Alamachanda Okka

Author:

Almachanda Devaiah

Name of Kaaronava:

Subbaiah

Pattedara:

Babu Karumbaiah (since 2002)

Aruva okka:

Immediate neighbour Kodava family

Pemmanḍa

Thakkame rights of the okka: 

Almachanḍa have a priority status at the Māngōt Sārthāvu temple in Balambēri, because Sārthāvu first took nele on this land here (see story in the below section). They have to offer a therige in terms of money and animal sacrifice (chicken) at the Māngōt Sārthāvu temple festival.

About

Etymology related to okka name:

The family name was actually pronounced as ‘Aḷamachanḍa’ in the olden days and also seen the same in Kodava scholars’ books of Kodava manepedha/okka list. However, later the name got transformed to ‘Almachanḍa’ due to English spelling usage becoming predominant in the later years on revenue records and mispronunciation due to the absence of word “ḷa” in English, since the word “ḷa” is found only in Dravidian/South Indian languages.
Thus the latter name ‘Almachanḍa’ superseded the previous name ‘Aḷamachanda’.
Also seems like derived from a Kodava word “Aḷama” from which we can find other family names too like Aḷamanda, Aḷamengada, etc. However, strictly we do not have any link/inheritance with these Okkas instead it is just an assumption on naming convention.

Stories related to the okka:

It is believed that Almachanḍa okka were one among the initial settlers in the village, the others being Madeyanda, and Acchakalera. Due to Almachanḍa family’s very small population, some parts of agricultural land was believed to be sold to Pemmanda family (who hailed from Kadanoor near Virajpet), and also to Kotera family (who were initially Naadanda family from Balamberi).

When Sārthāvu/Shāsthāvu came to Bāḍaga and asked the Kṑtéra okka for land to settle here, they told him that since they had already given land to Bhagavathi, they would give him land in the Māngōt bana in Balambēri on the next day.

So Sārthāvu stayed that night under a jack-fruit tree in Almachanḍa waade-land in Mūrnāḍ-Bāḍaga, where the Almachanḍa people spread a silk sheet for him. Sārthāvu later on the next day randomly shot an arrow from his bow towards the other side of the Cauvery river (Balamberi region where he was promised to give a land); this place where the arrow struck the ground was later established as Māngōt Sārthāvu temple in Balambēri village.
Māngōt Sārthāvu temple is currently administered by Kodava Okkas of Balamberi village. However, during the annual festival Kṑtéra and Almachanḍa okkas are given priority status in this temple. The one possessed by the spirit of Māngōt Sārthāvu first asks for the Kṑtéra and Almachanḍa okkas presence. A silk sheet is spread for Māngōt Sārthāvu, in memory of the sheet that was spread for him by the Almachanḍa okka in Mūrnāḍ-Bāḍaga in the past prior to his shelter centuries ago.

Eminent People

Almachanda Palangappa