Kumbla, locally spelt as Kumble or Kumbala, is a small town located 14 km north of Kasaragod town in Kasaragod District, Kerala. It is located on the mouth of a lagoon formed by the Shiriya river.
History and Religion
Kumbala was once the seat of the Kumbala Kings, who ruled the southern part of Tuluva Kingdom. It was a small port in ancient times. In the 16th century A.D. (1514), Duarte Borbosa, the Portuguese traveller, visited Kumbala and he had recorded that he had found people exporting rice to the Maldives in exchange of coir. When Tippu Sultan captured Mangalore, the Kumble Raja fled to Thalassery; but he returned in 1799 and after an unsuccessful fight for independence, submitted to the British Empire and accepted a small pension of Rs. 11,788 per annum in 1804. Parthishubha, the great Yakshagana exponent, known as Father of Yakshagana was born here in the 18th century
The most important shrines of Kumbala are:
Sri Parthasarathi Temple, Mujungavu.
Ananthapura Temple, the only lake temple of Kerala, believed to be the Moola Sthanam of Padmanabhaswamy temple of Thiruvananthapuram.
Arikkady Hanuman Kovil, which lies on the foot of Kumble Fort, which was built by the Keladi Nayakas who built Bekal Fort.
Sri Gopalakrishna Temple,situated at the heart of the town.
Kumbala is also famous for its annual festival called kumble bedi,celebrated at Sri Gopalakrishna Temple.
Anil Kumble, presently the captain of the Indian national test cricket team takes his last name, indicating ancestry or family origins, from this town.