Kodagu district


Kodagu is an administrative district in the Karnataka state of India. Before 1956, it was an administratively separate Coorg State, at which point it was merged into an enlarged Mysore State. It occupies an area of in the Western Ghats of southwestern Karnataka. In 2001 its population was 548,561, 13.74% of which resided in the district's urban centre, making it the least populous of the 30 districts in Karnataka.The nearest railway stations are Mysore Junction, located around 95 km away and Thalassery and Kannur in Kerala, at a distance of 79 km. The nearest airports are Kannur International Airport in Kerala and Mangalore International Airport.

Geography

Kodagu is located on the eastern slopes of the Western Ghats. It has a geographical area of. The district is bordered by Dakshina Kannada district to the northwest, Hassan district to the north, Mysore district to the east, Kasaragod district of Kerala in west and Kannur district of Kerala to the southwest, and Wayanad district of Kerala to the south. It is a hilly district, the lowest elevation of which is above sea-level. The highest peak, Tadiandamol, rises to, with Pushpagiri, the second highest, at. The main river in Kodagu is the Kaveri, which originates at Talakaveri, located on the eastern side of the Western Ghats, and with its tributaries, drains the greater part of Kodagu.

Administrative divisions

Taluks

The district is divided into the three administrative taluks:
Two members of the legislative assembly are elected from Kodagu to the Karnataka Legislative Assembly, one each from the Madikeri and Virajpet. M P Appachu Ranjan represents the Madikeri constituency while K. G. Bopaiah represents the Virajpet constituency; they are from the Bharatiya Janata Party. Kodagu, formerly part of the Kodagu-Dakshina Kannada constituency, is now part of the Mysore Lok Sabha parliamentary constituency. The current MP for this constituency is Shri Pratap Simha, from the Bharatiya Janata Party.
The Codava National Council and Kodava Rashtriya Samiti are campaigning for autonomy to Kodagu district.

History

The Kodavas
were the earliest inhabitants and agriculturists in Kodagu, having lived there for centuries. Being a warrior community as well, they carried arms during times of war and had their own chieftains. The Haleri dynasty, an offshoot of the Keladi Nayakas, ruled Kodagu between 1600 and 1834. Later the British ruled Kodagu from 1834, after the Coorg War, until India's independence in 1947. A separate state until then, in 1956 Kodagu was merged with the Mysore State.

Coorg in British India

In 1834, the East India Company annexed Kodagu into British India, after deposing Chikka Virarajendra of the Kodagu kingdom, as 'Coorg'. The people accepted British rule peacefully. British rule led to the establishment of educational institutions, introduction of scientific coffee cultivation, better administration and improvement of the economy.

Demographics

According to the 2011 census of India, Kodagu has a population of 554,519, roughly equal to the Solomon Islands or the US state of Wyoming. This ranks it 539 out of 640 districts in India in terms of population. The district has a population density of. Its population growth rate over the decade 2001–2011 was 1.13%. Kodagu has a sex ratio of 1019 females for every 1000 males, and a literacy rate of 82.52%.
Kodava Takk is the spoken language native to Kodagu. Are Bhashe, a dialect of Kannada, is native to Sulya in Dakshina Kannada. Both use Kannada script for literature. According to Karnataka Kodava Sahitya Academy, apart from Kodavas, and their related groups, the Amma Kodavas, the Kodava Peggade and the Kodava Maaple, 18 other smaller-numbered ethnic groups speak Kodava Takk in and outside the district including the Iri, the Koyava, the Banna, the Kodagu Madivala, the Kodagu Hajama, the Kembatti Poleya and the Meda. Less frequent are Tulu speakers Billavas, Mogaveeras, Bunts, Goud Saraswat Brahmins.

Other Kodava speakers

Among other Kodava speaking communities are: the Heggades, cultivators from Malabar; the Kodava Nair, cultivators from Malabar; the Ayiri, who constitute the artisan caste; the Medas, who are basket and mat-weavers and act as drummers at feasts; the Binepatta, originally wandering musicians from Malabar, now farmers; and the Kavadi, cultivators settled in Yedenalknad. All these groups speak the Kodava language and conform generally to Kodava customs and dress.

Kodagu Aarebashe Gowda people

The Arebhashe gowdas, or Kodagu Gowdas, and Tulu Gowdas, are an ethnic group of Dakshina Kannada and Kodagu. They live in Sulya and in parts of Somwarpet, Kushalanagar, Bhagamandala and Madikeri. They speak a language known as Arebhashe a dialect of Kannada. Guddemane Appaiah Gowda along with many other freedom fighters from different communities revolted against the British in an armed struggle which covered entire Kodagu and Dakshina Kannada. This was one of the earliest freedom movements against the British called "Amara Sulliada Swantantrya Sangraama" started in 1837.

Muslims and Christians

A huge minority of Muslims dot the Coorg district, especially the towns of Kushalnagar, Virajpet and Mercara. A sizeable of them are the Nawayaths who shifted in the eighties from Bhatkal and Murdeshwar in order to pursue coffee & arecanut plantations and textile business. The numerous mosque dotting the landscape is the testimony of Muslim presence in the district.
A small number of Mangalorean Catholics are also found in Coorg. They are mostly descended from those Konkani Catholics who fled the roundup and, later, captivity by Tippu Sultan. These immigrants were welcomed by Raja Veerarajendra who realising their usefulness and expertise as agriculturists, gave them lands and tax breaks and built a church for them.

Tourism

Kodagu is rated as one of the top hill station destinations in India. Some of the most popular tourist attractions in Kodagu include Talakaveri, Bhagamandala, Nisargadhama, Abbey Falls, Dubare, Nagarahole National Park, Iruppu Falls, and the Tibetan Buddhist Golden Temple.