196. Mandarti

An appreciative but anonymous comment has requested for a post on Mandarti. Infact, a short note on Mandarti was contemplated earlier but somehow was not posted on the blog.
Yes, Mandarti (also written as Mandarthi ; pron: d as in English the, t as in thin) is a popular temple hamlet (of Heggunje village) about 7 km east of the historical city of Barkur in Udupi district. Mandarthi has a famous temple dedicated to Goddess Durga Parameswari. Apart from the legends connected with the renowned Goddess, possibly dating back to ca. 7th to 11th century CE, there are anecdotes relating the place to serpent worship. Infact ‘Mandarti’ has been described as derived from the name of a serpent ‘Mandarati’ connected with the local legends(sthala-purana).

Manda arti
However, the original place name Mandarti apparently has a simple derivation. The word ‘manda’ generally means dense or thick in Tulu as well as in Old Kannada. [The word has also other meanings such as sluggish or dull (‘manda buddhi’) or mild or modest (‘mandahasa’) but those meanings may not be appropriate here.]
‘Arti’ (Kannada: 'Atti mara') is a wild tree bearing numerous small fruits particularly on the trunk. The fruits are similar in size to that of banyan tree (locally known as Goli or Ala). In other words ‘arti’ (pron: short a as in undue, t as in thin) fruits are miniatures of fig, hence it is also known as wild or country fig tree or cluster fig tree (Botanical name : Ficus racemosa).In Sanskrit it is known as 'udumbara'.
Several villages in Karavali have been named after trees such as Banyan (=Goli) tree. For example Uliyargoli, Bajagoli, Kinnigoli,etc. Similarly, the ‘arti’ tree has been in some of the place names of Karavali region such as Artikaje, Artiadka, Artila etc.
Thus we can visualize early historical days that there was a popular arti tree in the village centre or the original habitation of Mandarti. The wild tree was laden with dense growth of numerous 'arti' fruits on it trunk, that earned the name Manda arti.
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195.Madarangi

Madarangi plant is in bloom sporting inflorescences consisting of tiny light yellowish green flowers. Madarangi or Mehendi or Henna leaves are used for tattooing (without needles) hands and feet before auspicious ceremonies like marriages. It is said that the Madarangi plant (botanical name: Lawsonia inermis) was originally from Egypt.The lower picture shows an enlarged view of the tiny flowers.
The name 'Madarangi' is interesting. Tulu people usually call it as 'Maadrengi' an usage probably derived from the word Madarangi. It is said that the plant was known as 'Madayantika' during Gupta period of history. The name Madarangi bears similarity to the word Madayantika.
The plant is known as Henna in Arabic. It is also reported that the preserved mummies (dead bodies) of ancient Pharaohs show stains of Henna marks on fingers and toes, suggesting that Henna was in use in Egypt during that time.It is possible that the plant was brought from Egypt to India by the immigrants during early history.

Madarangi =Maadrengi= Henna = Mehendi = Lawsonia inermis.

Auspicious :
Applying henna on auspicious days is common in India. It is indispensable ritual prior to marriage ceremony. There is a special programme known as 'Madrengi Dippini' (Mehendi Karyakram/Rasam - Hindi) a day or two prior to marriage solemnising day. There are many methods of preparing paste from leaves or powder and applying of henna. Now-a-days ready-mix henna paste is available in cones. After prayer and blessings of elders, henna is applied to bride's hands and legs by expert ladies in intricate and attractive designs. It is a part-time job for young ladies. In Tulunadu, in olden days henna was applied by elderly ladies, who were experts on their own right. For designing, they used dry-gum of jack fruit and sweet cucumber seeds. The mixture of lemon and sugar is applied with clean cotton patch on that part of hand and leg where henna is applied, thus ensuring moistness and non-peeling. Scraping of henna is to be done after 4-5 hours but one has to make sure that water is not touched for 12-14 hours to ensure deepness of colour. After scraping, coconut oil or mustard oil is applied to firm up the deepness of colour. It is said that deepness of colour signifies strong bond of love of bride with mother-in-law.

