March of Patriots

British Suppression of Kshatriyas

At the end of the eighteenth century, the superior organization and aggressive strategies of
the Colonial rulers posed threat to the innate chiefs of over five hundred tiny kingdoms
spread all over India. The feeble kings with their indigenous combative tactics could not
stop the rapidly rising alien invasion. The expertise in warfare developed over centuries by
the indigenous ingenuity of India abruptly became obsolete. The Nadavaras settled in
Malenad and Konkan, gave up warfare and oceanic trade, and adopted agriculture. In the
beginning of the nineteenth century after Mr. Munroe became the Collector of Canara, the
thriving ports of Uttara Kannada, (Bhatakal, Honavar, Tadadi, Ankola, Arga, and
Sadashivgada) saw rapid decline in sea trade. Under the British as a security measure,
except for Karwar all other ports were restricted and were ultimately rundown to meager
fishermens villages. The oceanic trade was the main industry in Konkan. Prior to the
British occupation, the harbors of Uttara Kannada gave access to all shippers at low tariffs.
Handful of Nadavara families of Chandavara, Kagal, Aversa, Arga and Chittakula involved
in the sea trade were forced out of business. Under the British, Nadavaras couldnt be
anything but landholders. Adjustment to the new occupation was emotionally stressful
and some of them constantly sought for alternatives such as salt production, lumbering and
quarrying of building materials but still the choices were limited. The looming intimidation
of the British virtually curbed their mobility.

Prior to the English, a few hundred Kshatriya rulers held regional autonomy of small
kingdoms all across India and usually assigned Divans and Brahmins to the advisory
responsibilities. The English replaced both Kshatriyas and Brahmins with their own people.
They did not trust Indians in decision-making roles but still employed Brahmins to routine,
mundane tasks. The displaced Kshatriyas were not friendly with the English. They couldnt
rely on Kshatriyas because of the frequent revolts against the colonial rule across the
subcontinent. After the outbreak of the Indian Mutiny (Sepoy Rebellion) in 1857 AD,

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Kshatriyas were cautiously censored for the governmental opportunities. The development
of Kshatriya communities in India was stunted for the next hundred years. During this
period, their socio-economic conditions deteriorated gradually. Their social status as land
rulers was reduced to mundane landowners. The lost glory of the past led to dissatisfaction
and resentment. Nadavaras felt cheated and turned hostile to the alien rulers.

The British started diffusing the Anglo-Saxon culture into the centuries old Indian
traditions. Nearly 50 thousand westerners posted in India stamped their supremacy on 250
million Indians. Their authority was well accepted partly because of the explicitly
acknowledged racial superiority of the British. Certain martial sects especially in the North
India enviously opposed the English. On the other hand the princely states of India, mainly
Mysore, Hyderabad, Sikkim, Baroda and Jammu and Kashmir endorsed the English rule for
helping them to stay in power and conversely the tenure of the British colonialism became
more stable. The Kshatriya mind fixed on sovereignty and self rule was obviously an
obstacle to the colonial establishment. The English strategy of manipulating the identity of
Kshatriyas to perilous forms proved effective. The Nadavaras were pigeonholed under the
martial sect and were closely watched them especially ones living in Malenadu. In the
Central India, certain Rajput sects were even labeled Thugs to scare the people living
around them. It was their way of weakening the warrior sects by alarmingly sorting them
out of the society. The policy, divide and rule segmented the caste based society even
further.

Every commoner from Great Britain stepping on the Indian soil commanded respect from
Indians and called them helots in their own country. A helot is a second rated citizen
capable of doing only menial jobs. Indians were not eligible for any decision-making or
administrative responsibilities. Except for butlers, Indians were not allowed into the British
clubs and gatherings. Conceptually it was similar to the traditional Hindu handling of the
Harijans in India. The arrogance of the Colonialism was abominable and still the Indian
mainstream society accepted their demeanor. They preferred the alien English rule to the
indigenous regime of Kshatriyas. The envy of the masses over the Kshatriya dynasties
besides the bitter rivalry among the Kshatriya rulers was the main root cause that
welcomed the alien rulers into India. But above all the lack of self-esteem pitifully
succumbed to the Colonial racial superiority. Even though the racism was new to Indians,
the white race was received as another layer above the hierarchy of the Indian caste system.
Distinctively, that was the time when the humane Vedic culture of India kneeled down to
the western civilization. The amalgamation of racism with the Indian caste system
exasperated the evils of discrimination even further. Yet another cast of Sahibs (Europeans
in Colonial India) was created above Brahmins. Indians started fantasizing their origin to
Aryans who arguably entered into India over three thousand years ago. The Governor

