268. Nanda Rulers of Tulunadu

Many pages of earlier history of Tulunadu are obscure and have to be pieced together with random strings of data. A Nanda ruler of Tulunadu has been immortalized by the desultory adage alluding to the introduction of leather coins during the downfall of his regime (post 266): Nandarāyas inheritance was eaten away by foxes and dogs (Nanda rāyana baduku nari-nāyi tindu ponDu). It is usually believed that Nandāvara on the southern bank of River Netravati, Bantval Taluk, was the capital of the mythical Nandarāya. There have been suggestions that Nandarāya was a relative of Nanda Kings  of Pataliputra (former Patna, Bihar).However, analytical interpreted data provides some interesting insights into the Nanda issue. The data discussed below suggest that parts of Tulunadu were ruled by Nanda(n) Kings before the Alupa Period.

Nanda settlements

An overlooked historical aspect is that there are at least five or more ancient Nanda settlements in Tulunadu, apart from the well known Nandāvara. These are (1) Nandaneshwara (Panambur) (2) Nandalike (3) Nandara-bettu (4) Nandara padpu, (5) Nandarapura and (6) Nandi-gudde. With these place names we are bound to get confused over the actual location of the capital of King Nandaraya.

A common feature of these Nanda settlements in Tulunadu is that these are (or were) mostly located on the banks of rivers or beaches. Nandavara as well as Nandarabettu are located on the southern and norther banks of River Netravati in Bantval taluk. 
Nandarapura is now a hamlet near Mullarakadu and Akash bhavan area of Derebail-Konchadi in Kavur village, Mangalore.
Nandi-gudde (near Attāvar, Mangalore) is located close the former (ancient) course of River Netravati. [The Nandi-gudde in Attavar, Mangalore, possibly was ‘Nanda-gudde’ earlier.] Similarly, Nandalike (near Karkal) is located on (now dried up) banks of an ancient minor river. Nandara padpu is near Mudipu in southern part of Mangalore Taluk. Nandalike was the hometown of modern Kannada poet Muddana. Similarly Nandavara has been popularized by  Tulu researcher, Dr. Vamana Nandavara.

Nandana

And Nandaneshwara is an ancient Shiva temple in coastal Panambur beach area, now part of New Mangalore Port. It is traditional in ancient India that the coastal temple towns were named after the Shiva temples of the area and vice versa. (For example: Pandeshwara, Manjeshwara, Mahābaleshwar, Someshwara, Murudeshwara, Dhāreshwara, Rāmeshwara, Bhubaneshwar, etc).

It is obvious that temple Nandaneshwara, of Panambur, was named after ancient King Nandana. Tamil Sangam (‘Chankam’) literature refers to a valiant Tuluva King ‘Nannan’. It appears that the ancient Tamil writers referred to this King Nandan as ‘Nannan’ rather than Nandaraya. Therefore, it appears that Nandaneshwara (Panambur) on the West Coast , was the capital of ancient Nanda Kings of Tulunadu. (Like Pandeshwara, Mangalore, was the capital of later Alupa Kings.)

Grama Paddati

The Grama Paddati (literally means "Village System") historic document of Tulu Brahmins refers to a list of 32 rulers of ancient Tulunadu. The list begins with (1) Nanda Nandana Rāya, (2) Nandana Rāya and (3) Vijaya Nandana Rāya (Nagendra Rao, 2005).Though the Grama Paddati has not assigned any specific time-span for these rulers, it may be presumed that the cited Nanda rulers of Tulunadu reigned during the period ca. 200 BC-100 AD considering that Mayura Varma (Kadamba) has been cited as nineth King in Grama Paddati.

However, in the actual history, there could have been more than three Nanda Kings, in Tulunadu , since the Grama Paddati has been compiled evidently at a later date, apparently based on legends preserved among the population of the period.

Nanda tribes

The available data suggest that Nanda were a widespread ancient tribe in Indian subcontinent as well as South-east Asia and Australia. Nanda surname can be found extensively in Punjab, Rajastan and Gujarat. Among Ahirs three sub-communities of cattle-herders are known: (1) Nanda (2) Yadu and (3) Gopa. These tribes have been cited in Bhagawat and in the legends of Shri Krishna. Shri Krishna made use of a sword called Nandaka.

