1.
Karnataka
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Karnataka is a state in south western region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, originally known as the State of Mysore, it was renamed Karnataka in 1973. The capital and largest city is Bangalore, the state covers an area of 191,976 square kilometres, or 5.83 percent of the total geographical area of India. It is the seventh largest Indian state by area, with 61,130,704 inhabitants at the 2011 census, Karnataka is the eighth largest state by population, comprising 30 districts. Kannada, one of the languages of India, is the most widely spoken. Most of these rivers flow out of Karnataka eastward into the Bay of Bengal, though several etymologies have been suggested for the name Karnataka, the generally accepted one is that Karnataka is derived from the Kannada words karu and nādu, meaning elevated land. Karu nadu may also be read as karu, meaning black, the British used the word Carnatic, sometimes Karnatak, to describe both sides of peninsular India, south of the Krishna. With an antiquity that dates to the paleolithic, Karnataka has been home to some of the most powerful empires of ancient, the philosophers and musical bards patronised by these empires launched socio-religious and literary movements which have endured to the present day. Karnataka has contributed significantly to both forms of Indian classical music, the Carnatic and Hindustani traditions, Karnatakas pre-history goes back to a paleolithic hand-axe culture evidenced by discoveries of, among other things, hand axes and cleavers in the region. Evidence of neolithic and megalithic cultures have also found in the state. Gold discovered in Harappa was found to be imported from mines in Karnataka, prior to the third century BCE, most of Karnataka formed part of the Nanda Empire before coming under the Mauryan empire of Emperor Ashoka. Four centuries of Satavahana rule followed, allowing them to large areas of Karnataka. The decline of Satavahana power led to the rise of the earliest native kingdoms, the Kadambas, the Kadamba Dynasty, founded by Mayurasharma, had its capital at Banavasi, the Western Ganga Dynasty was formed with Talakad as its capital. These were also the first kingdoms to use Kannada in administration, as evidenced by the Halmidi inscription, the Western Chalukyas patronised a unique style of architecture and Kannada literature which became a precursor to the Hoysala art of 12th century. Parts of modern-day Southern Karnataka were occupied by the Chola Empire at the turn of 11th century, the Cholas and the Hoysalas fought over the region in the early 12th century before it eventually came under Hoysala rule. At the turn of the first millennium, the Hoysalas gained power in the region, literature flourished during this time, which led to the emergence of distinctive Kannada literary metres, and the construction of temples and sculptures adhering to the Vesara style of architecture. The expansion of the Hoysala Empire brought minor parts of modern Andhra Pradesh, in the early 14th century, Harihara and Bukka Raya established the Vijayanagara empire with its capital, Hosapattana, on the banks of the Tungabhadra River in the modern Bellary district. The empire rose as a bulwark against Muslim advances into South India, in 1565, Karnataka and the rest of South India experienced a major geopolitical shift when the Vijayanagara empire fell to a confederation of Islamic sultanates in the Battle of Talikota
2.
Kerala
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Kerala historically known as Keralam, is an Indian state in South India on the Malabar Coast. It was formed on 1 November 1956 following the States Reorganisation Act by combining Malayalam-speaking regions, spread over 38,863 km2, it is bordered by Karnataka to the north and northeast, Tamil Nadu to the east and south, and the Lakshadweep Sea to the west. With 33,387,677 inhabitants as per the 2011 Census, Malayalam is the most widely spoken language and is also the official language of the state. The region has been a prominent spice exporter since 3000 BCE, the Chera Dynasty was the first prominent kingdom based in Kerala, though it frequently struggled against attacks by the neighbouring Cholas and Pandyas. In the 15th century, the spice trade attracted Portuguese traders to Kerala, after independence, Travancore and Cochin joined the Republic of India and Travancore-Cochin was given the status of a state in 1949. In 1956, Kerala state was formed by merging Malabar district, Travancore-Cochin, Hinduism is practised by more than half of the population, followed by Islam and Christianity. The culture is a synthesis of Aryan and Dravidian cultures, developed over millennia, under influences from other parts of India, the production of pepper and natural rubber contributes significantly to the total national output. In the agricultural sector, coconut, tea, coffee, cashew, the states coastline extends for 595 kilometres, and around 1.1 million people in the state are dependent on the fishery industry which contributes 3% to the states income. The state has the highest media exposure in India with newspapers publishing in nine languages, mainly English, Kerala is one of the prominent tourist destinations of India, with backwaters, beaches, Ayurvedic tourism and tropical greenery as its major attractions. The name Kerala has an uncertain etymology, One popular theory derives Kerala from Kera and alam is land, thus land of coconuts, this also happens to be a nickname for the state due to abundance of coconut trees and its use by the locals. The word Kerala is first recorded in a 3rd-century BCE rock inscription left by the Maurya emperor Ashoka, the inscription refers to the local ruler as Keralaputra, or son of Chera. This contradicts the theory that Kera is from coconut tree, at that time, one of three states in the region was called Cheralam in Classical Tamil, Chera and Kera are variants of the same word. The word Cheral refers to the oldest known dynasty of Kerala kings and is derived from the Proto-Tamil-Malayalam word for lake, the earliest Sanskrit text to mention Kerala is the Aitareya Aranyaka of the Rigveda. It is also mentioned in the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, the two Hindu epics, the Skanda Purana mentions the ecclesiastical office of the Thachudaya Kaimal who is referred to as Manikkam Keralar, synonymous with the deity of the Koodalmanikyam temple. Keralam may stem from the Classical Tamil cherive-alam or chera alam, the Greco-Roman trade map Periplus Maris Erythraei refers to Keralaputra as Celobotra. According to Hindu mythology, the lands of Kerala were recovered from the sea by the warrior sage Parasurama. Parasurama threw his axe across the sea, and the water receded as far as it reached, according to legend, this new area of land extended from Gokarna to Kanyakumari. The land which rose from sea was filled with salt and unsuitable for habitation, so Parasurama invoked the Snake King Vasuki, out of respect, Vasuki and all snakes were appointed as protectors and guardians of the land
3.
Kannada
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The language has roughly 40 million native speakers who are called Kannadigas, and a total of 50.8 million speakers according to a 2001 census. It is one of the languages of India and the official. The Kannada language is written using the Kannada script, which evolved from the 5th-century Kadamba script, Kannada is attested epigraphically for about one and a half millennia, and literary Old Kannada flourished in the 6th-century Ganga dynasty and during the 9th-century Rashtrakuta Dynasty. Kannada has a literary history of over a thousand years. Based on the recommendations of the Committee of Linguistic Experts, appointed by the ministry of culture, in July 2011, a centre for the study of classical Kannada was established as part of the Central Institute of Indian Languages at Mysore to facilitate research related to the language. Kannada is a Southern Dravidian language, and according to Dravidian scholar Sanford B, steever, its history can be conventionally divided into three periods, Old Kannada from 450–1200 CE, Middle Kannada from 1200–1700, and Modern Kannada from 1700 to the present. Kannada is influenced to an extent by Sanskrit. Influences of other such as Prakrit and Pali can also be found in the Kannada language. Literary Prakrit seems to have prevailed in Karnataka since ancient times, the vernacular Prakrit-speaking people may have come into contact with Kannada speakers, thus influencing their language, even before Kannada was used for administrative or liturgical purposes. Kannada phonetics, morphology, vocabulary, grammar and syntax show significant influence from these languages, some examples of naturalised words of Prakrit origin in Kannada are, baṇṇa derived from vaṇṇa, hunnime from puṇṇivā. Examples of naturalized Sanskrit words in Kannada are, varṇa, arasu from rajan, paurṇimā, Kannada has numerous borrowed words such as dina, kopa, surya, mukha, nimiṣa and anna. Pre-old Kannada was the language of Banavasi in the early Common Era, the Ashoka rock edict found at Brahmagiri has been suggested to contain words in identifiable Kannada. According to Jain tradition, Brahmi, the daughter of Rishabhadeva, the first Tirthankara of Jainism, invented 18 alphabets, including Kannada, which points to the antiquity of the language. Supporting this tradition, an inscription of about the 9th century CE, containing specimens of different alphabets and it has been claimed that the Greek dramatists of the 5th–4th century BCE were familiar with the Kannada country and language. This would show a far more intimate contact of the Greeks with Kannada culture than with Indian culture elsewhere, the palm manuscripts contained texts written not only in Greek, Latin and Hebrew, but also in Sanskrit and Kannada. In the 150 CE Prakrit book Gaathaa Saptashati, written by Haala Raja, Kannada words like tIr, tuppa, on the Pallava Prakrit inscription of 250 CE of Hire Hadagalis Shivaskandavarman, the Kannada word kOTe transforms into koTTa. In the 350 CE Chandravalli Prakrit inscription, words of Kannada origin like punaaTa, in one more Prakrit inscription of 250 CE found in Malavalli, Kannada towns like vEgooraM, kundamuchchaMDi find a reference. Pliny the Elder was a naval and army commander in the early Roman Empire and he writes about pirates between Muziris and Nitrias
4.
