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Kodavas of Kodagu – 4

The British found the region to be extremely backward with no decent amenities.  They did some improvements but still improvement in educational facilities and infrastructure had to wait for full independence.  Kodagu had been directly under British rule and attained statehood shortly after independence. In the early fifties it was a full state with two representatives.   In the year 1956, with the division of states according to languages predominant to the region, Kodagu became part of Karnataka.

The legend of River Kaveri

The main river of Kodagu is the legendary Kaveri.  River Kaveri has attained a sacred status in Kodagu, not unlike River Ganga in the North.  Kaveri takes origin in Brahmagiri hills in Kodagu, in a place aptly called Talakaveri (head of Kaveri).  It starts from a small spring (kundike – pond), gathering body as it courses downhill.  It is joined by its two tributaries Kanake and Sujyoti.  The confluence of these three rivers takes place in Bhagamandala.  From here River Kaveri courses through its serpentine route, giving life and sustenance to millions of people, through the states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, to eventually drain into the Bay of Bengal on the eastern shores of Tamil Nadu, near Kaveripattinam.

River Kaveri is said to be an incarnate of Goddess Parvati.  Lopamudra was an adopted daughter of Sage Kavera.  She was given in marriage to Sage Agatsya, who had crossed the Vindhya Mountains and ventured down south.  Sage Agatsya is credited with bringing Aryan religion to the southern regions of India.  Goddess Parvati had promised Prince Chandravarma, who had propitiated and meditated on her that she would appear in Kodagu as a river.  Lopamudra, who was the incarnate of Goddess Parvati, became River Kaveri in Kodagu.

Chandravarma was the son of king Siddhartha of Matsya kingdom.  He traveled to various temples like Kanchi, Tanjavur and Chidambaram and came to Brahmagiri hills in Kodagu.  Here he performed penance and Goddess Parvati, pleased with his devotion granted him the boon of a horse, a sword and an army.  She gave him the power to overthrow the mlecchas (foreigners) and take over the kingdom of Kodagu.  She also promised him that she would bless the land with her incarnation in the form of River Kaveri.  A Sudra girl was created by Parvati as a bride to the Kshatriya Prince, who bore him eleven sons.  The sons married one hundred daughters born to Sudra wives of the Kshatriya king of Vidarbha.  The hundreds of children they bore settled in the land of Kodagu, with the blessings of River Kaveri.

The brave grand children of Chandravarma leveled the hills for cultivation with their bare hands like the wild boars.  Hence the land came to be known as Kroda Desa (kroda meaning a hog or a boar).  This later came to be called Koda Desa and eventually Kodagu.  Chandravarma in his old age relinquished his kingdom to his eldest son Devakanta.  Thus the patrilineal society where the succession is based on the primogeniture became the practice.

Tula Sankramana (first day of Kodava month of Toleyar – mid October) is celebrated as the day of birth of Kaveri.  Legend has it that Parvati appeared in a dream to Devakanta and asked him to gather the family of his father Chandravarma in Balamuri and await her arrival.  He did as he was instructed and on the day of Tula Sankramana, River Kaveri came flowing down.  The families of Chandravarma bathed in the holy waters of Kaveri and were purified.  The force of the water moved the pleats of the saris of women to the rear.  Hence the unique habits of the Kodava women of wearing the sari with the pleats in the back and not in the front as commonly worn by Hindu women.

– Continued

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