Sidhout Taluk, 1908

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Sidhout Taluk

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.

The hermit's banyan-tree

Eastern taluk of Cuddapah District, Madras, lying between 14 16' and 14 41' N. and 78 52' and 79 22' E., with an area of 606 square miles. It is situated between the Palkonda Hills and the Velikonda range. The population in 1901 was 68,087, compared with 66,810 in 1891 ; and the density is 112 persons per square mile, compared with the District average of 148. It contains 79 villages, including Sidhout, the head- quarters. The demand for land revenue and cesses in 1903-4 amounted to Rs. i, 10,000. The annual rainfall is 33 inches, against the District average of 28 inches. The best land is in the valley of the Penner, where water is easily obtained by sinking wells. Little of the tdhtk is cultivated except the valleys, owing to the numerous rugged hills by which it is cut up. Though four rivers cross it, few irrigation channels are drawn from them, as they run in deep beds; and almost the only benefit derived from the wealth of water which runs away to the sea is the increase in the moisture of the subsoil in the valleys. The principal products are indigo and cotton. More than half of the taluk consists of ' reserved ' forests.

Sidhout, the head-quarters, is a place of some importance and of considerable sanctity. Owing to a fancied resemblance in its position on the Penner to that of Benares on the Ganges, and to the relative situation of some neighbouring villages and rivers, it is sometimes called Dakshina Kasi or the 'Southern Benares.' It is known for its melons, the cultivation of which is carried on from January to March in the dry sandy bed of the Penner.