Ravalnath

Ravalnath (Konkani: रवळनाथ, Ravaḷhanāth), also widely known as Roulu, (रवळू, Ravaḷhu)[a] is a popular Hindu deity in Goa and the Sindhudurg district of coastal Maharashtra, in western India.

Ravalnath is a guardian deity (Kshetrapala) who protects the locality from climatic disasters, witchcraft and snakebites.

[5] The earliest inscription referring to Ravalnath, called Ravaluba, is dated to the Hoysala period.

There are a two inscriptions in Nagari script and from Velus village of Sattari taluka referring to Ravalnath from Vijayanagara period.

[1] Famous Jyotiba of Kolhapur is also called Ravalnath, and is tutelary deity of Sendraka (Shinde) royal house, masses and the upper castes alike.

Although, the priest here are usually from Gurav community who perform the daily Pooja in the temple and do Kaul Prasad for the devoties.

The ritual of sprinkling the blood of the cocks offered to tarangas on cooked rice is called charu.

[5] There are eight independent temples of Ravalnath in Goa where he is the presiding deity and more than 42 shrines where he is venerated as a subsidiary (Parivar devatā).