With the backdrop of Western Ghats and the dividing line in the north being Gokarna and in the south up to Kasargod the “Tuluva” land is the most beautiful strip in the coastal Karnataka State. It is also known as “Parashurama Khsethra” and has a wonderful coastline.

The Sthanika Brahmins are one among the Pancha-Dravida Brahmins. They are the Smartha Brahmins and come under the classification of Tuluva Brahmins. The Kuladevaru (Presiding Deity) of these Brahmins is Shree Subrahmanya. Hence the Sthanika Brahmins are also called Subrahmanya Sthanika Brahmins. These Brahmins are the followers of Shree Adi Shankaracharya and follow the Advaitha philosophy. These are the disciples (shishyas) of Dakshinamnaya Sringeri Sharada Peetam, which is the first of the four Amnaya Peetams established by Shri Shankara Bhagavatpada. The term “STHANIKA” suggests that they belong to the local place or that they are the ‘people who have their origins in the local place’ i.e. People of Sthana.

The roots of this sect of Brahmins lie in Coastal Karnataka, in the South Kanara region, the majority of the Sthanika Brahmin families had settled, eg.  in Udupi, Alevoor, in & around Mangalore, Puttur-Sulia, Yellur, Karkala, Kundapur, Kabbinale, Katpadi, Kasargod, Pavange, Saligrama, Bhramavara  etc. Nowadays a lot of people belonging to this community have settled in Bangalore and outside Karnataka including Maharashtra,Tamilnadu and various other  parts of the world.

The Sthanika Brahmins’ mother tongue is “Tulu” and Kannada.  They speak a different dialect of Tulu called Brahmin Tulu, unique to their community. Presently it has no script in use.