Karnataka ( , ) is a
state in the
southern part of India
. It
was
created on November 1,
1956, with the passing of the
States Reorganisation Act.
Originally known as the
State of
Mysore, it was renamed
Karnataka in 1973.
Karnataka
is bordered by the Arabian
Sea
to the west, Goa
to the
northwest, Maharashtra
to the north, Andhra Pradesh
to the east, Tamil Nadu
to the southeast, and Kerala
to the
southwest. The state covers an area of 74,122 sq mi (191,976 km²), or 5.83% of the
total geographical area of India
. It
is the
eighth largest
Indian state by area,
the ninth largest by
population and comprises 29
districts.
Kannada is the official and most widely
spoken language.
Though
several
etymologies have been suggested for the name Karnataka, the
generally accepted one is that
Karnataka is derived from
the Kannada words
karu and
nādu, meaning
elevated land.
Karu nadu may also be read as
Karu (black) and
nadu (region), as a reference to
the
black cotton soil found in the
Bayaluseeme region of Karnataka. The
British used the word
Carnatic
(sometimes
Karnatak) to describe both sides of peninsular
India, south of the
Krishna
River.
With an antiquity that dates to the
paleolithic, Karnataka has also been home to
some of the most
powerful empires of ancient and medieval India. The
philosophers and musical bards patronised by these empires launched
socio-religious and literary movements which have endured to the
present day. Karnataka has contributed significantly to both forms
of Indian classical music, the
Carnatic (Karnataka Music) and
Hindustani traditions. Writers in the
Kannada language have received the most number of
Jnanpith awards in India.
Bangalore
is the capital city of the state and is at the
forefront of the rapid economic and technological development that
India is experiencing .
History
The history of Karnataka can be traced back to a
paleolithic hand-axe culture evidenced by
discoveries of, among other things, hand axes and cleavers in the
region. Evidence of
neolithic and
megalithic cultures have also been found in the
state.
Gold discovered in Harappa
was found to
be imported from mines in Karnataka, prompting scholars to
hypothesize about contacts between ancient Karnataka and the
Indus Valley Civilization
in 3000 BCE. Prior to the third century BCE, most of
Karnataka was part of the
Nanda Empire
before coming under the
Mauryan
empire of
Emperor Ashoka. Four
centuries of
Satavahana rule
followed, allowing them to control large areas of Karnataka. The
decline of Satavahana power led to the rise of the earliest native
kingdoms, the
Kadambas and the
Western Gangas, marking the region's
emergence as an independent political entity.
The Kadamba Dynasty, founded by Mayurasharma, had its capital at Banavasi
; the Western Ganga
Dynasty was formed with Talakad
as its
capital.
These were also the first kingdoms to use
Kannada in administration, as evidenced by
the
Halmidi inscription and a
fifth-century copper coin discovered at Banavasi.
These dynasties were
followed by imperial Kannada empires such as the Badami Chalukyas, the Rashtrakuta Empire of Manyakheta and the
Western Chalukya Empire,
which ruled over large parts of the Deccan
and had
their capitals in what is now Karnataka. The Western
Chalukyas patronised a unique style of
architecture and Kannada
literature which became
a precursor to the Hoysala art of 12th century..
Parts of modern-day Karnataka were occupied by the
Chola Empire between 990-1210 AD. This process
started under
Rajaraja Chola I
(985-1014) and continued under his son
Rajendra Chola I (1014-1044). Initially
"Gangapadi, Nolambapadi and Tadigaipadi' all parts of modern
Mysore, were conquered and annexed' under Raja Raja Chola I.
Rajendra Chola I "marched up to
Donur, he also captured Banvasi, a good part of the Raichur doab
and sacked Manyakheta" itself, which was the Western Chalukyan
capital.
During the time of the Chalukya ruler
Jayasimha after his defeat by Rajendra
Chola I, the Tungabhadra
river was recognized tacitly as the boundary
between the two kingdoms. During the rule of
Rajadhiraja Chola I (1042-1056),
Dannada, Kulpak, Koppam, the fortress of Kampili, Pundur, Yetagiri
and the Chalukyan capital Kalyani were sacked. In 1053,
Rajendra Chola II after defeating the
Chalukyans in war advanced to Kollapura where he erected a pillar
of victory before returning to his capital at
Gangaikondacholapuram.
In 1066, the Western
Chalukya ruler Somesvara's forces were defeated by the next Chola
ruler Virarajendra, who then again defeated the Western Chalukyas
at Kudalasangama
, and set up a pillar of victory on the banks of the
Tungabhadra. In AD 1075
Kulottunga Chola I won a victory against
Vikramaditya VI at Nangili in Kolar district and made himself the
master of Gangavadi. The Cholas eventually lost Gangavadi in 1116
to the Hoysalas under Vishnuvardhana.
At the turn of the first millennium, the
Hoysalas gained power in the region.
Literature flourished during this time,
which led to the distinctive Kannada
literary metres and the construction of
temples and sculptures adhering to the
Vesara style of architecture.
The
expansion of the Hoysala Empire brought parts of modern Andhra Pradesh
and Tamil
Nadu
under its rule. In the early 14th
century, Harihara and Bukka Raya established the Vijayanagara empire with its capital,
Hosapattana (later named Vijayanagara
), on the banks of the Tungabhadra River in the
modern Bellary district. The empire rose as a bulwark
against Muslim advances into South India, which it completely
controlled for over two centuries.
