Karnataka the land of the Kannadigas, is a
stateIndia is a federal union of states comprising twenty-eight states and seven union territories. The states and territories are further subdivided into districts and so on.-List of states and territories:...
in
South West IndiaSouth West India extends over the regions in the states and territories of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry, Goa, Orissa, and Lakshadweep....
. It was
createdThe Unification of Karnataka refers to the formation of the Indian state of Karnataka, then called as Mysore State, in 1956 when several Indian states were created by redrawing borders based on linguistic demographics...
on 1 November 1956, with the passing of the
States Reorganisation ActThe States Reorganisation Act of 1956 was a major reform of the boundaries and governance of India's states and territories. The act reorganised the boundaries of India's states along linguistic lines, and amended the Indian Constitution to replace the three types of states, known as Parts A, B,...
and this day is annually celebrated as Karnataka Rajyotsava (Formation Day). Originally known as the
State of MysoreThe 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...
, it was renamed
Karnataka in 1973.
Karnataka is bordered by the
Arabian SeaThe Arabian Sea is a region of the Indian Ocean bounded on the east by India, on the north by Pakistan and Iran, on the west by the Arabian Peninsula, on the south, approximately, by a line between Cape Guardafui in northeastern Somalia and Kanyakumari in India...
to the west,
GoaGoa , a former Portuguese colony, is India's smallest state by area and the fourth smallest by population. Located in South West India in the region known as the Konkan, it is bounded by the state of Maharashtra to the north, and by Karnataka to the east and south, while the Arabian Sea forms its...
to the northwest,
MaharashtraMaharashtra 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,
Andhra PradeshAndhra 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,
Tamil NaduTamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh...
to the southeast, and
Keralaor Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....
to the southwest. The state covers an area of 191976 square kilometre, or 5.83% of the total geographical area of
IndiaIndia , 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 the
eighth largest Indian state by area,
the ninth largest by population and comprises 30
districtsA 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:...
.
KannadaKannada 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...
is the most widely spoken and official language of the state.
The two main river systems of the state are
KrishnaThe Krishna River , is one of the longest rivers in central-southern India, about . It is also referred to as Krishnaveni in its original nomenclature...
and its tributaries (
BhimaIn the Mahābhārata, Bhima is one of the central characters of Mahabharata and the second of the Pandava brothers...
,
Ghataprabha Ghataprabha is a village in the southern state of Karnataka, India. It is located in the Gokak taluk of Belgaum district in Karnataka.-Demographics:As of the 2001 India census, Ghataprabha had a population of more than 20,000...
,
VedavatiIn Hindu mythology, Vedavati is speculated to have been the spirit of Sita Devi, the wife of Lord Rama in the epic Ramayana. She was another avatar of Devi Laxmi.-Early life:...
, Malaprabha, and Tungabhadra) in the north, and the Cauvery and its tributaries (Hemavati, Shimsha, Arkavathi, Lakshmana Thirtha and Kabini) in the south. Both these rivers flow eastward and fall into the
Bay of BengalThe Bay of Bengal , the largest bay in the world, forms the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean. It resembles a triangle in shape, and is bordered mostly by the Eastern Coast of India, southern coast of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka to the west and Burma and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands to the...
.
Though
several etymologiesKarnataka is an Indian state. Several etymologies have been suggested for the name Karnataka. One derivative is from Sanskrit where 'Karna' means ear, and 'atati' means wander, together giving a meaning for 'Karnata' as where ones ears would want to wander, since this is the birth place of the...
have been suggested for the name Karnataka, the generally accepted one is that
Karnataka is derived from the Kannada words
karu and
nādu, meaning
elevated land.
Karu nadu may also be read as
Karu (black) and
nadu (region), as a reference to the
black cotton soilIn both the FAO and USA soil taxonomy, a vertisol is a soil in which there is a high content of expansive clay known as montmorillonite that forms deep cracks in drier seasons or years. Alternate shrinking and swelling causes self-mulching, where the soil material consistently mixes itself, causing...
found in the Bayaluseeme region of Karnataka. The
BritishBritish Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...
used the word
CarnaticThe Carnatic coast is the region of South India lying between the Eastern Ghats and the Coromandel Coast, in the modern Indian states of Tamil Nadu, south eastern Karnataka and southern Andhra Pradesh....
(sometimes
Karnatak) to describe both sides of peninsular India, south of the
Krishna RiverThe Krishna River , is one of the longest rivers in central-southern India, about . It is also referred to as Krishnaveni in its original nomenclature...
.
With an antiquity that dates to the
paleolithicThe Paleolithic Age, Era or Period, is a prehistoric period of human history distinguished by the development of the most primitive stone tools discovered , and covers roughly 99% of human technological prehistory...
, Karnataka has also been home to some of the most powerful
empires of ancient and medieval IndiaThe political history of medieval Karnataka spans the 4th to the 16th centuries, when the empires that evolved in the Karnataka region of India made a lasting impact on the subcontinent. Before this, alien empires held sway over the region, and the nucleus of power was outside modern Karnataka...
. The philosophers and musical bards patronised by these empires launched socio-religious and literary movements which have endured to the present day. Karnataka has contributed significantly to both forms of Indian classical music, the
CarnaticCarnatic music is a system of music commonly associated with the southern part of the Indian subcontinent, with its area roughly confined to four modern states of India: Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu...
(Karnataka Music) and Hindustani traditions. Writers in the Kannada language have received the most number of Jnanpith awards in India.
BangaloreBengaluru , 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...
is the capital city of the state and is at the forefront of the rapid economic and technological development that India is experiencing.
History
Karnatakan pre-history goes back to a
paleolithicThe Paleolithic Age, Era or Period, is a prehistoric period of human history distinguished by the development of the most primitive stone tools discovered , and covers roughly 99% of human technological prehistory...
hand-axe culture evidenced by discoveries of, among other things, hand axes and cleavers in the region. Evidence of
neolithicThe Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...
and megalithic cultures have also been found in the state. Gold discovered in
HarappaHarappa is an archaeological site in Punjab, northeast Pakistan, about west of Sahiwal. The site takes its name from a modern village located near the former course of the Ravi River. The current village of Harappa is from the ancient site. Although modern Harappa has a train station left from...
was found to be imported from mines in Karnataka, prompting scholars to hypothesize about contacts between ancient Karnataka and the
Indus Valley CivilizationThe Indus Valley Civilization was a Bronze Age civilization that was located in the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent, consisting of what is now mainly modern-day Pakistan and northwest India...
ca. 3000 BCE.
Prior to the third century BCE, most of Karnataka formed part of the Nanda Empire before coming under the Mauryan empire of Emperor Ashoka. Four centuries of Satavahana rule followed, allowing them to control large areas of Karnataka. The decline of Satavahana power led to the rise of the earliest native kingdoms, the
KadambasThe Kadamba Dynasty was an ancient royal family of Karnataka that ruled from Banavasi in present day Uttara Kannada district. The dynasty later continued to rule as a feudatory of larger Kannada empires, the Chalukya and the Rashtrakuta empires for over five hundred years during which time they...
and the Western Gangas, marking the region's emergence as an independent political entity. The Kadamba Dynasty, founded by
MayurasharmaMayurasharma , a Brahmin scholar and a native of Talagunda , was the founder of the Kadamba Kingdom of Banavasi, the earliest native kingdom to rule over what is today the modern state of Karnataka, India. He took the name of Mayuravarma to emphasise his change from the Brahmin to the Kshatriya...
, had its capital at
BanavasiBanavasi is an ancient temple town in Uttara Kannada District bordering Shivamogga district in the South Indian state of Karnataka .-History:Banavasi is one of the oldest towns in the Karnataka state...
; the Western Ganga Dynasty was formed with
TalakadTalakad is a desert-like town on the left bank of the Kaveri river at a spot where the river makes a sharp bend. It is 45 km from Mysore and 133 km from Bangalore in Karnataka, India. A historic site, Talakad once had over 30 temples that today are buried in sand. Now it is a scenic...
as its capital.
These were also the first kingdoms to use
KannadaKannada 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...
in administration, as evidenced by the
Halmidi inscriptionThe Halmidi inscription is the oldest known Kannada language inscription in the Kannada script. Experts agree on the relative date , but differ on absolute date. Estimates vary by about 50 years either side of about 500 AD . The inscription was discovered in 1936 by Dr. M. H...
and a fifth-century copper coin discovered at Banavasi. These dynasties were followed by imperial Kannada empires such as the Badami Chalukyas, the
Rashtrakuta Empire of ManyakhetaThe 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...
and the Western Chalukya Empire,
which ruled over large parts of the Deccan and had their capitals in what is now Karnataka. The Western Chalukyas patronised a unique style of
architectureWestern Chalukya architecture , also known as Kalyani Chalukya or Later Chalukya architecture, is the distinctive style of ornamented architecture that evolved during the rule of the Western Chalukya Empire in the Tungabhadra region of central Karnataka, India, during the 11th and 12th centuries...
and Kannada
literatureA large body of Western Chalukya literature in Kannada was produced during the reign of the Western Chalukya Empire in what is now southern India...
which became a precursor to the Hoysala art of 12th century.
Parts of modern-day Karnataka were occupied by the Chola Empire between 990-1210 AD. This process started under
Rajaraja Chola IRaja Raja Chola I born Arunmozhi Thevar , popularly known as Raja Raja the Great, is one of the greatest emperors of the Tamil Chola Empire of India who ruled between 985 and 1014 CE...
(985-1014) and continued under his son
Rajendra Chola IRajendra Chola I was the son of Rajaraja Chola I and was one of the greatest rulers of Tamil Chola dynasty of India. He succeeded his father in 1014 CE as the Chola emperor...
(1014–1044). Initially Gangapadi, Nolambapadi and Tadigaipadi, all parts of modern Mysore, were conquered and annexed under Raja Raja Chola I.
Rajendra Chola IRajendra Chola I was the son of Rajaraja Chola I and was one of the greatest rulers of Tamil Chola dynasty of India. He succeeded his father in 1014 CE as the Chola emperor...
"marched up to Donur, he also captured Banvasi, a good part of the Raichur doab and sacked Manyakheta" itself, which was the Western Chalukyan capital. During the time of the Chalukya ruler
JayasimhaJayasimha II , also known by the titles Jagadekhamalla and Mallikamoda, succeeded his brother Vikramaditya V on the Western Chalukya throne. Jayasimha had to fight on many fronts to protect his kingdom...
after his defeat by Rajendra Chola I, the Tungabhadra river was recognized tacitly as the boundary between the two kingdoms. During the rule of Rajadhiraja Chola I (1042–1056), Dannada, Kulpak, Koppam, the fortress of Kampili, Pundur, Yetagiri and the Chalukyan capital Kalyani were sacked. In 1053,
Rajendra Chola IIRajendra Chola II reigned as the Chola king succeeding his elder brother brother Rajadhiraja Chola. He is best remembered for his role in the battle of Koppam alongside his elder brother where he dramatically turned the tables on the Chalukyan King Somesvara I.- Koppam Battle :The Chola forces were...
after defeating the Chalukyans in war advanced to Kollapura where he erected a pillar of victory before returning to his capital at Gangaikondacholapuram. In 1066, the Western Chalukya ruler Somesvara's forces were defeated by the next Chola ruler Virarajendra, who then again defeated the Western Chalukyas at
KudalasangamaKudalasangama in India is an important center of pilgrimage for people of the Lingayat faith. It is located about 15 km from the Almatti Dam in Bagalkot district of Karnataka state. The Krishna river and Ghataprabha river merge here and flow east towards Srisaila in state of Andhra Pradesh...
, and set up a pillar of victory on the banks of the Tungabhadra. In AD 1075 Kulottunga Chola I won a victory against Vikramaditya VI at Nangili in Kolar district and made himself the master of Gangavadi. The Cholas eventually lost Gangavadi in 1116 to the Hoysalas under Vishnuvardhana.
At the turn of the first millennium, the
HoysalasThe Hoysala Empire was a prominent South Indian Kannadiga empire that ruled most of the modern day state of Karnataka between the 10th and the 14th centuries. The capital of the Hoysalas was initially located at Belur but was later moved to Halebidu....
gained power in the region. Literature flourished during this time, which led to the distinctive Kannada
literary metresMeter or metre is a term that music has inherited from the rhythmic element of poetry where it means the number of lines in a verse, the number of syllables in each line and the arrangement of those syllables as long or short, accented or unaccented...
and the construction of temples and sculptures adhering to the
Vesara style of architectureHoysala architecture is the building style developed under the rule of the Hoysala Empire between the 11th and 14th centuries, in the region known today as Karnataka, a state of India. Hoysala influence was at its peak in the 13th century, when it dominated the Southern Deccan Plateau region...
. The expansion of the Hoysala Empire brought minor parts of modern
Andhra PradeshAndhra 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...
and
Tamil NaduTamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh...
under its rule. In the early 14th century,
HariharaHarihara is the name of a combined deity form of both Vishnu and Shiva from the Hindu tradition. Also known as Shankaranarayana , Harihara is thus worshipped by both Vaishnavites and Shaivities as a form of the Supreme God, as well as being a figure of worship for other Hindu traditions in general...
and Bukka Raya established the
Vijayanagara empireThe Vijayanagara Empire , referred as the Kingdom of Bisnaga by the Portuguese, was an empire based in South Indian in the Deccan Plateau region. It was established in 1336 by Harihara I and his brother Bukka Raya I of the Yadava lineage. The empire rose to prominence as a culmination of attempts...
with its capital,
Hosapattana (later named
VijayanagaraVijayanagara is in Bellary District, northern Karnataka. It is the name of the now-ruined capital city "which was regarded as the second Rome" that surrounds modern-day Hampi, of the historic Vijayanagara empire which extended over the southern part of India....
), on the banks of the Tungabhadra River in the modern Bellary district. The empire rose as a bulwark against Muslim advances into South India, which it completely controlled for over two centuries.
In 1565, Karnataka and the rest of South India experienced a major geopolitical shift when the Vijayanagara Empire fell to a confederation of Islamic sultanates in the
Battle of TalikotaThe Battle of Talikota , a watershed battle fought between the Vijayanagara Empire and the Deccan sultanates, resulted in a rout of Vijayanagara, and ended the last great Hindu kingdom in South India...
. The Bijapur Sultanate, which had risen after the demise of the
Bahmani SultanateThe Bahmani Sultanate was a Muslim state of the Deccan in southern India and one of the great medieval Indian kingdoms...
of Bidar, soon took control of the Deccan; it was defeated by the Moghuls in the late 17th century. The Bahamani and Bijapur rulers encouraged Urdu and Persian literature and
Indo-SaracenicThe Indo-Saracenic Revival was an architectural style movement by British architects in the late 19th century in British India...
architecture, the
Gol GumbazGol Gumbaz is the mausoleum of Mohammed Adil Shah, Sultan of Bijapur. The tomb, located in Bijapur, Karnataka in southern India, was completed in 1656 by the architect Yaqut of Dabul...
being one of the high points of this style. During the sixteenth century, Konkani Hindus migrated to Karnataka, mostly from
SalcetteSalcette , is a taluka of South Goa District in the Indian state of Goa. Its administrative and economic headquarters is Margao. It is largely coterminous with a region called Sashti , which comprised, by local tradition, sixty-six villages, hence the name. However, it also includes the taluka of...
,
GoaGoa , a former Portuguese colony, is India's smallest state by area and the fourth smallest by population. Located in South West India in the region known as the Konkan, it is bounded by the state of Maharashtra to the north, and by Karnataka to the east and south, while the Arabian Sea forms its...
, while during the seventeenth and eighteenth century, the Mangalorean Catholics migrated to
South CanaraSouth Canara was a district under the British empire, located at . It was bifurcated in 1859 from Canara district. It was the undivided Dakshina Kannada district...
, in Karnataka, especially from
BardesBardez is the name of a region and taluka in North Goa. The name is credited to the Brahmin immigrants who migrated to the Konkan via Magadha in Gangetic India from Aryavarta, in the north-western part of the Indian sub-continent. Bardez or more properly Bara desh means "twelve countries"...
, Goa, as a result of food shortages, epidemics and heavy taxation imposed by the
PortugueseThe Portuguese are a nation and ethnic group native to the country of Portugal, in the west of the Iberian peninsula of south-west Europe. Their language is Portuguese, and Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion....
.
In the period that followed, parts of northern Karnataka were ruled by the Nizam of Hyderabad, the
BritishBritish Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...
, and other powers. In the south, the Mysore Kingdom, former
vassalA vassal or feudatory is a person who has entered into a mutual obligation to a lord or monarch in the context of the feudal system in medieval Europe. The obligations often included military support and mutual protection, in exchange for certain privileges, usually including the grant of land held...
s of the Vijayanagara Empire, was briefly independent. With the death of
Krishnaraja Wodeyar IIKrishna Raja Wodeyar II,, was also known popularly as Immadi Krishna Raja Wadeyar.He was the titular ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore from 1734 to 1766...
, Haidar Ali, the commander-in-chief of the Mysore army, gained control of the region. After his death, the kingdom was inherited by his son Tippu Sultan. To contain European expansion in South India, Haidar Ali and later Tippu Sultan fought four significant
Anglo-Mysore WarsThe Anglo-Mysore Wars were a series of wars fought in India over the last three decades of the 18th century between the Kingdom of Mysore and the British East India Company, represented chiefly by the Madras Presidency...
, the last of which resulted in Tippu Sultan's death and the incorporation of Mysore into the
British RajBritish Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...
in 1799. The Kingdom of Mysore was restored to the Wodeyars and Mysore remained a princely state under the British Raj.
As the "
doctrine of lapseThe Doctrine of Lapse was an annexation policy purportedly devised by Lord Dalhousie, who was the Governor General for the British in India between 1848 and 1856...
" gave way to dissent and resistance from princely states across the country,
Kittur ChennammaKitturu Rani Chennamma was the queen of the princely state of Kittur in Karnataka. In 1824, 33 years before the 1857 war of independence, she led an armed rebellion against the British in response to the Doctrine of lapse. The resistance ended in her martyrdom and she is remembered today as one...
,
Sangolli RayannaSangolli Rayanna was a prominent freedom fighter from Karnataka, India. He fought the British till his death. He was the army chief of the Kingdom of Kittur ruled at the time by Rani Chennamma. Rayanna was born in the small village of Sangolli, he belonged to the Kuruba / Dhangar caste and hence...
and others spearheaded rebellions in Karnataka in 1830, nearly three decades before the
Indian Rebellion of 1857The Indian Rebellion of 1857 began as a mutiny of sepoys of the British East India Company's army on 10 May 1857, in the town of Meerut, and soon escalated into other mutinies and civilian rebellions largely in the upper Gangetic plain and central India, with the major hostilities confined to...
. Other uprisings followed, such as the ones at
SupaSupa is a village in Tõlliste Parish, Valga County in southern Estonia. It has a population of 33 ....
,
BagalkotBagalkot or Bagalkote is a town in the Indian state of Karnataka. Bagalkot is the district headquarters of the Bagalkot district. It is one of the major towns in North Karnataka.-History:...
,
ShorapurShorapur is a town in Yadgir district in the Indian state of Karnataka.-Demographics: India census, Shorapur had a population of 43,591. Males constitute 51% of the population and females 49%. Shorapur has an average literacy rate of 55%, lower than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is...
,
NargundNargund or Naragunda is a town in Gadag district in the Indian state of Karnataka.The name Naragunda means hills of jackals. The astrologist and a Jain Sridharacharya from this town was the author of Jatakatilaka.-History:...
and
DandeliDandeli [ Kannada:ದಾಂಡೇಲಿ ] is a town in Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka in North Karnataka, India in the Western Ghats, near Goa. It is best known for its wildlife sanctuary, tourism, industry and as an educational hub....
. These rebellions - which coincided with the
1857 war of independenceThe Indian Rebellion of 1857 began as a mutiny of sepoys of the British East India Company's army on 10 May 1857, in the town of Meerut, and soon escalated into other mutinies and civilian rebellions largely in the upper Gangetic plain and central India, with the major hostilities confined to...
- were led by Mundargi Bhimarao, Bhaskar Rao Bhave, the Halagali Bedas,
Raja Venkatappa NayakaSurapur in the present Gulbarga district was ruled by Beda Nayakas who had given tough resistance to Aurangzeb. The British appointed Philip Meadows Taylor as its Resident and Regent when the ruler there died, leaving a young prince Venkatappa...
and others. By the late 19th century, the freedom movement had gained momentum; Karnad Sadashiva Rao, Aluru Venkata Raya,
S. NijalingappaSiddavanahalli Nijalingappa was a senior Congress politician and the Chief Minister of Karnataka between 1956 and 1958 and once again between 1962 and 1968...
,
Kengal HanumanthaiahKengal Hanumanthaiah was the chief minister of the old Mysore State in India from 30 March 1952 to 19 August 1956...
,
Nittoor Srinivasa RauNittoor Srinivasa Rao or Nittur Srinivasa Rao was a Gandhian who participated in the Indian independence movement. He was the Chief Justice of the High Court of Mysore State and also the first chief of the Central Vigilance Commission of India...
and others carried on the struggle into the early 20th century.
After India's independence, the Maharaja, Jayachamarajendra Wodeyar, allowed his kingdom's accession to India. In 1950, Mysore became an Indian state of the same name; the former Maharaja served as its
Rajpramukh (head of state) until 1975. Following the long-standing demand of the
Ekikarana MovementThe Unification of Karnataka refers to the formation of the Indian state of Karnataka, then called as Mysore State, in 1956 when several Indian states were created by redrawing borders based on linguistic demographics...
, Kodagu- and Kannada-speaking regions from the adjoining states of Madras, Hyderabad and Bombay were incorporated into the Mysore state, under the States Reorganization Act of 1956. The thus expanded state was renamed Karnataka, seventeen years later, in 1973. In the early 1900s through the post-independence era, industrial visionaries such as Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvarayya born in
MuddenahalliMuddenahalli is a centrally located town situated 7 km from Chikballapur and 1 km from Kanivenarayanapura in Chikballapur District of Karnataka State...
, near
KanivenarayanapuraKanivenarayanapura 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...
,
ChikballapurChikkaballapur 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 played an important role in the development of Karnataka's strong manufacturing and industrial base.
Geography
The state has three principal geographical zones:
- the coastal region of Karavali
- the hilly Malenadu region comprising the Western Ghats
The Western Ghats, Western Ghauts or the Sahyādri is a mountain range along the western side of India. It runs north to south along the western edge of the Deccan Plateau, and separates the plateau from a narrow coastal plain along the Arabian Sea. The Western Ghats block rainfall to the Deccan...
- the Bayaluseeme region comprising the plains of the 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...
The bulk of the state is in the Bayaluseeme region, the northern part of which is the second-largest
aridA region is said to be arid when it is characterized by a severe lack of available water, to the extent of hindering or even preventing the growth and development of plant and animal life...
region in India. The highest point in Karnataka is the
MullayanagiriMullayanagiri , is the highest peak in Karnataka, India. Mullayanagiri is located at in the Baba Budan Giri Range of the Western Ghats...
hills in Chickmagalur district which has an altitude of 1929 metres (6,329 ft). Some of the important rivers in Karnataka are Kaveri, Tungabhadra,
KrishnaThe Krishna River , is one of the longest rivers in central-southern India, about . It is also referred to as Krishnaveni in its original nomenclature...
,
MalaprabhaThe Malaprabha River is a tributary of the Krishna River and flows through the state of Karnataka in India. It rises in the Western Ghats at an altitude of 792 m in the state's Belgaum district...
and the Sharavathi.
Karnataka consists of four main types of geological formations — the
ArcheanThe Archean , also spelled Archeozoic or Archæozoic) is a geologic eon before the Paleoproterozoic Era of the Proterozoic Eon, before 2.5 Ga ago. Instead of being based on stratigraphy, this date is defined chronometrically...
complex made up of
DharwadDharwad, also known as Dharwar, is a city and a DISTRICT PLACE in India's Karnataka state.Dharwad is the administrative seat of the Dharwad District. The municipality of Hubli-Dharwad covers an area of 200.23 km²...
schistThe schists constitute a group of medium-grade metamorphic rocks, chiefly notable for the preponderance of lamellar minerals such as micas, chlorite, talc, hornblende, graphite, and others. Quartz often occurs in drawn-out grains to such an extent that a particular form called quartz schist is...
s and granitic
gneissGneiss is a common and widely distributed type of rock formed by high-grade regional metamorphic processes from pre-existing formations that were originally either igneous or sedimentary rocks.-Etymology:...
es, the
ProterozoicThe Proterozoic is a geological eon representing a period before the first abundant complex life on Earth. The name Proterozoic comes from the Greek "earlier life"...
non-fossiliferous sedimentary formations of the Kaladgi and Bhima series, the
Deccan trappean and intertrappean deposits and the tertiary and recent
lateriteLaterites are soil types rich in iron and aluminium, formed in hot and wet tropical areas. Nearly all laterites are rusty-red because of iron oxides. They develop by intensive and long-lasting weathering of the underlying parent rock...
s and alluvial deposits. Significantly, about 60% of the state is composed of the
Archean complex which consist of gneisses, granites and charnockite rocks. Laterite cappings that are found in many districts over the
Deccan TrapsThe Deccan Traps are a large igneous province located on the Deccan Plateau of west-central India and one of the largest volcanic features on Earth. They consist of multiple layers of solidified flood basalt that together are more than thick and cover an area of and a volume of...
were formed after the cessation of volcanic activity in the early tertiary period. Eleven groups of soil orders are found in Karnataka, viz.
EntisolIn USA soil taxonomy, Entisols are defined as soils that do not show any profile development other than an A horizon. An Entisol has no diagnostic horizons, and most are basically unaltered from their parent material, which can be unconsolidated sediment or rock...
s,
InceptisolsInceptisols are a soil order in USDA soil taxonomy. They form quickly through alteration of parent material. They are older than entisols. They have no accumulation of clays, Iron, Aluminum or organic matter. They have an Ochric or Umbric horizon and a cambic subsurface horizon....
, Mollisols, Spodosols, Alfisols, Ultisols,
OxisolOxisols are an order in USDA soil taxonomy, best known for their occurrence in tropical rain forest, 15-25 degrees north and south of the Equator. Some oxisols have been previously classified as laterite soils.-Formation:...
s, Aridisols,
VertisolIn both the FAO and USA soil taxonomy, a vertisol is a soil in which there is a high content of expansive clay known as montmorillonite that forms deep cracks in drier seasons or years. Alternate shrinking and swelling causes self-mulching, where the soil material consistently mixes itself, causing...
s, Andisols and
HistosolIn both the FAO soil classification and the USA soil taxonomy, a histosol is a soil consisting primarily of organic materials. They are defined as having or more of organic soil material in the upper . Organic soil material has an organic carbon content of 12 to 18 percent, or more, depending on...
s. Depending on the agricultural capability of the soil, the soil types are divided into six types, viz. Red, lateritic,
blackIn both the FAO and USA soil taxonomy, a vertisol is a soil in which there is a high content of expansive clay known as montmorillonite that forms deep cracks in drier seasons or years. Alternate shrinking and swelling causes self-mulching, where the soil material consistently mixes itself, causing...
, alluvio-colluvial, forest and coastal soils.
Karnataka experiences four seasons. The winter in January and February is followed by summer between March and May, the monsoon season between June and September and the post-monsoon season from October till December.
MeteorologicallyMeteorology is the interdisciplinary scientific study of the atmosphere. Studies in the field stretch back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did not occur until the 18th century. The 19th century saw breakthroughs occur after observing networks developed across several countries...
, Karnataka is divided into three zones — coastal, north interior and south interior. Of these, the coastal zone receives the heaviest rainfall with an average rainfall of about 3638.5 mm (143 in) per annum, far in excess of the state average of 1139 mm (45 in).
AgumbeAgumbe is a village located in the Shimoga district in the state of Karnataka, India. Lying in the Thirthahalli taluk and the Malnad region, Agumbe is among the places in India that receive very heavy rainfall earning it the sobriquet, "Cherrapunji of the South". It is also the home of the Agumbe...
in the Shivamogga district receives the second highest annual rainfall in India. The highest recorded temperature was 45.6 °C (114 °F) at
RaichurRaichur , 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 the lowest recorded temperature was 2.8 °C (37 °F) at
BidarBidar 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....
.
About 38724 km² (14,951 sq mi) of Karnataka (i.e. 20% of the state's geographic area) is covered by forests. The forests are classified as reserved, protected, unclosed, village and private forests. The percentage of forested area is slightly less than the all-India average of about 23%, and significantly less than the 33% prescribed in the National Forest Policy.
Sub-divisions
There are 30 districts in Karnataka:
- Bagalkote
Bāgalkot district is an administrative district in the Indian state of Karnataka. The district headquarters is located in the town of Bagalkot. The district is located in northern Karnataka and borders Belgaum, Gadag, Koppal, Raichur and Bijapur...
- Bangalore Rural
Bangalore Rural District is one of the 30 districts in Karnataka. It was formed in 1986, when Bangalore district was divided into Bangalore Rural and Bangalore . Presently in Bangalore Rural district, there are 2 divisions, 4 Talukas, 35 Hoblis , 1,713 inhabited and 177 uninhabited villages, 9...
- Bangalore Urban
- Belgaum
Belgaum district is a district in the state of Karnataka, India. The city of Belgaum is the district headquarters in North Karnataka. By the 2011 Census of India, it had a population of 4778439...
- Bellary
- Bidar
Bidar is a district of Karnataka state in southern India. The historic city of Bidar is the administrative centre of the district. The district is located in the northeastern corner of the state, near the borders with Andhra Pradesh to the east and Maharashtra to the north and west...
- Bijapur
- Chamarajanagar
Chamarajanagara is the southern-most district in the state of Karnataka, India. It was carved out of the original larger Mysore District in the year 1998...
- Chikkaballapur
- Chikkamagaluru
Chikkamagaluru is a district in the Indian state of Karnataka. Chikkamagaluru is where coffee was first cultivated in India. The mountains here which are a part of the Western Ghats are the source of rivers like Tunga and Bhadra. Chikkamagaluru district also contains Mullayanagiri; which is the...
- Chitradurga
Chitradurga district is an administrative district of Karnataka state in southern India. The city of Chitradurga is the district headquarters. Chitradurga gets its name from Chitrakaldurga, an umbrella-shaped lofty hill found there. Tradition dates Chitradurga District to the period of the...
- Dakshina Kannada
- Geography :The district geography consists of sea shore in the west and Western Ghats in the east. The major rivers are Netravathi, Kumaradhara, Phalguni, Shambhavi, Nandini or Pavanje and Payaswini which all join Arabian sea. Vast areas of evergreen forests which once covered this district, have...
- Davanagere
Davanagere District , also known as Devangere District, is an administrative district of Karnataka state in southern India. The city of Davanagere is the district headquarters. It had a population of 1,790,952 of which 30.32% was urban as of 2001.This district was carved out of Chitradurga district...
- Dharwad
Dharwad District is an administrative district of the state of Karnataka in southern India. Dharwad is the cultural headquarters of North Karnataka....
- Gadag
Gadag District had a population of 971,952 of which 35.21% was urban as of 2001. Population increased 13.14% in the decade 1991-2001. The District is bounded on the north by Bagalkot District, on the east by Koppal District, on the southeast by Bellary District, on the southwest by Haveri...
- Gulbarga
Gulbarga district is one of the 30 districts of Karnataka state in southern India. Gulbarga city is the administrative headquarters of the district...
- Hassan
Hassan is a district in Karnataka state, India. The district headquarters are Hassan.Hassan district was the seat of the Hoysala Empire which at its peak ruled large parts of south India from Belur as its early capital and Halebidu as its later capital during the period 1000 - 1334 CE...
- Haveri
Haveri is a district in the state of Karnataka, India with the potential to become a tourist hub. As of 2001, it had a population of 1,439,116 of which 20.78% were urban residents.-Tourism:Examples of tourist attractions in the district:...
- Kodagu
- Kolar
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...
- Koppal
Koppal district is an administrative district in the state of Karnataka in India. In the past Koppal was referred to as 'Kopana Nagara'. Hampi, a World heritage center, covers some areas of Koppal District. It is situated approximately 38 km away...
- Mandya
- Mysore
Mysore District is an administrative district located in the southern part of the state of Karnataka, India. The district is bounded by Mandya district to the northeast, Chamrajanagar district to the southeast, Kerala state to the south, Kodagu district to the west, and Hassan district to the north...
- Raichur
Raichur District is an administrative district in the Indian state of Karnataka. It is located in the northeast part of the state and is bounded by Yadgir district in the north, Bijapur and Bagalkot district in the northwest, Koppal district in the west, Bellary district in the south, Anantapur...
- Ramanagara
- Shimoga
- Tumkur
Tumkur district is an administrative district in the state of Karnataka in India. The district headquarters are located at Tumkur. The district occupies an area of 10,598 km² and had a population of 2,584,711, of which 19.62% were urban as of 2001...
- Udupi
Udupi district , ಉಡುಪಿ ಜಿಲ್ಲೆ) in the Karnataka state of India was created in August 1997. The three northern taluks, Udupi, Kundapur and Karkal, were separated from Dakshina Kannada District to form Udupi district. Udupi district is surrounded by Uttara Kannada district in north, Dakshina Kannada...
- Uttara Kannada
Uttara Kannada also known as North Canara or North Kanara, is a district in the southern Indian state of Karnataka. It is bordered by the state of Goa and Belgaum District to the north, Dharwad District and Haveri District to the east, Shimoga District and Udupi District to the south and the...
- Yadgir
Yadgir district is one of the 30 districts of Karnataka state in southern India. This district was carved out from the erstwhile Gulbarga district as the 30th district of Karnataka on 10 April 2010. Yadgir town is the administrative headquarters of the district...
Each district is governed by a district commissioner or district magistrate. The districts are further divided into sub-divisions, which are governed by sub-divisional magistrates; sub-divisions comprise blocks containing panchayats (village councils) and town municipalities.
As per the 2001 census, Karnataka's six largest cities sorted in order of decreasing population were,
BangaloreBengaluru , 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...
, Hubli-
DharwadDharwad, also known as Dharwar, is a city and a DISTRICT PLACE in India's Karnataka state.Dharwad is the administrative seat of the Dharwad District. The municipality of Hubli-Dharwad covers an area of 200.23 km²...
,
Mysore,
GulbargaGulbarga 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...
