Gangolli

Gangolli (also Ganguli) is an Indian village in the Kundapura taluk of Udupi district. It is situated 15 km away from Kundapura town. It is located on a peninsula on the west coast of Karnataka. It is bounded by a river to the east and by the Arabian Sea to the west.

The name of the village derived from the river Pancha Gangavali. It is believed that the "Gangolli" is the currupted form of "Gangavali". It is a place where five major rivers of Kundapura taluk confluence and join the Arabian Sea.

The village name is originally spelled as "Ganguli". But everyone prefers to write Gangolli in recent times. However, the postal seal still contains the old version.

Gangolli had been a famous fort from the days of Keladi rulers (16th century). It was a major fortification under Tipu Sultan and he set up a ship building yard here. The first colonial power to capture this fort were the Portuguese. It is believed that they had introduced coconut cultivation in this area. They also brought Catholic families from Goa for the purpose.

During the British rule Gangolli developed as a major trading and export centre. It has business connections with Bombay, Kerala, Gujarat, Middle East, Lakshadweep and Tanzania. Rice, jaggery and coconut were the major exports.

During the post-independence days the place continued to be a trading centre. But the trading activities here suffered due to the construction of National Highway 17 and introduction of modern transport system against the traditional shipment.

Later, in the 1980s it developed as a major fishing centre with the introduction of mechanised fishing. Today it is one of the famous fishing centres of Karnataka. Recently the government of Karnataka started developing the port that is locally called "Bunder".

Main languages used here are Kannada, Urdu, and Konkani. The historic Sri Venkataramana temple popularly known as Malyara Mutt is one of the oldest places of worship in the region. It was built during the Vijayanagar time.