What is "vokkaliga"

Vokkaliga (pronounced Okkaliga) is an umbrella term for various agricultural, previously endogamous social groups with a martial past, found mainly in the Old Mysore Region, Bengaluru Urban, Bengaluru Rural, Kolar, Chikkaballapura, Ramanagara, Tumkur, Mandya, Shivamogga, Chikmagalur, Madikeri,Dakshina Kannada and Hassan of southern Karnataka. The Vokkaligas are primarily agriculturists. They form a politically and numerically dominant Hindu forward caste group and were the most populous group until the States Reorganisation Act of 1956 which enlarged the erstwhile State of Mysore by the inclusion of predominantly Canarese districts of the State of Bombay, State of Hyderabad and Coorg, (Mysore State was renamed Karnataka in 1973) following which the Lingayats and Kurubas became the most populous social group in Karnataka.