Kodava people
Kodava folk singers | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| (approx) 160,000 | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Kodagu, Bangalore, Mysore | |
| Languages | |
| Koḍava takkï | |
| Religion | |
| Hinduism | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Nambiar, Mappilla, Arebhashe, Gowda, Amma, Heggade |
| Part of a series on the |
| Culture of Karnataka |
|---|
| Person | Koḍavanï |
|---|---|
| People | Koḍavarï |
| Language | Koḍava takkï |
| Country | Koḍagï |
The Kodavas (Codavas or Kodagas) also called Coorgs are an endogamous Dravidian ethnolinguistic group from the region of Kodagu in the southern Indian state of Karnataka, who natively speak the Kodava language. Kodavas worship ancestors, nature, and weapons such as swords, bows, arrows, and later guns.
They are traditionally land-owning agriculturists and patrilineal, with martial customs. Originally small landholders, they gained relative prosperity with the advent of coffee cultivation in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
The Kodava tribe forms the single largest caste in the district of Kodagu; they are reportedly over 30% of Kodagu's Hindu population, and play a major role in deciding the political candidates and winners there. The Kodava tribe also forms more than 60 percent of the Kodava-speaking population.
Kodavas are the only ones in India permitted to carry firearms without a license.