Hindu Helava Matrimonial Site

Hindu Helava Matrimony

Hindu Helava Marriage Site

Hindu helava matrimonial constitute a unique community of singers, who have access to the family histories of almost all the families in a given village, in encapsulated form. They belong to backward tribes. They inherit this huge body of information from generation to generation and are capable of rendering them on various occasions. This rendering acquires the dimensions of a folk performance because of its orality and musicality. The helavas of Karnataka (who are called ‘picchakondlu’ in Andhrapradesh) perform tasks such as maintaining genealogies, singing songs about the lives of caste heroes and performing certain other rituals. The entire caste is stigmatized because of this. Hindu helava matrimony were present in almost all parts of Karnataka and many parts of Andhrapradesh. Even though one of the literal meanings of the word ‘helava’ is a ‘cripple’ this profession has nothing to do with that physical deforrmity. The Kannada word ‘hELu’ (to tell, narrate) may have some thing to do with ‘heLava’. Alternatively some scholars have linked it with ‘erava’ a community in Tamilnadu. Helava bride and groom themselves link their nomenclature with physical infirmity. Legends connected with the origin of the community harp on that theme. In some regions the narrators cover their right leg with a piece of white cloth as a symbol of crippled state. However, ‘heLava’s practice many other professions other than this task of narrating family genealogies.