335. Pudu, Puduvettu, Puttur: The New Villages

Scientists explain that our forefathers, the human beings, evolved at a place in Africa and migrated to different parts of the world with passage of time.  Naturally, the primitive words which formed the building blocks of the early languages and vocabulary also travelled with migrating people to different parts of the world. The existence of common analogous words in different languages, stand mute testimony to this essential fact. Of the numerous basic words adopted and inherited by our people, Putu/Pudu appears to be one such basic word.

Location of Pudu Village

Pudu: A place name

Travellers frequenting on the Mangalore-Bangalore Highway might have been familiar with a place known as Farangipete, located about 14 km from Mangalore. It is situated on the northern bank of River Netravati. The “Farangi-pete” as the name reveals was a settlement of farangis (=the foreigners). (pEte/ pEnte =township; pEte, Kannada; pEnte, Tulu). It can be presumed from the place name that the early colony of Farangipet was adopted by probably British people who settled in this area during the period 17th or 18^th Century CE.

However, since the Farangipete is an integral part of the village known as Pudu, we can infer that the original name of Farangipete was Pudu.

We shall discuss the place name Pudu and its possible significance in the evolutionary history of Tulu language and the Karavali. Incidentally, our survey shall also include the place name Puttur which now people preferentially interpret as Poota-oor or the village of flowers.

Pudu

The ancient place name Pudu originally meant a new settlement. It can be emphatically said because numerous villages all over India still carry the prefix of Pudu in the place names. However, we find that in Tamilnadu villages with Pudu prefix abound as can be seen in the following  section : Pudu villages in India.

The term Pudu in the sense of new settlement does not explicitly exist in present Tulu usage that shows the nature of changes that the language has undergone over the historical evolution.

Please note that the word Pudu also has another meaning in Tulu:  Pudu²=dove, pigeon.

Puduvettu

Puduvettu is a remote village in Belthangadi taluk, Dakshina Kannada on the foothills of Sahyadri (Western Ghat) ranges. However this place name is not exclusive to Tulunadu; we can find similar place names in Tamilnadu.

Puttur

Puttur is a major town and a Taluk headquarters in Dakshina Kannada district. The place name Put+ur reveals that it was a new village when built probably about two millennia ago. However, now Tulu people in general have forgotten the original meaning of the word Putu and interprete the word as poo (=flower) or pootta (=related to flower) resulting in the meaning of the  Puttur town being interpreted as village of flowers.

Puthige, Puthila

The place name Puthila (Putu+ila) refers to a new settlement. Similarly Puthige (Putu+ige) also means a newly built place.

Satiyaputo

Satiyaputo was the name of a capital town in Tulunadu during the regime of King  Asoka regime (ca 300 BC). Possibly the Satiayaputo is the Pali/Prakrit version of the place known as ‘Satyanapura’ in the famous Siri  PaDdana. (This blogger in an earlier Post (No 309)has suggested that the Satiyaputo refers to Saccheripete area, the centre stage of Siri paDdana).

Thus the Pali/Prakrit term Puto is equivalent of Putu or Pudu in Tulu and other Dravidian languages. The Pali term puto possibly evolved into pura in Sanskrit. (Some people may like to think vice versa depending upon their preset conceptions).

The Tulu Village names Pudu and Puduvettu now basically sound like Tamil words, since ‘Pudu’ prefix is a most common in Tamilnadu and it is almost obsolete in current Tulu.

Alternately, it can be inferred that the word existed in early Tulu and vanished from the usage later. Probably the early Tulu was much similar to ancient Tamil as also suggested by references to ” Tulunatta Tamil”  in ancient Tamil Sangam texts.

Puta : An Ancient Word

Put, Puta is an ancient word for new, or new born. In ancient Sumerian language the word ‘puta’ meant womb, the organ responsible for the birth of the new baby. In many languages, it has retained the original meaning of new born or newly established/created especially in Dravidian and Prakrit and related  / derived Indian languages.

