Coorg Festivals - Kailpodh

Early in the month of Leo (July—August), the hard labours of the ploughing, sowing and transplanting of rice are over, there is a lull in the monsoon, and now and then a most lovely day spreads its bright light and sunny warmth over the hills and valleys, forests and fields of Coorg.

(Update - This year, i.e. 2012, Kailpodh is on 3rd September.)

On the morning of Kailpodh, the whole armoury of the house is collected in the verandah, gun and spear, bow and arrow, sword and knife. Some of the young men sit down to varnish the familiar weapons. When this is done, they are carried to some room or to the centre hall, the nadu mane, and there placed in a corner. All now wait for the muhurta, the propitious time assigned by the astrologer. At the right moment incense is burned before the weapons, sandalwood paste is dotted upon them in profusion, and a show-offering of rice and other food (nivedya) is made to them as to idols. As soon as this ceremony is over, a mat is placed before the weapons, and the whole house sits down to lunch.

After the meal, the men take their arms and proceed to the Uru mandu or village-green to spend the afternoon in shooting at a mark, and in athletic exercises. When the evening sets in, the people disperse.

In earlier days, when hunting had not been banned, on the next morning of Kailpodh, the youths assembled for a hunt in the forest belonging to the village. Of whatever game was brought down, the man who had killed the animal received a hind-quarter and the head, the rest belonged to the group. This day was followed by a great hunt of the whole Nadu, a repetition of the village hunt on a larger scale. Kailpodh, to the taste of young Coorg, is the most glorious of all the festivals.

 

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

Coorg Festivals - Puthari

The Puthari feast is held in honour of the annual rice harvest. The name is derived from the Malayalam pudi-ari, new rice, by the rules of Coorg grammar transformed into Puthari. The festival occurs under the sign Scorpio, which succeeds Libra. The Malayalam festival takes place two months before that of Coorg, because the rice on the coast ripens two months earlier.

Six days before the chief festival of tasting the new rice, all the males, from six to sixty years of age, assemble on one of the Mands of the Grama, after sunset. Mand is the name of the open public place in which business is transacted or festive games carried on. Gramas have generally three Mands, one called the Panchayati-mand for business; a second, Devara-mand, on which dances are performed in the name of Bhagavati during the after-Puthari days; a third, Oor-mand (i.e. the Mand of the village) on which the Puthari performances take place.

Three Coorg men step into the centre of the open space, and call aloud three names: Ayappa! Mahadeva! Bhagavati! The men stand in a triangle, their faces towards the centre, their backs towards the company. Ayappa is the Coorg forest-god; Mahadeva, the Siva of the Hindus, and Bhagavati his wife.

The chandu-kutti, or ball-and-peg play, now follows. The whole assembly takes part in it, the moon shedding a bright silver light on the scene. A peg is driven into the centre of the chosen ground. A piece of rope is fastened to it by a loose loop. The people who make this preparation, seize some one who must hold this rope. A piece of wood, generally of a creeper called odi, is cut into seven parts, which are called chandu, i.e. balls. The man holding the rope puts six of these balls in a circle round the peg at a distance of the rope's length, the seventh is deposited close by the peg. The whole company now endeavour to pick off the balls without being touched by their guardian. The player in the centre, always keeping the rope's end in one hand, turns round and round, and tries to touch one of the aggressors. If he succeeds, the person touched must take his place and the play recommences. When six balls are abstracted, the seventh must be moved to the distance of one foot from the peg. When this also is lost, the man has to run through the whole crowd, and escape without being caught to the musicians' place. If he reaches this asylum in safety, the play is won and finished. If he be caught on his way, he is brought before the nettleman, an officer of the play-court, who has been waiting all the time with a long angare stick - a large fierce nettle - in his hand, for the victim. His hands and feet are well touched with it, and the play ends.

The assembly next perform different kinds of plays and dances, which one generation learns from another. These appear to represent the wars which in ancient times were waged between people of different districts, and are accompanied with all manner of jokes and buffoonery. The broader the humour the more it is relished.

