101. Early dormant Jainism

Readers may have noted that the earlier posts in this blog have marshaled a few strings of evidences to assert that Buddhism was present in Karavali /Tulunadu since ca. 300 BC from the times of composition of Siri paDdana upto 10 or 11th century when Shaivism gradually overtook the Buddhism as mass favoured religious cults. While the evidences in favour of Buddhism are strong during the early period (ca.300 BC to 500 CE) similar evidences are not distinctly available in favour of early Jainism in Karavali/Tulunadu.

Jainism and Buddhism
Gautama Buddha and Mahavira were contemporaries and hailed from the same province. Buddhism was founded by Gautama Buddha ,but Jains, in general, believe that Jain philosophy was founded by the first Tirthankara known as Rishaba and Mahavira has been considered as the last TIrthankara in the sequence of 24th tirthankaras. This assertion of pre-Vedic antiquity possibly suggests to the existence of basic ascetism in pre-Vedic cultures. It can be b noted that the concept of Shiva, with tiger -skin loin cloth and ash covered body, which was subsequently developed into Shaivism during post-Vedic period, is also basically a primitive path of ascetism.
Jain tradition also believes that Chandragupta Maurya (grandfather of King Ashoka) adopted Jainism and travelled to Sravanbelagola along with Jain monk Bhadrabahu. These data suggest that Jainism was introduced to southern India before the introduction of Buddhism.
However, the available evidences in the Karavali are in favour of imprints of Buddhism rather than Janinism especially during the early centuries of the Christian Era.
Dormant Jainism in Early CE
This apparent paradox has been answered by scholars. The early Jainism (Nirgrantha) was highly ascetic that did not attract common people. The Buddhism and mainstream Hinduism followed paths of Bhakti to attract common people. The Jain monks had to compete with these devotional cults like Buddhism and mainstream Hinduism, which they resorted to after 5th century CE to enhance the mass appeal according to scholars and religious analysts like M.A.Dhaky and John E .Cort.
Thus we find proliferation of Jainism only after 5th century CE in different parts of southern India including Tulunadu/Karavali.
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100. Kadamba Dynasty

An image of Halmidi inscription with Buddhist wheel at the top.

The period of Mayura Sharma (later he was known as King Mayura Varma), who established possibly the first Kannada dynasty and his successors (ca.345-525 CE) at Banavasi (near Sirsi in the present Uttara Kannada district) is a significant milestone for both Kannada and Tulu history. There is a viewpoint that he came from northern India and settled in Banavasi area.

Kadamba tree
The traditional accounts describe him as a Brahmin turned Kshatriya. However there are claims that he hailed from an ancient tribe known as ‘Kadambu’ tribe, who worshipped Kadamba tree. The early Munda civilization that was prevalent in peninsular India since ca.3000BC had a cult of worshipping Kadamba trees. The Kadamba trees are worshipped as apart of festivals even today by the Munda tribes presently living in Chotanagapur areas.
It is possible that the selected from brighter students from the population were trained in Vedic studies and made priests (Brahmins).It is possible that Mayura thought high of an educated priestly career but could not accomplish it because of the humiliation he suffered.

Mayura Sharma/Varma
His background is quite interesting. He was said to be a student and went to Kanchi, (now a part of Tamilnadu), a major educational centre of that time for pursuing Vedic studies. On an occasion, he was slighted and insulted by Pallava guard at Kanchi. The young Mayura could not bear the humiliation and vowed to avenge for it. He returned to his place, organized the people and built an army. He fought against the ruling Pallava Kings and retrieved the Kannada areas around Banavasi and other areas. The Alupas of Tulunadu were chieftains under the Kadamba Kings.
Obviously the Mayura Varma was influenced by the Tamil language and literary activities. He was impressed by the use of Tamil script for documenting literary works and temple culture of the Tamils. The Tamils had a flourishing temple culture at that time.

Introduction of Script for Kannada
Therefore when he established a new kingdom at Banavasi, he introduced a script for the archaic form of Kannada (now known as old Kannada) prevalent at that time. The script was based on the Brahmi script but was deeply influenced by the Tamil script of that time.

