Before the advent of television and the internet, when radio was the popular medium, even the advertisements of some commercial establishments in Mettupalayam used to be in Kannada. The strategy behind this was attracting the major population of the villages surrounding Mettupalayam, Karamadai, and Periyanaicken Palayam, who speak Kannada as their mother tongue. The people, who migrated from Karnataka and settled on the city’s northern borders in the bygone era, even named their new settlements in their mother tongue. And the names of such places still speak the history of Coimbatore.
Before the advent of television and the internet, when radio was the popular medium, even the advertisements of some commercial establishments in Mettupalayam used to be in Kannada. The strategy behind this was attracting the major population of the villages surrounding Mettupalayam, Karamadai, and Periyanaicken Palayam, who speak Kannada as their mother tongue. The people, who migrated from Karnataka and settled on the city’s northern borders in the bygone era, even named their new settlements in their mother tongue. And the names of such places still speak the history of Coimbatore.
Most devotees making a regular trip to Bannari to worship the mother Goddess ‘Bannari Amman’ know little on the etymology of the word. As the pronunciation of the sound ‘v’ in Tamil naturally turns ‘b’ in Kannada, the term’ Bannnari’ originates from ‘ Vana Naari’ which means ‘ the Goddess of the woods’ with ‘vanam’ meaning ‘forest’ and ‘naari’ denoting a female deity.
“But now, we are going to meet another mother Goddess of the ancient Tamils,” said Kavianban Babu, a historian, and poet, who authored the book Therintha Kovai Theriyadha Kadhai (The known Coimbatore and its unknown tales).
Accompanying this writer on a ghat road running between the thick woods to reach Kopanri, a village atop a mountain in the Periyanaicken Palayam forest range, Babu informed:
“You know, we are heading to meet Kotravai, the Goddess of victory in ancient Tamil society, who is known for her irate nature”
Interestingly, Kavianban Babu explains the etymology of the place name ‘ Kopanari’ is nothing but ‘ ‘Kotravai’
“The Kannada name ‘Kopanari’ was given to the village by the people, who once migrated from Karnataka and settled in the neighbouring areas of Mettupalayam and Karamadai in Coimbatore. ‘ ‘Kopanari’ literally means ‘ Irate Goddess’, so She must be none other than the ancient Tamil Goddess ‘ Kotravai, who, in course of time, became ‘ Kopanari’ in Kannada’
Eminent archaeologist R. Poongundran, the former Assistant Director, Tamil Nadu Archaeology Department, in his book Koyamputhur Maavatta Tholliyal Kayyedu (Archaeological guide of Coimbatore district, writes on Kotravai thus:
“The worship of the Mother Goddess Kotravai finds mention even in Tolkappiyyam, the available oldest treatise on Tamil grammar and the Tamil way of life”
But the expedition with Kavianban Babu was to observe a nadukal (hero stone) at Moonu Kuttayur, a hamlet, some seven KM from Kopanari, populated by a handful of families that belong to the Mutharayar community.
Pointing at the figure found in the hero stone, Babu says:
“It was a practice in ancient Tamil society to erect a hero stone in memory of a man, who died in a fight with a tiger to protect the village’s cattle from it. The man, who is depicted on the hero stone as stabbing the tiger with his sword, must be one among the early inhabitants of the village”
But, the villagers Sakthivel, Kurunthachalam, and Sivaraj had little to say about the hero stone except it being a deity. Beside the memorial, there lies an inscribed block of stone. But the inscription is completely damaged. However, with the old name of the village Moonu kuttayur being Ezhuthukkalpudur, the epigraph must be of great significance once in the hamlet.
Most devotees making a regular trip to Bannari to worship the mother Goddess ‘Bannari Amman’ know little on the etymology of the word. As the pronunciation of the sound ‘v’ in Tamil naturally turns ‘b’ in Kannada, the term’ Bannnari’ originates from ‘ Vana Naari’ which means ‘ the Goddess of the woods’ with ‘vanam’ meaning ‘forest’ and ‘naari’ denoting a female deity.
“But now, we are going to meet another mother Goddess of the ancient Tamils,” said Kavianban Babu, a historian, and poet, who authored the book Therintha Kovai Theriyadha Kadhai (The known Coimbatore and its unknown tales).
Accompanying this writer on a ghat road running between the thick woods to reach Kopanri, a village atop a mountain in the Periyanaicken Palayam forest range, Babu informed:
“You know, we are heading to meet Kotravai, the Goddess of victory in ancient Tamil society, who is known for her irate nature”
Interestingly, Kavianban Babu explains the etymology of the place name ‘ Kopanari’ is nothing but ‘ ‘Kotravai’
“The Kannada name ‘Kopanari’ was given to the village by the people, who once migrated from Karnataka and settled in the neighbouring areas of Mettupalayam and Karamadai in Coimbatore. ‘ ‘Kopanari’ literally means ‘ Irate Goddess’, so She must be none other than the ancient Tamil Goddess ‘ Kotravai, who, in course of time, became ‘ Kopanari’ in Kannada’
Eminent archaeologist R. Poongundran, the former Assistant Director, Tamil Nadu Archaeology Department, in his book Koyamputhur Maavatta Tholliyal Kayyedu (Archaeological guide of Coimbatore district, writes on Kotravai thus:
“The worship of the Mother Goddess Kotravai finds mention even in Tolkappiyyam, the available oldest treatise on Tamil grammar and the Tamil way of life”
But the expedition with Kavianban Babu was to observe a nadukal (hero stone) at Moonu Kuttayur, a hamlet, some seven KM from Kopanari, populated by a handful of families that belong to the Mutharayar community.
Pointing at the figure found in the hero stone, Babu says:
“It was a practice in ancient Tamil society to erect a hero stone in memory of a man, who died in a fight with a tiger to protect the village’s cattle from it. The man, who is depicted on the hero stone as stabbing the tiger with his sword, must be one among the early inhabitants of the village”
But, the villagers Sakthivel, Kurunthachalam, and Sivaraj had little to say about the hero stone except it being a deity. Beside the memorial, there lies an inscribed block of stone. But the inscription is completely damaged. However, with the old name of the village Moonu kuttayur being Ezhuthukkalpudur, the epigraph must be of great significance once in the hamlet.