The Kammara are blacksmiths since ancient times, situated in the state of

Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. The name Kammāra/kammar (in Prakrit/pali/kannada) / Karmāra (in Sanskrit) means a smith, artist, mechanic, craftsman, sculptor,

blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...

; a maker of tools and weapons (Mar. śikalagāra); ततः सन्धाय विमलान् भल्लान् कर्मारमार्जितान् (tataḥ saṃdhāya vimalān bhallān karmāramārjitān). Since

Vedic upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the '' Atharvaveda''. The Vedas ( or ; ), sometimes collectively called the Veda, are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed ...

times they are masters in

metallurgy Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and engineering that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their inter-metallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are known as alloys. Metallurgy encompasses both the ...

and craftsmanship. Owing to their usefulness they were held in great esteem by the people and king alike. They worship goddess

Kali Kali (; , ), also called Kalika, is a major goddess in Hinduism, primarily associated with time, death and destruction. Kali is also connected with transcendental knowledge and is the first of the ten Mahavidyas, a group of goddesses who p ...

and Lord

Vishwakarma Vishvakarma or Vishvakarman (, ) is a craftsman deity and the divine architect of the Deva (Hinduism), devas in contemporary Hinduism. In the early texts, the craftsman deity was known as Tvastar and the word "Vishvakarma" was originally used a ...

. Their services were in great demand by everyone since ancient times, from making weapons for kings and soldiers to making tools and equipment for building temples, and also to the farmers, whose agricultural implements have to be made and constantly repaired. Recently, most members have given up their traditional occupations and have resorted to other jobs. It is noted in the Bellary Gazetteer that "until recently the manufacture of the huge shallow iron pans, in which the sugar-cane is boiled, was a considerable industry at Kāmalāpuram. The iron was brought by pack bullocks from Jambunath Konda, the dome-shaped hill at the Hospet end of the Sandūr range, and was smelted and worked by men of the Kammara community. Of late years, the cheaper English iron has completely ousted the country product, the smelting industry is dead, and the Kammaras confine themselves to making and mending the boilers with English material. They have a temple of their own, dedicated to Kāli, in the village, where the worship is conducted by one of themselves." The name Baita Kammara, meaning outside blacksmiths, is applied to Kamsala blacksmiths, who work in the open air or outside a village."* * Madras Census Report, 1901.

References

{{India-ethno-stub Scheduled Tribes of Andhra Pradesh Scheduled Tribes of Karnataka Scheduled Tribes of Kerala Scheduled Tribes of Tamil Nadu