Halmidi inscription
The Kadamba period is a datable event since the Halmidi inscription (ca.450CE) belongs to the reign of Kakusthavarma. Possibly, he can be credited for laying the foundation for evolving and popularizing the initial form of Kannada script. The script used in Halmidi (near Belur, Hassan district) used Brahmi characters but was influenced by Tamil script. Interestingly, a wheel has been sculpted at the top of the Halmidi inscription. The wheel is a symbolic of existence of Buddhism and the King who installed the Halmidi inscription (Kakustha varma?) may have been a Buddhist in faith. However, some have interpreted the wheel as ‘Sudarshan Chakra’ of Lord Vishnu.It seems that the Kadamba kings favoured all religious cults including Jainism and Buddhism.

Introduction of Temples and Brahmins
Mayura Varma, influenced by the Tamil temple culture, initiated the temple culture in Karnataka and Tulunadu. He built several new temples and organized people to run the temples in an orderly manner. This necessitated the immigration of priests (Brahmins) to regularly carry out the ceremonial pooja in the temples. He is said to have brought Brahmins (those trained in Vedic studies) from Ahicchatra and granted 144 villages (agrahara) for Brahmins to settle in the area. The exact location of Ahicchatra has been disputed with opinions ranging from banks of Godavari River to parts of Uttar Pradesh.
Until then the spirit cult was the dominant form of religious faith in both Karnataka and Tulunadu. The Spirit cult was largely centered on families and landlords, whereas the temple cult became a community affair that involved the people of the whole village or cluster of villages. New communities like Sapaligas were introduced to play musical notes in the Karavali temples. Devadiga were introduced to look after sundry works in the temple premises.

Parashurama cult
The cult of Parashurama was re-introduced during Kadamba period. The story of Mayura Sharma and his conquest of Pallava kings bear similarity to the legend of Parashurama.. Moreover the legend is a part of ‘Sahyadri Kanda’, the Sahyadri being the environs of Banavasi, the Kadamba capital. It was probable that myths of his time considered Mayura Varma to be an incarnation of Parashurama the saviour of sages and priests (Brahmins) from the tyranny of the ruling class (Kshyatriyas).
Consequent upon the introduction of Parashurama cult and the associated myths, the coastal Karavali, Malabar, Konkan people were made to believe that their land was retrieved from the Sea.
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66.Taravada concept

The Nairs of Malabar have traditionally adapted to the custom of Taravada, which is a custom of reverence to the original joint-family house. The Nairs, are considered to have been immigrants from Nepal who settled in the West coast (Karavali and Malabar) during the early centuries of the Christian era. In Nepal they were known as Neyers, according to Zacharias Thundy. The immigrant Nair fraction settled in Tulunad adapted to farming and subsequently merged with local farmers, the ‘Okkelakulu’(Gururaja Bhat,1970). Thus as a consequence of assimilation of Nair fractions that followed Theravada customs, the Tulu farming community, now known as ‘Bunts or Nadavas’ have also adapted to the Taravada custom. This indirectly suggests that Buddhism was prevalent in Tulunadu, along with the cult of spirit worship, in the early centuries of the Christian Era.
Moolasthana and Taravada
The concept is chronologically later extension and evolution of the ‘Moolasthana’ concept. The ‘Moolasthana’ concept (origin and development: ca. 2000-800 BC) emphasized on the original place (hamlet or part of village) of settlement which was held sacred for the progeny of the particular group or clan (which may include several later formed communities).Whereas the Taravada or Theravada concept evolved during early Buddhist period, derived from the Theravada school (ca. 250 BC), concentrated on the reverence to the Family house of origin. The chronological evolution of notion of original habitation to original family house is notable.
Buddhist school
The concept and school of Theravada Buddhism, coincides with the life and times of King Ashoka. Theravada in Pali language means the ‘path of the elders’. [Theravada (Pali)> Sthavira-vada (Sanskrit)]. It is said that the Nairs were brought along with Brahmins by Kadamba King Mayura Sharma (ca.450 AD) to maintain newly built temples of Tulunadu. However, available evidences point to the existence of Buddhism in Tulunadu (Mayi kala and Kadarika Vihar, at Mangalore).Thus it is not clear at this moment whether the Buddhist concept of ‘Taravada’ was introduced to Tulunadu/Malabar by the Nairs or by other Buddhist monks that arrived here before the Nairs.
Gujarat connection
The word Taravada has several connections with Gujarat. Taravada, incidentally, is also the name of a village in the Amreli district of Gujarat. There is another Haripar Taravada village in Lodhika Tehsil of Rajkot district of Gujarat. In Gujarat, presently some Vaishnav Gurukuls like Swami Narayan are also called Taravada.

