Bidar District
Encyclopedia
Bidar is a district of Karnataka
Karnataka
Karnataka , the land of the Kannadigas, is a state in South West India. It was created on 1 November 1956, with the passing of the States Reorganisation Act and this day is annually celebrated as Karnataka Rajyotsava...

 state in southern India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

. The historic city of Bidar
Bidar
Bidar is a city in the Indian state of Karnataka. Located on the Deccan Plateau in the north-eastern part of Karnataka. It is the headquarters of the Bidar District....

 is the administrative centre of the district. The district is located in the northeastern corner of the state, near the borders with Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh , is one of the 28 states of India, situated on the southeastern coast of India. It is India's fourth largest state by area and fifth largest by population. Its capital and largest city by population is Hyderabad.The total GDP of Andhra Pradesh is $100 billion and is ranked third...

 to the east and Maharashtra
Maharashtra
Maharashtra is a state located in India. It is the second most populous after Uttar Pradesh and third largest state by area in India...

 to the north and west. Gulbarga district
Gulbarga District
Gulbarga district is one of the 30 districts of Karnataka state in southern India. Gulbarga city is the administrative headquarters of the district...

 lies to the south.

Bidar is 120 km from Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh , is one of the 28 states of India, situated on the southeastern coast of India. It is India's fourth largest state by area and fifth largest by population. Its capital and largest city by population is Hyderabad.The total GDP of Andhra Pradesh is $100 billion and is ranked third...

's capital Hyderabad.
Till 1956, bidar was part of Hyderabad State
Hyderabad State
-After Indian independence :When India gained independence in 1947 and Pakistan came into existence in 1947, the British left the local rulers of the princely states the choice of whether to join one of the new dominions or to remain independent...

.

History

The first Rashtrakuta
Rashtrakuta
The Rashtrakuta Empire was a royal dynasty ruling large parts of the Indian Subcontinent between the sixth and the 10th centuries. During this period they ruled as several closely related, but individual clans. Rastrakutas in inscriptions represented as descendants of Satyaki, a Yadava well known...

 capital was Mayurkhandi in the present day Bidar district. The regal capital was later moved to Manyakheta
Manyakheta
Manyakheta on the banks of Kagina River in Gulbarga district, Karnataka state was the capital of Rashtrakutas from . It is 40 km from Gulbarga city. The capital was moved from Mayurkhandi in Bidar district to Mānyakheṭa during the rule of Amoghavarsha I...

 in the present day Gulbarga district
Gulbarga District
Gulbarga district is one of the 30 districts of Karnataka state in southern India. Gulbarga city is the administrative headquarters of the district...

 by Amoghavarsha I.

Kalyani (today called Basavakalyan
Basavakalyan
Basavakalyan is a town in Bidar District of the state of Karnataka, India, and was historically known as Kalyan.-History:Basavakalyan's history dates back to 3000 years with its name being mentioned in Guru Charitra....

 after Basaveshwara) in Bidar district was the capital of Western Chalukyas
Western Chalukyas
The Western Chalukya Empire ruled most of the western Deccan, South India, between the 10th and 12th centuries. This dynasty is sometimes called the Kalyani Chalukya after its regal capital at Kalyani, today's Basavakalyan in Karnataka and alternatively the Later Chalukya from its theoretical...

, who were also called Kalyani Chalukyas after their capital. The Kalachuri
Kalachuri
Kalachuri Empire is this the name used by two kingdoms who had a succession of dynasties from the 10th-12th centuries, one ruling over areas in Central India and were called Chedi or Haihaya and the other southern Kalachuri who ruled over parts of Karnataka...

s continued with Kalyani as their capital.

