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THEERTHODBHAVA ON OCT 17: KODAVAS (COORGS) ARE CHILDREN OF KAVERI

By P.T. Bopanna

Kodavas are the children of the Kaveri (Cauvery river). As a community of nature worshippers, we think of ourselves as the offspring of the river because it originates from our land. It courses through our lives, from the time we are born until the day we die. Every landmark, every momentous occasion is marked by some association with the Kaveri.

At all our wedding ceremonies, a prayer is offered in the name of the river and the family’s ancestors. After the wedding, we go for a dip in the holy water.

The Kaveri figures not just in Kodava celebrations, but also in our grief. It is invoked in death. At the 11th-day ceremony after a person dies, the male family members shave their heads and go to the Talakaveri after visiting the Bhagamandala temple on the foothills, for another dip in the river’s purifying waters. At home, the corpse is laid out in the house for people to pay their last respects, accompanied by a pot of Kaveri water. Then, tulsi leaves are dipped in the water and put on the dead person’s lips.

And yet we remain Kaveri’s forgotten children. The relationship between the river and our land spans back centuries and yet the river has never been ours. It flows down to the plains where Karnataka and Tamil Nadu wage war over it, riot over it, fight for it to further their industries without even acknowledging its holiness.

During October, water from a pond at Talakaveri overflows; this holy water is called theertha. This year, the Theerthodbhava will occur at 1.44 p.m, on October 17.

Though Kaveri takes its birth in Kodagu, we are caught in an endless cycle of water shortage, triggered by deforestation and large-scale environmental devastation. But our worship of Kaveri never stops.

We don’t even get drinking water in Madikeri town, Kodagu’s district headquarters, which faces an acute water scarcity in summer. The lack of water and neglect of irrigation facilities is because Kodagu lost political clout after the erstwhile Coorg State merged with Karnataka in 1956.

All we ask is that in Kaveri’s own land, her own children don’t perish from thirst. Kodagu is in the main catchment area of the Kaveri; we take in our stride, the hardship caused by floods and damage to roads and communication.

Kaveri’s anger does not deter us. We will forever be her children. Even if nobody acknowledges us.

To know more about Talacauvery, and to view the photographs of the holy shrine, follow the link below:

https://www.coorgtourisminfo.com/category/talacauvery-destinations