433. Tulu surname: the Banjan Bari

 Tulu people have inherited surnames known as “bari” from their genetic antecedents. Bari is a unusual heritage word in Tulu acquired from older languages and cultures prevailed in their land. The word “bari” is unusual in the sense that in current Tulu it typically means a side, whereas the original meaning of the word, now lost, means the house or the original house from which the ancestors of the person in discussion came from. The word ‘bari’ (=house), originally from Munda languages (and probably also prevalent in Prakrit languages) still exists in some of the ancient languages derived from Munda/Prakrit languages such as Bengali.

Thus, there are matrilineal and patrilineal “bari” tags for each individual, denoting the ancient genetic lineage from which original house the persons originated.

Anyway, the baris’ have been overtaken by the castes and communities later in the history and consequently, now we find the people from same bari tags existing in different Tulu castes and communities. One of these interesting Tulu bari names is Banjan.

Sometime back, one of our reader friends requested details on the Banjan bari name.  I have made an attempt to gather the available information in this post.

Banjan

Most of the Tulu bari surnames end with suffix –an which denotes person. For example Salian (=Sāli+an) means one from the Sali  (= spider ; the weaver) bari. Thus, the banjan can be analysed as: banja +an. In Tulunadu we find many places associated with word banja or simplified to baja, such as: Bajape, Bajal, Bajatturu etc. The words banja (> baja) as found in Tulu place names essentially means dry or probably signifies the people immigrated from dry lands of the north such as Rajasthan.

Based on the analysis of words, the nearest migrant tribe, homonymous and analogous to the etymology of  Banjan now in several parts of India, appears to be that of Banjaras.

 Banjara

The Banjaras are a nomadic tribe travelling from place to place. Some consider that the nomadic gypsies are related to the Banjaras. The gypsies were considered to have originally migrated from regions like: Nubia, Turkey and Egypt from which they acquired their generic name. (Egypt. > Gypsy). The Banjaras were also known as travelling merchants, since they were selling commodities like salt. On the other hand they are also considered to be related to Lamanis, another wandering nomadic tribe now spread in different parts of India. It is said that the tribal name Lamani (or Lambani) came from transporting and selling ‘ lavana’ or the salt.

The Lambani and Banjara are probably related tribes.  There is a legend that they served as soldiers of Rana Pratap Singh, who never surrendered to Mogals (Akbar) and escaped to forest to avoid capture.  Rathod,  a common surname in Gujarat and Rajasthan  is also found among the Banjaras.

The term ‘banjara’ is said to have been derived from ‘vanijar’ or the merchant. The term Vanijar is said to have been adopted from Sauraseni Prakrit. A related trader community “banajiga” also stands for the merchant.

An alternate explanation for the derivation of the term banjara is: ban + jā + ra; wherein, the ban+ja appears to be ban/van = forest and ja =born.

Inference

In current day scenario there may not be any tangible connections between the Banjans of Tulunadu (or their equivalents in other parts of India) and the Banjaras. However, there is a possibility that in remote historical past days, about two or three millennia ago, that certain ancient tribes resident in the dry lands of the north migrated to southern parts of India, including the West coast, and were known as the Banjans. After all, the element of migration was a dominant feature among the ancient tribes.

 One of our readers wants to know the equivalent of Banjan surname in Kundapur area. I request that anyone having the knowledge on this aspect may kindly share the information for the benefit of people genuinely interested in their heritage.

R.

432. Etymology of the Tulu surname (bari) - Kānchan

 

Nepali temple design-architecture (an example)

Temple/spirit shrine design in Tulunadu (example for comparison)

What is the etymology- meaning and origin - of the Tulu surname “Kānchan” (ಕಾಂಚನ್/ കാംചന്) ?

At the outset, you may be tempted to retort that Kānchan means gold as in Sanskrit. But if you delve deep into the intricacies of heritage and history of the land, surprisingly you may stumble upon certain strange connotations.

