The Tulu Tribes - VI

I think in one of the Kannada literary phases, many works came out in spoken Kannada dialects instead of the standard dialect. I suppose Chaduranga and Devanuru Mahadeva were some of the big names of this phase(Termed as Dalita/Bandaya(rebellion) phase). I remember getting irritated while reading their novels when I was in school. For me, the standard dialect itself was the spoken dialect.

That is true for majority of the people in coastal Karnataka region where the language of the land is Tulu. But I belong to Malayalam speaking family. In olden days (probably now too) Malayalam was mockingly called as 'Kaka' language by Tuluvas and Kannadigas. The origin of the name was due to a Muslim Malayali community called Beary. Almost all the Bearys are found in traditional Tulu speaking regions (including northern Kasaragod). In my opinion, the origin and linguistic identity of this community is due to merchant guilds of Kerala.

According to Payyannur Paatu, there were four merchant guilds(of merchants and artisan-merchants) in Kerala. I know three of them;
- Valanjiyar : Probably originated in Karnataka region (Banajigas)
- Anju Varnam : Indigenous to Kerala
- Manigramam : Indigenous to Kerala

My understanding is that, pre-civilization Malayalam and Tulu regions' earliest non-tribal settlers were merchants and artisan-merchants who moved to these regions in order to trade with Arab/European regions in BCE. Most likely they merged with tribal matrilineal communities. The subsequent generations adopted Malayalam language and shamanic culture. This model is crucial for our understanding as we know the Muslim communities mostly grew around merchant communities in Malayalam and Tulu region.

There are arguments that Anju (=five in Malayalam) Varnam and Manigramam were Jewish and Christian merchant guilds respectively. But I would go by the opinion that those were Malayali merchant guilds to which Jews and Christians became attached to in due course[1]. The Muslim, Christian and Jewish merchants of Arab and Persian ancestry who became part of these guilds though linguistically became Malayalis were also able to establish Muslim and Christian core communities through them.

People have speculated that 'Anju Varnam' means fifth Varnam hence the guild of merchants outside the caste system. Since Jews weren't part of the four Varnas, their guild was known as Fifth Varna. But in Malayalam, Varnam in general means 'caste' and not just the Varna as in four fold system. Recently, I came across an article (as usual I didn't bookmark it) on the web about weavers' migration from Tamil Nadu to Balaramapuram in Kerala. The street where they lived was known as 'Anju Varnam' street. The reason being those weavers belonged to five different castes. It can be a mere coincidence in 'Anju' but we can observe that 'Anju Varnam' certainly didn't mean fifth Varna(Isn't that should be anjamate varnam?) or outside the Varnashrama. Therefore, I would think Anju Varnam guild most likely consisted five different castes. It should be noted here that merchant guilds included both regular merchants, artisan merchants and probably some of the occupational groups too. It appears there are few Nairs with family names 'Manigramakkarar' indicating Manigramam guild[1]. This, probably, also gives clue for the origin of 'Shetty' surname for mainly landholding caste of the Tulu region. But which Malayali merchant guild is the initiator of Beary community?

The etymology 'beary' is most likely, as assumed, from Tulu (derived from Magadhi Prakrit) word 'byara' meaning trade/business. In Payyannur Paatu, I have come across the term 'Vepperer' which means traders (Kan/Skt: Vyapari). Now the word Vepperer is cognate with the word Byari. But I can't clearly say, whether Vepperer meant 'merchant guild' or mere merchant. Whatever it is, there could have been Malayali merchant guilds in north Kerala and that the local Tulu people called the traders as Byari. It's possible as Islam moved from south Malabar to north Malabar, the core Muslim communities were already Malayalis and they initiated proselytization in Tulu region. Beary language is spoken with Tulu accent and probably has many Tulu constructs. I would guess the substratum or adstratum of that language is Tulu and a big chunk of the population is Tulu converts. But because of Malayali Muslim reference society(which may have included both native Malayalis and Arab descenders) the whole community became Malayali.

Whatever the origin of the Malayalam language of the Bearys, the local Tuluvas and Kannadigas weren't very impressed by the language. But the result of this, other Kasaragod and Mangalore Malayalis, whose language which was anyway close to Beary language, also had to put up with 'Kaka' stereotype. As traditional illiterate communities they never thought much of the language anyway.

The literacy initially came thro' Kannada, the official language of that region(until Kasaragod moved to Kerala). Ironically, Malayali castes who weren't much comfortable with their own mother tongue, which in their own thought an impure version of Malayalam, were now proud of their 'pure Kannada' as the language they spoke was more bookish. This feeling was not restricted to the castes. On the net, I recently came across a Beary Muslim mentioning that her parents always boasted that they spoke the purest Kannada though their own tongue was not much exulted.

In my case, I could hardly speak the language known as Kasaragod Malayalam. A believe a rebellion streak is required to learn it now considering its lowly position. But I was never a rebel, if anything I'm a pretender. I always considered myself part of the establishment even though a person like me would never fit into the existing establishment.

By linguistics, there exists no pure language governed by the rules of grammar written by men. All are regular languages. So even without any baggage I can learn the language. But most of the time I would be conversing with Malayalis who speak standard dialect. I find it difficult to bring my 'ba'(as in Kasaragod Malayalam) in place of their 'va'(standard dialect) and would always start the words with 'va'. I believe that is because I'm in a region(Telugu) that also uses 'va' in those words. When it comes to retroflex approximant 'zh' (which I can't produce anyway), instead of my palatal approximant 'ya'(as in Kasaragod Malayalam), I tend to use Kannada/Tamil lateral approximant, 'La'.

Reference:
1. The Trading Community in Early Tamil Society Up to 900 AD, By R. Jeyasurya/R. Jayasurya/R. Jayasuriya