Kolar iyers or Ashtagrama iyers or DEvasamudram iyers-an Introduction

Kolar iyers or Ashtagrama iyers  or DEvasamudram iyers-an  Introduction

 

Compiled  by

P.R.Ramachander

In the early 16th century a few of the Iyers from the North Arcot and the Tanjavur districts of Tamil Nadu migrated to the Ashtagrama group of villages, at the request of the existing government, as learned priests, Vedic scholars and agriculturists. There is also a belief  that  they migrarated from  Kundur  village  of KanchipuramThey soon transformed it from a poor community into a well-educated and prosperous one.

 

     They  are also known as   Devarayasamudram iyers   and speak  a mixture  of Kannada   and Tamil. Being a border  district of Andhra   most of them also know  Telugu.  .Here   are  their language   equivalent   to some tamil words:-

 

Tamil-  Ashta grama tamil

Varela?-  Vareegla?

Porela?  Poreegla?

Yrnga aathle?  Yengulle

Konju  podu-Chitha nazhi

 

.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.

Ashtagrama (literally,'eight villages') consists of several villages which are located in the Valley of the Palar River, which flows through the Kolar district into Tamil Nadu. The 10 villages on the North side of the river are Cholagunte, Doddiganahalli, Devarayasamudram , Gangigunte, Honnagaanahalli, Kothamangala, Minijenahalli, Thattangunte, Vijalapura and Yelagondahalli. The remainder of the villages, Aralakunte, Chamarahalli, Gangapura, Hunkunda and Shillangeri are on the southern side of the river. Though the Iyers form the majority of the population all these villages show communal diversity.

 

There   are Shaivites   as well as Vaishnavites among them

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   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.

 

. 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.They have  also established in 1993 an association of their own called  Ashtagrama association

 

 Please   see a  funny video   made  by the Ashta grama  iyers   settled in USA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmAEd0Wpn80