53. More on Munda influence on Tulu.

The substratum of Munda language and culture that prevailed in the Karavali region has been amalgamated with the overall Tulu culture during passage of some past 2500 or more years of recent history. Yet the present Tulu language and culture has still hidden vestiges of Munda words and culture that can be deciphered. I have compiled some of the Munda words and cultural characteristics from online sources.
The Munda words cited here below are adopted from Munda Kharia lexicon compiled by Patricia J.Donegan and David Stampe (2004) base on field studies in present day Chotanagapur region in North-Central India. Apart from the chance of missing many original ancient words in the cited dictionary, it should be remembered that Munda words also have evolved regional variations like Dravidian or other languages. Some of the actual original, ancient proto-Munda words of south India may have been more nearer to present Tulu and other Dravidian words. And there could be many more words missing in this list that were eventually absorbed by Tulu language.

Tulu words adopted from older Munda language
Ajja ( aja=grandfather), aeri (aer =ridge), ajao (ajo’D =dry up), appa(apa=father), anDu (anDu =testicle), arka(arkhi=liquor), baar(ba), bala (bha=come on), batti (bati=wick), bave (bav=brother-in-law), churi (churi=knife), aena (ena=what,for), anjov (anDia=male), kanile (karil=bamboo shoot), sapura (sakura=thin), saal(sa:l=year), muDi (muDhi=puffed rice), pura (pura=complete), punnime (puni=fullmoon), Samudra (Samudra=sea), purku (purkha=generation), satyo(sat=truth), suru (suru=begin), Taari (ta:R,taaRi=palm), ter(=temple car)<(ter=to prepare, apply)>tayar., theriya( =round, necklace like)( theriya =plate, round necklace), tiga (tiG=to weave (hive?),toppi (Topi=cap), tuj / duj (tuj(=arrow), umma (um=no), ulTa,(ulTa =topsy turvey, upside down), urdu (urid=black gram), tude (tuDa=to float, water)


Munda based Tulunad place names!
Tulunadu has several villages with odd sounding or unintelligible place names whose meanings cannot be ascertained in present Tulu language! Meanings of many of these puzzling names can be solved by tracing their Munda roots.
Sirwa (=red thread), Parkala (=mirror), Parengi (= a variant of Munda tribe/language, meaning unknown presently), Nagori (= a variant of Munda tribe/language, means Naga settlement), Ubar (=two) For two-rivers? Uphe (=three) > Uppinangadi?. Bold words above indicate Munda words.
Some village names of Tulunadu are similar to Telugu words and earlier were considered to have been derived from the latter. For example: Rayi and Manchakal. It has to be verified whether these words came from Telugu or from proto-Munda, that gave words to both Tulu and Telugu.

Munda inspired Tulu month names!
In traditional Tulu calendar, the year start with the month ‘paggu’, beginning someday in January or February. The word ‘paggu’, apparently, does not have any understandable meaning in the current Tulu. ‘Phagu’ is an annual Munda festival celebrated at the beginning of Munda New Year, during Jan-Feb every year! So, some of the unusual or seemingly odd sounding month-names in the Tulu calendar may have been borrowed from the precursor language of Munda!

Munda inspired Tulu festivals
Origin of some of the traditional Tulu (also Malayali and Kodava) festivals may have roots in the ancient Munda culture. The Munda ‘Karam’ festival may have influenced the ‘Koral parba’/’Posatt’, ‘Onam’ and ‘Huttari’ festivals! The Munda word ‘Karam’ also known as ‘kaim’ or ‘kaddam’ refers to Kadamba tree. The Munda Karam festival begins with bringing flowers from the Kadamba tree. (Mitragyne parvifolia).The festival has similarity with ‘Kural’(=‘posatt’) festival of Tulu people that starts with bringing home new ‘Kural’ (fresh ear of paddy grains).
The Kadamba tree was considered auspicious during the earlier historical days. The Kannada dynasty founded (5th Century AD) by Mayura Sharma/Varma was known as Kadamba dynasty. It is said there was a Kadamba tree in front of Mayura Sharma’s residence at Banvasi.

