Balija

{{Short description|Indian caste}} {{protection padlock|small=yes}} {{Use British English|date=March 2013}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2020}} {{Infobox caste | caste_name = Balija | classification = | religions = Hinduism | languages = Telugu, Kannada, Tamil | country =India | populated_states = Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Telangana, Kerala }}

The '''Balija''' are a Telugu-speaking mercantile community primarily living in the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and in smaller numbers in Telangana and Kerala.<ref> *{{cite book|editor1-last=Jakka Parthasarathy |author2=|title=Rural Population in Indian Urban Setting |volume= |publisher=B.R. Publishing Corporation |year=1984|page=52|isbn=9788170181392|quote=Balija are the chief Telugu trading caste, scattered ! throughout Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KLwiAAAAMAAJ }} *{{cite book|editor1-last=Narendra Nath Bhattacharyya |author2=|title=Indian Puberty Rites |volume= |publisher=Munshiram Manoharlal |year=1980|page=23|isbn=9780836407761|quote=Balija, a class of Telugu merchants | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JtLfAAAAMAAJ }} *{{cite book|editor1-last=Gilbert Slater |author2=|title=Economic studies-Some South Indian Villages |volume=1 |publisher=H. Milford, Oxford University Press |year=1918|page=246|isbn=|quote=Balijas, the chief Telugu trading caste, found all over Madras Presidency. Many are landowners and cultivators | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UG4UAAAAIAAJ }} *{{cite book|editor1-last=K. S. Singh, B. G. Halbar |author2=|title= People of India:Karnataka, Part 1 |volume= 26|publisher=Anthropological Survey of India |year=2003|page=287|isbn=9788185938981|quote=The Balija are a community of Telugu origin and are scattered all over Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vxMwAQAAIAAJ }} </ref> In Tamil Nadu, they are known as Gavarais.<ref name="Kavarai" />

== Etymology == Variations of the name in use in the medieval era were ''Balanja'', ''Bananja'', ''Bananju'', ''Banajiga'' and ''Banijiga'', with probable cognates ''Balijiga'', ''Valanjiyar'', ''Balanji'', ''Bananji'' and derivatives such as ''Baliga'', all of which are said to be derived from the Sanskrit term ''Vanik'' or ''Vanij'', for trader.<ref name="EpigraphiaIndica1983">{{cite journal |author1=Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarkar |author2=Archaeological Survey of India |year=1983 |title=Epigraphia Indica |journal=Epigraphica |volume=18 |page=335 |issn=0013-9572 |lccn=sa66006469 |quote=As regards the derivation of this word, the late Mr Venkayya says:- In Kanarese banajiga is still used to denote a class of merchants. In Telugu the word balija or balijiga has the same meaning. It is therefore probable that the words valañjiyam, valanjiyar, balañji, banañji, banajiga and balija are cognate, and derived from the Sanskrit vanij}}</ref><ref> *{{cite book|editor1-last=A. Satyanarayana, Mukkamala Radhakrishna Sarma |author2=|title=Castes, Communities, and Culture in Andhra Desa, 17th & 18th Centuries, A.D |volume= |publisher=Osmania University |year=1996|page=106|quote=Dr. Fleet has rightly pointed out that the term Balija indicated their profession namely trade. He traces the Bananju and the modern Banajiga to the Sanskrit term "Vanija" "Vanijiga" meaning merchant or traders. | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sbm_Oyo8XFMC }} *{{cite book|editor1-last=B. Muddachari |author2=|title=Economic History of Karnataka |volume= |publisher=Udaya Prakashana |year=1982|page=22|quote= | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o-TsAAAAMAAJ }} *{{cite book|editor1-last=T. V. Mahalingam |author2=|title=South Indian Polity |publisher=University of Madras |year=1967|page=402| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cqC3ySDTlM8C }} *{{cite book|editor1-last=K. Lalitamba |author2=|title=Virasaivism in Andhra |volume= |publisher=P.R. Krishnamurty |year=1976|page=69|quote= | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1sIcAAAAMAAJ }} *{{cite book|editor1-last=B. S. L. Hanumantha Rao |author2=|title=Social Mobility in Medieval Andhra |volume= |publisher=Telugu University |year=1995|page=170|quote= | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CsPkAAAAMAAJ }} </ref>

Another version for etymology states that Balija is derived from the Sanskrit word ''Bali'', a sacrifice made during 'Yagna' ritual and ''Ja'' meaning born. Therefore, Balija means 'born from sacrifice'.<ref> *{{cite book|editor1-last=Arthur Maurice Hocart |author2=|title=Kings and Councillors: An Essay in the Comparative Anatomy of Human Society |volume= |publisher=Printing office P. Barbey |year=1936|page=115|quote=| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OqIiAQAAIAAJ }} *{{cite book|editor1-last=Venkatesa Iyengar |author2=|title=The Mysore Tribes and Castes |volume=2 |publisher=Mittal Publications |year=1932|page=100|quote=| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zseCqGFRpyQC }} *{{cite book|editor1-last=T. Madhava Menon |author2=|title=A Handbook of Kerala |volume=2 |publisher=International School of Dravidian Linguistics |year=2000|page=668|isbn=978-81-85692-31-9|quote=Balija literally means born out of sacrifice | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TjVuAAAAMAAJ }} *{{cite book|editor1-last=H. D. Singh |author2=|title=543 Faces of India: Guide to 543 Parliamentary Constituencies |volume= |publisher=Newmen Publishers |year=1996|page=28|isbn=978-81-900669-0-7|quote=The name Balija is derived from the Sanskrit word Bali meaning sacrifice and Ja meaning born . They owe their origin to the performance of Yagnam .| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YxuLAAAAMAAJ }} </ref>

== Origins == Beginning in the 9th century, references are found in inscriptions throughout the Kannada and Tamil areas to a trading network, which is sometimes referred to as a guild, called the Five Hundred Lords of Ayyavolu that provided trade links between trading communities in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.<ref> *{{Cite book|last1=Stein|first1=Burton|title=A History of India|last2=Arnold|first2=David|date=4 February 2010|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-1444323511|pages=120}} *{{cite book|editor1-last=Aravind Kumar |author2=|title=Studies in Kannada Inscriptions in Telangana |volume= |publisher=Department of History, Archaeology and Culture, Dravidian University |year=2006|page=88|quote= | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Gz9mAAAAMAAJ }} *{{cite book|editor1-last= |author2=|title=The Indian Antiquary |volume=56 |publisher=Popular Prakashan |year=1927|page=197|quote=| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XqTaGy9KOfsC }} </ref> From the 13th century, inscriptions referring to "''Vira Balanjyas''" (warrior merchants) started appearing in the Andhra country.<ref> *{{cite book|editor1-last=K. Sundaram |author2=|title=Studies in Economic and Social Conditions of Medieval Andhra, A. D. 1000-1600 |volume= |publisher=Triveni Publishers |year=1968|page=69|quote= | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HJFXAAAAMAAJ }} *{{cite book|editor1-last=Kambhampati Satyanarayana |author2=|title=A Study of the History and Culture of the Andhras: From stone age to feudalism |volume= |publisher=People's Publishing House |year=1975|page=334|quote= | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bYsBAAAAMAAJ }} *{{cite book|editor1-last= |author2=|title=Itihas |volume=6 |publisher=Government of Andhra Pradesh |year=1978|page=71| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZwpDAAAAYAAJ }} *{{cite book|editor1-last=Hem Chandra Ray, K. M. De Silva |author2=|title=History of Ceylon |volume=1 |publisher=Ceylon University Press|isbn= |year=1960|page=550|quote=| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sQZDAAAAYAAJ }} *{{cite book|editor1-last=Angadipuram Appadorai |author2=|title=Economic Conditions in Southern India (1000-1500 A.D.) |volume= |publisher=University of Madras |year=1936|page=394|quote= | url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.39545/page/n407/mode/1up }}</ref> The ''Vira Balanjyas'', whose origins are often claimed to lie in the Ayyavolu, represented long-distance trading networks that employed fighters to protect their warehouses and goods in transit. The traders were identified as ''nanadesi'' (of 'many countries') and as ''swadesi'' ('own country').<ref> *{{Cite book|last=Stein|first=Burton|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QY4zdTDwMAQC&q=Ayyavolu&pg=PA120|title=A History of India|date=2010-02-04|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-1-4443-2351-1|language=en}} *{{cite book|editor1-last=James Ford Bell, John Parker |author2= |title=Merchants & Scholars: Essays in the History of Exploration and Trade |volume= |publisher=University of Minnesota Press |year=1965|page=51|isbn=9780816672578|quote=| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dW8sAAAAMAAJ }} </ref> The terms ''balanjya-setti'' and ''balija'' were also used for these traders, and in later times ''naidu'' and ''chetti''.<ref name="talbot75">{{cite book |last=Talbot |first=Cynthia |title=Pre-colonial India in Practice: Society, Region, and Identity in Medieval Andhra |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19803-123-9 |year=2001 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pfAKljlCJq0C |page=75}}</ref> These traders formed collectives called ''pekkandru'' and differentiated themselves from other collectives called ''nagaram'', which probably represented Komati merchants. The ''pekkandru'' collectives also included members of other communities with status titles reddi, ''boya'' and ''nayaka''.<ref>{{cite book |last=Talbot |first=Cynthia |title=Pre-colonial India in Practice: Society, Region, and Identity in Medieval Andhra |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19803-123-9 |year=2001 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pfAKljlCJq0C |page=81}}</ref> They spread all over South India, Sri Lanka, and also some countries in the Southeast Asia.<ref name="SarmaSōmaśēkharaśarma1948">{{citation|last1=Sarma|first1=M Somasekhara|last2=Sōmaśēkharaśarma|first2=Mallampalli|title=History of the Reddi Kingdoms (circa. 1325 A.D. to Circa 1448 A.D.)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=diYLAQAAIAAJ|year=1948|publisher=Andhra University|page=396}}</ref><ref> *{{cite book|editor1-last=Manguin |editor1-first=Pierre-Yves |editor2-last=Mani |editor2-first=A. |editor3-last=Wade |editor3-first=Geoff |last1=Perret |first1=Daniel |last2=Surachman |first2=Heddy |chapter=South Asia and the Tapanuli Area (North-West Sumatra): Ninth-Fourteenth Centuries CE |title=Early Interactions Between South and Southeast Asia: Reflections on Cross-cultural Exchange |volume=2 |publisher=Institute of Southeast Asian Studies |year=2011|page=170|isbn=9789814345101| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ni9AlOLTFZYC }} *{{cite book|editor1-last=Upinder Singh |author2=|title=A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to the 12th Century |volume= |publisher=Pearson Education India |year=2009|page=602|isbn=9789332569966|quote=| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cvauDwAAQBAJ }} </ref>

== Medieval history == === Chalukya period === The earliest inscriptions mentioning the Balija community are from the Western Chalukya period, specifically during the reign of King Someshvara I and are found in the Shimoga region of present-day Karnataka.<ref>{{cite book|editor1-last=Dr. K. Munirathnam |author2=|title=Annual Report on Indian Epigraphy (2017-2018) |volume= |publisher=Archaeological Survey of India, Delhi|year=2018|pages=4, 86|quote=No. B 346 from Beguru, in Shikaripura taluk, Shimoga district, Karnataka is a Kannada record, engraved on a slab set up to the right side of Sri Mallikarjuna temple. It belongs to the reign of the king Trailokyamalladeva (Someshvara I) and is dated Saka 988, Parabhava, Bhadrapada Su. 15, lunar eclipse, Monday, corresponding to 1066 A.D, September 6 and the weekday being Wednesday. The purport of the record is to register the grant of land for feeding the students of the alms house belonging to the matha of Mallikarjuna temple by a certain person (name not mentioned), son of Soma and grandson of Kontada Віrа of Balija kula. The land was obtained from Lakshmarasa, the ruler of Banavasi - 12000, after getting the consent of Manneya Jogayya, Santa gavunda of Beluru and Keta gavunda. The land was entrusted to Trilochana Panditadeva. The donee also constructed several tanks and named one of them as sarvajna gatta. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bTy8wgEACAAJ}}</ref>