Hinduism
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Hinduism is a religion, or a way of life, found most notably in India and Nepal. Hinduism has been called the oldest religion in the world, and some practitioners and scholars refer to it as Sanātana Dharma, scholars regard Hinduism as a fusion or synthesis of various Indian cultures and traditions, with diverse roots and no founder. This Hindu synthesis started to develop between 500 BCE and 300 CE following the Vedic period, although Hinduism contains a broad range of philosophies, it is linked by shared concepts, recognisable rituals, cosmology, shared textual resources, and pilgrimage to sacred sites. Hindu texts are classified into Shruti and Smriti and these texts discuss theology, philosophy, mythology, Vedic yajna, Yoga, agamic rituals, and temple building, among other topics. Major scriptures include the Vedas and Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, prominent themes in Hindu beliefs include the four Puruṣārthas, the proper goals or aims of human life, namely Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha, karma, samsara, and the various Yogas. Hindu practices include such as puja and recitations, meditation, family-oriented rites of passage, annual festivals. Some Hindus leave their world and material possessions, then engage in lifelong Sannyasa to achieve Moksha. Hinduism prescribes the eternal duties, such as honesty, refraining from injuring living beings, patience, forbearance, self-restraint, Hinduism is the worlds third largest religion, with over one billion followers or 15% of the global population, known as Hindus. The majority of Hindus reside in India, Nepal, Mauritius, the Caribbean, the word Hindu is derived from the Indo-Aryan/Sanskrit word Sindhu, the Indo-Aryan name for the Indus River in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent. The term Hindu in these ancient records is a geographical term, the Arabic term al-Hind referred to the people who live across the River Indus. This Arabic term was taken from the pre-Islamic Persian term Hindū. By the 13th century, Hindustan emerged as an alternative name of India. It was only towards the end of the 18th century that European merchants and colonists began to refer to the followers of Indian religions collectively as Hindus. The term Hinduism, then spelled Hindooism, was introduced into the English language in the 18th-century to denote the religious, philosophical, because of the wide range of traditions and ideas covered by the term Hinduism, arriving at a comprehensive definition is difficult. The religion defies our desire to define and categorize it, Hinduism has been variously defined as a religion, a religious tradition, a set of religious beliefs, and a way of life. From a Western lexical standpoint, Hinduism like other faiths is appropriately referred to as a religion, in India the term dharma is preferred, which is broader than the western term religion. Hindu traditionalists prefer to call it Sanatana Dharma, the study of India and its cultures and religions, and the definition of Hinduism, has been shaped by the interests of colonialism and by Western notions of religion. Since the 1990s, those influences and its outcomes have been the topic of debate among scholars of Hinduism, Hinduism as it is commonly known can be subdivided into a number of major currents
5.
Jainism
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Jainism, traditionally known as Jain Dharma, is an ancient Indian religion belonging to the śramaṇa tradition. The central tenet is non-violence and respect all living beings. The three main principles of Jainism are ahimsa, anekantavada and aparigraha, followers of Jainism take five main vows, ahimsa, satya, asteya, brahmacharya and aparigraha. Jain monks and nuns observe these vows absolutely whereas householders observe them within their practical limitations, self-discipline and asceticism are thus major focuses of Jainism. The word Jain derives from the Sanskrit word jina, a human being who has conquered all inner passions like attachment, desire, anger, pride, greed, etc. is called Jina. Followers of the path practiced and preached by the jinas are known as Jains, Parasparopagraho Jivanam is the motto of Jainism. Jains trace their history through a succession of teachers and revivers of the Jain path known as Tirthankaras. In the current era, this started with Rishabhdeva and concluded with Mahavira, Jains believe that Jainism is eternal and while it may be forgotten, it will be revived from time to time. The majority of Jains reside in India, with 6-7 million followers, Jainism is smaller than many other major world religions. Outside of India, some of the largest Jain communities are present in Canada, Europe, Kenya, the UK, Suriname, Fiji, contemporary Jainism is divided into two major sects, Digambara and Śvētāmbara. Namokar Mantra is the most common and basic prayer in Jainism, major Jain festivals include Paryushana and Daslakshana, Mahavir Jayanti, and Diwali. The principle of ahimsa is the most fundamental and well-known aspect of Jainism, the everyday implementation of the principle of non-violence is more comprehensive than in other religions and is the hallmark for Jain identity. Jains believe in avoiding harm to others thoughts, speech. According to the Jain text, Purushartha Siddhyupaya, killing any living being out of passions is hiṃsā, Jains extend the practice of nonviolence and kindness not only towards other humans but towards all living beings. For this reason, vegetarianism is a hallmark of Jain identity, if there is violence against animals during the production of dairy products, veganism is encouraged. Jainism has an elaborate framework on types of life and includes life-forms that may be invisible. Therefore, after humans and animals, insects are the living being offered protection in Jain practice. For example, insects in the home are often escorted out instead of killed, Jainism teaches that intentional harm and the absence of compassion make an action more violent
6.
Kanara
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The Kanara region of Karnataka, comprises three coastal districts, namely Dakshina Kannada, Udupi district and Uttara Kannada. Kanara forms the part of the Konkan coast. The length of this region north to south is around 300 kilometres while the width varies from 30 to 110 kilometres. The region is characterized by swaying palms and swift brooks running towards the Arabian Sea, according to legend, Parashurama, an avatar of Vishnu, retrieved Kanara from the sea by throwing his axe into the sea. The sea fell back to the place where his axe fell, hence, the region is sometimes called Parshurama Kshetra. According to historian Severino da Silva, the ancient name for this region is Parashuram Srashti and he and Stephen Fuchs say that the name Canara is the invention of Portuguese, Dutch and English people who visited the area for trade from the early 16th century on wards. The Bednore Dynasty, under whose rule this tract was at time, was known to them as the Kannada Dynasty. The letter d being always pronounced like r by the Europeans and this name was retained by the British after their occupation of the district in 1799, and has remained ever since. However, they say that this issue is controversial. Yakshagana is a dance drama popular in the districts of Uttara Kannada, Shimoga, Udupi. This theater art involves acting, dance, dialogue, music, songs, story, while dance and songs adhere to well established talas, very similar to classical Indian dance forms, acting and dialogues are created spontaneously on stage depending on the ability of the artists. This combination of classical and folk elements makes Yakshagana unique from any other Indian art and it would be considered a form of opera to the western eye. Traditionally, Yakshaganas start late in the night and run the entire night, bagavatha, the background singer, who is also the director of the story controls the entire proceedings on stage. He/she along with the musicians, who play chande and maddale form the himmela. The actors who wear costumes and enact various roles in the story form the mummela. There are many professional troops in Karnataka, in spite of the competition from modern movie industry and television, these troops arrange ticketed shows and make a profit. Yakshagana is sometimes simply called aataā in both Kannada and Konkani, yaksha-gana literally means the song of a yaksha. Yakshas were a tribe mentioned in the Sanskrit literature of ancient India
7.
Kasaragod
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Kasaragod, is a town and a municipality in the Kasaragod district, state of Kerala. Kasargod is located 585 km north of Thiruvananthapuram and 50 km south of Mangalore, the major political parties are Indian Union Muslim League, CPI, INC, INL Indian National League and BJP. North Kasaragod is dominated by Indian Union Muslim League and the part of Kasaragod is dominated by CPI. The central part and some of the rural and urban areas is dominated by INC. NA Nellikkunnu is the present Member of Legislative Assembly, Kasaragod assembly constituency is part of Kasaragod. CPI member P. Karunakaran is the present MP from Kasargod, Kasaragod is home to the Central Plantation Crops Research Institute, originally established in 1916 as the Coconut Research Station. It is part of Indias National Agricultural Research System under the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, according to the Institute, Kerala lies in the heart of the major coconut growing areas of the country. It is also home to the Indian Society for Plantation Crops, the primary and administrative language of the town is Malayalam. Tulu, Beary bhashe and Konkani are also used and Hindi. Havyaka speakers have a base in Kannada. The Malayalam spoken here has influences from Beary bhashe and also from the languages of Kannada, Urdu, Konkani, the Kannada and Tulu spoken here are also influenced by Malayalam. Kasaragod district is a worst HIV infected area in Kerala,970 HIV cases were registered in Kasaragod district. Ten HIV deaths were reported from Kasaragod district within a period of two months in 2016. There is no special facility or doctors for HIV patients in this area, HIV affected areas in Kasaragod include Dharmathadka, Nileshwaram, Manjeshwar, Bhandiyod, Vellarikundu, Kasaragod town and Padannakkad. Kasaragod experiences a Tropical monsoon climate under the Köppen climate classification. P. C. R. I CPCRI Official Website of the District Administration
8.
Kodagu district
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Kodagu is an administrative district in Karnataka, India. Before 1956 it was an administratively separate Coorg State, at which point it was merged into an enlarged Mysore State and it occupies an area of 4,102 square kilometres in the Western Ghats of southwestern Karnataka. In 2001 its population was 548,561,13. 74% of which resided in the urban centres. Agriculture is the most important factor that upholds the economy of Kodagu, Coorg is rich in natural resources which included timber and spices. Madikeri is the headquarters of Kodagu, Kodagu is known for its coffee and its people. The dominant group are the indigenous and other ethnic groups, the chief languages presently spoken in Kodagu are Kodava, Are Bhashe, Kannada, Tulu, Konkani and Urdu. Kodagu is home to the speakers of the Kodava language. Kodagu is located on the slopes of the Western Ghats. It has an area of 4,102 km2. It is a district, the lowest elevation of which is 120 metres above sea-level. The highest peak, Tadiandamol, rises to 1,750 metres, with Pushpagiri, the main river in Kodagu is the Kaveri, which originates at Talakaveri, located on the eastern side of the Western Ghats, and with its tributaries, drains the greater part of Kodagu. In July and August, rainfall is intense, and there are often showers into November, yearly rainfall may exceed 4,000 millimetres in some areas. In dense jungle tracts, rainfall reaches 3,000 to 3,800 millimetres and 1,500 to 2,500 millimetres in the district to the west. Kodagu has a temperature of 15 °C, ranging from 11 to 28 °C, with the highest temperatures occurring in April. The principal town, and district capital, is Madikeri, or Mercara, other significant towns include Virajpet, Kushalanagara, Somwarpet and Gonikoppal. The district is divided into the three talukas, Madikeri, Virajpet and Somwarpet. Virajpet is the largest Taluk and comprises the towns Virajpet, Gonikoppal, Siddapura, Ponnampet, the Kodavas were the earliest agriculturists in Kodagu, having lived there for centuries. Being a warrior community as well, they carried arms during times of war and had their own chieftains, the Haleri dynasty, an offshoot of the Keladi Nayakas, ruled Kodagu between 1600 and 1834
9.
