Jamma agricultural lands ( generally reserved for wet-rice cultivation ) were held almost exclusively by Kodavas as a hereditary right, and were both indivisible and inalienable.

Originally all Kodavas are from Kodagu and their ancestors were the indigenous people of the land.

The Kodavas ( Kodava and, anglicised as Coorgs ) are a patrilineal ethno-lingual group from the region of Kodagu, in Karnataka state of southern India who traditionally were land-owning agriculturists with martial traditions and natively speak the Kodava language.

* In 1398 AD, when Vijaynagar ruled South India, Mangaraja, a Kannada poet, wrote in his lexicon about the Kodavas saying that they were a warrior people who were fond of hunting game for sport.

The captured Kodavas were asked to embrace Islam or die with their families, those who resisted were put to death while the few who remained were converted.

Kodavas were also nature worshippers revering sun, moon, earth, water and fire.

Hindu Kodavas, Nairs and Mangalorean Catholics who refused to embrace Islam were imprisoned into such dungeons.

The descendants of the Kodavas who were, allegedly, forcibly converted into Islam, after Tipu Sultan's army on various forays into Kodagu had captured them and thrown them into the Srirangapatna prison, called Kodava Mappilas.

It is the primary language of Kodavas, but a large portion of other communities and tribes in Kodagu also use Kodava Takk.

Despite the Kodavas being known in India as " brave warriors " and members of the Indian warrior caste, Kodagu did not have indigenous rulers for long as the Kodavas failed to evolve political consensus.

Kodagu is home to many communities with diverse ethnic origins, with Kodavas being the main ethnic group.

Kodagu ( then called Coorg ), home of the Kodavas, is in dark green.

Endangered as a culture and language and with the exploitation of the farms and forests of Kodagu, the indigenous Kodavas seek autonomy for Kodagu ; to be governed by a hill council consisting of their own elders like those existent in Ladakh ( Leh and Kargil ), Darjeeling and the North-east ( Bodoland, Karbi, Dima, Tripura, Meghalaya and Mizoram )

The Kodavas of Karnataka maintained over 1000 sacred groves in Kodagu alone.

Kodagu: home of the Kodavas shown above in the map of Karnataka, India ( in orange )

Per the indigenous theory, the Kodavas are the indigenous inhabitants of Kodagu who learnt and practised agriculture.

* An inscription dated 1174 AD found in Periyapatna mentions the Kodavas as being in the region of Kodagu at that time.

The Kodavas of Kodagu are Hindus ; they are polytheists who believe in reincarnation, revere the cow and originally worshipped the natural elements and their ancestors.

However Kodavas traditionally celebrate the following three main festivals peculiar to Kodagu alone ( two are cultural and one religious ):

The ancient Kodavas tilled their own lands and owned them in exchange for military service.

For centuries, the Kodavas have maintain sacred groves ( Dev kad / Devara Kadu ) in their villages.

Although Kodava Takk is the language of the Kodavas and the Amma-Kodavas, it is also the mother tongue of some other communities such as Airi, Male-Kudiya, Meda, Kembatti, Kapal, Maringi, Heggade, Kavadi, Kolla, Thatta, Kodava Nair, Koleya, Koyava, Banna, Golla, Kanya, Ganiga, and Malay.

According to Karnataka Kodava Sahitya Academy, apart from Kodavas, 18 other ethnic groups speak Kodava Takk in and outside the district including Heggade, Iri, Koyava, Banna, Madivala, Hajama, Kembatti, and Meda.

Apart from native speakers, Kannada is also spoken by Tuluvas, Konkani, Kodavas of Karnataka and Telugus ( Andhra Pradesh's official lang.

It was strictly prohibited to hunt or cut trees in these forests, even today traditional Kodavas follow this.

However not all Kodavas are prosperous, only a few are in reality ; most Kodavas hold very small farmlands and live in debts.

Besides all these, the Kodavas are unheard of outside Karnataka.

