Thread by @TheBrokenTusk

A thread on the History of Vanniyars: The Agni Kula Kshatriyas of Tamizh Nadu.
Full credits and my Pranaams to @ArmchairPseph ji for all the information in this thread.🙏
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For Vaidika upanayana, many jatis are attempting to find their roots & reclaim their heritage:
A traditional Tamizh, yellow-page invitation to Vanniyars to receive the upanayana with a priest of the temple of Tillai as guru & become kshatriyas proper.
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https://twitter.com/GhorAngirasa/status/1134839081156767744?s=20

Edgar Thurston writes,
"A manuscript, abstracted at page 90 of the Catalogue raisonné (Mackenzie Manuscripts), states that the Vanniyans belong to the Agnikula, and are descended from the Muni Sambhu; & that they gained victories by means of their skill in archery."
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A verse of Irattayar in praise of Conjeeveram Ekamranathaswami refers to the Pallava king of Sambu race.
Inscriptions during Chola kings Kulottunga 3 & Raja
Raja 3 record Sambukula Perumal Sambuvarayan &
Alagiya Pallavan Edirili Sola Sambuvarayan as titles of
local chiefs.
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"At Conjeeveram (Kanchipuram) there lives the family of the Mahanattar of the Vanniyans, which calls
itself "of the family of Vira Sambu."
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The name Vanniyan is, Mr. H. A. Stuart writes, derived from the Sanskrit vanhi (fire) in consequence of the following legend. In the olden times, two giants named Vātāpi & Māhi, worshipped Brahma with such devotion that they obtained from him immunity from death from every cause,

except fire, which they had carelessly omitted to include in their enumeration. Protected thus, they harried the country, & Vātāpi went the length of swallowing Vāyu, the god of the winds, while Māhi devoured Surya. The earth was enveloped in perpetual darkness & stillness.
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This struck teππoπ in the minds of the dēvatas, & they appealed to Brahma, who, recollecting the omission made by the giants, directed his suppliants to desire the rishi Jāmbava Mahāmuni to perform a yāgam, or sacrifice by fire.
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The order having been obeyed, armed horsemen sprung from the flames, who undertook 12 expeditions against Vātāpi & Māhi, whom they 1st destroyed, & afterwards released Vāyu & Surya from their bodies.
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Their leader then assumed the government of the country under the name Rūdra Vanniya Mahārāja, who had 5 sons, the ancestors of the Vanniya caste. These facts are said to be recorded in the Vaidīswara temple in the Tanjore district."
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Armies of Vanniyans are often mentioned in Ceylon annals.
A Hindu History of Ceylon, translated in Royal As. Soc. Journal Vol 24,states:
"In the year 3300 of the Kali Yuga, a Pandya princess went over to Ceylon, married its king, & was accompanied by 60 bands of Vanniyans."
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The terms Vanni & Vanniyan are used in Tamil poems to denote king. Thus, in the classical Tamil poem Kallādam, which has been attributed to the time of Tiruvalluvar, the author of the sacred Kural, Vanni is used in the sense of king.
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Also, in dramatic plays, the king personae (sic) has always been taken by a Kshatriya, who is generally a Vanniya.
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Kamban, the author of the Tamil Rāmāyana, uses it in a similar sense. In an inscription dated 1189 A.D., published by Dr. E.Hultzsch, Vanniya Nāyan appears among the titles of the local chief of Tiruchchūram, who made a grant of land to the Vishnu temple at Manimangalam.
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Tiruchchūram is identical with Tiruvidaichūram about four miles south-east of Chingleput, where there is a ruined fort, and also a Siva temple celebrated in the hymns of Tirugnāna Sambandhar, the great Saiva saint who lived in the 9th century.
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Another manuscript shows that two of their chiefs enjoyed considerable power, and refused to pay the customary tribute to the Rayar, who was for a long time unable to reduce them to submission.
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Local tradition, confirmed by the Mackenzie manuscripts, says that this place was, during the time of Vijayanagar King Krishna Rāya(1509-30 AD), ruled by 2 feudal chiefs of the Vanniya caste named Kāndavarāyan & Sēndavarāyan. They, it is said, neglected to pay tribute to their...

...sovereign lord, who sent an army to exact it. The brothers proved invincible, but 1 of their dancing-girls was guilty of treachery. Acting under instructions, she poisoned Kāndavarāyan.His brother Sēndavarāyan caught hold of her & her children,& drowned them in the local tank.

The tank & the hillock close by still go by the name of Kuppichi kulam/Kuppichi kunru, after Kuppi the dancing-girl.
An inscription of the Vijayanagar king Dēva Rāya II (1419-44 AD) gives him the title:
"Lord who took the heads of the 18 Vanniyas."
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Some Palli Poligars adopt the following surnames:
Agni Kudirai Eriya Rāya Rāvutha Minda Nainar, i.e., Nainar who conquered Rāya Rāvutha & mounted a fire horse. This name commemorates a contest b/w a Palli & a Rāvutha, at which the former sat on a red-hot metal horse.
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Further names are Sāmidurai Surappa Sozhaganar and Anjāda Singam (fearless lion). Some Pallis have adopted Gupta as a title.
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A few Palli families now maintain a temple of their own, dedicated to Srīnivāsa, at the village of Kumalam in the South Arcot district, live round the temple, and are largely dependent on it for their livelihood.
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Most of them dress exactly like the temple Battars, and a stranger would certainly take them for Battar Brāhmans. Some of them are well versed in the temple ritual, and their youths are being taught the Sandyavandhana (morning prayer) & Vēdas by a Brāhman priest.
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They have adopted the title Rāyar. Other titles, "indicating authority, bravery, & superiority," assumed by Pallis are Nāyakar, Varma, Padaiyāchi (head of an army), Kandar, Chēra, Chōla, Pāndya, Nayanar, Udaiyar, Samburāyar, Pillai, Reddi, Goundan, & Kavandan.
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Some say that they belong to the Chōla race, & that, as such, they should be called Chembians. Iranya Varma, 1 of the Pallava kings, was returned as their caste by the Pallis, who also gave themselves the title of Sōlakanar (descendant of Chōla kings) at the census.
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