Kodava people
（重定向自Kodavas）
![](/Images/godic/202501/22/In_kodagu-coorg3037.gif")
![Kodagu: home of the Kodavas shown above in the map of Karnataka, India (in orange)](/Images/godic/202501/22/Karnataka-districts-Kodagu3037.png")
![Kodava clansmen at home, 1875, by J. Forbes Watson (from NY public library)](/Images/godic/202501/22/Kodavas3037.jpeg")
![Map of South Indian states prior to the States Reorganisation Act,1956. Kodagu (then called Coorg) is in dark green.](/Images/godic/202501/22/South_Indian_territories.svg3037.png")
The term Kodava has two related usages. Firstly, it is the name of the Kodava language and culture followed by a number of communities from Kodagu. Secondly, within the Kodava - speaking communities and region (Kodagu) it describes the dominant Kodava people. The Kodavas (Kodava, anglicised as Coorgs), are considered a patrilineal ethno-lingual group from the region of Kodagu, (in Karnataka state of southern India), who natively speak the Kodava language, who quite obviously speak an old form of Kannada that any related linguist can recognize. Traditionally they were land-owning agriculturists with martial customs. They practice family exogamy and caste endogamy.