Recently members of the Codava National Council (CNC) protested in front of the Kodagu deputy commissioner’s office during celebration of International Mother Language Day and demanded inclusion of Kodava language in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution.
NU Nachappa, President of CNC, speaking on the occasion informed that the United Nations started celebrating International Mother Language Day in the year 1999. From then onwards CNC has been continuously fighting for the recognition of Kodava language. Nachappa also requested the government to fulfill the just demands .
Speaking further President opinied that the survival of the Kodava community is directly linked to the survival of Kodava language. Many Linguists have warned that when a language disappears, the entire community associated with will also decline.
So Nachappa demanded that the government should not include Kodava language only in the 8th Schedule of the Constitution, but also it has to be recognise as one of the official languages of the United Nations.
Nachappa furher explained about the traditional Kodava village names which are being changed into Kannada, and even the names of Kodava festivals are also have been changed. He gave example of Puthari, a major festival of the Kodavas, which symbolises the harvest festival . The word Puthari originates from Pudiya + Thannari, but it has now been changed to Huthari .
He also explained that Puthari is a sacred harvest festival in Kodagu like Pongal celebrated in Tamil Nadu and Baisakhi being celebrated by Sikh in Punjab. calendar.
He quoted some examples in which Kodava names being changed from Paalanda now become Haalagunda, Payyanda has become Haisodlur and Naalnaadu has been changed to Naalkunaadu.
The CNC also demanded the establishment of research centres for Kodava language in major institutions, including Nalanda University in Rajgir, Bihar, Indira Gandhi National Tribal University in Amarkantak, Madhya Pradesh; the International School of Dravidian Linguistics in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala; Dravidian University in Kuppam, Andhra Pradesh; Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in Delhi, and the United Nations University in Tokyo, Japan.
