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Naḍikērianḍa-1	Quick Facts
	Number of members in the okka	About 250 (about 75 families), none of whom resides in the ainmane; one (a bachelor) lives in the house at the back. (A Nambiyappanda woman and her two children live in the ale pore now.)
	Location – village	Karaḍa.
	Age	About 200 years old. It was renovated in 1996 and in 2002. (The house at the rear, built by Nanjappajja is about 150 years old).

Community	Kodava.
Date visited	5 Nov 2003, 23 Feb 2005, 24 Nov 2009.
Location – village	Karaḍa.
Type of ainmane	Large mund mane, with two roofs. A stone-paved narrow lane leads up a steep slope from the road below to the kaimada to the left and then, up rough stone steps, to the arched bakka pore entrance and the large stone-paved yard in front of the ainmane. The ale pore extends on both sides of the bakka pore entrance. The part to the left (which used to be a stable in the past) has rooms downstairs and a hall upstairs, built in the memory of Dr.Subbiah who died young in a hunting accident in 1935, shot by his friend. (It cost Rs.1200, according to the minutes of the General Body meeting of that year). In the past, the part to the right of the bakka pore was a cow-shed with a pathaya upstairs, with wooden slatted walls. When renovated in 2002, the cow-shed was converted into a dining hall and the pathaya was replaced by a large meeting hall. There are thombe kann on all the four outer walls of the ainmane. Two small wooden boxes (gud-potti) with shutters are embedded in the western wall of the verandah. (They are empty now - no-one knows what they were used for.) Some of the old pillars in the mund that were rotting were replaced with newly carved ones in 1996. The nellakki has a beautiful old, simple hanging lamp near the north-west corner of the mund, and a wooden bhasma kutt near the south-east corner. [‘Silent Sentinels’ – The Traditional Architecture of Coorg’, The HECAR Foundation, 2005, has architectural drawings and details of the ainmane.]
Direction facing	East.
*Kall boti*	Yes. A mask was tied to it during a recent Karana there (see photo).
Age	About 200 years old. It was renovated in 1996 and in 2002. (The house at the rear, built by Nanjappajja is about 150 years old).
*Original ainmane?*	No, it is the second. The first one and the old kaimada were to the south-west of the present ainmane, at a higher level, even higher than the current kala and car park there.
Woodwork	There are two feet wide wooden aimaras on three sides of the verandah (all except the northern side) and around the mund. The verandah has solid pillars with beautiful carved capitols on its eastern side as well as along its inner (western) wall. The door-frame as well as the window-frame and wooden screen in the window of the verandah are carved with geometrical designs (see photo). The mund has fluted pillars (see photo) except for the kanni kamba in the south-west corner, which has simple flowers etched on it. The kanni kamba is a new one, replacing the old carved pillar there that was rotting. All the pillars have carvings on their capitols. The doors to the kitchen and to some of the rooms around the nellakki also have carved door-frames.
Electricity in the ainmane	Yes.
Telephone in the ainmane	No.
*Kanni kamba*	Pillar in the south-west corner of the mund.
*Kanni kombare*	Narrow wood-panelled room in the south-west corner of the house, with the entrance door from the adjacent room to its east. There is a long shelf on its western wall to keep the sacred lamp and meedi.
Floor	Fully cemented in 1976.
Roof	Tiled long ago. No one remembers when.
Number of rooms	Ten (including the kitchen and kanni kombare).
Attic	Large hall around the mund with only wooden benches kept there. The staircase is from the nellakki.
*Kaimada*	The present one is the second kaimada (see photo), built at the same time as the ainmane. Meedi is kept here during Karanang kodpa and on other auspicious occasions. The kaimada faces east and is located in a small open yard close to the bakka pore, at a lower level. It has wide cement steps, a low wicket gate to the central gudi, and four carved pillars and aimaras in front, with beautiful lotuses carved on the capitols. The raised gudi is enclosed with wooden slatted walls and has a beautiful carved door in front. Inside the gudi are three images of ancestors embossed on metal (see photo). In an open walled enclosure to the south of the kaimada are three tombstones to famous people in the okka. (The foundation of the earlier kaimada can be seen high up, to the south-west of the house - a raised platform with stones along its border, and a tomb nearby with crumbling cement plaster. Offerings are made there during Puthari and Karana there.)
