Kuruba Gowda Event 4 - Badige(ಬಡಿಗೆ) Habba

As I search more, I find more and more interesting stories, customs and festivals of Kuruba Gowdas. This festival or Habba is called as "Badige Habba" (ಬಡಿಗೆ ಹಬ್ಬ) or "Eeragudi Habba" (ಈರಗುಡಿ ಹಬ್ಬ). This festival is celebrated every three years in the village of "Kavadamatti" in Muddebihal talk of Bijapur district

This festival is celebrated in the memory of "Jumanna Devaru". This festival involves hitting each other with Badige(sticks). The festival starts at the Jumanna temple and 501 Kuruba Gowdas with 501 Badige's split into groups and start hitting each other and also the person who claims to have had the experience of god entering him. They do this for about one and half kilometres all through the village. Tihis procession ends at the sweet water well of one "Somana Gowda Biradar", where the Badige's are cleaned and taken back to their home to perform Pooja. The procession involves carrying the deities of "Beeralingeshwara" and "Muthya". 

Inspite of having received heavy blows on each other with their Badige's the devotees do not complain of pain, they are smeared with viboothi which they say prevents the pain. Thousands of people from all over the Bijapur district come to this village to watch this strange festival. The Kuruba Gowda Pujari, who is also the head of the community gives the indication for the start of the ceremony.

The story behind the festival is that, about 100 years ago this tiny village had a Kuruba Gowda called "Jumanna". This part was under the British rule and Jumanna could not pay the taxes and so he was not allowed to till his land. Jumanna ignored this warning from the British and started to till his land during night time. The British having heard about this attacked Jumanna at night and after single handedly fighting the British for several hours Jumanna was finally decapitated. Unknown as to what happened during the night Jumanna's sister brought him food in the morning only to find the decapitated body of Jumanna. Legend has it that the severed head of Jumanna spoke to his sister and asked his body to be buried and to celebrate his death by a festival of Valour. Since then this festival has been celebrated in the memory of this brave man and a temple has been built for him.

Very interesting our own festival of sacrifice and valour in the lines of Shia Muslims who celebrate Bakrid. 

"Gowda" is not a Caste Name

Recently have come across people who think "Gowda" is a caste, but it is not a community or caste but just a title used to denote the head of the family or community. I have seen the Gowda surname being used by almost all communities of Karnataka, Here I will give some examples with their castes Junje Gowda - was a Kuruba who built male Mahadeshwara temple, more recently we had A. Dodde Gowda who was a MLA from Holenarasipur in Hassan district, Basavan Gowda  is a common name of many Lingayats from north Karnataka, I think there is a minister called Raju Gowda who belongs to the Nayaka/Valmiki community, Golla Gowda - from the famous poem "Dharini mandala madhyadolage" was a Golla/Yadava and many Golla's use Gowda as surname, Edigas use Gowda as a username as well the most famous person being M.Thimme Gowda the liquor baron, many other small caste people as well use Gowda as surname.

But in the past 10 years or so one particular community is trying to monopolise the name " Gowda" as to belonging to their community.It's a sad show of the imagined superior mentality by few people. They are trying desperately to convince the world that Gowda is a caste. When the truth is contrary to their argument. This false propaganda has been carried out in a large scale both by the written and visual media aided by politicians and swamijis. The press obviously been based in Bengaluru, and being run by the people who do not know the culture and traditions of the people of rural Karnataka are propagating this without looking into the background of the argument.

It all probably goes back to the time about 15 yrs ago when a man who did not deserve to become the Chief Minister became the Prime Minister of India. The most famous person with a Gowda surname - H.D.Deve Gowda. Since then lot of people started to use the Gowda word. Surnames were proudly displayed as Gowda even though they did not have one. The media of course with little knowledge of the error took it as the truth, and started associated Gowda surname with a particular community or protraying it as a seperate community itself. It's a tragedy and shame that such a minuscule  thing as a surname was used to propagate one false information.

To quote an example a book written by Mr L A K Iyer in 1965 called "Mysore - Tribes and Castes" states in page 27 under the heading "Kuruba" that "Gauda" and " Heggade" are the titles used by Kurubas with their corresponding feminine equivalents of "Gaudathi" and "Heggadithi". Which clearly indicates that it is just a title and not a caste or community name.

So even before you ask some people voluntarily say that they are " Gowdas" and go to the extent of displaying it everywhere including their houses and vehicles. So I request these people to write a memorandum to the government to recognise them as a separate caste, or else I think they are spreading a false propaganda to achieve their menial political and social goals. If they thing just by using Gowda as a caste name their status in the social strata of rapidly changing India increase then it's their narrow mindedness. They are trying to undo the truth and rewrite history.

I hope these so called English educated press people try to know the culture, tradition and demographic nature of the state they live in before just blindly using Gowda word to denote one particular community. This article is not to hurt anyone or any community but just an effort to bring out the truth.

