Kollegal Taluk, 1908
Kollegal Taluk, 1908
Northern subdivision and taluk of Coimbatore District, Madras, lying between 11° 46' and 12 degree18' N. and 76degree 59' and 77 degree 47' E., with an area of 1,076 square miles. The Cauvery river bounds it on three sides, forming at its north-west angle the famous Sivasamudram island and Falls. The population in 1901 was 96,563, compared with 88,533 m 1891. There are 122 villages, and only one town, Kollegal (population, 13,729), the head-quarters. The demand for land revenue and cesses in 1903-4 amounted to Rs. 1,16,000. Kollegal is the most sparsely peopled taluk in the District, its popula- tion, which is mainly Kanarese as in the adjoining State of Mysore, numbering only 90 persons per square mile, while the average for the District is 280. Unlike the rest of Coimbatore, Kollegal benefits considerably from the south-west monsoon, and its annual rainfall (35 inches) is the heaviest in the District. The southernmost spurs of the Eastern Ghats run through it, forming on the west a well- marked minor range called the Biligiri-Rangan hills ; and it is on a higher level than the remainder of the District and really forms part of the adjoining Mysore plateau, the climate and temperature of which it shares. More than half of the taluk consists of ' reserved ' forest ; but this is chiefly useful as a grazing ground for cattle, for the Kollegal ryot is more often a raiser of stock than a cultivator of arable land. The well-known Alambadi breed of draught-cattle comes from here.
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.
