History

[From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia]

Gavaras, Gowri puthrulu, Gowriyulu or Gavara Naidu are one of the many small communities or caste of Andhra who live mostly in the north coastal districts. Large concentrations of Gavara population are distributed in and around Anakapalle in Visakhapatnam district. A few isolated villages in Vizianagaram, East Godavari and West Godavaridistricts are also inhabited by Gavaras. There is a significant population in Tamil Nadu as well. A large number of Gavara families from these villages migrated to other parts of India mainly as Railway employees and workers in Steel factories.

The prominent towns in other states with sizeable Gavara population are Jamshedpur/Tatanagar (Jharkhand) and Kharagpur (West Bengal). During British rule, Gavaras spread to Burma (Myanmar), Malaysia, Mauritius, Fiji and South Africa. In more recent decades, educated Gavaras moved into higher jobs in Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai and abroad. Gavara population in the United States of America grew in leaps and bound in the 1990s onwards compared to a handful of families until the 1980s.

A similarly named Kavarai community is prominent in southern Andhra and Tamil Nadu. Although they share a common name and profession the Kavarai are related to the Balija Naidu community.Both the communities are not connected and there is very little social interaction between them.

Origins

Legends

• According to some reachers of Andhra University, Gavaras are from Sri Lanka. They were refused by Sri Lanka later on, by the sea route they migrated and settled in Anakapalli near Visakhapatnam.

Gauri Devi

Some say that the community has come to be known as ‘Gauris’ or ‘Gaureyas’ because they worshipped ‘Gauridevi’, the consort of Lord Shiva, as their tutelary deity. We may trace out the antiquity of this worship of Gauri by Gauras to the practice of ‘Gaurivratha’ in the 13th century referenced in an inscription of the Matsyas of Oddadi. Gaurivrata is in practice even now among the women of the Gaura and Balija communities. The word ‘GAURA’ or ‘GAVARA’ means HONOUR. According to the book, Suka Saptati, Gauras formed a separate community with business as its profession.

Literary evidence

History of Gavras is a subject of study of many books. S. Pratap Reddi in his Andhrula Sanghika Charitra refers to the Gauras (Gavaras) as the community who migrated from Bengal in the 6th & 7th centuries. E. Thurston in his “Castes and Tribes of Southern India” considered Gauras as a sub-division among the Vaisyas and also complimented them as the best agriculturists of the area.

In a similar manner D. Adinarayana (1936) wrote an article entitled Gaura Kulobavamu tracing out the origin of the Gauras. Petakamsetty Sita Ramayya made a successful attempt to bring all the known facts about the early history of this community in his work entitled Gaurula Prachina Charitra (1961). Villuri Ramana surveyed surnames as well as the Gotras of Gavara. Karri Appala Narasimha Rao (1986) attempted to identify some of the early rulers of Andhra as Gauras in his work entitled Sri Satavahanuladrulu. Besides these, there are works like Balija Vamsa Puranamu, Gauriputra Charitramu, Balija Kula Charitra and Sadhusetti, which mention the details of the Gaura community too. All these works deserve credit for bringing out the historical and traditional accounts of the Gauras.

Inscriptions

Inscriptions form an important source of information on the history of the Gavaras. A number of inscriptions issued between the 13th & 15th centuries A.D. at places like Panchdarlu, Draksharamam, Gudimetta, Tatikonda, Malkapuram, Kolakaluru, Kopparam and Srisailam offer much information about the services of the Dadi and Kanisetty families under the Kakatiya dynasty power. Similarly the copper plate records like the Narsipatnam plates of Vajrahasta Deva of the Eastern Gangas dated 1045 A.D. offer clues on ‘Gaurasetti Vishaya’, one of the early settlements of the Gauras in Andhra. The community is rarely mentioned in the literary works of early centuries. The only known work that mentioned the community is Suka Saptati written by Pala Vekari Kadiripati of the 17th century.

The inscriptions at Punganur and Nelapalli in Chittor district state about the early settlements of Gaura Settis in the in those areas even before the 10th century. On their way to Ahichchatra to Kanchipuram, they settled at various places in Andhra, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

** 1000 YEARS HISTORY OF GAVARA COMMUNITY IN ANDHRA PRADESH **

Notable People

• • Dr. Beesetti Venkata Satyavathi – MP, Anakapalli
  • Sri Pethakamsetty.G.V.R. NAIDU (GANA BABU) – MLA, Visakhapatnam West
  • Sri Adari Shyam Prasad – IAS, Jt Collecter GUNTUR Dist
  • Sri Dadi Nagendra Kumar IPS, IGP (Provisioning & Logistics), A.P (Retd.)
  • Sri Peela Govinda Satyanarayana – Ex. MLA, Anakapalli
  • Sri Buddha Venkanna – MLC, Vijayawada
  • Sri Konathala Rama Krishna – Political Leader; Ex. MP, MLA, Minister of Commercial Taxes
  • Sri Dadi Veera Bhadra Rao – Political Leader; Ex MLA, MLC
  • Sri Malla Vijaya Prasad – Ex. MLA, Film Producer
  • Sri Adari Tulasi Rao Chairman Visakha Diary
  • Sri Konatala Lakshminarayana Rao President Merchant Assn Anakapalli, Chairman Sri Gowri Kalyana vedika & Chief patron GAWARAWORLDWIDE organisation
  • Sri Prof Kanisetty Venkata Ramana – Former Vice-Chancellor AU
  • Sri Surisetti Kishore – District Magistrate & Collector Howrah, IAS officer
  • Sri Beesetti Lakshman Rao ( Cinema story writer & journalist)
  • Sri Pentakota Satyanarayana Superintendent of Police (Retired)
  • Sri Karri Venkateswara Rao IPS, IGP (Retd.)

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Our other websites

• http://www.gavara.in
• http://www.hydgourisevasangham.org/
• http://www.gawaraworldwide.com
• http://www.gavarakalyanam.org
• http://www.gowrisangham.org