Thondaimandala Mudaliar is a Forward caste community in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Sekkizhar, the author of the Periyapuranam, was from this community.
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Sangam and Medieval Tamil literature
According to Sangam literature, the Vēlir migrated from the Gangetic plains of ancient Dvārakā under the guidance of the sage Agastya. This is described by Nacchinarkkiniyar in his commentary on the Tolkāppiyam (Payiram; Porul.34). The sage Agastya took with him 18 families of Vēls or Vēlirs and their kings from Tuvarai (identified with Dvārakā) in the north, and migrated south. Irunkōvēl, a Vēlir King of the Irunkōvēl line and a contemporary of Karikala Chola (circa 270 BCE), mentions his lineage and traces it back 49 generations to one of the kings of their ancestral home in Dvārakā. This is repeated by the poet Kapilar when he sings to Irunkōvēl and asks him to marry the two daughters of his close friend and patron Vēl Pāri, another Vēlir king.
Sekkizhar, one of the most prominent members of this community, is referred to as Ganga-Kula Tilaka, and his lineage is extolled in various pieces of medieval Tamil literature, the most notable among them being his biography by Umapati Sivacharya. He was born in Kunrattur and would soon rise to become the Chief Minister of Kulothunga Chola II.
Migration
48,000 Vellalars migrated north with the Chola King Karikala Chola (ruled around 270 BCE) after he conquered Thondaimandalam from the Kurumbars, a nomadic tribe also known as the Aruvalars. He parcelled out the land to the Vellalar chiefs, now known as the Thondaimandala Mudaliars, and divided the territory into 24 Kottams or districts: Pulal, Puliyur, Eekadu, Manavur, Chenkkadu, Payur, Eyil, Thamal, Uttukadu, Kalathur, Chembur, Amur, Eethoor, Venkundram, Palkunram, Ilankadu, Kaliyur, Chriukarai, Paduvur, Kadikai, Chenthirukai, Kunrapattiram, and Venkadam Velur.
Ceremonies
The members of this community held the right of handing over the crown at the time of coronation ceremony (mudi-sootu vizha) of kings and religious heads. In the Tamil classical literature, Kamba-ramayana, Kavi-chakravarthy Kambar stated that "the great sage Vashista took the crown from ancestors of Sadayappa Vallal and crowned the King Rama".