335. Pudu, Puduvettu, Puttur: The New Villages

Scientists explain that our forefathers, the human beings, evolved at a place in Africa and migrated to different parts of the world with passage of time.  Naturally, the primitive words which formed the building blocks of the early languages and vocabulary also travelled with migrating people to different parts of the world. The existence of common analogous words in different languages, stand mute testimony to this essential fact. Of the numerous basic words adopted and inherited by our people, Putu/Pudu appears to be one such basic word.

Location of Pudu Village

Pudu: A place name

Travellers frequenting on the Mangalore-Bangalore Highway might have been familiar with a place known as Farangipete, located about 14 km from Mangalore. It is situated on the northern bank of River Netravati. The “Farangi-pete” as the name reveals was a settlement of farangis (=the foreigners). (pEte/ pEnte =township; pEte, Kannada; pEnte, Tulu). It can be presumed from the place name that the early colony of Farangipet was adopted by probably British people who settled in this area during the period 17th or 18^th Century CE.

However, since the Farangipete is an integral part of the village known as Pudu, we can infer that the original name of Farangipete was Pudu.

We shall discuss the place name Pudu and its possible significance in the evolutionary history of Tulu language and the Karavali. Incidentally, our survey shall also include the place name Puttur which now people preferentially interpret as Poota-oor or the village of flowers.

Pudu

The ancient place name Pudu originally meant a new settlement. It can be emphatically said because numerous villages all over India still carry the prefix of Pudu in the place names. However, we find that in Tamilnadu villages with Pudu prefix abound as can be seen in the following  section : Pudu villages in India.

The term Pudu in the sense of new settlement does not explicitly exist in present Tulu usage that shows the nature of changes that the language has undergone over the historical evolution.

Please note that the word Pudu also has another meaning in Tulu:  Pudu²=dove, pigeon.

Puduvettu

Puduvettu is a remote village in Belthangadi taluk, Dakshina Kannada on the foothills of Sahyadri (Western Ghat) ranges. However this place name is not exclusive to Tulunadu; we can find similar place names in Tamilnadu.

Puttur

Puttur is a major town and a Taluk headquarters in Dakshina Kannada district. The place name Put+ur reveals that it was a new village when built probably about two millennia ago. However, now Tulu people in general have forgotten the original meaning of the word Putu and interprete the word as poo (=flower) or pootta (=related to flower) resulting in the meaning of the  Puttur town being interpreted as village of flowers.

Puthige, Puthila

The place name Puthila (Putu+ila) refers to a new settlement. Similarly Puthige (Putu+ige) also means a newly built place.

Satiyaputo

Satiyaputo was the name of a capital town in Tulunadu during the regime of King  Asoka regime (ca 300 BC). Possibly the Satiayaputo is the Pali/Prakrit version of the place known as ‘Satyanapura’ in the famous Siri  PaDdana. (This blogger in an earlier Post (No 309)has suggested that the Satiyaputo refers to Saccheripete area, the centre stage of Siri paDdana).

Thus the Pali/Prakrit term Puto is equivalent of Putu or Pudu in Tulu and other Dravidian languages. The Pali term puto possibly evolved into pura in Sanskrit. (Some people may like to think vice versa depending upon their preset conceptions).

The Tulu Village names Pudu and Puduvettu now basically sound like Tamil words, since ‘Pudu’ prefix is a most common in Tamilnadu and it is almost obsolete in current Tulu.

Alternately, it can be inferred that the word existed in early Tulu and vanished from the usage later. Probably the early Tulu was much similar to ancient Tamil as also suggested by references to ” Tulunatta Tamil”  in ancient Tamil Sangam texts.

Puta : An Ancient Word

Put, Puta is an ancient word for new, or new born. In ancient Sumerian language the word ‘puta’ meant womb, the organ responsible for the birth of the new baby. In many languages, it has retained the original meaning of new born or newly established/created especially in Dravidian and Prakrit and related  / derived Indian languages.

Relevant Tulu words

Posat='new' (festival); also known as  Puddar festival; festival celebrating arrival of new paddy from the fields.

Puddar= put/pud+ bār  (=New paddy: Newly harvested   paddy).  Pudbār > Puddar. An annual traditional farming  festival celebrating the advent of   new harvest.  Also known as ‘Posat’ (= New).
Podu= new (matrimonial) alliance.

Pudar=put+ar= Name: A newly designated word (=name) to a person or object.
Pudu, Pudur,Puttur = new town. The Old Tulu word was apparently quite analogous to Old Tamil in the beginning? 