Direction names in Tulu and Kannada?
The roots of two direction indicators in Tulu, Kannada and other Dravidian languages are derived from Munda language. muDu and paDu. Mudu =east .< (mu=come out), paDu (=west) .<(puD=jump, sink?).
The data relating to the origin of other two directional words: ‘baDa’(=north) and ‘tenka’(=south) is not available at present.

Munda words in Kannada
Early Kannada and early Tulu languages during and before Kadamba period were very similar to each other except for local variations and local influence of proto Munda words in Tulu and Kannada areas.
Note that the following Kannada words are of Proto-Munda origin.
Ajja (aja), aeri(aer=ridge), anDu (anDu),Hege (ighay=how?) enu (ena=what?), banda (banDa=castrated), churi (churi), bava (bav), baa (bha=come), baDagi (baDhi=carpenter), appa (apa), bhaga(bhag=share), bati (bati=wick), dhoti (dhoti), iswi (iswi=year), joru (joar, johar=greet), kamba (=pillar), kumbar(=potter), kaRba (karba=plough handle), mudhaliar (mudha=village head), suru(suru=begin), suley(suley=hot), ter (ter=to prepare, apply)>tayar, toppi(Topi=cap), turtu (turte=quick), ele(ula=leaf),Ri,re (re,ri =form of address).

Debatable origin of few Sanskrit words?
Some of the words are currently commonly used in Sanskrit and we generally assume them to be original Sanskrit words. However, there is need to verify whether these could be the words borrowed into Sanskrit from earlier Munda roots. For example:
Puja (=sacrifice), balidaan (=sacrifice), dharama (=supreme spirit), sa:t (=truth, seven). The word ‘Puja’ has previously been suggested to of non-Sanskrit origin. ‘Balidaan’ is a special word. Bali is a common Munda name. It is also the name of a righteous legendary Munda king, who sacrificed all of his territories in favour of a dwarf (Vamana) only to ensure his promise of Gift. It may not be surprising if this word ‘balidaan’ (=gift of Bali) has originated from that legendary/historical event.
The Tulu word ‘parba’ is generally assumed to be derivative of Sanskrit word ‘parva’. Could the Munda parab (=festival) be the original word from which Tulu ‘parba’ and Sanskrit ‘parva’ were evolved?

52. Munda aborigines of Karavali

When Early Tulu tribes migrating from Pirak region came and settled in Karavali (coastal tract) of present Karnataka around 750 -600 BC, they found the coastal tract was already inhabited by civilized people living in village type settlements with agricultural, farming and pastoral occupations. The whole of southern India, especially all hospitable river banks and estuaries were inhabited by proto-Munda tribes.

Proto-Munda (south)
Let us use the word ‘Proto-Munda (south)’ to denote these aborigines of southern India because the generally prevailing socio-anthropological impression is that there are no Munda (language/ culture) groups in southern India at present. But there are distinct and strong evidences for their presence in southern India and by the time Early Tulu and Dravidian tribes arrived on the south Indian scene ca.750-600.
The Munda tribes are currently distributed in parts of central and eastern India. This present limited distribution of Munda tribes may be only the relics of a bygone vast empire of Proto-Munda groups that were spread all over India during the Neolithic period. They evolved into several subgroups and sub languages of their own before the arrival of relatively later entrants. The civilized among the Proto-Munda tribes during the course of subsequent history, were eventually assimilated with later entrants into the region like Dravidians and Indo-Aryans.

Early Tulu and Proto-Munda encounter
Early Tulu tribes initially settled in favorable estuaries of rivers proximal to the sea. Probably the estuaries and river banks of Sharavathi (around Honnavar), Swarna-Seetha (around Hoode-Hangarakatta), Haladi (around Barkur-Kundapur), formed the initial settlements of Early Tulu tribes judging by the distribution of major ancient primary settlements (moolasthanas).Adequate archeological supporting data may not be available for want of detailed studies or because of destructions due to extensive rainfall, fluctuation in the sea levels, changes in the river courses and floods that characterize the region.
Proto-Munda tribes must have been a dominant cultural group in Tulunad when people with ‘Tulu’ tag arrived from the north. As the Early Tulu tribes encountered Proto-Munda tribes, the former noticed that the latter are relatively a shorter breed, a physiology characterized by broad foreheads, Munda were wearing different attires or dressing styles. Early Tulu people coined several words containing Munda affixes to denote items new or strange to them but common for the pre-existing Mundas! Obviously,these words are not from Munda language but coined by early Tulu people.
So Tulu language acquired a few new words like ‘mundu’1 (= a sheet of cloth traditionally wrapped around the hips) ‘mundas’(a sheet of cloth wrapped around the head), ‘mundu’2 (a measure about five feet, average size of a Munda man in those days),’mundu’3 (=knee),’munda’(=forehead) etc. (The Munda tribes apparently had prominent, high or wide foreheads and their knees were exposed, unlike the new comers from colder region who covered their entire body in the beginning).
Newcomers from the northwest were of tall breed. They called themselves ‘aaL’ (=literally means one person) One ‘aaL’ represented six feet of height.
Both these relative height measures of ‘mundu’ and ‘aaL’ co-exist even now in rural Tulu usage.
Tulu tribes slowly encroached into the Karavali inlands, where Munda tribes already had built settlements. For convenience of refernce, Tulu tribes named these Munda dominated settlements like Mundadi, Mundukur,Mundaje etc.

