ANCIENT KARNATAKA\'OL I

HISTORY

OF

TULUVA

B\

1111 \:-iKER ANAND S(LETORI.M.../rh.o .. (I.ond d (;iealen) l',of".ooyVf Hi"o,\"..... rilolhu~u Col1"'ae. Itoon;,

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ORIEi\TA I.

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1936

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ToThe hch)\Td memon ofillY

elder Brother

Bhavani Shankerwho inspired andt:uidcd me in this , \\ ork hut was

snatched awa\ hefore its completion

ANCIENT KARNATAK:.ANCIENT TULUVA

Gangaval

Coonda poor". Kot

~'lKQ.

Malpe:

a3

Udipj' Udayava

Mangaloreen

Scale

1" = ]9 MilesK.R.S.

KERAL;,y_ALABAR"'"Ba.lodyan P~ess,Poona.2..

PREFACEIn the following pages the history of a province which till now has remained practically unknown. has been brought to light for the first time with the help of all available historical materials. This province of Tujuva, now represented by the South Kanara district of the Madras Presidency and the greater part of the North Kanara district of the Bombay Presidency, has ever remained an integral part of the Karnalaka, with political relations with almost all the royal families that ruled over the southern and western parts of the Peninsula. The dynasty that ruled "ver Tujuvana of :.. 6

of that part of the abo\'c: cxamint:d.I'urar:m~.

rchating to

~pta Koilkar:m~

References to of

Tu~uv:J In

the

('pic~

and the

Clainu. of 'l'u\U\':l toT~lnlil

antiquity basco on

cpigraph~, \\'ritin~~

authura,

:lnll ;lccounb of (;rct:k J,{cogr J.phers.

1.

DERI\' n\():'\ OF THE WORD TUT,.ll\',-\

Ancient Tu!U\'a comprised the II hole 01 S()utl, ((anara and a part of North Kanara, The misnomer or L'anara was applied tothedistrictonh' incomparatively 'Ilodern times,' 'l'u!un' today 'is nearly 150 miles illI. 'Wilk, called Tutu"" b\' the name Can"r", Hi,lvrit-,,1 Skrulr., tlr. Sout" oj l1:dia, I., p, X (1810); I., p,' (1869). Itcad .h" Buchanan, .4 .7o",,,,r'y.' throu/.tlt Myst~rl', C01ltlra fI"d Malabar IlL p. 201. Cald\\>elll'xplaln~ ho\\ chi::. name CanJr:l \\a~ mi~applic:d t~ (hj~ part of we::.tern India. .4 ('omporfltif'(' (;(0)'1111.1" (~f Dr fl'idio" I.nngll"tlPS, p. n, n, (1856). Sturrock, ."'"11''' Cru.arlJ Nlfl1lu(d L, p. I.,I

2

ANCIENT KARNATAKA

length, about twenty-five miles broad in its narrowest and fifty miles in its widest parts. But according to traditional jiS well ~sih!Storical accounts, this province extended far beyond its modern limits in the north. The legendary origin of Malabar as embodied in the Keralotpatti relates that the Tujuva-rajya commenced from GokarI:1a in the north as far as Perumpu!a In the south. 1 From the evidence of inscriptions to which we:'sliall advert 'in the course of this treatise, it will be seen that the northern limits of Tuluva' as given in the legendary accounts of Kera!a, are by no means unreliable. In fact, so late as the s'i~teenth century A.D., the people associated the land s(;>uth of Mirjan, situated on an islet south of Ali.kola, on, the Gali.gava4i river, with TuJuva.' But the name Tujuva came gradually to be restricted to a smaller area'till with the annexation of the district by the British in A.D. 1799, it was confined to a stretch of land bordered on ,the north by the forest line of Sirllr and on the south by the town of Caravattllru. The origin of the word TuJuva remains still a difficult question. According to tradition the name TuJuva is traced to the activities of a ruler called Bhoja Raja, also known as Candrasekhara. It is said that in or~er to please the Brahmans, he gave them1. Wilbon. The Mackenzie Coliectio"s, p.28. Cf. Padmanabha Menon. History oj Kerala, pp, 48-9 (1Y24). Another ver.ion of the _arne work .ays that the bouthern boundary of Tuluva was the Kanniorottu river, !-.outh of Ka\'ai. Buchanan, op. cit., III., pO' 8. 2. Barbo .. , Duarte. A D"criptio n of the Consts oj East Ajrica ,,,,d .11"/,,bllr etC. 1. p. 1!14. n. 2. (Dame., London, 1918).

