Kachche pancheMen
A dhoti with the trailing end drawn between the legs and tucked at the back, leaving the legs free. Worn for temple service, for Kambala and for any occasion where a man expects to run or wade.
Worn for: Ritual and formal
Tulu Nadu · Western Coastal Strip
Dress and textiles
Everyday dress here is the coastal minimum — a checked or white mundu and a shirt, a cotton saree worn with the pallu pinned for work. The clothing that carries the region's identity is not everyday clothing at all but ritual costume: the Bhuta Kola performer's palm-leaf skirt and the ani, a wooden and cloth halo strapped to the back that can stand two metres above the head, and the Yakshagana kirita, a mirror-and-gilt crown heavy enough to change how a man moves.
What is worn
Cotton saree, coastal drapeWomen
A short, hard-wearing handloom cotton in checks or broad stripes, worn without a heavy fall. The Udupi and Kasaragod looms both weave for this drape rather than for the ceremonial gold-border tradition further south.
Worn for: Everyday
Siri and ani — the Bhuta Kola costumeHereditary performers of the Nalike, Pambada and Parava communities
A skirt of split tender coconut frond that flares when the performer spins, a chest and waist of red cloth, brass anklets called gaggara that mark every step audibly, and the ani rising behind the head. The face is painted in turmeric yellow and lime-and-turmeric red in a pattern fixed for each daiva.
Worn for: Kola and Nema nights
Yakshagana veshaMale performers
The kirita crown, mirror-worked shoulder pieces, wide pleated waistcloth and painted face. The Tenkutittu crown is rounder and the make-up bolder than the Badagutittu style worn north of Udupi — a spectator can name the style before the first speech.
Worn for: Night-long performances, November to May
Beary women's kachche and thattamBeary Muslim women
A checked mundu worn with a long blouse and a head cloth, closer to the Mappila dress of the coast to the south than to anything worn inland — one of several places where the Beary community reads southward.
Worn for: Everyday and weddings
Weaves and textiles
Udupi sareeGI tagUdupi
Handwoven cotton in fine checks and stripes with a narrow contrast border, woven on pit and frame looms around Brahmavar and Kinnigoli. The craft had nearly stopped before a revival effort restarted the looms; it holds a geographical indication registered in 2015–16.
Kasaragod sareeGI tagKasaragod
Bright checks and stripes with a distinctive sheen, woven in the Kasaragod belt by weaver families whose technique reads as coastal Karnataka rather than Kerala. Registered as a geographical indication in 2010–11.
Basel Mission khaki drillMangaluru
The mission's weaving establishment at Balmatta industrialised handloom cotton here in the nineteenth century and developed a hard-wearing dyed drill cloth that was taken up for uniforms. The looms are gone; the cloth outlived them.
Jewellery
Kasina sara — a chain of struck coins, worn by Bunt bridesAddige, the broad neck collarKadaga, the heavy hollow bangleMukuthi and bulak nose ornamentsGaggara — the performer's brass anklet, ritual equipment rather than ornamentSilver waist chains and toe rings in the countryside
Traditional dress of Tulu Nadu — garments, handloom weaves, GI-tagged textiles and jewellery. (8)