Kadur District, 1908

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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.

Kadur District

District in the west of the State of Mysore, lying between 12 degree 55' and 13 degree 54' N. and 75 degree 5' and 76 degree 22' E., with an area of 2,813 square miles. It is bounded on the north by Shimoga Dis- trict ; on the east by Chitaldroog and Tumkdr Districts ; on the south by Hassan District ; and on the west by the South Kanara District of Madras.

Physical aspects

The main part of the District is composed of the most mountainous region within the limits of Mysore. Bordered on the west by the mighty Ghat range, rising at this part into some of the loftiest peaks between the Himalayas and the Nilgiris ; aseectii supporting on its centre the stupendous barrier of the Baba Budan chain, of even superior elevation ; between these towering masses covered with a complete network of lofty hills whose altitude at certain points, as in the grand Merti peak of Kalasa, renders them conspicuous landmarks even in this region of heights, while ranges of more modest pretensions extend throughout the north and east— this District, with a slight exception eastwards, may truly be described as pre-eminently the Malnad or * highland country. Nor are these moun- tain tracts wanting in those charms of wood and water which tend to soften the harsher features of so rugged a landscape.

For though the summits rear themselves bareheaded into space, the slopes are thickly clad with primaeval forest, through which the shining streams thread their often headlong way, fertilizing the narrow valleys and open glades, till their waters descend to the level of the larger rivers, flowing in steep and sunken channels, whence issue dense mists that cover the face of the country, only lifting as the heat of the morning sun increases in power. In these vast solitudes the habitations of man are few and far between.

A single homestead, hidden amid the luxuriance of tropical vegetation, is often the only sign of human presence for many miles around. Roads there used to be none. All the valuable produce of the country was, and to a great extent still is, transported on the backs of cattle, the rallying sounds from the belled leaders of the drove resounding far and wide. The eastern or Maidan taluks partake of the general features of that description of country in the other Districts, the transition from Malnad to Maidan being very abrupt and striking on approaching lakvalli from the west.

The congeries of mountains, so far as they can be reduced to a system, seem to range themselves into a central ridge running north and south, with a great loop or circle on either hand ; while at the south-western angle the Western Ghats make a bend inwards to the east, marking the initial point of the line which divides the northern from the southern waters of Mysore. The main ridge spoken of above commences at Ball&lrgyandurga, and passing east of Mertigudda and Koppadurga, separates the basin of the Bhadra from that of the Tunga, and runs up towards Mandagadde, connecting with the central range of Shimoga District.

On the west of this ridge is the valley in which Sringeri stands, enclosed with a girdle of mountains ; while to the east of it, beyond the right bank of the Bhadra, is the Jagar valley, com- pletely environed with the Baba Budan Mountains. The highest point in the District, and in Mysore, is Mulainagiri in the Baba Budans, which rises to 6,317 feet above the sea. In the same group, Baba- Budan-giri is 6,214 feet, and Kalhattigiri 6,155. The loftiest peak in the Western Ghats is the Kudremukh or 'horse-face* mountain, so called on account of its appearance from the sea, to which it presents a landmark well-known to navigators on the west coast.

Its height is 6,215 tet. Of other conspicuous points, the grand Ballalrayandurga is 4,940 feet, Gangamula in the Varahaparvata 4,781, Woddingudda 5,006, Lakkeparvata 4,662. The superb hill of Kalasa, called the Mertigudda, situated in the heart of the mountain region to the west, is 5,451 feet. Kanchinkaldurga is 4,081 feet, and Sakunagiri 4,653.

The principal rivers are the twin streams, the Tunga and Bhadra. They both rise at Gangamula in the Varahaparvata in the Western Ghats. The Tunga flows north-east past Sringeri, and then turns north- by-west to Shimoga District. The Bhadra runs east past Kalasa, and then with a north-easterly course across the western opening of the Baba Budan horseshoe, receives the Somavahini from the Jagar valley on the east, and passes on to Shimoga District. On the east of the Baba Budans the Gaurihalla and Avati are twin streams, rising near Mulainagiri. The first expands into the Ayyankere Lake near Sak- karepatna, and taking the name of Veda runs north-east to Kadur.

The other, the northern stream, forms the large Madaga tank ; and the two, uniting near Kadur town, continue under the name of Vedavati into Chitaldroog District.

