Kushalanagara or Kushalnagar is a city located in the Kodagu district of the Indian state of

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...

. Surrounded by Kaveri river, it is the gateway to Kodagu district. It also serves as the headquarters of Kushalanagar Taluk. By population, Kushalanagar is the second largest town in Kodagu district after

Madikeri Madikeri is a hill station town in Madikeri taluk and headquarters of Kodagu district in Karnataka, India. Etymology Madikeri was known as ''Muddu Raja Keri'', which meant Mudduraja's town, was named after the prominent Haleri king Mudduraj ...

and the fastest developing town in the district. Kushalnagar is an important commercial centre in Kodagu.

Etymology

According to popular myth, the name was given by

Hyder Ali Hyder Ali ( حیدر علی, ''Haidarālī''; 1720 – 7 December 1782) was the Sultan and ''de facto'' ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore in southern India. Born as Hyder Ali, he distinguished himself as a soldier, eventually drawing the at ...

who was camped there when he received news of the birth of his son Tipu and called it as ''Kushyal nagar'' (="town of gladness") But in reality, Tipu was born around 1750 while Hyder Ali entered Kodagu for the first time in the 1760s. After the British conquest of Coorg it was known as Fraserpet after Colonel

James Stuart Fraser General James Stuart Fraser (1 July 1783 – 22 August 1869) was a British army officer in the Madras army in India. He was involved in the Coorg War of 1834 and the town of Kushalnagar was for sometime named after him as Fraserpet. James was bo ...

who was the Political Agent in Coorg around 1834.

Geography

Kushalanagar is located at . It has an average elevation of 844 metres (2726 feet). Kushalanagar is situated in the eastern part of

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

district. The town is generally flat, although a few areas are hilly.

Kaveri The Kaveri (also known as Cauvery, the anglicized name) is one of the major Indian rivers flowing through the states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. The Kaveri river rises at Talakaveri in the Brahmagiri (hill), Karnataka, Brahmagiri range in th ...

river surrounds the town in all directions except the west. It is roughly 85 kilometres west of

Mysuru Mysore (), officially Mysuru (), is a city in the southern part of the state of Karnataka, India. Mysore city is geographically located between 12° 18′ 26″ north latitude and 76° 38′ 59″ east longitude. It is located at an altitude of ...

, 220 kilometres west of Bengaluru and 170 kilometres east of

Mangaluru Mangalore (), officially known as Mangaluru, is a major port city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is located between the Arabian Sea and the Western Ghats about west of Bangalore, the state capital, 20 km north of Karnataka–Ker ...

Demographics

India

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses in ...

, Kushalanagara had a population of 15,326. Males constitute 53% of the population and females 47%. Kushalanagar has an average literacy rate of 89.53%, higher than the state average of 75.36% male literacy is 82%, and female literacy is 73%. 12% of the population is under 6 years of age. Kushalnagar along with its cluster of nearby villages including Mullusoge, Kudamangalore and Kudige form one of the most densely populated areas in the district with combined population of 39,393. The conurbation of Kushalnagar measures nearly 35km², making it largest urban settlement in the district.

Economy

Kushalnagar is an important commercial centre in Kodagu. KIADB Industrial Area is located in Kudloor of Kushalnagar where multiple coffee processing industries are located.

Education

Kushalanagara has an average literacy rate of 89%. The town has six private Schools, one government school (from kindergarten to degree), one polytechnic school, and an engineering college. A

Sainik School The Sainik Schools are a system of schools in India established and managed by the Sainik Schools Society under Ministry of Defence (MoD). They were conceived in 1961 by V. K. Krishna Menon, the then Defence Minister of India, to rectify the reg ...

is located in the outrange of the town, where students receive military training.

Transport

Kushalnagar has one government bus station that serves all intrastate and interstate regions. The town is also accessible via from Bengaluru and Mysore via transportation services or self-driving cars. There is no railway service in Kodagu. A railway line from Mysuru to Kushalnagar has been planned but has been opposed by environmental activists. The nearest airport is at Mysore, and the nearest international airport is

Kannur International Airport Kannur International Airport is an airport serving the North Malabar region of Kerala, Kodagu and Mysore districts of Karnataka and Mahé district of Puducherry in India. It is located east of Kannur, and east of Thalassery, near the muni ...

. The Airports Authority of India has proposed a construction of a new mini airport named

Kushalnagar airport Kushalanagara or Kushalnagar 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, ...

in the town to boost tourism from other parts of the state.

References

{{Kodagu (Coorg) topics Cities and towns in Kodagu district