The region around Mulki has been significant historically
since ancient times. However we do not find the place Mulki in very old historical
documents! The actual position of the Western coastline has eventually changed
during the Holocene geological period due to gradual regression of the sea.
The oldest recognizable cultural core in the
region at present happens to be the land of legendary Siri, surviving in Tulu folk-lores (Siri pāḍ’dana). It is located
to the East of Mulki town. The ancient home land of Siri, as documented in the
folklores, consists essentially of villages and hamlets of Bola, Sacheri(pete),
Kotrupadi and Kadandale.
It is difficult to conclude now whether Siri pāḍ’dana
was based on an actual event or a fiction. However, the essential geographic data
embodied in the pāḍ’dana, coupled with its indirect cross reference to the Satiyaputo in the emperor Ashoka’s
Girnar rock edict, makes it a
historically momentous document.
The River Shambavi
that flows by the North side of Mulki, is connected etymologically to Udyavara,
in the North represented by the historically significant Shambu-kallu hillock.
In the modern times, Karnad Sadashiva Rao was
a prominent freedom fighter from the West Coast who brought laurels to the
place Karnad, a suburb of Mulki. Recently there has been a good article on the historical
aspects of Mulki in Kannada by Dr. Vamana S.S, entitled “ ನಮ್ಮೂರು ಮೂಲಿಕೆ (ಮೂಲ್ಕಿ)”
published in the Mumbai monthly “Mogaveera”
(September 2018). At this juncture let
us collate and review the available historical and geological data.
GEOGRAPHY: PRESENT AND PAST
Presently, we do not find Mulki port town right
on the coast but slightly inland being guarded by two rivers namely Shambhavi
and Pavanje that join and debouch their fluvial contents into the Arabian Sea
near Sasihitlu. Two barrier spits
extend from the sandy coastal banks of R. Shambhavi (Mulki River) and R. Pavanje
(Nandini), in opposite directions, parallel to the beach-line that terminate
near the estuary of Sasihitlu. (Earlier in this blog a post (Post 305) was written on Mulki the emergent land.)
The geomorphology of the West Coast has evolved
with time. In the past the features were much different!
Before a few centuries, the rivers Shambhavi
and Pavanje were joining the Arabian Sea independently like other coastal
rivers at that time. Then, Shambhavi river had a direct access to the Sea and the of old Mulki port was located close to the sea mouth or the estuary. Further with passage of time, as the sea receded westward, the position
of the old sea port of Bappanadu, Mulki, remained inland.
 |
| Current geography of the region around Mulki, with ancient Siri homeland located to the East (click to enlarge). |
There are a few evidences preserved in the
local place names corroborating the geographic changes in the flow channels of
the Shambhavi/Mulki River during the past history. A note on the
place name ‘Olalanke’ is pertinent here:
Olalanke: The ancient place name Ola-lanke
is an interesting geographic toponym, as it suggests (1) the presence of an
island within the river Shambhavi. (Ola
=inner, inside river; lanke=island)
in the past and (2) shifting of the old
river course such that the old river island was transformed into a land area.
In other words, the locality Olalanke originally represented a kuduru or an island within the river.
Due to subsequent changes in river geomorphology such as migration of river
flow path, it became part of the mainland, as it exists now.
(However, there
are a few legendary anecdotes in the area attempting to connect the place name
‘Olalanke’ with the renowned “Lanke” of Ramayana.)
Westward emergence of coastal land concurrent with regression of sea
The sea coast has
gradually receded during the past, revealing the land of Mulki around 2nd
to 3rd century CE. In fact, similar recession of the Arabian Sea occurred all
along the West coast and consequently, the original sea front locations of the
ancient ports became inland with regression of the Sea. Thus presently we find the ancient ports of
not only Mulki but also Basrur, Barkur, Udyavar
and Alape (Mangaluru East) in inland locations (For corroborative
documentary evidences, on
spatio-temporal changes in Gurpur river, read our Post 98).
The regression of the West Coast was a
gradual and continuous event and if travel backwards in the history, we find that whole Mulki and the region East
of it was under the Sea.
In
retrospection, if we go back further in time some 2500 years or more, we find
that then the Sea coast existed somewhere near Sacheripete
(Mundkuru) and Bola ! That is to reiterate that then all the land now to the West of
Sacheripete/Bola were covered under the Sea.
