Origin of Karnataka's name
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Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...
is an Indian
state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...
. Several etymologies have been suggested for the name Karnataka. The region was popularly referred to as 'kar nata’ literally meaning black soiled county in Indian history. However, historically, the names ''Karnatak'' or ''Carnatic'' have been misapplied to refer to the regions in or beyond the Western Ghats (
Kodagu Kodagu (also known by its former name Coorg) is an administrative district in the Karnataka state of India. Before 1956, it was an administratively separate Coorg State, at which point it was merged into an enlarged Mysore State. It occupies ...
and
Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...
) as well as to a region in present-day
Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...
(
Telangana Telangana (; , ) is a state in India situated on the south-central stretch of the Indian peninsula on the high Deccan Plateau. It is the eleventh-largest state and the twelfth-most populated state in India with a geographical area of and 3 ...
). The other accepted derivative comes from the words ''kar'' and ''nādu'' meaning ''land of black soil'', or from the words ''kar/karu/kari'' meaning 'Black' and ''Nāḍu'' meaning ''region/country'', referring to the black soil of the area. One more derivative is "Karnad" meaning "land of Black soil" and other derivative is from Kannada word meaning that 'Kari' (ಕರಿ) meaning 'shore' and Sanskrit 'nataka' (नाटक) meaning dance or acting. Scholars have tried to interpret Karnataka in various ways. One view is that the original Kannada which was the name of the land, has been sanskritized as ''Karnata''. The author of Kavirajamarga calls this land as Kannada. So does Kannada poet Andayya. The second view is that it is because of two tribes namely ''Karna'' and ''Nat'' who inhabited the territory that the land came to be so known. According to the third view, people called ''Kan'' and ''Kal'' inhabited. this land and that is why the territory came to be known as Kannada. A popular view is that the land is of black soil (Kari+Nāḍu) and from this is derived 'Karnāḍu.' But the most accepted view is that the word 'Karnata' is derived from karu+nadu, the big land or an elevated land. Major parts of Karnataka are situated in the Deccan Plateau and are therefore an elevated country.


References from Hindu texts

The earliest known references to ''Karnataka'' are found in the ''Sabha Parva'' and the ''Bhishma Parva'' of
Mahabharata The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; sa, महाभारतम्, ', ) is one of the two major Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epics of ancient India in Hinduism, the other being the ''Ramayana, Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the s ...
, an ancient Indian epic. The ''Matsya Purana'', ''Skanda Purana'', ''Markandeya Purana'' and the ''
Bhagavata Purana The ''Bhagavata Purana'' ( sa, भागवतपुराण; ), also known as the ''Srimad Bhagavatam'', ''Srimad Bhagavata Mahapurana'' or simply ''Bhagavata'', is one of Hinduism's eighteen great Puranas (''Mahapuranas''). Composed in S ...
'' also make references to the name ''Karnata''. The celebrated Kannada folk song of antiquity '' Punyakoti'' (''Govina Haadu'') also refers to the region as "''Mereyutiha Karnata Desha''" (Flourishing ''Karnata'' country), finds a reference in
Padma Purana The ''Padma Purana'' ( sa, पद्मपुराण or पाद्मपुराण, or ) is one of the eighteen Major Puranas, a genre of texts in Hinduism. It is an encyclopedic text, named after the lotus in which creator god Bra ...
. In Canto 5 - Chapter 6 of the ''Bhagavata Purana'', ''Karnata'' is mentioned while narrating the life of
Rishabhadeva Rishabhanatha, also ( sa, ऋषभदेव), Rishabhadeva, or Ikshvaku is the first (Supreme preacher) of Jainism and establisher of Ikshvaku dynasty. He was the first of twenty-four teachers in the present half-cycle of time in Jain co ...
. It is said in the ''Bhagavata'' that the Lord in
Rishabhadeva Rishabhanatha, also ( sa, ऋषभदेव), Rishabhadeva, or Ikshvaku is the first (Supreme preacher) of Jainism and establisher of Ikshvaku dynasty. He was the first of twenty-four teachers in the present half-cycle of time in Jain co ...
's form ended his ''avatara'' in the ''Kutakachala'' hill in ''Karnata'' province. Kutakchala is a hill in present-day Karnataka near Kollur in the Western Ghats.SRIMAD BHAGAVATAM: CANTO 5- CHAPTER 6
/ref>


