Talakadu, the Town Under the Sand
On the banks of the Kaveri, a temple town of the Gangas and Hoysalas lies buried under dunes that are still moving.
What was reported
Talakadu was once a flourishing town with dozens of temples. Today most of them lie under sand dunes that rise beside the Kaveri, and archaeologists have dug a few back out. The Panchalinga Darshana festival draws large crowds every twelve years or so.
Local legend blames a curse. When the Mysore ruler Raja Wodeyar sought the jewels of Alamelamma, widow of the Vijayanagara viceroy, she is said to have thrown them into the river at Malangi and cursed the town: let Talakadu turn to sand, Malangi become a whirlpool, and the Mysore kings be without heirs.
Explanations offered
Geologists and historians link the sand to a dam built across the Kaveri in the 14th century, which changed the river's flow and left sand banks that the wind blew over the town. The rest of the curse is a matter of story: the Mysore line did often pass through adoption, which helped the legend last.
- When
- A curse said to date from 1610
- Where
- Mysuru district, Karnataka, India
- Witnesses
- Pilgrims, historians and archaeologists
- Status
- Mostly explained
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.