Kanhangad sits between the Bekal coast and the laterite uplands, and its skyline is marked by the rounded turrets of Hosdurg Fort. What the fort explains is the town’s older name — **Hosdurg, the “new fort”**, still the name of the taluk. What the town is actually remarkable for is two ashrams, and the first thing to get straight is that they are genuinely two.
Different founders, different sites, different practice
The two, side by side
| Anandashram | Nithyanandashram | |
|---|---|---|
| Founded | Opened 15 May 1931 | Dating not consistent across sources — see below |
| By | Swami Ramdas (“Papa”) and Mother Krishnabai | Bhagawan Nityananda |
| Where | Near Manjapati hill | On a hillock roughly half a kilometre south of the Hosdurg taluk office |
| The practice | Continuous chanting of Ram Nam; universal love and selfless service | Meditation in chambers cut by hand from laterite |
Confusing the two is the standard mistake, and it is easy to make: both are called “the ashram at Kanhangad”, both draw visitors from well outside India, and both belong to the same short window of the 1920s and early 1930s. That coincidence of dates is the genuinely notable historical fact about Kanhangad, and **it is not obviously explained by anything about the town itself**.
The clean contrast
Set side by side, the two foundations make an unusually sharp pair for one small town: **one man alone in the dark of hand-cut rock, and a community holding a single name aloud without stopping.** Both rest on a story about a person rather than a deity, which makes Kanhangad’s sacred material unusual in Kerala — it is hagiography, recent enough that the dates are known, and still being told by people whose parents met the subjects.
One name to keep straight
- The Nityananda of these caves is the GANESHPURI saint, born around 1897, who established his later and better-known ashram at Ganeshpuri in Maharashtra in 1936 and died on 8 August 1961.
- He briefly encountered, and much later formally initiated, the man who became Swami Muktananda — the connection through which this hillside in Kasaragod feeds directly into one of the most widely travelled Indian spiritual lineages of the twentieth century.
- He should not be confused with any later public figure using a similar name.
The town around them
Kanhangad is the headquarters of Hosdurg taluk and a stop on the Mangaluru–Kannur railway, which makes it markedly easier to reach than its low profile suggests. It is a place of ordinary working streets rather than a resort, and that is much of its appeal: the Bekal coast a short way north has been developed for tourism in a way Kanhangad has not, so the town keeps a plain daily life alongside two institutions with an international reach. It has a beach of its own and the Ananthapura lake temple within easy reach inland.
Frequently asked questions
Are Anandashram and Nithyanandashram the same place?
No. They are two separate ashrams with different founders, different sites and different practice, a few kilometres apart — Anandashram near Manjapati hill, the cave ashram on a hillock south of the Hosdurg taluk office.
Why is Kanhangad also called Hosdurg?
Hosdurg — the “new fort” — is the older administrative name, taken from the fort above the town, and it is still the name of the taluk.
Which Nityananda is the cave ashram associated with?
Bhagawan Nityananda, born around 1897, who later founded the ashram at Ganeshpuri in Maharashtra in 1936 and died on 8 August 1961. He is the guru who formally initiated the man who became Swami Muktananda.