ಕನ್ನಡಿಗ. Value ideas, avoid ideologies. Independent thinking. Anti-extremism. Non-PC. Engagement ≠ endorsement. Languages, history, and current affairs.
Apr 28, 2023 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
NRIs have some subconscious guilt of leaving behind a religious/cultural ecosystem not establishable/maintainable authentically abroad. Supporting any and all traditionalism/regressivity in India becomes a way to assuage that guilt, easy as it bears no consequences for NRIs .
Sure, you can build temples, religious and cultural associations etc abroad, these primarily serve first gen. NRIs. The reality is that through the generations dilution of that culture/heritage inevitably occurs to some degree for many reasons. This realisation produces guilt.
…so beautiful was Sōvarāsi's grant, who adapted letters such that elephants, lions, and parrots shone within them…
- 1067 CE, a scribe praising his own calligraphy on stone.
The above is from a Cāḷukya inscription found at the Bhīmēśvara temple at Bhīmasamudra, Citradurga district, sadly no estampage exists of it.
The calligraphy it describes, is also visible in the top line of a 12th cent. Cālukya inscription, from Kuṟugōḍu (Baḷḷāri dist.).
Aug 7, 2022 • 6 tweets • 3 min read
Indian influence on S.E. Asia occurred under the Cōẓa state, but Tamils were not the only ones involved. The Ayyavoḷe-500 (today's Aihoḷe; Ka. aynūrvar, Ta. ainnūṟṟuvar) merchant guild grew dominant, becoming an international umbrella-guild absorbing the other major players.
The earliest Tamil inscription in Sumatra, Indonesia, at a village called Lubo Tua near the town of Barus, from 1088 CE, is by this same guild (doi.org/10.1355/978981…). Merchants from all over the subcontinent were in it (some regions were probably more represented than others).
Jul 29, 2022 • 11 tweets • 4 min read
Seven recipes of fruit preserves from the 11th century (i.e. pre-Mughal), feature in the Lōkōpakāram of Cāvuṇḍarāya, of Western Cāḷukya patronage. One pertains to raw fruit preserved immersed in ghee/molasses/honey, the remaining six pertain to uncooked 'suncooked' fruit jams.
Preamble - The word 'rasa' used cannot merely be interpreted as 'juice' in general, if you look at the context it's about to be mentioned in (i.e. heat/strong sun used in preparation, mention of making fruit last long). It is a fruit essence/concentrate, a jam in modern terms.
Jul 26, 2022 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
Two items here - maṇḍige and gārige - have for one reason or another become regionally restricted. AFAIK they're made mostly in coastal and northern districts, and also Southern Maharashtra. Both have considerable antiquity of mention, the former right back to ~6th century CE.
In the modern day, the maṇḍige (atleast around Belagavi) is a wafer thin wheat dough cooked on a convex surface, stuffed and folded with sugar, cardamom, and clarified butter, a specialist's preparation. Pūtarēkulu is its Āndhra cousin, even harder to prepare.
Nov 5, 2021 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
Fīrūz, a wealthy Muslim trader from Hormuz that purchased land to construct a mosque in Somnath in 1264CE, recorded the affair in one Sanskrit and one Arabic inscription. The difference between the two inscriptions partly reveals the duplicity of the Muslim elites of Somnath.
The Sanskrit inscription praises King Caulukya Arjunadēva, and merely describes details re. land purchase, local 'Hindu' elites involved in the affair, and maintenance/expenses of the mosque. Surplus wealth post-expenses, was to be sent straight to Makhā (Mecca)/Madīnā (Medina).
Dec 30, 2019 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
One of the most marked differences between Old and Modern Kannada, is the widespread (but incomplete) phonological change from ಪ್ p to ಹ್ h. This'll be a short thread on a theory by Edwin Tuttle (American Journal of Philology, 1929) that seeks to explain this phenomenon.
Tuttle says that this shift was the result of a preceding phonological change, from ವ್ v to ಬ್ b - the 'pre-Old Kannada' of the earliest inscriptions has e.g. ವನ್ದು vandu (having come) ವೆಳೆಗೆ veḷege (may it grow) etc, which soon become ಬಂದು bandu ಬೆಳೆಗೆ beḷege in Old Kannada.
Sep 15, 2019 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
There's a 'standard' literary Kannada that no one has an issue with the existence of, no need to concoct this issue IMO. A better service to dialects'd be bringing (native) vocab. from them into the standard, that'd enrich the standard and increase interdialect comprehension.
Another issue is mockery of dialects/manners of speech, that renders people insecure about openly speaking in dialect (applies more to dialects more deviant from the standard). These are the real day to day threats to dialects as I see it, not some 'absence of official status'.
May 9, 2019 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
Dalits boycott a festival at the Durgāparamēśvarī temple, Dakṣiṇa Kannaḍa district, KA, after being made to sit separately from the 'upper castes' for their meal. The organiser of the festival tells them to 'keep quiet', to avoid 'ruining the festival'. kannadaprabha.com/karnataka/karn…
This is why I'm not wholly convinced about the motives behind the 'free our temples from government' activism on Twitter. Temples freed will invariably go into the hands of the same sort of people telling the dalits above to 'keep quiet'. Social ills deserve to be eradicated.
