117. Panambur II

An amendment is desirable on my earlier interpretation on the origin of the toponym- Panambur. Based on the place name ‘Nambur’ cited in an inscription, I suggested earlier that Panambur may be an abbreviated form of Padu-Nambur.
The available data further suggests that Panambur might have been an ancient settlement of tribes called Panamb.

Pani and Panamb
ShamBaa Joshi (1967) while discussing on the early tribes of ancient Karnataka, traces the tribes called Pani (pronounced paNi) to Rigveda, dated ca.!500 BC. The Pani tribes cited in Rigveda were notorious for pestering Aryan sages. They used to steal and hide the cattle belonging to the Aryans.
Joshi mentions that Pani and Hanab tribes migrated to (present) northern Karnataka and Karavali from the Kalyan region of (present) Maharastra. The ‘Hanab’ is a later Kannada version of the Old Kannada word ‘Panab’ or ‘Panamb’
The Pani and Panamb may have been two related tribes. Signatures of both of these tribes have remained in the Karavali/Tulunadu.

Paniyadi, Paniyur.
There are several Karavali villages bearing the names of the Pani tribes such as Paniyadi and Paniyur especially in the coastal Udupi district. These could have been the ancient settlements of the Pani tribes.
Panikkars may be related to or variants of Panis, as suggested by Hosabettu Viswanath.
Panambur, Padu Panambur
Another ancient tribal group known as Panambs apparently settled around places now known as Panambur (the present location of New Mangalore Port) and Padu Panambur. So, the real derivation of the place name Panambur must have been Panamb + Oor, rather than Pa(du)+Nambur as proposed earlier. Interestingly, there is one more Panambur known as ‘Padu (=Western) Panambur’ near Haleangadi, north of the New Mangalore Port. The fact that both Panambur and Padu Panambur are along the West coast, suggests that the ancient immigrant Panamb tribes from the north preferred coastal settlements.
The place name ‘Nambur’ cited in the inscription (that refers to Panambur) may be (a) a later name preferentially used during Vijayanagar Period (b) an error caused by the inscription writer or(c) error during deciphering/ interpreting the said inscription.

With spatial-temporal evolutionary changes in the languages, the Panambs were later known as Hanabs and further as Halabs. Several places with Hanab as prefix are known in the districts of northern Karnataka. The Halabs were one of the warrior groups in the Kannada armies. They are also considered as equivalents of Halepaikas.

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