MAJOR CASTES OF KARNATAKA

Karnataka is home to a number of castes, some of them specific to the state and others with a pan Indian spread. Some major castes in Karnataka are known by different names in other states. Most of these castes come within the folds of Hinduism. Both Islam and Christianity have a distinct presence in this state and they too have some sub divisions. A sizable percentage of the population of this state belongs to scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and nomadic tribes. Even within the spectrum of a major caste there are sub categories, depending either on their profession or their choice of Gods to worship. Probably these divisions have an ethnic significance also. This brief note attempts to give a simple introduction to a very complex and dynamic phenomenon. Forces such as modernization and secularism have not really made a dent in the caste realities of Karnataka. Votebank politics has contributed its own mite to the perpetuation of the system. Caste system has evolved in a complex manner over the centuries and most attempts to reduce its efficacy have not met with appreciable success.

Major castes of Karnataka are linagAyata, (vIrashaiva) vokkaliga, Kuruba, nAyaka, golla, vaishya, Kshatriya, dEvAnga, brAhmaNa, IDiga (Billava) mogavIra, (besta) bEDa, lambANi, akkasAliga, ambiga, besta, agasa, pinjAra, uppAra etc. This list is neither exhaustive nor is it statistically delineated. We are interested here only in the evolution of the system rather than the contemporary panorama.

Castes constitute a more deep rooted category in Hinduism rather than the Varna system which speaks only of Brahmana, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Shudra as also a fifth category called panchama which includes a horde of scheduled castes and tribes. This stratification does not truly reflect the realities of Karnataka at any point of time. This system was more useful (?) in creating a hierarchy of power/property distribution rather than a pragmatic delineation of situations. The first three varnas had lots of power and wealth even though they constituted statistical minorities. The castewise composition of the land owning and artisan classes has been evolving over a period of time in a complex manner. For instance, the armies did not constitute only Kshatriyas at any point of time nor was business controlled entirely by the Vaishyas. Jains were as much in control of capital as vaishyas. Small kingdoms and feudatory states were ruled by people belonging to different castes. For instance Keladi and Ikkeri dynasties were ruled by Veerashaiva kings and Chitradurga was ruled by nAyaka caste. Many scholars have traced the ancestry of Wodeyar dynasty to yAdavas.

The ironclad linkage between caste and profession was always a strong dictum. Probably relief was provided only if one enlisted in to the army. Scheduled castes, tribes and nomads were discriminated against on all counts. These realities are well reflected in our literary texts. Adherence to caste system was more or less mandatory and the breaches were treated ruthlessly. However the forces of liberalism and humanism set in motion by the bhakti movement have tried to ameliorate the rigid practices of caste and they have met with scant success.

Caste system has created a lot of variety in lifestyle, food habits, rituals and artistic activities. Anthropological multiplicity and regional differences have also contributed to this variety. Some details about the major castes of Karnataka are provided here in a tabular form.