Note that in the Tulu surnames (or bari), it is specifically Kānchan. The Sanskrit homonym is usually pronounced as kānchana and is a word with several other meanings apart from gold such as wealth, luster or various trees like sampige/champak tree, atti/arti   tree, nāgakesari tree, dattoora plant, etc. (You may find details in “Sanskrit-Kannada Nighantu” compiled by G.N.Chakravarti, 2009 edition)

Secondly, a common feature of Tulu bari names is that most of them end in suffix –an, such as Kanchan, Banjan, Anchan, Mendon, Shriyan, Kukkiyan, etc. The Dravidian suffix –an represents a male person (equivalent of “āN”- ಆಣ್). This suffix was also common in Early Kannada and in Tamil. In view of this the Tulu bari Kānchan can be analysed as- Kanch(a)+an. Then, what is the source of the word Kāncha in bari name Kanchan? Where it came from? And,  when?

Ancient Tribes and migration

 In olden days of history most of the tribal groups had their own individual languages and when  the tribes migrated into another territory, it was a common practice to designate the tribe by the common word used for the male member (or tribal leader) in their tribal language. Therefore in most tribal groups the name of the tribe represents the equivalent word for man in their original language. (For example: Koraga, Munda,  etc the tribal name means man or male person in their original language.)

Bari (ಬರಿ / ബരി ) means house

  You might have noted that various Tulu communities (castes) have several common ‘bari’ names. In other words you may find similar bari names in different Tulu caste communities. This is because the original ‘bari’ groups were formed or founded in Tulunadu well before the formation of castes groups. In other words castes were formed later in the history and the members of several bari groups were split into different caste groups subsequently. And that is why popular songs among the Koraga tribes remind us   that the billava, bunt and mogaveera are the children of one family of sisters.

The common Tulu word bari is an interesting heritage word. In present Tulu bari in general means side or corner. Some people translate it into Kannada and use the modified word bali as found in Kundapura or Ankola. The word bali (ಬಳಿ /ಬಳ್ಳಿ) is used by Kannada speakers in the sense of a (plant) creeper or a lineage. (The Kannada word: ಬಳಿ normally means: nearby).

(Forgive me: Though these are discussed in detail in our older posts, a summary is provided here for the benefit of newbie readers.).

Well, the original meaning of this important heritage word:  “bari” is not a ‘side’ or ‘corner’ but ‘house’! During the early evolution of the Tulu, we have borrowed many words from Munda tribal people who coexisted and lived in Tulunadu. Please note that the ancient Munda/Prakrit word ‘bari’ (=house) has survived also in languages like Bengali. In other words the Tulu word bari is equivalent of “illam” (=house) tradition of Kerala.

Kāncha from Nepal

In Nepalese language, kāncha is a regular word for young man, along with word kānchi applied for young lady. It appears that early in the history a group of young people migrated south and arrived in Tulunadu and these were referred to as Kanchan which became the name of the group or tribe. Eventually these tribes have been assimilated with the native population and it has become one of the ‘bari’ names in Tulunadu.

  Conservatives who may hold a general notion of closed or in situ evolution of Tulu communities may frown upon, asking what the tangible evidences in support of this theory are.  In fact there are several lines of evidences for the exchange of people and ideas between two regions during the early periods of history.

One: It is reported that the Kadamba King Mayura Varma (ca 4^th century CE) who ruled from Banavasi (now in Uttara Kannada district), brought priests (Brahmins) and attendants from Ahichatra, (a place in Northern India) to manage and serve in the newly installed temples in his domain/empire including coastal Tulunadu.

Two: There is a suggestion that Nairs of Tulunadu and Kerala were the migrated and settled members of the Neyer tribes of Nepal.

Three: Above all, there is a striking similarity between the architecture of Nepali temples and the Temples of ancient Tulunadu especially the traditional spirit shrines, suggesting that there was a regular exchange of people and ideas between these two regions.

Four: The founders of Nātha cult at Kadri, Mangaluru, Yogi Macchendra Nāth and his disciple Goraksha Nāth were originally from northern India, who had religious connections with Nepal.

Unity in diversity

The basic tenet of the concept India has been unity in diversity since ages. The assimilation of tribes from different regions even during the early historical periods only proves this point. History demands that we remember and implement this concept of unity strongly and efficiently forgetting minor differences amongst us, especially when some adversary with evil intentions attacks on India.

-  Ravindra  Mundkur

431. The case of extra vowels in Tulu language

The Tulu language has preserved a few extra vowels (or additional phonemes) which are not explicitly found or preserved now in many of the sister languages.

Are you aware of these extra vowels? Or do you use them in writing in Tulu? We shall make a review of these extra vowels in this post.

