Vira Rajendra - The Madness

With the death of Mahadeva Rani, Vira Rajendra's hopes of a son and heir were buried. He had loved her, it appears passionately. Her loss almost drove him mad. It had also soured his temper and he fell prey to the suspicion that some traitors had conspired against the life of Mahadeva Rani and destroyed her by charms and incantations. He himself began to live in dread of secret enemies. He detested Hindus in general and Coorgs in particular. He had killed hundreds of his own people on some idle suspicion or malicious denunciation, or on the mere impulse of a sudden gust of passion.

The Raja had surrounded himself with an African bodyguard, and eunuchs from Mysore had charge of his harem. But the guards of the palace and all the military officers, with very few exceptions, were Coorgs. No longer able to bear the iron yoke, they conspired against the Raja's life. The day and the hour were  fixed. All the Coorg guards, who held the gates of the fort and the entrances of the palace, being of one accord, his destruction seemed to be certain. But a few minutes before the signal was given, the secret was betrayed to Vira Raja. With great presence of mind he imitated Haidar Ali, who had in similar circumstances gained time by placing a bundle of clothes on his bed covered with a blanket. The Coorgs rushed in and cut in pieces the form which they mistook for the sleeping Raja. Next moment they discovered that the Raja had fled, that he had at the last moment been warned.

Vira Raja in the mean time had run out and summoned his Africans. The fort gates were shut. Some three hundred Coorgs had assembled in the palace yard. The Africans received orders to cut them down to a man. The Raja himself took his post at a window and fired upon the terrorstricken conspirators. They allowed themselves to be slaughtered like sheep. Vira Raja himself boasted of having shot twenty five of them. The rest fell without resistance under the swords of the Siddis, who waded ankle deep in blood. An old Jemadar, who had been eyewitness of the dreadful scene, said that the blood ran out of the palace yard as the rain in a heavy monsoon day. Three hundred Coorgs, by his account, fell that morning in front of the palace. Coorg tradition says eight hundred. Both accounts are probably correct, for Vira Raja would, as a matter of course, destroy many of the families of the fallen conspirators, ordering the men to be killed and distributing the women among the slaves.

Mahadeva Rani had left him four daughters, the eldest of whom was eight years old when the mother died. The eldest of them, Devammaji, when she was about nine years old was betrothed to a Coorg of the name of Mallappa.

Some time in October or November 1808, Vira Raja was seized with forebodings of his own death, and terrible fears for the safety of his daughters overtook him. In a fit of madness, he decided to execute his two brothers, Appaji and Linga Raja, to ensure the safety of his daughters and their rightful succession to the throne. A party was despatched to Appagalla, a second party to Haleri, to bring the heads of the brothers, Appaji and Linga Raja. Within an hour of this despatch, however, reason and humanity gained the mastery, and the decree of death was revoked. Sadly, the messengers who ran down to Appagalla, were met by the executioners carrying Appaji's head. The distance to Haleri was greater, and perhaps Linga Raja had had a friendly warning. He had not been found by the executioners on their first arrival, and before he was discovered, his pardon arrived.

In the beginning of the year 1809, Mr. Cole, the Resident of Mysore, received a message from Mercara that the Raja was insane, and that the assistance of an English physician might be granted. Dr. Ingledew was despatched immediately and on reaching he found the Raja in a dangerous state. His madness came upon him in fits, which were succeeded by the darkest melancholy. The presence of an English gentleman was a relief to him. There was one man now near him whom he could trust.

From May 1809, Vira Raja's health started declining. During his last days he seems to have been more favorably inclined than formerly towards the Sode Raja, who was appointed to transact business for him, and whom he desired to act as Devan during the minority of Devammaji. On the 9th June 1809, the unhappy prince called his beloved daughter to his bedside, gave his seal into her hands, and shortly afterwards breathed his last. He lies buried in one of the mausoleums which grace the hill overlooking the town of Mercara.

Source: Mysore and Coorg, Vol. III by Lewis Rice

Vira Rajendra - The Family

Vira Raja, having no sons, resolved in 1796 to marry a second time. The ceremony was honoured by a deputation from the English Commissioner at Malabar and a company of sepoys, and took place amidst a large concourse of people from Coorg and the adjacent provinces. Mahadevamma was declared Rani, and her childrenwere to succeed to the throne of Coorg.

