Bellary Town
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.
Bellary Town
Head-quarters of the District and taluk of the same name, Madras, situated in 15° 9' N. and 76° 51' E. It is one of the chief military stations in Southern India, and is garrisoned by both British and Native troops. The force maintained is, however, considerably smaller than it used to be. Bellary is the seventh largest town in the Presidency. Its population in 1871 was 51,766; in 1881, 53,460; in 1891, 59,467 ; and in 1901, 58,247. The growth has thus been slow. The decline during the last decade was due to the removal of some of the troops. In 1901, 60 per cent, of the inhabitants were Hindus and 32 per cent. Musalmans ; Christians numbered about 4,000.
The town stands in the midst of a wide, level plain of black cotton soil. The Southern Mahratta Railway passes through it, connecting it with Hubli on the west and with Guntakal junction on the east, by which route it is 305 miles from Madras. It also lies on the trunk road from Bangalore to Secunderabad. The most conspicuous objects are the Fort Hill and the Face Hill, the latter so called from the resemblance of certain rocks on its summit to a human face. They are bare, rocky elevations with hardly any vegetation on them. The fort on the former gave Bellary its ancient importance and led to its selection as the site of a cantonment. This fortress consists of an upper citadel on the rock, the top of which is 1,976 feet above the sea, and a lower enclosure at the foot. The citadel is guarded by three lines of strong fortifications, which are still in excellent repair, and contains a number of substantial buildings and an ample water-supply from reservoirs constructed in the clefts of the rocks. There is only one way up, which is strongly defended. The lower fort is surrounded by a rampart with numerous bastions, faced by a deep ditch and glacis. Magazines, the quarters of the guard in charge of them, the chief church of the civil station, and several public offices and schools are built within this. It used also at one time to contain an arsenal. The town includes the civil station to the east of the fort, the cantonment on the west, and on the south, between these two areas, the Cowl Bazar and the suburbs of Bruce-pettah and Mellor-pettah, named after two civil officers once stationed at Bellary.
Until the British made Bellary a cantonment it contained little but its fort. This was originally the residence of a chieftain called Hanum- appa Naik, whose family held it as vassals of the kings of Vijayanagar and afterwards of the Sultans of Bijapur. About 1678 it was taken from them by the famous Maratha chief Sivaji, because as he was passing that way some of his foragers had been killed by the garrison ; but he restored it again at once on condition that tribute should be paid him. About 1761 it became tributary to Basalat Jang of Adoni. The chief quarrelled with Basalat Jang and refused to pay tribute. The place was accordingly besieged by a force from Adoni. The chief applied for aid to Haidar Ali, who made a wonderful forced march, which has been graphically described by Wilks, and routed the Adoni troops. He then, however, seized it for himself and erected the present fortifications. Tradition says that they were designed by a Frenchman in Haidar's service, and that Haidar, finding the fort was commanded by the Face Hill, hanged him afterwards at the main guard gate. The fort was in the possession of Mysore until 1792, when, with others of Tipu's territories, it was given to the Nizam. The Nizam ceded it to the British with the rest of the District in 1800. It did not become the head-quarters of the District until 1840, the Collector until that year living at Anantapur.
Though Bellary is situated 1,400 feet above the sea, its climate is hot and very dry, but it is considered a healthy town. Its great want is a proper water-supply, and it is hoped that the completion of the great irrigation project connected with the Tungabhadra will supply this. Besides being the head-quarters of the District staff, it is also the residence of a Superintending Engineer and an Inspector of Schools. A company of the Southern Mahratta Railway Volunteer Rifles is also located here, and the town is the head-quarters of the Roman Catholic Mission and of the London Mission. It contains a District jail, with accommodation for 346 prisoners.
The chief educational institution is the Wardlaw College, which was founded as a school in 1846 by the Rev. R. S. Wardlaw, D.D., of the London Mission, and was raised to a second-grade college in 1891. It is the only Arts college in the Ceded Districts. In 1903-4 it had an average daily attendance of 319 students, of whom 17 were in the F.A. class. A high school is maintained by the municipality ; and there is a techni- cal class at St. Philomena's high school managed by the nuns of the Order of the Good Shepherd, the pupils of which are almost all Europeans or Eurasians.
Bellary was created a municipality in 1867. The receipts and expen- diture during the ten years ending 1902-3 averaged Rs. 80,000 and Rs. 85,000 respectively. The income in 1903-4 was Rs. 1,17,000, and the expenditure Rs. 90,000. Of the former, Rs. 44,000 was contributed by Government, and the rest was principally derived from the house and land taxes and tolls, while the chief items of expenditure included conservancy, roads and buildings, and education. The municipal hospital, known as the Sabhapati Mudaliyar Hospital, was founded in 1842 and has forty beds. The building was presented by the gentleman whose name it bears. There are two other dispensaries. The industries of Bellary include a small distillery, two steam cotton-presses, and a steam cotton-spinning mill. The latter, established in 1894 and fitted with machinery of the latest pattern, employs 520 hands. The number of spindles is 17,800.
