‘PāDi ‘is a familiar Tulu word representing an area with trees. The word ‘pāDi’ also occurs as suffix in place names like Gopādi, Bopādi, Katapādi, Bellarapādi, Kannarapadi, Bettamapadi, Talapadi, Talipadi, Baikampādi etc. Presence of place-names like Katpadi in Tamilanadu suggests that it is a common Dravida word. However, available data suggests that the word ‘pāDi’ was borrowed from pre-Dravidian Munda group of languages and culture.
For example, the bari or gotra (sept or clan) system is known as ‘pāDi’ among Gond tribes of Vidarbha. Gonds are members of Munda group of Austro-Asiatic tribes that were widespread in the peninsula in the antiquity.
Vanajaputta Manjunatta pointed out that the Gotra or Bari (sept or clan) system prevails among the Gond tribes and is known as ‘padi’ (pronounced ‘pāDi’). ‘Gonds of Vidarbha ‘ by S. G Deogaonkar gives outlines of the pādi system among Gond tribes.
Gonds are a group of ancient Austro- Asiatics or Munda tribes, who have evolved with passage of time and have assimilated socio-cultural features and customs from various immigrant communities and groups.
The word ‘padi’ at present means a group of houses in the Gond language.
Further, tThe old word pāDi has become hāDi in later Kannada after 10th Century CE, with transition of pa> ha.
ADi & pāDi
Compare the word ‘pādi’ with another related word namely ‘āDi’. Adi is also a suffix in place-names such as Nelyadi, Kalyadi, Kanyadi, Amtadi, Nekkiladi, Bannadi, Hemmadi, Hejmadi, etc.
As discussed in a previous post, it appears that the word ‘āDi’ originally represented shade of a tree. To begin with, in the primitive days of early civilization, the shade of a tree in sunny, tropical countries apparently constituted the comfortable habitation of early man. Hence the suffix –aDi was used to designate early habitation names. The root word ‘aD’ meant a tree as we notice in the derived words ‘aDar’ (=twig) and ‘aDavi’(=forest). In the early days of civilization, parts of dried tree (twigs etc) were used to ignite fire and to cook. Hence the root ‘aD’ also stood for the verb ‘ (to) cook’, from which words like ‘aDpini’(=cooking), ‘aDpil’(=kitchen), ‘aDDe’(=coked food), aDve(=forest) etc were derived.
paDi = pa+aDi
If ‘aDi’=shade of a tree, then ‘pāDi’= shade of group of trees or shady grove.
Thus in the due course of time, the word pāDi developed in scope to represent a comfortable residential area that consisted of a group of habitation of related people.
Prefix pa- occurs in a number of spatial names such as panja (pa+anja), pangala (pa+angala), pāndi (pa+anDi) etc. Usage of pa- as prefix in these words suggests that it carries shades of meanings such as water body,greenish area,or even good or comfortable.
Similarly there are two more suffixes namely ‘nāDi ‘(Pachanadi, Manjanadi) and ‘māDi’ (Hemmadi, Hejamadi,) that can be analysed as follows:
Na+aDi= =cultivated tree or na+aD+i= cultivated area.
Ma+aDi= elevated area.
pāDa
There is another suffix similar or equivalent to pāDi , namely pāDa.
Da= locality or area in Munda languages.
pa+Da. PāDa= Comfortable area or greenish ( sylvan) area.
There are several localities in Maharastra having a prefix of –pāDa, such as
AgripāDa (Mumbai), Dandpada etc.
The word 'pata'appears to be related to or derived from pada.
PaTa (=cloth piece),possibly >PaTan>PaTTana>PaTna. Variant of Pata is paDa (short vowel 'a'), a carpet of coir or cloth. PaDa, made of coir, is used for drying the cured fish.
VāDa
Another related word is spatial suffix -vada.
Va+Da. Both the words -va and- Da are spatial suffixes. Suffix -va (as in Shirva, Urva, Kolva, etc) has been extensively discussed in an earlier post.
There are several place names having suffix of vada in southern India, such as Vijayavada, Kolivada, etc. There are numerous –vada places near Karawar. KaDvaD, ZarivaDa, HarvaDa, DharvaDa,etc. The original name of the Karawar town is known to be ‘KaDvaDa’ (=village beside a river ferry; kaD= river bank or ferry, vaDa= habitation area).
VāDi
Like the pāDa and pāDi spatial word pair, we also have vāDi for vāDa!
Vādi occurs as an independent place-name (for example, VāDi , a Railway junction in Gulbarga district) [va+aDi = habitation area] or as a suffix in toponyms such as Belavadi, Tilakvadi, etc.
PāDa-pāDi, vāDa-vāDi, bāDa-bāDi
Apart from these there is one more related suffix, namely -bāDi ( as in Kodimbadi,Kedambadi, Kannambadi etc).Pairing with bāDi is another suffix bāDa which forms several place names especially in Uttara Kannada.
The analyses of these related spatial suffixes hint at the possibility of -aDi and -Da being regional variants of the same word from Munda languages. It appears that Dravidian languages picked up and assimilated some of the pre-existing Munda words in the region.
-With Hosabettu Vishwanath.
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