By P.T. Bopanna Sadguru Appaiah Swami (Palanganda), founder of Kaveri Ashrama in Virajpet, Kodagu district, inspired a generation of Kodavas (Coorgs) with his spiritual discourses. Appaiah Swami (in picture) had committed followers, both Kodava men and women, who were involved in running hostels at Virajpet, where thousands of Kodava children stayed as boarders over the […]
B By P.T. Bopanna Vivekananda Sharana Swamiji (Palanganda) of the iconic Kaveri Ashrama, Virajpet in Kodagu district of Karnataka is celebrating his birth centenary on January 12. The Swamiji (in picture), is the son of Sadguru Appaiah Swami who founded the Kaveri Ashrama in 1941. The senior Appaiah Swami was born as Palanganda Appaiah in […]
C By P.T. Bopanna Kodavas, a microscopic minority community hailing from Kodagu (Coorg) in Karnataka, were once known for their leadership qualities. This Kodava trait of being natural leaders was very much in evidence in the Defence services and Kodagu came to be known as the ‘Land of the Generals’. However, in the last few […]
A By Maj Gen Codanda K Karumbaya, SM (Retd) I am glad that Justice (Retd) P.P. Bopanna agrees with me that Kodavas are not Hindus. He has rightly pointed out that we presently come under Hindu laws. This anomalous situation has arisen because the Union government decided to bracket small communities like Kodavas, who do […]
A By P.T. Bopanna This is the season of the year when Kodavas (Coorgs) in Kodagu district of Karnataka perform the annual ritual of Karanang Kodpo held in memory of ancestors. A lamp is kept in the nellakki nadu bade (central hall in the ancestral home). The sacred area around the lamp is empty and […]
S By Boverianda Nanjamma and Chinnappa* The second edition of the Kodava reference book Pattole Palame will be launched on October 1. The second edition has all the songs, ballads, proverbs, stories etc. in Kodava thakk with the corresponding English translation presented side by side. The book will be launched at the Madikeri Press Club at 2 p.m. […]
S By Dr Veena Poonacha* Background of Ethnography Frozen in Time My review essay, ‘Ethnography Frozen in Time,’ written in 2003, for the Economic and Political Weekly was born out of my discomfort with Prof. M. N. Srinivas’s book Religion and Society among the Coorgs of South India. This book, first written in 1952 and […]
By Dr Sandeep Shastri* The Indian federal system is unique and distinct in a wide range of ways. The defenders of the classical Western notion of federalism even went to the extent of arguing that India was not a truly federal state. They were willing to concede only a quasi-federal status to the Indian arrangement […]
By P.T. Bopanna Though the Coorgs (Kodavas) benefited from the British rule, the nationalist movement sweeping India, did not spare Coorg (Kodagu). The freedom movement threw up several leaders from Coorg. Many common people, including students, courted arrests in large numbers to protest against the British rule. During the ‘Quit India’ movement alone, 150 […]
K Researchers Dr Boverianda Nanjamma Chinnappa and Boverianda Chinnnappa (in picture) have tried to answer the question as to why Kodavame or Kodava way of life is relevant today. In their foreword to the book ‘Are Kodavas (Coorgs) Hindus?’, the couple has noted that Kodavame is a precious heritage “handed down to us by our […]