=== Kakatiya period === The Balija community is mentioned in Kakatiya inscriptions, particularly during the reign of King Prataparudra II and are found in the Nandyal region of present-day Andhra Pradesh.<ref>{{cite book|editor1-last=J. Ramayya Pantulu, Lakshminarayan rao |author2=|title= South Indian Inscriptions (Texts) Telugu Inscriptions from the Madras Presidency |volume=10 |publisher= |year=1948|pages=285, 286|isbn=|quote=Inscription no. 528 | url=https://archive.org/details/in.gov.ignca.34759/mode/1up }}</ref> According to Prataparudra charitra and Siddheswara charitra mentioned that the balijas lived at Orugallu, the capital of the Kakatiya kingdom.<ref> *{{cite book|editor1-last=C. V. Ramachandra Rao |author2=|title=Ekamranathuni Prataparudra Caritramu |volume= |publisher=Andhra Pradesh Sahitya Akademi |year=1984|pages=73, 74|isbn= |quote=| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8TsSAQAAIAAJ }} *{{cite book|editor1-last=Kase Sarvappa, Khandavalli Lakshmi Ranjanam |author2=|title=Sri Siddhesvara Caritramu |volume= |publisher=Andhra Racayitala Sanghamu |year=1960|page=LXXVII|isbn=|quote= | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V5k9AAAAMAAJ }} *{{cite book|editor1-last=K. Satyamurthy |author2=|title=Handbook of Indian Architecture |volume= |publisher=Ashish Publishing House |year=1991|page=148|isbn=9788170243892|quote=For instance Prataparudra Caritra of Ekamranatha says the fort of Ekasilanagara is shining like Alakapuri (the capital of Kubera, the God of Wealth) and it is having the house of the Brahmanas, the counsellors of the king, the members of Kshatriya origin, the Vaisyas of different economic orders, chiefs of Sudra originally called Padmanayakas, the members of the eighteen castes like goldsmiths (Visvakarma), oilmonger (Tenugu - a corrupt form of Telaka), stone - cutters (Uppera), Bruisers (Idiga), Basketeer (Medara), Washermen (Rajaka), herdsmen (Golla), Potters (Kummari), Mongers of colours (Bukka), general merchants (Balija), sectarian priests of Saiva religion (Siva brahmana), fishermen (Besta) and carpenters (Sangara) besides the weavers of silk sarees and cotton fabrics (Padmasale) and the householders who feed the outsiders.| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L0U3AQAAIAAJ }} *{{cite book|editor1-last=Modali Nagabhushana Sarma, Mudigonda Veerabhadra Sastry |author2=|title=History and Culture of the Andhras |volume= |publisher=Komarraju Venkata Lakshmana Rau Vijnana Sarvaswa Sakha, Telugu University |year=1995|page=81|isbn=9788186073070 |quote=Prataparudra Charitra, though a later work, furnishes some idea of the urban population of the capital, Orugallu. The list given in it includes Brahmins, ministers and other dignitaries, warriors, ordinary merchants or Vaisyas, rich merchants, Padmanayakas (Velamas), Visvakarmas (goldsmiths), Gollas (cowherds), Kapus (cultivators), Edigas (tappers), Siva Brahmanas, Kumbhakaras (potters), Pattusales (silk weavers), Padma sales (ordinary weavers), Medaras (basket makers), Upparas (earth excavators), Meras (tailors), Bestas (fishermen), Tenugus, Bukkas and Samgaras (their specific profession not known), Rajakas (washermen), Vesyas (prostitutes), Putakutivaru (hoteliers), Balijas (also called Bananja), and others. | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HTluAAAAMAAJ }} *{{cite book|editor1-last=Pedarapu Chenna Reddy, A. Satyanarayana |author2=|title=Recent Trends in Historical Studies |volume= |publisher=Research India Press |year=2005|page=87|isbn=9788189131029|quote=1)Brahmanas-18000, 2)Manthris-2000, 3)kshatriyas-2000, 4)vaisyaas-30000, 5)Among them vaisyas who were crorepatis-420, 6)Padmanayakulu-77, 7)Astadasa varnambulu-150000, 8)Visvakarma Vamsajulu (Craftmen)-20000, 9)Gollavaru (Shepherds)-4000, 10)Kapulu (cultivators)-16000, 11)Idugulu (toddy tappers)-3000, 12)Sivabrahmanas-15000, 13)Kummarlu (potters)-4500, 14)Pattunese Salevaru (silk weavers)-9000, 15)Medara (basket makers)-2000, 16)Chittaru vrasevaru (Painters)-2500, 17)Upparas (those who dig tanks)-15900, 18)Bestavandlu (fisherman)-16000, 19)Tenugus-6500, 20)Bukkas-6300, 21)Sangaras-13000, 22)Rajakas (washerman)-50000, 23)Vesyalu (Prostitutes)-127000, 24)Balijas-15000 Apart from the above number of houses the Prataparudra Charitramu gives the number of big shops as 700, soldiers houses as 300, and putakutillu or vantalakkalaidlu and so on. | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yjluAAAAMAAJ }} *{{cite book|editor1-last= |author2=|title=The Quarterly Journal of the Mythic Society |volume= 69|publisher=Mythic Society |year=1978|page=136|isbn= |quote=| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cgJuAAAAMAAJ }} *{{cite book|editor1-last=Kandavalli Balendu Sekaram |author2=|title=The Andhras Through the Ages, Parts 1-2 |volume= |publisher=Sri Saraswati Book Depot |year=1973|page=53|isbn=|quote= | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dzduAAAAMAAJ }} *{{cite book|editor1-last= |author2=|title=Andhra Pradesh Government Archaeological Series |volume=52 |publisher=Government of Andhra Pradesh |year=1978|page=270|isbn=|quote= | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IoYuAQAAIAAJ }} *{{cite book|editor1-last= |author2=|title=Proceedings of the Indian History Congress |volume=64 |publisher=Indian History Congress |year=2004|page=590|isbn=|quote= | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NHQMAQAAMAAJ }} </ref>

=== Post-Kakatiya period === In the caste-based hierarchy, Balijas hold a high position along with Kammas, Reddis and Velamas. they also served as military generals (Nayakas) and warriors under the Musunuri Nayakas and Kondavidu kingdom.<ref> *{{cite book|editor1-last=Ravula Soma Reddy |author2=|title=Studies in the Socio-economic History of Medieval: Andhra Desa |volume= |publisher=Research India Press|year=2007|page=149|isbn=9788189131142|quote=The 75 Nayakas of Musunuri kingdom of Warangal probably included among them many Kammas, Velamas, Reddis and Balijas. Anitalli Epigraph mentions prolaya Vema Reddi as one of the 75 Nayakas of Kapaya's kingdom. The Nayakas of the Kondaviti kingdom belonged mostly to the Reddi, Velama, and Balija castes and some were Muslims. | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J_LZAAAAMAAJ }} *{{cite book|editor1-last=N. S. Ramachandra Murthy |author2=|title=Forts of Āndhra Pradesh: From the Earliest Times Upto 16th C. A.D |volume= |publisher=Bharatiya Kala Prakashan|year=1996|page=151|isbn=9788186050033|quote=There were also appointed several officers to defend different forts, who belonged mostly to the Velama and Balija communities. There also appear to be Muslim officers in the service of the Reddis, which fact is supported by the names of the officers furnished by the dandakavile. | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BYDfAAAAMAAJ }} *{{cite book|editor1-last=K. K. Kusuman |author2=|title=Proceedings Volume of The Fourteenth Annual Session of South Indian History Congress |volume=14 |publisher=The Congress |year=1995|pages=309, 310|isbn=|quote=| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CA9uAAAAMAAJ }} *{{cite book|editor1-last=Mackenzie Manuscripts |author2=|title= Grama Kaifiyathulu, Gunturu Thaluka |volume=2 |publisher=Andhra Pradesh State Archives & Research Institute |year=1982|pages=34–35, 52|isbn=|quote= | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-bDc0AEACAAJ }} *{{Cite journal|editor1-last= |author2=|title=Sri Venkateswara University Oriental Journal |journal=Sri Venkateswara University Oriental Journal |volume=17-20 |year=1977|page=66 |quote=| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HB9CBwg6WZkC }} </ref>

=== Vijayanagara period === Balijas served as ministers, military generals, and provincial governors in the Vijayanagara Empire.<ref> * {{cite book|editor1-last=Peter Fibiger Bang, Dariusz Kolodziejczyk |author2=|title=Universal Empire: A Comparative Approach to Imperial Culture and Representation in Eurasian History |volume= |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2012|page=225|isbn=9781139560955|quote= | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cYYhAwAAQBAJ }} *{{cite book|editor1-last=Ravula Soma Reddy |author2=|title=Studies in the Socio-economic History of Medieval: Andhra Desa |volume= |publisher=Research India Press|year=2007|page=151|isbn=9788189131142|quote= | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J_LZAAAAMAAJ }} * {{cite book|editor1-last= Daniel D'Attilio |author2=|title=The Last Vijayanagara Kings|volume= |publisher=University of Wisconsin--Madison |year=1995|page=81|quote= | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p9JOAAAAMAAJ }} * {{cite book|editor1-last=Christopher Chekuri |author2=|title=All in the Family: Nayaka Strategies in the Making of the Vijayanagara Empire, South India |volume= |publisher=University of Wisconsin--Madison |year=1997|page=29|quote=| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0OFLAAAAMAAJ }} * {{cite book|editor1-last=A. Satyanarayana, Mukkamala Radhakrishna Sarma |author2=|title=Castes, Communities, and Culture in Andhra Desa, 17th & 18th Centuries, A.D |volume= |publisher=Osmania University |year=1996|page=111|quote=The Balija merchants who had acquired good experience in administering justice and managing local administration were ideally suited for his purpose. They became chieftains of small principalities. They received Nayakattanas and Amaramaganis from the Vijayanagara rulers and administered many regions in various parts of the empire.| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sbm_Oyo8XFMC }} </ref> A number of the Nayaka dynasties of the Vijayanagara and post-Vijayanagara periods were of Balija origin, including the Nayaka rulers of Madurai, Thanjavur, Gingee, Belur, Channapatna, Rayadurgam and Kandy.<ref>{{cite book|editor1-last=Noboru Karashima |author2=|title=Kingship in Indian History |volume= |publisher=Manohar Publishers & Distributors |year=1999|page=192|isbn=9788173043260|quote=To understand the historical process of the reducing of the Nayakas as an open status group into a mere shell of what they had formerly been and the growth of respective caste identities, the Telugu Balija caste and its history may give an important clue. Many Nayakas, including the three major Nayakas in the Tamil area and the Nayakas of Cannapattana, Beluru, and Rayadurga in the Kannada area, are said to have been Telugu Balijas.| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oyiKAAAAMAAJ }}</ref><ref name="kandy" />

Velcheru Narayana Rao et al. note that the Balijas were first mobilised politically by the Vijayanagara emperor Krishnadevaraya.<ref name=":0">{{cite book |last1=Rao |first1=Velcheru Narayana |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=znFuAAAAMAAJ |title=Symbols of substance: court and state in Nāyaka Period Tamilnadu |last2=Shulman |first2=David Dean |last3=Subrahmanyam |first3=Sanjay |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1992 |pages=10, 74 |isbn=978-0-19-563021-3 |quote= |author-link=Velcheru Narayana Rao |author-link2=David Dean Shulman |author-link3=Sanjay Subrahmanyam}}</ref> Later, in the 15th and 16th centuries, they colonised the Tamil country and established Nayaka chieftaincies. At this time, ''Balijas'' were leaders of the left-hand section of castes. These Balija warriors were noted as fearless and some stories speak of them assassinating kings who interfered with their affairs.<ref name=":0" /> Cynthia Talbot believes that in Andhra the transformation of occupational descriptors into caste-based descriptors did not occur until at least the 17th century.<ref>{{cite book |last=Cynthia Talbot |title=Pre-colonial India in Practice: Society, Region, and Identity in Medieval Andhra |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19803-123-9 |year=2001 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pfAKljlCJq0C |page=86}}</ref>

