305. Mulki: An Emerged Land

Mulki is an unassuming small coastal town located midway on the National Highway 66 (formerly NH17) that connects the port city of Mangalore with the temple town of Udupi along the West Coast. It is located on the southern bank of the West flowing River Shāmbavi. The name for the town of Mulki was said to have been given by the Kanakadasa (ca.1508-1606 CE), a renowned proponent of Bhakti cult in Karnataka. Kanakadasa introduced the place name Mulki in the 16^th Century CE for a place earlier known as Volalanke. Mulki was ruled by Samantha chieftains, whose inheritors still remain in the present day as landlords in the area.

The Shambavi and Pavanje Rivers and theVillages around Mulki Town.

Somewhere in the period of 7^th or8th Century CE, a Muslim merchant from the Beary community, faced an acute problem   as his merchant boat laden with rich goods was struck at the Port of Volalanke. Someone from the locality advised him to pray to Goddess of the area Bhagavathi/Durga and build a temple in her honour. Merchant Bappa prayed to the Goddess and that he would build  a temple in her honour if his boat was  salvaged from the rough weather.

The edicts of King  Ashoka,  ca 3^rd Century BC, refer to Satiyaputo   which can be correlated with legendary Satyanapura documented in the Siri PaDdana. The Eastern part of Mulki is the fabled domain of legendary lady Siri  comprising the present villages of Mundkur, Bola, Kadandale and Kallamundkur. Further,the legend of Parashuram essentially envisages a major event of retreat of the Sea and emergence of land in the west Coast of India (known generally as ‘regression of the sea’ in geological parlance). Combining these anecdotes we may infer that Siri legend predates the legend of Parashurama.

Recent geological studies coupled with analysis of the available scanty historical data by this Tulu research team reveal that Mulki is part of the coastal strip of land that emerged from the Arabian Sea approximately during the beginning of the Common Era. However, the natural process of emergence of land from the Sea has been metaphorically attributed in the prevalent coastal legends of the West Coast of India to the miraculous feat accomplished by mythical Lord Parashurama. Similarly the flow path or position of River Shambavi has altered and indications suggest that the river has migrated laterally towards North in the recent history of the Coast. We shall discuss some of these interesting historical aspects in the light of our recent studies in this post.

Volalanke- Mulki

Writer Narayana A. Bangera in his Kannada serial Hari bhakti sāra being published in Mogaveera periodical of Mumbai, states that Kanakadasa who visited this coastal area while he was travelling around the temple town of Udupi, sometime in the 16^th Century CE, renamed the place originally known as Volalanke as Mulki. The name Mulki has been Sanskritised in some references as Mulikapura.
The term Mulki possibly refers either to (1) the herb (moolike) or to (2) the land (derived from Urdu word Mulk).

The Volalanke (or simply Olalanke) still remains as the name of a hamlet within Mulki located about 2.5 km East of the Coastline. The area near the Venkataramana Temple in the Eastern part of Mulki is still known as Volalanke. The term Vola-lanke means an inner island or in other words an island within a river. The coastal rivers of Karavali invariably consist of numerous small islands generally known as kuduru in Mangalore Udupi area (or kurve  in Uttar Kannada).

Thus Volalanke represents an ancient kuduru or river island within the former course of the River Shambavi. The area west of Venkataramana  Temple extending up to  Mulki Bus stand, consisting of an elevated land area that was formerly an island (or kuduru) within the erstwhile course of River Shambavi. The River Shāmbavi has changed its flow path and migrated northwards during the course of evolutionary history   leaving the ancient kuduru of Volalanke as part of the landmass.

Bappanad

One of the major landmarks of Mulki town is the Durga Parameshwari temple which is also popularly known as the Bappanād Temple. The original temple of Bappanad was said to have been constructed under the direction of a Muslim Beary merchant called Bappa Beary, sometime during 7^th or 8^th Century CE. Anecdotes prevailing in the society describe that a merchant ship owned by Bappa was stranded in the Sea and could not be brought to safe anchorage   at the ancient port of Mulki. When he pleaded help of the locals in bringing his ship to safety, someone suggested him to pray to the native presiding diety of the region Bhagavati Durga Parameshwari. Accordingly merchant Bappa vowed to build a temple for the diety if his ship loaded with merchandise was rescued. Legends state that Bappa succeeded in retrieving his ship from the troubled waters and later he accomplished his oath by building a Temple for the Bhagavati Durga Parameshwari near the Bundar area of Volalanke. The area around the temple was known as  Bappanad and the temple was famous as Bappanad.

