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Kaṅgānḍa-1

Quick Facts
Number of members in the okka: About 90 in this kuthi, of whom four (one family) reside in the ainmané; 12 (three families) live near it.
Location – village: Nāpōklü (Kaṅgaṇangēri, short for Kaṅgāṇanḍa kēri).
Age: About 200 years. 
Community: Koḍava. 
Date visited: 14/5/2006.
Location – village: Nāpōklü (Kaṅgaṇangēri, short for Kaṅgāṇanḍa kēri). [There are three kēris in Nāpōklü: Kaṅgaṇangēri, Nāḷeyangēri and Poyyangēri.] 
Type of ainmane: Othé poré with two verandahs, red cement aimara and pillars on the new outer verandah and four stone steps leading up to it from the yard (see photo). The inner verandah is one step up from the outer one. The hall has a gūḍ, a beautiful old large hanging lamp, and a wooden bhasma kutt. The kāraṇa’s géjjé thanḍ is kept in the hall. Hanging from the ceiling in the kuñhi bāḍé (passage from the hall to the back) is a nḗlé on which are kept a thiri thōk (old match-lock gun lit with wicks - we were told they used to put flowers of the pané palm inside the barrel to light it) with its barrel broken and two long spears (see photo). Puthari kad was tied to the spears.
Direction facing: East.
Kall boti: There is one in the kaḷa, with a design carved on its top. (There are stone posts for the ubba at the southern entry to the house.)
Age: About 200 years. 
Original ainmane? No, second. The first one was a nāl kětt (mund) mané near the Muthappa temple, about 1 ½ kms from here. That was dismantled when they moved here and built this ainmané (see story).
Woodwork: The inner verandah has a solid wooden machi; an old, worn out, 2’ wide 3” thick aimara between the two verandahs, with some carving on its sides; a little carving on the panel above the door; and lotuses carved on the capitols on top of the pillars. (The window is a new one which replaced the old one that had deteriorated). 
Electricity in the ainmane: Yes.
Telephone in the ainmane: No.
Kanni kamba:  The first pillar to the left of the step to the inner verandah.
Kanni kombare: Room in the south-west corner of the house, which is now a bedroom. Meedi is kept in the kitchen.
Floor: The whole house except for two rooms (which have cowdung-washed mud floors) was cemented about 15 years ago.
Roof: Tiled about 50 years ago.
Number of rooms: Nine (including the kitchen).
Attic: A plain hall with cowdung-washed mud floor, four thuḷiyas, and open windows with no wooden frames or shutters on the mud walls on all four sides. The staircase to the attic is from the kuñhi bāḍé at the back, opposite the kanni kṑmbaré.
Kaimada: A tiled concrete construction, high up at the back of the house to its south, with steps to climb up to it. It was renovated less than ten years ago, after the old thatched one which had mud walls and floor was damaged when a tree fell on it. There are nine wooden images of ancestors, painted red to preserve them, and three lamps in the guḍi in the kaimaḍa (see photos).
Al rupa: A silver one is sanctified with a pūjé performed in the Bhagavathi temple for three days, and taken for immersion in the kunḍiké at Thalakāvēri.  In the past, a second āḷ rūpa made of netha chānd (red sandal-wood) was consecrated in the kunḍiké and kept in the kaimaḍa. They had many of these wooden āḷ rūpas in the past – only nine remain now (see photos).
Temples/shrines nearby:

Nāpōklü Bhagavathi. Ponn Muthappa temple (on the road-side, to the left of the road to Paḷeya taluk).  

