217. Kenya

Migrating tribes in the antiquity, who set out on a long trail from Africa to India, obviously with several periodic stops in between, have brought in many antique words along with them. Tulu, Bantu, Siri, Sira, Kola etc are some of the common words deduced in these blog pages to have been brought from Africa to India.
The place name ‘Manki ‘ appears t have been introduce into Karavali in the similar way, either from Papua New Guinea or from the side of Northwestern region of Indian subcontinent as discussed in the previous post.
Kenya-Kinya
One more such place name that is found in Africa as well as in Tulunadu is the word Kenya or Kinya. Kenya is a State in Africa. Kenya means the abode of Gods in African language.
We have similar sounding two places in Tulunadu that bear the name of Kinya and Kenya. In southern part of Mangalore taluk, there is one village called ‘Kinya’. And in northern part of Sullia taluk is another village called ‘Kenya’. Both these place names could be the variants of a single name Kenya. It may be recalled that the region Kenya in Africa is also pronounced as Kinya.
In the Tulu language we can somehow find meanings for both these names, but it would be neither logical nor appropriate. The word ‘Kinya’ means smaller in present Tulu. However, this meaning appears inappropriate and may not be the original meaning of the place name. Similarly, word ‘Kenya’ means ‘listen to me’ in Tulu which again is inappropriate, if not absurd, as a place name. Besides, we have analyzed in previous posts that -ya or –ia are the spatial prefixes/suffixes with (divine connotations) not only in Tulunadu (eg. Aikala, Murulia, Sullia etc) but also in Africa and Asia and Asia Minor (Arabia, Namibia, Kenya, Tunisia, Ethiopia etc).
Therefore since, -ya is a spatial suffix, Kinya and Kenya should be analyzed as
kin +ya and ken +ya.
However, the words kin and ken apparently do not have any logical meanings in present Tulu language. Therefore it is proposed that the mysterious spatial name ‘Kenya’ has been brought to Tulunadu along with immigrants in the historical past.
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8. Bantu, bant′ II

Manjunath has disagreed with me on bantu > bant′ derivation. I wrote an explanation to him on the comment box but due to my distraction with a phone call, I could not properly save it in time in the blog. Instead of rewriting the whole response again, on second thoughts, I decided to post additional explanation on the aspect.

Bant′ (Tulu), banta (Kannada) and bantu (Telugu) all these words basically imply the same meaning that is a reliable assistant and/or bodyguard. The Telugu meaning of Bantu, a suicide squad, is only expansion of the basic meaning. In early days, Bantu meant a professional bodyguard who can be relied upon. Possibly, this profession was practiced by some Bantu persons who migrated from their original homeland due to adverse living conditions. Subsequently, the word Bantu meant any reliable bodyguard. Thus the word Bantu became an indicator of a profession.(This is something like our practice to call any Jeep- like rugged field vehicle as jeep , often forgetting that Jeep is a specific brand name and not a type of vehicle.)

Manjunath feels that the Tulu/Kannada word banta came through Prakrit from the Sanskrit term bhata. We have tacitly assumed since school days that many of our words are derived from Sanskrit, the tatbhavas. However, my inferences suggest that Prakrit was one of the languages of the people of Pirak during early Vedic times of ca. 1700 BC. The words Prak and Prakrit appear to have been derived from the place name Pirak (cf. my posting 3.Pirak). Pirak was a multicultural, polylingual society where proto-Tulu, proto-Dravida and early Vedic societies coexisted. The term Sanskrit itself means refined and cultured language; it was refined from the preexisting prakrit and related languages.

So the Sanskrit word bhata could have been derived from the word bantu/ bant. The Sanskrit bhata means a soldier or guard; without connotation of any of the reliability, bodyguard tags implied in the said South Indian languages.

Presence of random African tribes in India is not a new discovery. Siddi tribes of African origin in the Western Ghats area of Karnataka may be relatively recent additions to our diversity. Manjunath opines that population genetics do not support any African genetic affinity for south Indian groups. I am not sure if any detailed genetic studies have been carried out in India. But a recent heterozygosity study confessed that they were unable to get adequate Indian samples.

It is said that the Nadava are mentioned in a 13^th century inscription for the first time in Tulunad area. It was the period when Tulunad was under the suzerainty of Vijayanagar kingdom. Possibly, Vijayanagar administrators referred to local cultivating community as as nadava to distinguish from the soldiers brought along with them from Vijayanagar mainland. Presently, Nadava are a Kannada speaking community widespread in Uttara Kannada. According to the Nadava sources, about five centuries ago, five Nadava families migrated from Kundapur area and settled around Ankola and Gokarna in Uttara Kannada district. This probably serves as an example for the number of population/tribes that migrated in the history.

7. Banta, Bantu

The African word ba (many)+ ntu (people) stands for a dominant tribe. Research studies show that the Bantus spread or migrated to different divergent areas in and out of Africa after the desertification of Sahara region. It is interesting to note that Tulu words bant′ (>bante) means personal assistant and/ or bodyguard. The Kannada word banta also means the same. Originally, the Tulu word bant′ possibly referred to Tulu kings or chieftain’s personal bodyguard. Some of the Bantu people migrating from Sahara on account of desertification of that region must have landed in the west coast. They must have been dependable, strong, powerful personalities, so that they were absorbed as bodyguards or security assistants to the local kings and chieftains. Later, the word must have been extended to a group of people, who settled in this land who professionally formed the security cordon around the king or the chieftain.

Manjunath Vadiari in his blog, Theories on past events, has added additional information on Telugu Bantus, who formed suicide squads in ancient Andhra. This info not only throws light on early Tulu-Telugu relations, but also affirms migration of Bantu tribes from the west coast to the eastern Andhra part of the peninsula.

The attachment of bant′ name-tag for a specific Tulu the community, who are also known as nadavas appears to be a later part of the evolution. Incidentally, the term nadava means the native or those belonging to the naad or land/country