Niyogi

Niyogi Brahmin is a Telugu Brahmin subcaste[2] native to the Indian States of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, but are spread throughout South India and Maharashtra.[3][4] The traditional occupations of the Niyogi Brahmins are settled cultivation and priest hood.[5] But majority of them took up various secular vocations including military activities and patwaris. They were associated with administration, economics, literature, music composing, politics, scholarly, scientific, engineering, defense and warfare careers.[6][7]

Niyogi Brahmin
Classification	Forward caste
Religions	Hinduism
Languages	Telugu (primary) Other Dravidian languages[1]
Country	Primarily India

Etymology

The word Niyogi is derived from Yoga, which in this context means "religious contemplation", as opposed to Yaga, which means "religious sacrifice". Niyogin in Sanskrit also means "employed", "appointed" or "assigned" and it is probable that Niyogis were given this name because they accept secular employment.[8]

See also

• Telugu Brahmin

References

1. William Joseph Jackson (1994). Tyāgarāja and the Renewal of Tradition: Translations and Reflections. Motilal Banarsidass. p. 226. ISBN 978-8120811461.
2. Vinod Kumar Rawat (22 October 2014). Knowledge-Power/Resistance: Beyond Bacon, Ambedkar and Foucault. Partridge Publishing. p. 160. ISBN 9781482839166. Retrieved 22 October 2014.
3. C. J. Fuller; Haripriya Narasimhan (11 November 2014). Tamil Brahmans: The Making of a Middle-Class Caste. University of Chicago Press. p. 62. ISBN 978-0226152882.
4. Kumar Suresh Singh (1998). India's Communities, Volume 6. Oxford University Press. p. 2644. ISBN 9780195633542. In Maharashtra, the Niyogi Brahman have eleven subgroups like Aruvela Niyogi and Kammelu Niyogi. They have migrated from Andhra Pradesh. In social practices and rituals they do not differ from their original stock in Andhra Pradesh.
5. Kumar Suresh Singh (1998). India's Communities, Volume 6. Oxford University Press. p. 2645. ISBN 9780195633542. The traditional occupations of the Niyogi Brahman of Andhra Pradesh are settled cultivation and priesthood. They were Patwaris also.
6. Sanatha Dharma, Religion, Gothra, Sages, Saints & Rishis of Vedic Era
7. Ancient India: a history of its culture and civilization, Damodar Dharmanand Kosambi, p. 166-170
8. Hopkins, Religions of India, p. 192 states: "As to the fees, the rules are precise, and the propounders of them are unblushing."

Further reading

• Wagoner, Phillip B. (October 2003). "Precolonial Intellectuals and the Production of Colonial Knowledge". Comparative Studies in Society and History. 45 (4): 783–814. JSTOR 3879496.