Medicinal
Madarengi (Henna) is a useful plant to mankind in many ways:Medicinal properties and uses as:
a) a dye (paste of henna leaves) for hair, finger nails, palm, etc. for women;
b) juice of tender leaves for leprosy, sepsis, worms, jaundice, skin diseases, etc;
c) decoction of its bark, leaves and flowers for bathing patients afflicted with fits, epilepsy, spasm, etc;
d) inducer of good sleep, if milk, boiled with its leaves, is consumed;
e) remover of excessive heat of body, if juice of leaves mixed with 'jeerige' (cumin seeds) is taken;
f) remedy for urinating and menstrual problems;
g) remedy for headache, if mixer of coconut oil and juice of henna leaves is applied;
h) Blackening of untimely greying hair by applying boiled coconut oil mixed with henna juice.
[Source: (a) to (d) Tulu Lexicon(p.2506), (e) to (h) Griha Sangaati (p.478)]

-Additional notes: H.Vishwanath-

194.Jambāl – an archaic Tulu Word

The word ‘Jambāl’ is another tickler as Chakana (See Post-179), pestering me from childhood. Simply, it means a stream ('todu'). There are many natural streams along the Western coast. Some are narrow and short and some are broad and long and curvaceous. Swollen in monsoon, they empty rainwater from nearby elevated and bushy area (either cultivated and uncultivated) into the Arabian Sea.

Let us dissect the ‘Jambāl’ as ‘Jamb(u)+āl’ to elicit the possible meaning of the word:

Jamb(u):
Though the exact meaning of this word is uncertain the following possibilities can be considered:

= Stagnant water or bad smell of stagnant water (Tulu Lexicon p.1277).
= A peninsula (as in Jambudwipa, i.e. Puranic name of Indian peninsula (ibid p.1277); or its shape.
= Reddish violet colour or pear shape (as in Jambu-nerale, Kempu pannerale (Malaya guava), edible fruits.)
= Jangal (woods)?
= Sky, star, or thunder (ibid p.1276).

A(a)l:
= Water body, river etc.
Aal is an old Tulu word. Since it is found all over India, we can consider it as a Proto-Dravidian word. It has been ensconced in many place-names (toponyms). Eg. Kaipunjāl, Alevoor, Bajāl, Kudala, Uppala(Uppu+ala),Pangala, Kulur (Ku-al-oor?); Kāndla (Gujarat), Bangla(West Bengal/Bangladesh);Bandla(Himachal Pradesh), Shimla (Himachal Pradesh).
Mangrove is called Kandela/Kandel in Tulu also. ( See more place-names in Post-186).

The following three alternative meanings can be deduced to the word ‘Jambāl’:
1. A stagnant stream or tidal stream.
2. A stream originating from elevated woods.
3. A stream generated out of thunder from the sky.

Jambuli
There is a related word in Tulu namely 'Jambuli' which refers to a baggy structure traditionally carried by fisher-women during their door to door sale of fishes in rural areas. Jambuli is a bag that may or may not hold so many items at any moment.
In the similar vein, a coastal tidal stream (Jambala) similarly may contain copious water during high tide and meagre water during the low tide. Thus,it seems the word 'Jambala' may be akin to word 'Jambuli'.
If this proposal is accepted then we can add an additional meaning to the word 'jamb' or 'jambu'.
Jambu= to swell (verb), swollen (adjective).

There is one such ‘Jambaal’ at Doddakopla (Suratkal), alongside my paternal property, to which my childhood memory is attached.This particular jambaal swells in monsoon but holds water through out the year and occasionally high tide water enters the jambaal. Banks of this jambaal is walled by ‘murakallu’ (laterite stone) to guide water and to avoid land erosion. There were/are small fish with black stripes on white background, called ‘kallai’ in Tulu. Such fishes are abundantly found in shallow rocky sea area; hence the fit name ‘kallai’. We children were fond of angling to catch them in the jambaal.

Similar natural watercourses can be observed in Kaup (near Lighthouse) and Guddekopla (Suratkal) and other areas along the coastline.

There are many such forgotten or near-lost words in Tulu. Readers may send their inputs on such words for discussion in this Blog.


-* Hosabettu Vishwanath *

193. Ku: A root word

The Post-189 (Kuduma) was written to drive home the mutual relations of certain words in Tulu (and also Kannada) and the ingenuity of our ancestors in the remote history in coining words, related to day to day activities. Many of the Tulu words carry roots of old diction. Let us delve into the ancient root word ‘Ku’ and some of its dilations:

Ku = Earth/soil in Tulu, Kannada and other Dravidian languages and also Sanskrit. There are many words with this root word ‘Ku’.Possibly it also means auspicious, raised and encircled with water etc as studied in different contexts..

Kumbâr= (kum=auspicious/divine +bâr=to come, to manifest, bâ : pronounced as short ba as in December), to shiver. Physical shivering traditionally attributed to Spiritual manifestation. Compare ‘kumbar’ with ‘kudth barpini’.

Kud =(pron: d= as in dog). To sting. Kudolu or kundelu means a hornet or big black honey bee (‘pilikundolu’).