,
BelgaumBelgaum is a city and a municipal corporation in Belgaum district in the state of Karnataka, India. It is the fourth largest city of the state of Karnataka, the first three being Bangalore, Mysore, Hubli-Dharwad....
and
MangaloreMangalore 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...
. Bangalore is the only city with a population of more than one million.
Bangalore Urban,
BelgaumBelgaum district is a district in the state of Karnataka, India. The city of Belgaum is the district headquarters in North Karnataka. By the 2011 Census of India, it had a population of 4778439...
and
GulbargaGulbarga district is one of the 30 districts of Karnataka state in southern India. Gulbarga city is the administrative headquarters of the district...
are the most populous districts, each of them having a population of more than three million.
GadagGadag District had a population of 971,952 of which 35.21% was urban as of 2001. Population increased 13.14% in the decade 1991-2001. The District is bounded on the north by Bagalkot District, on the east by Koppal District, on the southeast by Bellary District, on the southwest by Haveri...
,
ChamarajanagarChamarajanagara is the southern-most district in the state of Karnataka, India. It was carved out of the original larger Mysore District in the year 1998...
and Kodagu districts have a population of less than one million.
Demographics
According to the 2001 census of India, the total population of Karnataka is 52,850,562, of which 26,898,918 (50.9%) are male and 25,951,644 (49.1%) are female, or 1000 males for every 964 females. This represents a 17.3% increase over the population in 1991. The population density is 275.6 per km² and 34.0% of the people live in urban areas. The literacy rate is 66.6% with 76.1% of males and 56.9% of females being literate. 83% of the population are
HinduHindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
, 11% are
MuslimA Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
, 4% are
ChristianA Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
, 0.8% are Jains, 0.7% are Buddhist, and with the remainder belonging to other religions.
KannadaKannada 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...
is the official language of Karnataka and spoken as a native language by about 64.8% of the people. Other linguistic minorities in the state as of 1991 are
UrduUrdu is a register of the Hindustani language that is identified with Muslims in South Asia. It belongs to the Indo-European family. Urdu is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan. It is also widely spoken in some regions of India, where it is one of the 22 scheduled languages and an...
(9.7%),
TeluguTelugu is a Central Dravidian language primarily spoken in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India, where it is an official language. It is also spoken in the neighbouring states of Chattisgarh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Orissa and Tamil Nadu...
(8.3%),
TamilTamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in the Indian union territory of Pondicherry. Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore...
(3.8%),
MarathiMarathi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people of western and central India. It is the official language of the state of Maharashtra. There are over 68 million fluent speakers worldwide. Marathi has the fourth largest number of native speakers in India and is the fifteenth most...
(4.0%),
TuluThe Tulu language |?]]]) is a Dravidian language spoken by 1.95 million native speakers mainly in the southwest part of Indian state Karnataka known as Tulu Nadu. In India, 1.72 million people speak it as their mother tongue , increased by 10 percent over the 1991 census...
(3.4%),
HindiStandard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...
(1.9%),
KonkaniKonkaniKonkani is a name given to a group of several cognate dialects spoken along the narrow strip of land called Konkan, on the west coast of India. This is, however, somewhat an over-generalisation. Geographically, Konkan is defined roughly as the area between the river Damanganga to the north...
(1.8%), Malayalam (1.7%) and
Kodava TakkKodava Takk or Kodava takka, is the original language of the south Karnataka district of Kodagu. The language is often called Kodava or Coorg language in English. The number of speakers is estimated at up to about 500,000. It is the primary language of Kodavas, but a large portion of other...
(0.3%). The state has a birth rate of 2.2%, a death rate of 0.7%, an infant mortality rate of 5.5% and a maternal mortality rate of 0.2%. The
total fertility rateThe total fertility rate of a population is the average number of children that would be born to a woman over her lifetime if she were to experience the exact current age-specific fertility rates through her lifetime, and she...
is 2.2.
In the field of super-specialty health care, Karnataka's private sector competes with the best in the world. Karnataka has also established a modicum of public health services having a better record of health care and child care than most other states of India. In spite of these advances, some parts of the state still leave much to be desired when it comes to primary health care.
Government and administration
Karnataka, like other
Indian statesIndia is a federal union of states comprising twenty-eight states and seven union territories. The states and territories are further subdivided into districts and so on.-List of states and territories:...
, has a parliamentary system of government with two democratically elected houses, the Legislative Assembly and the Legislative Council. The Legislative Assembly consists of 224 members who are elected for five-year terms. The Legislative Council is a permanent body of 75 members with one-third (25 members) retiring every two years.
The
government of KarnatakaThe Government of Karnataka is a democratically elected body with the Governor as the constitutional head. The Governor who is appointed for a period of five years appoints the Chief Minister and his council of ministers...
is headed by the
Chief Minister who is chosen by the ruling party
membersA Member of the Legislative Assembly or a Member of the Legislature , is a representative elected by the voters of a constituency to the legislature or legislative assembly of a sub-national jurisdiction....
of the
Legislative AssemblyLegislative 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....
. The Chief Minister, along with the council of ministers, drives the legislative agenda and exercises most of the executive powers. However, the constitutional and formal head of the state is the
GovernorThe Governors and Lieutenant-Governors of the states and territories of India have similar powers and functions at the state level as that of the President of India at Union level. Governors exist in the states while Lieutenant-Governors exist in union territories and in the National Capital...
who is appointed for a five-year term by the
President of IndiaThe President of India is the head of state and first citizen of India, as well as the Supreme Commander of the Indian Armed Forces. President of India is also the formal head of all the three branches of Indian Democracy - Legislature, Executive and Judiciary...
on the advice of the Union government. The people of Karnataka also elect 28 members to the
Lok SabhaThe 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 lower house of the Indian Parliament. The members of the state Legislative Assembly elect 12 members to the
Rajya SabhaThe Rajya Sabha or Council of States is the upper house of the Parliament of India. Rajya means "state," and Sabha means "assembly hall" in Sanskrit. Membership is limited to 250 members, 12 of whom are chosen by the President of India for their expertise in specific fields of art, literature,...
, the upper house of the Indian Parliament.
For administrative purposes, Karnataka has been divided into four revenue divisions, 49 sub-divisions, 29 districts, 175 taluks and 745 hoblies/revenue circles. The administration in each district is headed by a
Deputy CommissionerThe deputy commissioner or district magistrate or district collector or district magistrate and collector is the head of the revenue administration of an Indian district. The DC is required to be an Indian Administrative Service officer who is in charge of governmental assets in his district of...
who belongs to the
Indian Administrative ServiceThe Indian Administrative Service is the administrative civil service of the Government of India. It is one of the three All India Services....
and is assisted by a number of officers belonging to Karnataka state services. The
Deputy Commissioner of Police, an officer belonging to the
Indian Police ServiceThe Indian Police Service , simply known as Indian Police or IPS, is one of the three All India Services of the Government of India...
and assisted by the officers of the Karnataka Police Service, is entrusted with the responsibility of maintaining law and order and related issues in each district. The
Deputy Conservator of ForestsA Deputy Conservator of Forests or, equivalently a Divisional Forest Officer is an officer belonging to the elite Indian Forest Service. The Deputy Conservator of Forests is responsible for managing the Forests, Environment and Wild-Life related issues of a Forest Division of a state or a union...
, an officer belonging to the
Indian Forest ServiceThe Indian Forest Service is the Forestry service of India. It is one of the three All India Services of the Indian government, along with the Indian Administrative Service and Indian Police Service; its employees are recruited by the national government but serve under the state governments or...
, also serves the government. Sectoral development in the districts is looked after by the district head of each development department such as Public Works Department, Health, Education, Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, etc. The judiciary in the state consists of the
Karnataka High CourtThe Karnataka High Court is the High Court of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is located in Bangalore, the capital city of Karnataka. The High Court functions out of a red brick building known as Attara Kacheri...
(
Attara Kacheri) in Bangalore,
district and session courtsThe District Courts of India are the district courts established by the State governments in India for every district or for one or more districts together taking into account the number of cases, population distribution in the district. They administer justice in India at a district level...
in each district and lower courts and judges at the taluk level.
Politics in Karnataka has been dominated by three political parties, the
Indian National CongressThe Indian National Congress is one of the two major political parties in India, the other being the Bharatiya Janata Party. It is the largest and one of the oldest democratic political parties in the world. The party's modern liberal platform is largely considered center-left in the Indian...
, the
Janata Dal (Secular)The Janata Dal is a Centre-left ಕನ್ನಡ: ಜನತಾ ದಳIndian political party led by former Prime Minister of India H.D. Deve Gowda.The party recognized as state party in the states of Karnataka and Kerala . It was formed in July 1999 by the split of Janata Dal party. It has political presence mainly in...
and the
Bharatiya Janata PartyThe Bharatiya Janata Party ,; translation: Indian People's Party) is one of the two major political parties in India, the other being the Indian National Congress. Established in 1980, it is India's second largest political party in terms of representation in the parliament...
. Politicians from Karnataka have played prominent roles in
federal government of IndiaThe Government of India, officially known as the Union Government, and also known as the Central Government, was established by the Constitution of India, and is the governing authority of the union of 28 states and seven union territories, collectively called the Republic of India...
with some of them having held the high positions of
Prime MinisterThe Prime Minister of India , as addressed to in the Constitution of India — Prime Minister for the Union, is the chief of government, head of the Council of Ministers and the leader of the majority party in parliament...
and Vice President. Three cabinet levels ministers in the current United Progressive Alliance government are from Karnataka. Notable among these is Former Chief Minister and Honorable Union Minister for Law, Justice and Company Affairs,
Veerappa MoilyMoodbidri Veerappa Moily is the current Minister of Corporate Affairs in the Indian government. Moily was elected as MP of the Chickballapur district by a wide margin in 2009. He currently serves as the All India Congress Committee General Secretary in charge of Andhra Pradesh...
. Border disputes involving Karnataka's claim on the
KasaragodKasaragod District is one of the districts of the Indian state of Kerala. Kasaragod District was organised as a separate district on 24 May 1984...
and Sholapur districts and
MaharashtraMaharashtra is a state located in India. It is the second most populous after Uttar Pradesh and third largest state by area in India...
's
claim on BelgaumThe Belgaum border dispute is a dispute involving the Indian states of Maharashtra and Karnataka. Belgaum, currently a part of Karnataka and earlier the erstwhile Bombay Presidency, is claimed by Maharashtra on linguistic grounds.-Background:...
are ongoing since the states reorganisation.
The official emblem of Karnataka has a
Ganda BerundaThe Gandaberunda is a two-headed mythological bird of Hindu mythology thought to possess magical strength. It is used as the official emblem by the Karnataka government and it is seen as an intricately sculptured motif in Hindu temples.- Story :The Ganda Berunda took physical form in the Narasimha...
in the centre. Surmounting this are four lions facing the four directions, taken from the
Lion Capital of AsokaThe Lion capital of Ashoka is a sculpture of four "Indian lions" standing back to back. It was originally placed atop the Aśoka pillar at Sarnath, now in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India by Emperor Ashoka circa 250 BC. The pillar, sometimes called the Aśoka Column is still in its original...
at
SarnathSarnath or Sārnātha is the deer park where Gautama Buddha first taught the Dharma, and where the Buddhist Sangha came into existence through the enlightenment of Kondanna. Sarnath is located 13 kilometres north-east of Varanasi, in Uttar Pradesh, India...
. The emblem also carries two Sharabhas with the head of an
elephantElephants are large land mammals in two extant genera of the family Elephantidae: Elephas and Loxodonta, with the third genus Mammuthus extinct...
and the body of a
lionThe lion is one of the four big cats in the genus Panthera, and a member of the family Felidae. With some males exceeding 250 kg in weight, it is the second-largest living cat after the tiger...
.
Economy
Karnataka, which had an estimated GSDP (Gross State Domestic Product) of about US$ 58.23 billion in 2008-09 fiscal year. Karnataka recorded the highest growth rates in terms of GDP and per capita GDP in the last decade compared to other states.
The state registered a GSDP growth rate of 7% for the year 2007-2008. Karnataka's contribution to India's GDP in the year 2004-05 was 5.2%.
Karnataka was the fastest growing state over the past decade in terms of GDP and
per capita GDPGross domestic product refers to the market value of all final goods and services produced within a country in a given period. GDP per capita is often considered an indicator of a country's standard of living....
.
With GDP growth of 56.2% and per capita GDP growth of 43.9%, Karnataka now has the sixth highest per-capita GDP of all states. Till September 2006 Karnataka received a
Foreign Direct InvestmentForeign direct investment or foreign investment refers to the net inflows of investment to acquire a lasting management interest in an enterprise operating in an economy other than that of the investor.. It is the sum of equity capital,other long-term capital, and short-term capital as shown in...
of 78.097 billion ($ 1.7255 billion) for the fiscal year 2006-07, placing it third among the states of India. At the end of 2004, the unemployment rate in Karnataka was 4.94% compared to the national rate of 5.99%. For the fiscal year 2006-07, the inflation rate in Karnataka was 4.4%, compared to the national average of 4.7%. As of 2004-05, Karnataka had an estimated poverty ratio of 17%, less than the national ratio of 27.5%.
Nearly 56% of the workforce in Karnataka is engaged in agriculture and related activities. A total of 12.31 million hectares of land, or 64.6% of the state's total area, is cultivated. Much of the agricultural output is dependent on the southwest monsoon as only 26.5% of the sown area is irrigated.
Karnataka is the manufacturing hub for some of the largest
public sectorThe public sector, sometimes referred to as the state sector, is a part of the state that deals with either the production, delivery and allocation of goods and services by and for the government or its citizens, whether national, regional or local/municipal.Examples of public sector activity range...
industries in India, including
Hindustan Aeronautics LimitedHindustan Aeronautics Limited based in Bangalore, India, is one of Asia's largest aerospace companies. Under the management of the Indian Ministry of Defence, this state-owned company is mainly involved in aerospace industry, which includes manufacturing and assembling aircraft, navigation and...
,
National Aerospace LaboratoriesNational Aerospace Laboratories , is India's second largest aerospace firm after Hindustan Aeronautics . It was established by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research at Delhi in 1959 and its headquarters was later moved to Bangalore in 1960...
, Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited, Indian Telephone Industries, Bharat Earth Movers Limited and
Hindustan Machine ToolsHindustan Machine Tools was incorporated in 1953 by the Government of India as a machine tool manufacturing company.Over the years diversified into watches, tractors, printing machinery, metal forming presses, die casting & plastic processing machinery, CNC systems & bearings...
, which are based in Bangalore. Many of India's premier science and technology research centers, such as Indian Space Research Organization,
Central Power Research InstituteCentral Power Research Institute was established by the Government of India in 1960 with Head Quarters in Bangalore. The Institute was re-organized into an autonomous Society in the year 1978 under the aegis of the Ministry of Power, Government of India...
,
Bharat Electronics LimitedBharat Electronics Limited is a state-owned electronics company with about nine factories, and few regional offices in India. It is owned by the Indian Government & primarily manufactures advanced electronic products for the Indian Armed Forces.BEL is one of the eight PSUs under Ministry of...
and the
Central Food Technological Research InstituteIndia's Central Food Technological Research Institute and was opened on 21 October 1950. It is based in Mysore. A research center branch is also located in Habsiguda, Hyderabad....
, are also headquartered in Karnataka. Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited is an
oil refineryAn oil refinery or petroleum refinery is an industrial process plant where crude oil is processed and refined into more useful petroleum products, such as gasoline, diesel fuel, asphalt base, heating oil, kerosene, and liquefied petroleum gas...
located in Mangalore.
Since the 1980s, Karnataka has emerged as the pan-Indian leader in the field of IT (
information technologyInformation technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...
). As of 2007, there were nearly 2,000 firms operating out of Karnataka. Many of them, including two of India's biggest software firms,
InfosysInfosys Limited, formerly Infosys Technologies Limited is a global technology services company headquartered in Bangalore, India. It is the second largest IT exporter in India with 133,560 employees as of March 2011. It has offices in 33 countries and development centers in India, China,...
and
WiproWipro Limited formally Western India Products Limited is a global IT services and consulting company headquartered in Bangalore, India. As of 2011, Wipro is the second largest IT services company by turnover in India and employs more than 120,000 people worldwide as of March 2011...
are also headquartered in the state. Exports from these firms exceeded 50,000 crores ($12.5 billion) in 2006-07, accounting for nearly 38% of all IT exports from India. The
Nandi HillsNandi Hills or Nandidurg is an ancient hill fortress of southern India, in the Chikkaballapur district of Karnataka state. It is located just 10 km from Chickballapur town and approximately 60 km from the city of Bangalore...
area in the outskirts of
DevanahalliDevanahalli previously called Devanadoddi, Devanapura, and Yusufabad) is a city in the state of Karnataka in India. The city is located outside the city limits of Bangalore. Devanahalli is the site of the newly constructed Bengaluru International Airport, the second largest in India...
is the site of the upcoming $22 Billion, 50 square kilometer BIAL IT Investment Region, one the largest infrastructure projects in the history of Karnataka. All this has earned the state capital, Bangalore, the sobriquet
Silicon Valley of IndiaThe Silicon Valley of India is a nickname of the Indian city of Bangalore. The name signifies Bangalore's status as a hub for information technology companies in India and is a comparative reference to the original Silicon Valley, based around Santa Clara Valley, California, a major hub for IT...
.
Karnataka also leads the nation in
biotechnologyBiotechnology is a field of applied biology that involves the use of living organisms and bioprocesses in engineering, technology, medicine and other fields requiring bioproducts. Biotechnology also utilizes these products for manufacturing purpose...
. It is home to India's largest biocluster, with 158 of the country's 320 biotechnology firms being based here. The state also accounts for 75% of India's
floricultureFloriculture, or flower farming, is a discipline of horticulture concerned with the cultivation of flowering and ornamental plants for gardens and for floristry, comprising the floral industry...
, an upcoming industry which supplies flowers and ornamental plants worldwide.
Seven of India's leading banks,
Canara BankCanara Bank is a state-owned financial services company in India. It was established in 1906, making it one of the oldest banks in the country. As on 2009 November, the bank had a network of 3057 branches, spread across India...
,
Syndicate BankSyndicate Bank Ltd. is one of the oldest and major commercial banks of India. At the time of its establishment, the bank was known as Canara Industrial and Banking Syndicate Limited. The bank, along with 13 major commercial banks of India, was nationalized on 19 July 1969, by the Government of...
,
Corporation BankCorporation Bank is an India-based banking company based in Mangalore, India. The bank was founded with an initial capital of Rs. 5000 , and first day’s canvassed resources of less than one USD 1, has currently 12,724 full time employees, and operates from several branches in India.The Bank is a...
,
Vijaya Bank-History:Vijaya Bank , a medium sized bank with presence across India. It was founded on October 23, 1931 by A. B. Shetty and a few other farmers in Mangalore, Karnataka in India.. The objective was to promote banking habits, thrift and entrepreneurship among the farming community of Dakshina...
,
Karnataka BankKarnataka Bank Limited is a private sector banking institution based in the town of Mangalore in Karnataka, India. The Reserve Bank of India has designated Karnataka Bank as an A1+-class scheduled commercial bank....
, Vysya Bank and the
State Bank of MysoreState Bank of Mysore is a nationalised bank in India.State Bank of Mysore was established in the year 1913 as Bank of Mysore Ltd. under the patronage of the erstwhile Govt. of Mysore, at the instance of the banking committee headed by the great Engineer-Statesman, Late Dr. Sir M.Visweswaraiah...
originated in this state. The coastal districts of
Udupi and
Dakshina Kannada- Geography :The district geography consists of sea shore in the west and Western Ghats in the east. The major rivers are Netravathi, Kumaradhara, Phalguni, Shambhavi, Nandini or Pavanje and Payaswini which all join Arabian sea. Vast areas of evergreen forests which once covered this district, have...
have a branch for every 500 persons—the best distribution of banks in India. As of March 2002, Karnataka had 4767 branches of different banks with each branch serving 11,000 persons, which is lower than the national average of 16,000.
A majority of the 3500 crore silk industry in India is headquartered in Karnataka State, particularly in the North Bangalore regions of
MuddenahalliMuddenahalli is a centrally located town situated 7 km from Chikballapur and 1 km from Kanivenarayanapura in Chikballapur District of Karnataka State...
,
KanivenarayanapuraKanivenarayanapura 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...
, and Doddaballapura the upcoming sites of a 70 crore "Silk City".
Transport
Air transport in Karnataka, as in the rest of the country, is still a fledgling but fast expanding sector. Karnataka has airports at Bangalore,
MangaloreMangalore 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...
, Hubli,
BelgaumBelgaum is a city and a municipal corporation in Belgaum district in the state of Karnataka, India. It is the fourth largest city of the state of Karnataka, the first three being Bangalore, Mysore, Hubli-Dharwad....
,
HampiHampi is a village in northern Karnataka state, India. It is located within the ruins of Vijayanagara, the former capital of the Vijayanagara Empire. Predating the city of Vijayanagara, it continues to be an important religious centre, housing the Virupaksha Temple, as well as several other...
,
BellaryBellary 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....
and
Mysore with international operations from Bangalore and
MangaloreMangalore Airport, formerly known as Bajpe Airport, is a domestic and customs airport serving the coastal city of Mangalore, India...
airports. Major airlines such as
Kingfisher AirlinesKingfisher Airlines is an airline group based in India. Its head office is Kingfisher House in Vile Parle , Mumbai. Kingfisher Airlines, through its parent company United Breweries Group, has a 50% stake in low-cost carrier Kingfisher Red....
and Kingfisher red are based in Bangalore.
Karnataka has a railway network with a total length of approximately 3089 kilometres (1,919 mi). Until the creation of the South Western Zone headquartered at Hubli in 2003, the railway network in the state was in the Southern and Western railway zones. Several parts of the state now come under the South Western Zone, with the remainder under the Southern Railways. Coastal Karnataka is covered under the
Konkan railwayThe Konkan Railway is a railway line which runs along the Konkan coast of India. It was constructed and is operated by the Konkan Railway Corporation...
network which was considered India's biggest railway project of the century. Bangalore is extensively connected with inter-state destinations while other important cities and towns in the state are not so well-connected.
Karnataka has 11
portsKarnataka's coastline called Karavali stretches 300 km between Mangalore in Dakshina Kannada district and Karwar in Uttara Kannada district. The coastline of Karnataka has been along the eastern shore of Arabian Sea. Karnataka has one major and ten minor ports in this coastal belt...
, including the New Mangalore Port, a major port and ten other minor ports. The New Mangalore port was incorporated as the ninth major port in India on 4 May 1974. This port handled 32.04 million tonnes of traffic in the fiscal year 2006-07 with 17.92 million tonnes of imports and 14.12 million tonnes of exports. The port also handled 1015 vessels including 18 cruise vessels during the year 2006-07. The inland water transport within the state is not well developed.
The total lengths of National Highways and state highways in Karnataka are 3973 kilometres (2,469 mi) and 9829 kilometres (6,107 mi), respectively. The
KSRTCKarnataka State Road Transport Corporation or KSRTC is the state owned road transportation company in Karnataka.-About:KSRTC was set up in the year 1961 under the provisions of Road Transport Corporation Act, 1950. It is wholly owned by the Government of Karnataka. The Government of India is also...
, the state public transport corporation, transports an average of 2.2 million passengers daily and employs about 25,000 people. In the late nineties, KSRTC was split into three corporations, viz., The Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation, The North-West Karnataka Road Transport Corporation and The North-East Karnataka Road Transport Corporation with their headquarters in Bangalore, Hubli and Gulbarga respectively.
Culture
The diverse linguistic and religious ethnicities that are native to Karnataka combined with their long histories have contributed immensely to the varied cultural heritage of the state. Apart from Kannadigas, Karnataka is home to
TuluvaThe Tuluva -Geographic Distribution :Though most of the Tuluva population is found in the Tulu Nadu region, migrant poplulations are found the world over. In recent times, the first period of migration started at the beginning of the 20th century to places such as Mumbai and Chennai and other...
s,
KodavaThe Kodavas are a patrilineal ethno-lingual group from the region of Kodagu, in Karnataka state of southern India who traditionally were land-owning agriculturists with martial traditions and natively speak Kodava takk...
s and Konkanis. Minor populations of Tibetan Buddhists and tribes like the
SoligaA Soliga is a member of a tribe in India that inhabits the Biligirirangan and associated hill ranges in Southern Karnataka, mostly in Chamarajanagar District, bordering the Erode district of Tamil Nadu . Most of them are concentrated in and around the BR Hills in Yelandur and Kollegal Taluks of...
s, Yeravas,
TodasThe Toda people are a small pastoral community who live on the isolated Nilgiri plateau of Southern India. Before the late 18th century, the Toda coexisted locally with other communities, including the Badaga, Kota, and Kuruba, in a loose caste-like community organization in which the Toda were...
and Siddhis also live in Karnataka. The
traditional folk artsDances of Karnataka are one of the ancient dance forms existent in India.Most of the tribal dances are still in effect and enhanced also due to preservation and nature loving culture of Kannadigas.-Kunitha - A ritual dance:...
cover the entire gamut of music, dance, drama, storytelling by itinerant troupes, etc.
YakshaganaYakshagana is a musical theater popular in the coastal and Malenadu regions of Karnataka, India. Yakshagana is the recent scholastic name for what are known as kēḷike, āṭa, bayalāṭa, bayalāṭa, daśāvatāra . It is believed to have evolved from pre-classical music and theatre during Bhakti movement...
of Malnad and coastal Karnataka, a classical dance drama, is one of the major theatrical forms of Karnataka. Contemporary theatre culture in Karnataka remains vibrant with organizations like
NinasamNinasam is a cultural organisation located in the village of Heggodu in Sagar Taluk of the Shivamogga district in the state of Karnataka, India. Ninasam is the short form of Sri NIlakanteshwara NAtyaseva SAMgha, an organsiation dedicated to the growth of drama, films and publishing...
,
Ranga ShankaraRanga Shankara is one of Bangalore's best known theatres. It is located in the south Bangalore area of J.P Nagar and is run by the Sanket Trust...
,
RangayanaRangayana is a theatre institute which operates from Mysore, Karnataka, India. It works as an autonomous cultural institute. The organization consists of a professional repertory company, a theatre-training institute and a documentation and research centre. Rangayana offers courses in stage craft,...
and
Prabhat KalavidaruPlease visit http://www.prabhathkalavidaru.com/. Prabhat Kalavidaru is a theatre group based in Bangalore, India. Started in the year 1930, this group has staged many drama performances and is famous for its ballets...
continuing to build on the foundations laid by
Gubbi VeerannaGubbi Veeranna was an Indian theatre director, one of the pioneers and most prolific contributors to Kannada theatre. He established the drama company, Gubbi Veeranna Nataka Company that played a crucial role in promoting the Kannada theatre. Some of the stalwarts that have emerged out of this...
,
T. P. KailasamThyagaraja Paramasiva Kailasam , was a playwright and prominent writer of Kannada literature. His contribution to Kannada theatrical comedy earned him the title Prahasana Prapitamaha, "the father of humorous plays".-Early life:...
,
B. V. KaranthBabukodi Venkataramana Karanth was a renowned film and theatre personality from India...
, K V Subbanna, Prasanna and others.
VeeragaseVeeragase is a dance folk form prevalent in the state of Karnataka, India. It is a vigorous dance based on Hindu mythology and involves very intense energy-sapping dance movements. Veeragase is one of the dances demonstrated in the Dasara procession held in Mysore...
,
KamsaleKamsale is a unique folk art performed by the devotees of God Mahadeshwara. Kamsale is a brass made musical instrument. Its origin is traced to the Mythological period.- Instrument and Group :...
,
KolataKolata is the traditional folk dance of the state of Karnataka, located in Southern India on the western coast. Unlike its North Indian counterpart Dandiya Ras, it comes in two forms. First, it is performed with coloured sticks and usually involves both men and women dancing together. Second, very...
and
Dollu KunithaDollu Kunitha , is a major form of art, occupies the pride of place among folk dances. Dollu Kunitha is a popular drum dance of Karnataka accompanied by singing. It provides both spectacular variety and complexity of skills in the process of demonstration...
are popular dance forms. The
MysoreThe Kingdom of Mysore was a kingdom of southern India, traditionally believed to have been founded in 1399 in the vicinity of the modern city of Mysore. The kingdom, which was ruled by the Wodeyar family, initially served as a vassal state of the Vijayanagara Empire...
style of
BharatanatyaBharata Natyam or Chadhir Attam, is a classical dance form from the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu, practiced predominantly in modern times by women. The dance is usually accompanied by classical Carnatic music...
nurtured and popularised by the likes of the legendary Jatti Tayamma continues to hold sway in Karnataka and Bangalore also enjoys an eminent place as one of the foremost centers of Bharatanatya.
Karnataka also has a special place in the world of Indian classical music with both Karnataka (
CarnaticCarnatic music is a system of music commonly associated with the southern part of the Indian subcontinent, with its area roughly confined to four modern states of India: Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu...
) and Hindustani styles finding place in the state and Karnataka has produced a number of stalwarts in both styles. While referring to music the word 'Karnataka', the original name given to the South Indian classical music does not mean the state of Karnataka. The
HaridasaThe Haridasa devotional movement is considered as one of the turning points in the cultural history of India. Over a span of nearly six centuries, several saints and mystics helped shape the culture, philosophy and art of South India and Karnataka in particular by exerting considerable spiritual...
movement of the sixteenth century contributed seminally to the development of Karnataka (Carnatic) music as a performing art form.
Purandara DasaPurandara Dāsa is one of the most prominent composers of Carnatic music and is widely regarded as the "father of Carnatic Music". Purandara Dasa addressed social issues in addition to worship in his compositions, a practice emulated by his younger contemporary, Kanaka Dasa...
, one of the most revered
HaridasaThe Haridasa devotional movement is considered as one of the turning points in the cultural history of India. Over a span of nearly six centuries, several saints and mystics helped shape the culture, philosophy and art of South India and Karnataka in particular by exerting considerable spiritual...
s, is known as the
Karnataka Sangeeta Pitamaha ('Father of Karnataka a.k.a.Carnatic music'). Celebrated Hindustani musicians like
Gangubai HangalGangubai Hangal was an Indian singer of the khyal genre of Hindustani classical music, who was known for her deep and powerful voice. Hangal belonged to the Kirana gharana.-Early life:...
,
Mallikarjun MansurMallikarjun Bheemarayappa Mansur was an Indian classical singer of the khyal style in the Jaipur-Atrauli gharana. He received the three national Padma Awards: Padma Shri in 1970, Padma Bhushan in 1976, and Padma Vibhushan in 1992.-Early life:...
,
Bhimsen JoshiPandit Bhimsen Gururaj Joshi ; February 4, 1922 - January 24, 2011) was an Indian vocalist in the Hindustani classical tradition. A member of the Kirana Gharana , he is renowned for the khayal form of singing, as well as for his popular renditions of devotional music...
, Basavaraja Rajaguru,
Sawai GandharvaRambhau Kundgolkar, popularly known as Pandit Sawai Gandharva , was a popular Hindustani Classical vocalist and Marathi stage actor of the Kirana Gharana. He was the first and foremost disciple of Utd. Abdul Karim Khan and guru of Bharat Ratna laureate Pt. Bhimsen Joshi. Pt...
and several others hail from Karnataka and some of them have been recipients of the
Kalidas SammanThe Kalidas Samman is a prestigious arts award presented annually by the government of Madhya Pradesh in India. The award is named after Kālidāsa, a renowned Classical Sanskrit writer of ancient India, widely regarded as the greatest poet and dramatist in the Sanskrit language.The Kalidas Samman...
,
Padma BhushanThe Padma Bhushan is the third highest civilian award in the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan, but comes before the Padma Shri. It is awarded by the Government of India.-History:...
and
Padma VibhushanThe Padma Vibhushan is the second highest civilian award in the Republic of India. It consists of a medal and a citation and is awarded by the President of India. It was established on 2 January 1954. It ranks behind the Bharat Ratna and comes before the Padma Bhushan...
awards.
GamakaGamaka, also known as gamak or gamakam, refers to ornamentation that is used in the performance of Indian classical music. The unique character of each raga is given by its gamakas, making their role essential rather than decorative in Indian music...
is another
classical musicThe origins of Indian classical music can be found in the Vedas, which are the oldest scriptures in the Hindu tradition. Indian classical music has also been significantly influenced by, or syncretised with, Indian folk music and Persian music. The Samaveda, one of the four Vedas, describes music...
genreA music genre is a categorical and typological construct that identifies musical sounds as belonging to a particular category and type of music that can be distinguished from other types of music...
based on Carnatic music that is practiced in Karnataka. Kannada Bhavageete is a genre of popular music that draws inspiration from the expressionist poetry of modern poets. The Mysore school of painting has produced painters like Sundarayya, Tanjavur Kondayya, B. Venkatappa and Keshavayya.
Chitrakala ParishatChitrakala Parishath is an art institution and cultural organisation located in the city of Bangalore, in the state of Karnataka, India. Its main aim is the promotion of art and culture and it is well known for the various art exhibitions that it conducts both at the state and the National...
is an organisation in Karnataka dedicated to promoting painting, mainly in the
Mysore paintingMysore painting is an important form of classical South Indian painting that originated in the town of Mysore in Karnataka. Painting in Karnataka has a long and illustrious history, tracing it’s origins back to the Ajanta times Mysore painting is an important form of classical South Indian...
style.
Saree is the traditional dress of women in Karnataka. Women in Kodagu have a distinct style of wearing the saree, different from the rest of Karnataka.
DhotiThe dhoti or pancha is the traditional men's garment in the in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. A similar garment is worn in some rural areas of Punjab province in Pakistan, but the use is fast declining...
, known as
Panche in Karnataka is the traditional attire of men.
ShirtA shirt is a cloth garment for the upper body. Originally an undergarment worn exclusively by men, it has become, in American English, a catch-all term for almost any garment other than outerwear such as sweaters, coats, jackets, or undergarments such as bras, vests or base layers...
,
TrousersTrousers are an item of clothing worn on the lower part of the body from the waist to the ankles, covering both legs separately...
and Salwar kameez are widely worn in Urban areas.
Mysore PetaMysore Peta is the traditional indigenous attire worn by the erstwhile Kings of Mysore, called the Wodeyars , of the Kingdom of Mysore...
is the traditional headgear of southern Karnataka, while the
pagadi or
pataga (similar to the Rajasthani turban) is preferred in the northern areas of the state.