In 1565, Karnataka and the rest of South India experienced a major
geopolitical shift when the Vijayanagara Empire fell to a
confederation of Islamic sultanates in the
Battle of Talikota. The
Bijapur Sultanate, which had risen after
the demise of the
Bahmani
Sultanate of Bidar, soon took control of the Deccan; it was
defeated by the
Moghuls in the late
17th century.
The Bahamani and Bijapur rulers encouraged
Urdu and Persian literature and Indo-Saracenic architecture, the Gol Gumbaz
being one of the high points of this
style.
In the period that followed, parts of northern Karnataka were ruled
by the
Nizam of Hyderabad, the
British, and other powers. In the south,
the
Mysore Kingdom, former
vassals of the Vijayanagara Empire, was briefly
independent. With the death of
Krishnaraja Wodeyar II,
Haidar Ali, the commander-in-chief of the Mysore
army, gained control of the region. After his death, the kingdom
was inherited by his son
Tippu Sultan.
To contain European expansion in South India, Haidar Ali and later
Tippu Sultan fought four significant
Anglo-Mysore Wars, the last of which
resulted in Tippu Sultan's death and the incorporation of Mysore
into the
British Raj in 1799. The
Kingdom of Mysore was restored to the Wodeyars and Mysore remained
a princely state under the British Raj.
As the "
doctrine of lapse" gave
way to dissent and resistance from princely states across the
country,
Kittur Chennamma,
Sangolli Rayanna and others spearheaded
rebellions in Karnataka in 1830, nearly three decades before the
Indian Rebellion of 1857.
Other
uprisings followed, such as the ones at Supa
, Bagalkot
, Shorapur
, Nargund
and Dandeli
. These rebellions which coincided with the
1857 war of independence were led by Mundargi Bhimarao, Bhaskar Rao
Bhave, the Halagali Bedas, Venkatappa Nayaka and others. By the
late 19th century, the freedom movement had gained momentum;
Karnad Sadashiva Rao,
Aluru Venkata Raya,
S. Nijalingappa,
Kengal Hanumanthaiah,
Nittoor Srinivasa Rau and others
carried on the struggle into the early 20th century.
After India's independence, the Maharaja,
Jayachamarajendra Wodeyar, allowed
his kingdom's accession to India. In 1950, Mysore became an Indian
state of the same name; the former Maharaja served as its
Rajpramukh (head of state) until 1975. Following the
long-standing demand of the
Ekikarana Movement, Kodagu and
Kannada speaking regions from the adjoining states of Madras,
Hyderabad and Bombay were incorporated into the Mysore state, under
the
States Reorganization
Act of 1956. The thus expanded state was renamed Karnataka,
seventeen years later, in 1973.
In the early 1900s through the
post-independence era, industrial visionaries such as Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvarayya born
in Muddenahalli, near KanivenarayanapuraChikballapur
District played an important role in the
development of Karnataka's strong manufacturing and industrial
base.
Geography
The state
has three principal geographical zones: the coastal region of
Karavali
, the hilly Malenadu region
comprising the Western Ghats and the
Bayaluseeme region comprising the plains
of the Deccan
plateau
. The bulk of the state is in the Bayaluseeme
region, the northern part of which is the second largest
arid region in India.
The highest point in Karnataka is the
Mullayanagiri hills in Chikkamagaluru district
which has an altitude of . Some of the important
rivers in Karnataka are Kaveri, Tungabhadra
, Krishna, Malaprabha and the Sharavathi.
Karnataka
consists of four main types of geological formations — the
Archean complex made up of Dharwad
schists and granitic gneisses, the Proterozoic non-fossiliferous sedimentary
formations of the Kaladgi and Bhima series, the Deccan trappean
and intertrappean deposits and the tertiary and recent
laterites and alluvial deposits.
Significantly, about 60% of the state is composed of the
Archean complex which consist of gneisses, granites and
charnockite rocks.
Laterite cappings that are found in many
districts over the Deccan
Traps
were formed after the cessation of volcanic
activity in the early tertiary period. Eleven groups of soil
orders are found in Karnataka, viz.
Entisols,
Inceptisols,
Mollisols,
Spodosols,
Alfisols,
Ultisols,
Oxisols,
Aridisols,
Vertisols,
Andisols and
Histosols. Depending on the agricultural
capability of the soil, the soil types are divided into six types,
viz. Red,
lateritic,
black, alluvio-colluvial, forest and coastal
soils.
Karnataka experiences four seasons. The winter in January and
February is followed by summer between March and May, the monsoon
season between June and September and the post-monsoon season from
October till December.
Meteorologically,
Karnataka is divided into three zones — coastal, north interior and
south interior. Of these, the coastal zone receives the heaviest
rainfall with an average rainfall of about per annum, far in excess
of the state average of .
Agumbe
in the
Shivamogga
district
receives the second highest annual rainfall in
India. The highest recorded temperature was at
Raichur
and the lowest recorded temperature was at Bidar
.
About of Karnataka (i.e. 20% of the state's geographic area) is
covered by forests. The forests are classified as reserved,
protected, unclosed, village and private forests. The percentage of
forested area is slightly less than the all-India average of about
23%, and significantly less than the 33% prescribed in the National
Forest Policy.