The seventh or great day of the Puthari falls on the full moon. Early in the morning, before dawn, a quantity of leaves of the asvatha (ficus religiosa), kumbali and keku (wild trees), some hundred of each for big houses, together with a piece of a creeper called inyoli, and some fibrous bark called achchi, are collected and deposited in a shaded place for the use of the evening. At sunset the whole house prepares for a hot bath. The precedence is given to the person whom the astrologer has chosen in the morning for the ceremony of cutting the first sheaves. On his return from bathing, he repairs to the threshing floor, spreads the Puthari mat, and while the rest are engaged in their ablutions cuts the inyoli creeper into small pieces, rolls each piece into three leaves - one of the asvatha, one of the kambali and one of the keku, in the fashion of a native cheroot, and ties up the little bundle with a bit of achchi fibre. All the bundles are placed in the Puthari basket.

Now the women take a large dish, strew it with rice, and place a lighted lamp in it. This done, the whole household march towards the fields. Arrived at the chosen spot, the young man binds one of the leaf scrolls from his basket to a bush of rice, and pours milk into it. He then cuts an armful of rice close to it and distributes two or three stalks to every one present. Some stalks are also put into the vessel of milk. No one must touch the cutter of the first-fruits. All then return to the threshing floor, shouting as they move on: "Poli, poli, Deva!" (increase, God!). A bundle of leaves is adorned with a stalk of rice, and fastened to the post in the centre of the threshing floor.

Festival ends with the ninth day Nad-kolu, which is an assembly of the whole district and in the afternoon of the tenth day, the Devara-kolu which is a stick-dance in honor of Bhagavati. Dinners are held at different houses of appointment, and terminate on the eleventh day with a large public dinner, which is given on some open plain in the forest, when the musicians, bards, drummers, Holeyas and Medas unite their exertions to give eclat to the festivity.

The Bhagavati feast takes place during the two months preceding the monsoon. Different localities differ in the time of its celebration. Two or three villages have one Bhagavati temple in common, and support it jointly. The feast lasts nine days. During the first six days, every morning and evening, the idol is carried three times round the temple in procession.

The Bhagavati festival is celebrated with less vigour that the three main festivals and is one of the Coorg festivals which depict a lot of Brahmanic influences.

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

Coorg Festivals - Kaveri Sankramana

The festivals of the Coorgs are not numerous. The two great annual festivals take place in quick succession, towards the end of the year - the Kaveri Sankramana in Tula masa i.e. the time of the sun's entering into the sign of Libra in October; and the Puttari or Harvest feast in November or December. The Bhagavati festival is observed all over Coorg before the monsoon, in April and May; and in late August or early September, generally at the first break in the monsoon, the Kailmurta (Kailpodh) or festival of arms, is celebrated by the youths and men of Coorg.

About the middle of October all Coorg prepares for the grand festival of Kaveri. Every Coorg house sends one or two representatives to Tala-Kaveri. With the last ascent of a small elevation near the foot of the Tala-Kaveri hill, the view of the upper basin of the Kaveri valley, which is rather wide and flanked by steep hills, suddenly bursts upon the view. The Bhagamandala temple with its copper roof is conspicuous in the middle of the valley and close to the Kaveri. Hundreds are engaged in bathing in the sacred stream before they enter the temple, which forms a large square with an open centre, like a Coorg house.

Near the summit there is an overhanging rock, called Bhima Kallu, which forms a sheltering abode for some fakirs during the festive season.

The source of the river is enclosed by a stone basin, over which a small shrine of granite slabs is built. From this reservoir the pure water percolates into a tank of about 30 feet square, which by an outlet keeps the water to a level of 2.5 feet. On two sides there are rough stone terraces, scooped out of the hill side, and above the third terrace, on a clip of the hill, there is a small square temple dedicated to Ganapati, with a few huts close by for the abode of the resident Brahman pujari.

At the moment, as fixed by the astrologer, of the sun's entering into the sign of Libra, whether by day or by night, the pilgrim who is anxious to experience the full power of the sin-cleansing bath, must descend into the holy tank. Before leaving, most of the pilgrims fill a hollow reed (watte) with water from the sacred spring, and carry it home for the benefit of their relatives and for purifying their wells. The effectual bathing season lasts for a whole month, but with decreasing virtue.

The Kaveri day is celebrated also in the Coorg houses by those who remain at home. Before sunrise, the mistress of the house leaves her bed early, takes a brass dish, throws into it a handful of rice, and having spread it over the whole plate, puts a common lamp, which has been in daily use, into the centre. The burning lamp is surrounded with flowers gathered from a garden or the jungle. To these a fresh young cucumber is added. Then a red handkerchief is placed behind the lamp. Upon the handkerchief some jewel of gold or silver is laid. This done, she proceeds to bake little cakes from a dough of rice-flour and plantains, well kneaded together on the preceding night, upon a stone mould well heated, three of these little cakes are added to the contents of the plate.

