Komarpant

The Komarpanth (or Kumara Panth) are a social group centred in Goa, India, with their own dialect of the Kannada language, known as Halegannada (Old Kannada).

History=

The Komarpanths are originally from the Keladi KingdomKeladi Nayaka or the Vijayanagar Empire, from the royal family of Karnataka or the old Mysore State, and are the followers of Shri Shringeri Mata” founded by Jagadguru Shri Shankaracharya at Shringeri.

The Rulers of Keladi had extended their kingdom up to Goa State and the Keladi Nayaka Kingdom was under the control of the Vijayanagara Kingdom.

Komarpanths are also referred to as those from the “Payaka” family which means that they are from the “superior leader” or the troop leaders. They were known for horsemanship, archery and soldiering. They have fought several times with the Sultans of Mysore and also against the British rule in India.

Early modern period

Komarpanth Veera Henje Naik, born in 1736, fought against the British and the Sulthans of Mysore. With the help of the Bhandaris of Kodibag on the banks of the Kali River at Karwar, and fellow Komarpanths, Veera Henje Naik had been controlling the Five Islands that covered the entrance to Karwar from the sea route. But as the British outnumbered him with their army summoned from Madras, his team was ambushed by the British at Kodibag, and Veera Henje Naik was shot by the British in the year 1801. His samadhi (tomb) still remains in Kodibag.

During the period from 1736–1801, Komarpanth Veera Henje Naik ruled the province of Goa and some parts of Karwar and Uttara Kannada District and determined to fight against the British and the Sulthans of Mysore. Owing to his charismatic leadership, he was conferred upon with the title Chak Mak Jenga in 1794A.D. Komarpanth Veera, Henje Naik by King Sadashivanayaka of Keladi Nayaka Kingdom. The monuments installed by the Komarpanths still remain in the islands of Anju Div Island, Kurumgad Islands, Guddehalli and Belur, Shirave hills.

Komarpanths have settled in villages spread across Goa State , and in Karnataka in Uttara Kannada district Karwar, Sirsi, Ankola, Joida, Yellapur, Haliyal and even up to Kumta Taluk.

British Rule

The Komarpanths were referred to as Comarapeca by the British of the East India Company in all official records, and do not approve the community in their records. Some Komarpanths were sent to Goa during the Keladi kings' extension of their boundaries to safeguard the boundaries from attacks from western side. Komarpanths are of Dravidian race and they are the nadavas where Nad or Nadu means {native} means original or the son of soil (Bhumiputra) of Karnataka or Mysore.

In the A New and Comprehensive Gazetteer by George Newenham Wright (1835) the author says

The Comarapeca tribe are idle and addicted to robbery.

In the Universal geography, or A description of all the parts of the world By Malthe Conrad Bruun - 1822, 1827, 1829 it is said

The Comarapeca, or true Sudras of this division, are both cultivators and soldiers, strongly inclined to robbery, and had acquired an uncommon degree of cruelty during times of anarchy.

Francis Hamilton Buchanan in his A Journey from Madras through the Countries of Mysore, Canara, and Malabar

The Comarapeca are a tribe of the Kankana descent, and seem to be Sudras of pure birth, who properly belong to the country {Kanara}. By birth they are all cultivators and soldiers; and, as usual with this class of men among the Hindus, are all strongly inclined to be robbers. From the anarchy which has long prevailed in this neighbourhood, they had acquired an extraordinary degree of cruelty, and had even compelled many Brahmins to assume their customs, and adopt their cast. They have hereditary chiefs called Nayakas, who, as usual, with the assistance of a council, can expel from the cast, and settle disputes among their inferiors. A man’s own children are his heirs. They can read poetical legends, and are permitted to eat meat and drink spirituous liquors. Their women are not marriageable after the age of puberty. Widows ought to burn themselves with the bodies of their husbands, but this barbarity is no longer in use. Widows, and women who have been divorced for adultery with a Brahman or Comarapeca, may be taken into a kind of left-hand marriage; but their children will be despised, and no person of pure descent will marry them. A woman cannot be divorced for any other cause than adultery; if the crime has been committed with any man but a Brahman, Comarapeca, she loses cast. The men many take as many wives as they please. The Sringagiri Swamalu is their Guru. He receives their Dharma, and bestows on them Upadesa, holy-water, consecrated ashes, and the like. The Panchanga, or astrologer of the village, is their Purohita, and reads prayers (Mantrams) at marriages, Namacurna (the giving a child its name), Tithi, Amavasya, &c. &c. They worship the great gods, Siva and Vishnu, in temples where Kankana Brahmans are Pujaris. They offer bloody sacrifices at the temples of Saktis...

References

• ‘Keḷadi polity’ By K.N. Chitnis, 1974, Research Publication Series, Volume 17, Karnataka University, Dharwar
• ‘Keladi Dynasty’, By Naraharayya S.N., 1930, Quarterly Journal of the Mythic Society, Volumes 21 and 22.
• ‘Studies in Keladi history: Seminar Papers’ Edited by Giri S. Dikshit, 1981, Mythic Society, Bangalore.
• ‘Shivatatva ratnakara of Keladi Basavaraja: A Cultural Study’ By Radha Krishnamurthy, 1995, Keladi Museum and Historical Research Bureau
• ‘The Nayakas of Ikkeri’ By K.D. Swaminathan, 1957.

External links

• Kannada Land and People History {{http://www.classicalkannada.org/DataBase/KannwordHTMLS/CLASSICAL%20KANNADA%20LAND%20HISTORY%20AND%20PEOPLE%20HTML/CHIEFTAINS%20OF%20KELADI%20AND%20BIDANUR.htm}}
• http://www.ncbc.nic.in/Pdf/Karnataka/Karnataka-Vol2/2.pdf
• http://www.sringeri.net
• http://www.deccanherald.com/content/10752/keladi-forgotten-frontier.html
• http://www.freeindia.org/biographies/greatlkings/keladi/index.htm
• http://shimoga.nic.in/temple.htm
• http://www.deccanherald.com/content/137648/tales-keladi.html
• http://www.mangalore.com/documents/milagres.html
• https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/blewis/www/chitradurga.htm
• http://books.google.co.in/books?id=yxYbGRdVEnEC&lpg=PA184&dq=Comarapeca&pg=PA184#v=onepage&q=Comarapeca&f=false
• http://books.google.co.in/books?id=yxYbGRdVEnEC&lpg=PA184&dq=Comarapeca&pg=PA184#v=onepage&q=Comarapeca&f=false
• http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-karnataka/article2756584.ece
• http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-karnataka/article2748761.ece
• http://bisonhornbillresortsdandeli.com/dandeli.html
• http://www.dakshintimes.com/india/karnataka/karwar/news/11051829564/karwar-municipality-get-rs-2-crore-kageri.html
• http://www.freeindia.org/biographies/greatlkings/keladi/page10.htm
• http://www.kamat.com/kalranga/itihas/gersoppa_queen.htm
• http://kuntamukkalaprabhakar.blogspot.in/2012/01/keladi-rani-chennamma.html