KISTNA, or Krishna, a district in the Madras Presidency, India, lying between 15° 35' and 17° 10' N. lat., and between 79° 14' and 81° 34' E. long., and bounded on the N. by Godàvari, on the E. by the Bay of Bengal, on the S. by Nellore, and on the W. by the NizArn’s Dominions and Karniil. Kistna is, speaking generally, a flat country, but the interior is broken by a few low hills, the highest being 1857 feet above sea-level. The principal rivers are the Kistna, which cuts the district into two portions known as the Masulipatam and Gantür divisions, and the Munyeru, Paleru, and Naguleru (tributaries of the Gundlakamma and the Kistna); the last only is navigable. The Kolar Lake, which covers an area of 21 by 14 miles, and the Romparu swamp are natural receptacles for the drainage on the north and south sides of the Kistna respectively. Iron and copper exist, and at one time the mines were worked; but the smelting of copper is now a thing of the past, and that of iron is also dying out. Diamond mines are still worked, to a very slight extent, in five villages belonging to the nizâm; and at other places there are traces of mines which were abandoned long ago. Garnets and small rubies are also found. There are no forests in the district. Every variety of the game birds of India, except the pheasant, woodcock, and hill partridge, abounds. The most deadly of poisonous snakes, the Russell viper, is common about Masulipatam. The cobra, carpet snake, and one kind of bangaras [Arcuatus) are also met with....
The census of 1871 returned the population of Kistna district at 1,452,374 (1,373,089 Hindus, 78,937 Mohammedans, 90 Europeans, 218 Eurasians, and 36 “others ”). As a whole the people are poor, except in the fertile Godavari delta. The cultivated area, exclusive x>f zamindari estates, in 1875-76, was returned at 1,907,213 acres, cultivable but not under tillage 981,377 acres, and waste 1,215,853 acres. The principal agricultural products are rice, maize, rdgi, pulses, hemp, flax, cotton, tobacco, gingelly, oil-seeds, chilies, wheat, garlic, indigo. The delta is irrigated by the Kistna river, which in 1875 watered 218,029 acres. A considerable trade is earned on in dressed hides at Bezwara. The inland villages carry on weaving from native hand-made cotton or silk thread. The chief exports are cotton and indigo. The total revenue in 1870-71 amounted to £548,469, of which £359,172 was derived from the land. The number of cultivators’ holdings in 1871 was 137,880, owned by 169,036 proprietors or coparceners.
The early history of Kistna is inseparable from that of the northern Circars and Godavari district. DharanikotA and the adjacent town of AmarAvati were the seats of early Hindu and Buddhist Governments; and the more modern RAjAmahendri (Rajahmundry) owed its importance to later dynasties. The Chalukyas here gave place to the Ganapatis, who in turn were ousted by the Reddi chiefs, who flourished during the 14th century, and built the forts of Bellamkonda, Kondavir, and Kondapalli. On the death of one of these, at the commencement of the 15th century, Deva Rayalu, of the Vijayanagar dynasty, seized the country and held it until Mohammed II. (1463-86), a Moslem king of the Bahmani line, wrested this portion of his kingdom from him. The power of the Bahmani dynasty failed towards the end of the 15th century. Kuli Kutab Shah became king of Golconda about 1512 A.n., and his kingdom included the whole of what is now the Masulipatam portion of Kistna district. On the other side of the Kistna, Narasinha Deva RAyalu ruled at this time. His territory, which included Gantür, was annexed to Golconda by Kutab Shah’s great-grandson, about 1600. This line of kings ended with Tanisha, who was dethroned by Aurangzeb in 1687. Meantime the English had, in 1622, established a small factory at Masulipatam, where they traded with varying fortune till 1750, when the French took possession of it From 1759, when it was recaptured by Colonel Forde, with a force sent by Lord Clive from Calcutta, the power of the English in the greater part of the district was complete. In 1765 the entire administration was assumed by the Company; but the absolute right of sovereignty was not obtained until 1823.
KISTNA, or Krishna, a large river of southern India, stretching almost across the entire peninsula from west to east. It rises near the Bombay sanatarium of Mahâbaleshwar in the Western Ghats, only about 40 miles from the Arabian Sea. Its source is held sacred, and is frequented by pilgrims in large numbers. From Mahâbaleshwar the Kistna runs southwards in a rapid course into the Nizâm’s Dominions, then turns to the east, and ultimately falls into the sea by two principal mouths. Along this part of the coast runs an extensive strip of land, which has been entirely formed by the detritus washed down by the Kistna and Godâvari. The river channel is throughout too rocky and the stream too rapid to allow even of small native craft In utility for irrigation the Kistna is also inferior to its two sister streams, the Godàvari and Kàveri (Cauvery). By far the greatest of its irrigation works is the Bezwâra anicut, commenced in 1852. Bezwàra is a small town at the entrance of the gorge by which the Kistna bursts through the Eastern Ghâts, and immediately spreads over the alluvial plain. The channel there is 1300 yards wide. During the dry season the depth of water is barely 6 feet, but sometimes it rises to as much as 36 feet, the maximum flood discharge being calculated at 1,188,000 cubic feet per second. Of the two main canals connected with the dam, that on the left bank breaks into two branches, the one running 39 miles to Ellore, the other 49 miles to Masulipatam. The canal on the right bank proceeds nearly parallel to the river, and also sends off two principal branches, to Nizâmpatam and Comamur. The total length of the main channel is 254 miles, and the total irrigated area 226,000 acres, yielding a revenue of £89,000.
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