Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition/Tanjore (1.)

TANJORE, a district of British India, in the Madras presidency, lying between 9° 50′ and 11° 25′ N. lat. and between 78° 55′ and 79° 55′ E. long., with an area of 3654 square miles. It forms a portion of the Southern Carnatic, and is bounded on the N. by the river Coleroon, which separates it from Trichinopoly and South Arcot districts, on the E. and SE. by the Bay of Bengal, on the SW. by Madura district, and on the W. by Madura and Trichinopoly and Pudukotta state. Tanjore is known as the garden of Southern India. It is well watered by an elaborate system of dams, cuts, and canals in connexion with the rivers Cauvery and Coleroon, and the soil is exceedingly productive. The delta of the Cauvery occupies the flat northern part, which is highly cultivated with rice, dotted over with groves of cocoa-nut trees, and densely populated. Tanjore is a land of temples, many of them being of very early date. The great temple of Tanjore city is said to be the finest in India; it is of the 11th century, and remains in excellent preservation to the present day. The district has a coast-line of 140 miles, but communication with shipping is unsafe, owing to a heavy surf which breaks incessantly on the shore. The rainfall, as elsewhere on the Coromandel coast, varies considerably from year to year; the mean annual fall, as observed at ten stations for four years, was 47·14 inches. Tanjore is amply provided with means of communication. It is traversed by two branches of the South Indian Railway.

The census of 1881 returned the population of the district at 2,130,383 (males 1,026,528, females 1,103,855), of whom 1,939,421 were Hindus, 112,058 Mohammedans, and 78,258 Christians. Tanjore is the first district in which Protestant missions began, and now it is second only to Tinnevelly in the number of its Christian missions. These establishments were taken over in 1826 by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, which subsequently founded missions in several parts of the district. The total number of native Protestants belonging to the various societies in 1881 was 8255. Roman Catholic missions in Tanjore date from the first half of the 17th century, and the number of native Roman Catholics in 1881 was 67,745. Five towns have populations exceeding 10,000, viz., Tanjore (see below), Negapatam 53,855, Combaconum 50,098, Mayavaram 23,044, and Munnargudi 19,409.

Of the total area of the district, reckoned at 2,392,117 acres, 1,468,500 were returned in 1884-85 as cultivated, and 149,228 as available for cultivation, while forests covered 21,422 acres. Rice is the staple crop, and is raised almost entirely by artificial irrigation; green crops are common; plantain and betel-vine gardens abound in the delta, where sugar-cane and tobacco are also cultivated. The chief manufactures are metal wares, silk cloths, carpets, and pith-work. Imports consist chiefly of cotton piece goods, twist and yarn, metals, timber, and betel nuts. Rice is by far the most important article of export alike by sea and land. The gross revenue in 1884-85 was £549,982, the land yielding £389,755.

The modern history of Tanjore commences with its occupation by the Mahrattas in 1678 under Venkají, the brother of Sivají the Great. The British first came into contact with Tanjore by their expedition in 1749 with a view to the restoration of a deposed rájá. In this they failed, and a subsequent expedition was bought off. The Mahrattas practically held Tanjore until 1799. In October of that year it was ceded to the East India Company in absolute sovereignty by Rájá Sharabhoji, pupil of the missionary Schwartz, the company engaging to pay the rájá of Tanjore one-fifth of the net revenue of the territory which was transferred to them, with a further sum of £35,000. Rájá Sharabhoji retained only the capital and a small tract of country around. He died in 1833, and was succeeded by his son Sivají, on whose death in 1855 without an heir the house became extinct, the rights and privileges appertaining to it ceased, and Tanjore became British territory.