50 Fun Facts About Karnataka

Which meaning of Bengaluru's name comes from a tale of a 12th-century king, lost while hunting, fed by a poor old woman?

Town of boiled beans is the literal sense of 'Benda-Kaal-uru', the name the grateful king Veera Ballala II gave the spot, and it wore down over the centuries into Bengaluru.

Which Garuda shrine in the Vittala temple courtyard of the Vijayanagara capital appears on India's ₹50 banknote?

The Stone Chariot is the most-pictured emblem of the ruined capital, and since 2017 the fluorescent-blue ₹50 note has carried it on the reverse as a symbol of the country's heritage.

Which son of Hyder Ali, nicknamed the Tiger of Mysore, was killed defending Srirangapatna against the British in 1799?

Tipu Sultan adopted the tiger as the emblem of his rule, and his death on 4 May 1799 ended the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War.

Which crop, started in India from seven seeds a Sufi saint smuggled from Yemen, is 71 percent grown in Karnataka?

Coffee reached India in the 17th century when Baba Budan hid the seeds in his beard on his way home from Mecca, and Karnataka now grows 71 percent of the national crop, ahead of Kerala's 21.

Which Vijayapura tomb of Mohammad Adil Shah has a whispering gallery where the faintest sound carries across its dome?

Gol Gumbaz held the largest unsupported dome in India, and work halted at the ruler's death in 1656, leaving several decorative elements unfinished.

Which Kannada screen legend was abducted from his Gajanur farmhouse by the bandit Veerappan in 2000, for 108 days?

Rajkumar is the only Indian lead actor to have won the National Film Award for playback singing, for 'Naadamaya' in 1992, and he took the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 1995.

Which Karnataka mining town, electrified by cable in 1902 and shut in 2001, gave its initials to a 2018 Yash film?

Kolar Gold Fields still held ore when falling prices closed it, and KGF: Chapter 1, set there in the 1970s and 80s, became the first Kannada film to gross ₹100 crore.

Which Bengaluru-born shuttler, father of Deepika, became the first Indian to win the All England men's singles in 1980?

Prakash Padukone beat Indonesia's Liem Swie King in that final, was ranked world number one the same year, and also took the Danish and Swedish Opens.

Which Bengaluru online retailer, begun in 2007 by two ex-Amazon staff selling books, sold control to Walmart in 2018?

Flipkart's founders Sachin and Binny Bansal were IIT Delhi alumni, and Walmart beat Amazon itself in the bidding war for control of the company.

Which ruined city on the Tungabhadra, a World Heritage Site since 1986, was the Vijayanagara capital until 1565?

Hampi served as capital from 1336, and Persian and Portuguese travellers described it as a prosperous and grand city before a coalition of sultanates pillaged it and left it in ruins.

Which dynasty built the star-plan soapstone temples at Belur, Halebidu and Somanathapura, listed by UNESCO in 2023?

The Hoysala temples were raised in the 12th and 13th centuries from chloritic schist, a soft rock that let carvers work lace-like detail into every surface.

Which goddess, slayer of the demon Mahishasura, rides through Mysuru in a 750 kg golden howdah to close Dasara?

Chamundeshwari's temple crowns Chamundi Hill above a city whose old name, Mahishuru, means 'the abode of Mahisha', the buffalo demon she killed.

Which Jain figure's 57-foot monolith at Shravanabelagola is anointed in a Mahamastakabhisheka held every twelve years?

Bahubali's statue was commissioned by Chavundaraya, a minister of the Ganga dynasty, and is cut from a single block of granite on Vindhyagiri hill.

Which Karnataka leg-spinner took all ten Pakistani wickets in a Test innings at Delhi in 1999, as Jim Laker once had?

Anil Kumble's 10 for 74 made him only the second bowler to take every wicket in an innings, and he was nicknamed Jumbo because his deliveries flew 'as fast as a jumbo jet'.

Which batsman, raised in Bengaluru and nicknamed The Wall, has faced more balls than anyone in Test cricket history?

Rahul Dravid also holds the record for the longest time spent batting in Tests, and as head coach he guided India to the 2024 T20 World Cup title.

Which IT company, started in Pune in 1981 by seven engineers with $250 of capital, is now headquartered in Bengaluru?

Infosys moved its base to Bengaluru in 1983 and in 1999 became the first Indian company listed on Nasdaq.

Which Bengaluru-based agency made India the first nation to land a craft near the Moon's south pole in 2023?

