Valanjiyar
Another guild of merchants was Valanjiyar. Some historians are of the opinion that they were from Srilanka, since some of the inscriptions of Tamil country refer to valanjiyar as valanjiyar of Srilanka. 173 But the valanjiyar of Tamil Country might have spread to Srilanka due to their commercial expansion. They belonged to the Velaikkara Community according to Srilankan inscription174 Velaikkara was a valangai community. Valangai velaikkarar were mentioned in the inscriptions of Polannaruva. They would have been the leaders of the valangai group and probably involved in trading activities.
They enforced the code of mercantile conduct known as Virabanaju Dharama175 They were called Virabhanju in Canarese and Viravalnjiyar in Tamil. The banajigas were a vast population of associated traders in Karnataka..The valanjiyar of martial spirit were the followers of Jainism 176 The adjectival nature used to denote the itinerant merchants following the trading profession or the Banaju dharma. In inscriptions, these groups were identified as vira valanjiyar. The name itself emphasized the militant character of the guild.
A tenth century inscription at Valikantapuram refers to the activities of the manigramam and Tenllangaivalnjiyar1″ The valanjiyar collected two kasus for each individual lived in Thirukannapuram in Trichy, for the maintenance of a mutt. Valanjiyar kurichi was a centre of the guild.178 A thirteenth century inscription records the presence of tenilangai valanjiyar at Aruppukottai in Virudhunagar district. The area covered by their movement was initially confined to the important commercial districts of Pudukkottai, the western part of Tiruchirappalli and Tirunelveli. Later their activities were spread not only to all parts of
Tamil country but also to foreign countries. Their inscriptions were found in the regions of Tamil Country provide a major trade route that was in use in those days.
Some scholars opined about the origin of the valanjiyar. Few historians argue that the valangai velaikkara group would be associated with the valanjiyar. Some historians refer to it to warriors. They were enlisted for extraordinary military service. K.A.N Sastri opined that they were the most permanent and dependable troops in the royal service. They were ever ready to defend the king and his cause with their lives when occasion (velai) arose. 179 The Tamil lexicon also gives us the same meaning (devoted servants).180 So probably, since the Valanjiyar were the militant merchant guild, the historians had of different opinions. Because of their militant quality they would have served in the army.The militant component of the itinerant trading organization is visible in many of the South Indian epigraphs, but most obviously in the Kongu nadu inscriptions. Kongu nadu inscriptions possessed some sculptural representa- tions of weapons, horses and elephants along with the writing portion.
There are enough indications oi Valanjiyar and their constant move- ment in Tamil Country.They traded with other country merchants. Reference to the Valanjiyar of Tiruppurambiyam182 clearly indicates the mobility of the itinerant traders in this region. Articles of trade might have included cloth, gems and other luxury items, coconuts, fruits, flowers, areca nuts, betel, incense oil and ghee.
The valanjiyar were also acted as the patron of mutts. Some of the mutts were named after them as nanadesi, valanjiyar and danmadavala mutts183 A Valanjiyar Chief of Iluppoiyur was living in a place called pandiper- underu and in 1224 A.D. he installed the idol of Lingpurandeva.
Tittandatanapuram inscription in Ramnad district mentions the collaboration of Manigramam and Valanjiyar of southern Srilanka and the Anjuvannam for ratifying a charitable donation. This inscription mentions that one of the important exports was cotton fabrics. 185 It confirms the overseas activities of valanjiyar. The Munasandai inscription also mentioned the name of the donating body of the tank namely Saiayiraainnurrvar Valanjiyar. So some historians considered the valanjiyar group as an affiliating body of the ainnurruvar. But the Valanjiyar guild was a different merchant guild and was directly involved in trading activities in many parts of South East Asia and Srilanka.
The mentioning of Tenilangai valnjiyar in inscriptions witnessed their direct involvement in trade. The valanjiyar of Tenilangai paid contributions to the maintenance of a Vaishnava mutt at Tirukkannapuram. Viravalanjiya merchants were claimed to have wandered over many places by land and water routes 187These merchants claimed to have travelled over many places extending over six countries by land and water ways. They built ships in this country to transport the goods. Indian ships according to Conti were larger than the Italian ships but smaller than Chinese.
In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries the merchant corporation of the five hundred and the valanjiyar of SriLanka were seen making endowments at the temples of Sivapuri Tirunelveli and Aruppukkottai and also in the Ramanathapuram district during the period of the Pandyas. 188 The Pandyas in the thirteenth century also encouraged the commercial activities. 189 Ennayiram in South Arcot district had a huge vedic college and a hostel attached to the temple. The valanjiyar merchants who traded in articles required by the hostel.