Landed gentry
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Landed gentry is a largely historical British social class consisting of land owners who could live entirely from rental income. It was distinct from, and socially below, the aristocracy or peerage and they often worked as administrators of their own lands, while others became public, political and armed forces figures. The decline of this privileged class largely stemmed from the 1870s agricultural depression, by the late 19th century, the term was also applied to peers such as the Duke of Westminster who lived on landed estates. The book series Burkes Landed Gentry recorded the members of this class, successful burghers often used their accumulated wealth to buy country estates, with the aim of establishing themselves as landed gentry. Knights, originally a rank, this status was increasingly awarded to civilians as a reward for service to the Crown. Holders have the right to be addressed as Sir as are baronets, but unlike baronet, Esquires, originally men aspiring to knighthood, were the principal attendants on a knight. After the Middle Ages the title of Esquire - Esq. - became an honour that could be conferred by the Crown, gentlemen, possessors of a social status recognised as a separate title by the Statute of Additions of 1413. Generally men of birth or rank, good social standing, and wealth. The term landed gentry, although used to mean nobility. Once identical, eventually these terms became complementary, in the sense that their definitions began to fill in parts of what the other lacked, the historical term gentry by itself, so Peter Coss argues, is a construct that historians have applied loosely to rather different societies. Any particular model may not fit a specific society, yet a single definition nevertheless remains desirable, the phrase landed gentry referred in particular to the untitled members of the landowning upper class. The most stable and respected form of wealth has historically been land, the primary meaning of landed gentry encompasses those members of the land owning classes who are not members of the peerage. It was a designation, one belonged to the landed gentry if other members of that class accepted one as such. However, during the 19th century, as the new rich of the Industrial Revolution became more and more numerous and politically powerful, from the late 16th-century, the gentry emerged as the class most closely involved in politics, the military and law. It provided the bulk of Members of Parliament, with many gentry families maintaining political control in a locality over several generations. Owning land was a prerequisite for suffrage in county constituencies until the Reform Act 1832, until then, Members of the landed gentry were upper class, this was a highly prestigious status. Particular prestige was attached to those who inherited landed estates over a number of generations and these are often described as being from old families. Titles are often considered central to the class, but this is certainly not universally the case
10.
Tulu Nadu
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Tulu Nadu or Tulunad is a Tulu-speaking region spread over parts of the Karnataka and Kerala states of India. The erstwhile district of South Canara is the core of the Tulu speaking region and this region is not an official administrative region but a region inhabited by Tulu speaking people. Tulunad is the homeland of the Tuluva ethnic people, Mangalore, Udupi and Kasaragod are its important cities. Ptolemy, the 2nd century geographer identifies the Tulu Nadu region as Olokhoira which is believed to be a corruption of the term Alva Kheda. Historically, Tulu Nadu included the two lands of Haiva and Tuluva. The longest ruling and oldest known dynasty of Tulu Nadu was that of the Alupas. Their kingdom was known as Alvakheda. They initially ruled independently and later were the feudatories of the prominent dynasties, the Kadamba dynasty of Banavasi was the earliest, under which the Alupas flourished. Later the Rashtrakutas of Manyakheta, Chalukyas of Badami, Chalukyas of Kalyani, Hoysalas of Dwarasamudra, the Alupas, however, were independent and their subordination was nominal at best. They ruled until the Vijayanagara Empire took control of Tulu Nadu from 14th to the 17th centuries, during the rule of Vijayanagara, Tulu nadu was administered in two parts – Mangaluru Rajya and Barkuru Rajya. Tulu Nadu was the homeland of the dynasty that founded the Vijayanagar Empire based in eastern Karnataka. Tulu Nadu was governed by the native feudatories of the Vijayanagara Empire until the 18th century and these feudatories gained power towards the end of Alupa period. The region became prosperous during Vijayanagara period with Barkur and Mangalore gaining importance. After the decline of the Vijayanagara Empire, the Keladi Nayakas of Ikkeri controlled much of Tulu Nadu. Over the following many centuries, Konkanis from Goa arrived by sea, as Mangalore was a major port that served not only the Portuguese but also the Arabs for maritime trades. Jains were already a prominent group and even today are preserved in Tulu Nadu. Though small in number, the Jains left behind reminders of their glory with temples in and monolithic statues of Bahubali in Karkala, Venoor. In the 16th century there was an influx of Catholics to Tulu Nadu from Goa. The Muslim community of Tulu Nadu were basically Arab traders who married local women and they speak the Beary dialect, which is a mix of Tulu and Kannada, and the others speak Urdu
11.
South Canara
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South Canara was a district of the Madras Presidency of British India, located at 13. 00°N75. 40°E /13.00,75.40. It covered the areas of the districts of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi of Karnataka. The district was one of the most heterogeneous of Madras Presidency with Tulu, Malayalam, Kannada, Konkani and it was succeeded by Dakshina Kannada in 1947. In 1859, Kanara was split into two districts, North and South, North Kanara was transferred to the Bombay Presidency, and South was retained by Madras. Mangalore was the headquarters of the district. The district covered an area of 10,410 square kilometres, the district was divided into six taluks, Amindivi Islands Coondapoor Kasaragod Mangalore Udupi Uppinangady The district was administered by a District Collector. The district had two municipalities, those of Mangalore and Udupi, South Kanara had a total population of 1,134,713 in 1901, of whom 81 percent were Hindus,11 percent Muslim and 7 percent Christian. The most widely spoken language was Tulu which was the tongue of 44 percent of the population. Around 19 percent of the population spoke Konkani. Around 09 percent of the population speaks Beary Bashe as their mother tongue, in 1901, South Kanara had a density of 109 inhabitants per square kilometre. The 1908 Imperial Gazetteer of India lists South Canara, along with the Thanjavur and Ganjam districts, the majority of the people were Billavas, Bunts. The people who first settled here were called Tuluvas, predominantly Bunts, the Brahmins who settled first belonged chiefly to the Sthanika and thus they were called as Tulu Brahmins. Others were Shivalli, Saraswat, Havyaka, Kotaha sub-sections, Mogaveera and Mahars, Dakshina Kannada Mangalore Udupi South Canara by Vikas Kamat from Kamat. com
12.
Mangalore
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Mangalore, officially known as Mangaluru, is the chief port city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is known as Kudla in Tulu, Kodial in Konkani, Maikāla in Beary and it is located about 352 kilometres west of the state capital, Bengaluru between the Arabian Sea and the Western Ghat mountain ranges. It is the headquarters of the Dakshina Kannada district in south western Karnataka. It developed as a port on the Arabian Sea—remaining, to this day, lying on the backwaters of the Netravati and Gurupura rivers, Mangalore is often used as a staging point for sea traffic along the Malabar Coast. The city has a climate and lies in the path of the Arabian Sea branch of the South-West monsoons. Mangalores port handles 75 per cent of Indias coffee and cashew exports, Mangalore was ruled by several major powers, including the Kadambas, Alupas, Vijayanagar Empire, Keladi Nayaks and the Portuguese. The city was a source of contention between the British and the Mysore rulers, Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan, eventually annexed by the British in 1799, Mangalore remained part of the Madras Presidency until Indias independence in 1947. The city was unified with the state of Mysore in 1956, Mangalore is the largest city in Dakshina Kannada district and is one of the most cosmopolitan non-metro cities of India. It is also the largest city in the Coastal and Malnad regions of Karnataka, besides being a commercial, industrial, educational, Mangalore city urban agglomeration extends from Ullal in the south to Mulki in the north, covering a distance of over 40 km. The citys landscape is characterised by rolling hills, coconut palms, freshwater streams, Mangalore was ranked Indias 13th and Karnatakas second most favourable destination for business. Mangalore will be developed as a city under PM Narendra Modis flagship Smart Cities Mission. Mangalore was named after the Hindu deity Mangaladevi, the deity of the Mangaladevi temple or a synonym of Tara Bhagvati of the Vajrayana Buddhist sect. According to local legend, a princess from Malabar named Parimala or Premaladevi renounced her kingdom and became a disciple of Matsyendranath, having converted Premaladevi to the Nath sect, Matsyendranath renamed her Mangaladevi. She arrived in the area with Matsyendranath, but had to settle near Bolar in Mangalore as she fell ill on the way, eventually she died, and the Mangaladevi temple was consecrated in her honour at Bolar by the local people after her death. The city got its name from the temple, one of the earliest references to the citys name was made in 715 CE by the Pandyan King Chettian, who called the city Mangalapuram. The city and the region was a part of the Pandyan Kingdom. Ramesh, President of the Place Names Society of India, Mangaluru was first heard in 1345 CE during the Vijayanagar rule, many shilashasanas of Vijayanagar period refer the city as Mangalapura. Even before that, during the Alupas period, it was referred to as Mangalapura, the city is well known as Mangaluru in Kannada, a reference to Mangaladevi
13.