Relevant Tulu words

Posat='new' (festival); also known as  Puddar festival; festival celebrating arrival of new paddy from the fields.

Puddar= put/pud+ bār  (=New paddy: Newly harvested   paddy).  Pudbār > Puddar. An annual traditional farming  festival celebrating the advent of   new harvest.  Also known as ‘Posat’ (= New).
Podu= new (matrimonial) alliance.

Pudar=put+ar= Name: A newly designated word (=name) to a person or object.
Pudu, Pudur,Puttur = new town. The Old Tulu word was apparently quite analogous to Old Tamil in the beginning? 

Puttubari / Puttupurapu =  family profile, family honour and traditions.

Puttu/Putta/Puru = small (Putta baale, Purubaale).

Puttu = Beloved child, ( female or male ).

Puttye = Ant hill. ( A earthen structure built by ants and occupied by Snakes)  

(There is an alternate proposal for the place name  Puttur that can  be explained from Puttye or ant hill.)

Pudelu = wild bush or sapling.

Purye= roof,ceiling or shelter. Note the Tulu proverb: "Taregonji purye bodu" ( =Every head needs a shelter)

Other  Dravida /derived languages

Pudu, Putu (Tamil), Put+u(r)= newly established settlement.
Puttari   (Kodava)=put+ari (= New rice: Newly harvested rice). Kodava  synonym for Puddar festival.  Huttari ( Kannada). Puttari> Huttari.

Putu (Malayalam and Beary )= baby, boy . Pudu-varsham (Malayalam)= New Year.

Pudu in Prakrit, Punjabi and Sanskrit usages

Puttar (Punjabi)= baby; son/daughter. Puta, putra¹=newly arrived baby; boy

Putra²= (Prakrit/Pali)= newly built  town.  For example, Pataliputra.

Putri= new baby girl.

Pudu villages in India

Andamans: Pudumadurai

Andhra Pradesh: Pudu, Pudur, Puduru,

Arunachala Pradesh: Puduwan.

Assam: Pudum Pukhuri

Chattisgarh: Pudu.

Karnataka: Pudu-kallahalli, Pudu, Puduvettu, Puttur.

Kerala: Pudussery, Puducode.

Manipur: Pudunamei.

Orissa: Puduni, Pudunisaga, Pudunbadi,Puduga pathor,Pudugabali, Pundungi padar, Pudugasil.

 Puducherry: Pudukuppam.

Tamilnadu:Pudugummidipundi,Pudupalyam,Puduvoyal,Pudupakkam,Puducheri,Pudukuppam,
Pudumaealnagi,Pudupattu,Puduppair,Pudupattinam,Pudupattu,Pudukesavaram,Pudur,Puduppadi,Pudurnadu,Pudupatti,Pudukottai,Pudukotti,Puduchengam,Puduchekkadi,Pudupalapattu,Pudukalani,Pudupuliyampatti,Puducombai,Pudupeerkadavu,Puduvadi,Puduruthamanur,Pudukudi,Pudukkudi,Pudurpalyam,Pudunaduvalur,Puduvettagudi,Pudumapalayam,Pudukkodai,Pudukuraipettai,Puduthurai,Pudupathur,Pududevangudi,Pudunagar,PudukottaiUllur,Pudukottagam,Pudunagar,Pudurivayal,Pudunilavayal,Puduvakkadu,Puduvettivayal,Pudukilavachi,Pudukkulam,Pudusukkampatti,Pudukulam,Pudur,Pudumadam, etc.

West Bengal: Pudung Kasmaral.

Origin of Shades of meaning

The term Puta (=womb) or its equivalents Putu/Pudu appears to be one of the oldest words for creation known to our forefathers since  Sumerian Period which is generally considered to be one of the oldest documented languages in the world. Creations, as in the perspectives of the early ages, generally referred to the production of new babies, agricultural crops or the construction of new townships.

Thus originally the term appears to have represented (a) newly born baby, (b) newly established/created village or hamlet or (c) birth related reproductive organs. 

