327. Ira, Irde, Iruvattur villages

The primitive words, employed by various tribes, were carried to different regions during the course of human migrations in the face of growing civilization in the world. The evidences  in support of this statement have been preserved even today like fossils in the form of  similar sounding primitive place names found all over the world.

Ira, Irde, Iruvail and Iruavttur are some of the place names based on the prefix Ira in Karavali Tulunadu. Most of us have no idea regarding the origin or meaning of these place names even though  a few may venture that ‘Iruvattur’ means twenty villages by analogy with ‘Irva’ for the number twenty in Tulu language. (In that case, if it was allusion to the cluster of twenty villages, the place name should have been Iruva-oor   instead of Irvattur.)
Tribes named after Ira like Irula probably were distributed all over India once upon a time. Presently, the Irula tribes (they speak Irula language) are found distributed in parts of Tamilnadu and Kerala. They are well versed in the art of catching poisonous snakes and collecting venoms from the snakes. Some people think that the name Irula is derived from the Dravidian word Irul for darkness. We shall also discuss other possibilities of the origin of the word in this post.

Wild mushrooms in Iravattur Village near Karkala.

The interesting and mysterious fact is that the Ira place names are not exclusive to Tulunadu but are found all over India and other parts of the world.

Ira and Iruva

Ira was the sky Goddess among Polynesian tribes. Similarly Iruva was the Sun God among the African tribes. Analogy between Ira (Sky Goddess) and Iruva (Sun God) are evident, even though now it is difficult to say who borrowed the concept from whom. However based on the cults, we can conclude that the primitive word Ira represented God/Goddess of the sky or the Sun God in primitive ancient cultures.

Also we can see that names of Iran and Iraq are based on this string Ira. Similarly, the name of the River Irrawaddy (also known formerly as Irāvati or simply Rāvi) in Myanmar (Burma) is also based on this string Ira. Myanmar has recently changed the name.
The term Ira also exists as a personal name among Munda tribal people of Orissa, Bihar and Chattisgarh region.

Ira place names in India

There are numerous places in different parts of India named after the ancient Sun God Ira.

Andhra Pradesh: Iruvada, Iravada , Iravennu, Irapadu, Iragai, Iradapalli,Iragavaram, Irgampalli, Irasalagundam, Irangal, Iranbanda, Iridi, Irvendi,  etc.

Bihar: Irki, Iruri etc.

Chattisgarh: Irai, Iraf, Iraikhurd, Iraikalen, Iragaon, Iraguda,Iradali, Irakadand, Irakbutta, Irakbatti, Irpanar,  Irpa etc.

Gujarath: Irana etc

Jammu & Kashmir: Irazi Samba, Irkamoo etc.

Jharkhand: Irawal, Irki, Irkia etc.

Karnataka: Ira, Iruvattur, Iruvail, Irde, Iranatti, Iragodu, Iraksandra,Iragasandra,  Iranghatta, Irangalu, Iravalli, Irankarhalli, Iralevalamudi, Iragapalli, Irakarahalli, Iragamuttanahlli, Iragabanhalli, Iragareddihalli, Iragapalli, Iruvakki etc

Kerala: Iravan, Irapuram, Irikkur, Iriveri, Iroopara, etc

Maharastra: Irri, Irala, Irla, Irle, Irapur, Irali, Iropara, Irpundi, Irpanpalli, Irpanar, Irapur, Iralad, Irlad, Irachivadi, Irur, Irgaon, Irle, Irlevadi, ruha, Irthal etc.

Orissa: Irapikote, Iralgonda,Irda, IRibina, Iripiguda, Irpiguda, Irpisaru, Irpikota, Iriputa, Iralgonda, etc.

Punjab: Irak etc

Rajasthan: Irniya, Iraniyan, Iras, Irniya, Irli, etc.

Tamilnadu: Iravancheri, Iravadanallur, Iruvappapuram Iranda(n)kattalai, Iraiyanur, Irangur, Iravimangalam, Irandayiravilagam, Iravancheri, Irungur, Iravinivayal,Irur, Irupp, Iravadnallur, Irichi, Iriniyam, Iraipuvari Irulancheri, Irumbedu, Irumbuli,  Iranyasidhi, Irukkur, Irungalur, Iruveli,  Irunjirai, Irulapatti, etc

Tripura: Irani, etc

Uttar Pradesh: radatpur, Iradat nagar, Iradatganj, Iran Gokulpur, etc.

