yengar Tamil is a Tamil variety understood to have spread from the Tamil heartland to what is today the neighboring state of Karnataka, with the 11th century migration of a Brahmin community following the saint Ramanuja and his Sri Vaishnavist philosophy. The most common sub-dialects of Iyengar Tamil are those spoken by Hebbar and Mandyam Iyengars, which are substantially mutually intelligible. Showing influence from contact with Kannada, Iyengar Tamil is also distinctive in terms of its lexicon, especially its treatment of holy foods and items. Starting in the late 1970’s and 1980’s and peaking in the 1990’s and 2000’s, young professionals from the Iyengar diaspora community have been immigrating to the Greater New York area for improved job prospects and joining the burgeoning South Asian community, with some members in and around the hub of Edison.