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.
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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.
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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).
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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.
©️vishal kadri
17 Comments
Very informative and never knew so much in detail. Thanks a lot Vishal for sharing this information which current and future generation should know about and it's a wonderful blog.
ReplyDeleteThanks
ReplyDeleteThanks for the information
ReplyDeleteGreat blog! I am a Marathi from Mumbai, so I didn't have enough knowledge on guliga ,thanks for this blog,one quick question why did guliga tear through his mother's womb. Why couldn't he take a normal birth.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteThere was another story behind guliga tearing his mother's belly.guliga's mother Nelaulla sanke was a teribble demon she is killes and eates her 23rd childrens after giving birth,so lord vishnu knows that her 24 th child becomes a reason behind her death.Thats why lord vishnu sending guliga to get birth in nelaulla sanke's stomach
DeleteSir, thanks for sharing interesting information. I want to visit Punjurli Daiva and Guliga Daiva Temples. Please let me know the place and addresses of where i can visit the temples
ReplyDeleteI would like to visit near Mangaluru
DeleteThe main temple is in nileshwar in Kerala.
DeleteFor panjurli daiva u can visit dharmasthala in dakshina kannada
DeleteHey diya are u from manglore or do you know traditions of tulunadu i need some help pls reply
DeleteGuliga or Gulikan is a major god worshipped across Kerala and is also worshipped in Karnataka border tulunadu as a cultural overlap. Alo the rituals and temple architecture etc are Kerala style. After kantara, this god and culture is completely hijacked and is being depicted as a kannada God which is not true. Please stop hijacking the god and culture this is also the god of Kerala . Infact my family God is guliga and these kind of rituals happens in mostly every Kerala house itself. No need to even have a temple..
ReplyDeleteTha same happens in tulunadu
Delete@Vin You have made some silly unwarranted comments. What kinda rubbish comment is it that Guliga is depicted as a Kannada god, the culture etc. is 'hijacked' after the movie Kantara? Kantara accurately depicts the tradition as practised in Karnataka. My roots are from coastal Karnataka, and we have Kallurti-Panjurli and Guliga as daivas of my father's family. So also, there are several daivas of my mother's family, including several types of Guligas. In addition, there are Guligas for the village, piece of land etc. And here too Guliga is worshipped in the form of a stone. It's all over coastal Karnataka.
ReplyDeleteCan anybody aunthentically advice me if trishul is a must to be placed beside the sacred stone of Guliga? infact trishul is the strong weapon of Lord Shiva. Atmy place i relocated the said stone of gulug daiva and not used the trishul. now a smart tantridar from kerala pointed out this nd put me in tension . I want challenge him. can anyone help me and put me on some some authentic person for consultasion? call 9820288784
ReplyDeleteNo need for trishul. Also, shouldn't have relocated the stone.
Deletewhat about Jattiga, Chaundi, and Rahuguliga aren't they considered to be siblings of guliga?
ReplyDelete