Raj Gaonkar

In ancient times migration of individuals was very rare, but the group mobility of Kshatriya
crusaders was fairly common. Throughout the Nadavara past, they chose risky routes with
ups and downs, twists and turns, and were stranded many times in many places. In actuality,
their current destination, Uttara Kannada, was also a stranded place where they went into
hiding after losing in Vijayanagara. Flattery and despise certainly alternated with the
rollercoaster history of Nadavaras. They were legendary warriors. Their history was never
portrayed in a coherent fashion. Over the last century many inconsistent references were
made to Nadavaras with little or inaccurate knowledge of their past. Nonetheless,
contradictory opinions can also be supportive of historical explorations. In Null Hypothesis
(Statistics) an assumption is accepted until proven wrong by the propositioned contradictory
hypothesis. "A criminal is innocent until and unless he is proven guilty” is an illustration of
Null hypothesis. Similarly, historical statements can be evaluated against the conditional
evidences to disprove flawed hypotheses. Nadavara was considered to be an energetic,
united, and closely-knit small community. Contemporary historians admire Nadavaras for
their recent patriotic participation in Satyagraha, the independence movement of India.
Beyond the recent status quo recognition, who were Nadavaras? Where did they come from?

Genetic mutation is the change in chromosome structures caused by deletion or addition of

nucleotides which are small sections of chromosomes. The changes due to mutation alter the
genetic codes imbedded in chromosomes and changes are passed on to offspring. The
imbedded inherent genetic information carried by chromosomes defines the characteristics
of species. Normally mutations trigger defects and infrequently amend the existing
shortcomings. According to Darwin’s theory of evolution, mutation caused by the natural
selection favors reproduction of stronger breed of species and the ones that cannot adapt to
genetic changes vanish in time. A man or a woman trying to find a healthy sexual partner is
an example of natural selection. Since the origin of life 99% of the life forms have
disappeared. The human race is among the very small fraction of species that were approved

1
by the commandments owing to “survival of the fittest”. The human race (Modern Homo
sapiens) originated in East Africa 160,000 years ago and began its journey out of Africa to the
other continents approximately 60,000 years ago. The creation of different races is a result of
the mutation process, which is the nature’s way of building protective shields against the
severe climatic conditions. The people closer to equator developed dark colored melanin
layer to deflect the ultraviolet rays which could cause skin diseases. The pigmentation
decreases in people living closer to the poles.

Genetic genealogy, the study of changes in molecular structure of DNA, is applied to identify
the history of one’s pedigree. According to the American Journal of Human Genetics of
March 2003, an international group of geneticists studying Y-chromosome data discovered
that 0.5 percent of the present male population of the world or roughly 16 million men carried
Y-chromosome of one individual who lived approximately 1,000 years ago in Mongolia. His
Y-chromosome was found in the men living in Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Kirgizstan,
Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Mongolia. It’s believed that the primary 1000-
year-old Mongolian forefather was Genghis Khan’s (1160 – 1227) great grandfather. Genghis
Khan as he conquered other kingdoms, his soldiers most of whom were the clans of Genghis
Khan, killed innocent men in masses and seized their women. Such hideous war exploit was
exercised by the successors of Genghis Khan for the next two hundred years. The Turkic king,
Timurlane who founded the Timurid dynasty of central Asia was a descendent of Genghis
Khan. After his conquests he too like Genghis Khan mass executed men and captured women
for his pleasure almost like a religious rehearsal. He totally obliterated Delhi in 1398 and
executed more than 100,000 men. The Mughals who conquered India in the sixteenth century
were also the descendants of Mongols but were unquestionably more civilized.

