Chamarajanagar or Chamarajanagara is the southernmost district in the state of
Karnataka
Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...
,
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
. It was carved out of the original larger
Mysore District
Mysore district, officially Mysuru district is an administrative district located in the southern part of the state of Karnataka, India. It is the administrative headquarters of Mysore division.Chamarajanagar district, Chamarajanagar District wa ...
in 1998.
Chamarajanagar
Chamarajanagar or Chamarajanagara is a town in the southern part of Karnataka, India. Named after Chamaraja Wodeyar IX, the erstwhile king of Mysore, previously known as 'Arikottara'. Chamarajanagara is the headquarters of Chamarajanagar distr ...
town is the headquarters of this district.
It is the third least populous district in Karnataka (out of 30), after
Kodagu
Kodagu (also known by its former name Coorg) is an administrative district in the Karnataka state of India. Before 1956, it was an administratively separate Coorg State, at which point it was merged into an enlarged Mysore State.
It occupies ...
and
Bangalore Rural
Bangalore Rural district, is one of the 31 districts in Karnataka, India. It was formed in 1986, when Bangalore District was divided into Bangalore Rural and Bangalore Urban. Presently in Bangalore Rural district, there are 1 division, 4 taluk ...
.
History
Chamarajanagar was earlier known as Sri Arikottara.
Chamaraja Wodeyar
Chamarajendra Wadiyar X (22 February 1863 – 28 December 1894) was the twenty-third Maharaja of Mysore between 1868 and 1894.
Adoption and accession
Chamarajendra Wadiyar X was born in the old palace in Mysore on 22 February 1863, as the thi ...
, the Wodeyar of Mysuru was born here and hence this place was renamed after him. The Vijaya Parsvanath Basadi, a holy Jain shrine was constructed by Punisadandanayaka, the commander of the Hoysala king Gangaraja in the year 1117 AD.
Geography
Being the southernmost district of
Karnataka
Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...
, Chamarajanagar district borders the state of
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...
and
Kerala
Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...
. Specifically, it borders
Mysore
Mysore (), officially Mysuru (), is a city in the southern part of the state of Karnataka, India. Mysore city is geographically located between 12° 18′ 26″ north latitude and 76° 38′ 59″ east longitude. It is located at an altitude of ...
district of
Karnataka
Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...
to the west and north,
Mandya
Mandya is a city in the state of Karnataka. It is the headquarter of Mandya district and is located from Mysore and from Bangalore.
Sugar factories contribute to the major economic output. It is also called Sugar city (which in Kannada mean ...
and
Ramanagara
Ramanagara is a city in the Indian state of Karnataka. It is also the headquarters of Ramanagara district. It is approximately 50 kilometres from Bangalore. There are buses and trains as public transportations which approximately takes 90 minute ...
districts of Karnataka to the north-east,
Dharmapuri
Dharmapuri is a special grade town in the north western part of Tamil Nadu, India. It serves as the administrative headquarters of Dharmapuri district which is the first district created in Tamil Nadu after the independence of India by splitti ...
and
Krishnagiri
Krishnagiri () is a city in the state of Tamil Nadu, India, and it serves as the administrative headquarters of Krishnagiri District formed in 2004. It is located at the bottom of Krishnadevaraya Hills, and the town is fully surrounded by hill ...
districts of Tamil Nadu to the east, Salem to south-east,
Erode
Erode () is a city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Erode is the seventh largest urban agglomeration in the state, after Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai, Tiruchirapalli, Tiruppur and Salem. It is also the administrative headquarters of the E ...
districts and
Nilgiris district
The Nilgiris district () is one of the 38 districts in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Nilgiri ( en, Blue Mountains) is the name given to a range of mountains spread across the borders among the states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Ker ...
of Tamil Nadu to the south, and to the extreme south-west, there is a very small border with
Wayanad
Wayanad () is a district in the north-east of Indian state Kerala with administrative headquarters at the municipality of Kalpetta. It is the only plateau in Kerala. The Wayanad Plateau forms a continuation of the Mysore Plateau, the southern ...
district of Kerala.