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General, Lord Charles Grey with the help of Lord Thomas Macaulay introduced English
language to the Indian schools in 1837 AD. In England, the superficial imitation of the
Westerners by Indians was mockingly called Macaulayism, which meant Indian in skin
color and blood but English in taste. Macaulayism became chic or mark of modishness.
The elite Indians tried to emulate English living style and etiquettes in every possible way.
The English influence began to disengage the authentic Indian traditions.

Although the Indian population is almost 16% of the world population, the genetic makeup
of the entire population is based on small band of remote ancestors. In the article Indian
Ancestry Revealed in Nature magazine published on 23 September, 2009 was written,
The researchers showed that most Indian populations are genetic admixtures of two
ancient, genetically divergent groups, which each contributed around 40-60% of the DNA
to most present-day populations. One ancestral lineage was genetically similar to Middle
Eastern or Iranian. Iranian mix was higher in upper-caste individuals and speakers of Indo-
European languages such as Hindi, the researchers found. The other lineage was not close
to any group outside the subcontinent, and was most common in people indigenous to the
Andaman Islands, a remote archipelago in the Bay of Bengal. India is a mixture of two
very distinct set of people. The Indians can be considered as a separate race outside the
three established races, Africans, Europeans and Orientals. Recognition of Indian race
separately from other three races may trigger more interest in the human genome
researches of Indians. The resources in the U.S are focused on researching the diseases
caused by genetic mutation prevalent among Caucasian, African and Mongolian races. The
diseases caused by the genetic disorders in the population living in tropical regions are
placed under the umbrella of neglected tropical diseases. The analyses of genome
sequencing and gene variants of Indians would draw special interest if they are categorized
under a separate race.

Caste system is very old and is independent of race or skin color. The Hindu religion is
divided into five main castes, Brahmin (teachers, priests), Kshatriya (kings, soldiers), Vaisya
(merchants, agriculturists), Sudra (laborers, artisans) and Prajanya (Harijan). Sadly,
Prajanyas were excluded from the Hindu caste system hierarchy until Mahatma Gandhi
called them Harijans (people of god). The ancient caste system, the organizer of peoples
occupation and livelihood, was redefined to conform to the standardized caste descriptions
dictated by the East India Company. The nineteenth century census in 1870 created a
distinctive caste records for the first time. According to the census, the five major castes
were divided into more than 3000 castes and further into 12000 sub-castes. The new records
created more caste based barriers of bigotry. The caste based custom of endogamy which is
still in practice has worsened the prejudice between castes.

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Unlike Kshatriyas, Brahmins did not pester the Colonial rulers because of their mild non
combative nature. The colonial rulers tactfully encouraged the expansion of Brahmanism in
India and took measures to weaken the rebellious Kshatriya forces. Apart from making
caste system more heterogeneous they inserted the Aryan and Dravidian racial divide
among Hindus and also Muslims. Influenced by the supremacy of the English sahibs,
majority of Indians accepted the exotic viewpoints of alien rulers without questioning. In
the nineteenth century, a variety of sects of non-Brahmins started investing fortunes on
temples and emulated the religious rituals of Brahmanism and many among them
upgraded themselves to Brahmanical Gotras with novel caste names and sanscritized
family names. And also new history with conjectures based on certain mythological events
from the ancient Hindu epics was created to match with the new caste names. The
subcontinents population growth, which rampantly rose from estimated 125 million in
1750 AD, to 390 million by 1941, led to random regional migratory trends seeking better
livelihood. Due to the underdeveloped and sluggish modes of transportation the migratory
routs seldom stretched beyond a few hundred miles. Throughout the Colonial era many
migratory drifts elevated their status on the ladder of caste system. It is somewhat of a
normal tendency of immigrants to seek approval of new neighbors in a new setting by even
feigning their history. In the recent past many Russian immigrants simulated fake Jewish
identities for acquiring Israeli citizenship. The hierarchy of caste system in the course of the
Colonial Rule was distorted and castes moved up or down in the pecking order. Many
castes advanced by imitating customs of higher castes. Many castes non cooperative to
Colonial rulers were socially pushed down. Juggling of the ancient caste system under the
British pretext further weakened the social integrity of India.