Puttubari / Puttupurapu =  family profile, family honour and traditions.

Puttu/Putta/Puru = small (Putta baale, Purubaale).

Puttu = Beloved child, ( female or male ).

Puttye = Ant hill. ( A earthen structure built by ants and occupied by Snakes)  

(There is an alternate proposal for the place name  Puttur that can  be explained from Puttye or ant hill.)

Pudelu = wild bush or sapling.

Purye= roof,ceiling or shelter. Note the Tulu proverb: "Taregonji purye bodu" ( =Every head needs a shelter)

Other  Dravida /derived languages

Pudu, Putu (Tamil), Put+u(r)= newly established settlement.
Puttari   (Kodava)=put+ari (= New rice: Newly harvested rice). Kodava  synonym for Puddar festival.  Huttari ( Kannada). Puttari> Huttari.

Putu (Malayalam and Beary )= baby, boy . Pudu-varsham (Malayalam)= New Year.

Pudu in Prakrit, Punjabi and Sanskrit usages

Puttar (Punjabi)= baby; son/daughter. Puta, putra¹=newly arrived baby; boy

Putra²= (Prakrit/Pali)= newly built  town.  For example, Pataliputra.

Putri= new baby girl.

Pudu villages in India

Andamans: Pudumadurai

Andhra Pradesh: Pudu, Pudur, Puduru,

Arunachala Pradesh: Puduwan.

Assam: Pudum Pukhuri

Chattisgarh: Pudu.

Karnataka: Pudu-kallahalli, Pudu, Puduvettu, Puttur.

Kerala: Pudussery, Puducode.

Manipur: Pudunamei.

Orissa: Puduni, Pudunisaga, Pudunbadi,Puduga pathor,Pudugabali, Pundungi padar, Pudugasil.

 Puducherry: Pudukuppam.

Tamilnadu:Pudugummidipundi,Pudupalyam,Puduvoyal,Pudupakkam,Puducheri,Pudukuppam,
Pudumaealnagi,Pudupattu,Puduppair,Pudupattinam,Pudupattu,Pudukesavaram,Pudur,Puduppadi,Pudurnadu,Pudupatti,Pudukottai,Pudukotti,Puduchengam,Puduchekkadi,Pudupalapattu,Pudukalani,Pudupuliyampatti,Puducombai,Pudupeerkadavu,Puduvadi,Puduruthamanur,Pudukudi,Pudukkudi,Pudurpalyam,Pudunaduvalur,Puduvettagudi,Pudumapalayam,Pudukkodai,Pudukuraipettai,Puduthurai,Pudupathur,Pududevangudi,Pudunagar,PudukottaiUllur,Pudukottagam,Pudunagar,Pudurivayal,Pudunilavayal,Puduvakkadu,Puduvettivayal,Pudukilavachi,Pudukkulam,Pudusukkampatti,Pudukulam,Pudur,Pudumadam, etc.

West Bengal: Pudung Kasmaral.

Origin of Shades of meaning

The term Puta (=womb) or its equivalents Putu/Pudu appears to be one of the oldest words for creation known to our forefathers since  Sumerian Period which is generally considered to be one of the oldest documented languages in the world. Creations, as in the perspectives of the early ages, generally referred to the production of new babies, agricultural crops or the construction of new townships.

Thus originally the term appears to have represented (a) newly born baby, (b) newly established/created village or hamlet or (c) birth related reproductive organs. 

Various derived or modified or corrupted forms of the word Put/Pudu are in current usage in several  European as well as Indo-Aryan and Dravidian languages. (For example puta in Greek means a Goddess of agriculture or a Roman Goddess of pruning trees. However, in Hebrew  the word refers   to female genitalia. In Portuguese and Spanish it means a bitch or whore and so on. Similar usages can also be seen in Tulu and other Indian languages.)

Significance of Pudu place names

The Pudu, as far as place names concerned, appears to represent newly constructed village or townships in ancient days. The word is still exists in Tamil and Malayalam but has become obsolete in Tulu. However, the existence of Pudu Villages in Tulunadu (such as Pudu, Puduvettu, Puttur etc.,) reveal that the word existed in early Tulu. In that case the places like Pudu, Puduvettu and Puttur were established quite early in the history probably corresponding to early centuries of the Common Era.

However, even though the word pudu has been vanished in current Tulu usage it has been modified or evolved to usages such as podu (in Tulu) which means a new matrimonial proposal or alliance.

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