Linga Balija Explained

Group:Linga Balija
Population:15 Lakhs
Popplace:Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu,
Langs:Telugu, Kannada, Tamil
Related:Other Balija Subgroups

Linga Balija is a subcaste of the Indian Balija caste.

The Balija are a Telugu-speaking trading community primarily living in the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and in smaller numbers in Telangana and Kerala.[1] [2] Balijas are known as Banajigas in Karnataka.[3]

Linga Balijas (traders) are summed up in the Madras Census Report, 1901, as a Lingāyat sub-caste of Balija.[4]

Etymology

Variations of the name in use in the medieval era were Balanja, Bananja, Bananju, Banajiga and Banijiga, with probable cognates Balijiga, Valanjiyar, Balanji, Bananji, Baliga and derivatives such as Vani(in Maharashtra) all of which are said to be derived from the Sanskrit term Vanik or Vanij, for trader.[5]

Another etymological theory states that Balija is derived from the Sanskrit word Bali, a sacrifice made during 'Yagna' ritual and Ja meaning born. Therefore, Balija means "born from sacrifice".[6]

Balijas who followed Veerashaivism called themselves Linga Balijas or Linga Vaniks.

Origin

The following legendary account of the origin of the "Linga Bhojunnalawaru " is given in the Baramahal Records. Para Brahma or the great god Brahma created the god Pralayakala Rudra or the terrific at the day of destruction, a character of the god Shiva, and he created the Chatur Acharyulu or four sages named Panditaraju, Yekcoramalu, Murralaradulu, and Somaluradulu, and taught them mantras or prayers, and made them his deputies. On a time, the Asuras and Devatas, or the giants and the gods, made war on each other, and the god Pralayakala Rudra produced from his nose a being whom he named Muchari Rudra, and he had five sons, with whom he went to the assistance of the devatas or gods, and enabled them to defeat the giants, and for his service the gods conferred upon him and his sons the following honorary distinctions: —

The use of burning lamps and flambeaus in their public processions during the day.The use of tents. " On a time, when the god Pralayakala Rudra and Mochari Rudra and his five sons, with other celestial attendants, were assembled on the Kailāsa parvata or mountain of Paradise, the god directed the latter to descend into the Bhuloka or earthly world, and increase and multiply these species. They humbly prayed to know how they were again to reach the divine presence.He answered 'I shall manifest myself in the Bhuloka under the form of the Lingam or Priapus; do you worship me under that form, and you will again be permitted to approach me.' They accordingly descended into the earthly regions, and from them the present castes of Balijawaras deduce their origin.[7] [8]

History

Beginning in the 9th century, references are found in inscriptions throughout the Kannada and Tamil areas to a trading network, which is sometimes referred to as a guild, called the Five Hundred Lords of Ayyavolu that provided trade links between trading communities in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.[9] From the 13th century, inscriptions referring to "Vira Balanjyas" (warrior merchants) started appearing in the Andhra country. The Vira Balanjyas, whose origins are often claimed to lie in the Ayyavolu, represented long-distance trading networks that employed fighters to protect their warehouses and goods in transit. The traders were identified as nanadesi (of 'many countries') and as swadesi ('own country').[10] The terms balanjya-setti and balija were also used for these traders, and in later times naidu and chetti.[11] These traders formed collectives called pekkandru and differentiated themselves from other collectives called nagaram, which probably represented Komati merchants. The pekkandru collectives also included members of other communities with status titles reddi, boya and nayaka.[12] They spread all over South India, Sri Lanka, and also some countries in the Southeast Asia.[13]

Velcheru Narayana Rao et al. note that the Balijas were first mobilised politically by the Vijayanagara emperor Krishnadevaraya.[14] Later, in the 15th and 16th centuries, they colonised the Tamil country and established Nayaka chieftaincies. At this time, Balijas were leaders of the left-hand section of castes. These Balija warriors were noted as fearless and some stories speak of them assassinating kings who interfered with their affairs. Cynthia Talbot believes that in Andhra the transformation of occupational descriptors into caste-based descriptors did not occur until at least the 17th century.[15]

