Gowda (also known as Gauda, Goud, Gouda or Gonda[1][2]) is a surname native to Karnataka state of India. It is mainly found among the Vokkaligas in South Karnataka, Kuruba Gowda and the Lingayats in north Karnataka.[3][4] It is also used by other communities like Namadhari Naiks,[5]Billavas.[6] Gowda was originally an honorific used by the administrative head of a village. Typically, such a head owned land and held political and social sway in the village.[7] Among Reddy, it was used to refer to the head of the community.[8][9]
According to historian Suryanath U. Kamath, the word Gowda derives from Gavunda.[10] The German Indologist Gustav Oppert opined that the root of ‘Gowda’ is a Dravidian word meaning "mountain".[11] The term Gowda and its archaic forms in Old Kannada such as Gamunda, Gavunda, Gavuda, Gonda, appear frequently in the inscriptions of Karnataka. The Epigraphia Carnatica is replete with references to land grants, donations to temples, hero-stones (Veeragallu), stone edicts and copper plates dating back to the age of the Western Ganga Dynasty (est. 350 CE) and earlier.[12] The Gavundas were landlords that collected taxes and rendered military service to the Kings.[13]Noboru Karashima says the Gavundas had functions corresponding to that of the CholaVellalaNattars.[14] While the majority of the gavundas were derived from the Vokkaligas; by the 10th century, the term gavunda also came to denote chiefship of a community or group and was adopted by the heads of other communities assimilated into the early medieval state.[9]
^Ramananda Chatterjee (1930). The Modern Review. Vol. 47. India: Prabasi Press Private, Limited. p. 80.
^D K Kulkarni (1992). "Tenants movements in Uttara Kannada district and the Kagodu Satyagraha". Peasant movements in Karnataka since 1900 their nature and results(PDF). Karnatak University / Shodhganga. p. 80. Retrieved 24 October 2016. Gowdas, literary means a village headman usually from Vokkaliga community in Southern district of Karnataka and Lingayat in Northern part
^"152" . Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 4.djvu – via Wikisource. According to Mr. Stuart, "each community of Kurubas, residing in a group of villages, has a headman or Gaudu. He acts the part of pūjāri or priest in all their ceremonies, presides over their tribal meetings, and settles disputes.
^Karashima, Noboru (2014). A Concise History of South India: Issues and Interpretations. India: Oxford University Press. p. 144-145. ISBN978-0198099772.:”They are, for example, Gavunda chiefs and heggade revenue officers vis-à-vis the Chola Vellala nattars; kalnad military tenure vis-à-vis padai-parru or parigraham tenure in the Chola state”
Malini Adiga (1997). "Gavundas in Southern Karnataka: Landlords and Warriors (AD 600 to 1030)". Proceedings of the Indian History Congress. 58: 139–148. JSTOR44143897.
Surname list
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