The Shimoga schistose band extends to the southern boundary of the District, and spreads from near Kadur town to the edge of the Western Ghats, where it forms much of the high Ghat country culmi- nating in the Kudremukh. From this point the western boundary is probably continuous up to Anantapur (Shimoga District). At Kudre- mukh the schistose beds are nearly horizontal, with a slight dip to the north ; the scarp on the southern side of the mountain, descending to South Kanara, displays a series of Dharwar rocks about 5,000 feet in thickness, composed largely of trap flows, with some beds of micaceous and other schists, and resting unconformably on the denuded surface of the Archaean rocks below. On the eastern side of the band, near Ajjampur, the rocks dip generally to the east.

To the south and west of Tarikere large masses of chloride schists occur; and underlying these to the south is a great thickness of trap flows, forming part of the Santaveri and Baba Budan mountains. The trap flows are disposed in a very flat anticlinal curve, and to the west are seen to be overlaid by a great thickness of dark schists, with haematite bands and quartzites overlying these again. In the country around Ajjampur and Tarikere masses of conglomerate are developed, consisting chiefly of large boulders and pebbles of granite in a quartz-felspar-chlorite matrix ; these pass through various gradations into grits, quartzites, and chloritic schists.

At the extreme heights of Mulainagiri and Kudremukh the moun- tains are clothed with grass and herbs, but are generally bare of trees. The plants of the west of Mysore and of Coorg are nearly all found in this alpine District, in addition to such as Lysimachia deltoides, Anemone rivularis, Ranunculus diffusus, Cinnamomum Wightii^ with other genera and species far too numerous to mention.

At Chikmugalur, the head-quarters, the mean annual temperature is between 72 and 73 , the daily range being about 20 . The tempera- ture of the Malnad often falls much lower, the cold in the early morning at Christmas time being very sharp. Malarious jungle fevers are always prevalent at certain seasons, and neither Europeans nor natives are exempt from attacks. The average annual rainfall at Chikmugalur is variously stated at from 36 to 42 inches. But the country lying within the Western Ghats has a far heavier fall.

The annual average at Koppa is given as 122 inches, and at Mudgere as 103. At Hariharpur 166 inches fell in 1874; at Mudgere 194 inches in 1882; and at certain coffee estates in that taluk 145 and 156 inches have been received in a year. The fall is heaviest in June, July, and August, there being 43 inches in July alone.

History

The west was from an early period subject to the Kadambas, and the remainder of the District to the Gangas. About the eighth century the Santara kingdom was established at Pomburchcha or Humcha in Shimoga District The Santaras ex- tended their rule southwards as far as Kalasa in this District, and at a later period made their capital at Sisila or Sisugall at the foot of the Ghats in Mudgere. Eventually their capital was at Karkala in South Kanara. At one time they acknowledged the supremacy of the Chalukyas, and were stanch Jains. But under Vijayanagar rule they became Lingayats, and were known as the Bhairarasa Wodeyars. Meanwhile, the Hoysalas arose at the beginning of the eleventh century, their original seat being Sosevur, now Angadi in the Mudgere taluk.

They were supreme throughout Mysore and beyond from the twelfth to the fourteenth century, when they were overthrown by Musal- man invasions from the north of India. The Vijayanagar empire was founded in 1336, and its success at first was greatly due to the aid given by the head of the Sringeri math, originally established by the reformer Sankaracharya in the eighth century. In consequence of this aid the capital of the new empire was called Vidyanagara, after Vidya- ranya or Madhava, its first minister, who was also the head of the math, Vidyanagara in course of time passed into the form Vijayanagara. After the fall of Vijayanagar, the Keladi chiefs of Bednur assumed independence, and restored the possessions of the Sringeri math.

In the seventeenth century Sivappa Naik of Bednur overran many parts of the District But he was opposed by Mysore ; and in 1694 a treaty was signed between the two powers, by which the latter gained nearly the whole of the District, and Haidar All's conquest of Bednur in 1763 completed its inclusion in Mysore. In the east, Tarikere was the seat of a line of feudatory chiefs driven out of Basavapatna in Shimoga District by the Bijapur invasions of the seventeenth century. When, in 1830, a rebellion broke out in the Nagar country, owing to the misrule of the Raja, the Tarikere chief was one of the first to escape from Mysore and join the rebels. The result was the extinction of this line of chiefs. The opening out of the inaccessible Malnad country in the west by roads at the end of last century has secured the peace of that wild part.

