The Raichur Doab is a Doab, in this case the triangular region of land in the southern Indian states of

Telangana Telangana is a States and union territories of India, state in India situated in the Southern India, south-central part of the Indian subcontinent on the high Deccan Plateau. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, ele ...

and

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 ...

lying between the

Krishna River The Krishna River in the Deccan Plateau, Deccan plateau is the third-longest in India, after the Ganga, Ganga and Godavari. It is also the fourth-largest in terms of water inflows and river basin area in India, after the Ganga, Indus and Godav ...

and its

tributary A tributary, or an ''affluent'', is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream (''main stem'' or ''"parent"''), river, or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries, and the main stem river into which they ...

, the

Tungabhadra River The Tungabhadra River () starts and flows through the state of Karnataka, India, for most of its course, then through Andhra Pradesh where it ultimately joins the Krishna River near Murvakonda. The Tungabhadra derives its name from two strea ...

. The doab is named for the town of

Raichur Raichur, also pronounced as Rāyachūru (formerly Raichore), is a city and headquarters of eponymous Raichur district in the Karnataka state of India. Raichur, located between Krishna River, Krishna and Tungabhadra rivers. History Ancient His ...

in the

Raichur District Raichur District is an administrative district in the Indian state of Karnataka. It is located in the northeast part of the state and is bounded by Yadgir district in the north, Bijapur district, Karnataka, Bijapur and Bagalkot district in the n ...

. The Raichur Doab is considered to be very fertile because of the sediments carried by Krishna and Tungabhadra rivers. The doab includes

Raichur district Raichur District is an administrative district in the Indian state of Karnataka. It is located in the northeast part of the state and is bounded by Yadgir district in the north, Bijapur district, Karnataka, Bijapur and Bagalkot district in the n ...

and

Koppal district Koppala district, officially known as Koppala 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 Koppala District ...

in Karnataka, and Gadwal district in Telangana. Some areas of Raichur doab also called as Nadigadda region became a part of Telangana during Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act in 2014.Those areas are Gadwal, Alampur and Maganoor. Gadwal is one of the 31 districts of Telangana State.

Resources

Hatti Gold Mines: Situated in Hatti of Lingasugur taluk, is currently the only working gold mine in India. Evidently, it is one of the oldest mines dating back to Pre Ashokan times. During late 19th century, the gold mines were rediscovered. Raichur Thermal Power Station at Deosugur, commissioned in 1986 was the first coal fired thermal electric power station to be established in the state. It accounts for 40% of electricity, generated in Karnataka.

Agriculture

Raichur Doab has the fertile tracts of deposits from

and its tributary

Tungabhadra The Tungabhadra River () starts and flows through the state of Karnataka, India, for most of its course, then through Andhra Pradesh where it ultimately joins the Krishna River near Murvakonda. The Tungabhadra derives its name from two strea ...

. Sindhanur and Gangavati along with Siruguppa produces largest amount of paddies in

. Raichur district ranks first in Mosambi /Sweet Lime production in the state.

Geography

The doab, named after

is formed by

in the North and

Tungabhadra river The Tungabhadra River () starts and flows through the state of Karnataka, India, for most of its course, then through Andhra Pradesh where it ultimately joins the Krishna River near Murvakonda. The Tungabhadra derives its name from two strea ...

in the South. It lies within the

Deccan Plateau The Deccan is a plateau extending over an area of and occupies the majority of the Indian peninsula. It stretches from the Satpura Range, Satpura and Vindhya Ranges in the north to the northern fringes of Tamil Nadu in the south. It is bound ...

region of Bayalu Seeme.

History

Raichur Doab is inhabited since the Prehistoric cultures. The early village settlements during the

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

and

Iron age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

are base for sedentary lifestyles in Raichur Doab, and they exhibit rich faunal ecology of the region through rock art. During ancient period, the region was part of

Maurya Empire The Maurya Empire was a geographically extensive Iron Age historical power in South Asia with its power base in Magadha. Founded by Chandragupta Maurya around c. 320 BCE, it existed in loose-knit fashion until 185 BCE. The primary source ...

as its southern capital was Kanakagiri. An edict of emperor

Ashoka Ashoka, also known as Asoka or Aśoka ( ; , ; – 232 BCE), and popularly known as Ashoka the Great, was List of Mauryan emperors, Emperor of Magadha from until #Death, his death in 232 BCE, and the third ruler from the Mauryan dynast ...

discovered in the town of

Maski Maski is a town and an archaeological site in the Raichur district of the state of Karnataka, India.Amalananda Ghosh (1990), p282 It lies on the bank of the Maski river which is a tributary of the Tungabhadra. Maski derives its name from Mahasa ...

, was an important discovery as it solved the mystery of the title '

devanampriya Devanampriya (Devanagari: देवानंप्रिय or देवानम्प्रिय), also called Devanampiya ( Brahmi script: 𑀤𑁂𑀯𑀸𑀦𑀁𑀧𑀺𑀬, ''Devānaṃpiya''), was a Pali Pāli (, IAST: pā ...

