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Jukku Sondhosh

Sourashtra Community members living in the Indian States of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu (mainly in cities Madurai and Salem), speak this language and use its script. It belongs to the Indo-Aryan group of languages.

In Hindi ‘Sou’ means 100 and ‘Rashtra’ means region. Put together they mean a province of 100 regions. Linguists today have been able to trace the origins of the Sourashtra language to the language spoken by the people of Sourashtra, though the script that is spoken and written there today is mostly Gujarati, while the Sourashtra script is more of Marathi, Konkani, Kannada, Tamil and Telugu. This difference is because both Gujarati and Sourashtra has a common parent language, but in course of time the Sourashtra language diversified and imbibed the elements that we see in it today. It is also felt that the vocabulary and grammar of this language is mainly from Sanskrit.

There are some very noted features of this script. First is the syllabic alphabet, which includes all consonants infused with a vowel. The vowel can be changed through the use of diacritics, place before, below or above the consonant. The second most noted characteristic is that vowel appearing in the beginning of a syllable are written out as independent letters.

As of today, this language is not taught in schools and is just spoken by members of the community. There are various dialects for this language each of which are used by Sourashtrians living in their respective areas. This lends an even more unique feature to this ancient language.

The procedure is as follows.

• Nowra Nowri Seelariya
• Phool Function or Vida Paan Machulariya and Boulas
• Ghetti Kellariyo
• Muhurtu Ghallariyo
• Devgas
• Horad

Usually the nowra sits on a three–legged stool and ties the bottu (Thaali) around the nowri’s neck and they will be facing each other.

After the wedding, the nowra and nowri have food in their respective halls. This is the reason why most of the Sourashtrians rent two halls for the wedding.

M.N. Rajam and Devadas are other notable artists from the Sourashtra community.

It is also notable that popular playback singers like T.M. Soundara Rajan, A.L. Raghavan, and S.C. Krishnan also belong to the Sourashtra community. They have the talent of pronouncing Tamil very accurately and clearly.

Angu updates churum kerus.

Father’s elder brother & his wife – Mottobo & Motombo
Father’s younger brother & his wife – Nannobo & Nannambo
Mother’s elder brother & his wife  – Mamo & Mami
Mother’s younger brother & his wife - Mamo & Mami
Father’s elder sister & her husband – Bei & Bhavo
Father’s younger sister & her husband – Bei & Bhavo
Mother’s elder sister & her husband – Mousi & Mouso
Mother’s younger sister & her husband – Mousi & Mouso
Father’s mother – Ammo
Father’s father – Iyyo
Mother’s mother – Aingir ambo
Mother’s father - Ainger bo
Husband’s mother – Sasu (But we call her Mami)
Husband’s father – Sosuro (But we call her Mamo)
Friend – Singadhi or Singeidh
Daughter’s husband – Jomai (We call them as Mapla)
Son’s wife – Bhovundi (Usually we don’t call like this, we call them by their own names)
Younger Sister’s husband – Mapla
Elder Sister’s husband – Bhavo
Elder brother’s wife – Bhavi
Younger brother’s wife – Usually call them by their names
Husband’s elder sister – Neyendhu (We call them as Bei)
Husband’s younger sister – Neyendhu (We call them as Bhei if they are elder than us or we call them by their names)

More research left.

Angu ovva time khollo avi savo.

Father – Bo
Mother – Ambo
Elder Sister – Bei
Younger Sister – Mai
Elder brother – Dhadho
Younger brother – Bhai
Husband – Dhallo
Wife – Bail
Daughter – Bedi
Son – Bedo
Uncle – Mamo
Aunty – Mami
Sister-in-law – Bhavi
Brother-in-law – Bhavo

Ungo research kelley sethe.  I will update more relationships shortly.

The whole event is very colorful. The bridegroom’s family and relatives assemble on that day in the house of the groom at a place designated for the Pooja. The Kula Deivam of the family is appeased by the way of offering Pongal in five Bhonnos. The groom is dressed up in a special attire of Haladu Dhoti in Panchakachham style. His head will be crowned with a special garland made of fresh lemons and flowers tied up with black thread. The flowers will be hanging like Sarams in between. His hands will be adorned with flowers and covered with Bigith and Sirkan. He will be wearing a fresh flower garland. His face will be wholly covered with Bigith except for the eyes. Along with a bright Javvadu Bottu on his forehead he will look totally different!

With a heavy crown of Limboos and phool sarams hanging from the head he will be carrying a tray with Bigith, going around the crowd doling out the Bigith and at the same time accepting the Kanikkas offered by the relatives. At the end of the procession he will place the tray with donations in front of the Deity and offer his Sashtanga Namaskar. After a formal Pooja he will give away bananas and milk as Prasadam to the gatherers.

The contribution collected will then be divided into two. One half would be offered to the Kula Deivam and the balance, considered to be the gift from Him would be utilized for meeting a part of the wedding expenses.

As such the whole function would go on for a couple of hours. However, in the event of anybody getting a Dev on his Aangu it might take even more time, which is not uncommon!

