Karnataka Janapada Vishwavidyalaya, also known as Karnataka Folklore University, is a specialized state public university at Gotagodi near Shiggaon in Haveri district, Karnataka. It was created under the Karnataka Janapada Vishwavidyalaya Act, 2011 to advance learning and research in folklore and the many forms of knowledge transmitted through communities and oral traditions. The Act defines the institution as a unitary and residential university and places its headquarters in the Gotagodi area. Its academic purpose is unusually broad within folklore studies: the statutory framework covers oral traditions, folk literature, music, performing arts, handicrafts, indigenous medicine, food traditions, cottage industries, heritage, traditional science and technology, subaltern studies and applied folklore. Academic activity began in the 2012-13 period and was organized through six faculties, including General Folklore, Verbal Folklore, Folk Art Tradition, Traditional Science and Technology, Subaltern Studies and Applied Folklore. The university has also developed departments and centres concerned with documentation, field research, traditional knowledge systems and the transmission of folk culture. Its programmes extend beyond conventional classroom teaching because collection, recording, preservation, interpretation and community outreach are central to the institution’s mandate. Regional and extension activities allow the university to engage with folk artists, craft traditions and locally rooted knowledge outside the main campus. This gives the institution a distinctive relationship with the cultural life of Karnataka: communities themselves are important sources of knowledge, while academic methods help document, study and disseminate that knowledge. By bringing folklore, rural knowledge, arts and heritage into a formal university setting, Karnataka Janapada Vishwavidyalaya provides a dedicated platform for postgraduate study, research, fieldwork and cultural preservation while supporting the continued visibility of living traditions. Its academic setting also gives researchers access to a subject mix in which folklore, rural society, traditional technologies, performance and cultural memory can be studied together, allowing field evidence and community practice to inform formal scholarship.