page_title: Sri Lankan Vellalar
section_title: Colonial era
hierarchical_section_title: Sri Lankan Vellalar / History / Colonial era
caption_attribution_description: English: Āṟumuka Nāvalar (1822 – 1879) a Sri Lankan Tamil Shaivite scholar தமிழ்: ஆறுமுக நாவலர் (1822 – 1879), இலங்கைத் தமிழறிஞர்
context_page_description: Sri Lankan Vellalar is a caste found in Sri Lanka, who comprise about half of the Sri Lankan Tamil population. They were traditionally involved in agriculture, but also included merchants, landowners and temple patrons. They also form part of the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora.
  They are reputed as a ritually and numerical dominant caste, who have contributed among the political elites of the Sri Lankan Tamils. Many of the Tamil Mudaliyars, a high colonial rank, were drawn from the Vellalar caste. In Eastern Sri Lanka are the Vellalars further divided into kudi's or matrilineal clans.
context_section_description: In the time of Portuguese Ceylon, the Vellalars were described as husbandmen, who were involved in tillage and cattle cultivation. According to S. Arasaratnam, Vellalar dominance was strengthened by Dutch colonizers after the fall of the Portuguese. The Portuguese had appointed the affluent Karaiyars and Madapallis to administrative offices. Karaiyars and Madapallis revolted against the new Dutch rule in September 1658, consequently leading to the Dutch favoring the Vellalars to administrative positions. The Dutch interpreted the local laws, later codified as Thesavalamai, as allowing landlords to own slaves. Thus the Vellalar chiefs and other landlord castes had the Koviars and also the Panchamar ("the fives") consisting of the Nalavars, Pallars, Paraiyars, Vannars,and Ambattars working under them as domestic servants altogether known as Kudimakkal. These castes were originally bonded to the service of the state, however, they were often illegally turned to be bonded to individual Vellalars as their dominance started growing. The growing power of the Vellalars was counterbalanced by removing the Madapallis from earlier suspicion and equally appoint them to the administrative office by the Dutch in the 1690s.
  The Thesavalamai mentions the Koviars as descendant of the Vellalars, and intermarriage between them was not uncommon. According to historians, the Vellalar population increased between the 17th and 19th-century due to other castes and communities assimilating in Vellalar society after the fall of Jaffna Kingdom, which included castes such as the Agampadiyar (palace servants), Chettiar (merchants), Thanakkarar (temple managers), Madapallis (palace cooks and stewards), Malayalis and Paradesis (foreigners, skilled workers). There used to be a concept of Periya Vellalan and Chinna Vellalan, where the latter was a subdivision compromising the castes who had assimilated in the Vellalar identity.
  During colonial rule, some Vellalars converted to Christianity. These conversions allowed them to hold land, properties and government offices. The Dutch minister Philippus Baldaeus of the 17th century, described the Christian Vellalars, Karaiyars and Madapallis as the most influential classes of Christians on the peninsula. Under Dutch rule in the 18th century, some Vellalars earned fortunes through tobacco cultivation. The Vellalars started to become a dominant caste in the Jaffna Peninsula and also the most numerous in the Dutch census. 
  Due to the effort of the religious reformer, Arumuka Navalar, the conversion to Christianity of many Hindu Vellalars was prevented. They became under his patronage, strict followers of Shaiva Siddhanta, and achieved dominance through ritual design. Well-to-do Vellalars from Jaffna and Colombo formed one of the political Sri Lankan Tamil elites, one of such being the Ponnambalam-Coomaraswamy family.
caption: Arumuka Navalar, a 19th-century Shaivite scholar and reputed patron of Shaiva Siddhanta.
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