In 1801, Vira Raja contracted a matrimonial alliance between his daughter Rajammaji, by his first Rani, and Basava Linga, the Raja of Sode, who resided in the Goa territories. Vira Raja wrote to the Governor General to apprise him of the intended marriage, and to procure for the Sode Raja three months leave from the Portuguese Government. He also wished to settle upon the Sode Raja, who was poor, one lakh of rupees, out of the property held by him in Bombay Government paper, as Rajammaji's portion. The wedding took place in December 1801 at Nalknad.

Before the end of 1805, Rajammaji, the Rani of Sode, was delivered of a son, who received the name of Sadasiva Raja. Meanwhile, Vira Raja had grown very fond of his new wife Mahadeva Rani, who had borne him two daughters, and might have lived and died a happy man, if he had had a son and heir, if he had not distrusted his nearest relatives, and if his violent temper had not often carried him beyond the bounds of humanity. He lived in constant dread of poison, and it was difficult to say whether the frenzy which seemed at times to seize him was not caused by drugs administered to him in spite of all his caution.

In Jan 1806, Vira Raja told Captain Mahoney that on the day of his second marriage he had determined that any son of his by this wife should be his successor. That his wife had borne him two daughters, but if any son should be hereafter born of her, he would be the heir. But if it was the will of God that she should bear no son, then his concubine's three sons, called Rajashekarappa, Sisushekarappa and Chandraskekarappa, should succeed to the throne. Since the above date, two more daughters, in all four, had been borne by MahadevaRani, who died in May 1807.

The Raja soon succumbed to his fear that if the succession devolved on the sons of another mother, they would create trouble to the four daughters of his lawful queen. So he decided that of the four daughters who are named Devammaji, Muddammaji, Rajammaji and Mahadevammaji, the eldest should be married, and whatever son she might have, he should be named Vira Rajendra, receive the Raja's seal and be the successor to the throne. If she should, however, have no son, the son of either of her younger sisters, according to seniority, should be the successor, and so long as the line of any of his four above named daughters continued, none of the heirs of the other mother should succeed to the throne; but, upon the family of his four daughters being extinct, the fittest of the above three sons or their posterity should succeed.

Vira Raja had his above intentions recorded in the Rajendraname and also requested the English Sirkar to be the guardian of his family, and see the execution of his will was attended to.

Source: Mysore and Coorg, Vol. III by Lewis Rice

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Vira Rajendra - Tippu's Defeat

The success of the first operations by Lord Cornwallis having driven the Mysore troops during two night attacks to seek shelter under the walls of Seringapatam, about 5,000 Coorgs who had been carried away by Tippu, with their wives and children, altogether about 12,000 souls, made their escape in the confusion that ensued and returned to their native country.

Lord Cornwallis made peace with Tippu under the walls of Seringapatam, on severe but still too easy terms. Tippu had to pay three crores of rupees, and to cede one half of his dominions to the Company and to its allies the Nizam and Peshwa. Coorg was in danger of being overlooked and sacrificed. It required the zealous intercession of Sir Robert Abercromby, to induce the Governor General to make an after demand for the cession of Coorg, though not adjacent to the Company's territory, in order to keep faith with Vira Raja and to save him from the fangs of Tippu, whose first move after the peace would no doubt have been to wreak his vengeance upon his former vassal. This demand enraged Tippu beyond all limits. The treaty was in danger of being broken off; but Lord Cornwallis remained firm. English guns, which had already been sent away, were ordered back, and Tippu began to prepare for defence. At the last moment he gave an unwilling assent to the demand, and admitting the stipulation which guaranteed the independence of the Coorg principality from Mysore, he transferred to the English his claims of allegiance and the annual tribute of Rs.24,000 from the Raja; whereupon peace was concluded in March 1792.

From this time to the end of his life, Vira Raja remained the trustworthy friend of the Company, and his affairs prospered. On the place where he had first met with General Abercromby on his march to Seringapatam in 1791, the Raja had founded the town of Virarajendrapet. This was in 1792. In April 1795 he took up his residence in the new palace built at Nalknad.

