Karanam or Karana is a caste mostly prevalent in Orissa and Andhra Pradesh. In Orissa this is spelled as Karana and in Andhra Pradesh it is spelt as Karanam. In Andhra Pradesh, they are also called as Sristikaranam, Sistukaranam, Sistakaranam, Sristikaranalu, Sistukaranalu, Sistakaranalu or Karanalu. The Karanam community of Andhrapradesh were migrated from Cuttack and Puri District of Orissa to look after various royal management of different dynasties of Kalinga-Utkala (ancient Orissa) empire and after the northern portion of present day Andhra Pradesh was occupied by Vijaya Nagaram King from Orissa's Gajapati Empire, these Karana Community settlled in different part of the mighty kingdom of Vijayanagara and were appointed in various official work fields like accounts, court, Govt duties or tax, solving the internal problems in villages, collecting the information, statistics, look after village karanam work etc. Gradually the Karanam community adopted telugu language. Still Karnalu, a special form of mix language of Telugu & Oriya prevalent in the Karanam community of Andhra Pradesh. In the border district of Orissa (Koraput, Rayagada, Nowrangpur, Ganjam, Paralakhemundi) and Andhra Pradesh (Visakhapatnam, Vizianagram, Srikakulam, Prakasam, Guntur) karana caste people are known as telugu karana or oriya karana or sometimes used interchangeably. Since Patnaik is the most common surname, it is used interchangeably with Karana.

Surnames of Karanams in Andhra Pradesh
In Andhra Pradesh the surname of the people Telugu speaking Karanas may be MarkondaPatnaikuni, Murahari, Murahari Rao, Amiti, Arikathota, Ayyannamahanty, Kuppannagari, Gandavarapu, Bandaru, Behara, Dontaraju, Makkuva, Bantupalli, Bhasuru, Kottakki, Tattikota, Palteru, Daggubati, Eluru, Lakshmi Dhara Mahanthi, Raghupatruni, Avasarala, Balivada, Bogela, Kolla, Kottu, Jayati, Kantimahanthi, Kuppili, Muddana, Mantri, Munganda, Garbham, Pakki, Baggam, Narasipuram, Regulavalasa, Rajamahanthy, Kallepalli, Karanam, Basara,Kalimahanthi, Kantimahanti, Vadada, Vandrangi, Gorantla, Gadagamma, Wuriti, Murthy, Donepudi, Sundarigari, Sadasivuni, Manipatruni, Chandramahanti, Yellumahanti, Durgumahanti, Prataparao, Polumahanthi, Pothumahanti, Dabbiru, Udandrao, Vandrangi, Vantharam, Polaki, Salihundam, Eathakota, Raja Sunakra, Sadasivuni,Saluru, Sunakara, Ippili, Gara, Vadada, Rajapatruni, Kemmi, Potnuri, Karakavalasa, Bantupalli, Baggam, Batlanki, Deepthimahanthi etc. Later on some of the families started adding their village names to their surnames and over of a period of time these village names become their surnames. Like Naguru, Ravipalli, Kondavalasa, Polaki, Vadada, Gara, Balaga, Salihundam, Chikkalavalasa, Velkur etc., karanas is sub caste of kamma.... long time ago karanas and kammas both are same...but arraise problems in lands yhen they devides two groups

Surnames of Karana/Karanams in Orissa
The surnames of the people Oriya speaking Karanas may be Das, Patnaik,Pattnaik, Pattanaik,Pattanayak,Patnayakuni,Markonda patnaikuni DasPatnaik,ChauPatnaik,Mohanty, Kanungo, Ray,RayChoudhury,Bogela, Kuppili, Dabbiru, Mahapatra, DasMahapatra,RayMahapatra,Samanta, Das Adhikari, Choudhury,Bohidar, Routray,Baral, Parija,Harichandan, Chhotray. Karanam is a writer-caste (same as KAYASTA in north India). Its a sect of Brahman.

Culture & Social Living of Karanam of Andhra Pradesh
Karanam Culture, especially in Andhra Pradesh, is associated with Niyogi Brahmins. They have common festivals which were/are celebrated by Brahmins, but Karanams, unlike the rest of the Brahmins, were warriors, administrators, ministers, reformers in pre-independent colonial India i.e. more like the Samurais of Japan. Typically, Niyogi Brahmins take on secular vocations such as the Karanam position, which is a highly esteemed position in villages because Karanams are tantamount to upwardly mobile members of the village i.e. aristocrats. Historically, the Karanam position is patrilineally passed down from father to eldest son and this position stays within the family. But in the early 1980s, N.T. Rama Rao, a prominent actor and politician, mandated that the Karanam position be rescinded. In place of a Karanam, he established a Mandal officer position which is granted based on merit and scholarship, not based on caste thereby giving opportunity to people from any caste to contest for such a position. Karanam Culture also has roots in Kayastha of North India. Kayastha believe they are descendants of Chitra Gupta. Accounting is the main profession for Kayastha. Like Kayastha, most Karanams in Andhra Pradesh are the head village accountants for their respective villages. The prominent personalities in the (Sista) Karanam community: Late Shri Polumahanthi Suryanarayana Patnaik, who called by the people around as BABA with great honour and a well known personality was the Kanaram of Urajam, Srikakulam District and made his strong marks on the community development. Balivada Rama Rao Patnaik from vijayawada, in the time of 1979, he fought for Karnams with government and he gone for jail to consider the sisti karanams as BC. Late Kottu Lakshmana Rao, who worked as President for 3 Mandals in Vizianagaram during early 1980s brought out a monthly magazine by name, 'Sista Darsini' and laid a foundation stone for a Kalyana Mandapam in Garividi exclusively for sista karanams.

Jobs
Karanam is a writer-caste. Its a sect of Brahman, whose vocation or kulavruthi (caste profession) is writing and/or professions that need writing skills such as documentation of land and property titles, accounts maintenance, legal writing, lawyers etc. Karnams, primarily, had jobs as bureaucrats and government officials before the 1980s. In the past, they are well educated, wealthy, and good administrators; many people from Niyogi caste were government officers, employees, teachers, professors, principals, lawyers, and doctors in Northern Andhra Pradhesh and Orissa border districts. Now a days, many of them are employed as Software professionals, doctors, etc in foreign countries therefore the NRI (Non-resident Indian) population is increasing rapidly.



Similar Castes
Karuneegar Pillai: Karuneegar Pillai is the closest related caste to the Karanam / Karnam caste, which exists predominantly in Tamil Nadu and other parts of neighboring states including southern borders of Andhra Pradesh.Karuneegars are considered to be Karnams closest relatives. Karuneegars share same beliefs and have common responsibilities such as white collar jobs as village accountants. Karuneegar Pillai is the subdivision of Pillai. Pillai is not related to Karnam. In the sense, the other communities of Pillai (except Karuneegar), are not related to Karnam. Pillai is just a title name as when started. The other communities of pillai, does NOT share common beliefs and does NOT have primary jobstyle as village accountants. So Karuneegar is the only division which has relationship with Karnam. Karanam's also belong to 'Madhwa' class of Brahmins. They follow Dvaita Philosophy.