ULLALTHI
Ullalthi as the incarnation of Parvati the Mother Goddess is more popular in the southern part of the district. She is believed to be the family Goddess of the Banga kings of this area. The Hoysala king handed over the administration of the southern Tulunad consisting of 15 sub-divisions to the Banga kings and each sub divisions has one Ullalthi shrine. It can be inferred from this that the worship of Ullalthi might have started from the 12th century A.D. Ananthadi, Ujire, Kadesvalya, Mani, Kelinja, Kokkada, Keepu and Kanandur have famous Ullathi temples.
According to a legend, ullaya and ullalthi were born in a golden place of konga country. They descended Down the western ghats and came to the banga kingdom. Ullalthi displayed her presence by letting lose the royal elephant which ran amuck. The king came to know of the new spirit and constructed a shrine and made it his family deity in a place called kucrottu where the most ancient stone idol of ullalthi is still preserved. One can witness ullalthi holding mirror and a medicinal leaf of nekki plant in hand. A disfigured stone statue of ullalthi holding a mirror is found in bangadi. The dress style resembles that of the women of ghat area. In ananthadi the spirit is established in the form of a red sandle-wood mask. A sliver mask is used during festival. The shrine at vitla has two sliver statues of ullalthi and Malerayi. The statue of balnad has a mirror in hand. The festival at balnad is famous for what is known as bridal dance in which the impersonator performs a graceful dance with kalasa kannadi auspicious pray containing mirror, sacred pot ,coconut, kumkum and other objects of ritual. In ananthadi the impersonator dance with burning torches in his hands. The headgear is horse-shoe shaped. The tongue of arece spathe is very long and touching the ground. In kelinja and okketturu the impersonator after the dance and circumbulation lies down flat on his back supporting his head on a pack of rice and accepts offerings and distributes prasada. The ullalthi dance, headgear,mask and other objects of ritual vary from place to place. Ullalthi is worshipped along with other male spirits like ullaya, kumara, dharmarasu, malarayi are dandanayaka.the former three are considered as her brothers and the latter two as members of her family or attendant spirits.