Location of ancient coastline of Mulki region  with Bundar (Port) during the period of Bappa Beary.(Purple line shows the deduced ancient coastline ca 6th Century CE and the yellow beach strip indicates the current coastline.Volalanke means an island within river or a 'kuduru'. Note the presence of islands or  'kuduru's in the current River Shambavi.)

 The local people report that the ancient Bappanad Temple was originally located near the Old Bundar in Mulki and was shifted to its present location West of National Highway some 400 or 500 years ago.

Old Bappanad Bundar

Ports are invariably located on the mouths of the estuaries or closer to the beaches so as to facilitate convenient marine navigation for merchant ships. However, as pointed out in older posts herein, many of the Karavali Ports are located on river banks, a few kilometers inland from the Sea.

In Mulki we have an area called Bundar located on the southern bank of River Shambavi and about 2 km East of the present coastline. The term Bundar (=Port) is of Arabic origin and appears to have been introduced in the West coast after the Arabs entered into trade in the ports of Karavali.

Migration of Shambavi

The Volalanke area was an island within River Shambavi when it was flowing further south around Volalanke several centuries earlier. It means in other words that River Shambavi has shifted laterally northwards during the recent history. This observation is also confirmed in the case of other Rivers of the Karavali like Phalguni, Netravati etc.

The lateral migration of rivers is an event of relatively lesser importance from the point of history compared to the miraculous, sequential emergence of coastal land by gradual retreat of the Sea. The aspect of miracle in the natural event made people to attribute the event to the mythical powers of the legendary Parashurama.

Parashuram legend

Legends of a mythical hero known as Parashuram acquiring surplus land from the Lord of Sea are rampantly widespread in the West Coast of India. While old fashioned believers piously consider the story of Lord Parashuram quite seriously, atheists with scientific bend of mind scientists spurn the legends. However, the compiled geological data coordinated with available historical data reveal that retreat of the Arabian Sea and emergence of extra land in the West Coast of India was a real geological event that occurred sometime during or before the inception of the Common Era.

Domain of the Legendary Lady Siri

The oral genre of folklore of Tulunadu known as ‘Siri PāDdana’  (D pronounced as in Dog, d as in ‘the’) describe the anecdotes of a brave lady called Siri. Folklore experts tend to believe that the Siri PaDdana was initially composed around 10^th Century CE or later. However, we have suggested in older posts that the folklore was originally composed in an older period probably contemporaneous with the renowned Sangam Period of Tamilnadu. Probably, similar to Sangam in Tamilnadu there was a Tulu Sangam period in Tulunadu. Since its early composition, the original folklore might have been revised several times over during the course of subsequent history.

However, one of the curious observation of historical significance is that the Siri anecdote occurs mainly in the present villages of Bola, Mundkur, (Saccheripete) Kallamundkur and Kadandale. These villages can be considered as the central area or domain of Siri folklore. Probably the earliest form of Siri PaDdana was originally composed in this region. In the PaDdana, We also hear about Karkala town market, parts of  Nandalike, Kalya, Pilar etc that are located North and North-East of the principal Siri domain. We can also judge that Basarur, the town to which the Siri was married off to  Kantha Alva, was another important principality and Port town of the time (ca. 4^th-3^rd Century BC).

But the key point to be highlighted is that the folk document totally lacks any reference to the important coastal towns of today. Note that none of the present coastal towns of Karavali like Kundapur, Udupi, Mulki or even Mangalore find mentioned in the Siri folk document. Indirectly it may point out to the fact that none of these present coastal towns actually existed during the original composition of the Siri fable. And this could only happen because these coastal towns were under the Sea and hence, did not exist during the Siri times! Indirectly this data points to the fact that the Siri domain (Mundkur, Bola, Kadandale and Kallamundkur) was the located on the ancient   coastline during  the Siri period! Thus the circumstantial evidences reveal that the Siri legend in original form predates the legend of Parashurama.

