122. Irvattur, Iruvail and Iraa

A wild shrub, with tiny yellow berries, called 'Mondi' in Irvattur village.

Have you ever been able to visualize how some of the place-names have evolved over the span of time in a vibrant and dynamic zone like Karavali? Many of the bygone tribal settlements carried the name of the tribes that lived there at that time. Some tribal names have also evolved with time and consequently we find settlements with variant names of the same (or akin) tribes coexisting together.
Let us consider some of the place names like Irvattur, Iruvail and Ira. To simplify the issue let me assure you that these names may not mean anything even if you dig into the meticulously compiled volumes of Tulu Nighantu. Or, some of these words may have hidden ,now obsolete, meanings!

IRVATTUR=Yedattur
Irvattur is a sylvan village with rocky outcrops,near Renjala, located to the south east of Karkala town.
The word Irvattur literally means irvatta + oor (=twentieth village) since ‘irva’ generally means ‘twenty’ in Tulu at present. But does it mean anything really? If this is the ‘Twentieth village’, where are the other nineteen villages?
The village Irvattur has an alternate name still used by the locals. It is known as Yedattur! Now, logically it must have been Iruva=Yeda. The ‘Yeda’ or ‘Yedia’ is a modified form of Idiya, the name of a tribe that inhabited many parts of the southern India and possibly equivalent of Yadava tribes of northern India. The formula Iruva= Yeda =Idiya leads us to infer that the Iruva or Irava is a variant of the word Idiya or Iduva or Yedia or Yeda. Thus we can conclude that a sect of the ancient cattle-herder tribes (Yadava, Jadon) were variously known as Idiya, Iruva, Irava or Yedia during different time periods in different parts of Karavali and also in Karnataka.

IRUVAIL
To test this proposal we have some more villages with analogous nomenclatures. Iruvail is one such village. It is an abutting village to Yedapadavu.
Comparison with other Tulu words that start with prefix ‘Ir-‘(=two) may tempt you to analyse, Iruvail as Ir + bail (=twin fields), but it would not mean anything since there are more than two fields in the village Iruvail!
Therefore, the correct word analysis would be Iruva+ illu (=the house of the Iruva tribe).

IRA
One more village that does not find enlisted in Tulu Nighantu is Ira. The Ira (pronounced Iraa) presently is a village in Bantval Taluk, populated by Tulu and other communities. This village would have been known originally as ‘Irava’ that with passage of time has been reduced to Iraa.

Relics of a language!
Obviously some of the words and names, especially those relating to ancient tribes or their ancient settlements do not have any direct meanings in the present Tulu language. However, these 'unintelligible' words have survived with us, often tempting us to resort to alternate pun meanings in our current language of Tulu!
Such a situation of unintelligible words can arise only when an ancient culture and language(s) has been taken over by another culture and language. In this case we find pre-Dravidian tribal languages taken over by Dravidian (Tulu, in our case) language during a specific stage in the past history.
Thus, many relics of the earlier ancient culture and language have been preserved as generally unintelligible words in the Tulu language and culture.
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Wild mushrooms called 'Kalla laambu'(=Stoney mushroom) in Irvattur.

121. Kota and Kotiyan

Kota is an urbanized coastal village near Kundapura. And Kotiyan is an important lineage (bari) among certain Tulu communities. Kota and Kotiyan: Are these two words mutually related in space and time in terms of Karavali and overall Indian anthropological evolution?
Let me present some perspective data on these two words so that you can decide for yourself.

KOTA
Kota is small town near Kundapur, known as the home town of Jnana Peeta awarded late Dr. Kota Shivaram Karanth. Kota village is also known as the base or original settlement of ‘Kota’ Brahmins of Karavali. However the place name Kota that sounds like a deformed version of ‘Kote’ (= the fort) is not unique to Karavali. There are several towns spread across India that bear the name Kota. Some of the other Kota towns and district places are:
Kota town in Kota district Rajasthan; Kota in Sonbhadra district, Uttara Pradesh; Kota in Nellore district, Andhra Pradesh; Kota in Bilaspur, Chattisgarh and Kotagiri district in Tamilnadu. (‘Kota-giri’ means ‘the mountain of the Kotas’). Besides, there are numerous villages that carry the prefix ‘Kota’-(or modified to ‘Koti’) in various parts of the peninsula. The widespread occurrence of the place-names Kota across India leads us to visualize that these represent ancient settlements of the Kota tribes who were spread out in different parts of India.

