It is very interesting to note that the Gavaras were among the many communities that tried hard

for the upheaval of their social status in the medieval Andhradesa. Though this community is a
minority at present and it is continuing its age old traditions of livelihood by agriculture and
trade, history proves them as the dynamic and militant community of Andhra. The members of
this community figure as generals and ministers from the period of the Kakatiyas. Basing on the
resemblances in the character as well as profession, this community may be compared with the
Vira Balanja. Community of the medieval centuries.
 

Attempts have been made by a number of writers to study the history of the
Gavaras.S.PratapaReddi in his Andhrula Sanghika Charitra refers to the Gavaras as they hail
from Bengal in the 6-7th centuries. E.Thurston in his Castes and Tribes of Southern India
considered Gavaras as subdivision among the Vaisyas; and also complimented them as the best
agriculturists of the area. K.BhogalingaCharya (1931) in his article entitled “Gauralu Kauravulu
Kara?” tried to connect the Gavaras with the epic Kauravas, just on the basis of myth and legend.
In a similar manner D.Adinarayana (1936) wrote an article entitled “Gaurava Kulodbhavamu”
tracing out the origin of the Gavaras. Pedaka Setti Sitaramayya made a successful attempt (1961)
to bring all the known facts about the early history of this community in his work Gaurala
Prachin Charitra. Villuri Ramana tried to survey the surnames as well as the gotras of the
Gavaras. Karri Appalanarshima Rao (1986) attempted to identify some of the early rulers of
Andhra Gavaras, in his work Sri Satavahanulandhrulu. Besides these there are works like
Balijakulacharitra, and Sadhusettlu which mention the details of Gavara community also. All
these works deserve credit for bringing out the traditional accounts as well as other details of the
Gavaras. In the light of those accounts, an attempt is being made in this paper to study the history
of the Gavara community of Andhra.
 

Inscriptions form the important source of information to know the history of the Gavaras. A
number of inscription issued in between A.D.13-15 the centuries at places like Panchadharala,
Draksharama, Gudimetta, Tadikonda, Malkapuram, Kolakaluru, Kopparam and Srisailam offer
much information either about their constructions at those places or about the services of the
Dadi and Kanisetti families to the Kakatiya power. Similarly the Copper –plate records like the
Narsipatnam plates of Vajrahastadeva of the Eastern Gangas dated A.D. 1045 offer a clue about
‘Gaurasatta-Vishaya’, one of the early settlements of the Gavaras in Andhradesa.
 

In literature, though this community had no specific mention in the early centuries, they are
referred to in the Sukasaptati written by Palavekari Kadiripati of 17th century.
 

The word ‘Gavara’ or ‘Gavara’ is a desi word which means a Vanija or Businessman. The
Sukasaptati states that Gavaras formed a separate community which had business as its
profession. Just like any other community, Gavaras also originated on the basis of profession and
religious practices. In Andhra, Gavaras lived particulary in the areas around Anakapalle in the
Visakhapatnam district. That are being called Gauris or Gaureyas because they worshipped
‘Gauridevi’, the consort of Lord Siva, as their tutelary deity. We may trace out the antiquity of
this worship of Gauri by Gavaras, from 13th century where ‘Gaurivrata’ is reffered to in an
inscription of the Matsyas of Oddadi. It is curious that even now Gaurivrata is in practice among
the ladies of the Gavara and Balija communities.
 

As in the case of other communities, the Gavaras had also some traditional stories about their
origin .The historicity and other details of those tradition are, though not unquestionable,
resemble the stories of other communities like Vaisyas, Sadhusetties, Balijas and Perkis. In
addition, some of the surnames and gotras of the Gavaras coincide with those of the
Sadhusetties, Perkis and Vaishyas. There are three popular stories about the origin of the
Gavaras. The first two legends connect them with the Kauravas of the Mahabharata. According
to the after the great Bharata war, when Parikshit became the ruler, he desired to marry a lady of
Kaurava descent. He expressed his wish to the Kauaravas who were not prepared to do so .They
escaped to far away countries like Andhra to save their prestige as well as lives. Those
descendants of the Kauaravas gradually called themselves as  ‘Gavara’. According to another
similar story, Gauri, the daughter of Dussala married Subhahu the son of one of the Kauaravas,
and the lineage came to be termed as Gavaras.
 

