Chamarajanagar or Chamarajanagara is a town in the southern part of

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO 15919, ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reor ...

, India. Named after

Chamaraja Wodeyar IX Chamaraja Wodeyar IX (28 February 1774 – 17 April 1796) was the twenty-first maharaja of the Kingdom of Mysore from 1776 for two decades until 1796. Life Chamaraja Wodeyar IX was a son of Chikka Devaraj Urs of Arikuthara of the Karugahalli ...

, the erstwhile

king of Mysore The Kingdom of Mysore was a realm in South India, southern India, traditionally believed to have been founded in 1399 in the vicinity of the modern city of Mysore. From 1799 until 1950, it was a princely state, until 1947 in a subsidiary allia ...

, previously known as 'Arikottara'. Chamarajanagara is the headquarters of

Chamarajanagar district Chamarajanagar or Chamarajanagara is the southernmost district in the state of Karnataka, India. It was carved out of the original larger Mysore District in 1998. Chamarajanagar town is the headquarters of this district. It is the third leas ...

. It is located on the interstate highway linking the neighboring states of

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, whose Tamil language ...

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 Ca ...

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

Chamarajnagar is located at . It has an average elevation of .

Demographics

As of the 2011

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses inc ...

, Chamrajanagar had a population of 69875. Males constituted 51% of the population and females 49%. Chamrajanagar has an average literacy rate of 60%, higher than the national average of 59.5%; with male literacy of 65% and female literacy of 54%. 12% of the population is under 6 years of age.

Transport

Chamarajanagar railway station The Chamarajanagar railway station is situated on the Mysore–Chamarajanagar branch line. The station is located in Chamarajanagara district, Karnataka state, India. It serves Chamarajanagara Chamarajanagar or Chamarajanagara is a town ...

is the southernmost rail point in Karnataka. There is a direct train to Tirupati which starts at three in the afternoon and a direct train to Bengaluru in the morning. The nearest airport is

Mysore airport Mysore Airport , also known as Mandakalli Airport, is a domestic airport serving Mysore, a city in the Indian state of Karnataka. It is located near the village of Mandakalli, south of the city, and is owned and operated by the Airports Aut ...

and the nearest international airports are in

Coimbatore International Airport Coimbatore International Airport is the primary airport serving the industrial cities of Coimbatore and Tiruppur in Tamil Nadu, India. It is located in the neighbourhood of Peelamedu, about from the center of Coimbatore. It is the 18th-bus ...

and

Kempegowda International Airport Kempegowda International Airport is an international airport serving Bangalore, the capital of Karnataka, India. Spread over , it is located about north of the city near the suburb of Devanahalli. It is owned and operated by Bengaluru Int ...

Religious Scenario

Maaravva or Maaramma is the most widely worshiped deity in the town, more than ten temples of Maaravva can be found in the town. Chamarajeshwara Temple and Haralu Kote Anjaneya Temple are the biggest and the oldest temples respectively. Apart from these, the town has many temples. As far as other religious beliefs are concerned, the town has more than 15 mosques, 5 churches, 2 Jain Basadis, and 2 Buddha Viharas.

Bandit Veerappan

Since a lot of the southern area of the district is dense forest, it provides 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. 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 sp ...

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.

Image gallery

File:Ayyappa Temple, Chamarajanagara.jpg, Ayyappa Temple File:Masjidh-e-Fathima, Chamarajanagara.jpg, Fathima Mosque File:Muslim Cemetry, Chamarajanagar.jpg, Muslim Cemetery File:Railway Station at Chamarajanagara.jpg, Chamarajanagar Railway Station File:Sri-Chamarajeshwara-Swamy-Temple.jpg, Chamarajeshwara temple

References

External links

{{Wikivoyage, Chamarajnagar
http://chamrajnagar.nic.in

https://web.archive.org/web/20110903082210/http://www.chamarajanagaracity.gov.in/
Cities and towns in Chamarajanagar district