The physical and behavioral traits are the vivid displays of codes ingrained in one’s genetic
scripts. The genetic codes of father in Y-chromosome and of mother in mt-chromosome are
transferred to the children or to the successive generation. The Y-chromosome is passed from
father only to his son without any change, like a Xerox copy. Each male carries special genetic
code in Y-chromosome that is identical to that of his forefather who lived thousands of years
ago. Y-chromosome is a record of one’s heredity found in every male presently living. The
modern advances in the genetic genealogy accurately maps out the ancestral line with a high
level of confidence. The genetic anthropology is successfully used to trace back the origin of
the human race and also to understand the evolution of different races. The modern scientific
methods would be more precise than any historic hypothesis to trace the Nadavara ancestry
and their migratory routes.

The biological anthropologists in the twentieth century determined one’s race and ethnicity
from the shapes of head, nose, eyes and oral cavity. A long narrow head versus round broad

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head, a short wide nose against thin long nose, epicanthic fold small eye contrasted with
double fold wide eye and distinction between wide shallow oral cavity and narrow deep oral
cavity differentiated the origin of races and ethnicities ranging from equator to the North
Pole. In 1951 Dr. Iravati Karve, an anthropologist stayed with Ramachandra K. Naik in
Ankola, while conducting the study in physical and social anthropology of the rural people
of North Kanara. From her visual observations of a few she commented, “Nadavara features
are so distinct that they are easily identifiable among the other inhabitants.” It was a neutral
statement and was not a complement as though it sounded like one. The cephalic index is
the ratio of the width to length of a human head and the nasal index is the ratio of the greatest
breadth of the nose to its greatest height (length). The head is dolicho cephalic when index
lies between 70 and 74.5%. The nose is mesorrhine if nasal index lies between 71 and 84.9%.
As per the data published by Dr. Karve in 1953, Nadavara cephalic index, 73.50% places them
in dolicho cephalic group and nasal index, 74.46% falls into mesorrhine category. In plain
English the data can be interpreted as Nadavaras had long head and fairly wide nose.
However, the sample size and validity of Dr. Karve’s survey data is not known. It’s rather
difficult to draw any conclusion from Dr Karve’s study. According to Prakash P. Gaonkar,
the president of Nadavara Sangha, the Nadavara population in 2010, including the
Nadavaras living outside Uttara Kannada, was around 30,000. Based on the past population
growth sequence of India, the estimated (retrogressed) population was approximately 2100
in 1750 AD. The scattered population in Uttara Kannada, Dakshina Kannada, Udupi and Goa
in the eighteenth century migrated to a small borough in Konkan. “Birds of a feather” kind
of social behavior suggests that the families of common descent came together to live in
Konkan.

Immigrants who settle in a new place essentially learn the local language, but the new
language is always spoken with an accent slanted toward their former language (mother
tongue). New settlers resorting to local language or choosing a third language known to both
sides (local people and new settlers) as medium of communication is called lingua franca or
common language. English language is the lingua franca in most of the non-English speaking
countries around the world. In lingua franca exchanges, effectiveness of communication
becomes more important than grammatical correctness. The Indian immigrants in the U.S are
ethnically pigeonholed by the federal government in one category, Indian Americans, even
though they hail from diverse Indian ethnic groups. English is the lingua franca for incoming
immigrants from the non-English speaking countries including India; Indians speak English
with an accent tinted by their native vernaculars, Hindi, Gujarati, Telagu etcetera. In general,
the English speech to certain extent is influenced by the vocal mutations of their native
languages. The resulting change in accent (syllable) is called inflection of words. The
inflections of nouns, adjectives and verbs produce different effects on vocal sounds.
Accordingly, the inflection of verbs is called conjugation and declension for nouns or

3
adjectives. The Indian immigrants in the U.S speak English but majority of them have heavy
Indian accent which at times becomes unintelligible to Americans.