The survey conducted by the East India Company was used as a tool for manipulating the
beliefs of Indians to promote the British endeavor in India. Several warrior groups all over
Indian subcontinent including Afghanistan opposed the British Rule. Militant Kshatriya
leaders became notorious lawbreakers for defending their own homeland and many were
executed on criminal charges. Indians were forced to seek the favoritism of the British
rulers. The Kshatriya cast was squeezed almost to extinction. One of the main causes of the
1857 Sepoy Mutiny was due to the unfair restraints imposed by the East India Company on
the privileges and customs of the Kshatriya castes. A number of new caste names that did
not even exist prior to 1857 appeared on the 1891 census records of castes. There is no
official data available of Nadavaras leaving their community during the Colonial times. As
indicated by the colloquial chronicles, a handful of Jain Nadavara families who migrated
from Malenad to Dharwar district around the turn of the nineteenth century were supposed
to have become Brahmins. Some Jain Nadavara families never gave up Jainism and merged
with the Jain community of Dakshina Kannada. The overnight disappearance of a family of

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Nadavaras living in Banavasi at the turn of the nineteenth century remained as a mystery.
Some of the Nadavara historical ambiguities are hard to crack without relevant dataset.

In October 1799 Canara was in complete possession of Major Munroe. The Bilgi and Sonda
Jain Nadavaras didnt accept Munroes rule. Colonel Wellesley in September 1800 marched
into Malenadu to take control of the rebels. Nadavaras living in those towns escaped into
thick forest. Entire Nadavara community was suspected of treason because of the
association of a handful Nadavaras with Haider Ali and Tipu Sultan. Moreover, the
secretive and unapproachable living projected dubious image. The members of a Jain-
Nadavara family of Hulekal were detained for covertly campaigning against the British
after the fall of Tipu Sultan. Selective execution of Indians was one of the tactics used by
the Colonial rulers in dealing with the lingering encounters. Wellesley in one of his private
policy letters suggested the publicized killing of a few to intimidate the militants of
Malenad. In 1800, Mr. Monroe, the Collector of Canara, employed Wellesleys suggestion
near Siddapur, North Kanara by hanging a young Jain-Nadavara man who was said to be
in cahoots with Tipu Sultan. The ill-informed people of the region treated the family
members of the executed man like outlaws. The family in order to avoid the prejudiced
attitude of the neighbors moved to Goa, the Portuguese colony. Monroe, in order to
enfeeble the suspected militant activities, ordered the confiscation of the ancestral treasure
from the suspected Nadavara homes. In 1810, the northern Kanara was divided in seven
Talukas, Ankola, Honavara, Kundapur, Bilgi, Banavasi, Sonda and Supa. Police forces were
employed in Taluka places to keep close watch on the suspected militia hubs. The
harshness of punishment for a minor wrong doing was all most as severe as the draconian
code of penalty.

In September 1799 few months after the death of Tipu Sultan, the towns in the northern part
of Kanara, Bilgi, Sonda, Sambrani and Haliyal, opposed the Colonial forces led by Colonel
Wellesley. A Jain-Nadavara chieftain was shot dead in Bilgi by a British officer for not
agreeing to submit to the Colonial rulers. There was unrest in Bilgi which was brought to
rest after killing the chieftain. The Nadavaras of Malenadu were not very fond of the
Colonial Rule. Unexpectedly the violent incursions in Kanara, during the first decade of its
establishment (1799- 1808AD), exceeded 4200. It was by far the highest among the districts
in the Madras Presidency. The allegation based on the unaudited statistics seemed like
distortion of factual data. In the early 1800s, some Jain-Nadavara families living in the
Malenad region were suspected revolutionaries. Perhaps the accused families were
formerly allied with Tipu Sultan who waged war against the British. It is also possible that
the fabricated statistics of incursions in Malenad might have been used to punish the
antagonistic families of Kanara. The British forces had difficulty in arresting the alleged
radicals hiding deep in the thick forest of Sahyadri. A Jain-Nadavara family living in