Meanwhile, Tippu, maddened with revenge against the Chief who had so long alarmed his fears and so successfully defied his power and resisted his arms, resolved on his destruction by the basest means. He gained over Linga Raja, a relative of Vira Rajendra, to undertake with some Coorgs the foul plot of shooting the Raja at a favourable spot in the jungle on his way to Mercara. The first attempt failed; but Tippu concerted with Linga Raja more effective measures to accomplish his design. Two of his best marksmen were to lie in ambush in some place belonging to Linga Raja, and shoot the Raja when coming from his new palace at Nalknad to attend the Sivaratri festival at Mercara. The conspiracy, however, was betrayed, the assassins seized, and during the night-scuffle Linga Raja and his family were killed. The two would-be murderers were kept alive at Virarajendrapet as manifest witnesses of Tippu's treachery, but each had one leg cut off to prevent their flight.

Source: Mysore and Coorg, Vol. III by Lewis Rice

Vira Rajendra - The English Connection

Desirous of gaining the friendship of so able a partizan, and foreseeing the strategical value of Coorg in the impending struggle with Tippu, the Government of the East India Company eagerly seized the proffered hand of Vira Raja, who dreaded and hated Tippu from whom he could expect no mercy, and whose assurances and promises he knew he could never trust. His hopes depended on his success in gaining the support of a powerful ally.

Meanwhile the Mussalman garrison at Mercara had consumed all its provisions. Tippu, afraid of losing his last stronghold in Coorg, despatched a convoy with a considerable force under Khadar Khan. On its reaching Mallusoge (near Fraserpet), ViraRaja attacked and repulsed it, with a loss of 500 men on the side of the Mysoreans. Recognising in Khadar Khan, the commander of the Mussalmans, an old acquaintance who had befriended him during his captivity at Periyapatna and protected the honour of his sister, Vira Raja resolved to spare his life.These proceedings could not fail to raise a suspicion of treachery in the mind of General Abercromby, the Governor of Bombay, that the Raja was leagued with Tippu against the English. But Vira Raja was able to satisfactorily explain his motives. On the evacuation of the Fort of Mercara, all its guns, ammunition and treasure were delivered to the Coorgs, and the Raja, who had come over from Nalknad, liberally supplied the wants of the captured garrison and permitted them to withdraw in safety across the frontier. He was now for the first time undisturbed master of his ancient patrimony.

The period had now approached when Tippu was to encounter the most formidable combination he had yet met, and the capture of Bangalore gave hope of success. Lord Cornwallis advanced towards the capital from Madras, and General Abercromby was to meet him from the west for support. A passage was prepared through Coorg for the Bombay army. The route of the Heggala pass was chosen. Vira Raja accompanied Sir Robert before Seringapatam. Operations had commenced with every prospect of an immediate and successful termination, when the'severity of the monsoon of 1791 suspended active military operations and obliged both armies to fall back, Lord Cornwallis to Bangalore, Sir Robert to Bombay. The artillery, stores and ammunition belonging to the Bombay army, were left in charge of the Raja.

Aware of the great advantages that would attend the friendship of the Coorg chief at this juncture, Tippu now condescended to send a confidential officer, Khadar Khan, the friend of Vira Raja, with an autographed letter from Tippu, and letters from Mir Sadak, his prime minister, and Purnaiya, the minister of finance, soliciting Vira Raja's forgiveness and friendship, and offering as the price for his co-operation against the English, to cede the following districts on his eastern frontier, Heggadadevankote, Periyapatna, Bettadapur, Konanur and Arkalgudu, and to extend his western boundary by the addition of certain districts dependent on Cannanore. Vira Raja showed these letters to Sir Robert, who at the end of the monsoon had returned, and after consulting with him, replied to the Sultan's overtures in these words, "By similar fair speeches and promises you have formerly deceived and ruined Coorg. God has given me but one tongue, with which I have pledged fidelity to the English. I have not two tongues like you." And thus stayed faithful to the English.

