History
Dodda means big in the native Kannada; contrasted with Chikkaballapura or the 'little Ballapura'. The place is found mentioned as Ballalapura thanya in a record dated 1598 AD from the local Adinarayana temple. It might have originated from Hoysala name Ballala, and later corrupted as Ballapura. It is also believed that the village has derived its name from the circumstance that a cow used to drop one `balla' of milk over a certain anthill and this omen led to the foundation of the town. From `balla' the name Ballapura was thus derived.

Doddaballapur was a celebrated commercial centre right from the Hoysala period. There is also a view that the town was founded by a feudatory Malbhairegowda of the Avathi clan. During the period between the 16th - 17th centuries, Dodballapur was administered by a branch of the Avathi clan. Towards 1637 - 38, the place was occupied by the Bijapur Commander Ranadaula Khan. In 1689, it was taken by the Mughals, when the place was in the hands of Sambhaji, son of Shivaji, the latter having taken it from his brother Ekoji. Persian encryptions dated 1691 A.D. of the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb says that in the 34th year of the reign of Aurangzeb (1689), the fort of Ballapura - kariyat was in the hands of Sambhaji, son of Shivaji and it came into the possession of the supreme Government and that in the 34th year of the reign, it was granted to one Shekh Abdullah from Delhi.

The place was presented as a Jahgir to a Muslim chief Ali Khuli Khan. After his death, his son Darga Khuli Khan, the Nawab of Sira, received the town for a temporary period of one year as Jahgir. Later, for a span of fifty years, the place was under the Nawab of Sira when the Nizam of Hyderabad took over administration. In 1761, Haider Ali annexed the region and subsequently it was passed on to the Wodeyars of Mysore. Doddaballapur was a centre of freedom movement with T.Siddalingayya, the first president of Mysore Congress hailing from here.


Temples

Handloom Industry