Bellary is a historic city in Ballari district in Karnataka state, India. It is 306 kilometres from Bangalore, the state capital. There are several legends explaining how Ballari got its name. The first is that a few devout travelling merchants halting in Ballari, could not find a Shiva Linga for their worship. They then installed a balla (a measuring cup or seru used to measure grain) upside down as a Shiva Linga and worshiped it. Eventually, that place was turned into a temple dedicated to Balleshwara or Shiva, which became distorted to Malleshwara', and thus Ballari derives its name from this temple.[7] The second legend is that the city is named after Indra, the king of Gods, who slew a Rakshasa (demon) named Balla who lived nearby. Balla-ari means 'enemy of Balla' (ari enemy in Sanskrit).[8] The third legend derives the city's name from the old Kannada word Vallari and Vallapuri.[8] The Union Ministry of Home Affairs of the Government of India approved a proposal[by whom?] to rename the city in October 2014 and Bellary was renamed to "Ballari" on 1 November 2014.[9]Granite rocks and hills form a prominent feature of Bellary. The city is spread mainly around two hills of granite composition, the Ballari Gudda (Kannada: ) and the Kumbara Gudda (Kannada: ).[citation needed]These two hills are dominant features and visible from every part of the city.[citation needed] Ballari Gudda (Kannada: ) has a circumference of nearly 2 miles (3.2 km) and a height of 480 feet (150 m). The length of this rock from north-east to south-west is about 1,150 ft (350 m). To the east and south lies an irregular heap of boulders, to the west there is an unbroken monolith, and the north is walled by bare, rugged ridges.[11] Kumbara Gudda (Kannada: ). When viewed from the south-east it looks like the profile of a human face and is therefore also known as Face Hill.