Most of the district lies in the leeward region of the
Nilgiris
The Nilgiri Mountains form part of the Western Ghats in northwestern Tamil Nadu, Southern Karnataka, and eastern Kerala in India. They are located at the trijunction of three states and connect the Western Ghats with the Eastern Ghats. At le ...
and consists of mainly semi-arid rain-dependent flatlands along with forested hills.
Roads
Three national highways of India pass through Chamarajanagara district namely NH-766, NH-181, and NH-948. Some state highways of Karnataka pass through this district.
National Highway 948 ( previously NH 209), which starts from Bengaluru in Karnataka state and ends at Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu, passes through the following places namely
Kanakapura
Kanakapura is a town in the Ramanagara district of Karnataka on the banks of the Arkavathi river and the administrative center of the taluk of the same name. Previously belonged to Bangalore Rural District. It was formerly the largest constit ...
Kollegal
Kollegal is one of the major taluks in the Chamarajanagara District of Karnataka State in the south of India. It is also the largest taluk in Karnataka, Kollegal is well known for its silk industry which attracts traders from all over the stat ...
,
Chamarajanagar
Chamarajanagar or Chamarajanagara is a town in the southern part of Karnataka, India. Named after Chamaraja Wodeyar IX, the erstwhile king of Mysore, previously known as 'Arikottara'. Chamarajanagara is the headquarters of Chamarajanagar distr ...
, Punajanur and enters Tamil Nadu.It further goes to Hasanur, Dhimbam ghat,Thalamalai,
Bannari
{{Infobox settlement
, name = Bannari
, other_name =
, type = village
, image_skyline = Bannari range.jpg
, image_alt =
, image_caption = Bannari plains seen fro ...
,
Satyamangalam
Sathyamangalam (also known as Sathy) is a town and municipality in Erode district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. 8 th century Town. It lies on the banks of the River Bhavani, a tributary of the River Cauvery in the foothills of the West ...
, Pullampatti,
Annur
Annur is a town Panchayat and Taluk headquarters of Annur Taluk of coimbatore district. It is a suburb of Coimbatore city located north-east about from the center of the city. Nearest airport is Coimbatore International Airport, which is ...
ends at Coimbatore. Few
KSRTC
KSRTC may refer to:
* Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation
* Kerala State Road Transport Corporation
Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) is a state-owned road transport corporation in the Indian state of Kerala. It is one o ...
buses run on NH 948. There are many roads from Chamarajanagara district to neighbouring taminadu state. One road connects
Kollegal
Kollegal is one of the major taluks in the Chamarajanagara District of Karnataka State in the south of India. It is also the largest taluk in Karnataka, Kollegal is well known for its silk industry which attracts traders from all over the stat ...
to Hasanur via Dhondenling and Germalam. There is a buddhist monastery at Dhondeling. Another road connects
Kollegal
Kollegal is one of the major taluks in the Chamarajanagara District of Karnataka State in the south of India. It is also the largest taluk in Karnataka, Kollegal is well known for its silk industry which attracts traders from all over the stat ...
a to Anthiyur via
Hanur
Hanur is a town in Chamrajnagar district of Karnataka State, India.
Economy
Hanur is a commercial centre for many nearby villages like Ramapura, Lokkanahalli, Bylore, Odeyarpalya, Martalli, Ajjipura, Bandalli, Cowdalli, Mangala, Kamagere, an ...
, Ramapura, Burgur and Moongilpalya. The road from Kollegala to
Mettur
Mettur is an industrial and tourist town located in the Salem district in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. It is best known for the Mettur Dam which is the largest dam in south India.
