Telugu Historyతెలుగు చరిత్ర

Nellore (old district)

The old Nellore district lay on the coast of undivided Andhra Pradesh, between the Bay of Bengal and the Velikonda hills, with the Penner flowing through it. Cholas, Telugu Chodas, Kakatiyas, Vijayanagara and Golconda held it before the Nawabs of Arcot. It came under British rule in 1801. Ongole left the district in 1904, and four taluks went to Prakasam in 1970. The district was known for rice, mica, Nellore cattle and Venkatagiri saris. In 2022 its boundaries were redrawn as Sri Potti Sriramulu Nellore district, while part of its territory joined Tirupati district.

The old Nellore district lay on the coast of southern Andhra, between the Bay of Bengal and the Velikonda hills.12 The Penner river runs through it, and the town of Nellore stands on its bank.3 The district came under British rule in 1801.45 In 2022 Andhra Pradesh divided its territory between two districts.45

Early history and kingdoms

The 1961 census handbook says Nellore was part of Ashoka’s empire in the third century BC.6 It says the Pallavas held it next, and the Pallavas and Chalukyas fought over it in the seventh century.6 Roman coins of the time of the emperors Trajan and Hadrian have been found in the district.4

Tamil inscriptions show that the Cholas held Nellore until their decline in the thirteenth century.7 About the middle of that century it passed to the Pandyas of Madurai.7 After that the Telugu Choda chiefs ruled it as vassals of the Kakatiyas.7 The 1961 handbook says the Kakatiyas held it until 1323.8

Vijayanagara and the Reddis

From its beginning, the empire of Vijayanagara included Nellore, and Udayagiri became the seat of a province.8 Only princes of the royal family or trusted generals were sent to rule it.8 In 1386 Harihara II built the Siddheswara temple and a holy tank at Udayagiri.8

The 1961 handbook quotes a fifteenth-century Telugu poem that says the earliest Reddi chiefs rose in villages of the Nellore country.89 The same handbook says the Velugoti family of Venkatagiri served the Kakatiya king Ganapati.9

In the fifteenth century the Gajapati king Kapilesvara of Odisha pushed into the district.9 Udayagiri became a seat of his governors.9 In 1512 Krishnadeva Raya captured the hill fort of Udayagiri and set a governor over the district.7

Golconda, the Nawabs and the English

In 1625 the East India Company’s men, led by Day, set up a trading post at Dugarajupatnam.7 They called it Armagon, after Arumuga Mudaliyar, a local headman who helped them.7 The 1961 handbook calls it the Company’s first fortified possession in India.10 Armagon was later given up for the new settlement at Madras.7

The 1961 handbook says the Golconda Sultans ruled the district from 1640 to 1687, when the Mughals overthrew them.11 After that it became part of the Nawab of Arcot’s province.11 In 1753 the Nawab’s brother Najib-ullah was governor of Nellore.7

Najib-ullah rebelled in 1757 and held off an English and Nawab force.7 He later joined the French.7 In 1759 he turned against them and killed all but one of the Frenchmen who were with him.7 In February 1762 an army under Colonel Caillaud took the Nellore fort and gave the district back to the Nawab.4

The British district

In 1781 the Nawab gave the revenues of the Carnatic to the Company, and Nellore came under direct British management for the first time.4 In July 1790 Dighton took charge as its first Collector, for a short period.1213 In 1801 the Nawab ceded the Carnatic, with Nellore, to the Company in full sovereignty.4

Travers, the first Collector after 1801, at once brought in the ryotwari system (a direct revenue settlement with each farmer).14 The Venkatagiri estate and Kanigiri taluk were added later.1214 The district took its final shape in 1863, when Sriharikota island was added.14 In 1838 the government took over the Udayagiri jagir (land grant) because its holder joined a plot of the Nawab of Kurnool.13

In 1904 the Ongole taluk went to the new Guntur district.1516 In 1938 the district had 13 taluks in four revenue divisions.17 Four zamindaris (large estates), led by Venkatagiri, covered nearly half of it.17

1953–2014

Potti Sriramulu, whose ancestral village was Padamatipalle in Nellore district, worked for Harijans and khadi from Nellore.1819 On 19 October 1952 he began a fast for an Andhra State in Madras.19 He died on 15 December 1952, after 58 days.19