In Siri pāḍ’dana,
there is glaring absence of present
coastal place names such as Mangaluru, Mulki, Malpe, Udupi and Kundapura etc. Since these land parts were recovered from the sea as a result of marine regression, the absence of current coastal places in the folk lore corroborates the event of marine
retreat of the Arabian Sea. The regression of the
sea is also documented in the legend of creation and retrieval of land from the
Sea, popularly attributed to legends of Parashurama.(Post. 102)
About 2500
years ago: Satiyaputo/Satyanapura
In fact the places, Sacheripete and Bola,
were the places of center of action described as “Satyanapura” in Siri pāḍ’dana which appears to date back to some 2000 years.
Ashoka’s
rock edict:
The rock edict of Girnar, attributed to King
Ashoka ( ca 304-232 BCE) mentioned “Satiyaputo” along with other (neighboring) ancient South Indian States
like Chola, Pandya, and Keralaputo. The rock edict declares that in these regions ( implying that even though not included in his kingdom), King Ashoka provided the people with or arranged
for necessary medicinal herbs, roots and edible fruits
along with providing facility of drinking water wells as popular welfare measures. The
region mentioned as Satiyaputo in the rock edict has been considered to
represent the ancient Tulunadu by several historians. (Budhananda Shivalli,
1982).
Ancient land of Siri - East of Mulki
A perspective analysis of the places associated with Siri pāḍ’dana (as shown in the map) suggests that “Sacheri (-pete)” happens to be
the modern equivalent place cited as “Satiyaputo”.
It appears that
the Satyanapura was on the sea coast some two millennia ago. In other words, during the period
of Satyanapura and Siri pāḍ’dana, there was no Mulki and the relevant land was
under the sea!
Some of the relevant inferences in this regard are enlisted here below:
1. In the folk lore of Siri we find the name of Satyanapura near Bola, as the
home of legendary brave woman Siri, popularly known as Tulunada Siri. The homeland of Siri and her father Birumalva was ‘Satyanapura’ in Bola village according to pāḍ’dana.
2. The Satyanapura described in Siri pāḍ’dana can be matched with the Prakrit equivalent term of Satiyaputo cited in the King Ashoka's rock edict. The reference to Satiyaputo in the rock edict suggests that the region was well known by the time of Ashoka.
3. Presently,
there is no place specifically known as ‘Satyanapura’ or ‘Satiyaputo’ in the West coast of India. However, south of Bola village and West of Kadandale
village (both villages mentioned clearly in Siri pāḍ’dana) there is a hamlet known as "Sacheripete".
The alternate Prakrit/Pali
word ‘sach’(=truth) in Sacheri (sach+yeri= mound of truth)
corresponds to “satya” (=truth) and “satiya”
(=truth) of Siri pāḍ’dana and King
Ashoka edict respectively.
In fact, the ‘satya’
(or ‘satyolu’, plural) is the usual term
used in Tulunadu since antiquity to refer to the eternal aspect of the divine
spirits.
Thus the hamlet presently known as Sacheri-pete (now within Mundkur village) near Bola village holds key to the mystery of the elusive Satiyaputo.
4. In case
the, Satiyaputo in Ashoka's edict refers
to the Satyanapura of Siri pāḍ’dana, then it takes the date of Siri pāḍ’dana to an older period in the time frame of 250-100 BCE.
5. Siri pāḍ’dana mentions only one God or divinity known as “Bermer”, which was the ancient form
of worship that existed in several parts of ancient India, rudiments of which still prevail
in Tulunadu. (There is a reference to the dilapidated shrine of Bermer, on which,
Birumalva ,Siri’s father, focuses his attention to repair it.)
6. In Siri pāḍ’dana, we find reference to only those places lying around and to the East of Bola-Sacheri-Kadandale. Basrur port
in the North is mentioned (as Siri’s husbands place) but the current well known coastal towns
such as Mangaluru, Mulki, Udupi, Udyavara, Kundapura etc are not found.
Note that Karla (Karkal) town located to the NE of Bola finds mention as a major town where
one could buy wedding saris !
7. Based on the
presence of abundant Prakrit derived words in Tulu and Kannada it has been suggested
that the Prakrit was the administrative language during early part of the
common Era.(Shettar, 2014). Thus it is possible that the original version of the
Siri epic could have been composed in Prakrit and later translated into Tulu pāḍ’dana (folklore) form.
