District History

Introduction

Koppal, a newborn district of Karnataka state, carved out of Raichur District. It is situated between 15* 09′ 00″ to 16* 03′ 30″ North Latitude and 75* 47′ 30″ to 76* 48′ 10″ East Longitude. It consists of four talukas Koppal, Gangavathi, Kushtagi,Yelburga and Newly formed three talukas (19.01.2018)Kanakagiri, Karatagi and (18.01.2018) Kukanoor. Koppal district is surrounded by Raichur district in the east, Gadag district in the West, Bagalkot district in the north, Bellary district in the south. Koppal District headquarters is closest to the world heritage Hampi.

Koppal district is an administrative district in the state of Karnataka in India. In the past Koppal was referred to as
‘Kopana Nagara’. Hampi, a World heritage center, covers some areas of Koppal District. It is situated approximately 38 km away. Anegundi, is also a famous travel destination.

Koppal District located in the northern interior of Karnataka has an area of 8,458 sq km. It is bounded by the districts of Raichur, Bagalkot, Gadag, and Bellary. Koppal district is the best seed production center in the state. Several national seed companies have seed production centres for flowers, fruits, vegetables and pulses here. Anegundi, Kanakagiri, Navabrindavana, and Kuknur are the important places to visit.

Geographically, Koppal is a stretch of rocky terrain on one side and acres of dry land on the other wherein agricultural crops like Jowar, Ground-nuts etc are grown.Farmers still use the old Bullock-Cart ploughing methods, depending mainly on the Monsoons which is a rarity in these parts of the world.However recently some of them have ventured into high-tech irrigational Farming especially after the Thunga-Bhadra river waters from the neighbouring town of Munirabad (20kms away with a huge Dam) is been redirected to the Town to solve its water problems. So, the current product crops are Pomegranites, Grapes and Figs (which are being exported)

History

The history of Koppal can be traced back to the kingdoms of Shathavahanas, Gangas, Hoysalas and Chalukya Dynasties. The name of the district i.e. “KOPPAL” is found in the poetic work of the great poet Kavirajamarga (During King Nrupathunga’s time of 814-878 A.D.) as “VIDITHA MAHA KOPANA NAGARA”. During Ashoka’s period, the Jainism gained greater momentum in this region. Therefore, it was called “Jainkashi”. In twelth century A.D. Veerashaivaism of Social Reformer Basaveshwara became popular. The present Gavi Math of Koppal has great attraction.

Anegundi of Gangavathi Taluk was the first capital of great Vijayanagara Dynasty. The old palace and fort still exist where annual festival called “Anegundi Utsava” is being celebrated in a befitting manner every year. The other important historical places of Koppal district are Huligi, Kanakagiri, Itagi, Kukanoor, Madinoor, Indrakeela Parvatha,Pura, Chikkabenakal & Hirebenakal.

Before Independence, Koppal was under the Nizam of Hyderabad. India got Independence on 15th August 1947, since Koppal was part of Hyderabad region, the people of the region had to struggle further to attain Independence from the clutches of Hyderabad Nizam. On 18th September, 1948, the Hyderabad-Karnataka got independence from Nizam. Since then until 01-04-1998, Koppal District was in Raichur District of Gulbarga Revenue Division.

The administrative blocks of the district are as follows

No. of Talukas : 4 and Newly formed Talukas: 3
No. of Hoblis : 20
No. of Inhabited villages : 594
No. of Un-Inhabited Villages : 35
No. of City & Muncipal Corporation/Councils/Town Panchayaths : 9
No. of Gram Panchayaths : 153

How to reach?

Nearest Railway Station:

Koppal City is well connected by rail from Bangalore, Hubli, Belgaum, Bellary, Bagalkote, Vijayanagar(Hospet), Vijayapura, Gadag, Goa, Thirupathi, Vijayawada, Guntur, Guntkal, Hyderabad, Miraj.

Nearest Airport :

Hubli 120 km.
Jindal Vijayanagar Airport Toranagallu Karnataka 65km.

Road Transport :

Koppal City is well connected by road from all important cities in Karnataka. It is connected by road to Bangalore, Hubli, Hospet, Bellary, Raichur by National Highways (NH63 & NH13). It is 380 kms away from Bangalore and 120 kms from Hubli. State transport buses connected to Koppal from almost all important cities like Bangalore, Hubli, Mysore, Goa, Hyderabad, Gulbarga, Bidar, Raichur, Bellary, Dharwad, Davanagere, Belgaum, Bagalkot, Bijapur and Mangalore etc.