Namadhari naik
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article or section needs to be wikified to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please help improve this article with relevant internal links. (October 2007) |
 |
This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please improve this article if you can. (October 2007) |
Namadhari Naik are a community predominantly found in Uttara Kannada District of Karnataka State in India and are numerically a majority community in the district. They are also known by the names Halepaika, Deevaru and clubbed along with other similar castes like idiga and billava. The term 'Arya-Idiga' is also used widely. They are mainly into agriculture, ayurveda though toddy tapping is also attributed to them as it has been the main occupation of the numerically larger idiga community. The people of the community use Naik, Nayak, and Namadhari as surnames.
Contents |
[edit] Etymology
Namadhari:The term signifies the Vaishnava cult followed by the community people.The community considers the Lord of Tirupati as their deity. Halepaika in Kannada means "belonging to the older stock" [hale-old, paika-belonging to]. This term has been especially used to distinguish them from people of other communities who migrated to the region later. There is a reference to a regiment of 'Halepaikas' [halepaikara sainya] in one of the paintings of Mysore palace. It is hardly surprising as the war-like attributes of the community are a wellknown fact. It is known that the community served as soldiers [1], mercenaries[2] and commanders. Nayaka or Naik in Kannada or Sanskrit means commander. It is believed Halepaiks occupied important posts in the Vijayanagar kingdom and under Keladi Nayakas.
The term Deeva finds mention in the great epic Mahabharata as to one involved in the naval occupation. Incidentally the term ''Idiga'' also means 'islander'[3] or someone belonging to Srilanka. Hence it is not surprising to know about some similar communities of Lanka with similar antecedents[4]. The reference to Mahabharata is inevitable when a similar community by name [[Vaduge]][5] is compared. Incidentally the term 'Arya' in 'Arya-idiga' is said to indicate the northern origin. This may indicate an initial migration from the north to the southern island and a later second migration from the island to coastal region of southern India. Given the exotic physical characteristics of a certain part of the population,intermarriage between foreign trading and martial communities present in the ancient times [read: Greeks]cannot be ruled out[6].
[edit] Culture
The Namadharis are a Hindu patrilinear society though it is said that initially they had matrilinear system.Worship of local divine spirits can also be seen and the worship of 'Baleendra' [King Mahabali worshipped in Kerala during Onam] during Deepavali has been continuing since ages.
[edit] Present conditions and social status
It has been already mentioned that the martial Namadharis took to agriculture during peacetimes and down the centuries were left with small landholdings,a condition which led to them being downtrodden and marginalised as petty farmers by the time Britishers arrived on the scene.The time of Sri Narayana Guru[1856-1928] saw the community emerge out of hibernation to fight for its rights and take active part in the Freedom struggle of India[7]. Today the community is classified under the backward classes by the Government of India. The most memorable period in modern times for the community,came during the Kagodu Satyagrahaled by Shri Ganpatiyappa. The community has produced many notable personalities and the younger generation continues the remarkable work done by its predecessors. Today the community is prosperous & boasts of a workforce including software professionals, doctors, lawyers, actors,civil servants, teachers, entrepreneurs and people in other successful fields. The literacy rate is high in both males and females and presently the emphasis has been rightly placed on education as may be evidenced from the fact that many youngsters are opting for higher studies abroad.
