Belle (also known as Bollay) is a village in the southern state of

Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

.Village code=01308800 It is located in the Kaup taluk of

Udupi district Udupi district (also Udipi () in Kannada or Odipu () in Tulu language) is an administrative subdivision in the Karnataka state of India, with the district headquarters in the city of Udupi. It is situated in the Canara old north Malabar c ...

. The village is known for its historic Moodu-Belle Mahalingeshwara Temple dedicated to

Shiva Shiva (; , ), also known as Mahadeva (; , , Help:IPA/Sanskrit, ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐh and Hara, is one of the Hindu deities, principal deities of Hinduism. He is the God in Hinduism, Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions w ...

Demographics

As of the 2001 India

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

, Belle had a population of 5324 with 2441 males and 2883 females.

Economy

The village economy is predominantly based on agriculture, with plenty of

rice Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...

cultivation. Some modern changes are apparent. Cultivation of

Jasmine Jasmine (botanical name: ''Jasminum'', pronounced ) is a genus of shrubs and vines in the olive family of Oleaceae. It contains around 200 species native to tropical and warm temperate regions of Eurasia, Africa, and Oceania. Jasmines are wid ...

flowers,

coconut The coconut tree (''Cocos nucifera'') is a member of the palm tree family (biology), family (Arecaceae) and the only living species of the genus ''Cocos''. The term "coconut" (or the archaic "cocoanut") can refer to the whole coconut palm, ...

arecanut The areca nut ( or ) or betel nut () is the fruit of the areca palm (''Areca catechu''). The palm is originally native to the Philippines, but was carried widely through the tropics by the Austronesian expansion, Austronesian migrations and ...

sugarcane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of tall, Perennial plant, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar Sugar industry, production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with stout, jointed, fib ...

and

poultry Poultry () are domesticated birds kept by humans for the purpose of harvesting animal products such as meat, Eggs as food, eggs or feathers. The practice of animal husbandry, raising poultry is known as poultry farming. These birds are most typ ...

farming is on the rise. The weekly market of Belle is on Tuesdays. Belle is connected to Udupi, the district and Taluka headquarters, Karkala, Shirva, and Katapadi by a bus service. The economic prosperity of the village may be due to the employment of a significant number of people from the village in the Gulf countries.

History and culture

Moodubelle Mahalingeshwara Temple

The village has a thousand year old temple dedicated to the Hindu deity Mahalingeshwara, which is situated in the Devaragudde area.

Ganesha Ganesha or Ganesh (, , ), also known as Ganapati, Vinayaka and Pillaiyar, is one of the best-known and most worshipped Deva (Hinduism), deities in the Hindu deities, Hindu pantheon and is the Supreme God in the Ganapatya sect. His depictions ...

and Surya Narayana are the other two deities worshiped in the temple. The circular shrine of the Solar deity Surya within the temple complex is of historical importance. The idol of the solar deity is a neat image and holds lotuses in both his hands The temple festival called "Utsava" takes place in the second week of February. The temple was established by an aristocratic

Bunt Bunt may refer to: People * Darrell Bunt (1902–1977), Royal Navy chaplain * Dick Bunt (1929–2021), American basketball player * Raymond Bunt (born 1944), Pennsylvania politician * Bunt Stephens (John L. Stephens, 1889–1951), or Uncle Bunt ...

woman named Ballalthi of the Belle

Ballal Ballal (also spelt as Ballala) is a surname from coastal Karnataka in India. It is found among Shivalli Madhva Brahmins,Hindu Samantha Arasu, Bunt and Jain Royal communities. History The origin of the title 'Ballal' is reflects a claim of desce ...

clan, the chief land owning feudals of Belle. The Belle Ballala Bunt clan is a cadet branch of the Arasa Ballala rulers of Yerdanadu Aramane, a small medieval feudatory state. The Ballalas claimed descent from the Jaina

Santara dynasty Santara or BhairarasaAlternate forms of the dynasty's name include Santha, Santa, Santhara. The kings of the dynasty also attached titles like Pandya and Odeya to their names. was a medieval ruling dynasty of Karnataka, India. The area cover ...