Various derived or modified or corrupted forms of the word Put/Pudu are in current usage in several  European as well as Indo-Aryan and Dravidian languages. (For example puta in Greek means a Goddess of agriculture or a Roman Goddess of pruning trees. However, in Hebrew  the word refers   to female genitalia. In Portuguese and Spanish it means a bitch or whore and so on. Similar usages can also be seen in Tulu and other Indian languages.)

Significance of Pudu place names

The Pudu, as far as place names concerned, appears to represent newly constructed village or townships in ancient days. The word is still exists in Tamil and Malayalam but has become obsolete in Tulu. However, the existence of Pudu Villages in Tulunadu (such as Pudu, Puduvettu, Puttur etc.,) reveal that the word existed in early Tulu. In that case the places like Pudu, Puduvettu and Puttur were established quite early in the history probably corresponding to early centuries of the Common Era.

However, even though the word pudu has been vanished in current Tulu usage it has been modified or evolved to usages such as podu (in Tulu) which means a new matrimonial proposal or alliance.

⃝

240. Kabaka : Imported word?

Someone had commented hilariously on one my abstracts in these posts: “Are you sure that Tulu tribes came from Africa and not Mars?”
You can appreciate naked sarcasm in the comment veiling over a crazy sense of fake authority!
Well, apart from the transparent colors in the comment, my intention is here to show in general how our minds unknowingly work in a parochial manner.
Several decades ago, Paleontologists discovered fossil remains of early human beings and proposed a theory that human tribes evolved in Africa and migrated to various continents. Many people were skeptic of the theory for different reasons. However as the research in human genetics progressed and the scientists were able to identify distribution of different types of haplogroups in Y chromosomes in different continents that suggested evolution and migration of human tribes, most of the rational people were convinced about the general course of evolution and migration of human beings in the past history.

Imported words!
In some of the earlier posts I have suggested that several words commonly used amongst us in Tulu and other Dravidian languages were brought from Africa by the migrant tribes in the past. Tulu, Bantu, Siri Sira, Kola, Mande, Kol, Kenya etc are some of the words I suggested in earlier posts to have arrived here along with tribes in the past from Africa.(Besides, there are other strange words in Tulu, like ‘Inna’, that possibly came from Kurgan- Russian side).
I wonder how is that people who believe in the theory of genetic haplogroups and their journey through diverse continents, fail to get convinced of the similar journey of words through the past history!
(Is it the way of our minds that tend to work along selective parochial channels?)
Analysis of originally intended meanings in place names is definitely not a easy job, especially if you are looking for objectivity! For example, check this place name called ‘Kabaka’:

Kabaka, Puttur
Kabaka village is on the outskirt of Puttur town in the eastern part of Dakshina Kannada. Locals of town consider Puttur as a place of pearls (‘putturda muttu’) or flowers ( ‘pootta oor’), but we have dared to explain in earlier posts here that the Tulu/ Dravidian word ‘Puttur’ ( <.pudu+oor) means ‘a new village’. The place name ‘Kabaka’ sounds strange in Tulu. If you analyse the word probably you may feel -kaba+ka, where in ‘kaba’ probably means ‘divided’ (‘kava’ or ‘kaba’ as in place name ‘Kavattar’;+ ‘ka’=area) village. However there is nothing in the said hilly granitic area logically to suggest that it is a divided village. The other possibility is that word ‘Kabaka’ might have been brought by the immigrants from Africa in the past history. The word ‘Kabaka’ refers to royal family in Africa. However, it is to be found out, whether ‘Kabaka’ near Puttur, was a seat of ancient royalty in the tribal days? .. Kichaka

Mahābhārat is a great epic composed by sage Veda Vyāsa, probably around 500 BC. The epic has several odd sounding names and characters. The name and character of ‘Kichaka’ is an odd sounding character created by Veda Vyāsa in the epic.
Did the poet Vyāsa picked up an African name (‘Kichaka’) available around him at that time to designate one of the villainous character in the epic of Mahābhārat?
®

129. Puttūr

There are several place names in Karavali that were repeated in other area. For example: Udyāvara, Uchila, Alike, Bengare, Kodiyala, Pāndesvara, Puttige, Puttūr etc. The repetition apparently occurred along the timeline and the intention of repetition of name was to repeat the fame, popularity or importance of the place with that original name.

