Tamil Brahmin


Tamil Brahmins are Tamil-speaking Brahmins, primarily living in Tamil Nadu, although a few of them have settled in other states like, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Karnataka. They can be broadly divided into three religious groups, Gurukkals who follow Saivism, Iyers who follow the Srauta and Smartha tradition and Iyengars who follow Sri Vaishnavism.

Groups

Tamil Brahmins are divided into three groups -- Iyers, Iyengars and Gurukkal. Iyers form the majority of the Tamil Brahmin population and are Smarthas, while Iyengars are Vaishnavas and Gurukkals are Saivas.

Iyer

Iyers are Srauta-Smartha Brahmins, most of whom follow the Advaita philosophy propounded by Adi Shankara, and are concentrated mainly along the Cauvery Delta districts of Nagapattinam, Thanjavur, Tiruvarur and Tiruchirapalli where they form almost 10% of the total population. However the largest population reside in Nagercoil, making up to 13% of the city's population They are also found in significant numbers in Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai, Tirunelveli, Ambasamudram, Palakkad and Trivandrum.

Iyengar

Iyengars follow the Visishtadvaita philosophy propounded by Sri Vikanasa or Sri Ramanujacharya. They are divided into two sub-sects: Vadakalai and Thenkalai. They are devout worshippers of Lord Vishnu.

Gurukkal

The gurukkal are priests in Shiva, Shakthi and Vinayaka temples,they put horizontal three ticks and kungumam in forehead for rituals of lord Shiva. They are also called as Bhattar and Shivacharya as well as with Gurukkal.They also perform Kumbhabhishekam, Ganapathy homam, Navagraha homam.They follow Shaiva Siddhanta.

Notable people