Gowdas and Shettys are prominent and also dominant communities in the state of Karnataka. Where do these communities belong in the Chaturvarna System?
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Shettys belong to Bunt community in Karnataka (en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bunt_(community)), but not Vaishya. They are from warrior families – srimannarayana k v Apr 3 at 3:05
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"Gowda" is not a community or caste but just a title used to denote the head of the family or community. The Gowda surname being used by almost all communities of Karnataka (kurubagowdas.blogspot.com/2012/09/…) – srimannarayana k v Apr 3 at 3:23
I have no idea about the Gowdas.
As regards the Shettys, they belong to the Vaishya Varna as per the Chaturvarna system.
The word Shetty is derived from from the Sanskrit word Shresthin (श्रेष्ठिन्), the same source gives rise to Seth (सेठ) of North india and Chettiar (செட்டியார்) of Tamil Nadu. They were traditionally merchants and engaged in the money lending/ banking business. Occasionally the term could also be used to mean the chief of a merchant guild.
There are many references to the money lending business in Kutilya’s Arthashastra as well as copper plate inscriptions of kings which I’m not aware about.
