Monnanda okka- kukloor

About the okka

There are three Monnanda okkas, Monnanda-1 in Kuklur, Monnanda-2in Nelji and Monnanda-3 in Hammiyala. Monnanda 2&3 are not related to Monnanda-1 in Kuklur. These other two okkas – 2 and 3 do not have ainmanes now. 

The family was fairly large and at one time about 250 years back had about 15 thottukunji (infants in cradles).The current members of this small okka are descendants of two men Subbaiah ajja and Kunjappa ajja (they were paternal cousins). Current pattedaara of the okka Mothi Kariappa is a great-grandson of Kunjappa ajja.

Monnanda family was instrumental in the building of Kundath Srimoola Bhadrakali temple in Kukloor about 500 years ago. It is believed that about 500 years ago when the Monnanda and Kuttanda Okkas were living on the Malethirke hills during the Paledhara system, Goddess Kali & Eshwara appeared in the guise of a Brahmin couple at the Monnanda house as guests.In reverence to this the Monnanda family patriarch gave them gold, silver and a cow to milk. The couple left the house after moving a short distance they disappeared which shocked the Monnanda family. That same night the Monnanda Ajja had a rare dream in which the “goddess Kali” appeared and asked the Ajja to build a temple in her name with the co-operation of the villagers.

 The next morning a man from Thathanda family who was grazing cattle close to this place went to a trance (got possessed by the Goddess) and said that “she was Goddess Kali” who had appeared in Monnanda Ajja’s dream the previous night and that the dream was to be taken for real and also asked the Ajja to carry out the wishes of Goddess Kali there. The Monnanda Ajja gathered all the villagers and as per the guidance of the Thathanda Ajja who got possessed by goddess, constructed the temple with support from all the villagers. Goddess Kali commanded that she wanted to be served by the Monnanda family and hence they have been the Devathakka in the Kundath Srimoola Bhadrakali temple, a tradition that continues even today.

Like a lot of Kodava okkas, the Monnanda okka also came under the wrath of Tipu Sultan’s invasion and a lot of the family members including infants were massacred. It was then Subbaiah ajja escaped from the hills along with his cousin Kunjappa ajja and constructed the ainmane at the age of 16. Subbaiah ajja established the platform for the family to live safely under one roof. Subbaiah ajja and Kunjappa ajja’s descendants form the surviving members of the okka and they continue to live as a close-knit family practicing all Kodava customs and traditions and maintaining the ainmane as their sacred abode.

Moolapurusha

Not Known

Pattedara

Mothi Kariappa

Ainmane

ainmane

Eminent people

Army

• Monnanda  Col Aiyappa Uthappa

Business Leader

• Monnanda Appaiah (Bhavish).

Government Service

• Monnanda Appaiah (Appachu)
  • Monnanda Appaiah (Appachu) served the Karnataka State Co-operative Department with distinction during the 1950s and 60s. Sri. Appaiah after completing his SSLC in Kodagu was trained in Madras and held various positions in the department serving in multiple locations in Kodagu and was a gazette officer when he passed away while in service in 1964
• Chenanda ( Monnanda ) Aunuradha Kariappa 

Entrepreneur

• Monnanda Rajeev Ganapathy
  • Monnanda Rajeev Ganapathy. Founder and Executive Director of Origin Coffee Traders, a multi-national Coffee Importing and Distributing company head-quartered in Sydney, Australia.