English alphabets basically have only five vowels namely: a, e, i, o and u.   However most of the Indian languages have detailed vowel structures based on refined phoneme structure of Sanskrit alphabets. Because of the limited number of 26 alphabets in English the non-English people have to specifically learn the pronunciation of different words to match the language as spoken by the natives of England or America, whereas in the case of Indian languages the pronunciation of words is mostly fixed, as there are generalized pronunciation guides, specifically earmarked for each phoneme and thankfully you need not learn pronunciation of each and every individual word.

Do you write in Tulu language? In case you are a regular Tulu writer chances are that you are adopting the existing Kannada script for writing in Tulu. The ancient Tulu script (which was evolved based on the   ancient Tigalāri script) even though actively promoted nowadays in Tulu circles is still in the initial stages in terms of popularity.

In case you are habituated in writing Tulu adopting the existing Kannada fonts you must have encountered problems in writing or reading certain words that have dual pronunciations though spellings are the same! The problem is due to the presence of extra vowels in Tulu - which are not found in modern Kannada alphabets.

Modern Tulu script

Modern printing in Tulu language was initiated by the Basel Mission at Mangaluru in the year 1842. The Basel Mission Press established at Mangaluru in the year 1834 was the deciding factor in adopting Kannada script for writing/printing in modern Tulu. The decision was made probably on the ground that the local people were familiar with the Kannada script and language. Brigel in his first Tulu grammar (1872) stated that in the case of Tulu: “For writing a modification of the Malayalam alphabet was in vogue till the Basel Mission Press employed Canarese characters in printing.”

 The first printed book was the Tulu translation of Gospel of St Mathew, employing the Kannada script. This was followed by Tulu translation of New Testament in the year 1847 and a new typographical edition of the same in the year 1859. In the year 1856 Rev. G. Kammarer compiled a compiled a collection of about 2000 Tulu words, but unfortunately he died in 1858 before it could be printed and published in a book format. In the year 1872 Rev J. Brigel compiled “A grammar of Tulu language” printed at the Basel Mission Press, Mangaluru. Rev A. Manner updated the collection of Tulu words undertaken by Rev. Makkerer and published the first Tulu English Dictionary in the year 1886 followed by another English Tulu Dictionary in the year 1888.

Brigel (1872) in his “A Grammar of the Tuḷu language” suggested that Kannada (known as “Canarese” then) can be considered as the modern Tulu alphabet. He reported 15 vowels for Tuḷu which consists of 14 standard vowels (6 short, 6 long and 2 diphthongal) common in Kannada and Tulu plus an indefinite vowel for which he showed English equivalent of ụ (Fig 430-1). He gave example of “ ತ್ “ (t’) to show how it attaches to the consonants.

Fig 430.1 Indefinite vowels in Tulu. (1.) Basel Mission print style up to 1872. (2.) Adopted by Brigel (1872).

 [However, it should be noted that he has also used an alternate symbol especially in “remark” sections in the same book.(Fig 431-1)] though no explanations were given for the usage of the alternate symbol.  Probably, this was the symbol in vogue before]

Indefinite vowel : ಉ್

S.U. Paniyadi (Srinivasa Upadhyaya Paniyadi: 1897-1959) in his youth was highly inspired and impressed by the contribution of Basel Missionaries to the exposition of Tulu grammar and Tulu dictionary. He improvised the Tulu grammar pioneered the missionaries and brought out “Tulu Vyākarana” in Tulu language in the year 1932. He has also used Kannada alphabets for the Tulu script.

Paniyadi (1932) recognized the indefinite vowel proposed by Brigel assigned it a status as a milder form of   ಉ with the indefinite or pause   symbol attached to it ie., ಉ್ (ụ) . He suggested that there are only six basic vowels in Tulu, namely: ಅ (a), ಇ (i) ಉ್(ụ), ಎ್(є), ಎ(e) ,ಒ (o). Further, Paniyadi emphasized that the Tuḷu alphabets in modern usage need more vowels especially to accommodate, express and write words borrowed from other languages. Thus, he concluded a set of 16 vowels for Tuḷu as follows:

ಅ, ಆ, ಇ, ಈ, ಉ್,ಊ್, ಉ, ಊ, ಎ್, ಏ್, ಎ,  ಏ, ಐ,ಒ, ಓ, ಔ

Fig. 430.2. Special e vowels introduced by Paniyadi (1932)

In my opinion, the greatest contribution of Paniyadi (1932) is the recognition of special allophone of vowel e existing in Tulu and assigning it a vowel symbol of: ಎ್. He also added a long form of the two vowels as: ಏ್ and ಊ್.

