Bellary
Bellary | |
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City | |
Ballari | |
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Bellary Location in Karnataka, India Bellary Bellary (India) | |
Coordinates: 15°06′N 76°55′E / 15.100°N 76.917°ECoordinates: 15°06′N 76°55′E / 15.100°N 76.917°E | |
Country |
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State | Karnataka |
Region | Hyderabad-Karnataka |
District | Bellary |
Government | |
• Type | Municipal Corporation |
• Body | Bellary Urban Development Authority |
• Mayor | Ramana[1] |
• Deputy Mayor | Ms. Malan Bee S[1] |
• Commissioner | Sri.P.G.Ramesh[2] |
Area | |
• City | 89.95 km2 (34.73 sq mi) |
Elevation | 485 m (1,591 ft) |
Population (2011 census)[3] | |
• City | 410,445 |
• Rank | 111 |
• Density | 4,600/km2 (12,000/sq mi) |
• Metro | 555,944 |
Demonym(s) | Ballarian |
Languages | |
• Official | Kannada |
• Regional | Kannada |
Time zone | UTC+5:30 (IST) |
PIN | 583 10x[4] |
Telephone code | (+91) 8392[5] |
ISO 3166 code | IN-KA |
Vehicle registration | KA-34 |
Sex ratio | 1.04[3] ♂/♀ |
Literacy | 79%[3] |
Distance from Bangalore | 311 kilometres (193 mi) (land) |
Website |
www |
Bellary, officially Ballari, in the eponymous Bellary district, is a major city in the state of Karnataka, India. It is 311 km from the state capital of Bangalore and 354 km from Hyderabad. Previously, Bellary has been a part of Madras State and of Hyderabad State. It was transferred to Karnataka in 1956 when new states were formed.
Etymology
There are several legends explaining how Bellary got its name. The first is that a few devout travelling merchants halting in Bellary, could not find a Shiva Linga for their worship. They then installed a balla (a measuring cup or seru used to measure grain) upside down as a Shiva Linga and worshiped it. Eventually, that place was turned into a temple dedicated to Balleshwara or Shiva, which became distorted to Malleshwara, and thus Bellary derives its name from this temple.
The second legend is that the city is named after Indra, the king of Gods, who slew a Rakshasa (demon) named Balla who lived nearby. Balla-ari means 'enemy of Balla' (ari – enemy in Sanskrit). The third legend derives the city's name from the old Kannada word Vallari and Vallapuri.
The Union Ministry of Home Affairs of the Government of India approved a proposal to rename the city in October 2014 and Bellary was renamed to "Ballari" on 1 November 2014.[6]
History
Numerous neolithic archaeological sites have been discovered around Bellary, such as the ash mounds at Sanganakallu, Budhihal, Kudithini, Tekkalakote, Hiregudda and Kupgal. The Sanganakallu settlement, spread over an area of 1,000 acres (4.0 km2), is one of the largest neolithic complexes known around Bellary.
Bellary was ruled in succession by the Mauryas, the Satavahanas, the Pallavas, the Kadambas, the Badami Chalukyas, the Rashtrakutas, the Kalyani Chalukyas, the Southern Kalachuryas, the Sevuna Yadavas, and the Hoysalas, and also ruled briefly by the Cholas during the wars between Kalyani Chalukyas and the Cholas.
After the Sevuna Yadavas and the Hoysalas were defeated by the Islamic sultanates of Delhi, the Vijayanagara Empire arose under Harihara I and Bukka I, who dominated the Bellary area. Bellary itself was ruled by the family of Hande Hanumappa Nayaka, a Palayagara of the Vijayanagara rulers. After the fall of the Vijayanagara empire, the Hande Nayakas of Bellary were successively subsidiary to the Adilshahi sultanate, the Maratha Empire, the Mughals, the Nizam, Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan, and finally the British Empire after the Nizam ceded a large part of the southern Deccan to the British East India Company. The Hande Nayakas ceased to be rulers of Bellary after Major Thomas Munro disposed of the palayagars of the ceded districts and established the Ryotwari land revenue system.
In 1808, the ceded districts were split into the Bellary and Kadapa districts, and in 1867 the Bellary Municipal Council was created. Further, in 1882, Anantapuram district was carved out of the Bellary District. The Maratha princely state of Sandur was surrounded by Bellary district.
In 1901, Bellary was the seventh largest town in Madras Presidency, and one of the chief military stations in southern India, garrisoned by British and native Indian troops under the British Indian Government. The town included a civil railway station to the east of the Bellary Fort, the cantonment and its railway station on the west, the Cowl Bazaar and the suburbs of Bruce-pettah (currently spelt Brucepet) and Mellor-pettah, named after two British officers once stationed in the town. The industries in the town included a small distillery and two steam cotton presses. The steam cotton-spinning mill established in 1894 had 17,800 spindles and employed 520 hands.
