Lt Cdr Muckatira Suraj Aiyappa has been selected to represent India to undergo the prestigious staff course at the US warfare training college.
Suraj Aiyappa happens to be the son of Gonikoppal Arvathoklu Retd Lt Col M A Cariappa and Saraswathi Cariappa. He will be one of the representatives from 52 countries who will participate in the staff training course in the USA.
Aiyappa had attended the Rashtriya Indian Military College at Dehradun. He acquired a cadet captain degree from the Naval Academy. He was chosen as an officer of Indian Navy in the year 2010. He won the Chief of Naval Staff gold medal and best commanding officer of the navy in 2010. He has served as instructor at the Naval Academy.
At the programme held at Visakhapatnam in 2016, he had received the guard of honour presented by the President. His wife, Dr Yamuna, is a dental surgeon by profession.
source: http://www.daijiworld.com / Daijiworld.com / Home> Karnataka / by Daijiworld Media Network – Madikeri (SP) / August 27th, 2020
Captain Maletira S. Muthappa has been appointed as aide-de-camp (ADC) to Chief of Army Staff. Muthappa is at present serving in the Defence Ministry and joined as Commissioned Officer in the Indian Army in 2016.
He hails from Kedamulloor village near Virajpet and is the son of Maletira Rathna Subbaiah and Usha.
Muthappa is the fifth Army officer from Kodava community to serve as ADC to the Chief of Army Staff.
In 1953 Brigadier Codanda Cariappa, in 1973 Lieutenant General Buttiyanda Bopanna, in 1986 Lieutenant General Pattacheravanda C. Thimmaiah and in 2001, Maj. Muckatira C. Muthanna had occupied the post.
Maj. Muckatira C. Muthanna from 9 PARA (Special Force) served as ADC from 2001 to 2003 and had served two Army Chiefs — Gen. N.C. Vij (for a short time) and Gen. Padmanabhan (for full term). Muthanna is the son of Brigadier (Retd.) M.M. Ashok Cariappa, who was also from 9 PARA (SF) and later went on to command First Bihar Regiment.
What is ADC in Armed Forces?
An aide-de-camp (official position) in the Armed Forces primarily functions as a protocol officer, who looks after implementation of the protocols, and as an executive assistant.
An ADC is also responsible for carrying out liaison with the local military authorities and looks after the professional requirements of the Officer/Governor he is attached to.
An ADC should have five to seven years of experience in the Armed Forces. He is selected on the basis of his professional performance and an interview. Besides the Governors of States, aides-de-camp are authorised to senior officers in the Armed Forces and the President of India.
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> News / August 28th, 2020
By 1800, Dodda Veerarajendra had sat on the throne of Kodagu for more than ten years. He is well-remembered for making a daring escape from a prison in Periyapatna in 1788, where Tipu Sultan had incarcerated him, his wife, mother, his brothers: Lingarajendra and Appajiraja, along with other close members of the family. With the help of Kodava and Vokkaliga chieftains, he was successful in foiling Tipu Sultan’s schemes to rule Kodagu.
In this endeavour, he forged an alliance with the British East India Company in 1790, which was sealed with a lofty statement: ‘This treaty of friendship between the East India Company and the kingdom of Kodagu is signed with God, Sun and Moon as witness’.
The treaty soon came into play during the third Anglo-Mysore war when Dodda Veerarajendra gave strategic and logistic support to the British army. He also provided transport and provisions for the troops. Similar support was extended to the British during the fourth and the final Anglo-Mysore war which ended in 1799. Eventually, Dodda Veerarajendra was able to consolidate his position in Kodagu.
By 1805, the king had three daughters with his queens Nanjammaji and Mahadevammaji. But in his obsession for a male heir, the raja slipped into deep depression. He started having fits of rage. He increasingly became suspicious of people around him. He was surrounded by the ruthless Siddis, of African origin, as his anga-battas (bodyguards). One day, in paranoiac rage, he ordered the assassination of his brothers Lingarajendra and Appajiraja. While Appajiraja fell to the anga-battas, Lingarajendra barely escaped, and lived to succeed his brother.
Dodda Veerarajendra’s officials were highly concerned and feared for their lives. The court officials then figured that they should bring a hogalu-batta (professional flatterer) to lift the king’s spirits. The feisty hogalu-batta, brought from South Canara, praised the king sky-high with a song composed in his honour. Dodda Veerarajendra was much pleased when the hogalu-batta sang that the king was the valiant ‘Lion of Kodagu’ who vanquished the ‘Tiger of Mysore’. The hogalu-batta got a pouch that jingled with gold coins for his flattery.’