Later, Bidar was ruled in succession by the vassals to Sevuna Yadava
Seuna
The Seuna, Sevuna or Yadavas of Devagiri was an Indian dynasty, which at its peak ruled a kingdom stretching from the Tungabhadra to the Narmada rivers, including present-day Maharashtra, north Karnataka and parts of Madhya Pradesh, from its capital at Devagiri...

s of Devagiri, Kakatiya
Kakatiya
The Kakatiya dynasty was an Indian dynasty that ruled most parts of what is now Andhra Pradesh, India from 1083 CE to 1323 CE, with Orugallu , now Warangal , as its capital. Orugallu is also called 'Eka Sila Nagaram'...

s of Warangal
Warangal
Warangal is a city and a municipal corporation in Warangal district in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Warangal is located northeast of the state capital of Hyderabad and is the administrative headquarters of Warangal District. This district is a combination of three cities: Warangal,...

, Allauddin Khilji and Muhammad bin Tughluq
Muhammad bin Tughluq
Muhammad bin Tughluq was the Turkic Sultan of Delhi from 1325 to 1351. He was the eldest son of Ghiyas-ud-din Tughlaq.He was born in Kotla Tolay Khan in Multan. His wife was daughter of the raja of Dipalpur...

.

The generals of Muhammad Bin Tughlaq who were nominated as viceroys of the newly conquered Deccan region broke up and formed the Bahmani Sultanate
Bahmani Sultanate
The Bahmani Sultanate was a Muslim state of the Deccan in southern India and one of the great medieval Indian kingdoms...

 under Allauddin Hasan Gangu Bahman Shah.

The Bahmani capital was shifted from Kalburgi or Kalubaruge' onMouseout='HidePop("52553")' href="/topics/Gulbarga">Gulbarga
Gulbarga
Gulbarga is a city in the Indian state of Karnataka. It is the administrative headquarters of Gulbarga District. It was formerly part of Nizam's Hyderabad state...

 and subsequently renamed Ahsanabad by the Muslim newcomers) to Bidar (renamed Muhammadabad by the Bahmanis) in 1425. Bidar remained the capital until the Sultanate's breakup after 1518. It then became the center of the Barid Shahi
Bidar Sultanate
Bidar sultanate was one of the Deccan sultanates of late medieval India. Its founder, Qasim Barid was a Turk, domiciled in Georgia. He joined the service of the Bahmani sultan Muhammad Shah III. He started his career as a sar-naubat but later became the mir-jumla of the Bahmani sultanate...

s, one of the five independent sultanates known as the Deccan sultanates
Deccan sultanates
The Deccan sultanates were five Muslim-ruled late medieval kingdoms—Bijapur, Golkonda, Ahmadnagar, Bidar, and Berar—of south-central India. The Deccan sultanates were located on the Deccan Plateau, between the Krishna River and the Vindhya Range. These kingdoms became independent during the breakup...

. These were the successor states to the Bahmani kingdom.

The Bidar Sultanate
Bidar Sultanate
Bidar sultanate was one of the Deccan sultanates of late medieval India. Its founder, Qasim Barid was a Turk, domiciled in Georgia. He joined the service of the Bahmani sultan Muhammad Shah III. He started his career as a sar-naubat but later became the mir-jumla of the Bahmani sultanate...

 was absorbed by the Bijapur Sultanate to the west in 1619, which was in turn included into their Deccan province by the Mughal
Mughal Empire
The Mughal Empire ,‎ or Mogul Empire in traditional English usage, was an imperial power from the Indian Subcontinent. The Mughal emperors were descendants of the Timurids...

 Emperor Aurangzeb
Aurangzeb
Abul Muzaffar Muhy-ud-Din Muhammad Aurangzeb Alamgir , more commonly known as Aurangzeb or by his chosen imperial title Alamgir , was the sixth Mughal Emperor of India, whose reign lasted from 1658 until his death in 1707.Badshah Aurangzeb, having ruled most of the Indian subcontinent for nearly...

 during his viceroyship of Deccan in 1656. After the death of Aurangazeb, Asaf Jah I, the Mughal Subehdar of the Deccan province, became independent and assumed the title Nizam-ul-mulk
Nizam
Nizam-ul-Mulk of Hyderabad popularly known as Nizams of Hyderabad was a former monarchy of the Hyderabad State, now in the states of Andhra Pradesh , Karnataka , and Maharashtra in India...