Kota tribes
Kota or Kotar tribes at present speak Kota language and live in Niligiri area of Tamilnadu. At present they are known as traditional artisans and experts in pottery and terracotta. In Niligiri region, they are associated with another tribal community, the Toda tribes, who are the traditional agriculturists in the Niligiri ranges.
The Kota tribes of Niligiri region have a peculiar custom of smearing the face of pubescent boys with blue paints. They believe that the transition of boyhood to manhood is like a death and rebirth and the ritual of painting the face represents symbolic death before rebirth! The Kota tribes wear impressive costumes.

Cow-herders and potters
The ‘Kota’ tribal name is said to be derived from the root “ko” which means cow. The Kota people believe that their forefathers were cows. A place they live in is called a “kokkal”, meaning resting place of the cows. This leads us to assume that Kota tribes were originally cow-herders who later adapted to the profession of pottery. The tribes of Cow-herders were once extensively spread in India. They were known as Yadava, Jadon, Jadeja etc. in the northern parts of India and Idaiya(r), Yadia etc in southern India.
The Kota tribes traditionally consume buffalo and other meats but do not eat cow. This custom throws light on the antiquity and origin of the specific Indian tradition of worshipping cows.

Kota language
The distribution of ancient Kota settlements all over India and the present seclusion of Kota tribes to Niligiri hills imply the effect of time and tides on the evolution of these tribes. Once widespread tribes have been reduced in number. On the other hand this aspect also connotes widespread assimilation of these ancient tribes into other existing communities of India during the course of evolution.
The present Kota language is considered to be a member of Dravidian languages. The present Kota tribes are living in Tamil/Dravida area and hence it is natural to expect the influence of surrounding languages on the language of the Kota tribes. Or in other words, the present language of the Kota tribes has been modified and evolved in tune with changing times.
Tribes like Gadaba have two regional variants of their languages: one of (pre-Dravida) Munda heritage and another of superposed Dravida succession. Similar variants can be expected in the language of Kota tribes. It is also possible that the older version of the Kota language has been obsolete or assimilated into other Indian languages during the course of cultural evolution and assimilation.

KOTIYAN
The word Kotiyan appears to be a variant of the ancient tribe Kota. The Kotiyans existed as a group during early centuries of the CE as we find reference to them in Tamil Sangam literature. They were performers in the courts of Tamil Kings. The comparative Dravida dictionary describes the word ‘Kotiyan’ as (a) a fierce young man (b) a glutton or one who hankers for food. The descriptions derived from ancient Tamil texts possibly imply that these Kotiyans were originally a strong but poor (and hungry) tribal community with special talents in performing arts. Or rather they were compelled to perform before the Kings for the sake of their livelihood.

Lineage Kotiyan
Like many other tribes Kotiyans were spread in different parts of southern India including Tulunadu during the early centuries of the Common Era. Obviously they had cultural-matrimonial relations with the Tulu tribes that led to cultural-genetic assimilations. This is confirmed by the existence of a distinct lineage in the name of Kotiyan that came into being before the division of ancient Tulu tribes into various communities.

KOTESVARA
Kotesvara is a well known temple town along the Karavali coast located between Kota and Kundapura. The place name Kotesvara has significant hidden clues in terms of the evolution of the Kota tribes that apparently proceeded in several lines. That they were a significant or socio-politically dominant group in the Kota - Kundapura area, is further confirmed by the place name Kotesvara. The Kota tribal groups introduced the concept of Kotesvara, which has become the dominant form of Lord Shiva in that region.
It was a general practice in the early centuries of Common Era to name the God Iswara (Shiva) according to the preferences of rulers or dominant groups of the land. Alupa Pandya Kings had the God Isvara named after their dynasty as Pandesvara. There are t two places named Pandesvara in Karavali.(One in Mangalore city another near Parampalli-Kota).
The inference on the concept of Kotesvara suggests that Kota tribes were either rulers or a socially dominant affluent group in that region during the history


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Kuntala berries

A wild berry shrub called KunTala.
Medicinal plant
Husk of tree of Kuntala ParnD (berry) has curative qualities for diarrhoea and dysentery. My mother was preparing conji by putting husks of this tree as well as Nerale when I was suffering from bowel disorders, mostly during monsoon. Such seasonal fruits are good for health during summer.
- Hosabettu Viswanath.

120. Bailare

Most of the Tulu words are becoming dead, mainly because of disuse. When elderly people speak, we feel like hearing a classic language. Words like 'Madipu' (both request made to the Spirit and assurance of faith given by the Spirit Oracle in annual Spirit-worship ( Nemas / Kolas' ) show the richness of Tulu language. The mammoth Tulu Lexicon has done a great favour to Tuluvas by documenting and preserving many of the forgotten words. Tulu is vibrant in spite of onslaughts - then and now.