Significance of Tulu vowel: ಎ್

Why do we need this extra vowel ಎ್ in Tulu?  - We need this extra vowel, because in Tulu, there is a characteristic difference in the pronunciation of verbs in the first person and in third person singulars, though in both cases the words are spelt similarly. The   vowel ಎ್ is pronounced like a in words such as “apple” or “bat”, “badge” or “man”.

 For example: The verb:  ಪೋಪೆ in the following two cases, though written/spelt same, are required in routine usage to be pronounced with different accents so as to convey the exact intended meaning.

1. First person singular:    “ ಯಾನ್ ಪೋಪೆ್ ” . (Yaan poh-peyh.) [= I shall go.]

2. Third person singular:  “ ಆಯೆ ಪೋಪೆ “.  ( Aaye po-pey.)  [= He shall go.]

[Note: ಪೋಪೆ 2 (popey ) is the usual standard style of pronunciation assigned/vogue in Kannada from we have borrowed the modern Tulu script. Since ಪೋಪೆ 1 (ಪೋಪೆ್ poh-peyh ) has an unusual special accent or allophone, it needs to be distinguished with a specified symbol or diacritic affixed to it.]

Even Rev. Brigel (1872, p.47, remarks) had noted that….“though the first person singular in all tenses is spelt like the 3^rd person masculine, they are pronounced differently; the terminating  ಎ e in the former sounding nearly like ‘a’ in man, that in the latter like ‘e’ in men.”

There are many verbs in Tulu that have different accents for first and third person singulars such as: ಬರ್ಪೆ, ತಿನ್ಪೆ, ಮಳ್ಪೆ, ದೀಪೆ, ದೆಪ್ಪುವೆ, ದಿಂಜಾವೆ,ತೂಪೆ, ಸೈಪೆ, ಕೋಂಪೆ, ಬಲಿಪುವೆ, ತೋಜಾವೆ etc that need to be pronounced differently when used in first and third person singular case.

Besides, there are also numerous other words in Tulu that make use of the specific allophone of e such as :  ಅಪ್ಪೆ, ಅಮ್ಮೆ, ಆನೆ, ಆಸೆ,ಅಳೆ, ಇತ್ತೆ, , ಕತೆ, ಕತ್ತಲೆ, ಕರಂಡೆ, ಗಂಟೆ, ಬೇತೆ, ಬೇನೆ, ಮಾಲೆ, ಮೋಕೆ ….etc.

Therefore, in order to distinguish the two distinctly different accents or allophones of the vowel ಎ (ey) we need to introduce a special symbol to distinguish the two accents or allophones. Brigel recognized the necessity but probably could not implement it for want of a suitable symbol in the Kannada font at that time. Paniyadi employed a special symbol to distinguish the first person singular verbs, the symbol being made up of the combination of ಎ (“ey”) attachment symbol (ಿ) plus an indefinite symbol of Brigel (್) that existed in the Kannada alphabets.

Change of half vowel: ಉ್ to ಅ್

Prof. M. Mariappa Bhat and Dr Shankara Kedilaya (1967) while brought out a revised Tulu English dictionary discussed the existence of ụ (or the half u or ್ diacritic) in Tulu and assigned it as vowel ಅ್. The vowel ಅ್ assigned by Bhat & Kedilaya (1967) is equivalent to the ಉ್ proposed by Paniaydi (1932). The preference for ಅ್ over ಉ್ is purely individualistic based on the geographic location of the individual speaker/writer. The Tulu language has wide regional variations in accents, and as such the accents and usages in the Puttur Tulu vary from those in Udupi Tulu. Some Tulu speakers/writers have felt that the exact place of the indefinite half vowel discussed above is somewhat in between ಅ್ and ಉ್. Thus, for all practical purposes, we can conclude that in Tulu ಅ್ = ಉ್.

The set of vowels for Tulu adopted by Mariappa Bhat and Shankar Kedilaya (1967)are as follows:

ಅ್ ಅ ಆ ಇ ಈ, ಉ ಊ, ಎ, ಎ’ ಏ ಒ ಓ, ಐ, ಔ

Note that here Bhat & Kedilaya showed the special ಎ as plain vowel without any diacritics or added symbols, and they preferred to add the accent on the second (ಎ’) which incidentally is the regular ಎ in Kannada alphabets.

