HISTORY OF ARYAVYSYAS
Arya Vaishya
Arya Vaishya is an Indian caste. Orthodox Arya Vaishyas follow rituals prescribed in the
Vasavi Puranam, a religious text written in the late Middle Ages.Their
kuladevata is Vasavi.
The Arya Vaishya are divided into two sub-sects, the Gavara Komatis and the Kalinga Komatis.
Etymology
The Komatis are said to have originally lived in large numbers along the Godavari River, which the locals called Gomati or Gomti. The Sanskrit
Gomati was rendered into Telugu as
Komati.
[1]
Hanumantha Rao noted that the merchant classes preferred Jainism for gaining social status and respectability, and the erstwhile Banias became Gomati or followers of the Gomata cult in medieval times.
[2] The story of Vasavi, the caste goddess of the Vaishyas narrated in the
Vaishya Purana is said to have definite Jain overtones.
[3]
According to Rao, there is an alternative etymology for the word Komti, as the "derivation of the word from gomata, the great Jaina saint, which implies that they were followers of Gomata cult or were originally Jains".
[4]
Dwarakanath Gupta says that "These tradesmen (Beharulu) who hailed
from Gouda Desa took to Jainism and adopted the 'Gomata' cult. The word
Gomata got distorted slowly as Gomatlu, Kommathulu, Komattulu. In the
Tamil and Malayalam languages the word 'Komati' is in use. These Jain
Vysyas slowly gave up Jainism and embraced the Vedic religion during its
revival"
Vasavi Purana
The Mackenzie
manuscripts provide a record of the copper plate grant of the guru,
Bhaskaracharya, given by the 102 gotras which formed the Gavara
grouping. According to the
Vasavi Purana, the Vaisyas of
Penugonda and 17 other towns belonged to a group of Vaisyas of 714
gotras. However, the 102 gotras of Gavaras separated out, and formed the
Gavara Komati community .
Inclusion in the Vaishya varna
The Komatis became a part of the Vaishya during British colonial times. The Komatis desired to be members of the Vaishya caste. However, the Niyogi (Brahmin) councillors who controlled the powerful Mandri Mahanad did not accept or support their claim.
Attempts by Komatis to adopt orthodox Vaishya rituals drew the hostile attention of Niyogis. When a Komati family in Masulipatnam announced their intention to perform the Upanayana
ceremony for their son, leaders of the Mahanad invaded the house,
polluted the fire and stopped the ceremony. Violent encounters along
these lines leading to loss of lives were noted in 1784, 1803, 1809,
1817 and 1820.
[
Of the approximately 1000 Komati families living in Masulipatnam in
1825, the Gavara Komatis were one of the two main Komati groups. They
had 102 gotras,
which were not considered to correspond in identity with the gotras
deemed appropriate for Brahmanas or Vaishyas. From 1784 to 1825 few
families organized the Upanayana, but by 1825 a majority of the caste's
males wore the sacred thread.
[7]
The Upanayana ceremonies were officiated by the Vaidiki Brahmins who were tolerant of the wishes of their patrons. However, the Niyogis continued to mobilize the untouchable Dalits
to riot and organized offensives against such ceremonies. This led
three Komati litigants to take their complaints to the civil court. One
litigant, Mamedy Venkia, had studied the Dharmashastras
and took a leading role in Komati activities with regard to the
Upanayanams. The litigants were supported by the Vaidiki Brahmins.
The Niyogis and their lawyers attempted to destroy the Vaidiki
support in court by arguing that the Vaidikis were unread in the
Dharmashastras, and that they supported the Komatis because they
depended on Komati fees for their livelihood. In 1833 the Sadr Adalat
decided in favour of the Niyogis. In 1845 the Judicial Committee of the
Privy Council refused to make a formal decision.
Niyogi resistance to these activities may be viewed as the protective
strategy of a community which was experiencing new opportunities for
advancement through service with the consolidating imperial state.
Niyogi action to prevent encroachments on the domain of the twice-born
could have been motivated in part by a desire to limit the field of
possible high-status competitors in this situation of new opportunities
for employment with the government of Madras
.
The magistrates of Masulipatnam continually received charges from
Komatis and Niyogis and could not manage the dispute. The magistrates
attempted to solve the dispute by asking Komatis to stop performing the
rituals. The Komatis however remained undaunted by the court orders and
kept going with their attempts.
[7]
By the beginning of the 20th century, it was common for the Komatis
to describe their clan membership in terms of Brahmanical rishi gotras.
And in the 1901 census the Komatis — significant numbers of whom had
prospered in the 19th century — were the only Telugu community who
succeeded in getting the government to rank them as Vaishyas. Following
this inclusion, a group of Komatis established the South India Vysia
Association in 1905.
Gotras
There are 102
gotras among Arya Vaishyas. They followed 102 Rishis
for conducting their rituals. Surname gotras and Rishis for
identification and classification for all the Arya Vaishyas are the
same. The gotras is equivalent of the Sanskrit names of Rishis.
References
- Gupta, Dwarakanath C., & Bhaskar, S., 1992. Vysyas: a sociological study. Ashish Publishing House. ISBN 8170244501
- Rao, Hanumantha B. S.
L., 1973. Religion in Āndhra: a survey of religious developments in
Āndhra from early times upto A.D. 1325, Part 1325, Issue 69 of
Archaeological series. Department of Archaeology and Museums, Government
of Andhra Pradesh, p. 175
- Rao, Hanumantha
B. S. L., 1995. Socio-cultural history of ancient and medieval Andhra,
p.130. Volume 172 of Telugu Viśvavidyālaya pracuraṇa. Telugu University.