8. The epic
qualities of the Siri pāḍ’dana resemble Sangam
literature of Tamil. Thus the folk lore appears to have been inspired from the Sangam
literature and we may recognize it as a product of “Tulu Sangam” literature that ran parallel to Tamil Sangam.
The glaring absence of present coastal place
names such as Mangaluru, Mulki, Malpe, Udupi and Kundapura etc in the Siri pāḍ’dana further corroborates an major event of marine regression. It is also corroborated in the popular legend of creation of land retrieval of
land from the Sea attributed to sage Parashurama is a real and natural
geological event !
Early
centuries of Common Era: Siri alaḍe
Many of the Tulu moolastānas that represent the original settlements (or ancient tribal settlements of primary order) of the immigrant Tulu tribes, have been attached or equated to alaḍes.
Since most of the narrations in Siri pāḍ’dana are realistic social events,
we may assume that the epic was based on a natural incident. Following the
popularization of the Siri pāḍ’dana,
a number of “Alaḍe” (ancient centers
of worship) were developed around the Siri land centered on Bola village. (Alaḍe: āla = water ḍe =place;
or, holy place beside water body).
Usually these Siri Alaḍe are referred to as Adi Alaḍes suggesting their historical antiquity. Thus Siri
alaḍe were established in villages around Bola such as Kavatar, Nandalike, Hiriadka, Pangala, Kandevu (Chellair) and Nidigal (Kanyadi).
Two of these places - Nandalike (Karkal Taluk) and Kavatar (Mangaluru Taluk) are close to the original Siri homeland, where as Pangala ( near Udyavara, Udupi Taluk) and Kandevu (Chellairu near Surathkal, Mangaluru Taluk) are proximal to the coast. Hiriadka must have been an ancient center of traditional worship in those times. Only Nidigal (Kanyadi village, near Dharmastala, Beltangadi Taluk) on the banks of River Netravati is a relatively far off place from the Siri homeland. Notably there are no popular Siri shrines in Kundapura/Basrur region which was Siris first husband's place according to the pāḍ’dana. (Please correct me if any reader has more information on this aspect).
 |
| Location of Siri Alades in Dakshina Kannada & Udupi districts, Karnataka (Click to enlarge) |
The Siri alade are characterized by a different pattern of worship compared to other Spirit
worships. Besides impersonation of characters in Siri pāḍ’dana such as Siri and Kumara, the festive congregation
also witnesses convulsions of mass effects of possession and or trance.
Birumalva:
In the Siri pāḍ’dana the name of the Siri’s
father is given as Birumalva. Note that the term “Biruma” represents alternate form of the word Berma or Bermer. The
basic doubt historians may get is whether Birumalva
was an Alupa chieftain or connected to the Alupa dynasty of rulers? We have no corroboratory data on this as
there are no mention of places like
Alupe or Mangaluru or any hints on Alupa rulers in the available texts of Siri pāḍ’dana. It could be that the suffix Aluva in Birumalva’s name possibly refers merely to his status as a member of a past ruling family and may have been added by the pāḍ’dana reciters later on. It may or may
not have any connection with the Alupa ruling families.
However, the setting of the Siri pāḍ’dana clearly evinces that
Satyanapura as well as the shrine of Bermer
gunḍa were in dilapidated form when the original narration of Siri pāḍ’dana was going on, and thus, indirectly suggesting that once upon a time these were in good shape.
This setting further prompts us to infer that there were past days of
glory of Satyanapura (or Satiyaputo) before the Siri pāḍ’dana event.
The earlier period of glory probably prompted King Ashoka to include reference to Satiyaputo
in his rock edict.
It is possible that after the period of installation of the
cited rock edicts (ca. 250 BCE), Satiyaputo/Satyanapura saw bad days and then
the main events of Siri pāḍ’dana occurred.
This inference would place the date of Siri
pāḍ’dana events somewhere between 250 BCE and 100 CE.
Members of Alupa family (of chieftains) ruled
major parts of Tulunadu and parts of Malenadu (Humcha, Banavasi) for some 1000
years, probably between the years ca.400
and 1400 CE. However, established inscriptional evidence of their reign begins
around 650 CE, when Aluvarasa I was associated with Kadambas at Banavasi (Gururaja
Bhat, 1975). Banavasi is located in Uttara Kannada district.
It has
been considered that Alupas migrated from Alupe / Mangalapura to Udyavara early 7 th century. There are known inscriptions relating to
Alupa rulers in Udyavara have been dated to ca. 730 CE and later up to about 10th
century CE.
