The Devotees Of Neelkanth- Iyers- The Staunch Shaivites

By Author: Raja Babu
Total Articles: 17
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The Iyers are one of the three important sub-sections of Brahmins; they take after the ideologies propounded by their progenitor Adi Shankara. Iyers are adherent followers of Lord Shiva-the Neelkanth-the God with a third eye. The belief of Iyers community goes beyond doubt for their love towards Kailashpathi, it is something that’s lay stitched in every vein of theirs. To anyone’s little surprise, the revival of Hinduism started with the great guru Adi Shakarar of Kaladi. Just to recap: The Vedic Hinduism eclipsed by first century AD when Mahavir and Gautama Buddha put forward their ideologies, almost whole of India took after their principle of non-violence, social equality so on. Many Kings and Kingdoms converted themselves into Jainists and Buddhists. At those anxious times, Adi Shankaracharya emerged with refined and the best thoughts of Vedic Hinduism. He covered the length and breadth of the nation, proudly mentioned as Digvijaya-the conquest. In all kingdoms he debated and won various religious head and preached the revived Hindu Ideologies. Hence forth, the revival of Hinduism happened, heralded by the Saint himself. ...
... Following Adi Shankara’s footsteps, many ascetics called Nayanmars, emerged who were broadly classified as Shaivites-meaning the followers of Lord Shiva. The family folds that adhered to their theologies are called Iyers; most Brahmins of South India in particularly Tamil Nadu, the devotees of Lord Shiva took after the name, Iyers.

The Iyers of North India are called Vadama and the counterparts of South are called Brahacharanam. Iyers strictly follow the code of conduct just like any other Brahmin sub-sections, they mostly prefer, marriage with the same sub-section that a Vadama bride or groom will only marry a Vadama and it is viceversa for Brahacharanam bride / groom. Iyers of Medival age are called battar and have held various posts in Kingdom like Accountant, Tax collector, Prime Minister and sometimes even they have worked as spies. The Anbil Copper Plate excavation in Tamil Nadu throws light on the Prime Minster to Paranthaka Chola 2, the Aniruddha Brahma Rayar who was an Iyer and he had indulged in various bureaucratic activities and even got tax free land as a token of appreciation from the King. After the Medical period and the advent of Modern India, Iyers have had strong hold in Government service, be it the reins of Later Pandyas, Nayaks, Sultanate, Poligars, East India Company or under British India suzerainty. Quiet a number of Iyers were even worked as Dewans in British Raj. Nonetheless, they are also one of the forerunners in starting the freedom movement in India, the noble people of last century like Subramanya Siva, Subrmanya Barathiyar- the poet laureate & freedom fighter. There was Subramanya Iyer, the great journalist who started the Hindu which today has become the face of South Indian Journalism. There are many greater Iyer men who made the Iyer community proud in various fields like Education, Music, Science, and Mathematics so on and so forth.

Iyer matrimony too is acclaimed for its uniqueness followed right from celestial, gotra, social, economical and emotional compatibilities. Iyers marriages till the second half on the past century was always a two to three days event, which has been shrunken today into a one day custom just like in other religions like Christian, Muslim and other Hindu sub-sects. As the geographical spread of Iyer community extends the length and breadth of nation and for the past few decades it has extended beyond seas. So the conventional matrimony and marriage assembly is impossible today. In order to make Iyer matrimony possible with much less hassles, dedicated Iyer online matrimony portals have emerged. There are many free and paid Iyer matrimony websites with thousands of customized Iyer profiles. The strict guidelines the online matrimony websites follow vouches for the authenticity of the profiles. A statistics read that last decade the most number of Iyer Matrimony happened through online matrimonial websites. Reason enough to say Iyer online matrimony has become a household name among the Iyer community.