CIRCARS, NORTHERN, an extensive province of Hindustan, lying on the western side of the Bay of Bengal. It is a narrow strip of territory, extending from 15. 2. to the 20th degree of N. Lat., but is little more than one degree in breadth. The sea bounds it on the E. along a coast 470 miles in length, from the port of Mootapilly to the town of Maloud in Orissa, on the borders of the Chilca Lake. From about 50 to 70 miles inland it is divided from the province of Hyderabad by a range of small detached hills, extending to the banks of the Godavery; and it is separated from Gundwana to the N. of that river by the great ridge of the Eastern Ghauts, impassable except in some few depressions for horse or wheel-carriages. From Goomsur the same unbroken chain curves to the eastward, reducing the breadth of the province at this point
Circars. to a narrow tract of about 18 miles. Towards the south the small river Gondlacama, which empties itself at Mootapilly, separates this territory from the district of Ongole.
The area of the Circars is 30,060 square miles, of which it is estimated that only one-fifth is in cultivation or fallow, twice that portion in pasture, and the remainder occupied by woods, water, towns, barren hills, and a sandy waste three miles in breadth, which borders the whole extent of the coast. The country for about 35 miles inland is a level plain, with only two remarkable interruptions in its greatest length along the shore. Beyond this about 15 miles farther inland, and parallel to it, the country is much more elevated, being agreeably variegated with hills easy of access, and remarkably fertile. Beyond these tracts of plain and hilly ground, to the north of the Godavery, a still higher region extends close to the great ridge of mountains which stretch far inland.
The grand divisions of this province are properly five. Of these the first is Guntoor, the most southerly division, bounded on the north by the river Kistnah, which, after running a curve of 600 miles from the Balaghaut hills, near the coast of Malabar, separates this province on the north from the second division, namely, Masulipatam. Rajahmundry is the third division, succeeded in a northerly direction first by Vizagapatam and lastly by Ganjam. These divisions, which are of comparatively modern date, were introduced by the British to supersede the original distribution of the territory into the five Circars of Cicacole, Rajahmundry, Ellore, Condapilly, and Guntoor.
The climate of the Northern Circars, though it has a general resemblance to that of Hindustan north of the Kistnah, is well distinguished by local peculiarities arising from its maritime situation, and the extent and position of the inland hills. The S.W. monsoon usually sets in about the middle of June with a westerly wind, and continues with moderate showers until the latter end of August, which is the period of the small grain harvest. In October it is succeeded by a variable season, ushering in the N.E. monsoon, with cooler weather and greater abundance of rain. This continues to the middle of November, when it generally ceases, and is succeeded by a strong north-easterly wind, tempered by the mild influence of the sea over which it blows. The harvest for rice and bajree, which are the great productions of the country north of the Godavery, finishes about the middle of this latter season, early in January; and in like manner the vernal equinox terminates the harvest south of that river for the different species of maize as well as of other grains and pease. Then commences the hot season, which is always moderate towards the northern extremity of the Circars, near Ganjam, owing to the constant breezes from the sea. On the south the hot season is moderated for two months by sea-breezes from the south blowing along the shore; but afterwards, until the period of the rains, the wind blowing over a parched loose soil of great extent, and especially over the almost dry and sandy bed of the Kistnah, becomes so heated that it raises the thermometer for an entire week to 105, and frequently to 110 degrees. In the hilly regions the air is in a highly noxious state; and throughout the different seasons of the year the hill fever, which is prevalent, is frequently fatal to strangers. It is generally ascribed to the state of the atmosphere, contaminated with the exhalations of a fertile soil, pent up in valleys, or impeded in its circulation by the luxuriant growth of plants, or by the trees with which the villages are surrounded. All these provinces along the coast have a sandy soil, which improves gradually towards the hills; but seldom produces more than one crop annually, except in localities enjoying an abundant supply of water. The country is well irrigated by running streams, many of which are divided artificially into canals, and conducted into tanks and reservoirs; thus
being rendered subservient to cultivation. Within the last few years the government have appropriated considerable sums to the purpose of extending the system of irrigation by means of the waters of the Godavery and the Kistnah. Through the advantages which in this respect it enjoys, the province abounds in all the different sorts of grain which have been already mentioned; it is properly the granary of the Carnatic during the N.E. monsoon. Fruits, roots, and greens are scarce, or reared with difficulty, to the south of the Godavery; nor towards the north are they so excellent as in some other provinces. Sugar, cotton, and tobacco are largely cultivated. Salt is manufactured on the coast, and in such abundance as greatly to exceed the home demand. The forests of Rajahmundry, from the commencement of the hills, along the banks of the Godavery, yield an inexhaustible supply of the best and largest teak timbers; and if proper use were made of this advantage, an article would be procured of great importance to commerce. The cocoa and the palmyra, or, in the more northerly provinces, the tree which produces the gum-arabic, are the materials from which are constructed those unwieldy vessels with two masts, called doonies, averaging from 60 to 300 tons each. The domestic animals found in this province are chiefly sheep and the larger species of horned cattle. The neighbouring sea and its numerous inlets abound with almost every species of Indian fish, together with some that are common to Europe, such as mullet, sole, and the pomphret, a small fish resembling a turbot.
