Vatuka
The Vatuka, meaning northerners in Old Tamil language and also spelled Vaduga, comprise three distinct Telugu-speaking caste-based communities of what is now the state of Tamil Nadu in India. They claim to be families who moved south to the region from Andhra following the collapse of the Vijayanagara Empire after 1565, settling in contiguous areas of Tirunelveli. Their original caste identities were as Balija, Kambalattars and Kammavars and they believe themselves to have once been prominent in the Vijayanagara imperial court.
The Vatuka engaged in agriculture in the arid area of Tirunelveli, perhaps because they had experience of cultivating such land but perhaps also because the other dominant group in the area - the Maravars - had already settled in the more fertile places. People such as Veerapandiya Kattabomman, Tirumala Nayaka, Maharaani Mangammal, Virupatchi Gopala Naicker are some historical leaders and kings of Tamil Nadu Nayakar Kingdoms.