Alupa dynasty
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The Alupa also known as Alva were a royal dynasty who ruled what is now coastal Karnataka, India. They ruled independently their kingdom known as Alvakheda since the beginning of the common era, Later with the dominance of Kadambas from Banavasi, they became feudatory to them. With the changing political scenario, soon became the vassals of the Chalukyas, Rashtrakutas, Hoysalas. Their influence over coastal Karnataka lasted for about 1200 years, there is evidence that the Alupas followed the law of matrilineal inheritance since the Alupa king Soyideva was succeeded by his nephew Kulasekhara Bankideva. Ptolemy, the 2nd century geographer identifies the Tulu Nadu region as Olokhoira which is believed to be a corruption of the term Alva Kheda. Regarding the origin of the name B. A. Saletore has suggested that the name Alupa is derived from its variant Aluka which is an epithet of the divine serpent Shesha of Hindu epics. Fleet has suggested that the name Aluka may possibly denote the Nāgas who in early times were included in Chalukya dominions, Saletore further adds that the Naga origin of the Alupas is proved by two facts. The figure of a serpent which is found in an effaced Alupa stone inscription in the Gollara Ganapati temple in Mangalore. Saletore dismisses the idea regarding the Dravidian origin of the name from the Tamil word Alu meaning to rule or govern, the rule of other Chutu dynasty was restricted only to Banavasi, and the rule of Sadakanas were confined to Chandravalli region. The region of North Karnataka was more under so-called Elephant, Lion, Horse, again, later Shatavahana branch and Later Kuras moved southward to establish only in Banavasi. The region of Dakshina Kannada was free from any such an external influence, in south India, only three of the local dynasties are known to the history, namely the Sangam-age Cholas, Cheras and the Pandyas. Alupas migrated to the region of Mangalore and took control of the coastal land stretching from Southern Kasaragod till modern Udupi with Mangalore as the epicenter. The region of South Canara prior to this rule is still tagged to the same ruling house though the ruling was more informal. With the Kadambas rule from Banavasi, Karnataka saw developments in the field of art, land of Karnataka saw more and more epigraphs that recorded the activities of the past, mostly erected in the temple premises. The first clear mention of Alupas comes from the Halmidi inscription of 450 CE where their possible early ruler Pashupathi of Alapa gana is mentioned, Pashupathi was the contemporary of the Kadambas. Hence for historical record, we can assume that the dynastic formation of Alupas took place around 5th century CE. Their royal emblem was the fish and they claimed to belong to the Pandyavamsha. Their coins carried the dynastic title Sri Pandya Dhananjaya which means Arjuna among the Pandyas, in the ancient times, the region was referred as Alvakheda and during the later part of the reign, the region was referred as Tulunadu
14.
P. Gururaja Bhat
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Paduru Gururaja Bhat was a teacher, historian and archaeologist of Tulu Nadu and of Barkur, the ancient capital of the Tulu kingdom. Born in 1924 in the village of Paduru in Karnatakas Udupi district and he received a Masters degree in History from the Banaras Hindu University in 1956 and a PhD from the University of Mysore in 1968. His thesis was entitled A Political and Cultural History of Tulu-nadu from the earliest times up to AD1600, Bhat taught at the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial College in Udupi, and was the founder-principal of the The Milagres College, Kallianpur, from 1967 to 1976. Tulunadu Antiquities of South Kanara, Prabhakara Press, studies in Tuluva history and culture, From the pre-historic times upto the modern. The project was completed by Prof. Muralidhara Upadhya and Dr. P N Narasimhamurthy
15.
B. A. Saletore
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Bhaskar Anand Saletore, better known as B. A. Saletore, was a well-known Indian historian from Mangalore, Karnataka. B. A. Saletore was born in village named Saletore in the Puttur taluk of South Canara district and he did his early schooling in Mangalore. He did his B. T. degree from Madras and M. A. degree from St. Xaviers College and he was educated in London University in History 1931 and also from University of Giessen, Germany in Politics 1933. He started his career as professor of History at Sir Parshurambhau College in Pune in 1938 and he worked with the Bombay Educational Service he became the Director of National Archives of India, retiring in 1960. Thereafter, he started his tenure as professor, later Head of Post Graduate Department of History and his works spanning several books and hundreds of articles cover a wide range of subjects including ancient Indian history. During his early years he was guided by world famous historians like H. Heras and this book was his PhD. thesis while at the University of London. The work contains a bibliography of 55 pages, running to thousand and odd books, origin of Vijayanagar Empire Saletore was the first among scholars from Karnataka to emphatically prove the Kannada origin of the empire. He resoundingly argued against a Telugu origin propounded by N. Venkataramanayya with literary, study on political and social history was divided into Revenue administration Administration of central government Administration of local government Law and Justice Foreign relations Army. Study on cultural history divided into Social institutions Position of women Social legislation Public service Habitation, food and dress Corporate life Festivals, games, in appreciation of his work, historian S. Krishnaswamy Aiyangar sums up Saletores efforts in a nutshell. The very extent of the subject and the vastness of details available, but Dr. Saletore has succeeded in producing a creditable work bearing on the vast subject. The work gives a correct and complete view of the life of the people under the empire and he is said to be the first historian to use epigraphical sources for the study of social history which is what current days students of history do. He is said to be a pioneer in throwing light on socio-economic polity of Karnataka over the ages and his last book, Ancient Indian Political Thought and Institutions, written just before his death, is said to be a masterpiece. The book is said to be a study of great Indian political minds of ancient times including Kautilya
16.
A. Aiyappan
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Ayinapalli Aiyappan was an museologist who served as Superintendent of the Government Museum, Madras from 1940 to 1960. He was the first Indian to occupy the post, Aiyappan was also an amateur archaeologist who did pioneering excavations on the archaeological site at Arikamedu. Aiyappan was born into the Ezhava community and he obtained an MA in economics from the University of Madras in 1927, and in 1929 he joined the Government Museum, Madras. He continued to study, taking a PhD in 1937 after being a student of Raymond Firth at the London School of Economics and he became head of the museum in 1940 and continued there until 1958, whilst also being a visiting professor at Cornell University during 1954–1956. He became professor and head of the Department of Anthropology at Utkal University in 1958, in 1969 he was appointed vice-chancellor of Kerala University, a post in which he stayed for either 18 months or until 1972, dependent on the source selected. In 1970 he became a founder and first chairman of the Centre for Development Studies. He was also a founder and director of the Tribal Research Bureau of Odisha. Aiyappan was involved in the reorganisation of the Odisha Museum as a museum with the addition of natural history, mining and geology. He was awarded the Saratchandra Roy Gold Medal of the Asiatic Society in Bengal and he was also an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute. Iravas and Cultural Change Social Revolution in a Kerala Village Nayads of Kerala The Personality of Kerala Physical Anthropology of the Nayadis of Malabar Bharathappazhama Notes Citations
17.
Hoysala Empire
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The Hoysala empire was a prominent Southern Indian Kannadiga empire that ruled most of the modern-day state of Karnataka between the 10th and the 14th centuries. The capital of the Hoysalas was initially located at Belur but was moved to Halebidu. The Hoysala rulers were originally from Malnad Karnataka, a region in the Western Ghats range. By the 13th century, they governed most of present-day Karnataka, minor parts of Tamil Nadu and parts of western Andhra Pradesh, the Hoysala era was an important period in the development of art, architecture, and religion in South India. The empire is remembered primarily for its temple architecture. Over a hundred surviving temples are scattered across Karnataka, well known temples which exhibit an amazing display of sculptural exuberance include the Chennakesava Temple at Belur, the Hoysaleswara Temple at Halebidu, and the Kesava Temple at Somanathapura. The Hoysala rulers also patronised the arts, encouraging literature to flourish in Kannada. Kannada folklore tells a tale of a young man Sala, who saved his Jain guru Sudatta by striking dead a Tiger he encountered near the temple of the Goddess Vasantika at Angadi, the word strike literally translates to hoy in Hale Kannada, hence the name Hoy-sala. This legend first appeared in the Belur inscription of Vishnuvardhana, early inscriptions, dated 1078 and 1090, have implied that the Hoysalas were descendants of the Yadava by referring to the Yadava vamsa as Hoysala vamsa. But there are no early records directly linking the Hoysalas to the Yadavas of North India, historians refer to the founders of the dynasty as natives of Malnad Karnataka, based on numerous inscriptions calling them Maleparolganda or Lord of the Male chiefs. This title in the Kannada language was used by the Hoysala kings as their royal signature in their inscriptions. Literary sources from that time in Kannada and Sanskrit have also helped confirm they were natives of the region known today as Karnataka, the first Hoysala family record is dated 950 and names Arekalla as the chieftain, followed by Maruga and Nripa Kama I. The next ruler, Munda, was succeeded by Nripa Kama II who held titles as Permanadi that show an early alliance with the Western Ganga dynasty. From these modest beginnings, the Hoysala dynasty began its transformation into a subordinate of the Western Chalukyas. Through Vishnuvardhanas expansive military conquests, the Hoysalas achieved the status of a kingdom for the first time. He wrested Gangavadi from the Cholas in 1116 and moved the capital from Belur to Halebidu, Vishnuvardhanas ambition of creating an independent empire was fulfilled by his grandson Veera Ballala II, who freed the Hoysalas from subordination in 1187–1193. During this time, peninsular India saw a four way struggle for hegemony – Pandya, Kakatiya, Veera Ballala II defeated the aggressive Pandya when they invaded the Chola kingdom. He assumed the title Establisher of the Chola Kingdom, Emperor of the south and he founded the city of Bangalore according to Kannada folklore
18.
Ajila
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Ajila is a common surname of the Bunt people, the landed gentry of Tulu Nadu region in the south west of India. It is also the name of the Jain Bunt Dynasty who ruled the principality of Venur for several centuries, the present head of the Ajila dynasty is Padmaprasad Ajila, fourteenth in line through the matrilineal lineage of Veera Timmannarasa Ajila IV. They should also maintain the grants made to the Bunts of the palace and they and the merchants who has settled in the kingdom must attend the ‘Brahmotsava’ ceremony in the temple of Aladangadi. Neglecting this regulation is equal to neglecting the tradition and also the four deities of Aruvu, Shri Somanatha, Shri Shanthishwara of Venur
19.
Chowta
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Chowta is a common surname of the Bunt people of Karnataka and Kerala, India. It is also the name of the Jain dynasty who ruled parts of the Tulu Nadu region for several centuries. They succession to the throne was as per the Bunt custom of matrilineal inheritance and they initially ruled from their capital at Ullal and the first known king of the Dynasty was Tirumalaraya Chowta I. His successor, Channaraya Chowta I, moved it inland to Puttige, bhojaraya Chowta II was the greatest of the Chowta rulers. He visited the court of Krishnadevaraya, the Vijayanagar emperor, the principality of Chowta split in 1544, with two separate capitals, one at Ullala, under the renowned Queen Abbakka Chowta, and another at Puttige. Ullal branch seems to have become extinct and c,1603, the Chowta moved their capital to Moodabidri. He reigned from 1783 to 1822, following the conquest of South Canara by the British the Chowtas lost all their power except that they received a small pension from the then government. Descendants of the chowta rulers still survive and inhabit the Chowtara Aramane of Moodabidri, Abbakka Chowta, Queen of Ullal Sandeep Chowta, Indian music composer D. K. Chowta, Indian Writer Saavira Kambada Basadi Moodabidri
20.