=== British period === The classification of people as Balija was one of many challenges for the census enumerators of the British Raj era, whose desire was to reduce a complex social system to one of administrative simplicity using theories of evolutionary anthropology.{{efn|The Raj theories of evolutionary anthropology, typified by the work of H. H. Risley, are nowadays considered to be scientific racism.}} Early Raj census attempts in Madras Presidency recorded a wide variety of people claiming to be members of Balija subcastes but who appeared to share little in common and thus defied the administrative desire for what it considered to be a rational and convenient taxonomy. Those who claimed to be Chetty had an obvious connection through their engagement in trade and those who called themselves Kavarai were simply using the Tamil word for Balija but, for example, the Linga Balija based their claim to Balija status on a sectarian identification, the Gazula were bangle-makers by occupation, the Telaga had Telugu origins and the Rajamahendram also appeared to be a geographic claim based on their origins in the town of Rajahmundry. Subsequent attempts to rationalise the enumeration merely created other anomalies and caused upset.<ref>{{cite book |title=South India |editor1-first=Christopher John |editor1-last=Baker |editor2-first=D. A. |editor2-last=Washbrook |first=Christopher John |last=Baker |chapter=Figures and Facts: Madras Government Statistics 1880-1940 |publisher=Springer |year=1975 |isbn=978-1-34902-746-0 |pages=222–223 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fHCwCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA222}}</ref>

== Geographical distribution == Balijas are found in Rayalaseema region of Andhra Pradesh.<ref>{{Cite journal|editor1-last=D. Padmavthi |author2=|title=Folktales of the Bangle making caste of andhra pradesh|journal=Folk-lore |volume=21 |publisher=Indian Publications |year=1980|page=57 |quote=Balija caste is one of the Castes in the Sudra category of Chatur Varna. They are referred to by different names in Andhra Pradesh . In Rayalaseema region they are called as Balija and in Telangana region they are known as Thelage and Pariki Castes . Desai and Gayakward are cognate castes of Balija in Western India (Andhra Matha, May 1972).| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TcvjAAAAMAAJ }}</ref> In Tamilnadu, Balijas are known as Gavarais.<ref name="Kavarai" /> The often use the title Naidu, Naicker and Chettiar.<ref>{{cite book|editor1-last=R. Thirumalai, S. Manoharan |author2=|title=People of India: Tamil Nadu |volume= |publisher=Affiliated East-West Press |year=1997|page=211|isbn=9788185938882 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kXHiAAAAMAAJ }}</ref> In Karnataka, they have four sub sect based on occupations and territories, namely Dasa Balija, Gajula Balija, Dundi Balija and Goni Balija. while telugu is their mother tongue, they also speak kannada.<ref>{{cite book|editor1-last=K. S. Singh, B. G. Halbar |author2=|title=People of India: Karnataka |volume= 1|publisher=Anthropological Survey of India |year=2003|page=287|isbn=9788185938981| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vxMwAQAAIAAJ }}</ref>

== Balija branches ==

* Balija Chettis (or Chetti Balija): Mentioned in several Vijayanagar accounts as wealthy merchants who controlled powerful trading guilds.<ref> *{{cite book |title=Vijayanagara |year=1989 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OpxeaYQbGDMC |series=The New Cambridge History of India |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-26693-2 |page=87 |author-link=Burton Stein |first=Burton |last=Stein}} *{{cite book |title=Constructing the Colonial Encounter: Right and Left Hand Castes in Early Colonial South India |first=Niels |last=Brimnes |publisher=Routledge |year=1999 |isbn=9780700711062 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HdSABP70H9sC |page=3}} *{{Cite book |last1=Paul |first1=John Jeya |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x3GuKnZTGG4C&q=chetty+Balija |title=Religion and Public Culture: Encounters and Identities in Modern South India |last2=Yandell |first2=Keith E. |date=2000 |publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=978-0-7007-1101-7 |pages=33–34 |language=en}} *{{cite book|editor1-last=Sinnappah Arasaratnam |author2=|title=Maritime India in the Seventeenth Century |volume= |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1994|page=208|isbn=978-0-19-563424-2|quote=| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bc6GAAAAIAAJ }}</ref> To secure their loyalty, the Vijayanagar kings made them Desais or "superintendents of all castes in the country."<ref>{{cite book |title=Constructing the Colonial Encounter: Right and Left Hand Castes in Early Colonial South India |first=Niels |last=Brimnes |publisher=Routledge |year=1999 |isbn=9780700711062 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HdSABP70H9sC |page=20}}</ref> They were classified as right-hand castes.<ref> *{{cite book|editor1-last=Susan Margaret Neild |author2=|title=Madras: The Growth of a Colonial City in India, 1780-1840 |volume= |publisher=University of Chicago |year=1977|page=224|quote=| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DSFuAAAAMAAJ }} *{{cite book|editor1-last=Wilhelm Koppers, Leonard J. Jungblut |author2=|title=Bowmen of Mid-India: A Monography of the Bhils of Jhabua M. P. and Adjoining Territories |volume=2 |publisher=Elisabeth Stiglmayr |year=1976|page=243|quote=| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9sAKAQAAIAAJ }} </ref> David Rudner claims that the Balija Chettis became a separate caste from the Balija Nayak warriors as recent as the 19th century; and accordingly they have closer kinship ties to the Nayak warriors than to Chetti merchants.<ref>{{cite journal|editor1-last=David West Rudner|title= Religious Gifting and Inland Commerce in Seventeenth-Century South India|journal= Journal of Asian Studies |volume=46 |issue=2|publisher=University of California Press |year=1987|pages=361–379|doi=10.2307/2056019|jstor=2056019|language=|quote=Thus Balija Chettis, for example, are actually a caste that fissioned off from the Balija Nayak (‘warrior’) caste as recently as the nineteenth century. Accordingly, they have closer kinship ties to these Nayak “warriors” than to Chetti merchants. | url=https://archive.org/details/journalofasianst0046unse_o3z8 |last1=Rudner|first1=David West}}</ref> * Gavara is a trading community and is a sub-caste of Balija.<ref> *{{cite book|editor1-last=P. R. G. Mathur |author2=|title=Applied Anthropology and Challenges of Development in India |volume= |publisher=Punthi-Pustak |year=1994|page=341|isbn=9788185094793|quote=Similarly too the Balija community, with two sub-divisions, Gajalu Balija and Gavara Balija, migrated originally from Tamil Nadu. The Balija Gavarai are popularly known as Naidus and the other as Chetties Valai Chatties, Chettiars. It is said that they originally spoke Telugu. They are mainly traders and jewellers. | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PuuAAAAAMAAJ }} *{{cite book|editor1-last=Pradip . K Bhowmick |author2=|title=Man and Life |volume= 28|publisher=Institute of Social Research and Applied Anthropology |year=2002|page= 59|quote=Balija, a Telugu speaking migrant caste to Kerala, is segmented into two sub-castes, viz., Gavara Naidu and Gajaiu Balija (Vala Chetti).| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D5CAAAAAMAAJ }} *{{cite book|editor1-last=Vijaya Ramaswamy |author2=|title=Historical Dictionary of the Tamils |volume= |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |year=2017|page=43|isbn=9781538106860 |quote=In recent years, migrant communities, like the Gajula Balijas—called Gavarai in the Tamil country—have joined the agricultural workforce, giving up their traditional profession as bangle sellers | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ALUvDwAAQBAJ }} </ref> They have marriage relationship with the Balijas.<ref>{{cite book|editor1-last=G. Karunanithi |author2=|title=Caste and Class in Industrial Organisation |volume= |publisher=Commonwealth Publishers|isbn=9788171691425 |year=1991|page=45|quote=A section of the Naidu migrants in Tamilnadu call themselves Kavarais. They are included in the list of backward classes. They have marital relationship with the Balijas.| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=agocAAAAIAAJ }}</ref> Kavarai is the Tamil name for Balijas who have settled in Tamil Nadu and is the Tamilised rendition of Gavara.<ref name="Kavarai"> *{{cite book|editor1-last=Kumarasamy Rajaram |author2=|title=History of Thirumalai Nayak |volume= |publisher=Ennes Publications|isbn= |year=1982|page=82|quote= Kamma, Gavarai, Padma Velama and Kambalathar are the Telugu speaking communities. Gavarais are also called Balijas or bangle merchants. Kambalathars are called Tottiars (those with a Kambalam or blanket). The Kamma and the Gavarai topped the list as merchants and agriculturists par excellence. The Padma Velamas are good agriculturists.| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_QFCAAAAIAAJ }} *{{cite book |last=Mukund |first=Kanakalatha|author-link=Kanakalatha Mukund |title=The Trading World of the Tamil Merchant: Evolution of Merchant Capitalism in the Coromandel |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tjXdDYChdGsC&pg=PA46 |date=1999 |publisher=Orient Blackswan |isbn=978-81-250-1661-8 |page=46|quote=Kavarai (the Tamil word for Balija merchants)}} *{{cite book|editor1-last=Niels Brimnes |author2=|title=Constructing the Colonial Encounter: Right and Left Hand Castes in Early Colonial South India |volume= |publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781136819209 |year=2019|page=189|quote=The deserters, who defined themselves as maga nadu tesattar, consisted of right hand castes and were headed by Vellalas and Tamilized Balijas, known as Kavarais. | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fIsECwAAQBAJ }} *{{cite book|editor1-last=R. Nagaswamy |author2=|title=Studies in South Indian History and Culture |volume= |publisher=V.R. Ramachandra Dikshitar Centenary Committee |year=1997|page=321|quote=Turning now to another Telugu group, the Balijas, also called Kavarai, it appears that although this was a trading caste, members could also take to textile manufacture.| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_kRuAAAAMAAJ }} *{{cite book|editor1-last=Jawaharlal Nehru University. Centre for Historical Studies |author2=|title=Studies in History |volume=11, 6 |publisher=Sage|isbn= |year=1995|page=8|quote=English trade in Madras, the much sought after, and obviously lucrative, exclusive contracts for trading with the English Company (both for supplying textiles and other goods and buying the European goods) had been cornered by the Right side merchants, especially the Balijas (often referred to as the Kavarai in Tamil).| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LG0MAQAAMAAJ }} *{{cite book|editor1-last=Ananda Ranga Pillai, John Frederick Price |author2=|title=The Private Diary of Ananda Ranga Pillai, Dubash to Joseph François Dupleix, Governor of Pondicherry: A Record of Matters, Political, Historical, Social, and Personal, from 1736-1761 |volume=2 |publisher=Asian Educational Services |year=1984|page=67|isbn=|quote=The Kavarais, known also as Balijas, are the trading caste of the Telugus, and belong to the right hand.| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7yRuAAAAMAAJ }} *{{cite book|editor1-last=R. Roque, K. Wagner |author2=|title=Engaging Colonial Knowledge: Reading European Archives in World History |volume= |publisher=Springer |year=2011|page=170|isbn=9780230360075 |quote=Within the right hand division the leading individuals were from the communities of Vellalas and Kavarais. The former constituted, as in other parts of Tamil Nadu, the established agricultural elite, while the latter were Telugu-speaking Balija Chetties, who had settled in Tamil country. | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y2OADAAAQBAJ }} *{{cite book|editor1-last=Christopher John Baker, D. A. Washbrook |author2=|title=South India: Political Institutions and Political Change. 1880-1940 |volume= |publisher=Springer |year=1976|page=223|isbn=978-1-349-02746-0|quote=Kavarai was merely the Tamil equivalent of the Telugu word Balija| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fHCwCwAAQBAJ }} *{{cite book|editor1-last=Venkatesa Iyengar |author2=|title=The Mysore Tribes and Castes |volume= |publisher=Mittal Publications |year=1932|page=102|quote=In the Tamil Districts, Balijas are known as Kavarais | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zseCqGFRpyQC }} *{{cite book|editor1-last=Raju Kalidos |author2=|title=History and Culture of the Tamils: From Prehistoric Times to the President's Rule |volume= |publisher=Vijay Publications |year=1976|pages=239, 240|quote=Chief among the Telugu speaking communities in Tamilaham are the Kammavar, Kavarai or Balijas (bangle merchants), Uppuliya (salt merchants), Seniya (textile workers), Tottiar or Kambalattar (those with a kambalam or blanket), Oddar, Sakkiliar (the menial jobbed), Dombas (acrobats) etc. The Kavarai and Kammavar topped the list as merchants and agriculturists par excellence. In contemporary times they take the name suffix like Naidu and Naicker. The Chettis and Komatis among the Telugu speaking were (and are) noted for their subtle and ingenious practices in trade.| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zG1uAAAAMAAJ }} *{{cite book|editor1-last= |author2=|title=Baptist Missionary Review |volume=15 |publisher=Methodist Publishing House|isbn= |year=1909|page=441|quote=Among the Nayudus there is a class called Balijas in Telugu and Kavarais in Tamil, many of whom are addicted to drinking - so much so that there is a Telugu proverb that if you are born a Balija it is your prerogative to drink, or, as it is sometimes put, you cannot enjoy the Bavarian bottle unless you are born a Balija.| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4mdQAQAAMAAJ }} *{{cite book|editor1-last=P. Rajaraman |author2=|title=The Justice Party: A Historical Perspective, 1916-37 |volume= |publisher=Poompozhil Publishers |year=1988|page=19|isbn=|quote=The Balija Naidus, the chief Telugu trading caste were found scattered throughout the Presidency of Madras. In the Tamil districts they were known as Vadugan and Kavarais| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GGMmAAAAMAAJ }} *{{cite book|editor1-last=Verinder Grover |author2=|title=Political system in India |volume=1 |publisher=Deep & Deep Publ |year=1989|page=47|isbn=9788171001163|quote= | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LA8FAAAAMAAJ }} *{{cite book|editor1-last=Thomas Burrow, Murray Barnson Emeneau |author2=|title=A Dravidian Etymological Dictionary |volume= |publisher=Clarendon Press |year=1984|page=124|isbn=9780198643265|quote=| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2R8aAQAAIAAJ }} *{{cite book|editor1-last=Alpana Pandey |author2=|title=Medieval Andhra: A Socio-Historical Perspective |volume= |publisher=Partridge Publishing |year=2015|page=82|isbn=9781482850178|quote=| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qtxlCgAAQBAJ }} </ref> The often use the title Naidu and Chetti.<ref> *{{cite book|editor1-last=David Arnold |author2=|title=Police Power and Colonial Rule, Madras, 1859-1947 |volume= |publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780195618938 |year=1986|page=114|quote= | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cTYFAQAAIAAJ }} *{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yYgOAAAAYAAJ |title=Language Loyalty and Displacement: Among Telugu Minorities in Pondicherry |publisher=Pondicherry Institute of Linguistics and Culture |year=2000 |isbn=9788185452104 |editor1-last=L. Ramamoorthy |page=8}} *{{cite journal |last1=Vijaya |first1=M. |last2=Kanthimathi |first2=S. |last3=Srikumari |first3=C. R. |last4=Reddy |first4=P. Govinda |last5=Majumder |first5=P. P. |last6=Ramesh |first6=A. |year=2007 |title=A Study on Tamil – Speaking Immigrants of Andhra Pradesh, South India |url=http://www.krepublishers.com/02-Journals/IJHG/IJHG-07-0-000-000-2007-Web/IJHG-07-4-277-333-2007-Abst-PDF/IJHG-07-4-303-07-288-Vijaya-M/IJHG-07-4-303-07-288-Vijaya-M-Tt.pdf |journal=International Journal of Human Genetics |volume=7 |issue=4 |pages=303–306 |doi=10.1080/09723757.2007.11886010 |s2cid=55044174}}</ref> * 24 Manai Telugu Chettiar are also called as Janappan. They seem to be a section of the Balijas, though now they are considered to be a distinct caste. They are also called Sadhu Chetty and Saluppa Chetty.<ref> *{{cite book|editor1-last=Sir James George Frazer |author2=|title=Marriage and Worship in the Early Societies A Treatise on Totemism and Exogamy |volume= |publisher=Mittal Publications|isbn= |year=1986|page=238|quote=Janappans or Saluppans were originally a section of the Balijas, but they have developed into a distinct caste. | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tUYWbzjB1S4C }} *{{cite book|editor1-last=K. M. Venkataramaiah |author2=|title=A handbook of Tamil Nadu |volume= |publisher=International School of Dravidian Linguistics |year=1996|page=424|isbn=9788185692203 |quote=Janappan: They seem to be a section of the Balijas, though now they are considered to be a distinct caste. As they manufacture gunny bags of hemp (janapa) fibre (canal in Tamil), they are called Janappans, who are also called Caluppan. They usually speak Telugu. In Madural, the women speak Tamil. In North Arcot district they are called Chettis (chetti). They are enterprising and are brokers in cattle fairs. They have 24 gotras. Kappal gotra people do not injure frogs (kappa means frog). The thonda (thonda) people do not eat the fruit of tondai creeper Vamma gotra people do not eat fish. On the day of betrothal, they expect to hear the chirping of the lizard and if it is not heard, they stop the alliance. Some are Saivites and some are Vaishnavites (vaisnavite).| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2pAMAQAAMAAJ }} *{{cite book|editor1-last=John Vincent Ferreira |author2=|title=Totemism in India |volume= |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1965|page=213|isbn= |quote=| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u7EwAAAAMAAJ }} *{{cite book|editor1-last=S. N. Sadasivan |author2=|title=A Social History of India |volume= |publisher=APH Publishing |year=2000|page=284|isbn=978-81-7648-170-0|quote=| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Be3PCvzf-BYC }} </ref> * Dasa Banajiga are also called as Jaina Kshatriya Ramanuja-Dasa Vaniyas and Sadu Banajiga as they were formerly Jain Kshatriyas who were converted into Vaishnavism by Ramanujacharya during the reign of Bitti Deva. They are mostly found in Channapatna near Bangalore. They are clean in their habits, pure vegetarians, follow the doctrines of Ramanujacharya, worship Vaishnava gods, speak Kannada, and cremate their dead.<ref> *{{cite book|editor1-last=Venkatesa Iyengar |author2=|title=The Mysore Tribes and Castes |volume= |publisher=Mittal Publications |year=1932|page=104|quote=| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zseCqGFRpyQC }} *{{cite book|editor1-last=Mohinder Singh Randhawa |author2=|title=Farmers of India |volume= |publisher=Indian Council of Agricultural Research |year=1959|page=261|quote=| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4P1IAAAAMAAJ }} *{{cite book|editor1-last=John Henry Hutton |author2=|title=Caste in India: Its Nature, Function and Origins |volume= |publisher=G. Cumberlege, Oxford University Press |year=1951|page=275|quote=| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AAvPAAAAIAAJ }} </ref>

