Analysis of information sources in references of the Wikipedia article "Karanam" in English language version.
Patwari / Karanam shall be the additional secretary to the gram panchayat for keeping the record concerning lands
Rao and Subrahmanyam also stress that this specific genre of niti texts was composed and read by the group of scholar-bureaucrats whom they refer to broadly as karanam. These were usually Niyogi Brahmins or Kayasthas who worked as ministers or advisers to minor princes or feudatories in Andhra, Karnataka, and Orissa.
The last word has probably come to the North from South India since, in Kannada (language), a peasant is called kul and kulkarni is called karnam.
The term Reddy, though it has a connotation of caste to it, also meant the headman. The Kannada equivalent is Patel or Gauda. Likewise the traditional village accountant, referred to in Telugu as Karnam or as Shanubhog in Kannada, was responsible for all record keeping.
On the basis of English records, he gives an elaborate account of the village officials like Karnam (village accountant), the role of the Deshastha brahmans etc . which can be compared with similar officials and castes in Maratha country.
During the then Chief Minister NT Rama Rao's regime, the nomenclature of 'Karanam' was changed to 'VRO'.
