Office Bearers and Managing Committee

Chiriyapanda Asha Vivek Muthanna, Vice President of Kodava Samaja Bengaluru, hails from Kanoor, and her thaamane is Paruvangada (Besagur). She is the daughter of the late Gappu Ganapati (B.Sc., LL.B.) and Paruvangada Leela Ganapati (Konganda). She is married to Lt Col Chiriyapanda Vivek Muthanna (Retd), and the couple live in Sultanpalya, Bengaluru.

An alumna of St Joseph’s Convent, Madikeri, and Teresian College, Mysuru, Asha graduated from Jyoti Nivas College, Bengaluru. She went on to complete a homemakers’ course at the Cultural Academy, Chennai, and qualified as a Montessori guide with Modern Montessori International, London, teaching for two years at a school in New Delhi for the children of foreign diplomats.

Asha married Vivek soon after her studies in Chennai. As an Army wife, she was closely involved in the welfare of soldiers’ families at the stations where the couple were posted.

Following Vivek’s retirement from the Indian Army, they settled in Bengaluru, in the neighbourhood of the Sri Vijaya Ganapathi Kodava Sangha, Sultanpalya (SVGKS). Asha has been an active member of the Sangha’s cultural and sports teams, taking part in many cultural events as part of the Ummathat and playing badminton for the Sangha.

She served on the Executive Council of Kodava Samaja Bengaluru during the term in which the present President was Honorary Secretary, and chaired the Samaja’s Cultural Committee, working to uphold the culture and traditions of the Kodava community. In the same period, alongside other Executive Council members and under the initiative of Chiriapanda Suresh Nanjappa, she played an active part in the physical occupation of the Samaja’s 7-acre land.

As Vice President, Asha continues to work with the rest of the management towards the efficient functioning of Kodava Samaja Bengaluru, and to enrich Kodava culture and practice.

Chotteyanda Arathi Aiyamma, Joint Secretary of Kodava Samaja Bengaluru, is the daughter of Mundanda Sabu Medappa and Bhagirathi (Shivachaliyanda) of Kunjeri village in Beppunad, Kodagu.

She is married to Chotteyanda Aiyamma, a native of Kaikad village in Kadiyath Nad. The couple has one daughter, Vindhya, who is Head of the Department of Economics at Mount Carmel College.

She completed her undergraduate studies in Kodagu and her Master’s degree at Manasagangothri, Mysuru. During her studies she developed a keen interest in social service and took part in NSS camps. She then worked for four years as an Accountant at the Madikeri Taluk Office, gaining experience through a range of government workshops and camps, and later as Secretary at the Nehru Yuva Kendra office.

As part of a social awareness programme run by the State Resource Centre for Adult Education, Mysuru, she wrote a book, “Illada Swarga-Naraka Yllide?”, which the Centre published in 1995.

After settling in Bengaluru in 1997, she worked for six years as an Accountant with a private company. Committed to promoting Kodavame (Kodava identity, culture and unity), she served the Pommale Kodava Sangha as a committee member for two years and as Treasurer for four, and was a Woman Director of the Sri Cauvery Credit Co-operative Society Bank for two terms, eleven years in all, taking an active part in its administration and strategic direction.

Within the Samaja, she has served the Kodava Samaja Education Fund as a committee member for two terms, as Treasurer for two, as Secretary for three and as Chairperson. She spent three and a half years on the Managing Committee, three terms on the Sports Committee and two on the Pommakkada (Women’s) Committee.

She is an active member of the Nellakki Kodava Sangha, Ramamurthy Nagar, and is currently Vice President of the Kadiyath Nad Kodava Koota, Bengaluru. As Joint Secretary of Kodava Samaja Bengaluru, she brings nearly fifteen years of work across Kodava organisations to the Samaja and to the promotion of Kodavame.

Mallengada S. Muthanna, Joint Treasurer of Kodava Samaja Bengaluru, is the son of the late Mallengada Subbaiah and Gowramma. He is a respected and dedicated cultural contributor, with a long association with Kodava organisations and a deep commitment to preserving and promoting Kodava culture and tradition.

He is married to Sudha Muthanna, daughter of Ajjamada Muthanna and Parvathi. The couple has two children: their daughter, Shilpika Muthanna, and their son, Sharon Kushalappa.

He has served the Samaja as a Managing Committee member from 2004 to 2008 and as Convenor of the Cultural Committee from 2006 to 2008, and was Coordinator for the Kodava Samaja Centenary Celebrations in 2011.

He has more than twenty-five years of experience in the Kodava traditional Aat Paat, and has contributed to cultural programmes at Kodava Samaja Bengaluru and at various Kodava Sanghas, reflecting an enduring passion for Kodava heritage and tradition.