Why we started
One evening we were talking about our little one, growing up far from Kudla. Will they learn Tulu? Will they understand why a nema is held, what a paddana says, why the whole village turns up for the Kambala? Will they care?
Then we went looking, and found how little there is to find. What exists about Tulu online is thin and scattered: a paragraph on one site, a forum thread on another, a good article that nobody links to, a video with no explanation. Much of what we wanted to know is not written down anywhere. It is in the memory of our elders.
We did not have a good answer. What we had was the internet, some free evenings, and many relatives and friends who know things we do not. This site is one of the ways we are trying. If it helps one more child, in Tulu Nadu or far from it, to understand where their family comes from, it has done its job.
What we are, and what we are not
We are not scholars, priests, performers or writers. We are collectors. The knowledge on this site belongs to the people who have carried it: the elders, the performers, the singers, the writers, the researchers, and whole villages. Our part is small: to gather what is scattered, write it down in plain words, say where it came from, and keep it where anyone can find it, in English, Kannada and Tulu.
We claim nothing here as our own except the mistakes. When a fact comes from a book, the book is named. When it comes from a person, the person is named, unless they would rather not be. If you find your work here without the right credit, or you want something taken down, write to us. It is taken down first and discussed after.
By the community, for the community
This is not our site in any real sense. It is meant to be the community's, and we are playing one part in it. Rituals differ from village to village and from house to house, and the version we know is not the only one. Your family's way of doing things, your grandmother's song, your village's story of its daiva: these are what will make this site worth anything. Here is how to help.
This site is beyond religion and caste. It is about the people of this region and their culture, all of them, and it does not take sides between communities or faiths.
It is not a site campaigning for a separate Tulu Nadu state, and it keeps out of party politics. But where the region or the language has a genuine issue, such as Tulu's place in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution, we may write about it plainly and stand up for it.
No money involved
Nothing is sold here, there are no adverts, and nobody is paid. We pay for the domain and the hosting ourselves. Everything published here is free to read and, unless a contributor asks otherwise, free to reuse under an open licence with credit. The details are on the privacy and contributing page.
Write to us
namaskara@tulunadu.org, in Tulu, Kannada or English, whichever you like. Every message gets a reply.