Caste :
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Caste means social class separated from other by distinctions of hereditary rank, profession or wealth . It is a system of rigid social satisfaction characterized by hereditary status, endogamy, and social barriers sanctioned by custom, law of religion. Caste means any class or group of society sharing common cultural features. The Indian caste system is a system of social stratification and social restriction in India in which communities are defined by thousands of endogamous hereditary groups. Caste is very sensitive issue in Indian society. The Tulu speaking communities are divided into different communities like Billavas, Bunts, Kulalas, Mogaveeras, Devadigas, Vishwakarmas, Ganigas, Shivali Bhramins and others.
Tuluvas follow ‘Aliya Kattu’ where inheritance is from maternal uncle to nephew, except Bhramins and the Paraivara Bunt (sub divisions of bunts). In this system men transmit their immovable property, not to their own children, but matrilineally, to their sister’s children. Here children get the surname of their mother, not their father. Both male and female children get equal right's in the property of their parents.
Culture:
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Culture is the characteristics and knowledge of a particular group of people, defined by everything like language, religion, cuisine, social habits, music and arts. The center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition define culture as shared patterns of behaviors and interactions, cognitive constructs and understanding that are learned by socialization. Thus, it can be seen as the growth of a group identity fostered by social patterns unique to group. Culture refers to the cumulative deposit of knowledge, experience, beliefs, values, attitudes, meanings, hierarchies, religion, notions of time, roles, spatial relations, concepts of the universe, and material objects and possessions acquired by a group of people in the course of the behavior, beliefs, values, and symbols that they accept , generally without thinking about them, and that are passed on by communications and imitations from one generation to the next. Culture is seen in people of Coastal Karnataka who are hard workers and intelligent , they preserved their own inherited culture. They have very rich culture of their own like performing arts, seasonal arts,ritual arts etc. The culture of this region has conditioned the form of many performing arts like Bhuta worhsip, Yakshagana, Nagamandala, Tiger dance, Kambala Cockfight etc
Sapaliga:
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During 4th centuty CE, a new Kannada dynasty was established based on Banavasi (now part of Uttara Kannada) by Kadamba king Maurya Varma. He established new temples in Tulunadu dedicated to lord Shiva, Ganesha etc within his territory that included Tulunadu. At the time the culture temples were new to Tulunadu and only different forms of spirit worship and the cult of Buddhisim prevailed until then. The Alupe king who ruled Tulunadu, was cheiftain under the Kadamba king.
The newly established temples were named by Bhramins bought from Achicchatra. The location of Achicchatra has been disputed, it may be either on the banks of Godavari or near Bareliy, in Uttar Pradesh. The temple procedding's demaned musical artist to orchestrate the pooja and other ceremonies. A set of Mogaveera youth were trained, in parts of ancient temple towns of ancient Tamilnadu like Kanchi and Madhurai , to play instruments like Nadaswara, drums and other musical instruments, now vogue in the temples. These musical artist were later designated ‘Sapaliga’ or ‘Sapalya’. The word ‘Saplya’ means sound. The families of these musical artist were settled around agrahars around the temple and these with time became a sub-community know as Sapaligas.
(Refrence , Thurston, Edgar and K. Rangachari(2001) Castes and Tribes of Southern India and Sturrock, J: (1894) South Canara District Manual, Vol. 1 Madras, Buchanan, Francis(1807) A Journey from Madras through the countries of Mysore ).
Ganiga:
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(Pronounced gaaNiga). The Karavli being a region replete with coconut palms, the extraction of coconut oil was special profrssion, some of the Mogaveeras ventured into since early history. The oil extraction unit known as gaaNa, hence those worked with gaaNa became Ganiga-s. These have become as independent sub-community but maintain equilavent relations with Saphalya sub-community. The Thurston and Rangachari write that “The name of Ganiga is derived from the Telugu Ganuga, meaning of oil-mill. The Ganigas are said to be the oil pressers of the Canarese people corresponding to the telugu Gandla and the Tamil Vaniyan....” R.E Enthoven in his Tribes and Castes of Bombay writes under the head “Ganig” that “Ganigas are supposed to have come from Mysore, where they are found in large numbers. The ceremonies of the Bombay and Mysore Ganigs are in many respect similar, and two of the principal divisions of the caste, kare and Sajjan, are found among st both, which suggest their original identity .(Central Commission Report -1999)
Mogaveera :
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Edgar Thurston named them as Mogers, The Tulu speaking fisherman of South Canara (Thurston & Rangachari, 2001, p. 65). Buchanan (1807), reported that these fisherman are called Mogeyar and are a caste of Tuluva origin. The Mogeyar are boatmen, fisherman, porters and palanquin beares...some Mogeyars are...taken to agriculture , oil pressing and playing on musical instruments.
“The ordinary caste title for Mogers is ‘Marakaleru’. In Kundapura taluk, the title ‘Naicker’ is preferred ”. (Buchanana, cited in Thurston & Rangachary, 2001), In Uttara Kananada mostly Kannanda or Konkani speaking fisher-folk are known as Harikantra, Kharvi and Bovi. In the interior Karnataka, they are kannada speaking fisher folks known variously as Ganga-mathastha, Besta , Ambiga or Koli. In kerala fishing community is known as ‘Mukkuvan’. In Andhra fishing communities are known as Agnikula- Kshatriya, Vadabalija, Suryavasmi, and Pallekaru etc.. Fishing communities living in the different areas may not be related owing to geographic and ethnologic seperations.
A Historical –Evolutionary outline:
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It appears that cult of Fish God worship existed during the Indus Valley civilization. Seals recovered from the excavation of Indus valley(3000-1900 BC) Contains pictograms of fish that have been variously explained . Later in the history (ca 500 BC) the Fish-God (Matsya) was adopted as the first incarnation of Lord Visnu. Apart from the theological implications, the fish pictograms point to the familiarity of the fish in the Indus society. Fish catching as well as consumption of fish as a food appears to have been in vogue during the Indus period. The Rig-Veda point to the existence of Tulu tribes in Pirak region of North-western Indian Subcontinent during ca 1900 – 1500 BC. Following adverse environmental conditions, ca. 800 BC, Tulu tribes along with many others migrated into India mainland. During the composition of Mahabharata, Veda-Vyasa was the grandson of Daasha Raja, a fisherman who ferried people across the River Yamuna. There is a common saying that the major Tulu communities of Karavali- Bunts, Billawas and Mogaveeras are the children of sisters of a single family. This notion is verified based on the fact that many of these communities originally shared common Moolasthanas and common lineage surname like Bangera, Suvarna etc. Members of the same Moolasthanas, with passage of the time pursued divergent professions that led to formation of different communities in the course time. Mogaveera familes have acquired lineage surnames based on Moolasthana or the place of their original settlement. The following lineages based surnames are commonly found among the Mogaveera group of communities, Amin, Bangera, Chandan, Gujran, Kanchan, Karkera, Kotian, Kunder, Maindan, Mendon, Naika, Pangal, Puthran, Rao, Salian, Shriyan, Suvarna, Thingalaya and Tholar.
Matti Bhramins:
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During the fourteenth Century CE, it is said the Vadiraja Acharya of Udupi Mutt converted Mogaveera families of Mattu village into Bhramins (Buchanan 1807). The descendants of the community continued to follow some of the marriage practices native to Mogaveera heritage.
Buchanan reports that these Matti Bhramins have a Bobbariya gunda in their village like other Mogaveeras..