, with the whole of the province under the Nizam's sovereign control. This status remained unchanged until Operation Polo
Operation Polo
Operation Polo code name for The Hyderabad Police Action was a military operation in September 1948 in which the Indian Armed Forces engaged those of the State of Hyderabad and ended the rule of Nizam, annexing the state into the Indian Union....

, when the Nizam's territory was merged to the Republic of India.

With the reorganization of states in 1956 along linguistic lines, Bidar was deemed a Kannada
Kannada language
Kannada or , is a language spoken in India predominantly in the state of Karnataka. Kannada, whose native speakers are called Kannadigas and number roughly 50 million, is one of the 30 most spoken languages in the world...

 speaking area, and became a part of unified Mysore state
Mysore State
The Kingdom of Mysore was one of the three largest princely states within the erstwhile British Empire of India. Upon India gaining its independence in 1947, the Maharaja of Mysore merged his realm with the Union of India...

 which later was renamed Karnataka
Karnataka
Karnataka , the land of the Kannadigas, is a state in South West India. It was created on 1 November 1956, with the passing of the States Reorganisation Act and this day is annually celebrated as Karnataka Rajyotsava...

.

Bidar, Gulbarga, Yadgir
Yadgir
Yadgir is a town and the administrative headquarters of the newly created Yadagiri district in the Indian state of Karnataka. On 10 April 2010, it was officially declared as 30th district of Karnataka State. It is also the administrative headquarters of Yadgir taluk, one of the three taluks of the...

, Raichur
Raichur
Raichur , is a city municipal council in Raichur district in the Indian state of Karnataka. Raichur, on the banks of the Tungabhadra River, is the headquarters of Raichur district. It was in the princely state of Mysore during the rule of Tipu Sultan...

 and Koppal
Koppal
Koppal is a town in Koppal district in the Indian state of Karnataka. Koppal is surrounded on three sides by hillocks and was an important town in the history of Karnataka, popularly known as Kopana Nagar...

 are collectively referred to as Hyderabad Karnataka. Bellary
Bellary
Bellary is a historic city in Bellary District in Karnataka state, India.-Origins of the city's name:There are several legends about how Bellary got its name....

, though ceded
Ceded Districts
Ceded Districts is the name of an area in the Deccan, India that was 'ceded' to the British East India Company by the Nizam in 1800. The name is still in sparse current use....

 to the British in 1796 AD, is also grouped together with these areas.

Geography

The entire district forms a part of the Deccan Plateau
Deccan Plateau
The Deccan Plateau is a large plateau in India, making up the majority of the southern part of the country. It rises a hundred meters high in the north, rising further to more than a kilometers high in the south, forming a raised triangle nested within the familiar downward-pointing triangle of...

 and is made up mostly of solidified lava
Lava
Lava refers both to molten rock expelled by a volcano during an eruption and the resulting rock after solidification and cooling. This molten rock is formed in the interior of some planets, including Earth, and some of their satellites. When first erupted from a volcanic vent, lava is a liquid at...

. The northern part of the district is characterized by expanses of level and treeless surface punctuated here and there by flat and undulating hillocks, black soils and basaltic rocks. The southern half of the district is a high plateau about 715 m above mean sea level and are well drained. The average elevation of the district is between 580 to 610 m above mean sea level. Alluvial deposit is normally found along the banks of the Manjra river and its main tributaries.

The district is entirely covered by the Deccan trap flows of the tertiary period. The Deccan trap is composed of horizontal flows of basaltic lava. They generally form flat-topped hillocks and terrace-like features. The physical characteristics of individual flows show considerable variations. Some flows are hard and massive while others are weathered, soft and friable. This character has resulted in terraced landscape, suddenly ending in escarpments. The traps are seen generally 618 m above mean sea level. These are jointed and show the characteristics of spherical weathering leaving massive hard cores. Columnar jointing is predominantly developed in these rocks, besides horizontal joints, which impart to the rocks bedded appearance. The top layers of the Deccan trap in parts of Bidar and Humnabad taluk are altered to reddish vesicular laterite, forming and extensive undulating plateau.

