During my recent visit, I was left pondering, a bit angry and saddened. 
Flowing across these hills in all her beauty, from her radiant source high in the western ranges of this tiny land, leaving stories at every twist and turn as she flows out of Kodagu, is the sacred river Kaveri. Every Kodava tries to visit the source of the river, if possible, annually. They go in October, at the time when the spring waters bubble up from the source, when they walk up the hill from Bhagamandala or, at least on the important occasions of life. This is where they come they come to immerse the ashes of their dead. Each home keeps Kaveri teertha, used in the very simple rituals they follow, and when a kodava dies, the sacred water is trickled into the mouth.
— Kaveri Ponnapa, The Vanishing Kodavas, 2013.
What Ponnapa so eloquently mentions in her book, sums up the devotion and importance of The River Goddess to the Kodavas.
In the years gone by, I have notice the degradation of the place. Before the tourism boom in Kodagu, the natives of Kodagu and devotees from other places were the only ones to be seen in Tala Kaveri and Bhagamandala. Now you can see more tourists than the natives and devotees. Plastic wrappers and bottles on the sides of the road from Bhagamandala to Tala Kaveri, defile the journey. On the way, one also encounters – Shanty restaurants and Shops selling “Coorg Wine”. Is this a place where people should buy and sell wines ?.
The Sri Thalacauvery Bhagamandala Grama Panchayat is quick in collecting the Rs 50 parking fee. That collector was so quick in stopping the car, that had my cousin not slowed down quickly, that fool would have been run over and attainted Moksha.
I had to angrily confront him and ask – Kudchit Uliya, Mande tiri poitha?(Are you drunk or lost your head?). Printed on the parking ticket which that fool handed me, is written -“SMOKING & ALCHOHOL ARE PROHIBITIED”, “PLASTIC FREE ZONE”. They don’t care to check if anyone is carrying alcohol or plastic with them, what is the use of printing such bold statements on the ticket?. And why are the shops in the area selling “Coorg Wine”, is it fruit juice ?.
What are the administrators doing with the money that is collected, I was left wondering.
Did Kaveramme approve it ? A statue too ?(I did not see it, Ask Anna, if TGR can provide that image.). Mother Kaveri(Kaveramme) is water, she has no representation of being a stone figure. Kodavas worship the source as her place of birth and being. Or we can simply add a comment about the statue at the entrance of Kushalnagar and other places and bring it to the notice of the readers in the comment section.
While Puranic legends like Kaveri Purana(Kaveri Mahatmyam) mentions the story of her Origin, the Kodavas were oblivious to the Sanskrit legend till the 19th Century. They worshipped her as she was to them – the holy water goddess and her purity. She is the one who was and is witness to their their prosperity, joy and sorrow, since time immemorial.
The Kodavas came to know about the Puranic legend only after a Kodava official in British administration, Biddiyanda/Biddianda(Biddanda or Biddatanda?) Nachappa at his personal expense, got the Sanskrit text translated to Kannada by Srinivasa Iyengar in 1864.
Kodavas should not bother themselves with the Puranic story. Their ancestors have been worshipping Kaveri, even before they came to know about the puranic myth in 19th Century.
Mother Kaveri – The witness to the Sorrow & Joy of the Kodavas.
Historical records throw a light on one of the most important events that occurred in the life of the Kodavas, right in Tala Kaveri & Bhagamadala. In 1782, while Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan were fighting the British elsewhere, the outnumbered Kodavas had asserted their independence once again & annihilated his officials and military forces in Kodagu. After providing a humiliating defeat to the Britishers in Mangalore, in 1784 Tipu entered Coorg with his mighty force and defeated the Kodava forces. He met the Kodava Chiefs at Madikeri and reminded them that they have risen up against his father Hyder Ali’s government at least 7 times and massacred his forces and he was in no mood to forget the past. He accused the community of polyandry and said that he has promised to Allah that if the Kodavas rise up again, he will convert every Kodava to Islam and banish them from Kodagu to some other place.
