Kasaragod

Kasaragod lies on the northern Malabar coast near the Chandragiri River. Its old Malik Dinar mosque at Thalangara is built in the regional Kerala style and is associated by tradition with an early Muslim preacher. The town’s religious life reflects the long presence of Muslim communities along the trading coast.

In the seventeenth century Shivappa Nayaka of Keladi strengthened his hold on the coast with a chain of forts. Chandragiri fort, built above the river southeast of Kasaragod, was one of these strongholds. Its position commanded the waterway and the approach to the sea. The fort formed part of the Nayakas’ efforts to control a coast divided among local rulers and visited by overseas merchants from across the Arabian Sea.