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Gudnapur near Banavasi disappeared in the beginning of the nineteenth century. Around
the same period, in the first quarter of the nineteenth century, the Colonial rulers forcibly
took thousands of reluctant Indians to Mauritius and South Africa. The Colonial rulers
threatened even the innocent nonaligned Nadavaras living in Malenad. Nadavaras became
concerned of living in isolated places around Sonda and Hulekal. The threat posed by the
British was the main reason for the migration of a few Sonda Jain Nadavara families to
Konkan. The families from Malenad were well received by their friends and relatives and
were accommodated in the secured close quarters of Nadavara villages.

In 1830- 40 the towns surrounding Malenadu, Keladi, Naragund, Sangolli and Nagar
started skirmishing with the Colonial forces. Keeping Malenadu away from any kind of
contagious unrest from outside became an issue for the Madras Presidency. Remotely
situated from Mangalore, the thick forest of the northern Kanara even though thinly
populated, was hard to rule. The British ideology, divide, weaken and control was
working well with the divorce population of India. The British Raj after taking over India in
1857 decided to split Canara. On April 16, 1862 Canara was divided into South and North
Kanaras and North Kanara was transferred to the Bombay Presidency from the Madras
Presidency. The surveillance on the Nadavara community which settled in a small area in
Konkan was a bit relaxed in the new presidency.

A surname is a part of a person's formal full name indicating the family or sect to which the
person belongs. In medieval French, surnom (surname) means additional name. It was
originally used in Europe and then in Great Britain around the fifteenth century. The use of
a surname was not a custom in India and the tradition was introduced by the East India
Company in the beginning of the nineteenth century. An unofficial stealthy survey of
Indian communities was made by the East India Company and concluded the strategic
scrutiny in 1821. The survey manipulatively historicized and reconstituted fundamentals of
Indian civilization, culture and tradition. The survey was covertly used to target the
communities disloyal to the British Rule with an intention to nip the opposing forces in the
bud. The selected warrior sects were strategically branded with surnames for the ease of
identification of individuals, in a fashion that was used to sort out presumed criminals.
Tipu Sultan was supported by a small group of Nadavaras but the British capture of Canara
made the entire community anxious. In contrast, the British became bit concerned with the
unfriendly standoffishness of Nadavaras. Some Nadavara families living in the forests of
Western Ghats were believed to be treacherous militants. Nadavara was one of the earliest
communities to be labeled with surname in the first half of the Nineteenth century. It was
made mandatory for certain Nadavara families to use the surname Nayak or Naik, and also
Nayaks were asked to surrender their weapons even including the household equipment
that looked a bit dangerous. Without prior notice their homes were searched for arms. The

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early 1800s policy of Restricted Access to Arms disarmed Nadavaras. In the beginning
Nayak was the only Nadavara surname recorded by the census, and all other surnames
currently used by Nadavaras indicate that the community perhaps with time had gone
through societal changes. The Nadavara surname, Nayak or Naik was anglicized from the
term Nayaka.

Following the nationalization of the East India Company by Queen Victoria in January
1858, the British India opted to use surnames like the Brittsh. By 1890 less than half of the
Indian population had surnames. Indian surnames were based on occupation, place of
residence and personal characteristics. In a populous country such as India an additional
name along with the given name was essential to keep track of people. Contrarily surnames
partially played a role in emphasizing the caste based divisions among the people of India.
Before using the surname Nayaka, Nadavaras used nicknames or adjectives prefixed to
their given names. Mishe Girianna had a curled upward imperial moustache (Mishe);
Angadi Sannappa was a store (Angadi) keeper; Ghati Laxmi was a descendent of a family
that migrated from the Western Ghats. In the past when small groups of people lived in
isolated villages the prefixed adjectives were adequate for recognition. Even now such
nicknames are informally used within the Nadavara community.

