Davanagere

Davanagere, also spelled Davangere, is a city in the heart of the southern Indian state of Karnataka. It is the sixth largest city in the state, and the administrative headquarters of eponymous Davangere District. Hitherto being a cotton hub and hence popularly known before as the Manchester of Karnataka, the commercial ventures of the city is now dominated by education and agro-processing industries. Davanagere became a separate district in 1997, when it was separated from the erstwhile undivided district of Chitradurga for administration conveniences. Davanagere is known for rich culinary traditions which encompass the diversity of entire Karnataka's dishes due to its geographical position in the state as its epicentre. Notable among them is its aromatic benne dose that is associated with the name of the city.Davanagere has been selected as one of the hundred Indian cities to be developed as a smart city under PM Narendra Modi's ambitious flagship Smart Cities Mission. It even went on to be featured in the list of first 20 cities to be developed under the mission by Urban development ministry, released on 28 January 2016, after being scrutinised stringently for several parameters.EtymologyIt is believed that the Chalukyas used to halt at this place to rest after a long horse-ride. A lake ("kere" in Kannada language) was excavated for them to quench their thirst. The place thus came to be known as "Devan giri" (an abbreviation of 'danivina kere' for lake for the exhausted and the thirsty) and eventually "Davanagere". However no lake exists as of today, and no concrete historical and literary evidences exist to prove this theory apart from unconfirmed verbal folklores.