Mulukanadu Brahmins
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Mulukanadu Brahmin |
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| Total population |
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2006: (approx) 500,000[citation needed] |
| Regions with significant populations |
| Rayalaseema: 95,000 Old Mysore:135,000 Tamil Nadu: 250,000 |
| Languages |
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Mother tongue is the 'Mulukanadu' dialect of Telugu, which is specific to the community. Nearly every member of the community is proficient in either Kannada or Tamil, due to generations of domicile in Karnataka or Tamil Nadu, as the case may be. English education is pervasive in the community and used for professional purposes. Sanskrit is used for religious purposes. |
| Religions |
| Hinduism of the Smarta tradition. |
| Related ethnic groups |
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Other South Indian Smarta brahmin communities: Namboodiris, Velanadu, Telanganya, Niyogi , Badaganadu, Koti brahmin, Hoysala Karnataka, Iyer Non-smarta brahmins: Iyengar, Madhwa |
Mulukanadu Brahmins are a sub-sect of Telugu speaking Vaidiki Smartha Brahmins. Variations of the name of the community include Muluknadu, Mulukanadu, Mulakanadu, Moolakanadu and Mulikinadu (not listed in any order).
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[edit] Etymology
The name Mulukanadu follows the usual conjoint formulation of similar Brahmin communities: the word Naadu means "country" in all the south Indian languages; this is suffixed to the country whence the community hails, being in this case "Muluka". Thus, Muluka+Naadu=Mulukanadu, "people of the Muluka land." Ironically, the geographic specifications of the 'Muluka' country are unknown and it is not possible, at this point, to identify with certainty the area of origin of this community. The issue is taken up in the succeeding section.
One plausible theory however is that 'mulaka' stands for 'arrow' in Old Telugu, so Mulakanadu is nothing other than what used to be known as 'Banarashtra' in inscriptions. This region known as Banarashtra is roughly the Rayalaseema and Bellary regions of modern day AP and Karnataka.
[edit] Provenance
Telugu language is the mother-tongue of all members of this community. Apart from relatively large population of this community in the Rayalaseema region of Andhra Pradesh, the Mulakanadu sub-sect is also domiciled in huge numbers in the states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Indeed, the community tends to define itself in terms of being expatriate from Andhra Pradesh.
A community of people have been referred to in various texts as the "Moolakas" but no definite inference of their origin or domicile can be drawn. It is known that a central portion of the present-day state of Maharashtra, being the district of Aurangabad and surrounding areas, was once known as the "Mulaka" land[1]. This region lay to the north of the Godavari river, west of Vidarbha and south of the 'Rishika' country, now called Khandesh. This region, and its capital city of Pratishthana (modern Paithan), is mentioned extensively in Pali literature. However, no memory whatsoever of association with the Marathi country currently abides in the Mulakanadu community.
[edit] Language amongst the Kannada, Tamil domiciled Population
Adherence to the Telugu language is still common in the community, which however has developed a distinct dialect of its own, one that features numerous loan-words from Tamil and Kannada, and a remarkable paucity, in comparison with standard Telugu, of loan words from Urdu. However, there are many differences between this dialect and standard Telugu that cannot be explained by the influence of other languages; one is led to speculate upon whether the community preserves features of a dialect of Telugu that was once common in some region of the Telugu country, and which is now forgotten in that area, while being preserved by the expatriate Mulukanadu community. The dialect spoken by the community is one of great anthropological significance, since it is a language defined by community rather than geography. This dialect has not received the attention it deserves from the scientific community; indeed, even the name Mulukanadu Telugu has not received recognition, although it differs significantly from standard Telugu.
Usage of the dialect is somewhat on the decline, since the community is of late required to speak not only the language of the area of residence (Tamil, Kannada) but also the English and Hindi languages.
