Kodava angst over their besieged culture pours forth at a wedding

Youngsters may be in the forefront of generational change in values. But in times of a siege, the opposite could be true as was evident opposite a wedding hall in Vasanthnagar on Sunday evening.

As a couple was all set to tie the knot in the Kodava Samaj, Vasanthnagar, the wedding saw a group of uninvited guests holding banners displaying their pride for their culture. The protest was against the non-Kodava groom adorning the traditional Kodava attire which, they said, should be restricted to those who were born in the community and not for those included in it.

Members of the Kodava Samaj’s youth wing gathered at the entrance of the wedding hall where a Kodava bride and a Reddy groom were getting ready to tie the knot.

“Let the couple get married. It’s their choice and we are not obstructing the wedding. We only hold that one should be born in a Kodava family to wear the attire which has so much of value and respect. Those who belong to different communities would never understand the sanctity of the costume they wear. There are instances of misuse of this attire, where people wear them according to their whims and fancies, which is why we are protesting against the groom adorning the traditional Kodava attire. The protest will continue whenever there is an inter-caste wedding in a Kodava family,” said one of the members of the Kodava Samaj youth wing, Roshan Somanna Udiyanda.

The Kodava attire is slightly different from that of other Indian communities. It consists various elements called kupya, chaley, peechekathi and mande thuni. Men wear a traditional kupya or long, black, short-sleeved coat and a chaley, a tasselled silken sash, at the waist.

The peechekathi or dagger is tucked in the sash and the mande thuni or turban, which is flat at the top with jari all around. The sari worn by women is also unique and differently worn.

This white attire is considered very sacred, said another member of the wing, Ranju Muthappa Ajapar Anjaparavanda. He said, “The attire is worn only twice in one’s lifetime — on the wedding and when one dies. The dead body is dressed in the same attire before the funeral. But those who do not understand this end up wearing it in unrelated situations, thereby disrespecting the attire. We do not want this to continue. Therefore, we are protesting.”

Amid the protest, the father of the bride enquired with the protesters about the cause of their protest and eventually agreed that the groom would not be dressed in the Kodava attire. He also agreed that Kodava rituals like cutting banana trees would not be followed by the groom, and refused to interact with the media.