Since there were no lions in Kodagu, the king despatched a letter to Jonathan Duncan, the governor of Bombay Province, to help him get a lion. Duncan replied promptly and asked the king to send his men to transport a lion to Kodagu from a zoo in Bombay.
Dodda Veerarajendra deputed his trusted Jemedhar Monnaiah to head a posse of soldiers to Bombay to fetch the lion. It was an arduous task. The men loaded the cage with the lion on to a bullock cart and trudged along the west coast for a couple of months. Sometime in May, they reached Kodagu at the banks of River Cauvery near Bethari village. While they prepared to cross the river there was an unexpected pre-monsoon downpour. The lion, which had withstood the journey reasonably well, was in distress when it got drenched. Its condition deteriorated. The beast died a couple of days later. Jemedhar Monnaiah and his men were most disappointed and braced themselves for the worst reprisal from the king.
The body of the lion was brought to Madikeri. Jemedhar Monnaiah broke the news to the king. Surprisingly, the king received the bad news quite philosophically. He had the lion stuffed and displayed in his palace.
Emblem-of-DoddaVeerarajendra Photo courtesy: C P Belliappa
Subsequently, in 1806, the king even got his royal insignia redesigned by replacing the elephants with lions.
source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> Spectrum / by C P Belliappa / August 29th, 2020
A total of 19 police personnel from the state have been conferred with the President’s Police Medal on the occasion of Independence Day.
Bengaluru U:
A total of 19 police personnel from the state have been conferred with the President’s Police Medal on the occasion of Independence Day. V L N Prasanna Kumar, ASI, Criminal Investigation Department, has been honoured with the medal for distinguished service.
The others are:
R Hemanth Kumar, DySP, Special Investigation Team, Lokayukta; Parameshwar Hegde, DySP, CID; R Manjunath, DySP, ACB, Mandya; H M Shailendra, DySP, Kodagu; Arun Nagegowda, DySP, Mandya; H M Satish, ACP; H B Ramesh Kumar, DySP, intelligence, Bengaluru; Umesh, DySP (Armed), Police Training School, Mysuru; C N Diwakar, Circle Police Inspector, Kodagu; G N Rudresh, Special Reserve Police Inspector, KSRP, Bengaluru; B A Lakshminarayan, SI, City Special Branch, Bengaluru; M H Chandekar, special reserve SI, KSRP, Bengaluru; K Jayapra- kash, PSI, Mangaluru; H Nanjundaiah ASI, Chikkaballapur; Atheeq Ur Rahman, ASI, Shivamogga; Ramanjanaiah, ASI, Tumakuru, R N Balikai, ASI, Haveri, and K Honnappa, head constable, Bengaluru Rural.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Bengaluru / by Express News Service / August 15th, 2020
The site of landslide in the Brahmagiri range, Kodagu. DH Photo
The oft-cited maxim of the ecological sensitivity of the Western Ghats, repeated ad nauseam over the past two decades or so, has fallen on deaf ears. The failure to prevent the degradation of forests in the Sahyadris, along with the increasing instances of extreme rainfall over a short period of time — especially over the past three years — has wreaked havoc in this lifeline of South India.
The Karnataka government, which has improved its performance in terms of flood preparedness, relief work and rehabilitation measures, seems to have taken little action to prevent or mitigate future landslide hazards.
Despite the devastation, the government has either proposed or persisted with over 20 linear projects that could damage more than 25,000 hectares of forest in the region. These projects include Yettinahole River Diversion project, Kalasa-Banduri project, Sharavathy pumped storage power plant, Hubballi-Ankola railway line and many road construction and widening projects.
Worse, this year landslides have been reported in 80 locations between Mangaluru and Karwar, where highway construction work has been taken up.
Apart from infrastructure projects, change in land use norms, the lack of a long-term mitigation policy to address deterioration of green spaces and improve forest cover, and relentless expansion of plantations in the Malnad districts are just some aspects contributing to a looming environmental disaster in one of the world’s biodiversity hotspots.
Several activists, who relentlessly protested against projects in the Western Ghats, have hung up their boots, and lament the futility of their past efforts to ensure legal protection to the ecosystem.