Historically, spoken dialect and shared customs of intimate people living together defined a
sect or community and differentiated them from the rest of the populace. Nadavaras speak
Nadavara-Kannada, which is a modified or corrupted form of Kannada. It has significant
phonological variations from other Kannada dialects. Perhaps Kannada was initially lingua
franca for Nadavaras and after many years modified Kannada became their vernacular. The
morphology of Nadavara Kannada is similar to that of Marathi, which raises a few
unanswered questions. Did Nadavaras migrate to the land of Kannada long time ago from
elsewhere? Did their former language have any influence on Nadavara-Kannada? What
language did they speak prior to adopting Kannada? Prakrit was the sacred language of
Jainism and was also used in the propagation of Jainism. Maharashtri is one of the Jain
dialects originated from Prakrit in the fifth century. It was also the parent language of
Gujarathi and Marathi. During medieval times, Prakrit was the official language and
Maharashtri was the spoken dialect of the Malwa region. Historical facts indicate that
Maharashtri spread widely in Gujarat and Maharashtra during the rule of the Rashtrakutas
of Manpur in the sixth and seventh centuries.

The ancient migration routes of Rashtrakuta and Kalachuri dynasties indicate that they
dwelled in Elichpur (Achalpur, Maharashtra) and Mahismati (Maheshwar, Madhya Pradesh)
for two to three centuries before moving to Latur and Mangalaved in the southern
Maharashtra. The phonology of Nadavara Kannada is distinct from the other dialects of
Kannada. The syllable rhymes of Nadavara Kannada sounded so different that the local
people of Uttara Kannada even ridiculed their speech. The initial verbal communication of
Nadavaras in Karnataka might be a mixture of Maharashtri and Kannada. The trails of bias
to Maharashtri or Prakrit can be detected in the accent of Nadavara-Kannada. Many of the
words used in Nadavara-Kannada seem to be similar to Prakrit. For instance, the Sanskrit
words, Putra, Ishwara, Jihva, Veera, Shringara, and Dhwaja are pronounced in Prakrit as
Putti, Isra, Jeva, Bera, Singara, and Daja respectively. Similar pronunciations or declension
of nouns can be heard in Nadavara Kannada. Quite frequently used verbs ending phonetics
of Prakrit -da, -la, -ka, -na, -aha, -ya are commonly used as the sentence ending phonetics in
the speech of Nadavaras (-kada, -dala, -ka, -na, -ha, -yo). Nadavaras speak with loud voice
and a different tone than that of classical Kannada. The vocal inflection of the Nadavara
speech sounds to some extent like Marathi, which is a descendant of Maharashtri. While
living in Maharashtra Nadavaras perhaps spoke Maharashtri. The cited relationship between
Nadavara-Kannada to Prakrit needs a detailed colloquial speech analysis including
grammatical patterns to find their linguistic roots. Between the fourteenth and the sixteenth
centuries living in Vijayanagara, which was the melting pot of Kannada and Telagu

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languages, the Nadavara Kannada possibly had influence of Telagu speech sounds. The
phonetics of Nadavara Kannada is partially spread in the colloquial Kannada of many other
communities living with them in Uttara Kannada.

What was the nuance behind the earliest caste identities? Was it the way of the Nadavara life
style that brought the distinction to their tribe? It is not clear when and how the Nadavaras
became warriors by profession. The first mention of Nadavara is traced back to supposedly
the earliest Kannada book, Kavirajmarga by Nripatunga, the Rashtrakuta Emperor during
the ninth century. What was the basis for the derivation of the caste name, “Nadavara”? It is
hard to know without the historical sources and is left for mere speculation or hypothesizing.
The ancient Indian caste system was created to tackle the division of labor. A caste was
recognized by the profession of its people and accordingly the caste name was originated.
Nadavara means husband (Vara) of the country (Nad). The etymology of the caste name,
Nadavara probably originated from the word Rashtrapathi (Husband of the Country), which
was the moniker used to address the noble Kshatriyas of the ancient Malwa Kingdom.

