Vadama

While some believe that their name is an indication of the fact that they were the most recent Brahmin migrants to the Tamil country others interpret the usage of the term "Vadama" as a reference to their strict adherence to the Sanskrit language and Vedic rituals which are of northerly origin.

Other scholars are of the opinion that rather than the superficial indication of a northern origin for the people, the term "vadama" would rather refer to proficiency in Sanskrit and Vedic ritual, generally associated with the north prior to the first millennium CE.

The oppression was also felt in the eastern peninsula as far as the Gajapati Kingdom where, for instance in 1478, Muhammad Shah III Lashkari (1463–1482) demolished the Great Temple of Kondavidu and was acclaimed as a ghazi, for personally decapitating all the Brahmins.

[7] During the 19th century, the Vadamas along with other Tamil Brahmins made ample use of the opportunities provided by British rule to dominate the civil services, legislature and the judiciary in the Madras Presidency.

[8] Sociologist Andre Beteille, in his thesis Caste, class, and power: changing patterns of stratification in a Tanjore village, describes them as the biggest mirasidars among the Iyer community.