There is no dearth of comprehensive reports on the cause of problems in the region and how to address them. In 2011, the report submitted by the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel, under the chairmanship of Prof Madhav Gadgil, had warned of impending natural disasters unless immediate and sustainable measures were taken to protect the ecosystem. The report sought to designate over 60% of the Western Ghats as highest-priority Ecologically Sensitive Zones.
All the states who are the custodians of the Western Ghats ignored this report. The states couldn’t come to a consensus on the subsequent Kasturirangan report even after four draft notifications, with Karnataka repeatedly rejecting the recommendations.
The Gadgil committee report was back in focus last year, as most of the places where the landslides took place were considered ecologically sensitive by the committee.
Now, the state government has set up another panel to study landslides in the region.
The benefit of commissioning a new report is still unclear. However, the government’s actions have made it evident that it is not keen on conserving the Western Ghats; experts say the degradation of forests here will have cascading effects, triggering landslides, choking streams and posing a flood threat for downstream areas, something we are witnessing today.
A scientific paper by Prof T V Ramachandra, Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science and others shows that the extent of evergreen forests shrank by 16% in Kodagu between 1973 and 2018, from 40.47% to 24.17%; a loss of around 67,000 hectares of forest land. “The region had 32% of forest cover under interior or intact forests in 1973, whereas in 2018 it covers only 19% in various protected areas,” says the study.
“The expansion or construction of linear alignments would result in irreversible ecological degradation. The recent floods and landslides are certainly a warning to the decision makers of likely implications, with the drastic changes in the land cover eroding the native forest ecosystems. Further interventions will worsen the ecology and hydrology as well as livelihood, with increase in instances of human-induced calamities,” the paper warned. Yet, the state revenue department lifted a ban on the conversion of land use in Kodagu in February this year.
Degradation main cause
While environmental degradation triggering landslides is starkly evident in Kodagu, similar situations persist in all districts bordering Western Ghats – Hassan, Chikkamagaluru, Shivamogga, Dakshina Kannada, Uttara Kannada, Dharwad and Belagavi.
Conservation biologist Keshava H Korse pointed out that major landslides are being reported at core ridges of Western Ghats due to repeated disturbance of vegetation in such areas. “Bhagamandala, where major landslides were reported in the past two years, is one such area which has loose soil,” he said.
The area was classified as a highest-priority ecologically sensitive zone in the Gadgil committee report, where all development projects were expressly forbidden due to the fragility of the ecosystem. Yet, several projects were taken up here.
“The injuries to the Ghats cannot be healed in one go. Just to recover the natural vegetation where landslides have occurred, it will take four years,” Korse said.
Among the alarming incidents during the downpour in the first two weeks of August this year, were the landslides reported just six km from Linganamakki reservoir in Shivamogga district, pointed out Ananth Hegde Ashisara, Chairman of Biodiversity Board. He is heading a 10-member committee set up in February this year, to study the main causes for such landslides and to suggest an action plan to mitigate them.
Some of the places highly prone to landslides include the Kodagu DC office, villages near Jog Falls and settlements situated in the Western Ghats. “Our major challenge is to ensure people relocate from areas which are dangerous. It is a difficult task as people don’t want to move away from their homes or agricultural land,” Ashisara said.
Though reasons for landslides were varied across Malnad districts, he suspected that vegetation loss was one of the key triggers for extensive damages witnessed in Kodagu and Chikkamagaluru.
“Deforestation is high, non-agricultural use of land near the forests are prominent. The ecosystem can rejuvenate by reducing human interference in such regions. The ecosystem will revive on its own; this can be accelerated by planting flora indigenous to the region,” Ashisara said.
G S Sreenivasa Reddy, former chairman of Karnataka Natural Disaster Monitoring Cell and a member of the committee, said that there were observable changes in rainfall patterns that have triggered the crisis. “We will give recommendations on what each department should do to mitigate the problem,” he said.
According to him, the cascading effect of disturbing the Western Ghats will worsen fluctuations in the intensity of rainfall, affecting water security and crop cultivation patterns.
Col (rtd) C P Muthanna, former president of Coorg Wildlife Society, noted that Western Ghats are susceptible to even minute changes. “We are talking with the district administration to discuss measures to prevent such incidents. We are against converting land for commercial use as it causes degradation,” he said. Efforts are also being made to encourage planters to cultivate native trees inside plantations.
