The Konkani People

Finally we can attempt a fairly meaningful picture of the peopling of Konkan. The <i>vaḍukar</i> from across the <i>Sahyadri</i> must have ventured into the coastal plain sometime after it was uplifted. Uplifting of the Konkan coast has been dated anywhere between 10,000 BCE and 2,000 BCE.<div><br><div><p>These could be the ‘original’ settlers of coastal Konkan. We have some clues to the dating of the arrival of the <i>vaḍukar</i> into the coastal plain. On the basis of the excavations at <i>Inamgaon</i> and related sites, scholars are of the view that severe drought affected the trans-Sahyadri region around 1,000 BCE. “<i>Around 1000 BCE people began to leave this village and others in the region</i>.” says Juliet Clutton-Brock [Clutton-Brock, 2012 : <i>Animals As Domesticates</i>, 89] Another instance of a similar drought that is recorded is in inscription no. 1 at <i>Śravaṇabæḷagôḷa</i>. In anticipation of ‘<i>a twelve year famine between the Vindhyas and the Nilgiris</i>’, <i>Bhadrabahu</i>, the last of the Jaina <i>śruta-kēvali</i> decided to move the entire <i>sangha</i> to the south to escape the starvation; that was towards the end of the 3^rd century BCE. (Rice, 1889 : <i>Inscriptions At Sravana Belgola</i>, 2) So, the exodus could have occurred somewhere in the first millennium BCE. A comparison of the crops grown and dietary habits, shows clear similarities between the people of <i>Inamgaon</i> and Goa, particularly the <i>gāvḍi</i> or <i>kuṇabī</i> community. [<i>Driven By The Drought</i>, 05 Feb 17]</p></div><div> </div>