Talk:Vokkaliga

Request for Comment TondaiMandala Saiva Vellala Mudaliar women were concubines of Brahmin priests in the temples and the current TondaiMandala Saiva Vellala Mudaliar men are bastards of Brahmins

Please comment on whether TondaiMandala Saiva Vellala Mudaliar women were concubines of Brahmin priests in the temples and the current TondaiMandala Saiva Vellala Mudaliar men are bastards of Brahmins. This was the reason Periyar fought against both these groups. Further this group claims to be the original Mudaliyar tribe of Tamilnadu.

EVIDENCE FOR Relation between Sengunthars/ Kaikolars and Devadasis

1. The following is quoted from a legitimate third party website. http://globalindiamissions.org/newsletter/nwsltr0802.htm

The Kaikolan are a large Tamil and Telugu caste of weavers. There are seventy-two subdivisions (nadu or desams). Their name comes from a mythical hero and from the words "kai" (hand) and "koi" (shuttle). They consider the different parts of the loom to represent various gods and sages. They are also known as Sengundar, which means a red dagger, which is traced to the legend of the earth being harassed by demons, which led to the people asking the god Shiva to help them.

Traditionally, one girl in every family was set apart to be dedicated to temple service and becomes a "Devdasi" (meaning female servant of god). In the temple, the girl is considered married to the temple deity but in practice becomes a prostitute, especially to the Brahmans and she learns traditional music and dancing.

2. The following is journal research article with abundant valid references. This is as legitimate as it gets.

This article talks in much detail about how women from the Sengundhar/ Kaikola caste get into the sacred prostitution in temples.

"Contending identities: Sacred prostitution and reform in colonial South India Priyadarshini Vijaisri A1, A1 Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), New Delhi" South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies Publisher: Routledge, part of the Taylor & Francis Group Issue: Volume 28, Number 3 / December 2005 Pages: 387 - 411

To view the complete article just register, its free.

Here are the links :

http://journalsonline.tandf.co.uk/link.asp?id=jv31l27518262711 If you cannot access it then just go to the following page and follow one of the links

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Contending+identities%3A+Sacred+prostitution+and+reform+in+colonial+South+India

3. This is taken from another legitimate webiste http://www.go2southasia.org/l_peoples.html of a world renknown organisation recognised by many countries. They have no gain in just picking on the Sengunthar caste.

The KAIKOLAR people are a caste of weavers 1.5 million strong in southern India. They are Hindus and view different parts of the loom as representations of various gods and sages. Traditionally, each Kaikolar family sets aside one daughter to serve in a Hindu temple. That daughter is considered married to the temple deity—often the Hindu destroyer god Shiva. In practice, the daughter becomes a temple prostitute.

All 3 of the above references are quite legitimate and I can quote many more. There is no question of coincidence or any error in any of these sources. Please comment.

Hi, Too much emphasis on Kempe Gowda , when he has not done anything great apart from building the so called 4 towers in bangalore. It is not fair to emphasise too much on him or the other so called rulers of yelhanka which was just a small part of the mighty vijayanagar empire. Hi, I am a Kongu Vellalar and the creator of kongu Vellalar page.Thank u for noting the info and please do e mail to PONDHEEPANKAR@YAHOO.COM for more of our common heritage

Tamil origins?

Some families of Okkaligas might have been identified with Tamils. However, it is ridiculous to attest that origin to entire Okkaliga community in Karnataka. In fact, the title gowda could be found among Tuluvas too. Also, there is a small community of Gowdas in Tulu Nadu that speak Are Bhashe, a dialect of Kannada. If one observe South Dravidian language tree Tulu branched the earliest before Tamil-Kannada. So Gowdas or Okkaligas were there in Karnataka before their emergence in Tamil Nadu. I'm deleting such propagandist material from the article.

Manjunatha (17 Apr 2006)

This sentence has been in the article from a long time and is found in other reference materials in the internet. Although what you might be saying is partially or fully true. Before brading statements as Propagandist and unilaterally removing items. Please discuss or it will only lead to edit wars 64.201.162.1 19:42, 20 April 2006 (UTC)

“Gowda is a low ranking agriculturist caste group that typically exhibits the Dravidian socio-cultural characteristic of consanguineous marriage. It is believed to have moved in from the adjoining area of Tamil Nadu.”

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=515297RaveenS 13:39, 4 May 2006 (UTC)