' which was found in many inscriptions scattered throughout the subcontinent. The

edict had the name of

written along 'devanampriya' (Beloved of the Gods). After Mauryan empire, the doab came under the control of Shatavahana dynasty which ruled over central and eastern Deccan. Later in the early medieval period,

Chalukyas of Badami The Chalukya dynasty () was a Classical Indian dynasty that ruled large parts of southern and central India between the 6th and the 12th centuries. During this period, they ruled as three related yet individual dynasties. The earliest dynast ...

Rashtrakutas The Rashtrakuta Empire was a royal Indian polity ruling large parts of the Indian subcontinent between the 6th and 10th centuries. The earliest known Rashtrakuta Indian inscriptions, inscription is a 7th-century copper plate grant detailing th ...

and Kalyani Chalukyas ruled over the Raichur doab region.In the subsequent centuries, the region was ruled by Kakatiyas of Warangal and

Hoysalas The Hoysala Kingdom was a kingdom originating from the Indian subcontinent that ruled most of what is now Karnataka, parts of Tamilnadu and South-Western Telangana between the 11th and the 14th centuries CE. The capital of the Hoysalas was i ...

before being conquered and annexed by the

Delhi Sultanate The Delhi Sultanate or the Sultanate of Delhi was a Medieval India, late medieval empire primarily based in Delhi that stretched over large parts of the Indian subcontinent for more than three centuries.

. As

Bahmani Sultanate The Bahmani Kingdom or the Bahmani Sultanate was a late medieval Persianate kingdom that ruled the Deccan plateau in India. The first independent Muslim sultanate of the Deccan, the Bahmani Kingdom came to power in 1347 during the rebellio ...

was established at Gulbarga in 1347 AD, the region of Raichur doab was fiercely contested and bloody battles were fought over the forts of Mudgal and

between the Bahmanis and

Vijayanagar empire The Vijayanagara Empire, also known as the Karnata Kingdom, was a late medieval Hindu empire that ruled much of southern India. It was established in 1336 by the brothers Harihara I and Bukka Raya I of the Sangama dynasty, belonging to ...

. Forces of Vijayanagar empire under Krishnadevaraya won the decisive Battle of Raichur in 1520 CE against

Sultanate of Bijapur The Sultanate of Bijapur was an early modern kingdom in the western Deccan and South India, ruled by the Muslim Adil Shahi (or Adilshahi) dynasty. Bijapur had been a ''taraf'' (province) of the Bahmani Kingdom prior to its independence in 1490 ...

, and pushed across the Krishna river. But these short-term gains were decisively reversed when a confederate alliance of

Deccan Sultanates The Deccan sultanates is a historiographical term referring to five late medieval to early modern Persianate Indian Muslim kingdoms on the Deccan Plateau between the Krishna River and the Vindhya Range. They were created from the disintegrati ...

defeated the Vijayanagar empire at

Battle of Talikota The Battle of Talikota was a watershed battle fought between the Vijayanagara Empire and an alliance of the Deccan sultanates. The battle resulted in the defeat and death of Rama Raya, the ''de facto'' ruler of the Vijayanagara Empire, set forth ...

in 1565 CE. During late 17th century, the region came under the

Mughal Empire The Mughal Empire was an Early modern period, early modern empire in South Asia. At its peak, the empire stretched from the outer fringes of the Indus River Basin in the west, northern Afghanistan in the northwest, and Kashmir in the north, to ...

and then passed into the rule of their successors under

Nizam of Hyderabad Nizam of Hyderabad was the title of the ruler of Hyderabad State ( part of the Indian state of Telangana, and the Kalyana-Karnataka region of Karnataka). ''Nizam'' is a shortened form of (; ), and was the title bestowed upon Asaf Jah I wh ...

. It remained under the

Hyderabad State Hyderabad State () was a princely state in the Deccan region of south-central India with its capital at the city of Hyderabad. It is now divided into the present-day state of Telangana, the Kalyana-Karnataka region of Karnataka, and the ...

until 1948 when the princely state was annexed by the Indian Union. During reorganisation of states on linguistic basis in 1956, the eastern part of the doab, Gadwal was incorporated in the state of

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (ISO 15919, ISO: , , AP) is a States and union territories of India, state on the East Coast of India, east coast of southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, seventh-largest state and th ...

(currently in

). The remaining part of the doab that formed Raichur district was incorporated in Mysore State (Renamed as Karnataka in 1973). In 1998, a new district of four talukas was formed with

Koppal Koppal or Koppala is the district headquarters of Koppal district in the Indian state of Karnataka. Koppal is surrounded on three sides by hills. It was known as Kopana Nagara. The town has historical landmarks such as the Koppal Fort, Gavimath ...

as administrative headquarter.

References

{{Reflist Regions of India Regions of Karnataka Doabs of India