Written by London Swaminathan
Post No. 16,345
Date uploaded in London – 26 October 2026
Contact – swami_48@yahoo.com
Pictures are taken from various sources for spreading knowledge.
This is a non- commercial blog. Thanks for your great pictures.
tamilandvedas.com, swamiindology.blogspot.com
Please take it in a lighter vein!
Old classification of Tamil Brahmins is given at the bottom; Now let me give the real, modern classification:
When I looked for some suitable girls and boys for my relatives or friends for the purpose of marriage, I found out the real classification of Brahmins in Tamil Nadu from matrimonial websites. Apart from the matrimonial websites, my casual talks with other Brahmins also revealed amazing pictures!
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There are Chicken only eating brahmins; they are very honest (!!) and they say they never touch red meat (!!).
Girls are very honest! They declare themselves Eggetarians!
There are also Chinese brahmins! Understood?
That means any thing that moves is tasty!
Most of the Brahmins are “socialising brahmins”! Understood? They will drink in parties, and they will “socialise” with men and women!
About Smoking? That is absolutely a stupid Question!
I used to photocopy 100 ++ year old novels from the British Library in London. I was surprised by some dialogues:
“Oh, No, don’t give your daughter to that boy; he is a Steam Engine ! “(in my early days I used to travel in trains with steam engines from Madurai to Madras; they emit more smoke than steam!)
“Oh, No, Don’t give your girl to that boy! He is foreign returned!” (That means he might have drunk).
Now a days Smoking is not all considered a factor;
About drinking they say” OK, Ok, If he drinks within the limits Ok, Ok. Who is there without drinking now a days. So that’s all alright!”
About foreign Trips?
Manu smritis banned Brahmins from going abroad.
Oldest Tamil book Tolkappiam banned women going abroad even with their husbands.
Now they are considered “past expiry date food products”. According to Maan und Tolkappian none in my family abroad are Brahmins!
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According Shankaracharyas of great Mutts, Brahmins are the ones who do Tri Kala Sandhyavandana; that is you do the water oblation with Gayatri mantra three times a day. I will be very honest; I don’t even see it among priests!. They say their “practical work schedule “ don’t allow it. I myself do it twice a day after retirement in 2014. Before that I was doing only once.
To cut it short, do a survey to find out who does Tri Kaala Sandhyaa Vandana. You will get one or two percent brahmins saying “Yes”.
Leave alone Sandhyaa Vandana! Ask them whether do Ekakadasi fasting; ask them whether they do at least 12 or 14 monthly Tarpanas for the departed souls. Ask them whether they do Titis (annual Memorial Day ceremony). Again you will get 30 to 40 percent “Yes”.
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Do you wear Punul (sacred thread)? Yes I do wear it says 90 Percent! That shows they are Rudraksha Cats (Cheating fellows)! Proud o be imitation Gold; proud to be Eversilver/stainless steel in instead of real gold or silvler.
About Onion Garlic eating?
If you ask any Brahmin, who was born after 1940s, They will retort What is this stupid question? Are you coming from Mars or Venus?
(Once I was surprised when my Sri Lankan friend in London Hanumar temple Garlic Vada from the idol of Anjaneya; another time I was fooled by my own Tamil priest; he orderd Vadais for Griha Pravesa Homan in my London house. The onion Vadais came! He cut a sorry face and apologised and blamed the Sri Lankan who forgetting his instructions made this mess)
Another time I organised big public Homa for the welfare of the world! 150 people came; the food never arrived; I made frantic phone calls. Food arrived one hour late with garlic and onion. He used to supply Pukka Vegetarian food. That time because of some electrical fault he got our dishes from “Somewhere”. God alone knows whether it was a vegetarian restaurant or Non vegetarian restaurant!
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I will finish after giving a few interesting real anecdotes:
A distant brahmin relative used to visit us very often during his Europe trips and dine with us. He is very strict about Saturday fasting. Amazing it is not even a snack till sunset. I praised him like anything. During one trip we happened to be in the city area of London. “Oh, it will be too late when we go home for dinner; let us go into Mac Donald. I ordered Veggy sandwich carefully instructing Please don’t put Mayonnaise etc”.
To my surprise he ordered Chicken; I got angry and shouted t him forgetting that we are inside Mc Donald. All the white men were looking at us! Nowadays you won’t see white men in London.
Immediately he said unapologetically “what is wrong in it? Even Agastya ate non veg!” Now I became Rudra and shouted more!
Some white men even tried to pacify us! Then I recomposed myself said to him in a feeble voice: “Oh my God, any one can say Indra raped Ahalya; so nothing wrong in raping others’ wives!”
Then he also slowly cut down his visits to my house.
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I am going to bore you with a few more!
