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The word “Munda” is found in the names of many villages
throughout India. It is generally believed that ‘Munda’ is the name of the
community. But the fact is that the so-called Munda people do not call
themselves as Mundas! They have a different name for themselves. “Munda” is the name by which they call the chief or head of a
village. Even the Oraon people
call their chief as Munda. It is from this title of the chief, the entire
community was given the name ‘Munda’ – by others in the past couple of centuries.
The same word Munda is in use in Tulu speaking regions to mean a raised
land. The same word refers to any village and is present throughout India.
The same word means shaven head in Sanskrit. It is strange
to find researchers connect this Sanskrit meaning to the name Munda of this
community which they consider as totally indigenous and pre-dating ‘Aryanism’.
Does it mean that these people were influenced by the ‘Aryan Brahmins’ in
taking up the word Munda to refer to their chief? If so, a question arises why
this name Munda is not used to designate the chiefs in “Aryan” or Sanskrit
speaking / knowing regions and why it is used only by these tribal people.
Assuming that Munda is a Sanskrit word used by these people to refer to the
chief of the village, what word is “Manki” which
they use to refer to the chief of group of villages? For them, the head of
a village is called “Munda”. The chief of
Patti is “Manki”.
The next higher level of Village in the Munda groups is
called “Patti”. A Patti comprises of many villages and the head of the Patti is
called as “Manki” by the Munda people. [In Tamil, Patti refers to the place
where cattle are housed or raised. Since cattle wealth gave rise to prosperity,
Patti became prosperous and needed to be regulated and governed. Thus from Patti,
came terms such as Pat, Patna, Patnam, Patta, Pattam, Patta-nayaka etc.]
Even this word “Manki” is present in ‘Aryan’ literature.
There is a man called “Manki” whose story is narrated by Bhishma to Yudhishtira
in Mahabharata {1}.
This story revolves around ‘Manki’s efforts to multiply wealth by buying cattle
for use in agricultural operations. Finally Manki renounced all desires and
attained Brahman-hood. Bhishma held him along with Bali, Prahaladha and
Namuchi. Interestingly like Munda, this
name Manki is in existence in the
coastal region of Uttara Kannada!
These two names of importance in
Mundari culture – namely, ‘Munda’ and ‘Manki’ seeming to have Sanskrit basis,
have a presence in the coastal region of the Peninsular India that was cleared
by Parashurama to pave way for new settlers. These names seem to tell the story of Indian past
which was not necessarily pre-Aryan or non- Aryan, but a culture that was
indigenously Aryan and had both Sanskrit and local language as the two eyes.
The exact decipherment of the word “Munda” can perhaps be
traced to Toda people of the Nilgiris! The Toda people call their village as
“Mund”. {2}. Interestingly
the Toda people have a connection with the west coast of Peninsular India.
Toda connection.
Today the Toda
people live in isolation in the higher regions of the Nilgiri hills.
However the genetic studies show that they are closer to Brahmins of Kerala! {3}. Though there is no
legend on their origins, this information takes their previous habitat or
origins to the West coastal regions. Edward Eastwick in his “Handbook for India”
Part 1, published in 1859 had made an observation that Todas “regard the
brahmans with contempt”. This is quite strange given that there is hardly
any contact with Brahmins and that Todas are supposed to be living in the
higher ranges of the hills in isolation. The hatred might be the result of a
past enmity when they were living in the coastal regions that resulted in
displacement of these people to Nilgiris. Based on the genetic studies it can
be surmised that the Todas were once Brahmins living in the west coast but
segregated from the main clan due to some skirmishes. Adding strength to this
conjecture is the name that the Todas have for themselves. According to
Eastwick, the Todas called themselves as “Toruvar”
- a term that is phonetically similar to Tuluva or
Tuluvar! Infact Tulu Nadu was called as “Toualava
Rajya” in olden days.
Yet another link comes from the buffaloes they keep. The
genetic studies on the buffalo breeds of South India had shown that Toda
buffalos and South Kanarese buffalos are of the same origin. “Few mutations
in two of the haplotypes of South Kanara buffalo were found to have contributed
to ancestral haplotypes of Toda buffalo suggesting the possible migration of
buffaloes from Kanarese region towards Nilgiris along the Western Ghats.
Considering the close social, economic and cultural association of Todas with
their buffaloes, the present study supports the theory of migration of Toda
tribe from Kanarese/Mysore region along with their buffaloes” {4} This affinity of the
Todas with Kanarese / west coast cannot be ignored in the study of “Munda”.
Mund, the village.
The Todas call their hamlets as “Mund” – a name that must have stuck with
them from times of yore. The village is called as “Munder”
in Tulu language. In Kannada the village is called as “Mundukur”
or “Mundkur” It is reasonable to assume that
from Mund, the village, the name of the chief or headman of the village came to
be called as “Munda”!
The Toda mund (village), from, Richard Barron, 1837,
"View in India, chiefly among the Nilgiri Hills'.
Oil on canvas.
Pic courtesy:- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Kandelmund_toda_1837.jpg
Even the name of the Toda habitat, Nilgiri
(Neela giri) is found in the legend of Mundari speaking Savaras. A Savara king was making secret visits to Neela giri for
worship. Neela giri was the old name for Puri! Are they mere coincidences or
indicative of a common origin of these people who had split and migrated to
different places?
The etymology of the word “Munda” referring to village is not
in Sanskrit, but in Tamil!
‘Mund’ that refers to land either as village or as a raised
one has the basic component “MaN” (मण्)
meaning mud. MaN is the Tamil word for mud. It also refers to land or world.
