223.226.44.58 at 07:35, 7 July 2021

2021-07-07T07:35:32Z

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{{use dmy dates|date=September 2016}}
{{use Indian English|date=September 2016}}
{{Infobox Ethnic group|
|group=Idiga
|popplace = [[Karnataka]]
|rels = [[Hinduism]]
|languages = [[Kannada]]
|related =
}}

'''Vokkaliga or Gowda''' is a Hindu community of people concentrated in south central areas of [[Karnataka]]. Some Idigas are involved in [[soma (drink)|soma]] and [[Ayurvedic medicine]].{{citation needed|date=September 2016}}

The traditional occupation of Idiga people was that of [[toddy tapping]].<ref name="natraj"/> They are mostly concentrated in Malnad, [[Shimoga district]]. Similar but culturally distinct toddy tapping communities, called the [[Billava]] and Deevaru, exist in [[South Kanara]] and southern Karnataka, respectively. There had been attempts to cause these various communities, of which the Deevaru are considered to be socially the lowest-ranked, to cohere politically but these had petered out by the 1980s.<ref>{{cite book |title=Shift in Indian Politics: 1983 Elections in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka |first=George |last=Mathew |publisher=Concept Publishing Company |year=1984 |page=59 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zG4JuQMA-a8C&pg=PA59}}</ref>

The Idiga were categorised as an [[Other Backwards Class]] (OBC) in the 1980s, when they constituted around 2.5 per cent of the population in Karnataka. Despite their low numbers, eleven Idiga people were elected as [[Member of the Legislative Assembly (India)|Members of the Legislative Assembly]] in the 1985 elections, making them the largest single OBC group in the [[Legislative Assembly of Karnataka]]. They had six Members in 1978 and eight in 1983.<ref name="natraj">{{cite book |title=Karnataka Government and Politics |editor-first=Harish |editor-last=Ramaswamy |first=V. K. |last=Natraj |chapter=Backwards Classes and Minorities in Karnataka Politics |publisher=Concept Publishing Company |year=2007 |isbn=978-8-18069-397-7 |page=407 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UM3LjKo8Uo8C&pg=PA407}}</ref> They remain a significant political force and were described as a part of the [[AHINDA]] bloc that significantly helped the [[Indian National Congress]] party in the [[2013 Karnataka Legislative Assembly election|2013 Assembly elections]].<ref>{{cite book |title=India's 2014 Elections: A Modi-led BJP Sweep |editor-first=Paul |editor-last=Wallace |first1=S. S. |last1=Patagundi |first2=Prakash |last2=Desai |chapter=Karnataka: Change and Continuity in 2014 |publisher=SAGE Publications India |year=2015 |isbn=978-9-35150-517-4 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UFslDAAAQBAJ&pg=PT319 |pages=318–319}}</ref>

Significant number of Idigas have become very wealthy and powerful by extending their involvement in toddy tapping to that of excise contracting, distilling and brewing on contract to large businesses, but the economic base of the community remains limited mostly to that of liquor. Idigas of Neeravari Pradesh of Karnataka own large number of fertile land making them earn large source of income.<ref>{{cite book |title=India's New Capitalists: Caste, Business, and Industry in a Modern Nation |first=H. |last=Damodaran |publisher=Springer |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-23059-412-8 |page=202 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WJp_DAAAQBAJ&pg=PA202}}</ref> Politicians such as [[Sarekoppa Bangarappa]], themselves of the toddy-tapping community,{{efn|Some sources say that Bangarappa was a Deevaru<ref>{{cite book |title=Shift in Indian Politics: 1983 Elections in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka |first=George |last=Mathew |publisher=Concept Publishing Company |year=1984 |page=59 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zG4JuQMA-a8C&pg=PA59}}</ref> or Billava,<ref>{{cite journal |title= Blurring the Lines between Parties and Social Bases: Gundu Rao and Emergence of a Janata Government in Karnataka |first=James |last=Manor |journal=Economic and Political Weekly |volume=19 |issue=37 |date=15 September 1984 |pages=1623–1632 |jstor=4373574 }}</ref> others that he was an Idiga.<ref>{{cite book |title=Broadening and Deepening Democracy: Political Innovation in Karnataka |first1=E. |last1=Raghavan |first2=James |last2=Manor |publisher=Routledge |year=2012 |isbn=978-1-13603-518-0 |page=270 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TDTgCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA270}}</ref>}} have been able to use the support of these prosperous people.<ref>{{cite book |title=Social Mobility In Kerala: Modernity and Identity in Conflict |first1=Filippo |last1=Osella |first2=Caroline |last2=Osella |publisher=Pluto Press |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-74531-693-2 |page=265 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rMRw0gTZSJwC&pg=PA265}}</ref>

Idiga also practised [[Bonesetter|bone-setting]] and, together with some members of the [[Vokkaliga]] community, are relatively dominant in that field.<ref>{{cite book |title=Health Providers in India: On the Frontlines of Change |editor1-first=Kabir |editor1-last=Sheikh |editor2-first=Asha |editor2-last=George |first1=P. M. |last1=Unnikrishnan |first2=H. P. Lokesh |last2=Kumar |first3=Darshan |last3=Shankar |chapter=Traditional Orthopaedic Practitioners' Place in Contemporary Health |publisher=Routledge |year=2012 |isbn=978-1-13651-682-5 |page=188 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Cq9kNAUs8BgC&pg=PA188}}</ref>

The [[Kannada]]-language ''[[Prajavani]]'' newspaper was founded by an Idiga liquor contractor who had "made some money in the war" and, as of 1997, was still controlled by his descendants.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Kannada: "We Fake It There Is Competition" |first=Robin |last=Jeffrey |journal=Economic and Political Weekly |volume=32 |issue=12 |date=22 March 1997 |pages=566–570 |jstor=4405192 }}</ref>

== References ==
'''Notes'''
{{notelist}}
'''Citations'''
{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}

== Further reading ==
*{{cite book |title=A Flowering Tree and Other Oral Tales from India: A.K. Ramanujan ; Edited with a Preface by Stuart Blackburn and Alan Dundes |first=A. K. |last=Ramanujan |authorlink=A. K. Ramanujan |editor1-first=Stuart H. |editor1-last=Blackburn |editor2-first=Alan |editor2-last=Dundes |publisher=University of California Press |year=1997 |isbn=978-0-52020-399-0 |url=https://archive.org/details/floweringtreeoth0000rama |url-access=registration |page=[https://archive.org/details/floweringtreeoth0000rama/page/198 198] |chapter=A Wager}}

[[Category:Social groups of Karnataka]]
[[Category:Brewing and distilling castes]]

Idiga - Revision history

223.226.44.58 at 07:35, 7 July 2021