Sub-divisions
There are
29 districts in Karnataka—Bagalkote
, Bangalore
Rural,Bangalore Urban
, Belgaum, Bellary
, Bidar
, Bijapur
, Chamarajanagar
, Chikkaballapur
, Chikkamagaluru
, Chitradurga
, Dakshina Kannada,
Davanagere
, Dharwad, Gadag
, Gulbarga
, Hassan
, Haveri
, Kodagu
, Kolar
, Koppal
, Mandya
, Mysore
, Raichur
, Ramanagara
, Shimoga
, Tumkur
, Udupi
and
Uttara
Kannada
. Each district is governed by a district
commissioner or district magistrate. The districts are further
divided into sub-divisions, which are governed by sub-divisional
magistrates; sub-divisions comprise blocks containing panchayats
(village councils) and town municipalities.
As per
the 2001 census, Karnataka's six largest cities sorted in order of
decreasing population were, Bangalore
, Hubli
-Dharwad
, Mysore
, Gulbarga
, Belgaum
and Mangalore
. Bangalore is the only city with a
population of more than one million.
Bangalore
Urban
, Belgaum and
Gulbarga
are the most populous districts, each of them
having a population of more than three million. Gadag
, Chamarajanagar
and Kodagu
districts
have a population of less than one million.
Demographics
According to the 2001 census of India, the total population of
Karnataka is 52,850,562, of which 26,898,918 (50.89%) are male and
25,951,644 (49.11%) are female, or 1000 males for every 964
females. This represents a 17.25% increase over the population in
1991. The population density is 275.6 per km² and 33.98% of the
people live in urban areas. The literacy rate is 66.6% with 76.1%
of males and 56.9% of females being literate. 83% of the population
are
Hindu, 11% are
Muslim, 4% are
Christian,
0.78% are
Jains, 0.73% are
Buddhist, and with the remainder belonging to other
religions.
Kannada is the official language of
Karnataka and spoken as a native language by about 64.75% of the
people. Other linguistic minorities in the state as of 1991 are
Urdu (9.72%),
Telugu (8.34%),
Tamil (5.46%),
Marathi
(3.95%),
Tulu (3.38%),
Hindi (1.87%),
Konkani
(1.78%),
Malayalam (1.69%) and
Kodava Takk (0.25%). The state has a birth rate
of 2.2%, a death rate of 0.72%, an infant mortality rate of 5.5%
and a maternal mortality rate of 0.195%. The
total fertility rate is 2.2.
In the field of super-specialty health care, Karnataka's private
sector competes with the best in the world. Karnataka has also
established a modicum of public health services having a better
record of health care and child care than most other states of
India. In spite of these advances, some parts of the state still
leave much to be desired when it comes to primary health
care.
Government and administration
Karnataka, like other
Indian states, has a
parliamentary system of government
with two democratically elected houses, the Legislative Assembly
and the Legislative Council. The Legislative Assembly consists of
224 members who are elected for five-year terms. The Legislative
Council is a permanent body of 75 members with one-third (25
members) retiring every two years.
The
government of Karnataka
is headed by the
Chief Minister who is
chosen by the ruling party
members of the
Legislative Assembly. The Chief
Minister, along with the council of ministers, drives the
legislative agenda and exercises most of the executive powers.
However, the constitutional and formal head of the state is the
Governor
who is appointed for a five-year term by the
President of India on the advice of the
Union government. The people of Karnataka also elect 28 members to
the
Lok Sabha, the lower house of the
Indian Parliament. The members of the state Legislative Assembly
elect 12 members to the
Rajya Sabha, the
upper house of the Indian Parliament.
For administrative purposes, Karnataka has been divided into four
revenue divisions, 49 sub-divisions, 29 districts, 175
taluks and 745 hoblies/revenue circles. The
administration in each district is headed by a
Deputy Commissioner who belongs
to the
Indian
Administrative Service and is assisted by a number of officers
belonging to Karnataka state services. The
Deputy Commissioner of
Police, an officer belonging to the
Indian Police Service and assisted by
the officers of the Karnataka Police Service, is entrusted with the
responsibility of maintaining law and order and related issues in
each district. The
Deputy Conservator of
Forests, an officer belonging to the
Indian Forest Service, also serves the
government.
Sectoral development in the districts is
looked after by the district head of each development department
such as Public Works Department, Health, Education, Agriculture,
Animal Husbandry, etc. The judiciary in the state consists of the
Karnataka
High Court
(Attara Kacheri) in Bangalore, district and
session courts
in each district and lower courts and judges at the
taluk level.
Politics in Karnataka has been dominated by three political
parties, the
Indian National
Congress, the
Janata Dal
and the
Bharatiya Janata
Party. Politicians from Karnataka have played prominent roles
in
federal government of India
with some of them having held the high positions of
Prime Minister and Vice President.
Three cabinet levels ministers in the current United Progressive
Alliance government are from Karnataka. Notable among these is
Former Chief Minister and Honorable Union Minister for Law, Justice
and Company Affairs,
Veerappa Moily.
Border
disputes involving Karnataka's claim on the Kasaragod and Sholapur
districts and Maharashtra
's claim on
Belgaum are ongoing since the states reorganisation.The
official
emblem of
Karnataka has a
Ganda
Berunda in the centre.
