How Udupi Brahmins Dominated Hospitality in 20th Century? (1)

(KC Kalkura)

To find a speaking answer to this question, it is necessary to understand the geographical features and social, political, economic and cultural life of the District during the relevant period.

After the Fourth Mysore War in 1798-’99 with Tipu Sultan, the victorious British dissected the Mysore Kingdom and ceded Coimbatore and South Kanara (SK,) Districts to the Madras province, and North Kanara (NK) to the Bombay Province.

Both SK and NK are on the West Coast. As per the States Reorganisation Act, 1956 the S.K.District (except the Kasaragod Taluk, which was merged with Kerala and now a district by itself) merged with the Mysore State and renamed Dakshina Kannada. In 1997, the District was bifurcated as Dakshina Kannada and Udupi.

Part -1

To borrow the phrase from the Kannada Poet Andayya, the region is full of coconut, areca nut, jack, mango, cashew nut and many other varieties of fruit-bearing, shade-giving trees, flower-bearing and fruit yielding plants; varieties of birds, from the fish-catching crow to the National bird, peacock; reptiles and rodents and greeneries.

The following thirteen small rivers, less than 100 km long with their tributaries, flow through the districts. Originated in the Western Ghats, they are all perennial.
1. Netravati.
2. Kumaradhara.
3 Gurupur or Phalguni
4 Nandini or Pavanje
5 Shambavi
6 Pangala
7 Paapanaashini
8 Swarna or Suvarna
9 Sita or Seetha
10 Panchagangavalli
11 Sowparnika or Souparnika
12 Varahi
13 Chakra

Salty backwaters, to a distance of about 20 km from the Arabian Sea, pollute the river waters during the summer. Our elders used to tell tales about their being saltish. According to the legend, there were severe differences among the sister-rivers born in the Western Ghats and they cursed each other.

Hence the East-flowing Rivers such as Tunga, Bhadra, Tungabhadra and their tributaries do not merge with the sea, the lord of all the rivers. But all together join the River Krishna.

And the West-flowing Rivers are not useful for drinking and irrigation purposes. Only inland navigation and fishing are possible.

In the days of yore, inland navigation was the main mode of goods transportation. In our childhood during the 1940’s and 1950’s big boats of the capacity of more than five tons used to carry goods and humans from and to the interior inland.

Even marriage parties were being transported through boats, big and small. Ferry points were there to link the road transportation. It used to take one full day to reach the other end of the Dist. In the 1960s bridges were constructed across all the rivers and National Highway 17 (now no.66) from Kanyakumari to Bombay was laid all along the coast.

More bridges, across almost all the rivers, are constructed in the inland area also. Road transportation, operated by both public and private enterprises, in the district is very convenient. So the inland transportation through waterways has been reduced to a microscopic percentage.

In the neighbouring Shivamogga and Uttara Kannada Districts Hydroelectric projects like Saravathy and Kali and the Thermal power project at Raichur was commissioned in stages from the 1950s. Even the remotest places in the Dist were electrified. Hence lift irrigation was made possible in the upland areas, where there was no salt water.

During the last fifty years some semi-permanent and permanent dams were built across some rivers. Important among them are Tumbe Dam across Nethravathi and one at Baje across Swarna to supply potable water to Mangalore and Udupi respectively. Varahi life irrigation is under construction.

A check dam (Salt Water Exclusion Dam) has been constructed across the river Sita, in the western part of Neelavara, a pilgrimage centre, (Our family deity) mainly to protect against the seawater coming inland and for irrigation, by lift during the summer season. It is about 10 km upstream of the river mouth at Hangarkatta.

Rainfall in the Western Ghats is more than 100″ per year. All the waters drain into the Arabian Sea. There is a demand in the plains to divert the water to the rain thirsty areas. With concern for ecology, the proposal is vehemently opposed by all, including the spiritual leaders in the coast. Kundapura, Hangarkatta, Malpe and Padubidri are the minor ports in the districts. New Mangalore is an all-weather major port.

The region is known as Parasurama Kshetra. Until the end of the third quarter of the 20th century, the Majority of the inhabitants in the region were BPL and the lower middle class.
There is a popular anecdote related to the usage, Parasurama Kshetra.

The Western Ghats was the boundary of the Arabian Sea during the epic era. Brahmins had no place to live. So they pleaded with Parasurama to assign them some land. He threw his axe and the seawater receded to a distance. He asked the Brahmins to settle in the reclaimed land. Parasurama assured them that under distress, at any time they could pray for his help and depend on him for remedy. They were living in cosy comforts. Once they wanted to test the promise. They cried aloud. Parashurama appeared. He was furious about their folly and cursed them with eternal poverty. On plea, he consoled them that by migration to other places, they could prosper. Till the 1970s, even the upper-middle class lived in rainproof thatched houses. Only a few rich people lived in tiled buildings.

The Principal crop in the districts has been paddy, grown with rainwater during the rainy season. Here and thereby laying temporary bunds, across the rivulets and streams during the summer, a second crop used to be raised. Yield per acre is not more than 15 Quintals. Coconut gardens, mostly grown in the western part of the Dist are fed with river water. During winter, from moisture pulses and during summer vegetables by lift irrigation were raised. Except for a few public tanks and wells, there were no irrigation facilities. Mango, saputa, cashewnut and some other horticultural crops are found here and there. Overall agricultural operations have not been a profitable proposition. Hence the poverty.
Since it was predominantly an agricultural economy, partial unemployment was rampant. Labours were employed, with low wages hardly for 200 days in a year. It was difficult even to feed hand to mouth. Temporarily they were trekking the Western Ghats to work in the coffee, cardamom, pepper and areca estates in Kodagu, Hasan, Chikmagalur and Shivamogga Districts in Malanadu. Life and the sylvan surroundings of the Dist are picturized by the JnanPith award-winning writer, Dr Shivarama Karantha in every one of his novels. (To be continued)

(KC Kalkura, now an advocate from Kurnool, was the proprietor of Kalkura Hotel)