RiceRice is the seed of the monocot plants Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West Indies...
and
RagiEleusine coracana, commonly Finger millet , also known as African millet or Ragi is an annual plant widely grown as a cereal in the arid areas of Africa and Asia. E...
form the staple food in South Karnataka, whereas
Jolada rottiJolada rotti is a specialty North Karnataka unleavened Indian bread made out of jowar . The name literally translates into jowar bread....
,
SorghumSorghum is a genus of numerous species of grasses, one of which is raised for grain and many of which are used as fodder plants either cultivated or as part of pasture. The plants are cultivated in warmer climates worldwide. Species are native to tropical and subtropical regions of all continents...
is staple to North Karnataka.
Bisi bele bathBisi bele bhath is a rice-based dish with its origins in the state of Karnataka, India. Bisi-bele-bhaath translates to hot-lentil-rice in the Kannada language. It is also known as Bisi bele huliyanna. The traditional preparation of this dish is quite elaborate and involves the use of spicy masala,...
,
Jolada rottiJolada rotti is a specialty North Karnataka unleavened Indian bread made out of jowar . The name literally translates into jowar bread....
,
Ragi muddeRagi mudde also Ragi Sangati is a wholesome meal in Karnataka and Rayalaseema region in India. It is mainly popular with the rural folk of Karnataka...
,
UppittuUpma is a popular Indian breakfast dish originating in South India.-Etymology:The general name of the dish in most languages is formed from two words : salt and flour...
, Masala Dose and
Maddur VadeMaddur vade is a type of vade or snack item which is unique to the state of Karnataka, India. Also known as Maddur vada, this snack derives its name from the town of Maddur which is in the Mandya district of Karnataka. Maddur lies between the cities of Bangalore and Mysore and Maddur Vada is...
are some of the popular food items in Karnataka. Among sweets,
Mysore PakMysore pak is a sweet dish of Karnataka, India, usually served as dessert. It is made of generous amounts of ghee , sugar and gram flour....
, Belgaavi Kunda, Gokak karadantu, and
Dharwad pedhaDharwad pedha is a sweet delicacy unique to the state of Karnataka, India. It derives its name from the city of Dharwad in Karnataka.This sweet's history is around 175 years old.-History:...
are popular. Apart from this, coastal Karnataka and Kodagu have distinctive cuisines of their own.
Udupi cuisineUdupi cuisine is a world-renowned cuisine of South India. It forms an important part of the Cuisine of Karnataka and takes its name from Udupi, a town on the southwest coast of India in the state of Karnataka. The Udupi cuisine has its origin in the Ashta mathas of Udupi founded by...
of coastal Karnataka is popular all over India.
Religion
Adi Shankaracharya chose Sringeri in Karnataka to establish the first of his four
mathaA matha ) is a term for monastic and similar religious establishments of Hinduism and Jainism. A matha is usually more formal, hierarchical, and rule-based than an ashram.-Advaita Mathas:...
s. Shri Madhvacharya (Kannada: ಶ್ರೀ ಮಧ್ವಾಚಾರ್ಯರು, Śrī Madhvācārya) (1238–1317) was the chief proponent of Tattvavāda (Philosophy of Reality), popularly known as Dvaita or Dualistic school of Hindu philosophy - one of the three most influential Vedānta philosophies. Madhva was one of the important philosophers during the Bhakti movement. He was a pioneer in many ways, going against standard conventions and norms. According to tradition, Madhvācārya is believed to be the third incarnation of Vāyu (Mukhyaprāṇa), after Hanumān and Bhīma. The Haridasa (Kannada: ಹರಿದಾಸ) devotional movement is considered as one of the turning points in the cultural history of India. Over a span of nearly six centuries, several saints and mystics helped shape the culture, philosophy and art of South India and Karnataka in particular by exerting considerable spiritual influence over the masses and kingdoms that ruled South India.[1]
This movement was ushered in by the Haridasas (Kannada: ಹರಿದಾಸರು, literally meaning 'servants of Lord Hari') and took shape in the 13th century - 14th century CE, period, prior to and during the early rule of the Vijayanagara empire. The main objective of this movement was to propagate the Dvaita philosophy of Madhvacharya (Madhva Siddhanta) to the masses through a literary medium known as Dasa Sahitya (literature of the servants of the Lord. Purandaradasa often called "Pithamaha" of Carnatic Music for his immense contribution in simplifying carnatic music, he was the "Guru" of Swamy Haridas (Tansen's guru)who pioneered Hindustani music in North India. ) Ramanujacharya, the leading expounder of
{{About|the Indian state|the progressive rock music group|Karnataka (band)}}
{{pp-semi-protected|small=yes}}{{pp-move-indef}}
Karnataka ({{lang-kn|ಕರ್ನಾಟಕ}} kəɾˈnɑːʈəkɑː), the land of the Kannadigas, is a stateIndia is a federal union of states comprising twenty-eight states and seven union territories. The states and territories are further subdivided into districts and so on.-List of states and territories:...
in
South West IndiaSouth West India extends over the regions in the states and territories of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry, Goa, Orissa, and Lakshadweep....
. It was
createdThe Unification of Karnataka refers to the formation of the Indian state of Karnataka, then called as Mysore State, in 1956 when several Indian states were created by redrawing borders based on linguistic demographics...
on 1 November 1956, with the passing of the
States Reorganisation ActThe States Reorganisation Act of 1956 was a major reform of the boundaries and governance of India's states and territories. The act reorganised the boundaries of India's states along linguistic lines, and amended the Indian Constitution to replace the three types of states, known as Parts A, B,...
and this day is annually celebrated as Karnataka Rajyotsava (Formation Day). Originally known as the
State of MysoreThe 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...
, it was renamed
Karnataka in 1973.
Karnataka is bordered by the
Arabian SeaThe Arabian Sea is a region of the Indian Ocean bounded on the east by India, on the north by Pakistan and Iran, on the west by the Arabian Peninsula, on the south, approximately, by a line between Cape Guardafui in northeastern Somalia and Kanyakumari in India...
to the west,
GoaGoa , a former Portuguese colony, is India's smallest state by area and the fourth smallest by population. Located in South West India in the region known as the Konkan, it is bounded by the state of Maharashtra to the north, and by Karnataka to the east and south, while the Arabian Sea forms its...
to the northwest,
MaharashtraMaharashtra 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,
Andhra PradeshAndhra 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,
Tamil NaduTamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh...
to the southeast, and
Keralaor Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....
to the southwest. The state covers an area of 191976 square kilometre, or 5.83% of the total geographical area of
IndiaIndia , 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 the
eighth largest Indian state by area,
the ninth largest by population and comprises 30
districtsA 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:...
.
KannadaKannada 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...
is the most widely spoken and official language of the state.
The two main river systems of the state are
KrishnaThe Krishna River , is one of the longest rivers in central-southern India, about . It is also referred to as Krishnaveni in its original nomenclature...
and its tributaries (
BhimaIn the Mahābhārata, Bhima is one of the central characters of Mahabharata and the second of the Pandava brothers...
,
Ghataprabha Ghataprabha is a village in the southern state of Karnataka, India. It is located in the Gokak taluk of Belgaum district in Karnataka.-Demographics:As of the 2001 India census, Ghataprabha had a population of more than 20,000...
,
VedavatiIn Hindu mythology, Vedavati is speculated to have been the spirit of Sita Devi, the wife of Lord Rama in the epic Ramayana. She was another avatar of Devi Laxmi.-Early life:...
, Malaprabha, and Tungabhadra) in the north, and the Cauvery and its tributaries (Hemavati, Shimsha, Arkavathi, Lakshmana Thirtha and Kabini) in the south. Both these rivers flow eastward and fall into the
Bay of BengalThe Bay of Bengal , the largest bay in the world, forms the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean. It resembles a triangle in shape, and is bordered mostly by the Eastern Coast of India, southern coast of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka to the west and Burma and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands to the...
.
Though
several etymologiesKarnataka is an Indian state. Several etymologies have been suggested for the name Karnataka. One derivative is from Sanskrit where 'Karna' means ear, and 'atati' means wander, together giving a meaning for 'Karnata' as where ones ears would want to wander, since this is the birth place of the...
have been suggested for the name Karnataka, the generally accepted one is that
Karnataka is derived from the Kannada words
karu and
nādu, meaning
elevated land.
Karu nadu may also be read as
Karu (black) and
nadu (region), as a reference to the
black cotton soilIn both the FAO and USA soil taxonomy, a vertisol is a soil in which there is a high content of expansive clay known as montmorillonite that forms deep cracks in drier seasons or years. Alternate shrinking and swelling causes self-mulching, where the soil material consistently mixes itself, causing...
found in the Bayaluseeme region of Karnataka. The
BritishBritish Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...
used the word
CarnaticThe Carnatic coast is the region of South India lying between the Eastern Ghats and the Coromandel Coast, in the modern Indian states of Tamil Nadu, south eastern Karnataka and southern Andhra Pradesh....
(sometimes
Karnatak) to describe both sides of peninsular India, south of the
Krishna RiverThe Krishna River , is one of the longest rivers in central-southern India, about . It is also referred to as Krishnaveni in its original nomenclature...
.
With an antiquity that dates to the
paleolithicThe Paleolithic Age, Era or Period, is a prehistoric period of human history distinguished by the development of the most primitive stone tools discovered , and covers roughly 99% of human technological prehistory...
, Karnataka has also been home to some of the most powerful
empires of ancient and medieval IndiaThe political history of medieval Karnataka spans the 4th to the 16th centuries, when the empires that evolved in the Karnataka region of India made a lasting impact on the subcontinent. Before this, alien empires held sway over the region, and the nucleus of power was outside modern Karnataka...
. The philosophers and musical bards patronised by these empires launched socio-religious and literary movements which have endured to the present day. Karnataka has contributed significantly to both forms of Indian classical music, the
CarnaticCarnatic music is a system of music commonly associated with the southern part of the Indian subcontinent, with its area roughly confined to four modern states of India: Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu...
(Karnataka Music) and Hindustani traditions. Writers in the Kannada language have received the most number of Jnanpith awards in India.
BangaloreBengaluru , 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...
is the capital city of the state and is at the forefront of the rapid economic and technological development that India is experiencing.
History
{{Main|History of Karnataka|Political history of medieval Karnataka|Etymology of Karnataka}}
Karnatakan pre-history goes back to a
paleolithicThe Paleolithic Age, Era or Period, is a prehistoric period of human history distinguished by the development of the most primitive stone tools discovered , and covers roughly 99% of human technological prehistory...
hand-axe culture evidenced by discoveries of, among other things, hand axes and cleavers in the region.{{Citation needed|date=December 2009}} Evidence of
neolithicThe Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...
and megalithic cultures have also been found in the state. Gold discovered in
HarappaHarappa is an archaeological site in Punjab, northeast Pakistan, about west of Sahiwal. The site takes its name from a modern village located near the former course of the Ravi River. The current village of Harappa is from the ancient site. Although modern Harappa has a train station left from...
was found to be imported from mines in Karnataka, prompting scholars to hypothesize about contacts between ancient Karnataka and the
Indus Valley CivilizationThe Indus Valley Civilization was a Bronze Age civilization that was located in the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent, consisting of what is now mainly modern-day Pakistan and northwest India...
ca. 3000 BCE.
Prior to the third century BCE, most of Karnataka formed part of the Nanda Empire before coming under the Mauryan empire of Emperor Ashoka. Four centuries of Satavahana rule followed, allowing them to control large areas of Karnataka. The decline of Satavahana power led to the rise of the earliest native kingdoms, the
KadambasThe Kadamba Dynasty was an ancient royal family of Karnataka that ruled from Banavasi in present day Uttara Kannada district. The dynasty later continued to rule as a feudatory of larger Kannada empires, the Chalukya and the Rashtrakuta empires for over five hundred years during which time they...
and the Western Gangas, marking the region's emergence as an independent political entity. The Kadamba Dynasty, founded by
MayurasharmaMayurasharma , a Brahmin scholar and a native of Talagunda , was the founder of the Kadamba Kingdom of Banavasi, the earliest native kingdom to rule over what is today the modern state of Karnataka, India. He took the name of Mayuravarma to emphasise his change from the Brahmin to the Kshatriya...
, had its capital at
BanavasiBanavasi is an ancient temple town in Uttara Kannada District bordering Shivamogga district in the South Indian state of Karnataka .-History:Banavasi is one of the oldest towns in the Karnataka state...
; the Western Ganga Dynasty was formed with
TalakadTalakad is a desert-like town on the left bank of the Kaveri river at a spot where the river makes a sharp bend. It is 45 km from Mysore and 133 km from Bangalore in Karnataka, India. A historic site, Talakad once had over 30 temples that today are buried in sand. Now it is a scenic...
as its capital.
These were also the first kingdoms to use
KannadaKannada 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...
in administration, as evidenced by the
Halmidi inscriptionThe Halmidi inscription is the oldest known Kannada language inscription in the Kannada script. Experts agree on the relative date , but differ on absolute date. Estimates vary by about 50 years either side of about 500 AD . The inscription was discovered in 1936 by Dr. M. H...
and a fifth-century copper coin discovered at Banavasi. These dynasties were followed by imperial Kannada empires such as the Badami Chalukyas, the
Rashtrakuta Empire of ManyakhetaThe 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...
and the Western Chalukya Empire,
which ruled over large parts of the Deccan and had their capitals in what is now Karnataka. The Western Chalukyas patronised a unique style of
architectureWestern Chalukya architecture , also known as Kalyani Chalukya or Later Chalukya architecture, is the distinctive style of ornamented architecture that evolved during the rule of the Western Chalukya Empire in the Tungabhadra region of central Karnataka, India, during the 11th and 12th centuries...
and Kannada
literatureA large body of Western Chalukya literature in Kannada was produced during the reign of the Western Chalukya Empire in what is now southern India...
which became a precursor to the Hoysala art of 12th century.
Parts of modern-day Karnataka were occupied by the Chola Empire between 990-1210 AD. This process started under
Rajaraja Chola IRaja Raja Chola I born Arunmozhi Thevar , popularly known as Raja Raja the Great, is one of the greatest emperors of the Tamil Chola Empire of India who ruled between 985 and 1014 CE...
(985-1014) and continued under his son
Rajendra Chola IRajendra Chola I was the son of Rajaraja Chola I and was one of the greatest rulers of Tamil Chola dynasty of India. He succeeded his father in 1014 CE as the Chola emperor...
(1014–1044). Initially Gangapadi, Nolambapadi and Tadigaipadi, all parts of modern Mysore, were conquered and annexed under Raja Raja Chola I.
Rajendra Chola IRajendra Chola I was the son of Rajaraja Chola I and was one of the greatest rulers of Tamil Chola dynasty of India. He succeeded his father in 1014 CE as the Chola emperor...
"marched up to Donur, he also captured Banvasi, a good part of the Raichur doab and sacked Manyakheta" itself, which was the Western Chalukyan capital. During the time of the Chalukya ruler
JayasimhaJayasimha II , also known by the titles Jagadekhamalla and Mallikamoda, succeeded his brother Vikramaditya V on the Western Chalukya throne. Jayasimha had to fight on many fronts to protect his kingdom...
after his defeat by Rajendra Chola I, the Tungabhadra river was recognized tacitly as the boundary between the two kingdoms. During the rule of Rajadhiraja Chola I (1042–1056), Dannada, Kulpak, Koppam, the fortress of Kampili, Pundur, Yetagiri and the Chalukyan capital Kalyani were sacked. In 1053,
Rajendra Chola IIRajendra Chola II reigned as the Chola king succeeding his elder brother brother Rajadhiraja Chola. He is best remembered for his role in the battle of Koppam alongside his elder brother where he dramatically turned the tables on the Chalukyan King Somesvara I.- Koppam Battle :The Chola forces were...
after defeating the Chalukyans in war advanced to Kollapura where he erected a pillar of victory before returning to his capital at Gangaikondacholapuram. In 1066, the Western Chalukya ruler Somesvara's forces were defeated by the next Chola ruler Virarajendra, who then again defeated the Western Chalukyas at
KudalasangamaKudalasangama in India is an important center of pilgrimage for people of the Lingayat faith. It is located about 15 km from the Almatti Dam in Bagalkot district of Karnataka state. The Krishna river and Ghataprabha river merge here and flow east towards Srisaila in state of Andhra Pradesh...
, and set up a pillar of victory on the banks of the Tungabhadra. In AD 1075 Kulottunga Chola I won a victory against Vikramaditya VI at Nangili in Kolar district and made himself the master of Gangavadi. The Cholas eventually lost Gangavadi in 1116 to the Hoysalas under Vishnuvardhana.
At the turn of the first millennium, the
HoysalasThe Hoysala Empire was a prominent South Indian Kannadiga empire that ruled most of the modern day state of Karnataka between the 10th and the 14th centuries. The capital of the Hoysalas was initially located at Belur but was later moved to Halebidu....
gained power in the region. Literature flourished during this time, which led to the distinctive Kannada
literary metresMeter or metre is a term that music has inherited from the rhythmic element of poetry where it means the number of lines in a verse, the number of syllables in each line and the arrangement of those syllables as long or short, accented or unaccented...
and the construction of temples and sculptures adhering to the
Vesara style of architectureHoysala architecture is the building style developed under the rule of the Hoysala Empire between the 11th and 14th centuries, in the region known today as Karnataka, a state of India. Hoysala influence was at its peak in the 13th century, when it dominated the Southern Deccan Plateau region...
. The expansion of the Hoysala Empire brought minor parts of modern
Andhra PradeshAndhra 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...
and
Tamil NaduTamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh...
under its rule. In the early 14th century,
HariharaHarihara is the name of a combined deity form of both Vishnu and Shiva from the Hindu tradition. Also known as Shankaranarayana , Harihara is thus worshipped by both Vaishnavites and Shaivities as a form of the Supreme God, as well as being a figure of worship for other Hindu traditions in general...
and Bukka Raya established the
Vijayanagara empireThe Vijayanagara Empire , referred as the Kingdom of Bisnaga by the Portuguese, was an empire based in South Indian in the Deccan Plateau region. It was established in 1336 by Harihara I and his brother Bukka Raya I of the Yadava lineage. The empire rose to prominence as a culmination of attempts...
with its capital,
Hosapattana (later named
VijayanagaraVijayanagara is in Bellary District, northern Karnataka. It is the name of the now-ruined capital city "which was regarded as the second Rome" that surrounds modern-day Hampi, of the historic Vijayanagara empire which extended over the southern part of India....
), on the banks of the Tungabhadra River in the modern Bellary district. The empire rose as a bulwark against Muslim advances into South India, which it completely controlled for over two centuries.
In 1565, Karnataka and the rest of South India experienced a major geopolitical shift when the Vijayanagara Empire fell to a confederation of Islamic sultanates in the
Battle of TalikotaThe Battle of Talikota , a watershed battle fought between the Vijayanagara Empire and the Deccan sultanates, resulted in a rout of Vijayanagara, and ended the last great Hindu kingdom in South India...
. The Bijapur Sultanate, which had risen after the demise of the
Bahmani SultanateThe Bahmani Sultanate was a Muslim state of the Deccan in southern India and one of the great medieval Indian kingdoms...
of Bidar, soon took control of the Deccan; it was defeated by the Moghuls in the late 17th century. The Bahamani and Bijapur rulers encouraged Urdu and Persian literature and
Indo-SaracenicThe Indo-Saracenic Revival was an architectural style movement by British architects in the late 19th century in British India...
architecture, the
Gol GumbazGol Gumbaz is the mausoleum of Mohammed Adil Shah, Sultan of Bijapur. The tomb, located in Bijapur, Karnataka in southern India, was completed in 1656 by the architect Yaqut of Dabul...
being one of the high points of this style. During the sixteenth century, Konkani Hindus migrated to Karnataka, mostly from
SalcetteSalcette , is a taluka of South Goa District in the Indian state of Goa. Its administrative and economic headquarters is Margao. It is largely coterminous with a region called Sashti , which comprised, by local tradition, sixty-six villages, hence the name. However, it also includes the taluka of...
,
GoaGoa , a former Portuguese colony, is India's smallest state by area and the fourth smallest by population. Located in South West India in the region known as the Konkan, it is bounded by the state of Maharashtra to the north, and by Karnataka to the east and south, while the Arabian Sea forms its...
, while during the seventeenth and eighteenth century, the Mangalorean Catholics migrated to
South CanaraSouth Canara was a district under the British empire, located at . It was bifurcated in 1859 from Canara district. It was the undivided Dakshina Kannada district...
, in Karnataka, especially from
BardesBardez is the name of a region and taluka in North Goa. The name is credited to the Brahmin immigrants who migrated to the Konkan via Magadha in Gangetic India from Aryavarta, in the north-western part of the Indian sub-continent. Bardez or more properly Bara desh means "twelve countries"...
, Goa, as a result of food shortages, epidemics and heavy taxation imposed by the
PortugueseThe Portuguese are a nation and ethnic group native to the country of Portugal, in the west of the Iberian peninsula of south-west Europe. Their language is Portuguese, and Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion....
.
In the period that followed, parts of northern Karnataka were ruled by the Nizam of Hyderabad, the
BritishBritish Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...
, and other powers. In the south, the Mysore Kingdom, former
vassalA vassal or feudatory is a person who has entered into a mutual obligation to a lord or monarch in the context of the feudal system in medieval Europe. The obligations often included military support and mutual protection, in exchange for certain privileges, usually including the grant of land held...
s of the Vijayanagara Empire, was briefly independent. With the death of
Krishnaraja Wodeyar IIKrishna Raja Wodeyar II,, was also known popularly as Immadi Krishna Raja Wadeyar.He was the titular ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore from 1734 to 1766...
, Haidar Ali, the commander-in-chief of the Mysore army, gained control of the region. After his death, the kingdom was inherited by his son Tippu Sultan. To contain European expansion in South India, Haidar Ali and later Tippu Sultan fought four significant
Anglo-Mysore WarsThe Anglo-Mysore Wars were a series of wars fought in India over the last three decades of the 18th century between the Kingdom of Mysore and the British East India Company, represented chiefly by the Madras Presidency...
, the last of which resulted in Tippu Sultan's death and the incorporation of Mysore into the
British RajBritish Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...
in 1799. The Kingdom of Mysore was restored to the Wodeyars and Mysore remained a princely state under the British Raj.
As the "
doctrine of lapseThe Doctrine of Lapse was an annexation policy purportedly devised by Lord Dalhousie, who was the Governor General for the British in India between 1848 and 1856...
" gave way to dissent and resistance from princely states across the country,
Kittur ChennammaKitturu Rani Chennamma was the queen of the princely state of Kittur in Karnataka. In 1824, 33 years before the 1857 war of independence, she led an armed rebellion against the British in response to the Doctrine of lapse. The resistance ended in her martyrdom and she is remembered today as one...
,
Sangolli RayannaSangolli Rayanna was a prominent freedom fighter from Karnataka, India. He fought the British till his death. He was the army chief of the Kingdom of Kittur ruled at the time by Rani Chennamma. Rayanna was born in the small village of Sangolli, he belonged to the Kuruba / Dhangar caste and hence...
and others spearheaded rebellions in Karnataka in 1830, nearly three decades before the
Indian Rebellion of 1857The Indian Rebellion of 1857 began as a mutiny of sepoys of the British East India Company's army on 10 May 1857, in the town of Meerut, and soon escalated into other mutinies and civilian rebellions largely in the upper Gangetic plain and central India, with the major hostilities confined to...
. Other uprisings followed, such as the ones at
SupaSupa is a village in Tõlliste Parish, Valga County in southern Estonia. It has a population of 33 ....
,
BagalkotBagalkot or Bagalkote is a town in the Indian state of Karnataka. Bagalkot is the district headquarters of the Bagalkot district. It is one of the major towns in North Karnataka.-History:...
,
ShorapurShorapur is a town in Yadgir district in the Indian state of Karnataka.-Demographics: India census, Shorapur had a population of 43,591. Males constitute 51% of the population and females 49%. Shorapur has an average literacy rate of 55%, lower than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is...
,
NargundNargund or Naragunda is a town in Gadag district in the Indian state of Karnataka.The name Naragunda means hills of jackals. The astrologist and a Jain Sridharacharya from this town was the author of Jatakatilaka.-History:...
and
DandeliDandeli [ Kannada:ದಾಂಡೇಲಿ ] is a town in Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka in North Karnataka, India in the Western Ghats, near Goa. It is best known for its wildlife sanctuary, tourism, industry and as an educational hub....
. These rebellions - which coincided with the
1857 war of independenceThe Indian Rebellion of 1857 began as a mutiny of sepoys of the British East India Company's army on 10 May 1857, in the town of Meerut, and soon escalated into other mutinies and civilian rebellions largely in the upper Gangetic plain and central India, with the major hostilities confined to...
- were led by Mundargi Bhimarao, Bhaskar Rao Bhave, the Halagali Bedas,
Raja Venkatappa NayakaSurapur in the present Gulbarga district was ruled by Beda Nayakas who had given tough resistance to Aurangzeb. The British appointed Philip Meadows Taylor as its Resident and Regent when the ruler there died, leaving a young prince Venkatappa...
and others. By the late 19th century, the freedom movement had gained momentum; Karnad Sadashiva Rao, Aluru Venkata Raya,
S. NijalingappaSiddavanahalli Nijalingappa was a senior Congress politician and the Chief Minister of Karnataka between 1956 and 1958 and once again between 1962 and 1968...
,
Kengal HanumanthaiahKengal Hanumanthaiah was the chief minister of the old Mysore State in India from 30 March 1952 to 19 August 1956...
,
Nittoor Srinivasa RauNittoor Srinivasa Rao or Nittur Srinivasa Rao was a Gandhian who participated in the Indian independence movement. He was the Chief Justice of the High Court of Mysore State and also the first chief of the Central Vigilance Commission of India...
and others carried on the struggle into the early 20th century.
After India's independence, the Maharaja, Jayachamarajendra Wodeyar, allowed his kingdom's accession to India. In 1950, Mysore became an Indian state of the same name; the former Maharaja served as its
Rajpramukh (head of state) until 1975. Following the long-standing demand of the
Ekikarana MovementThe Unification of Karnataka refers to the formation of the Indian state of Karnataka, then called as Mysore State, in 1956 when several Indian states were created by redrawing borders based on linguistic demographics...
, Kodagu- and Kannada-speaking regions from the adjoining states of Madras, Hyderabad and Bombay were incorporated into the Mysore state, under the States Reorganization Act of 1956. The thus expanded state was renamed Karnataka, seventeen years later, in 1973. In the early 1900s through the post-independence era, industrial visionaries such as Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvarayya born in
MuddenahalliMuddenahalli is a centrally located town situated 7 km from Chikballapur and 1 km from Kanivenarayanapura in Chikballapur District of Karnataka State...
, near
KanivenarayanapuraKanivenarayanapura 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...
,
ChikballapurChikkaballapur 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 played an important role in the development of Karnataka's strong manufacturing and industrial base.
Geography
{{Main|Geography of Karnataka|Rainfall in Karnataka}}
The state has three principal geographical zones:
- the coastal region of Karavali
- the hilly Malenadu region comprising the Western Ghats
The Western Ghats, Western Ghauts or the Sahyādri is a mountain range along the western side of India. It runs north to south along the western edge of the Deccan Plateau, and separates the plateau from a narrow coastal plain along the Arabian Sea. The Western Ghats block rainfall to the Deccan...
- the Bayaluseeme region comprising the plains of the 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...
The bulk of the state is in the Bayaluseeme region, the northern part of which is the second-largest
aridA region is said to be arid when it is characterized by a severe lack of available water, to the extent of hindering or even preventing the growth and development of plant and animal life...
region in India. The highest point in Karnataka is the
MullayanagiriMullayanagiri , is the highest peak in Karnataka, India. Mullayanagiri is located at in the Baba Budan Giri Range of the Western Ghats...
hills in Chickmagalur district which has an altitude of 1929 metres (6,329 ft). Some of the important rivers in Karnataka are Kaveri, Tungabhadra,
KrishnaThe Krishna River , is one of the longest rivers in central-southern India, about . It is also referred to as Krishnaveni in its original nomenclature...
,
MalaprabhaThe Malaprabha River is a tributary of the Krishna River and flows through the state of Karnataka in India. It rises in the Western Ghats at an altitude of 792 m in the state's Belgaum district...
and the Sharavathi.
Karnataka consists of four main types of geological formations — the
ArcheanThe Archean , also spelled Archeozoic or Archæozoic) is a geologic eon before the Paleoproterozoic Era of the Proterozoic Eon, before 2.5 Ga ago. Instead of being based on stratigraphy, this date is defined chronometrically...
complex made up of
DharwadDharwad, also known as Dharwar, is a city and a DISTRICT PLACE in India's Karnataka state.Dharwad is the administrative seat of the Dharwad District. The municipality of Hubli-Dharwad covers an area of 200.23 km²...
schistThe schists constitute a group of medium-grade metamorphic rocks, chiefly notable for the preponderance of lamellar minerals such as micas, chlorite, talc, hornblende, graphite, and others. Quartz often occurs in drawn-out grains to such an extent that a particular form called quartz schist is...
s and granitic
gneissGneiss is a common and widely distributed type of rock formed by high-grade regional metamorphic processes from pre-existing formations that were originally either igneous or sedimentary rocks.-Etymology:...
es, the
ProterozoicThe Proterozoic is a geological eon representing a period before the first abundant complex life on Earth. The name Proterozoic comes from the Greek "earlier life"...
non-fossiliferous sedimentary formations of the Kaladgi and Bhima series, the
Deccan trappean and intertrappean deposits and the tertiary and recent
lateriteLaterites are soil types rich in iron and aluminium, formed in hot and wet tropical areas. Nearly all laterites are rusty-red because of iron oxides. They develop by intensive and long-lasting weathering of the underlying parent rock...
s and alluvial deposits. Significantly, about 60% of the state is composed of the
Archean complex which consist of gneisses, granites and charnockite rocks. Laterite cappings that are found in many districts over the
Deccan TrapsThe Deccan Traps are a large igneous province located on the Deccan Plateau of west-central India and one of the largest volcanic features on Earth. They consist of multiple layers of solidified flood basalt that together are more than thick and cover an area of and a volume of...
were formed after the cessation of volcanic activity in the early tertiary period. Eleven groups of soil orders are found in Karnataka, viz.
EntisolIn USA soil taxonomy, Entisols are defined as soils that do not show any profile development other than an A horizon. An Entisol has no diagnostic horizons, and most are basically unaltered from their parent material, which can be unconsolidated sediment or rock...
s,
InceptisolsInceptisols are a soil order in USDA soil taxonomy. They form quickly through alteration of parent material. They are older than entisols. They have no accumulation of clays, Iron, Aluminum or organic matter. They have an Ochric or Umbric horizon and a cambic subsurface horizon....
, Mollisols, Spodosols, Alfisols, Ultisols,
OxisolOxisols are an order in USDA soil taxonomy, best known for their occurrence in tropical rain forest, 15-25 degrees north and south of the Equator. Some oxisols have been previously classified as laterite soils.-Formation:...
s, Aridisols,
VertisolIn both the FAO and USA soil taxonomy, a vertisol is a soil in which there is a high content of expansive clay known as montmorillonite that forms deep cracks in drier seasons or years. Alternate shrinking and swelling causes self-mulching, where the soil material consistently mixes itself, causing...
s, Andisols and
HistosolIn both the FAO soil classification and the USA soil taxonomy, a histosol is a soil consisting primarily of organic materials. They are defined as having or more of organic soil material in the upper . Organic soil material has an organic carbon content of 12 to 18 percent, or more, depending on...
s. Depending on the agricultural capability of the soil, the soil types are divided into six types, viz. Red, lateritic,
blackIn both the FAO and USA soil taxonomy, a vertisol is a soil in which there is a high content of expansive clay known as montmorillonite that forms deep cracks in drier seasons or years. Alternate shrinking and swelling causes self-mulching, where the soil material consistently mixes itself, causing...
, alluvio-colluvial, forest and coastal soils.
Karnataka experiences four seasons. The winter in January and February is followed by summer between March and May, the monsoon season between June and September and the post-monsoon season from October till December.
MeteorologicallyMeteorology is the interdisciplinary scientific study of the atmosphere. Studies in the field stretch back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did not occur until the 18th century. The 19th century saw breakthroughs occur after observing networks developed across several countries...
, Karnataka is divided into three zones — coastal, north interior and south interior. Of these, the coastal zone receives the heaviest rainfall with an average rainfall of about 3638.5 mm (143 in) per annum, far in excess of the state average of 1139 mm (45 in).
AgumbeAgumbe is a village located in the Shimoga district in the state of Karnataka, India. Lying in the Thirthahalli taluk and the Malnad region, Agumbe is among the places in India that receive very heavy rainfall earning it the sobriquet, "Cherrapunji of the South". It is also the home of the Agumbe...
in the Shivamogga district receives the second highest annual rainfall in India. The highest recorded temperature was 45.6 °C (114 °F) at
RaichurRaichur , 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 the lowest recorded temperature was 2.8 °C (37 °F) at
BidarBidar 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....
.
About 38724 km² (14,951 sq mi) of Karnataka (i.e. 20% of the state's geographic area) is covered by forests. The forests are classified as reserved, protected, unclosed, village and private forests. The percentage of forested area is slightly less than the all-India average of about 23%, and significantly less than the 33% prescribed in the National Forest Policy.
Sub-divisions
{{Main|Districts of Karnataka}}
There are 30 districts in Karnataka:
{{colbegin|3}}
- Bagalkote
Bāgalkot district is an administrative district in the Indian state of Karnataka. The district headquarters is located in the town of Bagalkot. The district is located in northern Karnataka and borders Belgaum, Gadag, Koppal, Raichur and Bijapur...
- Bangalore Rural
Bangalore Rural District is one of the 30 districts in Karnataka. It was formed in 1986, when Bangalore district was divided into Bangalore Rural and Bangalore . Presently in Bangalore Rural district, there are 2 divisions, 4 Talukas, 35 Hoblis , 1,713 inhabited and 177 uninhabited villages, 9...
- Bangalore Urban
- Belgaum
Belgaum district is a district in the state of Karnataka, India. The city of Belgaum is the district headquarters in North Karnataka. By the 2011 Census of India, it had a population of 4778439...
- Bellary
- Bidar
Bidar is a district of Karnataka state in southern India. The historic city of Bidar is the administrative centre of the district. The district is located in the northeastern corner of the state, near the borders with Andhra Pradesh to the east and Maharashtra to the north and west...
