{{pp|small=yes}} {{Short description|Hindu community}} {{use dmy dates|date=September 2016}} {{use Indian English|date=September 2016}} {{Infobox Ethnic group| |group=Idiga |popplace = Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Telangana |rels = Hinduism |languages = Telugu, Kannada |related = }}
'''Edigas''' or '''Idigas''' is a Hindu toddy tapper community in Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Commission |first=Tamil Nadu (India) Backward Classes |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rmVDAAAAYAAJ |title=Report of the Backward Classes Commission, Tamil Nadu, 1970 |date=1975 |publisher=Government of Tamil Nadu |pages=21 |language=en |quote='''Idigas''' were retained in the Backward Classes list as they alone ( and not Setti Balija ) were today tappers and ... According to him, the population of the Idiga community in Tamil Nadu is very small and their economic condition is ...}}</ref>
The traditional occupation of Idiga people was toddy tapping.<ref name="natraj"/> They are mostly concentrated in the Malenadu and Shivamogga districts of Karnataka. Similar but culturally distinct toddy tapping communities, called the Billava and Deevaru, exist in Dakshina Kannada and southern Karnataka, respectively. There had been attempts to cause these various communities to cohere politically but these had petered out by the 1980s.<ref>{{cite book |title=Shift in Indian Politics: 1983 Elections in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka |first=George |last=Mathew |publisher=Concept Publishing Company |year=1984 |page=59 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zG4JuQMA-a8C&pg=PA59}}</ref>
The Idiga were categorised as an Other Backwards Class (OBC) in the 1980s, when they constituted around 2.5 per cent of the population in Karnataka. Despite their low numbers, eleven Idiga people were elected as Members of the Legislative Assembly in the 1985 elections, making them the largest single OBC group in the Legislative Assembly of Karnataka. They had six Members in 1978 and eight in 1983.<ref name="natraj">{{cite book |title=Karnataka Government and Politics |editor-first=Harish |editor-last=Ramaswamy |first=V. K. |last=Natraj |chapter=Backwards Classes and Minorities in Karnataka Politics |publisher=Concept Publishing Company |year=2007 |isbn=978-8-18069-397-7 |page=407 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UM3LjKo8Uo8C&pg=PA407}}</ref> They remain a significant political force and were described as a part of the AHINDA bloc that significantly helped the Indian National Congress party in the 2013 Assembly elections.<ref>{{cite book |title=India's 2014 Elections: A Modi-led BJP Sweep |editor-first=Paul |editor-last=Wallace |first1=S. S. |last1=Patagundi |first2=Prakash |last2=Desai |chapter=Karnataka: Change and Continuity in 2014 |publisher=SAGE Publications India |year=2015 |isbn=978-9-35150-517-4 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UFslDAAAQBAJ&pg=PT319 |pages=318–319}}</ref>
Significant number of Idigas have become very wealthy and powerful by extending their involvement in toddy tapping to that of excise contracting, distilling and brewing on contract to large businesses, but the economic base of the community remains limited mostly to that of liquor. Idigas of Neeravari Pradesh of Karnataka own large number of fertile land making them earn large source of income.<ref>{{cite book |title=India's New Capitalists: Caste, Business, and Industry in a Modern Nation |first=H. |last=Damodaran |publisher=Springer |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-23059-412-8 |page=202 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WJp_DAAAQBAJ&pg=PA202}}</ref> Politicians such as Sarekoppa Bangarappa, themselves of the toddy-tapping community,{{efn|Some sources say that Bangarappa was a Deevaru<ref>{{cite book |title=Shift in Indian Politics: 1983 Elections in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka |first=George |last=Mathew |publisher=Concept Publishing Company |year=1984 |page=59 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zG4JuQMA-a8C&pg=PA59}}</ref> or Billava,<ref>{{cite journal |title= Blurring the Lines between Parties and Social Bases: Gundu Rao and Emergence of a Janata Government in Karnataka |first=James |last=Manor |journal=Economic and Political Weekly |volume=19 |issue=37 |date=15 September 1984 |pages=1623–1632 |jstor=4373574 }}</ref> others that he was an Idiga.<ref>{{cite book |title=Broadening and Deepening Democracy: Political Innovation in Karnataka |first1=E. |last1=Raghavan |first2=James |last2=Manor |publisher=Routledge |year=2012 |isbn=978-1-13603-518-0 |page=270 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TDTgCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA270}}</ref>}} have been able to use the support of these prosperous people.<ref>{{cite book |title=Social Mobility In Kerala: Modernity and Identity in Conflict |first1=Filippo |last1=Osella |first2=Caroline |last2=Osella |publisher=Pluto Press |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-74531-693-2 |page=265 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rMRw0gTZSJwC&pg=PA265}}</ref>
Idiga also practised bone-setting and, together with some members of the Vokkaliga community, are relatively dominant in that field.<ref>{{cite book |title=Health Providers in India: On the Frontlines of Change |editor1-first=Kabir |editor1-last=Sheikh |editor2-first=Asha |editor2-last=George |first1=P. M. |last1=Unnikrishnan |first2=H. P. Lokesh |last2=Kumar |first3=Darshan |last3=Shankar |chapter=Traditional Orthopaedic Practitioners' Place in Contemporary Health |publisher=Routledge |year=2012 |isbn=978-1-13651-682-5 |page=188 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Cq9kNAUs8BgC&pg=PA188}}</ref>
The Kannada-language ''Prajavani'' newspaper was founded by an Idiga liquor contractor who had "made some money in the war" and, as of 1997, was still controlled by his descendants.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Kannada: "We Fake It There Is Competition" |first=Robin |last=Jeffrey |journal=Economic and Political Weekly |volume=32 |issue=12 |date=22 March 1997 |pages=566–570 |jstor=4405192 }}</ref>
== See also ==
* Ezhava and ThiyyaKerala. * Nadar (caste), palm toddy tappers of Tamil Nadu * Bhandari (caste), toddy tappers caste of Konkan * Siyal (Caste), toddy tappers caste of Odisha
== References == '''Notes''' {{notelist}} '''Citations''' {{reflist|colwidth=30em}}
== Further reading == *{{cite book |title=A Flowering Tree and Other Oral Tales from India: A.K. Ramanujan; Edited with a Preface by Stuart Blackburn and Alan Dundes |first=A. K. |last=Ramanujan |authorlink=A. K. Ramanujan |editor1-first=Stuart H. |editor1-last=Blackburn |editor2-first=Alan |editor2-last=Dundes |publisher=University of California Press |year=1997 |isbn=978-0-52020-399-0 |url=https://archive.org/details/floweringtreeoth0000rama |url-access=registration |page=[https://archive.org/details/floweringtreeoth0000rama/page/198 198] |chapter=A Wager}}
Category:Social groups of Karnataka Category:Brewing and distilling castes Category:Indian castes Category:South Indian communities Category:Social groups of Andhra Pradesh