Tekkalakote, also known as Tekkalakota, 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 ...

and

Pre-historic Prehistory, also called pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the first known use of stone tools by hominins million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use o ...

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 ...

site in

Siruguppa Siruguppa is a town and headquarters of the Siruguppa taluk and second largest city in Ballari district after Hospete carved out of Ballari district of Indian state of Karnataka. Siruguppa used to be popularly referred to as the “Manchester o ...

taluk of

Ballari district Ballari, formerly Bellary (pronounced ), is a major district in Karnataka. It is located at north-eastern part of Karnataka. This district belongs to Kalyana-Karnataka. This district was one of the biggest districts in Karnataka until the Vi ...

in the

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

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 ...

Demography

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 ...

, Tekkalakote had a population of 23,536. Males constitute 52% of the population and females 48%. Tekkalakote has an average literacy rate of 30%, lower than the national average of 59.5%. Literacy of males and females are 41% and 25% respectively. The town's literacy percentage is increasing gradually.

Administration

Tekkalakote is revenue hobli, also town panchayat, executive head is Chief officer. It consists of 20 wards, elections for the same are held every five years to choose ward cousellors,later president and vice president elected among themselves. Devinagara a small camp at a distance of 2 km, comes under direct Tekkalakote administration.

Law and order

Tekkalakote is circle in police administration. Offices of Circle inspector, & Police sub inspector present in town, and both are located in same place in town outskirts on the main highway NH150A. Sirigeri police station comes under jurisdiction of Tekkalakote circle. Chances of communal violence during Muharram & Ganesh Chaturthi are being effectively controlled by Police staff during their occurrence.

Religion and Caste

Major religions here are

Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

and

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

, with Christianity having a minute presence. Major

caste A caste is a Essentialism, fixed social group into which an individual is born within a particular system of social stratification: a caste system. Within such a system, individuals are expected to marry exclusively within the same caste (en ...

s of the town are Nayaka/Valmiki, Pinjar/Nadaf, Kuruba, lingayath, Vokkaliga, etc.

Education

Education is provided by both government and private institutions in many numbers. Govt. PU college for arts and science streams is available, and Govt. first grade degree college provide undergraduate education in humanities.

Agriculture and Veterinary

Tekkalakote is one of the major paddy-growing towns in the district of Ballari. It also has three rice mills. Major crops grown here are

paddy Paddy may refer to: People *Paddy (given name), a list of people with the given name or nickname *A nickname or slur for an Irish person Birds *Paddy (pigeon), a Second World War carrier pigeon *Snowy sheathbill or paddy, a bird species *Black ...

and

cotton Cotton (), first recorded in ancient India, is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure ...

, while

Foxtail millet Foxtail millet, scientific name ''Setaria italica'' (synonym ''Panicum italicum'' L.), is an annual grass grown for human food. It is the second-most widely planted species of millet, and the most grown millet species in Asia. The oldest evidenc ...

, bajra,

jowar ''Sorghum bicolor'', commonly called sorghum () and also known as great millet, broomcorn, guinea corn, durra, imphee, jowar, or milo, is a species in the grass genus ''Sorghum'' cultivated for its grain. The grain is used as food by humans, ...

, and

maize Maize (; ''Zea mays''), also known as corn in North American English, is a tall stout grass that produces cereal grain. It was domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 9,000 years ago from wild teosinte. Native American ...

are grown as minor crops. Agriculture lands are irrigated and rain-fed. Karnataka state department of Agriculture(KSDA) has its sub office here as Raitha Samparka Kendra (RSK) which works for upliftment of agriculture and farmers of villages of Tekkalakote hobli. Veterinary hospital is established to serve animal health issues and their improvement.

Historic importance

Tekkalakote is a pre-historic neolithic site and has shown an evidence of elaborate gold ear ornaments. Tekkalakote hill has evidence of pre-historic neolithic rock paintings in India along with Kupgal, Piklihal, Lakhudiyar,

Bhimbetka The Bhimbetka rock shelters are an archaeological site in central India that spans the Paleolithic and Mesolithic periods, as well as the historic period. It exhibits the earliest traces of human life in India and evidence of the Stone Age star ...

