The heritage land of Tulunadu
has preserved many vestiges of ancient cults in the form of Spirit worships. However,
during the course of passage of time it is likely that certain ancient Spirit aspects
were forgotten from the mass heritage inadvertently. Some of these inadvertent omissions are either,
rather surprisingly, preserved in ancient place names or preserved in altered
or evolved divine forms
in regions in the neighborhood.
Kapri gudda
Let us take example of
the place name Kāpri guDDa in
Mangaluru. It is a local place located to the east of Attavara, specifically
behind (or East of) Casa Grande Apartment Complex or South of Falnir and
Highland areas. In an earlier Post 273, I suggested that Kapri or Khapri was an
ancient Spirit insect form which can be traced to some of the ancient African
cultures. It is probable that in the antiquity, ancient migrating human tribes, who traveled
great distances on a prolonged course of
time, on foot, in search of better pastures, carried their belief systems also
to the places of their new settlements in Coastal India.
In olden days we had people named after Kapri, Kaprianna, Kapira, Kampara etc. Now a days usage of such tribal proper names have declined.
In olden days we had people named after Kapri, Kaprianna, Kapira, Kampara etc. Now a days usage of such tribal proper names have declined.
Kapri or Khapri deva
Somehow it appears that there are no remains
of physical evidence of worship of Spirit Kapri existing in Kaprigudda, Mangaluru,
except for the preserved place name. However, in Karwar in Uttara Kannada
district, we can find the absolute evidences for the worship of cult of Kapri or "Khapri-deva" in a
shrine exclusively dedicated to him. Once in a year, some specific local communities engage
in the worship of this God known as Khapri deva locally. The shrine dedicated
to Khapri-deva has been renovated in the recent years as you can see in the pictures
enclosed in this Post.
(Acknowledgement: Thanks
to Shri Panduranga V. Nayak, Ankola, Uttara Kannada- for providing the photos
of the shrine).
R
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