Castes and Tribes of Southern India/Bōgāra

by Edgar Thurston

Bōgāra.— Recorded, in the Madras Census Report, 1901, as "Canarese brass and copper-smiths: a sub-division of Pānchāla." From a note on the Jains of the Bellary district *^[1] I gather that "there is a class of people called Bōgāras in the Harpanahalli tāluk, and in the town of Harpanahalli itself, side by side with the Jains. They are a thriving class, and trade in brass and copper wares. The Bōgāras practice the Jaina religion, have the same gōtras, freely worship in Jain temples, and are accepted into Jaina society. Evidently they are a sub-division of the Jains, though now excluded from inter-marriage." It is said that "arrangements are now being made (through the Jaina Bhattachārya at Kolhapūr) to enable Bōgāras to intermarry with the Jains."

1. * Madras Mail, 1905.