Tulu people

Tuluva
ತುಳುವ

Regions with significant populations
Native to: Coastal Karnataka (Also known as Tulu Nadu) Other populations in: Maharashtra Kerala Arab States Anglosphere
Languages
Tulu
Religion
Hinduism, Jainism

The Tuluvas (Tulu: ತುಳುವ) are speakers of the Tulu language. Since ancient times they have been spread through the Northern Kasaragod, Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts of Karnataka, India. Today, there is a sizeable Tuluva population in Mumbai and elsewhere in the world, where they have migrated. In recent times, the first set of migration started at the beginning of the twentieth century to places like Mumbai(known then as Bombay),Chennai (known then as Madras) and other parts of South India. The Tulu speaking Shivalli Brahmins mostly migrated towards the south of Tulunadu to areas like Madras, Bangalore, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala etc and other Tuluvas towards the north of Tulunadu especially to Mumbai and surrounding areas like Thane,Navi Mumbai and Pune. Tulu people also migrated to other parts of Karnataka like Mysore, Dharwad and Shivamogga.

The second set of migration started with World war II to escape rationing of food by British. The third set of migration started after imposition of Land reform act in the early 70's, when thousands of people lost their land to tenants. The fourth wave of migration especially to Bangalore started with the IT boom in the late 1990s and 2000s. The migrants in this wave were educated skilled people required for the IT sector. There were two other waves of migration: one to the Gulf states ( Middle east countries) mostly in the 1980s and 1990s. Another one to the U.S.A following the IT boom in India, particularly in Bangalore.

People

The majority of Tuluvas are Hindus. There are also a small percentage of Jains.

Tuluvas today

Tuluvas are generally bilingual and can speak fluently in both Tulu and Kannada in Karnataka. Also, the caste affiliations of the people of this region go beyond linguistic boundaries. Dalits living in this region mostly have Tulu as their mother tongue . A landowning caste called Bunts have community members among Tulu and Kannada speakers. The Bunts having surnames like Shetty are traditionally land owning and usury collectors.They are the business class of the society and usually are farmers. Living amongst Kannada, Malayalam and Konkani speakers for centuries has made Tuluvas very tolerant and cosmopolitan. Bunt, Moolya(Kulala),Mogaveeras,Acharya(Vishwakarma),Billava, Devadiga,s etc are some of the communities of Tuluva ethnic group.

A high literacy (more than 90%), and economic success brought about by development and migrations, has resulted in diminishing economic status of caste structure.

Prominent Tuluvas

• Krishna Devaraya Tuluva Dynasty of Vijayanagara Empire
• Daiva Raja Koteda Babbu  : Dalit folk hero
• Koti and Chennayya : Folk heroes
• Veerendra Heggade : Dharmadikari of Shri Khetra Dharmasthala
• Madhvacharya :Saint/Hindu Philosopher.
• Maipady Venkatesh Varma Raja alias Ramantharasugal XI : Former Raja of Kumbla or Maipady Palace
• Mulky Sunder Ram Shetty:Legendary Banker.
• Shri Jaya Suvarna, Mumbai
• Shree Niranjana Swamiji, Sunkadakatte
• R N Shetty

Politics

• A.B.Shetty :Former Health Minister of Madras State/One of the Founders of Vijaya Bank.
• Dr.Nagappa Alva Former Health Minister,Govt of Karnataka(Formerly Mysore)
• A. Shankar Alva: Former MP / MLA, Senior Most lawyer Mangalore.
• Jeevaraj Alva
• Justice K.S.Hegde :Was the first Judge from Karnataka to be appointed to the Supreme Court (1967) and Loksabha Speaker(1977).Also founder of Nitte Education Trust.
• Manorama Madhwaraj - BJP lok sabha MP(UDUPI Constituency)
• Veerappa Moily  : A former Chief minister of Karnataka
• Janardhana Poojary  : A former cabinet minister of India
• Praveen Kumar Shetty,  : Karnataka Rakshana Vedike
• Arya Laxminarayana Alva :
• Vinay Kumar Sorake
• Rukmayya Poojary
• Vasanth Bangera
• Manorama Madhwaraj
• Dr. V S Acharya
• Ramanath Rai

