Gauda caste is surname of many people in southern India. Gauda caste meaning is The Gaudas or Gaudos are a large caste of Canarese cultivators and cattle-breeders. Gauda and Gaudo, Mr. H. A. Stuart writes,13 are really two distinct castes, the former being Canarese and the latter Uriya. Each name is, however, spelt both ways. The two names are, I presume, etymologically the same. The ordinary derivation is from the Sanskrit go, a cow, but Dr. Gustav Oppert contends14 that the root of Gauda is a Dravidian word meaning a mountain. Among the Canarese, and to a less extent among the Uriyas also, the word is used in an honorific sense, a custom which is difficult to account for if Dr. Opperts philology is correct. Gaudas, Mr. Stuart writes further,15 also called Halvaklumakkalu (children of the milk class), are very numerously represented in the South Canara district. They have a somewhat elaborate system of caste government. In every village there are two headmen, the Grama Gauda and the Vattu or Gattu Gauda. For every group of eight or nine villages there is another head called the Magane Gauda, and for every nine Maganes there is a yet higher authority called the Kattemaneyava. The caste is divided into eighteen baris or balis, which are of the usual exogamous character. [270]The names of some of these are as follows- Bangara (gold), Nandara, Malara (a bundle of glass bangles, as carried about for sale), Salu, Hemmana (pride or conceit), Kabru, Goli (Portulaca oleracea, a pot-herb), Basruvogaru (basru, belly), Balasanna, and Karmannaya. Marriage is usually adult, and sexual license before marriage with a member of the caste is tolerated, though nominally condemned. The dhare form of marriage (see Bant) is used, but the bridal pair hold in their joined hands five betel leaves, one areca nut and four annas, and, after the water has been poured, the bridegroom ties a tali to the neck of the bride. Divorce is permitted freely, and divorced wives and widows can marry again. A widow with children, however, should marry only her late husbands elder brother. If she marries any one else, the members of her former husbands family will not even drink water that has been touched by her. They burn their dead. On the third day, the ashes are made into the form of a man, which is cut in two, buried, and a mound made over it. In the house two planks are placed on the ground, and covered with a cloth. On one of these, a vessel containing milk is placed, and on the other a lamp, rice, cocoanut, pumpkin, etc, are deposited. The agnates and some boys go round the plank three times, and afterwards go to the mound, taking with them the various articles in a cloth. Three plantain leaves are spread in front of the mound, and cooked food, etc, placed thereon. Four posts are set up round the mound, and cloths stretched over them, and placed round the sides. On the sixteenth day, sixteen plantain leaves are placed in a row, and one leaf is laid apart. Cakes, cooked fowls flesh, toddy and arrack (liquor) are placed on the leaves in small leaf-cups. The assembled agnates then say We have done everything as we should do, and so [271]our ancestors who have died must take the man who is now dead to their regions. I put the leaf which is apart in the same row with the sixteen leaves.
Once a year, in the month of Mituna (June-July), the Gaudas perform a ceremony for the propitiation of all deceased ancestors. They have a special preference for Venkataramaswami, to whom they make money offerings once a year in September. They employ Brahmins to give them sacred water when they are under pollution, but they do not seek their services for ordinary ceremonies. They are, for the most part, farmers, but some few are labourers. The latter receive three or four seers of paddy a day as wages. Their house language is Tulu in some places, and Canarese in others, but all follow the ordinary system of inheritance, and not the custom of descent through females. Their title is Gauda.
