Thigalas belong to the Southern Karnataka and also live in the border regions of Tamil Nadu. They speak Kannada and Tamil. They consider themselves to be a warrior community with origins tracing to the period of the Mahabharatha epic. They believe themselves to be the offshoots of the Veerakumaras, the soldiers who protected Draupadi, the central figure of the Mahabharatha epic. Some Thigalas identify themselves as belonging to the community of Vanniyakula Kshatriyas and '˜Vanneru'. The main deity of Thigala community is '˜Goddess Draupadi' whom they consider as the '˜Adishakti'. On the occasion of Chitra Poornima, the famous Bengaluru Karaga Festival, one of the great and privileged traditions of Thigala community, is conducted with pomp and pride by members of Thigala community. The traditions of this centuries old festival have been kept alive by the Thigala community. Thigalas believe that the Goddess Adishakthi Draupadi comes down from heaven to earth during the festival. Thigalas are also known for their skills in horticulture and floriculture. Peter Colaco, in his well known book on Bengaluru, says the Thigala community helped Hyder Ali in fashioning the famous Lal Bagh. Even today, many families belonging to Thigala community are involved in horticulture and keeping the environs green, though many others have also shifted to other occupations. Within the Thigala community, there are many exogamous marriage groups. The two sub-sects of Thigala community are Hulli (or Kannada Thigalas) and Arava (Tamil) Thigalas or Dharmarayana Okkalu. In the modern days, Thigalas have found the usual mediums of marriage brokering like Kula Acharyas, family relationships, family networks, marriage brokers etc., inefficient in finding right match for the brides and bridegrooms of Thigala community. This has led to a major demand for online matrimonial services from Thigala community resulting in a number of online portals providing a separate forum for Thigala community. The Thigala Matrimony has now become an integral part of many of the major community matrimony portals.