A Stream
On the western part of NH 17 we find a modest seasonal stream running parallel to the beach along the fields between Surathkal and Chitrapura. This stream was debauching into Gurupur River near Panambur before it was by-passed to sea near Chitrapur (Baikampadi) at the time of creation of artificial all-weather harbour at Panambur.The stream is called Bayalare in local parlance. The origin and meaning of this word is quite interesting. The frequently used Tulu word ‘bailu’, the low lying arable field, is equivalent of the Kannada word ‘bayalu’.

Ar(a)e, aruve
In the word 'Bailare', the suffix 'arae' does not mean ‘stone’, as in common Kannada. It is a shortened form of 'aruve' that has been reduced to 'are', i.e. bayala+aruve > bayala+are. 'Are' also means brim, border, side and edge. Considering the 'Bailu/Bayalu' as expanse or vastness of low lying wet land (water-holder), 'are' means sides of it. 'Aruve' means flow of water, which has a natural course. There is a 'aruve kola' where channelised rain water enters Hosabettu Bayilu. 'Aruve' may also be a modified form of the word 'Aluve' that means an estuary or arm of the river in the proximity of Sea.
Here it is Gurupur River, which joins the sea soon thereafter. Before the interference of man, the 'aruve' would have been a natural course ('sariya/ sarita' ) for rain water, which formed a lake because of 'aruve kattuni', which is caused by blockade by land-mass or sand dunes near the bend of the River Gurupur before flowing southward (at Panambur). This bund might have breached by the force of water or might have been removed by man when water dried up in summer. Early settlers might have made canal in middle of the Bailu to run through upto Panambur in order to reclaim land for cultivation and to conserve receding water.

Farmers used to dig up or block this canal (passing near their fields) to store water (after monsoon) to irrigate by using "kontu". A ' kontu' is a contrivance for lifting water from a water-body. This contrivance is made of three poles, which are tied crosswise (at the top) to form a tripod and a trough-like appliance is suspended so as to lift water from pond/reservoir for irrigating fields.
Note the following idioms under 'kontu' in the Tulu Lexicon:. "Suggida (i.e. second crop) aaja nir (drying up water), Kartida (Enelda - first crop) tale nir (pouring water from above), Kolakeda (third crop) aDi nir (oozing out water under the soil)."
Also consider the word: 'arachattu', which means a channel for irrigation.

'Bailare' is a time-honoured word, coined by first settlers of this land, when they found perennial source of water, though fed by seasonal streams. With the rapid growth of industries in Tulunadu and disappearance of 'bailare's, yielding place to concrete jungles, the word 'Bailare' may also go out of currency.

Contributed by Hosabettu Viswanath

119. Kadaba to Kalavar

The Karavali Tulunadu belt has numerous place names that are vestiges of ancient tribes that inhabited in the region. These tribal groups are known for migrations along and across the peninsular India during the historical space and time. In the process many of the tribes have undergone evolutionary changes in terms of their culture language and identity.

Kadaba
Kadaba is a town in Puttur taluk that retains the vestigial name of a tribal group. The Gadaba tribes are a part of the Munda tribes now predominantly distributed around the Chotanagapur region. The Kadaba tribes are not presently traceable in Tulunadu as they have been assimilated with the native population with passage of time. However, vestiges can be traced. The KaDamba is a surname among Jains of Tulunadu. The Kadamba kings of Banavasi in Sahyadri are said to be derived from a tribal group. Many of the Munda tribes were traditionally known to worship the Kaim/Kadamba tree which became insignia for the Kadamba dynasty. The Kadam surname can be traced further north in Maharastra.

Kadava
Shambaa Joshi traces journey of an ancient tribe of Karnataka known as Kadava(ru).They were physically strong, rustic tribes. Some of them migrated to Tamil areas where they were called Kalavar. Possibly, some of these tribes were involved in stealing that imparted the name Kalavar.
The Kalavar were a dynamic and enterprising group in Tamilnadu. With time they founded a dynasty known as Kalabhra. The Kalabhra were known in the history for introducing Aryan cultural elements in Tamilnadu. Similar Aryanization works were done by Kadamba in Karnataka.

Kalavar
The Kalavar tribes were also wandering in southern India. Some of them migrated to Karavali region and settled in places between Surathkal and Bajpe in Mangalore taluk. The Kalavara is now a village near MRPL petroleum complex on the Bajpe road. There is also another Kaalavara in Kundapur taluk.

The story of Gadaba /Kadaba- Kadamba-Kadam and Kadaba-Kadava- Kalavar- Kalabhra tribal successions might be a representative string that helps us to visualize the multiple layers of socio-cultural evolution in time and space in India.
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118. Iddya to Yedapadavu

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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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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116. The Saliana lineage

Many of us are curious to know what our lineage (Bari or Bali) names mean or how they were derived. We can coordinate the available data to understand the origin and antiquity of some of the lineage names.

