1951 DISTRICT CENSUS HANDBOOK GOORG OR DODAGU CONTENTS FOREWARD ARE,i\. CULTIVA~ED IN EACH VILLAGE GENERAL POPULATION TABLES- \ A. I-Area, Houses and Population 19 A. II-Variation in Population during fifty year~ " 20 A. III-Towns and Villages classified by Population 2i A. IV-Towns classified by population with variation since 190J 22 A. V-Towns arranged territorially with population by livelihood classes 23 fABLE E-Summary figures by taluks 24 ECONOMIC TABLES- I-Livelihood classes and sub-classes 26 Il,-Secondary means of livelihood 30 III-Employers, Employees and Independent Workers in Illdustrie:; and Services by Divisions and Sub- divisions 32 ,TABLE II-Employment in Textile Establishments 49 . "TABLE III-Employment in Non-Textile Establishments 51 ~ABLE L-Infirmity (Incidence of Leprosy) 53 RIMARY CENSUS ABSTRACT­ Rural Tract 54 , Nr-City Urban Tract 7i3 L'ABLE C-HOUSEHOLD AND AGE (SAMPLE) TABLES­ C. l-Household (size and composition) C. ·II-Livelihood classes by age groups 83 C. IV.-Age and literacy i36 JLE D-SOCIAL AND CULTURAL TABLES­ D. I-(i) Mother tongue 89 (ii) Bilingualism 90 D. II-Religion 95 D. III-Scheduled Castes ~nd Scheduled Tribes 97 Backward and Non-Backward Classes !.J9 D. IV-Birth place-migrants .. 100 D. VI-Non-Indian Nationals .. 103 D. VII--:-Livelihood Classes by Educational Standards 104 Sorters Ti()ket '2' and the State Index of Non-Agricultural Classes­ State Index of Non-Agricultural Occupations 109 .. 11 ANNEXURE II PAGES Table A. I-Area, houses and population 119 Table A. II-Variation in population during fifty years 120 Table A. III-Towns and villages classified by population 1~ Table B. II-Sec~ndary mean'! of liv~lihood 1221 'B' and' C' Series of tables in rel>~ct of displaced persons 12~ i Appendix II to Village Statistics- Statement showing the nm;ilber of displaced persons in each village 157 Appendix I to Urban Statistics-- Statement showing the number of displaced persons in each tract 15\:)1 Table L-Village-wise details of leprosy cases and doubtful cat-ies by livelihood classe::; in each tract 16f Table I-Small Scale Industries giving the village-wise distribution of textile and non-textile establi",hments 167 Table C. I-Household (size and composition) 176 i Table C. III-Age and civil condition 181 Table C. V-Single Year Age Returns 184' Table D. V-Displaced persons by year of arrival 187 ~(lrter:; ticket '2' 191 FOREWARD (1) PHYSIOGRAPHY. (a) Situation and Physical Characteristics.-CoQrg State cQmprising an area .of 1593 sq. miles is a mQuntainQus cQuntry, situated on the summits and the Eastern and Western slopes .of the Western Ghats within degrees .of NQrth latitude 11'56" and 12'50" and East IQngitude 75'22" and 76'12". Viewed frQm an eminence the whQle of the southern PQrtiQn of the cQuntry presents the appearance .of one great fQrest intersprsed by valleys which after August appear green with paddy crop. In the NQrth the cQuntry becQmes .open tQwards the East while to the West and NQrth the country rises to high peaks measuring frQm 3,800 feet tQ 5,729 feet abQve the sea level. Wherever PQssible the valleys in CQQrg are formed intQ flats and terraces fQr rice cultivatiQn and high lying lands are cultivated with cQffee, .orange, cardamom, pepper, etc. There are seven main .outlets, .one tQ SQuth Kanara, tWQ to Malabar and fQur tQ MysQre. A gOQd number .of village communicatiQn rQads has been opened to CQnnect villages which lie away frQm the main rQads. SQme .of these village communicatiQn rQads are fit fQr vehicular traffic during the fair weather only. As CQQrg is nQt cQnnected by railways, transPQrt facilities are confined tQ mQtQr vehicles and country carts. The nearest coast is at a distance .of abQut 40 miles frQm the vVestern bQrder of the State. (b) Rivers.-The main drainage .of COQrg is in an easterly directiQn tQwards the Bay of Benga1 while some mountain tQrrents flQW west frQm the 'Vestern Ghats towards the Arabian sea. The rivers are not remarkable either for width .or depth but their water supply is everywhere abundant thrQughQut the year. As their SQurces are high up in the mQuntains and their SQurces lie .over steep declivities, they flQW with great rapidity .over generally very rQcky beds, rendering themselves almQst useless for navigatiQn of any kind and .owing tQ the height of their banks and the unevenness .of the country few .of them can be used fQr artificial irrigatiQn purpQses. The chief .of the CQQrg rivers bQth as tQ size and importance is the Cauvery which rises .on the Western bQrder frQm the Brahmagiri peak at a height of abQut 4,000 feet abQve the sea level. FIQwing in an easterly directiQn it cuts CQQrg intQ tWQ halves and traverses through MysQre, Salem, CQimbatore, TrichinQPQly and TanjQre tQ a distance of 400 miles befQre it jQins the Bay .of Bengal. Its important tributaries are Laxmanathirtha, Kakkabe, Harangi and Hemavathi. The rivers that flQW to the west are BarapQle, N Qjikalhole and Kumaradhari. (c) Climate.