The most important archaeological feature is the Amritesvara temple near Tarikere, erected in the twelfth century, under the Hoy- salas. Some interesting Jain temples are represented by the ruins at'Sosevar or Angadi, the place of origin of the Hoysalas, which contain fine specimens of carving. The VidySsankara temple at Sringeri is an effective building, in the Dravidian style of Vijayana : gar. The inscriptions of the District have been translated and pub- lished.

Population

The population at each Census in the last thirty years was; (1871) 310,176, (1881) 293,822, (1891) 33 2 , 02 5, and (1901) 362,752. The decrease in 1881 was due to the famine of 1876-8. By religion, in 1901 there were 326,960 Hindus, 18, 144 Musalmans, 12,205 Animists, 3,888 Christians, and 1,554 Jains. The density of population is 129 persons per square mile, that for the State being 185. The number of towns is 10, and of villages 1,352. The following are the principal statistics of population in 1901 : —

As regards castes, Lingayats number 70,000 ; the outcaste Holeyas and Midigas, 56,000 and 13,000 ; Wokkaligas or cultivators, 50,000. Of Brahmans there are 18,000. Two-thirds of the Musalmans are Shaikhs, 12,000. Of nomads, Lambanis number 8,600; Koramas, 2,000 ; and Iruligas, 1,200. By occupation, 70-3 per cent, are engaged in agriculture and pasture, 12.3 per cent, in unskilled labour not agricultural, and 6-9 per cent, in the preparation and supply of material substances.

There are 3,888 Christians in the District, of whom 3,606 are natives. The Roman Catholics and Wesleyans have stations at Chik- mugalur and visit other parts.

Agriculture

Along the south of the Baba Budan mountains is a rich tract of black cotton soil, whose fertility, enhanced by the command of an unfailing supply of water from the hill streams, is said formerly to have given to the plain of Chikmugalur the name of Honjavanige Sime, or 'land flowing with gold.' The higher tracts of this region are generally gravelly. Black cotton soil prevails also in the neighbourhood of Ajjampur, together with red and gravelly soils. The western parts of Tarikere contain sandy and gravelly soils. About Yegate the earth seems poor and has a white chalky appearance. Farther south the soil is adapted to the cultivation of the coco-nut without irrigation, as in the adjoining parts of Tumkur and Chitaldroog Districts. The soil of the Malnad bears a general resemblance to that of the same region extending through the neigh- bouring Districts north and south. The following table gives statistics of cultivation for 1903-4 :— -

In addition to the ordinary cereals, pulses, and oilseeds, the following crops call for special notice. The areca gardens, which occupy the moist and sheltered valleys throughout the west, produce the best description of nut in the country, that of Kalasa and its neighbourhood being in especially high repute. The coffee cultivation of Southern India had its origin in this District. It was first introduced by Baba Budan in the seventeenth century on his return from a pilgrimage to Mecca, when he planted a few berries he had brought with him near his hut on the hills that bear his name. But it was not till 1820 that the cultivation extended beyond his garden, and not till twenty years later that European enterprise was first attracted to it. The original plants then put in by Mr. Cannon to the south of Baba-Budan-giri are still flourishing.

Land was soon after taken up for coffee in South Manjarabad, and since i860 European planters have settled in almost a continuous chain of estates throughout the Malnad. The coffee zone in this District is estimated to cover about 1,000 square miles. The cardamom grows wild in the same parts, but owing to the extension of coffee estates it is no longer plentiful except in the Kalasa and Melban. gadi maganis. Its systematic cultivation has been taken up in some parts with success. Experiments made with cinchona, tea, cotton, and mulberry have not been successful. The area occupied by the various crops in 1903-4 was : rdgi, 172 square miles ; rice, 153 ; coffee, 123; gram, 42; other food-grains, 67; garden produce, 26;. oil- seeds, 22.

During the twelve years ending 1904 there was advanced for land improvements Rs. 14,500, and for irrigation wells Rs. 7,300.

The area irrigated from channels is 12 square miles, from tanks 54, and from other sources 97. The number of tanks is 4,394, of which 103 are classed as ‘ major.'