In 1953 Nellore was one of the eleven districts of the new Andhra State.20 In 1970 part of it went to the new Prakasam district.21 The 2001 handbook names the Kanigiri, Kandukur, Podili and Darsi taluks.2 The census of 1981 counted Nellore among the 23 districts of Andhra Pradesh.22

In 1985 the 15 taluks of the district were reorganised into 46 mandals.2 The mandals were grouped into three revenue divisions: Kavali, Nellore and Gudur.2 The 2001 handbook says a campaign by the women of Dubagunta village led to liquor being banned across the State from 2 October 1993.2 After the division of 2014 it stayed in Andhra Pradesh.23

Division, 2022

On 4 April 2022 its territory was divided between two districts:5

Administration

In 1901 the district had nine government taluks and four zamindari tahsils.2425 The zamindaris covered 3,700 square miles, and Venkatagiri was the largest.25 Nellore town was the headquarters.3

In 1961 the district had 13 taluks in four revenue divisions: Nellore, Gudur, Kandukur and Kavali.26 In 2001 it had 46 mandals in three revenue divisions.2

Land, farming and water

In 1903–04 rice and cholam were the main food crops.27 Rice grew mostly in Gudur and Nellore taluks.28 Only about 11 per cent of the cultivated land was irrigated, half from canals and half from tanks.29 The only large area protected from drought was the land served by the Penner canals.29 Dams at Nellore and Sangam supplied these canals.29 The Nellore breed of heavy cattle was famous across the Presidency, and Ongole and Kandukur were its main breeding centres.28

By 2001 the district irrigated 3,19,049 hectares.30 The Penner delta system watered 1,19,300 hectares of this, and rain-fed tanks most of the rest.30 Canals and tanks each watered about a third of the land.31 The 2001 handbook says the district was famous for rice, mica and saris.32

Crafts and industries

Mica mining began about sixty or seventy years before 1908.33 The largest mica crystals in India came from a mine at Inukurti.34 There were 60 mines in 1904, and most of the mica went to London.33 Nellore town was once famous for its cotton cloth, and blue palampores (printed bedcovers) went to the West Indies.33

In 1961 the district had a ceramic factory and a glass factory at Gudur and a straw-board factory at Nellore.35 It was then the third-largest mica producer in India, after Bihar and Rajasthan.35 In 2001 it was still the State’s only mica producer, and Venkatagiri saris were in demand all over India.36

People

The 2001 census handbook lists the district’s population within its 2001 boundaries, from 1901 onward.37 The 2011 figure is from the 2011 handbook.38

Census yearPopulation
19018,84,751
195112,26,155
196114,08,891
198120,14,879
200126,68,564
201129,63,557

The Yanadis, a forest people, lived mainly in the south of the district.2439 In 1901 two-thirds of all the Yanadis in the Presidency lived in Nellore.24

Where the sources disagree

The sources give different years for the end of Armagon:710

  • The 1908 gazetteer says Armagon was given up in 1639 for Fort St. George.7
  • The 1961 census handbook says it was not finally given up until 1641.10

For an overview of district changes, see How the map changed.

Footnotes

  1. Imperial Gazetteer: Madras, Vol. I (1908), p. 340 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  2. Director of Census Operations, Andhra Pradesh, Census of India 2001, Andhra Pradesh: District Census Handbook, Sri Potti Sriramulu Nellore District (2006), p. 8 (PDF p. 46) (censusindia.gov.in (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  3. Imperial Gazetteer: Madras, Vol. I (1908), p. 341 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  4. Imperial Gazetteer: Madras, Vol. I (1908), p. 345 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  5. Government of Andhra Pradesh, Revenue (Lands-IV) Department, G.O.Ms. No. 190 (Sri Potti Sriramulu Nellore; Gazette No. 489) and No. 198 (Tirupati; Gazette No. 497), 2 April 2022, final notifications printed in the Andhra Pradesh Gazette, Part I Extraordinary, 3 April 2022: notification PDF p. 1, Schedule-I PDF p. 2 (archive.org copies: 190 (opens in a new tab), 198 (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  6. A. Chandra Sekhar, Census of India 1961, Andhra Pradesh: District Census Handbook, Nellore District (1967), p. xi (PDF p. 27) (censusindia.gov.in (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩2

