Kanigiri 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.
Kanigiri Taluk
Taluk of Nellore District, Madras, lying between 15 degree 1’ and 15 degree 35' N. and 79° 5' and 79 degree 41' E., with an area of 1,014 square miles. It is bounded on the south by the Udayagiri taluk, and on the east for some distance by the Malakonda range of hills. The population, which was 131,222 in 1891, had fallen in 1901 to 110,813, a succession of bad seasons having caused large numbers to emigrate. The demand on account of land revenue and cesses in 1903-4 amounted' to Rs: 65,000. The taluk contains one town, Kanigiri (population, 5,528), the head-quarters; and 188 villages. Only 34 of the latter belong to Government, and 22 are shrotrietns, interspersed among the more numerous zamindari villages of the Kalahasti and Venkatagiri Estates. The head-quarters, formerly at Mogallur, a zamindari village, were removed to Kanigiri in 1879. Besides the taluk office, there is a District Munsifs court at this place. The general aspect of the country is forbidding. Treeless plains of red sand stretch in all directions. At Kanigiri there is a block of rocky hills. In the north-western corner near Nandanavanam some remark- able sandhills from 29 to 30 feet in height spread over a considerable area. They are probably formed of detritus from the neighbouring hills drifted by the force of the fierce land-wind. Wells are fairly numerous. The Paleru, the Manneru, and their affluents, rising among the ranges of hills to the west, drain the taluk. Ragi and cambu are the staple food-crops. Aruga is also grown and is preferred to the others as a food. Rice is imported. Education is backward, and not a few villages are to be found where the village accountant is the only person who can read and write. The taluk is wanting in facilities for irrigation. There are a few tanks, of which nine belong to Government, but none of them commands any considerable area. Various irriga- tion projects are under consideration, and the Hajipuram project, to impound the freshes of the Dommaleru, is in progress.
