322. Preposition ‘da’ in Punjabi & Tulu

“ Paani da rang vekh ke,

ankhiyan cho hanju rod de”.

-On seeing the color of the water tears rolled down from (my eyes).

The cited Punjabi lyrical lines penned by Anshuman Khurana’s and popularized in the Hindi   film Vicky Donor  has haunted me many times especially for the presence of preposition ‘da’. The common preposition da (pronounced as 'the' in English) in Punjabi as well as in Tulu Language represents the English preposition of !  Like ‘pāni da’ in Punjabi ‘neer da’ in Tulu means relating to water.

Punjabi and Tulu

Punjabi is a north Indian language belonging to the family of Indo-Aryan languages. Tulu is a Dravidian language. Even though the two languages are entirely different in structure and content, this particular preposition is common to the two languages. Many may like to consider this common preposition in Punjabi and Tulu as a mere coincidence.

Da, di, de

There are other prepositions related to da in Punjabi and Tulu. The equivalents in Hindi are ko, ki and ke. The feminine form di is used in Hindi as a suffix for Goddesses like Mātā-di. The feminine form di (ki in Hindi) or ti has also been vogue in Tulu in forms reverential feminine forms such as Ullaldi/ Ullalti, Shedti, Konkandi, Marakaldi/ Marakalti, Sapaldi/Sapalti, Baideti/Baidedi,  Baikaadi/Baikaadti', Maankaldi/ Mangaldi etc. It is also (especially the -de feminine form) there in Tulu usages in respect of feminine genders as in Dāda de ?  or Dāni de? or Anda de! ..etc.
In Tamil Da (masculine) and Di (feminine) suffix forms do exist; However these are pronounced as Da and Di (D as in Dog). In Kannada feminine suffix ti (instead of di) has survived, even though other forms (da, de) have apparently vanished during the course of evolution.

Migration route

One of the possibilities is that a component of migrating speakers of Tulu language who had lived in the northwestern Indian subcontinent during the ancient history picked up and absorbed this preposition. The migration of the people during the history from the North-western Indian subcontinent to the Karavali has brought the preposition da along with them.

It has been pointed out in earlier posts herein that the Tulu word pirak (=ancient) signifies the place name Pirak, which is a part of Pakistan now.

Mediterranean  roots?

The preposition da can be found survivng in a number of Mediterranean and European languages. The word da has varied meanings in some of the European languages such as : from or of (in Italian and Dalmatian), yes (in Russian), to (in Breton), surely, then, when, as etc (in Danish) and so on. Of these it can be seen that the meaning of da is quite close to that of Punjabi and Tulu in the case of   Mediterranean languages like   Italian and Dalmatian. Thus the Italian name Leonardo da Vinci means the Leonardo from or of the place known as Vinci.

In our older posts, Kaudur Narayana Shetty has contributed an essay outlining the similarities between the Italian and Tulu languages.

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273. Kaprigudda, Mangalore

With regard to ancient place names handed over to us by our forefathers, we normally accept   them without questioning. We generally do not bother ourselves over their meaning, antiquity or origin. Or if we do not like just change them or replace them with some modern stylish sounding alternate place name. Infact, some of these place names are windows to the past and serve as fossil clues to a bygone dark era in the past history of this land.

One such strange placename in Mangalore city is Kaprigudda! It is another positive clue in understanding   the migration of ancient tribes from Africa to India in the remote past and concomitant transfer of their cults and beliefs.

Kaprigudda

Kaprigudda is a residential area east of Attavar or south of Phalnir, more or less corresponding with western part of Highlands. It is usually pronounced as ‘Kyāpri-guDDa’ If you ask someone aound in the area, regarding the meaning or origin of the word ‘Kyāpri’ you may not possibly get any positive answers! Capri is a common surname among Western people, so one of the possibilities   is that it was named after some special person called Capri.  Capri is also an island near Naples, Italy.But there is another clue that leads us to ancient cult of Kepheri prevalent in Egypt and surrounding African countries.

Kapri God

One interesting data recently reported in Kannada TV channels was that fishermen of Karwar were offering seasonal prayers to one ‘Kyapri devaru’ or Kapri God!

