BharatSangraha

Kalyana Karnataka · Deccan Inland Plateau

Terrain and eco-zones

Semi-arid, with 600–800 mm of rain concentrated in ten or twelve heavy days between June and September and a genuine risk of failure in any given year. Raichur and Kalaburagi routinely record the highest May temperatures in the state at 43–45 °C; the Bidar plateau, six hundred metres up, runs three to four degrees cooler and drops to 12–14 °C on a January night. The black cotton soil holds what water it gets, cracks open in the dry months, and turns unworkable within an hour of heavy rain.

Landforms

Deccan trap tableland across the north, capped with laterite that the Bidar karez tunnels are cut throughDeep black cotton soil (regur) over the Bhima and Kagina drainageArchaean granite and gneiss across the south, weathering into the boulder landscape around Hampi and KoppalThe Sandur schist belt, iron-bearing, forested on its ridges and mined on its flanksThe Krishna–Tungabhadra doab, the interfluve that gives Raichur its name and its forts

Rivers and waters

Krishna — the northern trunk, entering from the west and taking the Bhima below RaichurBhima — the Kalaburagi river, past Ganagapur and the Kanaganahalli stupa moundsTungabhadra — the southern boundary river, dammed at Hosapete in 1953Kagina and Amarja — the Kalaburagi plain's own drainageManjra and Karanja in the north, which drain away from the region towards the GodavariHagari (Vedavathi), entering from the south to meet the Tungabhadra

Through the year

SeasonMonthsTypicalWhat it is like
WinterNovember–February13–31 °CThe working season for everything — jatras, urs gatherings, the Hampi season, wedding months and the rabi jowar harvest. Nights on the Bidar plateau are cold enough for a shawl.
SummerMarch–early June25–45 °CBrutal and dry. Villages shift to ambali and buttermilk, work moves to dawn and dusk, and the stone at Hampi becomes unwalkable between eleven and four.
MonsoonLate June–September22–33 °CArrives late and in bursts. Black soil roads become impassable, the Bhima and Krishna can flood violently in a good year, and the whole tur crop is decided in these weeks.
Post-monsoonOctober20–34 °CClear and warm; the reservoirs are at their fullest and the Tungabhadra canals run.

Best time to visitNovember to February for everything. Hampi is unpleasant from March and impossible in May. The Bande Nawaz urs at Kalaburagi follows the lunar calendar and moves through the year, so check the date — the city fills completely for it.

The climate, landforms, rivers and seasons of Kalyana Karnataka, and the best time of year to visit. (4)