During the era of the Rashtrakuta Dynasty of Manyakheta, Nadavara was possibly the
branded nickname of the Rashtrakuta clan. Nadavaras were rulers from their ancestral
lineage. “Nadavara” was never mentioned before it appeared in Kavirajamaraga in the mid
ninth century. It was also implied in the end of the nineteenth century Census of Madras that
the caste name Nadavara was based on their recent profession, agriculture. But when
Nripatunga mentioned of Nadavaras, probably there were a dozen extended Nadavara
families that existed to make up for the Rashtrakuta Royalty. In Nripatunga’s superlative
description of Nadavaras, there is no allusion made to Nadavaras being landlords.
Nadavaras did not dwell on farming till they were forced out of the martial course at the
beginning of the nineteenth century. They started working in their farms only when they lost
much of their land to the land reformation acts implemented 125 years ago by the British Raj.

The languages endlessly evolve with the newer generations, in order to reach higher
communication levels. The rampant boost in the human activities is shifting the socio-
linguistic dynamics to a higher plain, which is ultimately affecting the pronunciation of
words and the structure of sentences in almost all languages, including the largest spoken
language, English. Just within the last few decades, “Nadavara” was pronounced with
distinctive slangs such as: Nadavara, Nadava, Nadavarau, Nadav, Nadgichi, Nadge, Nadig,
and Nadvy. However, Nadavara-Kannada pronunciation, Nadavara might have been the
original vernacular from which all other deviant modulations were initiated. Every so often
slang words expand into the mainstream and become trendy. The recent Nadavara
generations are shying away from the original Nadavara-Kannada and are tending to adopt
conventional Kannada dialect. Consequently, the slang term Nadavaru was created to go

5
well with their modern dialect. As the name “Nadsavaru” sounds like plural noun name, the
singular noun, Nadavara was further modified to “Nadava” by a few. In Kaviraja Margha,
Nadavaragal is the plural of Nadavara. It is also quite possible that the Nadavara of North
Kanara had no relation to the Rashtrakuta of Manyakheta and the caste didn’t have a
standardized name; perhaps Nadavara was branded differently by the Nadavaras living in
different villages.

Possibly the Rashtrakuta dynasty belonged to the Nadavara clan and the Kalachuris merged
with Rashtrakutas much later. There are two hypotheses supporting the origin of Nadavaras
prior to the Rashtrakuta of Karnataka. The earliest Kalachuri Dynasty of Tripura ruled
Rajputana and Malwa. In the sixth century they moved to Mahismati situated on the
Narmada River. The Jainism started to decline around the eighth century when Shaivism
launched aggressive conversion of Jains in the southern and western parts of India. One
school of thinking is that in the seventh century, during the Badami Chalukya Dynasty, a
group of Kalachuris came to Maharashtra from Rajputana as crusaders to protect Jainism. By
the tenth century, they established their own base in Mangalawed, Maharashtra and in the
twelfth century some of them migrated to Kalgod (region around Adlur) in Uttara Kannada.
The relics of ancient Jain shrines of the twelfth century of northwestern Karnataka strongly
suggest the migration of Kalachuris to the south. Even today the Nadavaras with Kalachuri
family names such as Kalnayaka, Kalaguji, Kalapnamane and Kalmane reside in the region.
Many of the Nadavara families worship ancient Kalachuri shrines and selectively observe
the rituals of Jainism. Supposedly they are the descendents of Kalachuris. Supposedly the
Kalachuri King, Bijala (1130-1167 AD) was an ancestral relative of some Nadavaras currently
living in Bhavikeri, Ankola.

