Excerpt from Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Vol. 6: P to S The name Vanniyan is, Mr. H. A. Stuart writesfif derived from the Sanskrit yanbi (fire) in consequence of the following legend. In the olden times, two giants named Vatapi and Mahi, worshipped Brahma with such devotion that they obtained from him immunity from death from every cause save fire, which element they had carelessly omitted to include in their enumeration. Protected thus, they harried the country, and Vatapi went the length of swallowing Vayu, the god of the winds, while Mahi devoured the sun. The earth was therefore enveloped in perpetual darkness and stillness, a condition of affairs which struck terror into the minds of the devatas, and led them to appeal to Brahma. He, recollecting the omission made by the giants, directed his suppliants to desire the rishi Jambava Mahamuni to perform a yagam, or sacrifice by fire. The order having been obeyed, armed horse men sprung from the flames, who undertook twelve expeditions against Vatapi and Mahi, whom they first destroyed, and afterwards released Vayu and the sun from their bodies. Their leader then assumed the government of the country under the name Rudra Vanniya Maharaja, who had five sons, the ancestors of the Vanniya caste. These facts are said to be recorded in the Vaidiswara temple in the Tanjore district. The Vaidiswara temple here referred to is the Vaidiswara kovil near Shiyali. Mr. Stuart adds that this tradition alludes to the destruction of the city of Vapi by Narasimha Varma, king of the Pallis or Pallavas. Vapi, or Va-api, was the ancient name of Vatapi or Badami in the Bombay Presidency. It was the capital of the Chalukyas, who, during the seventh. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.