== Relation to Kapu == Kapus are closely related to Balijas and both are often enumerated together in government, sociological and psephological contexts.<ref> *{{cite book|editor1-last=Agarala Easwara Reddi, D. Sundar Ram |author2=|title=State Politics in India: Reflections on Andhra Pradesh |volume= |publisher=M.D. Publications Pvt. Ltd |year=1994|page=339|isbn=9788185880518|quote=The Kapus, concentrated in Guntur, Krishna, West and East Godavari districts are listed among the forward castes. In Rayalaseema districts they are known as Balijas. | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vaxxeoPUuqsC }} *{{cite book|editor1-last=Christophe Jaffrelot, Sanjay Kumar |author2=|title=Rise of the Plebeians?: The Changing Face of the Indian Legislative Assemblies |volume= |publisher=Routledge |year=2012|page=279|isbn=9781136516627 |quote=Another significant social group is that of the Kapus (also known under different names such as Telaga, Naidu, Balija, Munnuru Kapu). | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=78rfCgAAQBAJ }} *{{cite book|editor1-last=S. Gajrani |author2=|title=History, Religion and Culture of India |volume=2 |publisher=Gyan Publishing House |year=2004|page=29|isbn=9788182050617|quote=There are various sub - castes within the Kapu category, such as Telaga, Balija, Kapu, Munnuru Kapu, Ontari, etc. Nowadays they want to be addressed as Kapus only. | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zh6z0nuIjAgC }} *{{cite book|editor1-last= |author2=|title=The Eastern Anthropologist |volume=55|publisher=Ethnographic and Folk Culture Society |year=2002|page=184|isbn=|quote= The Kapus are known by different names, viz. Telaga, Balija, Naidu and Munnur Kapu and the name used depends on the area to which they belong. | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q6d-AAAAMAAJ }} *{{cite book|editor1-last=D. Parthasarathy |author2=|title=Collective Violence in a Provincial City |volume= |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1997|page=47|isbn=9780195641394 |quote=The Kapu caste as currently referred to by the Kapunadu movement includes several castes Telaga, Ontari, Balija and Kapu besides other minor sects. | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GevZAAAAMAAJ }} *{{cite book|editor1-last=Nimmagadda Bhargav |author2=|title= Stringers and the Journalistic Field: Marginalities and Precarious News Labour in Small-Town India |volume= |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=2023|page=40|isbn=9781000840353 |quote=The Kapus in the Telugu - speaking states do not form a neat homogenous category, as they comprise castes such as Kapu, Telaga, Balija and Ontari among many other variants.| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NAymEAAAQBAJ }} *{{cite book|editor1-last=Newton Ennis Morton |author2=|title=Genetic Structure of Populations |volume=3 |publisher=University Press of Hawaii |year=1973|page=93|isbn=|quote= | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tGX58zBaLegC }} </ref> Sri Andhra Vignanamu mentions four sections in Telaga community {{Em dash}} Telagas (or Naidus), Ontaris (or Doras), Balijas, and Kapus.<ref>{{cite book|editor1-last=Prasada Bhoopaludu |author2=|title=Andhra Vignanamu |volume=3 |publisher=The Razan Electric Press |year=1939|pages=1381–1383|isbn=|quote=| url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.497181/page/1380/mode/2up?q=తెలగా }}</ref> Anthropological Survey of India notes that Kapus of Coastal Andhra are ethnically similar to Balijas of Rayalaseema.

