Govala/Golla and tamil KOvalar tribes

[mbauri]

This fisher castes, Bauri, Bind and Kewat, are
> a trifle higher in the scale; the pastoral *Goala.....

Could anyone give some more information on the 'Bauri' caste ?
Incidentally, there is also a last name 'Bauri'  of Swiss or German origin.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Swaminathan Madhuresan" <smadhuresan at YAHOO.COM>
To: <INDOLOGY at LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK>
Sent: Tuesday, January 02, 2001 11:43 AM
Subject: Re: Govala/Golla and tamil KOvalar tribes


> Important to know that a cognate of tamil kOvalar is found
> in North India with the name, Govala/Goala. kOval is an
> ancient town with major temples to both Vishnu and Shiva.
>
>  C. P. Brown in his Telugu-English dictionary derives
> Golla from Gorre 'a kind of sheep'. Compare with the
> Tamil cognates from OTL:
>
> koRi 02 1. sheep; 2. aries, a constellation of the zodiac
>
> koRi-ttal 01 1. to nip off the husks of grains; to nibble grain; 2. to
graze;
>  to pick up food here and there, as cattle; to eat scantily;
>
> koRRi 1. young calf; 2. cow with a young calf.
>
> --- "Dr. N. Ganesan" <naga_ganesan at HOTMAIL.COM> wrote:
> > Few years ago, Prof. Peter J. Claus, an anthropologist from
> > California asked me how to explain the name of the
> > herding caste name, "Golla". Gollas are found in all Indian
> > region including the Deccan, Bihar, ... That time I did not
> > have an answer to the Tulu expert, P. J. Claus who has
> > written fieldwork regarding the yAdhavization phenomenon
> > happening among various Golla tribes/castes.
> >
> > Online Tamil lexicon entry:
> > *kOvalar* = 1) men of the sylvan tract, 2) herdsmen
> >
> > There are 100s of references for "kOvalar" as
> > herdsmen in Sangam poetry and Alvar/NAyanmAr bhakti corpus.
> > An example:
> > kuRuntokai - "pal An2 kOvalar"
> > tEvAram - "kollaivAyk kuruntu ocittuk kuzalum Utum kOvalan2um"
> > (Krishna is the cowherd called Kovalan here.)
> >
> > In old times, Gollas were called "Govalas", usually
> > rendered in English as Goalas. An example:
> > Sir. Herbert Hope Risley, The People of India, 1908, Calcutta,
> > p. 28:
> > "In Bihar or the United Provinces the casteless tribes,
> > Kols, Korwas, Mundas, and the like, who have not yet entered
> > the Brahminical system, occupy the lowest place ... Then
> > come the vermin-eating Musahars and the leather-dressing
> > Chamars. This fisher castes, Bauri, Bind and Kewat, are
> > a trifle higher in the scale; the pastoral *Goala*, the
> > cultivating Kurmi, and the group of cognate castes from
> > whose hands a Brahmin may take water follow in due order,
> > and from them we pass to the trading Khatris, the
> > landholding Babhans, and the upper crust of Hindu society."
> >
> > Obviously, tamil "kOvalar" > Govala (=Goala) > Golla.
> >
> > Regards,
> > N. Ganesan
> >
>
>
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