The two expansionist empires, Britain and Russia in the nineteenth century were locked in a
cold war which was notably known as The Great Game. Russia was concerned about
Britain attacking the Central Asia and Britain was afraid of Russia invading India. Britains
immediate need was obviously to strengthen the British presence in the Colonial India. The
Indian Mutiny of 1857 was the cursor that highlighted the qualms over the East India
Companys ability to withstand the growing internal unrest and the looming external threat
from Russia. Alarmed by the Indian Mutiny, the British could not let the entire population
of India to get angry. The East India Company was nationalized following the mutiny. The
British Rule recognized approximately six hundred nominally autonomous princely states.
The British in return received tributes from the princely states. The rest of India was
directly controlled by the Viceroy of India, appointed by the Prime Minister of Great
Britain. The British Raj was firmly set on amassing revenue from The Crown Jewel, India
to support the lavish living style of England and suitably regulations were fabricated to
maximize income. They imposed strict law and order to facilitate the British occupation in
India.

Lord Ripon, the Viceroy of India, (1880-84) introduced an autonomous local government
system that instead of government employees, the native leaders of villages were made
official heads. The system selectively pampered the Kshatriya leaders with frivolous
rewards and flattery. The Nadavara leaders were awarded with the title, Patel (village

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chief). A Patel was supported by the local Powdar (police inspector). Patel was in charge of
the law enforcement in the villages under his jurisdiction. Patel appointed vigilantes who
voluntarily facilitated law enforcement in the village. Vigilantes patrolled the
neighborhoods at night. Patel was authorized to discipline the people who did not obey
certain laws. Shanbhogas (accountant) belonging to the Saraswata community assisted in
maintaining the taxation reports and collected taxes. Patels were not trained in legal
matters and used much of common sense in ruling. As a result the rule and regulations
differed from one village to another, deviating from the rules set by the British. They were
not apprehensive of such indiscretions of law and order, as their governance in India was
not affected in any acute fashion. Comforting the community leaders with flattery was a
clever British strategy to control the rebellious Kshatriya communities. The Grama
Panchayati System (Village Assembly) replaced village Patels after the Independence of
India.

The British bureaucratic coercion to large extent weakened self-esteem of the vulnerable
Indians. Even the Indian princes plainly accepted the British superiority. The sexual
aggression of the British establishment against Indian women was widespread.
Misbehavior of the British authorities gave birth to a new racial sect, the Anglo-Indians.
British men rarely married Indian women and rejected their offspring from Indian women.
However, the Anglo-Indian community was offered special privileges for education and
employments. Indian cantonments were notorious for women trafficking. Employments
were offered to men in exchange for providing the innocent women for the entertainment
of the British soldiers. In the late nineteenth century, after dissolving the Presidency Army,
a campaign to expand the military was launched. The British effort to sign up Nadavaras in
the Bombay Battalion was totally unsuccessful. Surprisingly, not even one Nadavara soul
came forward to join the battalion.

The 1858 Proclamation of the Queen of England (Victoria), was brought into the Act of
1858 AD, according to which the Indian Civil Services in all branches are open to all British
citizens and Indian Citizens born in India. However, after execution, the eligibility for the
Indian Civil Service was limited to the British Citizens and naturalized British citizens of
European descent. The recruitment of non-Indians and the exclusion of Indian nationals to
the Indian Civil Service were justified on the basis of inadequate education among Indians.
Obviously, the British did not try to bring the standard of education to match the Indian
Civil Services job requirements. Consequently, an English citizen was always assigned to
the post of Collector or Governor. Even the appointments to menial jobs of customs or
revenue clerks, were based on criteria such as region, religion, and caste of the applicants. It
was absurd to think that Indians were unable to become a part of the English controlled

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Indian bureaucracy whereas prior to the British Raj, so many Indian emperors and kings
led India to envious affluence.

The master plan of the British Raj was to convert India into a mammoth agricultural
landscape and discourage industrialization of any sort. In addition, the strategy was to
maintain the standard of living of Indians at bare minimum so that raw materials, mainly
the cotton, Jute and iron ore from India could be bought at despicable prices. The logistics
in India to improve the efficiency of transporting raw materials to Britain was given high
priority. One of the largest railroad networks in the world covering the length and breadth
of India was completed in a hurry. The railroad system also improved the effectiveness of
transporting the military men, artillery and equipment to all corners of India. The British
Raj tried many land reform experiments to capitalize on revenue from taxation on land and
wisely claimed that their intent was to maximize the agricultural output of India. Many
land activation acts between 1819 and 1900 were exercised to improve the relations between
Zamindars (Landowners) and Raiyatas (Farmers). The land rent collected by Zamindars
from Ryotas was much higher than the tax paid to the Government by the Zamindars. In
order to transform the uncultivated land into farmland the taxes were raised but then again
lowered the land rent paid by Ryotas to close the existing disparity between Zamindars and
Ryotas.

