Centuries-old custom of Kodavas and Jamma land tenure holders in Kodagu

The issue of Kodavas (a native community belonging to Kodagu district in Karnataka) enjoying the concession to hold guns under the Indian Arms Act without licence along with a few other communities like Amma Kodavas, Kodagu Gowdas, Mapillas also known as Moplah in english, enjoying the special and unique land holding called Jamma tenure, has once again come into public discussion following a PIL filed by one Y.K. Chetan.

Since I had written about it a couple of times in this column, I thought I would ignore it this time but after seeing a letter to the editor written by a Kodava senior advocate of Mysuru, P.D. Medappa, I decided to add my bit to the “gun question” raised frequently by those who are jealous of Kodavas per se and others enjoying the concession in Kodagu. Those who question this privilege bring in such irrational arguments like that this privilege is discriminative in nature in a democracy, it is ultra-virus to the Constitution, it is dangerous to other citizens who do not have the privilege etc.

This privilege issue became so serious about a decade ago when a communal clash in Kodagu resulted in the death of two persons belonging to the Moplah (Malabar Muslim) community. A month after this, Union Home Ministry received a letter from Kerala Chief Minister mentioning the incident and demanding withdrawal of the concession under the Indian Arms Act.

This development at the highest political level had almost led to the withdrawal of the concession but for the intervention of the then Home Secretary C. G. Somiah (who later became the Comptroller and Auditor General of India). C.G. Somiah has written about it in detail in his book titled ‘The Honest Always Stand Alone.’ Let me quote the relevant part from the book:

There was a stray incident of communal disharmony in my home district, Kodagu. It started as a case of eve teasing of a Coorg girl by the youth belonging to the Moplah community, which led to violence and arson in the market area of Virajpet.

The next day a wayside temple was found desecrated and the clashes continued between the two communities resulting in the death of two Moplahs, one of them having suffered gunshot wounds. With a massive show of force, the district administration brought the situation under control and peace returned to the area.

The Moplahs of Malabar in Kerala have lived in peace for centuries in Coorg and they were the main traders of the produce of Coorg — coffee, oranges and spices. They also traded in fish, bringing fish to Coorg from the nearby seaports of Kerala. I was happy that peace had returned to Coorg by the deft handling of the situation by the local administration. A month later we were surprised to receive a letter from the Chief Minister, Kerala, addressed to the Home Minister about the incident and suggesting that gun culture in Coorg had to be curbed. This was to be done by withdrawing the concession under the Indian Arms Act granted to the Kodavas, which permitted them to own guns without a licence under the Arms Act.

The section dealing with the Arms Act was in charge of a Malayali Section Officer and he gleefully supported the proposal, with endorsements from the senior officers, when the file landed on my desk. In the Arms Act enacted by the British Government in India, the Indian Princes and the Kodavas of Coorg owning Jamma land were both exempted from the provisions of the Arms Act. Indira Gandhi, while abolishing the payment of Privy Purses to the Princes whose territories were ceded to India at the time of Independence, got the concession of exemption under the Arms Act enjoyed by them also abolished. This fact was also mentioned in the letter of the Chief Minister of Kerala, who wanted the similar exemption granted to the Kodavas abolished.

I recorded an appropriate note in the file explaining the rationale why this concession was granted to the Kodavas in the first place and also the fact that possession of a gun (which is worshipped) is as sacred to the Kodava inhabitants of Coorg, as it was sacred for a Sikh to possess a kirpan (sword). Buta Singh, Home Minister, readily agreed with me and a suitable reply was sent to the Chief Minister of Kerala. The age-old custom and right of the Kodavas was thus safeguarded.”

Before I revert to the ‘gun question,’ let me allude to the casual, even callous manner the IAS, IPS, KAS and other higher officers work, blindly following the note their subordinates write on the case file. That’s why a citizen fails to get justice and is driven to law courts where many times getting justice is rather dicey!

Here in this gun case, just because C.G. Somiah, as the Home Secretary, took special interest, may be himself as a son of Kodagu, justice was done. Otherwise, one Malayali (Keralite) Section Officer would have succeeded in getting the gun privilege abolished.

Nearer home, let me narrate one instance where injustice was done to Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan (BVB). To cut a long story short, the High Court ordered that BVB should not construct the school building on land granted for playground. But BVB’s school building plan was approved by MCC after collecting about Rs. 8 lakh as fee. Following High Court order, BVB asked for refund of Rs. 8 lakh since it was not going to construct the building as per High Court order. Three successive MCC Commissioners went by the all important ‘note’ written on the file by the Joint Director, Town Planning and wrote back saying no refund is possible.

BVB, a Charitable Organisation, sought legal opinion paying a heavy fee. The legal opinion, running to a few pages clearly said that BVB is entitled for refund since it was the High Court that barred BVB from constructing the MCC approved building. The legal opinion also quoted some High Court decisions in support of its opinion.

The BVB for the nth time approached the MCC with this legal opinion through its advocate. Now, BVB is waiting for a decision after over two years…

Anyway, I have heard that sometimes dog wags the tail but many times it is the tail that wags the dog! Amen.

To revert to the ‘gun question,’ I entirely agree with advocate P.D. Medappa, who has mocked at the PIL and explained the reason that entitled the Kodavas by race and other Jamma land tenure holders to get this concession — religious tradition and the need to protect themselves and their crops from the wild animals that filled the thick, rain forests of the early centuries.

Tailpiece: The truth is that it was neither the 1857 Arms Act by the British nor the 1959 Arms Act of Independent India that should be discussed here. Both these Acts relate only to Kodavas and other Jamma land tenure holders getting concession. The core issue, according to advocate P.D. Medappa is that the Kodavas possessed their own brand of gun known as ‘Tharikal Thok,’ apparently a country-made weapon, which they worshipped along with other traditional weapons like the sword, dagger, bow and arrow, shields and spears even before the Lingayat Rajas came to Kodagu. The Britishers in their fair sense of justice merely respected the sentiments of Kodavas. Hence, it has been part of their religious practice for centuries and now, a right under the Constitution.

e-mail: kbg@starofmysore.com

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Abracadabra…Abracadabra / by K.B. Ganapathy / Saturday – October 10th, 2015