On 1 October 1953, the Bellary district of Madras Presidency was divided on a linguistic basis. Areas with a significant Kannada speaking population were transferred to Mysore state, which later became Karnataka state.
The Bellary city municipal council was upgraded to a city corporation in 2004.[7]
Geography and climate
Bellary is located at 15°09′N 76°56′E / 15.15°N 76.93°E. It has an average elevation of 495 metres (1,624 ft). The city stands in the midst of a wide, level plain of black cotton soil.[8] Granite rocks and hills form a prominent feature of Bellary. The city is spread mainly around two hills of granite composition, the Bellary Gudda and the Kumbara Gudda.
Bellary Gudda has a circumference of nearly 2 miles (3.2 km) and a height of 480 feet (150 m). The length of this rock from north-east to south-west is about 1,150 ft (350 m). To the east and south lies an irregular heap of boulders, to the west there is an unbroken monolith, and the north is walled by bare, rugged ridges.[8]
Kumbara Gudda looks like the profile of a human face from the south-east. It is also known as Face Hill.[8]
Climate data for Bellary | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
Record high °C (°F) | 36.0 (96.8) |
38.0 (100.4) |
42.5 (108.5) |
46.0 (114.8) |
44.2 (111.6) |
41.6 (106.9) |
37.0 (98.6) |
38.5 (101.3) |
37.8 (100) |
38.0 (100.4) |
34.5 (94.1) |
35.0 (95) |
46 (114.8) |
Average high °C (°F) | 29.8 (85.6) |
33.4 (92.1) |
36.0 (96.8) |
37.6 (99.7) |
37.2 (99) |
32.5 (90.5) |
29.9 (85.8) |
30.3 (86.5) |
30.9 (87.6) |
30.7 (87.3) |
29.4 (84.9) |
29.0 (84.2) |
32.2 (90) |
Daily mean °C (°F) | 22.8 (73) |
25.5 (77.9) |
27.6 (81.7) |
31.2 (88.2) |
31.3 (88.3) |
28.2 (82.8) |
26.7 (80.1) |
26.8 (80.2) |
26.7 (80.1) |
26.2 (79.2) |
23.2 (73.8) |
22.0 (71.6) |
26.5 (79.7) |
Average low °C (°F) | 15.9 (60.6) |
17.2 (63) |
20.9 (69.6) |
24.3 (75.7) |
25.0 (77) |
23.5 (74.3) |
22.5 (72.5) |
22.2 (72) |
21.9 (71.4) |
21.4 (70.5) |
17.0 (62.6) |
15.5 (59.9) |
20.6 (69.1) |
Record low °C (°F) | 7.0 (44.6) |
8.5 (47.3) |
10.0 (50) |
15.0 (59) |
16.0 (60.8) |
18.0 (64.4) |
18.0 (64.4) |
15.0 (59) |
14.0 (57.2) |
12.0 (53.6) |
8.4 (47.1) |
8.0 (46.4) |
7 (44.6) |
Average precipitation mm (inches) | 2.7 (0.106) |
3 (0.12) |
15 (0.59) |
24 (0.94) |
65 (2.56) |
75 (2.95) |
82 (3.23) |
88 (3.46) |
131 (5.16) |
108 (4.25) |
44 (1.73) |
14 (0.55) |
651.7 (25.646) |
Average rainy days | 0.3 | 0.4 | 1.0 | 2.3 | 5.2 | 5.8 | 7.2 | 8.0 | 10.0 | 7.9 | 3.5 | 1.4 | 53 |
Average relative humidity (%) | 54 | 46 | 40 | 41 | 48 | 58 | 63 | 66 | 67 | 71 | 67 | 63 | 57 |
Mean monthly sunshine hours | 279.5 | 275.5 | 288.0 | 300.0 | 270.0 | 178.0 | 140.0 | 144.0 | 165.0 | 196.0 | 210.0 | 252.0 | 2,698 |
Demographics
Kannada is the official language, while Telugu, Urdu and Hindi are also spoken and there are minority speakers of Tamil, Malayalam, Gujarati, Rajasthani, Punjabi, Urdu, Marathi, Marwari, Odia, Bihari, Nepali and Manipuri. According to the 2011 Census of India, the total population of Bellary was 410,445; of whom 206,149 were male and 204,296 female. 280,610 of the population were literate and 52,413 of the population were under 6 years of age.[9] The population in 2001 was recorded as 316,766.[10]
Industries
Steel industry
The city is surrounded by numerous iron and steel plants, owing to the availability of huge deposits of iron and manganese ore in the Sanduru hill ranges and surroundings.
- Bellary Steels and Alloys Limited (BSAL), Navakarnataka Steels and Shatavahana Ispat are on the outskirts of the city.
- JSW Steel Ltd is a unit of Jindal Steels located at Toranagallu in Sandur taluk, 30 km from Bellary.
