Karnataka - Belgaum   

It’s a jubilant mood in Belgaum

Vijaykumar Patil

Belgaum: In view of the Government’s decision to rename some of the major cities in the State, including Belgaum, a mood of jubilation and celebration is seen among Kannada workers here. After all, they have been demanding that the city be renamed as Belganvi since long.

However, still many do not remember this boundary city and headquarters of revenue division of north Karnataka was known as Belganvi over 100 years ago.

As per the official records, the city’s ancient name was Velugrama or Venugrama, as seen in the record of Shilaharas for the first time where ‘venu’ stands for bamboo (Bambusa arundinacea) found in abundance in the forests of this area.

With the creation of the new district of Belgaum in 1836 with Belgaum town as its headquarters, the new district was given the name of the town, which was called as “Belganvi” in Kannada in the records of later years.

The district was ruled by the Chalukyas, Rashtrakutas, Rattas, Kadambas of Goa, Yadavas of Devagiri, Mughals, Shivaji, Vijayanagar, Bahmanis, Peshwars and the British, besides the feudatory Desais of Kittur.

The British, in 1818, made it part of the district of Dharwad.

In 1836, it was divided into two parts with the southern district continuing to be known as Dharwad, while the northern part was Belgaum.

Kittur in Belgaum district is the most important historical place in the district as its Queen, Rani Chennamma (1778-1829), resisted the British rule. The people of Karnataka regard her as the first woman freedom fighter of the country.

Her lieutenant, Sangolli Rayanna, carried further the resistance after her arrest and later became a martyr.

Also, Belgaum city enjoyed several other names. Marathi-speaking people still continue to call it as Belgaon.

This is true of many other Kannada-speaking people who call the city in the same fashion as their Marathi-speaking counterparts do.

The north Indians, however, continue to use the name given by the British, Belgaum.

In the recent two or three decades which saw violent clashes between the two linguistic communities over the boundary dispute, a major demand of the Kannada-speaking people was to rename the city as Belganvi.

The movement picked up once again after the Kannada Rakshana Vedike came into being about two years ago.

During his second visit to the city to inaugurate the Gadi Nadu Utsav on May 7 last year Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy made several promises to the people, including renaming the city as Belganvi.

Interestingly, even before the Government decided to rename Belgaum, North West Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation started using the name Belganvi in its destination boards.

Enthused over the decision and awaiting the historical day when the city would become Belganvi, Kannada activists have resorted to blackening name boards written in English as part of their pro-Kannada movement in the city.

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