‘Munda’ related words in Tulu
Some of the Munda related words coined in Tulu language are cited below:
1. Names of Munda villages/settlements:
Mundukur, Mundagaru, Mundagodu, Mundadi, Mundodi, Mundaje, Mundur, Mundrupadi, Mundaka, Kallamundukur etc
2.Names of Munda plants:
‘Mundevu’ (Pandanus utilis), Mundu tevu, Munda kalli,
3. Names for Munda Attire:
‘Mundu’(waiste cloth, a standard part of rural attire even now in southwestern coastal India), ‘Mundas’ (=a native headgear, fashioned by rolling and tying a longer cloth around the head),
4. Names of Munda measure:
1.one ‘Mundu’=about five feet. (Average height of a short Munda man).
Possibly Munda men were of shorter stature than the newly arrived Tulu tribes.
2.one ‘AaL’= about six feet (An average height of a tall man).
5. Names of parts of the human Body:
‘mundu’= knee, ‘munda’ =forehead. (Kasha ) ‘mundana’ =shaving head.
(The word ‘munda’ in Kannada refers to the trunk or the body part below the head, as against runda=head .
6. Name of Tribe/language: Mundala.

43. Evolution of Tulu Language

I propose a three stage evolution of Tulu language. Other Dravidian languages also share this global heritage.
Stage I: ca.4000-2000 BC - Proto Tulu
Proto Tulu originated in Ethiopia. It contained lot of words derived from Sumerian languages and African languages. Some of these words still survive in our language. Other Proto-Dravidian languages also were originated in the region.
Around 2000 BC severe desertification of northern Africa occurred with formation of Sahara desert. The adverse environmental conditions forced many human tribes to leave Africa and migrate to greener areas with basic amenities. Tulu and other Proto Dravidian tribes left Africa and migrated.
Stage II: ca.2000-500 BC - Early Tulu
Migrating Tulu tribes and proto-Dravidians settled in the Pirak region in Central Asia, now part of Pakistan. Pirak region had a native language: Early Prakrit. They interacted with Indo-Aryans that came from Eastern Iran. A group of Indo-Aryan sages were engaged in the oral composition of Vedas. Early Tulu and Dravidians tribes learnt rice cultivation in this area. Again unfavorable environmental conditions enticed these Tulu/Dravidian tribes to migrate into greener pastures of India.
Stage III: ca.500-300 BC - Tulu
Early Tulu and Dravidian tribes migrated into India. They traveled and settled for some time in different regions of northwestern India, interacted with local language groups and further migrated to West coast of India. Interaction of Dravidian tribes with Marathi tribes contributed exchange of words between Dravidian and Marathi. Marathi language is an evolved form of Early Prakrit.
Tulu tribes settled in Karavali region that is popularly known as Tulunadu. Early Kannada tribes settled in plains of Karnataka. (The names Kannada and Karnataka may have evolved later.) Early Malayalees traveled further south and settled in Malabar. Tamils moved further and settled in Early-Madhurai, somewhere in the southern coast of India. The Early-Madhurai was destroyed by the transgression of the Sea and Tamils resettled in inland townships designated again as Madhurai.
At that time Munda group of languages and culture prevailed all over southern India. Munda tribes were adept in agriculture.They were growing a variety of crops like wheat, barley, jowar, ragi, cow pea (kadale), black gram (urd), green gram (padengi), horse gram (kudu), togari etc. The incoming tribes interacted with Munda tribes leading to assimilation of Munda language and culture in Tulu and other Dravidian languages and culture. Dravidian groups introduced rice cultivation methods acquired from their earlier settlements.
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31. Tulu tribes - Migration from Pirak : 1000-600 BC

