Gounder

Gounder is a title used by various Tamil castes from Tamil Nadu state in India. It is primarily used by the Kongu Vellalar, who are, ritually a high caste involved in agriculture and mercantile activities. Kongu Vellalars are subdivided into numerous sub communities. They are present in the districts of Coimbatore, Erode, Salem, Dharmapuri and Nilagiris.

They were all originally agriculturalists and consider Kongu Nadu, an ancient division of Tamil Nadu as their ancestral land. [cite book|isbn=978-0761932925|author=Guilmoto, C|coauthors=Irudaya Rajan, S.|title=Fertility Transition in South India|pages=274|publisher=SAGE Publications|year=2005] [cite book|author=Mattison, M.|title=The Warrior Merchants: Textiles, Trade and Territory in South India|pages=95|isbn=978-0521267144|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1985]

Number of other castes such as Vanniar,Vettuvar and Gollar also use this tile. [Brill-Leiden, E.J. "Contributions to Asian Studies", P. 8] Gounders are noted for their upward social mobility, [citebook|title=Fraternal Capital: peasant-workers, self-made men and globalisation in provincial India|year=2004|publisher=Stanford University Press|author=Sharad Chari|isbn=9780804748735] as well as for practicing female infanticide, [Rajeswari Sundararajan, "Signposts: Gender Issues in Post-Independence India", p. 138] and engaging in violence against untouchable castes. [ [http://www.pucl.org/Topics/Dalit-tribal/2004/kalapatti-fact-findings.pdf Caste discrimination and untouchability practices] ]

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