus, have also made Madurai home. There are about 10,000 of them in the city and more than a lakh in the outskirts. “About 90 per cent of us are hoteliers. Name any famous vegetarian restaurant in the major cities of Tamil Nadu and Kerala, Tirupati and Bangalore, it will be owned by a Reddiar,” says K.L. Kumar, proprietor of the Temple City group of hotels.

According to him, the Reddiars were nomads once and during the rule of Tirumalai Naick, they happened to catch a thief fleeing away from the palace. As a reward, the king gifted 25 villages in the Nanguneri region from where they spread out far and wide. Their forefathers, as workers, learnt the ropes of hotel business in Sri Lanka.

Mr. Kumar says majority of their people in Madurai are ‘Tirunelveli Reddiars,’ the soft-natured hoteliers while the others, the ‘Tirumangalam Reddiars’ (some are into the Muniyandi Vilas Military hotel business) and ‘Vadipatti Reddiars’ are into agriculture and other jobs. There are many sub-sects prefixed by the place in Andhra they came from such as Kandalar, Rajendrathar, Dhooriyar, Eenkilar etc. The first of the Reddiar hotels in Madurai was ‘Ambal Café’ (1945) opposite College House.

Comparatively less in number (about 1,000), Arya Vysyas or Telugu Chettiars run successful businesses in Madurai. M. Vijayanathan, industrialist, says before coming to Madurai, their people had settled down in Combai, Thevaram, Chinnamanur, Uthamapalayam etc. “Once, our people ran a bank, ‘Pathinengrama Arya Vysya Bank,’ which later merged with Vysya Bank. Wherever our people are, there will be a Kanniga Parameswari Amman temple, looked after by a Telugu Brahmin.”

All Arya Vysyas speak Telugu (with less Tamil words) and are vegetarians. Mr. Vijayanathan (79) says, “Those days, when boys were sent to schools and colleges in far away places, girls were sent to study under the Telugu Brahmin at the local temple, the reason why old women in our community can speak, read and write good Telugu.” Arya Vysyas are believed to have come from the Tenali, Guntur, Vijayawada region of Andhra Pradesh. “We used to run provision stores and jewellery stores in Madurai once. The former business has been taken over by the Nadars and the latter by Chettiars,” Mr. Vijayanathan says.

Pious

A distinct trait of all these people with their origin in Andhra Pradesh is that when they welcome or bid bye, they stand up erect, raise their folded hands up to the chest, instead of the customary one-handed wave, and do so in all politeness. Very pious people – Varalakshmi nonbu is important in their religious calendar – but then they have lost all contacts with Andhra, even its fiery hot food.

Source - The Hindu