Iyer Heritage Page

[DEVARAKONDA VENKATA NARAYANA SARMA]

At 07:08 AM 11/4/97 PST, you wrote:
>I would like to bring up two points in reference to Ravi Iyer's Iyer web
>site(If this isn't the correct forum to discuss this, I apologize)
>Ravi Iyer et al deserve kudos for putting up a site on the Iyer
>community, however it is important to get one's facts correct while
>attempting a major project like this:
>
>1. He says that "Iyer" is from Ayya which is from Arya...This was
>discussed sometime ago on this net by
>S.Palaniappan(palaniappa at aol.com)who said that"Iyer" is derived from the
>Tamil root "ai" and not the "Arya"-"Ayya" route that was followed
>earlier. May I therefore ask for references/logic followed for this
>conclusion?
>
>2. I believe that the logic of "proclaiming all smarthas from
>Tamil NAdu" to be Iyer can lead to flawed conclusions. Tyagaraja was a
>Telugu speaking Vaidiki Brahmin from Tanjavur, how does he become an
>Iyer? Also, S.Radhakrishnan was a Telugu speaking Niyogi from Tirutanni,
>how does become an Iyer? I am aware of the fact that Tirutanni was
>traditionally a part of the Tamizhagam, but am not sure if it is in
>Tamil NAdu now; from what I remember, it is in the Chittoor district of
>Andhra Pradesh( in which case the logic behind  his being an Iyer fails
>in two different ways).
>
> LEt me also venture to add that in the realm of  agricultural
>scientists, one is far safer with somebody like the late Sir
>T.S.Venkataraman(Tiruvadi Sambasivayyar Venkataraman) or at a lesser
>level, Krishnaswami Ramiah than M.S.Swaminathan( There was an article a
>long time ago in the Illustrated Weekly( by Janardan Thakur) which
>proved that many of MSS's results were flawed, his green revolution was
>far from even starting evolution, his tenure as DG at the ICAR was
>notable only for the number of scientists resigning or commiting
>suicide. There was another book written about scientific fraud in the
>world where the same facts were repeated and Dr Swaminathans statistical
>conclusions questioned..his work is taken with a pinch of salt by many
>people).
>
>
>REgards,
>Krishna
>
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>
>

Tiruttani is in TN now. But S.Radhakrishnan is a telugu and he never denied
it. I think claiming S.Radhakrishnan as a tamil Iyer is a mistake.
But a number of telugus who settled in the interior of tamilnadu at the time
of Nayaka rulers pass for Iyers. That is how Tyagayya is called Tyagayyar.
Some of these people do not have any contact with with telugu now. For example
the Melattur Bhagavatars who migrated to Tanjavur in Nayaka times know little
telugu though they still stage the telugu dramas penned by their ancestor
Melattur Venkatrama Sastrulu. Even today there are villages in the heart of
tamilnadu, especially in the Tanjavur district where the language spoken in
the homes is telugu.

Parallel to this Tamil brahmins migrated to Andhra in the Chalukyan times
along with Chola princesses Kundava, Ammanga Devi and Madharantaki who
married the successive Chalukyan Kings. These are known as Dravida Brahmins.
Because of the longer time gap involved these people have lost their contact
with tamilnadu completely.

sarma.