There are many words in Tamil derived from MaN. The “Mandar”
is the soldier. The “Mandala maakkaL” is the
king of the land. As a ruler of “MaN” – the land or the world, the king is
called as “maNdaleekan” or “maNdalakan”. While “maNdala
maakkaL” refers to kings, a slight difference in the spelling as “maNdila maakkaL” refers to the authorities who
rule segments of the land or kingdom. The word (for the ruler of a land or
segment) seems to have changed as Mandila >Manda > Munda. It must be remembered that Munda
people call their chief of the village as “Munda”.
Manki
There are many Manki- Pattis in Mundari speaking regions. There
is a place called Manki
in Honnavar Taluk in coastal Karnataka. Honnavar transliterates as Ponnavar in
Tamil. Ponnavar means ‘cultivating gold’. The rich produce of a land made the
land be called as Ponnavar or Honnavar. This shows that ‘Manki’ stands for
prosperity and growth. This very idea exists in the Mundari use of Manki. The
group of 17 villages comprising a Patti, administered by a Manki is treated as
common property shared by individuals whose main occupation is agriculture. An
annual tax is collected by Manki (Chief) to pay for security of the Patti. Such
pattis are known as Manki-pattis by these people.
There is an interesting mutation in the use of Munda and
Manki. Munda refers to a village in coastal / Tulu speaking regions. But the
tribes of Chota Nagpur call the chief of the village as Munda! Similarly Manki
is the name of a place in coastal Karnataka, but these tribes call the chief of
a group of villages as Manki. The generic name of a place came to be used to
denote the chief of that place by the secluded Mundari people. This connection
with coastal Karnataka may even mean that these words have been carried by the
Kurukhs or Oraons from their previous habitat to Mundari habitat in Chota Nagpur.
The word “Manki” sounds like Tamil “mandhi”
which means monkey! This region being close to Vanara’s regions raises the
possibility of this name being related to that. Infact the name Hanuman could
have come from “mandhi” as ‘anu-mandhi’ – the anu related to the episode of him
getting his cheeks squeezed like a monkey. The one, who already took up a name as mandhi
(monkey), came to look like a monkey when his cheeks were deformed and
therefore he is Anumandhi and Anuman or Hanuman. {The English words Mud
and Monkey do not have proper etymology in English or any other European
language. It is plausible that they have their roots in Tamil}.
Another interpretation for Manki is that it closely
resembles the Tamil word “Maggi” or “Maggu” which refers to the top soil or humus of the
soil. This top layer is formed by the decomposition of the plant material. It
makes the soil fertile and helps in water retention too. It is matter of
interest to know how the coastal regions of the Konkan and Malabar regions were
reclaimed and retained. A forest cover in this region in the past could help in
forming humus cover which could have helped in strengthening the soil and
making it fertile also. The Tulu coastal regions are known to be under
cultivation. This is not possible if it is just a reclaimed land form sea. The
previous forest covers had enriched the soil by forming humus cover.
The currently available scientific tool to decipher the time
period of the formation of the extension in the west coast is taken from Graham Hancock’s maps
based on sea-level changes computed by Glen Milne. The current sea-level was obtained
about 7000 years before present. That means the present stretch of land on the
west coast between the Western Ghats and the Arabian Sea did not change in the
last 7000 years. Any reclamation of land, that happened naturally or by
Parashurama’s efforts could have happened before 7000 years ago.
The maps of Graham Hancock show that the coast was broader
than it is now about 12,000 years ago. The West coast of India was an extended
one having Gujarat fused with main land and not as a peninsula.
This stretch received good rainfall and therefore was dotted
with rain forests. Vegetation had thrived in the coast at that time. This was
about 10,000 years ago.
As sea level rose, most of this extended land, west of
Western Ghats went under sea water. During Parashurama’s times, the sea level
had gone lower thereby exposing parts of the sunken coast. It is on these
regions that new settlements were made by Parashurama according to legend. The reclaimed and regained lands must be having the earlier
forest cover sunk in the ground as humus. This is a probable explanation
for why the Manki – meaning “maggu” or humus is present on the coast. The sea level
attained the current level by 7000 years BP. From this it is deduced that
Parashurama’s time was before this final level of sea surface.
Tulu from Tamil.
This region in the west coast houses Tulu Nadu and Kanara regions. These two words
also have their roots in Tamil. “Thulu” is the basal word for ThuLumbuthal (துளும்புதல்) in Tamil word which means ‘rising up’
“hopping up” or “brimming” (mEl ezhumbuthal,
thuLLUthal, thathumbuthal). This word fits with a region that sprang up
from the sea which is what Tulu and other regions of the west coast are.
This part of the west coast is known as Kanara or Canara.
Kanna or Kannam in the name Kanara is a
Tamil word that refers to an extension. The
projections in the balcony of houses were called as “Kanna
saalai” based on the word Kanna to mean projection or extension. {5}. The reclaimed land
or the land that rose up due to sea-level change in the west coast were
probably called as Kanna that later changed into Kanara or Kannara or Kannada.
The name Karunada (Karnata) was different from Kannara as per Tamil text of
Silappadhikaram. All these places are merged today.
Pur or Pura in Munda language.
The Manki heads ‘Pura’ or ‘pur’ – the name that is used to
designate a city or a town. In the Mundari culture, the variations of the word
“pur” or “pura” is seen to signify the larger group of hamlets. The area
headed by “Manki” is called as “Paraha” by Mundas;
“Pargana” by Santals; “pir” or “Pirhi” by Ho people. The underlying
word is ‘para’ – as a corruption of ‘pura’. This
word is a Sanskrit word and certainly no “Aryan” or any outsider had influenced
them. The Mundas were part of the early culture of Sanskrit based vedic
tradition.
To substantiate this further let us see other proofs in the
next article.
(To be continued)
References:-
{1} Mahabharata 12-176
{5} Tamil lexicon edited by N.C. kanthaiya pillai, page 144