) The Kodavas have a very distinct culture and language, despite this they are not recognised as an etno-linguistic minority.

Kodavas claim Kshatriya status based on their legendary descent, the rights they held to carry arms from the ancient times and their military traditions.

According to yet another but similar view, the Kodavas belong to the Indo-Scythian race like the Sakas, the Western Kshatrapas and the Nagavamshi.

Some of the earliest recordings, made in the 1940's demonstrated that psychiatrists reacted immediately to anger and anxiety in the sound track, whereas written records of the same interview offered far fewer cues to therapy which -- if they were at all discernible in print -- were picked up only by the most skilled and sensitive experts.

My own earliest memories are of exiles: my three brothers and I were taken often to the United States `` to visit relatives '' while my father stayed on to fight the dictator Machado.

The earliest amphibians evolved in the Devonian Period from sarcopterygian fish with lungs and bony-limbed fins, features that were helpful in adapting to dry land.

Scholars generally believe the earliest indigenous populations of Anatolia were the Hattians and Hurrians.

Some of the earliest attempts to apply scientific methods to the study of phenomena relating to an afterlife were conducted by this organization.

The earliest articles of faith were said to have been composed in the first century by the apostles themselves and sung publicly while on mission ( see Old Roman Symbol ).

In the earliest age of Christian monasticism the ascetics were accustomed to live singly, independent of one another, not far from some village church, supporting themselves by the labour of their own hands, and distributing the surplus after the supply of their own scanty wants to the poor.

The earliest anchors were probably rocks, and many rock anchors have been found dating from at least the Bronze Age.

The Germanics were in Germany and Scandinavia during earliest mention of them in Roman literature, long before the Romans had even conquered Italy.

His earliest writings were likely written in the 1150s, and probably in Paris.

His earliest years were passed in the monastery of Siresa, learning to read and write and to practice the military arts until the tuition of Lope Garcés the Pilgrim, who was repaid for his services by his former charge with the county of Pedrola when Alfonso came to the throne.

In the earliest days, the Diamondbacks operated basically as a subsidiary of the Suns ; several executives and managers with the Suns and America West Arena were brought over to the Diamondbacks in similar roles.

Native Americans were the earliest inhabitants of the land that is today known as the United States and played its first music.

Some of the earliest settlements were made on the slopes of Mount Benacantil.

Accounting is thousands of years old ; the earliest accounting records, which date back more than 7, 000 years, were found in Mesopotamia ( Assyrians ).

The earliest accounting records were found amongst the ruins of ancient Babylon, Assyria and Sumeria, which date back more than 7, 000 years.

Rise of the Triad and Marathon, both released on December 21, 1994, were the earliest first-person shooters to integrate dual wield pistols.

Among his earliest influences were Punch cartoonist – illustrator Phil May, and American comic strip cartoonists Tad Dorgan, Cliff Sterrett, Rube Goldberg, Rudolph Dirks, Fred Opper, Billy DeBeck, George McManus and Milt Gross.

The earlier date, 293, is sometimes assigned and apparently supported by the authority of a " Coptic Fragment " ( published by Dr. O. von Lemm among the Mémoires de l ' académie impériale des sciences de S. Péterbourg, 1888 ) and corroborated by the maturity revealed in his two earliest treatises Contra Gentes ( Against the Heathens ) and De Incarnatione ( On the Incarnation ), which were admittedly written about the year 318 before Arianism had begun to make itself felt, as those writings do not show an awareness of Arianism.

The earliest original writings in Coptic language were the letters by Saint Anthony.

The Herculoids, made up of Herc, Coke La Rock, and DJ Clark Kent, were the earliest to gain major fame.

The earliest beam bridges were simple logs that sat across streams and similar simple structures.

The earliest known arch bridges were built by the Greeks, and include the Arkadiko Bridge.

The earliest suspension bridges were made of ropes or vines covered with pieces of bamboo.