Castes and Tribes of Southern India/Kōta

by Edgar Thurston

Kōta (a fort).—A sub-division of Balija, and an exogamous sept of Padma Sālē. The equivalent Kōtala occurs as an exogamous sept of Bōya. There are, in Mysore, a few Kōtas, who are said to be immigrants from South Canara, and to be confined to the Kadūr district. According to a current legend, they were originally of the Kōta community, but their ancestors committed perjury in a land-case, and were cursed to lose their rank as Brāhmans for seven hundred years.*^[1] Kōta is also the name of a section of Brāhmans.

1. * Mysore Census Report, 1891.