Each year on 3 September, the Kodava community adorns its traditional attire, brings out the weapons which are otherwise kept at the altar in the ‘puja room’, burnishes them and offers puja to the kovi (gun) on the occasion of Kailpodh.

“This is like the ayudha puja of the Kodavas,” says N U Nachappa of the National Codava Council (NCC), as he talks about the preparations for this year’s Kailpodh.

The weapons are placed upright near the thokkbolcha (suspended lamp) with the climbing lily flower (thokk poo) placed upon the nozzle of the gun after which the river deity of the land, Kaveramma, is invoked.

Post lunch on Kailpodh, the senior-most Kodava, Kodavukar (chief of the clan) picks up the kovi which has been worshipped in the morning, and holds it in his hands, and recites aloud in Kodava takk: “Narino pandino battebutt panang, shatturana enangate, shatturu enanchengi, batte ketti pannang, mitturuk toneyayi nil, raayang miniyate, devara mareyate (Be it a tiger or a boar, go face it upfront, never incite an enemy, but if an enemy attacks, fight back unapologetically, stand up for a friend, and never nurture feelings against the ruler, never forget the almighty)”.

“The last words reiterate loud and clear that never shall a Kodava wield his kovi either against the ruler or the one governing and never is he to forget the almighty. Initiated this way, every young Kodava is handed over the gun as not just a right but also a huge responsibility,” explains Kokkalemada Manju Chinappa.

The prayers are followed by target-shooting (suspended coconuts), which was earlier a tradition where the Kodava set out with his loaded rifle to hunt down a wild boar.

While the floods ensured a low-key celebration last year, this year the NCC, one of the organisations representing Kodava interests, is geared up not just to worship the gun but also to state it clearly that the Kodava will not let go of his right to wield the gun without a licence, “for it is a part of who we are. It is an integral part of our cultural fabric and existence,” says Nachappa.

Kodava women also take pride in inheriting the gun. “Given that among Kodavas both men and women have an equal say, the gun isn’t just a man’s weapon. It is so much a part of my identity and who I am,” says a young Kodavathi Kshipra Cariappa, reminiscing how her dad initiated her into using the gun right and responsibly.

“Every Kodava child grows up watching, worshipping and wielding the gun with as much awe as pride,” adds Cariappa.

Cariappa, whose tryst with the gun began as a six-year-old helping her dad clean the gun for Kailpodh, looks forward to initiating her toddler daughter into it during their annual visits to Kodagu.

“We don’t have the gun here in Australia but we worship the kathi on Kailpodh,” says Cariappa as she prepares for the annual celebration away from Kodava land in Melbourne.