Gowda (surname)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gowda (IPA: [ɡɐu̯ɖɐ], also known as Gauda, Gouda or Gonda[1][2]) is a surname native to Karnataka, India. It is mainly found among the Vokkaligas in South Karnataka and the Lingayats in North Karnataka.[3][4] It is also used by other communities like Kurubas, Namadhari Naiks,[5] and 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 Kurubas, 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[clarification needed].[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 Chola Vellala Nattars.[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]
