Its rather interesting to note that the Mazhavaraiyar chieftains/Polygars of Ariyalur (a Vanniyar sub clan) claimed to belong to the Vitihotra gotra (one among the five Haihaya clans) in some of their epigraphs of 17th - 18th century.
This could point to the possibility that the Mazhavaraya chieftains could be the descendants of one among the various Haihaya/Kalachuri Rajaputra clans which migrated down south during the medieval era.
The clue to this comes from the fact that an inscription of Chola emperor Rajendra II in 11th century refers to the Haihaya Mahamandaleshwara Revarasa of Gulbarga region, a vassal of Chalukya emperor Someshwara I as "Vanniya Revan".
The Haihaya king Revarasa also bore the hereditary titles of "Mahishmathi Puravaresvara", "Haihaya Vamsothbava" and "Kartavirya kula tilaka", as evident from the 11th century Chalukya inscriptions found in Yevor and Kembhavi.
The records of the Mazhavaraya chieftains maintain that they had migrated further south during the early 15th century CE and founded Ariyalur, functioned as Poligars under Vijayanagara empire and adopted the title "Oppilada Mazhavaraya". after the goddess Oppiladamman.
They are even credited with rendering military assistance to the Vijayanagara emperor Saluva Narasimha Raya in battle against the Gajapati emperor Pratapa Rudra Deva.
Later in the 17th century, the chief of Ariyalur is also said to have assisted the Madurai Nayakas to repel a Muhammadan invasion. Later the poligars were subjected to the suzerainty of the Nawab of Arcot in 18th century.
Loading suggestions...