The Kunchikorve community originally hails from the Nilgiri hills in Tamil Nadu. Migration took some to Andhra Pradesh, some to Karnataka and brought some to Maharashtra and Gujarat. The community traversed from Bijapur in Karnataka to Solapur. The Kunchikorve community came to Mumbai after 1950. This tribal community came to Mumbai in search of better livelihood and their ancestors worked in many different occupations to earn their daily bread. One of the primary occupations of the Kunchikorve community was to conduct street shows with monkeys hence they are also known as the ‘makadwale’ community. Later they began making brooms and they were then called ‘broom makers or zaduwale’.
Raw material for the same was easily found in the outskirts of Mumbai and they soon settled in the broom making trade and practice it even today. When the Kunchikorve community migrated to Mumbai city, they first lived in Worli (South of Mumbai) but later shifted to Dharavi. The chief reason for this move was availability of meat around Bandra near Dharavi. Bandra consisted of a pre dominant non-vegetarian community that depended on Kunchikorve hunting skills to find food. The Kunchikorve community in their native places and villages hunt bores, deer and wild cats and eat them.
Their forefathers made ‘kunchi’ which is a kind of brush which was used to brush a sari with a kind of starch to make the material stiff-the Solapuri saris and Chanderis are famous for this variety of saris. Korvar meant ‘kavdya’ –literally tiny conches which the women in the community used to foretell future and hence the name Kunchikorve and they are known by the same name in Solapur.
The Kunchikorve community follows many blind superstitions and beliefs. Like most Indian communities, a new born baby is named in this community, the baby boy is named after one of the family forefathers like Yallapa, Sukappa, Annapa while the girls are named Yellava, Durgava and Sukava . So most names of boys have a suffix of ‘appa’ while the girls have it of ‘ ava’. This was the Kunchikorve way of keeping the memory of the departed alive.
Dussehra, the last day of the nine festive days of Navratri which worships Goddess Durga is celebrated on a large scale by the Kunchikorve community. The community’s most worshipped deity is Goddess’ Yellamma’ which is a form of Renuka mata hence practices like Jogwa, Jogtin are also followed by them. The practice of Devdasi is practised in the community by a small proportion of people. They also celebrate ‘Nagpanchami ’- workshiping the snake god.
Other than the above festivals, on festivals like Ganesh utsav, Diwali and Bakri Eid, women from the community seek alms believing that it is better to beg than steal. Women from the community were involved in begging and men made brooms. They celebrated festivals on the alms that they gathered. When women were given sweets and delicacies as alms, they brought it back home and distributed it and celebrated the festival. Thus saving money and spent the money on their occupation. Gradually instead of begging during festivals women began begging everyday and saving even more money and investing it further in the business and improving their standard of living but they did not give up ‘begging’. Even today women form this community beg on specific festivals and they beg in groups, in spite of good living conditions at home and even if people at home oppose it, the women continue to step out to beg as they are not interested in staying at home during the festival season. Some believe that women continue begging as a habit or as a tradition now.
These women dress in finery and seek alms outside temples steps on special festive days and take their children with them. The present generation of the Kunchikorve community learns in English medium schools but the secondary begging occupational practice continues.
Another important custom practised is when a girl attains puberty. This custom is rampantly practiced in many parts of Karnataka. Once a girl attains puberty she is kept in her house in a tent made of a sari for a week. On the last day all women (most of whom are relatives) give her the traditional ‘oti’- ( gifting coconut, rice and a cloth piece for prosperity) and sing songs in Kannada, even though their mother tongue is Tamil as they migrated from Karnataka . The purpose of celebrating this custom is to signify that a girl is ready for marriage and from then on wedding proposals come her way. Earlier child marriages were practiced but today the rate of child marriage has dropped. Most girls of the Kunchikorve community are married when they turn 18.
The community does not follow a dowry system but the system is reversed where the groom’s family gift gold to the bride. The marriage ritual does not follow any Hindu Brahminical rites; there are no religious rituals, no pooja. The bride and the groom are asked to sit on a jute mat covered by turmeric and rice is showered on them and they are married. Recently most rich in the Kunchikorve community call Brahmins to sanctify the wedding ceremonies but the wedding is recognized only after their traditional Kunchikorve customs are followed so everyone has to get married the traditional way as well.
Women in this community enjoy a status at par with men. Their problems are solved at the ‘Jat panchayat’ and women are members of the panchayat (Local governing body). Any person who has knowledge of the customs and rituals of the community is elected as member of this panchayat.
