The Mulukanadu Brahmins are a sub-group of

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode S ...

-speaking Vaidiki

Smartha The ''Smarta'' tradition ( sa, स्मार्त), also called Smartism, is a movement in Hinduism that developed and expanded with the Puranas genre of literature. It reflects a synthesis of four philosophical strands, namely Mimamsa, A ...

Brahmins. Variations of the name of the community include: Murikinadu, Muluknadu, Mulukanadu, Mulakanadu, Moolakanadu and Mulikinadu.

Etymology

The name ''Mulukanadu'' follows the usual conjoint formulation of

Brahmin Brahmin (; sa, ब्राह्मण, brāhmaṇa) is a varna as well as a caste within Hindu society. The Brahmins are designated as the priestly class as they serve as priests (purohit, pandit, or pujari) and religious teachers (guru ...

communities: the word ''Naadu'' means "country" in all the

south India South India, also known as Dakshina Bharata or Peninsular India, consists of the peninsular southern part of India. It encompasses the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana, as well as the union territo ...

n languages; this is suffixed to the country whence the community hails, being in this case "Muluka". Thus, ''Muluka''+''Naadu''=''Mulukanadu'', "people of the Muluka land." Muluka or Mulaka is identified and it is also known as Moolaka or Moolaka desha along with Ashmaka in shatavahana regime. Aurangabad,

Nashik Nashik (, Marathi: aːʃik, also called as Nasik ) is a city in the northern region of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Situated on the banks of river Godavari, Nashik is the third largest city in Maharashtra, after Mumbai and Pune. Nashik ...

, Jalna, Vashim are parts of Mulaka. Pratishthanapura or present day Paithan is the capital of Mulaka desh.

T. V. Venkatachala Sastry Togere Venkatasubbasastry Venkatachala Sastry, commonly known as T. V. Venkatachala Shastry, is a Kannada-language writer, grammarian, critic, editor and lexicographer. He has authored in excess of 100 books, translations and has edited collect ...

's study of caste genealogy and sociology titled ''Mulukanadu Brahmanar'' traces the genealogy of the Mulukanadu sect and its origins, customs and prevailing cultures. Origins of the name Mulukanadu has been called variously across an assorted array of inscriptions found in the region. The Brahmin community from this sect has an incessant relationship with the Telugu language and it can be deduced that the region corresponding to the origin of this sect is the middle Pennar region which is based entirely in the Cuddapah district. The area is itself known under different names during different periods of time. Dommaranandyala plates inscribed by Punyakumara mentions this region as ''Hiranya Rashtra.'' The first inscription that explicitly talks about ''Mulkinadu'' is of the

Rashtrakuta Rashtrakuta (IAST: ') (r. 753-982 CE) was a royal Indian dynasty ruling large parts of the Indian subcontinent between the sixth and 10th centuries. The earliest known Rashtrakuta inscription is a 7th-century copper plate grant detailing their ...

king Krishna in Pushpagiri as ''Mulkinadu naidu maharajyam.'' Along with Mulkinadu, various other locations in the vicinity are called ''Renadu, Marjavadi, Pottapinadu, Pedanadu'' and so on. There is another inscription by the king Kayasta Ambadeva (This is the same king who reigned the southern region of the Andhra Pradesh under the Kakatiya ruler Rudrama Devi) dated ''Saka'' 1214 corresponding to 1292 CE. Along with Mulkinadu, he also refers to other regions ''Penavadi, Pulivendla'' (Present day Pulivendula), ''Sirivodu'' and ''Pottapi.'' Another king of the Kakatiya dynasty Prataprudra who ruled between 1289 CE and 1323 CE had got inscribed in his ''Chanduvayi inscription'' in the Siddhavatam Taluk of Cuddapah district about the region of Mulikinadu in the year 1319 CE. The fact that these inscriptions also refer to other regions that are close by attests that the region Mulkinadu or Mulukanadu is indeed a region in Cuddapah district.

* Forward Castes The historical version I heard was Mulk in Urdu is land. All the muslim states specially Nizam state was known as Mulk and we were all given Mulki certificates indicating we belong to telangana. From there i heard that this situation of being driven by land where ever Muslim rulers invaded Hindustan and attacked temples those priests had to save their lives by running away from Central Bharat and Maharastra and fortunately Vijayanagaram Kakateeya and southern kings were kind enough to provide a shive temple with adequate lend for temple archana and for their livelihood. Since they came from Mulk uslim landand were incharge of shiva temples and smarthas they formed a group of their own identity. As i know there were several educated people tried to bring them together time to time by marriage ties. we can trace their origin to Nanded, Aurangabad Hyderabad, Agra and other erstwhile muslim ruled states.

References

{{Reflist Telugu Brahmin communities Social groups of Andhra Pradesh

Etymology

See also

References