DERIVATION OF THF WORD

TU~.UV.~

munificent gifts like the lula-pur~a-dana, the lula-dana, etc. Since he presented to the Brahmans, who had come from different provinces, gold weighing one hundred tolas each. he was called Tulabhara, Tula Raja, and Tula Desadhipati, and the people over whom he ruled, the Tu!u people. Further. the dynasty to which he belonged came to be known as the Tolar line.! Kera!a legends ascribe the name Tu!uva to onc 'rulurhbhan Peruma!. This ruler, it is alleged, fixed his residence at Ko!esvara, a prominent Saivite seat in the northern part of Tu!uva, just before Kera!a was separated from Tu!uva. The country was thenceforward called after his name.' Sturrock merely echoes the opinion of others that the word Tu!;;\'a could be traced to the word lulu, meaning mild, humble, meek, etc.' None of these explanations can be gIven any credence. \\'e may dismiss the last one as being madmissible both on historical and philological grounds. In the first place. the achievements of the Tu!u people in historical times, as we shall presently narrate, bring out clearly a trait in the character of the early Tu!uvas quite opposite to the one which is indicated by the ingenious explanation offered by Sturrock. Moreover. there is no evidence to prove that the word Tu!u,-which is not in common use, asL CL Sriniva:". Hegc:le, Da"'i~a Kanr.,,(la Jill'YIl Carit,. mattu Hhiittila Pan"ya raynna A!iya Ka" .. , pp. 44-45. (Mangalore, 1913}. 2. Sturrock. S. C. Manual, I., p. 2. 3. Sturrock, ibid: Bri!(e1, Tu!u-En/?li'h Dicti07:ary, q. v.

4

ANCII!l'iT rdRNii.TAK:\

Sturrock rightly remarked.~was e\"(~r current among the Tu!u people themselws: and that the,' called. the countn' w'hich they inhabited by a name signifying a feature in their character which they did not possess. Turning to the other two ex planations, we may note that the story 01 Rama Bhoja's munificence was evidently an invention of the Brah, mans: while that of 'fulurilbhan Peruma!. whose identity itself isa matter of speculation. 'las the result ot confusion between the legends of TU!1I1a and those of Kera!a.' The word Tuluva may be derived from the Hale K annaQa verbal root Will, to attack,' signilying thereby the nature of the ancient Tu!m'a people \,hose warlike activities in the early ages of history secured for then) that appellation from their neighbours. the equally or perhaps more ancient Karna~aka people. Eyidence ill support of this may be secured from their folk-IQr~, traditions, faith. games and political history. 1 he' stirring sagas called Paq,adanas contain their folk .. lor('" ; and these describe, as we shall prove in the later put of thi~ treatise, the activities of gallant men and ,,,omen whose memories are e\'en nO\\' cherished witf. legitimate pride and affection by the Tu lu peopl'e.1. The unhi:.tori.,.'el). Lists oj Ar.tiquorillJ: R, nUJin i,i 111(,' 111Hiras PJ'(',\'idO!l'Y J. 1'1'.238-239. (:Iiadr , 1882)

6

Ajakayi.derpuni is a favou,rite game among the Biliavars and the BUlns., ,It is a contest between two persons who hold cocoanuts in their palms at a distance 01 about twelve to fourteen inches. and bring the fruits one against the other simultaneously, In this gamt' the broken fruit is the, property of the victor. The lapparigiiyi is a game which is played in the open in front of a household. A cocoanut shorn of its fibres and well smeared with oil, is thrown into the air, A scramble follows at a given signal among those present-the jaoalJere, as the youth of the locality are called ,-and the strongest retains it in his hands as a sign of victory. This game is common among all classes of people. But the ambo4i jatfa is a pastime which is seen only among the Holeyas. It is held at Erma!, U dayavara (near Ut,lipi), and Ba!!amanje. The amboqi jatfa is a mock fight with staves about three, some times six', feet in length representing swords, between two parties, The korida-juju or cock fight is indulged in by all clas~ es of people except the Brahmans and the lains. We have described it elsewhere in detail. l An equally interesting and universal game is the celJ4u or a sort of foot ball played during the famous jatra at Po!ali. It is held on the occasion of the car festival which takes place on the Mina SankramaJ)a, in the famous Rajarlije~ svari Durga Paramesvari temple. Popular belief con1. Saletore. The Quarterly Jourr.al oj the Mythic Societ)', XVII. pp,316-327.

