Dharwad

The inscriptions found in a nearby village, Narendra, prove that Dharwad existed since the 12th Century A.D., near Kundaura, which came under the rule of Vikramaditya. Another theory is, during VijayaNagara rule of Dharwad, there was a ruler by name "Dharav" (1403 A.D.) and Dharwad got its name from him. There are some inscriptions that refer to Dharwad as KampaNa Sthana.
Dharawada’ means a door, a gateway settlement. This indicates its existence in historic and pre-historic times. ‘Dara’ also means yarn or thread. There were spinning mills and weaving industries in the area and it was also known as a “village of yarn”.
During the rule of Nawab of Savanur, Dharwad was called “Narratbad”. In 1673, Abdul Karim Khan was appointed Governor of Bijapur district or ‘Sarkar’ of Bankapur, with 16 sub – divisions. The main sub – divisions were “Narratbad” (Dharwad) and Gadag.
In 1817, it was called “Dharwad” under the Poona Treaty.
Apart from its origin and history, Dharwad has peculiar geological features. Being a “gadinadu”, it was known as the “gateway village” because people used to go to Yellapur and the Dharwad fort was built to protect it from military operations of enemies. For centuries, Dharwad acted as a gateway between “Malenaadu” (western mountains) and “Bayalu seeme” (plains) and it became a resting place for the travellers.
Before the British rule, Dharwad came under several dynasties – the Adilshais of Bijapur, the Vijayanagar kings, the Marathas and the Nawab of Savanur.
It is just east of magnificent "Western Ghats". Dharwad is surrounded of hills and there are numerous lakes and other smaller water bodies.
1 On the western side Mountains of Saiyhadri, a river called ‘Shalmala’ originated in Dharwad but she flows underground;
2 Western part of Dharwad is called ‘Malenaadu’ full of forestry of red soil;
3 Eastern part of Dharwad is called ‘BelawalNadu’ flat land of black soil;
4 Central Part of Dharwad is ‘Gadinadu’ - Mixture of both.
The town is spread between seven hills, viz..,
Ettina Gudda
Malamaddi or Ulavibasaveshwer Hill
Mailaralinga Hill
Rajatgiri Hill
Madarmaddi Hill
Due to the strenuous efforts involved in preparing it,Tejaswinagar Hill
Saraswatpur Hill
There were nine lakes, but only two exist today, viz.,
Kelageri
Sadhankeri
The District of Dharwad is strategically located in Northern Karnataka, with industrial city of Hubli. Dharwad was recently divided into two more districts, Gadag and Haveri. This signifies how well the district has progressed financially and politically, that necessitated creation of more administrative divisions. Geologically, major part of the city has schist layers.

The region of Dharwad including Belgaum and Bijapur to its north is referred in the epics and the puranas ‘Kuntala Country’. During the early historic period this was part of the Mouryan Empire and later the Vijayanagar dynasty till 1565. For about the next hundred years it was under the dominance of Adil Shah Kingdom of Bijapur, until taken over by the Mughals. The region constituting Dharwad, Belgaum, Karwar and Bijapur was part of Bombay Presidency till 1956 and was merged with Mysore State (Karnataka) in 1973.