Surmounting this are four lions facing the
four directions, taken from the Lion Capital of Asoka at Sarnath
. The emblem also carries two
Sharabhas with the head of an
elephant and the body of a
lion.
Economy
GSDP Growth of the Karnatakan Economy over the previous
years.
Karnataka, which had an estimated GSDP (Gross State Domestic
Product) of about Rs. 2152.82 billion ($ 51.25 billion) in the
2007-2008 fiscal year, is one of the more economically progressive
states in India.
The state registered a GSDP growth rate of 7% for the year
2007-2008. Karnataka's contribution to India's GDP in the year
2004-05 was 5.2%.Karnataka was the fastest growing state over the
past decade in terms of GDP and
per capita GDP.With GDP growth of
56.2% and per capita GDP growth of 43.9%, Karnataka now has the
sixth highest per-capita GDP of all states. Till September 2006
Karnataka received a
Foreign
Direct Investment of Rs. 78.097 billion ($ 1.7255 billion) for
the fiscal year 2006-07, placing it third among the states of
India. At the end of 2004, the unemployment rate in Karnataka was
4.94% compared to the national rate of 5.99%. For the fiscal year
2006-07, the inflation rate in Karnataka was 4.4%, compared to the
national average of 4.7%. As of 2004-05, Karnataka had an estimated
poverty ratio of 17%, less than the national ratio of 27.5%.
Nearly 56% of the workforce in Karnataka is engaged in agriculture
and related activities. A total of 12.31 million hectares of land,
or 64.6% of the state's total area, is cultivated. Much of the
agricultural output is dependent on the
southwest monsoon as only 26.5% of the
sown area is irrigated.
Karnataka is the manufacturing hub for some of the largest
public sector industries in India, including
Hindustan Aeronautics
Limited,
National
Aerospace Laboratories,
Bharat Heavy Electricals
Limited, Indian Telephone Industries,
Bharat Earth Movers Limited and
Hindustan Machine Tools,
which are based in Bangalore. Many of India's premier science and
technology research centers, such as
Indian Space Research
Organization,
Central Power Research
Institute ,
Bharat
Electronics Limited and the
Central Food
Technological Research Institute, are also headquartered in
Karnataka.
Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals
Limited is an
oil refinery located
in Mangalore.
Since the 1980s, Karnataka has emerged as the pan-Indian leader in
the field of IT (
information
technology). As of 2007, there were nearly 2,000 firms
operating out of Karnataka. Many of them, including two of India's
biggest software firms,
Infosys and
Wipro are also headquartered in the state. Exports
from these firms exceeded Rs. 50,000 crores ($12.5 billion) in
2006-07, accounting for nearly 38% of all IT exports from India.
All this has earned the state capital, Bangalore, the sobriquet
Silicon Valley of
India.
Contribution to economy by sector
Karnataka also leads the nation in
biotechnology. It is home to India's largest
biocluster, with 158 of the country's 320 biotechnology firms being
based here. The state also accounts for 75% of India's
floriculture, an upcoming industry which
supplies flowers and ornamental plants worldwide.
Seven of India's leading banks,
Canara
Bank,
Syndicate Bank,
Corporation Bank,
Vijaya Bank,
Karnataka
Bank,
Vysya Bank and the
State Bank of Mysore originated in this
state.
The coastal districts of Udupi
and
Dakshina Kannada have a branch for
every 500 persons—the best distribution of banks in India.
As of March 2002, Karnataka had 4767 branches of different banks
with each branch serving 11,000 persons, which is lower than the
national average of 16,000.
A
majority of the 3500 crore silk industry in India is headquartered
in Karnataka State, particularly in the North Bangalore regions of
Muddenahalli, Kanivenarayanapura, and Doddaballapura
the upcoming sites of a 70 crore "Silk
City".
Transport
Air transport in Karnataka, as in the rest of the country, is still
a fledgling but fast expanding sector.
Karnataka has
airports at Bangalore, Mangalore
, Hubli
, Belgaum
, Hampi
and
Bellary
with international operations from Bangalore
and Mangalore airports
. Airports at Mysore
, Gulbarga
, Bijapur
, Hassan
and
Shimoga
are expected to be operational by the end of
2007. Major airlines such as
Kingfisher Airlines and
Air Deccan are based in Bangalore.
Karnataka has a railway network with a total length of
approximately .
Until the creation of the South Western Zone
headquartered at Hubli
in 2003,
the railway network in the state was in the Southern and Western
railway zones. Several parts of the state now come under the
South Western Zone, with the remainder under the Southern Railways.
Coastal Karnataka is covered under the
Konkan railway network which was considered
India's biggest railway project of the century. Bangalore is
extensively connected with inter-state destinations while other
important cities and towns in the state are not so
well-connected.
Karnataka has 11
ports, including
the
New Mangalore Port, a major
port and ten other minor ports. The New Mangalore port was
incorporated as the ninth major port in India on May 4, 1974. This
port handled 32.04 million tonnes of traffic in the fiscal year
2006-07 with 17.92 million tonnes of imports and 14.12 million
tonnes of exports. The port also handled 1015 vessels including 18
cruise vessels during the year 2006-07. The inland water transport
within the state is not well developed.
The total lengths of
National
Highway and state highways in Karnataka are and , respectively.