Festivals celebrated in the ainmane: They do not observe Kāraṇang koḍpă. But on Puthari day, one of their men gets possessed by the Kāraṇavå. All the members of this kuthi (branch) get together for Guru Kāraṇang meedi beppă, when they keep meedi for their Guru Kāraṇavå. This is held in March/April, on a day that is convenient - during children’s vacation and the Koḍava hockey match time. Their thāmané mūḍiya come for this function. All members of this kuthi join for Puthari; when they make offerings to kūḷi (spirits) in Ādaré (to Panjurḷi, Kallurti and Pāshāṇa-mūrthi in the house and to Kuḷiyă in the forest) and when they offer milk and fruit to Nāthă (Nāgă) during Nāga Panchami. Only those who are nearby come for Kail Poḷüd and Kāvēri Sankramaṇa (when they do kaṇi pūjé and get fresh water from the well).
Number of members in the okka: About 90 in this kuthi, of whom four (one family) reside in the ainmané; 12 (three families) live near it. (The other two kuthis are small and have only about 15 members between them.)
Book on the okka and Family tree: No book. Monniah nearby has the Family tree of the okka, which covers seven generations since kāraṇavå Kuttayya, although they believe that the okka dates back much further than Kuttayya.
Name of Karanava: Kuttayya (seven generations ago).
Name of Aruva okka: Any member of the other two kuthis of their own okka, Kaṅgānḍa, acts as their aruva now. In the past it was the Nātōḷanḍa okka. But after a quarrel with them (see story) it was the Boppéra okka for some time.
Thakkame rights of the okka: Bhanḍāra thakka of the Bhagavathi temple.
Pattedara: Common for the three kuthis. They have not named one since Appayya, the previous one, died about four years ago. 
President of the okka: K.M.Uthappa of the Family fund. The General Body Meeting is held along with the Guru Kāraṇang meedi beppă and members of the whole okka, all the three kuthis, attend the meeting.
Mand nearby: Near the Bhagavathi temple (Paḷeya taluk).
Ambala nearby: Near the Kēlētira house (the Bhagavathi thaḍamb is taken to the ambala after going round the village).
Deva kaad nearby:  Bhagavathi kāḍ (a small one of about 15 cents). Mallangōt Ayyappa kāḍ (about an acre). Vishṇappa kāḍ which is encroached by estates – only half an acre is left.Chawwōt Sārthāvu kāḍ (about 8 to 10 acres, managed by the Bāḷeyaḍa okka). 
Thutengala of the okka: It is located in their jamma land, near the Muthappa temple, where they had their earlier ainmané, and is common for the three kuthis of the okka. (The thūtengaḷa was there before the Muthappa temple was built about three years ago - see story).
Year when last wedding held in the ainmane: 25 years ago.
There/Kola in the ainmane: No – they had in the past.
Folksongs sung in the ainmane: In the past, during Puthari, the whole ūrused to get together to sing the mané pāt of all the okkas in the village, and celebrate ūrormé. When that stopped, their kēri continued the tradition – theygot together to sing and celebrated their kēri ormé. That too stopped about 40 years ago. Now only their manékāra (members of all the three kuthis of their okka) get together for three days following Puthari Poḷüd andsing their mané pāt in the house of each of the three kuthis by rotation (one of the houses being this ainmané). They sing the mané pāt of the 7 karandalés (generations) from the kāraṇavå which covers nearly 80 families of married men of the okka over the generations. The singing lasts from 6 pm one evening till mid-day on the next day. That is followed by a feast on the open land next to the ainmané where the ūrormé used to be held in the past – so as not to break the tradition. They keep meedi there before the feast.
Singers of folk songs in the okka: Yes.  
Paintings/drawings on walls: Have not heard of it.
Kadanga nearby: An aramané kaḍanga forms the boundary between their land and the town.
Stories related to okka name: Do not know. They were originally called Kaṅgāṇanḍa, and over time it became Kaṅgānḍa and has been further simplified to Kangānḍa, for easy pronunciation.
Stories related to the okka:

They first lived in an ūr guppé with Ajjettira, Kēlētira, Nātōḷanḍa, Kundairira and Boppéra. Then they built a nāl kětt (mund) mané near the Muthappa temple where the Ajjettira, Kēlētira and Boppéra also had ainmanés. When they found it difficult to live with their neighbours, they came away and built this ainmané here. read more >>

Kāraṇavå Kuttayya’s father Uthayya had three sons and therefore this okka has three kuthis (branches). They have no information about the ancestors before Kuttayya.

 

The three kuthis in this okka have separate pattés, but a common thūtengaḷa and pattédāră. This ainmané that belongs to one kuthi is the only ainmané of the okka. The other two kuthis (which are small) went away in anger and settled nearby here in Nāpōklü. They do not have ainmanés. One kuthi has only one family left, and the other kuthi has only three brothers and their families. All the three kuthis are friendly now and act as aruvas for each other. They observemutual pòlé thalé but do not join in any of the festivals, except as guests. They only get together when singing their mané pāt during Puthari, and for the General Body meeting.

 

Their first aruva was Nātōḷanḍa. After a quarrel they stopped that aruvāmé and gave it to the Boppéra okka and later to the other Kaṅgānḍa kuthis.  Because of the quarrel, to this day, when they take kad for Puthari, they do not look in the direction of the Nātōḷanḍa ainmané (now rebuilt small). 

 

Once, a baby elephant belonging to Lingarāja was lost. Uthiah ajjă, grandson of Kāraṇavå Kuttayya, found it when he was hunting. He caught the baby elephant, tied it with his black sash and took it to the Rāja in Maḍikēri, who was very pleased. When the Raja asked Uthiah to name his reward, he said “We are a small okka and cannot even look after the land that we have. Ningaḍa dayé – whatever your kindness/grace wishes”. So the king gave him a pair of chemb (bell-metal) duḍis (which they still have) an oḍi kathi with ‘Li’ for Lingarāja engraved on it, a pair of katti baḷé (solid gold bangles) and a thanḍ.

 

Their ancestor was a devotee of Ponn Muthappa and used to go to Kunnathūr Pāḍi (near Parassinikaḍavu in Kēraḷa) for the annual festival every year. He wanted to see Muthappa every day and decided to build a temple for god Muthappa near his house. So he went to Kunnathūr Pāḍi with a Thiya man (who knew the rituals) and brought a lit lamp from there, keeping it fed with oil during the journey on foot, so that the flame did not go off. He kept it in a small guḍi. About 3 years ago, this okka got the Muthappa temple built on land that they gave for the temple. In the beginning, this okka managed the temple along with theThiyas. But when they found it difficult, they handed over the management of the temple to the Thiyas.

Since our visit:

Since about 2010 they confine their mané pāt to only the earliest three karandalés (generations), starting with the kāraṇavå, because they do not now have enough singers to sing the whole song, which took about 18 hours to sing. It would take even longer as time passes and new generations are added.