Ashtagrama iyer

The Ashtagrama Iyers are a group of  or South Indian Brahmins with their roots in the Ashtagrama situated in the  district of

History
In the early 16th century a few of the Iyers from the North Arcot and the districts of Tamil Nadu migrated to the Ashtagrama group of villages, at the request of the existing government, as learned Priests, Vedic Scholars and Agriculturists. They soon transformed it from a once poor community, into a well-educated and prosperous one.

Ashtagrama
Ashtagrama (literally,'eight villages') consists of several villages which are located in the Valley of the, which flows through the Kolar district into Tamil Nadu. The 10 villages on the North side of the river are Cholagunte, Doddiganahalli,, Gangigunte, Honnagaanahalli, Kothamangala, Minijenahalli, Thattangunte, Vijalapura and Yelagundanahalli. The remainder of the villages, Aralakunte, Chamarahalli, Gangapura, Hunkunda and Shillangeri are on the southern side of the river. Though the Iyers form the majority of the population all these villages show communal diversity.

Customs and beliefs
Most of the customs of the Ashtagrama Iyers remain the same as that of their counterparts elsewhere but some of them are derived  from the  customs of Karnataka. Most Iyers follow both the of  and the  of Karnataka. For example, the lunar s are followed for celebrating festivals while the lunar day is taken into account for Shraddh or death ceremonies. Similarly, on 14/15th of January both and  are celebrated.

Language
Most Ashtagrama Iyers have a good knowledge of and sometimes  (Kolar being on the Karnataka-Andhra Pradesh border) though at home, a dialect of  is spoken which varies significantly from the way the other Iyers speak.

Some examples are:

Ashtagrama Iyers today
Today, many from the community have moved out into bigger cities like Bangalore, Chennai, New York, New Jersey etc. The Ashtagrama Sangha has taken shape in Bangalore to put forth the views of the community. Some known names from this community are, the South Indian cine actress and Regret Iyer, a writer and cartoonist who had become a household name not too many years ago.