Appachcha Kavi

Appachcha Kavi (born 21 September 1868, d. circa 1930) was an Indian poet and playwright. He belonged to the Kodava community and is known as the first playwright in the Kodava language.

Early life

Appachcha (also spelled: Appacha) was born in the village Kirundadu, about 15 km to the south of Madikeri in Kodagu district, Karnataka. Kirundaadu is a small village of erstwhile Napoklu Naadu. Presently Napoklu is a small town in Madikeri taluk. It is about 15 km to the south of Madikeri, the district headquarters, located in the northern part of Kodagu. His parents were Medayya and Bollavva of the Appaneravanda family. His mother was from the Kabbachchira family in Arji village, near Virajpet, in the southern part of Kodagu district.

Humble farmers, they were pious and particularly interested in music. Appachcha was the only son, he had three sisters. As a child, Appachcha was soft-spoken and kind, spending much of his time in writing and singing devotional songs. Because there was no school in his native village, Appachcha was sent to live with his maternal uncle in Arji, a village near Virajpet. Here, he studied up to the fourth standard, learning the basics of the Kannada language and of arithmetic. Despite his lack of formal education, he later became a Sanskrit scholar and wrote exemplary plays.

Main sources

Jagathigonde Kodagu, by K P Muththanna, 1969. Kodavas, by B D Ganapathy, 1980. A study of the Origin of Coorgs, by Lt Col K C Ponnappa (Rtd), 1999.