Kudligi
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.
Kudligi
Western taluk ot Bellary District, Madas, lying between 14° 11' and 15° 4' X. and 76° 9' and 76° 45' E., with an area of 863 square miles. The population in 1901 was 103,985, compared with 94,296 in 1 89 1. It contains one town, Kotturu (population, 6,996), and 116 villages. The head-quarters, from which it takes its name, is a mere village. The demand for land revenue and cesses in 1903-4 amounted to Rs. 1,48,000. This Taluk is perhaps the most picturesque portion of the District. Extensive date-palm groves fringe the streams, it is famous for tamarinds, and the hilly country in the north is the wildest and most rugged in Bellary. Round Kotturu there is a little black cotton soil ; but two-thirds of the Taluk consists of very poor red land, and a fifth is covered with mixed soils. Several places have a bad name for malaria, and it is more sparsely peopled than any other Taluk in the District.
It supplies Bellary, Sandur State, and even parts of Alur, with toddy from date-palms, and exports consider- able quantities of tamarinds. Kudligi is the poorest tCxluk in the District. Its soil is the worst in quality, the ' dry ' land paying an average assessment of only 5 annas per acre and much being rated at as little as 2 annas ; the land revenue derived, and the incidence per head of the populalion, are less than anywhere else ; the percentage of the holdings which pay less than Rs. lo is higher than in any other taluk; and nearly lo per cent, of them pay one rupee or less. Only three-fifths of the taluk is arable, the forest area being larger than in any other ; and of the arable area one-third is waste. One reason for this large proportion is that much of the waste land is thickly covered with trees, and the ryots hesitate to pay the considerable sums which under the ordinary rules would be due for the value of this growth.
Recently, therefore, a system has been sanctioned under which the ryot may pay the usual tree-tax until the total value of the trees has been discharged, instead of the whole value at once in one sum. So far the system has been a success. The forest area in the taluk has also been added to recently, which will again reduce the proportion of waste. Even the land that is cultivable is often too poor to stand continuous cropping ; and the area under cultivation consequently fluctuates considerably, while a large proportion produces only horse- gram, a crop that will flourish with little rain on almost any soil. Kudligi has, however, a larger area served by tanks and wells than any other taluk. Thus, although it possesses no channels, about 4 per cent., quite a high figure for a Bellary taluk., is protected in all seasons. Moreover, the cattle have ample grazing ground in the numerous forests. Cholain and korra are, as usual, the staple food-grains, and a larger area is sown with castor than in any other taluk.
