Chikmagalur district

Chikmagalur district gets its name from its headquarters of Chikmagalur town. It is alternatively spelt as Chikkamagaluru or Chikmagalur. Chikmagalur literally means "The town of the younger daughter" in the Kannada language. The town is said to have been given as a dowry to the younger daughter of Rukmangada, the legendary chief of Sakkarepatna and hence the name.[3]

Chikmagalur is the region where the Hoysala rulers started and spent the early days of their dynasty. According to a legend, it was at Sosevur, now identified with Angadi in Mudigere Taluk that Sala, the founder of the Hoysala dynasty, killed the legendary tiger, immortalised in the Hoysala crest.[4][5] It is known that Veera Ballala II (1173 – 1220 CE), the great king of Hoysala empire, has built the Amriteshwara temple at Amrithapura in Tarikere Taluk.

Coffee was introduced into India through the Chikmagalur district when the first coffee crop was grown in the baba budan giri range during 1670 AD.[3] The saint Baba Budan on his pilgrimage to Mecca travelled through the seaport of Mocha, Yemen where he discovered coffee. To introduce its taste to India, he wrapped seven coffee beans around his belly and got them out of Arabia. On his return home, he planted the beans in the hills of Chikmagalur.[2]

Chikmagalur, the headquarters of Chikmagalur district, is 251 kilometres (156 mi) from the state capital of Bangalore, and is surrounded by the Chandra Drona hills and dense forests. The district is between 12° 54´ 42´´ and 13° 53´ 53´´ North latitude and between 75° 04´ 46´´ and 76° 21´ 50´´ east longitude. Its greatest length from east to west is about 138.4 kilometers and from north to south 88.5 kilometers. The district receives normal average rainfall of 1925 mm. The highest point in the district is Mullayanagiri, 1,926 m above sea level which is also the highest point in the state of Karnataka. 30% of the district (2108.62 km²) is covered with forests.[6] The district borders Shimoga to the north, Davanagere to the north-east, Chitradurga and Tumkur districts to the east, Hassan to the south, Dakshina Kannada to the south-west and Udupi to the west.

Chikkamagaluru is a large district with its East-West dimension larger than its North-South. This vast area covers higher western ghats in the west to lower semi-arid plains in the east. Thus, Evergreen Forest, Wet Deciduous, Dry Deciduous and Dry forests are all found in the district. Rainfall pattern follows West-East direction, with western portion receiving a whooping 5000mm rainfall annually and eastern portion receiving less than 1000mm. Kigga village in Sringeri taluk is the wettest place in the Chikmagalur district, as per Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre(KSNDMC). Daily temperature ranges between 18-32°celsius on any given day across the district. During summers the temperature reaches as high as 38-40°C and during winters there is high diurnal temperature variation as the night temperature dips below 10°C.

According to the 2011 census, Chikmagalur district has a population of 1,137,961,[9] roughly equal to the nation of Cyprus[10] or the US state of Rhode Island.[11] This gives it a ranking of 408th in India (out of a total of 640).[9] The district has a population density of 158 inhabitants per square kilometre (410/sq mi).[9] Its population growth rate over the decade 2001–2011 was −0.28%.[9] Child proportion(0-6 Age) accounts for 9.26% of the population.[12] Chikmagalur has a sex ratio of 1005 females for every 1000 males,[9] and a literacy rate of 79.24%. 21.05% of the population lives in urban areas. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes make up 22.29% and 3.95% of the population respectively.[9]

Among taluks, Sringeri taluk has the least population whereas Chikmagalur taluk has the highest population.

At the time of the 2011 census, 72.74% of the population spoke Kannada, 7.39% Urdu, 5.52% Tulu, 3.75% Tamil, 2.79% Telugu, 2.47% Malayalam, 1.97% Lambadi and 1.30% Konkani as their first language.[13]

Chikmagalur district falls under the Mysore Division of Karnataka. It is divided into two Revenue Sub-divisions, Chikmagalur Sub-Division and Tarikere Sub-Division. Chikmagalur Sub-Division comprises the taluks of Chikmagalur, Koppa, Mudigere and Sringeri whereas the Tarikere Sub-Division comprises the taluks of Tarikere, Kadur, Ajjampura and Narasimharajapura. The Deputy Commissioner (also the District Magistrate) is the functional head of the district. Each Sub-Division has Assistant Commissioners and each Taluk has Tahsildars who work under the control and supervision of the Deputy Commissioner. The current administrative setup of the district can be viewed here .