- Bijapur
- Chamarajanagar
Chamarajanagara is the southern-most district in the state of Karnataka, India. It was carved out of the original larger Mysore District in the year 1998...
- Chikkaballapur
- Chikkamagaluru
Chikkamagaluru is a district in the Indian state of Karnataka. Chikkamagaluru is where coffee was first cultivated in India. The mountains here which are a part of the Western Ghats are the source of rivers like Tunga and Bhadra. Chikkamagaluru district also contains Mullayanagiri; which is the...
- Chitradurga
Chitradurga district is an administrative district of Karnataka state in southern India. The city of Chitradurga is the district headquarters. Chitradurga gets its name from Chitrakaldurga, an umbrella-shaped lofty hill found there. Tradition dates Chitradurga District to the period of the...
- Dakshina Kannada
- Geography :The district geography consists of sea shore in the west and Western Ghats in the east. The major rivers are Netravathi, Kumaradhara, Phalguni, Shambhavi, Nandini or Pavanje and Payaswini which all join Arabian sea. Vast areas of evergreen forests which once covered this district, have...
- Davanagere
Davanagere District , also known as Devangere District, is an administrative district of Karnataka state in southern India. The city of Davanagere is the district headquarters. It had a population of 1,790,952 of which 30.32% was urban as of 2001.This district was carved out of Chitradurga district...
- Dharwad
Dharwad District is an administrative district of the state of Karnataka in southern India. Dharwad is the cultural headquarters of North Karnataka....
- Gadag
Gadag District had a population of 971,952 of which 35.21% was urban as of 2001. Population increased 13.14% in the decade 1991-2001. The District is bounded on the north by Bagalkot District, on the east by Koppal District, on the southeast by Bellary District, on the southwest by Haveri...
- Gulbarga
Gulbarga district is one of the 30 districts of Karnataka state in southern India. Gulbarga city is the administrative headquarters of the district...
- Hassan
Hassan is a district in Karnataka state, India. The district headquarters are Hassan.Hassan district was the seat of the Hoysala Empire which at its peak ruled large parts of south India from Belur as its early capital and Halebidu as its later capital during the period 1000 - 1334 CE...
- Haveri
Haveri is a district in the state of Karnataka, India with the potential to become a tourist hub. As of 2001, it had a population of 1,439,116 of which 20.78% were urban residents.-Tourism:Examples of tourist attractions in the district:...
- Kodagu
- Kolar
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...
- Koppal
Koppal district is an administrative district in the state of Karnataka in India. In the past Koppal was referred to as 'Kopana Nagara'. Hampi, a World heritage center, covers some areas of Koppal District. It is situated approximately 38 km away...
- Mandya
- Mysore
Mysore District is an administrative district located in the southern part of the state of Karnataka, India. The district is bounded by Mandya district to the northeast, Chamrajanagar district to the southeast, Kerala state to the south, Kodagu district to the west, and Hassan district to the north...
- Raichur
Raichur District is an administrative district in the Indian state of Karnataka. It is located in the northeast part of the state and is bounded by Yadgir district in the north, Bijapur and Bagalkot district in the northwest, Koppal district in the west, Bellary district in the south, Anantapur...
- Ramanagara
- Shimoga
- Tumkur
Tumkur district is an administrative district in the state of Karnataka in India. The district headquarters are located at Tumkur. The district occupies an area of 10,598 km² and had a population of 2,584,711, of which 19.62% were urban as of 2001...
- Udupi
Udupi district , ಉಡುಪಿ ಜಿಲ್ಲೆ) in the Karnataka state of India was created in August 1997. The three northern taluks, Udupi, Kundapur and Karkal, were separated from Dakshina Kannada District to form Udupi district. Udupi district is surrounded by Uttara Kannada district in north, Dakshina Kannada...
- Uttara Kannada
Uttara Kannada also known as North Canara or North Kanara, is a district in the southern Indian state of Karnataka. It is bordered by the state of Goa and Belgaum District to the north, Dharwad District and Haveri District to the east, Shimoga District and Udupi District to the south and the...
- Yadgir
Yadgir district is one of the 30 districts of Karnataka state in southern India. This district was carved out from the erstwhile Gulbarga district as the 30th district of Karnataka on 10 April 2010. Yadgir town is the administrative headquarters of the district...
{{colend}}
Each district is governed by a district commissioner or district magistrate. The districts are further divided into sub-divisions, which are governed by sub-divisional magistrates; sub-divisions comprise blocks containing panchayats (village councils) and town municipalities.
As per the 2001 census, Karnataka's six largest cities sorted in order of decreasing population were,
BangaloreBengaluru , 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...
, Hubli-
DharwadDharwad, also known as Dharwar, is a city and a DISTRICT PLACE in India's Karnataka state.Dharwad is the administrative seat of the Dharwad District. The municipality of Hubli-Dharwad covers an area of 200.23 km²...
,
Mysore,
GulbargaGulbarga 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...
,
BelgaumBelgaum is a city and a municipal corporation in Belgaum district in the state of Karnataka, India. It is the fourth largest city of the state of Karnataka, the first three being Bangalore, Mysore, Hubli-Dharwad....
and
MangaloreMangalore 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...
. Bangalore is the only city with a population of more than one million.
Bangalore Urban,
BelgaumBelgaum district is a district in the state of Karnataka, India. The city of Belgaum is the district headquarters in North Karnataka. By the 2011 Census of India, it had a population of 4778439...
and
GulbargaGulbarga district is one of the 30 districts of Karnataka state in southern India. Gulbarga city is the administrative headquarters of the district...
are the most populous districts, each of them having a population of more than three million.
GadagGadag District had a population of 971,952 of which 35.21% was urban as of 2001. Population increased 13.14% in the decade 1991-2001. The District is bounded on the north by Bagalkot District, on the east by Koppal District, on the southeast by Bellary District, on the southwest by Haveri...
,
ChamarajanagarChamarajanagara is the southern-most district in the state of Karnataka, India. It was carved out of the original larger Mysore District in the year 1998...
and Kodagu districts have a population of less than one million.
Demographics
{{Main|Demographics of Karnataka}}
{{IndiaCensusPop
| title= Population Growth
| 1951= 19402000
| 1961= 23587000
| 1971= 29299000
| 1981= 37136000
| 1991= 44977000
| 2001= 52851000
| estimate=
| estyear=
| estref=
| footnote=Source:Census of India
}}
According to the 2001 census of India, the total population of Karnataka is 52,850,562, of which 26,898,918 (50.9%) are male and 25,951,644 (49.1%) are female, or 1000 males for every 964 females. This represents a 17.3% increase over the population in 1991. The population density is 275.6 per km² and 34.0% of the people live in urban areas. The literacy rate is 66.6% with 76.1% of males and 56.9% of females being literate. 83% of the population are
HinduHindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
, 11% are
MuslimA Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
, 4% are
ChristianA Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
, 0.8% are Jains, 0.7% are Buddhist, and with the remainder belonging to other religions.
KannadaKannada 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...
is the official language of Karnataka and spoken as a native language by about 64.8% of the people. Other linguistic minorities in the state as of 1991 are
UrduUrdu is a register of the Hindustani language that is identified with Muslims in South Asia. It belongs to the Indo-European family. Urdu is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan. It is also widely spoken in some regions of India, where it is one of the 22 scheduled languages and an...
(9.7%),
TeluguTelugu is a Central Dravidian language primarily spoken in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India, where it is an official language. It is also spoken in the neighbouring states of Chattisgarh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Orissa and Tamil Nadu...
(8.3%),
TamilTamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in the Indian union territory of Pondicherry. Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore...
(3.8%),
MarathiMarathi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people of western and central India. It is the official language of the state of Maharashtra. There are over 68 million fluent speakers worldwide. Marathi has the fourth largest number of native speakers in India and is the fifteenth most...
(4.0%),
TuluThe Tulu language |?]]]) is a Dravidian language spoken by 1.95 million native speakers mainly in the southwest part of Indian state Karnataka known as Tulu Nadu. In India, 1.72 million people speak it as their mother tongue , increased by 10 percent over the 1991 census...
(3.4%),
HindiStandard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...
(1.9%),
KonkaniKonkaniKonkani is a name given to a group of several cognate dialects spoken along the narrow strip of land called Konkan, on the west coast of India. This is, however, somewhat an over-generalisation. Geographically, Konkan is defined roughly as the area between the river Damanganga to the north...
(1.8%), Malayalam (1.7%) and
Kodava TakkKodava Takk or Kodava takka, is the original language of the south Karnataka district of Kodagu. The language is often called Kodava or Coorg language in English. The number of speakers is estimated at up to about 500,000. It is the primary language of Kodavas, but a large portion of other...
(0.3%). The state has a birth rate of 2.2%, a death rate of 0.7%, an infant mortality rate of 5.5% and a maternal mortality rate of 0.2%. The
total fertility rateThe total fertility rate of a population is the average number of children that would be born to a woman over her lifetime if she were to experience the exact current age-specific fertility rates through her lifetime, and she...
is 2.2.
In the field of super-specialty health care, Karnataka's private sector competes with the best in the world. Karnataka has also established a modicum of public health services having a better record of health care and child care than most other states of India. In spite of these advances, some parts of the state still leave much to be desired when it comes to primary health care.
Government and administration
{{Main|Government of Karnataka|Unification of Karnataka|Taluks of Karnataka}}
Karnataka, like other
Indian statesIndia is a federal union of states comprising twenty-eight states and seven union territories. The states and territories are further subdivided into districts and so on.-List of states and territories:...
, has a parliamentary system of government with two democratically elected houses, the Legislative Assembly and the Legislative Council. The Legislative Assembly consists of 224 members who are elected for five-year terms. The Legislative Council is a permanent body of 75 members with one-third (25 members) retiring every two years.
The
government of KarnatakaThe Government of Karnataka is a democratically elected body with the Governor as the constitutional head. The Governor who is appointed for a period of five years appoints the Chief Minister and his council of ministers...
is headed by the
Chief Minister who is chosen by the ruling party
membersA Member of the Legislative Assembly or a Member of the Legislature , is a representative elected by the voters of a constituency to the legislature or legislative assembly of a sub-national jurisdiction....
of the
Legislative AssemblyLegislative 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....
. The Chief Minister, along with the council of ministers, drives the legislative agenda and exercises most of the executive powers. However, the constitutional and formal head of the state is the
GovernorThe Governors and Lieutenant-Governors of the states and territories of India have similar powers and functions at the state level as that of the President of India at Union level. Governors exist in the states while Lieutenant-Governors exist in union territories and in the National Capital...
who is appointed for a five-year term by the
President of IndiaThe President of India is the head of state and first citizen of India, as well as the Supreme Commander of the Indian Armed Forces. President of India is also the formal head of all the three branches of Indian Democracy - Legislature, Executive and Judiciary...
on the advice of the Union government. The people of Karnataka also elect 28 members to the
Lok SabhaThe 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 lower house of the Indian Parliament. The members of the state Legislative Assembly elect 12 members to the
Rajya SabhaThe Rajya Sabha or Council of States is the upper house of the Parliament of India. Rajya means "state," and Sabha means "assembly hall" in Sanskrit. Membership is limited to 250 members, 12 of whom are chosen by the President of India for their expertise in specific fields of art, literature,...
, the upper house of the Indian Parliament.
For administrative purposes, Karnataka has been divided into four revenue divisions, 49 sub-divisions, 29 districts, 175 taluks and 745 hoblies/revenue circles. The administration in each district is headed by a
Deputy CommissionerThe deputy commissioner or district magistrate or district collector or district magistrate and collector is the head of the revenue administration of an Indian district. The DC is required to be an Indian Administrative Service officer who is in charge of governmental assets in his district of...
who belongs to the
Indian Administrative ServiceThe Indian Administrative Service is the administrative civil service of the Government of India. It is one of the three All India Services....
and is assisted by a number of officers belonging to Karnataka state services. The
Deputy Commissioner of Police, an officer belonging to the
Indian Police ServiceThe Indian Police Service , simply known as Indian Police or IPS, is one of the three All India Services of the Government of India...
and assisted by the officers of the Karnataka Police Service, is entrusted with the responsibility of maintaining law and order and related issues in each district. The
Deputy Conservator of ForestsA Deputy Conservator of Forests or, equivalently a Divisional Forest Officer is an officer belonging to the elite Indian Forest Service. The Deputy Conservator of Forests is responsible for managing the Forests, Environment and Wild-Life related issues of a Forest Division of a state or a union...
, an officer belonging to the
Indian Forest ServiceThe Indian Forest Service is the Forestry service of India. It is one of the three All India Services of the Indian government, along with the Indian Administrative Service and Indian Police Service; its employees are recruited by the national government but serve under the state governments or...
, also serves the government. Sectoral development in the districts is looked after by the district head of each development department such as Public Works Department, Health, Education, Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, etc. The judiciary in the state consists of the
Karnataka High CourtThe Karnataka High Court is the High Court of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is located in Bangalore, the capital city of Karnataka. The High Court functions out of a red brick building known as Attara Kacheri...
(
Attara Kacheri) in Bangalore,
district and session courtsThe District Courts of India are the district courts established by the State governments in India for every district or for one or more districts together taking into account the number of cases, population distribution in the district. They administer justice in India at a district level...
in each district and lower courts and judges at the taluk level.
Politics in Karnataka has been dominated by three political parties, the
Indian National CongressThe Indian National Congress is one of the two major political parties in India, the other being the Bharatiya Janata Party. It is the largest and one of the oldest democratic political parties in the world. The party's modern liberal platform is largely considered center-left in the Indian...
, the
Janata Dal (Secular)The Janata Dal is a Centre-left ಕನ್ನಡ: ಜನತಾ ದಳIndian political party led by former Prime Minister of India H.D. Deve Gowda.The party recognized as state party in the states of Karnataka and Kerala . It was formed in July 1999 by the split of Janata Dal party. It has political presence mainly in...
and the
Bharatiya Janata PartyThe Bharatiya Janata Party ,; translation: Indian People's Party) is one of the two major political parties in India, the other being the Indian National Congress. Established in 1980, it is India's second largest political party in terms of representation in the parliament...
. Politicians from Karnataka have played prominent roles in
federal government of IndiaThe Government of India, officially known as the Union Government, and also known as the Central Government, was established by the Constitution of India, and is the governing authority of the union of 28 states and seven union territories, collectively called the Republic of India...
with some of them having held the high positions of
Prime MinisterThe Prime Minister of India , as addressed to in the Constitution of India — Prime Minister for the Union, is the chief of government, head of the Council of Ministers and the leader of the majority party in parliament...
and Vice President. Three cabinet levels ministers in the current United Progressive Alliance government are from Karnataka. Notable among these is Former Chief Minister and Honorable Union Minister for Law, Justice and Company Affairs,
Veerappa MoilyMoodbidri Veerappa Moily is the current Minister of Corporate Affairs in the Indian government. Moily was elected as MP of the Chickballapur district by a wide margin in 2009. He currently serves as the All India Congress Committee General Secretary in charge of Andhra Pradesh...
. Border disputes involving Karnataka's claim on the
KasaragodKasaragod District is one of the districts of the Indian state of Kerala. Kasaragod District was organised as a separate district on 24 May 1984...
and Sholapur districts and
MaharashtraMaharashtra is a state located in India. It is the second most populous after Uttar Pradesh and third largest state by area in India...
's
claim on BelgaumThe Belgaum border dispute is a dispute involving the Indian states of Maharashtra and Karnataka. Belgaum, currently a part of Karnataka and earlier the erstwhile Bombay Presidency, is claimed by Maharashtra on linguistic grounds.-Background:...
are ongoing since the states reorganisation.
The official emblem of Karnataka has a
Ganda BerundaThe Gandaberunda is a two-headed mythological bird of Hindu mythology thought to possess magical strength. It is used as the official emblem by the Karnataka government and it is seen as an intricately sculptured motif in Hindu temples.- Story :The Ganda Berunda took physical form in the Narasimha...
in the centre. Surmounting this are four lions facing the four directions, taken from the
Lion Capital of AsokaThe Lion capital of Ashoka is a sculpture of four "Indian lions" standing back to back. It was originally placed atop the Aśoka pillar at Sarnath, now in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India by Emperor Ashoka circa 250 BC. The pillar, sometimes called the Aśoka Column is still in its original...
at
SarnathSarnath or Sārnātha is the deer park where Gautama Buddha first taught the Dharma, and where the Buddhist Sangha came into existence through the enlightenment of Kondanna. Sarnath is located 13 kilometres north-east of Varanasi, in Uttar Pradesh, India...
. The emblem also carries two Sharabhas with the head of an
elephantElephants are large land mammals in two extant genera of the family Elephantidae: Elephas and Loxodonta, with the third genus Mammuthus extinct...
and the body of a
lionThe lion is one of the four big cats in the genus Panthera, and a member of the family Felidae. With some males exceeding 250 kg in weight, it is the second-largest living cat after the tiger...
.
Economy
{{Main|Economy of Karnataka|Software industry in Karnataka|Banking in Karnataka}}
Karnataka, which had an estimated GSDP (Gross State Domestic Product) of about US$ 58.23 billion in 2008-09 fiscal year. Karnataka recorded the highest growth rates in terms of GDP and per capita GDP in the last decade compared to other states.
The state registered a GSDP growth rate of 7% for the year 2007-2008. Karnataka's contribution to India's GDP in the year 2004-05 was 5.2%.
Karnataka was the fastest growing state over the past decade in terms of GDP and
per capita GDPGross domestic product refers to the market value of all final goods and services produced within a country in a given period. GDP per capita is often considered an indicator of a country's standard of living....
.
With GDP growth of 56.2% and per capita GDP growth of 43.9%, Karnataka now has the sixth highest per-capita GDP of all states. Till September 2006 Karnataka received a
Foreign Direct InvestmentForeign direct investment or foreign investment refers to the net inflows of investment to acquire a lasting management interest in an enterprise operating in an economy other than that of the investor.. It is the sum of equity capital,other long-term capital, and short-term capital as shown in...
of {{INR}}78.097 billion ($ 1.7255 billion) for the fiscal year 2006-07, placing it third among the states of India. At the end of 2004, the unemployment rate in Karnataka was 4.94% compared to the national rate of 5.99%. For the fiscal year 2006-07, the inflation rate in Karnataka was 4.4%, compared to the national average of 4.7%. As of 2004-05, Karnataka had an estimated poverty ratio of 17%, less than the national ratio of 27.5%.
Nearly 56% of the workforce in Karnataka is engaged in agriculture and related activities. A total of 12.31 million hectares of land, or 64.6% of the state's total area, is cultivated. Much of the agricultural output is dependent on the southwest monsoon as only 26.5% of the sown area is irrigated.
Karnataka is the manufacturing hub for some of the largest
public sectorThe public sector, sometimes referred to as the state sector, is a part of the state that deals with either the production, delivery and allocation of goods and services by and for the government or its citizens, whether national, regional or local/municipal.Examples of public sector activity range...
industries in India, including
Hindustan Aeronautics LimitedHindustan Aeronautics Limited based in Bangalore, India, is one of Asia's largest aerospace companies. Under the management of the Indian Ministry of Defence, this state-owned company is mainly involved in aerospace industry, which includes manufacturing and assembling aircraft, navigation and...
,
National Aerospace LaboratoriesNational Aerospace Laboratories , is India's second largest aerospace firm after Hindustan Aeronautics . It was established by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research at Delhi in 1959 and its headquarters was later moved to Bangalore in 1960...
, Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited, Indian Telephone Industries, Bharat Earth Movers Limited and
Hindustan Machine ToolsHindustan Machine Tools was incorporated in 1953 by the Government of India as a machine tool manufacturing company.Over the years diversified into watches, tractors, printing machinery, metal forming presses, die casting & plastic processing machinery, CNC systems & bearings...
, which are based in Bangalore. Many of India's premier science and technology research centers, such as Indian Space Research Organization,
Central Power Research InstituteCentral Power Research Institute was established by the Government of India in 1960 with Head Quarters in Bangalore. The Institute was re-organized into an autonomous Society in the year 1978 under the aegis of the Ministry of Power, Government of India...
,
Bharat Electronics LimitedBharat Electronics Limited is a state-owned electronics company with about nine factories, and few regional offices in India. It is owned by the Indian Government & primarily manufactures advanced electronic products for the Indian Armed Forces.BEL is one of the eight PSUs under Ministry of...
and the
Central Food Technological Research InstituteIndia's Central Food Technological Research Institute and was opened on 21 October 1950. It is based in Mysore. A research center branch is also located in Habsiguda, Hyderabad....
, are also headquartered in Karnataka. Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited is an
oil refineryAn oil refinery or petroleum refinery is an industrial process plant where crude oil is processed and refined into more useful petroleum products, such as gasoline, diesel fuel, asphalt base, heating oil, kerosene, and liquefied petroleum gas...
located in Mangalore.
Since the 1980s, Karnataka has emerged as the pan-Indian leader in the field of IT (
information technologyInformation technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...
). As of 2007, there were nearly 2,000 firms operating out of Karnataka. Many of them, including two of India's biggest software firms,
InfosysInfosys Limited, formerly Infosys Technologies Limited is a global technology services company headquartered in Bangalore, India. It is the second largest IT exporter in India with 133,560 employees as of March 2011. It has offices in 33 countries and development centers in India, China,...
and
WiproWipro Limited formally Western India Products Limited is a global IT services and consulting company headquartered in Bangalore, India. As of 2011, Wipro is the second largest IT services company by turnover in India and employs more than 120,000 people worldwide as of March 2011...
are also headquartered in the state. Exports from these firms exceeded {{INR}}50,000 crores ($12.5 billion) in 2006-07, accounting for nearly 38% of all IT exports from India. The
Nandi HillsNandi Hills or Nandidurg is an ancient hill fortress of southern India, in the Chikkaballapur district of Karnataka state. It is located just 10 km from Chickballapur town and approximately 60 km from the city of Bangalore...
area in the outskirts of
DevanahalliDevanahalli previously called Devanadoddi, Devanapura, and Yusufabad) is a city in the state of Karnataka in India. The city is located outside the city limits of Bangalore. Devanahalli is the site of the newly constructed Bengaluru International Airport, the second largest in India...
is the site of the upcoming $22 Billion, 50 square kilometer BIAL IT Investment Region, one the largest infrastructure projects in the history of Karnataka. All this has earned the state capital, Bangalore, the sobriquet
Silicon Valley of IndiaThe Silicon Valley of India is a nickname of the Indian city of Bangalore. The name signifies Bangalore's status as a hub for information technology companies in India and is a comparative reference to the original Silicon Valley, based around Santa Clara Valley, California, a major hub for IT...
.
Karnataka also leads the nation in
biotechnologyBiotechnology is a field of applied biology that involves the use of living organisms and bioprocesses in engineering, technology, medicine and other fields requiring bioproducts. Biotechnology also utilizes these products for manufacturing purpose...
. It is home to India's largest biocluster, with 158 of the country's 320 biotechnology firms being based here. The state also accounts for 75% of India's
floricultureFloriculture, or flower farming, is a discipline of horticulture concerned with the cultivation of flowering and ornamental plants for gardens and for floristry, comprising the floral industry...
, an upcoming industry which supplies flowers and ornamental plants worldwide.
Seven of India's leading banks,
Canara BankCanara Bank is a state-owned financial services company in India. It was established in 1906, making it one of the oldest banks in the country. As on 2009 November, the bank had a network of 3057 branches, spread across India...
,
Syndicate BankSyndicate Bank Ltd. is one of the oldest and major commercial banks of India. At the time of its establishment, the bank was known as Canara Industrial and Banking Syndicate Limited. The bank, along with 13 major commercial banks of India, was nationalized on 19 July 1969, by the Government of...
,
Corporation BankCorporation Bank is an India-based banking company based in Mangalore, India. The bank was founded with an initial capital of Rs. 5000 , and first day’s canvassed resources of less than one USD 1, has currently 12,724 full time employees, and operates from several branches in India.The Bank is a...
,
Vijaya Bank-History:Vijaya Bank , a medium sized bank with presence across India. It was founded on October 23, 1931 by A. B. Shetty and a few other farmers in Mangalore, Karnataka in India.. The objective was to promote banking habits, thrift and entrepreneurship among the farming community of Dakshina...
,
Karnataka BankKarnataka Bank Limited is a private sector banking institution based in the town of Mangalore in Karnataka, India. The Reserve Bank of India has designated Karnataka Bank as an A1+-class scheduled commercial bank....
, Vysya Bank and the
State Bank of MysoreState Bank of Mysore is a nationalised bank in India.State Bank of Mysore was established in the year 1913 as Bank of Mysore Ltd. under the patronage of the erstwhile Govt. of Mysore, at the instance of the banking committee headed by the great Engineer-Statesman, Late Dr. Sir M.Visweswaraiah...
originated in this state. The coastal districts of
Udupi and
Dakshina Kannada- Geography :The district geography consists of sea shore in the west and Western Ghats in the east. The major rivers are Netravathi, Kumaradhara, Phalguni, Shambhavi, Nandini or Pavanje and Payaswini which all join Arabian sea. Vast areas of evergreen forests which once covered this district, have...
have a branch for every 500 persons—the best distribution of banks in India. As of March 2002, Karnataka had 4767 branches of different banks with each branch serving 11,000 persons, which is lower than the national average of 16,000.
A majority of the 3500 crore silk industry in India is headquartered in Karnataka State, particularly in the North Bangalore regions of
MuddenahalliMuddenahalli is a centrally located town situated 7 km from Chikballapur and 1 km from Kanivenarayanapura in Chikballapur District of Karnataka State...
,
KanivenarayanapuraKanivenarayanapura 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...
, and Doddaballapura the upcoming sites of a 70 crore "Silk City".
Transport
{{Main|Transport in Karnataka|List of National Highways in Karnataka|List of state highways in Karnataka}}
Air transport in Karnataka, as in the rest of the country, is still a fledgling but fast expanding sector. Karnataka has airports at Bangalore,
MangaloreMangalore 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...
, Hubli,
BelgaumBelgaum is a city and a municipal corporation in Belgaum district in the state of Karnataka, India. It is the fourth largest city of the state of Karnataka, the first three being Bangalore, Mysore, Hubli-Dharwad....
,
HampiHampi is a village in northern Karnataka state, India. It is located within the ruins of Vijayanagara, the former capital of the Vijayanagara Empire. Predating the city of Vijayanagara, it continues to be an important religious centre, housing the Virupaksha Temple, as well as several other...
,
BellaryBellary 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....
and
Mysore with international operations from Bangalore and
MangaloreMangalore Airport, formerly known as Bajpe Airport, is a domestic and customs airport serving the coastal city of Mangalore, India...
airports. Major airlines such as
Kingfisher AirlinesKingfisher Airlines is an airline group based in India. Its head office is Kingfisher House in Vile Parle , Mumbai. Kingfisher Airlines, through its parent company United Breweries Group, has a 50% stake in low-cost carrier Kingfisher Red....
and Kingfisher red are based in Bangalore.
Karnataka has a railway network with a total length of approximately 3089 kilometres (1,919 mi). Until the creation of the South Western Zone headquartered at Hubli in 2003, the railway network in the state was in the Southern and Western railway zones. Several parts of the state now come under the South Western Zone, with the remainder under the Southern Railways. Coastal Karnataka is covered under the
Konkan railwayThe Konkan Railway is a railway line which runs along the Konkan coast of India. It was constructed and is operated by the Konkan Railway Corporation...
network which was considered India's biggest railway project of the century. Bangalore is extensively connected with inter-state destinations while other important cities and towns in the state are not so well-connected.
Karnataka has 11
portsKarnataka's coastline called Karavali stretches 300 km between Mangalore in Dakshina Kannada district and Karwar in Uttara Kannada district. The coastline of Karnataka has been along the eastern shore of Arabian Sea. Karnataka has one major and ten minor ports in this coastal belt...
, including the New Mangalore Port, a major port and ten other minor ports. The New Mangalore port was incorporated as the ninth major port in India on 4 May 1974. This port handled 32.04 million tonnes of traffic in the fiscal year 2006-07 with 17.92 million tonnes of imports and 14.12 million tonnes of exports. The port also handled 1015 vessels including 18 cruise vessels during the year 2006-07. The inland water transport within the state is not well developed.
The total lengths of National Highways and state highways in Karnataka are 3973 kilometres (2,469 mi) and 9829 kilometres (6,107 mi), respectively. The
KSRTCKarnataka State Road Transport Corporation or KSRTC is the state owned road transportation company in Karnataka.-About:KSRTC was set up in the year 1961 under the provisions of Road Transport Corporation Act, 1950. It is wholly owned by the Government of Karnataka. The Government of India is also...
, the state public transport corporation, transports an average of 2.2 million passengers daily and employs about 25,000 people. In the late nineties, KSRTC was split into three corporations, viz., The Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation, The North-West Karnataka Road Transport Corporation and The North-East Karnataka Road Transport Corporation with their headquarters in Bangalore, Hubli and Gulbarga respectively.
Culture
{{Main|Art and culture of Karnataka|Carnatic music|Cuisine of Karnataka|Kannadigas|Tuluvas}}
The diverse linguistic and religious ethnicities that are native to Karnataka combined with their long histories have contributed immensely to the varied cultural heritage of the state. Apart from Kannadigas, Karnataka is home to
TuluvaThe Tuluva -Geographic Distribution :Though most of the Tuluva population is found in the Tulu Nadu region, migrant poplulations are found the world over. In recent times, the first period of migration started at the beginning of the 20th century to places such as Mumbai and Chennai and other...
s,
KodavaThe Kodavas are a patrilineal ethno-lingual group from the region of Kodagu, in Karnataka state of southern India who traditionally were land-owning agriculturists with martial traditions and natively speak Kodava takk...
s and Konkanis. Minor populations of Tibetan Buddhists and tribes like the
SoligaA Soliga is a member of a tribe in India that inhabits the Biligirirangan and associated hill ranges in Southern Karnataka, mostly in Chamarajanagar District, bordering the Erode district of Tamil Nadu . Most of them are concentrated in and around the BR Hills in Yelandur and Kollegal Taluks of...
s, Yeravas,
TodasThe Toda people are a small pastoral community who live on the isolated Nilgiri plateau of Southern India. Before the late 18th century, the Toda coexisted locally with other communities, including the Badaga, Kota, and Kuruba, in a loose caste-like community organization in which the Toda were...
and Siddhis also live in Karnataka. The
traditional folk artsDances of Karnataka are one of the ancient dance forms existent in India.Most of the tribal dances are still in effect and enhanced also due to preservation and nature loving culture of Kannadigas.-Kunitha - A ritual dance:...
cover the entire gamut of music, dance, drama, storytelling by itinerant troupes, etc.
YakshaganaYakshagana is a musical theater popular in the coastal and Malenadu regions of Karnataka, India. Yakshagana is the recent scholastic name for what are known as kēḷike, āṭa, bayalāṭa, bayalāṭa, daśāvatāra . It is believed to have evolved from pre-classical music and theatre during Bhakti movement...
of Malnad and coastal Karnataka, a classical dance drama, is one of the major theatrical forms of Karnataka. Contemporary theatre culture in Karnataka remains vibrant with organizations like
NinasamNinasam is a cultural organisation located in the village of Heggodu in Sagar Taluk of the Shivamogga district in the state of Karnataka, India. Ninasam is the short form of Sri NIlakanteshwara NAtyaseva SAMgha, an organsiation dedicated to the growth of drama, films and publishing...
,
Ranga ShankaraRanga Shankara is one of Bangalore's best known theatres. It is located in the south Bangalore area of J.P Nagar and is run by the Sanket Trust...
,
RangayanaRangayana is a theatre institute which operates from Mysore, Karnataka, India. It works as an autonomous cultural institute. The organization consists of a professional repertory company, a theatre-training institute and a documentation and research centre. Rangayana offers courses in stage craft,...
and
Prabhat KalavidaruPlease visit http://www.prabhathkalavidaru.com/. Prabhat Kalavidaru is a theatre group based in Bangalore, India. Started in the year 1930, this group has staged many drama performances and is famous for its ballets...
continuing to build on the foundations laid by
Gubbi VeerannaGubbi Veeranna was an Indian theatre director, one of the pioneers and most prolific contributors to Kannada theatre. He established the drama company, Gubbi Veeranna Nataka Company that played a crucial role in promoting the Kannada theatre. Some of the stalwarts that have emerged out of this...
,
T. P. KailasamThyagaraja Paramasiva Kailasam , was a playwright and prominent writer of Kannada literature. His contribution to Kannada theatrical comedy earned him the title Prahasana Prapitamaha, "the father of humorous plays".-Early life:...
,
B. V. KaranthBabukodi Venkataramana Karanth was a renowned film and theatre personality from India...
, K V Subbanna, Prasanna and others.
VeeragaseVeeragase is a dance folk form prevalent in the state of Karnataka, India. It is a vigorous dance based on Hindu mythology and involves very intense energy-sapping dance movements. Veeragase is one of the dances demonstrated in the Dasara procession held in Mysore...
,
KamsaleKamsale is a unique folk art performed by the devotees of God Mahadeshwara. Kamsale is a brass made musical instrument. Its origin is traced to the Mythological period.- Instrument and Group :...
,
KolataKolata is the traditional folk dance of the state of Karnataka, located in Southern India on the western coast. Unlike its North Indian counterpart Dandiya Ras, it comes in two forms. First, it is performed with coloured sticks and usually involves both men and women dancing together. Second, very...
and
Dollu KunithaDollu Kunitha , is a major form of art, occupies the pride of place among folk dances. Dollu Kunitha is a popular drum dance of Karnataka accompanied by singing. It provides both spectacular variety and complexity of skills in the process of demonstration...
are popular dance forms. The
MysoreThe Kingdom of Mysore was a kingdom of southern India, traditionally believed to have been founded in 1399 in the vicinity of the modern city of Mysore. The kingdom, which was ruled by the Wodeyar family, initially served as a vassal state of the Vijayanagara Empire...
style of
BharatanatyaBharata Natyam or Chadhir Attam, is a classical dance form from the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu, practiced predominantly in modern times by women. The dance is usually accompanied by classical Carnatic music...
nurtured and popularised by the likes of the legendary Jatti Tayamma continues to hold sway in Karnataka and Bangalore also enjoys an eminent place as one of the foremost centers of Bharatanatya.
