Women in Ritual & Legend
Women's roles in worship and possession, and the heroines of the epics.
Empire, Nayakas and Portuguese Guns: Tulunadu from 1345 to 1763
After the Alupas, the coast was run from Vijayanagara, then from Keladi, while the Portuguese pushed in from the sea. Here is who held Tulunadu for four centuries, and what is and isn't certain.
Rakteshwari, the Earth-Born Maiden
An ancient spirit of the fields with no birth story, who was given a sword, a shield and a fearsome new name, and who once left a neglected shrine and later asked to come home.
Keddaso: When the Earth Rests
For three days each February, Tulunadu treats the earth herself as a woman at rest. The fields are left alone, roasted grain is shared, and a ritual bath is given to the soil.
The Siri Paddana: Tulunadu's Longest Oral Epic
The Siri epic runs to more than 16,000 verses, only five lines fewer than the Iliad. For most of its life nobody had heard it sung from start to finish, until one farmer-singer was recorded doing exactly that.
Siri, the Princess Who Walked Away
A princess born from a blessing, betrayed by her husband and cheated of her father's land, who walked out of her world and became a goddess, and whose festivals are still carried by women.
The Chowtas: A Jain Royal House Ruled Through the Mother's Line
From about 1160 the Chowtas ruled from Ullal, then Puttige, then Moodabidri, under a succession that passed through the sister's line. This page follows that house, from the queens to the pension, and says where the sources part ways.
The Siri Jatre: A Night of Possession and Healing
On full-moon nights each spring, thousands of women gather at a few old shrines to sing the Siri epic, and many of them are possessed by its characters. Scholars read the festival as a ritual of healing, and as one of the few places where women's anger can be spoken aloud.
Pilichamundi, the Tiger Goddess
A tiger cub hatched from an egg promised to Shiva and Parvati kills the cows of Kailasa and is sent down to earth, where the hunter of cattle becomes their guardian.
Ullaya and the Ullakulu, the King Daivas
Two royal brothers, and in some tellings their sister Ullalthi, who come to Tulunadu by a ship of maya, from Kashi, or down the Ghats from a golden palace. Every year at Mandekolu, one of them still steps in to stop a fight.
Kalkuda and Kallurti, the Sculptor and His Sister
A master sculptor carves the great Bahubali at Karkala, and the king cuts off a hand and a leg so that he can never carve another. He carves one anyway, at Venur. His twin sister comes looking for him, and together they become two of the most feared daivas of Tulunadu.
Kallurti and Panjurli, the Sister and Brother Daivas
In most Tuluva families the boar daiva Panjurli is not worshipped alone. He is paired with Kallurti, the avenging sister of the sculptor Kalkuda, and the two are treated as the family's head and judges.
Kordabbu and Tannimaniga, the Healer and the Sister Who Saved Him
An orphan with the power to raise the dead is walled into a well by a jealous king. A passing woman lowers her sari to pull him out, and he is bound to her as a brother. He goes on to become Babbu Swami, healer and king of the daivas.
Mayndala, the New Mother Taken into the Unseen
A lord's spirit asks for a gift of a tender coconut from every house. One man refuses, and his sister, three days after giving birth, is lured out of her room in the night. She returns as Mayndala, the goddess women now pray to for an easy childbirth.
Rani Abbakka: The Queen of Ullal Who Would Not Pay
A Jain queen of the Chowta house, who inherited Ullal through her mother's line, is said to have refused tribute to the Portuguese in the 16th century and to have beaten them back. Historians dispute her dates, and some think the story joins more than one queen.
Tulu Folk Tales: The Magic Mango and the Golden Twins
Beside the long paddanas, the coast tells small tales at home. The best known in English is Arasu Kate, the story of twins born of a magic mango, hidden by a jealous queen and found again through a test of milk. Two other Tulu tellings are known.