District Profile

With re-organization of the district in 1997, the new Bagalkot district has come into existence during 50 ^th year of India’s independence.  The bifurcated Bagalkot district consists of six C.D. blocks namely Badami, Bagalkot, Bilagi, Hunugund, Jamakhandi and Mudhol .

The district is located in the northern part of Karnataka. The most elevated portion of the district lies between 450 to 800 meters above the sea level extends over an area of 6593 sq. kms. 

The district is bounded by Bijapur district towards north, Gadag district towards south, Raichur district towards east, Koppal district towards south east and Belgaum district towards west . 

Historical Background         Top

Historically It is the home land of great chalukya dynasty. Aihole is place described as the laboratory for architecture rather a university of Indian architecture. Badami is famous internationally for caves carved in monolithic single stone in the period of Immadi Pulakeshi-I along with historical famous temples of Pattadakal, Mahakuteshwar temple in Mahakuta, Shivayogmandir and Banashankari temple in Badami. Mudhol is the birth place of great poet “Ranna”.  Bilagi taluka Galagali village is famous for Galava Maharshi. Jamakhandi was the capital city during the period of  “Patawardhana” Kingdom .

Kudalsangam the place where the great social revolutionist of 12 ^th century lord “Basavanna” was educated. The galaxy of sharana’s lived in this Holy Land is itself a matter of pride . 

The district has 605 Revenue villages and 244 habitations and 270 wards as per the recent house to house survey Jan 2001. Some of the tandas are declared as revenue villages. The district for the administrative purpose has been divided in to 2 divisions Bagalkot and Jamakhandi. Bagalkot division comprises of 3 taluks. Bagalkot, Badami, Hungund and Jamakhandi divisions comprise of 3 taluks namely Jamakhandi, Mudhol and Bilagi  

Rivers  : Rivers Malaprabha, Ghatprabha and Krishna flows in the district

Language :

The prominent language spoken is Kannada. Other languages like Marathi, Urdu,Telugu and Gujarati are also spoken by small portion of population .

Religion ,Castes & tribes :

The major community follows the religious ethics of Hindusm. Islam, Jainism and Christianity are the minor religions .  

 BAGALKOT     Top

Bagalkot is 90Km away from the city of Bijapur.  According to a legend, the town was believed to be granted to the Vajantries (ie. Village orchestra) of Ravana.  In inscriptions, the old name of the twon was quoted as Bagadage, and headquarters of a unit called Bagadage-70 under the Chalukyas.  one of the Bijapur kings said to have presented the town to his daughter as a bangle or ornament money; consequently the place is said to have been called Bagdikot and corrupted to Bagilakote or Bagalkot.  Earlier to this, vijayanagara kings had held sway over this part of the country.  between 1664 to 1755 this territory was under the management of the Savanur Nawab from whom it was annexed by the Peshwa, Balajirao.  During 1778, Haider Ali took possession of Bagalkot and was later held by the Savanur Nawab as his vassal.  Again it fell into the hands of the Marathas by the agreement of Srirangapattana(1792).  In 1800, the provincial manager, Anandarao Bhikaji belonging to the Rastia family residing at bagtalkot built a palace.  In 1810, Peshwa Bajirao II gave the area to Nilkantharao Sarsubedar who held Bagalkot Fort supported by a garrison till Gen. Munro occupied  it in 1818.  The chief Temples of the Place are of Shri Bhavani, Panduranga and Kotalesha, Raghavendraswamy Matha and of Motagi Basaveshwara. There is a Jaina basadi of Parshwanatha.  The place has a Virakta matha.  The Place has several mosues of which Panka Masjid is a very fine stone structure.  The civic administration is managed by the municipality. The Basaweshvara Vidyavardhaka Sangha here runs several colleges and education institutions and the late S.C. Nandimath, noted scholar was closely connected with this organisation.  The place was a noted centre of freedom movement and also of Unification movement.  It is on the banks of the Ghataprabha river and after the completion of Second stage of Upper Krishna Project, a large part of the the town is expected to be submerged (Already Submerged).The place has a cement factory and it is a centre of trade in cotton and groundnut.  Kaladgi is a big village situated on the South bank of the Ghataprabha river, about 24 Km from Bagalkot.  In the initial stages of the British regime, cavalry was stationed here by the Sourhern Maharashtra Jahgirdars.  It was found to be a very suitable place for the movement of troops.  After the war, in 1864 it was made tthe district headquarters.  in 1884 the district Hq was shifted to Bijapur. In this place is a fine temple of Basavanna, built out of famous Shellikeri Blackstone,.   In geological circles Kaladgi range is very familiar.  The place is well known  for fruit gardens.  Several old buildings and tombs of the British days, still remain at this place.  The town has a town Panchayat and a Khadi production Unit .