Karnataka also has a special place in the world of Indian classical music with both Karnataka (
CarnaticCarnatic music is a system of music commonly associated with the southern part of the Indian subcontinent, with its area roughly confined to four modern states of India: Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu...
) and Hindustani styles finding place in the state and Karnataka has produced a number of stalwarts in both styles. While referring to music the word 'Karnataka', the original name given to the South Indian classical music does not mean the state of Karnataka. The
HaridasaThe Haridasa devotional movement is considered as one of the turning points in the cultural history of India. Over a span of nearly six centuries, several saints and mystics helped shape the culture, philosophy and art of South India and Karnataka in particular by exerting considerable spiritual...
movement of the sixteenth century contributed seminally to the development of Karnataka (Carnatic) music as a performing art form.
Purandara DasaPurandara Dāsa is one of the most prominent composers of Carnatic music and is widely regarded as the "father of Carnatic Music". Purandara Dasa addressed social issues in addition to worship in his compositions, a practice emulated by his younger contemporary, Kanaka Dasa...
, one of the most revered
HaridasaThe Haridasa devotional movement is considered as one of the turning points in the cultural history of India. Over a span of nearly six centuries, several saints and mystics helped shape the culture, philosophy and art of South India and Karnataka in particular by exerting considerable spiritual...
s, is known as the
Karnataka Sangeeta Pitamaha ('Father of Karnataka a.k.a.Carnatic music'). Celebrated Hindustani musicians like
Gangubai HangalGangubai Hangal was an Indian singer of the khyal genre of Hindustani classical music, who was known for her deep and powerful voice. Hangal belonged to the Kirana gharana.-Early life:...
,
Mallikarjun MansurMallikarjun Bheemarayappa Mansur was an Indian classical singer of the khyal style in the Jaipur-Atrauli gharana. He received the three national Padma Awards: Padma Shri in 1970, Padma Bhushan in 1976, and Padma Vibhushan in 1992.-Early life:...
,
Bhimsen JoshiPandit Bhimsen Gururaj Joshi ; February 4, 1922 - January 24, 2011) was an Indian vocalist in the Hindustani classical tradition. A member of the Kirana Gharana , he is renowned for the khayal form of singing, as well as for his popular renditions of devotional music...
, Basavaraja Rajaguru,
Sawai GandharvaRambhau Kundgolkar, popularly known as Pandit Sawai Gandharva , was a popular Hindustani Classical vocalist and Marathi stage actor of the Kirana Gharana. He was the first and foremost disciple of Utd. Abdul Karim Khan and guru of Bharat Ratna laureate Pt. Bhimsen Joshi. Pt...
and several others hail from Karnataka and some of them have been recipients of the
Kalidas SammanThe Kalidas Samman is a prestigious arts award presented annually by the government of Madhya Pradesh in India. The award is named after Kālidāsa, a renowned Classical Sanskrit writer of ancient India, widely regarded as the greatest poet and dramatist in the Sanskrit language.The Kalidas Samman...
,
Padma BhushanThe Padma Bhushan is the third highest civilian award in the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan, but comes before the Padma Shri. It is awarded by the Government of India.-History:...
and
Padma VibhushanThe Padma Vibhushan is the second highest civilian award in the Republic of India. It consists of a medal and a citation and is awarded by the President of India. It was established on 2 January 1954. It ranks behind the Bharat Ratna and comes before the Padma Bhushan...
awards.
GamakaGamaka, also known as gamak or gamakam, refers to ornamentation that is used in the performance of Indian classical music. The unique character of each raga is given by its gamakas, making their role essential rather than decorative in Indian music...
is another
classical musicThe origins of Indian classical music can be found in the Vedas, which are the oldest scriptures in the Hindu tradition. Indian classical music has also been significantly influenced by, or syncretised with, Indian folk music and Persian music. The Samaveda, one of the four Vedas, describes music...
genreA music genre is a categorical and typological construct that identifies musical sounds as belonging to a particular category and type of music that can be distinguished from other types of music...
based on Carnatic music that is practiced in Karnataka. Kannada Bhavageete is a genre of popular music that draws inspiration from the expressionist poetry of modern poets. The Mysore school of painting has produced painters like Sundarayya, Tanjavur Kondayya, B. Venkatappa and Keshavayya.
Chitrakala ParishatChitrakala Parishath is an art institution and cultural organisation located in the city of Bangalore, in the state of Karnataka, India. Its main aim is the promotion of art and culture and it is well known for the various art exhibitions that it conducts both at the state and the National...
is an organisation in Karnataka dedicated to promoting painting, mainly in the
Mysore paintingMysore painting is an important form of classical South Indian painting that originated in the town of Mysore in Karnataka. Painting in Karnataka has a long and illustrious history, tracing it’s origins back to the Ajanta times Mysore painting is an important form of classical South Indian...
style.
Saree is the traditional dress of women in Karnataka. Women in Kodagu have a distinct style of wearing the saree, different from the rest of Karnataka.
DhotiThe dhoti or pancha is the traditional men's garment in the in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. A similar garment is worn in some rural areas of Punjab province in Pakistan, but the use is fast declining...
, known as
Panche in Karnataka is the traditional attire of men.
ShirtA shirt is a cloth garment for the upper body. Originally an undergarment worn exclusively by men, it has become, in American English, a catch-all term for almost any garment other than outerwear such as sweaters, coats, jackets, or undergarments such as bras, vests or base layers...
,
TrousersTrousers are an item of clothing worn on the lower part of the body from the waist to the ankles, covering both legs separately...
and Salwar kameez are widely worn in Urban areas.
Mysore PetaMysore Peta is the traditional indigenous attire worn by the erstwhile Kings of Mysore, called the Wodeyars , of the Kingdom of Mysore...
is the traditional headgear of southern Karnataka, while the
pagadi or
pataga (similar to the Rajasthani turban) is preferred in the northern areas of the state.
RiceRice is the seed of the monocot plants Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West Indies...
({{Lang-kn|ಅಕ್ಕಿ}}) and
RagiEleusine coracana, commonly Finger millet , also known as African millet or Ragi is an annual plant widely grown as a cereal in the arid areas of Africa and Asia. E...
form the staple food in South Karnataka, whereas
Jolada rottiJolada rotti is a specialty North Karnataka unleavened Indian bread made out of jowar . The name literally translates into jowar bread....
,
SorghumSorghum is a genus of numerous species of grasses, one of which is raised for grain and many of which are used as fodder plants either cultivated or as part of pasture. The plants are cultivated in warmer climates worldwide. Species are native to tropical and subtropical regions of all continents...
is staple to North Karnataka.
Bisi bele bathBisi bele bhath is a rice-based dish with its origins in the state of Karnataka, India. Bisi-bele-bhaath translates to hot-lentil-rice in the Kannada language. It is also known as Bisi bele huliyanna. The traditional preparation of this dish is quite elaborate and involves the use of spicy masala,...
,
Jolada rottiJolada rotti is a specialty North Karnataka unleavened Indian bread made out of jowar . The name literally translates into jowar bread....
,
Ragi muddeRagi mudde also Ragi Sangati is a wholesome meal in Karnataka and Rayalaseema region in India. It is mainly popular with the rural folk of Karnataka...
,
UppittuUpma is a popular Indian breakfast dish originating in South India.-Etymology:The general name of the dish in most languages is formed from two words : salt and flour...
, Masala Dose and
Maddur VadeMaddur vade is a type of vade or snack item which is unique to the state of Karnataka, India. Also known as Maddur vada, this snack derives its name from the town of Maddur which is in the Mandya district of Karnataka. Maddur lies between the cities of Bangalore and Mysore and Maddur Vada is...
are some of the popular food items in Karnataka. Among sweets,
Mysore PakMysore pak is a sweet dish of Karnataka, India, usually served as dessert. It is made of generous amounts of ghee , sugar and gram flour....
, Belgaavi Kunda, Gokak karadantu, and
Dharwad pedhaDharwad pedha is a sweet delicacy unique to the state of Karnataka, India. It derives its name from the city of Dharwad in Karnataka.This sweet's history is around 175 years old.-History:...
are popular. Apart from this, coastal Karnataka and Kodagu have distinctive cuisines of their own.
Udupi cuisineUdupi cuisine is a world-renowned cuisine of South India. It forms an important part of the Cuisine of Karnataka and takes its name from Udupi, a town on the southwest coast of India in the state of Karnataka. The Udupi cuisine has its origin in the Ashta mathas of Udupi founded by...
of coastal Karnataka is popular all over India.
Religion
{{Main|Religion in Karnataka|Haridasa|Virashaiva}}
Adi Shankaracharya chose Sringeri in Karnataka to establish the first of his four
mathaA matha ) is a term for monastic and similar religious establishments of Hinduism and Jainism. A matha is usually more formal, hierarchical, and rule-based than an ashram.-Advaita Mathas:...
s. Shri Madhvacharya (Kannada: ಶ್ರೀ ಮಧ್ವಾಚಾರ್ಯರು, Śrī Madhvācārya) (1238–1317) was the chief proponent of Tattvavāda (Philosophy of Reality), popularly known as Dvaita or Dualistic school of Hindu philosophy - one of the three most influential Vedānta philosophies. Madhva was one of the important philosophers during the Bhakti movement. He was a pioneer in many ways, going against standard conventions and norms. According to tradition, Madhvācārya is believed to be the third incarnation of Vāyu (Mukhyaprāṇa), after Hanumān and Bhīma. The Haridasa (Kannada: ಹರಿದಾಸ) devotional movement is considered as one of the turning points in the cultural history of India. Over a span of nearly six centuries, several saints and mystics helped shape the culture, philosophy and art of South India and Karnataka in particular by exerting considerable spiritual influence over the masses and kingdoms that ruled South India.[1]
This movement was ushered in by the Haridasas (Kannada: ಹರಿದಾಸರು, literally meaning 'servants of Lord Hari') and took shape in the 13th century - 14th century CE, period, prior to and during the early rule of the Vijayanagara empire. The main objective of this movement was to propagate the Dvaita philosophy of Madhvacharya (Madhva Siddhanta) to the masses through a literary medium known as Dasa Sahitya (literature of the servants of the Lord. Purandaradasa often called "Pithamaha" of Carnatic Music for his immense contribution in simplifying carnatic music, he was the "Guru" of Swamy Haridas (Tansen's guru)who pioneered Hindustani music in North India. ) Ramanujacharya, the leading expounder of
{{About|the Indian state|the progressive rock music group|Karnataka (band)}}
{{pp-semi-protected|small=yes}}{{pp-move-indef}}
Karnataka ({{lang-kn|ಕರ್ನಾಟಕ}} kəɾˈnɑːʈəkɑː), the land of the Kannadigas, is a stateIndia is a federal union of states comprising twenty-eight states and seven union territories. The states and territories are further subdivided into districts and so on.-List of states and territories:...
in
South West IndiaSouth West India extends over the regions in the states and territories of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry, Goa, Orissa, and Lakshadweep....
. It was
createdThe Unification of Karnataka refers to the formation of the Indian state of Karnataka, then called as Mysore State, in 1956 when several Indian states were created by redrawing borders based on linguistic demographics...
on 1 November 1956, with the passing of the
States Reorganisation ActThe States Reorganisation Act of 1956 was a major reform of the boundaries and governance of India's states and territories. The act reorganised the boundaries of India's states along linguistic lines, and amended the Indian Constitution to replace the three types of states, known as Parts A, B,...
and this day is annually celebrated as Karnataka Rajyotsava (Formation Day). Originally known as the
State of MysoreThe 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...
, it was renamed
Karnataka in 1973.
Karnataka is bordered by the
Arabian SeaThe Arabian Sea is a region of the Indian Ocean bounded on the east by India, on the north by Pakistan and Iran, on the west by the Arabian Peninsula, on the south, approximately, by a line between Cape Guardafui in northeastern Somalia and Kanyakumari in India...
to the west,
GoaGoa , a former Portuguese colony, is India's smallest state by area and the fourth smallest by population. Located in South West India in the region known as the Konkan, it is bounded by the state of Maharashtra to the north, and by Karnataka to the east and south, while the Arabian Sea forms its...
to the northwest,
MaharashtraMaharashtra 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,
Andhra PradeshAndhra 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,
Tamil NaduTamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh...
to the southeast, and
Keralaor Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....
to the southwest. The state covers an area of 191976 square kilometre, or 5.83% of the total geographical area of
IndiaIndia , 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 the
eighth largest Indian state by area,
the ninth largest by population and comprises 30
districtsA 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:...
.
KannadaKannada 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...
is the most widely spoken and official language of the state.
The two main river systems of the state are
KrishnaThe Krishna River , is one of the longest rivers in central-southern India, about . It is also referred to as Krishnaveni in its original nomenclature...
and its tributaries (
BhimaIn the Mahābhārata, Bhima is one of the central characters of Mahabharata and the second of the Pandava brothers...
,
Ghataprabha Ghataprabha is a village in the southern state of Karnataka, India. It is located in the Gokak taluk of Belgaum district in Karnataka.-Demographics:As of the 2001 India census, Ghataprabha had a population of more than 20,000...
,
VedavatiIn Hindu mythology, Vedavati is speculated to have been the spirit of Sita Devi, the wife of Lord Rama in the epic Ramayana. She was another avatar of Devi Laxmi.-Early life:...
, Malaprabha, and Tungabhadra) in the north, and the Cauvery and its tributaries (Hemavati, Shimsha, Arkavathi, Lakshmana Thirtha and Kabini) in the south. Both these rivers flow eastward and fall into the
Bay of BengalThe Bay of Bengal , the largest bay in the world, forms the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean. It resembles a triangle in shape, and is bordered mostly by the Eastern Coast of India, southern coast of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka to the west and Burma and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands to the...
.
Though
several etymologiesKarnataka is an Indian state. Several etymologies have been suggested for the name Karnataka. One derivative is from Sanskrit where 'Karna' means ear, and 'atati' means wander, together giving a meaning for 'Karnata' as where ones ears would want to wander, since this is the birth place of the...
have been suggested for the name Karnataka, the generally accepted one is that
Karnataka is derived from the Kannada words
karu and
nādu, meaning
elevated land.
Karu nadu may also be read as
Karu (black) and
nadu (region), as a reference to the
black cotton soilIn both the FAO and USA soil taxonomy, a vertisol is a soil in which there is a high content of expansive clay known as montmorillonite that forms deep cracks in drier seasons or years. Alternate shrinking and swelling causes self-mulching, where the soil material consistently mixes itself, causing...
found in the Bayaluseeme region of Karnataka. The
BritishBritish Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...
used the word
CarnaticThe Carnatic coast is the region of South India lying between the Eastern Ghats and the Coromandel Coast, in the modern Indian states of Tamil Nadu, south eastern Karnataka and southern Andhra Pradesh....
(sometimes
Karnatak) to describe both sides of peninsular India, south of the
Krishna RiverThe Krishna River , is one of the longest rivers in central-southern India, about . It is also referred to as Krishnaveni in its original nomenclature...
.
With an antiquity that dates to the
paleolithicThe Paleolithic Age, Era or Period, is a prehistoric period of human history distinguished by the development of the most primitive stone tools discovered , and covers roughly 99% of human technological prehistory...
, Karnataka has also been home to some of the most powerful
empires of ancient and medieval IndiaThe political history of medieval Karnataka spans the 4th to the 16th centuries, when the empires that evolved in the Karnataka region of India made a lasting impact on the subcontinent. Before this, alien empires held sway over the region, and the nucleus of power was outside modern Karnataka...
. The philosophers and musical bards patronised by these empires launched socio-religious and literary movements which have endured to the present day. Karnataka has contributed significantly to both forms of Indian classical music, the
CarnaticCarnatic music is a system of music commonly associated with the southern part of the Indian subcontinent, with its area roughly confined to four modern states of India: Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu...
(Karnataka Music) and Hindustani traditions. Writers in the Kannada language have received the most number of Jnanpith awards in India.
BangaloreBengaluru , 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...
is the capital city of the state and is at the forefront of the rapid economic and technological development that India is experiencing.
History
{{Main|History of Karnataka|Political history of medieval Karnataka|Etymology of Karnataka}}
Karnatakan pre-history goes back to a
paleolithicThe Paleolithic Age, Era or Period, is a prehistoric period of human history distinguished by the development of the most primitive stone tools discovered , and covers roughly 99% of human technological prehistory...
hand-axe culture evidenced by discoveries of, among other things, hand axes and cleavers in the region.{{Citation needed|date=December 2009}} Evidence of
neolithicThe Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...
and megalithic cultures have also been found in the state. Gold discovered in
HarappaHarappa is an archaeological site in Punjab, northeast Pakistan, about west of Sahiwal. The site takes its name from a modern village located near the former course of the Ravi River. The current village of Harappa is from the ancient site. Although modern Harappa has a train station left from...
was found to be imported from mines in Karnataka, prompting scholars to hypothesize about contacts between ancient Karnataka and the
Indus Valley CivilizationThe Indus Valley Civilization was a Bronze Age civilization that was located in the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent, consisting of what is now mainly modern-day Pakistan and northwest India...
ca. 3000 BCE.
Prior to the third century BCE, most of Karnataka formed part of the Nanda Empire before coming under the Mauryan empire of Emperor Ashoka. Four centuries of Satavahana rule followed, allowing them to control large areas of Karnataka. The decline of Satavahana power led to the rise of the earliest native kingdoms, the
KadambasThe Kadamba Dynasty was an ancient royal family of Karnataka that ruled from Banavasi in present day Uttara Kannada district. The dynasty later continued to rule as a feudatory of larger Kannada empires, the Chalukya and the Rashtrakuta empires for over five hundred years during which time they...
and the Western Gangas, marking the region's emergence as an independent political entity. The Kadamba Dynasty, founded by
MayurasharmaMayurasharma , a Brahmin scholar and a native of Talagunda , was the founder of the Kadamba Kingdom of Banavasi, the earliest native kingdom to rule over what is today the modern state of Karnataka, India. He took the name of Mayuravarma to emphasise his change from the Brahmin to the Kshatriya...
, had its capital at
BanavasiBanavasi is an ancient temple town in Uttara Kannada District bordering Shivamogga district in the South Indian state of Karnataka .-History:Banavasi is one of the oldest towns in the Karnataka state...
; the Western Ganga Dynasty was formed with
TalakadTalakad is a desert-like town on the left bank of the Kaveri river at a spot where the river makes a sharp bend. It is 45 km from Mysore and 133 km from Bangalore in Karnataka, India. A historic site, Talakad once had over 30 temples that today are buried in sand. Now it is a scenic...
as its capital.
These were also the first kingdoms to use
KannadaKannada 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...
in administration, as evidenced by the
Halmidi inscriptionThe Halmidi inscription is the oldest known Kannada language inscription in the Kannada script. Experts agree on the relative date , but differ on absolute date. Estimates vary by about 50 years either side of about 500 AD . The inscription was discovered in 1936 by Dr. M. H...
and a fifth-century copper coin discovered at Banavasi. These dynasties were followed by imperial Kannada empires such as the Badami Chalukyas, the
Rashtrakuta Empire of ManyakhetaThe 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...
and the Western Chalukya Empire,
which ruled over large parts of the Deccan and had their capitals in what is now Karnataka. The Western Chalukyas patronised a unique style of
architectureWestern Chalukya architecture , also known as Kalyani Chalukya or Later Chalukya architecture, is the distinctive style of ornamented architecture that evolved during the rule of the Western Chalukya Empire in the Tungabhadra region of central Karnataka, India, during the 11th and 12th centuries...
and Kannada
literatureA large body of Western Chalukya literature in Kannada was produced during the reign of the Western Chalukya Empire in what is now southern India...
which became a precursor to the Hoysala art of 12th century.
Parts of modern-day Karnataka were occupied by the Chola Empire between 990-1210 AD. This process started under
Rajaraja Chola IRaja Raja Chola I born Arunmozhi Thevar , popularly known as Raja Raja the Great, is one of the greatest emperors of the Tamil Chola Empire of India who ruled between 985 and 1014 CE...
(985-1014) and continued under his son
Rajendra Chola IRajendra Chola I was the son of Rajaraja Chola I and was one of the greatest rulers of Tamil Chola dynasty of India. He succeeded his father in 1014 CE as the Chola emperor...
(1014–1044). Initially Gangapadi, Nolambapadi and Tadigaipadi, all parts of modern Mysore, were conquered and annexed under Raja Raja Chola I.
Rajendra Chola IRajendra Chola I was the son of Rajaraja Chola I and was one of the greatest rulers of Tamil Chola dynasty of India. He succeeded his father in 1014 CE as the Chola emperor...
"marched up to Donur, he also captured Banvasi, a good part of the Raichur doab and sacked Manyakheta" itself, which was the Western Chalukyan capital. During the time of the Chalukya ruler
JayasimhaJayasimha II , also known by the titles Jagadekhamalla and Mallikamoda, succeeded his brother Vikramaditya V on the Western Chalukya throne. Jayasimha had to fight on many fronts to protect his kingdom...
after his defeat by Rajendra Chola I, the Tungabhadra river was recognized tacitly as the boundary between the two kingdoms. During the rule of Rajadhiraja Chola I (1042–1056), Dannada, Kulpak, Koppam, the fortress of Kampili, Pundur, Yetagiri and the Chalukyan capital Kalyani were sacked. In 1053,
Rajendra Chola IIRajendra Chola II reigned as the Chola king succeeding his elder brother brother Rajadhiraja Chola. He is best remembered for his role in the battle of Koppam alongside his elder brother where he dramatically turned the tables on the Chalukyan King Somesvara I.- Koppam Battle :The Chola forces were...
after defeating the Chalukyans in war advanced to Kollapura where he erected a pillar of victory before returning to his capital at Gangaikondacholapuram. In 1066, the Western Chalukya ruler Somesvara's forces were defeated by the next Chola ruler Virarajendra, who then again defeated the Western Chalukyas at
KudalasangamaKudalasangama in India is an important center of pilgrimage for people of the Lingayat faith. It is located about 15 km from the Almatti Dam in Bagalkot district of Karnataka state. The Krishna river and Ghataprabha river merge here and flow east towards Srisaila in state of Andhra Pradesh...
, and set up a pillar of victory on the banks of the Tungabhadra. In AD 1075 Kulottunga Chola I won a victory against Vikramaditya VI at Nangili in Kolar district and made himself the master of Gangavadi. The Cholas eventually lost Gangavadi in 1116 to the Hoysalas under Vishnuvardhana.
At the turn of the first millennium, the
HoysalasThe Hoysala Empire was a prominent South Indian Kannadiga empire that ruled most of the modern day state of Karnataka between the 10th and the 14th centuries. The capital of the Hoysalas was initially located at Belur but was later moved to Halebidu....
gained power in the region. Literature flourished during this time, which led to the distinctive Kannada
literary metresMeter or metre is a term that music has inherited from the rhythmic element of poetry where it means the number of lines in a verse, the number of syllables in each line and the arrangement of those syllables as long or short, accented or unaccented...
and the construction of temples and sculptures adhering to the
Vesara style of architectureHoysala architecture is the building style developed under the rule of the Hoysala Empire between the 11th and 14th centuries, in the region known today as Karnataka, a state of India. Hoysala influence was at its peak in the 13th century, when it dominated the Southern Deccan Plateau region...
. The expansion of the Hoysala Empire brought minor parts of modern
Andhra PradeshAndhra 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...
and
Tamil NaduTamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh...
under its rule. In the early 14th century,
HariharaHarihara is the name of a combined deity form of both Vishnu and Shiva from the Hindu tradition. Also known as Shankaranarayana , Harihara is thus worshipped by both Vaishnavites and Shaivities as a form of the Supreme God, as well as being a figure of worship for other Hindu traditions in general...
and Bukka Raya established the
Vijayanagara empireThe Vijayanagara Empire , referred as the Kingdom of Bisnaga by the Portuguese, was an empire based in South Indian in the Deccan Plateau region. It was established in 1336 by Harihara I and his brother Bukka Raya I of the Yadava lineage. The empire rose to prominence as a culmination of attempts...
with its capital,
Hosapattana (later named
VijayanagaraVijayanagara is in Bellary District, northern Karnataka. It is the name of the now-ruined capital city "which was regarded as the second Rome" that surrounds modern-day Hampi, of the historic Vijayanagara empire which extended over the southern part of India....
), on the banks of the Tungabhadra River in the modern Bellary district. The empire rose as a bulwark against Muslim advances into South India, which it completely controlled for over two centuries.
In 1565, Karnataka and the rest of South India experienced a major geopolitical shift when the Vijayanagara Empire fell to a confederation of Islamic sultanates in the
Battle of TalikotaThe Battle of Talikota , a watershed battle fought between the Vijayanagara Empire and the Deccan sultanates, resulted in a rout of Vijayanagara, and ended the last great Hindu kingdom in South India...
. The Bijapur Sultanate, which had risen after the demise of the
Bahmani SultanateThe Bahmani Sultanate was a Muslim state of the Deccan in southern India and one of the great medieval Indian kingdoms...
of Bidar, soon took control of the Deccan; it was defeated by the Moghuls in the late 17th century. The Bahamani and Bijapur rulers encouraged Urdu and Persian literature and
Indo-SaracenicThe Indo-Saracenic Revival was an architectural style movement by British architects in the late 19th century in British India...
architecture, the
Gol GumbazGol Gumbaz is the mausoleum of Mohammed Adil Shah, Sultan of Bijapur. The tomb, located in Bijapur, Karnataka in southern India, was completed in 1656 by the architect Yaqut of Dabul...
being one of the high points of this style. During the sixteenth century, Konkani Hindus migrated to Karnataka, mostly from
SalcetteSalcette , is a taluka of South Goa District in the Indian state of Goa. Its administrative and economic headquarters is Margao. It is largely coterminous with a region called Sashti , which comprised, by local tradition, sixty-six villages, hence the name. However, it also includes the taluka of...
,
GoaGoa , a former Portuguese colony, is India's smallest state by area and the fourth smallest by population. Located in South West India in the region known as the Konkan, it is bounded by the state of Maharashtra to the north, and by Karnataka to the east and south, while the Arabian Sea forms its...
, while during the seventeenth and eighteenth century, the Mangalorean Catholics migrated to
South CanaraSouth Canara was a district under the British empire, located at . It was bifurcated in 1859 from Canara district. It was the undivided Dakshina Kannada district...
, in Karnataka, especially from
BardesBardez is the name of a region and taluka in North Goa. The name is credited to the Brahmin immigrants who migrated to the Konkan via Magadha in Gangetic India from Aryavarta, in the north-western part of the Indian sub-continent. Bardez or more properly Bara desh means "twelve countries"...
, Goa, as a result of food shortages, epidemics and heavy taxation imposed by the
PortugueseThe Portuguese are a nation and ethnic group native to the country of Portugal, in the west of the Iberian peninsula of south-west Europe. Their language is Portuguese, and Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion....
.
In the period that followed, parts of northern Karnataka were ruled by the Nizam of Hyderabad, the
BritishBritish Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...
, and other powers. In the south, the Mysore Kingdom, former
vassalA vassal or feudatory is a person who has entered into a mutual obligation to a lord or monarch in the context of the feudal system in medieval Europe. The obligations often included military support and mutual protection, in exchange for certain privileges, usually including the grant of land held...
s of the Vijayanagara Empire, was briefly independent. With the death of
Krishnaraja Wodeyar IIKrishna Raja Wodeyar II,, was also known popularly as Immadi Krishna Raja Wadeyar.He was the titular ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore from 1734 to 1766...
, Haidar Ali, the commander-in-chief of the Mysore army, gained control of the region. After his death, the kingdom was inherited by his son Tippu Sultan. To contain European expansion in South India, Haidar Ali and later Tippu Sultan fought four significant
Anglo-Mysore WarsThe Anglo-Mysore Wars were a series of wars fought in India over the last three decades of the 18th century between the Kingdom of Mysore and the British East India Company, represented chiefly by the Madras Presidency...
, the last of which resulted in Tippu Sultan's death and the incorporation of Mysore into the
British RajBritish Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...
in 1799. The Kingdom of Mysore was restored to the Wodeyars and Mysore remained a princely state under the British Raj.
As the "
doctrine of lapseThe Doctrine of Lapse was an annexation policy purportedly devised by Lord Dalhousie, who was the Governor General for the British in India between 1848 and 1856...
" gave way to dissent and resistance from princely states across the country,
Kittur ChennammaKitturu Rani Chennamma was the queen of the princely state of Kittur in Karnataka. In 1824, 33 years before the 1857 war of independence, she led an armed rebellion against the British in response to the Doctrine of lapse. The resistance ended in her martyrdom and she is remembered today as one...
,
Sangolli RayannaSangolli Rayanna was a prominent freedom fighter from Karnataka, India. He fought the British till his death. He was the army chief of the Kingdom of Kittur ruled at the time by Rani Chennamma. Rayanna was born in the small village of Sangolli, he belonged to the Kuruba / Dhangar caste and hence...
and others spearheaded rebellions in Karnataka in 1830, nearly three decades before the
Indian Rebellion of 1857The Indian Rebellion of 1857 began as a mutiny of sepoys of the British East India Company's army on 10 May 1857, in the town of Meerut, and soon escalated into other mutinies and civilian rebellions largely in the upper Gangetic plain and central India, with the major hostilities confined to...
. Other uprisings followed, such as the ones at
SupaSupa is a village in Tõlliste Parish, Valga County in southern Estonia. It has a population of 33 ....
,
BagalkotBagalkot or Bagalkote is a town in the Indian state of Karnataka. Bagalkot is the district headquarters of the Bagalkot district. It is one of the major towns in North Karnataka.-History:...
,
ShorapurShorapur is a town in Yadgir district in the Indian state of Karnataka.-Demographics: India census, Shorapur had a population of 43,591. Males constitute 51% of the population and females 49%. Shorapur has an average literacy rate of 55%, lower than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is...
,
NargundNargund or Naragunda is a town in Gadag district in the Indian state of Karnataka.The name Naragunda means hills of jackals. The astrologist and a Jain Sridharacharya from this town was the author of Jatakatilaka.-History:...
and
DandeliDandeli [ Kannada:ದಾಂಡೇಲಿ ] is a town in Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka in North Karnataka, India in the Western Ghats, near Goa. It is best known for its wildlife sanctuary, tourism, industry and as an educational hub....
. These rebellions - which coincided with the
1857 war of independenceThe Indian Rebellion of 1857 began as a mutiny of sepoys of the British East India Company's army on 10 May 1857, in the town of Meerut, and soon escalated into other mutinies and civilian rebellions largely in the upper Gangetic plain and central India, with the major hostilities confined to...
- were led by Mundargi Bhimarao, Bhaskar Rao Bhave, the Halagali Bedas,
Raja Venkatappa NayakaSurapur in the present Gulbarga district was ruled by Beda Nayakas who had given tough resistance to Aurangzeb. The British appointed Philip Meadows Taylor as its Resident and Regent when the ruler there died, leaving a young prince Venkatappa...
and others. By the late 19th century, the freedom movement had gained momentum; Karnad Sadashiva Rao, Aluru Venkata Raya,
S. NijalingappaSiddavanahalli Nijalingappa was a senior Congress politician and the Chief Minister of Karnataka between 1956 and 1958 and once again between 1962 and 1968...
,
Kengal HanumanthaiahKengal Hanumanthaiah was the chief minister of the old Mysore State in India from 30 March 1952 to 19 August 1956...
,
Nittoor Srinivasa RauNittoor Srinivasa Rao or Nittur Srinivasa Rao was a Gandhian who participated in the Indian independence movement. He was the Chief Justice of the High Court of Mysore State and also the first chief of the Central Vigilance Commission of India...
and others carried on the struggle into the early 20th century.
After India's independence, the Maharaja, Jayachamarajendra Wodeyar, allowed his kingdom's accession to India. In 1950, Mysore became an Indian state of the same name; the former Maharaja served as its
Rajpramukh (head of state) until 1975. Following the long-standing demand of the
Ekikarana MovementThe Unification of Karnataka refers to the formation of the Indian state of Karnataka, then called as Mysore State, in 1956 when several Indian states were created by redrawing borders based on linguistic demographics...
, Kodagu- and Kannada-speaking regions from the adjoining states of Madras, Hyderabad and Bombay were incorporated into the Mysore state, under the States Reorganization Act of 1956. The thus expanded state was renamed Karnataka, seventeen years later, in 1973. In the early 1900s through the post-independence era, industrial visionaries such as Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvarayya born in
MuddenahalliMuddenahalli is a centrally located town situated 7 km from Chikballapur and 1 km from Kanivenarayanapura in Chikballapur District of Karnataka State...
, near
KanivenarayanapuraKanivenarayanapura 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...
,
ChikballapurChikkaballapur 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 played an important role in the development of Karnataka's strong manufacturing and industrial base.
Geography
{{Main|Geography of Karnataka|Rainfall in Karnataka}}
The state has three principal geographical zones:
- the coastal region of Karavali
- the hilly Malenadu region comprising the Western Ghats
The Western Ghats, Western Ghauts or the Sahyādri is a mountain range along the western side of India. It runs north to south along the western edge of the Deccan Plateau, and separates the plateau from a narrow coastal plain along the Arabian Sea. The Western Ghats block rainfall to the Deccan...
- the Bayaluseeme region comprising the plains of the 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...
The bulk of the state is in the Bayaluseeme region, the northern part of which is the second-largest
aridA region is said to be arid when it is characterized by a severe lack of available water, to the extent of hindering or even preventing the growth and development of plant and animal life...
region in India. The highest point in Karnataka is the
MullayanagiriMullayanagiri , is the highest peak in Karnataka, India. Mullayanagiri is located at in the Baba Budan Giri Range of the Western Ghats...
hills in Chickmagalur district which has an altitude of 1929 metres (6,329 ft). Some of the important rivers in Karnataka are Kaveri, Tungabhadra,
KrishnaThe Krishna River , is one of the longest rivers in central-southern India, about . It is also referred to as Krishnaveni in its original nomenclature...
,
MalaprabhaThe Malaprabha River is a tributary of the Krishna River and flows through the state of Karnataka in India. It rises in the Western Ghats at an altitude of 792 m in the state's Belgaum district...
and the Sharavathi.