Budhananda  Shivalli 

B. K. Shivalli  (1923-1982)  in his Tulu grammar “Tulu Pātero” (p.84 - manuscript composed in the years 1980-82; but the book published posthumously in 2005)  adopted the following set of 14 vowels for Tulu.

ಅ್, ಅ, ಆ, ಇ, ಈ, ಉ, ಊ, ಎ್, ಎ, ಏ, ಐ, ಒ ಓ, ಔ

Special Vowels in Tulu Lexicon

Tulu lexicon: volume I (1988), in section on methodology, (page 30-31), has adopted the centralized back vowel ಅ್(ụ) and ಅ್ೕ (ụụ- as)and lower mid front vowels ಎ್(є) ಎ್(єє)  in the lexicon.  The lexicon emphasized that “..the Tulu sound which is different from the Kannada e should be given a separate symbol.”  The list of vowels adopted in the lexicon is as follows:

ಅ್, ಅ್ೕ, ಅ, ಆ, ಇ ಈ, ಉ, ಊ, ಋ, ಋ, ಎ್ ಎ್ೕ, ಎ ಏ, ಒ ಓ, ಐ, ಔ 

Tulu Lexicon, Volume One, p.31

“ The vowels do have a lower allophone in the word final position before pause but the lower mid front vowel noticed in Tulu is much lower than that and secondly these two vowels show contrast and hence should be treated as distinct entities. Since the system followed by us in conformity with the principles of modern linguistics and since the symbol given by us is already in vogue in the writings of the Tulu texts from the beginning of this century we did not feel it necessary to change the symbol.”

Fig. 430.3 List of Vowels in Tulu language as proposed by various authors.

Tulu Patero (2005)

While composing the manuscript of Tulu Pātero (2005) using   the Baraha Kannada software in my desktop I found it difficult to put to together the ಎ್ symbol.  I tried to solve the problem by selecting the degree superscript symbol (°) which was available in the Standard English fonts used for MS Word in my computer.  Similarly in case of problems in composing the indefinite symbols in the middle of words apostrophe (‘) symbol can be used.

ಅ° ಅ ಆ, ಇ, ಈ, ಉ ಊ, ಎ° ಎ ಏ, ಒ ಓ, ಐ ಔ

 

Sediyapu Krishna Bhat

Apparently Sediyapu Krishna Bhat concurred with the view of Bhat and Kedilaya who allotted apostrophe symbol for the central e rather than the one proposed by Srinivasa Paniyadi (1932). Sediyapu, as a member of the Tulu Lexicon project in a letter addressed to the committee dated 1986 (vide his letters cited in Tulu Lexicon, 1988) held that the special accent symbol should be given to the other allophone of the vowel e rather than the one proposed at present.

Contrasting concepts

On review we can find two contrasting schools of thoughts on the adoption and implementation of the special e vowel existing in Tulu language. Paniyadi and followers are concerned with preserving the special vowel or phoneme in Tulu whereas the Sediyapu (and Bhat- Kedilaya) concept, while ignoring the special phoneme/vowel in Tulu, attempts   to streamline the existing phonemes that are common in the sister languages like Kannada. In a way, it is digression from the central theme of the issue. Our central concern should be providing a legitimate status for the special phoneme surviving in the heritage of the Tulu language. From the point of preserving the characteristic phoneme in Tulu we can continue with the vowel system adapted by the Tulu Lexicon project.

Nature of the special є vowel

In essence, we can understand this indefinite vowel symbol as a pause symbol, since it requires a brief pause while pronouncing it. The phoneme or the half vowel is characteristic of the Tulu language and heritage and we should preserve it for the posterity. It has been opined that similar some of the sister Dravidian languages had similar vowels. For example: Paniyadi (1932) mentions that some Tamil grammarians accept the cited indefinite symbol either as half u (ಉ) or as half i (ಇ). But currently you will not see the usage of these special vowels in Tamil alphabet chart.