Numerous established historical facts support the present common belief that Nadavaras
were the Rashtrakutas of Manyakheta (Malkhed) and that they initially migrated from the
Malwa Region (Western-Central India). Almost certainly the Nadavara clan was kinfolk of
the Rashtrakuta dynasty. The anecdotal stories of the Nadavara ancestry relating to
Kalachuris are convincing and consistent with the history of the Kalachuri monuments of
Uttara Kannada. The medieval relics of Adlur region present great potential to explore the
Kalachuri history. Kalachuris and Rashtrakutas migrated to southern India in two separate
small groups, consisting of a small number of families with self-motivated goals. The
Rashtrakuta Dynasty ended after losing to the Western Chalukyas in 952 A.D, but Nadavaras,
the Rashtrakuta clan survived even after the fall of the Rashtrakuta Empire. While hiding in
the Malenad region of Uttara Kannada, they played an important role in establishing the
Hoysala Kingdom that became the largest empire in South India of its time. On the other
hand, Kalachuris founded the Southern Kalachuri Kingdom in Kalyan. After losing to
Kalyani Chalukyas they moved to Kalgod, Uttara Kannada.

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The world population has grown from 170 million in the beginning of the first century AD to
6.8 billion in the beginning of the twenty-first century. The population growth was
hyperbolic, or the growth pattern resembled the letter J. In the last two hundred years, the
world population has reached the asymptotic stage (vertical part of the letter J), which is a
sign of instability of the world population and probable collapse of the human population.
In India the population grew from 28 million in the first century to 45 million in the tenth
century, 150 million in the beginning of the nineteenth century and 400 million in 1950s. At
the turn of the twenty-first century the population of India exceeded alarming one billion. In
the last two thousand years the population of India burgeoned by the multiplication factor
of 36 and in the last thousand years by 23. Based on the historical population growth of India,
the retrogression estimated that approximately 600 Nadavaras (Rashtrakutas) migrated to
Manyakheta in the eighth century. Later on, between the twelfth and fifteenth centuries,
approximately 400-500 Kalachuris (Salwa) joined the original group of Nadavaras
(Rashtrakuta). Yet after the merger of the two sects, the Salwa families retained their original
Kalachuri identity.

What kind of forces brought the two sects together many centuries after their migration from
the central India to Uttara Kannada? Was it their common religious belief (Jainism)? Was it
their comparable customs or equivalent social status? One or many socio-cultural factors of
that period might have contributed to the union of two sects to form one communal Jain
cluster, the contemporary Nadavara community. The Kalachuris descended from the
Sakas while the descent of Rashtrakutas of Central India is unclear. Both sects were known
as Rajputs of Rajaputana. But “Rashtrakuta” or “Rashtika” appeared before the term "Rajput"
was named for the warriors of the western and central India. Badami Chalukyas in the
seventh century called the people living in western Malwa as Rajputs. The Kalachuris were
Shwetambaras whereas the Rashtrakutas belonged to the Digambara denomination. The
match making within a few families of Kalachuris in Maharashtra was difficult and inter-clan
marriages with their feudatory dynasty, Rashtrakutas, were honored. Being Jain immigrants
from the same region, they initially maintained cordial relations.

Endogamy or marrying within one’s caste is a bylaw in Hindu caste system. Nadavara
marriages were strictly endogamous. Among Nadavaras endogamy was practiced for
conserving the Kshatriya pedigree. How far back in the history, did they become
conscientious of their genealogy? Gregor Mendel's principles of inheritance describe the way
by which the traits of parents are passed on to the offspring. Mendel’s discovery of
inheritance was established before genome was discovered. In humans each cell consists of
23 pairs of chromosomes in the shape of double helix. Each pair is made up of one helix
donated from father and one from mother. The characteristics of offspring are attained from

7
the genes of both parents. Mendel from the experiment of breading pea plants concluded that
both the external traits (phenotype) and internal nature (genotype) are acquired from both
parents. Certain external traits can be hidden in one generation and can reemerge in the next
generation or after many subsequent generations. Also, two offspring of the same parents,
one may have red hair and blue eyes and the second one may have brown hair and brown
eyes. In one sibling the genetic code displaying blue eye is dominant and genetic code
corresponding to brown eye is recessive and in the second sibling the dominant and recessive
genes defining eye color are in reverse. The dominant genes always mask the recessive genes.
However, both the siblings would be having the same genetic composition. The external
appearance of Nadavaras is so diverse that it doesn’t conform to consistent traits. In the past
probably many centuries ago during medieval age, the Nadavara clan might have been
formed from many ethnic groups. It was perhaps chastely founded on the ethics of martial
profession. The variation in Nadavara external traits might be the resultant of the mixture of
multiple ethnicities with varied backgrounds. However how and when did they become
followers of Jainism? Or did some different cultural groups belonging to Jain religion joined
to establish a single martial assemblage?

