Like most Indian weddings, the Coorg wedding…
When the groom is ready, the wedding band starts playing to herald his arrival at the wedding hall. He walks holding a gejje thand, an ebony staff adorned with silver bands and bells, that serves as his proxy at his wedding, if for any reason he is unable to be present there! The groom is led by his bojakaara who holds an umbrella covered with white cloth over the groom’s head. They are preceded by a girl holding a thaliyathakki bolcha and four men beating dudis and singing the batte paat (song for the way). The groom’s sister or cousin accompanies them, carrying the wedding poliya (a reed basket filled with puffed rice, coconuts, bananas, jaggery cubes and a kindi of milk on her head). This is believed to be a vestigial trace of the old custom where the groom’s party took provisions to the bride’s house for the wedding feast.
As soon as a Kodava woman delivers a male child, a gun is fired in the air to announce his birth. A bow and arrow made from the stalk of a leaf of the castor plant is placed in the baby’s hands (symbolic of the martial traditions of the Kodavas). If the child is a female, a bell-metal plate is struck to announce her birth.
Kari Madakuva (Removing the ashes)
The aruva, members of the family of the deceased and other close relatives go to the cremation ground the next morning. They quench the fire and gather the ashes and bones and immerse them in a river. If this is not possible, the ashes and bones are buried at the base of a sap-exuding tree, and later a small quantity may be immersed in a river.
Huttari, the annual rice harvest festival is perhaps the grandest of the three festivals and celebrated by most of the communities living in Coorg (Kodagu). more…
In the early evening, male members of the family assemble in front of the weapons. The eldest member reciting a verse, which calls for caution and faith in God, more…
The Kaveri figures not just in Kodava celebrations, but also in our grief. It is invoked in death. more…
Bisu Changrandi (Visu Sankramana) is the start of the New Year for Kodavas. It is the first day of the month of Edamyar, more…