Mettur is also known for its power generation, chemical ma ...
goes through Hanur Kowdalli( Cowdalli), Male Mahadeshwara Betta( MM Hills), Palar, Govindapadi, Kaveripuram and Kolathur. The above-mentioned three roads pass through forest teeming with wild animals, including elephants, Indian Bison, leopards and tigers. These roads are isolated and narrow at many stretches without any human habitation or cellular phone signals.
National Highway 181 connects
Gundlupet
Gundlupet also known as Land of Tigers (''Gundlupētē'' in Kannada) is a municipal town situated in the Chamarajanagar district of Karnataka, India. It is also known as "''The flower pot of India''". It is situated 60 km away from NH 766 and ...
e town of Chamarajanagara district with
Ooty
Ooty (), officially known as Udhagamandalam (also known as Ootacamund (); abbreviated as Udhagai), is a city and a municipality in the Nilgiris district of the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located north west of Coimbatore and so ...
via Bandipura and Gudalur. National Highway 766 connects Gundlupete with Kalpetta via Mulehole and Sulthan bathery. The national highways 181 and 766 are closed for private vehicles at night in stretch between Gundlupete and neighbouring states.. Only state government buses are allowed at night in these section of highway.
Demographics
According to the 2011 census Chamarajanagar district has a
population
Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction using a ...
of 1,020,791, roughly equal to the nation of
Cyprus
Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...
or the US state of
Montana
Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...
. This gives it a ranking of 441st in India (out of a total of 640). The district has a population density of . Its
population growth rate
Population growth is the increase in the number of people in a population or dispersed group. Actual global human population growth amounts to around 83 million annually, or 1.1% per year. The global population has grown from 1 billion in 1800 to ...
over the decade 2001-2011 was 5.75%. Chamarajanagar has a
sex ratio
The sex ratio (or gender ratio) is usually defined as the ratio of males to females in a population. As explained by Fisher's principle, for evolutionary reasons this is typically about 1:1 in species which reproduce sexually. Many species devia ...
of 989
females
Female (symbol: ♀) is the sex of an organism that produces the large non-motile ova (egg cells), the type of gamete (sex cell) that fuses with the male gamete during sexual reproduction.
A female has larger gametes than a male. Females a ...
for every 1000 males, and a
literacy rate
Literacy in its broadest sense describes "particular ways of thinking about and doing reading and writing" with the purpose of understanding or expressing thoughts or ideas in written form in some specific context of use. In other words, huma ...
of 61.43%. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes make up 25.42% and 11.78% of the population respectively.
The district has a high percentage of Scheduled Castes, with a population of 259,000, making up a quarter of the district's population. Having a large percentage of forest cover the district also has a high population of tribals, mostly the Nayakas but also forest tribes like the Soligas,
Yerava
The Ravula (Adyar in Malayalam, Yerava in Kannada) are a tribal community in Karnataka and Kerala. Their common language is known as the Ravula language. They live predominantly the Kodagu district of Karnataka along with its adjacent regions ...
s,
Jenu Kuruba
The Jenu Kuruba are a tribal group from the Nilgiris, numbering around 37000. They are concentrated in the districts bordering the states of Kerala and Karnataka. 'Jenu' means 'honey' in Kannada, referring to their traditional occupation as collect ...
s and
Betta Kuruba
Kuruba is a Hindu caste native to the Indian state of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. They are the third-largest caste group in Karnataka. Traditionally, they were agriculturalists and cattle farmers. The origins of kuruba i ...
s. These tribals have their own languages and their total population is around 120,000, and make up 12% of the district population. Other communities include Lingayats, Muslims and Vokkaligas.
At the time of the 2011 census, 86.10% of the population spoke
Kannada
Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...
, 4.58%
Tamil
Tamil may refer to:
* Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia
**Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils
**Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia
* Tamil language, nativ ...
Telugu
Telugu may refer to:
* Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India
*Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India
* Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language
** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode
S ...
as their first language.