Bangera Suvarna
Some of the Baris like Bangera and Suvarna are derived from the names of Moolastanas (or the sites of original inhabitation of the immigrant colonies). The Bangera word may be a variant of Bangare,or Bengare, the sand spit beach that formed an initial Bangera settlement or Moolasthana from the immigrants from the north. The Bengare Moolastana near Hoode is located on the beach spit developed at the confluence point of Rivers Swarna and Seetha in Udupi taluk. Similarly the Suvarna is derived from the settlement on the banks of Suvarna or Swarna River, Udupi Taluk.
However, at least a few Bari names apparently are derived from older genetic generations and later merged with the Moolastana system in Karavali/Tulunadu.

Bari
Tulu communities have adopted characteristic ‘Bari’ or ‘Bali’ (lineage) names derived from mothers (matrilineal) and fathers (patrilineal) hereditary successions since ages. Persons from the same matrilineal lineage are routinely prohibited from marrying each other. Since the persons from the same lineage are considered as brothers or sisters and thus marriage was taboo among them. Modern geneticists also discourage marriages among close relatives as it may lead to genetic disorders or abnormalities.

Bari vs. Castes
The Tulu Bari system is basically older than the Tulu Caste system. In other words, Moolastana concept existed before creation of the castes.The Baris have been later shared into different castes.For example, some of the primary Baris like Bangera, Saalian etc.,can be recognised in Mogavira, Billava and Bunt communities.
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Early tribes
Sham.Baa. Joshi (1967) has made some interesting analysis of the early tribes in the peninsular India. One of the earliest tribes were tree worshippers known as ‘Marava(ru’).In other parts of India they were known as ‘JaaDi ‘or ‘Zaadi’, the word being Prakrit equivalent of the word ‘Mara’ or the tree. Early tribes had intimate dependency on the trees. They found many of the fruits, leaves and roots were edible. Trees also protected them from rains and from the wild creatures. Gradually they believed that trees contain special spirits that were worshipped for the safety and well being of the tribes.

Early weavers
They depended on leaves of trees for covering their nakedness. In the next stage they used thin sheets made out of barks of the trees as primitive cloths. Further innovations led to separation of fibers from the bark and other parts of the trees that were woven into cloths. These refined people who could weave and wear cloths were called Saalis. At that stage of early evolution and culture, weaving a cloth should have been a special refined art.
The word Saala and Saali could have been derived from name Sala or the Salmala (Shalmala), the silk cotton tree or vice versa. The word Saali is usually pronounced as Taali in Tulu. Taaliye in Tulu refers to the spider that magically weaves astonishing webs.
However, it needs to be emphasized that the people of Saaliana or Taaliana lineage are not related to the Shettigars, the community traditionally connected with weaving. The Shettigars, incidentally have distinct set of Bari names that are not common to other Tulu communities.
The word Sali also represented a refined artisan as it is further used in words like Akkasaali (goldsmith), Padmasaali (weaver), Bhanushaali, Chakrashaali(potter) etc. It would not be surprising if the word Saala and Saali (art, artisan) led to the derivation of another respectable word Shaala, the school that taught arts.

Early farmers
The word Saale is also used to represent refined rice (as in Gandha saale, Jeera saale etc). Similarly the related word Salai represents pulses (as in ‘togari salai’ for dhal).
It is also possible that since Saala represented refined art it was further applied to refined varieties of food grains like special rice breeds and pulses.

Saalian Taaliana
Thus it is concluded that the word Sali in the Tulu lineage names Saalian or the equivalent Taaliana could have been derived from the words:
(a) Saali the refined weaver or artisan, and/or
(b) The Farmer who grew refined, special rice varieties and pulses.
(c) Saali, the expert or the refined artist.

The above suggestions are open for debate and learned readers may pose their opinions for or against the proposal.
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Naturescapes 8

A sunset on the way to Punacha

115. Extradition of Maari

The concept of Maari has evolved considerably to represent Goddess of rain and fertility with passage of time. However, originally the Maari represented the spread of epidemic diseases from which medieval societies sought psychosomatic relief.
The ‘Maari deruni’ festivity described earlier is one indication of the original Maari concept. The other practice is the symbolic extradition of Maari, the epidemics, still prevalent in many villages along the Western Ghats.
The image above shows rural custom of leaving the idol of Maari at the outer boundary of the village after due worship. The photo was captured on a rural roadside near Kudur village on the way to Kollur. The villagers of the next village carry on the Maari into their village and after conducting Poojas extradite the idol to the outskirts of their village. And this chain continues along the villages.