Sundar Rao Bantwal, who put an end to his environmental activism after the Yettinahole project was cleared, painted a gloomy picture on how environmental concerns were always sidelined over profits by politicians and contractors. “Despite a strong opposition, large projects are taken up in eco-sensitive zones. Even if we drag the cases to court, it will be of little consequence. Approaching the Green Tribunal too won’t help,” he said, citing the controversial project as an example. The project might fail in 10-15 years and neither those who approved it nor the ones constructed will take responsibility for the disaster, he added.
Ramachandra said despite recurring disasters, as many as 55% people in Kodagu are for ‘development’, while 40% are for conservation measures, with a small minority undecided. “After the last floods, we managed to convince the Deputy Commissioner to impose restrictions against resorts mushrooming in the district, which used to occupy natural courses of water. Recently, the restrictions were lifted after political interference,” he said.
Virajpet MLA K G Bopaiah was of the view that climate change was responsible for the widespread devastation. “Save for the last three years, receiving 20 inches or more rainfall in less than a week is unprecedented,” he said. Disputing that change of land use was the major cause for landslides, he said that landslides were reported where thick forests were present. “Nobody has even considered interfering in such dense forest areas,” he said.
Noting that several areas of the district were susceptible to landslides following heavy rainfall, he said that measures will be taken to address the same.
source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> Specials> Insight / by Akram Mohammed, DHNS, Bengaluru / August 15th, 2020
Berera Shambhu Aiyanna (73), former President of Bengaluru Kodava Samaja, a social worker and a resident of Vidyranyapura in Bengaluru, passed away early this morning at his residence.
He leaves behind his wife and two sons. Cremation was held this afternoon at Bengaluru.
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Obituary / August 18th, 2020
Gandhi Mantapa in Madikeri was built to commemorate Mahatma Gandhi’s visit to Kodagu in 1934. DH file photo
It was a cold February morning in 1934, when a young Seethamma, around 10 years old, woke up with excitement. After all, it was an important day and all she wanted was to catch a glimpse of Mahatma Gandhi, who happened to be in Kodagu.
Gandhi was set to address a gathering at Kakotuparambu grounds in Virajpet that day and Seethamma had to cover several miles on foot to reach the venue.
Her parents and cousins were already waiting outside and they all set out towards the venue immediately, only stopping to wash their faces in a small stream on the way. When they reached the ground, a large crowd had gathered and they saw the Mahatma from a distance.
“Gandhiji was sitting on the stage with his legs crossed to one side,” Seethamma would often tell her children and grandchildren, recalling that historic day. Just a glimpse of the great man was her most treasured memory.
A middle-aged Seethamma
The Mahatma, who was touring Tamil Nadu to mobilise funds for the upliftment of ‘Harijans’, was invited to Kodagu by Pandyanda I Belliappa and other freedom fighters of the district, which was then a Chief Commissioner’s Province.
On arriving at Kodagu, the Mahatma and his entourage first visited a Harijan colony in Gonicoppa, following which he addressed a meeting mostly attended by women. Though on a short visit, Gandhi also addressed gatherings at Ponnampet, Somwarpet and Madikeri among other places. He appealed to the people to donate generously to help the victims of an earthquake that had hit Bihar in January that year and also requested them to contribute to the Harijan Welfare Fund.
He asked the women to donate their gold jewellery and ornaments for the cause, while stating that, “The amount is not important to me because it is a token of tangible sympathy to the suffering. Thus, even a copper coin is valuable.”
Moved by the appeal, writer Kodagina Gowramma, who was around 22 years at the time, famously donated all her gold ornaments to the Harijan Welfare Fund.
Kodagina Gowramma. Courtesy: Wikipedia
Seethamma and Gowramma, and several others like them knowingly or unknowingly became part of the national movement – which was as much about uniting the very diverse people of India as it was about fighting a foreign rule.
Such was Gandhi’s charisma that he inspired people, young and old; women and men; poor and rich. This made the freedom movement a mass movement.
source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> Spectrum > Spectrum Statescan / by Dhanyata M Poovaiah / August 15th, 2020
Twenty years before the First War of Independence in 1857, there was the ‘Amara Sullia Dange’ or Kodagu- Canara Mutiny against the British government. This fight, which was labelled ‘Kalyanappana Katakayi’ (Loot of Kalyanappa), to tone down its significance, received unprecedented support from people in today’s Kodagu, Dakshina Kannada districts of Karnataka and Kumble region in Kerala.
After Tipu Sultan’s death in 1799, South Canara (Dakshina Kannada) passed into British hands. Neighbouring Kodagu, however, still maintained a precarious independence.