The special vowel:  ಎ್ (є) when combined with consonants carries a pronunciation which can be analysed as: pause-(eh+ye)-pause. In other words the ಎ್, begins after a pause and has a pronunciation transitional in between ಎ (eh) and ಯೆ (ye) and ends with a pause. For example: (a) ಯಾನ್ ಬತ್ತೆ°. Yaan batt’eh+ye’ : (=I came) (b). ಆಯೆ ಬತ್ತೆ : Aaye batt’eh (=he came). The equivalents of the same expressions in Kannada would be: (a) ನಾನು ಬಂದೆ(ನು): Naanu bande(nu) (=I came) and (b) ಅವನು ಬಂದ(ನು): Avanu banda(nu). (=He came). Note that in Kannada the verb affix   changes for the first (ಬಂದೆ )and third (ಬಂದ) person singulars.

 

Adopting the special symbol

Paniyadi used a combination of e and pause affixing symbols (Fig 430-2) way back in 1932 when printing was done by letter press method. The Tulu Lexicon project was able to design a custom made symbol for the special e vowel. But, modern Tulu writers adopting the Kannada script do not have proper facilities to display the special vowels in the Tulu texts. The printing technology has evolved since the days of Paniyadi. And with prevailing desk top publishing technology, the Tulu writers have depended on the existing Kannada script software, like Nudi, Baraha, Pada etc. In general, these are designed to compose in standard Kannada and as such lack essential facilities for expressing the special Tulu words precisely. The Tulu Wikipedia, for example, makes use of the existing Kannada software without appropriate modifications for Tulu and the contributors are unable to display the special vowels of Tulu language. Even the indefinite vowel symbol of Brigel, though exists in Kannada also, cannot properly be displayed in Tulu especially when it comes in the middle of a word, because of the glyph combination encoding used specifically to suit Kannada.

Fig. 430.4.Affixing symbols proposed by (1) Paniyadi

                                        (2) Tulu Patero (3,4,5) This blog.

Dedicated fonts for Tulu

Most of us are currently using the existing Kannada script as modern Tulu script for writing and printing at least since last 150 years as the Basel Mission Press printed the initial Tulu books employing the Kannada fonts. Most of us, except those Tuluva people born and brought up in other parts of India or the world, we are quite familiar with the Kannada language and script. Hence we can 

continue to use the same script adapted as modern Tulu script, since already a wealth of Tulu data and literature published in the modern Tulu script.

The need of the hour is to update the modern Tulu script (which we are using currently) to update suitably to include its special and characteristic linguistic features, such as the special vowels. Thus, there is an imminent need for designing dedicated Unicode fonts for Tulu incorporating the desirable symbols and diacritics.  

The symbol for the phoneme ಎ್ may be made more attractive in design like for example as shown in Fig. 430-4 in this post.

How does it look when you implement the special  vowel ಎ್ in Tulu writing ? Check the following figure for examples.  

430-5 . Two examples for using the special vowel in Tulu words "poomaale" and "lekhanamaale".

- Ravindra Mundkur

429. Etymology of Pernāl: A festival

 Recently our Muslim brethren at the end of the month of fasting celebrated the festival locally known as,   “ Pernāl” in Tulu as well as Byāri languages. The Pernāl is a big day or day of festival for the Muslims.

Besides Muslims, Saint Thomas Christians of Kerala have also adopted the word for “Pindikuthi Perunnāl”, a festival celebrated by their community on January 6^th every year. Incidentally the term “ pindikuthi”  refers to the trunk of banana plant with torches/lamps pierced on it and  installed in front of houses during the celebration of the festival.  The term Perunnāl is equivalent of  the Tulu/Byari word  Pernāl.

 The word Pernāl is interesting  from the viewpoint of evolution of Dravidian languages and culture. The etymology of the word can be traced to various Dravidian languages as it is also found in Malayalam and Tamil languages as “Perunnāl”.

Peru=big, great; large. nāl= day. Thus, the word Pernāl means a big day ; a festival; or a day of festival

The word “peru” is common in Tulu place names such as: Peruvayi, Perla, Perne, Periadka, Peramoger and so on.  In daily usage we can find: “permari”(= big snake or python), “piriya” (=costly; an item of big value), “periyappe” (=literally: big mother; actually refers to mothers elder sister), “periyamme” ( fathers elder brother) etc. However, strangely the suffix “nāl” is missing in current usage of Tulu language. It might have been lost during the process of lingual evolution in Tulu. Contrastingly, we find the word nāl still prevailing in the neighborly Kannada language in the form of nāle (=tomorrow) and nāliddu (=day after tomorrow) etc.