The minerals found in the area are Bauxite, Kaolin and Red ochre. A deposit of highly siliceous bauxite clay has been located about three kilometers south of Basavakalyan
Basavakalyan
Basavakalyan is a town in Bidar District of the state of Karnataka, India, and was historically known as Kalyan.-History:Basavakalyan's history dates back to 3000 years with its name being mentioned in Guru Charitra....

. Similar deposits are noticed near Alwal and Kamthana Villages of Bidar taluk. A large deposit of Kaolin is located near Kamthana village. Red ochre deposits are found near Sirsi and Aurad Village.

Weather and climate

Most of north Karnataka, including Bijapur, Gulbarga
Gulbarga District
Gulbarga district is one of the 30 districts of Karnataka state in southern India. Gulbarga city is the administrative headquarters of the district...

 and Bidar are dry areas. The summer season in Bidar starts in the first week of February and lasts until June. This is followed by southwest monsoon
Monsoon
Monsoon is traditionally defined as a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation, but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with the asymmetric heating of land and sea...

 which continues till late September, and from September to end of January is winter.

May is the hottest month with average daily maximum temperature of 38.8 °C while December is the coldest with average daily minimum of 16.4 °C, The highest temperature recorded at Bidar was 43.3 °C on May 8, 1931, and the lowest 3.9 °C on January 5, 1901.

The average annual precipitation at Bidar is 847 mm with most of the rainfall received during the monsoon season. The variation in rainfall from year to year is large and the district is prone to drought.

Rivers

The important rivers in the district are:
  • Manjra
    Manjira River
    The Manjira is a tributary of the river Godavari. It passes through the states of Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. It originates in the Balaghat range of hills at an altitude of and empties into the Godavari River...

  • Karanja
    Karanja
    "Karanja" or "Karanja Lad" is a city and a municipal council in Washim district in the Indian state of Maharashtra. Karanja is also known as Karanja or Karanja Lad and mainly referred as the latter most of the times. Karanja is a holy place for Hindus, Muslims and Jains...

  • Chulki Nala
  • Mullamari
  • Gandrinala


The district has two river basins, the Godavari
Godavari River
The Godavari is a river that runs from western to southern India and is considered to be one of the big river basins in India. With a length of 1465 km, it is the second longest river in India , that runs within the country and also the longest river in South India...

 and the Krishna
Krishna
Krishna is a central figure of Hinduism and is traditionally attributed the authorship of the Bhagavad Gita. He is the supreme Being and considered in some monotheistic traditions as an Avatar of Vishnu...

. The Godavari basin extends to over 4,411 km² of which Manjra covers up to 1,989 km² and Karanja up to 2,422 km². Manjra is the main river of the district and it is a tributary of Godavari. Karanja is also a tributary of Manjra.

Climate

The climate of this district is characterized by general dryness throughout the year, except during the southwest monsoon. The summer season is from the middle of February to the first week of June. This is followed by southwest monsoon season, which continues till the end of September. The months of October and November constitute the post-monsoon or retreating monsoon season.

The winter season is from December to middle of February and the temperature begins to decrease from the end of November, December is the coldest month with mean daily maximum temperature of 27.3 C and mean daily minimum of 16.4 C. From the middle of the February, both day and night temperatures begin to rise rapidly. May is the hottest month with mean daily maximum temperature of 38.8 C and mean daily minimum of 25.9 C. With the withdrawal of southwest monsoon in the first week of October, there is slight increase in day temperature but night temperature decreases steadily. After October, both day and night temperatures decreases progressively. The highest maximum temperature recorded at Bidar was on 8-5-1931(43.3 degree C) and the lowest minimum was on 5-1-1901(3.9 degree C).

Rain

The average annual rainfall at Bidar is 885.8mm. About 81% of annual rainfall is received during the period from June to September. Maximum rainfall is recorded in the month of September. The variation in rainfall from year to year is large and the district is drought-prone. The average numbers of rainy days in the district are 52.