In 1834, the East India Company resolved to invade Kodagu, which was ruled by King Chikkaveera Rajendra of Haleri dynasty. On April 11, 1834, the political agent of the British at Mercara (Madikeri), Lieutenant Colonel J S Fraser, issued a proclamation annexing Kodagu into the British administration. Fraser also resolved to respect the social and religious customs of the locals, but the promise remained on paper.
The British introduced major economic, social, and even territorial changes in Kodagu, for their administrative convenience. Amara Sullia was separated from Kodagu and made part of South Canara district, which was then part of the Madras province. What further incensed the people was a change in the mode of tax payment, which was now to be made entirely in cash. The farmers were used to giving part of their produce as the tax, but the new system only added to their burden. Now, many of them refused to pay the tax outright.
After Kodagu’s annexation, there was a resistance movement planned. In 1835, Swamy Aparampara, a Jangama saint, appeared in Manjarabad in Hassan district and claimed that he was a legal heir to the Haleri throne.
Madikeri Fort
His plan was to attack and occupy Madikeri Fort on December 5, 1836. The people of Kodagu believed him to be the son of Appaji, who was the uncle of Chikkaveera Rajendra. Aparampara planned a resistance movement with the help of other rebellions including Kalyanaswamy, Kedambadi Rame Gowda and Guddemane Appayya Gowda. Aparampara visited Subrahmanya and met Kujugodu Appayya Gowda and Mallappa Gowda, the representatives of the Ikkeri dynasty. From there, they marched towards Madikeri with a battalion.
The British got wind of the plan and imprisoned Aparampara, with the aid of Kodagu’s Dewan, Cheppudira Ponnappa.
Now, the responsibility of the movement shifted onto the shoulders of Kalyanaswamy. He claimed to be the second son of Appaji and therefore, a member of the Haleri dynasty. Declared a king by his men, he popularised the movement by proclaiming that if he became the king, he would stop collecting revenue for the first three years and abolish the duties on commodities.
Dewan Ponnappa proved that Kalyanaswamy didn’t belong to the Haleri dynasty. However, the rebel leader remained popular and enjoyed support from local leaders.
Kalyanaswamy slowly extended the movement to Sullia and other parts of South Canara. Kedambadi Ramegowda of Sullia was primarily responsible for the organisation of rebellion in South Canara. When Kalyanaswamy was travelling from Kodlipet to Wayanad, he was captured by the British forces, though his imprisonment was concealed. His friend Putta Basappa posed as Kalyanappa and continued the rebellion.
Meanwhile, the resentment against the new tax policy continued, and Kedambadi Ramegowda and Nanjayya decided to start a rebellion in Sullia. They killed Atlur Ramappaya, the Amaldar (Agent) of Sullia, who was loyal to the British.
The battalion, headed by Kalyanappa (Putta Basappa), Kedambadi Ramegowda and others reached Bellare and attacked the British treasury. The rebels then reached Mangalore and hoisted the Haleri flag in ‘Bavutagudda’ on April 5, 1837, to mark their victory over the British.
In response, the British brought in reinforcements from Kannanur, and attacked the rebels. Several leaders were captured and killed, while a few others escaped. Putta Basappa and Appayya Gowda were hanged.
The British Commissioner Cotton, who submitted a report on the Canara Insurrection to the government in 1839, mentioned the movement was a furtherance of the Nagar Peasants’ Revolt of 1830-32, in present-day Shivamogga. “The Amara Sullia insurrection has the features of primary resistance, as well as peasants’ movement; the main intention was to drive away the colonial intruders,” says K R Vidyadhara, a lawyer in Madikeri who has studied the uprising.
A few scholars have conducted extensive studies on the Amara Sullia mutiny, with the incident even being portrayed in a Yakshagana performance called ‘Kalyanappana Katakayi’.
source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> Spectrum> Spectrum Top Stories / by Charan Aivarnad / August 15th, 2020
An erstwhile independent state, Coorg was merged with Mysore after the States Reorganisation Act was passed in 1956.
It was S Nijalingappa’s death anniversary on August 8 and I was reading about the unified Mysore state’s first Assembly elections in order to get some insights about the first and one of the longest serving Chief Ministers of our state. One article led to another and I found myself in the middle of several articles about Coorg’s merger with Mysore. It was such an interesting revelation that I kept hopping from one article to another and got deeper into the rabbit hole.