BADAMI      Top

Badami is 500 KM away from Bangalore and 30 Km away from  Bagalkot, is known as Vatapi and Badavi and was laso the capital fo the Early Chalukyas, called as Vatapiadhishtana. Ptolemy's Badiamaioi has been identified with this place.  Chalukya King  Pulikeshi I  strengthened Badami fort and perhaps made it capital and this is inidcated by the earliest Badami Cliff Inscriptions of 543 and the place continued as the royal seat upto 753, barring a brief spell when Pallavas occupied it (642-55).   Badami was also in the possession of the Vijayanagara kings, the Adilshahs, the Savnur Nawab, the Marathas, Haidar Ali and lastly it was annexed by the British who made it a part of the bombay presidency.  The main archaeologicval interest Badami lies in its ancient rock-cut shrines situated in the western part of the Sourth fort, reached by a flight of steps. Out of four rock-cut shrines(Caves), all hewn out of sand stone  on the precipice of a hill, the first three are of the Vedic faith and last one is Jaina.  They are full of mythological sculptures. An inscription found here records the creation of the Shrine by Mangalesh in 578.  There are some paintings on teh ceiling and the style indicates maturity but has lost its original dazzling colour. The fourth cave is Jaina which lies a little east of cave III.  The sanctum is adorned by the image of Mahavira.   Image of Jain Tirthankara and idols of Bahubali, Yakshas and Yakshis are engraved in inner pillars and walls.     Overlooking the cave temples is a well built reserviour, locally current as Agasthya Tirtha and its bank is dotted with temples .

Bhanashakri : About five km from Badami and the famous temple of Banashankari or Shakambari here is hightly reserved.  The idol is of blackstone seated on linon and tramples a demon by foot.  This old Dravidian temple has been modernised. In front of the temple is a large pond called as Haridra Tirtha corrupt form of Harishchandra Tirtha.  t is enclosed by stone mantapas on the three sides with inner colonnades. A Jatra is held at Banada Hunnime .

Guledgud:  It is around 24 Km from Badami and when some emigrants came and settled by the side of a hill, it began to be called as Guledgud, meaning Emigrants Hill. During the rule of Ibrahim Adilshah II, a fort was erected here in 1580, by a Bijapur Officer Singappa Naik Desai and later the place came under the Mughuls.  On the site of a dry lake the present town was built in 1705.  It fell into Tippu in 1787 and later came under the Marathas.  The Choli(khana) cloth manufacture at this place is very famous and in great demand.  The town comprises of large number of weavers .

BILAGI    Top

Bilgi is situated at a distance of 30 Km from Bagalkot.  To the north of Bilgi is a stone pond called Arettina Bavi (Six - bullock well) , an object of interest. The shrine inside the well, of Mahadeva, is not worshipped as the linga is broken.  The stone inscriptions in Kannada, marathi and persian built into the walls of the well register that it was constructed by vVisajipanta in the year 1708 A.D.  There is a dargah of Hasan Dongri, in the town.  Moharam festival is celebrated in a big way here.  One Km to the south of Bilgi is the temple of Siddeshvara, encompassed by hillocks. On a footstep of the temple is an inscription of 1695-96 which records construction of the eastern doorway by Khanderao Timmaji, a subordinate of Vajir Haidar Khan ..

