Dharwad, also known as Dharwar, is a city located in the north western part of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is the headquarters of the Dharwad district of Karnataka and forms a contiguous urban area with the city of Hubballi. It was merged with Hubballi in 1962 to form the twin cities of Hubballi-Dharwad. It covers an area of 213 km2 (82 sq mi) and is located 430 km (270 mi) northwest of Bangalore, on NH-48, between Bangalore and Pune.

The Chalukyas ruled Dharwad during the 12th century. A stone inscription indicates that there was a ruler by the name of BhaskaraDeva in 1117. In the 14th century, the district was first overrun by the Bahmani Sultanate, after which it was annexed to the newly established Hindu kingdom of Vijayanagar, an official of which named “Dharav”, according to local tradition, built the fort at Dharwad town in 1403.

 After the defeat of the king of Vijayanagar at Talikot (1565), Dharwad was for a few years practically independent under its Hindu governor; but in 1573 the fort was captured by the sultan of Bijapur, Adil Shah, and Dharwad was annexed to his dominions. Adil Shah built a fort in an area later called Manna Killa, and later Nazratabad. With this fort, the strategic importance of Dharwad increased and it attracted the attention of subsequent conquerors, including Aurangzeb, Shivaji, Aurangzeb’s son Muhammad Muazzam known as Bahadur Shah I or Shah Alam, the seventh Mughal emperor (1707–1712), Peshwa Balaji Baji Rao, Hyder Ali, Tipu Sultan and finally the British colonizer.

In 1685, the fort was taken by the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, and Dharwad, on the break-up of the Mughal empire, fell under the sway of the Maratha Peshwa of Pune. In 1764, the province was overrun by Hyder Ali of the Mysore, who in 1778 captured the fort of Dharwad.[1] The fort was retaken in 1791 by the Marathas. 

After the final defeat of the Peshwa by the British in 1818, Dharwar was incorporated into the territory of the British East India Company’s Bombay Presidency. During the early 19th century, when the British were expanding their domains, they faced a lot of opposition from local rulers, including Baba Saheb of Naragund and Kittur Chennamma.