The opinions are in and the results are out – Dakshina Kannada as a name is fine. In fact, in a letter, the district administration has glowingly said it was the only name that could describe a multi-cultural region.
With a debate surrounding the renaming of the district, Deputy Commissioner A.B. Ibrahim had asked people to write in if they believed the district should be renamed from ‘Dakshina Kannada’ to ‘Mangalore’ or ‘Tulu Nadu’ or any such alternatives.
After tabulating the letters, Mr. Ibrahim has written to the Principal Secretary (Revenue) saying many citizens had opined that the district should not be renamed.
The letter, which was sent on July 17, says that the origin of the name traces to the Madras Presidency where the region was termed ‘South Canara’. “Though South Canara has been changed to Dakshina Kannada, there is a special character and tradition to the name,” said the DC in the letter.
On why the district should not be named Mangalore – the principal city of the region – the letter says: “The region is home to speakers of multiple languages including Kannada, Tulu, Konkani, Beary, Bovi, Malayalam...These speakers refer to the city as Kudla (Tulu), Kodial (Konkani), Maikala (Beary), Mangalapuram (Malayalam and Sanskrit). While Mangalore is only in English, Dakshina Kannada encapsulates all the languages of the region.”
During the recent Legislative Council session, MLC Ivan D’Souza had asked about the renaming of districts in the State. In response, State Revenue Minister V. Srinivas Prasad had said the proposal to rename 12 districts – including Dakshina Kannada – was in process.
The Minister added that it was on the request of retired Kannada professor Chidananda Murthy, and the Bangalore-based organisation Kannada Geleyara Balaga, that the change in names of the coastal districts was taken up.