By P.T. Bopanna
When my book ‘Are Kodavas (Coorgs) Hindus?’ (back cover of the book in picture) was published way back in 2018, the red flags went up in the Kodagu unit of Sangh Parivar (saffron brigade).
The various units of the Sangh Parivar, including the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, issued press notes in a leading newspaper in Kodagu against the proposed book.
The Kodagu district in-charge of the RSS, met me at a wedding function at Mysuru and wondered how I could come out with such a book when there was no doubt that Kodavas were Hindus. I pointed out to him that the title of the book had a question mark on Kodavas being Hindus.
The RSS leader was not convinced. I told him let us “agree to disagree” on the subject. Unlike the coastal belt of Karnataka where polarisation of communities is complete, the situation is different in Kodagu where the people have more tolerance.
Though I was the editor of the book and there were other contributors, including one contributor who claimed Kodavas were Hindus, I took the mantle ship for the entire book. In view of the protests from the Sangh Parivar, I put up a note in the book, saying: “The author, P.T. Bopanna, takes legal responsibility for the entire content in the book, including the conclusions and opinions expressed by the contributors of articles in the book.”
My intention was to take all the responsibility for the book and to insulate the contributors from any inconvenience.
The book questions the concept of Sanskritization developed by world renowned anthropologist Dr M.N. Srinivas in his monumental work Religion and Society Among the Coorgs of South India (1952). Written for his D.Phil degree at Oxford University, the book is an ethnographical study of the Kodava community.
My book is a seminal work on the religion of the Kodavas. Though my intention of bringing out the book was to educate the Kodava youth on the religious aspects of Kodava culture, now the book has given intellectual input for the Kodava leaders who have given a call to the community to record their religion as ‘Kodava’ in the ongoing socio-economic survey initiated by the Siddaramaiah led Congress government in Karnataka.
Paperback copies of ‘Are Kodavas (Coorgs) Hindus?’ are available on Flipkart:
https://www.flipkart.com/kodavas-coorgs-hindus/p/itmc8b2b88846414
