CUDDALOR, or Gudalur, a municipal town of British India, in the Madras Presidency and the district of South Arcot, situated on the western shore of the Bay of Bengal at the estuary of the River Panar, 102 miles S.S.W. from Madras, and 15 S.S.W. from Pondicherry. It ∏es low, but is regarded as exceptionally healthy, and serves as a kind of sanatorium for the surrounding district. The principal trade is the export of cotton; but some attention is also given to the fisheries and the manufacture of paper, sugar, and salt. In the neighbourhood are the ruins of the fort of St David. The English East India Company obtained a grant of the town from the rajah of Gingee in 1681; and their factory was, in consequence of the increasing trade, wholly rebuilt and fortified in 1702. The town was taken by the French in 1758; but two years later it was recaptured by Sir Eyre Coote. In 1782, after the destruction of Colonel Braithwaite’s detachment by Tippoo, it was forced to surrender to the combined forces of the French and Hyder Ali, when the works were greatly strengthened, and a strong garrison sent to defend them. In 1783 it was besieged by the British, who were repulsed, with the loss of 942 killed and wounded, in a desperate attempt to storm the works. It finally passed into British possession by the treaty of 1795. Population in 1871, 40,290.