Hubli City
This article has been extracted from THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908. OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS. |
Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.
Hubli City
{Hubhali ox pubbali — 'old village'). — Head-quarters ot the taluka of the same name in Dharwar District, Bombay, situated in 15° 20' N. and 75° 9' E., on the Southern Mahratta Railway. Hubli is the eighth city in the Presidency in size. Its population has been : (1872) 37,961, (1881) 36,677, (1891) 52,595, and (1901) 60,214, including the suburbs (301). The population in the last year comprised 39,835 Hindus, 17,516 Muhammadans, 902 Jains, and 1,809 Chris- tians. Hubli was made a municipality in 1855. The income during the decade ending 1901 averaged a little over a lakh. In 1903-4 the income was 1-56 lakhs, chiefly derived from octroi (Rs. 62,000), water rate (Rs. 15,000), and taxes on houses and lands (Rs. 14,500). The expenditure is chiefly devoted to collection charges (Rs. 28,000), public safety (Rs. 4,700), water-supi)ly and drainage (Rs. 14,30°). conservancy (Rs. 16,800), education (Rs. 23,800), medical (Rs. 7,200), and public works (Rs. 10,000). Situated on the main lines of com- munication to Harihar, Karwar, and Kumta, nul)li has become the centre of the cotton trade of the Southern Maratha country. Besides raw cotton and silk fabrics, a trade in copper vessels, grain, salt, and other commodities is conducted on a large scale. There are two cotton-mills with 34,000 spindles, employing 1,200 hands, six cotton- ginning and pressing factories, and one workshop. The mills produce annually about 3,000,000 lb. of yarn, valued at 13 lakhs. Hubli contains 37 temples, 27 monasteries, 17 mosques, a Protestant Christian olnirch of the German Mission, and a Roman Catholic chapel. The largest and most substantial monastery is the Lingayat Mursavirad.
Hubli centres round a plain old stone temple to Bhawanishankar, which contains a Hngam, an image of Ganpati, and two or three other smaller gods, and from an old Kanarese inscription seems to belong to the eleventh century. Old Hubli is also locally called Rayar Hubli, that is, 'the Hubli made by the Vijayanagar kings' (1336-1565). In 1547 Hubli was described as a place of trade in saltpetre and iron. In 1673 it is mentioned as a place of much wealth and of great trade. At this time Hubli was the seat of an English factory, which, with the rest of the town, was plundered by AnnajT Dattu, one of Sivaji's generals. In 1675 it was conquered by Muhammad Saiyid Khan Tarin, a general of Aurangzeb, who conferred upon Shah Muhammad Khan, son of the general, who had been killed in the attack, the fort and district of Old or Rayar Hubli and the petty division of Devar Hubli.
In 1685 Sultan Muazzam took Hubli and Dharwar. Four years later the sardeshmukhi of the district of Rayar Hubli was conferred upon the Desai of Kittur, who did not enjoy it long. In 1727 one Bassappa of Old Hubli built the town and fort of New Hubli. During the eighteenth century the TarTn family suffered from the contests between the Marathas and the rulers of Mysore. New Hubli seems to have fallen to the chief of Sangli, by whom Old Hubli was held when it was taken by General Munro in 18 18, In 1820 New Hubli with some other villages and districts was ceded by the chief of Sangli in lieu of furnishing an annual contingent. Hubli is a military station in the Poona division of the Western Command. It contains a Subordinate Judge's court, two dispensaries, of which one belongs to the railway company, a municipal middle school, two schools for Europeans and Eurasians, and 22 other schools.
