Satyamangalam Town

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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.

Satyamangalam Town

Till recently the head-quarters of the taluk of the same name in Coirnbatore District, Madras, situated in 11 30' N. and 77 15' E., on the Bhavani river at the foot of the northern Coirnbatore hills. Population (1901), 3,680. Though apparently never strongly fortified, it derived some strategical impor- tance from the fact that it lies near the southern end of the Gazalhatti Pass, which was the ordinary route from Mysore to this District. Under the Naik dynasty of Madura it was the residence of a deputy- governor. In the beginning of the seventeenth century it was the local head-quarters of the Jesuits.

It fell into the hands of the Mysore kings in 1653, was held by the British for some time after Colonel Wood's sudden but short occupation of the District in 1768, and was abandoned before Haidar's advance at the end of the same year. A ruined mud fort in the neighbouring pass was bravely but un- successfully defended in this campaign by Lieutenant Andrews, who was killed by the besiegers. The town was occupied by a division under Colonel Floyd during General Medows's campaign in this District in 1790, preparatory to a general advance into Mysore by the Gazalhatti Pass.

But Tipu descended the pass in September of that year, crossed the Bhavani above Satyamangalam, and fought two engagements with the British on the same day. In the first of these, a cavalry fight, the British were completely successful, and in the second, an artillery duel, they held their ground though they suffered severely. It was, however, decided not to risk a general encounter, and the place was abandoned by Colonel Floyd on the following morning. Satyamangalam is now the head-quarters of a deputy- tahsilddr and stationary sub-magistrate. It is an ordinary market town without special features.