Kudumbis: STs Without a Tag in Karnataka

  •   Thu, Nov 21 2024
  •   By Muriel Nirmala D'Silva

November 21, 2024

Kudumbis, who are Scheduled Tribes, though not given that status by the Government, are a very close-knit community and mostly work in groups as farm or daily wage labourers. They have settlements in Bajpe and Mijar in Dakshina Kannada. They are also found in Shaktinagar, though they still go to their hometowns for the worship of their family spirits. 

According to Ganga, a daily wage labourer, and a Kudumbi from Shaktinagar, “Earlier I used to go to paddy fields to work. But now there are few of them. So I started working in coconut and arecanut farms. Now I work as a maid. My mother died when I was a small girl and I started rolling beedies to bring up the family. My husband also died at a young age and I was left with three children. So my son started working as a mason."


Kudumbis playing the gumta


Photo of a Kudumbi woman in her traditional attire


Kudumbis at work


Kudumbis performing the Kolata

“The Kudumbis were formally purely dependent on fruits like Jackfruit and roots like sweet potato and tapioca to fill their stomach. Later, we became vegetarian as food served to them by our employers was so. Some of us who worked for Catholics even took a liking for non-vegetarian food. So our food habits vary. But most of us are non-vegetarian now," she adds. 

Says Appi, another Kudumbi who used to live as a joint family in Shaktinagar, “We built our own houses here after our land dispute was settled and could afford to do so by selling part of the land and no longer stay as a joint family. Both my sister-in-law Padmavathi and me lost our husbands when we were middle-aged. Padmavathi doesn’t have children. She has been taking care of my son like her own since childhood. We still go to Mijar for our family functions.” 

Padmavathi underlines that both Appi and she always go to work together and never alone. But Ganga adds, “If we know the landlord or people for whom we work for about three to four decades then we go alone." 

Krishna, who resides at Shaktinagar, is an electrician/plumber by profession. He was trained by the son of an employer of another Kudumbi. He takes up small time contracts. 

Chenamma, who is aged and is a housewife now as her son and daughter-in-law are employed live in a rented place though she owns land in Bajpe. She recalls her hardship of her younger days and says as her mother was going out to work in the paddy fields, she had to take care of her siblings though she herself was a small child and they could not afford to go to school. 

Most Kudumb men die when they are middle-aged and it’s the women folk who have a strong personality and live a long life. 

The favourite traditional instruments the Kudumbis play are the Gumta like traditional Catholics. Their mother tongue is Konkani, slightly different from the Konkani which Mangalurean Catholics speak. They are Hindus by religion. 

Almost all of the older generation is illiterate with the younger generation having left their studies in primary school itself. However the younger generation is particular about their children going to school. 

Kudumbis are very honest, faithful and hard workers and hence the same employers employ them for ages. 

Lingappa Gowda was the former member of Mandd Sobhann, a Konkani Cultural Troupe of Mangalore, which has done indepth research on Konkanis. He is also the Youth Secretary of Kudumbi Mathr Sangha and Editor, Kudumbi Jnana Deepti. He is now residing at Moodbidri and has worked for the unification of Kudumbis in Dakshina Kannada, Udupi and Uttara Kannada where they are known as Kunbis. As per Gowda, at the national level Kudumbis are known as Kurmis. In Gujarat they are known as Kanbis while in Goa they are called Kulumbis. 

Gowda points out that under the Madras Presidency, Kudubis, and Kudumbans of Tamil Nadu were given SC status. But now after the Karnataka State was formed, no such facility is being provided. That’s why they are demanding SC status for Kudubis. But he also clarifies that as Kudumbis are Tribals, separate ST status should be given to Kudumbis in Karnataka as done in Goa, where they originally migrated from.

Ca Nandagopal Shenoy, President, World Konkani Centre, Shaktinagar, didn’t have any information on the topic. But he sent a report on the socio-economic survey of ‘Kudubis’ published in 1956 which is basically on the Naikas. It claims that ‘Kudubis’ are forest dwellers. It may have been true about 75 years back as mentioned earlier that Kudumbis were formerly dependent on fruits and roots. They still can easily detect a poisonous root from one which we can eat or those which have medicinal value. The same is true for barks and leaves.

 

 

 
By Muriel Nirmala D'Silva
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