Gauribidanur

Gauribidanur is a historical town in Chikballapur district in the South Indian state of Karnataka. It is about 75 km from Bangalore, and 25 km from the education hub of Muddenahalli-Kanivenarayanapura. Along with the native language of Kannada, the other languages of Telugu and Urdu are spoken since the town borders the neighbouring state of Andhra Pradesh
The name Gauribidanur could have originated from the terms ghori (grave) and bidanur (a common name for towns in the old Mysore state). It has been said that Tipu Sultan had some of his soldiers buried here. A mosque built by him stands with some old graves. Some other sources indicate the name Gauribidanur is derived from Gowri (a Hindu goddess) and Bidanur.[2]

Not long ago, this town was the hub of lot of cultural activities and sports. The old Acharya High School churned out many talented people from all walks of life. Homi Bhabha and Mahatma Gandhi visited this school in its infancy and was labelled a model school in the country.

Dr H Narasimhaiah is one of the famous sons, who was born in Hossur village of this taluk. Born into a poor family, he struggled in his early years and rose to become vice-chancellor of Bangalore University. The Infosys Science Center located in the campus National High School at Hossur is a science and technological museum.Hossur is the first village in Karnataka which was improved in its infrastructure and other basic needs by Swasthigrama Yojane.

Economy

Formerly sugarcane and paddy were the main crops of this taluk. In recent times, silkworm rearing, groundnuts, maize and sunflower are the main crops owing to the lack of groundwater and rainfall. There still is a dormant sugar factory which was set up as a co-operative unit. Uttara Pinakini river has water flow only during the rainy season. If the rainfalls are scarce, the river bed is dry.

Gauribidanur has some factories like the sugar factory in Gauribidanur, the ACC cement factory in Thondebavi which is the 3rd biggest ACC in India and Silver Spark Apparel Limited(Raymond Group) which is made out of its fashion near KEB station Gowribidanur.

Gauribidanur has several scientific facilities nearby. BARC and TIFR have set up research labs here owing to its suitability in geography and soil contents. BARC hosts several highly sensitive seismometers that can record the minutest disturbances in the Earth's crust across the globe. TIFR has a centre for research on gravitational fields. Another important presence is that of an enormous radio telescope, hosted by Indian Institute of Astrophysics[4] and Raman Research Institute, actually an array, spread across many hectares. This is primarily used in reception and analysis of cosmic signals.

This place was also a hub of sporting activities. A national level basketball tournament was held annually here hosted by the local Dawn Youngsters Basketball Club. Teams from all over India used to participate. The local Nav Bharat Ball Badminton club conducted an annual invitational tourney here.