Tulunad
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[edit] Introduction
Tulunad, for Tulu-Nad or Nadu, is the country of the Tulu ethnic people.
[edit] Name
Historically, Tulunad was the two separate lands of Haiva and Tuluva, located successively south of the Konkan, and considered part of the historic Greater Konkan or Konkanpatti along with the Malabar Coast or Kerala, which is immediately south of Tuluva.
[edit] Legend
According to Hindu legends,Tulunad was a part of ancient Kerala.The story went as follows "Parasuram was the 4th son of Sage Jamadagni and Renuka. He learnt the art of weaponry from Lord Siva. King Karthaveerajunan was fascinated by Jamadagni's cow and demanded it. Since the Sage refused to part with the cow, the King decapitated the Sage and forcibly took the cow away. The news infuriated Parasuram and he went to Mahishmaatipura and challenged Karthaveerajunan to a duel. Parsuram defeated Karthaveerajunan and avenged his father's death. For generations, he carried on annihilations of the Kshaktriyas (the martial race). As a mark of repentance for this sin, Parasuram meditated at Gokarna and invoked Lord Varuna (the Lord of the Oceans). Parasuram asked him for a boon. To absolve himself of the heinous crimes he had committed, he wanted to gift some land to the Brahmins. There was no land available. Lord Varuna told Parasuram that he would give him as much land as he wished. He told him to fling his traditional axe from where he stood at Gokarna. The land from Gokarna till the point where the axelanded would be given to him was the boon that Lord Varuna promised him. The throw of the `axe' from Gokarna to Kanyakumari created Kerala. Parashuram donated this land to the Brahmins." Hence the region is referred to as a part of “Parashurama Srishti."
[edit] Modern History
Under Portugal, ruling from the port cities of Mangalore, etc., the region was called the Missao do Sul, or the Mission of the South. Tipu Sultan conquered the region and the British conquered it from him. Under the British, the region was organized as the Districts of North Canara and South Canara.
The name "Canara" is derived from the Kannadiga ethnic people, who do not naturally belong here, as this is the ethnic homeland of the Tulus.
The two districts were made a part of the Madras Presidency, but North Canara was later transferred to the Bombay Presidency. After Independence, the two Canaras were made part of Mysore State and then, of Karnataka State. The name "Canara" has been Indianized as "Kannada", so that the districts are now Uttara Kannada and Dakshina Kannada.
The district of South Canara was recently bifurcated to create the District of Udipi.
There is an on-off movement among the Tulus for a Tulunad state, spearheaded by the now largely defunct Tulu Sena.
Tulunad was the original homeland of the dynasty that founded the Vijayanagar Empire based in eastern Karnataka.
[edit] People
The majority of the people in Tulunad belong to the Tuluva ethnic group. Earlier the Tuluvas ruled over a large empire known as Vijayanagar Empire. However with the loss of empire, the Tulu peoples have concentrated in the costal areas.
The next largest group are the Konkanis who migrated here from Goa, due to persecution by the Portuguese.
Kannadigas are also settled her. Other peoples settled here are Malayalis and Bearis
