Bunts...

Bunts...

According to wiki, Bunts are a Hindu community of erstwhile nobility, feudals and gentry from the region of Tulu Nadu in the south west of India which comprises the districts of Udupi and Mangalore in the Indian state of Karnataka and Kasaragod taluk of Kerala.

But the way I came to know about this community was through an interview of the late gangster "Sadhu Shetty" ... According to D.P Satish, a Mangalorean editor for CNN-IBN, Shetty told him a few days before his death:

" Look, we the Bunts are the only caste, who are into everything. We are really great. Nobody can match the Shettys and Rai s, Hegdes and Choutas."

Upon research I found this to be the truth... Famous bunts include names such as Manmohan Shetty, the founder of Adlabs, Aishwarya Rai, Suniel Shetty, Shilpa Shetty ( I don't want to mention Shamita.. she carries a lot of fake attitude.. he sis is so grounded... ) , Kalidas Shetty, the food Scientist, Sadhu Shetty himself.. Sharad Shetty and none other than Muthappa Rai ( former underworld don and an Indian entrepreneur and billionaire.. started off as a gangster in Bangaluru ) ...

They primarily worship Adi Shakti and can be termed as Shaktas, but Bunts are not exclusive Adi Shakti worshippers, they worship all gods of the Hindu pantheon including Shiva and Vishnu as aspects of the divine mother Adi Shakti. Other favoured deities of the Bunts include Ganesh, Subrahmanya, Krishna and Mariamma. Bunts believe that all gods of the Hindu pantheon are nothing but various aspects of Adi Shakti...

I was astonished to know that as per some Bunt customs, the girl's family gives a huge dowry to the boy's and brings him into their house. Some Bunts continue to live with the girl's family, while the property and family name is passed through the mother's line. Abhishek could have been a ghar jamai then..:) ..

They do not send the girl the same day the marriage happened... After an "8-day" wait , a function called mamisike is held, where the girl's mother gives gold to the son-in-law, he comes with his family to the girl's house and then takes her back to his house.......... Man.. I heard about the Kaal-raatri in "Devdas", but this seems a hell lot more than just a single night,..