The relative humidity is high during the southwest monsoon, being between 65% to 75%. Summer is the driest part of the year, when the relative humidity in the afternoon is between 30% and 40%.

Winds are generally moderate in strength with some increase in force during the latter half of the summer season and during the monsoon. During the southwest monsoon season, winds mainly blow between the southwest and northeast directions. In the post monsoon season, winds blow predominantly between north and east directions. During the winter season winds are variable in directions

Bidar Forests

Bidar Forest division is the northern most division of Karnataka encompassing the whole of Bidar district and 31 villages of the adjoining Gulbarga district.

Forest areas of Bidar division are classified as Reserve forests, Protected forests and Unclassed forests.

Bidar Forest division is having 43,592 ha. of Forest area including Reserve Forests, Protected forests and Unclassified forests. This area is about 8.5% of total geographical extent of the district

River Systems and Drainage

The district falls under two distinct river basins, the Godavari basin and the Krishna basin. The Godavari basin extends over 4,411 square kilometers of which Manjra river basin cover 1989 square kilometers and Karanja river basin covers 2422 square kilometers. The Krishna basin covers 585 square kilometers of which Mullamari river basin covers 249 square kilometers and Gandarinala river basin covers 336 square kilometers. The main river of the district is Manjra River, which is a tributary of the Godavari River. The Karanja River itself is tributary of Manjra River. These rivers and their rivulets are not navigable.

Economy

In 2006 the Ministry of Panchayati Raj
Ministry of Panchayati Raj
The Ministry of Panchayati Raj is a branch of the Government of India looking after the ongoing process of decentralization and local governance in the States....

 named Bidar one of the country's 250 most backward districts
Poverty in India
Poverty is widespread in India, with the nation estimated to have a third of the world's poor. According to a 2005 World Bank estimate, 41.6% of the total Indian population falls below the international poverty line of 1.25 a day...

 (out of a total of 640
Districts of India
A district is an administrative division of an Indian state or territory. Districts are further subdivided, in some cases into Sub-Divisions, and otherwise directly into tehsils or talukas.District officials include:...

). It is one of the five districts in Karnataka currently receiving funds from the Backward Regions Grant Fund Programme (BRGF).

Administration

The district has five talukas, Bidar
Bidar
Bidar is a city in the Indian state of Karnataka. Located on the Deccan Plateau in the north-eastern part of Karnataka. It is the headquarters of the Bidar District....

, Humnabad, Bhalki
Bhalki
Bhalki is a town, and a taluka, in Bidar district in the state of Karnataka, India.-History:First mention of the town was made as "Bhallunke" in the vachanas of 12th century sharanas...

, Aurad
Aurad
Aurad is a panchayat town in Bidar district in the state of Karnataka, India.- History :Aurad has a famous Amareshwar temple located in the heart of town. The temple was built in 10th Century...

, and Basavakalyana.

Demographics

According to the 2011 census
2011 census of India
The 15th Indian National census was conducted in two phases, houselisting and population enumeration. Houselisting phase began on April 1, 2010 and involved collection of information about all buildings...

 Bidar district has a population
Demographics of India
The demographics of India are inclusive of the second most populous country in the world, with over 1.21 billion people , more than a sixth of the world's population. Already containing 17.5% of the world's population, India is projected to be the world's most populous country by 2025, surpassing...

 of 1,700,018, roughly equal to the nation of The Gambia
The Gambia
The Republic of The Gambia, commonly referred to as The Gambia, or Gambia , is a country in West Africa. Gambia is the smallest country on mainland Africa, surrounded by Senegal except for a short coastline on the Atlantic Ocean in the west....

 or the US state of Nebraska
Nebraska
Nebraska is a state on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States. The state's capital is Lincoln and its largest city is Omaha, on the Missouri River....