Traditionally, one of the men of the house, used to take three or five of the fresh cakes and carry them down to the rice-fields. There he would put the cakes upon one of the bamboo sticks which have been placed in every field on the preceding day, crowned with a bundle of kaibala creepers. When the cakes are duly laid upon the top of the creeper-crowned pole, the man would give three loud shouts and then return to the house.

And thus ends the Day of Kaveri.

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

Coorg Law of Inheritance

The following paras detail the prescriptive law of inheritance as followed by Coorg houses. Note that these laws have been captured by Lewis Rice in the 19th century. They may have undergone changes and hence everyone is welcome to leave comments which identify noticeable deviations.

Sons, grandsons, brothers, brothers' sons, daughters, daughters' sons, cousins, and adopted sons have the right of succession to inherit property successively, in the order here mentioned. Property, in default of offspring, on the death of a man devolves on his widow; if he leaves a son under age, the widow is his guardian, and takes possession of the property. If the deceased leaves neither wife nor sons, but a grandson and a brother, or a brother's son, the property is divided, provided the family be undivided; but if it be divided the grandson takes possession of the whole property. The law of primogeniture, however, now prevails and division is strictly prohibited.

If the deceased leaves neither wife, nor children, nor grandsons, the property devolves on his brother or his brother's sons, if any, as the nearest relations. In cases where the deceased has left neither wife nor sons nor brothers, but a daughter not married, the relations of the family put her in possession of the property, and dispose of her in marriage, and on her death her husband or her sons inherit it. But if a man dies leaving a daughter not married, and a brother's son or a grandson, the family being undivided, the property used to be liable to a division. In failure of the preceding persons, the property used sometimes to descend to the cousins, and sometimes not, as the Government determined. In cases where the deceased leaves a son under age without relatives to protect him, the Government appoints the head of the village to act as guardian to the boy and to take charge of his patrimony until he attains his majority, which ranges from 16 to 20 years according to the maturity of judgment shown by the individual, when he puts his ward in possession of it, and renders him an account of receipts and disbursements during the period of his nonage.

If the deceased has left no children, the widow adopts a child of her relations, if procurable, or otherwise of her tribe, and he succeeds to the property on his attainment of the proper age, provided he has been adopted formally and according to the usage of the clan.

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

1871 Coorg Census

It appears from Dr. Moegling's book that on an official estimate made in 1839-40, there were at that time 17,096 Coorgs and 64,341 people of other castes in Coorg, or a total of 81,437. After the annexation of the country in 1834, the numbers considerably increased, and in 1854 Dr. Moegling estimates the Coorgs at 25,000, and the total population at 125,000 to 135,000. If these figures are reliable, they indicate an increase at the rate of 70 per cent in 14 years.

The total population of Coorg, according to the census taken on the night of the 14th November 1871, was 168,312, composed as follows -

The distribution by taluks is as follows –

The strength of the Hindu orders is as follows –

  

The following are the subdivisions and numbers of the Sudra castes –

Three classes of Wandering Tribes as follows –

Four classes of Wild Tribes as follows –

The following table shows the classification and distribution of Muslims –

The different classes of Christians are distributed as follows –

We can find details of the 2011 census at the following link –

http://www.census2011.co.in/census/district/259-kodagu.html

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

Doddavva of Alamanda House

In the 17th century, there was a woman called Dodda Avva who lived at Alamanda house, in the village of Armeri, which belongs to Beppu-nad. She was the mistress of the Alamanda property, being the only child of rich parents. She was a woman of extraordinary size and strength of body. Nor was she less distinguished by qualities of mind and character. Throughout the country, she was known as the wisest, the richest, the strongest of Coorg women. Independent owner of a Coorg estate, she was at liberty to choose a husband for herself. Her choice fell upon a man of the same clan - Uthappa, a son of the Machanda house. He was a good sort of a husband, but much inferior every way to his great wife. Perhaps she had chosen him for this very reason. His place in the house was rather that of head-servant, than of husband and master.