In the current usage of Tulu language, the word Pernāl, is used exclusively for the Muslim festival. For other festivals, Tulu people have adopted an alternate word “parba” apparently derived from Prakrit that prevailed in the region during early centuries of the Common Era. (The Kannada equivalent is “habba”). The word “parba”, prevails in Sanskrit in the form of “parva”.

In this context, it reminds me another Dravidian word “palli”. The word palli originally represented a congregation or a group of people assembled together or a village center. The word palli also existed in old Kannada. The modern Kannada equivalent of palli is halli, the village.  Muslims settled in the coastal region probably around 7th century CE onwards, adopted the word palli to represent mosques where community gatherings were held for prayer etc. After wards, the word palli was used exclusively for mosques and other implications were discontinued.

The short note is an example just to show how changes takes place in the word usages with passage of time due to prevailing   environmental conditions.

R.

428. Tingoḍe aka Singoḍe & Tulu Calendar

We hear occasionally some archaic words in Tulu spoken by elderly people. In the list of archaic Tulu words such as Rumi, Sāyer or Sayir  ( You may read our older Posts on these) etc,   we may add the word  ‘Tingoḍe  or Singoḍe’ (ತಿಂಗೊಡೆ/ಸಿಂಗೊಡೆ - pronounced with short vowel.  Most of the present-day young generation may be quite unaware of such archaic word usages.

What is this word Tingoḍe aka Singoḍe signify?  Let us elucidate.

Tulu Months

In Tulu Nadu, natives follow a calendar based on Solar system (Sauramāna Paddhati).   Tulu months are:

(1) Paggu : (Mesha = Chaitra-Vaishāka, April-May),

(2) Besha : (Vrishabha = Vaishākha-Jeshtha, May-June),

(3) Kārtel : (Mithuna = Jeshtha- Āshāḍa, June-July),

 (4) Aaṭi : (Karkataka = Āshāḍa -Shrāvana, July-Aug),

(5) Sona : (Simha – Shrāvana -Bhādrapada, Aug-Sept),

(6) Kanya/Nirnāl : (Kanya  = Bhādrapada- Ashwayuja, Sept-Oct),

(7) Bontel : (Tula = Ashwayuja -Kārtika, Oct-Nov),

 (8) Jārde: ((Vrishchika = Kārtika -Margashira, Nov-Dec),

(9) Perarde: (Dhanu = Margashira-Pushya, Dec-Jan),

(10) Puyintel : (Makara =  Pushya-Māgha, (Jan-Feb),

(11) Māyi: (Kumbha = Māgha -Phalguna, Feb-March), and

 (12)  Suggi : (Meena = Phalguna-Chaitra, March-April).

 

Tingode > Singode

First day of a Tulu month has been designated “Tingoḍe or Singoḍe” and the last day is called “Sankrānti”.  Sankrānti means transition. In other words, Sankrānti refers to   the day when sun appears to enter a new constellation in the sky. So a day following a Sankrānti  is Tingoḍe or Singoḍe.  Inversely, a day preceding a Tingoḍe or Singoḍe is Sankrānti.

Those who are following Gregorian/Julian Calendar (English Calendar), must have heard  the  All-India Radio  (AIR) one-liner song, “Aaj pahila taarik Hai, Aaj pahila tareek hai”  It is repeatedly sung before starting the other AIR programmes.  This is a reminder to listeners to give attention to money matters (namely, payment day, budgeting monthly wages/salaries, payment of recurring outgoings, like for milkman, grocery shops, etc.  We can thus visualise the importance of Tulu first day of a month, involving planning occupational priorities in an agrarian society and other socio-religious rituals.  Traditionally,  Tuluva households  conduct pooja (prayer) in family shrines for the daivas (divine Spirits) on the day of Sankrānti.

Etymology of Tingoḍe/ Singoḍe

In our opinion, the word is related to the Tulu word “tingol” (ತಿಂಗೊಳ್), meaning a month. Thus, the word:  tingoḍe   could have originated as:  ting +oḍe ( which means the beginning of the month) . 