. This gives it a ranking of 289th in India (out of a total of 640
Districts of India
A district is an administrative division of an Indian state or territory. Districts are further subdivided, in some cases into Sub-Divisions, and otherwise directly into tehsils or talukas.District officials include:...

). The district has a population density of 312 PD/sqkm . Its population growth rate
Family planning in India
Family planning in India is based on efforts largely sponsored by the Indian government. In the 1965-2009 period, contraceptive usage has more than tripled and the fertility rate has more than halved , but the national fertility rate is still high enough to cause long-term population growth...

 over the decade 2001-2011 was 13.16 %. Bidar has a sex ratio
Sex ratio
Sex ratio is the ratio of males to females in a population. The primary sex ratio is the ratio at the time of conception, secondary sex ratio is the ratio at time of birth, and tertiary sex ratio is the ratio of mature organisms....

 of 952 females
Women in India
The status of women in India has been subject to many great changes over the past few millennia. From equal status with men in ancient times through the low points of the medieval period, to the promotion of equal rights by many reformers, the history of women in India has been eventful...

 for every 1000 males, and a literacy rate
Literacy in India
Literacy in India is key for socio-economic progress, and the Indian literacy rate grew to 74.04% in 2011 from 12% at the end of British rule in 1947. Although this was a greater than sixfold improvement, the level is well below the world average literacy rate of 84%, and India currently has the...

 of 71.01 %.

Most of the north Karnataka is a fusion of the Dravidian and Aryan
Aryan
Aryan is an English language loanword derived from Sanskrit ārya and denoting variously*In scholarly usage:**Indo-Iranian languages *in dated usage:**the Indo-European languages more generally and their speakers...

 races. Medieval times also saw a continuous influx of Turks
Turkish people
Turkish people, also known as the "Turks" , are an ethnic group primarily living in Turkey and in the former lands of the Ottoman Empire where Turkish minorities had been established in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Greece, Kosovo, Macedonia, and Romania...

, Mughals, Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...

ians, Afghans
Demographics of Afghanistan
The population of Afghanistan is around 29,835,392 as of the year 2011, which is unclear if the refugees living outside the country are included or not. The nation is composed of a multi-ethnic and multi-lingual society, reflecting its location astride historic trade and invasion routes between...

 and Arab
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...

s.

Economy

Agriculture is the main occupation in rural parts of the district. Greengram, bengalgram, blackgram, paddy, groundnut, wheat, redgram, sugarcane and chillies are other agricultural crops and jowar remains the major crop.
now the trend is changing towards sunflower and most of the rabi crop will be sunflower

Legislative Assembly seats

In the Karnataka Legislative Assembly
Legislative Assembly
Legislative Assembly is the name given in some countries to either a legislature, or to one of its branch.The name is used by a number of member-states of the Commonwealth of Nations, as well as a number of Latin American countries....

, Bidar district is represented through four members elected from the following assembly segments:
  • Bidar
    Bidar
    Bidar is a city in the Indian state of Karnataka. Located on the Deccan Plateau in the north-eastern part of Karnataka. It is the headquarters of the Bidar District....

  • Bhalki
    Bhalki
    Bhalki is a town, and a taluka, in Bidar district in the state of Karnataka, India.-History:First mention of the town was made as "Bhallunke" in the vachanas of 12th century sharanas...

  • BasavaKalyan
    Basavakalyan
    Basavakalyan is a town in Bidar District of the state of Karnataka, India, and was historically known as Kalyan.-History:Basavakalyan's history dates back to 3000 years with its name being mentioned in Guru Charitra....

  • Aurad
    Aurad
    Aurad is a panchayat town in Bidar district in the state of Karnataka, India.- History :Aurad has a famous Amareshwar temple located in the heart of town. The temple was built in 10th Century...

  • Humnabad


In the Indian Parliament, (Lok Sabha
Lok Sabha
The Lok Sabha or House of the People is the lower house of the Parliament of India. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by direct election under universal adult suffrage. As of 2009, there have been fifteen Lok Sabhas elected by the people of India...

), the district it is represented by a single member.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK