The Velir were a royal house of minor dynastic kings and aristocratic chieftains in Tamilakam in the early historic period of South India and Sri Lanka. They had close relations with Chera, Chola and Pandya rulers through ruling and coronation rights. Medieval inscriptions and Sangam literature claim that they belong to the Yadu dynasty. Velir may refer to master of land.

The Purananuru, one of the Eight Anthologies of Sangam literature, praises King Irunkōvēl, a 49th generation descendant of the Vēlir clan whose ancestors appeared from the pitcher (தடவு) of a Northern sage (Agastya), and said to have ruled Thuvarai (Dvārakā) with a fort containing tall huge walls made of bronze. According to a commentary on Tholkappiyam, the earliest long work of Tamil literature, eighteen clans of the Velirs came from the city of Tuvarapati under the leadership of the sage Agastya. The legend goes that all the gods and sages went to the Himalayas to attend the marriage of Siva with Parvati due to which the earth started tilting to one side. Agastya was then requested to proceed south to restore the balance. On his way south, Agastya married Lopamudra and is said to have brought with him sage Jamadagni's son Trnadhumagni or Tholkappiyar, the author of Tamil grammar, and eighteen members of the Vrishni family along with eighteen crore Velir and Aruvalar. It has been suggested by some like Thapar and Champakalakshmi, that the ancestors of the Velir may have been related to the Yadava of Dvaraka and the inhabitants of the post Harappan Chacolithic Black and Red ware sites. According to Thapar, the Yadava may have belonged to a non Indo-Aryan language group. They eventually reached Tamraparni, and as the Velir-Perumakan group, cultivated its ancient society as a political, sociocultural and economic structure in South India and Sri Lanka.

Historian R. Nagaswamy writes that quite a number of these velirs were indigenous and natives of Tamil country but some of the velirs seem to have migrated from dvaraka.

The Irunkōvēl kings trace their lineage to the clan of Krishna; one of the inscriptions at Kodumbalur belonging to one of the kings in the Irunkovel line, namely Tennavan Irunkōvēl. The Moovar Koil record of Irukkuvel chief Boothi Vikramakesari lauds his father, Samarabirama, as Yadu-vamsa-ketu (Banner of the Yadu race). Historians consider the Ay velirs originated from the pastoralists of Ayars and they gained preeminence at an early stage in Tamil history.

The Velir were prominent in the Sangam period of Tamil polity, economy, and society. They are traced to the Yadavas (Yadu descent) of Dvaraka and linked up with all important dynasties of South India including the Chalukyas, Hoysalas, and Andhras. In Sangam literature, they are portrayed as independent chieftains who ruled in bordering areas of three major ruling dynasties, had considerable collective power and marriage alliances with Three Crowned Kings. "

While most of the rulers are substantiated by epigraphs and literatures, some of their history of ruling some dynasties is not recorded.

Also, some of the medieval dynasties of the western half of the peninsula claim to be descended from Yadhavas lineage and the Ay chiefs of Ay dynasty of the ninth century A.D. claim to be the Vrishni-kula as also the Mushika kings who link themselves with Haihaya origins. The Periya Puranam describes about a Haiheya clan king Eyarkon Kalikama Nayanar, he was a Vellalar saint and Commander-in-chief of the Chola army. The Ay velir chieftains, who settled down in Ay county (near Kanyakumari), were quite prominent in Tamil Nadu during the sangam age.

The Chalukyas and Kadambas belonging to Manavya gotra as being the descendants of the original ancestress Hariti. The Karmandala Satakam states that the Velirs of karmandalam belong to the same "Manavya" Gotra. The Chalukya kings were called Velpularasar and Velkulattarasar by some communities, that is kings over Vel country (pula means region or country). Later day references to them in Choļa inscriptions puts the Chalukyas under the Velir community ruling in Deccan.