Various sources note the similarities between the communities of Kapu, Telaga, Balija, and Ontari. These terms are often used as synonyms and are mentioned as sections of each other.<ref> *{{Cite book |last=Naidu |first=D. Suran |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/sim_indian-political-science-review_1980-07_14_2/page/250/mode/2up?q=Kapu+Telaga+Balija |title=The Indian Political Science Review |date=July 1980 |publisher= Indian Political Science Review|editor-last=Singh |editor-first=Harnam |volume=XIV |pages=250–251 |language=English |chapter=Andhra Pradesh: A Repeat Performance of the 1977 Election? |issue=2}} *{{Cite book |last=Fishman |first=Alvin Texas |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=doM9AAAAYAAJ&q=Telaga++Vijayanagara |title=Culture Change and the Underprivileged: A Study of Madigas in South India Under Christian Guidance |date=1941 |publisher=Christian Literature Society for India |pages=138 |language=en}} *{{Cite web |date=2002 |title=NCBC Andhra Pradesh Bench Findings |url=http://ncbc.nic.in/Pdf/Andhra%20Pradesh/AndhraPradesh-Vol3/2.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130204102348/http://ncbc.nic.in/Pdf/Andhra%20Pradesh/AndhraPradesh-Vol3/2.pdf |archive-date=4 February 2013 |access-date= |page=13}} *{{Cite book |last1=Ambagudia |first1=Jagannath |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UJ0QEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA177 |title=Handbook of Tribal Politics in India |last2=Xaxa |first2=Virginius |date=2020-12-01 |publisher=SAGE Publishing India |isbn=978-93-5388-460-4 |pages=177 |language=en}} </ref> Kapu, Telaga, and Balija are considered as variant names of the same community in different regions.<ref> *{{Cite book |url=http://archive.org/details/andhra-patrika-varshika |title=కావు మహా సభ |date=16 April 1913 |publisher=Andhra Patrika |pages=44 |language=te}} *{{cite book|editor1-last=Janaki Ram |author2=|title=Cops and Criminas |volume= |publisher=laxmi publications |year=2004|page=155|isbn=9781411622784 |quote=Balija known as Kapu or Telaga in coastal Andhra area and Munnuru Kapu in Telangana region; a large single community, with various sub-castes and surnames. | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=njxpHk53RdMC }} *{{Cite news |date=2017-08-20 |title=Nandyal bypoll: In Caste Matrix, Muslims, Vysyas Hold The Key |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/in-caste-matrix-muslims-vysyas-hold-the-key/articleshow/60140755.cms |access-date=2023-05-26 |work=The Times of India |issn=0971-8257 |quote=.... as there are good number of Balija voters in the constituency. The community is the equivalent of the Kapu community in the Rayalaseema region.}} </ref> Andhra Pradesh government's Kapu Welfare and Development Corporation refers to Kapu, Telaga, Balija, and Ontari communities collectively as Kapu.<ref> *{{Cite news |date=2016-05-17 |title='State committed to welfare of Kapus, Balijas' |language=en-IN |url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/andhra-pradesh/state-committed-to-welfare-of-kapus-balijas/article8613072.ece |access-date=2023-05-23 |work=The Hindu |issn=0971-751X}} *{{Cite news |date=2021-07-22 |title=₹490.86 crore credited into accounts of Kapu Nestham beneficiaries |language=en-IN |url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/andhra-pradesh/49086-crore-credited-into-accounts-of-kapu-nestham-beneficiaries/article35479296.ece |access-date=2023-05-23 |work=The Hindu |issn=0971-751X}} </ref>

== Caste titles == Some Balijas use surnames such as Naidu or Nayudu, and Naicker, which share a common root. ''Nayaka'' as a term was first used during the Vishnukundina dynasty that ruled from the Krishna and Godavari deltas during the 3rd century AD. During the Kakatiya dynasty, the Nayaka title was bestowed to warriors who had received land and the title as a part of the Nayankarapuvaram system for services rendered to the court. The Nayaka was noted to be an officer in the Kakatiya court; there being a correlation between holding the ''Nayankara'', the possession of the administrative title ''Angaraksha'' and the status title ''Nayaka''.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Political intermediaries in Kakatiya Andhra, 1175-1325 |first=Cynthia |last=Talbot |date=September 1994 |journal=The Indian Economic and Social History Review |volume=31 |issue=3 |page=281 |doi=10.1177/001946469403100301 |s2cid=145225213 }}</ref><ref> *{{cite book|editor1-last=Radhika Seshan, Shraddha Kumbhojkar |author2=|title=Re-searching Transitions in Indian History |volume= |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=2018|page=|isbn=9780429946301|quote=| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RyZhDwAAQBAJ }}</ref>

A more widespread usage of the Nayaka title amongst the Balijas appears to have happened during the Vijayanagara empire where the Balija merchant-warriors rose to political and cultural power and claimed Nayaka positions.<ref> *{{cite book|editor1-last=Peter N. Stearns, William Leonard Langer |author2= |title=The Encyclopedia of World History Ancient, Medieval, and Modern, Chronologically Arranged |publisher=Houghton Mifflin |year=2001|page=368|isbn=9780395652374 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oREvuAAACAAJ}}</ref>

== Dynasties ==

The Vijayanagara empire was based on an expanding, cash-oriented economy enhanced by Balija tax-farming.<ref> * {{cite book|editor1=Velcheru Narayana Rao |editor2=David Dean Shulman |editor3=Sanjay Subrahmanyam |title=Symbols of Substance Court and State in Nāyaka Period Tamilnadu |volume= |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1992|page=10|isbn=978-0-19-563021-3|quote=Originally part of the great Telugu migrations southward into the Tamil country in the 15th and 16th centuries, the Balija merchant- warriors reveal the rise of hitherto marginal, and only recently politicized.. These mobile, aggressive, land-hungry, Telugu-speaking warriors...helped to build the Nāyaka state-system and to impregnate it with their particular cultural vision; strong surviving traditions; supported by contemporary evidence, assert Balija origins and / or marital connections for the major Nāyaka dynasties in the Tamil country quite apart from the well-known Balija role in restructuring the revenue systems of Nāyaka Tanjavur and Madurai | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=znFuAAAAMAAJ }} * {{cite book|editor1-last=Hans T. Bakker |author2=|title=The Sacred Centre as the Focus of Political Interest |volume= 6 |publisher=Brill Publishers |year=2023|page=184|isbn=9789004646612|quote=| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nOL7EAAAQBAJ }} * {{cite book|editor1-last=H. L. Seneviratne |author2=|title=Identity, Consciousness and the Past: Forging of Caste and Community in India and Sri Lanka |volume= |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1997|page=99|isbn=9780195640014|quote=| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hxduAAAAMAAJ }} * {{cite book|editor1-last=Shyam Singh Shashi |author2=|title=Encyclopaedia Indica: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh |volume=129 |publisher=Anmol Publications |year=1996|page=838|isbn=9788170418597 |quote=| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NPQvAQAAIAAJ }} * {{cite book|editor1-last= |author2=|title=Social Analysis, Issues 25-28 |volume= |publisher=University of Adelaide |year=1989|page=116|isbn=|quote=| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tgAdAQAAMAAJ }} </ref> Some Balija families were appointed to supervise provinces as Nayaks (governors, commanders) by the Vijayanagara kings,<ref> *{{cite book|editor1-last=Peter N. Stearns, William Leonard Langer |author2= |title=The Encyclopedia of World History Ancient, Medieval, and Modern, Chronologically Arranged |publisher=Houghton Mifflin |year=2001|page=368|isbn=9780395652374|quote= The Vijayanagara Empire developed, in its second half, into what is known as the nayaka state-system, in which administrative and political relations differed significantly from what had gone before. While the Vijayanagara rulers continued to hold ultimate power over a broad belt of territory, they shared authority locally with a number of military chiefs, or nayakas. Originally part of the great Telugu migrations southward into the Tamil country in the 15th and 16th centuries, Balija merchant-warriors who claimed these nayaka positions rose to political and cultural power and supported an ethos that emphasized nonascriptive, heroic criteria in legitimizing political power.| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oREvuAAACAAJ}} * {{cite book|editor1-last= Daniel D'Attilio |author2=|title=The Last Vijayanagara Kings|volume= |publisher=University of Wisconsin--Madison |year=1995|page=81|quote=......many of the Telugu migrant groups who settled in Tamil Nadu from the fourteenth to sixteenth centuries were led by Balija warriors . These Balijas and their descendants became local rulers under the auspices of Vijayanagara. | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p9JOAAAAMAAJ }} * {{cite book|editor1-last=Christopher Chekuri |author2=|title=All in the Family: Nayaka Strategies in the Making of the Vijayanagara Empire, South India |volume= |publisher=University of Wisconsin--Madison |year=1997|page=29|quote=Balija trading families in South India had significant influence in the outcome of seventeenth century Vijayanagara politics| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0OFLAAAAMAAJ }} </ref> some of which are:

* Madurai Nayaks<ref name="Madura/Tanjore"> * {{cite book|editor1-last=Sheldon Pollock |author2=|title=Literary Cultures in History: Reconstructions from South Asia |volume= |publisher=University of California Press |year=2003|page=413|isbn=9780520228214|quote=.... in the seventeenth century, when warriors/traders from the Balija caste acquired kingship of the southern kingdoms of Madurai and Tanjavur.| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ak9csfpY2WoC }} * {{cite book|editor1-last=David Dean Shulman |author2= |title=Classical Telugu Poetry |volume= |publisher=University of California Press |year=2020|page=57|isbn= 9780520344525|quote=..... in the Tamil country, where Telugu Balija families had established local Nāyaka states (in Senji, Tanjavur, Madurai, and elsewhere) in the course of the sixteenth century. | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SFXVDwAAQBAJ }} * {{cite book|editor1-last=Eugene F. Irschick |author2=|title=Politics and Social Conflict in South India |volume= |publisher=University of California Press |year=1969|page=8|quote=The successors of the Vijayanagar empire, the Nayaks of Madura and Tanjore, were Balija Naidus| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R0K98afLnhAC }} * {{Cite journal|editor1-last=Dr. B.Ramachndra Reddy R. Nata Rajan |author2=|title=Identity and Crisis of Telugu Migrants of Tamil Region |journal=Itihas |volume=33 |publisher=Andhra Pradesh State Archives and Research Institute |year=2007|page=145 |quote=....It is told that the Nayak Kings of Madurai and Tanjore were Balijas, who had marital relations among themselves and with the Vijaya Nagara rulers, and so were appointed as the rulers of these regions.| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9nfP89eJuycC }} * {{cite book|editor1-last=G. S. Ghurye |author2=|title=Caste and Race in India |volume= |publisher=Popular Prakashan |year=1969|page=106|isbn=9788171542055|quote=The Nayak kings of Madura and Tanjore were Balijas, traders by caste | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nWkjsvf6_vsC }} * {{cite book|editor1-last=A. Satyanarayana, Mukkamala Radhakrishna Sarma |author2=|title=Castes, Communities, and Culture in Andhra Desa, 17th & 18th Centuries, A.D |volume= |publisher=Osmania University |year=1996|page=145|quote=After the fall of the dynasty several Balija Nayudu chieftains rose into prominence. Tanjore and Madura kingdoms were the most important of such new kingdoms | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sbm_Oyo8XFMC }} *{{cite book|editor1-last=Francine R. Frankel, M. S. A. Rao |author2=|title=Dominance and State Power in Modern India: Decline of a Social Order |volume= |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1989|page=30|isbn=9780195620986|quote=The Nayak kings of Madura and Tanjore were balijas (traders)| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7whuAAAAMAAJ }} * {{cite book|editor1-last=Muzaffar Alam |author2=|title=The Mughal State, 1526-1750 |volume= |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1998|page=35|isbn=978-0-19-563905-6|quote=As an arrangement, the Golconda practice in the first half of the seventeenth century was quite similar in crucial respects to what obtained further south, in the territories of the Chandragiri ruler, and the Nayaks of Senji, Tanjavur and Madurai. Here too revenue-farming was common, and the ruling families were closely allied to an important semi-commercial, semi-warrior caste group, the Balija Naidus. | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VQJuAAAAMAAJ }} * {{cite book|editor1-last= |author2=|title=South Asia Politics|volume= 5|publisher=Rashtriya Jagriti Sansthan |year=2006|page=14|isbn= | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0esuAQAAIAAJ }} </ref><ref> * {{cite book|editor1-last=Antje Flüchter, Rouven Wirbser |author2=|title=Translating Catechisms, Translating Cultures: The Expansion of Catholicism in the Early Modern World |volume= |publisher=BRILL |year=2017|page=229|isbn=9789004353060|quote=Madurai was a prosperous city ruled by Nāyaka kings who were Telugu warriors with Balija cultivators and merchant-caste affiliations| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WfU4DwAAQBAJ }}

* {{cite book|editor1-last=Gita V. Pai |author2=|title=Architecture of Sovereignty: Stone Bodies, Colonial Gazes, and Living Gods in South India |volume= |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2023|pages=36, 51|isbn=9781009150156|quote=Madurai rulers were of likely Balija heritage, merchant-warriors, who came from the relatively less-stratified arid zones of the Andhra region| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m6y0EAAAQBAJ }}