Recent decades have witnessed the gradual erosion of the hold of tradition across India. The incidence of wedding alliances being arranged, even in orthodox Smartha brahmin families, in defiance of traditional norms that precluded marriage outside the specific sub-caste, are on the rise. Such weddings all too often result in the abandonment of the Mulukanadu Telugu dialect in favour of the language of the spouse. The relatively small size [Note: This is in comparison to total Telugu Smartha Brahmins, but in Karnataka, this group is the largest next only to Vaishnava Brahmins] of the Mulukanadu community; its tendency, given its expatriate background, of settling in urban areas; and the fact that it resides largely outside the Telugu-speaking country, have all united to render the Mulukanadu community perhaps more than ordinarily susceptible to this phenomenon. This is certainly another reason for decline in usage of the Mulukanadu Telugu dialect.
Sanskrit is used by the Vedic scholars as well as laymen of this community for religious reasons, e.g., chanting Vedas, performing rituals and studying theological and philosophical texts of the Smarta tradition.
[edit] Culture
The Mulukanadu community has always placed a strong emphasis on education. It was among the communities that earliest embraced English education and graduated from traditional vocations to the modern professions. Consequently, it has always been strongly represented in administration, academia, the judiciary, the government services and in the modern professions, such as medicine and engineering. The same emphasis on education has contributed in recent years to a large scale emigration of well-educated youngsters to the west, where they have contributed richly to many nascent fields, such as computer engineering, information technology and specialized medicine. The community has tended to eschew commercial pursuits.
[edit] Famous Mulukanadu Brahmins
[edit] Theology
- Abhinava Vidyatirtha- 35th Jagadguru of Sringeri Sharada Peetham
- Chandrashekhara Bharati III- 34th Jagadguru of Sringeri Sharada Peetham
- Sri Sacchidananda Shivabhinava Narasimha Bharathi- 33rd Jagadguru of Sringeri Sharada Peetham
- Sri Ganapati Sachchidananda Swamiji- Revered as the incarnation of Lord Dattatreya and founder of the Avadhoota Datta Peetham
[edit] Carnatic Music
- Sri Thyagaraja- Most famous Carnatic music singer and composer ever known
- Giriraja Kavi- The grandfather of Sri Thyagaraja
- Melattur Arunachalaiah
- Karur Devudu Brothers
- Sadhu Ganapathi Sastrulu
- Pallavi Gopalayya
- Pratapam Gopalakrishnan
- Tanjore Govindaswami Bhagavatar
- Paidala Gurumoorthy Sastry
- CS Krishnaswamiah (Patnam's disciple)
- Guddi Krishnaiah
- Tallagalli Krishnaiah
- Kavi Matrubhootayya
- Sutram Nayarana Sastrulu
- Swaragath Narayanaswamaiah
- Kalidas Narayanaswamaiah
- Tiruvayyaru Panchapakesaiah
- Puducheri Rangaswamy Iyer
- Moovanur Sabhapatayya
- Pallavi Seshayya
- KN Srikantaiah (Papa's father)
- Manambucchavadi Venkatasubbaiyya
- Swarakadu Venkatasubbayyah
- Karur Chinnaswamiah
- Pratapam Natesayyah
- Papa Venkataramaiah
- Alathur Venkatesa Iyer [2]
- T. K. Jayarama Iyer
- Sivasubramania Iyer
- Madurai Subramanya Iyer
- Manjari Narayan
- Prof. Mysore V. Ramarathnam
[edit] Films
- Gemini Ganesan- Famous Kollywood actor of the 1950's and 1960's, fondly referred as Kadhal Mannan (King of Romance)
- Rekha- Famous Bollywood actress, daughter of Gemini Ganesan
- Puttanna Kanagal- Eminent Kannada film director
- Kanagal Prabhakara Sastry- Kannada film script writer
- T.N. Seetharam- Kannada TV serial and film director
[edit] Engineering
- Sir M. Vishweshwaraiah- Famous engineer, known for building the Krishnarajasagar Dam and the Shimsha hydroelectric project
[edit] Literature
- Devudu Narasimha Sastry- Eminent Kannada writer
- Mandikal Ramasastry- Sanskrit writer
- Dr. T.V. Venkatachala Sastry- Author of Mulakanadu Brahmanaru and famous Kannada writer
[edit] Notes
[edit] References
Sastry, Dr. T.V. Venkatachala (2000). Mulakanadu Brahmanaru (in Kannada). Bangalore, India: Mulakanadu Mahasangha.