Source: Mysore and Coorg, Vol. III by Lewis Rice

Vira Rajendra - Tippu Sultan's Siege of Coorg

In the beginning of 1780, the ruling Raja (Linga Raja) of Coorg died and left behind his young sons, Vira Rajendra Wodeyar, Linga Raja and Appaji. Haidar Ali, father of Tippu Sultan, conceiving it a favourable moment, assumed entire possession of Coorg, under the pretence of being guardian to the princes until they should come of age. Meanwhile they were to reside in the fort of Goruru. A Brahman named Subbarasaya, formerly karnika or treasurer of the Coorg Raja, was appointed to the government of Coorg, by the usurper, and a Mussalman garrison held Mercara fort, which Haidar caused to be strengthened.

Enraged at the abduction of their princes from their country, and at the Brahmans lording it over them, the Coorgs in June 1782 broke out in open rebellion, and on hearing that Haidar had marched for the Carnatic to oppose the British army under Sir Eyre Coote, they drove the Mussalmans out of the country and proclaimed their independence.

The death of Haidar prevented an immediate retribution; but Tippu Sultan, his son, was fully determined on the reconquest of Coorg. He first sent the family of the Coorg Rajas to Periyapatna, and after having treacherously seized General Mathews and his officers at Nagar, and reduced Mangalore in 1784, he marched through Coorg on his way to Seringapatam, when he compounded matters with the insurgents. But scarcely had Tippu left, when the Coorgs, stirred by the apprehension of incurring his vengeance, again took up arms, and repossessed themselves of their native hills in 1785.

To suppress this revolt, Tippu despatched a force of 15,000 men, under Zain-ul-Ab-i-din. At Ulagulli in Mudugeri-nad, the Mussalmans were opposed by a body of 4,000 Coorgs, who after a sharp encounter forced them to retire to Bettadapur with the loss of their baggage. The failure of his general induced Tippu to take the command in person, and having collected another army, he entered Coorg by the same route and reached Mercara with but little loss, where he effected an amicable settlement. But under pretence of peaceful intentions and conciliatory measures, Tippu allured most of the Coorgs to Tale Kaveri, and when they felt most secure, he suddenly seized them with their families, about 85,000 souls, sent them to Seringapatam, and had them forcibly circumcised. On this day on which he added so great a number to Islam, he assumed the royal dignity and declared himself independent of Delhi.

Into depopulated Coorg he sent Mussalman landlords, and gave to them the lands and slaves of the exiles, besides a supply of labourers from Adwani in the Bellary district. A Brahman named Nagappaya, a nephew of Subbarasaya, was charged with the government of Coorg; but was soon convicted of embezzlement and condemned to the gallows, when he fled to the Kote Raja in Malabar.

Such was the state of affairs, when in December 1788, Vira Raja or Vira Rajendra Wodeyar, accompanied by his wife and his two brothers Linga Raja and Appaji, the principal survivors of the Coorg family, effected his escape from Periyapatna after a confinement of six years. Leaving his family in a secure retreat at Kurchi in Kiggatnad, Vira Raja was persuaded beyond the frontier by Nagappaya, and fell into the power of Vira Varmma, the Kote Raja. Here a deal was struck between Vira Varmma and Vira Raja in which the latter had to give up three valuable and extensive districts, vis. Kiggatnad, Amatnad and Yedenalknad, in exchange for his freedom. Vira Raja thus purchased his freedom and returned to Coorg. With a number of Coorgs, who had rallied round their chief, he surrounded the camp of the Kote Raja, and forced him not only to return the document extorted earlier, but to renounce also on his part every claim to the Wynad country.

Vira Raja now sallied forth at the head of his Coorgs to fight the Mussalmans. During this season, the gallant Vira Raja once, on his return from an expedition into Mysore, found the residence of his family at Kurchi a heap of ruins and ashes. Every soul of his family had been destroyed and all the old family treasures carried off. The runaway Nagappaya had shown the way to a troop of Nair banditti and Mullu Kurubas, despatched upon this errand of treachery and blood by the fiendish foe of the Coorg Rajas, the Kote Arasu.

