Guardians of the Sacred Land: The World of Bhuta Kola, Panjurli & Guliga
A living tradition where spirit, rhythm, and artistry merge into faith.
The Living Tradition of Bhuta Kola
Along the lush coastal belt of Karnataka - where the forests of the Western Ghats meet the Arabian Sea - lives one of India’s most powerful expressions of ritual art: Bhuta Kola.
Translated as “the play of the spirits,” Bhuta Kola is an ancient ritual performance that bridges the human and the divine.
It celebrates the Bhutas - ancestral guardian spirits who protect the land, ensure justice, and guide the community.
When night falls and the drums begin, the atmosphere transforms. Torches flare, conches echo, and the performer - after days of preparation - becomes the vessel of a spirit. In that charged moment, the boundary between man and god dissolves.
Bhuta Kola is not performance - it is embodiment.
The Pantheon of Guardians
There are believed to be over 300 Bhutas in the Tulu region, each with its own mythology, temperament, and domain of influence.
Some are fierce enforcers of divine law, others are benevolent protectors of harvests and households.
Among them, a few hold special prominence in both ritual and art - Panjurli, Bobbarya, Pilipoota,Kalkuda Kalburti, Pilichamundi, Koti Chennaya are among the most revered.
They are invoked together, yet each represents a distinct spiritual force within the Bhuta cosmology.
Panjurli - The Boar Spirit of Protection
Panjurli, whose name derives from panji (boar) and urli (burrow or earth), is one of the most beloved guardian spirits in Bhuta Kola.
Myth tells of a divine being cursed to take the form of a wild boar and sent to Earth - not in punishment, but as protector.
He safeguards farmlands, blesses abundance, and ensures justice when human systems fail.
In ritual form, Panjurli is represented by a performer wearing a boar-faced mask, intricate brass ornaments, and flowing regalia of red, gold, and black. His dance begins with grace, building into thunderous motion as the spirit takes hold.
Guliga - The Enforcer of Divine Justice
If Panjurli embodies compassion through strength, Guliga represents the fierce and uncompromising aspect of divine power.
Regarded as an emissary of Lord Shiva, Guliga is invoked when justice is sought, wrongs must be righted, or cosmic order needs restoration.
During Bhuta Kola, Guliga’s presence is unmistakable - his body painted in deep black, adorned with serpentine symbols and metallic accessories that shimmer in torchlight. His dance is controlled fury: rhythmic, deliberate, and electric.
He speaks in a divine voice, issuing pronouncements that the gathered devotees accept as truth.
Guliga’s artistic representations often feature bold geometries and intense contrasts - symbolizing destruction as purification, chaos as renewal.
Kalkuda & Kallurti – The Divine Siblings of Coastal Karnataka
The story of Kalkuda and Kallurti is one of the most powerful legends in the Bhuta tradition—rooted in injustice, sacrifice, and the rise of divinity.
It begins with Shambu Kalkuda, a humble sculptor, who lived with his wife Ervadi and their four sons. When Shambu left home, Ervadi gave birth to twins: Beere and Kalamma, destined for an extraordinary fate.
As a young boy, Beere corrected a mistake in his father’s sculpture, leading Shambu—fearing royal punishment—to take his own life. Years later, Beere grew into a brilliant sculptor and worked at Karkala, helping craft the great statue of Gomateshwara.
Impressed yet insecure, King Balisuda cruelly mutilated Beere—cutting off one hand and one leg—so he could never sculpt for another king.
When Kalamma discovered her brother’s suffering, she stayed by his side, and together they sought solace at the Mahalingeshwara Temple. There, they leapt into a sacred well and vanished—only to re-emerge as divine beings.
With their new power, they confronted King Balisuda, breaking his pride until he surrendered and vowed to worship them forever.
From that moment, the siblings were revered as Kalkuda and Kallurti—guardians of justice, protectors of the wronged, and embodiments of divine duality:
strength and compassion, fire and calm, brother and sister.
Their kola performances today carry the same intensity—honouring not just their story, but the cosmic justice they came to represent
An Art Form Alive with Spirit
Every Bhuta Kola ritual is a complete art form - a fusion of music, costume, sculpture, and theatre
The headgear and masks are meticulously handcrafted, painted in sacred reds and golds, adorned with mirrors and shells that reflect torchlight like divine fire
The rhythmic beating of the chende drums and the chant of mantras create a trance that draws the entire village into the ritual.
The performer’s movements - fierce, graceful, and precise - are shaped by generations of oral teaching. Each step, turn, and gesture is both devotion and art.
Faith, Heritage, and Continuity
Bhuta Kola continues to thrive today not as a reenactment of the past but as a living covenant between the human and the divine
For the Tulu people, these guardian spirits - Panjurli, Guliga, Kallurti, Kalkuda, and countless others - are protectors of land and life.
They are symbols of justice, ecological balance, and ancestral memory.
Even as the world modernizes, the Bhuta Kola remains untouched in its essence - fierce, beautiful, and deeply human.
It reminds us that divinity is not distant or abstract; it lives among us, speaks through us, and guards the very soil we stand upon.
In the End
Bhuta Kola is more than ritual - it is an aesthetic, a philosophy, and a form of art that has survived for centuries without losing its pulse.
In the blazing eyes of Panjurli, the commanding stance of Guliga, and the soulful dance of Kallurti–Kalkuda, we see India’s timeless dialogue between spirit and form, myth and material, faith and art.These are not just stories - they are living symbols of a culture that believes creation itself is sacred.
Traditional Panjurli bronze mask with kavacha, adorned for the sacred Bhuta Kola ritual.
Panjurli kola performer with areca-leaf headdress, embodying the living energy of the ritual.
Bronze Bhuta mask and breastplate, curated by The Artisania from traditional Tulunadu ritual craftsmanship.
For readers who would like a clear visual introduction to the tradition, this concise explainer by The Hindu offers an excellent overview:
This content is shared purely for cultural and academic understanding, with complete respect for the deities, practitioners, and belief systems involved.