Unlike these, the third is of historical character and had close resemblances with the story of the
Vaisyas known from the Kanyakapurana written by Guru Bhakharacharya of the 16th century.
According to it once the ruler of Vengi desired to marry a lady of the Gavara community and
requested them to give their consent to the marriage. But for their own reasons, they were not
prepared to consent to the request made by the king. They feared that the king would victimize
them and escaped from Vengi to Pudimadaka by sea-route and settled down in the areas of
Anakapalle in the Visakhapatnam district. Probably the areas where there Gavaras settled
themselves might have been reffered to as ‘Gaurasatta Vishya’ in the inscription of Ganga
Vajrahasta deva. The historicity of the story also, though not unquestionable, give some
interesting information about the social status of the Gavaras. A similar story of the Vaisyas
mentions the split among the Vaisya community on the issue of marriage with the lady as
required by the king .Out of 714 gotras, only 102 gotras of Vaisyas are stated to have stood for
their prestige and honour by challenging the king, where as the remaining families decided to run
away from that place. As the similar episode of the Gavaras indicate their escape from a similar
dangerous situation, it can be said that the Gavaras were among those 612 gotras of the Visayas
and form an important section of the Vaisya community.
 

What ever might be the historical value of these legends, it is believed that the Gavaras were one
among the mini communities that came down to settle in southern India from Ahichchatra of
Panchala, in the early centuries of the Christian era. The references to Gavara setties in the
inscriptions at places like Punganur and Nellapalli in the Chitoor district state about their early
settlements in those areas even before 10th century. On their way from Ahichchatra to
Kanchipram, they settled at various places in Anhdhra, Tamilnadu and Karnataka. They seem to
be dominating community at places like Coimbatore, Salem, Madura and Tanjavur of
Tamilnadu. There they are called as ‘Kavarai’ a corrupt form of Kauravar or Gauravar, an
equivalent of Gouriya. There is a strong belief among these Gavara familes that the kings of
Madura, Tanjavur and Vijaynagar belonged to ‘Kavarai’ community. It will be interesting to
note in this connection that one Sevappanaidu of this community married Murthiammal, sister-
in-law of Achutadevaraya of Vijayanagara; and as a dowry received the territory of Tanjavur,
over which he ruled as king for a long period. It was at this time that Tirumalayanaiduof Madura
took one of the daughters of Sevappanaidu’s family as wife. Tirumalaya’s grandson one
Chokkalingam Naidu married Mangamma, daughter of Vijayaraghavanayaka of Tanjavur,
Thiruchanpalle and Madhra were the Naidu rulers of AndhraPradesh as noticed by Thurston.
However, different communities like Balijas have a similar belief in respect of their association
with the above ruling familes.

In Karanataka also, the records from Soraturu and Puligere tetsify to the existence of the Gavara
community even as early as 9-10th centuries. They made the important city Aihole as the center
of their activites and boasted of themselves in their titles as “Ahichchatra Viniragata”,
”Ahichchatrapuravaradhisvara”, ”Ayyavolepuraparameswara”, etc., Some of the Gavara settis in
these areas were honoured with royal insignia like Simhasana and Chchatra.It seems that they
constructed temples to ‘Gauresvara’ whereever they went , as there are references to that effect
in Karnataka as early as 13th century. Gavaras entered into the areas of Vengi of Andhradesa
even before 13th century. A number of records during the period of the Kakatiyas mention high
offices held by Dadi and Kanisetti families in the military department of the Kakatiyas. Dadi
family seems to be the militant family that occupied high positions; and as referred to in a
number of records of the Hoyasalas and Kakatiyas. Dadi Ganaya, Dadi Somaya, Dadi Viraya,
Pochiya etc, are referred to as the military officers under the Kakatiyas. A tank by name
‘Gaurasamudra’ was also constructed during this period. If the assumption is correct, Dadi Nadu,
the present Kaikaluru area in the Krishna district seems to be the original home of the Dadi
families. Later they spread to Guntur, Nellore, Cuddapaha and Kurnool; and to the areas of
Karnataka and Tamilnadu. In those areas there are places like Dadireddipalle,
Dadinayakanapalya, Dadikkombu and Dadithota, which testify to the authority as well as
dominace of the Dadi familes in those areas.

A record at Srisailam dated 14th century refers to the construction made by a certain Gaurasetti,
Maddama of Rajahamundry. Another record from the same place in the same century refers to
the grants made by Mallisetti of the same Gavara family of Rajhamundry. Again in A.D. 1432,
the same Gavara constructed a temple to Papavinsadeva at Panchadharala. This is the earliest
reference to their advent into to the areas of Visakhapatnam, which they made later as their
strong settlement. The following are the surnames and gotras of the Gavaras respectively of
Andhrapradesh.