My photo from Karnataka
Belgaum ISKCON temple I Belur - Chanakeshava temple I Gokarna - Mahabaleshvara temple I Halebid - Hoysaleswara Temple I Hampi Hanuman birth place I Melkote – Tiru Narayana temple I Mysore palace I Narasimha Caitanya math I Srirangapatanam – Ranganathaswamy temple I Udupi Madhavacharya Headquarters
Karnataka
Population: 49 million
Capital: Bangalore
Area: 191,775 sq km
Best Time to Visit: Sept to February
Main Language: Kannada
Literacy Rate: 56%
There are some interesting historical and natural sites in Karnataka. The pleasant capital, Bangalore, is one of the most important computer and technological centers in India. Three hours southwest of Bangalore is the city of Mysore, a popular city for foreign tourists in South India. It has a fascinating palace. Between Mysore and Bangalore is the important Sri Ranganatha Vishnu Temple at Srirangapatnam.
North of Mysore there are interesting temples in the towns of Belur and Halebid. Further north is the all but deserted city of Hampi, which at one time had a population of over half a million people. Further north are Badami, Pattadakal, and Aihole, all of which have ancient temples. In the extreme north of Karnataka are the towns of Bijapur, Gulbarga, and Bidar, all onetime capitals of the Bahmini kingdoms which contains Muslims historical sites.
Karnataka has several important active temples and pilgrimage places. Udupi, on the coast near Mangalore, has the famous Sri Krishna Temple. This temple was established by the important Vaishnava saint, Madhvacharya. Further up the coast is an important Siva temple at Gokarna, the Mahaballeswara Temple. This area also has excellent and secluded beaches. There are also the highest waterfalls in India at Jog Falls. History It is said that Chandragupta Maurya, India’s emperor, became a Jain and renounced his kingdom. He retired at Sravanabelagola. In the 6th century, the Chalukyans built some of the earliest known Hindu temples in Aihole and Badami. The Hoysalas, who ruled from the 11th to 14th centuries, built some of the best temples in India—in Belur, Halebid, and Somnathpur.
In 1327 Mohammed Tughlaq’s Muslim army conquered the Chalukyans from Halebid. In 1346 the Hindu Vijayanagar kingdom gained control of the middle and southern parts of Karnataka. By the 1550s, they controlled a good part of south India. In 1565 the combined forces of the five Bahmani Muslim kingdoms defeated them and they lost control of Karnataka. At this time, the five Bahmani kingdoms controlled northern Karnataka while the Wodeyars of Mysore gained control of southern Karnataka and other parts of South India. The Wodeyars ruled from Srirangapatnam until 1761, when one of their own generals, Hyder Ali overthrew them. Hyder Ali and his son, Tipu Sultan, with the support of the French, expanded their power. Eventually the British defeated and killed Tipu Sultan in Srirangapatnam in 1799. They then returned the throne to the Wodeyars, who ruled until Independence, except for a period of fifty years beginning in 1830. In 1956, the areas where the language of Kannada was spoken were combined to form the present state of Karnataka.
