Ankola

Ankola

Taluk: Ankola  

District:Uttara Kannada

State:Karnataka

Country:India

Coordinates: 14.667°N 74.3°E

Ankola  is a taluka of Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka state, India. A small town, it is surrounded by numerous temples. It is on the coast of the Arabian sea, and has many beaches including Baskal Gudda, Nadibag, Shedikuli, Keni, and Belekeri.

History

The Bardoli Satyagraha of 1928, in the state of Gujarat, India during the period of the British Raj, was a major episode of civil disobedience and revolt in the Indian Independence Movement. Its success gave rise to Vallabhbhai Patel as one of the greatest leaders of the independence struggle.

It shot into worldwide prominence in 1930 when Mahatma Gandhi selected Dandi as the place for the Salt Satyagraha. He marched from Ahmedabad to Dandi with some of his followers to protest against the imposition of a tax on salt. Later karnataka decided to start the Salt Sathyagraha on 13 April the day on which the infamous Jallianwala Bagh massacre had taken place and Ankola was fixed the place of venue wherein volunteers from all parts of the state were to participate. Earlier in Belguam when Gandhiji broke the Salt laws on 6th, Gangadharrao Deshpande auctioned contraband salt and Narayanarao Joshi, Jeevanarao Yalagi and Anantha Dabade brought it. All these four were arrested the next day and hartals, protests and processions followed their arrest in many parts of Karnataka.

On 13 April, in the presence of about 40,000 people M.P. Nadakarni broke the salt law in Ankola. Revu Honnappa Naik brought the first packet of salt auctioned for 30 rupees. After the auction Swami Vidyananda addressed the gathering in which leaders like, Karnad Sadashiva Rao, Smt Umabai Kundapur, Dr Hardikar, T.S. Naik and others participated. The police promptly arrested the leaders but the Sathyagraha continued for 45 days with full tempo. Salt Sathyagraha was offered in nearly 30 centres like Mangalore, Kundapur, Udupi, Puttur, Padubidre, etc. in Karnataka. Students came out in large numbers to prepare salt and sell it from house to house. When Gandhiji decided to raid the salt depot at Dharsana, a similar raid was undertaken in Karnataka at Sanikatte. A group of volunteers led by Sridhar Panduranga Balaji collected a few maunds of salt and carried it to Kumta, where the whole stock was sold in 15 minutes.

Forest Sathyagraha and agitation against the production and sale of liquors followed the Salt Sathyagraha. People broke the regulation regarding reserved forests and brought firewood or fodder and courted arrest. Picketing of liquor shops, cutting down of toddy trees and picketing the auction of toddy depots were also resorted too. It was common to see the picketers being beaten by police and also by those who were prevented from drinking. In the boycott of foreign cloth, women took a prominent part and went from house to house to gather foreign cloth and held bonfires in every village and at the same time spread the message of Charka. Four taluks in Karnataka namely Hirekerur in Dharwad district and Ankola, Sirsi and Siddapura in North Kanara district were selected for organizing the no-tax campaign. Despite repressive measures by the authorities, the campaign was a huge success. More than 1500 activists were arrested in Karnataka for participating in the Civil-Disobedience Movement during 1930-31. These Historic events led to rename Ankola as 'Bardoli of Karnataka'.

Attractions

Ankola lies on the coast of the Arabian Sea and has many beaches, such as Belekeri Beach, Nadibag, Gabitkeni, Hani gudi Beach(5km from ankola), Honey Beach and Keni beach.

Major Religion : Hindu

Other Religions: Christian,Muslim

Official Langauage:Kannada

Other Languages:Hindi,Konkani,Urdu,Marathi

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