Vaddera is a caste name or social group

Vadderas Vaddera is a caste name or social group from Andhra Pradesh, India. This caste is also known as VadderaRaju / Odde / Vadde in Andhra Pradesh in India. Vaddera is sub-caste of Boyar caste. It is similar to Boyi and Bhovi in Karnataka state.They are also known as Chitti Karanalu in Godavari Distrcits in A.P. Sources say that Valli amma also belong to same community. Vaali Amma, the wife of Skanda Swamy (Kumar Swamy) is also claimed to belong Vedar / Vetar community. Further Bhakta Kannappa belonged to Vetar subsect of Muthuraja (Mudiraj) community in Tamilnadu. They are also known as Bhovi Vaddera( Boyer ), and Bandollu. Banda means stone and Bandollu means people dealing with stone cutting. A study reveals that there are Vaddi fishermen near Kollera lake area. The word 'Bhovi' is a corrupt form of 'Bhavi' which means 'well' in Kannada, it also means 'earth-digger'. They have been involved in the digging of wells. There is a confusion of 'Boya' a 'Kshatriya' caste and 'Bovi' a 'shudra' caste mix-up there is no proper evidence in which period this has taken place, but some gotras are common.

Many castes in Andhra pradesh have shared common gotras. This may be one of the reason for mix-up in remote regions in different periods. Some sections of Boya, Gangaputra, Agnikula Kshatriya castes consider themselves as part of Mudiraj community in some regions of Andhra Pradesh. Vaddars or Wadewars are a branch of Odde caste of Madras Presidency. The Oddes or Vaddars of Madras are a very low caste, and some of their customs point to a similar origin of kols, who are excellent diggers and masons. The northern segment of the Telugu Vadugar in Kalinga broke into Oddars or Oriyas. The Oddars are the tank-diggers, well-sinkers, stone-quarriers and earth- workers. Some of the Vadderas mention Bhovi as their subcaste. Bhovis and Boyas are one and the same people who are related to Bhils of North India.

There are also some sections of Vadderas who mention Valmiki as their subcaste. Vadderas worship goddess ankamma. Saint Valmiki was a bhil - boya tribesman. The Boya are not supposed to accept food from the Sugali and Vaddi communities. Vaddars are Stone Cutters and quarry workers. They may be categorised as semi tribals. The adjacent branch of the "Vaddars, the diggers (whose ancestors roved all over the country and dug water-tanks for every UP village), have dissolved by decay, employent being scarce; and the particular group survives by bootlegging, and odd jobs. They live in the most wretched level as do the pardhis. Bowris relating to Pardhis & Kaikadis are diggers of water wells in North India. Vaddars are stone cutters and sculptors. Originally from Orissaa. During the time of Kelings war, & lot of them massacred by the Emperor Ashoka. Kannambady dam, Vidhana Soudha, Belur Halebeedu temples, Ellora temple, were build by them. Tymur took some of them to Kabul to build palaces there. According to speculation in the Eliot manuscripts that Vaddars � referred to as a. ''numerous and widely spread Caste'' may have been Buddhists in the eleventh century. The Vaddra community was identified as criminal tribe during British time. After denotifying the community by Independent India, Vadderas were placed under BC A category. Vadderas were recognised as STs in Karnataka, Kerala, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Gujarat. However, other States were treating Vadderas either as SCs or Bcs. Vadderas constructed roads, projects and canals but they did not own land.

According to the legend, in the time of the Western Chalukyas of Badami in the 11 Century A.D., the Vadderas who carted stones of the construction of the temples at Alampur (also known as Dakshina Kasi in Mahaboobnagar District) used the site on which the city now stands as a halting place before crossing the Tungabhadra and greased their cart-wheels with oil, locally supplied by some of the oil mongers and called the place Kandenametta. This circumstance led to the formation of a small settlement on the spot which subsequently came to be known as Kandenapalli, Kandenolu and Kandenavolu, the city of Kandena or grease. It is also interesting to note that the site which was used as a halting place by the Vadderas in those days is still known as Bandla Metta (Bandla means carts; Metta means headquarters or halting place), a street in the Old Kurnool city.

During the medieval times, the state corresponding roughly with now-a-days Orissa passed under the various names such as: Utkala, Kalinga, and Odra (Udra) Desa. These land names are associated with peoples. The Okkala or Utkala, the Kalinga, and the Odra or Oddaka were mentioned in literature as tribes. Approximately between the 11th and 16th centuries the name was twisted; the name Odra Desa was gradually transformed into Uddisa, Udisa, or Odisa, which in English became Orissa. The language of Odisa came to be known as Oriya. Ode tribe migrated to gujarat around 12th century for construction of temples in which they are more specialized. People who supplied stone and lime for construction work of temples. People from these region were called as Oddars, Vadderas and Waddars in Andhra, Tamil nadu and Karnataka. The important Deity of Odes is 'Jasma devi'. Pigs are kept for eating by Vaddars and Kaikadis. Donkeys are kept as pack animals by some Vanis and Kumbhars and also by Vaddars. The Vaddars are considered to be a menial caste. Child labor is common among them. The stone-cutting Vaddars are the principal criminals, and by going about under the pretence of mending grindstones ( job of Takankars ) they obtain much useful information as to the houses to be looted or parties of travellers to be attacked. The following Vadderas are under denotified list - (i) Kal Oddars ( Kancheepuram, Tiruvallur, Ramanathapuram, Sivaganga, Virudhunagar, Madurai, Theni, Dindigul,Pudukottai, Thanjavur, Nagapattinam,Tiruvarur, Tiruchirapalli, Karur,Perambalur, Tirunelveli, Toothukudi, Salem and Namakkal Districts), (ii) Nellorepet Oddars ( Vellore and Tiruvannamalai Districts ) and (iii) Oddars ( Thanjavur, Nagapattinam, Tiruvarur, Tiruchirapalli,Karur, Perambalur, Pudukottai, Madurai, Theni and Dindigul Districts ) 

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