(Various variants of Yadu tribes in Tulunadu, such as Yadava, Edava, Yeda, Ideya, Yeya etc have been discussed in older Posts). Apart from Nandas and Yadus, Gopa tribes also have left their signature in the West coast in place names like Goa (Gomantak), Gokarna etc.

Nandi

Nanda tribes were cattle-herders and it is but natural that Nandi, (ox) , the male species of cow, has been named after them (or vice versa). Nandi has been depicted as the vehicle of Lord Shiva. One of the peaks of Himalaya has been named as Nanda Devi.

Nanda tribes have left their signatures in ancient place names not only in Tulunadu but all over India, Bangladesh and Myanmar.There are ancient Nanda tribal settlements known as Nandagiri and Nandidurga in peninsular India. Nandi hill was known as Nandidurga or Nandagiri formerly. There  are towns known as Nandagiri near Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh , as well is in Maharastra.One Nandagudi is near Hosakote on the way to Kolar. Nandihalli is a village proximal to Sandur in Bellary District.There is a Nandipet in Nizambad district and a Nandyala in Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh.

Likewise there is a Nandap village near Kalyan, Mumbai, Maharastra.

Nanda Kings of Pataliputra (Bihar) who predated Chandragupta Maurya were well known in the history of India. One King Nanda ruled ancient Myanmar. Similarly Nandapur is a famous historical town in Orissa. We find similar Nandapurs in Maharastra, Punjab, Jammu & Kashmir, Assam and in Bangladesh (Swalpa Nandipur). And there are places known as Nandipur in Orissa, Bangladesh and Pakistan.There are villages called Nandivādi in Maharastra and Madhya Pradesh.

There is a ‘Nandagiri’ in Maharastra, also known as ‘Nandurbar’ which similarly was ruled by an ancient Nanda King. The region was was called 'Rasika' in olden days, bounded by  present Districts of Berar (ancient  Vidarbha), Nemad (ancient Anup) and Bhir (ancient Mulaka).  It was a part of erstwhile District of Khandesh, later on bifurcated as Dhule and Jalgaon.  In 1998, Dhule was again bifurcated as Dhule and Nandurbar districts.  Nandurbar now is a city and District headquarter, in North-western part of Maharashtra. bordered by Gujarat on West and North and Madhya Pradesh on North-east with Narmada River, determining its northern boundary.  It is predominantly a tribal district, inhabited by Bhils, Kolis and Ahirs.  Ahirs are now  cowherds in this region.  

Panambur

The Shiva temple in the Panambur beach close to the New Mangalore Port enclosure is known as “Nandaneshwara Raya” as can be seen in the name emblazoned at the entrance to the temple.Needless to say that the temple-name reminds of an ancient king Nandaneshwara Raya, who installed the original temple.It also may be possible that the temple was founded by one of his off-springs in the name of Nandaneshwara Raya.

However, it is interesting to note that the place name "Nandaneshwara " has not been preserved to date as in the case of other temple towns like Pandeshwara, Manjeshwara, etc. This could be explained by the evident dominance of Panamb (<.Pani) merchant tribes (later known as Nakara merchant class) in the ancient historic town of Panambur subsequently as recorded in the Kadire epigraphs (Post 107) .

Inferences

Nanda Kings of Tulunadu apparently had origins in nomadic cowherds who migrated south from northern India ca 500 BC or before. The civil war of Yadavas and submergence of Dwarakapuri  as depicted in the  final parts of legends of Shri Krishna possibly displaced the Yadavas to different parts of India and south-western coasts, known as 'Sapta Konkan'. might have settled in various parts of south India as cowherds as well as farmers. Their ‘Raya’ title might have been even derived from, ’raita’, the farmer. With passage of time, Raita > Raya >Rai derivation is one of the historic possibility. Nanda Kings of Tulunadu or other parts of Deccan may not be a single dynasty or related directly to the Nanda Dynasty of  Magadha (ca. 421-321 BC, ancient Bihar) as visualized by some of our historians. On the other hand, all these Nanda Kings might have had origins in ancient Nanda cowherds.

References

Nagendra Rao, Dr. (2005). Brahmanas of South India: Historical and Tradition .Gyan Books, New Delhi, 216 p. [Google Books.].

- Ravi and Vishwanath.

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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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