In the early medieval times, the status of Kshatriya was acquired either by the profession or
by inheritance. Around the ninth century the Sat-Kshatriya class was created among Rajputs
and Rashtrakutas to differentiate the genealogy of the warriors from birth to the other
soldiers. Even Sat-Kshatriyas at a certain point in time had to form their clan based on
profession and the conservation of genealogy of Kshatriyas by birth was an afterthought.
The kings and princes of the Rashtrakutas of Manyakheta parlayed their royalty to strike
series of matrimonial alliances with the Kalachuri women, who were renowned for their good
looks. Krishna II (878- 914 AD), his son Indra III (914- 929 AD) and Krishna III (939- 967 AD)
were married to Kalachuri princesses. Both sects pompously maintained their clan identities.
The ruling families of the Kalachuris of Kalyan lost their hold over the kingdom after the
death of Bijala (Vijjana), but they still managed to rule for another two decades until 1184
AD. The Kalachuri expatriate of Kalyan joined a handful of families of Salwa chiefs
(Kalachuri) already living in the Adlur Fort in Uttara Kannada. The Kalachuri families were
sought after by the Virashaiva mercenaries. In Uttara Kannada, perhaps they were dependent
on the Rashtrakuta clan, who initially exiled in Malenadu since the Rashtrakutas were
pushed out of Manyakheta. The Kalachuris gradually began to merge with the
Rashtrakutas. The blended new union realized that they did not have the much needed
critical population to survive as Jains, in the midst of the looming trend of Virashaivism and
gradually accepted Hinduism.

The growing anti-Jainism agitation in the Keladi Kingdom was the most likely reason for
Nadavaras to opt conversion to Hinduism. Secondly, the Nadavara vital authority was lost

8
after the fall of Vijayangara. Changing to the dogma of Hinduism was analogous to joining
majority or ruling political party. The adaptation process to the new religion was cautiously
slow, due to their esteemed love for Jainism. The conservatives among Nadavaras lingered
on to their beloved Jain monks almost like extended family members. A few decades ago,
they still visited the Jain temples in Sonda, Haduvalli and Moodbidri. The gradual acceptance
of Hinduism confirms that their conversion was voluntary and was not with any kind of
mandatory pressure at gunpoint. However, many of the Jain rituals were sustained even after
the transition to Hinduism. There was no immediate impact on their life style. Amazingly,
the tiny community continued to hold together when it was split between Jainism and
Hinduism. Such a communal union beyond the differences in religious faiths might be
because of their conformist community values that were more important to them than the
religious denominations.