The west of the District contains some of the best forests in the State. The Lakvalli teak forests have for many years supplied Western Mysore and the Bellary country with that timber. Throughout the Jagar valley and most of the Kpppa and Mudgere taluks^ a continuous stretch of valuable forest densely clothes the hill-sides, giving shelter to much coffee cultivation. The State forests cover an area of 144 square miles, ‘ reserved ' lands 124, and plantations 144. The forest receipts in 1903-4 were Rs. 2,98,000, chiefly from sandal-wood.

Gold-mining was begun near Ajjampur by the Kadilr-Mysore Com- pany, but owing to the poor prospects has been suspended. Iron ore is obtained largely and smelted along the hills east of the Baba Budan range, and round Ubrani. Corundum is found in abundance near Kadur and throughout the east.

Trade and communication

The principal articles manufactured are oils and oil-cake, cotton piece-goods, woollen blankets, and glass bangles. Jaggery is also made, and there is some production of iron. A certain amount of catechu or terra japonica is prepared.

There are reported to be 300 looms for cotton, 400 for wool, 87 oil-mills, and 201 jaggery and sugar-mills.

The most important exports are coffee, pepper, cardamoms, rice and other food-grains, and oilseeds. It is only a quarter of a century since the Malnad began to be opened up by a network of roads, and only since 1889 that the railway has run through a small part of the District. These agencies must certainly effect considerable changes in trade and the transport of commodities. The principal traffic between the Malnad and Maidan taluks was formerly through five kanaves or passes: namely, Talagudde, Talamakki, Birnahalli, Gantevinayakan, and Sitalmallapan.

The Southern Mahratta Railway from Bangalore to Poona runs through the east of the District, with a branch from Birur north-west to Shimoga, the total length of line being 62 miles. Provincial roads have a length of 259 miles, and District fund roads of 403 miles.

There has been no general famine in the District since that of 1876-8, but the areca gardens have suffered occasionally in periods of drought.

Administration

The District is divided into five taluks : Chikmugalur, Kadur, Koppa (including Sringeri Jagir), Mudgere, and Tarikere. The following subdivisions were formed in 1903, and placed under Assistant Commissioners : Chikmu- galur and Mudgere ; Kadur, Tarikere, and Koppa, with head-quarters at Chikmugalur.

The District court at Shimoga has jurisdiction over the whole of this District, and the Subordinate Judge's court over a part. There is a Subordinate Judge's court at Chikmugalur for the remaining part, and a Munsifs court at Vadehalli.

The land revenue and total revenue are shown below, in thousands Of rupees : —

The revenue survey and settlement were introduced into the east of the District in 1877-8, and into the west in 1880-1. The incidence of land revenue per acre of cultivated area in 1903-4 was Rs. 1-12-10. The average assessment per acre on ' dry ' land is R. 0-13-1 (maximum scale Rs. 2-10-0, minimum scale R. 0-0-6) ; on 'wet* land, Rs. 3-4-0 (maximum scale Rs. 8-8-0, minimum scale R. 0-1-0) ; on garden land, Rs. 7-4-2 (maximum scale Rs. 18, minimum scale Rs. 1-8-0).

There were eight municipalities in 1903-4 — Chikmugalur, Tari- kere, Birur, KadQr, Yedehalli, Mudgere, Koppa, and Sringeri — with a total income of Rs. 57,000 and an expenditure of Rs. 66,000. There were also two village Unions, Ajjampur and Sakkarepatna, whose in- come and expenditure were Rs. 2,000 and Rs. 7,000. The District and taluk boards had an income of Rs. 50,000 in 1903-4, chiefly derived from a share of the Local fund cess, and spent Rs. 49,000, including Rs. 33,000 on roads and buildings.

The strength of the police force in 1903-4 was one superior officer, 60 subordinate officers, and 381 constables. There were 7 lock-ups, containing a daily average of 16 prisoners.

In 1901 the percentage of literate persons was 5-9 (10.5 males, 0.6 females). The number of schools increased from 201 with 5,130 pupils in 1890-1 to 292 with 7,324 pupils in 1 900-1. In 1903-4 there were 207 schools (95 public and 112 private) with 4,936 pupils, of whom 692 were girls.

Besides the civil hospital at Chikmugalur, there are 14 dispensaries, in which 111,882 patients were treated in 1904, of whom 700 were in- patients, the number of beds available being 36 for men and 22 for women. The total expenditure was Rs. 33,000.

The number of persons vaccinated in 1904 was 4,723, or 13 per 1,000 of the population.