Hence the valanjiyar were the active merchant guild involved in itinerant trade. They also involved in endowment and charitable activities like other guilds of the medieval period.
-indeed a spiritual bond-between this mercenary regiment and the local and itinerant merchants. To quote from the inscription:
… We of the Mahatantra (i.e., the Velaikkāra), having called together the Valañjiyar…, and the Nagarattar and others, who always accompany us . . .10
It would seem from this inscription that the vēļaikkārar were normally the mercenary armed guards for the activities of merchants who conducted business in Ceylon. Such an association of mercenaries and merchant groups was not unusual, as other epigraphic records refer to the vaṬañjiyar- cēṇāpati, “the army commander of the valañjiyar merchants,” and the nānādēśī-daṇḍanāyak, “the army commander of the nānādēśī merchants.”
Similar records can be found in Southern India. An inscription from Tiruvidaimarudur, for instance, records that a regiment of troops, who were possibly the mercenaries of itinerant merchants, financed the construction of a temple maṇḍapa to honor the ticaiyāyirattaiññūṛṛuvar international merchant organization, the senior body of South Indian itinerant merchant fraternities of that age.12 The fact that the vēlaikkarar are prominently mentioned in many South Indian inscriptions inscribed in temples closely associated with merchant assemblies (nagaram)13 would indicate that these troops performed similar services, i.e., guarding the caravans of itinerant merchants, in the Cōla domain. Since the Cōlas themselves employed vēļaikkārar troops in their administration of Ceylon, the possibility thus exists that merchant- controlled regiments were even loaned, or hired out, to Cōla kings,14
It is generally agreed that the Cōla army (sēnai) was not a monolithic force, but was composed of various “vassal” units which were allied under the royal banner.15 George Spencer’s study of the redistribution of the spoils of success- ful military expeditions argues that the opportunity to acquire large amounts of plunder was the major motivating factor in unifying these troops under the royal banner.16 As he has shown, merchants also shared in this plunder. Since merchant regiments were part of these expeditions,17 it is probable that on their return they would have shared their plunder with their merchant associates. The vēļaikkārar’s invitation to the valañjiyar itinerant merchants and the nagaram representatives of local market centers to witness their installation as guardians of the Polonnaruva temple recognized a strong and continuous interaction among these groups, an association which is further expressed by the wording of the inscription which denotes almost a kinship type bond between these troops and merchants.
The very fact that the Cōlas allowed merchants to main- tain such private armies reveals a basic flaw in the Cōla politi- cal system. The existence of powerful bands of caravan troops reflects the inability of the Cōlas to guarantee the safe transit of commercial goods within their domain.18 Times of politi- cal turmoil, as, for instance, when the ruling dynasty was on the decline, would have resulted in extremely hazardous travel conditions and forced merchants to employ larger armies to protect their goods. Under strong kings, it would be expected that these troops were kept under control, but in times of political disorder, they might have themselves taken to banditry. Indeed, there are contemporary inscriptions noting that merchants and their troops drew swords and …
like the elephant, they attack and kill;
like the cow, they stand and kill;
like the serpent, they kill with poison; l
ike the lion, they spring and kill . . .19
An inscription of the ticaiyāyirattaiññūṛṛuvar merchants promised that a new eṛivīrapaṭṭinam would never be inhabited by merchant groups who “demanded taxes or tolls by threa- tening people with drawn swords or by capturing them and as wantonly deprived people of their food or otherwise afflicted them,” ,”20 indirectly attesting the existence in this age of armed bodies of merchants who turned to banditry.
A significant political change had taken place in the mid tenth century. The Pandyas of the first Empire had been eclipsed. Parantaka-I (AD 907-955) and Ritjarsya-T (985-1016) had both overpowered the Pandyas, and firmly established the Cola iiegemony over the Pandyan Kingdom. The former took title of *‘Madirai Konda’’. Rajaraja-I renamed the whole Kingdom as ‘*Rajaraja-Pandya nadu’’. The rivers were not spared – Tambraparani became Mummudi Colapperaru, the Gatana was named ‘‘Rajarajapperaru’’.’ New Brahmadeya and Nagarams had sprung up all along the river courses renamed or narned after the Cola rulers. Earlier nuclei were enlarged’. Intense activity in the Townships is evidenced by inscriptions. Though the volume of evidence is the larger from Brahmadeyas, the Urs and the Nagaras were also active and their day-to-day transactions are recorded. Trade especially between the hilly western part (originally held by the Ceres) and the eastern parts was active. A nmber of benefactors from the Cola and the Malaimandala (formerly of the Cera) Kingdoms were noticed among the individual benefactors of the temples and mathas in the Pandyan Townships. Movement of merchants, the Valanjiyar (the mercantile militia) the horse traders (Kudiraiccetti) from Malaimandalam, the Brahmins and the Vellala was conspicuous. The Cola Generals were also instrumental in the constructing new temples and forming new townships. The Cola garrisons stood guard over select and strategic temple-locations.