As bearing on the superstitious beliefs of the people of South Canara, the following case, which was tried before the Sessions Judge in 1908, may be cited. A young Gauda girl became pregnant by her brother-in-law. After three days labour, the child was born. The accused, who was the mother of the girl, was the midwife. Finding the delivery very difficult, she sent for a person named Korapulu to come and help her. The child was, as they thought, still-born. On its head was a red protuberance like a ball; round each of its forearms were two or three red bands; the eyes and ears were fixed very high in the head; and the eyes, nose, and mouth were abnormally large. Korapulu and the girls younger sister at once carried the mother out of the out-house lest the devil child should do her harm or kill her. The accused called for a man named Isuf Saiba, who was standing in the yard outside. He came in, and she asked him to call some of the neighbours, to decide [272]what to do. The child, she said, was a devil child, and must be cut and killed, lest it should devour its mother. While they were looking at the child, it began to move and roll its eyes about, and turn on the ground. It is a belief of the villagers that such a devil child, when born and brought in contact with the air, rapidly grows, and causes great trouble, usually killing the mother, and sometimes killing all the inmates of the house. The accused told Isuf Saiba to cover the child with a vessel, which he did. Then there was a sound from inside the vessel, either of the child moving or making some sound with its mouth. The accused then put her hand under the vessel, dragged the child half way out, and then, while Isuf Saiba pressed the edge of the earthenware vessel on the abdomen of the child, the accused took a knife, and cut the body in half. When the body was cut in two, there was no blood, but a mossy green liquid, or a black liquid, oozed out. The accused got two areca leaves, and put one piece of the child on one, and one on the other, and told Isuf Saiba to get a spade, and come and bury them. So they went out into the jungle close to the house, and Isuf Saiba dug two holes about half a yard deep, one on one hillock, and one on another. In these two holes the two pieces of the child were separately buried. The object of this was to prevent the two pieces joining together again, in which case the united devil child would have come out of the grave, and gone to kill its mother. The birth and death of this devil child were not kept secret, but were known throughout the village.
Gauda or Gaudu further occurs as a title of Idiga, Kuruba, and Vakkaliga, an exogamous sept and gotra of Kuruba and Kurni, and a sub-division of Golla.
Gauda caste is one of the many castes subcastes of India.<\/p>\n\n
India has thousands of castes and subcastes, they are in existence and practice since the Vedic times. They were created to solve the problem of division of labor. Gauda caste name could indicate the type of work people belonging to the Gauda caste do or did in earlier times. Many last names in India indicate the place the person originally belongs to. All castes sub castes are primarily divided into 4 categories:
1.Brahmins – The learned or priestly class
2.Khastriyas – The warrior class or those with governing functions
3.Vaishyas – The trader, agriculturalists or cattle rearers class
4.Shudra – The class that serves other three categories<\/p>\n\n
Gauda caste belongs to one of the above 4 categories. Indian caste system is the best system to solve the problem of division of labor. In earlier times there was no rigidity in caste system. Indian caste system is still the best solution for the problem of division of labor, the only change that is needed as per changed times is that rather than having a vertical hierarchical system with Brahmins on top and Shudras at bottom, it would be good to have a horizontal socialist system with Brahmins, Khastriyas, Vaishyas and Shudras all at same level.<\/p>\n\n
The caste system of India is in ruins at present. It is also cause of bloody quarrels in certain parts of the rural India. People of backward castes have reservations in government jobs, this facility is widely misused in India. Many of the backward caste people have become rich and still use the facility for their benefit. Many in India believe reservation in jobs should be given on the basis of poverty rather than caste because there are many poors in upper castes as well.<\/p>\n\n
Many criticize the Indian caste system because of bad material condition of lower castes but if they observe in an unbiased way they would find that there are many in upper castes with bad material conditions. The problem lies in power not in castes, power can corrupt anyone be it from upper caste or lower caste.<\/p>\n\n
All cultures, all countries, all religions have caste system in one form or the other. Christians have different churches depending on the region or language or skin color of people. Muslims have a priestly class that tries to control everything. Arab Muslims before the oil boom were so much divided among tribes that if you drank water from a well of a different tribe you could be shot dead. Tribal divisions still exists among Muslims. You can also see the caste system in a different form in your corporate companies. I had seen different food and drinking facilities for people at different levels.<\/p>\n\n
Gauda caste is also known as Gauda Gotra.<\/p>\n\n
Caste situation is quiet different in urban India, people in urban areas especially youngsters don?t bother about castes. Inter caste, inter religious, inter lingual marriages are quiet common in urban India. Inter caste, inter religious and inter lingual marriages in rural areas attract severe criticism and many times people are expelled from community for not marrying as per religious and caste rules.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Gauda caste surname, Gauda caste meaning, Gauda caste people, Gauda caste history<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51391],"tags":[58034,58031,58038,58041,58039,58036,58037,58030,58035,58040,58032,58033,58042],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/desigoogly.com\/caste\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14151"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/desigoogly.com\/caste\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/desigoogly.com\/caste\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desigoogly.com\/caste\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desigoogly.com\/caste\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14151"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/desigoogly.com\/caste\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14151\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/desigoogly.com\/caste\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desigoogly.com\/caste\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desigoogly.com\/caste\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}