Kota people (India)

The Indian government considers them to be a scheduled tribe (ST), a designation reserved for indigenous tribal communities throughout India that are usually at a lower socio-economic status than mainstream society.[1] They also have a special status as a Primitive Tribal Group (PTG) based on certain socio economic and demographic indicators.[2] But the Kotas are a relatively successful group that makes its living as agriculturalists, doctors, post masters and availing themselves of any government and private sector employment.[1] Few anthropologists and local community members consider them to be a service caste placed in Nilgiris to service others but Kotas consider themselves to be original inhabitants of the region and do not accept the servile status.[1] The name Kota is a term applied to the group by outsiders; Kotas refer to themselves as 'Kov'. There are number of meanings attributed to the term, but according to Emeneau,[3] ko-v meant a male potter and ko-ty a female potter.[2] Since the 1930s through the efforts of a Kota school teacher, social reformer and activist named Sulli Kota and his followers, Kotas have transformed their previous traditional relationships away from serving other so called high prestige ethnic groups and upgraded their socio-economic status.[4] They still observe their traditional practices.[1]

Foothills of the Nilgiris, lower elevation was occupied by Kurumbar and Irulas whereas Kotas occupied the higher elevations.

Although many theories have been put forth as to the origins of Kotas and Todas, none have been confirmed as factual. What linguists and anthropologists agree is that ancestors of both Kotas and Todas may have entered the Nilgiris massif from what is today Kerala or Karnataka in centuries BCE and developed in isolation from the rest of the society.[5] According to F. Metz,[6] a missionary, Kotas had a tradition that alluded to them coming over from a place called Kollimale in Karnatakas. They seem to have displaced the previous Kurumba inhabitants from the higher altitudes to lower altitude infested with malarial mosquitoes.[7]

The Kota tribe shows the maternal haplogroup M frequency of 97%, which is one of the highest in India.[8] Within M haplogroup, M2 lineages are common amongst Dravidian speaking populations of South India.[8] They also demonstrate very low admixture rate from other neighbouring groups.[9] The studies on the hematological parameters of Kota showed that they have a low MCV (mean corpuscular volume) even though there in no trace of anemia. However it is also suggested that there is a probability for G6PD deficiency among this group.[10]

At some point in their history they developed a symbiotic economic relationship with their buffalo rearing Toda neighbours as service providers in return for Todas' buffalo milk, hides, ghee, and meat. They also had a trading and ritual relationship with Kurumba and Irula neighbours who were cultivators and hunter-gatherers. They specifically used the Kurumbas as their sorcerers and as village guards. Origin myth of Kotas postulates that Kotas, Todas, and Kurumbas were all placed in the Nilagiris area at once as brothers by the Kota god.[11] This symbiotic relationship survived until disturbed by the British colonial officers starting in the early 19th century.[12][13]

Since the early 19th century, missionaries, British bureaucrats, anthropologists and linguists of both Western and Indian kind have spent an enormous amount of time studying the different ethnic and tribal groups; of all, the Todas were the most studied, followed by Kotas. Other groups such as Irulas and various groups of Kurumbars were least studied. The study of the ethnic groups of Nilgiris was instrumental in the early development of the field of Anthropology.[14] Although most groups lived in peace with each other and had developed a symbiotic relationship, taboos and cultural practices were developed to maintain social distance. According to F. Metz,[15] as the original settlers of the highland, Kurumbars were subject to continuous violence including occasional massacres by the Todas and Badagas. According to Kota informants, they had supplied battle drums during periods of war.[1]

Kotas were observed to be domiciled in seven relatively large nuclear villages intercepted between Toda and Badaga settlements. Six villages were within the Nilgiris district in Tamil Nadu and the seventh one in the Wayanad district in Kerala. Kota villages are known as Kokkal in their language and as Kotagiri by outsiders.[6] Each village had three exogamous clans of similar name. Each clan settled in a street called Kerr or Kerri. Clan members were prohibited from marrying within each within the same village but could from the same clan or any other clan from non-native village. The relationship between similarly named clans was unknown and no social hierarchy was evident amongst the inter and intra village clans.[1]

Kota religion and culture revolved around the smithy.[18][19] Their major deities are A-yno-r also divided into big or Doda-ynor or small or kuna-yno-r, a father god and Amno-r or mother goddess. Father god is also called Kamati-cvara or Kamatra-ya in some villages. Although there were two male gods, there was only one version of the female goddess.[1][13][20] These gods were worshiped in the form of Silver disks at specific temples.[21] Historian Joyti Sahi and L. Dumont notes these deities may have roots in proto-Shaivism and proto-Shaktism[22][23][24]

Kotas had a number of religious festivals during the colonial precontact and immediately after the colonial contact period. It ranged from praying to their rain god kakakaku kana- bado or titular deity Kamatra-ya. During the seed sowing ceremony, they used to build a forge and a furnace within the main temple and smiths would make avocatory item like axes or gold ornaments to the deity.[25] The head priest mundika-no-n and headmen gotga-rn usually belong to the particular family (kuyt) and it was passed from father to son. Mundika-no-n is assisted by the navya-navkaru, through whom the god (so-ym) communicates with the people while being possessed. Te-rka-ran could come from any family but mundika-no-n comes from a specific family in a village.[1][13]

