Velala in Andhra

[N. Ganesan]

 Velala is a village, 2 kilometers from the famous temple
 Sangamesvara. The Velala village is on the bank of the Krishna river.
 For the Velala village description and inscriptions, see p. 42, 48,
 83, 147, 156, 170, 172-3, 187, 205-6, 599-601, 602 in B. Dagens,
 Entre Alampur et Srisailam, 1984, Tome I.

Like Beluur and BeLagAm, there must be more place names in
Andhra and Karnataka with words cognate with vEL, vELALan2, vELaan2,
etc., Inscriptional and Place name studies will be useful.

Regards,
N. Ganesan

-----------------------------------------------------------------
 S. Palaniappan wrote on 26 Apr 1998
<<DEDR 5507 lists Ta. veLLALan2, vELALan2, veLLAzan2 man of the
VELaLa caste; fem. veLLALacci, veLLAzacci; veLLANmai veLLAmai
cultivation; vELANmai agriculture, husbandry.....Te. velama name of
a caste, man of this caste; (DCV) agriculture; (Inscr.) vElANDu a
cultivator; affix to the names of
cultivator caste in Tamilnad. Cf. 5545 Ta. vEL.

To me the velama-kamma story seems to be based on folk etymology.
[...]

Western Deccan is  called vELpulam in Tamil. I have read somewhere
that the names Belur and Belgaum are related to "vEL". Unfortunately,
 I do not remember where I read it and I do not know how widely it is
accepted.
>>





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