or the Country of the South, in Hindustan, includes, according to Hindu geographers, the whole of the territories situate to the south of the Nerbuddah. In its more modern acceptation, however, it is sometimes understood as comprising only the country lying between that river and the Krishna, the latter having for a long period formed the southern boundary of the Mohammedan empire of Delhi. Assigning it the more extended of these limits, it comprehends the whole of the Indian peninsula, and in this view the mountainous system, consisting of the Eastern and Western Ghauts, constitutes the most striking feature of the Deccan. These two mountain ranges unite at their northern extremities with the Vindhyas chain of mountains, and thus is formed a vast triangle supporting at a considerable elevation the expanse of table-land which stretches from Cape Comorin to the valley of the Nerbuddah. The surface of this table-land slopes from W. to E., as indicated by the direction of the drainage of the country; the great rivers the Cauvery, Godaverry, Krishna, and Pennar, though deriving their sources from the base of the Western Ghauts, all finding their way into the Bay of Bengal through fissures in the Eastern Ghauts.

In early times this country embraced that possessed by the five Hindu princes of Telengana, Maharashtra, the Tamil country, Orissa, and Carnata or Bijayanagar. It was first invaded by the Mohammedans in 1294, who stormed Deogiri, the capital of Maharashtra, and abandoned the city to pillage. In the year 1325 the Mohammedans made further progress in its conquest; and having extirpated the Hindu dynasties, annexed the provinces as far south as the Krishna to the empire of Delhi. The imperial sway was however of brief duration. Telengana and Carnata speedily reverted to their former masters; and this defection on the part of the Hindu states was followed by a general revolt, resulting in the establishment in 1347 of the independent Mohammedan dynasty of Bahmani, and the consequent withdrawal of the power of Delhi from the territory south of the Nerbuddah. In the struggles which ensued, the Hindu kingdom of Telengana fell to the Mussulmans, who at a later period formed a league against the remaining Hindu prince, and at the battle of Talikote in 1565 destroyed the monarchy of Bijayanagar or Carnata. On the dissolution of the Bahmani empire, its dominions were distributed into the five Mohammedan states of Golconda, Beejapore, Ahmednuggur, Beder, and Berar. Of these the larger succeeded in subverting those of less importance; and in 1630, during the reign of Shah Jehan of Delhi, the greater proportion of the Deccan had been absorbed by the kingdoms of Golconda, Ahmednuggur, and Beejapore. During the reign of Aurungzebe (in the latter half of the seventeenth century) all those states were reduced, and the Deccan was again annexed to the empire of Delhi. In the subsequent reigns, when the great empire of Aurungzebe fell into decay, the Nizam threw off his allegiance and fixed his court at Hyderabad. At the same time the Mahrattas, emerging from obscurity, established a powerful monarchy, which was usurped by the Peshwa. The remainder of the imperial possessions in the peninsula were held by chieftains acknowledging the supremacy of one or the other of these two potentates. In the sequel, Mysore became the prize of the Mohammedan usurper Hyder Ali. During the contests for power which ensued about the middle of the last century between the native chiefs, the French and the English took opposite sides. After a brief course of triumph, the interests of France declined, and a new empire in India was established by the British. Mysore formed one of their earliest conquests in the Deccan. Tanjore and the Carnatic were shortly after annexed to their dominions. In 1818 the forfeited possessions of the Peshwa added to their extent; and these acquisitions, with others which have more recently fallen to the paramount power by cession, conquest, or failure of heirs, form a continuous territory stretching from the Nerbuddah to Cape Comorin. Its length is upwards of 1000 miles, and its extreme breadth exceeds 800. This vast tract comprehends the chief provinces now distributed between the presidencies of Madras and Bombay, together with the native states of Hyderabad, Mysore, and those of Colapore, Sawunt Warree, Travancore, Cochin, the kingdom of Rajah Tondiman, and the petty possessions of France and Portugal.