(Fig 305-2).
The Arabian Sea receded after the composition of the Siri PaDdana. The process of regression could have begun before the  original composition of Siri legend period. And it continued slowly and progressively westwards thereafter as evidenced by the  position of Barkur and Mulki Ports.
(For comparative discussion on regression of the sea in the West Coast also read articles on Basrur and Alupe in the Older Posts herein.)

Retreat of sea

Retreat of the Arabian Sea and consequent emergence of coastal strip of land is a fact supported by geological and historical data. Overall data reveals that the ancient coastline of Arabian Sea was near Mundkur-Bola-Kadandale  before and during the period of King Ashoka, corresponding with the time slot of ca 4^th to 3^rd Century BC.

Further the Bappanad legend reveals that the inland area even now known as ‘Bundar’  was the actual estuary and Port during the period of Bappa Beary, estimated roughly as ca. 6^th to 7^th Century CE.

From the overall analysis of the data it can be concluded that the regression of the Arabian Sea has taken place continuously during the last 2500 years. Possibly it has continued even after the composition of the legend attributed to Lord Parashurama.

An Emerged land

Thus the region Mulki that emerged from the sea during the last two millennia reminds us the pages of bygone colorful history admixed with seemingly unexplained mysteries of regression of the Arabian Sea that have been converted by our ancestors with rich poetic imagination into everlasting legends attributed to mythical Super-humans like Parashurama.

-Hosabettu Vishwanath & Ravi Mundkur

229. MUNDKŪR: Obscure pages of history

Mundkur Durga Parameshwari temple celebrates annual car festival this year on 18th February 2010.
A friendly comment by M.A. Acharya, on an earlier rather hastily written post on ‘MunDkūr’ prompts me to add some additional data on the obscure history of this place:
Mundkur [pronounced ‘MunDukoor’] is a large village that can be met on the way from Murukaveri to Belman. Murukaveri is a place name derived from ‘three ‘kayar’. It can be reached either from Kinnigoli or Kateel. Inna hamlet that can be accessed from the Padubidri -Karkal main road constitutes northern part of the Mundkur village.

River Shāmbavi
Mundkur village is located on the bank of River Shāmbavi. River Shāmbavi originates near Saānur and flows westward and meets the Arabian Sea near Mulki town. Hence it is also known as Mulki River. Interestingly, it takes an unusual rectangular U shaped bend south of Mundkur village. This unusual shaped fluvial path has been induced by tectonic movements in the Earth surface.
Origin of the name of the river is not clear. It appears that the name ‘Shāmbavi’ is a variant of ‘Jāmbavi’ the female counterpart of ‘Jāmbava’. The name ‘Jāmbava’ is a Tulu form of ‘Jāmbavantha’, a bear character associated with Sugriva in Ramayana. A bear spirit named Jumādi (or ‘Doomavathi’) is being worshipped in Tulunadu. Thus, the River Shāmbavi has possibly been named after the ancient spirit of the region, Jumādi.
It may be recalled that a river flowing in Kundapur Taluk has been named Varāhi, possibly after the cult of Panjurli, the ancient spirit of a wild boar.
The name Shāmbavi has been considered as an incarnation of Goddess Shakti, but there are no known temples dedicated to the worship of Shāmbavi in the region.
Place-name: Mundkur
The place name Mundkur (munD+kur) has been attributed to one demon called Mundāsura, who was exterminated by Goddess Durga Parameshwari according to the Puranic lores. Apart from this, the place name carries significant vestiges of the early history of Tulunadu. The ancient words ‘mund’ and ‘munDa’ have remained in our vocabulary as a fossils providing evidence to the notion that tribes belonging to Toda and Munda group survived in these region in the past.
Toda mund
The word ‘mund’ represents a hamlet in Toda language. And the word ‘munda’ represents ‘village headman’ in Munda group of languages. The word ‘munda’ (=young man) has also survived in languages like Punjabi.
Toda tribes now live in Niligiri are a hilly tracts of Tamilnadu. It is said they migrated to southern India from the north. Toda tribes used to follow polyandry like Tibetans. Polyandry was followed among certain tribal communities in the past. Mahabharata has documented polyandry among Pandavas, with Draupati being married to five Pandava brothers. Toda were traditionally dairy farmers, closely associated buffaloes and activities. They traditionally live in huts with semicircular to conical roof sloping in either directions.
It appears that Toda tribes lived in Mundkur and Kallamundkur region in the past. There is also another village in the neighborhood known as ‘Todar’, near Mudabidri, distinctly named after Toda tribes.

