Blogs

KODAVAME BALO: KODAVA (COORG) SARI WAS MAIN ATTRACTION DURING RECENT KODAVA MARCH

By P.T. Bopanna

The main attraction during the six-day Kodava march early this month in Kodagu (Coorg) demanding their right to wear their traditional attire, the centre of attraction was the Kodava women in their traditional sari.

In the interest of promoting Kodavame (Kodava way of life), it is time that Kodava history is rewritten to remove distortions, mainly due to the ‘Sanskritisation’ of Kodava history.

Knowing the pragmatic nature of our ancestors, the Kodava sari must have evolved over time to suit Kodava women leading an active life while climbing up and down the slopes in their mountainous homeland in the Western Ghats in the Indian state of Karnataka.

The Coorg style of draping a sari involves tucking the pleats at the back of the waist, instead of the front. The end of the sari is brought below the left shoulder, and secured over the right shoulder in a firm knot.

However, the priestly class during the Kodagu Rajas rule between 1600 and 1834 AD, gave a mythological twist to origin of Kodava sari. The mythological origin has no basis in science or rationality.

Mythological origin of Coorg sari: Kavera Muni, a great sage, selected Brahmagiri in Coorg as a place suitable for meditation and there prayed to Lord Bhahma for children. Brahma gave him Lopamudra for a daughter. Lopamudra, also known as Kaveri, married sage Agastya on the condition that her husband should not stay away from her even for a moment. On one occasion, sage Agastya put his wife in his kamandala (water pot) and went for a bath. Enraged by the betrayal, Kaveri spilled out of the pot and flowed away as a raging river. Agastya tried to stop her. But Kaveri washed over Coorg women, pleading to stop her flight from their land, with such force, that the pleats of their saris were swept from front to back.

Sharing YouTube link to a video on how to wear Kodava (Coorg) sari. The video was produced by me with the help of fashion guru Prasad Bidapa. Coorg-born Dayana Erappa is the model.