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- November 14, 2018
Why the Krishna Gollas have a 100 sheep
“Long long ago in a faraway land ….in some part of the Deccan there lived a priest of the Kuruba community. One day he took his sheep grazing wearing a new pair of beautiful golden footwear. He was merry and cheerful since he alone possessed footwear made of gold. He stopped after reaching a certain point and could go no further as the path was full of sticky mud and he didn’t want to spoil his precious footwear by walking through this mud . However , he had to get to the other side . So he made his sheep sit on that muddy patch and walked on top of them until he got to the other side. He then abandoned his sheep in the mud and walked a few more miles until he saw a tree and sat down to rest under its shade. A little while later, a boy called Krishna of the Golla community was passing by. He saw the sheep and felt sad for them as they were covered with mud. He took them to a water body close by washed them and went on to look for their owner. He found the priest resting under a tree. He approached the priest and enquired if the sheep belonged to him to which he replied in the affirmative . The priest however refused to take the sheep back as they had become soiled and dirty and instead told the boy to keep them . Hearing this Lord Krishna appeared in front of the Kurubas and cursed the priest saying “May the Kurubas have only 3 sheep and the Gollas have 100”.
Krishna’s descendants began rearing sheep and are today known as Krishna Gollas……
So say the Krishna Gollas a community of nomadic sheep rearers who live in the state of Karnataka in India. The Gollas are a pastoral community of South India .