Gadaga-Betageri is a city municipal council in Gadag district in the state of

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 ...

, India. It is the administrative headquarters of Gadag District. The original city of Gadag and its sister city Betageri (or ''Betgeri'') have a combined city administration. The municipality of Gadag-Betageri has a population of 172,813 and an area of . Kanaginahal of Gadag is the birthplace of the first co-operative society in Asia. The temples of Veera Narayana and Trikuteshwara are places of religious and historic importance.

Gadag style of architecture

The ''Gadag style of Architecture'', marked by ''Ornate pillars with intricate sculpture'', originated during the period of the Western Chalukya (or Kalyani Chalukyas) king ''Someswara I'', and it flourished for a period of 150 years (During to ) during which period some 50 temples were built; some examples being: The Trikuteshwara temple complex at Gadag, The Kasivisvesvara temple, Lakkundi, The Doddabasappa Temple at Dambal, The Amriteshwara temple at Annigeri, etc. Pillars at Sarasvati Temple in Gadag

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 ...

, Gadag-Betageri had a population of 172,813. Males constitute 86,165 of the population and females 86,648. Gadag-Betageri has an average literacy rate of 85.56%. The Sex ratio is about 1006 females per 1000 males to females. 18,419 of the population is under 6 years of age.

Kannada Kannada () is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly in the state of Karnataka in southwestern India, and spoken by a minority of the population in all neighbouring states. It has 44 million native speakers, and is additionally a ...

is the main and widely spoken language, while English and

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

are spoken and understood by few people.

Climate

Notable people

* Kumara Vyasa - Gadag immediately brings to mind the name of Naranappa, popularly known as Kumara Vyasa, the

author In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...

of Karnata Bharata Kathamanjari. It is the classic

Mahabharata The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; , , ) is one of the two major Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epics of ancient India revered as Smriti texts in Hinduism, the other being the ''Ramayana, Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the events and aftermath of the Kuru ...

. Naranappa was born in the nearby village of Koliwada. He composed his work sitting before Lord Veera Narayana, his chosen deity. * Ganayogi Panchakshara Gawai, visually challenged singer from Gadag. His

music school A music school is an educational institution specialized in the study, training, and research of music. Such an institution can also be known as a school of music, music academy, music faculty, college of music, music department (of a larger in ...

Veereshwara Punyashrama is a renowned institution in north

. * Puttaraj Gawai, recipient of the "

Padma Bhushan The Padma Bhushan (IAST: ''Padma Bhūṣaṇa'', lit. 'Lotus Decoration') is the third-highest civilian award in the Republic of India, preceded by the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan and followed by the Padma Shri. Instituted on 2 Januar ...

" Award from Govt Of India, visually challenged Indian musician (classical Hindustani tradition), scholar, music teacher and social servant. A student of Ganayogi Panchakshara Gawai (above). He headed the Veereshwara Punyashrama until he died in late 2010. * Shri Aluru Venkataraya Shri Aluru Venkataraya from Holealur is revered as Karnataka Kulapurohita (High priest of the Kannada family) in the Karnataka region for his contribution towards the cause of a separate Karnataka state. He became famous for undertaking a Karnataka Ekikarana movement in support of the formation of a state for the Kannada-speaking population of Mysore, Bombay Presidency and the Nizam's Hyderabad. * Bhimsen Joshi,

Hindustan ''Hindūstān'' ( English: /ˈhɪndustæn/ or /ˈhɪndustɑn/, ; ) was a historical region, polity, and a name for India, historically used simultaneously for northern Indian subcontinent and the entire subcontinent, used in the modern day ...

i singer, recipient of the

Bharat Ratna The Bharat Ratna (; ) is the highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is conferred in recognition of "exceptional service/performance of the highest order", without distin ...

Award - Highest Civilian Honour of India * Sunil Joshi, cricketer, born in Gadag. * Huilgol Narayana Rao, writer of "Udayavagali namma cheluva kannada nadu" the

anthem An anthem is a musical composition of celebration, usually used as a symbol for a distinct group, particularly the national anthems of countries. Originally, and in music theory and religious contexts, it also refers more particularly to sho ...

which heralded the birth of

state. * Vijay Sankeshwar, businessman, founder of VRL Group, ''

Vijaya Karnataka ''Vijaya Karnataka'' is a Kannada newspaper published from a number of cities in Karnataka. The newspaper is published from Bengaluru, Hubballi, Mangaluru, Shivamogga, Kalaburagi, Gangavathi, Belagavi, Davanagere, Hassan, Chitradurga. It was ...

'' newspaper and Vijayavani. * Vilas Nilgund, runner, who represented India in 100 metre sprint, and 4x100 metre. * R. S. Mugali famous writer and author of "Kannada Sahitya Charitre" * Giraddi Govindaraj famous critic and former president of "Karnataka Sahitya Akademi" * G. B. Joshi famous playwright and founder of "Manohara Granthamala" * H. K. Patil Indian National Congress (INC) party politician and currently minister in Government of Karnataka.

References

External links