  7. Imperial Gazetteer: Madras, Vol. I (1908), p. 344 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11 ↩12 ↩13

  8. A. Chandra Sekhar, Census of India 1961, Andhra Pradesh: District Census Handbook, Nellore District (1967), p. xii (PDF p. 28) (censusindia.gov.in (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  9. A. Chandra Sekhar, Census of India 1961, Andhra Pradesh: District Census Handbook, Nellore District (1967), p. xiii (PDF p. 29) (censusindia.gov.in (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  10. A. Chandra Sekhar, Census of India 1961, Andhra Pradesh: District Census Handbook, Nellore District (1967), p. xiv (PDF p. 30) (censusindia.gov.in (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  11. A. Chandra Sekhar, Census of India 1961, Andhra Pradesh: District Census Handbook, Nellore District (1967), p. xv (PDF p. 31) (censusindia.gov.in (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩2

  12. Imperial Gazetteer: Madras, Vol. I (1908), p. 355 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  13. A. Chandra Sekhar, Census of India 1961, Andhra Pradesh: District Census Handbook, Nellore District (1967), p. xix (PDF p. 35) (censusindia.gov.in (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩2

  14. Imperial Gazetteer: Madras, Vol. I (1908), p. 356 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  15. Hemingway, Godavari (1907), p. 178 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  16. Imperial Gazetteer: Madras, Vol. I (1908), p. 328, s.v. Guntur District (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  17. W. E. Johns, Gazetteer of the Nellore District, brought up to 1938, Vol. A (1942), p. 2 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  18. A. Chandra Sekhar, Census of India 1961, Andhra Pradesh: District Census Handbook, Nellore District (1967), p. xxi (PDF p. 37) (censusindia.gov.in (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩

  19. A. Chandra Sekhar, Census of India 1961, Andhra Pradesh: District Census Handbook, Nellore District (1967), p. xxii (PDF p. 38) (censusindia.gov.in (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  20. “Prime Minister’s Statement on Andhra”, 25 March 1953, printed in Madras Legislative Assembly Debates, 2 April 1953, appendix, pp. 823–825 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)); The History of the Andhra Pradesh Police (1861–1961) (1961), pp. 249–250 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  21. Purnachandra Rao, Portrait of Population (1981), p. 16 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  22. Ch. Purnachandra Rao, Census of India 1981, Andhra Pradesh: Portrait of Population (1981), p. 13 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  23. The Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014 (Act No. 6 of 2014), ss. 2–4, pp. 1–2 (Gazette copy (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  24. Imperial Gazetteer: Madras, Vol. I (1908), p. 346 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  25. Imperial Gazetteer: Madras, Vol. I (1908), p. 354 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  26. A. Chandra Sekhar, Census of India 1961, Andhra Pradesh: District Census Handbook, Nellore District (1967), p. i (PDF p. 17) (censusindia.gov.in (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩

  27. Imperial Gazetteer: Madras, Vol. I (1908), p. 348 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  28. Imperial Gazetteer: Madras, Vol. I (1908), p. 349 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  29. Imperial Gazetteer: Madras, Vol. I (1908), p. 350 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  30. Director of Census Operations, Andhra Pradesh, Census of India 2001, Andhra Pradesh: District Census Handbook, Sri Potti Sriramulu Nellore District (2006), p. 10 (PDF p. 48) (censusindia.gov.in (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩2

  31. Director of Census Operations, Andhra Pradesh, Census of India 2001, Andhra Pradesh: District Census Handbook, Sri Potti Sriramulu Nellore District (2006), p. 11 (PDF p. 49) (censusindia.gov.in (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩

  32. Director of Census Operations, Andhra Pradesh, Census of India 2001, Andhra Pradesh: District Census Handbook, Sri Potti Sriramulu Nellore District (2006), p. xix (PDF p. 11) (censusindia.gov.in (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩

  33. Imperial Gazetteer: Madras, Vol. I (1908), p. 352 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  34. Imperial Gazetteer: Madras, Vol. I (1908), p. 342 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  35. A. Chandra Sekhar, Census of India 1961, Andhra Pradesh: District Census Handbook, Nellore District (1967), p. v (PDF p. 21) (censusindia.gov.in (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩2

