Story Of Guliga

Guliga is one of the oldest Daiva of Tulu Nadu. Depending on the Place, context, and circumstances, Guliga Daiva is known by different names. The Guliga Daiva is considered to be one among Shivagana.

Guliga 

One day in Kailasa, a stone was found in the ash which was brought by Parvati to Lord Shiva.

 Lord shiva threw that stone to the ground. From this stone, Guliga was born. He was sent near lord Vishnu. Vishnu cursed him to take birth in the stomach of Nelaulla-sanke.

When nelaulla-sanke was Nine-month pregnant, the child in the belly asks her, ' from Which Path should I come out of your stomach?'.
she replied, "you can come in the path where all children come from".

But the baby rejected her proposal. Tearing her left breast , he came out of his mother's body.

he felt uncontrollable hunger and gets attracted to the sun and tries to eat it, he drains the lake of Lord Vishnu and consumed fish. He was given the blood of elephants and horses, but his hunger never subsided. Then lord Vishnu gave him a little finger. finally, when his belly was full, he was sent back to the earth.

Since He has a mysterious origin, with a rage and animal hunger, he was sent to this earth for an evil sacrifice, which may have been the outset of his atrocious behaviour.

Once, Seven Jala Durge were sailing on the sea. They saw him and gave shelter to Guliga. He was blessed and appointed has the guardian for their temples. so, he was named as Kshetrapala. later, when the battle was fought between Panjurli and Guliga. The Jaladurgas consoles them and advises them to live like siblings, due to which they are worshipped together in few places.

 Guliga’s shrine is well-known to imposes discipline, evil demolition, and devotion among devotees. Usually, Guliga is worshipped on an unstructured stone on an open place, this stone is usually kept under the tree.

People believe that his eye is always towards the sky. He is worshipped on the boundaries as a guardian to protect their surroundings from evil spirits.

chawndi-guliga

Depending upon the place and merging with other spirit the guliga was renamed or worshipped in different form such as rahu guliga, raja guliga, mantraguliga, netter guliga, sankale guliga, kathale guliga, mantravadi guliga, raktheswari guliga, subbi guliga, sanyasi guliga, chawndi guliga mookamba guliga etc.

Here, Rahu and Guliga are two separate spirits which are worshipped under the single name tag. Rahu has a mysterious origin. Ancestors believe that; this divine is not stable in one place and it has no proper form. People gave kola to this Daiva only during the process of taking spirits of ancestors from its hands. Later, this ritual started to change and people started to give kola annually. 

   

As I've already mentioned, Rahu and Guliga are usually worshipped outside in an open place. The offering is placed on a mat which is made of a tender coconut leaf or a temporary stone(movable), or a permanent stone(unmovable/fixed). Light is shown using Sutte (tutte) created by dried palm leaf. After the final offering, for a few minutes; people turn towards the opposite direction (people assume that daiva comes to have its offering). Women are not allowed to participate in this ritual. The practice may differ according to the region or location or position of this Daiva (jageda daiva, kutumada daiva, seemeda daiva).

Guliga kola, kadri

Guliga Kola essentially consists of the representator of Guliga Daiva with his face adorned with black and decorated with colours like red, white, and green. tender palm leaves are tired on his waist, anklets for his leg called has gaggra, dancing enthusiastically with the burning firewood called sute in his hand. Eating raw meats can be seen in Guliga's kola.

Yet in a few cases these days, people are ignoring the real traditions, known as "kattle," and they are going behind entertainment and exaggerating things. Stone worshipping is transformed into ideal worship, worship of Guliga has been completely changed from tree shades to concrete strains. Going back to actual customs is extremely difficult. However, customs are not just a ritual, it has its own inner meaning. So, people must understand the real cult that our ancestors generally followed and then imply it once they have understood. This stops us from following rituals blindly.

©️vishal kadri