MODERN HISTORY OF KAMMA2

Tamilnadu Kamma History ::

The Telugu language is the mother tongue for the 35%+ of the population of Tamilnadu. There are more than 20 Telugu castes living in almost all the Districts of Tamilnadu. Among them Kamma have more population (40 lakhs) whose concentration is in three regions of Tamilnadu. (The Northern region, West and Southern regions). These people are talking Telugu in their home but are not able to read and write except the people of border area of Andhra, but they have been following traditional customs and cultural activities.

The Kamma's had their migration from the earliest period but more people have migrated during the Vijayanagar rule. Today the Kamma people are known as 'Kammavar naidu' in some areas and Nayakkars in some other regions of Tamilnadu, since they were the warriors of Naick Chief in those days. 'Vadugu' in Tamil means Telugu language. All the Telugu speaking people in Tamilnadu are 'Vadugars' including Kammas.
Kamma's social, economic and cultural life differs from zone to zone due to the ecological conditions.

South Zone :
The South zone consists of present day Madurai, Ramanathapuram and Tirunalvely Districts where the Kammavars are living mostly in villages. The black cotton soil and the dry climate were liked by Kammas who were specialist in Cotton and Chilly cultivation in Tamilnadu. Kammas living in villages where the Headman or 'Voor Naicker' (Village Naicker) was a Kamma who controlled the entire village. The Kammas of this region are treated as Backward Class people (economically and educationally) and availed the educational concessions and employment opportunities in the Government offices. The Government policy was helpful to the Kamma people who studied well and got employment in the Government offices and migrated to their work places. Thus they have spread all over the State.

West Zone :
TCoimbatore, Erode, Salem and Dharmapuri Districts belong to the west zone where Kamma people are living in villages and doing agriculture. The Kamma people of Coimbatore District were the pioneers in introducing modern inputs in agriculture. They have fitted diesel and electric pump sets in their wells at first in Tamilnadu. Agro based industries were started by Kammas in this region. Further they have cultivated commercial crops like cotton, sugarcane, tobacco and other horticulture. This helped to start Ginning mills, Spinning mills and Textile mills in the area. Most of the people are doing agriculture successfully and interested in agro based small scale industries. The Kamma Textile and Industrial giants of this area are benevolent in starting educational institutions and medical hospitals to serve all the communities. The farmer's movement of 1980's was started from this District by Sri.C.Narayanaswamy Naidu, which got widespread support from all the states of India.

North Zone :
The North Zone comprises the Districts of Madras, Chengelpat, North Arcot and South Arcot Districts. The Kammas of this region are the 'Sons of the Soil' and not migrators as the people of Southern and Western zones. So they have followed Andhra customs more than their counterparts in other regions. Most of them were able to read and write Telugu language. This Telugu is pure, which is not understandable by the Kammas of other regions. Here people are identified with their surname ( Intiperu) and they have used their surname (Intiperu) as their initials before their names. Educational concessions were not available by the people of this region because they are treated as Forward Community They are doing their traditional agriculture and raised commercial crops like sugarcane, groundnut, paddy and others. But now some have migrated to urban centres and are doing various businesses and industries. Brick industry near and around Chennai is in Kamma's hands.
Zamindars:

Kurivikulam Estate (Tirunelveli Dt) – Pemmasani clan
Ilavarasanandanal Estate (Tirunelveli Dt) – Ravella clan
Naickerpatti Estate (Madurai Dt) – Pemmasani clan
Seevalpatti Estate (Bellam clan)