  36. Director of Census Operations, Andhra Pradesh, Census of India 2001, Andhra Pradesh: District Census Handbook, Sri Potti Sriramulu Nellore District (2006), p. 23 (PDF p. 61) (censusindia.gov.in (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩

  37. Director of Census Operations, Andhra Pradesh, Census of India 2001, Andhra Pradesh: District Census Handbook, Sri Potti Sriramulu Nellore District (2006), p. xxxi (PDF p. 23) (censusindia.gov.in (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩

  38. Directorate of Census Operations, Andhra Pradesh, Census of India 2011, Andhra Pradesh (Series 29): District Census Handbook, Sri Potti Sriramulu Nellore District, Part XII-A (Village and Town Directory) (2014), p. 17 (PDF p. 35) (censusindia.gov.in (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩

  39. Imperial Gazetteer: Madras, Vol. I (1908), p. 347 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

Places in this district (6)

Inscriptions found in this district (4)

References

Sources (11)
  1. Ch. Purnachandra Rao (Census of India 1981), Census of India 1981, Andhra Pradesh: Portrait of Population (opens in a new tab), Registrar General and Census Commissioner, India, 1981, pp. 13; 16. Cite-only; paraphrased. [All rights reserved (cited, not reproduced)]
  2. Government of Andhra Pradesh, Revenue (Lands-IV) Department, Restructuring / formation of districts: final notifications, G.O.Ms. Nos. 173 to 198 (2 April 2022) (opens in a new tab), Andhra Pradesh Gazette, Part I Extraordinary, Nos. 472 to 497 (3 April 2022), 2022, PDF pp. 1–2 of each notification. Cite-only; paraphrased. [All rights reserved (cited, not reproduced)]
  3. F. R. Hemingway, Madras District Gazetteers: Godavari, Vol. I (opens in a new tab), Government Press, Madras, 1907, pp. 178. [Public domain]
  4. Government of India, Imperial Gazetteer of India, Provincial Series: Madras, Vol. I (opens in a new tab), Superintendent of Government Printing, Calcutta, 1908, pp. 328; 340–356. [Public domain]
  5. W. E. Johns, Gazetteer of the Nellore District, brought up to 1938, Vol. A (opens in a new tab), Government Press, Madras, 1942, pp. 2. [Public domain in India]
  6. A. Chandra Sekhar (Census of India), Census of India 1961, Andhra Pradesh: District Census Handbook, Nellore District (opens in a new tab), Census of India, 1967, i, v, xi–xv, xix, xxi–xxii. Cite-only; paraphrased. [All rights reserved (cited, not reproduced)]
  7. Director of Census Operations, Andhra Pradesh, Census of India 2001, Andhra Pradesh: District Census Handbook, Sri Potti Sriramulu Nellore District (Parts A and B) (opens in a new tab), Census of India, 2006, xix, xxxi, 8, 10–11, 23. Cite-only; paraphrased. [All rights reserved (cited, not reproduced)]
  8. Directorate of Census Operations, Andhra Pradesh, Census of India 2011, Andhra Pradesh (Series 29): District Census Handbook, Sri Potti Sriramulu Nellore District, Part XII-A (Village and Town Directory) (opens in a new tab), Census of India, 2014, pp. 17. Cite-only; paraphrased. [All rights reserved (cited, not reproduced)]
  9. Madras Legislative Assembly, Prime Minister's Statement on the Establishment of Andhra State (Assembly debates, 2 April 1953) (opens in a new tab), Madras Legislative Assembly, 1953, pp. 823–825. [Public domain in India]
  10. Inspector-General of Police, Andhra Pradesh, The History of the Andhra Pradesh Police (1861-1961) (opens in a new tab), Government of Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad, 1961, pp. 249–250. [Public domain in India]
  11. Parliament of India, The Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014 (Act No. 6 of 2014) (opens in a new tab), Gazette of India, Extraordinary, Part II, Section 1 (1 March 2014), 2014, pp. 1–2 (ss. 2–4). [Public domain (Indian enactment; Copyright Act 1957, s. 52(1)(q))]

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