Ballari

Ballari, Karnataka, India

Ballari, also spelled Bellary, city, eastern Karnataka state, southern India. It is situated in an upland region about 35 miles (55 km) east-southeast of the Tungabhadra Reservoir.

The city is dominated by a 16th-century fort on a granitic rock, 2 miles (3 km) in circumference, which rises abruptly to a height of some 450 feet (140 metres) above the surrounding plain. Hyder (Haidar) Ali, the 18th-century Muslim ruler of Mysore (Mysuru) princely state, reputedly expanded the fortifications with the aid of a French engineer, whom he later hanged for not building the fort on an adjacent higher rock. A rail and road centre, Bellary processes cotton, the region’s main cash crop, and has distillery and sugar-refining enterprises. Its colleges of medicine, law, and education are affiliated with Karnatak University in Hubballi-Dharwad. Pop. (2001) 316,766; (2011) 410,445.