Cotton is the staple produce, and from it are fabricated cloths of different degrees of fineness. The muslins of Masulipatam, and other places within the Circars, formerly in high esteem both at home and abroad, have been nearly superseded by the irresistible competition of British fabrics. The coarser plain cloths, which are made to the north and south of the Godavery, and coloured with chay root (which is the madder of the East, and grows in most perfection in the pure sands annually overflowed by the Kistnah,) are in great demand. Woollen carpets are manufactured at Ellore, and silks at Burrampore. But these are rather objects of curiosity than of any great general advantage; as is also the art of painting or inlaying ivory and black wood in the cabinet work at Vizagapatam. Ship-building is carried on extensively in the ports of Coringa and Narsapore, the two principal mouths of the Godavery. Here ships of 500 tons are built, and about 50,000 tons of small craft are employed in the coasting trade.
The native inhabitants of the Northern Circars, with the exception of some thousand Mohammedans found chiefly in the principal towns, are wholly Hindus. They are composed of the two nations of Telenga and Orissa, formerly divided from each other by the Godavery, but, since their union under the same government, amalgamated to some extent with each other, as well as with some of the neighbouring tribes. They have each their peculiar dialect, apparently of the Sanscrit language, as well as their peculiar rites, customs, and national traits. The four great castes or divisions of the people are common in both countries, but with less deviations from original institutions in Orissa, where Brahminical abstinence from animal food is very general among all the higher tribes. The Brahmins continue to enjoy their pre-eminence and consideration among the other classes. The Rachewars, Rowars, and Velmas, of which denominations the principal Zemindars are composed, affect the warlike character and manners of Rajpoots. The Rachewars are of the ancient race of the Orissa sovereigns, who were forced to fly before the conquering arms of the Mohammedans from the plains to the highland woods. The Rowars, or Worians, being petty chieftains of the military tribe, were enabled, after the Mohammedan conquest, to acquire an independent jurisdiction in the moun-
tainous tract to the west of Cicacole. The Velmas are of Telinga origin; and being driven from the Carnatic in the year 1662 by the Mohammedans, they established themselves on the borders of the Kistnah. The remainder are husbandmen, cow-herds, weavers, artificers, all of the Sudra or last great caste. The retail dealers form a third class. The entire population of the Circars, according to the last census, was 4,284,187.
It was not till the year 1471 that the Mohammedans carried their arms to the Northern Circars. In 1541 they conquered Condapilly; and nine years afterwards they extended their conquests over all Guntoor, and the districts of Masulipatam. But the conquerors appear to have acquired only a very imperfect possession of the country, as it was again conquered from the Hindu princes of Orissa about the year 1571, during the reign of Ibrahim Kootub, Shah of Hyderabad or Golconda. In 1687 these provinces, with the empire of Hyderabad, were added to the extensive empire of Aurungzeb. But this monarch was too busily employed in conquering the larger provinces of the Deccan, and curbing the Mahratta power, to bestow due care on his conquest. Nizam ul Moolk, appointed viceroy of the Deccan, and who in that character exercised the sovereign power which subsequently he usurped, reformed the administration of the revenues and the civil and military establishment. He was succeeded by his third son Salabut Jung, who, being indebted for his elevation to the French East India Company, granted them in return for their services the district of Condavir or Guntoor, and soon afterwards the other Circars. In 1759, by the conquest of that great commanding bulwark, the fortress of Masulipatam, the dominion of the maritime provinces on either side, from the river Gondagama to the Chilca Lake, was necessarily transferred from the French to the British. But they left them under the administration of the Nizam, with the exception of the town and fortress of Masulipatam, which were retained by the English East India Company. In 1765 Lord Clive obtained from the Mogul a grant of four of the Circars, which in the following year was confirmed by a treaty entered into with Nizam Ali, who had by this time superseded Salabut Jung in his authority. The remaining Circar of Guntoor devolved to the East India Company in 1788. (z. t.)