* {{cite book|editor1-last=Biplab Auddya |author2=|title=Research in Multidisciplinary Subjects |volume=6 |publisher=The Hill Publication |year=2017|page=18|isbn=9788196477660|quote=Many later rulers were also of different castes, such as the Madurai Nayaks, Balijas (traders) who ruled from 1559 to 1739 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XZnXEAAAQBAJ }}

* {{Cite book | title =Encounters on the Opposite Coast: The Dutch East India Company and the Nayaka State of Madurai in the Seventeenth Century | publisher = BRILL |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SaW8CgAAQBAJ | pages = 57| year = 2015| last1 =Markus Vink | isbn = 9789004272620}} </ref> * Tanjavur Nayaks<ref name="Madura/Tanjore" /><ref name="Raghunatha Nayakabhyudayamu">{{cite book|editor1-last= |author1= N. Venkataramanayya |title=Raghunatha Nayakabhyudayamu |volume= |publisher=T.M.S.S.M Library, Thanjavur |year=1951|page=21|quote=The history of thé family, as described in the Raghunathabhyudayam and Raghunathanayakabhyudayam, begins practically with Pina-Chevva one of the four sons of Timma, who is otherwise unknown. It is sometimes said that the ancestors of Pina Chevva were related to the royal family of Vijayanagara and that they held high offices in the imperial army; but this is mere speculation unsupported by evidence. Pina Chevva came of an obscure Balija family.| url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.329694/page/n3/mode/1up }}</ref> * Gingee Nayaks / Senji Nayaks<ref name="Tubaki"> * {{cite book|editor1-last=David Dean Shulman, Velcheru Narayana Rao |author2= |title=Classical Telugu Poetry |volume=|edition=Reprinted |publisher=University of California Press |year=2020|page=57|isbn= 9780520344525|quote=..... in the Tamil country, where Telugu Balija families had established local Nāyaka states (in Senji, Tanjavur, Madurai, and elsewhere) in the course of the sixteenth century. | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SFXVDwAAQBAJ }} *{{cite book |title=Penumbral Visions: Making Polities in Early Modern South India |last=Sanjay Subrahmanyam |publisher=University of Michigan Press |year=2001 |isbn=9780472112166| pages =198 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4Ju6z8PbTuAC}} *{{cite book|editor1-last=Joseph Jerome Brennig |author2=|title=The Textile Trade of Seventeenth Century Northern Coromandel: A Study of a Pre-modern Asian Export Industry |volume= |publisher=University of Wisconsin–Madison |year=1987|page=65|quote= | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yGu2AAAAIAAJ }} * {{cite book|editor1-last=Muzaffar Alam |author2=|title=The Mughal State, 1526-1750 |volume= |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1998|page=35|isbn=978-0-19-563905-6|quote= | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VQJuAAAAMAAJ }} * {{cite journal|editor1-last=Indira Malapaka |author2=|title=Telugu Inscriptions In Karnataka A Socio Cultural Study |journal=University|volume= |publisher=Sri Venkateswara University |year=2021|page=96|hdl=10603/462460|quote=| url=https://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/handle/10603/462460 }} </ref> * Belur Nayaks / Balam Nayaks<ref name="balam"> *{{cite book|editor1-last=Noboru Karashima |author2=|title=Kingship in Indian History |volume= |publisher=Manohar Publishers & Distributors |year=1999|page=192|isbn=9788173043260|quote=To understand the historical process of the reducing of the Nayakas as an open status group into a mere shell of what they had formerly been and the growth of respective caste identities, the Telugu Balija caste and its history may give an important clue. Many Nayakas, including the three major Nayakas in the Tamil area and the Nayakas of Cannapattana, Beluru, and Rayadurga in the Kannada area, are said to have been Telugu Balijas.| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oyiKAAAAMAAJ }} *{{cite book|editor1-last=M.M.Kalburgi|author2=|title=Karnatakada Kaifiyattugalu |volume= |publisher=Kannada University, Hampi |year=1994|page=118|language=Kn}} * {{cite book|editor1-last=Runga Char |author2=|title=Sree Mukkam (Guru's Certificate) Granted By His Holiness Sree Brahma Tantra Sree Parakala Swamigalavaru Of Mysore |volume= |publisher=Parakala Matha |date=July 17, 1895|quote=This Sreemukhm, (certificate) granted to Krishnadeva Murthi, eldest son of Venkatadri Naik, Pallegar of Munjarabad, who is a chief and devout disciple of this Sree Mutt and who belongs to Kasyapa gotra Apasthambha Sutra is as follows:- You, (Kristnadeva Murthi) and your remote ancestors Viz Bailur Venkatadri Naik, and Krishnappa Naik, your ancestors, Venkatadri Naik, grand son of the said Krishnappa Naik, and Krishnappa Naik, son of the said Venkatadri Naik, have been the chief and devuot disciples of this Mutt, and have shown great zeal and attachment in the service of God. You, (Krishnadeva Murthi) and Puttammanni, wife of Venkatadri Naik, who belong to the family of the said Pallegar, have been the disciples of this Mutt and belong to Telugu Banajiga Naik cast. There is no objection whatever for you to contract aliences in your Telugu Banjiga Naik caste in accordance with your ancient customs In accordance with the wishes of the Swamigalavaru of this Mutt, I have informed of this to you, this day of Ashadha Bhahula Dasami, Wednesday of Munmatha year. | url=https://archive.org/details/karnataka-state-archives-RGVlcGFrMzk2ODA-RGVlcGFrMQ/page/n23/mode/1up? }} *{{cite book|editor1-last=B. Lewis Rice|author2=|title=Epigraphia Carnatica |volume=11 |publisher=Mysore: Kannada Adhyayana Samsthe, Mysore University |year=1998|page=XVI|language=|quote= Belur chiefs who are sometimes called Balam chiefs| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hlNmAAAAMAAJ }}</ref> * Kandy Nayaks.<ref name="kandy"> * {{cite book|editor1-last=A.Ramaswami |author2= |title=Madras District Gazetteers: Salem |volume=1 |publisher=Director of Stationery and Print |year=1967|page=129|quote=They are popularly classed as kota balijas, who are military in origin and claim kinship with the Emperors and Viceroys of Vijayanagar and the Kandyan Dynasty.| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q1u1AAAAIAAJ}} * {{cite book|editor1-last=Markus Vink|author2=|title=Encounters on the Opposite Coast: The Dutch East India Company and the Nayaka State of Madurai in the Seventeenth Century |volume= |publisher=Brill |year=2015|page=75 & 56|isbn=9789004272620|quote=| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SaW8CgAAQBAJ }} </ref> who ruled Sri Lanka *Penukonda Nayaks / Rayadurga Nayaks<ref name="Koneti"> * {{cite book|editor1-last=V.R. Acarya |author2=|title= Sri Prasanna Venkatesvara Vilasamu |volume= |publisher=Bulletin of the Government Oriental Manuscripts Library, Madras |year=1954|page=49|quote=The above said Peda Kōnēti Nṛpati (Nayak) First, king of Penukonda. (1635 A.D.) then of Kundurti (1652 A.D.) and of Rayadurga (1661 A.D.) was a Balija by caste, having the surname Vānarāsi . His father Kastūri Nāyak and grand father bencama Nayak had enjoyed high favour with the fallen kings of Vijayanagar who were ruling at Chandragiri. Kōnēti Nayak himself had married the daughter of (apparently the fruit of left handed marriage) Āraviti Vīra Venkatapati Rāyalu of Vijayanagar family. | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UPQeAAAAMAAJ }} * {{cite book|editor1-last=K. A. Nilakanta Sastri |author2= |title=Further Sources of Vijayanagara History |volume= |publisher=University of Madras |year=1946|page=302|quote=A description of the way in which Venkatapatiraya of Raya-Veluru granted the government of Penugonda to the Raya-dalavayi Pedakoneti Nayadu. On Sravana ba. 10 of Yuva of 146 years ago corresponding to S. S. 1558, (the Raya) granted the government of Penugonda to Koneti Nayadu, the son. of Kastuiri Nayadu, the son of Akkapa Nayadu, who was the son of Canca(ma) Nayadu of Candragiri, a member of the Vasarasi family of the Balija caste. The ayakat of the territories of Rajaraja Sri Raya-dalavayi who ruled the forts of Penugonda, Kundurpi, Rayadurgam..... great prosperity. | url=https://archive.org/details/FurtherSourcesOfVijayanagaraHistory }} *{{cite book|editor1-last=Peram Sivaiah |author2=|title=Vijayanagara Forts in Rayalaseema: A Study |volume= |publisher=LAP Lambert Academic Publishing |year=2021|page=254|hdl=10603/106293|isbn=9786203410815 |url=https://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/handle/10603/106293 }}</ref> * Channapatna Nayaks / Baramahal Nayaks<ref name="Channapatna"> *{{cite book|editor1-last=Benjamin Lewis Rice |author2=|title=Mysore and Coorg from the Inscriptions |volume= |publisher=A. Constable & Company, Limited |year=1909|page=164|isbn=978-0-598-51081-5|quote=The Channapatna chiefs generally bore the name Rana. Jagadēva - Rāya, after the founder of the family in Mysore. He was of the Telugu Banajiga caste and had possessions in Bāramahāl . His daughter was married to the Vijayanagar king| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0IMdAAAAMAAJ }} *{{cite book|editor1-last=Noboru Karashima |author2=|title=Kingship in Indian History |volume= |publisher=Manohar Publishers & Distributors |year=1999|page=192|isbn=9788173043260|quote=To understand the historical process of the reducing of the Nayakas as an open status group into a mere shell of what they had formerly been and the growth of respective caste identities, the Telugu Balija caste and its history may give an important clue. Many Nayakas, including the three major Nayakas in the Tamil area and the Nayakas of Cannapattana, Beluru, and Rayadurga in the Kannada area, are said to have been Telugu Balijas.| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oyiKAAAAMAAJ }} *{{cite book|editor1-last=Jan Brouwer |author2=|title=The Makers of the World: Caste, Craft, and Mind of South Indian Artisans |volume= |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1995|page=293|isbn=9780195630916|quote= | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bB5uAAAAMAAJ }} *{{cite book|editor1-last=Ranjit Kumar Bhattacharya, S. B. Chakrabarti |author2=|title=Indian Artisans: Social Institutions and Cultural Values |volume= |publisher= Ministry of Culture, Youth Affairs and Sports, Department of Culture, Government of India |year=2002|page=36|isbn=978-81-85579-56-6|quote= | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TBHtAAAAMAAJ }} </ref>

== Varna status == Velcheru Narayana Rao and Sanjay Subrahmanyam say that the emergence of left-hand caste Balijas as trader-warrior-kings in the Nayaka period is a consequence of conditions of new wealth produced by collapsing two varnas, Kshatriya and Vaishya, into one.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Rao |first1=Velchuru Narayana |author-link=Velcheru Narayana Rao |last2=Subrahmanyam |first2=Sanjay |author-link2=Sanjay Subrahmanyam |date=January 2009 |title=Notes on Political Thought in Medieval and Early Modern South India |journal=Modern Asian Studies |volume=43 |issue=1 |page=204 |doi=10.1017/s0026749x07003368 |jstor=20488076 |s2cid=145396092}}</ref> Based on the Brahmanical conceptualisation of caste during the British Raj period, Balijas were accorded the Sat Shudra position.<ref> *{{cite book |last=Pollock |first=Sheldon I. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ak9csfpY2WoC&pg=PA414 |title=Literary Cultures in History: Reconstructions from South Asia |publisher=University of California Press |year=2003 |isbn=9780520228214 |page=414 |author-link=Sheldon Pollock}} *{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DQ9uAAAAMAAJ&q=balija |title=Indo-British Review |date=1987 |publisher=Indo-British Historical Society |pages=52 |language=en}} *{{cite book|editor1-last=Robert Eric Frykenberg |author2=|title=Christianity in India: From Beginnings to the Present |volume= |publisher=OUP Oxford |year=2008|page=317|isbn=9780191544194|quote=| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VhRREAAAQBAJ }} *{{Cite book |last= |url=http://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.370568 |title=ఆంధ్ర సాహిత్య పరిషత్ పత్రిక - Journal of the Telugu Academy |date=1960 |editor-last=సి. పాపయ్యశాస్త్రి |volume=49 |pages=92 |language=te}} </ref> The fourfold Brahmanical varna concept has not been acceptable to non-Brahmin social groups and some of them challenged the authority of Brahmins who described them as Shudras.<ref> *{{cite book|first=G. |last=Krishnan-Kutty|title=The political economy of underdevelopment in India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bTlMi4a6Ct8C&pg=PA172|year=1999|publisher=Northern Book Centre|isbn=978-81-7211-107-6|page=172}} *{{cite book|first=G. |last=Krishnan-Kutty|title=Peasantry in India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wyRZ7nmItsEC&pg=PA10 |year=1986|publisher=Abhinav Publications|isbn=978-81-7017-215-4 |page=10}} </ref>

== Notable people == Note: The list only includes people from Balija and sub-castes (Gavara, Gazula), not Kapu, Telaga, and other castes.

