Kuruba Gowdas and Gotras

Kuruba Gowda's are one of the ancient communities of Karnataka and India. The fact proven by their ancient customs and traditions. Kuruba Gowda's trace their origin to the first humans who took up animal husbandry as a way of sustaining their families and formed settled communities. Humans were nomads many thousands of years ago, they sustained their families by hunting and gathering food, gradually they started to tame animals, animals which in character were docile, non aggressive, easy to tame and control. Sheep's, cows and goats fitted all these characters and were among the first to be tamed by humans. Cattle being larger were tamed after the sheep's and goats.

So the first humans in fact were all Kuruba Gowdas(shepherds), they tamed the sheep and travelled along with their herds to wherever the grazing fields were, so in truth these Kuruba's created only temporary settlements, but there livestock was their lifeline, gradually they started to develop methods of growing grain. Rice and wheat were tamed from the wild and these Kurubas started to grow them in large scale and this allowed them to settle down in one place and grow the grain year after year. This allowed them to settle down in permanent settlements, once this happened vast majority of Kurubas abandoned their traditional profession and branched into other communities like farmers and agriculturists, but still there remained a good number of Kuruba Gowdas who stuck to their traditional profession, providing milk and meat to these settled communities.

Once settled communities were formed and plenty full of grain provided food security all round the year, they started looking at making their life better, communities developed from these early settlers, Goldsmiths, Iron smiths, Pottery makers, washer men etc, etc developed into distinct communities. But Kuruba Gowda's remained the pioneers and innovators, they built Temples and started praying to their own distinct gods, the priests of these Temples remained Kuruba Gowdas. They developed the Gotra system to prevent inter marriages among the Kuruba Gowda's, which was an innovative method and remains testimony of the knowledge of the Kuruba Gowdas.

They built several kingdoms but did not take up education in big way, while the branched out communities over took Kuruba Gowdas in other spheres of life, a priest class was formed, numerous gods and customs were invented, progress was made in education, new methods to make life better was implemented, universities were built. All these started due to the first taming of animals by the Kuruba Gowda's.

Today Kuruba Gowdas are lagging a bit in modern education, thanks to their ancient profession. Majority of Kuruba Gowdas still stick to their ancient profession of sheep rearing and agriculture, efforts should be made to help them get modern education.

Goralamma - The Sheep Women

Goralamma in Telugu means Sheep women, Gorra is sheep amd amma is women or mother depends on how one interprets it.  Goralamma is the honorary title given to my paternal grandmother who lives in a tiny village called Bandarlapalle in Chittooor district of Andhra Pradesh bordering Karnataka, not far from where I live in Kolar Gold Fields. I can't remember a single occasion when she has left her home or the village, maybe once in the last 30 years to attend the marriage of my uncle and her favourite son some 15 yrs back.

She has not changed even a bit since my early memories of her going back 30 years, now I  am 34 and she looks the same to me, bright shining eyes, good vision and hearing and an amazing set of teeth. She has a wrinkled face, a bent back and probably would not weigh more than 35 kilograms or so. Her memory is amazing, remembers even small incidents which happened several decades ago, and knows everything happening in the family and the village. Her family is not small she has 6 children, 21 grand children and 10 great grand children and remembers each and everyone. I am being the only one in the family to have gone abroad is her favourite grandchild I think or I would like to think.

She is a women of real character, she probably got married in her teenage years, and lost her husband when her children including my father were still small and she took on herself to bring them up single handedly. The local village landlords did indeed give her a tough time, but she survived along with her children, thanks to a small plot of land and some goats. She had a couple of goats which were the life line of the family providing milk and some money. Those goats gradually grew in numbers and sheep's were added to her herd. My uncle i.e my fathers older brother gave her a hand in sheep rearing, since she had a huge heard of sheep she was called Goralamma.

Another reason she wants people to call her Goralamma, is the superstition that if they call her by name or call her as Avva (Grandmother in Telugu) she might die soon. Whatever the reasons, she struggled to bring her family to a certain social standing and paved way for prosperity, thanks to the family profession of sheep rearing. Now she is a proud Kuruba Gowdathi, queen of her little empire.

Kurubara Halli/Pete/Ooru/Palya/Hatti

Its really fascinating and amazing that when in Karnataka (at the moment I am living in the UK) I come across so many names of places linked to Kuruba Gowda's. I dont go looking for them, but the name seems to come across either on a Bus, in the news channells , in the newspaper or someone randomly mentioning the name. How interesting, isnt it, no other community in Karnataka and probably India has so many places named after them and their community.

These include Kurubara Halli( Village of Kurubas), I am pretty sure there is a Kurubarahalli in each taluk of Karnataka. Other common place name is Kuruboor( Kuruba + ooru i.e Kurubas town), Kurubara Hatti is another common name of Villages in Karnataka. Kurubara Pete(Kurubas Market) and Kurubara Palya are the common names of Kuruba dominated areas of big cities and towns. I am aware of such places in Kolar and Bengaluru city. Then there is Kurubara Doddi, Kurubara Haadi in areas around Mysore's forests.

