Baliga
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Baliga is a family name used by the Gowda Saraswath Brahmins (GSB for short) of the Konkan region of India.
The Baliga surname is used by three major families in the Gowda Saraswath Brahmin community: the Bantwal Baliga, Manjeshwar Baliga and Kallianpur Baliga. Their Gotras and Kuldevatas are different. The Manjeshwar Baligas are of Koundinya Gotra and Kallianpur Baligas are of Vachcha Gotra and both worship the deities of Ramnathi and Shantheri Kamakshi. Bantwal Baligas are of Kashyap Gotra and they worship Aryadurga and Damodar as their kuldev (family deities).
Baliga is the written form of the surname but actually in spoken language it is used as Bale or Ballo. (the Double L is actually pronounced as in Tamil or Tamizh)
The earliest documented evidence referring to a Baliga or Ballo can be found in the book "The Goa Inquisition- Being A Quarter Century Commemoration Study On Inquisition On India" by Ananth K. Priolkar. During the Inquisition of Goa in 1567, soon after the temples in Salcete had been destroyed, a meeting of its inhabitants was convened by the invading Portuguese and they were asked to disclose under oath the information regarding the properties held by the destroyed Hindu Temples. In the list of those who were present in one such meeting there is one Ballo called Naru Ballo. You can search this string "Naru Ballo" in Google Books and get a restricted result desplaying a snippet on this para.
In 1637, at the flourishing rice port par excellence of Basrur (Barcelore in Portuguese Records) on the Canara Coast, a group of merchants expressed their unhappiness to the Portuguese Viceroy of Goa through a letter about the problems they faced because of the Portuguese officials stationed there. And they also warned the viceroy that if the problems continued they will leave the port city with their money. This letter was signed by one Narayan Ballo, Shiv Ballo and Damo Ballo among other Saraswath and Jain merchants. This reference can be found in the "Book Studies on Indo Portuguese History" by Dr. B.S.Shastry.
The Ancient History of South Canara written by Ganapathi Rao Aigal also mentions one Damarsa Bale, among nine other Samasthas (Noblemen) of Bantwal, signing a copper inscription of offering to Sri Bhadra Narasimha Temple of Manjeshwar. Details about this inscription, created in the year 1747 A.D., and its complete text can be found in the above book.
There are families in Goa who use the surname Bale and their Gotra and Kuldev match that of the Manjeshwar Baligas. Since the actual form of the surname Baliga in usage in Konkani language is Bale or Ballo, we can assume the connection between Manjeshwar Baligas and Bales of Goa.
Some historians claim that foot soldiers wielding a spear were called Balle (Ballo for singular, Balle for plural). The soldier Ballo (Baliga) was under the command of the Nayak (Chieftain). The daily requirements of every family for survival, presentations, etc., were the responsibility of the Ballo.
One faction of the Baligas reside in current day Bantwal and are called Bantwal Baligas. Some say that the Bantwal Baligas hail from the Hegde family. Incidentally, the Hegde Family also bears the same Gotra (Kashyap) and Kuldevata (Aryadurga-Damodar).
For more details, visit www.bantwalbaliga.com, for a family tree of the Bantwal Baligas.
