The Villavar and Minavar—The Nagas tribes - THE MAYAN (usa)
The two tribes were evidently a primitive race which was spread over the whole of India, as they are still found in large numbers in Kajputana and Guzarat, where they are known as Bhils and Meenas, and in the Canarese country, where they are called Billavar.
Villavar
Villavars were the primary rulers among the Dravidians who once ruled the whole of India.
Villavars(Bowmen) were archers who once emerged from the hunting clans of India. They were also known as Ezhinar or Eyinars in Chera(Present day Kerala) and Tamil countries respectively. The Bhil tribals, The Billavas of Tulunadu of Karnataka, The Villavar Clans of Kerala who founded the Chera Kingdom all are Villavars. The Ezhavas or Illavas of Kerala are also descendents of this Villavar tribe of Kerala. The Villavars of Kerala and Illavars of Sri Lanka after whom Eeelam or Heladipa is named were relatives. Alwar, Alvar, Aluvar or Alva are the titles shared by all the Villavar tribes.
Villavar was a tribe of hunters living in the southern part of ancient India. The word villavar derives from the Dravidian word for bow (vil). The villvars lived in hill tracts and forests; [1]. Chera kings used the title villavan[2][3]
References
V. Kanakasabhai (1904). The Tamils Eighteen Hundred Years Ago. Asian Educational Services. p. 39. ISBN978-81-206-0150-5.
Hudson, D. Dennis (25 September 2008). The Body of God: An Emperor's Palace for Krishna in Eighth-Century Kanchipuram. Oxford University Press. ISBN9780190451400.
Aiyangar, Sakkottai Krishnaswami (2004). Ancient India: Collected Essays on the Literary and Political History of Southern India. Asian Educational Services. ISBN 9788120618503.
Original page from book
by V. Kanakasabhai (1904). The Tamils Eighteen Hundred Years Ago.
CHAPTER IV
Tamil Races and Tribes.
The oldest of tribes who dwelt in Tamilakam were the
Villavar and Minavar. The • Villavar or bowmen (from the
Dravidian word ml meaning a bow) inhabited hilly tracts and
jungles, and lived by the chase; and the Minavar or fishermen
(from the Dravidian meen, a fish) subsisted by fishing and resided
in the valleys and plains, or on the sea-coast. The two tribes
were evidently a primitive race which was spread over the whole
of India, as they are still found in large numbers in Kajputana
and Guzarat, where they are known as Bhils and Meenas, and in
the Canarese country, where they are called Billavar.
These semi-barbarous tribes were conquered by the Nagas,
who were a very numerous and civilised race, and who at one
time or other ruled a great portion of India, Ceylon and Burma.
They are mentioned in the Bamayana, and the Naga capital,
which probably lay in the heart of the Dekkan is described in
that epic as follows:—
Near Bhogavati stands the place
Where dwell the hosts of the serpent race,
A broad-wayed city walled and barred
Which watchful legions keep and guard.
The fiercest of the serpent youth
Each awful for his venomed tooth ;
And throned in his imperial hall
Is Vasuki who rules them all.
Explore the serpent city well,
Search town and tower and citadel,
Scan each field and wood that lies
Around it with your watchful eyes.
From the Maliabharata we learn that there were Naga
kingdoms between the Jumna and the Ganges about the 13th
century B. C. When the kings of the Lunar race of Aryas
wanted to found a second capital near the spot where Delhi
stands at present, they had to dislodge the Nagas who occupied
1. Griffith's Bamayana IV, 205. Indian Antiquary, Vol. VIII. p. 5.
40
The Tamils Eighteen Hundred Years Ago
it. Arjuna, the hero of the poem, in his banishment is said to
have married first Ulipi, the daughter of a Naga king, then
Chitrangadai, daughter of Chitravahana, the Naga king of
Manipura. Parikshit, the grand son of Arjuna was killed by
Thakshaka, a Naga king, and hence Janamejaya, the son of
Parikshit had to wage a long and bloody war with the Nagas and
killed thousands of them. They appear again in history in the
6th century B. C. When a Naga dynasty ruled Magadha ; and it
was during the reign of Ajatasatru, the 6th king of this race,
that Gautama Buddha preached his new faith which soon found
favour with the Nagas. 1 The Ceylonese historical works all begin
with an account of the Nagas. It appears from these works
that in the 6th century B. C. there were powerful Naga king¬
doms on the western coast of the island which was called
Nagadwipa or Naga island on that account. The Naga capital
was at Kalyani. The niece of the king of Kalyani was married
to a Naga king of the Kanawaddamano mountain, which was
evidently Kandamadanam, a hill near the modern Ramesvaram
on the Indian coast, opposite to Kalyani. In the ancient sculp¬
tures at Amaravati and elsewhere which were executed more
than eighteen hundred years ago, the human figures, which are
represented with serpent hoods spread wide at the back of them,
are Nagas. 2 Some fragments of the sculptures which were
removed from the ruins at Amaravati may now be seen at the
Government Museum, Madras. In these sculptures the Naga
kings are distinguished by the hood of a five or seven-headed
serpent at their back, Naga princesses by a three-headed serpent,
and ordinary Nagas by a single-headed serpent. The artists who
executed these sculptures with considerable labour and care seem
to have imagined that the Nagas partook of the nature of
serpents, and that their bodies were partly human and partly
serpentine. The ancient Tamil poets appear to have shared this
belief, for, they speak of the Nagas who were contemporary with
them, as human beings, while at the same time they describe the
ancient Nagas as serpents living underground. In describing the
antiquity and wealth of Kaviripaddinam, the Chola capital, the
author of the Chillappathikaram states that it was an ancient
THE NAGAS
HUMAN SKULL, HAIR, PIGMENT, WOOD
THE NAGA TRIBE, FROM NAGALAND, PLACE
DEAD ANCESTORS SKULLS IN SHRINES.
The aboriginal Villavar and Minavar appear to have had
no gods. The Nagas who first conquered the aboriginal races,
which inhabited the Tamil country, worshipped the dread goddess
K&li and sacrificed many a buffalo at her shrines. The image of
KAli was decked in a most frightful manner. Her matted hair
was tied up like a crown on her head, with the shining skin,
•of a young cobra : the curved tusk of a boar was fastened in her
hair to resemble the crescent. A string of tiger’s teeth served
as a necklace on her shoulders. The striped skin of a tiger was
wound round her waist like a garment. A strong bow bent
^tnd ready to shoot was placed in her hand; and she was
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