Veerendra Heggade
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Dr. D. Veerendra Heggade is a philanthropist and the hereditary administrator/Dharmadhikari of the Dharmasthala Temple. He succeeded to the post of Dharmadhikari at the age of 20, in less than four decades, since he assumed responsibilities in 1968, he has carried his heritage to greater heights. Not only by continuing to protect the essence of the Kshetra, considering the magnanimous service rendered by Dr. D. Veerendra Heggade to mankind, several organizations, Universities, Government Bodies have honored him with awards. In April 1993 he was honored with the title Rajarshi by Shankar Dayal Sharma, Dr. Heggade has also been honoured with the Padma Bhushan and the Padma Vibhushan award, Indias third and second highest civilian awards. He has been awarded with the coveted Karnataka Ratna award for the year 2009 and this has been awarded to Dr. Heggade as a recognition to his outstanding contribution to humanity. Karnataka Ratna is the highest civilian award in Karnataka, Veerendra was born the eldest son of Dharmadhikari Ratnavarma Heggade and his wife Rathnamma Heggade. He belongs to the Pergade dynasty of Tulu Lineage, who are the trustees of the famous Sri Dharmasthala Manjunatha Swamy temple in South Kanara district of Karnataka. Despite being the trustees of a Hindu temple, the family are of the Jain religion, Veerendra has three younger brothers, Harshendra Kumar Heggade, Surendra Kumar Heggade and Rajendra Kumar Heggade, and a sister, Padmalata Heggade. He married Hemavathi Heggade in a match arranged, as is traditional in India, Veerendra and Hemavathy are the parents of a daughter, Shraddha. As the eldest son, Veerendra succeeded his father as Dharmadhikari of the temple and its properties and he is the twenty-first member of the Pergade dynasty to hold the position of Dharmadhikari of the Dharmasthala Temple. As he has no sons, his heir is his senior-most younger brother, Dharmadhikari Veerendra Heggade is a car collector and photography aficionado. His car collection is on display in Dharmastala, what distinguishes Shri Veerendra Heggade is that while being the head of a revered religious institution, he is, today, far more than that. His years of practicing active Dharma have given him a vision that combines social issues such as education and he continued the tradition of the Kshetra to hold annual ‘Sarva Dharma and Sahitya Sammelana’ at Dharmasthala. The 72nd Session of the Sammelana was held in 2004 and he is a patron of Art and Literature, a voracious reader, publishes a publication series and a monthly journal Manjuvani. To propagate Naturopathy, Yoga and Moral Education,400 Teachers of High Schools and Primary Schools train more than 30,000 students every year in Yoga and he has contributed to the revival of Yakshagana by maintaining pure traditional approach to Yakshagana. MANJUSHA a Museum was established displaying rare collections of antiques and contemporary rare, a ‘Vintage Car Museum’ attached to this Museum has interesting cars from many Nations. 10,000 couples wedded under this scheme by April 2004, constructed Marriage Halls at Bangalore, Kallahalli, Bhadravathi, Mysore, Shravanabelagola and Bantwal for the benefit of middle and low-income people to conduct marriages. Introduced a Rural Development Project, in Coastal District of Karnataka, comprising 600 Villages, recently has been propagating the importance of tapping solar energy and provided such facilities to several villages
21.
Dharmasthala Temple
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Dharmasthala Temple is an 800-year-old religious institution in the temple town of Dharmasthala in Dakshina Kannada, Karnataka, India. The deities of the temple are Shiva, who is referred to as Mañjunatha, Ammavaru, the tirthankara Chandraprabha, the temple is considered unique since it belongs to the Shaiva sect of Hinduism. The priests are Shivalli Brahmins, who are Vaishnava, and the administration is run by a Jain Bunt family called the Pergades,800 years ago, Dharmasthala was known as Kuduma in Mallarmadi, then a village in Belthangady. Here lived the Jain Bunt chieftain Birmanna Pergade and his wife Ammu Ballalthi in a house called Nelliadi Beedu. According to the legend, the angels of Dharma assumed human forms and arrived at Pergades abode in search of a place where Dharma was being practised. As was their habit, the couple hosted these illustrious visitors with all their wherewithal, pleased by their sincerity and generosity, that night the Dharma Daivas appeared in the dreams of Pergade. They explained the purpose of their visit to him and instructed him to vacate his house for the worship of the Daivas, asking no questions, the Pergade built himself another house and began worshiping the Daivas at Nelliadi Beedu. The Dharma Daivas again appeared before Pergade to build shrines to consecrate the four Daivas — Kalarahu, Kalarkayi, Kumaraswamy. Also, Pergade was instructed to choose two persons of noble birth to act as the Daivas oracles and four persons to assist Pergade in his duties as the executive head of the shrines. In return, the Daivas promised Pergade protection for his family, abundance of charity, Pergade, as desired, built the shrines and invited Brahmin priests to perform the rituals. These priests requested Pergade to install a Shivalinga beside the native Daivas, the Daivas then sent their vassal Annappa Swamy to procure the linga of Shiva from Kadri Manjunath Temple, near Mangalore. Subsequently, the Manjunatha temple was built around the linga, the Pergade family is a Jain Bunt family who descend from the creator of the temple. Birmanna Pergade and his wife Ammu Ballalthi and are the trustees of the temple. The eldest male member assumes the position of Dharma Adhikari and uses the title Heggade, the Heggade was the feudal lord of the temple town and solved civil or criminal disputes. This was a function and continues even to this day, The Heggade sits in judgement on hundreds of civil complaints, known as hoyulu. About nearly twenty generations of the Pergade family have assumed the position of Dharma Adhikari, the present Dharma Adhikari is Veerendra Heggade. The list of previous Dharma Adhikari is as follows, Official website of Dharmasthala Manjunatha Temple
22.
Europe
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Europe is a continent that comprises the westernmost part of Eurasia. Europe is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, yet the non-oceanic borders of Europe—a concept dating back to classical antiquity—are arbitrary. Europe covers about 10,180,000 square kilometres, or 2% of the Earths surface, politically, Europe is divided into about fifty sovereign states of which the Russian Federation is the largest and most populous, spanning 39% of the continent and comprising 15% of its population. Europe had a population of about 740 million as of 2015. Further from the sea, seasonal differences are more noticeable than close to the coast, Europe, in particular ancient Greece, was the birthplace of Western civilization. The fall of the Western Roman Empire, during the period, marked the end of ancient history. Renaissance humanism, exploration, art, and science led to the modern era, from the Age of Discovery onwards, Europe played a predominant role in global affairs. Between the 16th and 20th centuries, European powers controlled at times the Americas, most of Africa, Oceania. The Industrial Revolution, which began in Great Britain at the end of the 18th century, gave rise to economic, cultural, and social change in Western Europe. During the Cold War, Europe was divided along the Iron Curtain between NATO in the west and the Warsaw Pact in the east, until the revolutions of 1989 and fall of the Berlin Wall. In 1955, the Council of Europe was formed following a speech by Sir Winston Churchill and it includes all states except for Belarus, Kazakhstan and Vatican City. Further European integration by some states led to the formation of the European Union, the EU originated in Western Europe but has been expanding eastward since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. The European Anthem is Ode to Joy and states celebrate peace, in classical Greek mythology, Europa is the name of either a Phoenician princess or of a queen of Crete. The name contains the elements εὐρύς, wide, broad and ὤψ eye, broad has been an epithet of Earth herself in the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European religion and the poetry devoted to it. For the second part also the divine attributes of grey-eyed Athena or ox-eyed Hera. The same naming motive according to cartographic convention appears in Greek Ανατολή, Martin Litchfield West stated that phonologically, the match between Europas name and any form of the Semitic word is very poor. Next to these there is also a Proto-Indo-European root *h1regʷos, meaning darkness. Most major world languages use words derived from Eurṓpē or Europa to refer to the continent, in some Turkic languages the originally Persian name Frangistan is used casually in referring to much of Europe, besides official names such as Avrupa or Evropa
23.
Manor house
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A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The term is loosely applied to various country houses, frequently dating from the late medieval era. They were sometimes fortified, but this was intended more for show than for defence. Manor houses existed in most European countries where feudalism existed, where they were known as castles, palaces. Many buildings, such as schools, are named Manor, the reason behind this is because the building was or is close to a manor house. The lord of the manor may have several properties within a county or, for example in the case of a feudal baron, spread across a kingdom. A large and suitable building was required within the manor for such purpose, generally in the form of a hall. This also gave the opportunity for the manor house to be cleaned, especially important in the days of the cess-pit. Thus such non-resident lords needed to appoint a steward or seneschal to act as their deputy in such matters, the day-to-day administration was carried out by a resident official in authority at each manor, who in England was called a bailiff, or reeve. Although not typically built with strong fortifications as were castles, many manor-houses were fortified and they were often enclosed within walls or ditches which often also included agricultural buildings. The primary feature of the house was its great hall. A late 16th-century transformation produced many of the smaller Renaissance châteaux of France, the Tudor period of stability in England saw the building of the first of the unfortified great houses, for example Sutton Place in Surrey, circa 1521. During the second half of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I and under her successor King James I the first mansions designed by architects not by mere masons or builders, began to make their appearance. Such houses as Burghley House, Longleat House, and Hatfield House are among the best known of this period, nearly every large mediaeval manor house had its own deer-park adjoining, emparked by royal licence, which served primarily as a store of food in the form of venison. Within these licensed parks deer could not be hunted by royalty and this gave them more privacy and space. Court was a suffix which came into use in the 16th century, the obvious origin of the suffix would appear to be that the building was the location where the manorial courts were held. True castles, when not royal castles, were generally the residences of feudal barons, the manor on which the castle was situated was termed the caput of the barony, thus every true ancient defensive castle was also the manor house of its own manor. The suffix -Park came into use in the 18th and 19th centuries, the usage is often a modern catch-all suffix for an old house on an estate, true manor or not
24.
