The name Vanniyan is, Mr. H. A. Stuart writes,*[1]" derived from the Sanskrit vanhi (fire) in consequence of the following legend. In the olden times, two giants named Vātāpi and Māhi, 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 Vātāpi went the length of swallowing Vāyu, the god of the winds, while Māhi 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 dēvatas, and led them to appeal to Brahma. He, recollecting the omission made by the giants, directed his suppliants to desire the rishi Jāmbava Mahāmuni to perform a yāgam, or sacrifice by fire. The order having been obeyed, armed horse men sprung from the flames, who undertook twelve expeditions against Vātāpi and Māhi, whom they first destroyed, and afterwards released Vāyu and the sun from their bodies. Their leader then assumed the government of the country under the name Rūdra Vanniya Mahārāja, who had five sons, the ancestors of the Vanniya caste. These facts are said to be recorded in the Vaidīswara temple in the Tanjore district."
The Vaidīwara temple here referred to is the Vaidīswara kōvil near Shiyāli. Mr. Stuart adds that "this tradition alludes to the destruction of the city of Vāpi by Narasimha Varma, king of the Pallis or Pallavas." Vāpi, or Vā-api, was the ancient name of Vātāpi or Bādāmi in the Bombay Presidency. It was the capital of the Chālukyas, who, during the seventh
- ↑ * Manual of the North Arcot district.