The
KSRTC, the state
public transport corporation, transports an average of 2.2 million
passengers daily and employs about 25,000 people. In the late
nineties, KSRTC was split into three corporations, viz., The
Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation, The North-West
Karnataka Road Transport Corporation and The North-East Karnataka
Road Transport Corporation with their headquarters in Bangalore,
Hubli and Gulbarga respectively.
Culture
The diverse linguistic and religious ethnicities that are native to
Karnataka combined with their long histories have contributed
immensely to the varied cultural heritage of the state. Apart from
Kannadigas, Karnataka is home to
Tuluvas,
Kodavas and
Konkanis. Minor populations of
Tibetan Buddhists and tribes like the
Soligas, Yeravas,
Toda and
Siddhis also live in Karnataka. The
traditional folk arts cover
the entire gamut of music, dance, drama, storytelling by itinerant
troupes, etc.
Yakshagana of coastal
Karnataka, a classical
folk play, is one
of the major theatrical forms of Karnataka.
Contemporary theatre
culture in Karnataka remains vibrant with organizations like
Ninasam, Ranga Shankara
, Rangayana and Prabhat Kalavidaru continuing to build on
the foundations laid by Gubbi
Veeranna, T. P. Kailasam,
B. V.
Karanth,
K V
Subbanna, Prasanna and
others.
Veeragase,
Kamsale,
Kolata and
Dollu
Kunitha are popular dance forms. The
Mysore style of
Bharatanatya nurtured and popularised by the
likes of the legendary
Jatti Tayamma
continues to hold sway in Karnataka and Bangalore also enjoys an
eminent place as one of the foremost centers of Bharatanatya.
Karnataka also has a special place in the world of Indian classical
music with both Karnataka(
Carnatic)
and
Hindustani styles finding place
in the state and Karnataka has produced a number of
stalwarts in both
styles.While referring to music the word 'Karnataka', the
original name given to the South Indian classical music
[2385] does not mean the state of Karnataka. The
Haridasa movement of the sixteenth century
contributed seminally to the development of Karnataka (Carnatic)
music as a performing art form.
Purandara
Dasa, one of the most revered
Haridasas, is known as the
Karnataka Sangeeta
Pitamaha ('Father of Karnataka a.k.a.Carnatic music').
Celebrated Hindustani musicians like
Gangubai Hangal,
Mallikarjun Mansur,
Bhimsen Joshi,
Basavaraja Rajaguru,
Sawai Gandharva and
several
others hail from Karnataka and some of them have been
recipients of the
Kalidas Samman,
Padma Bhushan and
Padma Vibhushan awards.
Gamaka is another
classical music genre based on Carnatic music that is practiced
in Karnataka.
Kannada
Bhavageete is a genre of popular music that draws inspiration
from the expressionist poetry of modern poets. The Mysore school of
painting has produced painters like Sundarayya, Tanjavur Kondayya,
B. Venkatappa and Keshavayya.
Chitrakala Parishat is an organisation
in Karnataka dedicated to promoting painting, mainly in the
Mysore painting style.
Saree is the traditional dress of women in
Karnataka. Women in Kodagu have a distinct style of wearing the
saree, different from the rest of Karnataka.
Dhoti, known as
Panche in Karnataka is the
traditional attire of men.
Shirt,
Trousers and
Salwar
kameez are widely worn in Urban areas.
Mysore peta is the traditional
headgear of southern Karnataka, while the
pagadi or
pataga (similar to the
Rajasthani turban) is preferred in
the northern areas of the state.
Rice ( ) and
Ragi form the
staple food in South Karnataka, whereas
Jolada rotti,
Sorghum is
staple to North Karnataka. Apart from this, coastal Karnataka and
Kodagu have a distinctive cuisine of their own.
Bisi bele bath,
Jolada rotti,
Ragi
mudde,
Uppittu,
Masala Dose and
Maddur
Vade are some of the popular food items in Karnataka. Among
sweets,
Mysore Pak,
Belgaavi Kunda,
Gokak karadantu, and
Dharwad pedha are popular.
Religion
Adi Shankaracharya chose Sringeri
in Karnataka to establish the first of his four
mathas. Ramanujacharya, the leading expounder of
, spent many years in Melkote
. He came to Karnataka in 1098 AD and lived
here until 1122 AD. He first lived in Tondanur and then moved to
Melkote where the Cheluvanarayana Temple and a well organised
Matha were built. He was patronized by the
Hoysala king, Vishnuvardhana. In the twelfth century,
Veerashaivism emerged in northern Karnataka as
a protest against the rigidity of the prevailing social and caste
system. Leading figures of this movement were
Basava,
Akka Mahadevi
and
Allama Prabhu, who established the
Anubhava Mantapa where the
philosophy of
Shakti Vishishtadvaita was expounded. This
was the basis of the
Lingayat faith which
today counts millions among its followers. The
Jain philosophy and literature have contributed
immensely to the religious and cultural landscape of
Karnataka.
Islam, which had an early presence on the west
coast of India as early as the tenth century, gained a foothold in
Karnataka with the rise of the Bahamani and Bijapur sultanates that
ruled parts of Karnataka.
Christianity
reached Karnataka in the sixteenth century with the arrival of the
Portuguese and
St. Francis Xavier in 1545.
Buddhism was popular
in Karnataka during the first millennium in places such as Gulbarga
and Banavasi
. A chance discovery of edicts and several
Mauryan relics at Sannati in Gulbarga
district
in 1986 has proven that the Krishna River basin was
once home to both Mahayana and Hinayana Buddhism.