*Al rupa*	No.
Temples/shrines nearby	Karada Bhagavathi temple (where the Bolak namme is held, mid April). Malethirike shrine to Male Thambiran up the hill nearby (where the namme is held on March 14).
Festivals celebrated in the ainmane	Karana there is held in April/May when all members of the okka get together (see There/Kola below). Karanang kodpa (a very simple ritual which only those near the ainmane attend). Puthari.
Number of members in the okka	About 250 (about 75 families), none of whom resides in the ainmane; one (a bachelor) lives in the house at the back. (A Nambiyappanda woman and her two children live in the ale pore now.)
*Book on the okka* and Family Tree**	No book - only the ballad of Nadikerianda Devayya in the Pattole Palame. The Family Tree was first drawn in 1918 by N.A.Chinnappa (author of the Pattole Palame), and updated in 1975 by his son, N.C.Subbayya. It was updated again in 2001 by Saroj and Appaji Nanjappa and Rana Nanjappa, and traces the okka back 11 generations to Karanava Ayyanna. (Nadikerianda-2, the Palangala bhaga that broke away, has a Family Tree for that bhaga, drawn in 2008.). (We have copies of the Family Trees for both the Nadikerianda bhagas).
*Name of Karanava:*	Ayyanna who is believed to have lived in the 1600s. N.A.Chinnappa says that there is no evidence to show how much older Devayya, the hero of the ballad of Nadikerianda Devayya, was than Ayyanna.
Name of Aruva okka	Ithichanda (mutual)
*Thakkame* rights of the okka	Ur thakka for Karada and Deva thakka of the Malethirike shrine in Karada (the latter, along with the Chottalyammanda Amma okka)..
*Pattedara*	N.C. Poovaiah (in Siddapur).
President of the okka	N.S.Chinnappa (Bangalore). The General Body meets twice annually, at Puthari and during the Bolak namme at the Bhagavathi temple. The Family fund is used for festival expenses, sports, education, maintenance of the ainmane etc.
*Mand* nearby	The ur mand is Koliyare mand (nearby, across the road) and the nad mand is Beliyane mand (by the side of the main road).
*Ambala* nearby	By the road-side near the Chottalyammanda house, on the way to the Malethirike shrine.
*Deva kaad* nearby	Dedicated to Bhagavathi, near the temple (nine acres).
*Thutengala* of the okka	It is across the road, in the forest in front of the ainmane. Note: There is another graveyard for the Nadikeriandas in Madikeri, where Bose Mandanna’s parents are buried. This was set aside in land owned by Nadikeranda Appacha, son of Monnappa Ajja, who owned a lot of land in Madikeri. (Appacha also gifted land for graveyards to the families of his two sisters – Konganda and Codanda).
Year when last wedding held in the ainmane	1985, when the weddings of two brothers N. K. Nanayya (Jappu) and N.K. Chengappa (Dilip) were held simultaneously.
*There/Kola* in the ainmane	Karana there is an elaborate two-day affair, celebrated annually in April/May by one of the kades of the okka taking turns (therige) to conduct it. Seven theres are held through the night, the first four in the evening and the other three the next day, starting very early in the morning. They are held in the following order: Kuttichatha (a spirit-deity), Karajjappa (who killed a tiger), Nari (tiger who fights a young man and dies), Kuliya (spirit-deity who embraces one of the young men there and has a baby – a figure made of straw is used to depict it), Vishnu-murthi (Narasimha with a lion’s mask), eth (ox killed by a tiger), and Ajjappa (Karanava – the last and longest there, when the one possessed by the Karanava answers questions put to him by members of the okka and advises them). The theres are performed by Bannas
Folksongs sung in the ainmane	Not since about 40 to 50 years ago (when members sang with villagers in the mund).
