Kan: ಹೊಸಪೇಟೆ hosapēṭe
‘New City’ [Nagalapura, Hospet] City/District, Karnataka
From Kan: hosa, ‘new’; pete, ‘town’, ‘suburb’, ‘market’ [Tam: pēṭṭai].
Krishnadevaraya, a 16thC Vijayanagara emperor, built Hosapete and named it after his mother, Naagalaambika (the city’s original name was Naagalapura). But the locals preferred Hosa Pete instead, the ‘new city’.
Hospet is the main gateway to Hampi and the ruins of the Vijayanagara empire from the west: it is about 30km away.
Hospet sits on the banks of the Tungabhadra river and the Tungabhadra Dam, a.k.a. Pampa Sagar, was built here in the 1950s. It forms the 350 sq km Tungabhadra reservoir.