Since most of us outside of Kodagu are informed just in passing in our textbooks about how Coorg was an independent state before the unification, I thought this was a story worth telling.
After more than a century of direct British rule since its annexation from its last ruler Chikka Veera Rajendra (in 1834), Coorg became an independent (Type C) state within India along with other small, hilly, erstwhile princely states like Himachal Pradesh. Coorg had a strong Congress party presence and participated enthusiastically in the freedom struggle, with even stalwarts like Gandhi visiting the state on a few occasions to mobilise the immensely patriotic people from the land of coffee, commanders and Kaveri.
But the Congress leadership within Coorg was heavily divided over whether to remain an independent state or to join the larger neighbouring state of Mysore. While one faction led by the Gandhian CM Poonacha was more pragmatic in seeing the impracticality of a tiny state like Coorg being allowed to remain independent in a country as large as India and being open to the idea of merging with Mysore since Kannada was already the language broadly used in education and administration within Coorg, the other faction led by another Gandhian Pandiyanda Belliappa was , staunchly against the merger. The loyalty of both factions and leaders, however, lay with the Congress.
When the legislative assembly elections were announced in late 1951, to be held along with the first ever election to independent India’s parliament, the Pandiyanda Belliappa faction moved away from the Mysore-sympathetic Congress and formed the Thakkadi Party (weighing machine), contesting as independents on the plank of Coorg’s continuation as an independent state.
In what was a Brexit style election to decide the future of Coorg state, the Congress emerged victorious, winning 15 seats in the 24-member Coorg Assembly, while the Thakkadi Party won the remaining 9 seats. Questions were raised about the fairness of the elections as allegations surfaced that voters were sent from the neighbouring towns in Mysore to vote for the Congress, in effect for Coorg’s merger with Mysore. Poonacha, however, took oath as Coorg’s first and only elected Chief Minister and ruled till 1956 with a two-member Cabinet.
In 1956, the States Reorganisation Act was passed in the Parliament by the Nehru government, allowing Coorg’s merger with Mysore. Several efforts were made by key dignitaries from Coorg to secure an independent state status, including the decorated Field Marshal KM Cariappa, who was then serving as India’s High Commissioner to Australia and New Zealand. He wrote a letter to President Rajendra Prasad, making a case for Coorg to remain an independent state. But it proved too little, too late as the Nehru-led Congress government remained committed to the Act and reined in dissent within the party units across states.
When the bill was taken up to be voted by Coorg’s Assembly as it required ratification by state assemblies before becoming a legislation, 22 out of 24 legislators, including Pandiyanda Belliappa, voted for Coorg’s merger with Mysore. The first and only elected legislative assembly and government of Coorg was thus dissolved, paving the way for its integration with the unified Mysore state.
Poonacha went on to serve both the Mysore and central governments in various capacities as cabinet minister holding various important portfolios, and also served as the Governor of Odisha and Madhya Pradesh. He was also Coorg’s representative in the Constituent Assembly. Coorg also sent two members to independent India’s first elected Parliament. After its merger with Mysore, however, Coorg was clubbed with Mangalore earlier and Mysore later into a single parliamentary constituency. It sends two legislators to the 224-member state assembly of Karnataka.
Many people in Coorg are still divided and emotional over the issue of Coorg’s merger with Mysore. The Codava National Council, under the leadership of NU Nachappa, fought for the restoration of statehood for Coorg for several decades. But it has now toned down its demand to that of an autonomous development board exclusively for Coorg within Karnataka, with many other perks similar to those offered to other sparsely populated hilly regions and tribes in the Himalayas and the North East.
Kodagu, the official name of the district, is one of the most developed districts of Karnataka across most parameters of development. With an HDI of 0.817, it is only behind Bengaluru, Dakshina Kannada and Udupi in terms of human development. As it reels under another bout of floods this monsoon, let us keep the beautiful Coorg in our prayers and cherish its less known history.
Rakshith S Ponnathpur is a financial and economic policy researcher with a keen interest in Karnataka history and politics.
source: http://www.thenewsminute.com / The News Minute / Home> News> History / by Rakshith S Ponnathpur / August 12th, 2020
Anandatheertha lived a life of intense commitment to the Kaveri. He died in landslide in Talakaveri on August 6.
Regular trips to Talakaveri, located near Bhagamandala in Kodagu district, Karnataka, are fond for river Kaveri. A temple to Goddess Kaveri, also dedicated to Shiva as Agasthyeswara and Ganesha, overlooks the ancient tank that collects water from a nearby wild spring there.