ISRO's Chandrayaan-3 made India only the fourth country to soft-land on the Moon, and its earlier Mars Orbiter Mission was the first Asian craft to reach Martian orbit.

Which physicist, founder of his own Bengaluru research institute in 1948, was the first Asian to win the physics Nobel?

C. V. Raman won the 1930 prize for the light-scattering effect that bears his name, and in 1933 he became the first Indian director of the Indian Institute of Science.

Which Karnataka temple town, site of Madhvacharya's 13th-century Krishna shrine, names a style of vegetarian restaurant?

Udupi restaurants serve the town's cuisine in cities across India, and pilgrims view the deity through a window called the Kanakana Kindi.

Which queen of Kittur took up arms against the British East India Company in 1824, decades before the 1857 uprising?

Rani Chennamma fought after the Company refused to recognise her adopted heir Shivalingappa, and she died a prisoner at Bailhongal Fort in 1829.

Which Hassan-born Karnataka chief minister went from that post in 1996 to eleven months as India's Prime Minister?

H. D. Deve Gowda led a United Front coalition from June 1996 to April 1997, and in July 1999 he founded the Janata Dal (Secular) as a breakaway from the Janata Dal.

Which wood, Karnataka's state tree, gives the Kannada film industry of Gandhi Nagar, Bengaluru its nickname?

Sandalwood is 'Chandanavana' in Kannada, and the industry's first talkie was Sati Sulochana in 1934, shot in Kolhapur.

Which granite Bengaluru legislature building, finished in 1956, is inscribed 'Government Work is God's Work'?

Vidhana Soudha was built from pink Magadi and black Turuvekere granite and houses both the Legislative Assembly and the Legislative Council.

Which Bengaluru garden, commissioned by Hyder Ali in 1760, has a Glass House modelled on London's Crystal Palace?

Lalbagh was completed by Hyder Ali's son, and its Glass House, begun in 1889, hosts flower shows in Republic Day and Independence Day week.

Which Rashtrakavi from Shivamogga district wrote 'Jaya Bharata Jananiya Tanujate', Karnataka's state anthem?

Kuvempu is the pen name of Kuppali Venkatappa Puttappa, the first Kannada writer to win the Jnanpith Award, in 1967.

In which year did Mysore State, assembled from Kannada-speaking areas in 1956, formally take the name Karnataka?

1973 brought the rename on 1 November, seventeen years to the day after the state was formed under the States Reorganisation Act.

Which Karnataka district, birthplace of Field Marshal Cariappa and General Thimayya, is administered from Madikeri?

Kodagu was a separate Coorg State until it merged into the enlarged Mysore State in 1956, and General Thimayya, another army chief, also came from the district.

Which dusk-to-dawn dance-drama of coastal Karnataka, led by a singing bhagavata, stages the epics in towering headgear?

Yakshagana's bhagavata both sings and directs the show and is called the 'first actor', while the performers wear painted faces and a kireeta crown.

Which new-year festival, kept in Karnataka on the first day of Chaitra, opens with bevu bella, neem mixed with jaggery?

Ugadi's bitter-sweet bevu bella stands for life's mixed experiences, and Telugu households mark the same day with a six-flavour pachadi.

Which fibre, woven with zari at a Mysuru factory the maharaja founded in 1912, is nearly 45 percent Karnataka-made?

Silk from Karnataka's mulberry farms totals about 9,000 tonnes a year, and the Mysuru saree's zari is 65 percent pure silver with a trace of gold.

Which bird, called neelkanth in Hindustani for its blue throat, is the state bird of Karnataka, Odisha and Telangana?

The Indian roller was once caught and released at Dussehra festivals, and males are known for tumbling aerobatic display flights that flash the purple-blue bands on their wings.

Which river, rising at 1,341 metres in the Brahmagiri range, is the object of a Karnataka–Tamil Nadu water dispute?

The Kaveri is called the Ganges of the South, and in 2018 the Supreme Court fixed Karnataka's yearly share at 284.75 tmcft against Tamil Nadu's 404.25.

Which Vijayanagara emperor, who beat Bijapur in 1520 to annex the Raichur Doab, composed the Telugu poem Amuktamalyada?

Krishnadevaraya's court held the Ashtadiggajas, eight celebrated Telugu poets, and the witty Tenali Ramakrishna of folk legend served as his adviser.

Which 1565 battle beside the Krishna saw the allied Deccan sultanates rout Vijayanagara and behead its regent Rama Raya?