Nayakas of Keladi
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Nayakas of Keladi, also known as Nayakas of Bednore and Kings of Ikkeri, were an Indian dynasty based from Keladi in Shimoga district, Karnataka, India. They were an important ruling dynasty in post-medieval Karnataka and they initially ruled as a vassal of the famous Vijayanagar Empire. In 1763 AD, with their defeat to Hyder Ali, they were absorbed into the Kingdom of Mysore and they played an important part in the history of Karnataka, during a time of confusion and fragmentation that generally prevailed in South India after the fall of the Vijayanagar Empire. The Keladi rulers were Lingayats but they were tolerant towards followers of other faiths, the Haleri Kings of Kodagu who ruled over Coorg between 1600 A. D and 1834 A. D. were an offshoot of Keladi Nayaka dynasty. Chaudappa Nayaka, originally Chauda Gowda, was from a village called Pallibailu near Keladi and he was the son of Lingayat couple Basavappa and Basavamambe, who were into farming. He was the earliest chieftain to rule the area surrounding Shimoga, rose through self capability, sadashiva Nayaka was an important chieftain in the Vijayanagar Empire and earned the title Kotekolahala from emperor Aliya Rama Raya for his heroics in the battle of Kalyani. The coastal provinces of Karnataka came under his direct rule and he moved the capital to Ikkeri some 20 km. from Keladi. Rama Raja Nayaka Hiriya Venkatappa Nayaka is considered by scholars as ablest monarch of the clan and he completely freed himself from the overlordship of the relocated Vijayanagar rulers of Penugonda. Italian traveller Pietro Della Valle, who visited his kingdom in 1623, called him an able soldier, in his reign the kingdom expanded so that it covered coastal regions, Malnad regions, and some regions to the east of the western Ghats of present-day Karnataka. He is also known to have defeated the Adilshahis of Bijapur in Hanagal, though a Virashaiva by faith, he built many temples for Vaishnavas and Jains and a mosque for Muslims. He defeated the Portuguese in 1618 and 1619, Virabhadra Nayaka faced many troubles from the start, including competition from rival Jain chieftains of Malenad for the throne of Ikkeri and invasion by the Sultanate armies of Bijapur. Ikkeri was plundered by the Bijapur army during his time, Shivappa Nayaka is widely considered as the ablest and greatest of the Keladi rulers. He was the uncle of Virabhadra Nayaka, Shivappa deposed his nephew to gain the throne of Keladi. He was not only an administrator, he also patronised literature. He gave importance to agriculture and developed new schemes for collection of taxes and revenues which earned him praise from later British officials. A statue of him and the built by him containing many artifacts of his times are reminders of the respect he has earned even from the present generation of people of the region. He destroyed the Portuguese political power in the Kanara region by capturing all the Portuguese forts of the coastal region, Chikka Venkatappa Nayaka, ruled for a short span of time after Shivappa Nayaka. Bhadrappa Nayaka, succeeded Chikka Venkatappa Nayaka, somashekara Nayaka I The King who was once a good administrator, gave up his interest in administration after his associastion with a dancer named Kalavati
25.
Kingdom of Coorg
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The Kingdom of Coorg was an independent kingdom which existed till 1834. It was ruled by a branch of the Ikkeri Nayaka, from 1780 to 1788, the kingdom was occupied by neighbouring Mysore but the Rajah of Coorg was restored by the British and became a protectorate of British India on 26 October 1790. In 1834, the then Raja of Coorg rebelled against British authority sparking the Coorg War, the rebellion was brutally quelled by the British who annexed the kingdom and made it a province of British India. In the ensuing massacre, the Mysore army lost 15,000 men, for most of the next two decades, the western reaches of Mysore remained vulnerable to attacks by the Coorg army. In the border district of Yelusavira, the Coorg and Mysore forces fought to a stalemate and, catching it off guard, he took in rapid succession six fortresses from Piriyapatna to Arkalgud. Upon the Mysore armys arrival in the region, however. Emboldened by the lack of resistance, the Mysore forces next mounted an attack on the Coorg hills, there too, they met no resistance. However, a few days into this invasion, the Mysore forces, recalling their ignominious ambush in the 1890s, soon, the Coorg army was attacking the Mysore outposts again. This pattern of back and forth was to continue until the Mysore army was recalled, first, the terrain, and the possibility of retreating periodically into the wooded hillside, favoured them, in contrast to their relatively clumsy opponents. Second, the Mysore army could never maintain a permanent presence in the region, the ruler was succeeded by his grandson, Chikka Virappa, whose unremarkable rule lasted until 1768, when Coorg was conquered by Haidar Ali, the new sultan of Mysore. In 1780, Coorg was invaded by Hyder Ali of Mysore, for eight years, Coorg was a part of Mysore. In 1788, through British intervention, the Raja of Coorg regained his kingdom and he signed a treaty bringing Coorg under the protection of the British. From 1790 to 1834, Coorg remained a protectorate of British India, in 1834, the then Raja of Coorg tried to shake off his allegiance to the British which resulted in the Coorg. The state was annexed and became the Coorg Province. Citations Bibliography Rice, Lewis, History of Coorg, Mysore and Coorg, A Gazetteer compiled for the Government, Volume 3, Coorg, Bangalore, Mysore Government Press
26.
Tuluva dynasty
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Tuluva was the third dynasty of the Vijayanagara Empire. The Tuluva were the third Hindu dynasty which ruled Vijayanagara empire, the dynasty was founded by chieftain Tuluva -Bunts who originally ruled southern parts of coastal Karnataka, also called Tulu Nadu. The dynasty have gained the name Tuluva because they belonged to the Tulu speaking region of Tulu Nadu and they came to power after the Saluva Dynasty. The Tuluva dynasty were the most powerful dynasty of the Vijayanagara Empire of Southern India and they belonged to the Nagavanshi kshatriya order of lineage. They are believed to be Nagavanshis who worshiped Nagaraja Vasuki as their family deity, the Vijayanagar empire attained it greatest glory during this period and their most famous emperor Krishna Deva Raya. Their reign consisted of five emperors from 1491 till 1570 and they ruled almost the entire South India with Vijayanagara as their capital. The fall of the Tuluva dynasty led the beginning of the disintegration of the empire and this period was known as a golden age of Telugu literature. Many Telugu, Sanskrit, Kannada and Tamil poets enjoyed the patronage of the emperor, emperor Krishna Deva Raya earned the titles Andhra Bhoja, Mooru Rayara Ganda and Kannada Rajya Rama Ramana. Krishna Deva Raya was formally initiated into the Vaishnava Sampradaya by Vyasatirtha and he patronised poets and scholars in Kannada, Telugu, Tamil and Sanskrit. Emperor Krishna Deva Raya was fluent in many languages, there remains a debate whether he was a Telugu, Kannadiga or Tuluva by lineage. The five Tuluva emperors were, Tuluva Narasa Nayaka Viranarasimha Raya Krishnadevaraya Achyuta Deva Raya Sadashiva Raya Nagavanshi Tulu Nadu Tuluva Tulu WebPage by Dr. Jyothsna Kamat
27.