Historical references

Sanskrit grammarian
Pāṇini , era = ;;6th–5th century BCE , region = Indian philosophy , main_interests = Grammar, linguistics , notable_works = ' ( Classical Sanskrit) , influenced= , notable_ideas=Descriptive linguistics (Devanaga ...
and the ancient Sanskrit work Mrichchhakatika () make references to ''Karnataka''. In the 5th century CE, the term ''Karnataka'' was used by the astrologer
Varaha Mihira Varaha ( sa, वराह, , "boar") is an avatar of the Hindu god Vishnu, in the form of a boar. Varaha is generally listed as third in the Dashavatara, the ten principal avatars of Vishnu. Varaha is most commonly associated with the lege ...
in his work ''Brihatkatha'' and the
Birur Birur is a town located in Kadur Taluk in Chikkamagaluru district in the state of Karnataka, India. It belongs to Mysuru Division. It is located 41 km East from District headquarters Chikkamagaluru. It has an average elevation of 833 m ...
plates of Kadamba Vishnuvarma call Shantivarma ''The master of the entire Karnataka region''. In the 7th century CE, Rashtrakuta inscriptions refer to the armies of
Chalukyas The Chalukya dynasty () was a Classical Indian dynasty that ruled large parts of southern and central India between the 6th and the 12th centuries. During this period, they ruled as three related yet individual dynasties. The earliest dynas ...
of
Badami Badami, formerly known as Vatapi, is a town and headquarters of a taluk by the same name, in the Bagalkot district of Karnataka, India. It was the regal capital of the Badami Chalukyas from CE 540 to 757. It is famous for its rock cut monuments ...
as ''Karnatakabala''. The
Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...
classic ''
Silappatikaram ''Cilappatikāram'' ( ta, சிலப்பதிகாரம் ml, ചിലപ്പതികാരം,IPA: ʧiləppət̪ikɑːrəm, ''lit.'' "the Tale of an Anklet"), also referred to as ''Silappathikaram'' or ''Silappatikaram'', is the e ...
'' of the same time period calls the people of present-day Karnataka region as ''Karunatakars''..The Kalingathu parani, a war poem written by jayangkondar in Tamil Literature calls a people of a region called 'Karunatiyar'. In the 9th century CE, the Kannada classic '' Kavirajamarga'' hails the entire region between the rivers
Kaveri The Kaveri (also known as Cauvery, the anglicized name) is one of the major Indian rivers flowing through the states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. The Kaveri river rises at Talakaveri in the Brahmagiri (hill), Karnataka, Brahmagiri range in th ...
and
Godavari The Godavari (IAST: ''Godāvarī'' od̪aːʋəɾiː is India's second longest river after the Ganga river and drains into the third largest basin in India, covering about 10% of India's total geographical area. Its source is in Trimbakeshwa ...
as ''Karnata''.Prof. K.A. Nilakanta Sastri, ''History of South India'', Arthikaje, ''History of Karnataka''
Kathasaritsagara The ''Kathāsaritsāgara'' ("Ocean of the Streams of Stories") (Devanagari: कथासरित्सागर) is a famous 11th-century collection of Indian legends, fairy tales and folk tales as retold in Sanskrit by the Shaivite Somadeva. ...
of 11th century CE makes mentions of the name. In the 13th century CE, Kannada poet Andayya's works use the same terminology. In the late 16th century, a Telugu work ''Vasucharitamu'' refers to Tirumala Deva Raya (1570 CE), the first of the Aravidu (Aravithi) line of rulers of the late
Vijayanagar Empire The Vijayanagara Empire, also called the Karnata Kingdom, was a Hindu empire based in the region of South India, which consisted the modern states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Goa and some parts of Telangana and ...
as the reviver of the '' Karnata Empire''.Prof. K.A. Nilakanta Sastri, ''History of South India'',Archaeological Survey of India, ''Telugu Inscriptions from Vijayanagar Empire'

vol.16
All this clearly shows that the name ''Karnataka'' has been in usage consistently since ancient times.Dr. Suryanath U. Kamat, Concise history of Karnataka, 2001, MCC, Bengalooru (Reprinted 2002)


Alternate theories

Karnataka's name may have originated from the two words ''Kabbu Nadu'', which means land of sugarcane. This etymology might be possible as Karnataka is a huge sugarcane-cultivating land. But, this theory might not be very factual as sugarcane production boomed in South Karnataka only after the building of KRS Dam by Sir M. Vishweshwarayya. Before that the very same region of Karnataka was known for ragi production.


References

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External links



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article * http://www.ourkarnataka.com/states/history/historyofkarnataka6.htm OurKarnataka.com article on History of Karnataka {{DEFAULTSORT:Etymology Of Karnataka History of Karnataka Karnataka, Etymology of Karnataka, Etymology of