So far there have been no inscriptions related
to Alupas at Mulki or East of Mulki. However, a historical word clue on Shambu and Shambhavi possibly unites the area of Mulki with Udyavara.
Alupa period: Shambu and Shāmbhavi:
River Mulki is
traditionally known as Shāmbhavi, a
name of the mother goddess, which is the feminine form of Shambhu. Note the suffix –avi
(=mother) in the word Shāmbhavi.
River Shambhavi originates near Alladakyār
in Karkal Taluk. Two tributaries, namely Goldendi
stream from Irvattur and Renjala
stream from Renjala, join to form the
initial source of River Shāmbhavi.
The name Shambhu representing Lord Shiva, though
relatively less common in usage we find it applied to a dome shaped granite rock, hosting an
ancient (8th century CE temple dedicated to Shiva) named as Shambhu-kallu
in Udyavara, located about 20 km to the north of Mulki. This provides clues to
infer that Mulki to Udyavara was a contiguous political-administrative unit
during the early history of the terrain.
Bappanadu Durga Parameshwari Temple:
Legends and lore abound in the region describe
that one day during the undated early history
ship of a Muslim merchant by name Bappa was stranded near the Mulki port
due to inclement weather. Locals advised him to pray to the Goddess of the
region for relieving the stranded boat. Accordingly, after due prayers and
physical help from the natives, the merchant Bappa was able to retrieve the
stranded boat and its merchandise successfully. It is said that merchant Bappa
arranged for the construction of a temple dedicated to the Goddess Durga
Parameshwari near the port. In honor of the merchant Bappa, the locality was named as Bappanādu, which popular place-name is prevailing even today. Based
on the history of other Durga temples in the West Coast, the original Durga
temple of Bappanadu can be dated between 8th and 10th
centuries CE.
The local people describe
that the original Durga temple was near the old Mulki port before it was
shifted to its current position on account of the dilapidation of the ancient
structure.
Vestiges of Buddhism:
Similarly, vestiges of evidences of Buddhism in the region, such as
involvement of the members of Thiyya/Belchada
community in the traditional temple car festival celebrations even now, suggest
that the temple was originally an
ancient shrine of Bhagavati worship
which was transformed into Durga temple under the profound influence of
revivalist sage Shankaracharya (788-820 CE) probably during the early part of 9th
century CE. Before recent renovation of the Bappanadu temple, there were wheel
symbols in the front stone facade of the old temple. Such symbolic wheel
designs are commonly associated with Buddhism in the temple architecture.
Administrative
structure:
Dr Vaman
(2018) begins with introductory notes on earlier pattern of administration
vogue in ancient Tulunadu. Earlier, typically the States in Tulunadu were the
principal administrative divisions,
with each State made of ten “māgaNe”
(ಮಾಗಣೆ).
Each “māgaNe” traditionally consisted of
four to five contiguous villages. Each village had four leaders known as “Gurikars” (ಗುರಿಕಾರ).
The village level administrative
structure altered after the Jain chieftains took over. A Jain Ballāl or Heggaḍe
was appointed as the administrative head of each māgane. Further, each village
had two ‘bhāva’, one ‘bālike’ and a ‘parāri’. In this case, the old Mulki State
consisted of nine māganes.
Samantha chieftains, 15-16th century
Rulers of Samantha
dynastic family occupied Mulki town during
circa 16th century. Before adopting Mulki they were residing
and ruling from Shimanthur village,
located to the East of Mulki. The Kotekeri (koţe=fort;
keri= residential zone) area in
Eastern Mulki contains relics of the fort built by Samantha rulers of Mulki.
Chandranatha basadi and Hanuman temple located in the area are also attributed
to the Samantha rulers.
Samantha
chieftains defended Mulki from the
Portuguese and the Keladi invaders within their means. Keladi Venkatappa
Nayaka seized the fort from the Samantha chieftains. Later Haider Ali
and Tippu Sultan have occupied the fort from Keladi Nayaks. Subsequently, the
Samantha chieftains shifted their base to Panambur located to the South of
Mulki.
Mulki Port: It is interesting to note that the old sea port of Mulki is situated
about a km East of the coastline near Kadavina-bāgilu
(“ferry gate”) and Mānampadi, on the
southern bank of River Shāmbhavi. The old Mulki port, built around the year
1705 CE, was used in the past for international marine trade involving Arabs,
Dutch and Portuguese merchants. However, the old Mulki port existed several
centuries before the arrival of Portuguese, and then the port was at the earlier
estuary of River Shambhavi.
