277. Pāvur, Pāvanje

Location map of Pavur, Pavanje and Todar

In a multi-lingual society like ours, tracing origin and meaning of ancient place names can be a complex exercise, often misleading to erroneous conclusions. One has to consider historical perspectives that complement with the logical conclusions, in case the aim of the explorer is to genuinely unravel and understand the course of history.

Let us take the example of two Tulu place names: Pavur and Pavanje.

Pavur

Pavur is a village located on the southern bank of River Netravathi in Mangalore Taluk, Dakshina Kannada. Similarly there is also a village known as 'Pavur' in Kasargod district of Kerala

Most of us, with a  general background knowledge of Kannada, would prefer to conclude that ‘Pavur’ (pāv+ur) is a village of snake, because ‘pāv’ in old Kannada represents a snake. The pāv of old Kannada has become ‘hāv’ or ‘hāvu’ (=snake) in modern Kannada as a consequence of p>h transition. One would normally believe in such an explanation since ancient cult of serpent worship (nāga aradhana) is explicit in Tulunadu.

However, this may not be the real or original meaning of the place designated and meant by our ancestors. First, the word pāv is not generally used in Tulu for snake.

Pāv, the river

The other possible source is the ancient Indiam word ‘pāv’ which means to flow or move.Thus pāv means river in Toda language. There are distinct signatures of existence of Toda tribes in Tulunadu in place names such as Todar.It has been suggested in older posts herein that the water buffaloes in Karvali that became the insignia of Kambala sport of Tulunadu were probably introduced by ancient Toda tribes.

Toda words

It can be inferred from the existence of Toda words that the Toda language was in use in parts of ancient Tulunadu during an unknown but specific time interval in the history of this land.

It can be seen that the root word pāv (=to flow, to move, to change position) has been adapted during the evolutionary history variously into different languages as seen from the following examples:

Pāv= to flow, to move, to creep.

Pāv=river, flowing water. (Toda  language). Compare with pāvana (=to bathe in river; to cleanse, to purify) in Sanskrit. And also ‘pavitra’(Sanskrit) = cleaned.

Pāv= snake , creeping animal. (Kannada language).pāv> hāvu

Pāv=leg or feet, body part used for changing position (Prakrit, Hindi, Konkani languages). Compare with ‘pāda’ (=feet) in Sanskrit.

In present Tulu, the root word ‘pāv’ for river, has not been retained, except in these place names. The equivalent Tulu words, based on flow of water, appear to be ‘par’ (=to drink) and ‘parapu’ (= to flow).

This could serve as an example to show how words preferences and languages change in an area, with socio-cultural evolution and dominance of certain tribes at the expense of others.

Pāvanje & Pāvur

Both of these place names, Pavur and Pavanje are located on the banks of river, justifying the explanation that pāv in these names means river.Thus the logical analysis of these placenames would be:

Pavur= pav+ur: A   village (‘oor’) by the side of river (‘pāv’).

Pavanje=pav+anje: A   land area (‘anje’) beside a river (‘pāv’).

The minor river flowing beside the Pavanje village in northern Mangalore near Surathkal is also known as Pavanje River.


Pavagadh, Pavagad
There are other places in India that carry the fluvial prefix of 'pav', like Pavagadh in Gujarath and Pavagad in Tumkur district of Karnataka.  Gadh, gad= fort. Pavagadh is located close to a river.Similarly Pavagad was on the bank of stream that has dried up in recent years.

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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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130. Todār

The footprints of Kota tribes in the Karavali has been discussed. Another related tribe is Toda (tōDa).Toda tribes at present live in the Niligiri hill area. The now famous hill station Ooty (Udagamandala) was once occupied by Todas. There is an interesting story that a British officer John Sullivan, Collector of Coimbatore, during 1823, purchased the lands that make up the present Ooty from Toda people for mere one Rupee.
Toda people speak Toda language.
Toda tribes are well known for cattle breeding and diary farming, employing especially the buffaloes. Todas believe that the goddess ‘Teikirshy’ and her brother first created the sacred buffalo and then the first Toda man. The first Toda woman was considered to have been created from the right rib of the first Toda man.

Toda
Todar (pronounced tōDār) is the signature village of Toda people in the Karavali during the early history of Tulunadu. The Todar village is located near Mijar on the Mangalore-Mūdabidri road, a part of NH 13. At present there are no vestiges of Toda tribes in the Todar except in the name of the village.
However, fossil footprints of a buffalo-oriented culture and lifestyle of the ancient Toda community has been absorbed by the people of Tulunadu.

Yermal, Yerlapadi
Apart from Todar there are several villages in Tulunad that were known for buffalo breeding. Village names like Yermal (yeru +māL =buffalo ground), Yerlapadi (yerla + paDi= habitation of buffaloes) and Kātipalla (pond of buffaloes) refer to buffalo dominated ancient societies of Tulunadu.

Mund
The Toda hamlets are known as munds. As studied in present Niligiri area, they usually consist of five huts three of which are used for dwelling, one for buffaloes and the fifth one for common dairy activities. It is also possible that most of the villages bearing ‘mund’- prefix in Tulunad were initially the settlements of Toda dairy communities.

Kambala
Toda tribes depended on buffaloes for dairy activity. Possibly these Toda tribes introduced male buffaloes (Kona, Yeru) for agricultural activity in Tulunadu. They had the practice of sacrificing male buffalo calf during an annual celebration called ‘kona shastra’.
We can predict that the buffalo-race pastime of Tulunadu the ‘Kambala’ was conceived and fostered during the Toda civilization in Tulunadu.

Mahishasura
The raw back-ground data for some of our Puranas involving buffalo-villains (Mahishāsura), Mundāsura etc may have been conceived based on Toda lifestyles by their rivals.

Hosabettu Viswanath adds:
'Masoba' spirit God (Maise/Mahisha) popular in Maharashtra may be equivalent of or derived from the Toda culture. Similarly,the well known city Mysore (= Mahisha + Ur ) must have been a habitat of Todas. It is said, Toda language is more near to Kannada than Tamil. In old History books of British time, Coimbatore, Arcot and Salem areas are called 'Carnatic' states. 'Mahishi', mother of 'Mahisaasura', was killed by Lord Ayyappa, according to lores. This shows that Todas prospered in Kerala also.

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