157. Panemangalur

A small town on the bank of Netravathi River in Bantval Taluk is known by the name of Pānemangalur. Sediyapu Krishna Bhat has discussed the origin of this place name in a work cited at the bottom of this post..

Pāner
Pānemangalur is called Pāner in Tulu. Fishermen call this place as Pāndimār. Sediyapu suggested that the name 'Pāner' is derived from Pāndimār. Padekallu Vishnu Bhat cites that Dr.G. R. Rai proposed that Pāner is a modified form of 'Pāndiyer'. The 'yer' suffix denotes that Pāndi boats were lifted on the river-bank field to be parked in the the raised field.
On the other hand,since the 'ār' suffix in Tulu (and other Dravidian languages) represents a field,the Pāner may have simply been derived -colloquially- from Pān(d)yār < 'Pāndi+ār', the parking field of pāndi boats.

Pāndimār
'Pāndi' is a large cargo boat used to transport merchandise since early history in various ports of southern India. 'Mār' is an expansive agricultural field. The Pāndimār therefore implies a large field used for anchoring or parking large cargo boats known as Pāndi. During the earlier history River Netravathi was extensively used for navigation and transportation of goods. Goods were transported on Pāndi boats from Panemangalore to Mangalore along the river Netravathi. During the off-seasons the Pāndi boats from Mangalur (Mangalore) were parked at Pāndimār. Thus the village was called Pandimangalur which was later shortened to Panemangalur.

Mār
Sediyapu has a special explanation for the word mār, the agricultural field. He suggests that mār is a abbreviated form of 'timar' the field. In my opinion mār is an independent Tulu word representing expansive fileds, Bākimār, Pālemār, Mālemār etc. The 'timār' possibly means wet field as indicated by 'timare' the aromatic herb that rampantly grows in wet fields.

Mala, Yermal
The r > l conversion of phonemes in Tulu during medieval history is well known. The 'mār' became 'māl' with passage of time as exemplified by the village name 'Māla' ( pronounced māLa) and Erumala (Yermal) and the words 'gomāla' (=pasture reserved for cattle grazing) etc.
*
Hosabettu Viswanath adds :
"A bit of information about 'Pandimar'. Keel is an important part of a boat. Hence strong and sturdy wood is used. This is made of fully grown and large tree trunks, which were available aplenty in forests of Ghat sections. Such crudely carved tree trunks were rowed through Netravathi River and sea and brought to coastal destinations. I have seen such tree trunks brought to Hosabettu for building country boats. I have heard elderly people sitting in sea-shore shelters, i.e. 'dompas/chappars' made of coconut leaves, and telling anecdotes about their trips and cutting jokes about Goudas and their admirable hospitality."
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41. Origin of the word Tulu -I

Origin and meaning of the word Tulu has been disputed in literary circles since pre-Independance days. Dr. Palthadi Ramakrishna Achar(1999) has compiled the available historical information on the word ‘Tulu’ in his book ‘TuLu naaDu- nuDi’. Most of the appraisals, as remarked by Dr Achar, have been made considering Tulu as a character of the territory or the people rather than the language.

1.In ‘Rajatha Peethapura Mahatme’(1913) it is described that a chieftain of Udupi called Ramabhoja offered Tulābhāra to the deity, to amend for the sin of killing a serpent. Tulābhāra is the offering of gold or other material (according to the status of the worshipper) equivalent to ones body weight. Thus the word Tulu has been suggested to have been derived from the Tulābhāra. The theory has not been accepted by experts since Rama bhoja appears to be an imaginary ruler unsubstantiated in the actual history of the land.
2.Another similar legend in ‘Keralotpatti’, an ancient work that originated from Kerala, describes the rule of one ‘Tuluban Perumal’ from Koteswara, Kundapaura area, who gave the name Tulunad for the area.This is again a figment of fertile imagination since there is documented evidence of any Tuluban Perumal ruling Tulunad.
3. Dr B. A. Salettur derived the word ‘Tulu’ from the Kannada root ‘tooL’ which means to attack. Dr. Gururaja Bhat had discounted this suggestion since Tulu people were never attacked anyone nor had any expansionist ideals.
4. Manjeswara Govinda Pai proposed that the word Tulu has been considered to have derived from the Tamil word ‘Tulai’ which means to row or play with water.
5. Kudkadi Viswanatha Rai (cited in Dr Achar,1999) suggested that the Tulu has been derived from the phrase ‘Tullal naadu’, wherein ‘tullal’ means to wriggle or to dance. Native Mera or Muger tribes describe their marriage ceremony as 'tullal'.
6. Dr. Gururaja Bhat proposed that the word Tulu is modified form of the term ‘turu’ that refers to cattle. Cattle herding and grazing is considered to be one of the earliest known professions in India. Cow-herders of Gujarat, also known as Yadavas are considered to be one of the early settlers in Tulunad. Haritha of Yadava clan was said to have ruled in Tulunad according to Harivamsha. However there are no solid evidences in favour of turu>tulu word conversion .
7. ‘Tolahars’ were a royal clan that ruled a part of Tulunad. Tola>Tulu conversion has been thought of by some workers.
8. J.Sturrock in his South Canara Manual ( Vol.I ) inferred that word Tulu possibly refers to the ‘soft’ nature of the local people, since the adjective “tuluve” is applied to the soft pulpy variety of jack fruit. However, this argument has not been accepted by experts like Dr. Gururaja Bhat.

9. Sediyapu Krishna Bhat has pointed out that the word ‘Tulu’ is connected with water. ‘Tuluve’(jack fruit) also means ‘watery’ and that should be considered instead of the ‘soft’ implication. The other water related words in Tulu are talipu, teli, teLi, teLpu, tuLipu, tulavu, tamel and additionally in Kannada are tuLuku and toLe. In Tamil tuli means water drop and tulli means the same in Malayalam.

Interestingly, earlier Manjeswar Govinda Pai also had suggested that the term Tulu is derived from the Tamil word tulai which means to row, dive or play in water.
Thus it can be concluded that the word Tulu implies ‘related to water’.

10. The term ‘Tulu’ was also used as a clan name, as recorded in the Honnali inscription of Shimoga district, dated 1203AD. Dr. Gururaja Bhat has cited several personal names with Tulu as affixes like Tuluveswara, Tuluva Chandiga, Tulu Senabova, Tuluvi Setti, Tuluvakka Heggadati,Tulu Alva, Tulai Amma etc. as have been recorded in the inscriptions. In the Basrur (in Kundapur taluk) inscription dated 1401 AD, mentions a Tuluvi Setti donating land to maintain the routine expenditures of the Tuluveswara temple of Basrur. Besides, Krishnadevaraya, the famous emperor of Vijayanagar was said to be hailing from the ‘Tuluva’ dynasty.
Thus we can conclude that the word ‘Tulu’ means ‘that connected with water’ and it is also name of a clan or group.
However the word Tulu is more global than we ordinarily imagine!

(..to be continued)