Davanagere district is an administrative 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 ''Kar ...

state in India. It is the centre of Karnataka. The city of

Davanagere Davanagere is a city in the centre of the southern Indian state of Karnataka. It is the seventh largest city in the state, and the administrative headquarters of eponymous Davangere district. Hitherto being a cotton hub and hence popularly know ...

is the district headquarters. It had a population of 1,643,494 of which 32.31% was urban as of 2011. This district was separated from

Chitradurga district 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 ...

in 1997 by the then Chief minister of Karnataka J. H. Patel including Chennagiri and Honali Taluks

Shimoga Shimoga, officially known as Shivamogga, is a city and the district headquarters of Shimoga district in the central part of the state of Karnataka, India. The city lies on the banks of the Tunga River. Being the gateway for the hilly region of ...

district. The district lies in the central plains of the state with its unique features of having an influence of the north and the south of the state. The prominent towns in this district are

Harihar Harihara ( also called ''Harihar'') is a city in Davanagere District in the Indian state of Karnataka. It is the administrative headquarters of the Harihara Taluk. Harihara is famous for Harihareshwara temple, also known as "Dakshina Kashi", a ...

a, Jagalur, Honnali Channagiri and

Nyamati Nyamati is taluk place located in Davangere District of the Karnataka state, India. It is approximately 108 km south of Davangere and 26 km north of Shivamogga. Etymology It is believed that the name Nyamati was derived from earl ...

, these also happen to be its six other taluks. It is bound by

Shimoga district Shimoga district, officially known as Shivamogga district, is a district in the Karnataka state of India. A major part of Shimoga district lies in the Malnad region or the Sahyadri. Shimoga city is its administrative centre. Jog Falls view p ...

and

Haveri district Haveri is a district in the state of Karnataka, India. As of 2011, it had a population of 1,597,668, out of which 20.78% were urban residents. The district headquarters is Haveri. Name of the place Haveri is derived from two Kannada words "Hav ...

on the west,

on the east, Vijayanagara district on the north, and

Chikmagalur district Chikmagalur, officially Chikkamagaluru is an administrative district in the Malnad subregion of Karnataka, India. Coffee was first cultivated in India in Chikmagalur. The hills of Chikmagalur are parts of the Western Ghauts and the source of ...

on the south. The Davanagere district has 6 taluks, 20

hobli A hobli, nad or mágani is a cluster of adjoining villages administered together for tax and land tenure purposes in the states of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, India. This clustering of villages was formed mainly to streamline the collection of t ...

s, 197

gram panchayat Gram Panchayat () is a basic village-governing institute in Indian villages. It is a democratic structure at the grass-roots level in India. It is a political institute, acting as cabinet of the village. The Gram Sabha work as the general bo ...

s, 652

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

s, 904 habitations, and 2 city municipal councils and one City Corporation.

History

This area was once ruled by the Mauryas, and then later the Sathavahanas. The area was later taken over by the Kadambas, who were soon displaced by the

Chalukyas The Chalukya dynasty () was a Classical Indian dynasty that ruled large parts of southern and central India between the 6th and the 12th centuries. During this period, they ruled as three related yet individual dynasties. The earliest dynast ...

of Badami. An inscription from Anaji dating to the 9th century CE indicates a branch of the Pallavas called the Nolambas ruled part of the district. Part of the district was briefly conquered by a branch of the Gangas in Asandi. By the middle of the 8th century, the Rashtrakutas from Malkhed had established supremacy over the Chalukyas, and conquered territory south to Tumkur. An inscription in the Bagali temple indicates part of Davanagere district was ruled by a Chalukya feudatory of the

Rashtrakutas Rashtrakuta (IAST: ') (r. 753-982 CE) was a royal Indian dynasty ruling large parts of the Indian subcontinent between the sixth and 10th centuries. The earliest known Rashtrakuta inscription is a 7th-century copper plate grant detailing their ...

in the 10th century. Other parts continued to be ruled by the Nolambas as feudatories of the Rashtrakutas. When Rashtrakuta power began collapsing, the Nolambas switched their loyalty to the Gangas and fought against the Chola invasions. When the Chalukyas of Kalyani gained in power, the Nolambas became loyal to them. When the Cholas sacked Kampli, they appointed some of their Pandya vassals as governors of Nolambavadi corresponding to part of Davanagere. The Kalachuris, who were also feudatories of the Chalukyas, were soon given charge of the entire south of Chalukya domains. Their ruler Bijjala II overthrew the Chalukyas and his dynasty ruled until 1181, when the Chalukya prince Someshwara IV took back the throne. Briefly the

Hoysalas The Hoysala Empire was a Kannadiga power originating from the Indian subcontinent that ruled most of what is now Karnataka between the 10th and the 14th centuries. The capital of the Hoysalas was initially located at Belur, but was later move ...

ruled parts of Davanagere district in the late 12th century before the region was taken by the

Yadavas of Devagiri The Seuna, Sevuna, or Yadavas of Devagiri ( IAST: Seuṇa, –1317) was a Medieval Indian dynasty, which at its peak ruled a kingdom stretching from the Narmada river in the north to the Tungabhadra river in the south, in the western part of ...

