Vaidiki Brahmins

Vaidiki Brahmins (Vaidika, Vaidikulu, Vaideeki) are a sect of Telugu-speaking Smartha Brahmins. They are predominantly followers of Adi Shankaracharya and are mostly found in Andhra Pradesh. The name derives from Vedas.

Notable personalities

Media and entertainment

• Bhanumathi Ramakrishna – a Indian film actress, director, music director, singer, producer, book and song writer

Modern literature

• Devarakonda Balagangadhara Tilak – Telugu poet best known for his posthumous collection of poems Amrutham Kurisina Ratri
• Rayaprolu Subba Rao – writer of several songs, including "Ea desameginaa endhu kaalidina"
• Madhira Subbanna Deekshitulu – Author of Kasi Majilee Kathalu, a series of moral stories
• Sripada Krishnamurty Sastry – composed more than a hundred works in Telugu and also ‘Sri Krishnasweeyacharitam’, an autobiography in Sanskrit
• Tenneti Hemalata(Lata) – best known for writings about prostitution in India
• Gunturu Seshendra Sharma – Famous Telugu poet who had nominated for Nobel literature prize

Scientists, academicians, and intellectuals

• Moskhagundam Visvesvaraya -engineer
• Suri Bhagavantam – scientist, collaborator with C.V. Raman, Director of the Indian Institute of Science and the Defence Research and Development Organization
• Vulimiri Ramalingaswami – medical scientist. Former Director General of Indian Council of Medical Research

Carnatic music and classical arts

• Tyagaraja – Carnatic Music Vocalist
• Syama Sastri – oldest among the Trinity of Carnatic music
• M. Balamuralikrishna – a Carnatic vocalist, multi-instrumentalist and a playback singer
• Emani Sankara Sastry – a renowned Veena player of Carnatic music
• Nookala Chinna Satyanarayana – Carnatic vocalist
• Sripada Pinakapani – Sangita Kalanidhi and guru of Voleti Venkateswarlu, Nookala Chinna Satyanarayana, Nedanuri Krishnamurti
• Puranam Purushottama Sastri – an eminent Carnatic Musician and winner of Sangeet Natak Akademi Award
• Manda Sudharani - An "A-top" grade Female Musician
• Malladi Brothers – a Carnatic music vocalist duo
• Chitti Babu (musician) – a renowned classical musician from India
• Vempati Chinna Satyam – Dancer and guru of Kuchipudi dance form

Religious leaders

• Sripad Srivallabha – according to GuruCharitra, he is the first avatar (incarnation) of the deity Shri Dattatreya in Kali Yuga
• Vallabha Acharya – founded Shri Vallabha Sampradayam, now prevalent in Uttar Pradesh, Bengal, Rajasthan and Gujarat
• Ganapati Sachchidananda – head of Avadhoota Datta Peetham in Mysore
• Swami Sahajanand Saraswati – guru.
• Ekkirala Bharadwaja – also known as "Master Gaaru", he popularised 'Sai Baba Sampradayam' in Andhra Pradesh
• Ekkirala Krishnamacharya
• Chittamuru Ramaiah – follower of Theosophy
• Samavedam Shanmukha Sarma
• Malladi Chandrasekhara Sastry
• Ushasri(Puranapanda Deekshitulu)
• Sribhashyam Appalacharyulu
• Garikapati Narasimha Rao
• Sri Bharati Tirtha – 36th and current Jagadguru of Sringeri Sharada Peetham
• Sri Abhinava Vidyatirtha- 35th Jagadguru of Sringeri Sharada Peetham
• Chandrashekhara Bharati III – 34th Jagadguru of Sringeri Sharada Peetham
• Sri Sacchidananda Shivabhinava Narasimha Bharathi – 33rd Jagadguru of Sringeri Sharada Peetham
• Vijayendra Saraswati Swamigal – Junior pontiff, Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham

Others

• Kambampati Nachiketa – Kargil War hero

See also

• Telugu Brahmin
• Niyogi
• Aaraama Dravidulu

References

• Acharya Hazari Prasad Dwivedi Rachnawali, Rajkamal Prakashan, Delhi
• Christopher Alan Bayly, Rulers, Townsmen, and Bazaars: North Indian Society in the Age of British Expansion, 1770–1870, Cambridge University Press, 1983
• Kosambi, Damodar Dharmanand, Ancient India: a history of its culture and civilization, p. 166–170
• Passarino, et al., The re-colonization of Eurasia during the Late Glacial Maximum
• Ray, Himanshu P., Indian Economic and Social History Review 1987, 24: 443
• The expansion of the Kurgan people from the Pontic-Caspian steppe, which is associated with the spread of the Indo-European languages. (Semino 200)
• Swami Sahajanand Saraswati Rachnawali (Selected works of Swami Sahajanand Saraswati), Prakashan Sansthan, Delhi, 2003
• Baldev Upadhyaya, Kashi Ki Panditya Parampara, Sharda Sansthan, Varanasi, 1985
• Yang, Anand A., Bazaar India: Markets, Society, and the Colonial State in Bihar, University of California Press, 1999