MANGALORE: As part of the Suvarna Karnataka year, the Karnataka State Tulu Sahitya Academy is planning to start a research programme on Tulu history.

According to president of the academy M.K. Seetharam Kulal, to start with the academy will ask researchers to study the "hierarchy of Abbakkas" of Ullal and the 15th century queens of Tuluva-Jain royal families of Tulu Nadu. Mr. Kulal made this announcement at the Tulu Academy Awards 2005 presentation function at Mulky on Saturday

Mr. Kulal said according to history there were three Abbakka queens in the 16th century and only one of them fought against the Portuguese invaders and became the first freedom fighter of India at least a 100 years before the British arrived.

Funding

The Tulu Academy will fund the research to find out who was the Abbakka who drove away the Portuguese after destroying their fleet.

Mr. Kulal indicated that the academy was aiming at compiling the 500 to 600 years of Tuluva history, which would be published in a book form. He said this project was important not only to Dakshina Kannada district but also the entire country.

Books

Tulu scholar and member of the academy Chidamber Baikampdy said there were at least three books on Abbakka queens and one of them was written by Kannada novelist Anupama Niranjana. But none of the books mentioned who was the Abbakka who fought against the Portugese.

Mr. Baikampady, however, said one of them ruled Ullal from 1556 for about eight years.

During the first seven years Ullal made good progress, but the last one year of her rule was turbulent, and perhaps it was during that time that the queen faced trouble in her family and finally laid her life fighting the invaders.

Tulu in Eighth Schedule

On the delay in including Tulu in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution, Mr. Kulal took exception to the report of Seethakanth Mahapatra to the Centre that stated: "Tulu had to wait at least for another 35 years to get a mention in the Eighth Schedule."

He said Mr. Mahapatra had not asked either the academy or Tulu scholars in the country about the "depth" of the language and had unilaterally concluded that Tulu had no literature and history, which had hurt the Tuluvas.

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