Tanjore 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.
Tanjore Taluk
Western taluk and subdivision of Tanjore District, Madras, lying between 10° 26' and 10° 55' N. and 78° 47' and 79° 22' E., with an area of 689 square miles. The population in 1901 was 407,039, compared with 410,447 in 1891. There are 362 villages and four considerable towns: Tanjore City (population, 57,870), the head-quarters of both the District and the taluk ; the sacred town of Tiruvadi (7,821); Vallam, where the Collector resides (7,590); and Avyampettai (9,454), famous for its carpets and mats. The demand for land revenue and cesses in 1903-4 amounted to Rs. 10,16,000. The taluk differs from others in the District in the large number of the thief-caste Kalians it contains. It is divisible into two well-marked sections, the first including much of the apex of the Cauvery delta, and the second running up in the south and west to dry uplands resembling those of the Pattukkottai taluk. These two tracts are sharply contrasted, and the tdluk contains some of the best land in the District and also large tracts of the worst. There is more ' dry ' land than irrigated, and 47 per cent, of the former is assessed at R. I an acre or less. Rice is more widely grown even here than any other crop ; but a large area is under cambu, ragi, ground-nuts, and red gram, the last of which is an unusual grain in this District.