Karnataka consists of four main types of geological formations — the
ArcheanThe Archean , also spelled Archeozoic or Archæozoic) is a geologic eon before the Paleoproterozoic Era of the Proterozoic Eon, before 2.5 Ga ago. Instead of being based on stratigraphy, this date is defined chronometrically...
complex made up of
DharwadDharwad, also known as Dharwar, is a city and a DISTRICT PLACE in India's Karnataka state.Dharwad is the administrative seat of the Dharwad District. The municipality of Hubli-Dharwad covers an area of 200.23 km²...
schistThe schists constitute a group of medium-grade metamorphic rocks, chiefly notable for the preponderance of lamellar minerals such as micas, chlorite, talc, hornblende, graphite, and others. Quartz often occurs in drawn-out grains to such an extent that a particular form called quartz schist is...
s and granitic
gneissGneiss is a common and widely distributed type of rock formed by high-grade regional metamorphic processes from pre-existing formations that were originally either igneous or sedimentary rocks.-Etymology:...
es, the
ProterozoicThe Proterozoic is a geological eon representing a period before the first abundant complex life on Earth. The name Proterozoic comes from the Greek "earlier life"...
non-fossiliferous sedimentary formations of the Kaladgi and Bhima series, the
Deccan trappean and intertrappean deposits and the tertiary and recent
lateriteLaterites are soil types rich in iron and aluminium, formed in hot and wet tropical areas. Nearly all laterites are rusty-red because of iron oxides. They develop by intensive and long-lasting weathering of the underlying parent rock...
s and alluvial deposits. Significantly, about 60% of the state is composed of the
Archean complex which consist of gneisses, granites and charnockite rocks. Laterite cappings that are found in many districts over the
Deccan TrapsThe Deccan Traps are a large igneous province located on the Deccan Plateau of west-central India and one of the largest volcanic features on Earth. They consist of multiple layers of solidified flood basalt that together are more than thick and cover an area of and a volume of...
were formed after the cessation of volcanic activity in the early tertiary period. Eleven groups of soil orders are found in Karnataka, viz.
EntisolIn USA soil taxonomy, Entisols are defined as soils that do not show any profile development other than an A horizon. An Entisol has no diagnostic horizons, and most are basically unaltered from their parent material, which can be unconsolidated sediment or rock...
s,
InceptisolsInceptisols are a soil order in USDA soil taxonomy. They form quickly through alteration of parent material. They are older than entisols. They have no accumulation of clays, Iron, Aluminum or organic matter. They have an Ochric or Umbric horizon and a cambic subsurface horizon....
, Mollisols, Spodosols, Alfisols, Ultisols,
OxisolOxisols are an order in USDA soil taxonomy, best known for their occurrence in tropical rain forest, 15-25 degrees north and south of the Equator. Some oxisols have been previously classified as laterite soils.-Formation:...
s, Aridisols,
VertisolIn both the FAO and USA soil taxonomy, a vertisol is a soil in which there is a high content of expansive clay known as montmorillonite that forms deep cracks in drier seasons or years. Alternate shrinking and swelling causes self-mulching, where the soil material consistently mixes itself, causing...
s, Andisols and
HistosolIn both the FAO soil classification and the USA soil taxonomy, a histosol is a soil consisting primarily of organic materials. They are defined as having or more of organic soil material in the upper . Organic soil material has an organic carbon content of 12 to 18 percent, or more, depending on...
s. Depending on the agricultural capability of the soil, the soil types are divided into six types, viz. Red, lateritic,
blackIn both the FAO and USA soil taxonomy, a vertisol is a soil in which there is a high content of expansive clay known as montmorillonite that forms deep cracks in drier seasons or years. Alternate shrinking and swelling causes self-mulching, where the soil material consistently mixes itself, causing...
, alluvio-colluvial, forest and coastal soils.
Karnataka experiences four seasons. The winter in January and February is followed by summer between March and May, the monsoon season between June and September and the post-monsoon season from October till December.
MeteorologicallyMeteorology is the interdisciplinary scientific study of the atmosphere. Studies in the field stretch back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did not occur until the 18th century. The 19th century saw breakthroughs occur after observing networks developed across several countries...
, Karnataka is divided into three zones — coastal, north interior and south interior. Of these, the coastal zone receives the heaviest rainfall with an average rainfall of about 3638.5 mm (143 in) per annum, far in excess of the state average of 1139 mm (45 in).
AgumbeAgumbe is a village located in the Shimoga district in the state of Karnataka, India. Lying in the Thirthahalli taluk and the Malnad region, Agumbe is among the places in India that receive very heavy rainfall earning it the sobriquet, "Cherrapunji of the South". It is also the home of the Agumbe...
in the Shivamogga district receives the second highest annual rainfall in India. The highest recorded temperature was 45.6 °C (114 °F) at
RaichurRaichur , 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 the lowest recorded temperature was 2.8 °C (37 °F) at
BidarBidar 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....
.
About 38724 km² (14,951 sq mi) of Karnataka (i.e. 20% of the state's geographic area) is covered by forests. The forests are classified as reserved, protected, unclosed, village and private forests. The percentage of forested area is slightly less than the all-India average of about 23%, and significantly less than the 33% prescribed in the National Forest Policy.
Sub-divisions
{{Main|Districts of Karnataka}}
There are 30 districts in Karnataka:
{{colbegin|3}}
- Bagalkote
Bāgalkot district is an administrative district in the Indian state of Karnataka. The district headquarters is located in the town of Bagalkot. The district is located in northern Karnataka and borders Belgaum, Gadag, Koppal, Raichur and Bijapur...
- Bangalore Rural
Bangalore Rural District is one of the 30 districts in Karnataka. It was formed in 1986, when Bangalore district was divided into Bangalore Rural and Bangalore . Presently in Bangalore Rural district, there are 2 divisions, 4 Talukas, 35 Hoblis , 1,713 inhabited and 177 uninhabited villages, 9...
- Bangalore Urban
- Belgaum
Belgaum district is a district in the state of Karnataka, India. The city of Belgaum is the district headquarters in North Karnataka. By the 2011 Census of India, it had a population of 4778439...
- Bellary
- Bidar
Bidar is a district of Karnataka state in southern India. The historic city of Bidar is the administrative centre of the district. The district is located in the northeastern corner of the state, near the borders with Andhra Pradesh to the east and Maharashtra to the north and west...
- Bijapur
- Chamarajanagar
Chamarajanagara is the southern-most district in the state of Karnataka, India. It was carved out of the original larger Mysore District in the year 1998...
- Chikkaballapur
- Chikkamagaluru
Chikkamagaluru is a district in the Indian state of Karnataka. Chikkamagaluru is where coffee was first cultivated in India. The mountains here which are a part of the Western Ghats are the source of rivers like Tunga and Bhadra. Chikkamagaluru district also contains Mullayanagiri; which is the...
- Chitradurga
Chitradurga district is an administrative district of Karnataka state in southern India. The city of Chitradurga is the district headquarters. Chitradurga gets its name from Chitrakaldurga, an umbrella-shaped lofty hill found there. Tradition dates Chitradurga District to the period of the...
- Dakshina Kannada
- Geography :The district geography consists of sea shore in the west and Western Ghats in the east. The major rivers are Netravathi, Kumaradhara, Phalguni, Shambhavi, Nandini or Pavanje and Payaswini which all join Arabian sea. Vast areas of evergreen forests which once covered this district, have...
- Davanagere
Davanagere District , also known as Devangere District, is an administrative district of Karnataka state in southern India. The city of Davanagere is the district headquarters. It had a population of 1,790,952 of which 30.32% was urban as of 2001.This district was carved out of Chitradurga district...
- Dharwad
Dharwad District is an administrative district of the state of Karnataka in southern India. Dharwad is the cultural headquarters of North Karnataka....
- Gadag
Gadag District had a population of 971,952 of which 35.21% was urban as of 2001. Population increased 13.14% in the decade 1991-2001. The District is bounded on the north by Bagalkot District, on the east by Koppal District, on the southeast by Bellary District, on the southwest by Haveri...
- Gulbarga
Gulbarga district is one of the 30 districts of Karnataka state in southern India. Gulbarga city is the administrative headquarters of the district...
- Hassan
Hassan is a district in Karnataka state, India. The district headquarters are Hassan.Hassan district was the seat of the Hoysala Empire which at its peak ruled large parts of south India from Belur as its early capital and Halebidu as its later capital during the period 1000 - 1334 CE...
- Haveri
Haveri is a district in the state of Karnataka, India with the potential to become a tourist hub. As of 2001, it had a population of 1,439,116 of which 20.78% were urban residents.-Tourism:Examples of tourist attractions in the district:...
- Kodagu
- Kolar
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...
- Koppal
Koppal district is an administrative district in the state of Karnataka in India. In the past Koppal was referred to as 'Kopana Nagara'. Hampi, a World heritage center, covers some areas of Koppal District. It is situated approximately 38 km away...
- Mandya
- Mysore
Mysore District is an administrative district located in the southern part of the state of Karnataka, India. The district is bounded by Mandya district to the northeast, Chamrajanagar district to the southeast, Kerala state to the south, Kodagu district to the west, and Hassan district to the north...
- Raichur
Raichur District is an administrative district in the Indian state of Karnataka. It is located in the northeast part of the state and is bounded by Yadgir district in the north, Bijapur and Bagalkot district in the northwest, Koppal district in the west, Bellary district in the south, Anantapur...
- Ramanagara
- Shimoga
- Tumkur
Tumkur district is an administrative district in the state of Karnataka in India. The district headquarters are located at Tumkur. The district occupies an area of 10,598 km² and had a population of 2,584,711, of which 19.62% were urban as of 2001...
- Udupi
Udupi district , ಉಡುಪಿ ಜಿಲ್ಲೆ) in the Karnataka state of India was created in August 1997. The three northern taluks, Udupi, Kundapur and Karkal, were separated from Dakshina Kannada District to form Udupi district. Udupi district is surrounded by Uttara Kannada district in north, Dakshina Kannada...
- Uttara Kannada
Uttara Kannada also known as North Canara or North Kanara, is a district in the southern Indian state of Karnataka. It is bordered by the state of Goa and Belgaum District to the north, Dharwad District and Haveri District to the east, Shimoga District and Udupi District to the south and the...
- Yadgir
Yadgir district is one of the 30 districts of Karnataka state in southern India. This district was carved out from the erstwhile Gulbarga district as the 30th district of Karnataka on 10 April 2010. Yadgir town is the administrative headquarters of the district...
{{colend}}
Each district is governed by a district commissioner or district magistrate. The districts are further divided into sub-divisions, which are governed by sub-divisional magistrates; sub-divisions comprise blocks containing panchayats (village councils) and town municipalities.
As per the 2001 census, Karnataka's six largest cities sorted in order of decreasing population were,
BangaloreBengaluru , 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...
, Hubli-
DharwadDharwad, also known as Dharwar, is a city and a DISTRICT PLACE in India's Karnataka state.Dharwad is the administrative seat of the Dharwad District. The municipality of Hubli-Dharwad covers an area of 200.23 km²...
,
Mysore,
GulbargaGulbarga 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...
,
BelgaumBelgaum is a city and a municipal corporation in Belgaum district in the state of Karnataka, India. It is the fourth largest city of the state of Karnataka, the first three being Bangalore, Mysore, Hubli-Dharwad....
and
MangaloreMangalore 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...
. Bangalore is the only city with a population of more than one million.
Bangalore Urban,
BelgaumBelgaum district is a district in the state of Karnataka, India. The city of Belgaum is the district headquarters in North Karnataka. By the 2011 Census of India, it had a population of 4778439...
and
GulbargaGulbarga district is one of the 30 districts of Karnataka state in southern India. Gulbarga city is the administrative headquarters of the district...
are the most populous districts, each of them having a population of more than three million.
GadagGadag District had a population of 971,952 of which 35.21% was urban as of 2001. Population increased 13.14% in the decade 1991-2001. The District is bounded on the north by Bagalkot District, on the east by Koppal District, on the southeast by Bellary District, on the southwest by Haveri...
,
ChamarajanagarChamarajanagara is the southern-most district in the state of Karnataka, India. It was carved out of the original larger Mysore District in the year 1998...
and Kodagu districts have a population of less than one million.
Demographics
{{Main|Demographics of Karnataka}}
{{IndiaCensusPop
| title= Population Growth
| 1951= 19402000
| 1961= 23587000
| 1971= 29299000
| 1981= 37136000
| 1991= 44977000
| 2001= 52851000
| estimate=
| estyear=
| estref=
| footnote=Source:Census of India
}}
According to the 2001 census of India, the total population of Karnataka is 52,850,562, of which 26,898,918 (50.9%) are male and 25,951,644 (49.1%) are female, or 1000 males for every 964 females. This represents a 17.3% increase over the population in 1991. The population density is 275.6 per km² and 34.0% of the people live in urban areas. The literacy rate is 66.6% with 76.1% of males and 56.9% of females being literate. 83% of the population are
HinduHindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
, 11% are
MuslimA Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
, 4% are
ChristianA Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
, 0.8% are Jains, 0.7% are Buddhist, and with the remainder belonging to other religions.
KannadaKannada 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...
is the official language of Karnataka and spoken as a native language by about 64.8% of the people. Other linguistic minorities in the state as of 1991 are
UrduUrdu is a register of the Hindustani language that is identified with Muslims in South Asia. It belongs to the Indo-European family. Urdu is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan. It is also widely spoken in some regions of India, where it is one of the 22 scheduled languages and an...
(9.7%),
TeluguTelugu is a Central Dravidian language primarily spoken in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India, where it is an official language. It is also spoken in the neighbouring states of Chattisgarh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Orissa and Tamil Nadu...
(8.3%),
TamilTamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in the Indian union territory of Pondicherry. Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore...
(3.8%),
MarathiMarathi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people of western and central India. It is the official language of the state of Maharashtra. There are over 68 million fluent speakers worldwide. Marathi has the fourth largest number of native speakers in India and is the fifteenth most...
(4.0%),
TuluThe Tulu language |?]]]) is a Dravidian language spoken by 1.95 million native speakers mainly in the southwest part of Indian state Karnataka known as Tulu Nadu. In India, 1.72 million people speak it as their mother tongue , increased by 10 percent over the 1991 census...
(3.4%),
HindiStandard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...
(1.9%),
KonkaniKonkaniKonkani is a name given to a group of several cognate dialects spoken along the narrow strip of land called Konkan, on the west coast of India. This is, however, somewhat an over-generalisation. Geographically, Konkan is defined roughly as the area between the river Damanganga to the north...
(1.8%), Malayalam (1.7%) and
Kodava TakkKodava Takk or Kodava takka, is the original language of the south Karnataka district of Kodagu. The language is often called Kodava or Coorg language in English. The number of speakers is estimated at up to about 500,000. It is the primary language of Kodavas, but a large portion of other...
(0.3%). The state has a birth rate of 2.2%, a death rate of 0.7%, an infant mortality rate of 5.5% and a maternal mortality rate of 0.2%. The
total fertility rateThe total fertility rate of a population is the average number of children that would be born to a woman over her lifetime if she were to experience the exact current age-specific fertility rates through her lifetime, and she...
is 2.2.
In the field of super-specialty health care, Karnataka's private sector competes with the best in the world. Karnataka has also established a modicum of public health services having a better record of health care and child care than most other states of India. In spite of these advances, some parts of the state still leave much to be desired when it comes to primary health care.
Government and administration
{{Main|Government of Karnataka|Unification of Karnataka|Taluks of Karnataka}}
Karnataka, like other
Indian statesIndia is a federal union of states comprising twenty-eight states and seven union territories. The states and territories are further subdivided into districts and so on.-List of states and territories:...
, has a parliamentary system of government with two democratically elected houses, the Legislative Assembly and the Legislative Council. The Legislative Assembly consists of 224 members who are elected for five-year terms. The Legislative Council is a permanent body of 75 members with one-third (25 members) retiring every two years.
The
government of KarnatakaThe Government of Karnataka is a democratically elected body with the Governor as the constitutional head. The Governor who is appointed for a period of five years appoints the Chief Minister and his council of ministers...
is headed by the
Chief Minister who is chosen by the ruling party
membersA Member of the Legislative Assembly or a Member of the Legislature , is a representative elected by the voters of a constituency to the legislature or legislative assembly of a sub-national jurisdiction....
of the
Legislative AssemblyLegislative 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....
. The Chief Minister, along with the council of ministers, drives the legislative agenda and exercises most of the executive powers. However, the constitutional and formal head of the state is the
GovernorThe Governors and Lieutenant-Governors of the states and territories of India have similar powers and functions at the state level as that of the President of India at Union level. Governors exist in the states while Lieutenant-Governors exist in union territories and in the National Capital...
who is appointed for a five-year term by the
President of IndiaThe President of India is the head of state and first citizen of India, as well as the Supreme Commander of the Indian Armed Forces. President of India is also the formal head of all the three branches of Indian Democracy - Legislature, Executive and Judiciary...
on the advice of the Union government. The people of Karnataka also elect 28 members to the
Lok SabhaThe 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 lower house of the Indian Parliament. The members of the state Legislative Assembly elect 12 members to the
Rajya SabhaThe Rajya Sabha or Council of States is the upper house of the Parliament of India. Rajya means "state," and Sabha means "assembly hall" in Sanskrit. Membership is limited to 250 members, 12 of whom are chosen by the President of India for their expertise in specific fields of art, literature,...
, the upper house of the Indian Parliament.
For administrative purposes, Karnataka has been divided into four revenue divisions, 49 sub-divisions, 29 districts, 175 taluks and 745 hoblies/revenue circles. The administration in each district is headed by a
Deputy CommissionerThe deputy commissioner or district magistrate or district collector or district magistrate and collector is the head of the revenue administration of an Indian district. The DC is required to be an Indian Administrative Service officer who is in charge of governmental assets in his district of...
who belongs to the
Indian Administrative ServiceThe Indian Administrative Service is the administrative civil service of the Government of India. It is one of the three All India Services....
and is assisted by a number of officers belonging to Karnataka state services. The
Deputy Commissioner of Police, an officer belonging to the
Indian Police ServiceThe Indian Police Service , simply known as Indian Police or IPS, is one of the three All India Services of the Government of India...
and assisted by the officers of the Karnataka Police Service, is entrusted with the responsibility of maintaining law and order and related issues in each district. The
Deputy Conservator of ForestsA Deputy Conservator of Forests or, equivalently a Divisional Forest Officer is an officer belonging to the elite Indian Forest Service. The Deputy Conservator of Forests is responsible for managing the Forests, Environment and Wild-Life related issues of a Forest Division of a state or a union...
, an officer belonging to the
Indian Forest ServiceThe Indian Forest Service is the Forestry service of India. It is one of the three All India Services of the Indian government, along with the Indian Administrative Service and Indian Police Service; its employees are recruited by the national government but serve under the state governments or...
, also serves the government. Sectoral development in the districts is looked after by the district head of each development department such as Public Works Department, Health, Education, Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, etc. The judiciary in the state consists of the
Karnataka High CourtThe Karnataka High Court is the High Court of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is located in Bangalore, the capital city of Karnataka. The High Court functions out of a red brick building known as Attara Kacheri...
(
Attara Kacheri) in Bangalore,
district and session courtsThe District Courts of India are the district courts established by the State governments in India for every district or for one or more districts together taking into account the number of cases, population distribution in the district. They administer justice in India at a district level...
in each district and lower courts and judges at the taluk level.
Politics in Karnataka has been dominated by three political parties, the
Indian National CongressThe Indian National Congress is one of the two major political parties in India, the other being the Bharatiya Janata Party. It is the largest and one of the oldest democratic political parties in the world. The party's modern liberal platform is largely considered center-left in the Indian...
, the
Janata Dal (Secular)The Janata Dal is a Centre-left ಕನ್ನಡ: ಜನತಾ ದಳIndian political party led by former Prime Minister of India H.D. Deve Gowda.The party recognized as state party in the states of Karnataka and Kerala . It was formed in July 1999 by the split of Janata Dal party. It has political presence mainly in...
and the
Bharatiya Janata PartyThe Bharatiya Janata Party ,; translation: Indian People's Party) is one of the two major political parties in India, the other being the Indian National Congress. Established in 1980, it is India's second largest political party in terms of representation in the parliament...
. Politicians from Karnataka have played prominent roles in
federal government of IndiaThe Government of India, officially known as the Union Government, and also known as the Central Government, was established by the Constitution of India, and is the governing authority of the union of 28 states and seven union territories, collectively called the Republic of India...
with some of them having held the high positions of
Prime MinisterThe Prime Minister of India , as addressed to in the Constitution of India — Prime Minister for the Union, is the chief of government, head of the Council of Ministers and the leader of the majority party in parliament...
and Vice President. Three cabinet levels ministers in the current United Progressive Alliance government are from Karnataka. Notable among these is Former Chief Minister and Honorable Union Minister for Law, Justice and Company Affairs,
Veerappa MoilyMoodbidri Veerappa Moily is the current Minister of Corporate Affairs in the Indian government. Moily was elected as MP of the Chickballapur district by a wide margin in 2009. He currently serves as the All India Congress Committee General Secretary in charge of Andhra Pradesh...
. Border disputes involving Karnataka's claim on the
KasaragodKasaragod District is one of the districts of the Indian state of Kerala. Kasaragod District was organised as a separate district on 24 May 1984...
and Sholapur districts and
MaharashtraMaharashtra is a state located in India. It is the second most populous after Uttar Pradesh and third largest state by area in India...
's
claim on BelgaumThe Belgaum border dispute is a dispute involving the Indian states of Maharashtra and Karnataka. Belgaum, currently a part of Karnataka and earlier the erstwhile Bombay Presidency, is claimed by Maharashtra on linguistic grounds.-Background:...
are ongoing since the states reorganisation.
The official emblem of Karnataka has a
Ganda BerundaThe Gandaberunda is a two-headed mythological bird of Hindu mythology thought to possess magical strength. It is used as the official emblem by the Karnataka government and it is seen as an intricately sculptured motif in Hindu temples.- Story :The Ganda Berunda took physical form in the Narasimha...
in the centre. Surmounting this are four lions facing the four directions, taken from the
Lion Capital of AsokaThe Lion capital of Ashoka is a sculpture of four "Indian lions" standing back to back. It was originally placed atop the Aśoka pillar at Sarnath, now in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India by Emperor Ashoka circa 250 BC. The pillar, sometimes called the Aśoka Column is still in its original...
at
SarnathSarnath or Sārnātha is the deer park where Gautama Buddha first taught the Dharma, and where the Buddhist Sangha came into existence through the enlightenment of Kondanna. Sarnath is located 13 kilometres north-east of Varanasi, in Uttar Pradesh, India...
. The emblem also carries two Sharabhas with the head of an
elephantElephants are large land mammals in two extant genera of the family Elephantidae: Elephas and Loxodonta, with the third genus Mammuthus extinct...
and the body of a
lionThe lion is one of the four big cats in the genus Panthera, and a member of the family Felidae. With some males exceeding 250 kg in weight, it is the second-largest living cat after the tiger...
.
Economy
{{Main|Economy of Karnataka|Software industry in Karnataka|Banking in Karnataka}}
Karnataka, which had an estimated GSDP (Gross State Domestic Product) of about US$ 58.23 billion in 2008-09 fiscal year. Karnataka recorded the highest growth rates in terms of GDP and per capita GDP in the last decade compared to other states.
The state registered a GSDP growth rate of 7% for the year 2007-2008. Karnataka's contribution to India's GDP in the year 2004-05 was 5.2%.
Karnataka was the fastest growing state over the past decade in terms of GDP and
per capita GDPGross domestic product refers to the market value of all final goods and services produced within a country in a given period. GDP per capita is often considered an indicator of a country's standard of living....
.
With GDP growth of 56.2% and per capita GDP growth of 43.9%, Karnataka now has the sixth highest per-capita GDP of all states. Till September 2006 Karnataka received a
Foreign Direct InvestmentForeign direct investment or foreign investment refers to the net inflows of investment to acquire a lasting management interest in an enterprise operating in an economy other than that of the investor.. It is the sum of equity capital,other long-term capital, and short-term capital as shown in...
of {{INR}}78.097 billion ($ 1.7255 billion) for the fiscal year 2006-07, placing it third among the states of India. At the end of 2004, the unemployment rate in Karnataka was 4.94% compared to the national rate of 5.99%. For the fiscal year 2006-07, the inflation rate in Karnataka was 4.4%, compared to the national average of 4.7%. As of 2004-05, Karnataka had an estimated poverty ratio of 17%, less than the national ratio of 27.5%.
Nearly 56% of the workforce in Karnataka is engaged in agriculture and related activities. A total of 12.31 million hectares of land, or 64.6% of the state's total area, is cultivated. Much of the agricultural output is dependent on the southwest monsoon as only 26.5% of the sown area is irrigated.
Karnataka is the manufacturing hub for some of the largest
public sectorThe public sector, sometimes referred to as the state sector, is a part of the state that deals with either the production, delivery and allocation of goods and services by and for the government or its citizens, whether national, regional or local/municipal.Examples of public sector activity range...
industries in India, including
Hindustan Aeronautics LimitedHindustan Aeronautics Limited based in Bangalore, India, is one of Asia's largest aerospace companies. Under the management of the Indian Ministry of Defence, this state-owned company is mainly involved in aerospace industry, which includes manufacturing and assembling aircraft, navigation and...
,
National Aerospace LaboratoriesNational Aerospace Laboratories , is India's second largest aerospace firm after Hindustan Aeronautics . It was established by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research at Delhi in 1959 and its headquarters was later moved to Bangalore in 1960...
, Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited, Indian Telephone Industries, Bharat Earth Movers Limited and
Hindustan Machine ToolsHindustan Machine Tools was incorporated in 1953 by the Government of India as a machine tool manufacturing company.Over the years diversified into watches, tractors, printing machinery, metal forming presses, die casting & plastic processing machinery, CNC systems & bearings...
, which are based in Bangalore. Many of India's premier science and technology research centers, such as Indian Space Research Organization,
Central Power Research InstituteCentral Power Research Institute was established by the Government of India in 1960 with Head Quarters in Bangalore. The Institute was re-organized into an autonomous Society in the year 1978 under the aegis of the Ministry of Power, Government of India...
,
Bharat Electronics LimitedBharat Electronics Limited is a state-owned electronics company with about nine factories, and few regional offices in India. It is owned by the Indian Government & primarily manufactures advanced electronic products for the Indian Armed Forces.BEL is one of the eight PSUs under Ministry of...
and the
Central Food Technological Research InstituteIndia's Central Food Technological Research Institute and was opened on 21 October 1950. It is based in Mysore. A research center branch is also located in Habsiguda, Hyderabad....
, are also headquartered in Karnataka. Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited is an
oil refineryAn oil refinery or petroleum refinery is an industrial process plant where crude oil is processed and refined into more useful petroleum products, such as gasoline, diesel fuel, asphalt base, heating oil, kerosene, and liquefied petroleum gas...
located in Mangalore.
Since the 1980s, Karnataka has emerged as the pan-Indian leader in the field of IT (
information technologyInformation technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...
). As of 2007, there were nearly 2,000 firms operating out of Karnataka. Many of them, including two of India's biggest software firms,
InfosysInfosys Limited, formerly Infosys Technologies Limited is a global technology services company headquartered in Bangalore, India. It is the second largest IT exporter in India with 133,560 employees as of March 2011. It has offices in 33 countries and development centers in India, China,...
and
WiproWipro Limited formally Western India Products Limited is a global IT services and consulting company headquartered in Bangalore, India. As of 2011, Wipro is the second largest IT services company by turnover in India and employs more than 120,000 people worldwide as of March 2011...
are also headquartered in the state. Exports from these firms exceeded {{INR}}50,000 crores ($12.5 billion) in 2006-07, accounting for nearly 38% of all IT exports from India. The
Nandi HillsNandi Hills or Nandidurg is an ancient hill fortress of southern India, in the Chikkaballapur district of Karnataka state. It is located just 10 km from Chickballapur town and approximately 60 km from the city of Bangalore...
area in the outskirts of
DevanahalliDevanahalli previously called Devanadoddi, Devanapura, and Yusufabad) is a city in the state of Karnataka in India. The city is located outside the city limits of Bangalore. Devanahalli is the site of the newly constructed Bengaluru International Airport, the second largest in India...
is the site of the upcoming $22 Billion, 50 square kilometer BIAL IT Investment Region, one the largest infrastructure projects in the history of Karnataka. All this has earned the state capital, Bangalore, the sobriquet
Silicon Valley of IndiaThe Silicon Valley of India is a nickname of the Indian city of Bangalore. The name signifies Bangalore's status as a hub for information technology companies in India and is a comparative reference to the original Silicon Valley, based around Santa Clara Valley, California, a major hub for IT...
.
Karnataka also leads the nation in
biotechnologyBiotechnology is a field of applied biology that involves the use of living organisms and bioprocesses in engineering, technology, medicine and other fields requiring bioproducts. Biotechnology also utilizes these products for manufacturing purpose...
. It is home to India's largest biocluster, with 158 of the country's 320 biotechnology firms being based here. The state also accounts for 75% of India's
floricultureFloriculture, or flower farming, is a discipline of horticulture concerned with the cultivation of flowering and ornamental plants for gardens and for floristry, comprising the floral industry...
, an upcoming industry which supplies flowers and ornamental plants worldwide.
Seven of India's leading banks,
Canara BankCanara Bank is a state-owned financial services company in India. It was established in 1906, making it one of the oldest banks in the country. As on 2009 November, the bank had a network of 3057 branches, spread across India...
,
Syndicate BankSyndicate Bank Ltd. is one of the oldest and major commercial banks of India. At the time of its establishment, the bank was known as Canara Industrial and Banking Syndicate Limited. The bank, along with 13 major commercial banks of India, was nationalized on 19 July 1969, by the Government of...
,
Corporation BankCorporation Bank is an India-based banking company based in Mangalore, India. The bank was founded with an initial capital of Rs. 5000 , and first day’s canvassed resources of less than one USD 1, has currently 12,724 full time employees, and operates from several branches in India.The Bank is a...
,
Vijaya Bank-History:Vijaya Bank , a medium sized bank with presence across India. It was founded on October 23, 1931 by A. B. Shetty and a few other farmers in Mangalore, Karnataka in India.. The objective was to promote banking habits, thrift and entrepreneurship among the farming community of Dakshina...
,
Karnataka BankKarnataka Bank Limited is a private sector banking institution based in the town of Mangalore in Karnataka, India. The Reserve Bank of India has designated Karnataka Bank as an A1+-class scheduled commercial bank....
, Vysya Bank and the
State Bank of MysoreState Bank of Mysore is a nationalised bank in India.State Bank of Mysore was established in the year 1913 as Bank of Mysore Ltd. under the patronage of the erstwhile Govt. of Mysore, at the instance of the banking committee headed by the great Engineer-Statesman, Late Dr. Sir M.Visweswaraiah...
originated in this state. The coastal districts of
Udupi and
Dakshina Kannada- Geography :The district geography consists of sea shore in the west and Western Ghats in the east. The major rivers are Netravathi, Kumaradhara, Phalguni, Shambhavi, Nandini or Pavanje and Payaswini which all join Arabian sea. Vast areas of evergreen forests which once covered this district, have...
have a branch for every 500 persons—the best distribution of banks in India. As of March 2002, Karnataka had 4767 branches of different banks with each branch serving 11,000 persons, which is lower than the national average of 16,000.
A majority of the 3500 crore silk industry in India is headquartered in Karnataka State, particularly in the North Bangalore regions of
MuddenahalliMuddenahalli is a centrally located town situated 7 km from Chikballapur and 1 km from Kanivenarayanapura in Chikballapur District of Karnataka State...
,
KanivenarayanapuraKanivenarayanapura 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...
, and Doddaballapura the upcoming sites of a 70 crore "Silk City".
Transport
{{Main|Transport in Karnataka|List of National Highways in Karnataka|List of state highways in Karnataka}}
Air transport in Karnataka, as in the rest of the country, is still a fledgling but fast expanding sector. Karnataka has airports at Bangalore,
MangaloreMangalore 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...
, Hubli,
BelgaumBelgaum is a city and a municipal corporation in Belgaum district in the state of Karnataka, India. It is the fourth largest city of the state of Karnataka, the first three being Bangalore, Mysore, Hubli-Dharwad....
,
HampiHampi is a village in northern Karnataka state, India. It is located within the ruins of Vijayanagara, the former capital of the Vijayanagara Empire. Predating the city of Vijayanagara, it continues to be an important religious centre, housing the Virupaksha Temple, as well as several other...
,
BellaryBellary 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....
and
Mysore with international operations from Bangalore and
MangaloreMangalore Airport, formerly known as Bajpe Airport, is a domestic and customs airport serving the coastal city of Mangalore, India...
airports. Major airlines such as
Kingfisher AirlinesKingfisher Airlines is an airline group based in India. Its head office is Kingfisher House in Vile Parle , Mumbai. Kingfisher Airlines, through its parent company United Breweries Group, has a 50% stake in low-cost carrier Kingfisher Red....
and Kingfisher red are based in Bangalore.
Karnataka has a railway network with a total length of approximately 3089 kilometres (1,919 mi). Until the creation of the South Western Zone headquartered at Hubli in 2003, the railway network in the state was in the Southern and Western railway zones. Several parts of the state now come under the South Western Zone, with the remainder under the Southern Railways. Coastal Karnataka is covered under the
Konkan railwayThe Konkan Railway is a railway line which runs along the Konkan coast of India. It was constructed and is operated by the Konkan Railway Corporation...
network which was considered India's biggest railway project of the century. Bangalore is extensively connected with inter-state destinations while other important cities and towns in the state are not so well-connected.
Karnataka has 11
portsKarnataka's coastline called Karavali stretches 300 km between Mangalore in Dakshina Kannada district and Karwar in Uttara Kannada district. The coastline of Karnataka has been along the eastern shore of Arabian Sea. Karnataka has one major and ten minor ports in this coastal belt...
, including the New Mangalore Port, a major port and ten other minor ports. The New Mangalore port was incorporated as the ninth major port in India on 4 May 1974. This port handled 32.04 million tonnes of traffic in the fiscal year 2006-07 with 17.92 million tonnes of imports and 14.12 million tonnes of exports. The port also handled 1015 vessels including 18 cruise vessels during the year 2006-07. The inland water transport within the state is not well developed.
The total lengths of National Highways and state highways in Karnataka are 3973 kilometres (2,469 mi) and 9829 kilometres (6,107 mi), respectively. The
KSRTCKarnataka State Road Transport Corporation or KSRTC is the state owned road transportation company in Karnataka.-About:KSRTC was set up in the year 1961 under the provisions of Road Transport Corporation Act, 1950. It is wholly owned by the Government of Karnataka. The Government of India is also...
