Chamarajanagara is a city and headquarter of eponymous Chamarajanagar district in the Karnataka state of India.

It is named after Chamaraja Wodeyar IX, the erstwhile Raja of Mysore, Chamarajanagara was previously known as 'Arikottara'.

[citation needed] The Vijaya Parsvanath Basadi, a holy jain shrine was constructed by Punisadandanayaka, the commander of the Hoysala king Gangaraja in the year 1117 AD.

Since a lot of the southern area of the district is dense forest, it had provided a good refuge to the notorious bandit Veerappan, responsible for the death of over a hundred policemen.

The presence of illegal quarrying for black stone imposes a great threat to the forests in the region.