Kodava people
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| (approx) 160,000 | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Kodagu (Coorg), Bangalore, Mangalore, Mysore | |
| Languages | |
| Kodava takk | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Amma Kodava, Kodagu Heggade, Kodava Maaple, Kodagu Gowda |
The term Kodava has two related usages. Firstly, it is the name of the Kodava language and culture followed by a number of communities from Kodagu. Secondly, within the Kodava - speaking communities and region (Kodagu) it describes the dominant Kodava people. The Kodavas (Kodava, anglicised as Coorgs), are considered a patrilineal ethno-lingual tribe from the region of Kodagu, (in Karnataka state of southern India), who natively speak the Kodava language. Traditionally they were land-owning agriculturists with martial customs. They practice family exogamy and caste endogamy.
The words Kodava (the indigenous people, language and culture) and Kodagu (the land) come from the same root word 'Koda' of unknown meaning. Some claim it means 'hills', others say it means 'west' but both relate to the Western Ghats' location. Kodagu is called Kodavu in the native Kodava language. The community members were called Kodava by the other natives and Coorgs (or Coorgis) by the British. They are ethnically and culturally distinct people. For centuries, the Kodavas have lived in Kodagu cultivating paddy fields, maintaining cattle herds and carrying arms during war.
There are a variety of theories as to the origin of the Kodava, including theories of them being either the indigenous inhabitants of their region, or of foreign origins before two thousand years ago. However the foreign theories are mere speculations because they have found no concrete evidences.
Historians agree that the Kodavas have lived in Kodagu for over a thousand years, hence they are the earliest agriculturists and probably the oldest settled inhabitants of the area.
The Hindu Puranas (Kaveri Purana of Skanda Purana) claim that Chandra Varma, a Chandravanshi Kshatriya (lunar dynasty warrior) and son of Emperor of Matsya Desha, was the ancestor of this 'fierce' race, the Kodavas. An ardent devotee of Goddess Parvati, he had gone on pilgrimage to several holy places all over India. Chandra Varma had a privy army who escorted him on his campaigns until he came into Kodagu(Coorg). Coorg, the source of the River Kaveri, was uninhabited jungle land when he arrived to settle here. Thereafter he became the first Raja of the Coorg principality. He had 11 sons, the eldest among them was Devakantha who later succeeded him as Raja. They were married to the daughters of the Raja of Vidarbha. These sons and their descendants cultivated and populated the land of Kodagu, they came to be called the Kodava race.
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Wikipedia