Nagar Town
Nagar Town, 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.
Town in the Nagar taluk of Shimoga District, Mysore, situated in 13° 49' N. and 75° 2' E., 55 miles west of Shimoga town. Population (1901), 715, less than half what it was before the removal of the taluk head-quarters in 1893. The place was originally called Bidaruhalli, 'bamboo village'; about 1640 it became the capital of the Keladi kings under the name of Bidarur or Bidanur (Bednur). It grew so rapidly that it is said to have con- tained nearly 100,000 houses, and was called Nagara ('the city'). The walls were 8 miles in circumference, and had ten gates. The city was taken in 1763 by Haidar AlT, who gave it the name Haidarnagar, established there his principal arsenal and mint, and encouraged merchants to settle in the place. It suffered much during the wars with Tipu Sultan, and in 1783 was captured by the British, but was retaken. Tipu desired to restore its prosperity, but his fanatical religious and other measures ruined the place. Nagar, as it was called from 1789, was a centre of the insurrection of 1830. The munici- pality, formed in i88r, became a Union in 1904. The receipts and expenditure during the ten years ending 1901 averaged Rs. 600. In 1903-4 they were Rs. 600 and Rs. 980.
