Kodava people

The Kodava are a people of southern India,and were also known historically as Coorgs. They are a martial race and Kodagu has produced a lot of general and officers for the Indian Army. The primary language of the Kodava is Kodava Takk, although they are bilingual in Kannada. The Kodava community numbers about 1,00,000 in the district, out of a total population of over 500,000. Bangalore and Mysore together have more than 3,00,000 kodava diaspora, most of them migrating to these cities for better job prospects. They are of unknown origin, and are ethnically and culturally distinct from the other people of the area. However, they have been long established in the region. There are several claims regarding the origin of the Kodavas. One theory is that a part of the Greek army under Alexander the Great migrated to the south of India and settled in Coorg. Another theory claims that the Kodavas migrated from the Middle East.

The names of Kodava people are characteristic and include a clan name. The clan is central to Kodava culture and families trace their lineage through clans. Marriage within a clan is discouraged.

Kodavas have many cultural differences from other communities in southern India. Though they are nominally Hindu, Kodavas do not usually accept Brahmin priests, preferring that ceremonies are conducted by their own elders. The elders of the community help in organising the ceremonies. The importance of fire god found in most of the hindu rituals is predominantly absent in the kodava culture. Usage of slokas and vedic chants is also not present. There are distinctive dresses, the men wearing wraparound robes called the Kupya (now only seen at ceremonial occasions), and the women with a distinctive style of wearing the sari. The Kodava woman wears a sari with the pleats at the back.They have many distinctive practices such as carrying ceremonial knives, and martial war dances. The culture also includes communal gatherings where drink, dance and special meat dishes seasoned with Garcinia are central attractions. The Kodava language itself is related to, and borrows heavily from the neighbouring languages of Kannada, Malayalam, and Tamil; a point which has led ethnologists to speculate that their female ancestry is from the surrounding regions of Kodagu.

List of Coorgs/Kodavas

• K M Cariappa, Field Marshal
• K S Thimmayya, General
• N U Nachappa, Codava National Council
• Ashwini Nachappa, Athlete
• Nikhil Chinappa, MTV VJ & music composer
• Rohan Bopanna, Tennis player
• Robin Uthappa, Cricketer (half Kodava,half Malayali)
• Joshna Chinappa, Ace squash player
• Len Aiyappa, Ace hockey player
• Biddu, Kung Fu fighting song fame
• [N Ponnappa], cartoonist
• Brinda Somaya, architect and conservationist
• Prasad Bidapa, fashion designer, choreographer, model trainer.

External links

• www.kodava.org, "Official Website of Kodava Community"
• Kodava bibliography (www.kodava.org)
• www.coorgonweb.co.in, "The site hosts information about the kodava community"