In the meantime, Tippu Sultan, irritated by the daring incursions into his territories, determined on retribution. He ordered a large force into Coorg, under the command of Golam Ali. Viraraja must soon have succumbed to the superiority in numbers and discipline of the Mysoreans, had not a revolt of the Malayalam Rajas compelled Tippu to order Golam Ali with his army to the Western Coast. On his March he was fiercely attacked by the Coorgs at the Kodantur pass and suffered severe losses. Thereupon Tippu sent a considerable reinforcement under four captains, amongst them a Frenchman. Vira Raja lay in wait for them at the Heggala pass and dispersed the Mysoreans, who left 800 men dead on the ground and 400 wounded. Tippu was alarmed, and despatched Buran-u-Din, his own brother in-law, with a strong army and large supplies, to secure Coorg by strengthening the four forts of Kushalnagara (Fraserpet), Mercara, Beppunad and Bhagamandala. On his way to Mercara he was attacked and beaten by Vira Raja, but escaped from there with the loss of one half of his military stores. Without having seen the other forts Buran-u-din returned to Seringapatam, and concerted with Tippu another campaign for the same purpose; but Vira Raja anticipated their design by storming and dismantling all the other forts.

Source: Mysore and Coorg, Vol. III by Lewis Rice

Kodagu's History - Part 2

The history of the Coorg Rajas is delineated in the Rajendraname, a work compiled by order of Dodda Vira Rajendra Wodeyar, the hero of Coorg history, and the Coorg beau ideal of a warrior king. It comprises a period of 175 years, from 1633 to 1807. A manuscript copy of the Kannada original was found in the archives at Mercara in 1834. The English translation made by Lieutenant R. Abercromby in 1808 at Mangalore, renders accurately the contents of Dodda Vira Rajendra's original, and very likely remained untouched by the Raja's successors, who were unacquainted with the English language. But the Kannada original was undoubtedly destroyed, after the preparation of spurious copies, one of which remained in the Mercara archives. The two last pages of the English translation are not to be found in the Kannada. They were probably expunged by Linga Raja or his son, because they contained the last will of Dodda Vira Rajendra, the suppression of which lay in their interest.

Rajendraname commences with the reign of Muddu Raja, who is introduced as the son of Appaji Raja, and the grandson of Vira Raja. He reigned at Haleri in 1633, but subsequently established himself at Madikeri (Mercara), where he built the Fort and a Palace in 1681. He had three sons : Dodda Virappa, Appaji Raja and Nanda Raja. After a long reign of 54 years, Muddu Raja died in 1687, and his eldest son Dodda Virappa succeeded him. The second son settled at Haleri, and the third at Horamale.

Dodda Virappa, with the harelip, was succeeded by his son Appaji Raja. The latter had a son, whose name was Chikka Virappa, and with him this branch of the family came to an end. The succession thus passed to the Haleri branch, in which, though disputed at first by the Horamale branch, it continued till the extinction of the dynasty.

Appaji of Haleri had five sons, of whom three died in early life. Of the others, the eldest, Muddu Raja, had a son Appaji Raja ; the second, Linga Raja, married Devambikegamma, who bore him a son at the full moon of June 1763, the celebrated Vira Rajendra Wodeyar, the author and hero of the Rajedraname. His two brothers were Linga Raja and Appaji, the former of whom was the father of Vira Raja, the last king.



 

Source: Mysore and Coorg, Vol. III by Lewis Rice

Kodagu's History - Part 1

The Coorgs, according to the traditions, are of the Ugra race and descendants of a prince named Chandra Varmma. These statements point to the Kadamba kingdom in the north-west of Mysore as the seat when the first colonists of Coorg migrated. A reference to the history of the Kadambas will show that the name of Chandra Varmma was a familiar one among the first princes of that line, and also that their possessions embraced all the countries contiguous to Coorg. According to three stone inscriptions dating back to A.D. 857, south Coorg was ruled by the Cheras.

To the Chera and Chalukya dominions in Mysore, the Hoysala Ballala kings succeeded. Their dynasty first rose to power in the 1Oth century, and as the Karkala rulers are known to have been subject to them, as well as the Malabar country, there is little doubt that Coorg too came under their sway. When the Ballala dominion was overthrown by the Muhammadans under Kafur in 1310, the western provinces, and Coorg amongst them, seem to have escaped the ravages of the conquerors, for the Ballala king retired to Tondanur (Tonnur, near Seringapatam). But ten years later, when Mubarak Khilji made his expedition into the Deccan and put an end to the Yadava dynasty of Devagiri, he sent a force under his favourite, Khusru Khan, to conquer Malabar, which the latter effected in the course of a year and brought a great treasure to Delhi. In this conquest it is supposed that Coorg was included.