Talikota is also called Rakshasi-Tangadi, and the victors went on to plunder the Vijayanagara capital unopposed, leaving the empire to fragment.

Which Bagalkot district town, capital of the early Chalukyas from 540 to 757, is famed for four rock-cut cave temples?

Badami was then called Vatapi, 'having the wind as an ally', and a Pallava army burned it in 642 after besting its Chalukya king.

Which 12th-century reformer, chief minister to Kalachuri king Bijjala II, spread Lingayat teaching in vachana poems?

Basavanna founded the Anubhava Mantapa, a hall where people of any caste or gender debated spiritual questions, and Lingayats are now about 17 percent of Karnataka.

Which Dewan of Mysore from 1912 to 1918 has his 15 September birthday marked as Engineers' Day across India?

M. Visvesvaraya was chief engineer of the Krishna Raja Sagara dam, and his patented automatic floodgates were first fitted at Khadakvasla near Pune in 1903.

Which Karnataka tiger reserve began as a 90 sq km sanctuary the Mysore maharaja created in 1931?

Bandipur joined the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve in 1986, and since 2009 night traffic has been banned on the highways through the forest to cut road kills.

Which weapon, first given iron casings by the Kingdom of Mysore, blew up a British ammunition store at Pollilur in 1780?

Rockets with iron tubes for the propellant flew close to 1,000 yards, and after Srirangapatna fell in 1799 the Woolwich Arsenal copied captured ones into the Congreve rocket.

Which Karnataka waterfall, parted by an island into Gaganachukki and Bharachukki, fed a hydroelectric station from 1902?

Shivanasamudra's plant was planned under Dewan K. Seshadri Iyer, and its current was later carried to light Bengaluru and Mysuru.

Which Chalukya emperor of Vatapi, praised in Ravikirti's Aihole inscription, forced Harsha to retreat at the Narmada?

Pulakeshin II took the title Parameshvara after that victory and exchanged embassies with the Persian king Khosrow II around 625.

Which Hassan district village names the oldest known Kannada inscription, dated to about 450 CE and found in 1936?

Halmidi's slab is kept by the state archaeology office in Mysuru while the village displays a fibreglass replica, and the text is cut in the script of Karnataka's first native dynasty.

Which 10th-century Jain poet, court poet of Arikesari II and honoured as Adikavi, wrote Kannada's Vikramarjuna Vijaya?

Pampa wrote his first masterpiece, the Adipurana, at 39 in 941, and he is counted with Ponna and Ranna as the 'three gems' of classical Kannada literature.

Which Shivamogga district village, the 'Cherrapunji of South India', hosts a research station devoted to the king cobra?

Agumbe's rainforest station was founded in 2005 by the herpetologist Romulus Whitaker, and most of the Doordarshan series Malgudi Days was filmed in the village in the mid-1980s.

Which 16th-century queen of Ullal, heir under the matrilineal Aliyasantana system, fought the Portuguese for decades?

Abbakka Chowta earned the title Abhaya Rani, the fearless queen, and is sometimes called India's first woman freedom fighter, having revolted again even in prison.

Which Mysuru district village received India's first Tibetan exile settlement in 1961, on 3,000 acres of state land?

Bylakuppe's Lugsung Samdupling camp was followed by Dickyi Larsoe in 1969, and the area is now home to the Namdroling Monastery.

Which dynasty, founded by Mayurasharma at Banavasi about 345 CE, first used Kannada at an administrative level?

The Kadamba founder Mayurasharma, humiliated by a Pallava guard at Kanchi, abandoned his Vedic studies to take up arms, according to the Talagunda inscription.

Which hill beside Anegundi, across the Tungabhadra from the Vijayanagara ruins, is revered as the birthplace of Hanuman?

Anjanadri overlooks Anegundi, which tradition identifies with Kishkindha, the monkey kingdom of the Ramayana, a settlement older than the ruins across the river.

Which 16th-century Haridasa, a jewellery merchant who gave away his riches, is the Pitamaha of Carnatic music?

Purandara Dasa made the raga Mayamalavagowla the first scale every beginner learns, a teaching order still followed today, and his guru was the sage Vyasatirtha.

Which Rhodes Scholar playwright wrote Tughlaq and Hayavadana in Kannada and later acted in Ek Tha Tiger?

Girish Karnad won the 1998 Jnanpith Award, and his Tughlaq reads the 14th-century Delhi ruler as an allegory of the Nehru era's idealism turning to disillusion.