Kuda , Koda: (pron: d= as in dog). An early divinity. Serpent God,Naga (See, Post 189.Kudupu). The ancient Tulu expression ‘kudth barpini’ also refers to bodily shivering with trance,theologically attributed to divine or spiritual manifestation.
Many Dravidian and other allied language groups share similar etymology across the country and in neighbouring countries. Therefore, it must be a Proto-Dravidian root word. This amply illustrates the utilization of common substratum in coining terminology of the place-names by our common ancestors.

Kuda: (pron: d= as in dog). Besides meaning a dug up well, it also means hole, burrows and underground or hollow den. Burrows made by rats, ants, etc. in the ground or wall, is also called ‘Kuda’. Also kuDa> guDe. Thus ‘Kudettava’ means cobra and other poisonous snakes, which trespass and belong themselves to holes/burrows made by other creatures.Compare with Kudupa.

Kudār (KuDāl): (pron: d= as in dog). Modern Malpe, a West Coastal Port and Town, in Udupi District of Karnataka was called as ‘Kudaara/Kudaal’ in the remote historical period (See page 824, Tulu Lexicon,1988). It must have been a place around a small bay of the sea, as we see now around Kalmadi and Kodavoor, before bursting of banks of River Udyavara – an unrecorded event at a remote past (See Post on ‘Vanished Port of Udyavara’) and then its joining the sea at the present confluence at Malpe.


Kudhara =(pron: d= as in English the). That which is borne by the Earth (= hill or mountain). Or raised land, kudhara=kuru (‘dara’=’uru’= land or Earth).

Kudtale: (pron: d= as in dog). Means ‘Patta’, i.e. record of ownership of landed property with registered right of paying land revenue. Kudtale tabdeeli means transfer and registration of landed property. The registered owner of landed property is called as ‘Kudtaledaar/Pattadar’.
Kuduru: (pron: d= as in the). =Island within river.Kud+uru.Possibly raised land or land encircled by water.In Kundapur area, Kurve is the equivalent word for Kuduru the island.
Ku+urve.= encircled or raised land.There is an Urva area in Mangalore city.

Ur(u)va: Uruva or Urvi represents Earth (Tulu Lexicon,p.401).Possibly it referred to farming land or tilled soil.The word has affinity to the ancient Sumerian word ‘Uru’ (a town). Uru or Ooru has become a common Dravidian word to represent village. Compare with Kannada place-name Uluvi. Uru.> ulu.The Kannada expression ‘ulu’ is to till the soil.(With these words, we can visualize the stages of evolution of early man from forest dwelling to cultivation of land and consequential urbanization).


Kud(u)va (pron: d= as in dog). is the name of the Konkani community that lived around Goa, and migrated to Tulunadu, stretching from Gokarn to Kasaragodu in historical period, to escape the tyranny of Portuguese in Goa in 15th to 17th CE. Migrated converted Christians were called as ‘Kudumba’ for men and ‘Kudumbetti’ for women in Tulunadu (TL pages 824-825). They were originally agriculturists and hence these nomenclatures. Compare this with ‘Kunubi/Kunbi’ of Maharashtra.

Kudla: (pron: d= as in dog). Kūd+ala.Confluence of rivers. Also known as Kudāla or Koodala or Kodialabailu. It is a place at the confluence of Netravathi and Gurupura (Phalguni) Rivers before joining the Arabian Sea. Among many old names of Mangalore (explored and explained in earlier Posts), Kudla is still alive in the Tuluva tongues.

Kuja = That which grows on soil, i.e. tree.

Kula: Means tank, pond, lake, reservoir or a waterbody. The landed gentry, given to agriculture, are called as ‘Kula’ or ‘Kulawar’, meaning noble people.Also kula.>koLa.

Kulal(e), Kumbare (‘Kumbhakara’ in Sanskrit) = Potter, one who makes earthen pots using soil and water.

Kumara= (ku+māra). A God of the Earth. Young God. ( Ku=auspicious, young? ). ‘Mara’ was the ancient divinity among the early tree worshippers. In the next stage of civilization ‘Kumara’ or ‘Kanda’ (Skanda or Subramanya) was worshipped.

Kuriala: Kuriala is a village in Bantval Taluk.Kuriala means village beside river and hill.Kur(hill)+ala (village on the river bank). Similar cognate place names exist in Maharstra (Kurla), West Bengal(Kuruliya) etc.
Kuru = Raised landscape, mound, hill, mountain.(ku+uru) The man or the community, who lives in High land, is called as Kuruba (kuru = high land + ba = inhabitant).
Kuru: Name of the historical/Vedic State (of Mahabharata) located in present Haryana. The name apart from suggesting its antiquity, apparently was derived from the 'hilly' nature of the terrain.
Similarly, Kuru is a place name in Nigeria and Finland.
Besides, ‘Kuru’ in Tulu language also means a blister or sore developed on the skin. In Papua New Guinea, near Australia, ‘Kuru’ refers to a brain disease among cannibalistic Fore tribes also known as laughing sickness.Kuria in Fore language means to shiver.