who married into the local

Alupa dynasty The Alupa dynasty (ಅಳುಪೆರ್, ಆಳ್ವೆರ್) was an India, Indian Hindu dynasty that ruled from 200 to 1444 A.D. in Southern India. The kingdom they ruled was known as ''Alvakheda Arusasira'' and its territory spanned the T ...

of Tulu Nadu. The Belle Ballala clan were originally followers of

Jainism Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religions, Indian religion whose three main pillars are nonviolence (), asceticism (), and a rejection of all simplistic and one-sided views of truth and reality (). Jainism traces its s ...

but converted to

Shaivism Shaivism (, , ) is one of the major Hindu denominations, Hindu traditions, which worships Shiva as the Para Brahman, supreme being. It is the Hinduism#Demographics, second-largest Hindu sect after Vaishnavism, constituting about 385 million H ...

later. They follow the law of matrilineal inheritance (

Aliyasantana Aliyasantana, literally "nephew or niece as heir" in Tulu, is the matrilineal system of inheritance practiced by Tuluva community in the Tulunaad region of Karnataka, India. It is similar to the ''Marumakkathayam'' system of the Kerala. Nephew ...

) and have five manor houses in Belle which are Belle Melmane, Belle Kelamane, Belle Badagumane, Belle Padumane and Belle Moodumane. These five manors owned close to 2000 acres of land in feudal and colonial times before land reforms were implemented in the 1960s A medieval wooden image of one of the chiefs (Ballal) of Belle lies in a shrine near the Kelamane House. Two branches of the clan exist outside Belle: Mallar Guthu (erstwhile feudal lords of Mallar village) and Sanoor Guthu (erstwhile ''Potail'' (administrators) of Sanoor Village). Moodubelle

Kambala The Kambala, Kambla or Kambula is an annual buffalo race held in the southwestern Indian state of Karnataka. It is similar to maramadi from Kerala Traditionally, it is sponsored by local Tuluva landlords and households in the coastal distri ...

is held at Belle Kelamane House in November every year. Mallarguthu Sankappa Shetty, a member of this clan built the Kalya Marigudi Temple in Kaup.

Padubelle Mahalingeshwara Temple

The western part of the village also has an old temple dedicated to the Hindu deity Mahalingeshwara Shiva. The temple was recently renovated.

St. Lawrence Church

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

which is also one of the biggest churches in the Udupi Diocese. It is place of worship for a large

Konkani __NOTOC__ Konkani may refer to: Language * Konkani language is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in the Konkan region of India. * Konkani alphabets, different scripts used to write the language **Konkani in the Roman script, one of the scripts used to ...

speaking Catholic population. An annual festival or the parish feast of St. Lawrence Church, also known as 'Santhmary' takes place every year on the first Tuesday, Wednesday of January. People from many communities go to the church and celebrate the feast.

Education

The village has a primary school, a high school, and a junior college. There is an English language school that also offers primary and high school Education. Educational Institutes in the area include: St. Lawrence College, St. Lawrence High School (Kannada), Bharathi Higher Primary School (KunthalaNagara), Belle Church Aided Higher Primary School (Kannada), Jnanaganga College (Nellikatte).

Geography

Belle village has been geographically separated into two parts: Moodubelle (Belle - East), Padubelle (Belle-West). A river, Badra Amma (also known as Papanashini), flows between Moodu Belle and Padu Belle. Moodu Belle village is around 12 km from District Headquarters Udupi by road.

People

Tulu,

and

Kannada Kannada () is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly in the state of Karnataka in southwestern India, and spoken by a minority of the population in all neighbouring states. It has 44 million native speakers, and is additionally a ...

are widely spoken. Tulu is the lingua franca in the area as it is in most of Tulu Nadu.

Transport

The nearest airport is

Mangalore International Airport Mangalore International Airport (also known as Mangaluru International Airport) is an international airport serving the coastal city of Mangalore in the state of Karnataka, India. It is one of only two international airports in the state, t ...

. The nearest railway station is at Udupi. By road, Moodubelle lies in State Highway SH-37 and it is well connected by road network.

References

External links

*
Belle News Website
{{Settlements in Udupi district Villages in Udupi district