Know the Etymology: 151
Place Name of the Day: Thursday, 05 August 2010

Odduchuddaan

ஒட்டுசுட்டான்
Oṭṭucuṭṭāṉ

Oddu+chuddaan

The quarry mound
The mound or high ground that remains after quarrying

Oddam

A mass of earth or rock that stands alone; a conical mass left uncut by well or tank diggers to show the depth excavated (Tamil, Winslow's Tamil Dictionary and Madras Tamil Lexicon); Ottu, Oddu: Mass, heap, pile (Kannada, Dravidian Etymological Dictionary 948); Oddar: A caste of well-diggers; diggers of tanks, rivers, ditches etc.; sappers and miners (Winslow); Kal-oddar, Ma'n-oddar: Two categories of Oddar, working with Kal (stone) and Ma'n (earth): Oddachchi: The fullers earth or washerman's earth which is mined (Tamil dictionaries); Oddu, Oddar: In an earlier column the writer has traced the etymology to people from the Kalinga country. It has to be re-considered as the word Oddu itself, as a verb and noun, is connected to mass, heap, pile etc in many Dravidian languages (DED 948). The identity of Oddar community therefore might have come from their profession of mining Oddu. See column on Oddan Kadduk Ku'lam; Oddu: Stubble after reaping crops (Eezham Tamil, Madras Tamil Lexicon, Dravidian Etymological Dictionary 966); Otu, Oddu: Stubble (Malayalam, Tulu, DED 966)

Chuddaan

Pronounced as Suddaan: High ground, rising ground, mound. See column on Kurumpachiddi for detailed etymological discussions. Also see column on Makizhavedduvaan for the 'An' ending of the suffix; Chuddaan: Burnt, fired, masculine past tense of Chudu (DED 2654); In Eezham Tamil examples of toponyms it may also mean a landscape or something that is burnt or fired.

Chuddaan, pronounced as Suddaan, is a place name suffix found only in Vanni.

Oddu-chuddaan, Pa'ndi-chuddaan, Keeri-chuddaan and Ku'lavi-chuddaan are some examples

The Vanni region has place names such as Panai-ninraan (the land where Palmyra palms stand), Eeddi-mu’ringchaan (where the Eeddi trees fell), Pa’ndi-churichchaan (the mire that traps boars) etc., in which the verbs with masculine ‘An’ suffix stand for nouns meaning landscape in Eezham Tamil.

The common Tamil meaning of the masculine past tense verb Chuddaan is ‘(he) burnt or fired’. Whether in line with the cited examples Chuddaan also means the landscape where the action of burning or firing took place, and in that case whether it convincingly explains the toponymic context of the prefixes is a question.

But, the geographical context of Oddu-chuddaan discussed below and another place name Chuddaap-piddi in Mannaar District provide the clue that Chuddan could be related to the place name suffixes Chiddi and Chuddi found in the Jaffna Peninsula and thus could be a synonym and cognate of Piddi, Puddi, Chiddi, Chuddi and Iddi in Eezham Tamil, Pitiya in Sinhala and Puti, Huttaa and Futtaa in Maldivian. See column on Kurumpachiddi.

The 'An' ending of the suffix Chuddaan is a feature of Eezham Tamil. See column on Makizhavedduvaan for other examples of 'An' ending.

Chuddaan therefore possibly means a mound, high ground or rising ground.

In the context of the island of Sri Lanka, the cognates of Chuddaan such as Chiddi, Puddi etc are found originally standing for very small localities and are found taking up prefixes associated with vegetation, land features etc of that locality.

In Vanni, as seen in the examples other than Oddu-chuddaan, the suffix has also taken up prefixes associated with fauna that are found in the thickets of small high-ground localities.

Coming to the prefix of the place name Oddu-chuddaan, the prefix Oddu seems to be associated with a quarry mound, quarrying industry or quarried landscape.

Oddu-chuddaan, even today, is a known place for quarrying stone.

The quarry mound lay barely two kilometres west of today's Oddu-chuddaan junction in the A34 Road.

In this place, the mound of rocky outcrop stretches to roughly two kilometres. Ancient ruins are also found at this site.

In old Tamil, Oddam means a mass of earth or stone that stands alone. In some other Dravidian languages Oddu itself means a mass, heap, pile etc (DED 948).

In the Tamil usage of the past, Oddam was a word especially associated with professional tank-diggers, miners etc, who worked with stone and earth.

The conical mass of earth left uncut in the middle of a tank by them in order to estimate the amount of work done for the calculation of wages was called Oddam.

The traditional community or caste that was engaged in mining, digging wells and building tanks and reservoirs was called Oddar. They were hydraulic engineers of the past. Those who were working with stone were called Kal-oddar and those who were working with earth were known as Ma'n-oddar.

In an earlier column the writer has traced the etymology of Oddar to people from the Kalinga country, as they were also known in Tamil as Oddar (people from Odissa / Orissa). It has to be re-considered as the word Oddu itself, as a verb and noun, is connected to mass, heap, pile etc in many Dravidian languages (DED 948). The identity of the mining community of Oddar therefore must have come from their profession of mining Oddu. See column on Oddan Kadduk Ku'lam

The identity of Oddar and their profession still survive in South India even though they are lost among the Eezham Tamils today. In the Jaffna Peninsula there is a very small community of few families known by the identity Kat-koththi (stone cutters). They have a settlement near the limestone quarry at Charasaalai. This community is known for its specialisation in digging wells and lining them with chiselled stones. They could probably be survivors of the great traditions of Oddar.