'''<big>Warriors</big>''' * Viswanatha Nayak - Founder of the Madurai Nayak dynasty.<ref> *{{cite book|editor1-last=T. Chandrasekharan |author2=|title= A Descriptive Catalogue of the Telugu Manuscripts |volume= 13|publisher=The Government Oriental Manuscripts Library, Madras |year=1951|page=2863|isbn= |quote=No.2607 KOTIKAMVARI KAIFIYATU - A Kaifiyat relating to Garikipati Viswanathanayaka of Balijakula who was given Pandya kingdom by Atchutadevaraya.| url=https://www.tamildigitallibrary.in/admin/assets/book/TVA_BOK_0011619_Descriptive_catalogue_of_the_Telugu_manuscripts_vol_13.pdf }} * {{cite book|editor1-last=K. A. Nilakanta Sastri |author2=|title=Further Sources of Vijayanagara History |volume= |publisher=University of Madras |year=1946|page=176|quote=Moreover, Acyutadeva Maharaya formally crowned Viswanatha Nayadu of the Garikepati family of the Balija caste as the king of Pandya country yielding a revenue of 2 and 1/2 crores of varahas; and he presented him the golden idols of Durga, Laksmi and Lakshmi-Narayana and sent him with ministers, councillors and troops to the south. Visvanatha Nayudu reached the city of Madhura, from which he began to govern the country entrusted to his care. - taken from the Kaifiyat of Karnata-Kotikam Kings, LR8, pp.319-22| url=https://archive.org/details/FurtherSourcesOfVijayanagaraHistory/page/n2/mode/1up }} * {{Cite book | title =The Heirs of Vijayanagara: Court Politics in Early Modern South India | publisher = Leiden University Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y6KdzgEACAAJ | pages = 79| year = 2022| last1 =Lennart Bes|isbn=9789087283711 |quote= The dynasty’s first ruler was Vishvanatha Nayaka, son of the imperial courtier and military officer Nagama Nayaka. He belonged to one of the Balija castes, which originated in the Telugu region and whose members undertook both military and mercantile activities. Vishvanatha was possibly installed at Madurai around 1530 and reigned until c. 1563 }} * {{cite book|editor1-last=Konduri Sarojini Devi |author2=|title=Religion in Vijayanagara Empire |volume= |publisher=Sterling Publishers |year=1990|page=100|isbn=978-81-207-1167-9|quote=According to the Kaifiyat of the Karnata Kotikam Kings, "Acyutadeva Maharaya formally crowned Visvanatha Nayadu of the Garikepati family of the Balija caste as the King of Pandya country yielding a revenue of 2 and 1/2 crores of varahas; and he presented him with golden idols of Durga, Lakshmi and Lakshminarayana and sent him with ministers, councillors and troops to the South."| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7qnXAAAAMAAJ }} </ref> * Sevappa Nayak - Founder of the Thanjavur Nayak dynasty<ref name="Raghunatha Nayakabhyudayamu" /> * Tupakula Krishnappa Nayak - Founder of the Gingee Nayak dynasty<ref name="Tubaki" /> * Sri Vijaya Rajasinha - Founder of the Kandy Nayak dynasty<ref name="kandy" /> * Mangammal - Queen of Madurai * Tirumala Nayak - King of Madurai.<ref> *{{cite book|editor1-last=Gita V. Pai |author2=|title=Architecture of Sovereignty: Stone Bodies, Colonial Gazes, and Living Gods in South India |volume= |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2023|page=36 |isbn=9781009150156|quote=| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m6y0EAAAQBAJ }} *{{cite book |editor1-last=C. Hayavadana Rao |author2=|title=The Indian Biographical Dictionary |volume= |publisher=Forgotten Books |year=1915|page=344|url=https://en.m.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Indian_Biographical_Dictionary_(1915)/Ramabhadra_Nayudu,_Hon’ble_Venkatasami}} *{{Cite book |last=Jaidev |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XzWFEAAAQBAJ |title=Thaamba |date=2022 |publisher=Notion Press |isbn=9798887493114 |pages=35 |language=en |quote=|author-link= }} </ref> * Era Krishnappa Nayaka, King of Belur<ref name="balam" /> * Raghunatha Nayak - King of Thanjavur.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Richman |first=Paula |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7RW6MrAiJ-0C&pg=PA166 |title=Questioning Ramayanas: A South Asian Tradition |date=2001 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-22074-4 |pages=166 |language=en |quote=Raghunathanayaka, a Balija who ruled Tanjavur during the early seventeenth century, also wrote a Ramayana. |author-link=Paula Richman}}</ref> * Pedda Koneti Nayak, King of Penukonda<ref name="Koneti" /> * Rana Jagadevaraya - King of Channapatna<ref name="Channapatna" />

'''<big>Royal descent</big>''' * Social reformer Pattukkottai Alagiri was a descendant of the Royal Family of Kandy.<ref> *{{cite book|editor1-last=Kanchi Kalyanasundaram |author2=|title=Latchiyavaadhi Azhagirisamy |volume= |publisher=Pagutharivu Pasarai, Chennai |year=1950|page=10| url=https://www.tamildigitallibrary.in/admin/assets/book/TVA_BOK_0008862_இலட்சியவாதி_அழகிரிசாமி.pdf }} *{{cite book|editor1-last=Pavai Chandran |author2=|title=Eezha Thamizharin Poraatta Varalaru|volume=1 |publisher=Kanmani Creative Waves, Chennai |year=2010| url=https://padippakam.com/padippakam/document/EelamHistory/pavaichandran/DM055.pdf }} *{{cite book|editor1-last=Kanchi Manimozhiar, M.Ilanchezhian |author2=|title=Editorial : Azhagirisamy |publisher= Por Vaal magazine |date= March 25, 1950|language=ta }} *{{cite book|editor1-last=Alandur Mohanarangan |author2=|title=Maaveeran Anjanenjan Alagiri |volume= |publisher=Meena Gopal Pathippagam |year=2002|page=196| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9IXaAAAAMAAJ }} </ref> * Sankariah Naidu, Zamindar of Chennappa Naicken Palayam was a descendant of Tupakula Krishnappa Nayak, the ruler of the Gingee.<ref>{{cite book|editor1-last=Vuppuluri Lakshminarayana Sastri |author2=|title=Encyclopaedia of the Madras Presidency and the Adjacent States |volume= |publisher=University of Minnesota |year=1920|page=453|quote=The illustrious House of the great Komarappa Naidu of the South Arcot District traces its ancestry to Tupakula Krishnappa Naidu, the ruler of the Ginji Fort under the aegis of the now Forgotten Empire of Vijayanagar. This ruler of Ginji constructed many new temples and renovated the old and time-honoured temple of Tirukoilur. We find inscriptions bearing the name of Tupakula Krishnappa in several temples of the South Arcot District. Komarappa Naidu belonged to the Kshatriya Balija caste; and his caste- men, who had been warriors till the advent of the Muhammadans, took up trade as their profession thereafter. It can be seen from the existing records that as early as 1752 Komarappa Naidu was carrying on his trade, which mainly consisted in the export of Indian goods to foreign countries in his ships and the import of precious stones, horses, elephants and the products of other countries. He owned sixteen ships and in a few years he made enormous profits. He constructed the Komarappa Naickenpettai, a suburb of Tiruvendipuram in 1780 to attract weavers from other parts of the country. He rendered substantial pecuniary help to the weavers and thus enabled them to purchase the looms and other necessary appliances. The East India Company, which had just settled in India for carrying on trade between India and England, sought the help of the famous overseas merchant, Komarappa Naidu and established commercial relations with him which remained cordial throughout. Komarappa Naidu, who had been religiously disposed from his boyhood, left his entire business in the hands of his son Sankariah Naidu, shortly after the latter came of age and spent the remaining years of his life in religious study. It was during this, his age of retirement, that he built many new temples and gave a fresh lease of life to the old ones in the district. The pious Komarappa used to feed large numbers of Brahmins and pandits daily and more so on festive occasions. He breathed his last in peace in 1819 at the age of eighty-five. We find the image of Komarappa carved on the stone pillars in the Mantapams of the Tiruvendipuram and Tirupapuliyur temples. A monumental Shaivite temple has been erected over his remains in one of his gardens on the bank of the Gadilam river, in which Archana is daily performed. His wife, Mangammal, has renovated the shrine of Sri Dagaleswar Perumal at Tirukoilur, in a prominent part of which we find an inscription bearing her name. Sankariah Naidu, who was sixty-five years of age at the time of his father's demise, had already risen to prominence. He considerably improved the trade of the family, particularly that with the East India Company and constructed more ships. He acquired considerable landed property in the South Arcot, Chinglepet and Tanjore districts. In 1809 he purchased the small Zamindari of Chennappa Naiken Poliem, a few miles to the west of Cuddalore, which also includes the village of Naduvirapattu. To facilitate his export and import trade, he established ports at Cuddalore, Pondicherry, Porto-Novo and Karaikal. He had a big firm at Madras, on the grounds of which now stand the Madras Christian College, the Anderson Hall and the buildings of Messrs. Parry and Company. He constructed a number of choultries among which those at Chidambaram and Tirupapuliyur deserve special mention. Sankariah Naidu married two wives. He had one son, Devanayagam Naidu by his first wife and four sons by his second wife, Ramaswami, Chandrasekhara, Balakrishna and Chinna Devanayagam. Sankariah Naidu died in 1826.| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z2o_AQAAMAAJ }}</ref> * Ramabadra Naidu, Zamindar of Vadagarai was a descendant of the famous warrior and diplomat Ramabhadra Nayak, who had held the post of Military Chief and Collector of Revenue under his close relative Viswanatha Nayak, the ruler of Madurai.<ref> *{{cite book|editor1-last=A. Vadivelu |author2=|title=The Ruling Chiefs, Nobles and Zamindars of India |volume=1 |publisher=G.C. Loganadham |year=1915|page=679|quote=The Honourable Diwan Bahadur V. Rama Bhadra Naick Garu is one of the most prominent noblemen of South India. As a representative of the zamindari interests of the Southern Group, he has, since 1910, been in the reformed Legislative Council of Madras. He represents the ancient house of Vadagarai, and is the lineal descendant of the famous Rama Bhadra Naick . To trace the ancestry of the founder of this well - known ancient family we have to go back to the events that had occurred three centuries ago, that is, to the period when the power of the once famous kingdom of Vijianagar was at its height, Rama Bhadra Naick I is said to have been a follower as well as a close relation of the well - known Kottiya Nagama Naick, the Revenue Collector and Commander of the Vijianagar army in the South.| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LfoxAQAAMAAJ }} *{{cite book|editor1-last= |author2=|title=The Who's who in Madras: ... A Pictorial Who's who of Distinguished Personages, Princes, Zemindars and Noblemen in the Madras Presidency |volume= |publisher=Pearl Press |year=1938|page=52|quote= Dewan Bahadur V. Ramabhadra Naidu, member of a family which had close relations with the ruling house of Madura, the Great Tirumal Nayak. Belongs to an ancient Palayagar family of Madura.| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hEHVAAAAMAAJ }} *{{cite book|editor1-last=Vuppuluri Lakshminarayana Sastri |author2=|title=Encyclopaedia of the Madras Presidency and the Adjacent States |volume= |publisher=University of Minnesota |year=1920|page=450|quote=The present Zamindar is a descendant of the famous Ramabhadra Naick I, a follower and relation of Kottiya Nagama Naick, the famous Collector of Revenue and Commander of the Southern forces of the Vijayanagar Empire. | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z2o_AQAAMAAJ }} *{{cite book|editor1-last=Parthiban Rajukalidoss |author2=|title=The Spice Road 'Vaṭakarai Zamīndāri' Its Historicity and Architectural Remains |volume= 74|publisher=Acta Orientalia |year=2013|page=97|quote= | url=https://journals.uio.no/actaorientalia/article/view/4469/3924 }} *{{cite book|editor1-last= |author2=|title=The Feudatory and zemindari India |volume=9 |publisher=the University of California |year=1938|page=250|quote=He was a lineal descendant of the famous warrior and diplomat Rama- bhadra Nayak who had held the post of Fouzdar or Military Chief and Collector of Revenue under his relative Viswanatha Nayak of the House of Vijianagar, King of the Pandyan country | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SxMnAQAAIAAJ }} *{{cite book|editor1-last=T. V. Mahalingam, Colin Mackenzie |author2=|title=Mackenzie Manuscripts; Summaries of the Historical Manuscripts in the Mackenzie Collection: Tamil and Malayalam |volume= |publisher=University of Madras |year=1972|page=153|isbn= |quote=| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J4MMAQAAMAAJ }} *{{cite book |editor1-last=C. Hayavadana Rao |author2=|title=The Indian Biographical Dictionary |volume= |publisher=Forgotten Books |year=1915|page=344|url=https://en.m.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Indian_Biographical_Dictionary_(1915)/Ramabhadra_Nayudu,_Hon’ble_Venkatasami}} </ref> <big>'''Social Activists'''</big> * Periyar E. V. Ramasamy, social reformer<ref> * {{cite book|editor1-last=E. Sa. Viswanathan |author2=|title=The political career of E.V. Ramasami Naicker: a study in the politics of Tamil Nadu, 1920-1949 |volume= |publisher=Ravi & Vasanth Publishers |year=1983|page=18|isbn= |quote=Ramasami Naicker was born to non - Brahman parents of Balija Naidu community on 28th September 1879 at Erode in Coimbatore district| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L9dIAAAAMAAJ|language=en}} *{{cite book|editor1-last=David Shulman |author2=|title=Tamil: A Biography |volume= |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=2016|page=310|isbn=9780674059924|quote=This was the Self Respect Movement, cuyamariyatai iyakkam, of a maverick genius, E. V. Ramasami Naicker, popularly known as the Great One, Periyar. It is of some significance that this fearless iconoclast came from Erode, in the west of the Tamil country or, better, in the southern reaches of the early modern Deccani culture, and from a Kannada Balija Naidu community.| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_KkzDQAAQBAJ }} *{{cite book|editor1-last=Gurucharan Gollerkeri, Renuka Raja Rao |author2=|title=The Making of India, 1947-2022: Pivotal People, Events, and Institutions |volume= |publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing |year=2024|page=105|quote=EVR was born on September 17, 1879, in Erode, Madras Presidency, into a Kannada Balija Naidu family. |isbn=9781527561410| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=itPzEAAAQBAJ }} *{{cite book|editor1-last=John J. Paul, Keith Yandell |author2=|title=Religion and Public Culture: Encounters and Identities in Modern South India |volume= |publisher=Routledge |year=2013|page=180|isbn=9781136818080|quote=E.V. Ramaswami Naicker, a non-Brahman, a Kannada Balija Naidu from Erode, had been one of the first members in 1917 of the Madras Presidency Congress Committee which was against British rule and in support of the policies of the national Congress Party | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ucMeAgAAQBAJ }} *{{cite book|editor1-last=Ajantha Subramanian |author2=|title=The Caste of Merit: Engineering Education in India |volume= |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=2019|page=100|language=en|isbn=9780674987883|quote= | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ifuwDwAAQBAJ }} </ref> * Padmaja Naidu, freedom fighter<ref> *{{cite book|editor1-last= |author2=|title=NMML Manuscripts: An Introduction |volume= |publisher= Nehru Memorial Museum and Library |year=2003|page=358|isbn=978-81-87614-05-0|quote= | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MgduAAAAMAAJ }} *{{cite book|editor1-last=Sri G. D. Kameswara Rao |author2=|title=Sarojini Naidu The Nightingale Of India |volume=23 |publisher=Director of Information and Public Relations, Andhra Pradesh |year=1978|page=8|isbn=|quote= | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lBJWAAAAYAAJ }} *{{cite book|editor1-last=Padmini Sengupta |author2=|title= Sarojini Naidu: A Biography |volume= |publisher=Asia Publishing House for the |year=1966|page=34|isbn=|quote=| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IXodAAAAMAAJ }} *{{cite book|editor1-last=G.A. Natesan |author2=|title=The Indian Review |volume=67 |publisher=G.A. Natesan & Company |year=1972|pages=18, 20|isbn=|quote= | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eUDjAAAAMAAJ }} </ref> * P. Varadarajulu Naidu, freedom fighter<ref> *{{cite book|editor1-last=Antony R. H. Copley |author2=|title=C. Rajagopalachari, Gandhi's southern commander |volume= |publisher=Indo-British Historical Society |year=1986|page=240|isbn=|quote=P. VARADARAJULU 1887-1957 : Balija Naidu . Successful medical practice in indigenous medicine . Journalist . Arrested for sedition at Madura Mill strike, 1918. Imprisoned 1918, 1922, 1923. T.N.C.C. Vice - President 1922-23. President 1924-25 . Left Congress 1930. General - Secretary, Hindu Maha Sabha 1940, Vice - President 1942-44 |language=en| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uiVuAAAAMAAJ }} *{{cite book|editor1-last=David Arnold |author2=|title=The Congress in Tamilnad: Nationalist Politics in South India, 1919-1937 |volume= |publisher=Routledge |year=2017|page=23|isbn=978-1-315-29419-3|quote=|language=en| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1OCfDgAAQBAJ }} * {{cite book|editor1-last=Eugene F. Irschick |author2=|title=Politics and Social Conflict in South India |volume= |publisher=University of California Press |year=1969|page=270|quote=| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R0K98afLnhAC }} * {{cite book|editor1-last=S. Babu, P. Kandaswamy |author2=|title=Dr. P. Varadarajulu Naidu and the Sermadevi Gurukulam Controversy|volume= 21|publisher=The Congress |year=2002|page=97|isbn= | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hRFuAAAAMAAJ }} * {{cite book|editor1-last=E. Sa. Viswanathan |author2=|title=The political career of E.V. Ramasami Naicker: a study in the politics of Tamil Nadu, 1920-1949 |volume= |publisher=Ravi & Vasanth Publishers |year=1983|pages=23, 32|isbn= |quote=| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L9dIAAAAMAAJ|language=en}} </ref> * Kanneganti Hanumanthu, freedom fighter<ref>{{cite book|editor1-last=Arvind P. Jamkhedkar |author2=|title=Dictionary of Martyrs: India's Freedom Struggle (1857-1947) |volume=5 |publisher=Indian Council of Historical Research |year=2018|page=90|isbn=|quote=Kanneganti Hanumayya: Popularly known as Kanneganti Hanumanthu, he was a resident of v. Minchalapadu, t. Palnad, distt. Guntur, Andhra Pradesh. An agriculturist belonging to Balija community, he became the leader of his village and took part in the Non Cooperation movement (1921-22) and the Forest Satyagraha in 1922. Over sending cattle into the forest without paying the grazing fees, in response to the No Tax campaign, he was shot dead by a police Sub Inspector on 26 February 1922. | url=https://www.indiaculture.gov.in/sites/default/files/pdf/Martyrs_Vol_5_06_03_2019.pdf }}</ref> * Gazulu Lakshminarasu Chetty, freedom fighter<ref> *{{cite book|editor1-last=Alok Kumar Kanungo, Laure Dussubieux |author2=|title=Ancient Glass of South Asia: Archaeology, Ethnography and Global Connections |volume= |publisher=Springer Nature |year=2021|page=283|isbn=9789811636561|quote=| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YGxAEAAAQBAJ }} *{{cite book|editor1-last=K.H.S.S. Sundar |author2=|title=Origins and growth of political consciousness in Andhra during the nineteenth century |volume= |publisher=University of Hyderabad |year=1994|page=153|isbn=|quote=| url=https://dspace.uohyd.ac.in/bitstreams/00928d79-a1bd-41e7-982b-cf49ab818e2a/download}} *{{cite book|editor1-last=A. Vijaya Kumari, Sepuri Bhaskar |author2=|title=Social Change Among Balijas: Majority Community of Andhra Pradesh |volume= |publisher=M.D. Publications Pvt. Ltd |year=1998|page=14|isbn=9788175330726|quote=| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r-ffeWmj2JUC }} *{{cite journal|editor1-last=M.L.Kantha Rao |author2=|title=A study of the socio political mobility of the kapu caste in modern Andhra |journal=INFLIBNET|volume= |publisher=University of Hyderabad |year=1999|page=93|hdl=10603/25437|quote=| url=https://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/handle/10603/25437/ }} </ref> <big>'''Spiritual'''</big> * Jaggi Vasudev, Indian yoga guru <big>'''Film'''</big> * M. R. Radha, actor * Vijayakanth, actor and politician * Radhika, actress and producer * Dhanush, actor and director * Sneha, actress * Mann Vasanai Pandiyan, actor * Darshan, actor '''<big>Sports</big>''' * M. Buchi Babu Naidu, Father of Madras Cricket. * Dinesh Karthik, cricketer

== See also == * Five Hundred Lords of Ayyavolu

== Notes == {{Notelist}}

== References == {{Reflist}}

==Further reading== {{Commons category|Balija people}} * {{cite book |last=Jaffrelot |first=Christophe |author-link=Christophe Jaffrelot |title=India's silent revolution: the rise of the lower castes in North India |publisher=C. Hurst & Co. |location=London |year=2003 |isbn=978-1-85065-670-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OAkW94DtUMAC |access-date=2011-08-16}} * {{cite book |last=Mukund |first=Kanakalatha |title=The View from Below: Indigenous Society, Temples, and the Early Colonial State in Tamilnadu, 1700–1835 |publisher=Orient Blackswan |year=2005 |isbn=9788125028000 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5BMljBxJXtoC}} * {{cite book |last=Subrahmanyam |first=Sanjay |author-link=Sanjay Subrahmanyam |title=Penumbral Visions: Making Polities in Early Modern South India |publisher=University of Michigan Press |year=2001 |isbn=9780472112166 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4Ju6z8PbTuAC}} * {{cite book |last=Swarnalatha |first=P. |title=The World of the Weaver in Northern Coromandel, c. 1750 – c. 1850 |publisher=Orient Blackswan |location=New Delhi |year=2005 |isbn=9788125028680 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t5XlI91kP3YC}} *[https://web.archive.org/web/20060423204016/http://www.nd.edu/~kellogg/pdfs/Jaffrelot.pdf ''Caste politics in the North, West and South India before Mandal''] * ''Konduru: structure and integration in a South Indian village'', Paul G. Hiebert, pp.&nbsp;21–22. *[https://books.google.com/books?id=y089AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA45 ''The Warrior Merchants''], Mittison Mines *[https://books.google.com/books?id=x3GuKnZTGG4C&pg=PA34 ''Religion and Public Culture''], John Jeya Paul

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Category:Social groups of Tamil Nadu Category:Indian castes Category:Social groups of Andhra Pradesh Category:Social groups of Karnataka Category:Social groups of Kerala Category:South Indian communities