View source for Chozhia Vellalar

{{short description|Caste from Southern India}}
{{pp|small=yes}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2019}}
{{infobox caste
| caste_name     = Chozhia Vellalar / Sozhia Vellalar
| image          = 
| caption        = 
| languages      = [[Tamil language|Tamil]]
| region         = Tanjore (''[[Chola Nadu]]'') in current-day [[Tamil Nadu]] and [[Puducherry (union territory)|Puducherry]]
| religions      = [[Hinduism]], [[Christianity]]
| feudal_title   = [[Pillai (surname)|Pillai]], [[Chettiar]]
| related        = [[Vellalar]], Indian [[Tamils]]
}}

'''Chozhia Vellalar''' (also spelt as '''Sozhia''', '''Choliya''' or '''Sholiya Vellalar''') is a caste or a [[subcaste]] of Southern India, related to the [[Vellalar]] community.<ref>Gough, Kathleen (1981). Rural Society in Southeast India. Cambridge University Press. pp. 434, 440. ISBN 978-0521239125.</ref>

They traditionally used [[Pillai (surname)|Pillai]] as a title or surname,<ref name=":0" /> up to the political hegemony of [[Dravidianism]] in the state of [[Tamil Nadu]], where they essentially come from.

==Distribution==
The Sozhiya Vellalars were present predominantly in the [[Cauvery]] [[Delta (river)|delta]] districts of Tamil Nadu — [[Thanjavur district|Thanjavur]], [[Mayiladuthurai district|Mayuram]], [[Nagapattinam district|Nagappattinam]] and [[Tiruvarur district|Thiruvarur]] — as well in a lesser extent in the neighbouring [[Tiruchirappalli district|Trichy]], [[Karur district|Karur]] and [[Namakkal district|Namakkal]].

==History==
Their name, ''Sozhiya'' or ''Chozhia'', reflects this geographical particularity, as a population concentrated in the heart of the ancient [[Chola kingdom]] or ''[[Chola Nadu]]'', which corresponds to the Tanjore region.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |title=People of India: Tamil Nadu |date=1997 |publisher=Affiliated East-West Press |isbn=978-81-85938-88-2 |editor-last=Singh |editor-first=K. S. |edition=1. publ |series=People of India / Anthropological Survey India. K. S. Singh |volume=XL |location=Madras |editor-last2=Thirumalai |editor-first2=R. |editor-last3=Manoharan |editor-first3=S.}}</ref> They are among the few communities to hold this title, along with notably the Chozhia [[Chettiar|Chettiars]] and Chozhia [[Iyer|Iyers]].<ref name=":0" /> The title of these communities is more indicative of their very ancient ties with the Tanjore region, rather than proof of direct kinship with the Chola dynasty.<ref name=":12">{{Cite book |last=Béteille |first=André |title=Caste, Class, and Power : Changing Patterns of Stratification in a Tanjore Village |publisher=[[University of California Press]] |year=1965 |isbn=9780520020535 |location=Berkeley |oclc=411150}}</ref> They have historically formed a large population in this area.<ref name=":12" /><ref name=":1" />

In the work named ''[[Castes and Tribes of Southern India]]'', published in 1909, colonial anthropologist [[Edgar Thurston]] notes that the most eminent ''pandaram'', ''thambiran'' and ''oduvar'' – who significantly make up the ecclesiastical body or administrative and managerial bodies of [[Shaivism|Shaivite]] monasteries ([[adheenam]]) and temples – are notably drawn from the Chozhia Vellalar community.<ref name=":1">{{cite wikisource|first=|last=|year=|plaintitle=Castes and Tribes of Southern India|wslink=Castes and Tribes of Southern India|wspage=|chapter=Vellāla|page=|publisher=|scan=}}</ref> He also makes the paradoxical observation that in his times, the Chozhia Vellalars are also sometimes perceived as being of dubious ancestry or legitimacy, as it is also to their community that some ''[[parvenu]]'' individuals seeking to improve their social status try to affiliate themselves.<ref name=":1" />
	
In their studies of the social setting in rural southeastern India (especially Tanjore) in the second half of the twentieth century, anthropologists [[Kathleen Gough]] and [[André Beteille|André Béteille]] report that the general social perception of the Chozhia Vellalars was that of an upper caste.<ref name=":12" /><ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Gough |first=Kathleen |title=Rural change in southeast India : 1950s to 1980s |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=1989 |isbn=9780195622768 |location=New Delhi |oclc=20179784}}</ref> Although, depending on the locality, they were not a dominant caste.<ref name=":3" /> The socio-economic conditions of the community were diverse, although there was a predominance of people engaged in agriculture, with both landowners and tenant farmers.<ref name=":12" /><ref name=":3" />

== Present status ==
	
Before 1975 in the state of Tamil Nadu they were classified as [[Forward caste]], but due to their economical situation, as well as [[Caste politics|caste-based regional politics]], they were reclassified as [[Other Backward Class]] under India's [[Reservation in India|Reservation]] system.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://bcmbcmw.tn.gov.in/bclist.htm|title=List of Backward Classes approved by Government of Tamil Nadu }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Racine |first=Jean-Luc |title=Rise of the plebeians? the changing face of Indian legislative assemblies |date=2009 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-0-415-46092-7 |editor-last=Jaffrelot |editor-first=Christophe |series=Exploring the political in South Asia |location=New Delhi |pages=445-450 |chapter=(9) Caste and Beyond in Tamil Politics |oclc=473822352 |editor-last2=Kumar |editor-first2=Sanjay}}</ref> Till 2015, they were still classified as Forward caste in the [[Union Territory of Puducherry|Union Territory of Pondicherry]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Singh |first=K. S. |title=People of India : Pondicherry |last2=Ramadass |first2=M. |last3=Naidu |first3=Thalapaneni Subramanyam |last4=Xaviour |first4=D. |publisher=Affiliated East-West Press |year=1994 |isbn=9788185938257 |series=People of India / Anthropological Survey India. K. S. Singh |volume=XXXVI |location=Madras}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2015-02-13 |title=Include 2 More Castes in OBC List |url=https://www.newindianexpress.com/states/tamil-nadu/2015/Feb/13/include-2-more-castes-in-obc-list-716791.html |access-date=2024-09-27 |website=[[The New Indian Express]] |language=en}}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Tamils|India|Hinduism}}
*[[List of Vellalar sub castes]]
*[[List of Vellalars]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Vellalar clans]]
[[Category:Social groups of Tamil Nadu]]
[[Category:Indian castes]]
[[Category:South Indian communities]]
[[Category:Other Backward Classes]]


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