Koragajja Daiva

 One of the most worshipped daiva throughout Tulunadu is Koragajja. Any thing which is lost, any work to be done o ny issue to be solved first and foremost, people call this divine. Koraga Thaniya is the historical figure and not a mythical creation. Dravidian of Indian worship thier ancestors, who did extra ordinary things for the graeter goodness to thier community. Due to which they were recognized and worshipped by thier later descendants.

Meaning:-

                    Koraga Taniya who is popularly called as koragajja. Here "Koraga" is the community name and "Ajja" is the word in Tulu language usually used for old man citizen. 

                            Even though he attained the divinity during his middle age: peope started calling him "Ajja" becauseof love and affection towards him. 

   

Story:-

             Koraga Taniya lost his mother Maire when he was 30 days infant. He even lost his father during his childhood. Therewas no one to look after him. So, he left his home town and started his journey towards the south. near Kallapu, he sits under the tree where 100's of people were passing by. Due to hunger he started assuming and he eats white sand as rice, he consumed Careya arborea (Wild Guava) as coconut. He used to cry sometimes and sometime laugh because of loneliness.

At that time women named Bairakke baidyedi, with her daughter Athu baidyedi andhwerbrother Chenniya were passing through this place carrying toddy (Kalli) in the pot. They observed the behaviour and actions of thaniya and came closer to him. The child ran away and hid behind the fence. Bairakke Baidyedi requested the boy to leave the fence and allowthem to go. But thaniya told that "he doesn't have clothes on his waist", so he refused to leave the fence. 

So, Bairakke baidyedi took of the cloth that wa tied on the pot  and gave it to Thaniya toput onhis waist. He tied the cloth to his waist and began crying loudly with sorrow. Bairakke baidyedi  felt compassion for thaniya and she started enquiring about him. Thaniya started telling him the story and stated that he has lost both his parents and even the members of his community; there was no one to look after him. So, he decided to go to the places where there is plenty of work to do and plenty to eat. 

Bairakke baidyedi tells thaniya to come along with her. She promised to look after him like her own son. Thaniya agreed and decided to goalong with her. 

Bairakke nourished him like son. After Thaqniya's arrival at their home, the house was filled with money, and their toddy business started to improve. Koraga Thaniya excelled in the work of baskety.

(We can see this during Koragajja kola, the basket is usually hanged on the shoulder.) 

It was the day when Nema was organized for Marlu Jumadi, Maisanndaaya, Lekkesiri, Kinnikodangade daivas, which were associated to Bairakke's family. Coconut leaves, tender coconut and banana plants have been allocated for this event from Bairakke's house. Things were so heavy that it need to be lifted by atleast 7 people. But there was no 1 to take this things from Ansuru Bairkke. Bairakke Baidyedi requested Thaniya to lift them to the temple. Thaniya decided to lift the things alone which is supposed to be lifted by 7 people. But he demanded to serve him a meal of 7 people, (It had toddy, rice and curry of 30 Mackerel fish.).  Bairakke hapily agreed to his demand 

After eating this Thaniya raised the stuff alone that was supposed to be lifted by atleast by 7 people. He walked down the yard looked back and began to weep. He emotionally told Bairakke that "You havebeen nourishing me just like my mother, don't expect me to come back. One who went showing back today might not return back ever again showing his stomach.

Bairakke tells that " Son, from the day you are with us we had good fortune. If you do not want to lift to those, keep it down." Thaniya replied that ""Thaniya replied that "the promise given by me will not be taken back, just like that burden which I lifted will not be kept down." He started his journey towards temple. The chief of the temple noticed Thaniya bringing things from a far distance. He orders Thaniya to keep the things near temple and told him to stay away from the temple strain.

Thaniya felt bad about his behaviour and questioned the chief  "things wchich were brought by me is useful, but not me? Instead you made me stand away because I belong to lower community". Thaniya's words were ignored by everyone present there. 

Thaniya quietly went and stood near the temple's strain and started to see up. He started noticing branches filled with fruits which is used to make pickle. he recalled the words told by his mother to him that pickle is empty in the house. thaniya decided to pluck the fruits for his mother. He climbed and kept his foot on temple's strain. Still, he was unable to reach the branch. So, he kept another foot on temple's Kalasha. The divine inside the temple vanished him in anger. From then Thaniya attained divinity.

Later he is worshipped as Koragajja or Neecha daiva through out Tulunadu. 

(The death of Koraga Thaniya is not clear. It might be possible that people might have killed him because he went upon temple's strain adding to it he belongs to lower community. Or it might be possible thst he might have slipped and fell while plucking fruit from the branch. Since, pardana's are not in written format, people startd to modify it depending upon thier conveinence. Due to this later descendant started to tell that he was vanished from the grace of god.)

One day Arasu daiva came to Sarlpatta (Kuttar) and they wanted to occupy their position in that place. Panjathaiya Daiva was worried about this. Because if in case Arasu daiva takes their position in Sarlapatta the position of Panjathaiya Daiva will not remain same. So he requested to  Koragajja to chase them away from coming to this place. Since Arasu daiva are usually offered vegetarian food. During their entry into the place Koragajja klled cow (Kubalthi petha) on their way. Due to which Arasu daiva might get impure if they touch it, so they had to leave the place Panjathaiya was happy from Koragajja's strategy so he blessed that there after Koragajja will be worshiped in 7 different stones in different places (Manja, Bolya, Agela, Ujjila, Derlakatte, Someshwara) and given him Sarlapatta.

Why do people offer alcoholic drink to Koragajja.

                                                                                         Even though Koragajja was born in one community. He was nourished by Bairakke Baidyedi who was into (Kali) toddy business. She often gave Thaniya to drink this wine. Due to which people started to offer palm wine to Koragajja. But this was later changed by other alcoholic drinks. 

Why people restricted woman to watch Koragajja kola?

                                                                                             During Koragjja kola, the person who became the medium of Koragajja used few clothes on their body instead they were only tied palm leaf on their waist. They used to dance on the beats of drums (dollu) narrating the story in the form of Pardana. 

Moreover people used to offer alcoholic drink to this daiva due to which, people used minimal lights during this kola. Because of this reason woman were restricted to watch this.

It is sad to tell that, these days people are compressing our historical figure into mythical characters. This also been seen in the story, people these days tell that Koraga Thaniya is incarnation of  Lord Shiva. 

It might be possible that Tulunadu belongs to lower community people who had their own custom. and traditions, but they were ignored and degraded by the upper community  people who later migrated to Tulunadu. Few communities were not even permitted to enter few holy places and, they were treated seperately in society. Due to which, There were few changes in he story line of these historical figures.