Mysore Dasara is celebrated as the
Nada habba (state festival) and this is marked by major
festivities at Mysore.
Ugadi (Kannada New
Year),
Makara Sankranti (the
harvest festival),
Ganesh
Chaturthi,
Nagapanchami,
Basava Jayanthi, Deepavali, and
Ramzan are the other major festivals of
Karnataka.
Language
The Kannada language is the official language of the state, the
native language of approximately 65% of its population and one of
the
classical languages of
India. Kannada played a crucial role in the creation of
Karnataka since linguistic demographics was a major criterion
chosen to create the state in 1956. Tulu, Kodava Takk and Konkani
are other major native languages that share a long history in the
state.
Urdu is spoken widely by the
Muslim population. Less widely spoken languages
include
Beary bashe and certain dialects
such as
Sankethi. Kannada features
a rich and ancient body of
literature covering topics as diverse as
Jainism,
Vachanas,
Haridasa Sahitya and
modern literature. Evidence from
edicts during the time of
Ashoka the
Great suggest that the
Kannada
script and its literature were influenced by Buddhist
literature. The
Halmidi
inscription, the earliest attested full-length inscription in
the Kannada language and script, is dated to 450 CE while the
earliest available literary work, the
Kavirajamarga, has been dated to 850 CE.
References made in the Kavirajamarga, however, prove that Kannada
literature flourished in the
Chattana,
Beddande
and
Melvadu metres during earlier centuries.
Kuvempu, the renowned Kannada poet and
writer who wrote
Jaya
Bharata Jananiya Tanujate, the state anthem of Karnataka was
the first recipient of the "
Karnataka
Ratna" award, the highest civilian award bestowed by the
Government of Karnataka.
Contemporary
Kannada literature
is well recognized in the arena of Indian literature, with seven
Kannada writers winning India's highest literary honour, the
Jnanpith award, which is the highest
for any language in India.
Tulu is spoken mainly in the coastal
districts of Udupi
and
Dakshina Kannada. Tulu
Mahabharato, written by
Arunabja in Tulu script, is
the oldest surviving Tulu text. The Tulu language now uses the
Kannada script due to the gradual decline of the
Tulu script, which was in use until a few
centuries ago.
The Kodavas who mainly
reside in the Kodagu
district,
speak Kodava Takk. Two regional variations of the language
exist, the northern
Mendale Takka and the southern
Kiggaati Takka.
Konkani is mostly spoken in the Uttara
Kannada
district and in some parts of the Udupi and
Dakshina Kannada districts. Both Kodava Takk and Konkani use
the Kannada script for writing. English is the medium of education
in many schools and widely used for business communication in
technology-related companies and
BPOs.
All of the state's languages are patronised and promoted by
governmental and quasi-governmental bodies. The
Kannada Sahitya Parishat and the
Kannada Sahitya Akademi are responsible for the promotion
of Kannada while the
Karnataka Konkani Sahitya Akademi,
The
Tulu Sahitya Akademi and the
Kodava Sahitya
Akademi promote their respective languages.
Education
As per the 2001 census, Karnataka had a
literacy rate of 67.04%, with 76.29% of males
and 57.45% of females in the state being literate.
The state is home to
some of the premier educational and research institutions of India
such as the Indian Institute
of Science, the Indian Institute of
Management, the National Institute of Technology
Karnataka
and the National
Law School of India University
.
As of March 2006, Karnataka had 54,529 primary schools with 252,875
teachers and 8.495 million students, and 9498 secondary schools
with 92,287 teachers and 1.384 million students. There are three
kinds of schools in the state, viz., government-run, private aided
(financial aid is provided by the government) and private unaided
(no financial aid is provided). The primary languages of
instruction in most schools are Kannada and English. The syllabus
taught in the schools is either of the
CBSE, the
ICSE or the state
syllabus (
SSLC) defined by the Department of
Public Instruction of the
Government of Karnataka.The State
has one
Sainik School in
Bijapur also.
In order to maximize attendance in schools, the Karnataka
Government has launched a mid-day meal scheme in government and
aided schools in which free lunch is provided to the students.
Statewide board examinations are conducted at
the end of the period of secondary education and students who
qualify are allowed to pursue a two-year
pre-university course; after which
students become eligible to pursue
under-graduate degrees.
There are 481 degree colleges affiliated with one of the
universities in the state, viz.
Bangalore University,
Gulbarga University,
Karnatak University,
Kuvempu University,
Mangalore University and
Mysore University.
In 1998, the
engineering colleges in the state were brought under the newly
formed Visvesvaraya Technological
University headquartered at Belgaum
, whereas the medical colleges are run under the
jurisdiction of the Rajiv Gandhi
University of Health Sciences. Some of these
baccalaureate colleges are accredited with the status of a
deemed university. There are 123
engineering, 35 medical and 40 dental colleges in the state.
Udupi
, Sringeri
, Gokarna
and Melkote
are well-known places of Sanskrit and Vedic
learning. An
Indian Institute of
Technology Muddenahalli has been approved by the central
government as part of the 11th 5 year plan. This will be the first
IIT in Karnataka State. In addition, a 600 crore
Visvesvaraya
Institute of Advanced Technology (VIAT) is being constructed in
Muddenahalli-
Kanivenarayanapura.
