People

The people of Coorg are widely regarded as very friendly people with a cosmopolitan outlook and are known for their hospitality.

The Natives are known locally as Kodava(s), Coorg(s)(in English) & Coorgi(in Hindi) and are the main ethnic group here, although there are other communities and tribes also in Coorg. Mapping out the origins of Kodava community is not an easy process as this subject is shrouded in some mystery. According to Hindu Purana(Skanda Purana); they are the descendants of a boon accorded to a King by Goddess Parvati and were summoned by River Goddess Cauvery to Talacauvery and were the first people to be present when River Cauvery took birth. While ethnologists have been pondering over their genetics for since the last century and suspecting their origins to be foreign.

Predominantly there are agriculturalists with a martial tradtion spanning centuries of active warfare with their neighbors, morose with the erstwhile Kingdom of Mysore. Even today the locals celebrate the birth of a male child with a gun salute and do so at their death ceremonies too.

Most Coorgs follow Hinduism, but even today practice ancestor worship, the religion of their forefathers. The Coorgs believe in a number of deities and and are highly carnivorous in their diet. The Kodava Hindus here are more liberal in their beliefs with regards to marriage, divorce, festivals, dress, worship and ceremonies.

Some prominent figures who have come from the area including Field Marshall Cariappa, the first Commander-in-Chief of free India, and General Thimmayya also came from Coorg. Serving the the Indian Army has been a sort of traditon among the Kodava people. Though pressures of modern living has changed it bit, but even today almost every household has at least one person serving in the defense forces. Nearly all the Kodava families have atleast one retired ex-servicemen in their fold.