Great Kurubas 5 - Puttamalle Gowda

Puttamale Gowda is a folklore artist. He is master of  "Goravara Kunitha". He hails from Chamaraja Nagar district and the tradition of Goravayyas has been passed on in his family for generations. He was initiated to the tradition of  Goravas at the age of 12yrs by his uncle.  Mr Puttamalle Gowda took Deekshe to continue the tradition.

After his Deekshe and learning the art of Goravara Kunitha, Mr Puttamalle Gowda started performing in various cities and towns. Goravas were invited to perform in house warming ceremonies and to bless the children. He eventually formed his own troupe and has toured different cities including Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Cochin apart from the towns and cities of Karnataka.

Mr Puttamalle Gowda  has been awarded the "Rajyotsava" award and Janapada Academy award. He continues to teach about a group of 10 children. He has a son and two daughters. His son continues the tradition of Goravayya. Puttamalle Gowda is in his 80's now and still remains active. He was awarded "Janapada Shri" award in February 2012.

All Kuruba Gowdas should be proud of this man who has dedicated his life to preserve the ancient Kuruba tradition. I hope that Kuruba youngsters will take up this art form and continue the tradition. No other community people are allowed to become Goravvyas, it has to be a person from the Kuruba Gowda community.

Great Kuruba Gowdas 4 - Balumama

I don't know how many people have heard about the saint of North Karnataka/ Maharashtra called "Balumama"(ಬಾಳುಮಾಮ). i have come across this name several times while reading Kannada newspapers
It was mostly when the big politicians of Karnataka go and tender the sheep of Balumama for a day so that they can win the elections. Recently a lost about him has been posted on Facebook by my friends in Maharastra. So I was curious and did my bit on research on him and here it is.

Balumama was born in 1892 to a Kuruba Gowda couple in a village called Akkol(ಅಕ್ಕೋಳ) in Chikkodi taluk of Belgum district in Karnataka. His father was Mayappa and mother was Satyavva. He spent his childhood with his parents, but was always lost in meditation and was a quite boy. He later went on to live with his sister and was married to her sisters daughter against his will. The marriage did not last long. He was given about 15 sheep's by his in laws which he started to tend.

While shepherding his sheep, he was known to have performed several miracles and help lot of poor and downtrodden people. He used to travel long distances with his sheep including parts of Maharashtra and Karnataka. He was fluent in both Kannada and Marathi. Whatever he said came to pass without fail. So had a huge disciple group among the rural poor, who began to worship him as a saint. The seep which Balumama had were considered as holy as well. If the herd of Balumama's sheep stayed or passed through a persons field, he was bound to have had happiness, health and wealth.

Balumama died at the age of 74 in 1966 at a village called Adamapur(ಅದ್ಮಾಪುರ) in Kohlapur district of Maharastra. A temple was built in his memory in Adamapur which lies between Nipani in Karnataka and Radhanagari in Maharashtra. The Temple is looked after by the "Shri Balumama Sansthana". The sheep numbers have now grown to about 40,000. Which are looked after by the temple trust.

These sheep which are the progeny of the original sheep of Balumama are considered to be auspicious. And groups of these sheep are taken to various places at the request of Balumamas devotees. There is a belief that these sheep brings good luck. Some politicians like Basavaraj Bommai, K S Eshwarapp, Sharad Pawar etc have tended the sheep for a day, which is thought to make them win elections.

Website - http://balumama.com/balumama-english/

Kuruvalapura>Kuluvalapura>Kolara

Anyone who wants to know about medieval India should read the book " Medieval Indian culture and political geography" by K.Satyamurthy. In the book there is a separate chapter about Kurubas and Boyas(Bedar) called "Agriculture in Tribal Groups; A case study of Boyas and Kurubas". It was really interesting page, you find a lot of information about Kurubas in Andhra Pradesh and the bordering districts of Karnataka.

But I am interested in a little theory put forward by the author, of course with evidence backing it. According to the famous Telugu poet Srinatha, As written in his "Bhimesvara Puranamu". Kuruva/Kurava(variant of today's Kuruba) mentions that the land between the plains and the forests in the Godaveri river valley was inhabitants by the Kurubas, he calls that place as the "Kaurava Padamu". Another older evidence mentions that the "Gangas" of Talakad originated in Ganga-peruru of Kadapa district in Anthrapradesh and then from there migrated to Kuvalalapura(modern day Kolar) and then on to Talakad. The above mentioned Kuvalalpura was corrupt form of Kuruvalapura/Kurubalapura and hence the name Kolara.

Very interesting indeed as I come from Kolar district and I did not know the link of Kuruba name to Kolar. The above mentioned book also tells about how Kurubas cleared the forests in Kolar and the adjoining districts of Andhra Pradesh which paved the way for settlement from other community people in the region, thus ending the reign of Kurubas.

Even today Kuruba Gowdas are the most populous people in Kolar town and surrounding villages. The surrounding districts of Anantpur, Kadapa and Chittoor too has large population of Kurubas/Kuruvas.