During the
post-Vijayanagar phase, early 18th Century CE, the Portuguese
collected tax on the merchandise in the port under permission from the Keladi
rulers of the period. During the period larger ships could not enter the Mulki
port on the banks of Shāmbhavi, hence the ships used to anchor in the Arabian
Sea west of Mulki and the merchandise was transported inland to the port by
boats with the help of native Mogaveera workers.
The Portuguese by virtue of constructing the port dock, in early 18th century CE, collected taxes on the merchandise, with permission from the Keladi rulers of the time. Though the
available record mentions the construction of the Mulki port on 1705, other
circumstantial evidences suggest that the port existed there before the Keladi
/Portuguese period.
ORIGIN OF THE PLACE NAME : MULKI
Herbs.. or new land ? :
Dr. Vaman, suggests that the place name “Mulki” was derived from: “moolike” (=herb); it was also known as “moolikapura” which on translation means
the town of herbs. People believe that the Moolikapura later became Moolike and further later on Mulki. Several other earlier authors have also expressed similar
interpretation on the origin of this place name.
Emergent land:
However, we can trace the real origin of the place name to a Prakrit
/Munda word “mulk “ (or > “mulki”),
which simply means the land or more specifically connotes to the new land
emerged from the Sea, possibly during the early centuries of the common era.
Prakrit/Munda was
the administrative language of this coastal land during the early centuries of
Common Era (CE) (see also Shettar, 2014) , as is explicitly evident in the presence of numerous
place names of Prakrit/Munda origin in Tulunadu (as also in other parts of
India). Thus, the place name Mulki
can be traced to the beginning centuries of the CE when the new land emerged by the
regression of the Arabian Sea.
Mulki=
land; derived from “mulk”, a Prakrit/ Munḍa
word.
Indirectly, the
place name Mulki suggests that Prakrit/Munda were the common administrative
languages in the region when the land of Mulki was emerged from the
Arabian Sea in the early centuries of
CE.
Incidentally, the Tulu word muluku (muruku; murunku) (=to sink or submerge) also sounds close to the Prakrit word mulk, as suggested by Hosabettu Vishwanath.
Prakrit/ Munda
words in Tulu, Tulunadu
There are a plethora of ancient words in Tulu
language as well as in place names Tulunadu. Several years ago we pointed out
strange sounding place name words in Tulunadu, whose meanings are either not
known or wrongly interpreted because of confusion! With further analysis and
interpretations we found most of these strange words in Tulu are of Prakrit /
Munḍa origin.
Note that
even today we commonly use the Prakrit word “barsa” (ಬರ್ಸ) for rain;
we have almost forgotten the original Dravida/Tulu word for rain: “mare” (ಮರೆ) - incidentally, which
later became “male” (ಮಳೆ ) in Kannada. Also note that the Dravida/Tulu word ‘mare’ (ಮರೆ)
still survives in
the Tulu word ‘mariyala’ (ಮರಿಯಾಲ) for the
rainy season!
Saraswath settlers
During the ruling
period of Samantha Dugganna, (17th Century CE) witnessed the exodus
of many members of Saraswaths and Gowda Saraswaths communities from Goa towards South, owing to persecution of Hindus
by Portuguese occupants of Goa. Many of the immigrants settled in and around
Mulki and Karnad. The installation of Ishvara temple at Kotekeri and Venkataramana temple at
Olalanke are attributed to the Saraswath and Gowda Saraswath settlers in Mulki.
Budhananda Shivalli (1982). “Tulu Patero”.
(in Tulu language). Mandira Prakashana,
Mangaluru-575001, 2004, p.317.
Gururaja Bhat, P.( 19 75 ) Studies in Tuluva
culture and history. P. Reprint 2014. Padur Gurauraja Bhat memorial trust, Udupi-576101.p.452+plates
448+xxxvii
Shettar,S (2014) Halegannda: Lipi,
lipikara, lipi vyvasaya, p.528. Abhinava, Bengaluru.
Vamana, S.S, Dr.(2018) “Nammuru
Moolike(Mulki). ”ನಮ್ಮೂರು ಮೂಲಿಕೆ
(ಮೂಲ್ಕಿ)” (In Kannada), Mogaveera, Kannada
monthly, Andheri (East), Mumbai, September 2018, vol 79, no.3, pp.44-47.
R
