Swords of honour

The Kodavas worshipped weapons in keeping with their martial traditions. Their ancestors owned  arms of various kinds. They had different native war knives, among them were the billhook-shaped oide katti, ornate, sheathed piche katti, and straight-bladed baal katti. They also had spears and straight-bladed long knives known as Barchi.

The Mandeda family possess a long, curved sabre, with a brass handle. The blade bears the Kannada syllable ‘Vi’ while the hilt has the ‘Lin’ syllable upon a small circular projection. The ‘Vi’ denoted that the sword was a gift from Dodda Vira Rajendra (reigned from 1789 to 1809), a Raja of Kodagu. The original hilt was replaced later with the brass one by Linga Rajendra II (reigned from 1811 to 1820), Dodda Vira Rajendra’s younger brother and successor. The sword, not held in a scabbard, was hung by a brass grip which fitted with the hilt and had a ring. Mahesh Muthappa, a school teacher, had collected information and drawn up his family tree. Accordingly, the earliest known ancestor of his family is Mandeda Subbayya of Bonda.

The Mandeda family own a kep thok as well. This was an ancient single-shot, muzzle-loading, long-barrelled pistol into which a small measure of gunpowder was stuffed and then loaded with a projectile. It can no longer be fired because its handle is now broken. Single-shot guns had been popular with game hunters in the past. They also have a small ancient piche katti which, unlike modern metal-sheathed ones, has a wooden handle and is held in a leather sheath. They own a dagger as well whose handle is probably made using ivory or antler as a material and a few other long knives of that age. One long blade was said to hold poison upon its edge. Mandeda Subbayya’s family members seem to have been military officers under the rajas. His descendants continued to be a prominent family in their village.

Inscribed billhooks

An oide katti which exists with my maternal family has an encircled ‘G’ insignia inscribed upon it. According to my grandmother and my uncles, the oide katti was gifted to my great grandfather Mukkatira Belliappa for getting the Aakeri forest cleared so as to make way for an orange orchard. The Thathanda family of Kuklur are also in possession of another ‘G’-inscribed oide katti. The English letter ‘G’ symbol could probably signify the local ‘government’ in Madikeri which encouraged the founding of plantations in around 1900.

The village of Bonda had 300 families. Bonda split into two villages: Bilugunda and Nalvathoklu. The Patel of Nalvathoklu (the name meant ‘40 families’) belonged to the Mandeda family. The last Patel of Nalvathoklu was also called Mandeda Subbayya. He was said to have killed a tiger in his younger days.

The Patel of Bilugunda belonged to the Mookonda family. The earliest known Bilugunda Patel was Monnaiah and the last was Cariappa. Now, the hereditary institutions of the Patels and the old panchayats they headed have been replaced by elected panchayats and their presidents.

An oide katti which exists with my maternal family has an encircled ‘G’ insignia inscribed upon it. According to my grandmother and my uncles, the oide katti was gifted to my great grandfather Mukkatira Belliappa for getting the Aakeri forest cleared so as to make way for an orange orchard. The Thathanda family of Kuklur are also in possession of another ‘G’-inscribed oide katti. The English letter ‘G’ symbol could probably signify the local ‘government’ in Madikeri which encouraged the founding of plantations in around 1900.