Singers of folk songs in the okka	N.P. Kalappa (Ravi).
Paintings/drawings on walls	Have not heard of it.
*Kadanga* nearby	Only small ones between land belonging to this okka and to that of others in the village.
Stories related to okka name	Their ancestors might have first settled in the village called Nadikeri and then come to Karada. Hence the name. [Source: N.C. Subbayya]. When the first Nair ancestor came here, he settled in a hamlet (keri) in the middle (nadu) of the village where there is an ambala. Hence they were called Nadukeriya, which became Nadikeriya. At that time there was another ambala at the top end of the village – Mekeri and one at the bottom of the village – Kikkeri. [Source: N.P.Thammani]
Stories related to the okka	It is said that the ancestors of the okka were Nairs who came from Malabar with their troops and with the Moplahs (Muslim traders from Malabar) whom they had defeated. They occupied land in Palangala (where they settled the Moplahs, who later went to Edapala in Nariandada) and in Karada, read more >> where they themselves settled. That is why they are referred to as Nayamma (which means Nair) Nadikeriya in the village and in folk songs. There is a field in Palangala that is called Nayamma nadu bail. [Source: Notes written by N.A. Chinnappa, author of the Pattole Palame]. The Nair ancestor of the okka came from Kerala 600/700 years ago and married a Kodava woman called Kummachi. The Patrapandas gave him land in Karada. [Source: Patrapanda Kalinga]. Two Nair brothers from Kalyat in Kerala, belonging to a Nayaka (chieftain/warlord) family that controlled parts of both Kerala and Kodagu, came to Kodagu. One brother started the Nadikerianda okka and the other started the Kalyatanda okka. [Source: Kunji Raman, Kolakeri, Napoklu]. The Nadikeriandas were invited by the Ithichanda okka to settle in Karada. [Source: Ithichanda okka]. The Nadikerianda and Chottalyammanda (Amma) okkas are joint thakkas of the Malethirike shrine. Nadikerianda Devayya, a famous ancestor of the okka, along with the Chottalyammanda thakka got a shelter built for the priest at the shrine, and invited a thanthri from Kerala to perform the purification rites. When the thanthri was late, the thakkas asked the priest at the shrine to do the rites himself. Angered by this, the thanthri cursed the two thakkas – the Nadikeranda with leucoderma and the Chottalyammanda with lunacy. It was decreed that the curse would not affect the okkas if they held Karana there every year, along with other prescribed theres. That is why the Nadikerianda okka conducts Choundi, Vishnumurthi and Kuttichatha theres among others during their Karana there. The first kaimada of the okka was said to have been built where Devayya was buried (probably the crumbling tomb near the foundation of the old kaimada) [Source: Song of Nadikerianda Devayya in the Pattole Palame]. The first ainmane was believed to be cursed because all the young men there died before they were 30 years old. So Nanjavva (Kanjithanda thamane), widow of Nadikerianda Deviah, got this ainmane constructed. She lived about six generations ago (Source: Family Tree), Dodda Veerarajendra wanted to build a palace where the current Nadikerianda ainmane stands, because of its commanding view. But the Nadikeriandas who had chosen this spot for their ainmane told the Raja that this place was easily accessible to enemies since it was close to the main road. So the Raja built his Nalnad palace in Yavakapadi and the Nadikeriandas built theirs here. (Note: The Nalnad palace was built in 1791-95 and therefore it is likely that the current Nadikerianda ainmane was built around then). During Puthari, Jamma Mapille okkas from Edapala (Erteyanda, Kupponda, Kikkare) used to spend three nights in Karumbayya ajja’s house near the ainmane. They were welcomed in the mand with a mat spread out for them. They beat dudis and sang and danced with the Nadikeriandas, leading the dance in the mand. Among them were the ancestors of the Nadikeriandas who were captured and converted to Islam by Tippu and later escaped and returned to Kodagu. They were not taken back into the okka because there were no rituals that allowed them to do that. [Source: N.C.Subbayya; Bachamanda Changuammayya; Pandanda Mandappa]. Subedar N.M.Monnappa was clever and powerful. He and his brother N.M.Kariappa acquired a lot of land in Karada, Palangala and Arapatt as well as in Madikeri and near Sunticoppa. It is believed that he went to Kerala and acquired Kuttichatha’s manthra and gained power from that [Source: Nadikerianda Appaji].  