Southern Maratha Country (or Bombay Carnatic)
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.
Southern Maratha Country (or Bombay Carnatic)
This is the portion of the old Karnata, the Kanarese country, included in the Bombay Presidency (see Carnatic), and comprises the Districts of Belgaum, Bijapur, Dharwar, and North Kanara above the Western Ghats, with the Native States of Kolhapur and the Southern Maratha Agency, making up a total area of 5,074 square miles, with a popu- lation (1901) of 370,265 persons. For the first six centuries of the Christian era the country seems to have been ruled by a number of petty dynasties, of whom the Kadambas and Gangas are the best known. The early Chalukyas, the Rashtrakutas, and the Western Chalukyas next held sway, and were displaced by the Hoysalas who disputed the overlordship with the Yadavas of Deogiri. From the eleventh to the thirteenth century all real power was in the hands of local chiefs, among whom the Kadambas of Goa and Hangal and the Rattas of Saundatti occupied a leading place. Under the Vijayanagar empire (r. 1336-1565) these petty chiefships maintained themselves with more or less formal acknowledgement of the central power. Late in the sixteenth century the Bijapur kings began to conquer the country ; but their progress was interrupted by conflict with the Portuguese and the nascent power of the Marathas, who soon ousted the Bijapur governors from these dominions and whose name has prevailed in the descriptive title of the country.
Where it adjoins the Deccan plains, the Bombay Southern Maratha Country is, like them, a treeless, flat tract, scantily watered and inter- spersed with rocky hill ranges. Farther south the western portion is covered with forest, which is dense on the line of the Western Ghats, but opens out to permit of cultivation where the country becomes more level. Farther east again is a well-watered and fertile plain, supplied with numerous irrigation reservoirs, beneath which are valuable spice gardens and irrigated crops.