, the state public transport corporation, transports an average of 2.2 million passengers daily and employs about 25,000 people. In the late nineties, KSRTC was split into three corporations, viz., The Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation, The North-West Karnataka Road Transport Corporation and The North-East Karnataka Road Transport Corporation with their headquarters in Bangalore, Hubli and Gulbarga respectively.
Culture
{{Main|Art and culture of Karnataka|Carnatic music|Cuisine of Karnataka|Kannadigas|Tuluvas}}
The diverse linguistic and religious ethnicities that are native to Karnataka combined with their long histories have contributed immensely to the varied cultural heritage of the state. Apart from Kannadigas, Karnataka is home to
TuluvaThe Tuluva -Geographic Distribution :Though most of the Tuluva population is found in the Tulu Nadu region, migrant poplulations are found the world over. In recent times, the first period of migration started at the beginning of the 20th century to places such as Mumbai and Chennai and other...
s,
KodavaThe Kodavas are a patrilineal ethno-lingual group from the region of Kodagu, in Karnataka state of southern India who traditionally were land-owning agriculturists with martial traditions and natively speak Kodava takk...
s and Konkanis. Minor populations of Tibetan Buddhists and tribes like the
SoligaA Soliga is a member of a tribe in India that inhabits the Biligirirangan and associated hill ranges in Southern Karnataka, mostly in Chamarajanagar District, bordering the Erode district of Tamil Nadu . Most of them are concentrated in and around the BR Hills in Yelandur and Kollegal Taluks of...
s, Yeravas,
TodasThe Toda people are a small pastoral community who live on the isolated Nilgiri plateau of Southern India. Before the late 18th century, the Toda coexisted locally with other communities, including the Badaga, Kota, and Kuruba, in a loose caste-like community organization in which the Toda were...
and Siddhis also live in Karnataka. The
traditional folk artsDances of Karnataka are one of the ancient dance forms existent in India.Most of the tribal dances are still in effect and enhanced also due to preservation and nature loving culture of Kannadigas.-Kunitha - A ritual dance:...
cover the entire gamut of music, dance, drama, storytelling by itinerant troupes, etc.
YakshaganaYakshagana is a musical theater popular in the coastal and Malenadu regions of Karnataka, India. Yakshagana is the recent scholastic name for what are known as kēḷike, āṭa, bayalāṭa, bayalāṭa, daśāvatāra . It is believed to have evolved from pre-classical music and theatre during Bhakti movement...
of Malnad and coastal Karnataka, a classical dance drama, is one of the major theatrical forms of Karnataka. Contemporary theatre culture in Karnataka remains vibrant with organizations like
NinasamNinasam is a cultural organisation located in the village of Heggodu in Sagar Taluk of the Shivamogga district in the state of Karnataka, India. Ninasam is the short form of Sri NIlakanteshwara NAtyaseva SAMgha, an organsiation dedicated to the growth of drama, films and publishing...
,
Ranga ShankaraRanga Shankara is one of Bangalore's best known theatres. It is located in the south Bangalore area of J.P Nagar and is run by the Sanket Trust...
,
RangayanaRangayana is a theatre institute which operates from Mysore, Karnataka, India. It works as an autonomous cultural institute. The organization consists of a professional repertory company, a theatre-training institute and a documentation and research centre. Rangayana offers courses in stage craft,...
and
Prabhat KalavidaruPlease visit http://www.prabhathkalavidaru.com/. Prabhat Kalavidaru is a theatre group based in Bangalore, India. Started in the year 1930, this group has staged many drama performances and is famous for its ballets...
continuing to build on the foundations laid by
Gubbi VeerannaGubbi Veeranna was an Indian theatre director, one of the pioneers and most prolific contributors to Kannada theatre. He established the drama company, Gubbi Veeranna Nataka Company that played a crucial role in promoting the Kannada theatre. Some of the stalwarts that have emerged out of this...
,
T. P. KailasamThyagaraja Paramasiva Kailasam , was a playwright and prominent writer of Kannada literature. His contribution to Kannada theatrical comedy earned him the title Prahasana Prapitamaha, "the father of humorous plays".-Early life:...
,
B. V. KaranthBabukodi Venkataramana Karanth was a renowned film and theatre personality from India...
, K V Subbanna, Prasanna and others.
VeeragaseVeeragase is a dance folk form prevalent in the state of Karnataka, India. It is a vigorous dance based on Hindu mythology and involves very intense energy-sapping dance movements. Veeragase is one of the dances demonstrated in the Dasara procession held in Mysore...
,
KamsaleKamsale is a unique folk art performed by the devotees of God Mahadeshwara. Kamsale is a brass made musical instrument. Its origin is traced to the Mythological period.- Instrument and Group :...
,
KolataKolata is the traditional folk dance of the state of Karnataka, located in Southern India on the western coast. Unlike its North Indian counterpart Dandiya Ras, it comes in two forms. First, it is performed with coloured sticks and usually involves both men and women dancing together. Second, very...
and
Dollu KunithaDollu Kunitha , is a major form of art, occupies the pride of place among folk dances. Dollu Kunitha is a popular drum dance of Karnataka accompanied by singing. It provides both spectacular variety and complexity of skills in the process of demonstration...
are popular dance forms. The
MysoreThe Kingdom of Mysore was a kingdom of southern India, traditionally believed to have been founded in 1399 in the vicinity of the modern city of Mysore. The kingdom, which was ruled by the Wodeyar family, initially served as a vassal state of the Vijayanagara Empire...
style of
BharatanatyaBharata Natyam or Chadhir Attam, is a classical dance form from the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu, practiced predominantly in modern times by women. The dance is usually accompanied by classical Carnatic music...
nurtured and popularised by the likes of the legendary Jatti Tayamma continues to hold sway in Karnataka and Bangalore also enjoys an eminent place as one of the foremost centers of Bharatanatya.
Karnataka also has a special place in the world of Indian classical music with both Karnataka (
CarnaticCarnatic music is a system of music commonly associated with the southern part of the Indian subcontinent, with its area roughly confined to four modern states of India: Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu...
) and Hindustani styles finding place in the state and Karnataka has produced a number of stalwarts in both styles. While referring to music the word 'Karnataka', the original name given to the South Indian classical music does not mean the state of Karnataka. The
HaridasaThe Haridasa devotional movement is considered as one of the turning points in the cultural history of India. Over a span of nearly six centuries, several saints and mystics helped shape the culture, philosophy and art of South India and Karnataka in particular by exerting considerable spiritual...
movement of the sixteenth century contributed seminally to the development of Karnataka (Carnatic) music as a performing art form.
Purandara DasaPurandara Dāsa is one of the most prominent composers of Carnatic music and is widely regarded as the "father of Carnatic Music". Purandara Dasa addressed social issues in addition to worship in his compositions, a practice emulated by his younger contemporary, Kanaka Dasa...
, one of the most revered
HaridasaThe Haridasa devotional movement is considered as one of the turning points in the cultural history of India. Over a span of nearly six centuries, several saints and mystics helped shape the culture, philosophy and art of South India and Karnataka in particular by exerting considerable spiritual...
s, is known as the
Karnataka Sangeeta Pitamaha ('Father of Karnataka a.k.a.Carnatic music'). Celebrated Hindustani musicians like
Gangubai HangalGangubai Hangal was an Indian singer of the khyal genre of Hindustani classical music, who was known for her deep and powerful voice. Hangal belonged to the Kirana gharana.-Early life:...
,
Mallikarjun MansurMallikarjun Bheemarayappa Mansur was an Indian classical singer of the khyal style in the Jaipur-Atrauli gharana. He received the three national Padma Awards: Padma Shri in 1970, Padma Bhushan in 1976, and Padma Vibhushan in 1992.-Early life:...
,
Bhimsen JoshiPandit Bhimsen Gururaj Joshi ; February 4, 1922 - January 24, 2011) was an Indian vocalist in the Hindustani classical tradition. A member of the Kirana Gharana , he is renowned for the khayal form of singing, as well as for his popular renditions of devotional music...
, Basavaraja Rajaguru,
Sawai GandharvaRambhau Kundgolkar, popularly known as Pandit Sawai Gandharva , was a popular Hindustani Classical vocalist and Marathi stage actor of the Kirana Gharana. He was the first and foremost disciple of Utd. Abdul Karim Khan and guru of Bharat Ratna laureate Pt. Bhimsen Joshi. Pt...
and several others hail from Karnataka and some of them have been recipients of the
Kalidas SammanThe Kalidas Samman is a prestigious arts award presented annually by the government of Madhya Pradesh in India. The award is named after Kālidāsa, a renowned Classical Sanskrit writer of ancient India, widely regarded as the greatest poet and dramatist in the Sanskrit language.The Kalidas Samman...
,
Padma BhushanThe Padma Bhushan is the third highest civilian award in the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan, but comes before the Padma Shri. It is awarded by the Government of India.-History:...
and
Padma VibhushanThe Padma Vibhushan is the second highest civilian award in the Republic of India. It consists of a medal and a citation and is awarded by the President of India. It was established on 2 January 1954. It ranks behind the Bharat Ratna and comes before the Padma Bhushan...
awards.
GamakaGamaka, also known as gamak or gamakam, refers to ornamentation that is used in the performance of Indian classical music. The unique character of each raga is given by its gamakas, making their role essential rather than decorative in Indian music...
is another
classical musicThe origins of Indian classical music can be found in the Vedas, which are the oldest scriptures in the Hindu tradition. Indian classical music has also been significantly influenced by, or syncretised with, Indian folk music and Persian music. The Samaveda, one of the four Vedas, describes music...
genreA music genre is a categorical and typological construct that identifies musical sounds as belonging to a particular category and type of music that can be distinguished from other types of music...
based on Carnatic music that is practiced in Karnataka. Kannada Bhavageete is a genre of popular music that draws inspiration from the expressionist poetry of modern poets. The Mysore school of painting has produced painters like Sundarayya, Tanjavur Kondayya, B. Venkatappa and Keshavayya.
Chitrakala ParishatChitrakala Parishath is an art institution and cultural organisation located in the city of Bangalore, in the state of Karnataka, India. Its main aim is the promotion of art and culture and it is well known for the various art exhibitions that it conducts both at the state and the National...
is an organisation in Karnataka dedicated to promoting painting, mainly in the
Mysore paintingMysore painting is an important form of classical South Indian painting that originated in the town of Mysore in Karnataka. Painting in Karnataka has a long and illustrious history, tracing it’s origins back to the Ajanta times Mysore painting is an important form of classical South Indian...
style.
Saree is the traditional dress of women in Karnataka. Women in Kodagu have a distinct style of wearing the saree, different from the rest of Karnataka.
DhotiThe dhoti or pancha is the traditional men's garment in the in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. A similar garment is worn in some rural areas of Punjab province in Pakistan, but the use is fast declining...
, known as
Panche in Karnataka is the traditional attire of men.
ShirtA shirt is a cloth garment for the upper body. Originally an undergarment worn exclusively by men, it has become, in American English, a catch-all term for almost any garment other than outerwear such as sweaters, coats, jackets, or undergarments such as bras, vests or base layers...
,
TrousersTrousers are an item of clothing worn on the lower part of the body from the waist to the ankles, covering both legs separately...
and Salwar kameez are widely worn in Urban areas.
Mysore PetaMysore Peta is the traditional indigenous attire worn by the erstwhile Kings of Mysore, called the Wodeyars , of the Kingdom of Mysore...
is the traditional headgear of southern Karnataka, while the
pagadi or
pataga (similar to the Rajasthani turban) is preferred in the northern areas of the state.
RiceRice is the seed of the monocot plants Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West Indies...
({{Lang-kn|ಅಕ್ಕಿ}}) and
RagiEleusine coracana, commonly Finger millet , also known as African millet or Ragi is an annual plant widely grown as a cereal in the arid areas of Africa and Asia. E...
form the staple food in South Karnataka, whereas
Jolada rottiJolada rotti is a specialty North Karnataka unleavened Indian bread made out of jowar . The name literally translates into jowar bread....
,
SorghumSorghum is a genus of numerous species of grasses, one of which is raised for grain and many of which are used as fodder plants either cultivated or as part of pasture. The plants are cultivated in warmer climates worldwide. Species are native to tropical and subtropical regions of all continents...
is staple to North Karnataka.
Bisi bele bathBisi bele bhath is a rice-based dish with its origins in the state of Karnataka, India. Bisi-bele-bhaath translates to hot-lentil-rice in the Kannada language. It is also known as Bisi bele huliyanna. The traditional preparation of this dish is quite elaborate and involves the use of spicy masala,...
,
Jolada rottiJolada rotti is a specialty North Karnataka unleavened Indian bread made out of jowar . The name literally translates into jowar bread....
,
Ragi muddeRagi mudde also Ragi Sangati is a wholesome meal in Karnataka and Rayalaseema region in India. It is mainly popular with the rural folk of Karnataka...
,
UppittuUpma is a popular Indian breakfast dish originating in South India.-Etymology:The general name of the dish in most languages is formed from two words : salt and flour...
, Masala Dose and
Maddur VadeMaddur vade is a type of vade or snack item which is unique to the state of Karnataka, India. Also known as Maddur vada, this snack derives its name from the town of Maddur which is in the Mandya district of Karnataka. Maddur lies between the cities of Bangalore and Mysore and Maddur Vada is...
are some of the popular food items in Karnataka. Among sweets,
Mysore PakMysore pak is a sweet dish of Karnataka, India, usually served as dessert. It is made of generous amounts of ghee , sugar and gram flour....
, Belgaavi Kunda, Gokak karadantu, and
Dharwad pedhaDharwad pedha is a sweet delicacy unique to the state of Karnataka, India. It derives its name from the city of Dharwad in Karnataka.This sweet's history is around 175 years old.-History:...
are popular. Apart from this, coastal Karnataka and Kodagu have distinctive cuisines of their own.
Udupi cuisineUdupi cuisine is a world-renowned cuisine of South India. It forms an important part of the Cuisine of Karnataka and takes its name from Udupi, a town on the southwest coast of India in the state of Karnataka. The Udupi cuisine has its origin in the Ashta mathas of Udupi founded by...
of coastal Karnataka is popular all over India.
Religion
{{Main|Religion in Karnataka|Haridasa|Virashaiva}}
Adi Shankaracharya chose Sringeri in Karnataka to establish the first of his four
mathaA matha ) is a term for monastic and similar religious establishments of Hinduism and Jainism. A matha is usually more formal, hierarchical, and rule-based than an ashram.-Advaita Mathas:...
s. Shri Madhvacharya (Kannada: ಶ್ರೀ ಮಧ್ವಾಚಾರ್ಯರು, Śrī Madhvācārya) (1238–1317) was the chief proponent of Tattvavāda (Philosophy of Reality), popularly known as Dvaita or Dualistic school of Hindu philosophy - one of the three most influential Vedānta philosophies. Madhva was one of the important philosophers during the Bhakti movement. He was a pioneer in many ways, going against standard conventions and norms. According to tradition, Madhvācārya is believed to be the third incarnation of Vāyu (Mukhyaprāṇa), after Hanumān and Bhīma. The Haridasa (Kannada: ಹರಿದಾಸ) devotional movement is considered as one of the turning points in the cultural history of India. Over a span of nearly six centuries, several saints and mystics helped shape the culture, philosophy and art of South India and Karnataka in particular by exerting considerable spiritual influence over the masses and kingdoms that ruled South India.[1]
This movement was ushered in by the Haridasas (Kannada: ಹರಿದಾಸರು, literally meaning 'servants of Lord Hari') and took shape in the 13th century - 14th century CE, period, prior to and during the early rule of the Vijayanagara empire. The main objective of this movement was to propagate the Dvaita philosophy of Madhvacharya (Madhva Siddhanta) to the masses through a literary medium known as Dasa Sahitya (literature of the servants of the Lord. Purandaradasa often called "Pithamaha" of Carnatic Music for his immense contribution in simplifying carnatic music, he was the "Guru" of Swamy Haridas (Tansen's guru)who pioneered Hindustani music in North India. ) Ramanujacharya, the leading expounder of
{{IASTVishishtadvaita Vedanta is a sub-school of the Vedānta school of Hindu philosophy, the other major sub-schools of Vedānta being Advaita, Dvaita, and Achintya-Bheda-Abheda. VishishtAdvaita is a non-dualistic school of Vedanta philosophy...
, spent many years in
MelkoteMelukote in Pandavapura taluk of Mandya district, Karnataka, in southern India, is one of the sacred places in Karnataka. The place is also known as Thirunarayanapuram. It is built on rocky hills, known as Yadavagiri or Yadugiri, overlooking the Cauvery valley. Melukote is about 51 km from...
. He came to Karnataka in 1098 AD and lived here until 1122 AD. He first lived in Tondanur and then moved to Melkote where the Cheluvanarayana Temple and a well organised
MathaA matha ) is a term for monastic and similar religious establishments of Hinduism and Jainism. A matha is usually more formal, hierarchical, and rule-based than an ashram.-Advaita Mathas:...
were built. He was patronized by the Hoysala king, Vishnuvardhana.
In the twelfth century, Veerashaivism emerged in northern Karnataka as a protest against the rigidity of the prevailing social and caste system. Leading figures of this movement were
BasavaBasava was a philosopher and a social reformer. He is also called Vishwa Guru and Bhakti-Bhandari. His teachings and preachings which are universal, go beyond all boundaries of belief systems...
,
Akka MahadeviAkka Mahadevi was a prominent figure of the Veerashaiva Bhakti movement of the 12th century Karnataka. Her Vachanas in Kannada, a form of didactic poetry are considered her greatest contribution to Kannada Bhakti literature. In all she wrote about 430 Vachanas which is relatively fewer than that...
and
Allama PrabhuAllama Prabhu is a mystic-saint and Vachana poet of the Kannada language in the 12th century. Prabhu is the patron saint , the undisputed spiritual authority, and an integral part of the Lingayata movement that decisively shaped society in medieval Karnataka and...
, who established the
Anubhava MantapaAnubhava Mantapa was an academy of mystics, saints and philosophers of the Lingayat faith in the 12th century. It was the fountainhead of all religious and philosophical thought pertaining to the Lingayat. It was presided over by the mystic Allama Prabhu and numerous Sharanas from all over...
which was the center of all religious and philosophical thoughts and discussions pertaining to Ligayats. These three social reformers did so by the literary means of 'Vachana Sahitya' which is very famous for its simple, straight forward and easily understandable Kannada language. Lingayatism preached women equalism by letting women wear Linga i.e. god around their neck which was prohibited in those days. Basava shunned the sharp hierarchical divisions that existed and sought to remove all distinctions between the hierarchially superior master class and the subordinate, servile class. He also supported intercaste marriages and Kaayaka Tatva of Basavanna bases itself on Karma Siddhanta (Philosophy of Karma). This was the basis of the Lingayat faith which today counts millions among its followers.
The Jain philosophy and literature have contributed immensely to the religious and cultural landscape of Karnataka.
IslamIslam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
, which had an early presence on the west coast of India as early as the tenth century, gained a foothold in Karnataka with the rise of the Bahamani and Bijapur sultanates that ruled parts of Karnataka.
ChristianityChristianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
reached Karnataka in the sixteenth century with the arrival of the
PortugueseThe Portuguese are a nation and ethnic group native to the country of Portugal, in the west of the Iberian peninsula of south-west Europe. Their language is Portuguese, and Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion....
and St. Francis Xavier in 1545. Buddhism was popular in Karnataka during the first millennium in places such as
GulbargaGulbarga 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
BanavasiBanavasi is an ancient temple town in Uttara Kannada District bordering Shivamogga district in the South Indian state of Karnataka .-History:Banavasi is one of the oldest towns in the Karnataka state...
. A chance discovery of edicts and several Mauryan relics at Sannati in
Gulbarga districtGulbarga district is one of the 30 districts of Karnataka state in southern India. Gulbarga city is the administrative headquarters of the district...
in 1986 has proven that the Krishna River basin was once home to both
MahayanaMahāyāna is one of the two main existing branches of Buddhism and a term for classification of Buddhist philosophies and practice...
and
HinayanaHīnayāna is a Sanskrit and Pāli term literally meaning: the "Inferior Vehicle", "Deficient Vehicle", the "Abandoned Vehicle", or the "Defective Vehicle". The term appeared around the 1st or 2nd century....
Buddhism.
Mysore DasaraMysore Dasara is the Nadahabba of the state of Karnataka. It is also called Navaratri and is a 10-day festival with the last day being Vijayadashami, the most auspicious day of Dasara. Dasara usually falls in the month of September or October...
is celebrated as the
Nada habba (state festival) and this is marked by major festivities at Mysore.
UgadiYugadi or Ugadi or "Samvatsradi" , Konkani/Marathi: युगादी yugādi, , formed by sandhi of yuga "age" and ādi "beginning": the beginning of an age) is the New Year's Day for the people of the Deccan region of India. It falls on the different day every year because the Hindu calendar is a lunisolar...
(Kannada New Year), Makara Sankranti (the harvest festival),
Ganesh ChaturthiGanesh Chaturthi , also known as Vinayaka Chaturthi is the Hindu festival of Ganesha also called Vinayagar in Tamil Nadu, the son of Shiva and Parvati, who is believed to bestow his presence on earth for all his devotees in the duration of this festival...
,
NagapanchamiNagaradhane is a form of snake worship which, along with Bhuta Kola, is one of the unique traditions prevalent in coastal districts of Dakshina Kannada , Udupi and Kasaragod alternatively known as Tulu Nadu- Origin of Nagaradhane :...
,
Basava JayanthiBasava Jayanthi is the most important festival of the Lingayats. It marks the birthday of Basavanna, the founding saint of the Lingayat faith. It is celebrated with much pomp and gaiety all over Karnataka....
, Deepavali, and
RamzanRamadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, which lasts 29 or 30 days. It is the Islamic month of fasting, in which participating Muslims refrain from eating, drinking, smoking and sex during daylight hours and is intended to teach Muslims about patience, spirituality, humility and...
are the other major festivals of Karnataka.
Language
{{Main|Kannada|Tulu language|Kodava Takk|Konkani language|Kannada literature|Mangalorean regionalism}}
The Kannada language is the official language of the state, the native language of approximately 65% of its population and one of the classical languages of India. Kannada played a crucial role in the creation of Karnataka: linguistic demographics played a major role in defining the new state in 1956. Tulu, Kodava Takk and Konkani are other major native languages that share a long history in the state.
UrduUrdu is a register of the Hindustani language that is identified with Muslims in South Asia. It belongs to the Indo-European family. Urdu is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan. It is also widely spoken in some regions of India, where it is one of the 22 scheduled languages and an...
is spoken widely by the
MuslimA Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
population. Less widely spoken languages include
Beary basheBeary bashe is a dialect mainly spoken by the Muslim communities of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts of Karnataka known as Bearys and a small number of Hindus in the District of Kasargod in Kerala state....
and certain dialects such as
SankethiSankethi is distinct from Kannada and is now an independent language according to Dravidian linguists such as Hampa Nagarajaiah. Many still call it a dialect of Kannada in keeping with tradition...
. Kannada features a rich and ancient body of
literatureKannada literature is the corpus of written forms of the Kannada language, a member of the Dravidian family spoken mainly in the Indian state of Karnataka and written in the Kannada script....
covering topics as diverse as
JainismJainism is an Indian religion that prescribes a path of non-violence towards all living beings. Its philosophy and practice emphasize the necessity of self-effort to move the soul towards divine consciousness and liberation. Any soul that has conquered its own inner enemies and achieved the state...
, Vachanas,
Haridasa SahityaThe Haridasa devotional movement is considered as one of the turning points in the cultural history of India. Over a span of nearly six centuries, several saints and mystics helped shape the culture, philosophy and art of South India and Karnataka in particular by exerting considerable spiritual...
and
modern literatureModern Kannada literature refers to the body of literature written in the Kannada language, a language spoken mainly in the Indian state of Karnataka. The Kannada script is the writing system used in Kannada literature. In the last forty years, eight modern Kannada authors have been awarded the...
. Evidence from edicts during the time of Ashoka the Great suggest that the
Kannada scriptThe Kannada script is an alphasyllabary of the Brahmic family, used primarily to write the Kannada language, one of the Dravidian languages of southern India and also Sanskrit in the past. The Telugu script is derived from Old Kannada, and resembles Kannada script...
and its literature were influenced by Buddhist literature. The
Halmidi inscriptionThe Halmidi inscription is the oldest known Kannada language inscription in the Kannada script. Experts agree on the relative date , but differ on absolute date. Estimates vary by about 50 years either side of about 500 AD . The inscription was discovered in 1936 by Dr. M. H...
, the earliest attested full-length inscription in the Kannada language and script, is dated to 450 CE while the earliest available literary work, the
KavirajamargaKavirajamarga is the earliest available writing on rhetoric, poetics and grammar in the Kannada language. It was written by the famous Rashtrakuta King "Nripatunga" Amoghavarsha I and some say that it is based partly on an earlier Sanskrit writing, Kavyadarsa...
, has been dated to 850 CE. References made in the Kavirajamarga, however, prove that Kannada literature flourished in the
Chattana,
Beddande and
Melvadu metres during earlier centuries.
KuvempuKuppali Venkatappagowda Puttappa was a Kannada writer and poet, widely regarded as the greatest poet of 20th century Kannada literature. He is the first among eight recipients of Jnanpith Award for Kannada. Puttappa wrote all his literary works using the pen name Kuvempu...
, the renowned Kannada poet and writer who wrote
Jaya Bharata Jananiya TanujateJaya Bharata Jananiya Tanujate is a Kannada poem, which was composed by the Indian Kannadiga poet Kuvempu. The poem was officially declared the state anthem of the Indian state of Karnataka on January 6, 2004....
, the state anthem of Karnataka was the first recipient of the "
Karnataka RatnaKarnataka Ratna is the highest civilian honour of the State of Karnataka. It is awarded to a person for his extraordinary contribution in any field. It was constituted in the year 1992 by the Government of Karnataka. There have been a total of 8 recipients of this award.- The Award :The Award...
" award, the highest civilian award bestowed by the
Government of KarnatakaThe Government of Karnataka is a democratically elected body with the Governor as the constitutional head. The Governor who is appointed for a period of five years appoints the Chief Minister and his council of ministers...
. Contemporary
Kannada literatureKannada literature is the corpus of written forms of the Kannada language, a member of the Dravidian family spoken mainly in the Indian state of Karnataka and written in the Kannada script....
is well recognized in the arena of Indian literature, with seven Kannada writers winning India's highest literary honour, the
Jnanpith awardThe Jnanpith Award is a literary award in India. Along with the Sahitya Akademi Fellowship, it is one of the two most prestigious literary honours in the country...
, which is the highest for any language in India.
Tulu is spoken mainly in the coastal districts of
Udupi and
Dakshina Kannada- Geography :The district geography consists of sea shore in the west and Western Ghats in the east. The major rivers are Netravathi, Kumaradhara, Phalguni, Shambhavi, Nandini or Pavanje and Payaswini which all join Arabian sea. Vast areas of evergreen forests which once covered this district, have...
.
Tulu Mahabharato, written by
Arunabja in Tulu script, is the oldest surviving Tulu text. The Tulu language now uses the Kannada script due to the gradual decline of the
Tulu scriptThe Tulu script The Tulu script The Tulu script (Tulu: —written in Tulu script, is the original script of the Tulu language. It evolved from the Grantha script. It bears partial similarity to the Malayalam script, which also evolved from the Grantha....
, which was in use until a few centuries ago. The
KodavaThe Kodavas are a patrilineal ethno-lingual group from the region of Kodagu, in Karnataka state of southern India who traditionally were land-owning agriculturists with martial traditions and natively speak Kodava takk...
s who mainly reside in the Kodagu district, speak Kodava Takk. Two regional variations of the language exist, the northern
Mendale Takka and the southern
Kiggaati Takka. Konkani is mostly spoken in the
Uttara KannadaUttara Kannada also known as North Canara or North Kanara, is a district in the southern Indian state of Karnataka. It is bordered by the state of Goa and Belgaum District to the north, Dharwad District and Haveri District to the east, Shimoga District and Udupi District to the south and the...
district and in some parts of the Udupi and Dakshina Kannada districts. Both Kodava Takk and Konkani use the Kannada script for writing. English is the medium of education in many schools and widely used for business communication in technology-related companies and
BPOsBusiness process outsourcing is a subset of outsourcing that involves the contracting of the operations and responsibilities of specific business functions to a third-party service provider. Originally, this was associated with manufacturing firms, such as Coca Cola that outsourced large segments...
.
All of the state's languages are patronised and promoted by governmental and quasi-governmental bodies. The
Kannada Sahitya ParishatKannada Saahithya Parishath is an Indian non-profit organisation that promotes the Kannada language. Its headquarters are in the city of Bangalore, in the state of Karnataka, India. It strives to promote Kannada through publishing books, organising literary seminars and promoting research projects...
and the
Kannada Sahitya Akademi are responsible for the promotion of Kannada while the
Karnataka Konkani Sahitya Akademi, The
Tulu Sahitya Akademi and the
Kodava Sahitya Akademi promote their respective languages.
Karnataka being a multilingual state, various linguistic groups have been demanding for separate states based on language in the regions where those languages are spoken by the majority. Tuluvas and Kodavas are major ethnic groups which aspire to form separate states.
Education
{{Main|Education in Karnataka}}
As per the 2001 census, Karnataka had a literacy rate of 67.04%, with 76.29% of males and 57.45% of females in the state being literate. The state is home to some of the premier educational and research institutions of India such as the
Indian Institute of ScienceIndian Institute of Science is a research institution of higher learning located in Bangalore, India. It was established in 1909.-History:After a chance meeting between Jamsetji N...
, the Indian Institute of Management, the
National Institute of Technology KarnatakaNational Institute of Technology Karnataka , formerly known as Karnataka Regional Engineering College , is an autonomous university along the western shores of India. It was founded in 1960 is today one of the 30 National Institutes of Technology in India and is recognized as an Institute of...
and the
National Law School of India UniversityThe National Law School of India University is the leading institution for undergraduate and graduate legal education in India. By popular estimates, the school consistently ranks as the most prestigious law school in India...
.
As of March 2006, Karnataka had 54,529 primary schools with 252,875 teachers and 8.495 million students, and 9498 secondary schools with 92,287 teachers and 1.384 million students. There are three kinds of schools in the state, viz., government-run, private aided (financial aid is provided by the government) and private unaided (no financial aid is provided). The primary languages of instruction in most schools are Kannada and English. The syllabus taught in the schools is either of the
CBSEThe Central Board of Secondary Education is a Board of Education for public and private schools, under the Union Government of India.-History:...
, the
ICSEThe Indian Certificate of Secondary Education or ICSE examination is an examination conducted by the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations, a private, non-governmental board of school education in India, for class 10, i.e., grade 10...
or the state syllabus (
SSLCThe Secondary School Leaving Certificate is a certification obtained by a student on successful completion of an examination at the end of study at the secondary schooling level in India.- Relevance of the SSLC :...
) defined by the Department of Public Instruction of the
Government of KarnatakaThe Government of Karnataka is a democratically elected body with the Governor as the constitutional head. The Governor who is appointed for a period of five years appoints the Chief Minister and his council of ministers...
. However, some schools follows
NIOSThe National Institute of Open Schooling , is the Board of Education for open schools in India. It was established by the Ministry of Human Resource Development of the Government of India in 1989 to provide education inexpensively to remote areas...
syllabus. The State has one
Sainik School in BijapurSainik School Bijapur is one of the 25 Sainik Schools of India. The Bijapur Sainik School, the pride of the state and district established by the Government of India in 1963, the main aim of the school is to prepare boys to join the armed forces. The school has contributed about 500 officers.Sainik...
also.
In order to maximize attendance in schools, the Karnataka Government has launched a mid-day meal scheme in government and aided schools in which free lunch is provided to the students.
Statewide board examinationsThe Secondary School Leaving Certificate is a certification obtained by a student on successful completion of an examination at the end of study at the secondary schooling level in India.- Relevance of the SSLC :...
are conducted at the end of the period of secondary education and students who qualify are allowed to pursue a two-year
pre-university coursePre University Course, popularly known as PUC is an intermediate course of duration two years conducted by state education boards in India. A person desiring admission to any Indian university must pass this course. The course can be considered a bridge course to prepare students for university...
; after which students become eligible to pursue
under-graduateA bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
degrees.
There are 481 degree colleges affiliated with one of the universities in the state, viz.
Bangalore UniversityBangalore University is a public university located in Bangalore, Karnataka State, India. The university is one of the oldest in India, dating back to 1886...
,
Gulbarga University- Institution :Gulbarga University was a post graduation centre of Karnatak University, India. In 1980 The Government of Karnataka enacted a law and gave it the status of university....
,
Karnatak UniversityThe Karnatak University established initially at Mumbai in 1949, the location was shifted to Dharwad in October, 1949 and Karnatak University had its official inauguration in March 1950. The campus spans 750 acres . Dr. D. C. Pavate was the vice-chancellor of the university from 1954 to 1967...
,
Kuvempu UniversityKuvempu University is a public state university located in Shimoga, Karnataka, India established in 1987 by the act of the Karnataka state legislature through an amendment No.28/1976 dated 29 January 1989 under the Karnataka State University Act 1976. The university offers undergraduate and...
,
Mangalore UniversityMangalore University is a public university located in Konaje, Karnataka State of India. Ranked with a four star by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council in June 2000, this young university offers higher education and conducts research in various fields...
and Mysore University. In 1998, the engineering colleges in the state were brought under the newly formed
Visvesvaraya Technological UniversityVisvesvaraya Technological University is an affiliating state university in Karnataka, India. It was established on 1st April 1998 by the Government of Karnataka as per VTU Act 1994, to improve the quality of technical education in the state. Apart from a few notable exceptions, VTU has complete...
headquartered at
BelgaumBelgaum is a city and a municipal corporation in Belgaum district in the state of Karnataka, India. It is the fourth largest city of the state of Karnataka, the first three being Bangalore, Mysore, Hubli-Dharwad....
, whereas the medical colleges are run under the jurisdiction of the
Rajiv Gandhi University of Health SciencesRajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences, centered in Bangalore, India, is a unitary university set up in 1996 by the government of Karnataka, India, for the regulation and promotion of higher education in health sciences throughout the state of Karnataka....
