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Tuesday 16 April 2013

ARAYARS-VAISHNAVA MUTHURAJAS


Araiyars are a sub caste of  Muthurajas in Tamilnadu. The use of Arya term by people of a South Indian community triggered a debate on the origins Aryans who were believed to be Invaders and entered into Sindhu Region of Indian subcontinent. Some people have gone to an extent that Aryans were not aliens but they were south Indian / Dravidians who spread into North India. A detailed study of ARAYARS reveals that the Arayars were Non-Tamilian people who came into Tamil speaking lands from North of Tamil country. Further it can be proved that they are the people having Indo Aryan descendancy  and their roots can be traced to Kalabhras / Kalchuris / Kolis. It appears that the ancestors of these people with Indo-Aryan blood came through Kalinga (Orissa) with a special purpose for spreading Buddhism. Arya (singular) => Aryas (plural) Aryas = > Aryars => Arayars = Araiyars = Ariyars The Buddhists referred to any respectable member of the Buddist Sangha as Arya, and it appears that usage of Arya was common throughout the Buddhist world. The usage of Araiyar in Tamil Buddhist texts was perhaps a reference to the people of Buddist following. The Dravidians were also accustomed to refer to non-Dravidians as Aryans. The term ARYA means "noble" or "spiritual", and has been so used by Buddhists, Jains and Zoroastrians as well as Hindus. Religions that have called themselves Aryan, like all of these, have had members of many different races. Race was never a bar for anyone joining some form of the Arya Dharma or teaching of noble people. The kings of south India, like the Chola and Pandya dynsties, relate their lineages back to Manu. The Matsya Purana moreover makes Manu, the progenitor of all the Aryas, originally a south Indian king, Satyavrata.The Kings of the Kingdom of Jaffna are known by the name of Arya Chakravartis. According to some, the descendants of Arya Chakravarti, a chieftain from the Pandya kingdom who became ruler of the northern part of the Island towards the end of the thirteenth century, came to be known as Arya Chakravartis. According to others, Jayabahu, who ruled the North while Magha ruled from Polonnaruwa, was probably the founder of the Arya rulers of the North. These rulers were originally a branch of the Ganga dynasty from KALINGA who had immigrated to Rameshvaram, South India, and had intermingled with the Brahmins of the area. It was to highlight their connection with the highest caste that they called themselves Aryas. Another school holds that Singhai Aryan, also known as Kulankaic Chakravarti, was the founder of the line of Arya Chakravartis. He was none other than Magha, alias Kalinga Magha, alias Kalinga Vijayabahu, who conquered Polonnaruwa in 1215.
 

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