Why the fuss in India over gay marriage in the US?

 Why the fuss in India over gay marriage in the US?

In the United States, the Kodawa community in the southern Indian state of Karnataka is outraged by the traditional dress worn by a gay couple at a wedding.

 The Kodawa community has boycotted an individual from their own community for wearing traditional wedding attire.

 The Kodawa community in the western US state of California has called the marriage of a member of their sect to a North Indian homosexual a blasphemy.

 The Kodawa community is a community of fighters from where people like Field Marshal KM Keripa of India and the first general of the Indian Army, General KS Themia come from.

 KS Deviya, president of the Kodawa Samaj, Madikeri, told the BBC:  We strongly object to this.  Our objection is that it is against our culture.

The Kodava community of southern India hails from Kirg, a former state known for its coffee and spice cultivation.  Kirg has been renamed Kodagu.

 Leaders of this community are now concerned that their population is steadily declining due to extra-caste marriages.  He says that now their number has come down to only one and a half lakh.

 We asked KS Deviya what the community's anger is for.  Sharat Poonppa Patti Chanda's gay marriage or the Kodawa community's resentment for wearing traditional dress at the wedding?

 KS Deviya was so angry at the question that she hung up the phone and said, "Whether he marries a man, a man or a donkey, it is not our concern."  Our problem is that it is against our culture.

Fear of community extinction

 The Kodawa Samaj Medicare Association has decided to boycott Sharat Poonppa Putti Chanda.  On condition of anonymity, a representative of the association said that during her marriage to Sandeep Dosanj in California, Sharat wore the traditional dress of the community, 'Kopia Chhele'.

 The BBC tried to contact Sharat Poonappa but could not be reached.  But there is no denying that the Kodawa community is angry with her after her wedding photos surfaced on social media.

 Leading lawyer and president of Kodawa Samaj, Bangalore, AT Nania, told the BBC: 'We were shocked to hear that our traditional dress was used in gay weddings.  It would be legal and acceptable to marry a man there, but it should not be at the expense of tradition and culture.  They have tarnished the image of our small community.  Now there are only 1.5 million people left in our community.

 Nania said people from the Kodawa community wear a turban with a kopia-chhele and a 'peccatti' around their waist, a weapon similar to the Sikh or Gorkha sword or kharki.  These people wear Mande Thoni on their backs which is like a belt.  The Kodawa community uses shawls for belts.

 Nania explains: 'Anyone in the community wears white twice in their life.  The first time he becomes a groom and the second time he dies.  On all other occasions he wears black.  Her dress is a symbol of her practical life.

 He says: 'If people in our community start marrying homosexuals, then in a short time our community will end.  We too will become like the Parsis.

 "I can tell you that not only the seniors of this community are angry with their actions but also the youth are angry with them.  I have talked to many young people about it.

 Recently, the Kodawa community in Kodago District has stopped providing marriage halls for inter-caste marriages.

 "If the groom marries outside of our society, we do not allow him to wear the traditional dress of society," says Nania.

 "By boycotting them, we want to prevent other young people in our society from having this kind of marriage," he said.