In 1336 was founded the city of Vijayanagar, whose princes, also said to have derived their origin from the Kadambas, were the paramount sovereigns in the south of India until 1565. It seems that under the Vijayanagar empire Coorg was subdivided into a number of small districts called Kombus, ruled by chiefs styled Nayaks, who, like the Palegars of Mysore, were doubtless tributary to the supreme power but exercised rights of sovereignty. According to tradition Coorg was divided into 12 Kombus and 35 nads. The Nayaks guarded their respective territories by the boundary and defensive ditches called kadangas but were engaged in constant feuds among themselves, until they finally succumbed to the wily encroachments of the Haleri Palegars.

(the below para is as-of 1878, hence feedback needed)
The number of principalities governed by separate Nayaks is not known, there may have been one to each Kombu. The kaimatta or ancestral monument of the Achu Nayaka of Anjigeri-nad in Kiggatnad taluk is still in good preservation. The family was exterminated about 60 years ago. Of the Beppu-nad chiefs, the name of Utta Nayaka of the Armeri house is still in popular remembrance. In Padinalknad the name of Karanembau, the chief of Bhagamandala, is mentioned with veneration. There may have been others, but the names of their houses are no longer known.

It appears that in between 16th to 18th century, an Ikkeri prince came to Coorg and settled in Haleri nad. At first he assumed the pious garb of a Jangam or Lingayat priest, and as such gained a considerable influence over the people of the surrounding nads. When feeling sure of his position, he imposed upon his followers, instead of the voluntary offering of dhuli batta (the dusty grain of the threshing floor), a regular tax of one and a half butty of rice, and nine annas eight pies in cash per house per annum. His next step was to require alternate parties of the people to guard his dwelling on the Haleri farm. These watchmen were called chaudigara, a name ever afterwards retained for the Coorg Raja's troops.

Having at length openly declared himself, and being acknowledged by his adherents as ruler of Haleri and of the surrounding nads, Karanembau, Nayak of Padinalknad, also submitted, and so did the others, under the condition that they should receive three-fourths of the revenue and pay one-fourth to the Haleri chief. But his increasing power soon threatened the safety of the Coorg Nayaks, who at last were put to death, and the whole country brought under the Haleri government.

The following is the succession of the line of Coorg Rajas thus established, so far as it has been traced :—

                                Period A. D.
Vira Raja
Appaji Raja
Muddu Raja                1633-1687
Dodda Virappa            1637-1736
Chikka Virappa           1736-1766
Muddu Raja, Muddaya  1766-1770
Devappa Raja             1770-1774
Linga Raja                 1775-1780
Dodda Vira Rajendra    1780-1809
Linga Raja                 1809-1820
Vira Raja                   1820-1834 deposed
(died 1862)

With the ascendancy in Coorg, of the Haleri princes, who spoke Kannada, this language became the written official medium, and counteracted the Malayalam influence.

contd.

Source: Mysore and Coorg, Vol. III by Lewis Rice

Tula Sankramana

From the time of the departure of Chandra Varmma, his sons and their people waited for the fulfilment of his prophecy and the appearance of the holy river Kaveri. Two days before Tula sankramana (the time of the sun's entering the sign of Libra) Parvati appeared in a dream to king Devakanta, Chandra Varmma's eldest son, and ordered him to assemble his whole people in the place called Valamburi. There she would appear to them. Accordingly the whole tribe assembled at Valamburi. The river came rushing down the valley, and the assembled Coorgs bathed in the fresh flood. The violence of the stream twisted the knots of the women's cloths round to their backs, and the Coorg women wear them in that fashion until this day, in remembrance (says the Purana) of the first bathing of the Coorgs in the waters of the Kaveri at Valamburi.

In the middle of the stream, Parvati appeared in person. " Ask a boon of me," she said. The Coorgs asked for fecundity, for dominion, for riches, and for a priest. Parvati answered ; " It is well ; a priest you will find near the fountain of the Kaveri, a friend of my father Kavera Raja, who has worshipped me for three lives". The Coorgs went to the sources of the Kaveri and there found him. He taught them during a whole month which they spent there, how to prepare food for their ancestors, and perform other holy rites. Since that day all the Coorgs assemble each year, in the month of Tula (Oct.-Nov.) to celebrate the great festival of their tribe in honour of Kaveri.