  Either the ancient   words were designed for brevity or the original nature of these early words must have been brief.  Transition of letters in Tulu leading to regional variations in pronunciations, over a period of time, was a common phenomenon in different   regions.  The consonant   ta (ತ) has changed over to   sa (ಸ), forming   Singoḍe as a regional variation of the Tingoḍe during the passage of time. Now in different Tulu regions the words   Singoḍe  and   Tingoḍe   are used interchangeably.

Other equivalents of Tingoḍe/ Singoḍe

Other  known  regional / tribal equivalents of the  words Singoḍe  or   Tingoḍe   in Tulu language  include: Tingaloḍu, Tingalūḍu, Tingaludyo, Chingaḍe  etc ( See: Tulu Lexicon , Volume 6, page 2936)

Sauramāna Yugādi 

Sauramāna Yugādi, i.e. Solar New Year, falls on tingoḍe/ singoḍe of   Paggu, the first month of Tulu Calendar. The auspicious day is also celebrated   by name of   vishu  (Kerala) or bisu (Tulunadu).   This year, it falls on 14^th April, 2020, the next day of Mesha Sankranti.  As per the Indian solar calendar system, the Sun  transits from the star Revati  to  star Ashwini in the sky, appearing to our eyes as a result of the rotation of the earth in relation to Sun. (  In terms of lunar cycle it is usually the seventh day from full moon day or poornima.). The Sauramāna Yugādi is known as Varusa-pirappu, Chitirai-visu or Putanḍu in Tamilnadu. In Bengal it is known as  "Pohala boishak "(literally: first of Vaishaka), "nabha barsha" (literally: new year). In Odissa, it is known as "Maha vishuba sankranti". In Assam, Sauramāna Yugādi is celebrated as : "Bohag bihu" or "Rongali bihu." In Punjab it is celebrated as "Baisakhi".

Chandramāna Yugādi /Ugādi

In the case of Chandramāna or lunar system , the Yugādi,(beginning day of the lunar year) also known as gudi padva in  Maharashtra  is on first day of the Chaitra month.  Thus,  the  Chandramāna  Yugāadi has been celebrated on 25^th of March this year, i.e. on Shukla pādya or pratipada.

Naming System

In Lunar (Chandramāna) system, there is two fortnights - one for the waxing moon (Shukla Paksha)and the other for waning moon (Krishna Paksha).  Each fortnight, days (tithis) are named sequentially as: Pādya, Bidige, Tadige, Chaturthi, Panchami, Shashti, Saptami, Ashtami, Navami, Dashami, Ekādashi, Dwādashi, Trayodashi and Chaturdashi (Shukla  Paksha 14 + Krishna Paksha 14 +2 - one for Poornima (Full Moon Day) and the other for Amavashye (New Moon Day).  The month starts with Shukla Paksha and ends with Krishna Paksha.

We think, there has been a naming system for all days of a Tuluva month in Solar (Sauramāna) System.  The Tulu months   begin with tingoḍe/ singoḍe  and ends with a Sankrānti.  What were the other names used for other days in the Tulu months?  There may be some elderly people who are still   aware of these names in the traditional Tulu day naming system, now largely forgotten.   We have tried to elicit information but so far not successful.  If any of our readers are aware these forgotten names for days in Tulu month, please share the data with us in this blog.

In lighter vein, there is an old idiom in Tulu language: “ಕೆಬಿ ಕೇಣಂದಿನಾಯಡ ಗುಟ್ಟು  ಪಾತೆರುನು.“  (kebi kenandināyada  guṭṭu  pāterunu). On literal translation, this means:  Discussing   a secret   with  a deaf man.  It is a ridicule of a man doing useless work.  

 We hope we are   not doing such exercises.    We sincerely anticipate meaningful feedbacks   from our readers to make our efforts worthwhile.

Suggested Reading in  this blog:  Tulu Studies - Previous Posts:

 # 338/ 24.05.2014 -   Tulu Calendar,

 #  348/ 29.07.2015 -  Rumi,

 # 358/ 02.04.2016 -   Sayer  or Sayir

 

We wish all our readers a happy and prosperous Sauramāna Yugādi , with a sincere prayer that the auspicious day give us all strength to renew our energy levels  to fight courageously the dreaded disease covid- 19 caused by Corona Virus, in spite of many hardships caused by lock-down.  Let us spiritedly adhere to lock-down instructions to the letter, to drive away the common foe.

 

 

Ravindra Mundkūr   &  Hosabeṭṭu Vishwanāth