Saturday 2 April 2011

History

kurumas, a pastoral community, constitute a considerable bulk of the Hindu population in Andhra Pradesh. They are fairly distributed in Telangana and Rayalaseema districts. Kurumba in Tamilnadu, Kuruba in Karnataka, Kuruva in Rayalaseema and costal Andhra and Kuruma in Telangana are the various expressions used to denote the shepherd caste. Kurutlas are also known as Madari Kuruvas and Madarasi Kuruvas in some parts of the state. As they worship Beerappadevaru, they are also known as Beerannaiavaru. It is said that Haril1ara Rayalu and Bukkarayalu, the two brothers who founded the Vijayanagara Empire at Hampi in 1336 belonged to the Kuruba/ Kuruma caste.
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     The Kuruba community is one of the oldest existing communities of India, tracing its history back to prehistoric times. Kurubas have a great and ancient association Kannada language. The population of the Kuruba community in Karnataka alone is nearly 80 lakhs. People of the Kuruba community have long practised a variety of professions, and have not been confined to their traditional (and still predominant) occupation as shepherds and farmers. The Holkars of Indore were Maratha Dhangars. Undeniably, a large section of rural gentry and peasantry in Karnataka have belonged to the Kuruba community.[citation needed] Some Kurubas have been social thinkers and poets, such as Kanakadasa.

Before the Tamil Sangam, South India was inhabited by megalith-builders. These were a pastoral people who lived in caves and in the wilderness. They made stone and metal weapons and pottery. These people built dolmens and cromlechs for their noble dead. In these they buried their dead along with food grains, tools, weapons and other amenities for the afterlife. They were locally called as the Pandava people. These were the earliest monuments found in South India. These megalith-builders might have been the Kurumba people.[citation needed]
Kanakadasa was born into a shepherd family as the son of a village chieftain; his father was the Gowda of a Kuruba village. He was an ardent devotee of Lord Krishna the cowherd and hence set out on a pilgrimage to Udupi. But as he was a non-Brahmin the casteist priests of the Udupi Krishna temple prevented him from having a darshan of the Lord. Feeling hurt he went behind the temple and prayed ardently to the Lord. Lo, there was a miracle when a crack appeared on the wall of the temple and Lord Krishna appeared before him. Hence even today devotees at Udupi view the statue of Krishna through a crevice on the back wall of the temple. Kanakadasa was also a famous classical musician as well, he had contributed many bhajans hence he is remembered fondly by Carnatic music singers. Hence Kanaka dasa needs to be revered just as much as Kalidas and Tulsidas.
The Great Maharaja Yashwantrao Holkar was the first freedom fighter who made an army, in 1803, mostly consisting of Kurubas (Dhangars) to fight the British and to drive them out of India. He built a factory to manufacture tanks. He appealed to the rest of the Kings of India and said, "First Country and then Religion. We will have to rise above caste, religion and our states in the interest of our country. You too must wage a war against the British like me". His appeal fell on deaf ears as all of them had already signed treaties with the British. The Kurubas took part in the revolt of 1857. Many of them were hanged to death in Berar (M.P.). The British were so much afraid of Kurubas that they made a law banning purchase of land by Kurubas stating a reason that they were not Kunbis (agriculturists). They were oppressed in all spheres of life.
He was the only king in India to whom the British approached to sign a peace treaty. Initially he refused to sign any treaty with the British, but when he saw that rest of the kings were not ready to unite and were interested in personal benefits he was the last to sign a treaty with the British on 24 December 1805 at Rajghat. He did not accept any condition which would affect his self respect.
Allama Prabhu, head of Lingayat Temple at the time of allowing saint Rewad in the temple stated "Kuruba Hutavamunna Kulavilla Gotra Villam, Kuruban fal kani Basavanna." meaning "Before the Kurubas there were no gotras, gotras came with Kurubas, Basavanna, we are the descendants of kurubas". This shows that many Lingayats were Kurubas/Dhangars previously
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What is meant by Dhangar ?
The House Magazine(Hindi) of Ministry of Culture , Government of India, New Delhi, SANSKRITI, issue No.16, year 2009, in an article at its page No. 12 elaborates” “Dhan” as sheep and goats. The shepherds from the time immemorial call their sheep and goats as “Dhan”. A Dhangar is the person who himself or his forefathers had been associated with the rearing of the sheep and goats. The Dhangars have been traditionally pastoral nomads. As on today not all the Dhangars rear sheep and goats. The human civilization has evolved through various stages. The men lived initially in jungles and depended on hunting of animals for food. In due course of time he was able to domesticate some small animals like sheep, goats and dogs and a new era of human civilization came into being. This was the beginning of the civilized society. The groups of the humans moved from one place to another with their domesticated animals in search of better pastures. Thus a Shepherd was the first civilized person of the world. During the course the shepherds learned the process of growing the grasses and thus the farming was developed which resulted in a semi-stabilized society. Sheep and goats were the property of the men and was being exchanged in the times of need. The wealth of a family was adjudged by the numbers of the sheep and goats they possessed. The word Dhan came into existence as a measure of the wealth or prosperity and it was used for the sheep and the goats at initial stage of the civilization and is being used even today. The majority of the scholars have propounded that the word Dhangar had originated from the word “Dhenu” which means cow in Sanskrit language. It is virtually a wrong perception of the scholars. However it is also true that Dhangars, who are nomads, rear cows also along with sheep and goats and in certain places they feel proud to call themselves as Gopalaks means cowherd. These shepherds who call themselves as Gopalaks are in fact being identified by the general society as Shepherds only. Cowherds are a different society called as Ahirs. Dhangars are the nomads whereas the Ahirs are not. Dhangars of today are the people who have not adapted to the developmental changes of the modern society and have lagged behind in the race of civilisation. Dhangars have a glorious history. They have contributed a lot, not only to the Indian society but also to the world at large. For the centuries Dhangars have been seen scornfully by the developed society being semi nomads and the un-developed tribe. The historians too have not been fairer while writing the history as the history has always been written for the winners and the advanced societies. Still the evidence exists and we can trace the facts from the available records.

2 comments:

  1. hi, Ramesh -- need your help to develop our community site - http://kurumasangam.in/ -- JaiTelangana

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  2. Hi sir this Anand , kurumalu reddys ha

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