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 […]
I By P.T. Bopanna As a born Kodava (Coorg), I feel the Kodava belief in ancestor and nature worship, is nearer to rationalism, than the mainstream Brahminical Hinduism. Because the Kodava faith was transmitted orally down generations, it was not frozen in time and remained flexible to adopt to changing circumstances. Kodavame, or Kodava way […]
By P.T. Bopanna A research paper published in an American science journal has ruled out that Kodavas (Coorgs) in Kodagu district of Karnataka have foreign origin, but opined that Kodavas are “as local as their neighbouring communities.” A recent paper published in the open-source scientific journal BioRxiv summarized their findings of whole genome data from […]
By P.T. Bopanna It is a matter of pride for the Kodava community that a pre university college set up by the Kodava Education Society has not only achieved 100 per cent results, but bagged the second and third ranks in Kodagu district in Karnataka. The Coorg Institute of Pre University College (CIPUC) was set […]
F By P.T. Bopanna Agastya Muthanna, a proud son of Kodagu (Coorg) in Karnataka, who was awarded the Fulbright Scholarship, has graduated from the Harvard Business School in the United States with flying colours. Agastya, son of Maneyapanda Nirad and Deepa Muthanna, was admitted to the Harvard Business School in 2019 and the same year, […]
‘ By P.T. Bopanna ‘Coorg Person of the Year’ Dr Sanjana Kattera (in picture) has completed her Masters in public health from the prestigious Harvard University in the United States. Dr Sanjana, member of the Oxford Covid-19 vaccine trial team, had won the Coorg Person title in 2020, perhaps the youngest to win the title. […]