Media
The era of Kannada newspapers started in the year 1843 when
Hermann Mögling, a
missionary from
Basel
Mission, published the first Kannada newspaper called
Mangalooru Samachara in Mangalore. The first Kannada
periodical,
Mysuru Vrittanta Bodhini was started by
Bhashyam Bhashyacharya in Mysore. Shortly after Indian independence
in 1948, K. N. Guruswamy founded
The Printers (Mysore) Private
Limited and began publishing two newspapers, the
Deccan Herald and
Prajavani. Presently the
Times of India and
Vijaya Karnataka are the largest-selling
English and Kannada newspapers respectively. A vast number of
weekly, biweekly and monthly magazines are under publication in
both Kannada and English.
Udayavani,
Kannadaprabha,
Samyukta Karnataka, Vaartha Bharathi,
Sanjevani,
Eesanje,
Hosa digantha,
Karavali Ale are also some popular dailies
published from Karnataka.
Doordarshan is the broadcaster of the
Government of India and its
channel
DD Chandana is dedicated to
Kannada. Prominent
Kannada
channels include
ETV Kannada,
Zee Kannada,
Udaya
TV,
U2,
TV 9,
Asianet
Suvarna and
Kasturi
TV.
Karnataka occupies a special place in the history of Indian radio.
In 1935,
Aakashvani, the first private radio station in
India, was started by Prof. M.V.
Gopalaswamy at Mysore
.
The popular radio station was taken over by the local municipality
and later by
All India Radio (AIR)
and moved to Bangalore in 1955. Later in 1957, AIR adopted the
original name of the radio station,
Aakashavani as its
own. Some of the popular programs aired by AIR Bangalore included
Nisarga Sampada and
Sasya Sanjeevini which were
programs that taught science through songs, plays and stories.
These two programs became so popular that they were translated and
broadcasted in 18 different languages and the entire series was
recorded on cassettes by the Government of Karnataka and
distributed to thousands of schools across the state. Karnataka has
witnessed a growth in FM radio channels mainly in the city of
Bangalore which has around 10 such channels and these have become
hugely popular.
Sports
Karnataka's smallest district, Kodagu
, is a major
contributor to Indian field
hockey, producing numerous players who have represented India
at the international level. The annual
Kodava Hockey Festival is the largest
hockey tournament in the world.
Bangalore
has hosted a WTA tennis
event and, in 1997, it hosted the fourth National Games of
India. The Sports Authority of India, the premier
sports institute in the country, and the Nike
Tennis
Academy are also situated in Bangalore. Karnataka has been
referred to as the cradle of Indian swimming because of its high
standards in comparison to other states.
One of the most popular sports in Karnataka is
cricket.
The state
cricket team has won the
Ranji
Trophy six times, second only to
Mumbai in terms of success.
Chinnaswamy
Stadium
in Bangalore regularly hosts international matches and is also the
home of the National Cricket
Academy, which was opened in 2000 to nurture potential
international players. Many
cricketers have
represented
India and in
one international match held in the 1990s; players from Karnataka
composed the majority of the national team.
The
Karnataka Premier
League, an inter-regional
Twenty20
cricket tournament is a cricket tournament played in the state. The
Royal Challengers
Bangalore, an
Indian Premier
League franchise, is based in Bangalore.
Sports like
kho kho,
kabaddi,
chinni daandu
and goli (
marbles) are played mostly in
Karnataka's rural areas.
Notable sportsmen from Karnataka include
Prakash Padukone who won the
All England Badminton
Championships in 1980 and
Pankaj
Advani who has won three world titles in
cue sports by the age of 20 including the amateur
World Snooker
Championship in 2003 and the World Billiards Championship in
2005.
Cycling talent of Karnataka needs a special
mention. Off late Bijapur district has produced some of the best
known Road Cyclists in the national circuit. Premalata Sureban was
part of the Indian contingent at the Perlis Open '99 in Malaysia.
In recognition of the talent of cyclists in the district, the State
Government has already laid a cycling track at the B.R. Ambedkar
Stadium here, spending Rs. 40 lakh.
Flora and fauna
Karnataka has a rich diversity of flora and fauna. It has a
recorded forest area of which constitutes 20.19% of the total
geographical area of the state. These forests support 25% of the
elephant and 10% of the
tiger population of India. Many regions of Karnataka
are as yet unexplored, so new species of flora and fauna are found
periodically. The
Western Ghats, a
biodiversity hotspot, includes
the western region of Karnataka. Two sub-clusters in the Western
Ghats, viz.
Talacauvery
and Kudremukh
, both in Karnataka, are on the tentative list of
World Heritage Sites of UNESCO
.
The Bandipur and Nagarahole National Parks, which fall outside
these subclusters, were included in the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve
in 1986, a UNESCO designation. The
Indian
roller and the
Indian elephant
are recognized as the state bird and animal while
sandalwood and the
lotus are recognized as the state tree and
flower respectively.
Karnataka has five national parks: Anshi
, Bandipur
, Bannerghatta
, Kudremukh
and Nagarhole
. It also has 25 wildlife sanctuaries of
which seven are bird sanctuaries.