Kuruda: Kuruda=blind. The King Drutharastra of Kuru kingdom in Northwestern India depicted in Mahabharata was blind. There is a possibiliy that the Kannada word ‘kuruda’(=blind person) was derived from the story of blind Kuru king Dhrutharastra.
Kuvel , Guvel = Encircled,embanked; Or pit (‘guv, kuv’) dug for water. A dug well for water.Compare ‘guv’ with ‘guhe’ (=cave).

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Notes:
Kuda: In ‘tamilnet’, we bumped against an explanation to Tamil word ‘Kuda/Kudaa’, which we reproduce below, with due apology. Since it is a proprietary text, readers are cautioned not to mutilate it if they quote the material.

“Kudaa is a geographical term used to describe a cove, bay, or gulf. In the context of Naachchikkuda, it is a cove.
Kuda means curvature in the Urichchol (a class of words that had come from remote past), denoting curvature in the Changkam diction.”


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With the help of these root words, we may be able to elucidate convincingly the Place-names from Udyavara to Udupi, including Malpe Kodavoor (>.Sanskritised to ‘Krodashram’).

The present generation may or may not be knowing exact meaning of the words coming down from our ancestors of past. Seldom we hear some of our old generation speaking such archaic words that carry rich meanings.

-Hosabettu Vishwanath & Ravi

192.Eri and Neriya

Er/Eri has many shades of meaning (See Tulu Lexicon pages 486-487):

Eri = A species of a tasty fish (A wise-saying is prevalent in Tulunadu: “Eri tindudu bori’ maariye.” It means, the man addicted to the taste of ‘eri’, sold out his bullock). Bullock/Bull is an indispensable thing for a farmer. Also, it is a complementary to cart, for transport of goods and travel even in these days. Moral of this proverb is that one, who cultivates uncontrolled tastes to something, becomes reckless in life without minding the outcome).

Eri = A seed-bed, i.e. a bed or raised strip of soil for sowing seeds and planting vegetables.

Eri = Who are you?

Eri = Heat from fire or the Sun. Also means pungency of chilli.

Eri = A bund or bank in agricultural fields. Note the proverb in Tulu: “Erigu (Dande = bank to a water-course) neerda bala, neergu erida bala (=support). Neer and Eri are complementary to each other and hence their inter-dependence for survival).

Eri = An element of place name (Examples: Erya, Neriya, Erikkala (in Tulunadu), Andheri (MS), Vankaner (Guj). Tamilnadu and Srilanka have many place-names with this name-part.

Neriya
We expound below the landscape or topography of Neriya in Tulunadu (Dakshina Kannada District with an attempt to arrive at its possible meaning.

Neriya (N’eri+ya). ‘Ya’ means a place or habitation. From this, we construct the meaning as ‘neera+erida+ya (=oor)’ (Post No.190). In terraced farming in hilly areas, there is a necessity of constructing ‘kattas’, dykes or bunds and tanks, to store water from (rapidly flowing) cascades, streams and brooks for daily subsistence and irrigation.

The word ‘neari’ is a good example for the survival of Proto-Dravidian strain in the place-names of Srilanka and for the affinities of this strain with the dialect of Southern tip of Tamilnadu. We have gleaned some related place-names in Sri Lanka with ‘neari’ as constituent thereof from ‘Tamilnet’. With due apology, we give them below:
Vaaka-neari/Vaaka-nearik-kulam (The reservoir of Vaakai trees/The banked reservoir of Vaakai trees, Van-nearik-kulam (The banked reservoir of Vanni trees), Thuvarai Neri = Bank of Thuvarai shrubs.

-Hosabettu Vishwanath

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191. Udupi : an additional note

Udupi, the renowned temple town is known as ‘Odipu’ in Tulu.The present Udupi has been a shifted town probably during the lifetime of sage Madhvacharya. Originally it was located at a place nearer to the coast known as ‘Adiudupi’ (ādi=original) now.
We have discussed about the origin of the place name of Odipu along with that of Vadabhandeswara, Malpe and Udyavara in post No.184 (The Magic of Malpe). In that the association of the word ‘Mala’(hill) with place name ‘Malappe’(now called‘Malpe’) as well as the association of the ancient word ‘Odi’ with ‘Odipu’, ‘Odibande’ (later known as ‘Vadabhandeswara’) and ‘Odiara’(subsequently known as ‘Udyavara’) have been discussed.The word ‘Odi’ basically represented a magical natural phenomenon from the viewpoint of the early man.

