Kalaburgi District, Karnataka

Kalaburagi (ಕಲಬುರಗಿ), historically known as Gulbarga, is the premier administrative, commercial, and educational metropolis of the Kalyana Karnataka region. Situated on the vast northern Deccan plateau, Kalaburagi served as the imperial capital of the Bahmani Sultanate from 1347 to 1424 CE, endowing the city with monumental Islamic architecture, including the colossal Gulbarga Fort and the landmark Jami Masjid.

Covering an expansive area of 10,951 square kilometres, Kalaburagi recorded a population of 2,566,326 in the 2011 Census of India. The district is celebrated across India as the Pulse Bowl of Karnataka, renowned for its Geographical Indication (GI) tagged Gulbarga Toor Dal (red gram).

Kalaburagi is also a major pilgrimage center, home to the revered Sufi shrine of Hazrat Khwaja Bande Nawaz and the sacred Sharana Basaveshwara Temple. Browse the taluks and village records below to explore comprehensive civic information.

Kalaburagi has an ancient heritage dating to the Mauryan Empire. Sannati village on the banks of the Bhima River is a world-renowned Buddhist archaeological site where Ashokan edicts, a stupa, and a stone sculpture depicting Emperor Ashoka were unearthed.

In 1347 CE, Ala-ud-Din Bahman Shah revolted against Muhammad bin Tughluq and established the independent Bahmani Sultanate with Gulbarga (Ahsanabad) as its capital. The grand Jami Masjid inside Gulbarga Fort, designed by Persian architect Rafi in 1367 CE, is unique in India as an entirely covered mosque.

The 14th-century Chishti Sufi saint Hazrat Khwaja Bande Nawaz arrived in Gulbarga in 1400 CE, making it a radiant center of Sufism. The city later passed to the Barid Shahis, Bijapur Sultanate, Mughals, and the Nizams of Hyderabad. In 1956, it was integrated into Mysore State, and its historic Kannada name Kalaburagi was restored in 2014.

Kalaburagi occupies a prominent northern plateau position, bounded by Bidar to the northeast, Vijayapura to the west, Yadgir to the south, and Maharashtra districts of Solapur and Osmanabad to the northwest. The terrain consists of vast undulating plains of deep black cotton soils.

The district is drained by the Krishna River and its major tributary the Bhima, alongside tributaries like the Kagina, Bennethora, and Mullamari.

The administrative machinery of Kalaburgi 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).

Kalaburagi's economy is powered by high-capacity cement manufacturing, pulse milling, and commercial trade. Abundant high-grade limestone reserves around Sedam, Wadi, and Chittapur have made Kalaburagi one of India's largest cement manufacturing clusters, hosting giants like ACC, UltraTech, and Vasavadatta Cement.

Kalaburagi city is the largest wholesale market for red gram (toor dal) in South India, hosting hundreds of dal processing mills.

Agriculture forms the economic backbone of rural Kalaburagi. Fertile black cotton soils and semi-arid conditions provide the ideal agro-climatic environment for cultivating Gulbarga Toor Dal, which possesses a unique calcium-rich taste and quick cooking quality certified by GI tag.

Other major crops include jowar (sorghum), green gram, Bengal gram, sunflower, and commercial cotton. Major irrigation schemes on the Bhima and Bennethora rivers support localized irrigated farming.

Kalaburagi is the educational capital of northern Karnataka. It is home to the Central University of Karnataka (CUK) at Kadaganchi, Gulbarga University, the historic Sharnbasva University, and the Khaja Bandanawaz University.

The district also hosts the Gulbarga Institute of Medical Sciences (GIMS) and the ESIC Medical College and Hospital complex, one of India's largest central medical campuses.

The KarnatakaInfo.com database holds 3,829 school records for Kalaburgi district (UDISE+). This dataset covers schools only; colleges and universities appear in the text above where verified.

• Primary with Upper Primary1,603
• Primary974
• Secondary Only566
• Pr. Up Pr. and Secondary Only341
• Higher Secondary only/Jr. College217
• Upper Pr. and Secondary80
• Pr. with Up.Pr. Sec. and H.Sec.21
• Up. Pr. Secondary and Higher Sec10
• Upper Primary only10
• Secondary with Higher Secondary7

School listings are available on each village and taluk page.

The massive 500-bed ESIC Super Specialty Hospital and GIMS District Teaching Hospital provide comprehensive public healthcare and tertiary referral services for patients across northern Karnataka, supported by taluk hospitals and primary health centers.

The database records 855 public health facilities in Kalaburgi district. This is the dataset available on KarnatakaInfo.com and should not be read as a complete list of all hospitals.

• Immunisation Facility752
• CHC69
• PHC34

Kalaburgi 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.

Kalaburagi embodies a profound composite culture of Sufi mysticism and Veerashaiva Sharana philosophy. The annual Urs of Khwaja Bande Nawaz and the Sharana Basaveshwara Jathra attract hundreds of thousands of devotees of all communities.

Classical music, Dakhni poetry, and Kannada vachana traditions enrich the civic life of the district.

The culinary identity is celebrated for wholesome Jolada Rotti accompanied by rich Toor Dal Saaru, Shenga Chutney, spicy Mirchi Ka Salan, and stuffed brinjal curry.

Traditional sweets include Mawa Bati, Malpuri, and seasonal festive holige made from farm-fresh jaggery.

Kalaburagi sits on massive sedimentary limestone formations (Bhima series) providing millions of tons of industrial-grade limestone for cement manufacture.

The Krishna and Bhima river networks, along with Bennethora and Mullamari dams, provide abundant surface irrigation and industrial process water.

Kalaburagi is connected by National Highway 50 and NH 150. Kalaburagi Junction is a premier railway station on the Mumbai-Chennai and Bengaluru-New Delhi trunk lines of South Central Railway.

Kalaburagi Airport operates daily scheduled commercial flights connecting the city directly to Bengaluru, Tirupati, and Hindon (Delhi NCR).

KarnatakaInfo.com brings together the administrative hierarchy of Kalaburgi 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.