Bellary, officially Ballari, in the eponymous Bellary district, is a major city in the state of Karnataka, India. It is 311 km (193 mi) from the state capital of Bangalore and 358 km (222 mi) from Hyderabad. Bellary has an urban population of 410,445 and metro population of 770,929 making it one of the most populous cities of Karnataka. Bellary was a part of the first Indian commercial flight from Karachi to Madras on 15 October 1932 by JRD Tata.
History
Core area of Western Chalukya monuments, roughly corresponding to Sindavadi-1000
The Ballari city municipal council was upgraded to a city corporation in 2004.
The Union Ministry of Home Affairs of the Government of India approved a proposal to rename the city in October 2014 and Bellary was renamed to “Ballari” on 1 November 2014.
Geography and climate
Bellary Fort
Bellari is located at 15.15°N 76.93°E. It has an average elevation of 495 metres (1,624 ft). The city stands in the midst of a wide, level plain of black cotton soil. Granite rocks and hills form a prominent feature of Bellari. The city is spread mainly around two hills of granite composition, the Bellary Gudda and the Kumbara Gudda.
Bellary Gudda has a circumference of nearly 2 miles (3.2 km) and a height of 480 feet (150 m). The length of this rock from north-east to south-west is about 1,150 ft (350 m). To the east and south lies an irregular heap of boulders, to the west there is an unbroken monolith, and the north is walled by bare, rugged ridges.
Kumbara Gudda looks like the profile of a human face from the south-east. It is also known as Face Hill.
| hideClimate data for Bellary (1981–2010, extremes 1901–2012) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 37.6 (99.7) |
40.5 (104.9) |
43.0 (109.4) |
44.7 (112.5) |
44.6 (112.3) |
44.7 (112.5) |
39.5 (103.1) |
39.0 (102.2) |
38.4 (101.1) |
39.0 (102.2) |
38.4 (101.1) |
35.6 (96.1) |
44.7 (112.5) |
| Average high °C (°F) | 31.4 (88.5) |
34.4 (93.9) |
38.1 (100.6) |
40.4 (104.7) |
39.6 (103.3) |
35.3 (95.5) |
32.7 (90.9) |
31.9 (89.4) |
32.3 (90.1) |
31.8 (89.2) |
30.8 (87.4) |
30.2 (86.4) |
34.1 (93.4) |
| Average low °C (°F) | 15.6 (60.1) |
18.1 (64.6) |
21.1 (70.0) |
23.9 (75.0) |
24.4 (75.9) |
23.3 (73.9) |
23.0 (73.4) |
22.7 (72.9) |
21.9 (71.4) |
20.9 (69.6) |
18.3 (64.9) |
15.6 (60.1) |
20.7 (69.3) |
| Record low °C (°F) | 7.0 (44.6) |
8.5 (47.3) |
10.0 (50.0) |
13.0 (55.4) |
14.5 (58.1) |
14.8 (58.6) |
15.5 (59.9) |
15.0 (59.0) |
15.0 (59.0) |
12.5 (54.5) |
8.4 (47.1) |
8.0 (46.4) |
7.0 (44.6) |
| Average rainfall mm (inches) | 2.9 (0.11) |
2.3 (0.09) |
6.0 (0.24) |
17.2 (0.68) |
54.3 (2.14) |
59.2 (2.33) |
42.6 (1.68) |
70.0 (2.76) |
111.0 (4.37) |
89.0 (3.50) |
39.5 (1.56) |
5.5 (0.22) |
499.5 (19.67) |
| Average rainy days | 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.6 | 1.5 | 3.4 | 3.8 | 3.8 | 4.7 | 5.4 | 5.8 | 2.4 | 0.5 | 32.7 |
| Average relative humidity (%) (at 17:30 IST) | 43 | 37 | 30 | 29 | 34 | 50 | 56 | 58 | 58 | 62 | 56 | 50 | 47 |
| Source: India Meteorological Department | |||||||||||||
Demographics
According to the 2011 Census of India, the urban population of Bellary was 410,445; of whom 206,149 were male and 204,296 female. 280,610 of the population were literate and 52,413 of the population were under 6 years of age this makes it the 8th most populous city of karnataka. The population in 2001 was recorded as 316,766.
Industries
Textiles and garments
- Cotton processing
- With cotton being one of the major agricultural crops around Bellary historically, the city has had a thriving cotton processing industry in the form of ginning, spinning and weaving plants. The earliest steam cotton-spinning mill was established in 1894, which by 1901 had 17,800 spindles, and employed 520 hands.
- The city continues to thrive in this sector with one spinning mill and numerous cotton ginning and pressing mills, hand looms and power looms.
- Garment manufacture
- Bellari has a historic garment industry dating back to the First World War period, when the Marathi speaking “Darji” (tailor) community with its native skills in tailoring migrated from the current Maharashtra region to stitch uniforms for the soldiers of the colonial British Indian Army stationed at Bellary. After the war, the community switched to making uniforms for school children, and gradually the uniforms made here became popular all over the country.
- Currently, Bellari is well known for its branded and unbranded denim garments, with brands like Point Blank, Walker, Dragonfly and Podium being successfully marketed nationally and internationally. There are about 260 denim garment units in Bellary with nearly 3000 families working in these units.