The Tulu identity and civilization as it exists now in Tulunad is a composite culture developed chronologically over not less than the last four thousand years. Like numerous rivers and streams flowing into the sea, several individual cultural streams have merged with the Tulu culture at different periods during the long historical past. One of the recognizable major events in the evolution of Tulu language and culture is the contribution of Tulu tribes that migrated to this Tulunad in the remote historical past dating back to the period 1000 to 600 years BC. [I quote the broad period of 400 years – i.e. 1000 to 600 BC- because I am not able to sharpen it more at present. With availability of more historical data, hopefully, we can narrow down this period.]
Iravattam Mahadevan suggested that the Indus valley civilization was an early form of Dravidian culture. Further after the decline of Indus valley civilization, possibly due to migration of rivers and abrupt floods, ca.1900 BC, Dravidians apparently moved out of the Indus valley region and lived in the north and northwest parts of the Indian subcontinent, before the advent of the Aryans. Brahui, a Dravidian language still spoken in Baluchistan, parts of Iran and adjoining areas is evidence in favour of the existence of Dravidians in those parts.
Among those who lived in the northwestern part of Indian subcontinent around Pirak, Mehrgarh, Multan and surrounding areas (now a part of Pakistan) ca.1900 to 1500 BC are Tulu and other Dravidian tribes. Aryans, migrated from Indo-European homelands also settled in these areas and composed the famous Vedas, initially in the oral tradition prevalent at that time.
That Tulu tribes were one of the groups of settlers in this area during the period cited above can be deduced by Atleast four lines of evidences recapitulated here below:
1. Presence of distinct Tulu words in Rigveda like : okha, aaNi, pala/ pela etc. These cited words have been considered by Michael Witzel as words borrowed into the early Sanskrit, since they do not conform to the linguistic word structure of Indo-European language in which the Vedas were composed. Rigveda, in original oral form, has been dated ca.1700-1500 BC. There may be more such words, for example like the suffix -aaN in braahmaN. [cf: previous posts 20,25,28 ]
2. The absorption of the legend of Abraham, into Tulu tradition as Bermer (Brahma) in the original form as a horse mounted hero.
Abraham, a popular leader of masses (legendary prophet for Jews, Christians and Muslims,) lived approximately 2000 BC in the NW Indian subcontinent-Asia Minor-Central Asia region. After his death in the tradition of spirit worship he became the “Bermer(u)” for Tulu tribes. Vedic Aryans converted the Abraham legend into the Brahman, the supreme cosmic creative power. Gradually with time Brahman evolved into the God Brahma with ten or four heads in different Purana epics, by the time of composition of the Ramayana ca. 800-500 BC. The dominance of Lord Brahma in Ramayana has been analysed in detail by SSN Murthy.
Since Tulu tribes carried their original horse mounted “Bermer” image with them to Tulunad before the evolution of the Brahma concept into ten or four headed God of creation, in northern India, the time of Tulu tribe migration can be fixed as pre 500 BC. [cf: previous posts 4, 5, 26,28 ]
3. The presence of ample Prakrit words in Tulu language, speaks of the heritage from their erstwhile homeland in Northwest Indian subcontinent. Especially the word Pirak is interesting. “Pirak” in Tulu language means ‘anything related to remote past’. Incidentally Pirak was the area of early civilization ca. 1700-800 BC. [cf: previous posts 3,6].
4. The basic “moolasthana”( literally means ‘primary inhabitation’ or ‘original homeland’) concept of Tulu tribes settled in Karavali Tulunad homeland is derived from the original concept of the tribes in their former homeland of northwest Indian subcontinent. Even today, Multan is a town in the Punjab province of Pakistan. [cf: previous posts: 9.18.19 30].There is a temple devoted to Prahlada at Multan.The legend of Prahlada,Hiranyakashipu and Narahari might have originated around this place.Incidentally,as pointed out by Manjunath,Prahlada is the grandfather of King Bali(also known as Baliyendra) who is reverred by Tulu and Malayali people since remote historical times.

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