H iver Pe*înar.
<Ga « d i c q t t a .
C uD A P A H .
N elore.
P e n u c o n d a .
fhadowed with a gloom and obfcurity, refembling the darkeft
December day in England; a curious circumftance to occur
under a vertical fun at mid-day, and within ten degrees o f the
line*.
T h e firft confiderable river to the north o f Madras is the
Pennar, which difcharges itfelf into the fea by two mouths, in
about Lat. 14° 30'. It rifes nearly in midway between the two
feas, near Chinna Balabaran, or about twenty-five miles north of
Bangalore. It has a northern courfe as high as Lat. 15°, from
whence it runs eafterly till it reaches the fea. It is a confiderable
river, being three hundred yards wide feventy miles from
the fea, confined by mountains on each fide. On the fouthern
part Hands the ftrong fortrefs o f Gandicotta, on the fummit of
a lofty mountain, with a great precipice on one fide, and accef-
fible only by a road from twenty-five to feven or eight feet
broad. At the bottom is the vaft river. A fmall plain on the
top fown with rice and millet, and watered by many fprings, for
centuries puts all attempts to reduce it to defiance. But about
the year 1652, it was taken by the celebrated General Emir
Jumla, then in the fervice of the king of Golconda : Tavernier
fays by force; Thevenot informs us that it was effe£ted by corrupting
the governor.
Cudapab Hands on a river which runs into the fouthern fide
o f the Pennar, a Pitan nabobihip; and not far from its discharge
is Nelore, a fort and capital of a fmall country mentioned
in the wars of 1753.— I muft return almoft to the fource of this
river to mention Penuconda, a large city, with a caftle, eight
* Cvmmunications, &c. &c. publifhed by Doctor James Anderfon, Madras, 1795, p. 14.
days
days journey from Bifnagur, to which the king of Bifnagur
retired after the capture of his capital in 1565.
F r o m Gangapatam, on the northern mouth of the Pennar,
the land runs due north as far as Motapilli, when it forms a
ftrong curve towards the eaft ; the point o f which is one fide of
the chief mouth of the great river Ki/hna or Krijhna, in about
Lat. 15* 43'. Its Delta, which winds round as far as Mafulipa-
tam, is not confiderable. This river annually overflows a vaft
trait o f country, like the Indus on the weftern fide of this empire,
and like all the other great rivers on this extenfive coaft.
The Kijhna rifes from the foot o f the weftern Ghauts, and not
more than forty-five miles from Severndroog, on the weftern
coaft. There is another branch to the eaft, that rifes ftill more
northerly. On the fide is Sat tar ah, a ftrong fortrefs, the capital
of the Mahratta ftate, in the time of the Rajahs o f Sevatjee’a-
race : it was taken by him in 1673, and found to be the depo-
fitory of immenfe. treafure; at that time it belonged to the
king o f Vifiapore: it was afterwards ufed by the Mahrattas as
the lodgment of their riches,, and alfo as a retreat for the more
defencelefi inhabitants o f Poonah, and other open towns, in time
of potent invafions.
T h e river continues defcencfing to the eaft. In Lat. 17% is
Meritche, a ftrong fortrefs, with a Jaghiredar territory,, conquered
from its owner by Ayder. In Lat. 16*45’, a fmall river
difcharges itfelf into the Kijhna from the north. It would not
be worth mentioning, but that Pannela, a fortrefs o f vaft
ftrength, was made by Sambagi, the profligate fon of Sevatjee,.
his refidence juft before his furprifal in 16S9, betrayed by
Cab/is.
R iver K rishna^
Sattar a isv
M erltche,