During the centuries of adventurous passage, except for a few skeptical flare-ups, the major
incidents mostly indicate amicable relations between Kalachuris and Rashtrakutas. In the
sixth century, Rashtrakutas were feudatories of Kalachuris. In the ninth century Kalachuris
became subordinates of Rashtrakutas. In the fourteenth century, at the beginning of the
Sangama Dynasty, the commanders who belonged to the Rashtrakuta ancestry helped
Salwas to join the military of Vijayanagara. In the mid fifteenth century when Salwas gained
the ruling authority they welcomed the soldiers of Rashtrakuta origin to the Vijayanagara
military. As both Rashtrakuta and Kalachuri clans hailed from Rajaputana, they naturally
grew to be closely intertwined in the southern India. The recurrent matrimonial dealings
between the two Jain Diasporas ultimately gave birth to the contemporary Nadavara
community of Uttara Kannada. However, according to the historical writings and other
evidences, the original Nadavaras were the clan of Rashtrakuta dynasty of Manyakheta. The
methodical and organized writings of India’s ancient history are so scanty that it’s difficult
to trace the historical background of Indian ethnicities beyond a few hundred years without
hypothesis and assumptions. Even though the origin of Nadavara hasn’t been fully
understood, from the speculation of many historians, Nadavara clan is of Rashtrakuta
lineage. Nadavara physical attributes mainly soldierly stature and facial bone structures
convincingly vindicate that in the past they belonged to martial ethnic group. The left-over
residue of Jain traditions in their culture and the closeness of the Nadavara Kannada
phonetics to that of Maharashtri make believe that Nadavaras migrated from central India to
Karnataka. Much of the history of Nadavara migration from Rajputana is not easily accessible
through discrete data points. The present day Nadavara culture, traditions, dialect and even
more compellingly the traits were resourceful in framing their remote past. Several hints
found in the old records were probed to patch up missing pieces of the puzzle. Anecdotal
stories were resourceful in shaping the blurred images of the distant past.

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A small number of Salva families were thinly scattered all over the present-day Uttara
Kannada since the twelfth century. The Salva domicile in Adlur can be traced back to the time
of the southern Kalachuris of Kalyani. Later on, during the Vijayanagara Empire they lived
in Bilgi, Sonda, Gerusoppa and Haduvalli. The Salva ruler’s (Jitta Nayaka) family dwelled in
Kagal for more than three hundred years until the British occupation of Kanara. The Salvas
of Uttara Kannada belonged to Shwetambara sect of Jainism. The ancient Jain relics in Adlur,
Sonda, Bilgi, Gerusoppa, Haduvalli, Ankola and Mirjan stand as the living testimonials of
the Salva presence in Uttara Kannada. Many of the Nadavara Jain traditions followed up
until the turn of the twentieth century indicate that Nadavaras were indisputably the
followers of Jainism prior to accepting Hinduism. Nadavara arrivals from Sonda, Gerusoppa,
Kuchinadu, and Bilgi to Konkan are well substantiated facts. The Nadavara families who
lived in Vijayanagara since the fourteenth century sought refuge in Malenadu in the sixteenth
century before moving to Konkan in the late eighteenth century. The Salvas of Adlur,
Gerusoppa, Sonda and Kuchinad seamlessly merged with the refugees of Vijayanagara. The
Nadavara sect, confluence of Kalachuri and Rashtrakuta clan, during its extensive long
journey to Uttara Kannada might have mixed with other ethnicities and probably absorbed
broad-ranging strata of traditions. Smaller social groups in the past in search of eligible
bachelors have broken the barriers of restricted caste system and married into other castes.
In contrast a number of Nadavara families were converted to Islam and Christianity.

Who were the medieval Nadavaras? Who were the Nadavaras of Vijayanagara? Were they
related to the Nadavaras of Uttara Kannada? Many historians and elite thinkers such as
Shamba Joshi, Venkanna H. Naik and Dinakar Desai linked the Nadavara past to
Vijayanagara. But how did they conclude that the ancestors of Nadavaras of Uttara Kannada
were the warriors of Vijayanagara? The question, “To what extent the Nadvaras of ancient
times were genetically similar to the present day Nadavaras of Uttara Kannada” is still
searching for a clear-cut scrutiny beyond the hypotheses of historians. There are some
compelling rationales based on historical researches connecting the events of Vijayanagara
to the Nadavara past. History gets compressed and rewritten very frequently and at times
revisions even swing farther away from facts. The modern scientific methods in archeology
and anthropology involving isotope analysis methods for mapping the ancient routes of
expeditions and molecular biology for tracking the ancestral DNA can be engaged to track
the origin of Nadavara and its travel through history to fill the existing gaps in the historical
findings.

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