The classification of people as Balija was one of many challenges for the census enumerators of the British Raj era, whose desire was to reduce a complex social system to one of administrative simplicity using theories of evolutionary anthropology. Early Raj census attempts in Madras Presidency recorded a wide variety of people claiming to be members of Balija subcastes but who appeared to share little in common and thus defied the administrative desire for what it considered to be a rational and convenient taxonomy. Those who claimed to be Chetty had an obvious connection through their engagement in trade and those who called themselves Kavarai were simply using the Tamil word for Balija but, for example, the Linga Balija based their claim to Balija status on a sectarian identification, the Gazula were bangle-makers by occupation, the Telaga had Telugu origins and the Rajamahendram also appeared to be a geographic claim based on their origins in the town of Rajahmundry. Subsequent attempts to rationalise the enumeration merely created other anomalies and caused upset.[16]

Dynasty

Rulers

Ananthapur, Bukkarayapatnam, Dharmavaram Linga Balijas of Hande Family.

Status

In the year 2019, representatives of the Telangana state Veerashaiva Lingayat Federation petitioned the National Commission for Backward Classes to include Linga Balija and Veerashaiva Lingayat in the central government's list of Other Backward Classes.[24] In 2022, Member of Parliament B. B. Patil met with the Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment Virendra Kumar Khatik to discuss the two subcaste's inclusion in the OBC list.[25]

Other Names

Family Names

Family Names of Lingayat Balijas/Banajigas/Appas/Vanis

Most of the family names or surnames of the Lingayat Balijas/ Banajigas will be either village headmen ship names like

Deshmukh, Desais, Patils, Gowdas, Appa(Like jayadevappa,Haralappa, Yedurappa, Mallasarja Desai etc.)

Or with village names they migrated or villages they lead

Lingadalli, Davenagere, Shivamogga, Hospeta, Kalaburigi, Munagala, Rayachoti, Kotturi

And with their business, trading or cultivating crops

Pogaku,Kandi,Akula,Patti,Shetty,Bowrshetti,Miriyala,Nelli,Vadla,Chatla,Aamudaala,Doodi,Pattu,Gurrala,Aavula

Maharashtra

In maharashtra, the community is known as veershaiva lingayat Vani. Next to Marathas, Lingayat Vanis were seen to be a dominating community in politics as well as local markets.[30] [31] They carry Marathi surnames like Deshmukh, Devane, Patil, Kalyani, Desai, Gowda, Nandedkar, Eklare, Rao, Appa, Bagmare, Dongre, Falke, Naik, Umre, Nandkule etc.[32]

