DECCAN, or the Country of the South, formerly included, according to the Hindu geographers, the whole of the countries situated to the south of the river Nerbuddah; at last, however, it came to apply to the country which was situated between this river and the Krishna, the latter being for a long period the southern boundary of the Mahommedan possessions in India, and to the present day it bears this popular acceptance. In 1690, when the Decan was subdued by Aurungzebe, it was divided into six soubahs or viceroyalties, namely, 1. Khandesh; 2. Aurun-
gabad or Ahmednuggur; 3. Beder or Kalbergah; 4. Hyderabad; 5. Bejapoor; and 6. the Province of Berar. The chief part of the population is Hindu, especially in those provinces which are under the Mahratta government. In those parts which are under the dominion of the nizam the Mahommedan population is considerable; but those who are cultivators of the soil have partly adopted the manners and customs of the Hindus. The Mahrattas who inhabit the Deccan are a peaceable and industrious race, among whom very few crimes occur. The cottages in which the natives reside are small and mean, with steep thatched roofs, and very low side-walls of loose stones; and there is a general appearance of poverty both in the dress and farming implements of the people. A supply of English manufactures, consisting of woollen, English chintzes, knives, scissors, &c. are introduced into this country by travelling merchants, who purchase them at Bombay, and retail them all over the Deccan. The Deccan, says Bishop Heber, is in its general character a barren country, and its population evidently falls short of the average of Europe. It is destitute of trees. Its climate is highly praised during the rainy and cool seasons, and the hot winds are of no long duration.
In early times this country was possessed by the rajah of Telingana and other Hindu princes. It was first invaded by the Mahommedans in the year 1293, who plundered the country. In the year 1323 the Mahommedans made still greater progress in its conquest, and the Hindu dynasty was extirpated. The independent monarchy of the Bhamenee sultans was established in 1347, which continued till the year 1518. It was on the dissolution of this empire that the Deccan was subdivided into five states; and during the reign of Aurungzebe, in the latter half of the seventeenth century, all those states were reduced, and the Deccan annexed to the kingdom of Delhi, when it was divided into six governments, as stated above. In the subsequent reigns, when the great empire of Aurungzebe fell into decay, the nizam, taking advantage of the weak state of the court of Delhi after the Persian invasion in 1739, threw off his allegiance, became an independent sovereign, and fixed his court at Hyderabad. But the rise of the Mahratta power circumscribed his dominions, and he was obliged to cede to them the territories which formerly belonged to the peshwa and the rajah of Berar.