Boverianda Nanjamma and Chinnappa

Early life

Boverianda Nanjamma and Chinnappa are the grandchildren of Nadikerianda Chinnappa, the compiler of the Pattole Palame. The translators’ introduction explains: “Since the Kodava language does not have a script, he used the Kannada script that has been in vogue since the 17th century, when the Lingayat Rajas ruled Kodagu and Kannada was their court language.” Nadikerianda Chinnappa had begun translating the work into English in 1925 but he died in 1931, before he could complete it.

Chinnappa's daughter Gangamma married Muthanna who was an engineer and from the Boverianda clan. Chinnappa's son and daughter-in-law were both teachers. Their daughter Nanjamma was married to her cross-cousin, the son of Gangamma (Chinnappa's daughter), who had also been named Chinnappa. Boverianda Chinnappa, an engineer with a degree from an Illinois university, and Nanjamma, a statistician who did her early schooling in Udupi and Mangalore, obtained her master's degree in statistics from Madras University in 1954 and did her post-graduate studies in the Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata. They both pursued their professions at Chennai, Kolkata and Canada. Nanjamma was a visiting fellow at Cambridge University in 1974. She has also co-authored a book on Business Survey Methods. In 1993 she was elected as a Fellow of the American Statistical Association. In 2006 she was given an honorary doctorate degree (D. Litt.) of the Mangalore University by T. N. Chaturvedi, the Governor of Karnataka.

Pattole Palame in English

In the 1970s, Boverianda Chinnappa, Nanjamma's mother and Nanjamma began to copy out the Pattole Palome in longhand over almost three years. While they were searching for copies of the original edition of the Pattole Palame, a ninety-year-old farmer and self-taught folk artist, Bacharaniyanda Annaiah, responded to their advertisement. During his youth, unable to afford the book, he had copied out the entire text word by word under a kerosene lamp. This hardcover book he gifted to the Chinnappas. Nanjamma's parents assisted in translating and interpreting the text. In the second edition of Pattole Palame (or 'Silken Lore'), published by the University of Mysore in 1975, the editor describes it as one of the earliest extensive collections of folklore from any Indian community.

After retirement the couple settled down in Bangalore in 1995 and began to realise their grandfather's cherished dream. Finally in 2003, they completed the work and it has been published by Rupa & Co., New Delhi. That same year it was released in Madikeri (Mercara). This book has become the chief text for the Coorgs.

Other works

Boverianda Nanjamma and Chinnappa have chalked out at least ten Kodagu-based projects for the future, including a directory of aine mane or ancestral homes, a lexicon of the Kodava language and a biography of the late Bacharaniyanda Annaiah, a self-taught folk artist. Presently they have been working on the ainemane project, this can be found on the Ainmanes website.

Ainmanes.com (website)

Boverianda Nanjamma and Chinnappa had undertaken a project to collect information regarding each and every Ainmane found in Kodagu, irrespective of the community or caste of the clan members residing in them. They visited many of them in the period between April 2003 and May 2008. They also collected oral legends and traditional information from the occupants of each of these functional Ainemanes. The information was collected from members of the okka present in the ainmané during the visits and from those contacted later by telephone. Along with this they have researched about the concerned clans from previously published written material, wherever possible. The stories collected from the informants are oral narratives. The information thus collected are now available on the Ainmanes website. They have also provided a glossary for the Kodava thakk words used in the site. The couple are currently working on a book “Ainmanés of Koḍagu” that will give an overview of the ancestral homes of Koḍagu and of their socio-cultural significance.

The objective of this web-site is to document the current status of the traditional ainmanés of all the communities in Koḍagu and thereby contribute to the archival records of the heritage and oral history of the people of Koḍagu. It provides insights into the social and religious customs and conventions of the communities in Kodagu and the way of life of the people. It will also serve to raise awareness of the value of these buildings and the need to preserve them, besides providing information for those studying the socio-cultural-architectural heritage of Kodagu. This web-site contains information on all the traditional ainmanés in Koḍagu that were functional when the Chinnappas visited them. It includes photographs and information on each ainmané and its okka.

Every ainmané in the web-site is identified by its mané péda, the village where it is located and the community to which it belongs. Entering the mané péda of the okka in the ‘Search window’ allows the user to retrieve the photos and information on the ainmané and the okka. A table listing the okkas visited in alphabetical order of their mané pédas along with the names of the villages where their ainmanés are located and the communities that the okkas belong to is provided. Similar tables in alphabetical order of village names and by community are also provided. Also included are sketch maps of Kodagu (in 9 sections) that show the location of each ainmané. The ainmanés are identified by numbers on the maps, and the index gives their mané pédas. A glossary gives the meanings of words in Koḍava language that are in the web-site. Accent marks in the glossary and the key to the transliteration provides a guide to the reader on the correct pronunciation of these words.

Ainmanes of Kodagu (book)

In 2014, Niyogi books has published their work titled Ainmanes of Kodagu.