COLAR, a town and fortress, the capital of the above district. The town is defended by a strong mud fort, which was repairing when it was visited by Dr Buchanan; it has two very lofty walls, and in the town a cavalier of stone, which commands all the works. It is also defended by a deep ditch. The town contains 700 houses, many of which are inhabited by weavers. It was the birth-place of Hyder Ali, whose father lived and died in it. A handsome mausoleum was erected to his memory by his son; and near it a mosque, and a college of Mussulman priests, with a proper establishment of musicians, were endowed to pray for the repose of his soul, and are still supported by the British government. On the hill north from the town was formerly a hill fort, in which resided for some time Cossim Khan, the general of Aurungzebe, who first carried the Mussulman authority to the south of the river Krishna. Colar was the capital of one of the seven districts into which that general divided his conquests. It is forty miles east-north-east from Bangalore. Long. 78. 19. E. Lat. 13. 8. N.