This trend of Kuruba named villages is not just common in Karnataka but also in Neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, where Kuruboor, Kurubala Kota and Kurubala Palle are common. In Tamil Nadu Kurumba Purum, Kurumba Patti etc

Its a tradition we all should be proud of. No other community that I am aware of has places named after them, maybe few places named after Golla Gowdas like Gollarahatti, and one or two places like Vakkaleri.

I wonder how many such places are there in the whole of Karnataka? will be interesting to know.

Jenu Kurubas "Kunde Habba"

ಕುರುಬ ಜನಾಂಗದ ಸಂಭ್ರಮದ ಕುಂಡೆ ಹಬ್ಬ ಬುಧವಾರ ದಕ್ಷಿಣ ಕೊಡಗಿನಾದ್ಯಂತ ಆರಂಭಗೊಂಡಿತು. ವಿವಿಧ ವೇಷ ತೊಟ್ಟ ಕುರುಬ ಜನಾಂಗದ ಪುರುಷರು, ಸ್ತ್ರೀಯರು ಮಕ್ಕಳು ಕುಂಡೆ ಹಬ್ಬದ ಹಾಡು ಹೇಳುತ್ತಾ, ಕೈ ಸಿಕ್ಕಿದ ವಸ್ತು ಬಡಿಯುತ್ತಾ, ದಾರಿ ಯಲ್ಲಿ ಸಿಕ್ಕಿದವರನ್ನು ಅಡ್ಡಗಟ್ಟಿ ಹಣಬೇಡಿದರು.

ಪಟ್ಟಣದ ಅಂಗಡಿ ಮುಂಗಟ್ಟು ಮುಂದೆ ಸಾಗಿ ಎದುರು ಕಂಡವರಿಗೆಲ್ಲ ಅಶ್ಲೀಲವಾಗಿ ಬೈಯುತ್ತಾ ಅವರಿಂದಲೂ ಹಣ ಕೇಳಿದರು. ಹಣ ಕೊಡದಿದ್ದರೆ ಮುಂದೆ ಸಾಗುತ್ತಲೇ ಇರಲಿಲ್ಲ. ಅವರ ಹಾಡು ಕೇಳಿದ ಜನತೆ ಒಂದೆಡೆ ನಾಚಿ ನೀರಾಗುತಿದ್ದರೆ ಮತ್ತೊಂದೆಡೆ  ಒಳಗೊಳಗೆ  ಮಜಾ ಅನುಭವಿಸಿ ಹಣ ನೀಡುತ್ತಿದ್ದರು.

ಕುರುಬರು ಹೆಚ್ಚಾಗಿ ವಾಸ ಮಾಡುವ ಕುಟ್ಟ, ಶ್ರೀಮಂಗಲ, ತಿತಿಮತಿ, ನಾಲ್ಕೇರಿ, ದೇವರಪುರ ಮೊದಲಾದ ಭಾಗದ ಜನರು ಮಧ್ಯಾಹ್ನ ದಿಂದಲೇ ವೇಷ ತೊಟ್ಟು ಕುಣಿದು ಕುಪ್ಪಳಿಸುತ್ತಾ ಬೀದಿಗಿಳಿದು ಸಂಭ್ರಮಿಸಿದರು.

ಜೇನುಕುರುಬ ಮಹಿಳೆಯರು ಪುರುಷರಿಗೆ ಸ್ತ್ರೀವೇಷದ ವಸ್ತ್ರಾಲಂ ಕಾರ ಮಾಡಿ ತಮ್ಮ ಗಂಡಂದಿರ ಜತೆ ತಾವು ಕುಣಿಯುತ್ತಿದ್ದರು. ಗುರುವಾರ ದೇವರಪುರದ ಭದ್ರಕಾಳಿ ದೇವ ಸ್ಥಾನದ ಬಳಿ ಕುಂಡೆ ಹಬ್ಬ ವಿಜೃಂಭಣೆಯಿಂದ ಜರುಗಲಿದ್ದು, ಕುರುಬರು ಎಲ್ಲೆಡೆ ಬೇಡಿ ಸಂಗ್ರಹಿಸಿದ ಹಣವನ್ನು ದೇವರಿಗೆ ಅರ್ಪಿಸಿ ಹರಕೆ ತೀರಿಸಲಿದ್ದಾರೆ.ಅತ್ಯಂತ ಸಡಗರದಿಂದ ಕೂಡಿದ ಗಿರಿಜನರ ಈ ಹಬ್ಬ ಗುರುವಾರ ಸಂಜೆ  ಮುಕ್ತಾಯ ವಾಗಲಿದೆ.