For the devotees, the tank was the origin of the east-flowing river of peninsular India. According to the legends, the river disappears in its birthplace — only to take rebirth at Bhagamandala located a little away at the foothills.
I met Swami Anandatheertha (died at 76) for the first time one September evening about a decade ago. The meeting was followed by a long conversation about the mighty river, the lifeline of vast stretches of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
Several conversations followed over time — and each one of them gave me the impression that he was no less than a living encyclopaedia — not just on the Kaveri but all the rivers on Earth.
It was this school teacher-turned-sage who showed me the exact origin of the river. Anandatheertha lived in Mumbai for long and taught at a school there, but returned to his native place three decades ago to become the traditional trustee and administrator of the temples in Talakaveri and Bhagamandala.
He lived a spartan life in a small house in Talakaveri, located in the Brahmagiri range of Western Ghats at an elevation of 1,341 metres. His brother-in-law was the chief priest of the temple. He lived with his sister and her husband.
A scholar with strong social and political concerns, Anandatheertha was a secular person. Between sacred and profane, he lived a life of intense commitment to the river and the surrounding forests.
In the 1980s, he was among the members of the Save Western Ghats March — a major environmental protection initiative involving scientists, anthropologists, sociologists, activists, journalists and local communities.
He marched together with others for 100 days along the length of the ghats, highlighting the socio-ecological challenges the area grappled with. He had actively engaged with almost all attempts to save the Western Ghats and the Kaveri from human encroachment and destruction.
He travelled extensively across the length and width of the river, urging local communities to save the river. He found comfort in the role of a low profile environmentalist with extreme devotion to the cause.
Journalist and filmmaker O K Johnny, who authored Kaveriyodoppam Ente Yathrakal (Journeys Along Kaveri), pointed out that Anandatheertha was always anxious about the fate of the Kaveri.
Except for the little stretch in his small locality, the river is on its deathbed. For Anandatheertha, Western Ghats and the river were integral to his existence. In a way, he always spoke in the river’s voice.
It was the place where sage Agasthya was blessed by Brahma, Vishnu and Ganesha while meditating under the ashwaththa tree. Saptarishis, or the seven great sages, had performed their yajna or ritual sacrifices at the Brahmagiri peak.
He also spoke about Lord Brahma’s daughter Lopamudra, who was rechristened as Kaveri later. Kaveri eventually turned herself into a river to serve the humankind.
Everything is a fond memory now. On August 6, 2020, Anandatheertha failed to turn up at Talakaveri temple along with the chief priest to conduct the morning rituals. One of the security guards at the temple went to check the priest and found the priest’s house buried in mud.
According to available information, the development officer of the local Grama Panchayat had issued a notice to Anandatheertha, directing him and the family of the head priest to move away from the place for the hill was prone to landslides; Anandatheertha was living at the foothills.
However, Anandatheertha refused to move away. Even the cowshed he had with over 20 bovines was buried deep in mounds of mud and rubble. The area surrounding the priests’ houses is now inaccessible, according to Kodagu district commissioner Anies Kanmani Joy.
A portion of the Brahmagiri Hill collapsed on the two houses where Anandatheertha and the priest were living. At least five people are missing as of August 7.
Other than Anandatheertha, his sister Shantha Narayana (68), her husband and temple’s head priest T S Narayanachar (70) and relatives Ravikiran Bhat and Pavan Bhat are missing.
Mud came crashing down on the two houses Wednesday midnight; around 30 acres of the mountain range collapsed. The Geological Survey of India (GSI) had predicted possibilities of landslides in Talakavery, in the close vicinity of the temple, after detecting surface cracks during last monsoon.
It had conducted extensive field study in Kodagu following the two subsequent floods since 2018 and discovered slope modification without proper precautions as the major cause of landslides.
Unbridled construction of houses by carving hill slopes resulted in land destabilisation in the region. Unsupported slope cuts for road widening also contributed to the tragedy.
A spiritual leader who always expressed concern over change in land use patterns in Brahmagiri hills and the mushrooming illegal constructions has now turned its victim.
He was always against large-scale capital investments to convert Talakaveri as a concrete jungle in the name of spiritual tourism. The encyclopaedia on rivers is no more.
source: http://www.downtoearth.org.in / Down To Earth / Home> Environment / by K A Shaji / August 07th, 2020
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