Subsidence
Geolological evidences in the area between the St Mary group of islands and the Malpe-Vadabhandeswara-Adiudupi-Udyavara coast suggest that a slice of land mass originally located between St Mary islands and present beach-line actually broke down, sank and was submerged into the Arabian Sea.This act of breaking down and sinking of a land is described as faulting and subsidence in geological parlance.The word ‘Odi’ employed by the early man in his parlance conveyed the effect of the said geological phenomenon.The word ‘oDipuni’ or ‘uDepuni’ means to break or breech in Tulu and other Dravidian languages even today.

Udappu
There are further collateral evidences on the existence of this word suggestive of natural phenomenon of breaching in other parts of southern India and Srilanka.For example, www.TamilNet.com describes the origin of the name of a similar sounding place- name ‘Udappu’ or ‘Udaipu’ in coastal Srilanka. The village Udappu (Udaippu),in Srilanka is located at the point of 'the breach'. It was a natural breach, later made permanent by the Dutch Canal, linking the waters of the Indian Ocean and the Munthal Lake.
Tamilnet describes the Tamil word ‘Udappu’ as follows:

” A breach, the bursting of a bank, a channel cut or broken through a dam in a field (Tamil, Winslow's dictionary, Dravidian Etymological Dictionary 946); Udappu: The colloquial Tamil form of Udaippu; Odappu: Breach or bursting of a ridge in a rice field or bund (Malayalam, DED 946); from verb roots Odi and Udai: To break (Tamil, DED 946); Udappuwa, Udapuwa: The recently Sinhalicized form of the place name Udappu that doesn't have any meaning in the Sinhala dictionaries.”

-Vishwanath and Ravi
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190. Neria: on the brink

Neriya is a village in Belthangadi taluk located on the border of steep Sahyadri hills. There are no ponds or lakes in the village on the brink of the Sahyadri or the Western Ghats and the area is known for landslides during monsoons. A small stream originates and flows down in the area.

The place name Neriya might have been derived from ‘neri’=edge or border. Village on the border of steep hill. Alternately, it could be ‘nEr’ from nEra=steep. Or a village on the steep surface.However the first possibilty seems stronger since the word ‘neri’ is still in use in Tulu language.
Incidentally in the hilly tracts of Neria village ruby corundum occurs! Small streamlets start off from the hills of Neria. Streams grow in size as they flow down into the lower altitude lands.

-Viswanath and Ravi

189. Kuduma

The original name of the famous pilgrimage centre Dharmasthala was 'Kuduma'( pron: kuDuma). There are other places having the similar name.

It is possible that the word Kuduma was equivalent or variant of the other ethnonym Kodama (pron: koDama)as discussed in an earlier post (No.188). There were also tribes known as ‘KuDubi’ or ‘KuDumbi’. There is a ‘Kudumbi-bittil’ (bittil= an enclosure containing greenary and dwelling houses) in the heart of Mangalore city near Falnir.

For example KodmāNu has also a analogous prefix of Kuduma:
KuDuma+anu=KuDmanu >KoDamānu >KoDmannu.

KuDāri
Kudu ,Kuda or Koda are also the early Tulu/Dravida words connected with agriculture, agricultural /farming produces('kuDu') and implements.We can see how the variants of these words have been employed by early farming societies to designate basic themes pertinent to that evolutionary period.
It has been reviewed in the earlier post (No 188) that the ‘Nāga’ (=the Serpents), one of the earliest divine manifestations visualized by the early farming civilizations was possibly designated as ‘ Kudu(pa)’ or ‘Koda(pa)’.’Kudupa’ also became a popular personal male proper name .The act of stinging was described as ‘Kodapu(ni)’.The verb ‘KuDupuni’(or ‘kuDth barpini’) referred to shivering associated with presumed physical manifestation of Spirit forces.
KuDāri is the axe, one of the earliest implements invented and employed by early men to cut down trees and make farming lands. Kudari or ‘kuTari’ became ‘KoDali ‘(Kannada) or ‘Kuthara’(Sanskrit) in other langaugesof the region.The verb ‘koDapuni’was also attributed to the act of cutting trees using an axe.
Another basic equipment designed for collecting water was also designated ‘KoDa’(pron: koDa) or ‘koDapāna’.

-Ravi & Viswanath
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