Many examples of place names in Vanni, such as Oddan-kadduk-ku'lam, Odda'ruththa-ku'lam (Oddu-a'ruththa-ku'lam) etc mark the presence of the community of Oddar and their quarrying and tank-building activities in this region in the past.

No wonder the community, its profession and the source of its profession such as quarries were of high demand in the Vanni region that was well known for tank-irrigated agriculture and was abounding with thousands of tanks and reservoirs.

However, as source of stone is limited in Vanni, a location such as the quarry mound of Oddu-chuddaan might have gained particular recognition for its development into a central place in ancient times and for the place getting its name after the quarry mound.

It is very likely that the stones used in the construction of the number of old tanks in the area and in the construction of the ancient structures now found ruined in the locality had come from the quarry mound, and the Oddar were probably the engineers.

In the early 1960s the writer has seen huge blocks of stones lying at the foundation of the old bund of Muththaiyan-kaddu tank when it was renovated to make the present reservoir at Oddu-chuddaan.

The word Oddu may have many other meanings. Some plants are also known by that name. But the context of the quarry mound at the location, and other place names having the prefix associated with hydraulic constructions, make it appropriate to deduce that Oddu-chuddaan stood for the quarry mound or for the remaining part of the quarry mound left after Oddar cutting stone from there.

There is a legend associated with the Sivan temple at Oddu-chuddaan:

According to the legend, a family from Idaikkaadu in Puththoor of Jaffna Peninsula, migrated to Oddu-chuddaan in the 19th century, started cultivating Kurakkan in the area where the Sivan temple is located today. While burning the stubble, which is called Oddu in Tamil, they noticed that one particular spot was not burning. On investigation they found a Sivalingkam at that spot and built a temple there. Hence the place became Oddu-chuddaan (the place where the Oddu was burnt), the deity became Thaan-thoan'ri-eesvarar (self-appeared idol), and another name for the place was Veakaa-vanam (the forest that didn't burn).

Obviously, this is a conflated etymology for Oddu-chuddaan as the place name could be found in colonial records older than the times of the construction of the temple.

Oddu-chuddaan today is a divisional headquarters in the Mullaiththeevu District.



Some related place names:


Chuddaan:

Pa'ndi-chuddaan: Also Pa'ndi-chuddaan-ku'lam: The mound or high ground abounding with wild boars; The pond of the mound or high ground abounding with wild boars. (Pa'ndi / Pan'ri: boar, hog, swine; Dravidian Etymological Dictionary 4039) This is a village in the Kokkuththoduvaay North GS area in the Karaithu'raippattu Division of Mullaiththeevu District.

Keeri-chuddaan: The mound or high ground abounds with mongoose. (Keeri: mongoose; DED 1613). This is a village in the Madu division of Mannaar District

Ku'lavi-chuddaan: The mound or high ground having hives of wasps. (Ku'lavi: wasp, hornet; DED 1830) This is a village in the Vavuniyaa North division of Vavuniyaa district.

Chuddaap-piddi: The high ground or mound. This is a high ground area amidst a marshland north of Vidaththal-theevu in the Maanthai West division of Mannaar District. This is the place where a small stream Mannangkaddi-aa'ru enters the sea. The term for a mound or high ground is repeated in this instance.

Oddu, Oddan:

Odda'ruththa-ku'lam (Oddu-a'ruththa-ku'lam): The pond or tank formed by mining a mound or the tank constructed by leaving a mass at the centre or the tank expanded by removing the mass at the centre. This is a village in the Manthai East division of Mullaiththeevu district.

Odduk-Ku'lam: The tank or pond formed by mining a mound or the tank found with an uncut mass at the centre. This is a tank name in Vaakarai in the Batticaloa district.

Oddu-madu: A deep pond or tank formed by mining a mound or a deep tank found with an uncut mass at the centre. This is a tank in Kathirave'li in Trincomalee district.

Oddup-pa’l’lam: The pit or shallow area formed by mining the Oddu mound. This is a place in the Paappaa-moaddai village area of the Maanthai division of Mannaar district.

Oddan-kadduk-ku'lam: The tank or the bund of the tank constructed by Oddar. This is a tank as well as the name of a village in Puthukkudiyiruppu West of the Puthukkudiyiruppu division of Mullaiththeevu district.

Oddan-ku'lam: The tank of the Oddar or the tank built by Oddar. It is a tank as well as a village in the Vinayakapuram GS area of the Maanthai East division of Mullaiththeevu district.

Oddakap-pulam: 1. The field for mining. 2. The mining field of Oddar. 3. The field having a mass of land left uncut when it was mined. 4. The area that became a cultivation field after mining. This is a place near Vasaavi'laan in Valikaamam North division of Jaffna district. The locality is known for quarrying limestone. A nearby area Vazhalaay was probably an area for mining the Fuller's Earth or the Washerman's Earth (Vazhalai / Poo-vazhalai or Oddachchi). See Vazhalaay.

Odda-maavadi: The locality of a mango tree standing on an Oddam (mass of land left uncut in the quarry or mine). This is the name of a village in the Koa’ra’laippattu South division of Batticaloa district.


In South India:

Oddara-thotti: The hamlet of Oddar. This is a place near Mahadeshvara Hills in the border of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. This is a hamlet of Earth workers who are now engaged in making pottery.

First published: Thursday, 05 August 2010, 21:28