Notable peoples

Notes and References

  1. Book: Jakka Parthasarathy . Rural Population in Indian Urban Setting. B.R. Publishing Corporation . 1984. 52. 9788170181392. Balija are the chief Telugu trading caste, scattered ! throughout Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
  2. Book: Kumari . A. Vijaya . Social Change Among Balijas . Bhaskar . Sepuri . MD Publications . 1998 . 9788175330726 . 12.
  3. Book: Thurston, Edgar . Castes and Tribes of Southern India. Vol. 4 of 7 . 232.
  4. Book: Francis, W. . Census Of India 1901 Vol.15 (madras) Pt.1 (report) . 1902 . 165.
  5. Book: Castes and Tribes of Southern India . VED from Victoria Institutions . 1909 . Edgar Thurston . 97.
  6. Book: Venkatesa Iyengar . The Mysore Tribes and Castes. 2 . Mittal Publications . 1932. 100.
  7. Book: Edgar Thurston . Social Change Among Balijas: Majority Community of Andhra Pradesh. M.D. Publications Pvt.. 1998. 9 . 978-81-7533-072-6 .
  8. Book: Venkatesa Iyengar. The Mysore Tribes and caste . 1932. 105.
  9. Book: Stein. Burton. A History of India. Arnold. David. 4 February 2010. John Wiley & Sons. 978-1444323511. 120.
  10. Book: Stein, Burton. A History of India. 2010-02-04. John Wiley & Sons. 978-1-4443-2351-1. en.
  11. Book: Talbot, Cynthia . Pre-colonial India in Practice: Society, Region, and Identity in Medieval Andhra . Oxford University Press . 978-0-19803-123-9 . 2001 . 75.
  12. Book: Talbot, Cynthia . Pre-colonial India in Practice: Society, Region, and Identity in Medieval Andhra . Oxford University Press . 978-0-19803-123-9 . 2001 . 81.
  13. Web site: Guild Inscriptions.
  14. Book: Rao . Velcheru Narayana . Symbols of substance: court and state in Nāyaka Period Tamilnadu . Shulman . David Dean . Subrahmanyam . Sanjay . . 1992 . 10, 74 . 978-0-19-563021-3 . These Balija fighters are not afraid of kings: some stories speak of their killing kings who interfered with their affairs. . Velcheru Narayana Rao . David Dean Shulman . Sanjay Subrahmanyam.
  15. Book: Talbot, Cynthia . Pre-colonial India in Practice: Society, Region, and Identity in Medieval Andhra . Oxford University Press . 978-0-19803-123-9 . 2001 . 86.
  16. Book: Baker, Christopher John . South India . Christopher John . Baker . D. A. . Washbrook . Figures and Facts: Madras Government Statistics 1880-1940 . Springer . 1975 . 978-1-34902-746-0 . 222–223 . https://books.google.com/books?id=fHCwCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA222.
  17. Book: 1921. The quarterly journal of the Mythic society Vol.XI. Bangalore. The Mythic Society, Daly Memorial Hall. 47-48.

    ”Venkatappa. ruled from 1504 to 1551.His son Bhadrappa died before him. During his reign the Moghals underRanadullakhan seized Ikkeri and set up a, viceroy there. Then VirabhadrappaNayaka ascended the Gadi and -retiring to Bidarur ruled over his countrymore peacefully than before.* His rule lasted for 15 years from 1551 to 1566.During his reign the rule of Vokkaligas came to an end and was replaced by the rule of Banajigas”

  18. Book: Keladi Nayakas - The Rebellious Rani of Belavadi and Other Stories . Atlantic Publishers & Dist . Basavaraj S. Naika . 2001 . 9788126901272 . 22 May 2015.
  19. Web site: Rulers of Keladi . https://web.archive.org/web/20140808012707/http://www.udupitourism.com/Udupi-Keladi-Rulers . dead . 8 August 2014 . Udupi Tourism . 7 August 2015 .
  20. Portuguese Studies Review (ISSN 1057-1515) (Baywolf Press) p.35
  21. Book: 1921. The quarterly journal of the Mythic society Vol.XI. Bangalore. The Mythic Society, Daly Memorial Hall. 47-48.

    ”Venkatappa. ruled from 1504 to 1551.His son Bhadrappa died before him. During his reign the Moghals underRanadullakhan seized Ikkeri and set up a, viceroy there. Then VirabhadrappaNayaka ascended the Gadi and -retiring to Bidarur ruled over his countrymore peacefully than before.* His rule lasted for 15 years from 1551 to 1566.During his reign the rule of Vokkaligas came to an end and was replaced by the rule of Banajigas”

