After Lingayats, Kodavas (or Coorgs) Want Minority Status in Karnataka

Post the Karnataka government’s decision to accord an independent religion tag to the Lingayats, another community from the state has demanded that they should also be declared as a religious minority.

Two representatives from the Kodava community, or Coorgs, MM Bansi and Vijay Muthappa have sent a memorandum to the state asking for a separate religion tag.

The minorities department has forwarded the demand to Karnataka State Minorities Commission.


According to insiders, the Commission has deferred the matter.

The Kodavas, also known as Coorgs, are a martial race from the small, coffee growing district of Kodagu or Coorg in southern part of Karnataka. Their total population is less than 1.5 lakh and they speak a language called “Kodava Thak”. They do not have a script. They claim that they are nature worshippers and don’t follow many customs of the Hindu religion. None of their rituals involve Brahmin priests and all their scriptures are in their own language. They have their own distinct costumes and pork is the staple diet for them.

Kodagu Natural Sciences Society president Lt. Gen. BC Nanda said that Kodavas inhabited Kodagu 2,000 years ago. The first recorded instance of Kodavas was found in 1174 AD during Hoysala dynasty in the State.

Kodava was the only community that accepted the "gotra" system other than non-Muslim and non-Christian communities, he said.

Kodagu was a tiny independent state ruled by the Lingayat kings till 1830s. The British annexed Kodagu and ruled it separately till 1947. After that it was a “C” state till 1956. On November 1, 1956 it became a part of Karnataka.

Some Kodava activists are demanding that they should at least get an autonomous hill council on the lines of Gurkha Hill Council (GHC).

The first chief of the Indian Army Field Marshal K M Cariappa and another army chief General KS Thimmaiah are the prominent Kodavas. CM Poonacha from the same community was railways minister in the Nehru Government.

Experts argue that any sect that wants a separate religion tag or minority status should have its own prophet and a holy book.

“The Lingayats have both. But the Kodavas don’t have any such thing and they are not eligible for it,” said an official at the Minorities Commission.

Kodagu has just two Assembly seats and both are held by the BJP since 2008.