Recurrently India faced famines in the nineteenth century. In 1876-78 the shortage of rain
caused the Great Famine of 1876. The famine of 1876 was followed by another severe
famine during 1896-1897. Both famines greatly affected the peasants of Bombay presidency.
Except for Konkan the famines were endemic to the present day Gujarat and Maharashtra
States which belonged to the Bombay Presidency. The controversial Great Famine report
stated that the produce in the Bombay Presidency was more than expected. The export of
rice actually increased while the peasants all over India were starving to death. Three
different government estimates of casualties during the Great Famine varied between 1 and
3 million in the country. The independent estimates were a lot higher than three million
casualties. But for certain both famines caused dreadfully high casualties. The horrid
famine of 1899-1900 which affected the central and north India was the worst famine of the
nineteenth century. The deaths due to the famine reached 10 million especially in the
contemporary states of Bihar and Orissa. North Kanara was famine free as it always had
enough rain from the summer Monsoon. The tax on the rice fields prior to the Colonial
period was about 10-15% of the produce but it was gradually raised to 35-45% of the
produce. The Zamindars and Ryotas borrowed money to pay the taxes and couldnt pay
back the loan. They ended up losing their farmland to money lenders. The taxation in
Konkan including North Kanara was higher than the other regions of the presidency. The
rise in taxes affected Nadavaras to great extent. Cultivation of the less productive land,

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mostly in the raised terrains, locally referred to as Makki Gaddi' was halted. In the
Nadavara landholdings more than aggregate 60% was raised terrain. In due course it
became uncultivated barren land on which the landowners didnt pay taxes and the
government took possession of the land.

An exclusive agricultural department was created by the Viceroy, Lord George Curzon
(1899-1904 AD) to oversee the successful implementation of the new land tax law. Ryotas
gained ownerships of farms lost by Zamindars. However, it wasnt easy for the Revenue
Department to collect taxes from the impoverished Ryotas. The number of landowners
increased, but because of the lack of knowledge in land management and short of
supervision, farm productivity declined. The export of agricultural produce became less
profitable after the enforcement of regulation on the centuries old Zamindari System.
Already deprived economy of India was stuck into vicious downward spiral. The British
lived in seclusion without any concern for the needs of impoverished Indians. The Sahib
(Britisher) and Ayah (servant) relationship in colonial India was the epitome of class
difference between the rulers and the ruled. The racial, political and cultural superiority
articulated by the British minority led to identity crises among the educated Indians.
Dadabai Naoroji a prominent Indian businessman was the earliest Indian who openly
criticized the British for the dismal state of the Indian economy. His thesis titled Drain
Theory and Poverty was first of its kind that explained how the wealth is drained from the
Colonial India to sustain the opulent lifestyle of Great Britain. He was among the three
members who founded Indian National Congress in 1885. In 1901 Dadabai Naoroji wrote a
mega-book, Poverty and Un-British Rule in India. As stated in the book the per capita
income of an Indian was Rs. 20 per year. The poverty was so dire even the globally spread
Great Depression of 1929-34 made no noticeable effect on the impoverished India.
Generally poverty and illiteracy are coupled together. Literacy rate of India in 1941 was
12.2%. Before the independence, India was one of the worlds most illiterate and poorest
countries.

A few still existing thick walled big homes built two hundred years ago in the Nadavara
villages stand as a token of their exciting outset of some in Konkan. The picturesque
landscape of Konkan was strikingly appealing in the beginning. Around the turn of the
nineteenth century Nadavara domicile converged on either side of the Gangavali River.
They somehow had accumulated sufficient amount of land for comfortable living. It is not
known how upon arrival they gained access to land in Konkan. At the end of the nineteenth
century, they lost much of it because of the British land reformation act. They couldnt
afford tax increases on land which was raised by five folds in some cases. They handed
over the less productive land including uncultivated barren terrains to the government or
just abandoned them all together. In 1910 AD Beeranna Gaonkar of Bhavikeri instead of

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 March of Patriots

returning the land to government, gifted 83 acres in Kalgod near Baleguli, Ankola to his
friend, Bhaskar-Rao. For several reasons, the economic conditions of Nadavaras kept on
sliding lower up until India became an independent nation. Starting from mid 1930s for
almost two decades they were utterly broke and faced poverty that they never experienced
before. They couldnt survive without working hard in their left over small patches of rice
fields. Some Nadavara families even donated land to their friends and relatives who were
totally insolvent. Nadavaras with vengeance blamed the British Raj for their dire financial
conditions.

