Kasaragod Tourism - Ancient Port Town
An ancient port town and as the northernmost district of Kerala state, Kasaragod is famous for coir and handloom industries apart from the scenic beauty, forests, beaches etc. Mr. Barbose, the Portuguese traveller, who visited Kumbla near Kasargod in 1514 had recorded that rice was exported to Male Island. Dr. Francis Buchanan, the family doctor of Lord Wellesley, visited Kasargod in 1800. In his travelogue, he mentioned that there were political and communal setups around this region. Kasargod was a part of the Kumbala kingdom in which there were 64 Tulu and Malayalam villages. When the Vijayanagar empire attacked Kasargod, it was ruled by the Kolathiri king who had Nileshwar as his headquarters.
Those who had helped king Kolathiritha in that fight are the characters appearing in Theyyam (the exclusive ritualistic folk dance of northern Kerala). They could contain them for a brief time and the region fell to Vijayanagar in the 15th century. It was one Nayak king Vengappa Naik, took the reins and transferred the capital to Bednur. Thus, they came to be known as ‘Bednoor Nayaks’. Chandragiri fort and Bekkal fort are considered to be the parts of a chain of forts constructed by Sivappa Naik for the defense of the kingdom. In 1763, Hyder Ali of Mysore conquered Bednoor and his intention was to capture the entire Kerala. But when his attempt to conquer Thalassery fort was failed, Hyder Ali returned to Mysore His son, Tipu Sultan continued the attack and conquered Malabar.
The British took over the region after the death of Tipu Sultan in 1799. Kasargod taluk came into being when Bekal taluk was included in the Madras presidency in April 1882. In 1927, a political convention held at Kozhikode passed a resolution to retain Kasargod with Kerala, since there was a lot of pressure from Karnataka to annex it. Following the reorganisation of states and formation of Kerala in November 1956, Kasargod became a part of Kerala. The city is settled on the banks of the Payaswini river. The very popular art forms which are exclusive in this region are Theyyam, Yakshagana, Kolkali, Poorakkali etc.