Subedar N.M.Monnappa built the school in Karada in 1883. A plaque there, in both English and Kannada, says “Nadikerianda School, built by N.Monnappa, 1883”.[Source: Nadikerianda C.Poonacha].  Monnappa’s brother N.M.Kariappa erected the first school for girls in Virajpet in 1892. A plaque in the Virajpet Junior College says ”The First School for Girls in Virajpet was erected by Nadikerianda Kariappa, Kadietnad, in 1892, in encouragement of Female Education”. Source: Nadikerianda C.Poonacha]. This okka has two bhagas: This one, Nadikerianda-1 in the original ainmane in Karada, and Nadikerianda-2 in Palangala. The latter, also called Palangala Nadikerianda broke off from Nadikerianda-1 around the 1800s because a widow in the okka refused to marry either of two brothers, her husband’s cousins, since she did not like their ways. In anger the brothers tore a piece of cloth (muri keethith) and walked away from the ainmane declaring that just as the two torn pieces of cloth could never be made one again, they would never come back to the okka. They settled in Palangala, and Poovaiah ajja of Nadikerianda-2 built an othe pore ainmane in Kerane. Subedar Monnappa of Nadikerianda-1 was in Govt. service in Madikeri then, and needed a good house there. So he exchanged land that he had acquired in Palangala (wetland in Yakot, close to the Nadikerianda-2 ainmane), for ‘King’s wall’, a bungalow in Madikeri that belonged to his first cousin Kuttappa, son of Poovaiah ajja of Nadikerianda-2. The Nadikerianda-2 ainmane has since fallen. Now they only have a newly rebuilt kaimada. Poovaiah ajja, the ancestor who built the Palangala ainmane had white patches on his skin. When he died, his corpse was not taken to the Nadikerianda thutengala, and was buried at a spot that became the thutengala for Nadikerianda-2. There is no connection between the two bhagas now – not even pole-thale. [Source: Machaiah and Theja Poovaiah of Nadikerianda-2]. Nadikerianda A. Chinnappa is famous as the author of the ‘Pattole Palame’ (1924), a compilation of the traditions and folklore of Kodavas (the traditions and customs are written in Kannada, while the folksongs, proverbs and plays are in the Kodava language), and the ‘Bhagavanthanda Pat’ (1929), a translation of the Bhagavad Gita into the Kodava language using the metre and style of Balo paat (Kodava folk songs). Nadikerianda Chinnappa’s 119 th anniversary was celebrated in Virajpet in 1994. A book on his life and achievements called ‘Nadikerianda Chinnappa, the Folklorist’ written by Dr.D.B.Ramachandrachar in Kannada, was published by the Karnataka Janapada Academy on that occasion in 1994, and reprinted at another celebration of his life in 2003. Also, the School Road in Chickpet, Virajpet, was renamed as the ‘Nadikerianda Chinnappa road’ in 1994. N.A.Chinnappa’s son N.C.Subbayya started nine High Schools in Kodagu (after retiring as a teacher), at a time when there were only three in the district. The best known of these is the Nariandada High School (1959), for which land was donated by the Boverianda and Battiyanda okkas and where he and his wife Ponnamma (also a retired teacher) rendered voluntary service. He was also responsible for the creation of many Middle and Primary schools in Coorg. N.Medayya was a freedom fighter. Subedar N. Bheemiah was honoured with the Veera Chakra for his bravery. N.Ranee Kuttaiah (thamane Kotera), one of the few classical dancers from Coorg at the time, has written three books: 'Cuisine from Coorg', 'Karnataka Cuisine', and 'Cuisine from Tamilnadu'.

Naḍikērianḍa-1

Quick Facts