Kota funeral rites consist of two ceremonies. The first one is called Green funeral and concerns cremation of the body. The second ceremony is called a dry funeral and involves exhumation of buried bones from the first ceremony, followed by sacrifice of semi wild buffaloes. The second funeral is no longer practiced widely.[13][20] Kota temples are unique in being run by a variety of people not restricted to original priestly families.[1][26]

Kotas speak the Kota language or Ko-v Ma-nt and it is closely related to Toda language. It was identified as an independent Dravidian language in as early as 1870s by Robert Caldwell.[27] It diverged from the common South Dravidian stock in years BCE. Kota language speakers became isolated and the language developed certain unique characteristics that were studied in detail and by the prominent Dravidian linguists Murray Emeneau. It is informed by maintenance of words that shows strong affinity to Archaic Tamil. According to Emeneau[28] Kotas have been living isolated since their separation from the mainstream Tamil speakers in years BCE. Emeneau[28] dates the split to the 2nd century BCE as terminus ante quem ("limit before which") and was unable to date the period earlier than this in which the split may have happened, but it happened after Kannada split from the common Tamil–Kannada stock.[28]

All Nilgiri languages show areal influence and show affinity to each other.[29] Since the reorganization of linguistic states in India, most Kota children study in Tamil at schools and are bilingual in Kota and Tamil. Previously Kotas were multilingual in Kota, Toda and Badaga languages.[30]

• Adivasi

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kota (ethnic group in India).

• Caldwell, Robert (1875), A comparative grammar of the Dravidian or South-Indian family of languages, Trubner and Co, OCLC 635088088
• Emeneau, Murray (1980), Language and Linguistic Area: Essays by Murray B. Emeneau, Stanford University Press, ISBN 978-0-8047-1047-3
• Emeneau, Murray (1994), Dravidian Studies: Selected Papers, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 978-81-208-0858-4
• Emeneau, Murray (1984), Toda Grammar and Texts, American Philosophical Society, ISBN 978-0-87169-155-2
• Ghosh, Alok Kumar (1976). "The Kota of the Nilgiri hills: a demographic study". Journal of Biosocial Science. Cambridge University Press. 08 (1): 17–26. doi:10.1017/S0021932000010415. PMID 956200. S2CID 33682820. Retrieved 24 December 2010.
• Hockings, Paul (2008). "All Aboard the Nilgiri Express!—Sustained Links between Anthropology and a Single Indian District". History and Anthropology. Routledge. 19 (1): 1–16. doi:10.1080/02757200802150869. S2CID 162196281.
• Kalla, Alok Kumar; Joshi, P.C. (2004). Tribal health and medicine. Concept Publishing. ISBN 978-81-8069-139-3.
• Kumar, Dhavendra (2004), Genetic Disorders of the Indian Subcontinent, Springer, ISBN 978-1-4020-1215-0
• Mandelbaum, David (1938). "Polyandry in Kota society". American Anthropologist. University of California, Berkeley. 40 (4): 574–583. doi:10.1525/aa.1938.40.4.02a00030. S2CID 159846446.
• Mandelbaum, David (1941). "Culture Change among the Nilgiri Tribes". American Anthropologist. University of California, Berkeley. 43 (1): 19–26. doi:10.1525/aa.1941.43.1.02a00040.
• Mandelbaum, David (1971), Society in India: Volume 1, University of California Press, ISBN 978-0-520-01623-1
• Metz, Friedrich (1864), The tribes inhabiting the Neilgherry Hills, Basel Mission Press, Mangalore, OCLC 302321001
• Mohanty, P.K. (2003), Development of primitive tribal groups in India, Kalpaz Publications, ISBN 978-81-7835-024-0
• Reddy, K. N.; Balaji Rao, N.S. (1997), Technology, life and livelihood strategies of Tribes of Nilgiris:Past, Present and the Continuum (PDF), S.V. University, Tirupati, archived from the original (PDF) on 22 June 2011
• Singh, R. (2004), Social transformation of Indian tribes, Anmol Publishing Ltd. Press, ISBN 978-81-261-0452-9
• Tribhuwan, Robin (2003), Fairs and Festivals of Indian Tribes, Discovery publishing house, ISBN 978-81-7141-640-0
• Watson, Forbes; Kaye, John William (1875). People of India:A series of Photographic illustrations. Vol. 8. India Museum. OCLC 316376538.
• Wilson, Lisa, ed. (2003). The Living and the Dead:Social Dimensions of Death in South Asian Religions. State University of New York Press. ISBN 978-0-7914-5677-4.
• Wolf, Richard Kent (n.d.). "Kotas". www.everyculture.com. Retrieved 25 December 2010.

• Wolf, Richard (2006), The Black Cow's Footprint: Time, Space and Music in the Lives of the Kotas of South India, University of Illinois Press, ISBN 978-0-252-03116-8

• Pictures and Videos of Kotas
• Handicrafts of Kota people Archived 3 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine
• Ethnologue: Kota, A language of India