Castes and Tribes of Southern India/Gudigāra
Gudigāra. — In the South Canara Manual, the Gudigāras are summed up as follows."They are a Canarese caste of wood-carvers and painters. They are Hindus of the Saivite sect, and wear the sacred thread. Shivalli Brāhmans officiate as their priests. Some follow the aliya santāna mode of inheritance (in the female line), others the ordinary law. They must marry within the caste, but not within the same gōtra or family. Infant marriage is not compulsory, and they have the dhāre form of marriage. Among those who follow the aliya santāna law, both widows and divorced women may marry again, but this is not permitted among the other sections. The dead are either cremated or buried, the former being the preferential mode. The use of alcoholic liquor, and fish and flesh is permitted. Their ordinary title is Setti."
"The Gudigars, or sandal-wood carvers," Mr. D'Cruz writes,*[1] "are reported to have come originally from Goa, their migration to Mysore and Canara having been occasioned by the attempts of the early Portuguese invaders to convert them to Christianity. The fact that their original language is Konkani corroborates their reputed Konkanese origin. They say that the derivation of the word Gudigāra is from gudi, a temple, and that they were so called because they were, in their own country, employed as carvers and painters in the ornamentation of temples. Another derivation is from the Sanskrit kuttaka (a carver). They assert that their fellow castemen are still employed in turning, painting, and other decorative arts at Goa. Like the Chitrakāras (ornamenters or decorative artists), they claim to be Kshatriyas, and tradition has it that, to escape the wrath of Parasu Rāma in the sixth incarnation of Vishnu, who vowed to destroy all Kshatriyas, they adopted the profession of carvers and car-builders. They are also expert ivory-carvers, and it has been suggested that they may be distantly connected with the Kondikars, or ivory-carvers of Bengal. The art of sandalwood carving is confined to a few families in the Sorab and Sāgar tāluks of the Shimoga district, in the north-west corner of the province. There are two or three families in Sāgar, and about six in Sorab, which contribute in all about thirty-five artisans employed in the craft. The art is also practiced by their relations, who found a domicile in Hanavar, Kumpta, Sirsi, Siddapūr, Biligi, and Banavāsi in the North Canara district. But the work of the latter is said to be by no means so fine as that executed by the artisans of Sorab and Sāgar. The artisans of North Canara, however, excel in pith-work of the most exquisite beauty. They usually make bāsingas, i.e. special forehead ornaments, richly inlaid with pearls, and worn on the occasion of marriage. The delicate tools used by the wood-carvers are made from European umbrella spokes, ramrods, and country steel. The main stimulus, which the art receives from time to time at the present day, is from orders from the Government, corporate public bodies, or Mahārājas, for address boxes, cabinets, and other articles specially ordered for presentations, or for the various fine-art exhibition, for which high prices are paid." In conversation with the workmen from Sorab and Sāgar for work in the palace which is being built for H.H. the Mahārāja of Mysore, it was elicited that there are some Gudigars, who, from want of a due taste for the art, never acquire it, but are engaged in carpentry and turning. Others, having acquired land, are engaged in cultivation, and fast losing all touch with the art. At Udipi in South Canara, some Gudigars make for sale large wooden buffaloes and human figures, which are presented as votive offerings at the Iswara temple at Hiriadkāp. They also make wooden dolls and painted clay figures.
The following extracts from Mr. L. Rice's * Mysore Gazetteer' may be appropriately quoted. " The designs with which the Gudigars entirely cover the boxes, desks, and other articles made, are of an extremely involved and elaborate pattern, consisting for the most part of intricate interlacing foliage and scroll-work, completely enveloping medallions containing the representation of some Hindu deity or subject of mythology, and here and there relieved by the introduction of animal forms. The details, though in themselves often highly incongruous, are grouped and blended with a skill that seems to be instinctive in the East, and form an exceedingly rich and appropriate ornamentation, decidedly oriental in style, which leaves not the smallest portion of the surface of the wood untouched. The material is hard, and the minuteness of the work demands the utmost care and patience. Hence the carving of a desk or cabinet involves a labour of many months, and the artists are said to lose there eyesight at a comparatively early age. European designs they imitate to perfection." And again: "The articles of the Gudigar's manufacture chiefly in demand are boxes, caskets and cabinets. These are completely covered with minute and delicate scroll-work, interspersed with figures from the Hindu Pantheon, the general effect of the profuse detail being extremely rich. The carving of Sorab is considered superior to that of Bombay or Canton, and, being a very tedious process requiring great care, is expensive. The Gudigars will imitate admirably any designs that may be furnished them. Boards for album-covers, plates from Jorrock's hunt, and cabinets surrounded with figures, have thus been produced for European gentlemen with great success." A gold medal was awarded to the Gudigars at the Delhi Durbar Exhibition,1903, for a magnificent sandal-wood casket (now in the Madras Museum), ornamented with panels representing hunting scenes.
When a marriage is contemplated, the parents of the couple, in the absence of horoscopes, go to a temple, and receive from the priest some flowers which have been used for worship. These are counted, and, if their number is even, the match is arranged, and an exchange of betel leaves and nuts takes place. On the wedding day, the bridegroom goes, accompanied by his party, to the house of the bride, taking with him a new cloth, a female jacket, and a string of black beads with a small gold ornament. They are met en route by the bride's party. Each party has a tray containing rice, a cocoanut, and a looking-glass. The females of one party place kunkuma (red powder) on the foreheads of those of the other party, and sprinkle rice over each other. At the entrance to the marriage pandal (booth), the bride's brother pours water at the feet of the bridegroom, and her father leads him into the pandal. The new cloth, and other articles, are taken inside the house, and the mother or sister of the bridegroom, with the permission of the headman, ties the necklet of black beads on the bride's neck. Her maternal uncle takes her up in his arms, and carries her to the pandal. Thither the bridegroom is conducted by the bride's brother. A cloth is held as a screen between the contracting couple, who place garlands of flowers round each other's necks. The screen is then removed. A small vessel, containing milk and water, and decorated with mango leaves, is placed in front of them, and the bride's mother, taking hold of the right hand of the bride, places it in the right hand of the bridegroom. The officiating Brāhman places a betel leaf and cocoanut on the bride's hand, and her parents pour water from a vessel thereon. The Brāhman then ties the kankanams (wrist-threads) on the wrists of the contracting couple, and kindles the sacred fire (hōmam). The guests present them with money, and lights are waved before them by elderly females. The bridegroom, taking the bride by hand, leads her into the house, where they sit on a mat, and drink milk out of the same vessel. A bed is made ready, and they sit on it, while the bride gives betel to the bridegroom. On the second day, lights are waved, in the morning and evening, in front of them. On the third day, some red-coloured water is placed in a vessel, into which a ring, an areca nut, and rice are dropped. The couple search for the ring, and, when it has been found, the bridegroom puts it on the finger of the bride. They then bathe, and try to catch fish in a cloth. After the bath, the wrist-threads are removed.
- ↑ * Thurston. Monograph on Wood-carving in Southern India. 1903.