Bhovi

The Bhovi (Voddar) are a scheduled caste from Indian states Karnataka and Mysore. They are also known as Od, Odde, Vaddar, Waddar, Woddar. The Bhovi were 955,752 in Karnataka at the 2001 census (11.2 per cent of the scheduled caste population of Karnataka), 74.9 per cent of the Karnataka Bhovi population was rural, 49.2% were literate. Only 2.9% were graduates. They used to work as palanquin carriers and farm workers about 200 years ago. Their village councils consist of men only. Women are allowed to attend, however. They claim to have originated in areas such as Orissa. Bhovi also is the name of a male leader of a Bhovi community. The languages spoken by Bhovi include Waddar language, Telugu language and Kannada language.

The Bhovi used to be nomads. They are distributed in almost all districts of Karnataka having a major concentration in Kolar and Chitradurga districts.

The sub-castes of Bhovi caste are the following: The Kallu Waddars, the Mannu Waddars, the Uppu Waddars, the Bandi Waddars, the Girini Waddars, the Raja Waddars, the Aragu Waddars, the Tudugu Waddars and the Oru Waddars. They probably are named after occupations. The first three sub-castes form the majority of the Bhovi population in Mysore state. Kallu Waddar subcaste is the largest Bhovi sub-caste in Karnataka. The second largest sub-caste in Karnataka are the Mannu Waddars. The Kallu Waddars have the highest rank among the Bhovi sub-castes.

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