Some places along the Karavali have names that sound odd, if not meaningless! Iddya near Surathkal is one of such place-names. Hosabettu Viswanath opined that it represents ‘an elevated place’. Topographically, the Iddya, now part of Surathkal urban accretions, is an elevated plateau .But it is possible to relate the word Iddya to one of the ancient tribes of south India. The tribal angle also answers the origin of mysterious place names such as Yeda-padavu , Yeda-mangala etc.
Iddya
The place name Iddya has been cited in inscriptions dating back to Vijayanagar period as Yedeya. The stone inscription in the courtyard of the Kadire temple dated ca.1386 CE mentions place name Yedeya, along with Nambur (Panambur), Turithakal (Suratkal), Kollia (Kulai) and Chitrapura (Gururaja Bhat, 1974.).
Idaiyar, Idaivar
Tamil Sangam literature mentions tribes called Idaivar or Idaiyar. Descendants of these tribes do exist in different parts of peninsular India as can be verified from the list of castes and tribes. Apparently there are no representatives of Idaivar or Idaiyar community in present Tulunadu, even though the place name Iddya (pronounced as ‘yiDya’) or Iddeya near Surathkal provides mute evidence of the existence of Idaiya(r) tribes during the early centuries of the Common Era. These Iddaiya tribes might have been culturally assimilated in the Tulunadu with passage of time.Idaiyar of Tamilnadu are classified under Yadava or Golla communities
Ideya -Yediyur
The pronunciation of Iddya or Ideya as Yedeya during Kannada –Vijayanagar –period throws further light on similar sounding place names in Karnataka like Yediyur. The Idaiya tribes were apparently known as Yedia (pronounced yeDiya) in Kannada areas after whom places like Yediyur have been named. The word Yedia bears close resemblance to the community name Yadava.Idaiyars of Tamilnadu form part of Yadava group.
Incidentally the present Chief Minister of Karnataka bears the name Yediyurappa.
Yedapadavu Yedamangala
There are some more villages where the original prefix in the name ‘Idaiya’ has been corrupted into Yeda- or Eda- during lingual evolution. Examples are: Yeda-padavu, Yeda-mangala, Yeda-mavinahole, Yeda-padi, Yeda-thadi etc. The surname ‘Yedapadithaya’ also can be cited.
The prefix ‘Yeda’ or ‘Eda’ in Kannada actually means ‘left side’ .But if you apply this Kannada meaning to the said villages and look for the corresponding ‘right side’ villages, there are none!
Therefore, ‘Yeda+padavu’ originally must have been meant ‘the plateau of Idaiya tribes’. And ‘Yeda+Mangala’ referred to ‘the war camping ground or fort of the Idaiya tribes’.
Edavolal
Edavolal town has been mentioned in inscriptions of Banavasi Kadamba period. Eda+volal must have been a colony of 'Ideya' or 'Edeya' people, the 'volal',being the equivalent of (p.>v. transition) 'polal',the town.
Similarly,the places like Yelandur (Mysore district) and Yelaniru/Yedaniru may have been associated with 'Yeda(v)' tribes.
As usual, if you have better alternate explanations for the origin of place names such as Iddya and Yedapadavu, or if you feel that my explanation is hard to digest, feel free to shoot your comments.
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A heritage blog by: Ravindra Mundkur & Hosabettu Vishwanatha
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A Coastal estuary
Holegadde near Honavar,Uttara Kannada dist, Karnataka
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It is a very interink interesting note on the link between Idayar to Yeda. I think there is a place called Edapadi in Kochi also.
ReplyDeleteI am a Idaiyan myself and the words Edayan and Idaiyan are used by us. Eda to Yeda is not so far and if it is useful the coinage Idaiyar comes from the classification of castes based on Sangam literature.
Arivar Vellalar Idaiyar one other name I can't remember and the last one is Maravar. Since the Ayars or the herdsmen are in the middle of the caste structure they were called idaiyars or the middle people. They were neither nomadic hunter gatherers nor were they the settled cultivators but nomadic partially and settled partially.
Hence the name Idaiyar.
In Tamil also the word Yeda means left and it might also be possible that the name was used to denote the caste structures as used in the Pandyan Kingdom where castes were classified as either left handed or right handed refering to the place of seating in relation to the King. Edankai or Valangai castes as they were called.
hope this interests you.
Thank You, Umakanth for your inputs.
ReplyDeleteYes, 'Eda' and 'Yeda' are the same, as you said.Idya (Ideiyar) became Eda with passage of time. And these Yeda/Eda were equivalents of Yadava-s of the north!
All these variants must have shared similar/analogous language through the history! Are we able to visualize now: What could have been their contribution to growth and evolution of Dravidian languages.
I have a feeling that '-ida' in the word 'Dravida' is related to the tribes Ide(iyar).
Govala(kovala tamil word) contracted as gopala->gaola->golla->gwala->gowda
ReplyDeleteYes, Thank You!.
DeleteThese are all related words as also pointed out earlier by Sham.Ba. Joshi also. However it is difficult at this point to decide which is the original word and which are the derivatives..