It is said that Gautama rishi performed penance to Surya and installed the idol of Arkeshwara, the presiding deity of the local Arkeshwara temple and the town was originally called Arkapuri. Hence the name Arkalgud came into existence. It was founded by Krishnappa Nayaka, one of the Aigur chiefs in 1568 A.D. It was then captured by Kanthirava Narasaraja I of Mysore in 1647 A.D., it was retaken subsequently by Keladi Shivappa Nayaka of Ikkeri and finally in 1694 by Chikkadevaraja Wodeyar of Mysore.
Geography and salient features
Arkalgud is located at. It has an average elevation of. It lies partly in semi-malnad and partly in maidan tract. The total geographical area of the Taluk is 675 km2. It occupies sixth place in the District in terms of geographical area. The soil is red sandy derived from granites, gneiss and schists. The soil is red to brownish in colour, shallow to fairly deep shallow, loamy to sandy loamy in texture intermixed with fairly large amounts of coarse gravel and pebbles. They are well drained but poor in bases and water holding capacity. It is favourable for growing crops like paddy, sugarcane, coconut, potato, vegetables and plantation crops under irrigated conditions. It is suitable for growing ragi, millets, pulses, groundnut, potato and maize under rain-fed conditions. The river Kaveri enters at Kodavinahosahalli, a village in the south of Arkalgud and flows only through a small portion of about 24 km and enters Mysore district. An Anicut called Krishnarajakatte has been constructed across the river in the Taluk from which two channels viz. Kattepura channel and Ramanathapura channel take off for a length of about 24 km and 30 km respectively. The Kattepura channel runs along the south bank, past Rudrapatna; and the Ramanathapura Channel along the north bank past Konnanur and Ramanathapura to Basavapatna. The river Hemavati divides Arakalgud and Hassan taluks. The river enters in Honnathapura in the western side and flows towards to east and enters Holenarasipura taluk. The taluk receives rainfall from south-west monsoon. It is located at around above sea level. This taluk enjoys dry and cold climate during the year as the central part of the Taluk borders the Malenadu region and south-eastern portions form the southern maidan region. One can find some low hilly regions in the taluk as well as high altitude region such as Hippi-betta in the western portion of the taluk. Basavapatna is one of the villages of arakalgud taluk and Lakshmikanthaswamy temple is situated.
Demographics
Indiacensus, Arkalgud had a population of 15,184. Males constitute 51% of the population and females 49%. Arkalgud has an average literacy rate of 65%, higher than the national average of 59.5%; with 57% of the males and 43% of females literate. 12% of the population is under 6 years of age.