Every year the people of Armeri used to send a caravan to Irkur, in the low country, near Cannanore, to fetch salt. At other times caravans, carrying rice to the coast, would start from Armeri during the dry season. On such occasions Dodda Avva would herself attend to every thing, put the cattle in readiness, prepare provisions, and at last accompany her husband and his oxen to the place of meeting appointed for the whole train from the village. On parting, she would recommend her husband and his beasts to the kind offices of the best men in the caravan, and return home to her great house and her large business. Often, when husband or servants appeared too slow in loading the oxen, she would bid them step aside, and quietly taking up the double sacks with both hands, lay them softly and evenly upon the backs of the cattle — such was her strength.

She was equally famed for wisdom and honesty. On this account Muddu Raja, who ruled Coorg in her time, greatly respected and reverenced her, and often, on coming to Beppu-nad, stopped to have a talk with Dodda Avva of Alamanda house. In course of time Dodda Avva became the mother of four daughters, but to her great grief no son was granted her to succeed to the Almanda property. When the daughters came of age, she gave them in marriage to sons of neighbouring landholders. The eldest became the wife of a member of the Palekanda family, the second married into the Pulanda house, the third was given to the Amnichanda family. The youngest, by a general agreement of the chiefs, was also given to the Palekanda house, but, as heiress of the Almanda property, she was to give her sons, if she bore any, to her mother. This daughter, the youngest, bore four sons in succession. Of these, the two eldest were brought up by their grandmother Dodda Avva at Almanda. The name of one was Thimmaiah, that of the other Machaiah. Machaiah had a son Ayappa, whose son was Bollu, the father of Stephanas, formerly Somayya, the first Coorg Christian.

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

The Coorgs

The Coorgs, or Kodavas as they are properly called, are the principal tribe of Coorg, and from time immemorial the lords of the soiL. For the last 5 centuries they are known as a compact body of mountaineers, who resemble more a Scotch clan than a Hindu caste. In the Hindu scale they are Sudras, but it ought to be the right of the Coorgs to discard the notion of caste altogether, which in fact does not apply to them, and to stand upon their own merits as Kodavas, the remarkable mountain clan of Coorg.

The Coorgs are tall, muscular, broad chested, strong limbed and swiftfooted. Men of 6 feet and above are not uncommon. Their features are regular, often distinguished by an aquiline nose and finely chiselled lips, set off by a well trimmed moustache, as worn by their Rajas and men distinguished for bravery. The colour of the Coorgs is lighter than what might be expected under this latitude.

Sir Erskine Perry, in a publication of 1853, says, "The inhabitants of Coorg, in independent bearing, good looks, and all the outward signs of well being, are by far the finest race I have seen in India."

The principal Coorg dress is a long coat (kupya) of white or blue cotton, or dark coloured cloth and even velvet. It reaches below the knees, and is open in front; if not white, it has short sleeves, under which longer ones of a different colour extend to the wrist. The coat is held together by a red or blue sash of cotton or silk, which is several times wound round the waist, and which holds the never failing Coorg knife, with ivory or silver handle and chains of the same metal. A red kerchief, or the peculiarly fashioned turban, which is large and flat at the top and covers a portion of the back of the neck, forms the head-dress.

The Coorg warrior looks more imposing. His dress is of the same cut, but of coarser material and shorter. In addition to his handy waistknife (picha-katti), he wears on his back, in a strong clasp of brass, the curved, broad-bladed Coorg knife (odu-katti). The long matchlock gun is now more a weapon of curiosity than of practical use. In the times of their Rajas, during their wars with Mysore and Malabar, and in their marauding expeditions, the Coorgs proved themselves brave soldiers, and were dreaded for their fierce intrepidity.

The personal appearance of the Kodavatis or Coorg women is not less striking than that of the men. They are remarkably fair, of goodly stature, and many are really beautiful. Their festive costume is one of the most becoming that can be seen in India.

The Amma Kodavas form a small and exclusive sect. They are believed to have been the indigenous priesthood. In language, manners and costume, they are hardly distinguished from other Coorgs, only they wear the brahmanical cord and abstain from animal food and fermented liquor. Their name Amma Kodava or Mother's Coorgs denotes that they are priests devoted to the service of Kaveri Amma, or Mother Kaveri. They have no sacred books or shastras, nor do they exercise any spiritual influence over the people.

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