The Kuruba Rulers of Gingee

We know that Pallavas were Kurubas and after the fall of Pallava empire, the life of many Kurubas became very difficult and they had to migrate to other places from their capital city Kanchi. Some of them escaped to the jungles of the western ghats. Where due to their relative isolation, developed their own language, customs and traditions.

But, not many people know the tiny Kingdom of Gingee I the present day Tamil Nadu was founded and ruled by Kuruba Gowdas for over 200 years. The rulers of Gingee were the feudatories of the Cholas of Tanjavur. Valuable information regarding this can be found in the work of C.S.Srinivasachari in his "History of Gingee".

The story of the foundation of the Kingdom of Gingee goes thus- Ananda Kon, a shepherd by caste, accidentally found a treasure in one of the cavities of the western hill of Gingee while grazing his sheep in 1190AD. Making himself the head of a small band of warriors, he defeated the petty rulers of the neighbouring villages like Devanur, Jayan-gondan and Melacheri (Old Gingee), and built a small fortress on Kamalagiri which he re-named Anandagiri after himself. He raised his castemen to high places and bestowed on them the distinction of Sammanamanar (the honorable).  After reigning glori-ously for about fifty years he was succeeded by one Krishna Kon about 1240 A. D. This chief perpetuated his name by fortifying the northern hill and naming it after himself. Krishna Kon was followed by two princes successively Koneri Kon and Govinda Kon who cut out the elaborate steps to the fort-ress on Krishnagiri and built the Gopala-swami temple on its top. Puliya Kon succeeded him about 1300 A. D. He excavated tanks and built rest-houses by the sides of the roads leading to Trichinopoly, Tanjore.

Twenty years afterwards, this shepherd race was superseded by the chief of a neighbouring place, Kabilingan by name, who belonged to the Kurumba caste and now ascended the throne of Gingee. Subsequently this king was defeated by the rulers off Vijayanagar who were again Kurubas. About which I will write in a different blog.

http://archive.org/stream/historyofgingeea035396mbp/historyofgingeea035396mbp_djvu.txt -page 31-40
http://www.gingeefort.com/web/artical04.asp

Legend of Hakka and Bukka - The Great Kurubas

It's a known fact that Hakka and Bukka were brothers of the Kuruba Gowda community and they established the greatest Hindu empire - the Vijayanagar Empire. They were the sons of sangama and started the Sangama dynasty which ruled over Vijaynagar for over 200 years. The names of Sangama's sons were 1)Harihara(Hakka) 2)Bukka 3)Kampanna 4)Maranna and 5)Mudappa.

South India in the 13th century was ravaged by the marauding Muslim armies from the north. The powerful kingdoms of the south were Hoysalas, the Yadavas of Devagiri, the Kakatiya dynasty of Warangal and the Pandya dynasty of Madurai. These kingdoms where fighting amongst themselves like the North Indian Hindu kings when the Muslims started their invasion of India. There was no united front against the armies of Alla-uddin-khilji and his commander Malik Kafur ravaged the land like plague and destroyed many temples and cities including Dwarasamudra the capital of Hoysalas.
The Sangama's were the feudatories of the Hoysalas and were ruling the region around the present day Bellary, their resistance was futile as well initially.

After the fall of the Hoysalas, the sangama brothers were left to fend for themselves in their territory. One day the brothers Hakka and Bukka were on a hunting expedition and their hunting dog was chasing a hare, after a while of chasing the hare got exhausted and stopped and turned back against the hound and fought back and defeated it. This made the brothers think that even a weak animal can defeat the devil if it had the courage. They identified themselves as the hare and the hunting dog as the Muslims. They resolved to fight back and save Hinduism from becoming extinct in south India.

The place where the battle between the hare and the dog took place was chosen as the site of the new empire as per the advice of the saint Vidyaranya who was doings penance at that place. The brothers united their clan people and started building an army to fight the Muslims and the rest is history.


http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5697451347141645651#editor/target=post;postID=3341270335384972912
http://hampi.in/a-forgotten-empire-chapter-3
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=tZcdTw0toXsC&pg=PA68&lpg=PA68&dq=hakka+bukka&source=bl&ots=pQt2Kk7cSg&sig=LrC4R9Fp262wcwct433cfxOsTlE&hl=en&sa=X&ei=L6onUvqWBMKctQa4-ID4CQ&ved=0CDgQ6AEwBjg8#v=onepage&q=hakka%20bukka&f=false

Kuruba Lingayats

It's a know fact that the Kuruba Gowdas are the original inhabitants of Karnataka from which other communities branched out. The history, costumes and traditions of Kuruba Gowdas and Halumatha goes back to many thousands of years back. The earliest inscriptions and antiquities found in Karnataka confirm this very fact. I have mentioned in my previous blogs how different communities branched out of the core group of Halumatha, of which only Kuruba Gowdas are retaining the ancient costumes and traditions.

Lingayats of Karnataka make a major chunk of the population, about 15%. But there was no community called as lingayath before the 12th century. The great social reformer Basavanna started the reformation movement wherein he tried to create a caste less community. Basavanna himself was a Brahmin, but his followers were mainly from the lower strata of the time, many people became his followers and adopted Lingayathism. These people included majority from the untouchable group, Basavanna worked relentlessly to uplift them and bring them to the main stream of the society.

Many people belonging to the Halumatha community also became his followers and adopted Lingayathism as their religion. Some of the sub sated of the present Lingayats who are from the Kuruba Gowda community are -
1) Nonaba(ನೊಣಬ) Lingayats - they belonged to the Nolamba Kula(ನೊಳಂಬ ಕುಲ) of the Halumatha Kuruba community, Nolamba eventually became Nonaba.

2) Sada(ಸಾದ) Lingayat - belonged to the Halumatha Sada Kula(ಸಾದ ಕುಲ).

3) Reddy(ರಡ್ಡಿ) Lingayat - they belonged to the Ratta Kula(ರಟ್ಟ ಕುಲ) of Halumatha which eventually became Ratta to Radda to Reddy.

It is a known fact and an open secret that vast majority of today's Lingayats have Kuruba ancestry. 

http://www.prajavani.net/article/ಹಾಲುಮತ-ಕುರುಬ-ಮತ್ತು-ಲಿಂಗವಂತ

Great Kuruba 8 - Balada Hanumappa Nayaka

Balada Hanumappa Nayaka was the first Palegar of Bellary. The Palegars existed during and after the fall of Vijayanagar empire. This fact is stated in the Bellary Gazetter of 1916 in page 24. Balada Hanumappa Nayaka belonged to the "Hande Kuruba" caste. After the fall of Vijaynagar empire he aligned himself to the sultan of Bijapur and was given the title of "Wazir". He ruled over Bellary, Ananthpura, Kurugod and Bankapur.
I am trying to find more information about Hande Kurubas and the Kuruba Palegars, will add to this blog when I find the needed information. The point I am trying to make here is the Palegars belonged to different communities, they were not Kshatriyas,  but they belonged to middle castes like Bedas, Kurubas, Balajigas and some of they later adopted veerashaivism and recognised themselves as Lingayats.

http://www.prajavani.net/article/ಕನ್ನಡ-ಪಿತಾಮಹರೂ-ಮತ್ತು-ಹಂಡೆ-ವಜೀರರೂ