Kunchitiga

Kunchitiga
Kunchitigas
Regions with significant populations
Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu, India
Languages
Kannada, and Sanskrit
Religion
Vaishnavism, Shaivism
Related ethnic groups
Dravidian · Kannadiga
A group of Kunchitiga women and children

The Kunchitigas[1] (also known as Kunchatiga, Kanchitiga, Kanchitigar, Kunchitigar, Kunchidigar, Kunchigar, Kunchu Okkaliga, Kunju Okkaliga, Kurichigar, Kunchiliyan, Kappiliyan) are a community of people from Karnataka, India. They are mostly concentrated in the Tumkur, Bangalore, Mysore, Ramanagara, Shivamogga and Chitradurga districts.[2][3] They are also found in Tamil Nadu.[4][5]

While the Kunchitigas are considered a sub-division of Vokkaligas,[6][2][7] they are listed separately by the government.[1][8][9] Some Kunchitigas were Veerashaivas who embraced Lingayatism to become a separate division.[10][11][12] The Kunchitigas are classified under the General/Unreserved Category by the Central Government of India.[13][14][15][12]

The Kunchitigas were historically a landholding community of cultivators and merchants.[16] They formed part of the administrative[17][18] and warrior classes[10][19][20][21] in ancient times. Their chiefs were called "Gowda"[22] and "Nayaka"[23] in Karnataka, and "Gounder"[24] in Tamil Nadu.

  1. ^ a b Caste List, Karnataka (PDF). p. 15.
  2. ^ a b Nanjundayya, H.V; Iyer, L.K Ananthakrishna (1931). The Mysore Tribes and Castes. Mysore: The Mysore University. p. 17.
  3. ^ K. Balasubramanyam; India. Superintendent of Census Operations, Mysore; India. Office of the Registrar General (1965). Mysore: handicraft survey monographs : crafts using wood as the chief raw material. Census of India, 1961. Manager of Publications.
  4. ^ Thurston, Edgar (1909). Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 4. Vol. 4. Madras: Government Press.
  5. ^ V.T, Sundaramurthy (2007). "The Genesis, Divisions, Movement and Transformation of Okkaligar Community" (PDF). The Anthropologist. 9 (4): 305–313. doi:10.1080/09720073.2007.11891017. S2CID 74219783.
  6. ^ Thurston, Edgar (1909). Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 5. Vol. 5. Madras: Government Press.
  7. ^ Balfour, Edward (1885). The Cyclopaedia of India and of Eastern and Southern Asia. Vol. 2. Graz, Austria: Akademische Druck-u. Verlagsanstalt. p. 261.
  8. ^ Dushkin, Lelah (1974). The NonBrahman Movement in Princely Mysore (Doctoral). London: University of Pennsylvania. p. 226.:"the Kunchitigar were somewhat more prosperous and better educated and claimed a higher status than the Gangadikar and other Vokkalligas"
  9. ^ Mysore Census, 1921 (PDF).
  10. ^ a b Jan Peter Schouten (1995). Revolution of the Mystics: On the Social Aspects of Vīraśaivism. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers. p. 127. ISBN 9788120812383.
  11. ^ B. N., Sri Sathyan (1967). "Chapter 3". Karnataka State Gazetteer: Chitradurga District (PDF). Karnataka, India: Director of Print, Stationery and Publications at the Government Press. p. 115.:" A section of the Kunchigas or Kunchitigas also follow the Veerashaiva religion."
  12. ^ a b Rajashekara S (28 November 2020). "The Lingayat Gambit". Bangalore Mirror. Retrieved 6 September 2021.
  13. ^ "Karnataka Caste Wise Report". karepass.cgg.gov.in (Karnataka ePASS, Electronic Payment and Application System of Scholarships). Department of Backward Classes Welfare, Government of Karnataka. 2021. Archived from the original on 13 April 2021. Retrieved 25 May 2021.
  14. ^ "Kunchitigas, Raju Kshatriyas request inclusion into OBC category". Archived from the original on 7 May 2021.
  15. ^ "PDF - National OBC list for Karnataka" (PDF).
  16. ^ Rice, Benjamin Lewis (1876). Mysore and Coorg: A Gazetteer Compiled for the Government of India, Volume 2. Bangalore: Mysore Government Press. p. 219.:"The large merchants , who live chiefly in Mysore city , are for the most part of the Kunchigar caste ."
  17. ^ Kamath, Suryanath U.; Naik, R.A (1983). Gazetteer of India Government of Karnataka, Karnataka State Gazetteer Part II. Bangalore: Parishree Printers. pp. 243–244.: "Villages had gramakuta or gavunda (gauda), the village headman. He had under him the village militia^ later called as talaras and tolls."
  18. ^ Karashima, Noboru (2014). A Concise History of South India: Issues and Interpretations. India: Oxford University Press. pp. 144–145. ISBN 978-0198099772.:"They are, for example, Gavunda chiefs and heggade revenue officers vis-à-vis the Chola Vellala nattars; kalnad military tenure vis-à-vis padai-parru or parigraham tenure in the Chola state"
  19. ^ Gundimeda, Sambaiah (14 October 2015). Dalit Politics in Contemporary India. Routledge. p. 19. ISBN 978-1-317-38105-1.
  20. ^ Adiga, Malini (1997). "'GAVUNDAS' IN SOUTHERN KARNATAKA: LANDLORDS AND WARRIORS (AD 600 to 1030)". Proceedings of the Indian History Congress. 58: 139–148. JSTOR 44143897. Retrieved 10 March 2021.
  21. ^ Omvedt, Gail (January 1994), Dalits and the democratic revolution : Dr. Ambedkar and the Dalit movement in colonial India / Gail Omvedt, Sage Publications, ISBN 0803991398:"In addition the three way ' caste division ( Brahman , non - Brahman , Untouchable ) seems particularly prominent here. There are no recognized 'Ksatriya' jatis anywhere in the south, and the three states (in contrast to the more inequalitarian hierarchies of Tamil Nadu and Kerala) are characterized by the dominance of large peasant jatis with landholding rights who historically supplied many of the zamindars and rulers but remained classed remained classed as 'Shudra' in the varna scheme."
  22. ^ Nanjundayya, H.V; Iyer, L.K Ananthakrishna (1931). The Mysore Tribes and Castes. Mysore: The Mysore University. p. 26.
  23. ^ Cite error: The named reference Copper Plate was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  24. ^ Singh, Kumar Suresh (2001). People of India. Vol. 40, part 2. Anthropological Survey of India. p. 640. ISBN 9788185938882.:"The community has titles viz. Gowda , Gowdar , Gounder and Kounder."