Gauribidanur
Encyclopedia
Gauribidanur is a historical town in Kolar district
Kolar district
Kolar district is a district in Karnataka state of India. The town of Kolar is the district headquarters. Kolar district is located in the southern region of the State and is the eastern-most district of the Karnataka State...

; now a part of Chikballapur
Chikballapur
Chikkaballapur is the District Headquarters of the newly created Chikkaballapur district in the state of Karnataka, India. Located within 3 km of Muddenahalli and its nearby town, Kanivenarayanapura, the sites of the upcoming Sri Sathya Sai Baba University and College of Medicine, Indian...

 district in the state 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...

, 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...

. It is about 75 km from Bangalore
Bangalore
Bengaluru , formerly called Bengaluru is the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka. Bangalore is nicknamed the Garden City and was once called a pensioner's paradise. Located on the Deccan Plateau in the south-eastern part of Karnataka, Bangalore is India's third most populous city and...

, and 25 km from the Educational Hub of Muddenahalli
Muddenahalli
Muddenahalli is a centrally located town situated 7 km from Chikballapur and 1 km from Kanivenarayanapura in Chikballapur District of Karnataka State...

-Kanivenarayanapura
Kanivenarayanapura
Kanivenarayanapura is a centrally located historical town situated 6 km from Chikballapur, 3 km from Nandi Town and 1 km from Muddenahalli in Chikballapur District of Karnataka State. It is adjacent to the birth place of the renowned Mokshagundam Visvesvarayya, one of India's most...

. kannada is spoken widely as primary luanguage . The name Gauribidanur could have originated from the terms- Ghori [Grave] and Bidanur [a common name for towns in the old mysore state]. It has been said that Tipu Sultan had some of his soldiers buried here. To this day a mosque built by him stands with some old graves. Some other sources indicate the name Gauribidanur is derived from Gowri [A Hindu Goddess] and Bidanur.

Not long ago, this town used to be the hub of lot of cultural activities and sports. With the advent of television, people seem to have forgotten the good old days. The old school, Acharya high school churned out many talented people from all walks of life. Homi Bhabha
Homi J. Bhabha
Homi Jehangir Bhabha, FRS was an Indian nuclear physicist and the chief architect of the Indian atomic energy program...

 and Mahatma Gandhi
Mahatma Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi , pronounced . 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948) was the pre-eminent political and ideological leader of India during the Indian independence movement...

 visited this school way back in its infancy and was labelled a model school in the country.

Dr H Narasimhaiah is one of the famous sons, who was born in Hossur village of this taluk. Born into a poor family he struggled in his early years and rose to become the Vice-Chancellor of Bangalore University. It is only because of his efforts and commitments about his hometown that led the people towards education. "The Infosys Science Center" which is in Hossur village, is just like a miny Vishweshwaraiah technological museum and students all over the district used to visit hossur. The science center is present in the National High School campus of Hossur.

Hossur is the first village in Karnataka which was improved in its infrastructure and other basic needs by "Swasthigrama Yojane". The money spent on this plan was about 1 crore rupees.

Formerly sugarcane and paddy were the main crops of this taluk. In recent times, silkworm rearing, groundnuts, maize and sunflower are the main crops owing to the lack of groundwater and rainfall. In fact there still is a dormant sugar factory which was set up as a co-operative unit. Uttara Pinakini river has water flow only during the rainy season. If the rainfalls are scarce, the river bed is dry.

Vidurashwatha an important pilgrim centre which is 6 km from Gauribidanur, is also in this taluk. This place is also known as the second Jallianwallahbagh of Indian freedom struggle, as there was a police firing on a peaceful congregation of people on the river banks of Uttara Pinakini where many died. Viduraswatha is also the last railway station before entering 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...

 in the Bangalore
Bangalore
Bengaluru , formerly called Bengaluru is the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka. Bangalore is nicknamed the Garden City and was once called a pensioner's paradise. Located on the Deccan Plateau in the south-eastern part of Karnataka, Bangalore is India's third most populous city and...

-Hyderabad railway line.Also it lies on the NH-234
(Mangalore
Mangalore
Mangalore is the chief port city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is located about west of the state capital, Bangalore. Mangalore lies between the Arabian Sea and the Western Ghat mountain ranges, and is the administrative headquarters of the Dakshina Kannada district in south western...

 - Villupuram).

This place was also a hub of sporting activities. A national level basketball tournament was being held annually here hosted by the local Dawn Youngsters Basketball Club. Teams from all over India used to participate in this annual event. The local Nav Bharat Ball Badminton club also conducted an annual invitational tourney here.

Gauribidanur also has scientific facilities nearby. BARC and TIFR have set up research labs here owing to its suitability in terms of geography and soil contents. BARC hosts several highly sensitive seismometers that can record minutest disturbances in the Earth's crust across the globe. TIFR has a centre for research on gravitational fields. Another important presence is that of an enormous radio telescope, hosted by Indian Institute of Astrophysics and Raman Research Institute
Raman Research Institute
Raman Research Institute is a research institute in Bangalore, India. It was started by Nobel laureate Sir C. V. Raman.The main areas of research are:*Astronomy and Astrophysics*Liquid Crystals*Theoretical Physics*Optics...

 actually an array, spread across many hectares and this is primarily used in reception and analysis of cosmic signals.

Geography

Gauribidanur is located at 13.61°N 77.52°E. It has an average elevation of 694 metres (2276 feet).
55 km from MUDDENAHALLI

Demographics

India census
Census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...

, Gauribidanur had a population of 80,673. Males constitute 51% of the population and females 49%. Gauribidanur has an average literacy rate of 72%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 77%, and female literacy is 67%. In Gauribidanur, 11% of the population is under 6 years of age.

Environment

Due to unregulated Sand-mining, the bed of Pinakini River in the vicinity of the town has been denuded of all sand. Despite protests from local environmental groups and citizens- because of collaboration between politicians, the local police and some village groups- the sand mining has proceeded leading to extensive and irreversible environmental damage.
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