This is posted to bring to the notice of readers interested in pursuing the 'No dravidian Divide' series that detailed posts will be published on / after November.
A few tips are presented here.
The VeL migration happened from Dwaraka to Tamil lands
that included the present day Tamil nadu, Kerala and Karnataka
( not Andhra. The settlements did not go north of Vemkatam / Thirumalai- Thiruppathi).
Please refer Nachinarkiniyar's commentary on
(1)Sutra 30, of AgatthiNAi, Tholkappiyam for the 2 divisions
within VeLaLAr and those who received the title VeL.
(2)Paayiram of Tholkappiyam that tells about the migration from Dwaraka
under the guidance of Agasthya soon after the deluge / submergence of Dwaraka.
(3)Sutra 32 of AgatthiNAi, Tholkappiyam giving the same information as above.
The Krishna cult along with deification of Balaram,
the one with the plough who ushered in agriculture,
was brought to Tamil nadu by Agasthiyar along with the migrated population.
They further spread, some of them becoming
'aai' - the ones responsible for collection of 'aaya-th-theeervi (taxes)
under the Tamil kings.
They later established their kingdoms -
an example is Aai Andiran who is widely praised in Puranaanuru.
IrumkOveL who rejected the Paari- magair (daughters of Paari)
belonged to the 49th generation in the lineage of Dhrushtadhymna,
the brother of Draupadi. This is contained in Kapila's verse in Puranaanuru.
From the 2 types of VeLs,
(those who were directly engaged in agricultural operation and
those who employed others in agricultural operations),
agriculture spread to other communities,
who later engaged themselves in full-fledged agricultural activities.
Since people were known by their occupation (varna) in those times,
many types of Velalars sprang up.
Many of the Velaalar types of present day Tamil nadu
are such communities who switched to agricultural occupation.
One example is the mukkulatthor becoming Vellalar.
The Mukkulatthor who were earlier engaged in a symbiotic occupational network, of Agamudaiyar governing their areas, maravars in defense and and Kallars in cattle breeding, switched over to agricultural occupation.
The detailed explanation on these aspects and on how the migrated ones came to be referred to as Dravidas will be posted - perhaps from November onwards in this blog under the label 'No Aryan - Dravidian divide - It was one Aryavartha'.
