KUSHALNAGAR

Kushalnagar in Coorg is the second largest Tibetan settlement outside Tibet, complete with a Tibetan monastery with 7,000 monks, a Tibetan village. After the Chinese took over Tibet, the refugees were settled at Bylakuppe Near Kushalnagar and the Buddhist Monastery was re-established here in 1972.The monastery not only attracts large number of young Tibetans seeking enlightenment and education, but also draws huge tourists from all over India and abroad. The Golden Temple is extremely beautiful and extremely well maintained, it's an eye catching architure.The people are very religious and are very soft spoken too, the Entire city is full of Tibet Culture and people from across the work come here to be a desciple.The Place is completely Full of greenery and if Lucky you may get to see some wild animals.

IRUPU FALLS

This is one more magnificent waterfall in Coorg.According to legend, when Lord Rama and Lakshmana were searching for Sita, they became thirsty. Lakshmana shot an arrow into the Brahmagiri from which the river sprang. Lord Rama is said to have dedicated a Shiva Kshethra known as Rajeshwara Temple on the banks of river Lakshmana Teertha. The Lakshmana Teertha river eventually flows into the Kaveri River.The ceaseless music of the falls and the hush of the densely wooded forest surrounding them makes this a great picnic spot. A forest trail leads from these falls to the Brahmagiri Peak in Southern Kodagu. En route to the falls, the Rameshwara Temple attracts a large number of pilgrims during the festival of Shivaratri.

RAJA'S SEAT

It is located in the centre of Madikeri Town. According to legend, the kings of Kodagu spent their evenings here. You can view the spectacular sunsets from this place. It commands a beautiful view of the Coorg Valley studded with paddy fields and forests, with the blue mountain ranges of the Western Ghats in the distance.

The Raja's Seat, which means the "Seat of Kings", is a brick and mortar structure with four pillars, was a spot from where the kings of Coorg watched glorious sunsets. The Karnataka government has developed a garden around the Raja's Seat. The spot attracts lot of tourists and morning walkers. For the nature lover, the ideal time to visit the spot is in the morning when the first rays of the sun pierces through the mist covered valley. The district administration has put up a toy train near the Raja's Seat which attracts children. Interestingly, the land-locked Coorg does not have an inch of railways!

Festivals of Coorg

Kaveri Shankaramana :
This festival normally takes place in mid October. It is associated with the river Kaveri, which flows through the district, from its source at Talakaveri. At a pre-determined time, a fountain from a small tank and fills the bigger holy tank at Talakaveri. People throng in thousands, and take a holy dip in this water. This water is filled in bottles and reaches every house in Kodagu and this is treated as Theertha - meaning holy water. This water is preserved in all Kodava houses, and a spoonful of this water is fed to the dying, in the belief that they will attain moksha (emancipation) and gain entry to heaven. - On the day, married women wearing new silk saris, perform puja to a vegetable cut in the form of the goddess Kaveri. This is decorated with flowers and gold ornaments. This is called the Kani Puje. Three sets of betel leaves and areca nut is kept in front of the goddess, with bunches of glass bangles. All the members of the family pray to the goddess by throwing rice and prostrating before the image. The elder members of the family ceremonially bless the younger. Then an older married woman draws water from the well and starts cooking. The menu of the day is dosa and vegetable curry ( usually pumpkin curry (kumbala kari) ) and payasa. Non-vegetarian food is not cooked on that day. This is the only festival wherein non veg is not prepared.

Kailpoldu : is celebrated in the first week of September.. The priests in consultation with their temple documents determine the exact date of celebration, which falls between the 2nd and 4th of September. Kail means weapon or armory and Pold means worship. The day signifies the completion of "nati"- meaning the transplantation of the paddy crop,
Normally, during the months in which the family is engaged in the fields, all weapons are deposited in the "Kanni Kombre" or the prayer room. The festival also signifies the day that men should prepare to guard their crop from wild boars and other animals. Hence, on the Kailpoldu day, the weapons are taken out of the Pooja room, cleaned and decorated with flowers. They are then kept in the "Nellakki Nadubade" - the place of community worship.
All the members of the family have a bath and worship the weapons. Feasting and drinking follow. The eldest member of the family will hand over a gun to the senior member of the family, signifying the commencement of the festivities. The whole family assembles in the " Mand " (a open ground), where physical contests and sports including shooting are conducted. In the earlier days hunting and cooking of the wild animals was part of the celebration, but, these days the shooting skills are tested by firing at a coconut target in a tree.

Puttari : means new rice, and is the rice harvest festival (also called huttari in adjacent Kannada speaking country). This takes place in late November or early December. Celebrations and preparations for this festival, starts a week in advance. On the Puttari day, the whole family assemble in their ain mane ( the common family house ) which is decorated with flowers and green mango and banana leaves. Specific foods are prepared("thambuttu puttari mean kari(fish kari)poli poli(chant)")thambuttu is a dish prepared with rice floor and bananas. Then the eldest member of the family hands a sickle to the head of the family, and one of the women leads a procession to the paddy fields, with a lit lamp in her hands. The path leading to the field is decorated. A gunshot is fired to mark the beginning of the harvest, with chanting of "Poli Poli Deva" (prosperity) by all the people present there. Then the symbolic harvesting of the crop starts. The paddy is cut and stacked and tied in odd numbers, and is then carried home, to be offered to the gods there. The younger people then burst crackers and revel, symbolising prosperity. Group of youngsters then visit the adjoining houses and show their dancing skills, and earn monetary gifts. A week later, these monetary gifts are all pooled and a community dinner of the entire village) is celebrated. All the family members would gather for the dinner. Dinner would normally consist of meat dishes such as pork and fish curry. Alcoholic drinks are also served at such feasts.

About People In Coorg

It is said about the Coorgs (or Kodavas as they are locally known) “They are easier to love than to like.” One of the most hospitable people in India, the doors of their homes are always open to guests. Cosmopolitan in their outlook, they make friends easily.
Kodava texts do not speak much of their origins and so there is no one definite theory to prove it. However, according to one, the 2500 year-old civilization of the Kodavas has evolved from a synthesis of people that originally lived in the region of today's Oman & Yemen. According to Yemen's history, people from there had migrated to the Coorg region around the fifth century BC.
Yet another belief claims that Scythian Greek soldiers brought by Alexander of Macedonian, stayed on after his return and married the local women of Kodagu, to form a new, distinct race.
Some even call them the descendents of people belonging to the Mohenjodaro civilization. One of their branches travelled south and stayed on in this land of beauty.
All these different people might have adopted the local Hindu customs and married local women, but they kept their valuable traditions, dress and Peechekati (traditional dagger) intact. These are now the cultural treasures of the Coorgs.
The Coorgs today are Hindus. They are a martial race and belong to the Kshatriya community. The Kodavas follow Hinduism but are more liberal and independent than any other Hindu sect in customs relating to marriage, divorce, remarriage, festivals, worship, ceremonies, dialect and also dress. They are probably the only Indian community that does not observe the dowry system. Child marriages too are unheard of.
They worship ancestors (Karana), and the river Cauvery as mother Goddess, while Lord Iggutappa is the presiding deity. Most of the temples in villages have their origin in Kerala. The Brahmins from the Uttara/Dakshina (north/ south) Kannada districts look after the temples.
Coorg can be called a land of Generals- Field Marshall Cariappa, the first Commander-in-Chief of free India, and General Thimmayya being the most well known of the lot. Almost every household has at least one person serving in the defense force. The birth of a male child, as well as their death ceremonies, are