Kāverī

Mother Kāverī · Talakāveri (Kodagu, Karnataka) to Tamil Nadu

The Kāverī rises at Talakāveri in the Kodagu (Coorg) hills of Karnataka and flows through Karnataka and Tamil Nadu to the Bay of Bengal, nourishing the rice lands of the Chola country. Great temples line her banks, including Śrīraṅgam, Tiruvānaikkāval and the temples of Kumbakonam.

At Talakāveri the festival of Tulā Saṅkramaṇa in October celebrates the moment when the spring is said to well up. In Tamil Nadu, Āḍi Perukku in July–August thanks the river for the monsoon flood, and bathing in the Kāverī in the month of Tulā (Aippasi) is held especially meritorious.

Tradition says the sage Agastya carried the Kāverī in his water-pot (kamaṇḍalu). Gaṇeśa, wanting the land to have a river, took the form of a crow and tipped the pot over, and the Kāverī flowed out across the land. In Kodagu, the Kodava people honour Kāverī as their family goddess.

Karnataka · Tamil Nadu · Tulā Saṅkramaṇa · Āḍi Perukku · Agastya

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