COMBACONUM, a town of Southern India, in the district of Tanjore, 20 miles from the city of that name and 30 miles from the sea, in 10° 58' N. lat. and 79° 26' E. long. It is a large town with wide and airy streets, and is adorned with pagodas, gateways, and other buildings of considerable pretension. The great gopura, or gatepyramid, is one of the most imposing buildings of the kind,—rising in twelve stories to a height of upwards of 100 feet, and ornamented with a bewildering profusion of figures of men and animals formed in stucco. One of the water-tanks in the town is popularly reputed to be filled with water admitted from the Ganges every twelve years by a subterranean passage 1200 miles long; and it consequently forms a centre of attraction for large numbers of devotees. A considerable trade is carried ou in the town and weaving is one of its chief industries. The bazaar occupies a long and wide street, and is well supplied with provisions. The city is historically interesting as the capital of the Chola race, one of the oldest Hindu dynasties of which any traces remain, and from which the whole coast of Coromandel, or more properly Cholamundel, derives its name. Population about 40,000.