B.R.Hills is located in Yelandur Taluk of Chamarajanagar District in the state of Karnataka in South India.  The exact location is 12 deg. N, 77 deg. E. on a range of hills known as the B.R.T. Range, with an altitude of 5,000 ft above mean sea level.

B.R.Hills is named after the deity BILIGIRI RANGA – whose 600-year-old temple is the main attraction for thousands of pilgrims in the district.  This is a small hamlet surrounded by dense forest, and a population of some 600 people, a majority of whom are tribals belonging to the SOLIGA tribe.  It is said that SOLIGA means “people of the bamboo” as once upon a time this was a bamboo-forest, but now it is deciduous.

The forest was the home of the tribals who were leading a nomadic life in the olden days, but the Forest & Wildlife policies introduced in the early seventies has resulted in their being rehabilitated in permanent settlements known as “podus”, and forced to discontinue their age old practices of shifting cultivation, harvesting forest produce like tubers and roots, and hunting.  There are some 75 such podus around B.R.Hills with a total tribal population of about 5,000.  Since 1981, an NGO by the name of Vivekananda Girijana Kalyana Kendra has been rendering unstinted service by providing education and medical facilities to the tribals and by taking up massive, integrated tribal development work.  This organization is run by Dr.H.Sudarshan, winner of the world famous Right Livelihood Award, who believes that the tribals are inseparable part of forest life.  The people of B.R.Hills are proud of him.

 Two religious festivals known as “Jatras” are celebrated annually – one in January and one in April, when more than ten thousand pilgrims assemble in B.R.Hills.  Throughout the year, hundreds of pilgrims from all over the state travel to B.R.Hills to visit the temple and obtain the Lord’s blessings.

The forest surrounding B R Hills extending to an area of 35,000 acres and the wildlife includes Elephants, Gaurs (Indian Bison), Tigers, Leopards (Panthers), Bears, Spotted Deer, Sambar, and a variety of smaller game.  The Government of Karnataka has set up a Wildlife Resort in K-Gudi, about 25 kms South of here, in the forest.

 B.R.Hills is really a beautiful location!