-Generally speaking the climate .of CQQrg is temperate. The temperature varies frQm 50 c'F. in December to about 90°F. in the mQnth .of April. The cQuntry gets bQth the SQuth-West and North-East mQnSQQns. The SQuth-West mQnSQon which usually starts at the end of May is more severe and windy. The NQrth-East mQnSQQn is nQt continuous but it usually comes dQwn in torrents and is most welcome for the rice crop. The Western part receives an annual rainfall ranging from 120 inches to 250 inches and the eastern PQrtion which is in the nature .of a plateau frQm 50 tQ 65 inches while the fall in the middle tract running NQrth tQ SQuth varies frQm 70 tQ 90 inches. Mercara, the capital of CQQrg, situated abQut the centre of the State, abQut 3,800 feet abQve the sea level, receives an annual rainfall .of around 125 inches. 1 (d) ~ ~.~oor.g is still a sea ed book to ~eologists, no proper sur.vey h~ving. been conducted s f: J\ ..t1fortS are III progress to have a geologIcal survey of Coorg. SOlI classIficatIOn has, however, }.~_~~ carried out only in the case of wet and dry crop lands. Wetlands have been classified according to the soil, sufficiency of irrigation and comparative elevation. Three classes of soil have been recognised and they are (1) Alluvial or loam (2) Sandy loam and (3) Sandy soil. Classincation according to water supply has been made under three heads' according as the supply is found to be abundant, sufficient or insufficient. A further distinction has been made between high-lying and low-lying lands. These in combination have been arranged for purposes of assessment into 8 classes and they are known as "tarams ". In fixing the taram special advantages and· disadvantages have been taken into consideration including marketing facilities. ~'~e) Forest Area covered and general description.-Forest area consists of Reserved forests, com­ prising 3,30,726 acres, paisaries 1,77,800 acres, Devarakadus 7,895 acres, Urudves 8,519 acres and banes 2,09,523 acres. Banes are owned by private individuals while all the other lands are regis­ tered in the name of the Government. The following are the main caste trees grown in Coorg, namely Sandal, Teak, Biti, Ebony, Honne, Mathi, Nandi, Hebbalasu, Halhalasu, White Cedar, Irupu, Poon, Noga, Balanji, Champaka, Hunse, Yenne Mara, Irul, Alale, Nowladi, Bilwara, Nerale. (f) Irrigation facilities and liability to famine.-Cultivation of rice is carried on wet system except in the eastern and North-Eastern villages where dry farming is more generaL The rice lands are mostly situated in valleys between hills. The total area under rice cultivation in 1951 was 89,640 acres and ragi 4,031 acres. Out of this area 7,453' 56 acres of rice area was irrigated by tanks and by channels from dams put up across rivers. The rest is either rain-fed or springfed. (g) Average area cultivated with wet food crops, rain-fed food crops and commercial crops.­ The area of lands under food and commercial crops duril!g 1950-51 was as follows :- Acres Acres Rice 89,640 Rubber 5,684 Ragi 4,031 Pepper 1,066 Pulses 1,065 Cardamom 12,499 Coffee 42,985 Orange 16,673 Tea 416 Plantain 956 (2) HISTORICAL AND ARCHlEOLOGICAL. For particulars about prehistoric age the historian has to depend on Kauveri Purana, a legend which says that the Coorgs, the Chief inhabitants of the State, are the descendants of Chandra­ varma, a Kshatriya king. History narrates that Coorg was under the sway of self-made chief­ tains, known as paleygars who were always fighting with one another. The Chalukyas, Kadambas, Hoysalas who built up dominions in South India also held their sway over Coorg when they were in the height of their power. After the fall of Vijayanagar in 1565 an Ikkeri prince came to Coorg and settled at a place called Haleri, about six miles from Mercara. He posed as a jangama and gradually acquired strength and influence and later on assumed authority as the Raja of Coorg. He conquered all Palegars who opposed him and thus became the founder of the Lingayat Kingship in Coorg. Halery princes ruled over the country from about 1600 to 1834. After the fall of Tippu Sultan in 1807 the influence of the East India Company gradually spread throughout South India. Viraraja II who became the ruler of Coorg in 1820 was reputed to be cruel and the people getting tired of his misrule invited the Company to depose the King.