  22. A journey from Madras through the countries of Mysore, Canara, and Malabar Vol 111 – 1807 – Francis Buchanan -from page 254"https://books.google.com/books?id=bK4Ba6824koC&dq=marcupa+chitty&pg=PA128"
  23. Advanced Study in the History of Modern India 1707–1813 by Jaswant Lal Mehta p.458
  24. Web site: Include Balija caste in OBC list, demand Lingayats. July 9, 2019. The Hans India.
  25. Web site: Make Lingayat, Balija castes part of OBC Category: Zaheerabad MP. September 13, 2022. Telangana Today.
  26. Web site: Census Of India 1951. Tamil Digital Library.
  27. Web site: Definition Kapu. October 25, 2021. Wisdom Library.
  28. Web site: Census Of India 1951. Tamil Digital Library.
  29. Web site: Details Internet.
  30. Book: Rajendra Vora . Rise of the Plebeians?: The Changing Face of the Indian Legislative Assemblies (Exploring the Political in South Asia) . Routledge India . 2009 . 9781136516627 . Christophe Jaffrelot . 217 . [In Maharashtra]The Lingayats, the Gujjars and the Rajputs are three other important castes which belong to the intermediate category. The lingayats who hail from north Karnataka are found primarily in south Maharashtra and Marthwada while Gujjars and Rajputs who migrated centuries ago from north India have settled in north Maharashtra districts. . Sanjay Kumar.
  31. Book: Glushkova . I. P. . Home, Family and Kinship in Maharashtra . Vora . Rajendra . 1999 . Oxford University Press . 978-0-19-564635-1 . en.
  32. Book: Singh, K. S. . Communities, Segments, Synonyms, Surnames and Titles . 1996 . Anthropological Survey of India . 978-0-19-563357-3 . en.
  33. Web site: 2012-03-19 . NDTV.com: Who is Shivraj Patil? . 2024-07-17 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120319172120/http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/mumbaiterrorstrike/Story.aspx?ID=NEWEN20080074668&type=News . 2012-03-19 .
  34. News: 1 year in office earns CM a snub. 23 August 2019 . indiatoday . 2005 . en-IN.
  35. News: BJP president Nitin Gadkari refuses to yield BS Yeddyurappa over Karnataka leadership. 23 August 2019 . economictimes . 25 February 2012 . en-IN.
  36. News: The Tripwire Setters. 23 August 2019 . Outlookindia . 6 April 2009 . en-IN.
  37. Book: Nels Anderson. Studies in Multilingualism I of VII. 1969. 134.
  38. Book: The Indian Journal of Political Science. 1987. 583.
  39. News: Which way now for the Lingayats?. 23 August 2019 . indiatoday . 8 March 2004 . en-IN.
  40. Book: Alessandro Monti . Marina Goglio . Esterino Adami . Feeding the Self, Feeling the Way in Ancient and Contemporary South Asian Cultures. L'Harmattan Italia. 2005. 91. 978-88-7892-006-4 .
  41. Book: Sameeksha Trust. Economic and Political Weekly, Volume 32. 1997. 2348.
  42. News: J H Patel stoops, yet may not conquer. 29 August 2019 . rediff . 2004 . en-IN.
  43. News: Rebel gives J H Patel a contest to remember. 29 August 2019 . rediff . 3 September 1999 . en-IN.
  44. News: NewsKarnataka. NewsKarnataka. 2019-08-27. 2019-08-26. https://web.archive.org/web/20190826134729/https://www.newskarnataka.com/mysore/mysorian-becomes-cm-after-33-years. dead.
  45. Book: Thomas Blom Hansen . Christophe Jaffrelot. The BJP and the compulsions of politics in India . 2001. 176 . The Lingayat votes had been important to the Janata Dal since 1978. Without Veerendra Patil (a member of the Banajiga jati), the long-standing difficulties of the national party president S. R. Bommai in appealing to voters beyond his Sadar jati (which has represent of other jatis gaining disproportionate share of spoils) became especially serious.
  46. Book: Sameeksha Trust. Economic & Political Weekly . 1992. 1270 . Veerendra Patil belongs to Lingayat Banajiga.
  47. Web site: Bansy Kalappa . Naushad Bijapur. Stormy season ahead for BJP over rebel Karnataka MLA Umesh Katti's exclusion. New Indian Express. 2019.
  48. Web site: Rishikesh Bahadur Desai . Decoding the political clout of Shettar. The Times of India . 2019.
  49. Book: Parliament mourns death of B.D. Jatti, adjourns . 2002. Sri Basappa Danappa Jatti Born in a Kannadiga Lingayat Banajiga family at Savalgi in Jamkhandi Taluk of Bijapur district, Jatti entered politics as a Municipality member at Jamakhandi in 1940 and later became its President. He was eventually elected to the Jamakhandi State Legislature .

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