, & Jogimara. Various relics of Neolithic age rock drawings also found here. Tekkalakote is also known for the 18th century square-shaped fort. Nittur & Udegolam villages, which are well known for the minor edicts of the Mauryan emperor Ashoka are located at a distance of 5-7 km from this town. The town holds the most populous and commercial status in its Siruguppa taluk.

Transport

Tekkalakote is located in between Ballari and Siruguppa. It is 45 km away from Ballari and 11 km from Siruguppa. Tekkalakote lies on NH150A which runs between Jevargi and Chamarajanagara. The town is well connected by road to

Bangalore Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

Gulbarga Kalaburagi, formerly known as Gulbarga, is a city in the Indian state of Karnataka, It is headquarters of eponymous Kalaburagi district and Kalaburagi division, Kalaburagi city is governed by a Municipal Corporation, It is called a Sufi c ...

Hyderabad Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...

, and other major cities. The nearest airport is in Vidyanagar, Ballari, currently which connects to Bengaluru and Hyderabad.

Long-distance bus routes

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 ...

(KSRTC) runs bus services to other cities and villages. Private transport facilities are also available.

Railways

Bellary Ballari (formerly Bellary) is a city in the Ballari district in state of Karnataka, India. Ballari houses many steel plants such as JSW Vijayanagar, one of the largest in Asia. Ballari district is also known as the ‘Steel city of South Ind ...

Junction is the nearest railway station, at a distance of 45 km from this town, & Karatagi station at a distance of 70 km.

Languages

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 ...

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 the majorly spoken languages and

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of South India ** Telugu literature, is the body of works written in the Telugu language. * Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Tel ...

holds a minute place.

Temples

Tekkalakote is one of the famous religious hub in

taluk. It has many old temples and are of hundreds of years old. These are some of the famous

Temples A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...

( Devasthana) in Tekkalakote: *Varavina Malleshwar Devasthana (Popularly known as Mallayyana Gudi) *Kadasiddeshwara Devasthana *Nela Amareshwara Devasthana *Jade Shankara linga Devasthana *Nagareshwara Devasthana *Neelakanteshwara Devasthana *Siddarameshwara Devasthana *Kaalamma Devasthana *Dyavamma Devasthana *Pete Basaveswara Gudi *Sharana Basaveswhwara Kalyana Mantapa' *Beeralingeshwar temple *Kote Eshwara Temple *Huchirappa Temple

Hospitals

Tekkalakota has a government hospital on the main highway road. The town also has many private doctors and medical stores. Tekkalakota is also has

Ayurvedic Ayurveda (; ) is an alternative medicine system with historical roots in the Indian subcontinent. It is heavily practised throughout India and Nepal, where as much as 80% of the population report using ayurveda. The theory and practice of ayur ...

treatment practiced by some of the elder people and some doctors. Some Ayurvedic doctors provide the treatment based on the experience in this field which they got from their ancestors.

Political parties

Major Political parties are

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...

(Congress),

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; , ) is a political party in India and one of the two major List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. BJP emerged out from Syama Prasad Mukherjee's ...

(BJP), and

Janata Dal (Secular) {{Infobox Indian Political Party , party_name = Janata Dal (Secular) , party_logo = , colorcode = {{party color, Janata Dal (Secular) , abbreviation = JD(S) , president = H. D. Deve Gowda , founder ...

. This town comes under Siruguppa Assembly constituency and

Koppal Lok Sabha constituency Koppal Lok Sabha constituency is one of the 28 Lok Sabha (parliamentary) constituencies in Karnataka state in southern India. This constituency covers the entire Koppal district and parts of Raichur and Bellary districts. Assembly segments Ko ...

. Mr. M.S.Somalingappa, three time serving MLA of Siruguppa legislative assembly, is from this town.

References

{{commons category, Tekkalakote Cities and towns in Ballari district Archaeological sites in Karnataka Buildings and structures in Ballari district Forts in Karnataka Tourist attractions in Ballari district