Boverianda Nanjamma And Chinnappa Recollect The Efforts Of Their Late Grandfather In Documenting The Folklore And Songs Of The Kodava Community.

Much as we admire him and are inspired by him, we have never seen our grandfather Nadikerianda Chinnappa; he died before we were born. We—Nanjamma and Chinnappa—are cross cousins. The narrative of our grandfather that follows is based on the recollections of our parents, aunts and elder cousins, gleaned from casual conversations over the years.

Our grandfather, who worked with the police, had gone to a remote village, riding his horse across a stream and through a forest path to investigate a quarrel over the ownership of a strip of land. On his way back, he stopped by the stream to eat the akki (rice) roti sweetened with jaggery his wife had packed for him. The sun was setting behind the hills and had painted the skies in brilliant hues of red and gold. Captivated by the scene, Nadikerianda Chinnappa sat lost in thoughts, when he heard the distant sound of Kodava dudi (small handheld, hourglass-shaped drums). Mounting his horse, he set out to locate the origin of the drumbeats. He found four men seated around a bonfire singing Kodava folk songs, practising for Puthari, the harvest festival. It was getting dark but he waited for them to finish. Recognising that our grandfather was in the police, the singers touched his feet respectfully. Our grandfather took the leader of the team home on his horse.

This was not uncommon; his wife Nanjavva knew he had brought a singer home for the night. She made a bed for the visitor in the attic and served them a hot meal with a drink of frothing toddy. Refreshed, grandfather and the singer sat in the hall; while the singer sang a ballad, Chinnappa transcribed the words late into the night. After many such sessions with various singers, he had a good collection of Kodava songs sung during weddings, funerals and festivals, and ballads in praise of deities and heroes.

Himself a good singer, Chinnappa’s passion for Kodava songs and ballads prompted him to transcribe them. During his travels around Kodagu as a police officer in the early 1920s, he observed that the unique customs and traditions of the Kodava community were being forgotten or altered. Chinnappa feared that Kodava traditions and songs that had been handed down orally over generations would be lost because of the dominance of English, and the influence of the cultures of neighbouring areas. So, he decided to document them.

Late in the evenings, after work, he neatly wrote down all the songs, proverbs and riddles by the dim light of a kerosene lamp, while smoking his favourite cigars. When he started documenting the customs and traditions, he consulted his mother Ponnavva who was well-versed in them. Meanwhile, his wife would read the draft first to ensure that it was clear to a layperson. If there were parts she did not understand, Chinnappa rewrote them. It used to be said that the waste paper basket would always be full in the morning.

British officials in Coorg—as Kodagu was called by them—got his draft reviewed by some prominent Kodavas. On their recommendation, C S Sooter, commissioner of Coorg, authorised financial assistance to publish it. Chinnappa chose the name Pattole Palame, meaning ‘silken lore’, for his book, which was first published in 1924. The 6th edition was printed in 2012.

Pattole Palame is a precious document of the heritage of the Kodava community. In the second edition published by the University of Mysore in 1975, the editor describes it as “one of the earliest, if not the earliest, extensive collection of folklore of any Indian community written in an Indian language by an Indian”.

The text of Pattole Palame is in Kannada and the folk songs, proverbs, etc, in it are in Kodava thakk, the language of the Kodavas, an oral language written using the Kannada script. Nearly two-thirds of the book consists of folk songs transmitted orally down generations, which are sung even today. Traditionally known as Balo Pat, these songs are sung by four men beating dudi. The songs have haunting melodies and evoke memories of times long past. Kodava folk dances are performed to the beat of many of these songs, which are a rich source of information on the culture, language and history of the Kodava people.

Chinnappa himself began translating Pattole Palame into English but could not complete it, as he died of cancer in 1931 at the age of 56, a few months after his retirement. It was in 2003, nearly 75 years after Pattole Palame was first published, that we, his grandchildren, translated it into English and published it.

Although he was best known for Pattole Palame, Chinnappa’s major literary work as a poet was Bhagavantanda Paat, his translation of the Bhagavad-Gita into the Kodava language, composed in the style of Kodava folk songs, published in 1929.

When Grierson, a British linguist, embarked on the first Linguistic Survey of India (1913 to 1920), he looked for knowledgeable representatives of the various Indian languages. Chinnappa, who was fluent in both English and Kodava thakk, was chosen for the Kodava language. As required, he translated the parable of the ‘Prodigal Son’ into Kodava thakk and narrated it, and sang his own poem, Sri Moola Kanniye, an ode to river Kaveri. These were recorded in 1922 on gramophone records; copies of the recordings were kept in the British Library in London and the Madras Museum. They were digitised recently by the Linguistics Department of the University of Chicago.

Born in 1875, Chinnappa was the fifth of eight children. After matriculating in Madikeri, he went to Mangalore for further studies. But when his elder brother Subbayya died suddenly, Chinnappa returned to Kodagu to take on family responsibilities. In accordance with Kodava tradition, he married Subbayya’s widow, Nanjavva.

His career took many twists and turns. A teacher at first, then a revenue inspector, and then an officer in the Coorg Regiment of the Army, he joined the police department when the regiment was disbanded in 1904, and rose to the rank of a prosecuting inspector.

Our grandfather was fond of sports. He was a bowler in the All Coorg XI Cricket team, which in those days consisted mainly of Englishmen. When he played billiards at Victoria Club in Virajpet, his British opponents would often swear under their breath on losing a game to him. On one such occasion, Chinnappa lost his patience, broke the billiards stick on his knee and threw it on the floor. This was a very daring act for an Indian in those days.

Chinnappa was also involved in establishing the Police Officers’ Cooperative Society, Coorg Cooperative Society, Coorg Central Bank and the Coorg Education Fund. He was fond of children and always carried peppermints in his pockets. He was a caring father to his own three children, the two stepchildren by his elder brother, and to his deceased sister’s daughter, whom he and Nanjavva adopted. He sponsored the education of many poor children, and there were always a few students boarding in his residence, free of cost.

Our grandfather was a man of vision and talent, and was self-driven. He was a folklorist, poet, police officer, sportsman, historian, singer, philanthropist, and caring householder. Above all, he was a man who lived life to the fullest and left a lasting and invaluable legacy for his people in his writings.

The authors are translators and scholars of Kodava studies

Featured in Harmony — Celebrate Age Magazine
August 2016

source: http://www.harmonyindia.com / Harmony / Home> Columns / August 2016