Uttarkhand: Irak, Irani, Irawal gaon, Irailli, Irakst, Irha etc.

West Bengal: Irda, Irkha, etc.

Cult of Sun God

The ancient cult of Sun worship can be traced to primitive days of civilization all over the world. It is interesting that some of these primitive words have been distributed in different parts of the world thanks to the migration of ancient tribes in search of better pastures. Even though presently the ancient word Ira has lost significance in our culture as a consequence of evolution of   languages, it seems the string Ira evolved into Ravi in later years of the history. One of the rivers of Punjab is known as Rāvi. Similarly, the Myanmar (Burma) River Irrawaddy /Irāvati   is also sometimes known as Rāvi.

         327. Ira, Irde, Iruvattur villages.

122. Irvattur, Iruvail and Iraa

A wild shrub, with tiny yellow berries, called 'Mondi' in Irvattur village.

Have you ever been able to visualize how some of the place-names have evolved over the span of time in a vibrant and dynamic zone like Karavali? Many of the bygone tribal settlements carried the name of the tribes that lived there at that time. Some tribal names have also evolved with time and consequently we find settlements with variant names of the same (or akin) tribes coexisting together.
Let us consider some of the place names like Irvattur, Iruvail and Ira. To simplify the issue let me assure you that these names may not mean anything even if you dig into the meticulously compiled volumes of Tulu Nighantu. Or, some of these words may have hidden ,now obsolete, meanings!

IRVATTUR=Yedattur
Irvattur is a sylvan village with rocky outcrops,near Renjala, located to the south east of Karkala town.
The word Irvattur literally means irvatta + oor (=twentieth village) since ‘irva’ generally means ‘twenty’ in Tulu at present. But does it mean anything really? If this is the ‘Twentieth village’, where are the other nineteen villages?
The village Irvattur has an alternate name still used by the locals. It is known as Yedattur! Now, logically it must have been Iruva=Yeda. The ‘Yeda’ or ‘Yedia’ is a modified form of Idiya, the name of a tribe that inhabited many parts of the southern India and possibly equivalent of Yadava tribes of northern India. The formula Iruva= Yeda =Idiya leads us to infer that the Iruva or Irava is a variant of the word Idiya or Iduva or Yedia or Yeda. Thus we can conclude that a sect of the ancient cattle-herder tribes (Yadava, Jadon) were variously known as Idiya, Iruva, Irava or Yedia during different time periods in different parts of Karavali and also in Karnataka.

IRUVAIL
To test this proposal we have some more villages with analogous nomenclatures. Iruvail is one such village. It is an abutting village to Yedapadavu.
Comparison with other Tulu words that start with prefix ‘Ir-‘(=two) may tempt you to analyse, Iruvail as Ir + bail (=twin fields), but it would not mean anything since there are more than two fields in the village Iruvail!
Therefore, the correct word analysis would be Iruva+ illu (=the house of the Iruva tribe).

IRA
One more village that does not find enlisted in Tulu Nighantu is Ira. The Ira (pronounced Iraa) presently is a village in Bantval Taluk, populated by Tulu and other communities. This village would have been known originally as ‘Irava’ that with passage of time has been reduced to Iraa.

Relics of a language!
Obviously some of the words and names, especially those relating to ancient tribes or their ancient settlements do not have any direct meanings in the present Tulu language. However, these 'unintelligible' words have survived with us, often tempting us to resort to alternate pun meanings in our current language of Tulu!
Such a situation of unintelligible words can arise only when an ancient culture and language(s) has been taken over by another culture and language. In this case we find pre-Dravidian tribal languages taken over by Dravidian (Tulu, in our case) language during a specific stage in the past history.
Thus, many relics of the earlier ancient culture and language have been preserved as generally unintelligible words in the Tulu language and culture.
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Wild mushrooms called 'Kalla laambu'(=Stoney mushroom) in Irvattur.