Somwarpet (''somavārapēte'', also written ''Somvarpet'') is a

panchayat town A nagar panchayat () or town panchayat or Notified Area Council (NAC) in India is a settlement in transition from rural to urban and therefore a form of an urban political unit comparable to a municipality. An urban centre with more than 12,00 ...

Kodagu district Kodagu district () (also known by its former name Coorg) is an administrative List of districts of Karnataka, district in the Karnataka state of India. Before 1956, it was an administratively separate Coorg State at which point it was merged ...

in the Indian

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...

. It is the main town of the

Somwarpet taluk Somawarpete taluk is one of the five taluks of Kodagu district. Its administrative headquarters is in the town of Somwarpet. Languages Kannada, Are Bhashe, Kodava Takk, Beary bashe and English are spoken by the people. Flora and fauna C ...

, in the north-east of the district. 2nd highest Administrative town in Karnataka in terms of

elevation The elevation of a geographic location (geography), ''location'' is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational equipotenti ...

. The main crops grown in the area are

coffee Coffee is a beverage brewed from roasted, ground coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content, but decaffeinated coffee is also commercially a ...

and spice crops such as

cardamom Cardamom (), sometimes cardamon or cardamum, is a spice made from the seeds of several plants in the genus (biology), genera ''Elettaria'' and ''Amomum'' in the family Zingiberaceae. Both genera are native to the Indian subcontinent and Indon ...

peppers Pepper(s) may refer to: Food and spice * Piperaceae or the pepper family, a large family of flowering plants ** Black pepper ** Long pepper ** Kampot pepper * ''Capsicum'' or pepper, a genus of flowering plants in the nightshade family Solanaceae ...

oranges The orange, also called sweet orange to distinguish it from the bitter orange (''Citrus × aurantium''), is the fruit of a tree in the family Rutaceae. Botanically, this is the hybrid ''Citrus'' × ''sinensis'', between the pomelo (''Citrus m ...

ginger Ginger (''Zingiber officinale'') is a flowering plant whose rhizome, ginger root or ginger, is widely used as a spice and a folk medicine. It is an herbaceous perennial that grows annual pseudostems (false stems made of the rolled bases of l ...

and vegetables.

Rainfall

Based on the reports of KSNDMC taken from 2018 to 2020, Somwarpet Town received on an average, annual rainfall of . In 2022, Somwarpet hobli received an annual rainfall of .

Transportation

There are no National Highways passing through the town of Somwarpet. It can be reached by State highways 27, 85 and 112.

Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation The Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) is a state-owned public road transport corporation company in the Indian state of Karnataka. It is wholly owned by the Government of Karnataka. It serves routes to 31 districts and as wel ...

provide inter-district bus connectivity. Private bus service operate within Coorg only. Somwarpet do not have rail connectivity. Nearest major railway junction is

Hassan Junction railway station Hassan Junction railway station, also known as Hassana Junction railway station (station code: HAS). It is the main railway station in Hassan district, Karnataka. It serves Hassan city. The station consists of three platforms. Connectivity ...

about 70 km. Nearest International Airport is

Kannur International Airport Kannur International Airport is an international airport serving the city of Kannur, the Mahé district, Mahé district of Puducherry and the rest of northern Kerala in India. It is located in Mattanur, east of Kannur and east of Thalassery. ...

(120 km) and

Mangalore International Airport Mangalore International Airport (also known as Mangaluru International Airport) is an international airport serving the coastal city of Mangalore in the state of Karnataka, India. It is one of only two international airports in the state, t ...

(160 km).

Demographics

India

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

, Somwarpet had a population of 7218. Males constitute 50% of the population and females 50%. Somvarpet has an average literacy rate of 75%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 80%, and female literacy is 70%. In Somvarpet, 12% of the population is under 6 years of age.

Languages

* Kodava Takk: This Dravidian language is indigenous to the Kodagu region and is spoken by the Kodava people, the predominant community in the area. Kodava Takk holds cultural and historical significance and remains widely spoken in family and community contexts. * Kannada: As the official language of Karnataka, Kannada is widely used in administrative and educational contexts in Somwarpet. Its prominence has been reinforced since the integration of Kodagu into Karnataka in 1956. * Arebhashe (Aregannada): A dialect of Kannada, Arebhashe is primarily spoken by the Gowda community in parts of southern Kodagu, including areas around Somwarpet. Recognizing its cultural significance, the Karnataka government established the Karnataka Arebhashe Samskruthi mathu Sahitya Academy in 2011 to promote and preserve this dialect. * Yerava (Ravula): Spoken by the Yerava tribal community, this Dravidian language is prevalent in the Kodagu district. The Yerava people have a distinct cultural identity, and their language reflects a rich oral tradition. These languages contribute to the multicultural fabric of Somwarpet, highlighting the town's role as a confluence of diverse linguistic and cultural traditions.

Flora and fauna

Coffee Coffee is a beverage brewed from roasted, ground coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content, but decaffeinated coffee is also commercially a ...

is the major crop in the region. It is the major Arabica coffee growing region of India. Other crops like pepper, cardamom, orange,

vanilla Vanilla is a spice derived from orchids of the genus ''Vanilla (genus), Vanilla'', primarily obtained from pods of the flat-leaved vanilla (''Vanilla planifolia, V. planifolia''). ''Vanilla'' is not Autogamy, autogamous, so pollination ...

are grown.

Rice Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...

, ginger is also grown.

Tourist attractions

A number of tourist attractions in Somwarpet Taluk are short distances of up to from Somwarpet. These include the ''Beluru Golf Club'', several peaks with trekking routes (''Male Malleshwara Betta'', ''Kotebetta'' and ''Makkalagudi Betta''), the ''Dubare Elephant Camp'', and ''Mallalli Falls''. Other attractions further away in the Taluk include

Kushalanagar Kushalanagar or Kushalanagara is a city located in the Kodagu district of the Indian state of Karnataka. Surrounded by Kaveri river, it is the gateway to Kodagu district. It also serves as the headquarters of Kushalanagar Taluk. By population, ...

Harangi Reservoir The Harangi Dam is located near Hudgur village, Kushalnagar taluk in Kodagu district in the Indian state of Karnataka. The masonry dam is built across the river Harangi, a tributary of the Kaveri. The dam is located about from the heart of Ku ...

Nagarhole National Park Nagarahole National Park is a national park located in Kodagu district and Mysore district in Karnataka, India. This park was declared the 37th Tiger Reserve of India in 1999. It is part of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve. The Western Ghats ...

, Betttarashi betta, Silent falls, Doodakalu betta and Gantukallu Betta.

References

External links

{{Western Ghats Cities and towns in Kodagu district Populated places in the Western Ghats Tourism in Karnataka Hill stations in Karnataka