Pandanda Okka

Pandanda Okka –Arapat- The remains of the ur guppe (stones, well etc.) where the okka lived, before their ancestor Biddayya built the ainmane here, can still be seen. The other okkas who lived in the ur guppe included Nambudi (Namboodiris) from Kerala, Cheeyandira, Kullanda (Kullachanda), Palachanda, Nerpanda, and Moduvanda (later called Arapatt Mukkatira.

Guru Karana Chermana had two sons, Subbayya and Karumbayya (who died a bachelor). Once, when Subbayya went to Payyavur he fell ill and it is believed that Payyavur Ishwara brought him up to the Coorg border, and Male Thambiran brought him from there to his house. He died the next year. Meanwhile, when Tippu took away thousands of men from Kodagu to Srirangapatnam by deceit and converted them to Islam, all the men of this okka were taken away and only Subbayya’s wife who was pregnant then was left in the okka. When Korathacha came that year, she wept and told him”I am alone in this okka with a lot of property. If my cross-cousin (mavanda movan) Kupadira Monnappa marries me I can continue to look after all this property with his help”. Korathacha agreed to this and Kupadira Monnappa from Bettathur married her according to the mannk nindiya custom. Their descendants revived the Pandanda okka and their first son was named Subbayya.

 They got land from seven okkas (some of whom were perhaps extinct), which includes land that belonged to Cheeyandira and Moduvanda (Arapatt Mukkatira) okkas. They are therefore responsible for the upkeep of three Ayyappa shrines and for the sthanas to the spirit-deities Mari, Mandana-murthi, Kuliya and Natha.

The Pandanda okka had five bhagas in the past, Arapatt , Yavakapadi, Rudraguppe, Kodambur-Murnad and Murnad-Badaga. Now there are four bhagas, since the bhaga in Murnad-Badaga (which was called Pandana earlier) has joined the Kodambur-Murnad bhaga. The bhaga in Rudraguppe is a small one whose ancestors came from Yavakapadi about five generations ago. Its ainmane is now a private home. The bhaga in Yavakapadi has no ainmane now.

According to the Apparanda Family tree, two brothers from the Apparanda okka in Yavakapadi came away to Rudraguppe for trading oxen, settled there and took on the name Pandanda. They could have been the ancestors of the Rudraguppe branch.

In the past there have been inter-marriages between these bhagas. But now they want to be one and field a strong team for the inter-okka hockey tournament.

Moolapurusha

• Chermanna-Pandanda-1
• Kalayya-Pandanda-2

Eminent people

• Pandanda Chengappa-Rao Bahadur
• Pandanda Kuttappa
• Pandanda Vishwanath Uthappa