IlFRI\'ATlOri Ot' TIll

\\(\IlD

IULLVA

7

Tll'lts the play (cen4u) with the head, of tht' '!ailvo, named Canda and Mut:\Qa.' :\Iore interesting than the above is the torch fight "alled liite.difr:gli.'h Did),., q. Y. 2. Taylor, Cat Rai., .. I. p. 66/. _-'.nother Kerala tradition mahs Parasurama, a PaD~ya ruler. and C e ruI11an rerum~l contemporaries! Ibid. TIl. Pl" 166-7. 3. Prapniicnhrdo)'''111 pp. 3-4. (Ed. loy Canpat Sa.tri. Tri\'andrum SkI. Serie.).

30

ANCIENT KARNA'fAKA

Nevertheless this account given in the Pmpancahrdayam is important in two ways :-Firstly. it confirms our surmise that there was never any uniformity in the mind of early writers as regards the exact nomenclature of the Seven Koilkal).as ; and secondly, it gives another and an equally historical name of TuluvaAluva-\\'hich, as will be seen in the following pages, was used in those times to denote not only the dynasty that ruled over Tu!uva but the province as well.4. \'ERACITY OF THAT PART OF THE ABOVE STORY RELATING TO THE SAPT.-\ KOSKAl':'AS EXA1\Il~ED

Inscriptional evidence leads us tll the conclusion that the legend of the creation of the so-called Sapta KonkaJ?,as may have become popular in the eleventh century A.D. It is true that in some inscriptions of the early times we meet with the names of the component parts that made up the Sapta K OIi.k a I).. as , Thus, for instance, in a copper plate grant of the Ganga ruler Marasirhha, assigned to A.D. 786, Vara!a-dda in the north is said to be the country from which Sridhara Bha~~a, grandfather of the famous disputant VadighaIi.gha!a Bhaqa, hailed. I Hayve is mentioned in a record dated about A.D. 991 as having contained a temple dedicated to the goddess GUl).dadabbe.' We may also1. My. Arch!. Rept. for 1921, p. 23. 2. E. C. VIII. Sb. 4,9 p. 81. In A.D. 1047 Hayve was under the 1l1aMmn7J4aleivGra CamUt:lhicrrl ~~POl't ~t the SOJltil.erll Circle for 1919. p. 92.

CLAIMS OF TU~UVA TO ANTIQUITY

51

Turning to the verse 294 of the Aham which speaks of Tu!una9. 2. It may be that Va,u wal giv GO"erllm""t Epi~raphi.t in connection with the Three Hundred of Niruvau, is mj~1eading. The rnuhOjarrol wert" no doubt of the :,ame .tatu. "' the Thrage Durv;;,,,. My>. Arch. Rept. for 1916, p. 26.

392

ANCIENT KARNATAKA

( Ch.

with Tripuri (mod. Tewar, about six miles from Jubbulporel as its capital. In a record of about A.D. 1162, we are informed that Kr~~a, the progenitor of the Ka!acuriyas, had seized the Nine Lakh Daha!a country and had made it his own.! Three Lakhs (of villages out of the nine lakhs) became the property of the followers of the sage Durvasas. These and other interesting details are given in the huge Malakapuram pillar inscription of the Kakatiya queen Rudra Mahadevi dated ~aka 1183 (A.D. 1261, March the 25th). This epigraph records the gift of the villages of Mandara on the south bank of the Kr~~ave~i, and of Velangapu~-i

Z

tI:I

1. Kareviiru griima I 1. Kareviiru griima 1. Kareviiru griima Talepa"Iadabani, 292 Alampurkot, 335 Alberuni, 56 (n) Alevuraya, 30S AJiya Bankidevara,a, 126, 127, 14g, 149, lSI. 163, 169, 119, 184, 191,194, 36U, 361 Allappa Adhikari, 241 Altekar, A. S., scholar, 221 (0) Alugurajupa\1e, 399 (n) Alupa', Aluvas, the. 58-60,60 (0) 01. 0 I (n), 62, 62 (n), 63-64 (n),

/)21

622

ANCIENT KARNATAKA

66-69, ii, i8, 80, 90 in). 91,110, 121, 123, 136, 143, 145, 148, 151-152,156-157, 162, 165-166, 170, 112,1,4,184-185, 187,196191), 201 (n) 202, 202 (n), 203204, 220, 222, 224-225, 228, 232233, 238-239, 244, 247-249, 255, 257,258 (n), 260, 260 (n). 261, 266,268-2,0,275,277,280,281283,285 (n), 288 (nl, 292, 347 {n}, 350 (n). 353, 354, 358, 358, 401,415 .... Iupa Kumara Pal).0(; Ka1abappu Candragiri, the, sec Payasv:tnl, the Candragutti, 20 Candrapi