Some
of the newcomers to the Karavali coast,
used to express that there are a large number of odd sounding place names in
Tulunadu. The Place names sound odd when we find it difficult to understand
their meaning in the currently prevalent
language in usage in that area. Odd sounding place names are not
exclusive to Karavali; you can find them all over India.
The
Bangalore city, the capital of Karnataka, contains several such place names.
Peenya is one such place name, of which most of have to struggle to understand
the meaning of the word.
Peenya
Peenya is a industrial hub in the NW part of Bangalore city, now under burgeoning under fast paced flyovers and metro developmental works.
The
place name’ Peenya’ (peeN+iya) is interesting. The global suffix ‘–iya’
represents a land or region as we see in diverse place names such as Asia,
Libya, Arabia, Tunisia, Australia on one hand and Sullia, Iddya, Sampya,
Murulia; Purulia, etc.
Then
what is ‘piN’ or ‘peeN’? The word Peen was a tribal name. Persons were named
Peena, Peenanna etc in the past. One Ajila jain chieftain who ruled Venur region in the Karavali in
the pre-British era was known as Pinnāna Ajila (1490-1515). The personal
name Pinnāna
could have been a modification of Pinnanna (the Pinna brother), the suffix
‘anna’ being an honorific south Indian appendage meaning an elder brother. Or
as per the pronunciation it could be Pinna +aaN, ( a male named Pinna). The
‘Pinna’ or Peena could be a regional
variant of the name of Puna(r) or
Pnar tribes.
Punar, Pnar tribes
Punar
tribes were widespread in southern India and their domain was known as Punnata
in ancient Karnataka.
Equivalents
of southern Punars known as Pnar tribes live in Khasia-Jaintia hills region
Meghalaya in NE India. The Pnars are also known as Jaintia or Synteng tribes and are matrilineal. In
Jaintia hill district Meghalaya, (NE region of India) they traditionally speak
Pnar dialect and their religion is known as ‘Niamtre’. The Pnars are considered
to be of Austro-Asiatic ( Munda)in origin.
Place
names such as Peenya remind us about some of the forgotten pages in the history
and the natural spread of ancient tribes in different parts of India in the
antiquity.
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