A heritage blog by: Ravindra Mundkur & Hosabettu Vishwanatha
Saturday, April 3, 2010
235. Maroon leaves of Chākote
Western Ghats or the Sahy ādri ranges display a variety of fauna and flora. In sylvan parts of Sullia Taluk that seamlessly merges into Sahy ādri you can see a strange tree that sports pinkish maroon leaves especially during the spring. Local folks call it ‘Ch ākote’ ( ‘t ‘pronounced as in ‘tea’). The tree is also known as Chakate, S ākote, Sagade, T ākate or Akate. Tulu Lexicon identifies the tree (vol 3, p. 1216) as Indian Squill or ‘Schleinchera oleosa’ belong to Sapindaceae family. The tree is also known by similar names in Tamil and Telugu regions.
Apart from the tree, the name of the tree itself sounds a bit strange, tempting us to ponder if this is an alien word borrowed from a languages other than Tulu.
Tākode
To add to the mystery there is a place known as ‘T ākode’ near Mudabidri town on the way to Bantval. The meaning of the place name is difficult to decipher and it appears that the word ‘T ākode’ could be a variant of the name of the tree Ch ākote.
Readers having better insight on the origin of these words may kindly post their comments.
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Studies in Tuluva History and Culture.by Dr P Gururaja Bhat (1975).Milagres College,Kallinapur,Udupi.
Taulava Sanskriti by Dr.B.A.Viveka Rai, Sahyadri Prakashana,Mysore 1977
TuLu naaDu-nuDi By Dr.PalthaDi Ramakrishna Achar, Puttur.
TuLu NighanTu. (Editor in Chief: Dr U.P.Upadhyaya, Govinda Pai Research Centre,Udupi. Six volumes. 1988 to 1997
Tulu Patero-A Philology & Grammar of Tulu Language by Budhananda Shivalli.2004.Mandira Prakashana Mangalore. p.317. (The book is in Tulu Language using Kannada script)
TuLunadina ShasanagaLa Sanskritika Adhyayana. By Shaila T. Verma (2002) Jnanodaya Prakashana,Bangalore, p.304.(Kannada)
Tuluvala Baliyendre. Compiled by N.A.Sheenappa Hegde,Polali,Sri Devi Prakashana,Parkala,1929/1999
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