. Some of these baccalaureate colleges are accredited with the status of a
deemed universityDeemed university is a status of autonomy granted to high performing institutes and departments of various universities in India. This status of ‘Deemed-to-be-University’, is granted by Department of Higher Education, Union Human Resource Development Ministry, on the advice of the University Grants...
. There are 186 engineering, 39 medical and 41 dental colleges in the state.
Udupi, Sringeri,
GokarnaGokarna is a village in the Uttara Kannada district of the Karnataka state, India. It is a Hindu pilgrimage centre as well as a tourist destination in India. Gokarna is a temple town and is referred to in a number of Hindu historical literature pieces. The main deity is Lord Mahabhaleshwara, a...
and
MelkoteMelukote in Pandavapura taluk of Mandya district, Karnataka, in southern India, is one of the sacred places in Karnataka. The place is also known as Thirunarayanapuram. It is built on rocky hills, known as Yadavagiri or Yadugiri, overlooking the Cauvery valley. Melukote is about 51 km from...
are well-known places of
SanskritSanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
and Vedic learning. An
Indian Institute of Technology MuddenahalliIndian Institute of Technology Muddenahalli, also known as IIT Muddenahalli, is an autonomous engineering and technology-oriented institute of higher education that has been approved by the Government of India with construction set to be completed in 2012...
has been approved by the central government as part of the 11th 5 year plan. This will be the first IIT in Karnataka State. In addition, a 600 crore
Visvesvaraya Institute of Advanced TechnologyVisvesvaraya Institute of Advanced Technology, also known as VIAT, is a premier advanced research institute being constructed in Muddenahalli-Kanivenarayanapura, Karnataka, India. The research institute was proposed on Engineer's Day 2008 in Muddenahalli, the birthplace of legendary engineer, Sir...
(VIAT) is being constructed in
MuddenahalliMuddenahalli is a centrally located town situated 7 km from Chikballapur and 1 km from Kanivenarayanapura in Chikballapur District of Karnataka State...
-
KanivenarayanapuraKanivenarayanapura 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...
.
Tulu languageThe Tulu language |?]]]) is a Dravidian language spoken by 1.95 million native speakers mainly in the southwest part of Indian state Karnataka known as Tulu Nadu. In India, 1.72 million people speak it as their mother tongue , increased by 10 percent over the 1991 census...
is taught as an optional subject in the twin districts of
South CanaraSouth Canara was a district under the British empire, located at . It was bifurcated in 1859 from Canara district. It was the undivided Dakshina Kannada district...
and
Udupi.
Media
{{Main|Media in Karnataka}}
The era of Kannada newspapers started in the year 1843 when
Hermann MöglingHermann Mögling was a German missionary from the Basel Mission who spent most of his career in the western regions of the state of Karnataka, India. He is credited to be the publisher of the first ever newspaper in the Kannada language called as Mangalooru Samachara in 1843. He was awarded a...
, a
missionaryA missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...
from
Basel MissionThe Basel Mission is a Christian missionary society active from 1815 to 2001, when it was merged into Mission 21, the successor organization of Kooperation Evangelischer Kirchen und Missione founded in 2001....
, published the first Kannada newspaper called
Mangalooru Samachara in Mangalore. The first Kannada periodical,
Mysuru Vrittanta Bodhini was started by Bhashyam Bhashyacharya in Mysore. Shortly after Indian independence in 1948, K. N. Guruswamy founded
The Printers (Mysore) Private Limited and began publishing two newspapers, the
Deccan HeraldThe Deccan Herald is a leading English-language daily newspaper distributed in the Indian state of Karnataka. It is published by the Printers Private Limited and has a number of editions in Bangalore, Hubli, Mysore, Mangalore and Gulbarga....
and
PrajavaniPrajavani is a leading Kannada-language newspaper in the Indian state of Karnataka. It is a sister publication of the Deccan Herald. , it had a circulation of 364,000, making it the second-largest-circulation newspaper in Karnataka , and the largest-circulation Kannada-language newspaper in the...
. Presently the Times of India and
Vijaya KarnatakaVijaya Karnataka is a Kannada newspaper. It is the largest circulated Kannada daily and published from a number of cities in Karnataka. This was founded by VRL group, started in October 2000. During its initial days this news paper was distributed for free for one month. Later on this paper was...
are the largest-selling English and Kannada newspapers respectively. A vast number of weekly, biweekly and monthly magazines are under publication in both Kannada and English.
UdayavaniUDAYAVANI Udayavani is a leading Kannada Daily Newspaper with editions from Manipal, Bangalore, Mumbai, Hubli and Gulbarga.Launched in 1971 by Shri. Mohandas Pai and Shri...
, Kannadaprabha,
Samyukta KarnatakaSamyukta Karnataka is a major Kannada newspaper which has its headquarters in Hubli, Karnataka.-Background:To promote patriotism, truth and nationalist ideals, Loka Shikshana Trust was founded by senior freedom fighters of India 80 years ago, during the turbulent national movement...
, Vaartha Bharathi,
SanjevaniSanjevani is a major Kannada newspaper which has its headquarters in Bangalore, Karnataka.It was started on 10 December 1982, thus completing 25 years in 2007....
, Eesanje,
Hosa diganthaHosa Digantha is a Kannada morning daily in Karnataka. With its tag line as Rāshtra Jāgrutiya Dainika means Daily for National awareness, Hosa Digantha is a news paper with nationalist ideology....
,
Karavali AleKaravali Ale is a Kannada daily local newspaper published in Mangalore, Karnataka, India since 1992. Karavali Ale, The Canara Times, Sanje Ale and Kannada Janataranga are the newspapers from Coastal and Malnad region published by Chitra Publications pvt Ltd...
are also some popular dailies published from Karnataka.
DoordarshanDoordarshan is an Indian public service broadcaster, a division of Prasar Bharati. It is one of the largest broadcasting organizations in India in terms of the infrastructure of studios and transmitters. Recently, it has also started Digital Terrestrial Transmitters. On September 15, 2009,...
is the broadcaster of the
Government of IndiaThe Government of India, officially known as the Union Government, and also known as the Central Government, was established by the Constitution of India, and is the governing authority of the union of 28 states and seven union territories, collectively called the Republic of India...
and its channel
DD ChandanaDD Chandana is a Kannada TV channel owned and operated by Prasar Bharati under Doordarshan, supported by Doordarshan studios in Bangalore and Gulbarga. Launched in 1994 DD Chandana has entertainment serials, infotainment programmes, news and current affairs, social programmes and film programmes...
is dedicated to Kannada. Prominent
Kannada channels include ETV Kannada,
Zee KannadaZee Kannada is a 24 hour Kannada-language channel that launched in May 2006 and is owned by Zee Network. It features a wide array of programming including series, movies, soap-operas, gameshows, talk shows and current affairs programmes. It is a subscription channel that is available via cable and...
,
Udaya TVUdaya TV is a regional Kannada language Indian cable television station. It is also the very first Kannada satellite channel in India.The channel is part of the Chennai based Sun Network of Tamil Nadu....
,
U2U2 is Kannada music channel which is a part of the Sun Network.-Shows:-External links:*...
,
TV 9TV 9 is a 24 hour Kannada language news television channel that was launched on 22 June, 2006. The channel is owned by Sneha Television network, which also operates a Telugu news channel. TV9 Kannada has a wide range of programmes ranging from hourly news, analysis of major news events and...
,
Asianet SuvarnaAsianet Suvarna is a Kannada language channel owned by Asianet Communications Limited, aimed at the Kannada-speaking population in the south Indian state of Karnataka and neighbouring regions. Launched with the tag line "24 carat manoranjane", the channel airs soap operas, talk shows, news...
and
Kasturi TVKasturi is a 24-hour Kannada language television channel in Karnataka, India. It was launched on 26 September, 2007. The channel is owned by Kasturi Media Private Limited which is managed by Anitha Kumaraswamy, wife of the ex-chief minister of Karnataka, H. D. Kumaraswamy. Kasturi TV is available...
.
Karnataka occupies a special place in the history of Indian radio. In 1935,
Aakashvani, the first private radio station in India, was started by Prof. M.V. Gopalaswamy at
Mysore. The popular radio station was taken over by the local municipality and later by
All India RadioAll India Radio , officially known since 1956 as Akashvani , is the radio broadcaster of India and a division of Prasar Bharati. Established in 1936, it is the sister service of Prasar Bharati's Doordarshan, the national television broadcaster. All India Radio is one of the largest radio networks...
(AIR) and moved to Bangalore in 1955. Later in 1957, AIR adopted the original name of the radio station,
Aakashavani as its own. Some of the popular programs aired by AIR Bangalore included
Nisarga Sampada and
Sasya Sanjeevini which were programs that taught science through songs, plays and stories. These two programs became so popular that they were translated and broadcasted in 18 different languages and the entire series was recorded on cassettes by the Government of Karnataka and distributed to thousands of schools across the state. Karnataka has witnessed a growth in FM radio channels mainly in the cities of Bangalore, Mangalore and Mysore which has become hugely popular.
Sports
{{Main|Sports in Karnataka}}
Karnataka's smallest district, Kodagu, is a major contributor to
Indian field hockeyHockey is the national sport of India.The Indian men's hockey team is the most successful hockey team in Olympic history with 8 gold, 1 silver, and 2 bronze medals.-New Committee :...
, producing numerous players who have represented India at the international level. The annual
Kodava Hockey FestivalThe clan of Kodavas in the Indian state of Karnataka have a long history of association with the game of field hockey. The district of Kodagu which is the land of the Kodavas is considered as the cradle of Indian hockey. More than 50 Kodavas have represented India in international hockey...
is the largest hockey tournament in the world.
BangaloreBengaluru , 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...
has hosted a
WTAThe Women's Tennis Association , founded in 1973 by Billie Jean King, is the principal organizing body of Women's Professional Tennis. It governs the WTA Tour which is the worldwide professional tennis tour for women. Its counterpart organization in the men's professional game is the Association of...
tennisTennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
event and, in 1997, it hosted the fourth National Games of India. The Sports Authority of India, the premier sports institute in the country, and the Nike Tennis Academy are also situated in Bangalore. Karnataka has been referred to as the cradle of Indian swimming because of its high standards in comparison to other states.
One of the most popular sports in Karnataka is
cricketCricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
.
The state cricket teamKarnataka cricket team is a cricket team that represents the Indian state of Karnataka in domestic first class cricket. One of the strongest teams in the Ranji Trophy Elite Group, it has produced many of the Indian cricket team's leading players throughout its existence...
has won the
Ranji TrophyThe Ranji Trophy is a domestic first-class cricket championship played in India between different city and state sides, equivalent to the County Championship in England and the Sheffield Shield in Australia...
six times, second only to
MumbaiThe Mumbai cricket team is a cricket team representing the city of Mumbai in Indian domestic cricket. It is the most successful team in the Ranji Trophy, India's top domestic cricket competition, with 39 titles, the most recent being in 2009–10. The team's home ground is the Wankhede Stadium in...
in terms of success. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore regularly hosts
international matchesInternational Cricket is a cricket video game for the Nintendo Entertainment System that was only released in Australia in 1992. Developed by Melbourne-based Beam Software, it was the only cricket game released for the NES. There were no attempts to release a cricket video game to the North...
and is also the home of the
National Cricket AcademyThe National Cricket Academy located in Chinnaswamy Stadium Bangalore, Karnataka in India, established in 2000 is a cricket facility of the Board of Control for Cricket in India for training young cricketers who are identified as having the potential to represent the Indian cricket team...
, which was opened in 2000 to nurture potential international players. Many cricketers have represented India and in one international match held in the 1990s; players from Karnataka composed the majority of the national team.
The
Karnataka Premier LeagueMantri Karnataka Premier League is an Indian Twenty20 cricket league established by the Karnataka State Cricket Association in August, 2009. The domestic cricket competition is modeled along the lines of the popular Indian Premier League...
, an inter-regional
Twenty20Twenty20 is a form of cricket, originally introduced in England for professional inter-county competition by the England and Wales Cricket Board , in 2003. A Twenty20 game involves two teams, each has a single innings, batting for a maximum of 20 overs. Twenty20 cricket is also known as T20 cricket...
cricket tournament is a cricket tournament played in the state. The
Royal Challengers BangaloreRoyal Challengers Bangalore is a cricket team based in Bangalore that plays in the Indian Premier League and currently lead by Daniel Vettori. The team is owned by Dr...
, an
Indian Premier LeagueThe Indian Premier League is a professional league for Twenty20 cricket competition in India. It was initiated by the Board of Control for Cricket in India , headquartered in Mumbai, and is supervised by BCCI Vice President Rajeev Shukla, who serves as the league's Chairman and Commissioner...
franchise, is based in Bangalore.
Sports like
kho khoKho Kho is an Indian and Pakistani sport played by teams of twelve players who try to avoid being touched by members of the opposing team, only 9 players of the team enter the field...
,
kabaddiKabaddi is a South Asian team sport...
, chinni daandu and goli (
marblesA marble is a small spherical toy usually made from glass, clay, steel, or agate. These balls vary in size. Most commonly, they are about ½ inch in diameter, but they may range from less than ¼ inch to over 3 inches , while some art glass marbles fordisplay purposes are over 12 inches ...
) are played mostly in Karnataka's rural areas.
Notable sportsmen from Karnataka include
Prakash PadukonePrakash Padukone is a former badminton player from Karnataka, India. Among other championships, he won the All England Championship and became the first Indian to do so. Prakash was awarded the Padma Sri in 1982...
who won the All England Badminton Championships in 1980 and
Pankaj AdvaniPankaj Arjan Advani is an Indian Billiards and Snooker player. A winner of seven World Titles in Billiards and Snooker, he is considered to be the one of the best Billiards Player India has produced...
who has won three world titles in cue sports by the age of 20 including the amateur
World Snooker ChampionshipThe World Snooker Championship is the leading professional snooker tournament in terms of both prize money and ranking points. The first championship was held in 1927; since 1977, it has been played at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, England...
in 2003 and the World Billiards Championship in 2005.
CyclingCycling, also called bicycling or biking, is the use of bicycles for transport, recreation, or for sport. Persons engaged in cycling are cyclists or bicyclists...
talent of Karnataka needs a special mention. Off late Bijapur district has produced some of the best known Road Cyclists in the national circuit. Premalata Sureban was part of the Indian contingent at the Perlis Open '99 in Malaysia. In recognition of the talent of cyclists in the district, the State Government has already laid a cycling track at the B.R. Ambedkar Stadium here, spending {{Indian Rupee}}. 40 lakh.
Flora and fauna
{{Main|Wildlife of Karnataka}}
Karnataka has a rich diversity of flora and fauna. It has a recorded forest area of 38720 km² (14,950 sq mi) which constitutes 20.19% of the total geographical area of the state. These forests support 25% of the
elephantElephants are large land mammals in two extant genera of the family Elephantidae: Elephas and Loxodonta, with the third genus Mammuthus extinct...
and 10% of the
tigerThe tiger is the largest cat species, reaching a total body length of up to and weighing up to . Their most recognizable feature is a pattern of dark vertical stripes on reddish-orange fur with lighter underparts...
population of India. Many regions of Karnataka are as yet unexplored, so new species of flora and fauna are found periodically. The
Western GhatsThe Western Ghats, Western Ghauts or the Sahyādri is a mountain range along the western side of India. It runs north to south along the western edge of the Deccan Plateau, and separates the plateau from a narrow coastal plain along the Arabian Sea. The Western Ghats block rainfall to the Deccan...
, a
biodiversity hotspotA biodiversity hotspot is a biogeographic region with a significant reservoir of biodiversity that is under threat from humans.The concept of biodiversity hotspots was originated by Norman Myers in two articles in “The Environmentalist” , revised after thorough analysis by Myers and others in...
, includes the western region of Karnataka. Two sub-clusters in the Western Ghats, viz.
TalacauveryTalacauvery , is the place that is generally considered to be the source of the Cauvery River. It is located in the Brahmagiri hill near Bhagamandala in Kodagu district, Karnataka, 1,276 m. above sea level...
and
KudremukhKudremukh also spelled Kuduremukha is a mountain range in Chikkamagaluru district, in Karnataka, India. It is also the name of a small hill station town situated near the mountain, about 48 kilometers from Karkala and about 20 kilometers from Kalasa...
, both in Karnataka, are on the tentative list of
World Heritage SiteA UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance...
s of
UNESCOThe United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
. The Bandipur and Nagarahole National Parks, which fall outside these subclusters, were included in the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve in 1986, a UNESCO designation. The
Indian rollerThe Indian Roller , also called the Blue Jay in former times is a member of the roller family of birds. They are found in southern Asia from Iraq to Thailand and are best known for the aerobatic displays of the male during the breeding season...
and the
Indian elephantThe Indian Elephant is one of three recognized subspecies of the Asian elephant, and native to mainland Asia. Since 1986, Elephas maximus has been listed as endangered by IUCN as the population has declined by at least 50% over the last three generations, estimated to be 60–75 years...
are recognized as the state bird and animal while
sandalwoodSandalwood is the name of a class of fragrant woods from trees in the genus Santalum. The woods are heavy, yellow, and fine-grained, and unlike many other aromatic woods they retain their fragrance for decades. As well as using the harvested and cut wood in-situ, essential oils are also extracted...
and the
lotusLotus is a genus that includes bird's-foot trefoils and deervetches and contains many dozens of species distributed world-wide. Depending on the taxonomic authority, roughly between 70 and 150 are accepted. Lotus is a genus of legume and its members are adapted to a wide range of habitats, from...
are recognized as the state tree and flower respectively. Karnataka has five national parks:
AnshiAnshi National Park is located in Uttara Kannada district, in the Indian state of Karnataka, bordering the state of Goa...
,
BandipurBandipur National Park is one of India's best known protected areas and is an important Project Tiger reserve. It is located in the Chamarajanagar district of southern Karnataka in South India,...
,
BannerghattaBannerghatta National Park is situated 22 km south of Bangalore, Karnataka, India. The journey to the park takes nearly one and a half hours from Bangalore. This hilly place is the home for one of the richest natural, zoological reserves...
, Kudremukh and
NagarholeNagarhole National Park , also known as "Rajiv Gandhi National Park", is located from Mysore in Karnataka in South India. It is spread between Kodagu district and Mysore district. Located to the north-west of Bandipur National Park, Kabini reservoir separates the two. The park has rich forest...
. It also has 25 wildlife sanctuaries of which seven are bird sanctuaries.
Wild animals that are found in Karnataka include the elephant, the tiger, the leopard, the gaur, the sambar deer, the chital or spotted deer, the muntjac, the bonnet macaque, the slender loris, the common palm civet, the small Indian civet, the sloth bear, the dhole, the striped hyena and the golden jackal. Some of the birds found here are the
Great HornbillThe Great Hornbill also known as Great Indian Hornbill or Great Pied Hornbill, is one of the larger members of the hornbill family. Great Hornbills are found in the forests of Nepal, India, the Malay Peninsula and Sumatra, Indonesia. Their impressive size and colour have made them important in...
, the
Malabar Pied HornbillThe Malabar Pied Hornbill is a hornbill. Hornbills are a family of tropical near-passerine birds found in the Old World....
, the Ceylon frogmouth, herons, ducks, kites, eagles,
falconA falcon is any species of raptor in the genus Falco. The genus contains 37 species, widely distributed throughout Europe, Asia, and North America....
s,
quailOld World quail is a collective name for several genera of mid-sized birds in the pheasant family Phasianidae. New World quail are also found in the Galliformes, but are not in the same family . Buttonquails are not closely related at all, but are named for their similar appearance...
s,
partridgePartridges are birds in the pheasant family, Phasianidae. They are a non-migratory Old World group.These are medium-sized birds, intermediate between the larger pheasants and the smaller quails. Partridges are native to Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East...
s,
lapwingVanellinae are any of various crested plovers, family Charadriidae, noted for its slow, irregular wingbeat in flight and a shrill, wailing cry. Its length is 10-16 inches. They are a subfamily of medium-sized wading birds which also includes the plovers and dotterels. The Vanellinae are...
s, sandpipers, pigeons, doves,
parakeetParakeet is a term for any one of a large number of unrelated small to medium sized species of parrot, that generally have long tail feathers...
s, cuckoos, owls,
nightjarNightjars are medium-sized nocturnal or crepuscular birds with long wings, short legs and very short bills. They are sometimes referred to as goatsuckers from the mistaken belief that they suck milk from goats . Some New World species are named as nighthawks...
s,
swiftThe swifts are a family, Apodidae, of highly aerial birds. They are superficially similar to swallows, but are actually not closely related to passerine species at all; swifts are in the separate order Apodiformes, which they share with hummingbirds...
s,
kingfisherKingfishers are a group of small to medium sized brightly coloured birds in the order Coraciiformes. They have a cosmopolitan distribution, with most species being found in the Old World and Australia...
s, bee-eaters and munias. Some species of trees found in Karnataka are
Callophyllum tomentosa,
Callophyllum wightianum,
Garcina cambogia,
Garcina morealla,
AlstoniaAlstonia is a widespread genus of evergreen trees and shrubs from the dogbane family . It was named by Robert Brown in 1811, after Charles Alston , Professor of botany at Edinburgh from 1716-1760....
scholaris,
{{Lang|la|Flacourtia montana}},
ArtocarpusArtocarpus is a genus of about 60 trees of Southeast Asian origin and the Pacific, belonging to the mulberry family, Moraceae.-Description:...
hirsutus,
ArtocarpusArtocarpus is a genus of about 60 trees of Southeast Asian origin and the Pacific, belonging to the mulberry family, Moraceae.-Description:...
lacoocha,
CinnamomumCinnamomum is a genus of evergreen aromatic trees and shrubs belonging to the Laurel family, Lauraceae. The species of Cinnamomum have aromatic oils in their leaves and bark. The genus contains over 300 species, distributed in tropical and subtropical regions of North America, Central America,...
zeylanicum,
GrewiaThe large flowering plant genus Grewia is today placed by most authors in the mallow family Malvaceae, in the expanded sense as proposed by in the APG. Formerly, it was placed in either the linden family or the Sparrmanniaceae...
tilaefolia,
SantalumSantalum is a genus of woody flowering plants, the best known and commercially valuable of which is the Indian Sandalwood tree, S. album. Members of the genus are trees or shrubs. Most are root parasites which photosynthesize their own food but tap the roots of other species for water and...
album,
ShoreaShorea is a genus of about 196 species of mainly rainforest trees in the family Dipterocarpaceae. The genus is named after Sir John Shore, the Governor-General of the British East India Company, 1793-1798. They are native to southeast Asia, from Northern India to Malaysia, Indonesia and the...
talura,
Emblica officinalis,
VitexVitex is a genus of flowering plants in the family Lamiaceae Martynov, nom. cons. . It has about 250 species. Its type species is Vitex agnus-castus. There is no universal English name, though "chastetree" is common for many species...
altissima and
WrightiaWrightia is a genus of 23 species of flowering plants in the Apocynaceae family, native to tropical Africa, Asia and Australia...
tinctoria. Wildlife in Karnataka is threatened by poaching, habitat destruction, human-wildlife conflict and pollution.
Tourism
{{Main|Tourism in Karnataka}}
{{See also|Architecture of Karnataka}}
By virtue of its varied geography and long history, Karnataka hosts numerous spots of interest for tourists. There is an array of ancient sculptured temples, modern cities, scenic hill ranges, unexplored forests and endless beaches. Karnataka has been ranked as the fourth most popular destination for tourism among the states of India. Karnataka has the second highest number of nationally protected monuments in India, second only to Uttar Pradesh, in addition to 752 monuments protected by the State Directorate of Archaeology and Museums. Another 25,000 monuments are yet to receive protection.
The districts of the
Western GhatsThe Western Ghats, Western Ghauts or the Sahyādri is a mountain range along the western side of India. It runs north to south along the western edge of the Deccan Plateau, and separates the plateau from a narrow coastal plain along the Arabian Sea. The Western Ghats block rainfall to the Deccan...
and the southern districts of the state have popular eco-tourism locations including
KudremukhKudremukh also spelled Kuduremukha is a mountain range in Chikkamagaluru district, in Karnataka, India. It is also the name of a small hill station town situated near the mountain, about 48 kilometers from Karkala and about 20 kilometers from Kalasa...
,
Madikeri and
AgumbeAgumbe is a village located in the Shimoga district in the state of Karnataka, India. Lying in the Thirthahalli taluk and the Malnad region, Agumbe is among the places in India that receive very heavy rainfall earning it the sobriquet, "Cherrapunji of the South". It is also the home of the Agumbe...
. Karnataka has 25 wildlife sanctuaries and five national parks. Popular among them are
Bandipur National ParkBandipur National Park is one of India's best known protected areas and is an important Project Tiger reserve. It is located in the Chamarajanagar district of southern Karnataka in South India,...
,
Bannerghatta National ParkBannerghatta National Park is situated 22 km south of Bangalore, Karnataka, India. The journey to the park takes nearly one and a half hours from Bangalore. This hilly place is the home for one of the richest natural, zoological reserves...
and
Nagarhole National ParkNagarhole National Park , also known as "Rajiv Gandhi National Park", is located from Mysore in Karnataka in South India. It is spread between Kodagu district and Mysore district. Located to the north-west of Bandipur National Park, Kabini reservoir separates the two. The park has rich forest...
. The ruins of the Vijayanagara Empire at
HampiHampi is a village in northern Karnataka state, India. It is located within the ruins of Vijayanagara, the former capital of the Vijayanagara Empire. Predating the city of Vijayanagara, it continues to be an important religious centre, housing the Virupaksha Temple, as well as several other...
and the monuments of
PattadakalPattadakal is a village in Karnataka. It lies on the banks of the Malaprabha River in Bagalkot district. It is 22 km from Badami and about 10 km from Aihole...
are on the list of
UNESCOThe United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
's
World Heritage SiteA UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance...
s. The cave temples at
BadamiBadami , formerly known as Vatapi, is a town and headquarters of a taluk by the same name, in the Bagalkot district of Karnataka, India. It was the regal capital of the Badami Chalukyas from 540 to 757 AD. It is famous for rock cut and other structural temples...
and the rock-cut temples at
AiholeAihole is a temple complex in the Bagalkot district of Karnataka, India. It is a very popular tourist spot in north Karnataka. It lies to the east of Pattadakal, along the Malaprabha River, while Badami is to the west of both....
representing the Badami Chalukyan style of architecture are also popular tourist destinations. The
HoysalaThe Hoysala Empire was a prominent South Indian Kannadiga empire that ruled most of the modern day state of Karnataka between the 10th and the 14th centuries. The capital of the Hoysalas was initially located at Belur but was later moved to Halebidu....
temples at
BelurBelur may refer to any of the following:* Belur, Karnataka, town in Karnataka, India* Belur, West Bengal, India, a locality on the west bank of the Hooghly River* Belur Math, the religious abbey located in Belur, West Bengal, India...
and
HalebiduHalebidu is located in Hassan District, Karnataka, India. Halebidu was the regal capital of the Hoysala Empire in the 12th century. It is home to one of the best examples of Hoysala architecture in the ornate Hoysaleswara and Kedareswara temples. Halebidu literally means ruined city...
, which were built with Chloritic schist (
soapstoneSoapstone is a metamorphic rock, a talc-schist. It is largely composed of the mineral talc and is thus rich in magnesium. It is produced by dynamothermal metamorphism and metasomatism, which occurs in the areas where tectonic plates are subducted, changing rocks by heat and pressure, with influx...
) are proposed UNESCO World Heritage sites. The
Gol GumbazGol Gumbaz is the mausoleum of Mohammed Adil Shah, Sultan of Bijapur. The tomb, located in Bijapur, Karnataka in southern India, was completed in 1656 by the architect Yaqut of Dabul...
and Ibrahim Rauza are famous examples of the Deccan Sultanate style of architecture. The monolith of Gomateshwara
BahubaliAccording to Jainism, Bahubali, called Gomateshwara , was the second of the hundred sons of the first Tirthankara, Rishabha, and king of Podanpur. The Adipurana, a 10th century Kannada text by Jain poet Adikavi Pampa According to Jainism, Bahubali, called Gomateshwara , was the second of the...
at
ShravanabelagolaShravana Belgola is a city located in the Hassan district in the Indian state of Karnataka and is 158 km from Bangalore. The statue of Gommateshvara Bahubali at Śravaṇa Beḷgoḷa is one of the most important pilgrimage destinations in Jainism, one that reached a peak in architectural and sculptural...
is the tallest sculpted monolith in the world, attracting tens of thousands of pilgrims during the
MahamastakabhishekaThe Mahamasthakabhisheka is an important Jain festival held once every twelve years in the town of Shravanabelagola in Karnataka, India. The festival is held in veneration of an immense 18 meter high statue of the siddha Bahubali...
festival.
The waterfalls of Karnataka and
KudremukhKudremukh also spelled Kuduremukha is a mountain range in Chikkamagaluru district, in Karnataka, India. It is also the name of a small hill station town situated near the mountain, about 48 kilometers from Karkala and about 20 kilometers from Kalasa...
are listed as must-see places and among the "1001 Natural Wonders of the World".
Jog FallsJog Falls , created by the Sharavathi River falling from a height of is the second-highest plunge waterfall in India Located in Sagara, Karnataka Shimoga District of Karnataka state, these segmented falls are a major tourist attraction...
is
India's tallest single-tiered waterfall with
Gokak FallsThe Gokak Falls is a waterfall located on the Ghataprabha River in Belgaum district of Karnataka, India. The waterfall is six kilometers away from Gokak...
, Unchalli Falls,
Magod FallsMagod Falls is a group of waterfalls in Karnataka, India, where the river Bedti falls from a height of nearly 200m in two steps.-See also:* List of waterfalls in India* List of waterfalls in India by height...
,
Abbey FallsAbbey Falls is in Kodagu, in the Western Ghats in Karnataka, India...
and Shivanasamudra Falls among other popular waterfalls.
{{j|Several popular beaches}} dot the coastline, including
MurudeshwaraMurudeshwara is a town in the Bhatkal Taluk of Uttara Kannada district in the state of Karnataka, India. "Murudeshwara" is another name of the Hindu god Shiva...
,
GokarnaGokarna is a village in the Uttara Kannada district of the Karnataka state, India. It is a Hindu pilgrimage centre as well as a tourist destination in India. Gokarna is a temple town and is referred to in a number of Hindu historical literature pieces. The main deity is Lord Mahabhaleshwara, a...
and
KarwarKarwar is the administrative headquarters of Uttara Kannada district in Karnataka, India. It is a seaside town situated on the banks of the Kali river which is on the west coast of the Indian peninsula. The town lies about 15 kilometres south of the Karnataka–Goa border and 519 km north-west...
. In addition, Karnataka is home to several places of religious importance. Several Hindu temples including the famous Udupi Sri Krishna Matha, the Marikamba Temple at Sirsi, the Sri Manjunatha Temple at
DharmasthalaDharmasthala is a temple village on the banks of the Nethravathi River in the Belthangadi taluk of the Dakshina Kannada district in Karnataka....
, Kukke Subramanya Temple and Sharadamba Temple at
ShringeriSringeri , also written as Sringeri, Śŗngeri and Śŗngagiri is a hill town and taluk headquarters located in Chikmagalur district in the Indian state of Karnataka, is the site of the first maţha established by Adi Shankaracharya, Hindu theologian and exponent of the Advaita Vedanta philosophy, in...
attract pilgrims from all over India. Most of the holy sites of
LingayatismLingayatism, also known as Veerashaivism, is a distinct Shaivite denomination in India. It makes several departures from mainstream Hinduism and propounds monotheism through worship centered on Lord Shiva. It also rejects the authority of the Vedas and the caste system. The adherents of this faith...
, like
KudalasangamaKudalasangama in India is an important center of pilgrimage for people of the Lingayat faith. It is located about 15 km from the Almatti Dam in Bagalkot district of Karnataka state. The Krishna river and Ghataprabha river merge here and flow east towards Srisaila in state of Andhra Pradesh...
and
Basavana BagewadiBasavana Bagewadi in India is an important center of pilgrimage for people of the Lingayat faith. It is located in Bijapur district of Karnataka state. This is the birth place of Basavanna, the founder of the Lingayat and is therefore an important center of pilgrimage for Lingayats....
, are found in northern parts of the state.
ShravanabelagolaShravana Belgola is a city located in the Hassan district in the Indian state of Karnataka and is 158 km from Bangalore. The statue of Gommateshvara Bahubali at Śravaṇa Beḷgoḷa is one of the most important pilgrimage destinations in Jainism, one that reached a peak in architectural and sculptural...
, Mudabidri and
KarkalaKarkala is a town and the headquarters of Karkala taluk in the Udupi district of Karnataka, India. Located about 380 km from Bangalore, it lies near the Western Ghats....
are famous for Jain history and monuments. Jainism had a stronghold in Karnataka in the early medieval period with Shravanabelagola as its most important center.
Recently Karnataka has emerged as a hot spot for health care tourism. Karnataka has the highest number of approved health systems and alternative therapies in India. Along with some ISO certified government-owned hospitals, private institutions which provide international-quality services have caused the health care industry to grow by 30% during 2004-05. Hospitals in Karnataka treat around 8,000 health tourists every year.
{{clear}}
See also
{{satop|Geography|Eurasia|Asia|South Asia|India|Karnataka|Bangalore}}
{{clear}}
External links
{{Commons category}}
{{Geographic location
|Centre = Karnataka
|North =
MaharashtraMaharashtra is a state located in India. It is the second most populous after Uttar Pradesh and third largest state by area in India...
|Northeast =
|East =
Andhra PradeshAndhra 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...
|Southeast =
Tamil NaduTamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh...
|South =
Keralaor Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....
|Southwest =
|West =
Arabian SeaThe Arabian Sea is a region of the Indian Ocean bounded on the east by India, on the north by Pakistan and Iran, on the west by the Arabian Peninsula, on the south, approximately, by a line between Cape Guardafui in northeastern Somalia and Kanyakumari in India...
|Northwest =
GoaGoa , a former Portuguese colony, is India's smallest state by area and the fourth smallest by population. Located in South West India in the region known as the Konkan, it is bounded by the state of Maharashtra to the north, and by Karnataka to the east and south, while the Arabian Sea forms its...
}}
{{Hindu temples in Karnataka}}
{{Karnataka topics}}
{{States and territories of India}}
{{Archaeological sites and Monuments in Karnataka}}
{{Featured article}}