Wikipedia
Vanniar (Chieftain)
Vanniar or Vannia ( Sinhalese: වන්නියා) is a title of a chief in medieval Sri Lanka who ruled the Vanni regions as tribute payers to the Jaffna vassal state. Vanniar is not recorded as a name of a caste amongst Sri Lankan Tamils in the Vanni District of northern Sri Lanka during the early 1900s. It is no longer used as a name of a caste or as chiefs in Sri Lanka. There are number of origin theories for the feudal chiefs, coming from as an indigenous formation. The most famous of the Vanni chieftains was Bandara Vannia, known for his resistance against the British colonial power.