Sagar Taluk, 1908
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.
Sagar Taluk
Western taluk of Shimoga District, Mysore, lying between 13 51' and 14 20' N. and 74 38' and 75 18' E., with an area of 666 square miles. The population in 1901 was 56,818, com- pared with 58,999 in 1891 The taluk contains one town, Sagar (population, 3,103), the head-quarters, and 245 villages. The land revenue demand in 1903-4 was Rs. 1,71,000. The west and great part of the north and south are bounded by the Western Ghats, from which a ridge crosses the taluk from west to east The extreme west is not more than 8 miles from the sea. Devarkonda and Govardhangin are the principal heights. The Sharavati flows through the middle in a north-westerly direction, receiving the Yenne-hole at the frontier, where it turns west, forming the celebrated GERSOPPA FALLS, and continuing along the boundary. The Varada rises in the north-east and flows out north. The whole taluk is considered Malnad, but the south-west and north-east, separated mostly by the Sharavati, differ a good deal.
In the former the rice-fields bear a double crop annually, but the areca, pepper, and cardamom gardens are somewhat inferior. This tractpiesents the appearance of a rolling stretch of baie hill-tops, with their sides and valleys densely wooded. The scenery is surpassingly beauti- ful, and the climate cool and pleasant even in the hottest season. The people live in scattered homesteads, and theie are no villages with a collection of houses. The other parts of the taluk are more level and open, but the climate is not so good. Only one crop of rice is raised in the year, but the gardens are remarkably fine. As a rule the people live in villages, but there are many scattered homesteads, especially in the south-west. Except the great Hinni forest, south of the Gersoppa Falls, the remainder are chiefly kdns or tracts of evergreen forest con- taining self-sown pepper.
Towards the south the forest is in patches, very dense inside but suddenly opening on bare spots containing nothing but grass. This is due to laterite, on which trees refuse to grow, The demand for leaf-manure for the gardens is ruining the forests, as they are mercilessly stripped foi the purpose. The soil in the kdns is rich and deep, but in most of the taluk it is hard and shallow, with much laterite Dry crops ' are of no impoitance, but nee is largely exported by the jyots to Gersoppa by the Govardhangin and Hinni ghats, that of the south being sent to Bhatkala or Baidur Areca-nuts are sent towards Bellaiy, and also to Walajapet and Birur. Cardamoms and peppei go to the Kanara and Dharwar markets