Source: Mysore and Coorg, Vol. III by Lewis Rice

Mythological Origin of the name "Kodagu"

Kodagu has had three names : the first, Brahma kshetra; the second, Matsya desha; the third, Kroda desha. The origin of these names is described through the following accounts.

When Brahma performed his pilgrimage over the world, i. e. India, he came to Sahyadri (the Western Ghats) where he saw a strange sight. A nelli tree (phyllanihus emllica) stood before him, spreading out a hundred boughs. As he looked at the tree, he  saw the form of Vishnu, with conch (shankha), discus and club. The next moment, when he fixed his eye upon it, he saw nothing but a bare tree. Upon this, Brahma worshipped Vishnu many days, pouring upon the tree out of his holy vessel water from the Viraja, river (this river is not to be found in modern geography). On this account the country from which the holy river Kaveri springs, was named Brahma kshetra.

Of the second name two accounts are given. There is a mountain called Half-moon (arddha chandra) near which there is a holy spring. In it Vishnu took the form of a fish and worshipped Siva. Siva blessed the fish with immortality, and Vishnu gave the country the name of the Fish-country (Matsya-desha). The account of this region contains the root of Coorg tradition.

Siddhartha, the king of the renowned Matsya-desha had four sons. They were learned, heroic, strong in battle. The first of them longed to rule his father's kingdom. The second was addicted to pleasure, and served his elder brother. The third had a turn for philosophy. The fourth, the most talented of the four, gave himself to ascetic exercises, and visited all the tirthas, but he felt also a strong desire for dominion, and was fond of worldly pleasure. His name was Chandra Varmma. In due time he took leave of his father and set out to seek his fortune. He was accompanied by a goodly army. He visited in turn many of the holy places landing at last to Brahmadri (Brahmagiri). Here he dismissed his army and devoted himself to the worship of Parvati.

Pleased with the fervent worshipper, the goddess appeared to him, and permitted him to ask for a boon. Whereupon Chandra Varmma aksed her for a kingdom better than his father's, a wife of his own caste, and a fruitful mother of children. He also asked for victory over his enemies and entrance into Siva's heaven after death. Parvati agreed for everything apart from his wish of having children born by a wife of his own caste owning to sins he had committed in his last life. Then she added, that though he will have a Kshattriya wife, he shall also have a Sudra wife who will bear eleven sons. But they will not be Sudras. Being children of a Kshattriya father and a Sudra mother, they will be called Ugra (fierce men).

Parvati went on to say that in this holy country she will appear, in due time, a river rich in blessings, the daughter of Brahma, the daughter of Kavera muni, the wife of Agastya. From the sacred tank of the rishi, near the roots of the holy nelli tree, in the month of Tula, she will flow.

Chandra Varmma, by Parvati's blessing, celebrated his marriage with a bride of his own caste, according to the shastras. Both the king and the queen were crowned by the holy men, and Chandra Varmma, giving houses and lands to the Brahmans, invited people of other tribes also to settle in his kingdom. As this its first king was a son of the king of Matsya desha, the country was called Matsyadesha.

The third name of the country is Kroda desha. The following account is given of its origin. Chandra Varmma was the best of kings. His Kshattriya queen was barren, but his Sudra wife bore him eleven sons. The first-born of them was Devakanta. He and all his brothers were brought up according to the word of Parvati. Like Kshattriyas they received the name, the holy cord and the tonsure, with due ceremonies. When they arrived at maturity, Chandra Varmma was anxious to obtain for them wives worthy of such princes. He heard that the king of Vidarbha-desha (Berar) had a hundred daughters born of Sudra mothers. Ambassadors were sent to Vidarbha Raya, who cheerfully agreed to give his daughters in marriage to the valiant sons of Chandra Varmma. He himself accompanied them to the mountains of the Matsya country and to the palace of Chandra Varmma. When all the festivities were concluded, Vidarbha Raya returned to his own country, but a good number of his people stayed with his daughters in the country of their adoption. Chandra Varmma's family multiplied greatly. Vidarbha Raya's daughters became, by the blessing of Parvati, fruitful mothers.

