Kuruba is a Hindu caste native to the Indian state of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
[2] Traditionally, these are shepherds who used to do the work of sheep/goat and animal husbandry and agriculture, in which they especially raised mixed herds of sheep and goats and cattle.
[4] Oral traditions of the Kurubas or Kuruma indicate their descent from Neolithic farming villages in South India which also kept cattle.
Oral traditions indicate some of these original cattle-keeping agriculturalists branched off into new habitats and quickly came to rely on sheep pastoralism, absorbing Mesolithic hunter-gatherers.
[citation needed] Groups of soldiers from the Kuruba community became important in the armies of Deccan powers in the Medieval era.
[7] According to Ramchandra Chintaman Dhere, a scholar of the religious traditions of Maharashtra: The history of South India shows clearly that all the southern royal dynasties who arose from pastoralist, cowherd groups gained Kshatriya status by claiming to be Moon lineage Kshatriyas, by taking Yadu as their ancestor, and by continually keeping alive their pride in being 'Yadavas'.
Many dynasties in South India, from the Pallavas to the Yadavarayas, were originally members of pastoralist, cowherd groups and belonged to Kuruba lineages.
[citation needed] In Karnataka, the Kurubas are classified as Other Backward Class in the Indian system of reservation.
[5] The Kurubas traditionally practiced transhumance pastoralism: moving with large flocks of sheep from one pasture to the other.
[6][17][5] Other deities they worship include Batyappa, Irachikappa, Kallu Kambhadappa, Budalappa, Settipalleppa, Karakuappa and Lakshmi Devi.
The Kurubas also worship Iragaru, men who die unmarried, by building temples and setting up stones for them.