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.