When age came upon Chandra Varmma, he grew tired of the world and of his kingdom. Calling his sons together, he placed the crown on Devakanta's head, exhorted his sons to love and union, and retired with his two wives to the Himalaya, there to spend the rest of his days in the worship of Parvati and self-mortifying exercises. Before his departure, he told his sons and grandsons that Parvati would soon be born in their country as the holy river Kaveri.

Devakanta was now king. All the houses of Chandra Varmma's sons abounded in children. Each of them had more than a hundred sons. They were all mighty men of valour, strong of arm and foot. Their nails resembled the fangs of boars. Before long there was not room enough for them. The produce of their fields did not suffice to feed them. But they soon righted themselves. They went out to prepare new fields for themselves. With the nails of their strong hands and feet, they tore up the ground and levelled the slopes of the hills with the valleys in a circumference of five yojanas (60 miles). Then they settled themselves anew in the country, the face of which they had changed by the strength of their own arms.

Because this renovation of the country resembled the renowned deeds of the Varaha or Kroda (the boar incarnation of Vishnu), the country of Chandra Varmma's sons was thenceforth called Kroda-desha, and its inhabitants the Kroda people. This word Kroda is said to have been changed and corrupted by degrees into Kodagu, which is the present, and probably was the original, name of the country.

Source: Mysore and Coorg, Vol. III by Lewis Rice

Mythological Origin of Kaveri

The Kaveri Purana or Kaveri Mahatmya describes the sacred river from its source to its union with the sea, and enumerates the holy bathing places and the temples on its banks.The Kaveri Purana seeks to glorify the holy river, whose divine origin, its intimate relationship with the rishi Agastya (the settler of the Vindhya mountain range, the great son of both Mitra and Varuna), and its course through the eastern country into the sea being directed in obedience to the counsel of Agastya, all conspire to give it a character of surpassing sanctity.

The account of Kaveri's mythological origin begins with the seizure by the Asuras, of the amrita or nectar of immortality produced at the churning of the ocean, which spread consternation and despair among the hosts of the gods. They invoked Vishnu, from whom emanated the enchanting Mohini, while Lakshmi at the same time sent forth Lopamudre (a form of Parvati). Mohini, charming the Asuras by her transcendent beauty, rescued the drink of immortality and restored it to the gods. After this she retired to Brahmagiri, the hill at the source of the river Kaveri, and was changed into a rocky cave. Lopamudre was given to Brahma, who brought her up as his daughter.

Kavera muni, a devout follower of Brahma, retires to Brahmagiri, there to give himself wholly to meditation on Brahma. He asks Brahma for children. Brahma gives him Lopamudre for a daughter, this is when she obtained the name Kaveri. In order to procure beatitude for her new father, she resolves on becoming a river, pouring out blessings on the earth, and all the merits arising from this course of devoted goodness are to be appropriated to Kavera muni. For this purpose she resorts to one of the heights ot Brahmagiri, and invokes Brahma to give her the privilege, when turned into a river, of absolving all people bathing in the holy waters from every sin they may have committed. Brahma, of course grants this blessing to his daughter.

While Kaveri is still absorbed in her devotions, the great rishi Agastya espies her, and asks her to become his wife. Though longing after the fulfilment of her vow, she consents to live with Agastya, under the condition, however, that she shall be at liberty to forsake him whenever she is left alone. One day Agastya went to bathe in the river Kanake, leaving Kaveri near his own holy tank, guarded by his disciples. Thus deserted by Agastya against his promise, she plunged into the holy tank, and flowed forth from it a beautiful river. The disciples tried to stay her course. She went under ground. At Bhaganda kshetra she appeared again, and flowed on towards Valamburi. When Agastya, on his return, saw what had happened, he ran after Kaveri, begged her pardon, and entreated her to return and to remain with him. Unwilling to change her mind, yet loathing to grieve Agastya, Kaveri divided herself, one half flowing off as a river, the other half staying with the rishi. Agastya then explained to the river half which road to take to the eastern sea, enumerating all the holy places lying in the way of the new stream.

Source: Mysore and Coorg, Vol. III by Lewis Rice