Kapri is an ancient Spirit God among coastal tribes of Karavali. The cult is still prevalent in parts of Karawar and surrounding areas. Fishermen, especially from Gaabid sect, in these areas look for the blessings of Spirit God Kapri. Generally, they offer liquor in a coconut shell bowl and lighted aroma sticks (agrabathi) to appease the Spirit that is said to wander in their wards like an old man during night times.
Apart from Kapri some of these tribes also worship a Spirit God called Kuti.

Kapri surname

Kapri is also a surname among Gorkha tribes of Nepal. The ethnonym could have been acquired from ancient migrant tribes from Africa. Bishnu Kapri, a gorkha Nepali, settled in US hosts a  ’ Kapri samaj’ page in facebok.
Kapra-Kampra
Kapra or Kaapira was also a common proper name among Tulu people. Another related proper name was Kampra or Kampara. There is a place known as Kapra-majalu near Vitla and a Kampra-bail in Bantval Taluk. Therefore the cult of Kapra or Kampara was not restricted to the Coastal track alone. Kampara is also a place in Uganda, Africa. These data suggest that Kapra and Kampra were ancient ethnonyms of African origin.

Khepri : An Egyptian God

Khepri is an ancient Egyptian God (the concept dating back to ca 2500 BC) , representing a giant Scarab beetle that can roll the Sun like a ball through the sky each morning so that it becomes morning and roll back into underworld in the evening so that the world embraces darkness! The God Khepri also known as Chepri, kheper, khepera or Kehperi etc was considered as a God of resurrection, overseeing the cycle of life and death. The emblem of Egyptian Khepri God, shows a winged Scarab beetle carrying red sun.

Migration

View of the foregoing discussion, one of the strong possibilities is that the Kapri-gudda near Attavar, Mangalore, might have been named after the Spirit God Kapri (Khepri) by some of the early African tribal settlers in this part of Mangalore. The existence of cults of Kapri Spirit God (though modified through centuries of influence of other cults of Hinduism) in Karawar area serves as a clue for further research in this dark pages of early history and civilization.

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Acknowledgement: 1.Shri Vishnu Bovi for discussion on Kapri devaru of Karavar.
2.Shri Kawdoor Narayan Shetty. 


-With H Vishwanath.

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51.Stage III: Migration from Pirak . 800-500BC

The Pirak civialization phase was reported to have culminated around 800 BC. Tulu language even today has the retained word “pirak” that means ‘ancient’ or ‘aspects connected to remote past’.This can be considered as the fossil memory of Tulu people of their residence at Pirak. In other languages like Kannada the word survived as ‘prak’(=ancient) and Prakrit can be considered as the language of the pirak (prak) area. Prakrit is also considered to be the unrefined form of Sanskrit. Tulu and other south Indian languages have ample Prakrit words in them. Mostly, these were borrowed and assimilated during their residence in Pirak area. At the same time, early Tulu and other early Dravidian language groups lent some words that were absorbed into prakrit and Sanskrit.
During the 800-500 BC period most of the resident groups left Pirak region and entered India proper (as is now) and settled in comfortable areas nearer to water sources like rivers and perennial springs. Possibly, the groups left in different batches, maybe each of some 5 to 10 individual families of able bodied members and found their ways through the new territory before settling in relatively comfortable zones. It is possible that early South Dravidian groups consisting of early Tulu, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam tribes migrated in different batches during the period.At this stage these early Dravidian languages were similar to each other and were more like regional variations of a single language. Predictably they settled intermittently at several places on the way before reaching their ultimate destinations in select parts of Southern India. The identity of early Kannada and early Malayalam ancestors probably carried different name tags then, since the present identity names ‘Kannada’ and ‘Malayalam’ were coined chronologically later and in situ in the present habitat.