Ur > Oor
Ur was a very famous city during ancient Sumerian civilization. The name must have been repeated many times over in different parts of the civilized world by those tribes who migrated from that region. Even the spread of fame might have spurred the people of far off places to rename their towns or villages as Ur. Proto-Dravidians who emigrated from Africa and Mid-east brought this famous word along with them and now we all know that ‘Oor’ (or ‘ūr’) derived from ‘Ur’ is the popular word for village in the south Indian languages. Note that even the Sanskrit ’pur’ or ‘pur-a’ is a more refined Ur that is made up of ‘p + ur (± a)’.

Puttūr
There are at least two ‘Puttūr’-s in Dakshina Kannada. One is a major and popular town and a Taluk headquarters on the Mangalore-Mysore road. The other is a hamlet appended to Udupi civic agglomeration. Even though the Puttur town, the headquarters of Puttur Taluk is more famous now, at this juncture it is difficult to recognize which was the first original town/village in the history that was named ‘Puttur’ first and which followed it later. There is also a ‘Puttur’ in Andhra Pradesh, suggesting the spread of these common Dravidian words.
The usual current explanation of ‘Puttūr’ is 'Pootta+ oor' or ‘village of flowers’. However an analysis of the word suggests it could have had other meanings originally!

Beloved village
The word ‘Puthu’ has three possible meanings: 1.Favorite or Beloved (Tulu Nighantu) 2. New (‘puth’ as in ‘puttari’ –Kodagu; suggested by Manjunat) 3.A combination of 'beloved' and 'new'; and 4. Anthill ( putta >.hutta Kannada; suggested by Viswanath).
The ‘puthu’1 (=beloved) has survived in Tulu (and also in Beary language) as a pet name used for designating fond children. If you consider the ‘beloved’ as the meaning of the prefix ‘puthu’ then ‘Puttur’ becomes ‘beloved or favorite village’.
Similarly, in the case of other ‘puth-’ settlements, it could have been: ‘Puth+ila’ (=beloved house) and ‘Puth+ige’ (=favorite domain) etc.

New village
Other possibilities for these words considering Puthu 2 (= new) are ‘new village’ (Puttūr), ‘new domain/ habitation ‘(‘Puthige’) and new house/habitation (‘Puttila’). Alternately, in view of Naga worship cults in the region the place names could also been derived from the third meaning namely the ‘puthu’ 3 (=anthill).

Pudu
One village along NH 48 before Bantval along the Mangalore-BC Road(Bantval cross) is named 'Pudu'.The word 'Pudu' may be a modified form of 'Puthu' discussed above.
Similarly,Puduvettu would be a 'new upland'(pudu+bettu) settlement.
*
Puddar
I agree with Manjunat who opines that ‘puthu’ stands for ‘new’ like ‘Hosa’ in place names like ‘Hosapet’ or ‘Hosabettu’. However, I feel that original ‘puth’ conveyed a combined emotional expression of ‘new’ and ‘favorite/ beloved/ affectionate’ considering the pet name used for calling fond children.
The ‘puttari’ festival of Kodagas is ‘puddar’ for Tulu people. (Was it ‘puddari’ initially?) The festival originally conveyed an emotional respect/devotion to the new rice or ‘kadire’ the ear of paddy. The ‘puddar’ has later changed into ‘posatt’. The ‘posa’ has become ‘hosa’ along the timeline in modern Kannada.

Possibly with evolution, we lost the original sentimental attachment and concurrent devotion of our ancestors to the arrival of new objects and now we recognize and distinguish just - old and new!

®