Rava Kesari,Muddha Pongal,Vado,Idli,Coffee for breakfast followed by a heavy nine course meals with Pasam as dessert for lunch…Joman, Joman, Joman … Our community is famous for frequent get together. We like good food, rich in taste and calories too! That’s one of our weaknesses, maybe.

Joman

When we look at the movies wherein the heroes bare their six/eight pack abs, we are impressed and many of us make a quick resolution to go to gym, work out and build a body that would be the envy of our friends. That’s the Intention. Depending on how serious we are we may end up in a Gym also. We begin to scoff at the idea of big meals at the Jomans, and smirk surreptiously at people with paunch. This goes on for a few days.

Dawns a day when you have to necessarily attend a function of Mousin’s or Maman’s family. If you avoid it then there is a risk that you will be misunderstood and in turn a function at your place may be avoided by those close relatives. If you attend it then you cannot avoid the food lest you would be again misunderstood. Ok, you decide to attend just this one function only. You sit at the breakfast/lunch/dinner table. Remembering your hero of six pack abs you start saying to the servers, Go Uvvayo Thovo, Elley Nokko, Thelley Nokko… Your neighbor is now disturbed. He sympathetically inquires about your health condition and wants to know if you are sick! The word spreads and you’re embarrassed. In order to avoid further problems you forget your resolution and say to yourself “nothing will go wrong… just this one time…” and start tucking into the food with gusto.

Abbha Mujjo. Athengud Ella mathiri thetka hona… is the thought crossing your mind when you are returning to the crowd in the main party hall. Just then your elderly uncle and aunt approach you to intimate that the next week they have arranged a party as their son has come on a visit from USA and the following day they will be celebrating their golden jubilee wedding anniversary wherein they promise you with a grand gala buffet …No way to escape as you live in the same neighborhood and cannot give any excuse…

Elley iso jiley rai…The more you try to avoid Jomans the more you will be trapped.

All your firm resolutions to avoid rich food in order to keep your body in shape get dissolved by the situation and your weakness for tasty and delicious dishes.

In the end you end up with only a SINGLE PACK Thonthi Poad!

Recently I saw the Tamil Movie, Abhiyum Naanum. The story revolves around a small family of father, mother and daughter. These Characters are portrayed by actors Prakashraj, Aishwarya and Trisha. Kudos to the director, Radhamohan who has once again made a decent movie worthwhile seeing with the family. Askithenu sano horiya padam.

The Punch line – When a child is born, a father is also born. But even though the child grows into an adult, the father in the man does not change.

Kheni Chokkad Sey. The actors have lived the characters and believe me, towards the end of the movie; even stone hearted adults keep wiping the inevitable tears from the corner of their eyes. It is so MOVING.

One aspect of the story which has been touched over the ages has been the Love Marriage and, of course, it had to be an intercaste affair. The father refuses to accept the arrangement and needs a lot of convincing whereas the mother, being a practical woman takes it in her stride.

This subject of love marriage and that too intercaste marriage. Oura Sourashtra Samoogamkku konni novuo naa, although it is not commonly accepted. Rhiyemelli, Of late, such incidents of girls running away from home with boys of other communities are becoming more frequent. Khenim paye elle jhukku romantic and idealistic koan lavey. But in real life it may not be so always. Parents always dread such a situation. But with the advent of internet, mobile phones and influence of TV Soaps and Movies and Western Culture, young people are tempted…

I think children are no more children once they enter colleges. They have independent ideas and think they are mature enough to decide on what’s good or not for them. All they need is guidance from seniors including parents. The role of the parents should change from a Protectionist attitude to a Counselors’ attitude and they should help their children in assessing the risks and rewards of any major decision and leave it them to decide and face the outcome boldly.

His comments on the song:

” This is a folk song in Sourashtra Language that used to be sung in Sourashtra (I found it Dr.Ucida Norihiko’s book ‘Oral Literature of the Sourashtrans’). I was struck by the liveliness of it so much that I thought I could set it to tune, though I haven’t heard how it was originally sung. “

Lyrics:

dhovro novro thukki dhIdiyAnA,

dhovro novro kovro sekan vIdur avasnA.

dhovro novro thukki dhIdiyAnA.

pAdu podi pAdu podi patte gosulu keradi ghallisnA,

cArdi mello tailan diyeninA.

soththu sukam sE meni betki dhiyAsnA

soththu miNci rInu avdyenA.

ghEr dhAr sE meni thukki dhiyAsnA,

ghEr miNci rInu avdyenA.

poir-pArno sE meni thukki dhiyAsnA,

poyir miNci rInu avdyenA.

sommu sukam sE meni thukki dhiyAsnA,

sommu miNci rInu avdyenA.

polto sokan veNi gumpi sodisnA tU,

polto sokan veNi gumpi cuttum phUl ghallisnA,

pAvi dhallo cArdi mello ghallan dhiyeninA.

thambe pAthro sE meni thukki dhIsnA,

pAtro miNci rInu avdyenA.

goru gAyi sE meni thukki dhIsnA,

gAyi miNci rInu avdyenA.

dhovro novro thukki dhIdiyAnA,

dhovro novro kovro sekan vIdur avasnA.

dhovro novro thukki dhIdiyAnA.

Listen to the Song