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:Qcnp4KrD820J:220.227.178.12/prajavani/web/include/story.php%3Fnews%3D21273%26section%3D121%26menuid%3D10+%E0%B2%95%E0%B3%81%E0%B2%B0%E0%B3%81%E0%B2%AC%E0%B2%B0%E0%B3%81&cd=61&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk&source=www.google.co.uk

ಕುರುಬ ಗೌಡರ ಕಥೆ

ವಿಜಯನಗರ ಕಟ್ಟಿದ ಹಕ್ಕ ಬುಕ್ಕರ

ರಾಜಮಾತೆ ಅಹಿಲ್ಯಬಾಯಿ ಹೊಲ್ಕರ

ಹಿಂದೂಗಳು ವಿನಾಶದ ಅಂಚಿನಿಂದ

ಹೊರ ಬಂದದ್ದು ಈ ವೀರ ಕುರುಬರಿಂದ.

ಮೈಲಾರಲಿಂಗ, ಬೀರ, ಮಹದೇಶ್ವರ 

ನಮ್ಮ ಕುಲ ದೈವ ಎಂದಿಗು ನೀನೆ ಶಿವ

ದೇವರ ಗುಡ್ಡ , ಜೋಗಿ, ಗೊರವಯ್ಯ 

ನಿನ್ನ ಭಕ್ತರು ನಾವು ಕುರುಬ ಗೌಡರಯ್ಯ.

ಕತ್ತಿ ವರಸೆಯ ನೆನೆಸುವ ಕಂಸಾಳೆ
ಡೊಳ್ಳು ಕುಣಿತವ ಮಾಡುವ ವೇಳೆ
ಕುರುಬರು ಬಂದರೆ ದಾರಿ ಬಿಡಿ
ಭಾರತ ದೇಶವೇ ನಮ್ಮ ಗುಡಿ.

ಚಂದ್ರ ಗುಪ್ತ ದೇಶವನಾಳಿದ ಮೊದಲ ದೊರೆ
ಮೌರ್ಯ, ಪಲ್ಲವ, ಹೊಯ್ಸಳರು ನಮ್ಮವರೇ
ಕವಿಗಳ ರಾಜ ಕಾಳಿದಾಸ
ದಾಸರ ಶ್ರೇಷ್ಟ ಕನಕದಾಸ.

ಕರ್ನಾಟಕದ ಸಿಂಹ ಸಂಗೊಳ್ಳಿ ರಾಯಣ್ಣ
ನಮ್ಮ ಸಮಾಜಕ್ಕೆ ಸ್ಪೂರ್ತಿ ಅವರಣ್ಣ
ಸ್ನೇಹಕೆ  ಬಂದರೆ ನಾವು ಬದ್ಧ
ಯುದ್ಧಕೆ ಕರೆದರೆ ನಾವು ಸಿದ್ಧ.

ವಿಕ್ರಂ ಆರೆಳ್ಲ

 

Sangolli Rayanna's name for Bengaluru International Airport

Sangolli Rayanna the great warrior and one of the first freedom fighter of India. The first person to introduce guerilla warfare to India and who died for the cause of the Karnataka state in particular and the country in general would be the appropriate person on whose memory Bengaluru International Airport should be named. Unfortunately the useless and brainless BJP government has recemmonded Kempegowdas name to the centre. I sincerly hope and pray tht the center rejects this proposal. As kempegowda was just a local chieftain ruling some villages in Yelahanka near Bengaluru and he is made into this big personality by a certain community people who don't seem to have decent historical persons to count in their ranks, not that they have decent people now(most are corrupt politicians anyway). Already the bus stand in Bengaluru is named after this useless character, why name the airport also on his honour, what has Kempegowda done to Bengaluru  or Karnataka apart from erecting four pillars around Bengaluru. The real development of Bengaluru happened during Tippu Sultan/Hyder Ali , the Mysore Wodeyars and the British times. Just because kempegowda belongs to a politically dominant caste he is being made as a hero equating him to Chhatrapathi Shivaji(Mumbai Airport). All sane, educated and noncastiest people should oppose the move to name the airport which will be identified with Karnataka forever, to be named after a useless, insignificant fellow like kempegowda.

Jungle Jackie Rajesh

Rajesh is a reality TV star from Karnataka. He is the winner of the popular reality TV show "Halli Haidha Pyaatege Bandha" (Village boy comes to the city) telecast in Survana 24x7. The show is about young village boys from rural Karnataka including those dwelling in the forests and how they cope to city life with the help of a women trainer, who helps them to adjust to city life. Rajesh's is a typical rags to riches story, he lived in a small village in the Kakana Kote forest of Mysore district, after he won the reality show he has become a star liked by people of all spectrums of life. People enjoyed his innocence and don't care attitude. Now he is the hero of a Kannada movie called Jungle Jackie. He is a big fan of Kannada film hero Puneet Rajkumar and his movie is named after the hit movie of 2010 "Jackie" starring Puneet. his trainer in "Halli Haidha Pyaatege Bandha" Aishwarya is the heroine of the movie. He belongs to the Kaadu Kuruba tribe.