Under the British Rule, the candidates applying for the military commission had to be
English citizens or pure European descendants. Indians were only eligible to apply for the
non-commissioned military jobs. The British could not retain a capable military in India
without indigenous manpower. The Kshatriyas were somewhat disloyal to the British Raj.
Still the British preferred them for the warlike attitude and Brahmins were blend in to keep
close eye on Kshatriyas. The poverty was so severe, even the lowest ranking job of a soldier
or police constable seemed quite attractive to Indians. But the Nadavara community
discouraged its youths from seeking employment in any kind of defense of the British;
defending the British Rule was considered to be unpatriotic. Joining British armed forces
would have been something parallel to the Kshtriya lifestyle they led for centuries. Instead
they chose to be self employed farmers for which early on they had modest propensity.
Around 1880s, the community was upset with a young Nadavara man who accepted a
Pouddars (police inspector) job, which was a rewarding position during those gloomy
years. Even as recently as World War II, an overly enthusiastic young Nadavara man
against the will of his family and relatives applied for a junior commission rank in the
Maratha Regiment and was promptly called for an interview held in Belgaum. Despite his
application to junior commission, he was recruited to a lower ranking soldiers post. After
spending a few days in an army barrack, he escaped to Goa to avoid the arrest warrant.
Goa was then under the Portuguese rule.

The Nadavaras of Maskeri, Shetgeri, Bhavikeri and Hiregutti jointly instituted the
Nadavara Sangha in 1904 to dispute the British authority for imposing excessive taxation on
their land. However, the record kept on the grievance hearing if there was any, was not
found. Perhaps the tribunal was not in favor of the community. The Revenue department
held public auctions on defaulted farmlands. Manipulation of the land records, mostly by
the corrupt intermediaries and clerks plagued the bureaucratic administration. Abandoned
farms were given away for low costs. The Revenue department was unable to stop the
illegal purging triggered by the loopholes within the system. The Zaminadars were
troubled and hopelessly struggled with the bureaucracy. Besides many landlords could not
collect enough land rent from the sublet farmers to pay taxes and lost much of their lands.

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 March of Patriots

Still Nadvaras possessed enough land to live on but had to curtail their living expenses.
They tried to squeeze enough out of the residual farmland to accommodate their families.
The resolve for self-sufficiency, achieved through communal teamwork made Nadavaras to
feel united once again. Moreover, led them to stand up in 1930s and fearlessly react to the
treacherous treatment received by the British Raj. Many Nadavaras who participated in the
Nonviolence Movement lost their properties for trivial reasons which at times were even
fabricated. The first half of the twentieth century was the hardest time Nadvaras ever faced.

Kshatriyas were undeniably hurt by the British Raj. There is another train of thought which
believes that the British Raj in India did more good than bad by leaving behind a stable
democratic nation. At the end of the eighteenth century, the Mughal Empire was
fragmented into many small kingdoms. The new tiny states were fighting among
themselves and were also struggling with the declining economy. In the nineteenth century
the British Raj occupied almost entire subcontinent which was bigger than any Indian
nation created by any Indian ruler. One of the largest railway infrastructures in the world
was built across the entire subcontinent. The education system was modernized with the
English medium schools and universities. During the 190 years of British occupation,
progressive approach to governance was introduced in all aspects of Indian affairs. The
Constitution of India and also the Government of India adopted English as the official
language and continued with the organizational structure left behind by the British. Apart
from the partition of Pakistan, democratic India when took over the charge of British Raj, it
assumed an integrated dominion of many small countries and is still holding on as one
country despite diverse ethnicities. The English language introduced by the British takes
the credit for controlling the modern multi lingual India of today.

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