Textiles and garments
- Cotton processing
- With cotton being one of the major agricultural crops around Bellary historically, the city has had a thriving cotton processing industry in the form of ginning, spinning and weaving plants. The earliest steam cotton-spinning mill was established in 1894, which by 1901 had 17,800 spindles, and employed 520 hands.[8]
- The city continues to thrive in this sector with one spinning mill and numerous cotton ginning and pressing mills, hand looms and power looms.[11]
- Garment manufacture
- Bellary has a historic garment industry dating back to the First World War period, when the Marathi speaking "Darji" (tailor) community with its native skills in tailoring migrated from the current Maharashtra region to stitch uniforms for the soldiers of the colonial British Indian Army stationed at Bellary. After the war, the community switched to making uniforms for school children, and gradually the uniforms made here became popular all over the country.[12][13]
- Currently, Bellary is well known for its branded and unbranded denim garments, with brands like Point Blank, Walker, Dragonfly and Podium being successfully marketed nationally and internationally.[13] There are about 260 denim garment units in Bellary with nearly 3000 families working in these units.[11]
Notable people
See- Category:People from Bellary
- Nadoja Belagallu Veeranna 85 year old senior Theatre personality. Who is awardee of Kendra Sangeet Natal Akademi for his contributions of rare art farm. And gave new dimension and international fame to this art farm.
- Manjula Chellur -1st Woman Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court
- Ibrahim B. Syed - Indo-American Radiologist
- Nagarur Gopinath - One of the pioneers of cardiothoracic surgery in India, credited with the first successful performance of open heart surgery in India in 1962. Recipient of Padma Shri (1974) and Dr. B. C. Roy Award (1978).
- Arcot Ranganatha Mudaliar – Former Deputy Collector of Bellary, politician and theosophist. He served as the Minister of Public Health and Excise for the Madras Presidency from 1926 to 1928.
- Basavarajeshwari – Politician and Industrialist
- Naveen Chandra - Actor in Telugu film industry
- Bellary Raghava (1880-1946) – Noted dramatist. The Raghava Kala Mandir auditorium in Bellary is named after him.
- Dharmavaraṃ Rāmakr̥ṣṇamācāryulu (1853–1912) – Noted dramatist.
- Bhargavi Rao - a renowned Kannada-Telugu translator, winner of the prestigious Kendra Sahitya Academy award
- Jayanthi – Renowned cinema actress, born in Bellary.
- Kolachalam Srinivasa Rao (1854–1919) – Noted dramatist.
- K.C.Kondaiah – Politician and industrialist
- Rai Bahadur A. Sabhapathy Mudaliar – Philanthropist; The Women & Children's Hospital or The District Hospital was initially named after him, following his donation of land and building to the hospital.[8]
- Ravi Belagere – Actor, writer, novelist, journalist, publisher of the Hai Bengaluru Tabloid
- Tekur Subramanyam – Indian Freedom Fighter, First post-independence MP of Bellary, elected thrice in a row since 1952, Political Secretary to Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru[14][15][16]
References
Maps
General
- 1 2 "Bellary City Corporators". Archived from the original on 25 June 2011. Retrieved 5 Feb 2015.
- ↑ "Bellary City Staff". Archived from the original on 20 May 2006. Retrieved 5 Feb 2015.
- 1 2 3 "District Census Handbook – Guntur" (PDF). Census of India. The Registrar General & Census Commissioner. p. 22. Retrieved 6 November 2016.
- ↑ "Indiapost PIN Search for 'bellary'". Archived from the original on 4 May 2007. Retrieved 8 May 2007.
- ↑ "PPP India STD Code Search for 'bellary'". Archived from the original on 4 May 2007. Retrieved 8 May 2007.
- ↑ New City, Names to Karnatka. "New name for cities". The Hindu. Retrieved 1 November 2014.
- ↑ "The Hindu: Karnataka. Bellary City Municipal Council upgraded to corporation". The Hindu. 26 September 2004. Retrieved 2016-12-08.
- 1 2 3 4 5
The Imperial Gazetteer of India, Volume 7. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1908-1931 [vol. 1, 1909]. pp. 158–176. Check date values in:
|date=
(help) - ↑ "Census of India 2011". Census Commission of India. Retrieved 2016-12-08.
- ↑ "Census of India 2001" (PDF). Census Commission of India. Retrieved 2016-12-08.
- 1 2 "Karnataka Handloom". Archived from the original on 27 September 2011. Retrieved 23 July 2010.
- ↑ "Bellary Portal". Retrieved 23 July 2010.
- 1 2 "Jeans Industry in Bellary". Retrieved 23 July 2010.
- ↑ "This jailhouse has a rich past". Retrieved 4 June 2010.
- ↑ "A Congress bastion since 1952". Retrieved 4 June 2010.
- ↑ "Caste will play a vital role in Bellary". Retrieved 4 June 2010.
External links
Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Bellary. |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bellary. |