Toda-Munda
Robert Caldwell and succeeding linguists have classified the language of Toda tribes under Dravidian Group of languages. However, the basic Toda word for house, ‘mund’ and its relation to the word ‘munda’ suggests connection with Munda group. It is possible that some of the tribes and their languages now linguistically classified under Dravidian were formerly members of the older Munda group of langauges.
Mundala tribe
There are several places in the West coast that carry Munda tags such as Mundadi, Mundaje, Mundugodu, Kallamundkur, Hermunde, etc. The ‘Mundāla’ tribes of the Karavali - Tulunadu are the surviving members of the ancient Munda tribes that pervaded large parts of the southern peninsula once upon a time in the antiquity. The Munda Group of Austro-asiatic tribes, are now distributed in parts of Central India like Orissa, Jharkand, Chattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, apparently were spread all over southern India in the antiquity. Their languages have not been studied in detail. And it is possible that some of the languages presently classified under the Dravidian Group may might actually be evolved remnants of the older Munda group of languages.
Kallamundkur village is located to the south of Mundkur, separated by River Shāmbavi. Apparently, the southern Kalla-mundkur was distinguished from northern Mundkur at a later time. The ‘ kalla’ prefix in Kallamundkur probably refers to the rocky (‘kallu’=stone) outcrops in the area rather than to the kallar/ kannar or kalavar tribes.
‘Kotrupadi’ area, reminiscent of ancient ‘Kotru’ or ‘Koitur’ Gonda tribes , is a hamlet in the northern part of Kallamundkur.

Spatial suffix –kūr
The spatial suffix ‘-kūr’(or -koor) is less common in Tulunadu. It appears it developed as ‘ku’+’oor’ (= good +village). Apart from Mundkūr, we have Nandikūr village towards north. Nandi represents bull.
Some people believe that the name of Bārkūr, a major historical city of Tulunadu was derived from the words ‘bār+kūr’, where bār means paddy. However, analogy of similar place names duplicating along the West coast (such as Kalyana, Uchila, Pandeshwara, Bārke, etc) suggest that Barkur was Barka + oor. Historical reports of Ptolemy ( ca. 150 BC) for example refer to the Gulf of Cutch as Gulf of Baraka. Similarly, the Barkur during the early historical period was located in the gulf or estuary of Seetha and Swarna rivers. The combined river mouth of Seetha -Swarna has been altered during subsequent history. Besides, the estuary of Kudroli -Bokkapatna was known as ‘Barke’. The name Barke near Bokkapatna, Mangalore still exists.
Bellar: White tribes
One of the interesting features in the ancient history of Tulunadu is the documentation of arrival and settling of white races. There is a distinct set of villages carrying names of ‘Bel ‘or ‘Bellar’ (kannada) and ‘’ or ‘Bollar’(Tulu).
Tulunadu There are several villages around Mundkur that carry the names of Bella/Bolla/Vella (=white) tribes. Originally the southern India was a habitat of dark skinned tribes. Fair or white skinned tribes immigrated into these areas at a later period in the history. Village names Belman, Bola, Beluvayi, Balkunje (originally this village might have been known as ‘Belkunje’) and probably also ‘Inna’ suggest the invasion of white skinned tribes. These villages are located on the either periphery of Toda-Munda villages and probably there were historical clashes between the Toda Mundas and Bella tribes, possibly during the early centuries of the Common Era. The clashes have been glorified and reflected in the theme of Devi Mahatme.
Inna
Inna is also a strange name without any appropriate meaning in the native languages. It is possible that ‘Inna’ represents an immigrant tribe from Caucasian/Russian region. Possibly the villages with ‘kencha-‘ (=reddish) prefix also refer to such reddish tanned European immigrated into these areas during the early history.
Gururaja Bhat (2009 edition) has cited the presence of Bellar tribes in Tulunadu and other parts of southern India. He opined that they existed during the Rigveda period. Therefore it may be tentatively proposed that ‘Bellar’ white skinned immigrants entered southern India during the period ca.1200-800 BC.

