The Sankethis are Smartha brahmins residing in Karnataka. They are an offshoot of the Iyer Community. There are also some Sankethis in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. They are said to have left their homeland under the guidance of a saintly lady, nAcAramma (also called nengAramma and nAnjiyAramma). They initially settled predominantly in Kaushika near Hassan, Karnataka and Bettadapura in Mysore District. They became the Kaushika and the Bettadapura Sankethis. They later spread to many other villages. The Sankethis migrated to Bettadapura around 600 years back. Their migratory route took them through Kerala and then Coorg (Mercara) in Karnataka. Near the present day Kushalnagar,in Coorg, the local chieftan and his men kidnapped the Sankethi women. The Sankethi men settled outside the chieftan's settlement and waited for their women to head back. The women were eventually re-united with their menfolk and they settled down at Bettadapura which is around 8 kilometers from Kushalanagar. This also explains why the Bettadapura Sankethis initially chose to settle near a hill and not near a river. This also explains why the Sankethi women and the Coorgi women drape their sarees in exactly the same way. This is different from the conventional South Indian way of wearing a saree.
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The four predominant groups are Kaushika, Bettadapura, Mattur-Hosahalli and Lingadahalli sankethis (in that order numerically). The other Villages where the Sankethis settled were Hanasoge, Saligrama, Rudrapatna and Hampapura, all mostly on the banks of the River Kaveri. All put together, they number about 50,000. They mainly live in Hassan and Mysore Districts and parts of Mandya district and Shivamogga District today. A large number have migrated to cities such as Bangalore, Mysore and Hassan, and sizeable numbers now live in the United States and the United Kingdom. In the United States, the North American Sankethi Association (NASA) has helped sankethis to interact and maintain religious, cultural, charitable, educational and social activities. The community is traditionally famed for intelligence, hard work, and its expertise in music, vedas and in growing the areca palm.
The Sankethi community is working on a family tree project to develop an evolving record of this community. It is a unique learning opportunity that can be carried forward to future generations.