Vijayanagara Empire
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The Vijayanagara Empire was based in the Deccan Plateau region in South India. It was established in 1336 by Harihara I and his brother Bukka Raya I of Sangama Dynasty, the empire rose to prominence as a culmination of attempts by the southern powers to ward off Islamic invasions by the end of the 13th century. It lasted until 1646, although its power declined after a military defeat in 1565 by the Deccan sultanates. The empire is named after its city of Vijayanagara, whose ruins surround present day Hampi, now a World Heritage Site in Karnataka. The writings of medieval European travelers such as Domingo Paes, Fernão Nunes, and Niccolò Da Conti, Archaeological excavations at Vijayanagara have revealed the empires power and wealth. The empires legacy includes many monuments spread over South India, the best known of which is the group at Hampi, the previous temple building traditions in South India came together in the Vijayanagara Architecture style. The mingling of all faiths and vernaculars inspired architectural innovation of Hindu temple construction, first in the Deccan, efficient administration and vigorous overseas trade brought new technologies such as water management systems for irrigation. The empires patronage enabled fine arts and literature to new heights in Kannada, Telugu, Tamil. The Vijayanagara Empire created an epoch in South Indian history that transcended regionalism by promoting Hinduism as a unifying factor, differing theories have been proposed regarding the origins of the Vijayanagara empire. Others claim that they were Telugu people, first associated with the Kakatiya Kingdom, irrespective of their origin, historians agree the founders were supported and inspired by Vidyaranya, a saint at the Sringeri monastery to fight the Muslim invasion of South India. He created the Kampili kingdom, but this was a short lived kingdom during this period of wars, Kampili existed near Gulbarga and Tungabhadra river in northeastern parts of the present-day Karnataka state. It ended after a defeat by the armies of Delhi Sultanate, the triumphant army led by Malik Zada sent the news of its victory, over Kampili kingdom, to Muhammad bin Tughluq in Delhi by sending a straw-stuffed severed head of the dead Hindu king. Within Kampili, on the day of certain defeat, the populace committed a jauhar in 1327/28 CE, eight years later, from the ruins of the Kampili kingdom emerged the Vijayanagara Kingdom in 1336 CE. In the first two decades after the founding of the empire, Harihara I gained control over most of the south of the Tungabhadra river. The original capital was in the principality of Anegondi on the banks of the Tungabhadra River in todays Karnataka. The next ruler, Deva Raya I, emerged successful against the Gajapatis of Odisha, italian traveler Niccolo de Conti wrote of him as the most powerful ruler of India. Deva Raya II succeeded to the throne in 1424 and was possibly the most capable of the Sangama dynasty rulers and he quelled rebelling feudal lords as well as the Zamorin of Calicut and Quilon in the south. He invaded the island of Lanka and became overlord of the kings of Burma at Pegu, the Sultanate invaded Vijayanagara in 1417 when the latter defaulted in paying the tribute
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Hampi
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Hampi is a village and temple town recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, listed as the Group of Monuments at Hampi. in northern Karnataka, India. It is located within the ruins of the city of Vijayanagara, predating the city of Vijayanagara, Hampi continues to be an important religious centre, housing the Virupaksha Temple and several other monuments belonging to the old city. Hampi — traditionally known as Pampa-kshetra, Kishkindha-kshetra or Bhaskara-kshetra — is derived from Pampa, the name Hampi is an anglicized version of the Kannada name Hampe. Over the years, it has also referred to as Vijayanagara and Virupakshapura. Emperor Ashokas Rock Edicts in Nittur & Udegolan suggest that this region was part of the Maurya Empire during the 3rd century BC, a Brahmi inscription and a terracotta seal dating to the II century CE were also recovered from the excavation site. The first settlements in Hampi date from 1 CE, immediately before the rise of the Vijayanagara kings, the region was probably in the hands of chiefs of Kampili, now a small town,19 km east of Hampi. Hampi was one of the best areas of the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1343 to 1565, Hampi was chosen because of its strategic location, bounded by the torrential Tungabhadra river on one side and surrounded by defensible hills on the other three sides. The ruins of Hampi were surveyed in 1800 by Scottish Colonel Colin Mackenzie, the site is significant historically and architecturally. The landscape abounds with large stones which have used to make statues of Jaina deities. The Archaeological Survey of India continues to conduct excavations in the area, the Islamic Quarter, sometimes called the Moorish Quarter, is located between the northern slope of the Malyavanta hill and the Talarigatta Gate. According to archaeologists, high-ranking Muslim officers of the kings court, Hampi is situated on the banks of the Tungabhadra River. It is 353 km from Bangalore and 74 km from Bellary, hosapete,13 km away, is the nearest railway head. The annual Hampi Utsav or Vijaya Festival has been celebrated since the reign of Vijayanagara and it is organized by the Government of Karnataka as Nada Festival. Due to the presence of mineral deposits in this region, such as iron-ore and manganese. A recent boom for the supply of iron-ore in the market has led to increased levels of mining in this district. Some feel that the World Heritage Site at Hampi and the Tungabhadra Dam are under threat as a result, the city of Vijayanagara was originally encompassed by seven lines of fortifications, which had many bastions and gateways. The seventh & the innermost fortification enclosed the city and is the best preserved. The extant monuments of Vijayanagara or Hampi can be divided into Religious, the Jain temples on Hemakuta hill, the two Devi shrines and some other structures in the Virupaksha temple complex predate the Vijayanagara Empire
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Cult image
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In the practice of religion, a cult image is a human-made object that is venerated or worshipped for the deity, spirit or daemon that it embodies or represents. Cultus, the outward religious formulas of cult, often centers upon the treatment of cult images, religious images cover a wider range of all types of images made with a religious purpose, subject, or connection. In many contexts cult image specifically means the most important image in a temple, kept in an inner space, as opposed to what may be many other images decorating the temple. The term idol is often synonymous with cult image, but may be used especially of an image believed not just to depict or represent a deity or spirit. Sometimes the image is believed to have its own powers, to grant wishes or otherwise affect the world, in cultures where idolatry is not viewed negatively, the word idol is not generally seen as pejorative, such as in Indian English. Cult of images is the practice of worshipping or venerating religious or cult images representing divine figures, common in a number of ancient religions, the practice continues most prominently today in Hinduism. Assertions by others outside the group concerned that such beliefs are held by the group are however common. Cult images were a presence in Ancient Egypt, and still are in modern-day Kemetism. A common example of an image in ancient Egypt was the Apis Bull. The term is confined to the relatively small images, typically in gold. These images usually showed the god in their sacred barque or boat, the Parthenon contained a cult image of Athena, the Greek goddess of civilization and the noble side of war. This cult image, known as Athena Parthenos, was created by Phidias and this cult image was used for religious sacrifices at this Athenian temple. Hinduism allows for many forms of worship and therefore it neither prescribes nor proscribes worship of images, in Hinduism, a murti typically refers to an image that expresses a Divine Spirit. Meaning literally embodiment, a murti is a representation of a divinity, made usually of stone, wood, or metal, hindus consider a murti worthy of serving as a focus of divine worship only after the divine is invoked in it for the purpose of offering worship. The depiction of the divinity must reflect the gestures and proportions outlined in religious tradition, members of Abrahamic religions identify cult images as idols and their worship as idolatry, the worship of hollow forms. The avoidance of such a degrading paradox was expressed in the early Christian idea of miraculous icons that were not made by human hands, acheiropoietoi. Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Christians make an exception for the veneration of image of saints, the word idol entered Middle English in the 13th century from Old French idole adapted in Ecclesiastical Latin from the Greek eidolon. Greek eidos was employed by Plato and the Platonists to signify perfect immutable forms, the local tribes, of the Arabian peninsula, came to this centre of commerce to place their idols in the Kaaba, in the process being charged tithes
30.
Jumadi
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Jumadi, also known as Dhumavathi, is a deity worshiped particularly in the Tulu Nadu region of Karnataka and Kerala in India. Shrines dedicated to Jumadi can be all over Tulu Nadu. It is believed there was great a demon, Dhumasura. He had caused entire civilizations to vanish and he had a boon whereby he could be killed only by a person who was a man and a woman at the same time. Devotees prayed for Lord Shiva and his consort Parvati to descended from mount Kailasa to vanquish the demon, on their way, Parvati felt uncontrollably hungry. Shiva tried to satisfy her through various means but she could not be satisfied, at last, Shiva told Parvati to eat him to satisfy her hunger. Goddess Parvati tried to swallow Shiva, but Shiva would not go beyond her throat, at that moment Shiva and Parvati merged and were transformed into Jumadi, a male-female form. Jumadi had the face of a man and the part below the throat was that of a woman, in the throat of Jumadi was the sacred lingam and Jumadi wore a crown of nagas. Jumadi vanquished Dhumasura and thus known as Dhumavathi – the vanquisher of Dhumasura. Later, Jumadi took various forms to vanquish other of Dhumasuras demon associates. Jumadi is worshiped by various names like Marlu Jumadi, Kanteri Jumadi, Sarala Jumadi, Maley Jumadi and Pancha Jumadi, the first person to worship this form of Shiva and Parvati became the bunta spirit, who is also worshipped along with Jumadi. The worship of Jumadi is considered incomplete without worshipping the bunta spirit, one of the major shrines of Jumadi is in Padre near Surathkal Mangalore. Jumadi is considered a rajan-daiva and hence members of the Bunt community have Jumadi as their family deity. Jumadi is worshiped by the people of Tulu Nadu irrespective of caste, in some shrines, Jumadi is offered only Satvikka offerings, fruits, milk and other vegetarian foods. In other shrines, Jumadi is offered the blood of a rooster who represents Dhumasura, later, the rooster is eaten by the devotees as Prasad, or given to the pambadas – the spirit impersonators. Ardhanarishvara Bhuta Kola Bunts Dhumavati, a Tantric form of Parvati where she is described to have eaten Shiva Nagaradhane Theyyam Tulu nadu
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Diwali
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Diwali or Deepavali is the Hindu festival of lights celebrated every year in autumn in the northern hemisphere. It is a holiday in Fiji, Guyana, India, Malaysia, Mauritius, Myanmar, Nepal, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago. One of the most popular festivals of Hinduism, it signifies the victory of light over darkness, good over evil, knowledge over ignorance. Its celebration includes millions of lights shining on housetops, outside doors and windows, around temples, in the Gregorian calendar, Diwali night falls between mid-October and mid-November. Before Diwali night, people clean, renovate, and decorate their homes and offices, after puja, fireworks follow, then a family feast including mithai, and an exchange of gifts between family members and close friends. Deepavali also marks a major shopping period in nations where it is celebrated, the name of festive days as well as the rituals of Diwali vary significantly among Hindus, based on the region of India. Dhanteras usually falls eighteen days after Dussehra, Diwali or Sanskrit dīpāvali means series of lights, and is derived from dīpam light, lamp and oli glow of light. Diwali is also known as festival of lights. Diwali dates back to ancient times in India, as a festival after the summer harvest in the Hindu calendar month of Kartika. The diyas are mentioned in Skanda Purana to symbolically represent parts of sun, the giver of light and energy to all life. Hindus in some regions of India associate Diwali with the legend of Yama, the Nachiketa story about right versus wrong, true wealth versus transient wealth, knowledge versus ignorance is recorded in Katha Upanishad composed in 1st millennium BC. King Harsha in the 7th century Sanskrit play Nagananda mentions Deepavali as Deepapratipadutsava, the Persian traveller and historian Al Biruni, in his 11th century memoir on India, wrote of Deepavali being celebrated by Hindus on New Moon day of the month of Kartika. Diwali is one of the happiest holidays in India and Nepal with significant preparations, people clean their homes and decorate them for the festivities. People also buy gifts for family members and friends which typically include sweets, dry fruits and it is also the period when children hear ancient stories, legends about battles between good and evil or light and darkness from their parents and elders. Girls and women go shopping and create rangoli and other creative patterns on floors, near doors, youth and adults alike help with lighting and preparing for patakhe. There is significant variation in practices and rituals. Depending on the region, prayers are offered one or more deities, with most common being Lakshmi – the goddess of wealth. On Diwali night, fireworks light up the neighborhood skies, later, family members and invited friends celebrate the night over food and sweets
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Vijayadashami
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Vijayadasami, also known as Dussehra, is a major Hindu festival celebrated at the end of Navratri every year. It is observed on the full day in the Hindu calendar month of Ashvin. Vijayadasami is observed for different reasons and celebrated differently in various parts of the Indian subcontinent, in the eastern and northeastern states of India, Vijayadashami marks the end of Durga Puja, remembering goddess Durgas victory over the buffalo demon to help restore Dharma. In the northern, southern and western states, the festival is synonymously called Dussehra, elsewhere, on Dussehra, the towering effigies of Ravana symbolizing the evil is burnt with fireworks marking evils destruction. The festival also starts the preparation for one of the most important and widely celebrated Diwali, the festival of lights, which is celebrated twenty days after the Vijayadashami. Vijayadashami is a composite of two words Vijaya and Dashami, which respectively mean victory and tenth, connoting the festival on the day celebrating the victory of good over evil. The same Hindu festival-related term, however, takes different forms in different regions of India and Nepal, according to James Lochtefeld, the word Dussehra is a variant of Dashahara which a compound Sanskrit word meaning ten days. According to Monier Williams, Dus meaning bad, evil, sinful and Hara means removing, destroying, connoting removing the bad, destroying the evil, in most of northern and western India, Dasha-Hara is celebrated in honour of Rama. The effigies are burnt on bonfires in the evening of Vijayadashami-Dussehra, while Dussehra is observed on the same day across India, the festivities leading to it varies. The performance arts tradition during the Dussehra festival was inscribed by UNESCO as one of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2008, the festivities, states UNESCO, include songs, narration, recital and dialogue based on the Hindu text Ramacharitmanas by Tulsidas. In many parts, the audience and villagers join in and participate spontaneously, some helping the artists, others helping with stage set up, create make-up, effigies and lights. These arts come to a close on the night of Dussehra, Kullu Dussehra is celebrated in the Kullu valley of Himachal Pradesh, and is regionally notable for its large fair and parade witnessed by estimated half a million people. The festival is a symbol of victory of good over evil by Raghu Nath, the special feature of the Kullu Dussehra procession is the arrival of floats containing deities from different parts of the nearby regions and their journey to Kullu. Vijayadasami is celebrated in a variety of ways in South India, celebrations range from worshipping Durga, lighting up temples and major forts such as at Mysore, to displaying colorful figurines, known as a golu. The festival played a role in the 14th-century Vijayanagara Empire. The Italian traveller Niccolò de Conti described the intensity and importance as a grandeur religious. The event revered Durga as the warrior goddess, the celebrations hosted athletic competitions, singing and dancing, fireworks, a pageantry military parade and charitable giving to the public. The city of Mysore has traditionally been a center of Dussehra-Vijayadashami celebrations
33.