I used to entertain one Tamil Ayyangar from Vellore in the BBC Canteen in Bush House in London when I worked there as a BBC broadcaster. During two or three occasional visits he ate Veggy food that I ordered! At one time he said that he wanted to pay for his own food. I said fair enough!Go ahead. He took chicken dish and paid for it.
I asked him: What is this? He told me he would never touch red meat !! but liked Chicken; his lame excuse was that when he came to London decades before me there were no Veggy dishes!
I came to Britain in 1987. He came in the 1970s.
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Another anecdote
We were looking for a suitable girl for my son 15 or 20 years ago. Most of the girls we looked at matrimonial sites said they don’t know cooking, they take eggs, they are good at this or they are good at that. At last ,we came across one girl who was his university mate! We did not want to approach the family directly and so we sounded a common friend. Immediately that lady said “No way; that girl is not suitable”. When you hear something negative in such matters, you take it as a bad omen; so we did not ask her Why. Later enquiries found out that she was a chicken eating girl! Then we thanked God for that bad omen!
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Cross marriages are very common among Brahmins in Britain and America. One orthodox Ayyangar woman got her daughter married to a white man. She praised him as a great supporter of Hindus etc. Years passed; I made casual enquiries about her family when I met her in one of the events; when the subject came about her children born to the girl and white man, she cut me halfway through our conversation, saying “Forget it”. Immediately I switched over to another topic seeing her disappointment.
Same thing happened with another London woman who went to settle down in Tamil Nadu. When she made a trip to London, I asked her How are the Tamil Brahmins there? And what difference she finds out between here and there? Immediately she cut me half way through our conversation “Never Ask it! Women are going out alone after leaving her children at someone’s care!”
I understood what she meant! Immediately I changed the topic.
I know you will also say hundreds of things like this. Let me give some interesting titbits from 1400 years old history. I went though 30 Pallava Inscriptions. Most of them are 1400 years old. Abou 1000 Brahmin names, their Gotras and their Sutras and their towns are given. No mention about sub divisions of Brahmins like Vadama, Brahacharanam, Ashtasahasram etc!
Sangam Tamil literature is 2000 years old. There also no subdivisions of Ayyar or Ayyangar.
About 60,000 Tamil inscriptions are available now. Most of them are about Donations to Brahmins called BRAHMADEYAM and Donations to Temples called DEVADAANAM. There also we don’t find subgroups. As far as I could remember only Chidambaram Dikshitars are mentioned in Saivite Hymns and Choza Inscriptions. May be Nambbodiris in Kerala inscriptions.
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My friends on Facebook quote only Thurston Book! Those half baked friends have never gone through inscriptions or 2000-year-old Sangam literature or the commentaries.
We have thousands and thousands of references about Tamil brahmins. No Vadama, No vaththima, No Dosai ma, No Vadai ma, No Adai ma!
So, one must start one’s research from ancient Tamil books and ancient Tamil Nadu inscriptions.
Even such research is irrelevant because we have more drinking, smoking, chicken, egg, meat eating Brahmins and we have more Non Sandhayavandana Brahmins!
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Now to the Sub groups from AI overview:
Tamil Brahmins are broadly divided into two main denominational groups: Iyers and Iyengars, alongside specialized priesthood castes.
- Iyers (Smartha Brahmins):
- Follow the Advaita philosophy associated with Adi Shankara.
- Traditionally worship both Shiva and Vishnu, though many are primary devotees of Shiva.
- Sub-divided based on regional origins and migration patterns (such as Vadama, Ashtasahasram, Brahacharanam, Kaniyalar, and Dikshitars). [
- Iyengars (Sri Vaishnava Brahmins):
- Follow Vishishtadvaita philosophy associated with Ramanuja.
- Worship Lord Vishnu and his consort Lakshmi as primary deities.
- Divided into two major theological sub-sects: Vadakalai (northern school) and Tenkalai (southern school).
Priesthood and Agamic Castes
- Gurukkals / Adi Saivas / Sivacharyas:
- Temple priests who follow Shaiva Siddhanta and the Shiva Agamas rather than traditional Vedic-only ritual paths.
- Dikshitars:
- A distinct community of Smartha/Shaivite priests traditionally serving at the Nataraja Temple in Chidambaram.
Classification by Veda and Sutra
Tamil Brahmin sub-sects are also categorized by the specific Veda and Grihya Sutra they follow for household and temple rituals:
- Krishna Yajur Veda: Followers of the Apastamba Sutra and Bodhayana Sutra (the largest group).
- Shukla Yajur Veda: Followers of the Kanva Sutra.
- Rig Veda: Followers of the Aswalayana and Kathyayana Sutra.
- Sama Veda: Followers of the Drahyana and Ranananyani Sutra.
Long Live Rudraksha Cats! Long Live Fake Brahmins!
–Subham—
Tags- Tamil Brahmins, Types, Groups, How many, what, FAKE, RUDRAKSHA CATS