HUNGUND    Top

Hungund is around 40 Km from Bagalkot and is on the National Highway.  The earlier names of Hungund was Honnakunda or Honnagunda, which was derived probably owing to the tracing of Yellow coloured talc, resembling gold on the hill overlooking the town. According to an inscription here, lands were granted to Mallikarjuna by Satyavati Mahadevi whose husband was king Ayyanorva of the Ballala family.  A branch of the Vijayamahanteshvara matha is functioning  here .

_Ilkal: is the biggest town in the taluka. It lies about 13 Km away from Hungund.  The town is noted for its matha of Vijayamahantheshaswami.  To the south - east of the town, on the bank of the Hirehalla is a big temple, consisting of gadduges relating to Vijayamahanteshaswami and his religious preceptor Gurumahanta Shivayogishvara. In this place is held annualy , a car festival in honour of Vijayamahantesha.  To the east of the town, on the elevated spot stands erected a big domed structure, housing the Dargah of Hazarath Syed Murtaza-Sha-Khadri.  It is held in high esteem and annual urus draws huge crowds.  The town is famous for several varieties of sarees like saw handloom, art silk and silk. .

JAMAKHANDI     Top

<sub>Jamkhandi is an important town, about 80 Km from Bagalkote.  Jamkhandi was the capital ofthe former Maratha Pricipality of the Patavardhans, cousins of the Miraj family in Maharashtra.  The place is known as Jambukandi in records, probably derived from the Jambukeshwara temple of the place. The temple of Kadapatti Basaveshvara is widely respected in the town. There are also shrines of Sangameshvara and Neelamma in this temple.  Every year a Jatra of Basaveshvara and a cattle fair is conducted at this place. Another old temple here is Jambukeshvara, which is a Chalukyan monument .There is a mosque in the town and the dargah of Abubakar is highly venerated.  To the west of the town on a hillock called Ramatirtha stands a grand edifice 'Ramachandra Prasad',  once the royal residence of the Jamkhandi rulers, and Tripura Sundari Temple.  Shurpali, 10 Km from Jamkhandi is on the banks of Krishna, and has a Lakshminarayana temple and the Sadananda Matha.  It was an agrahara. Rabkavi-Banhatti is a place about 19Km to west of Jamkhandi. This town area comprises of four places namely Rabkavi, Banhatti, Hosur and Tampur.  In 1952 the municipalities of Rabkavi and Banhatti were merged into one Municipality.   The plae is very famous for its powerloom and handloom sarees, which has a very good market

MUDHOL     Top

Mudhol is situated about 50 Kms from Bagalkot on the left bank of the Ghataprabha river and administered by a municipality.  In the bygone days it was called as Muduvolal means 'Lovely Town'.  it is believed to be the birth place of great kannada poet Ranna.  Mudhol served as a capital of the erstwhile princely  State of the Ghorpades, the descendents of Baji Ghorpade, whio was an army officer int he Bijapur Court and they ruled till 1947.  There is an old under ground Shiva Temple in hte town which is a fine monument.  The Swetamabar Jaina temple here has fine images like Munishvaraji and Mahaviraswami.  The Brahmagaddi Matha (big one) and Mahalingeshvara math are two matha in the town. The famous dargah of Saifi Saheb is located on a highly elevated spot and its yearly urus attracts large number of people.  The town is noted for its grinding stones and basil stands.   Mahalingapura is a town about 19Km to the North west of Mudhol.  Its earlier name Naragatti subsequently renamed as Mahalingapura in honour of Saint Mahalingeshwvara.   Large number of handlooms are working in the town and handloom sarees manufactured here find ready markets</sub>