Gadag District, Karnataka

Gadag (ಗದಗ), historically celebrated as the Land of Kumaravyasa, is a heritage-rich district situated in central-north Karnataka. Renowned for its magnificent Kalyana Chalukya stone temples, stepwells (kalyanis), and wind energy farms, the district has made seminal contributions to Kannada epic literature and classical Hindustani music.

Spanning 4,656 square kilometres, Gadag recorded a population of 1,064,570 in the 2011 Census of India. The iconic Veeranarayana Temple in Gadag city is revered as the sanctum where the 15th-century poet Kumaravyasa composed the immortal Kannada epic Karnata Bharata Kathamanjari.

Gadag is also recognized as Karnataka's green energy hub, with hundreds of wind turbines rotating on the Kappatagudda hill range. Browse the taluks and village directories below to explore comprehensive local administrative intelligence.

Gadag possesses a glorious antiquity dating to the Badami Chalukyas and Western Chalukyas of Kalyana. Between the 10th and 12th centuries, the Chalukyan builders erected breathtaking architectural wonders here, including the Trikuteshwara temple in Gadag and the celebrated temple city of Lakkundi.

During the Vijayanagara period, Kumaravyasa (Naranappa) composed his masterpiece epic in Gadag under the divine inspiration of Veeranarayana. Later, the territory was ruled by the Bijapur Sultanate, the Marathas, Hyder Ali, and the British Bombay Presidency.

In 1997, Gadag was bifurcated from undivided Dharwad district as a separate administrative entity to enhance regional governance.

Gadag is situated on the central Deccan plateau, bordered by Bagalkote to the north, Koppal to the east, Ballari and Vijayanagara to the southeast, Haveri to the south, and Dharwad to the west. The landscape consists of expansive black soil plains flanked by the Kappatagudda hill range.

The district is drained by the Malaprabha River in the north and the Tungabhadra River in the south, creating vital agricultural basins.

The administrative machinery of Gadag district is organized into several revenue taluks, each administered by a Tahsildar under the supervision of the Deputy Commissioner and District Magistrate. Local rural governance is delivered through three tiers of Panchayati Raj institutions: the Zilla Panchayat at the district level, Taluk Panchayats, and Gram Panchayats serving rural village clusters.

Explore the interactive taluk cards and accordion directory below to discover verified counts of Gram Panchayats, inhabited hamlets, and canonical revenue villages registered in the national Local Government Directory (LGD).

Gadag's economy centers on agro-processing, cotton ginning, handloom printing, and renewable energy. It is a major agricultural trading hub for green gram, Bengal gram, onions, and cotton.

The Kappatagudda hill tract is Karnataka's premier wind energy corridor, generating substantial clean power for the state grid. Handloom weaving and printing in Gadag-Betageri provide significant non-farm employment.

Agriculture is the primary livelihood of Gadag's rural population. With fertile black cotton soils, the district is a leading producer of pulses, notably green gram (moong) and Bengal gram (chana).

Other key commercial crops include hybrid jowar, cotton, sunflower, groundnut, and red onions. Micro-irrigation projects have expanded horticultural crops like pomegranate and papaya.

Gadag features the Gadag Institute of Medical Sciences (GIMS), rural engineering institutes, and the historic Veera Pulakeshi educational institutions in Badami border taluks. The Sri Veeranarayana Trust and local cooperative societies provide extensive school education across rural settlements.

The KarnatakaInfo.com database holds 1,207 school records for Gadag district (UDISE+). This dataset covers schools only; colleges and universities appear in the text above where verified.

• Primary with Upper Primary517
• Primary238
• Secondary Only200
• Pr. Up Pr. and Secondary Only112
• Higher Secondary only/Jr. College88
• Upper Pr. and Secondary23
• Pr. with Up.Pr. Sec. and H.Sec.15
• Up. Pr. Secondary and Higher Sec6
• Upper Primary only5
• Secondary with Higher Secondary3

School listings are available on each village and taluk page.

The 500-bed GIMS Teaching Hospital in Gadag provides advanced multi-specialty care, surgery, and diagnostics to rural patients, supported by community health centers and primary health centers across every taluk.

The database records 503 public health facilities in Gadag district. This is the dataset available on KarnatakaInfo.com and should not be read as a complete list of all hospitals.

• Immunisation Facility343
• PHC156
• CHC4

Gadag offers a remarkable variety of historical, cultural, and natural tourism destinations, spanning ancient stone temples, fortresses, scenic river ghats, and wildlife sanctuaries.

Visitors explore diverse heritage circuits across the district that showcase Karnataka's architectural excellence and natural splendour.

Gadag's cultural ethos is shaped by the spiritual legacy of the Veereshwara Punyashrama, which has provided musical and spiritual sanctuary to differently-abled children for decades. Hindustani classical music concerts and Harikatha performances are central to village festivities.

The annual Lakkundi Utsav celebrates the sublime temple heritage and stepwell architecture of the region.

The culinary profile is centered on wholesome North Karnataka cuisine, famous for crispy Jolada Rotti served with spicy brinjal curry (Yennegai), Shenga Chutney, and fresh butter.

Local sweet specialties include Shenga Holige, Sajje Rotti with jaggery, and tasty evening street snacks like Gadag Chana Masala.

The Kappatagudda hill range is rich in diverse medicinal herbs, earned title of the 'Sahyadri of North Karnataka'. It also contains gold-bearing quartz veins historically mined in the region.

Abundant wind corridors across the hills drive hundreds of megawatts of renewable wind energy generation.

Gadag is a key railway junction on South Western Railway connecting Hubballi, Solapur, Ballari, and Guntakal. State and national highways link Gadag directly to Hubballi (55 km), Bagalkote, and Bengaluru.

KarnatakaInfo.com brings together the administrative hierarchy of Gadag district: its taluks, Gram Panchayat counts and revenue villages. Each taluk has a village directory, and each village has a profile with Census population and literacy figures where available, land-use data, nearby schools, healthcare facilities, post offices, nearby tourist attractions and distances to the nearest bus and railway stations.