Tamil BrahminTamil Brahmins are an ethnoreligious community of Tamil-speaking Brahmins, predominantly living in Tamil Nadu, though they number significantly in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Telangana in addition to other regions of India. They can be broadly divided into two denominations: Iyengars, who are adherents of Sri Vaishnavism, and Iyers, who follow the Srauta and Smarta traditions.
Tamil NaduTamil Nadu is the southernmost state of India. The tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population, it is the home of the Tamils, who speak the Tamil language, the state's official language and the first to be recognised as a classical language in India. Chennai is the state's largest city and capital.
BrahminBrahmin (; Sanskrit: ब्राह्मण, romanized: brāhmaṇa) is a varna (social class) within Hindu society. The other three varnas are the Kshatriya (rulers and warriors), Vaishya (traders, merchants, and farmers), and Shudra (labourers).
IyengarIyengars (also spelt Ayyangar, Aiyengar, or Aiyangar, pronounced ) are an ethnoreligious community of Tamil-speaking HinduBrahmins, whose members follow Sri Vaishnavism and the Visishtadvaita philosophy propounded by Ramanuja. Iyengars are divided into two denominations, the Vadakalai and the Tenkalai and live mostly in the Southern Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh.
TamilsDravidian ethnic groupEthnic groupThe Tamils ( ), also known by their demonymTamilar, are a Dravidianethnic group who natively speak the Tamil language and trace their ancestry mainly to the southern part of the Indian subcontinent. Tamil is one of the longest-surviving languages, with over two thousand years of written history, dating back to the Sangam period (between 300 BCE and 300 CE).
IndiaCountry in South AsiaIndia, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the world's seventh-largest country by area and the largest by population. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the Bay of Bengal on the southeast, it shares land borders with Pakistan to the west; China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the north; and Bangladesh and Myanmar to the east. In the Indian Ocean, India is near Sri Lanka and the Maldives.
Smarta traditionThe Smarta tradition (Sanskrit: स्मार्त, IAST: Smārta) is a movement in Hinduism that developed and expanded with the Puranas genre of literature. It reflects a synthesis of four philosophical strands, namely Uttara Mīmāṃsā, Advaita, Yoga, and theism. The Smarta tradition rejects theistic sectarianism, and is notable for the domestic worship of five shrines with five deities, all treated as equal – Ganesha, Shiva, Shakti, Vishnu and Surya.
GotraLineage forming an exogamous clan in Vedic society In Hindu culture, the term gotra (Sanskrit: गोत्र) is considered to be equivalent to lineage. It broadly refers to people who are descendants in an unbroken male line from a common male ancestor or patriline. Generally, the gotra forms an exogamous unit, with marriage within the same gotra being regarded as incest and prohibited by custom.
Sri VaishnavismOne of the major Vaishnava traditionsSri Vaishnavism (Sanskrit: श्रीवैष्णवसम्प्रदाय, romanized: Śrīvaiṣṇavasampradāya) is a denomination within the Vaishnavism tradition of Hinduism, predominantly practiced in South India. The name refers to goddess Lakshmi (also known as Sri), as well as a prefix that means "sacred, revered", and the god Vishnu, who are together revered in this tradition.
Pancha-DravidaPancha Dravida (lit.'Five Dravida' from Sanskrit: पंच pancha) is one of the two major groupings of Brahmins in Hinduism, of which the other is Pancha-Gauda.
Advaita VedantaHindu tradition of textual interpretation
Adi Shankara8th-century Indian Vedic scholar
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