Theological evolution
During the period Upanishads and Puranas were being compiled. The Rigvedic Gods Mitra, Indra,Varuna, Agni and others took back seat in favour of ascendacy of Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesha independantly among three different tribal groups. Brahma atained the status of Almighty Creator. The concept was further extended to include the all-pervasive cosmic force of Brahman. Valmiki, a hunter turned into bard and sage compiled the epic of Ramayana, based on primitive legend of Rama, that originally dated back to the post-LGM period when the sea-levels receded and Srilanka was accesible from Indian mainland on foot.The epic that highlighted the supremacy of the Lord Brahma, was subsequently edited and interpolated by several later authors, with liberal addition of fantasies and exaggerations.During the period, the Mahabharata was also being compiled, as an expanded and blown up version of battle of ten kings described in the Rigveda.
Another group, possibly led by the cattle-herders (Yadavas), upgraded and expanded the ancient legend of Vishnu. Vishnu, worshipped by early pre-Vedic, dark-colored tribes, was a minor god of lesser grade than the lord of Sea, Varuna for the Vedic sages during the compilation of Rigveda. Ten different theologic legends of the region were compiled together under the ten incarnations of Vishnu.(More on Vishnu and ten incarnations, cf. post 34 ).
Similarly, another group advocated the supremacy of Lord Shiva, who was tribal superman who possibly advocated the cult of phallus worship. Thus the phallic worship gradually merged with the Shaiva cult.Several tantric and mystic cults evolved during the period.
Yet there were many who did not subscribed to any of these theological cults.These dissatisfactions led to the development of Jainism and Buddhism. In response these diversions the followers of Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesha joined hands together and formed the concept of Trimurthy.
Similarly the primitive cult of Yoni worship assimilated with parallel Mother Godess worship that eventually evolved into the cult of Shakti or the Durga later in the history.
The Panjurli (Boar or Varaha) cult apparently originated in N Africa and Central Asia. The boar (or swine or Sus scrofa) is native of central Europe, Mediterranean, Atlas mountains, N.Africa and Asia. In Celtic mythology boar was sacred to Godess Arduinna. In Persian (Iran) Sassnid Empire, the boar was respected as a brave and fierce animal; the title of ‘boraz ‘or ‘Goraz’ (=boar) was added to the personal names of the braves. In Belgium, boar is the mascot of one of the infantry divisions of the Belgian army. In Chinese horoscope, boar is one of the twelve months of the zodiac

Early Tulu migration
Tulu tribes carried the Panjurli and Bermer cults of spirit worship from Pirak to Tulunadu as described in earlier posts. The early Tulu tribes were not inspired or influenced by theological evolution of Brahma, Vishnu or Mahesha. They adhered to their cults of spirit and serpent (Naga) worships. Tulu tribes picked up words from the languages existing in the regions they travelled through. Throughout the route from Rajasthan border to Tulunadu, we find numerous settlements named after Naga: Nagur, Nagor, Nagori etc. Similarly along the same route we find relics of ‘Bermer’ (horse mounted deity )worship that were later converted to ‘Brahma’(the creator God) worship especially in north India(example: Pushkar, Rajasthan).

Early Tamil migration
The early Tamils carried the Shiva cult, along with the assimilated primitive phallus worship cult, with them when they migrated and eventually settled in the present Tamilnadu. The early Tamils were inspired by the style of compilation of Vedas and Upanishads were by group of Vedic sages. They adopted the concept and composed the Tamil Sangam literature in early Madhurai kingdom, established near Kanyakumari during ca.300BC .

44. The scale of human migration

Normally, our perceptions are based on the present environments and therefore we have difficulty in visualizing the scenarios from the past. Many people cannot digest the concept of migrations because they imagine whole massive population, in the scale they see now around, moving out from one place or region to the other.
One small event in the relatively recent history shall be useful to envisage the scale of migrations that occurred in the past history.
Nadava migration
About 500 years ago, five families of Nadavas from Kundapur taluk, left their original homeland due to differences with local people, travelled some 100 km distance northward crossing a number of coastal rivers to Ankola- Gokarna area of Uttara Kannada district and resettled there. Now, after passage of five centuries, the population of Nadava community in the Ankola- Gokarna region exceeds 10,000.
Five centuries have contributed significant changes to the language, culture and beliefs of the migrated Nadavas of present Uttara Kannada. Their language ‘Nadava Kannada’ now is slightly different from that of the present ‘Kundapur Kannada’. Their beliefs also have undergone minor changes: the cult of spirit worship has taken back seat and local influence of Lord Tirupati Venkataramana has taken over. The ‘moolasthana’ concept has almost vanished,but the ‘bari’ concept has become ‘balli’ concept.. The Bermer cult has been modified into an annual festival of Bommayya devaru.