Crime
Since much of the southern area of the district is dense forest, it provided good refuge to the notorious bandit
Veerappan
Koose Munisamy Veerappan (18 January 1952 – 18 October 2004) was an Indian bandit turned domestic terrorist who was active for 36 years, and kidnapped major politicians for ransom. He was charged with sandalwood smuggling and poaching o ...
, responsible for the death of over a hundred policemen in both states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. He was shot dead in an encounter with the specially formed Special Task Force (STF) on 18 October 2004, in
Dharmapuri
Dharmapuri is a special grade town in the north western part of Tamil Nadu, India. It serves as the administrative headquarters of Dharmapuri district which is the first district created in Tamil Nadu after the independence of India by splitti ...
district, Tamil Nadu. He had been on the run for over two decades. The presence of illegal quarrying for black stone imposes a great threat to the forests in the region.
Tourist attractions
The main tourist attractions are Sri Chamarajeshwara temple in
Chamarajanagar
Chamarajanagar or Chamarajanagara is a town in the southern part of Karnataka, India. Named after Chamaraja Wodeyar IX, the erstwhile king of Mysore, previously known as 'Arikottara'. Chamarajanagara is the headquarters of Chamarajanagar distr ...
,
Biligiriranga Hills
The Biligirirangana Hills or Biligirirangan Hills (as referred to in biology and geology) is a hill range situated in south-western Karnataka, at its border with Tamil Nadu (Erode District) in South India. The area is called Biligiri Ranganatha ...
, K Gudi,
Male Mahadeshwara Hills
Male Mahadeshwara Betta (Kannada: ಮಲೆ ಮಹದೇಶ್ವರ (also ಮಾದೇಶ್ವರ))is a pilgrim town located in the Hanur taluk of Chamarajanagar district of southern Karnataka. It is situated at about 150 km from Mysuru a ...
, Gundal dam, Suvarnavati dam,
Hogenakal Falls
Hogenakkal Falls (' ஒகேனக்கல் அருவி', ' ಹೊಗೇನಕಲ್ ಜಲಪಾತ') is a waterfall in South India on the Kaveri river on the border between Dharmapuri district of Tamil Nadu and Chamrajnagar district ...
Bandipur national park
Bandipur National Park is a national park covering in Chamarajnagar district in the Indian state of Karnataka. It was established as a tiger reserve under Project Tiger in 1973.
It is part of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve since 1986.
History
...
,
Gopalaswamy Hills
Himavad Gopalaswamy Betta, is a hill (betta in Kannada) located in the Gundlupete Taluk, Chamarajanagar district of the state of Karnataka, India at a height of 1450m and is extensively wooded. It is also the highest peak in the Bandipur Na ...
in Gundlupet and many.
Notable people
*
Dr.Rajkumar
Singanalluru Puttaswamaiah Muthuraj (24 April 1929 – 12 April 2006), better known by his stage name Dr. Rajkumar, was an Indian actor and singer who worked in Kannada cinema. Regarded as one of the greatest actors in the history of Cinema of ...
- actor
* Samsa - first historical playwright in Modern Kannada
* B. Rachaiah - politician
*
B. S. Madhava Rao
Bangalore Srinivasarao Madhava Rao (29 May 1900 – 11 June 1987) was an Indian mathematician and physicist who served as a professor of mathematics at Central College, Bangalore. He worked on mathematical physics and collaborated with Max Born ...
S. Mahendar
S. Mahendar is an Indian film director working in Kannada cinema. He is also a politician with the BJP contesting from Kollegal constituency in Karnataka. He debuted into cinema with ''Pranayada Pakshigalu'' (1992) and went to direct for over ...
- filmmaker
*
Avinash
Avinash Yelandur (born 22 December 1959) is an Indian actor who stars predominantly in South Indian language films, notably in the Kannada and Tamil film industries. He has been in the industry for two decades and has acted in over 200 films. Kn ...