No.	Caste Name	Profession	Spread	Some details
1.	agasa, maDivALa	Washing clothes	All over Karnataka	Shaiva, Vaishnava, God: Mailara
2.	Adi KarnATaka	Agriculture and other odd jobs	All over Karnataka	Original Inhabitants of Karnataka. (?)
3.	IDiga, dIva, billava, pUjAri	Toddy tapping, military	Old Mysore and coastal Karnataka	IDiga-Telugu, dIva-Kannada billava-Tulu
4.	Okkaliga: kuncaTiga, nAmadhAri, marasu, reDDy, kApu, kamma.	Agriculture	Mostly in South Karnataka	Shaiva and Vaishnava’ A major land owning community. Many chieftains.
5.	oDDa, bOvi	Masonry, Building roads and ponds	All over Karnataka l	Worship main stream gods as well as village deities.
6.	kuruba: hAlu kuruba, hanDe kuruba, kambaLi kuruba.	Tending sheep and weaving rugs	All over Karnataka	Third largest community in Karnataka. Worship shiva, venkataramana and bIrEdEvaru. Adept in DoLLu kuNita.
7.	gANiga: jyOtipaNa, jyOtinagara, dEvagANiga and sajjana gANiga	Extraction of oil and selling it. Agriculture, Business	First three in old Mysore and the last category in North Karnataka	Shaiva and Vaishnava. Some of them are Lingayats
8.	golla: yAdava, adavigolla, gOpAla	Cowherds and dairy formers.	All over Karnataka	krishna, junjappa etc.
9.	darji: shimpi, BAvasAra kshatriya, chippiga	Tailors, textile merchants	All over Karnataka	Speak Marathi. Worship Namadev, pAnDuranga and candrikA.
10.	dEvAnga: nEkAra	Weaving clothes and agriculture.	All over Karnataka	banashankari. They worship both shiva and vishNu.
11.	nAyinda: nayanaja kshatriya, Bajantri, BanDAri, kelasiga, cVrika	Hairdressing, musical instruments, (sanAyi)	All over Karnataka, BanDAri only in Coastal Karnataka.	Shaiva and Vaishnava. haDapada-shaiva-Kannada (North Karnataka)
12.	pAncALaru: akkasAle, AcAri, sOnAr, pattAr, sutAr, kammAra	Goldsmith, Blacksmith, Carpentry and sculpting	All over Karnataka	kALikAdEvi is their clan Goddess
13.	banTaru: mAAdika, nADava, parivAra, ballALa etc.	Agriculture, they belong to a militant race associated with army.	South Canara, UDupi and North Canara.	They used to follow ‘aLiya santAna’ which gives succession rights to daughters.
14.	baNajiga: (Shaiva, North Karnataka, Kannada) nAyuDu, (Telugu) balijiga, sheTtaru	Business	All over Karnataka	Both shaivas and vaishnavas. Speak Telugu also.
15.	brAhmaNa: Many sub castes	preists, agriculture, benefits of education	All over Karnataka	Urbanized
16.	bestaru: gangA matastharu, toreya, BOyi, mogavIra.	Fishermen and boatmen.	All over Karnataka	toreya-.Old Mysore mogavIra-Coastal Karnataka
17.	bEDa: nAyaka, vAlmIki, pALEgAra, taLavAra, myAsabEDaru, UrabEDaru	Hunting, Warfare, Agriculture	All over Karnataka	Worship hanumanta and village deities. Many of them have started minor royal dynasties.
18.	lambANi: banjAra, sukALi, gOre	Nomadic merchants	Nomads, settled in ‘tAnDA’s	Migrants from North India, Speak gOrebOli, Worship sEvAlAl and mariyamma.
19.	lingAyata: Sub castes: jangama, sAdaru, baNajiga, pancamasAli, reDDi. Veerashaiva	Agriculture and business. Many artisan classes are also lingAyats	Different sects are predominat in different parts of Karnataka.	Largest community in Karnataka. Worship Shiva. Shivasharana movement of the 12^th century gave birth to this caste/religion.
20.	vaishya, Arya vaishya, kOmaTi. sheTTi	Business	Mostly in South Karnataka	Both Vaishnava and Shaiva. Worship kannikAparamEshvari.
21.	samagAra, mOci, cammAra	Leather craft and cobbling	All over Karnataka	Worship many folk deities and mAtangi.
22.	hUvADiga, hUgAra	Growing and selling flowers.	All over Karnataka
23.	pinjAra. A sub caste among Muslims.	making beds	-------,,------
24.	guDigAra	Makers of idols and other handicrafts	Shivamogga and North Canara	Ivory craft and sandal wood craft also

The professions mentioned here are only traditional. Many people belonging to these castes are now educated and there is a great divergence in their occupations. Modern technology has obliviated many professions such as pottery, smithy etc. Never the less, the caste tag attached to them persists. The phenomenon of caste which may be taking a backseat in external day to day behaviour is taking deep roots in a more subtle manner. Politicization of caste has assumed alarming proportions. Even when viewed from a historical perspective caste and religion have worked as divisive forces and the caused a lot of bloodshed. Concurrently humanitarian and caste neutral efforts of social reformers have acted as salve to the wounds inflicted by casteism and communalism.

Home / Religion