Agriculture is the economical back bone of the Chikmagalur district with coffee cultivation forming the major part of it. Agricultural production in the district is spread over three seasons — namely Kharif, Rabi and Summer. Important crops grown are cereals, i.e. rice, ragi, jowar, maize and minor millets, pulses like red gram, horse gram, green gram, avrekai (Hyacinth Beans), black gram and Bengal gram. Oil seeds like groundnut, sesamum, sunflower, castor and commercial crops like sugarcane, cotton, and tobacco are also grown here.[14]

Chikmagalur is the second largest coffee producing district in India, after Kodagu.[1] The Coffee Board located in Chikmagalur town is the government authority that oversees the production and marketing of coffee cultivated in the district. Coffee is cultivated in Chikmagalur district in an area of around 85,465 hectares with Arabica being the dominant variety grown in upper hills and Robusta being the major variety in the low level hills. There are around 15,000 coffee growers in this district with 96% of them being small growers with holdings of less than or equal to 4 hectares. The average production is 55,000 MT: 35,000 MT of Arabica and 20,000 MT of Robusta. The average productivity per hectare is 810 kg for Arabica and 1110 kg of Robusta, which are higher than the national average.[15]

Tourism

Chikmagalur tourist map

Hebbe Falls, near Kemmannugundi

Hill stations in the district are: Kemmangundi, Kudremukh, Mullayanagiri, Baba Budan Giri also known as Datta Peeta, Deviramma Betta. Waterfalls are: Manikyadhara Falls, Kallathigiri Falls, Hebbe Falls, Shanti Falls, Shankar Falls, Hanumana Gundi Falls, Kadambi Falls, Sirimane Falls, Dabdabe Falls etc. Reservoirs and lakes are Bhadra Dam, Hirekolale lake,[16] Ayyenkere lake[17] etc.

Annapoorneshwari Temple, Horanadu

Temple towns are Sringeri, Horanadu, Kalasa, Narasimharajapura,[18] Amritapura etc.

Chikmagalur district unfortunately has not made good progress in terms of Industrial Development. Inadequate infrastructure investors preferring non-industrial ventures over industrial ones are quoted as some of the reasons for the backwardness of Industrial Development in this district.[19][20]

There is only one Large Scale industry in this district, i.e. M/s Kudremukh Iron Ore Company Ltd. (KIOCL) in Kudremukh area of Mudigere Taluk. KIOCL was established in 1976 to develop the Kudremukh mine and to produce 7.5 million tonnes of concentrate per year. The facilities were commissioned in 1980 and the first shipment of concentrate was made in October 1981. A pelletisation plant with a capacity of 3 million tonnes per year was commissioned in 1987 for production of high quality blast furnace and direct reduction grade pellets for export.[21] KIOCL received a massive setback when its mining licence expired and operations were stopped by the Supreme Court with effect from 31 December 2005.[22] With many of the employees losing their jobs and the social backlash that may result thereof, efforts are being made to generate jobs for these workers in other areas.[23]

There are two industrial estates in Chikmagalur district, one located near Chikmagalur town and the other near Birur in Kadur Taluk. The Chikmagalur Industrial Estate is spread over 13.20 acres (53,400 m²) of land where the one at Birur is spread over 11.1 acres (45,000 m²). Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board (KIADB) is also developing an Industrial Area of over 145 acres (0.59 km²) near Amble village of Chikmagalur taluk.[24]

According to 2011 census, the percentage literacy rate of Chikmagalur district is 79.25% with 85.41% of males and 73.16% of females being literate. The literacy rate of Chikmagalur is higher than the average literacy rate of Karnataka state which is 75.36%. Sringeri Taluk has the highest literacy rate of 92.68% and Kadur Talukith 74.33% being the least literate one.[25]

As of 2011, there are 13 degree colleges (with 4615 students) offering graduate education in Chikmagalur district[26] which are affiliated to Kuvempu University. Chikmagalur taluk has the maximum 4 graduate colleges (with 1648 students) whereas kadur has 2 and Koppa, Mudigere, Narasimharajapura and Sringeri taluks have only 1 graduate college each.

Primary and secondary education

As of 2001, there are 1620 primary schools (with 151,923 students) and 235 secondary schools (high schools with 34,607 students) in Chikmagalur district.[26] Chikmagalur taluk with 414 primary schools (42,774 students) has the most primary schools with Sringeri Taluk having the fewest at 80 primary schools (5822 students). Kadur Taluk with 74 secondary schools (9990 students) has the most secondary schools with Sringeri Taluk having the fewest at 9 secondary schools (1492 students).

Higher secondary education

As of 2001, there are 46 colleges (with 4711 students) offering Higher Secondary (Pre-University) education in Chikmagalur district.[26] Kadur Taluk with 12 Higher-Secondary colleges (1324 students) has the most Higher-secondary colleges with Sringeri Taluk having the fewest, two Higher-secondary colleges (160 students).

Technical education

• Adichunchanagiri Institute of Technology Polytechnic, Chikmagalur
• DACG (GOVT) Polytechnic, Chikmagalur

• Bisalehalli

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Chikkamagaluru district.

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Chikmagalur (district).

• Chikmagalur district's official government site