. The Yadava and Hoysala rule in the region was overthrown by the invasions of

Malik Kafur Malik Kafur (died 1316), also known as Taj al-Din Izz al-Dawla, was a prominent slave-general of the Delhi Sultanate ruler Alauddin Khalji. He was captured by Alauddin's general Nusrat Khan during the 1299 invasion of Gujarat, and rose to promi ...

of the Delhi Sultanate in the 14th century, but soon the district came under the control of the

Vijayanagara Empire The Vijayanagara Empire, also called the Karnata Kingdom, was a Hindu empire based in the region of South India, which consisted the modern states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Goa and some parts of Telangana and Mahar ...

direct from

Vijayanagara Vijayanagara () was the capital city of the historic Vijayanagara Empire. Located on the banks of the Tungabhadra River, it spread over a large area and included the modern era Group of Monuments at Hampi site in Vijayanagara district, Bellar ...

. After the VIjayanagara Empire was severely weakened in 1565 after the

Battle of Talikota The Battle of Talikota (23 January 1565) was a watershed battle fought between the Vijayanagara Empire and an alliance of the Deccan sultanates. The battle resulted in the defeat of Aliya Rama Raya which led to the eventual collapse of the polit ...

, the local nayakas in Davanagere started asserting their independence. Some of these chiefs were allowed to rule as feudatories of the Adlil Shahis of Bijapur. Both the Mughals and Marathas briefly captured forts in the district. In 1763, one of these families, the Nayaks of Belagutti, submitted to

Hyder Ali Hyder Ali ( حیدر علی, ''Haidarālī''; 1720 – 7 December 1782) was the Sultan and ''de facto'' ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore in southern India. Born as Hyder Ali, he distinguished himself as a soldier, eventually drawing the at ...

and the district was under the rule of

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 ...

. Dhondia Wagh of Channagiri who had created an independent principality resisted the Britishers after Tipu Sultan's defeat until his death in 1800. The district then was kept by Mysore state.

Geography

Davanagere district lies in the plain region on the

Deccan Plateau The large Deccan Plateau in southern India is located between the Western Ghats and the Eastern Ghats, and is loosely defined as the peninsular region between these ranges that is south of the Narmada river. To the north, it is bounded by t ...

locally known as Bayaluseeme. The district is bounded by

in the northwest,

in the southwest,

in the south,

in the southeast and Vijayanagara district in the north. The district lies in the center of Karnataka between the latitudes 13°5' and 14°50' N and between the longitudes 75°30' and 76°30' E. There are many windy places within the district favouring the recent growth of wind energy industry across the district. The district has an area of .

Economy

In 2006 the

Ministry of Panchayati Raj The Ministry of Panchayati Raj is a branch of the Government of India. Ministry of Panchayati Raj looks into all matters relating to the Panchayati Raj and Panchayati Raj Institutions. It was created in May 2004. The ministry is headed by a m ...

named Davanagere one of the country's 250 most backward districts (out of a total of

640 Year 640 (Roman numerals, DCXL) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 640 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar er ...

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

Demographics

According to the 2011 census Davanagere 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 ...

of 1,945,497 roughly equal to the nation of

Lesotho Lesotho ( ), officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is a country landlocked as an enclave in South Africa. It is situated in the Maloti Mountains and contains the highest mountains in Southern Africa. It has an area of over and has a populatio ...

or the US state of

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the ...

. This gives it a ranking of 241 amongst a total of 640 districts in India. 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 8.71%. Davanagere 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 de ...

of 967

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, hum ...

of 76.3%. After transfer of Harapanahalli taluk the district had a population of 1,643,494. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes make up 19.4% and 11.1% of the population respectively. At the time of the 2011 census, 77.3% 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 ...

, 13.87%

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

, 3.03%

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 ...

, 3.01%

Lambadi Lambadi, Gor Boli, Banjara, Labanki or Banjari is a language spoken by the once nomadic Banjara people across India,Ancient Pastoral Nomadic Community of India Ancient Warrior Community/Raajputs Medieval Traders/Grain Carriers Modern Grain Tra ...

and 1.04%

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people *Palaiosouda, also known as Marathi, a small island in Greece See also * * ...

as their first language.

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control Districts of Karnataka 1997 establishments in Karnataka