CIRCARS, Northern, an extensive province of Hindustan, lying on the western side of the Bay of Bengal. It is a narrow slip of territory, extending from 15° 2' to the 20th degree of north lat., but is little more than one degree in breadth. The sea bounds it on the east 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 fifty to seventy 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 north of that river by a great ridge of mountains, impassable, where they have hitherto been explored, for horse or wheel-carriage, and which are continued to the northern, extremity of the Circars at Goomsur. From this last place the same unbroken chain curves to the eastward, and, together with the Chilca Lake, forms an almost impenetrable barrier, fifty miles in extent, to the north on the side of Cuttack, with the exception of a tongue of land between Lake Chilca and the sea. Towards the south the small river Gonde-zama, [7:6:702]which empties itself at Mootapilly, separates this territory from the districts of Ongole, and forms the most definite modern frontier of the Carnatic below the Ghauts.

The area of the Circars is 17,000 square miles, of which it is estimated that only one fifth is in cultivation or fallow, twice that portion in pasture, and the remainder is occupied by woods, water, towns, barren hills, or a sandy waste three miles in breadth, which borders the whole extent of the coast. The country for about thirty-five miles inland is a level plain, with only two remarkable interruptions in its greatest length along the shore. Beyond this about fifteen 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. This region is poor, unhealthy, and thinly inhabited.

The grand divisions of this province are properly five; being so many portions of its length, principally marked by rivers running across from the hills on the west to the sea. Of these divisions the first is Guntoor or Mortizabad, the most southerly province, 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, Condapilly or Mustaphabad. Ellore is the third division; and these two divisions are adjacent to each other, as well as to the Guntoor Circar, and occupy the whole space lying between the Kistnah and Godavery. The fourth division, namely, Rajcmundry, towards the south is separated from Ellore in its greatest breadth by the Godavery. The fifth division is Cicacole, the most northerly of the whole.

The climate of the Northern Circars, though it has a general resemblance to that of Hindustan north of the Kistnah, is still distinguished by local peculiarities arising from its maritime situation, and the extent and position of the inland hills. The periodical rain usually sets in about the middle of June with a westerly wind, and continues in moderate showers until the latter end of August, which is the period of the small grain harvest. The rain continues in greater abundance from this period until the beginning 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 bajarry, 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 peas. 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 remarkably 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; and it seldom produces more than oen croþ annually, which, as there is an abundant supply of water, is extremely rich. The country is well watered by running streams, many of which are divided artificially into canals, and being conducted into tanks and reservoirs, are thus rendered subservient to cultivation. The province accordingly abounds in all the different sorts of grain which have been already mentioned; it is properly the granary of the Carnatic during the north-east 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 and cotton are also scantily produced in Rajemundry and Jehapoor. Tobacco and bay salt, of superior quality, have lately been produced in such abundance as greatly to exceed the home demand. The forests of Rajemundry, 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 advantage to commerce. The cocoa and the palmyra, or, in the more northerly provinces, the tree which produces thegum-arabic, are the materials from which are constructed about 500 of those unwieldy vessels with two masts, called doo-nies, 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 pomphlet, a small fish resembling a turbot.

Cotton is the staple produce, from which are fabricated cloths of different degrees of fineness. Plain cloth, which is valuable in foreign markets, is chiefly wrought in the island of Nagar and its vicinity; it forms the groundwork of the best printed calicoes in Europe, and of those beautifully painted ones called palampores in the districts of Masulipatam. The coarser plain cloths, which are made to the north and south of the Godavery, or coloured with chay root, which is the madder of the East, and which grows in most perfection in the pure sands annually overflowed by the Krishna, are in great demand, both abroad and at home. Muslins are, besides, manufactured at Cicacole, beautiful woollen carpets 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.

This province trades with Europe, with the neighbouring Indian ports, and with the inland provinces of the Deccan. The European nations who have establishments on the coast export the fine cotton manufactures, which are also purchased by foreign adventurers. In return for these manufactures, and for salt, which they export, treasure is frequently brought from Madras, the principal part of the Madras investment of piece-goods being provided in the Northern Circars. The coasting trade consists chiefly in the exportation of various sorts of grain to Madras, in return for which are received the coarser sorts of cloths; European and China goods for the use of officers and others employed in that quarter, namely, wines of various sorts, ale, brandy, glass-ware, stationery, tea, copper, steel, hardware, &c.; also various goods received from the East, such as betel-nut to a great amount, alum, cloves, benjamin, pepper, tin, dammer, borax, and a quantity of arrack. The articles carried to the interior by the [7:6:703]native traders are salt, piece-goods of native manufacture, copper, and raw silk, the latter chiefly from Bengal, in return for which are received cotton and wheat.

The native inhabitants of the Northern Circars, with the exception of some thousand Mahommedans dispersed throughout the principal towns, and in the army, are wholly Hindus, and may, on a moderate computation, be estimated at two and a half millions. They are composed of the two nations of Telinga, and Oria, Woria, or Orissa, formerly divided from each other by the Godavery, but, since their union under the same government, a good deal mixed among themselves, 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 Oria, 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 Mahommedans from the plains to the highland woods. The Rowars, or Worians, being petty chieftains of the military tribe, were enabled, after the Mahommedan conquest, to acquire an independent jurisdiction in the mountainous tract to the west of Cicacole. The Velmas are of Telinga origin; and being driven from the Carnatic in the year 1662 by the Mahommedans, established themselves on the borders of the Krishna. The remainder are husbandmen, cow-herds, weavers, artificers, all of the Sudra or last great caste. The retail dealers form a third class.

It was not till the year 1471 that the Mahommedans extended 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 but 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 Golcondah. In 1687 these provinces, with the empire of Hyderabad, were added to the extensive empire of Aurungzebe. But this monarch was too busily employed in conquering the larger provinces of the Deccan, and curbing the Mahratta power, to regulate his conquest with due care. In 1724 the issue of a great battle transferred in fact, though not in form, these provinces from the house of Timour to that of Nizam ul Moolk, who 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, in return for their services granted them the district of Condavir or Guntoor, and soon afterwards the other Circars. In 1759, by the conquest of the fortress of Masulipatam, that great commanding bulwark, the dominion of the maritime provinces on either side, from the river Gondegama 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, namely, the Cicacole, Rajamundry, Ellore, and Condapilly, which in the following year was confirmed by a treaty entered into with the Nizam, who had by this time superseded Salabut Jung in ,his authority. The remaining Circar of Guntoor devolved to the East India Company in 1788.

The local government of the Northern Circars, which was continued under the management of the natives, was superseded in 1769 by the appointment of chiefs and councils; and this mode of government continued until 1794. At the same time the power of the Zemindars was broken, and a more efficient mode of collecting the revenue has since been adopted. In 1802 and 1804 a permanent settlement of the territorial revenue was introduced, when the province was divided into five collectorships or districts, namely, Ganjam, Vizagapatam, Rajamundry, Masulipatam, and Guntoor. (See Appendix to the Fifth Report of the Select Committee on the Affairs of the East India Company ; J. Grant’s Political Survey of the Northern Circars ; C. N. White’s Minute ; Rennell’s Memoir of a Map of Hindustan ; Letter of Sir Thomas Munro, Bart. &c.)