The Karanam community of Andhra Pradesh

Karanam culture, especially in Andhra Pradesh, is associated with Niyogi Brahmins. People from this culture could be seen as clannish. They are reluctant to form matrimonial alliances with people outside of their own caste. In some cases marriage with first-cousins is perfectly acceptable, even recommended.

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They have common festivals which 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 Samurai 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 But in the early 1980s, N.T. Rama Rao, a prominent actor and politician, mandated that the Karanam position be rescinded.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.