"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.