Faith & Worship
Spirits of the land, serpent groves, great temples and Jain basadis. Choose a shelf to browse.
Daivas, Nagas & Sacred Groves
The living worship of the land itself: the spirits who speak through a dancer, the serpent in the family grove, and the oldest powers of all. 5 of 5 pages written so far.
Bhuta Kola
On a night lit by torches, a performer becomes a daiva and speaks to the village.
Read moreNagaradhane
The serpent in the sacred grove, and the family line that gathers there each year.
Read moreThe Siri Jatre
A night-long festival where women sing an epic, are possessed by its characters, and are heard.
Read moreThe Mother Goddess
How the worship of a great mother runs beneath many of Tulunadu's goddesses.
Read more
Temples, Mathas & Basadis
The great temples, monasteries and Jain shrines of the coast, grouped by who looks after them. 19 of 19 pages written so far.
Places shaped by monks and holy orders: Buddhist and Nath, Hindu and Jain.
- Monks, mathas and basadis
Kadri Manjunatha
A Buddhist monastery that became a Shiva temple, with its yogis' math still beside it.
Read more - Monks, mathas and basadis
Udupi Sri Krishna Matha
Eight monasteries that take turns to look after one temple.
Read more - Monks, mathas and basadis
Moodabidri
Eighteen Jain basadis in one town, under a monk who heads them all.
Read more - Kept by families
Dharmasthala
A Jain family that looks after a Shiva shrine, which legend says the daivas built.
Read more - Kept by families
Mangaladevi and Sharavu
Two Mangaluru temples whose legends share a king: the goddess the city is named for, and a Ganesha shrine founded after a king shot a cow.
Read more - Kept by families
Kudroli Gokarnanatha
A temple built in 1912 by a community that had been kept out of others.
Read more - Kept by families
Venkataramana, Karkala
A temple of the Konkani-speaking GSB community in an old Jain capital.
Read more - Kept by families
Venkataramana, Kodiyal
A community temple in Mangaluru, famous for its great car festival.
Read more - Run by the state
Kollur Mookambika
The goddess's temple at the foot of the hills on Tulunadu's northern edge.
Read more - Run by the state
Kukke Subramanya
The serpent temple of the Western Ghats, with rites found almost nowhere else.
Read more - Villages and festivals
Kateel Durgaparameshwari
An island temple that keeps its own Yakshagana troupes.
Read more - Villages and festivals
Mundkur Durgaparameshwari
A whole village organised around one temple and its hereditary ritual office.
Read more - Villages and festivals
Polali Rajarajeshwari
A goddess honoured each year with a football match between villages.
Read more - Villages and festivals
Bappanadu
A temple at Mulki, where the Shambhavi meets the Nandini, built by a Jain king, a Brahmin priest and a Muslim trader.
Read more - Remembered for a legend
Halekote Mukhyaprana
Mangaluru's guardian, Hanuman worshipped as Mukhyaprana.
Read more - Remembered for a legend
Narahari Parvata
A hilltop where Krishna and Arjuna are said to have made amends.
Read more - Remembered for a legend
Kudupu Ananthapadmanabha
One shrine, two different stories of how it began.
Read more - Remembered for a legend
Ananthapura Lake Temple
A temple in the middle of a lake, just over the Kerala border.
Read more - Remembered for a legend
Karinja
A hilltop Shiva temple near Bantwal, with sacred ponds on the hill and monkeys that still come for the temple rice.
Read more