Amitav Ghosh
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Amitav Ghosh is an Indian–American author best known for his work in English fiction. Amitav Ghosh was born in Calcutta on 11 July 1956 to a Bengali Hindu family, to Lieutenant Colonel Shailendra Chandra Ghosh and he was educated at the all-boys Doon School, where he edited The Doon School Weekly. His contemporaries at Doon included author Vikram Seth and Ram Guha, after Doon, he received degrees from St. Stephens College, Delhi University, and Delhi School of Economics. He then won the Inlaks Foundation scholarship to complete a D. Phil, in social anthropology at St Edmund Hall, Oxford, under the supervision of Peter Lienhardt. His first job was at the Indian Express newspaper in New Delhi, Ghosh lives in New York with his wife, Deborah Baker, author of the Laura Riding biography In Extremis, The Life of Laura Riding and a senior editor at Little, Brown and Company. They have two children, Lila and Nayan. He has been a fellow at the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta, in 1999, Ghosh joined the faculty at Queens College, City University of New York, as Distinguished Professor in Comparative literature. He has also been a professor at the English department of Harvard University since 2005. Ghosh subsequently returned to India began working on the Ibis trilogy which includes Sea of Poppies, River of Smoke and he was awarded the Padma Shri by the Indian government in 2007. In 2009, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, in 2015 Ghosh was named a Ford Foundation Art of Change Fellow. Ghoshs River of Smoke, is the volume of The Ibis trilogy. The third, Flood of Fire, completing the trilogy, has been published 28 May 2015 to positive reviews, most of his work deals with historical settings, especially in the Indian Ocean periphery. In an interview with Mahmood Kooria, he said, It was not intentional, ghoshs notable non-fiction writings are In an Antique Land, Dancing in Cambodia and at Large in Burma, Countdown, and The Imam and the Indian. His writings appear in newspapers and magazines in India and abroad, the Circle of Reason won the Prix Médicis étranger, one of Frances top literary awards. The Shadow Lines won the Sahitya Akademi Award and the Ananda Puraskar, the Calcutta Chromosome won the Arthur C. Clarke Award for 1997. Sea of Poppies was shortlisted for the 2008 Man Booker Prize and it was the co-winner of the Vodafone Crossword Book Award in 2009, as well as co-winner of the 2010 Dan David Prize. River of Smoke was shortlisted for the Man Asian Literary Prize 2011, the government of India awarded him the civilian honour of Padma Shri in 2007. Subsequently, he landed in controversy over his acceptance of the Israeli literary award, Ghosh received the lifetime achievement award at Tata Literature Live, the Mumbai LitFest on November 20,2016
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Buta Kola
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The būta cult is prevalent among the non-Brahmin Tuluvas of Tulu Nadu region. The word kōla is conventionally reserved for the worship of a single spirit whereas a nēma involves the impersonation of several spirits in hierarchical order, in kōlas and nēmas family and village disputes are referred to the spirit for mediation and adjudication. In feudal times, the aspect of the ritual included matters of political justice, such as the legitimation of political authority. The produce of land owned by the būta as well as certain contributions from the leading manors was redistributed among the villagers. It can be said as a form of Shamanism, the ritual performance at a būta kōla or daiva nēma involves music, dance, recital, and elaborate costumes. Recitals in Old Tulu recount the origins of the deity and tell the story of how it came to the present location and these epics are known as pāḍdanas. According to some, Jumadi is the small-pox goddess Māri, there are only two female Bhūtas – Ukkatiri and Kallurti. The Bhūtas are supposed to belong to different castes, for example Okkuballala and Dēvanajiri are Jains, Kodamanitaya and Kukkinataya are Bants, Kalkuḍa is a smith, Bobbariya is a Māppilla, and Nicha a Koraga. Some of them are ancestral spirits such as Bobbariya, Kalkuḍa, Kallurti, some are spirits such as Koti and Chennayya, Siri, some are deified wild animals such as the boar - Paňjurli or the tiger - Pilichāmuṇḍi. Panjurli is said to be the spirit of a boar, blessed by Lord Shiva and Parvati, some būtas are Androgynous such as some instances of Jumadi who is represented as female below the neck, but with a male head sporting a mustache. There are anthropomorphic būtas, zoomorphic ones, and mixed forms, according to the ethnographer Peter Claus, the Tulu pāḍdanas reveal a cosmology which is distinctly Dravidian and thus different from the Puranic Hindu cosmology. The world is divided in two three realms, firstly, the realm of cultivated lands, secondly the realm of wastelands and forests, grāmya and jāṅgala/āraṇya form part of the tangible world, whereas būta-loka is their intangible counterpart. As grāmya is constantly threatened by encroachment, disease, hunger and death form jāṅgala and āraṇya, the world of the forest is the world of the wild, unordered, uncontrolled, hungry beings of destruction. The world of the forest and the world of the spirits are seen as mirror images of each other. The relationship between three worlds is one of balance and moral order. If this order is upset by the humans, it is believed that the spirits become vicious, if the order is maintained, the spirits are believed to be supportive and benevolent. Thus, the spirits of Tulu culture are neither ‘good’ nor ‘bad’ as such and they methodically and persistently remind a lax humanity of the need for morality and the value of solidarity. Nobody is believed to be above the moral and cosmological norms of this threefold universe, thus the būtas are not whimsical or arbitrary in their judgement
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Yakshagana
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Yakshagana ಯಕ್ಷಗಾನ is a traditional theatre form that combines dance, music, dialogue, costume, make-up, and stage techniques with a unique style and form. This theatre style is found in Tulunadu and the Malenadu region of Karnataka. Yakshagana is traditionally presented from dusk to dawn, Yakshagana literally means the song of the yaksha. Yakshagana is the name for art forms formerly known as kēḷike, āṭa, bayalāṭa. It is believed to have evolved from music and theater during the period of the Bhakti movement. It is sometimes called the play in both Kannada and Tulu. Yakshagana is a genre of music, independent of Karnataka Sangeetha. It is believed to have survived as an indigenous phenomenon only in Karnataka, a typical Yakshagana performance consists of background music played by a group of musicians, and a dance and dialog group, who together enact poetic epics on stage. The himmela is made up of a lead singer —who also directs the production—and is referred to as the first actor, additional himmela members are players of traditional musical instruments, such as the maddale, the pungi, the harmonium, and the chande. The music is based on ragas, which are characterized by rhythmic patterns called mattu, Yakshagana talas are believed to be based on patterns which later evolved into the Carnatic talas. A Yakshagana performance typically begins in the hours, with an initial beating of the drums of several fixed compositions. This may last for up to an hour before the actors finally arrive on the stage, the actors wear resplendent costumes, head-dresses, and face paints. A performance usually depicts a story from the Kavya and the Puranas and it consists of a story teller who narrates the story by singing as the actors dance to the music, portraying elements of the story as it is being narrated. All components of Yakshagana—including the music, the dance, and the dialog—are improvised, depending on the ability and scholarship of the actors, there will be variations in dances as well as the amount of dialog. It is not uncommon for actors to get into philosophical debates or arguments without falling out of character, the acting in Yakshagana can be best categorized as method acting. The performances have drawn comparison to the Western tradition of opera, traditionally, Yakshagana will run all night. Yakshagana is popular in the districts of Dakshina Kannada, Kasaragod, Udupi, Uttara Kannada, Yakshagana has become popular in Bangalore in recent years, particularly in the rainy season, when there are few other forms of entertainment possible in the coastal districts. Yakshagana can refer to a style of writing, as well as the material itself