Literature

• Ratnakaravarni : A Kannada poet
• Shivaraya Kulakunda : A Kannada/Tulu literary figure
• Kayyara Kinyanna Rai : A Kannada nationalist and literary figure
• Bannanje Govindacharya: An expert on Madhva philosophy
• Nandalike Lakshmi Naranappa: A Kannada literary figure
• Geetha Kulkarni.Kannada Lieterary Figure.
• Narayan Kalle
• Shivothama Kalle
• Dr Sushila Upadhyaya
• P. Sanjeeva Bolar
• Dr (Late) Gururaj Bhat

Health Care

• Dr Rahul Shetty: Cardiovascular Surgeon
• Devi Prasad Shetty : A famous heart specialist
• Prof(Dr)B.M.Hegde :Famous Physician and Former Vice Chancellar of MAHE.
• Dr Harish Shetty
• Dr Sanjiv Poojary

Movies

Directors and Producers

• Sirish Kunder : Bollywood Director-Janemann
• Vittalacharya : A South Indian Director
• Pawan Shetty
• Shantaram Shetty
• Sohan Ullal
• Shravan Shetty
• Gagan Shetty
• Manmohan Shetty
• Santhosh rai pathaje
• rohith shetty
• hruday shetty
• Rajesh Kanchan
• Sadananda Suvarna
• Katpadi Muddu Suvarna

Kannada Actors

• Suman : Kannada Film Actor
• Suman:Tamil/Telugu Actor
• Prakash Rai: (Also known as Prakash Raj)Kannada/Tamil/Telugu Film Actor
• Vinod Alva
• Jayamala
• Vadiraja
• Harini
• Rohan Bangera
• Radhika
• Late Kalpana:Legendory Kannada Actor(Sharapanjara fame)
• Anushka :Tamil/Telugu/Kannanda actor
• Bhavana
• Lilavathy

Music directors

• Gurukiran
• V.Manohar
• Sandeep Chowta

Choreographers

• Pratap Shetty: Active on the international scene with choreography in the Asian Games Doha opening ceremony, Selena Jaitley in New York, Yana Gupta in the Punjabi Music Awards Ceremony, residency work in the UK and choreography of Rakhi Sawant/Abhishek in Star Plus' Nach Baliye 3 (10 points in lead in judges vote after 3 episodes)
• Ganesh Hegde
• Rahul Dev Shetty: Fashion Choreographer from Bangalore with over 500 fashion shows to his credit..Engineer by education ,Model and has acted in Kannada films.

Bollywood Actors

• Shilpa Shetty : A Bollywood actress and Winner of Celebrity Big Brother show in London
• Shamita Shetty: Bollywood Actress
• Suniel Shetty : A Bollywood actor
• Aishwarya Rai : A Bollywood Actress
• Kishori Ballal

Science and Technology

• U.R.Rao : Former Chairman of Indian Space research Organisation.
• U.V.Rao former chairman of Larsen and Toubro.
• Dr Manmohan Attavar : Founder of Indo-American Hybrid seeds

Sports

• Budhi Kunderan : Former Indian Test cricket player (Wicket keeper)
• Lokesh Mendon : International Weight lifter/Shotput Chanpion
• A.Raghuram Bhat: Former Indian left arm spinner
• Ravi Shastri : Former Indian Test cricket player
• Late B.C.Alva :Former Indian Test Cricketer and Chairman Of Bakra Beas Hydel Project.
• Sathisha Rai (Arjuna Awardee,Commonwealth Games1998 gold medallist in weight lifting)

Others

• Vyasaraya Ballal
• Ullas Karanth :Wildlife Conservationist

See also

Tulu

Kasaragod Tulu