Hubli - History

History

Rayara Hubli, also called 'Eleya Purvada Halli' or 'Purballi' was the old Hubli, where there is a Bhavani Shankara temple and Jaina basti. Under Vijayanagara Rayas, Rayara Hubli grew as a commercial centre, famous for trade in cotton, saltpetre and iron.

The British opened a factory here when it came under the Adilshahis. Shivaji looted the factory in 1673. The Mughals conquered it and the place came under the Savanur Nawab who built a new extension named Majidpura and trader Basappa Shetty built new Hubli around the Durgadabail (fort maiden).

There is the famous Moorusavira Matha, and the Matha authorities claim that it was begun by a Sharana of Basaveshwara's period.

Hubli was conquered by the Marathas from the Savanur Nawab in 1755-56. Later Hyder Ali conquered it, but it was recaptured by the Marathas in 1790, and the old town was administered by one Phadke under the Peshwa and the new town by Sangli Patwardhan.

The British took old Hubli in 1817 and the new town with 47 other villages was handed over to the British by the Sangli Patwardhan in lieu of the subsidy in 1820. Hubli is a prosperous handloom weaving centre and has a textile unit.

The Railway Workshop started here in 1880, made it a reckonable industrial centre.

The Bhavanishankar temple in old Hubli and the impressive Chandramauleshwara/Chaturlinga temple in Unakal are of Chalukyan times. Kundgol, 15 km south of Hubli, has the huge Shambhu Linga temple of Chalukyan times.