Durga Parameshwari
The idol of Mundkur Durgadevi temple has been identified as Mahisha Mardini. Durga Devi is known as Durga Parameshwari in the region suggesting supremacy of Shakti cult. (‘Parameshwari’= parama + eshwari=supreme goddess).The idol in the Durga temple is 75cm in height with slim body holding conch (‘shanka’) and wheel (‘chakra’) in upper hands. It has a small crown on the head. The lower left hand is carved showing the act of seizing the tail of ‘Mahisha’ (the buffalo demon)and the lower right hand holds the trident-spear (‘trishula’) vertically slaying the Mahisha.
Based on the sculptural style, the idol has been dated at 6th Century CE. (Murulidhara Upadhya & Narasimha Murthy, 2000).
Mahisha Mardini
Several versions of “Devi Mahatme” puranas, describing the prowess of the goddess Durga Devi are in vogue. Historians believe that the Bhagavathi cult during the waning stages of Buddhism in southern India , probably under the influence of Hindu revivalist sages like Shankaracharya later developed into Durga worship cults in Kerala and Tulunadu. Devi Mahatme envisages several villainous Asura characters like like Chanda, Munda and Mahisha, who were ultimately slained by the Goddess Durga. She acquired the name ‘Mahisha Mardhini’ (mahisha=buffalo, mardhini=slayer) after slaying the Mahisha-asura. ‘Mundkur kshetra Mahatme’, a variant of ‘Devi Mahatme’ envisages that the place name Mundakūr came into being, consequent upon Goddess Durga killing the Asura Munda.
Infact, Asura tribes were one of the members of Munda tribes. Ancient tribes like Munda and Toda , being dairy farmers, held ‘mahisha ‘(=buffalo) in respect. Or in other words, the dairy animal buffalo was representative of the Todas and Mundas.
It appears that the entire concept ‘Devi Mahatme’ (ca. 6 century CE) consisting of extermination of the buffalo- demon (‘Mahishasura’) was probably built on the theme of driving off Toda tribes from the region. Buffaloes were integral part of Toda culture. The ‘Asura’ were also a sub-sect of Munda tribes. And the cult of ‘Mahisha Asura’ probably depicted the villainous elements among the Toda Munda tribes that clashed with Bellar tribes over various socio-political issues, before being driven out of the area.
Todas tribes possibly had evacuated the region (ca. 1-3 century CE) before the creation of the legend. And Mundkur region might have been the original site where the concept poetic theme of buffalo slayer ‘Mahisha Mardini’ in Devi Mahatme was conceived.
The West face: Vāstu
Originally the main entrance to the temple and the idol was built and installed facing towards the West facing the proximal segment of the Shāmbavi River. An old ‘kalyani’ (temple pond) still exists on the Western boundary of the temple, providing substantial evidence to this fact. Later the main entrance and the idol were changed to face the East direction. This appears to be the result of a major shift in the architectural (Vāstu ) concept during this period. The main entrance of many old Shiva/ Durga temples of Karavali like Sharavu (Mangalore), Chitrapura, Bappanadu etc still face Western direction. It is a Vastu concept that the devotee should face eastern direction while praying to the God.This concept might have been initiated on account of Sun worship wherein the devotee to faces Sun in the East direction. Therefore,in the Vastu concept, to enable the devotees to pray towards east the idol and the main entrance are to be placed facing west.
Somehow this concept underwent changes apparently during the eminence of Natha cult.Thus, Mangaladevi temple, Mangalore, has been built with idol and main entrance facing towards East. The Kadri Shiva temple faces north,but the main entrance to the temple premise faces East. Thus, it seems the periodical changes in the Vastu concepts,during the history, prompted alteration in the direction of idol and entrance in the Mundkur Durga temple.
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