Tribal Kuruba Gowdas Under Attack By Missionaries

I try to keep myself updated with the events around the world, especially India and Karnataka. I, while browsing the net came across this Christian Missionary website called www.prayerway.com. This being a missionary website there is no dearth of funds, looks like its been active in parts of Asia and Africa. As any Christian missionary- it's aim is to spread the word of gospel and bring in new converts to the Christian faith. But what was shocking was the effort and research they have put in to identify the poor and vulnerable tribes in India and elsewhere.

They have the full profile of each tribe living in the forests and surrounding areas of India. And obviously they have targeted our Kuruba tribal brothers including Kadu Kuruba, Jenu Kuruba and Betta Kuruba. They have researched so much about our tribal brothers and come up with statistics and data which I think even our government does not have about them.

They don't say anywhere in the article that Kurubas are Hindus, but they just go on to say that they follow Tribal religion and beliefs. They have suggested that there is an urgent need for Bible to be translated into the "Kuruba Language"(about which I will write in an aanother blog). Their agenda includes sending more missionaries to target Kurubas, motivate the already converted Kurubas to convert more people into Christendom, to build more churches where our Kuruba brothers are inhabituated.

They have also published the numbers which even our state government will not have. This was collected by the "World Evangelization Research Centre". It puts the population of Tribal Kurubas at 8 Lakhs and 90 thousand, it claims only 19% of them follow Hinduism, 80% follow ethnic religion and 1% follow Christianity. Missionaries are already working on 2 and half Lakh people and claim to have evangelised about 2 Lakhs Kuruba Gowdas.

At this pace it won't be too long before entire population of tribal Kurubas will be converted to Christianity, once this happens our brothers will loose their ancient traditions and costumes and will follow western lifestyle blindly, they will look at Jerusalem as their holy city rather then looking at Male Mahadeshwara. They will follow Popes command rather then the command of  Devaragudda.

It will be a real tragedy if the original inhabitants of south India, who were in the forefront of development of Hindu religion be converted to the alien religion of Christianity. We as the plains dwelling Kuruba Gowdas should take up the cause of our tribal brothers and help them remain not only as Hindu Kurubas, but also help them maintain their ancient traditions and costumes and also help them assimilate into mainstream society. Please take a note of this and do whatever you can to help these people. We cant obviously compete with the Christian Missionary money, Christians are 40 times richer then Hindus and they have plenty of money to spend to lure these innocent people into their religion.

www.prayerway.com/unreached/peoplegroups4/1479.html

Great Kurubas 3 - P.R.Thippeswamy

P.R. Thippeswamy was a great artist and folklorist of Karnataka. He was popularly known as PRT. He was instrumental in establishment of the "Folklore Museum" in Mysore in 1968. He was also the first curator of the museum along with another scholar K.R.Krishnaswamy. The folklore museum contains Representative collection of arts and crafts from all over Karnataka. P.R.Thippeswamy brought material from all over Karnataka to increase the collection. One of the fascinating displays in the museum is the "Ink" prepared locally by the great grandfather of the late P.R.Thippeswamy at Dodderi village of Chitradurga District 200 years ago.

He was also an artist, he carved a niche for himself with is mastery of watercolours. Being an artist,  Mr Thippeswamy had a clear vision about how and where to search for the most important and significant representations of the world of folk art to be displayed in the museum. He travelled throughout Karnataka to collect them for the museum. He was also responsible for setting up "Manjusha Museum" in Dharmasthala. His watercolours of  'Gagan Mahal' and 'Krishna Deva Raya's  are displayed prominently in the museum in Dharmasthala.

Mr P.R. Thippeswamy was also a poet and Indologist. He was also served as chairman of "Lalitha Kala Academy" and won the Kannada Rajyotsava and K.Venkatappa award in 1999. He passed away on April 7th 2000. A commemorative volume on his life and achievements called "Harathi Jyothji" was released in 2007 by former education minister of Karnataka Mr H.Vishwanath. He hailed from Harthikote village of Hiriyur taluk in Chitradurga district.

Some of his notable works include "Shilpi Sankula", "Kalakosha", "Kalavida Kanda France", "Horatgara Kenchappa", "Beledu Banda Bharatiya Chitrakale" etc. Because of his multiple talents he was known as " Chaturmukha Brahma"(four faced brahma).

He has many followers and admirers of his works, especially the paintings. Many associations and fan clunks regularly organise seminars and exhibitions of his paintings. There has been a demand to build a memorial in Bengaluru in recognition of his works. he was also instrumental in introducing new artists to the field.

Even I did not know about this great man, I recently read a news cutting and also some exhibition being held in Bengaluru about P R Thippeswamy and was plesantly surprised to find that he belonged to the Kuruba Gowda community. I did see some of his paintings in Flickr website and the are really amazing. I will give the link below and suggest people reading this blog go through some of his paintings.

Its sad that such a great mans efforts and achievements has not been recognised by the government of Karnataka, I remember reading a lesson about one Krishna Hebbar while I was in school, probably 8th standard, I am now wondering why P R Thippeswamy has not been recognaised as Mr Hebbar, is it the caste the reason? readers decide.

Link -
http://www.flickr.com/photos/9699411@N07/page5/