Arya Vaishya

Arya Vaishya / Komati
Religions	Hinduism
Languages	Marathi, Oriya, Telugu, Kannada, Tamil
Populated states	Maharashtra, Odisha, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu
Subdivisions	Gavara & Kalinga Komatis

Arya Vaishya (Arya Vysya) or Komati is an Indian caste. Orthodox Arya Vaishyas follow rituals prescribed in the Vasavi Puranam, a religious text written in the late Middle Ages. Their kuladevata is Vasavi.

The Arya Vaishya are divided into two sub-sects, the Gavara Komatis and the Kalinga Komatis. The community were formerly known as Komati Chettiars but now prefer to be referred to as Arya Vaishya.

The Komatis are said to have originally lived in large numbers along the Godavari River, which the locals called Gomati or Gomti. The Sanskrit Gomati was rendered into Telugu as Komati.

Hanumantha Rao noted that the merchant classes preferred Jainism for gaining social status and respectability, and the erstwhile Banias became Gomati or followers of the Gomata cult in medieval times. The story of Vasavi, the caste goddess of the Vaishyas narrated in the Vaishya Purana, is said to have definite Jain overtones.

According to Rao, there is an alternative etymology for the word Komti, as the "derivation of the word from gomata, the great Jaina saint, which implies that they were followers of Gomata cult or were originally Jains".

Dwarakanath Gupta says that "These tradesmen (Beharulu) who hailed from Gouda Desa took to Jainism and adopted the 'Gomata' cult. The word Gomata got distorted slowly as Gomatlu, Kommathulu, Komattulu. In the Tamil and Malayalam languages the word 'Komati' is in use. These Jain Vysyas slowly gave up Jainism and embraced the Vedic religion during its revival".

The Nellore Choda kings in the 13th century are said to have established the varnashrama dharma in the Telugu country. The court poet and minister Tikkana treated Komatis as being equivalent to Vaishya in his Andhra Mahabharatam.

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