Wild animals that are found in Karnataka include the
elephant, the
tiger, the
leopard, the
gaur,
the
sambar deer, the
chital or spotted deer, the
muntjac, the
bonnet macaque, the
slender loris, the
common palm civet, the
small Indian civet, the
sloth bear, the
dhole, the
striped
hyena and the
golden jackal. Some
of the birds found here are the
Great
Hornbill, the
Malabar Pied
Hornbill, the
Ceylon frogmouth,
herons, ducks, kites, eagles,
falcons,
quails,
partridges,
lapwings,
sandpipers, pigeons, doves,
parakeets, cuckoos, owls,
nightjars,
swifts,
kingfishers, bee-eaters and
munias. Some species of trees found in Karnataka are
Callophyllum tomentosa,
Callophyllum wightianum,
Garcina cambogia,
Garcina morealla,
Alstonia scholaris, ,
Artocarpus hirsutus,
Artocarpus lacoocha,
Cinnamomum zeylanicum,
Grewia tilaefolia,
Santalum album,
Shorea talura,
Emblica officinalis,
Vitex altissima and
Wrightia tinctoria. Wildlife in Karnataka is
threatened by poaching, habitat destruction, human-wildlife
conflict and pollution.
Tourism
By virtue of its varied geography and long history, Karnataka hosts
numerous spots of interest for tourists. There is an array of
ancient sculptured temples, modern cities, scenic hill ranges,
unexplored forests and endless beaches. Karnataka has been ranked
as the fourth most popular destination for tourism among the states
of India. Karnataka has the second highest number of nationally
protected monuments in India, second only to Uttar Pradesh, in
addition to 752 monuments protected by the State Directorate of
Archaeology and Museums. Another 25,000 monuments are yet to
receive protection.
The
districts of the Western ghats and the
southern districts of the state have popular eco-tourism locations
including Kudremukh
, Madikeri
and Agumbe
.
Karnataka has 25 wildlife sanctuaries and five national parks.
Popular
among them are Bandipur National Park
, Bannerghatta National Park
and Nagarhole National Park
. The ruins of the Vijayanagara Empire at
Hampi
and the monuments of Pattadakal
are on the list of UNESCO
's
World Heritage Sites.
The cave
temples at Badami
and the
rock-cut temples at Aihole
representing the Badami Chalukyan style of architecture are also
popular tourist destinations. The Hoysala temples
at Belur
and
Halebidu
, which were built with Chloritic schist (soap stone) are proposed UNESCO World Heritage
sites. The Gol Gumbaz
and Ibrahim Rauza are famous examples of the Deccan
Sultanate style of architecture. The monolith of
Gomateshwara at Shravanabelagola is the tallest
sculpted monolith in the world, attracting tens of thousands of
pilgrims during the
Mahamastakabhisheka festival.
The
waterfalls of Karnataka and Kudremukh National Park
are listed as must-see places and among the
"1001 Natural Wonders of the World". Jog Falls
is India's
tallest single-tiered waterfall with Gokak Falls, Unchalli
Falls, Magod Falls, Abbey Falls and Shivanasamudra Falls
among other popular waterfalls.
Several
popular beaches dot the coastline including Murudeshwara
, Gokarna
and Karwar
. In addition, Karnataka is home to
several places of religious importance.
Several Hindu temples
including the famous Udupi Krishna Temple
, the Marikamba Temple at Sirsi, the Sri Manjunatha Temple at Dharmasthala
, Sri Subramanya Temple at Kukke and Sharadamba Temple at Sringeri
attract pilgrims from all over India.
Most of
the holy sites of Lingayats, like Kudalasangama
and Basavana
Bagewadi, are found in northern parts of the state.
Shravanabelagola
, Mudabidri and Karkala
are famous for Jain history and monuments.
The
Jaina faith had a stronghold in Karnataka in
the early medieval period with Shravanabelagola
as its most important center.
Recently Karnataka has emerged as a hot spot for health care
tourism. Karnataka has the highest number of approved health
systems and alternative therapies in India. Along with some ISO
certified government-owned hospitals, private institutions which
provide international-quality services have caused the health care
industry to grow by 30% during 2004-05. Hospitals in Karnataka
treat around 8,000 health tourists every year.
Notes
References
- John Keay, India: A History, 2000, Grove publications, New
York, ISBN 0-8021-3797-0
- Dr. Suryanath U. Kamath, Concise history of Karnataka, 2001,
MCC, Bangalore (Reprinted 2002) OCLC: 7796041
- Nilakanta Sastri, K.A. (1955). A History of South India, From
Prehistoric times to fall of Vijayanagar, OUP, New Delhi (Reprinted
2002) ISBN 0-19-560686-8..
- R. Narasimhacharya, History of Kannada Literature, 1988, Asian
Educational Services, New Delhi, Madras,1988, ISBN
81-206-0303-6.
- K.V. Ramesh, Chalukyas of Vatapi, 1984, Agam Kala Prakashan,
Delhi ISBN 3987-10333
- Malini Adiga (2006), The Making of Southern Karnataka: Society,
Polity and Culture in the early medieval period, AD 400-1030,
Orient Longman, Chennai, ISBN 81 250 2912 5
- Hermann Kulke and Dietmar Rothermund, A History of India,
fourth edition, Routledge, 2004, ISBN 0-415-32919-1
- Foekema, Gerard [2003] (2003). Architecture decorated with
architecture: Later medieval temples of Karnataka, 1000-1300 AD.
New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers Pvt. Ltd. ISBN
81-215-1089-9.
External links