Kolar iyers or Ashtagrama iyers-an Introduction
Compiled by
P.R.Ramachander
They bare also
known as Devarayasamudram iyers and speak
a mixture of Kannada and Tamil. Being a border district of Andhra most of them also kow Telugu.
.They are supposed to have migrated
to Karnataka 500 years back from Kundur agraharam of
Kanchipuram.All of them belong to
the Vadama subcaste of
Iyers.They have settled in 16
villages of KOlar district of Karnataka , deva samudram being their largest settlement. There are Shaivas
as well as Vaishnavites among them ,
They follow a
mixture of the customs of iyers of Tamil
Nadu and also the Smartha Brahmins of Karnataka, They follow both the Solar as well as Lunar
Panchangams and celebrate festivals
following the Lunar calendar.
The villages of Ashtagrama are ,on either side of Palar
river in Kolar, Bangarpet and Mulabagal taluks of Karnataka state. Even
though a very small community they have made a mark
and there are very emininent
personalities among them in almost every field
of endeavour. The world
famous Historian Sri Ramachandra Guha Indian
politician V.S.Krishna Iyer (Once MP
from Bangalore) , the world famous
photographer Sri T.S.Satyan, Shatavadhani Ganesh Actress
Soundarya and the famous writer and cartoonist Regret Iyer
belong to their community. They also maintain a face book page Ashtagrama Iyer's
Please see
a funny video made
by the Ashta grama iyers settled in USA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmAEd0Wpn80
1 comment:
There needs to be an update to the history and the ancestral roots.
Few places among the ancestral origin are missed out I feel. There are good details in wikipedia and website. Not all are called devarayasamudram iyers.
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