Kattemad (also called Kattemadu), a village in Madikeri taluk in North Kodagu, is at the center of controversy over a temple entry row. The Nandetira and the Changanamakkada Kodava clans claim to be the hereditary local Bhadrakali temple and village heads in Kattemad, respectively. An ancient Linga was among ruins in the village, a decade ago. Funds were collected from Kodavas, Arebhashes and other devotees and a new temple was built there around the Linga. This temple was named after Mrutyunjaya (conqueror of death), a form of Shiva. The annual temple festival was held in December 2024.
The Kodavas usually wear their traditional dress, the kuppya chele for men and the Kodavathi podiya (sari draped in the Kodava style) for women during festivals and ceremonies. On 27th December 2024, during this annual festival, the Kodava villagers came to the temple in their ceremonial dress. A group of men, dressed in saffron, stopped them from entering. They claimed to belong to the temple committee and alleged that a temple by-law had been passed which allowed only dhotis to be worn to the temple. The Kodavas were told that they would be allowed entry only if they came without their ceremonial attire.
The main ringleader who opposed the temple entry in traditional attire is one Arebhashe man, who, ironically, adopted a Kodava family name. This man, K. Satish, belongs to a prominent political party and was the Kodagu district vice-president and Madikeri taluk president. The whole incident was captured on video and became viral on social media. A few Kodava devotees chanted ‘Maadhe pore, Powwodhi pore’ (Praise Mahadeva Shiva, Praise Parvathi). Some miscreants, carrying saffron flags, claiming to be Vaishnavas, chanted ‘Govinda, Govinda’ and harassed them. No action was taken against the ringleader, who was close to a former MLA.
Arrests, detentions, and unrest:
Police were deployed within the temple premises. The Kodavas planned to protest the humiliation. But the district administration imposed Section 163 of BNSS within a five kilometre radius of the temple. This prevented the assembling or grouping of individuals in the area.
On the morning of a proposed bike rally, the three Kodava leaders of the rally were arrested from their homes in the Ponnampet region, which is around 30 kms away, and released later that day. Around 50 to 100 protesters, including women, were detained as well. According to reports, some of them were dropped at Kushalnagar, which is nearly 40 kms from Kattemad and some 50 kms from Ponnampet. This was done to prevent them from reaching Kattemad. Protests against these arrests were held in various towns of Kodagu. A couple of individuals from both communities were arrested, afterwards, for spreading hate messages on social media.
Talks between Arebhashe and Kodava leaders have not resolved the issue. A demand was made that N U Nachappa, a leader fighting for the Kodavas’ constitutional rights, should be arrested. Meanwhile, the Kodavas celebrated the harvest festival dances in the village green in Kattemad under the aegis of various Kodava organisations.
Later, A S Ponnanna the Kodava MLA from Virajpet invited and hosted the prominent Vokkaliga religious leader Nirmalananda Swamiji of Adichunchanagiri Math at his house. Reports have arrived that the Brahmin priest of the Kattemad temple was attacked by miscreants at his house, the day before. N U Nachappa has condemned this act. Investigation is under way. A peace march has been planned by the Kodavas.
Kodavas and Kodagu:
The Kodavas were in Kodagu long before the coming of the Haleri Lingayat Rajas in circa 1600. A tribe of pastoral agriculturists, grazing milch cattle and farming paddy fields, the Kodavas were employed as soldiers and administrators by the Rajas. A few artisans and other castes such as Ammas, Heggades, Airis, and Kembattis also lived in Kodagu during the times of the Rajas. They speak the Kodava language and practice the Kodava culture.
During the 18th century wars with Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan, Kodagu was largely depopulated. The Kodava farmers who were employed as soldiers in the Rajas’ army were decimated. Entire families died – either due to warfare or disease, such as cholera and smallpox outbreaks, or were deported. Their farmlands were unclaimed and abandoned, hence the economy of the region suffered, and the Raja was not able to obtain sufficient revenue.
The Rajas brought Kannada Vokkaliga farmers from Hassan and Piriyapatna (Mysore) to settle in and around Somwarpet in the east and Tulu Gowda farmers from Sulya (Dakshina Kannada) to settle in and around Bhagamandala in the west. They followed some of the Kodava customs of their surviving neighbours.
The descendants of the Tulu Gowda farmers in Kodagu speak the Arebhashe dialect. Some of the Arebhashe have also adopted Kodava family names. Kodava devotees visit the Talakaveri and the Bhagamandala Bhagandeshwara temples regularly. Presently, the hereditary managers of these two temples are from the Arebhashe Gowda families, although a few Kodava families claim to have been the original managers. The Kodavas and the Arebhashe Gowdas were on cordial terms until around a decade or two ago.
The Kodavas are still the single largest caste in Kodagu and are politically significant to determine the election candidates and winners in the district. Field Marshal Cariappa, General Thimayya, Squadron Leader A B Devayya (portrayed as T Vijaya in ‘Sky Force’), C B Muthamma, Rohan Bopanna, Joshna Chinnappa, Ashwini Ponnappa, Rashmika Mandanna, Gulshan Devaiah, Biddu, and many others are from this community. Today, there are around a thousand Kodava clans, with anything between 10 to 1000 members each. On an average, a clan would have some 50 to 100 members. Most members of a clan get together once a year for a ceremony to remember the ancestors.
The views in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of The Kodagu Express. The author is solely responsible for the content.
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