History of Tulunadu

History of Tulunadu

Tulunadu is the Tulu speaking region of Karnataka. It consists of the Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts and the northern parts of the Kasaragod district of Kerala. Tulunadu is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, Uttara Kannada to the north, Shivamogga to the north-east, Chikkamagaluru to the east, Kodagu and Hasan to the south-east and Kerala to the south. Tulu is the primary spoken language in the region, but other languages like Konkani, Kannada, and Beary are also spoken. Mangalore and Udupi are the chief cities in Tulunadu.

 “Tulunadu” people have very rich culture of their own on performing arts, seasonal arts, ritual arts etc. The culture of this has conditioned the form of many performing arts, particularly on the basis of ancestral worship or Bhuta Worship.

South Canara landscape is beautiful, fringed with the green coconut palm groves, people do speak Tulu, Konkani, Kannnada; Tulu speaking people are the earliest natives of this region. Tulu speaking people of Coastal Karnataka are hard workers and intelligent, preserved their own herited culture. In general, the Coastal Karnataka / Dakshina Kannada District, the Tulu speaking people are highly centralized and call their mother land as "Tulunadu"  i.e., The land of Tuluva's people.

In Tulunadu the herited performances like buffalo race, cock fight, are open field performances and more or less related with certain rituals.  Most of the Tuluva performances wested in the hands of the men than women folk. Women's participation is found only in the "SIRI" epic performances or ritual of mass trance, which is observed once in a year on full moon day in a particular month. The ritual of the trance is observed only in few Hindu temples like "Mahalingeshwara Temple".

From the month of November to May, the cultural performances are more frequently observed in Tulunadu. After monsoon people engage themselves in agriculture work. The Coastal Karnataka has many religious events, performances, which run on a large scale like Nagamangdala (Snake Worship Ritual) Bhuta Worship, Kambala, Cockfight, Yakshagana, etc.

Traditional and folk games of Tulu Nadu such as ‘Chenna Mane’, Kuntebille’, ‘Jubulu’, ‘Kannamuchale’ Tug of war, Kesaru gadde ota,  etc.

 Another high light in Tulunadu is variety of dishes such as, Huruli saaru, Pathrode, Halasinahaninna gatti, Harashina yele gatti, Timareda chatni, Pundi gasi,   Kori Rotti, Neer dose, Kanile gasi, Semeyda adde, etc. are famous food in Tulunadu.

(Source: Wikipedia)