“Tennilangai Valanijiyar’’ (Valanijiyar of South Lanka) resided in Vikrama Pandyan perunderu in the same place.’’? One among them Sekal Sévakattévan alias Iluppaiyar Kilavan installed an image of a goddess. The Valanjiyars figured prominently in the Polannaruva inscription guarding the Buddha Temple there.’
The same benefactor also installed the image of நிரந்த purana dévar.’%4 There was yet another third street in the same township. Sivalavan perunderu alias Désiaciriya (asraya) pattanam. A resident therein purchased a tank ayacut from the temple priests and the vendor was to pay 4 kalams per ma and 16 meni drama¥% on fields which yielded.’
This place was very prosperous. The ‘‘Nagaram’”’ denoted not merely the merchants or traders but also professionals. They were residing in different streets or settlements ina homogenous groups. The Valanjiyars who had originally colonosed Srilanka werealso spread in the homeland but were distinctly categorised as the Valanjiyar of South Lanka.
The Pandyan Kingdom was studded with Nagaras habitats of merchants. But the Nagarattar did not only denote inland traders but merchants who traded overseas. The term donoted manufacturers like oil mongers (vaniyar) and other productive agencies including pearlfisheries.
Three categories of the Nagarattar can be distinguished. The Nagarattars who were resident and had land occupancy undertaking collective responsibilities for land settlement, sales and collection of land-dues to the King, In these respects they were functioning in the same manner as the Urar. Indeed some Urs had deliberately changed their character into a Nagara and indications are that the King had granted such a change. It is hence found that some of the Nagaras had a mix of the agricultural occupants of land together with merchants who also had land-holdings.
The second category noticed were the Valanijiyar or Erivirapattinam. They were soldiers and guardsman who escorted caravan or traders moving from place to place. But they were also resident in specified locations but were mobile. The Valanijiyars were perhaps closely allied to ‘‘Vira banaju’’ in Kannada areas. They had been engaged balso as mercenaries to guard temples monasteries and in Srilanka the Buddhist shrines. The merchants functioned often in a body. Apart fronr the tendency to associate as ‘guilds and ‘chambers of commerce’ the wandering hawkers literally went about in large numbers together. In the Sangam age, as till a century ago, ‘caravans’ of traders used to go from place to place os a ‘whole group’ and never even in small units for they were in mortal fear of highway robbers. Such merchant bodies were called Vanika Chathu and members of the warrior clan were recruited to escort their caravans. Inspile of these protective measures, they were not free from danger from robber gangs. If the robbers beat their tannumai — a kind of shrill drum — it was almost certain that some Vanika Chathu near at hand; the many references to aralai kalvar show that these caravans of trade were not always left unmolested.
The third category were the Ainurruvar or Manigramain or the Nanadésis and as one late inscription refers the Anjuvannam. These were not only inland traders but also sea faring, carrying mercandise. The articles of trade were mostly cloth and spices and camphor and sandal or akil. To this group can be added the horse traders of the Malai mandalam and the traders in gems and precious stones from the western India.
There is an allusion again in this record to the “vaļañjiyars of the eighteen districts.” “The eighteen districts” were, no doubt, eighteen administrative divisions of Vêṇāḍ. Some of the names of these districts we may come across some day. But who the “valanjiyars of the districts” were is a more puzzling question. So far as I can make out, the word reads only as valanjiyar; but neither in Tamil nor in Malayalam am I aware of any current term of that description. It is an obvious derivative from the Tamil word valam, and the leading meaning of that term is greatness, dignity or honour.’ If I am right in my reading, we may reasonably presume that the eighteen valanjiyars were eighteen local magnates, or feudal barons of the realm. They were, as far as I can see, not men in the royal service, who are always described as those who carry ont pani, meaning work,’ or karyam, meaning ‘business.’ Both these latter descriptions occur in this document. But whatever was the difference in rank, emolument, and position, between those who carried out the ‘work’ of the state, and those who attended to its business,’ the valanjiyars of the land would appear to have been above them both. It looks probable that the “loyal chieftains,” whom we have now met so frequently transacting business in the name of the king and forming as it were his government or cabinet ministry, came from this class of vaļañjigars or feudal barons. That there were slaves attached to the land, and that there were two important kinds of land tenure, úráļ or úráṇmai, subject to the village associations, and kárámai or freeholds, directly under the state, are other interesting items of information we may glean from this record, though they may not be equally novel.