Hospet Taluk, 1908

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This article has been extracted from THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908. OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS.

Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.

Hospet Taluk

Western Taluk of Bellsary District, Madras, lying between 15° o' and 15° 29' N. and 76° 17' and 76° 48' E., with an area of 540 square miles. The population in 1901 was 101,947, compared with 92,512 in 1891. The fdhik contains two towns, Hospet (popula- tion, 18,482), the head-quarters, and Kampi.i (9,803); and 121 villages.

Of the villages the best known is Hampi, which has given its name to the wonderful ruins of the old city of Vijayanagar which lie scattered around. The demand for land revenue and cesses in 1903-4 amounted to Rs. 2,08,000. Containing the rugged wildernesses of granite hills round Daroji and Kampli and many ouThers from the Sandur and Copper Mountain ranges, Hospet is the most hilly area in the District. Nine-tenths of it is covered with light mixed soils.

Only one-twelfth is black cotton soil, and even this is scattered in many isolated joatches and does not occur in any one continuous spread. Kanarese is the prevailing vernacular. It is the only part of Bellary of which any considerable proportion is protected from drought in all seasons, 14 per cent, of the cultivated area, most of which is supplied by the Tungabhadra channels, being safe from famine.

It conseciuently suffered less in the distress of 1876-8 than any other part of the District. Some of this irrigated land is very valuable; it is reported that fields round Kampli have changed hands at prices working out at Rs. r,2oo per acre. Much of it, however, is malarious, and some of the villages near Hospet town are almost deserted, the people being compelled by fever to live elsewhere. .Sugar-cane and rice are the chief crops raised on the irrigated land, the area under sugar-cane being considerably more than half of the total under that crop in the whole District. Owing to the many hills, the proportion of the total area which is arable is lower than in any other tohik.