In 1785 the Stubborn Kodavas rose up again. Tipu had enough, he came in with the mother lode from Mysore, and kept his promise. According to some historical records, Tipu Sultan lured the Kodava Chiefs to Tala Kaveri for peaceful negotiations and then seized them. After taking care of Chiefs, he sent orders to capture all the Kodava civilians, loot their houses of money and goods and bring them all to him. He was present in Tala Kaveri from 22nd December 1785 till the first week of January 1786 according to his official letters. Records show that the captured were housed in Bhagamandala Fort. The area of Tala Kaveri was renamed “Afzalabad or Afzalabadinagar” by the Sultan.
According to the eyewitness account of Sultan’s Iranian Munshi & Biographer, Mir Hussain Ali Khan Kirmani – it is from his military camp near Tala Kaveri, that he gave orders to his French Allies and native troops to purse and capture the Kodava Chiefs and their families. The exercise was a success. The amount of money and goods looted from Kodava houses are mentioned in the Sultan’s official letter.
The captured Kodava fighters and civilians were converted to Islam and transported to Srirangapatna. Conversion to Islam during those orthodox times made a person loose his caste and religion and he was not invited back in the community in which he once belonged to. But the 18th Century Kodavas were of a different stock and belief. For them their mother Kaveramme was there to purify them of the sin of being converted to Islam. No power in the world could stop them from meeting their spiritual mother.
In his official letters, Tipu is boasting & brimming with pride about his forcible conversions of Kodavas, who according to him; now formed a part of his mighty army and have added numbers to Islamic faith.
But a shocker awaited the Sultan.
1792 – Back to Mother Kaveri – The Purification at the Holy Tank.
The Converted Kodavas stayed put in Srirangapatna for 6 years. If the Sultan thought that they were now his loyal Islamic subjects, he was in for a unpleasant memory, which would haunt him till 1799. These Kodavas never forgot their Kaveramme and Kodagu.
During the Third Anglo Mysore War, on 7th February 1792, the Converted Kodavas who were trained by the Sultan’s Veterans and employed in his military and tasked with guarding Tipu’s center in the battlefield, saw the opportunity for which they had waited for 6 years. They ditched the Sultan in the battlefield, escaped from the Srirangapatna fort with their arms, wives and children and hiked back to Kodagu. A good chunk of Mangalorean Christians, who had suffered the same fate, tagged along with the Kodavas to Kodagu. Tipu Sultan’s Minister, Dewan Purnaiah, tried to bribe them to stay back and fight, Purnaiah was also left empty handed. They marched back to Coorg, were received by their King and settled in their lands and and recovered the caste by bathing in at the holy tank at Tala Kaveri. Very few Kodavas remained in their new found religion.
Purified & Energized, they joined their Kodava brethren who had escaped capture in 1785 and were battling Tipu’s forces in Kodagu under the command and direction of their Lingayat King Dodda Vira Rajendra and his Army Chief, Biddanda Bopu. Tipu’s Afzalabad was wiped out from the map and memory. Tala Kaveri and Kaveramme were resorted back to her glory or rightful place or her bright right, Ask Anna.
THE UNHOLY TANK
During my visit in the last week, I noticed that the water is the tank has turned dark green. There can be no doubt that this is due to algae infestation. The purity of the water has been compromised, due to the heavy construction that has taken place during the last few decades. The Ramanagaram Granite which was used to redo the tank, has not helped. No purification system has been installed.
Taking ritual bath in such algae infested water also posses health risks.
The Algal bloom can be controlled. In the olden days, Sri Rama Motor Service were hired to clean the tank regularly. Why is it not being done?. It is not as if the Temple Administration & Tourist Department are short of funds. A couple decades ago, only devotees from Coorg, the Old Mysore region and Tamil Nadu used to visit, now there is a daily footfall of tourists, many of whom do buy Archane tickets and offer donations into the Hundi. With these number of people visiting the place, surely temple income would have increased. So what is the Temple Management, waiting for?. Curse of our ancestors and Kaveramme?.
Seems the Kodavas are busy on their WhatsApp Groups, sharing political news, stupid forwards, arguing on trivial matters, or building new private temples near their clan houses. Why would this 21st Century Kodavas worry ? Put this as a comment in the comment section. Man in the Mirror.
There is an urgent need for accountability, checks and balances, and this applies to other sacred shrines like Bhagmadala & Igguthappa.
Ask Akka, if she has a nice image of the view of the Hills that surround Tala Kaveri. That can be the featured image(1st Image) for a good impact.
