SHOLAPUR, a British district of India, in the Deccan division of the Bombay presidency, with an area of 4521 square miles, lying between 17° 13' and 18° 35' N. lat. and 74° 39' and 76° 11' E. long. It is bounded on the N. by Ahmadnagar district, on the E. by the nizam’s territory and Akalkot state, on the S. by Kaladgi district and some of the Patvardhan states, and on the W. by Sátára and Poona districts and the states of Phaltan and Panth Pratinidhi. Except in Karmala and Barsi subdivisions, situated in the north and east, where there is a good deal of hilly ground, the district is generally flat or undulating; but it is very bare of vegetation, and presents everywhere a bleak treeless appearance. The chief rivers are the Bhima and its tributaries—the Μάη, the Nira, and the Sina—all flowing towards the south-east. Besides these there are several smaller streams. Lying in a tract of uncertain rainfall, Sholapur is peculiarly liable to seasons of scarcity; much, however, has been done by the opening of canals and ponds, such as the Ekrúk and Ashti tanks, to secure a better water-supply. The Great Indian Peninsular Railway enters the district at Pomalvádi in the northwest corner and crosses it in a south-easterly direction, a distance of nearly 150 miles. Sholapur has recently been connected with a branch of the Southern Mahratta Railway....
The population of Sholapur district in 1881 was 582,487 (294,814 males and 287,673 females). Hindus numbered 530,121, Mohammedans 43,967, and Christians 625. There are three towns with populations exceeding 10,000 each, viz., Sholapur (q.v.), Pandharpur (16,910), Barsi (16,126). In 1883-84 there were 1,763,340 acres under cultivation, of which 22,282 were twice cropped, besides 325,987 acres of fallow or grass land. Joár, which forms the staple food of the people, occupied 923,706 acres, bajri 298,239, wheat 55,504, rice 25,027, pulses 185,528, and oil-seeds 147,914 acres. The produce of the district finds an easy outlet by the railway to
Poona and Bombay. The chief exports are cotton, which comes from the nizam’s dominions, oil, oil-seeds, ghi, turmeric, and cotton cloth; imports include salt, piece-goods, yarn, gunney bags, and iron ware. The chief industries are spinning, weaving, and dyeing. The silks and finer sorts of cotton cloth prepared in Sholapur bear a good name; blankets are also woven in large numbers. The gross revenue of the district in 1883-84 amounted to £129,429, of which the land-tax yielded £98,963.
Sholapur district passed from the Bahmani to the Bijápur kings and from them to the Maráthás. In 1818, on the fall of the Peshwa, it was ceded to the British, when it formed part of the Poona collectorate, but in 1838 it was made a separate collectorate. Since then its progress has been rapid.
SHOLAPUR, chief town and administrative headquarters of the above district, is situated in 17° 40' 18" N. lat. and 75° 56' 38" E. long., on the plain of the Sina. Its convenient situation between Poona and Haidarábád (Hyderabad), with a station on the Great Indian Peninsular Railway, has made it the centre for the collection and distribution of goods over a large extent of country. The town contained in 1881 a population of 59,890 (males 30,410, females 29,480).
[503 words — estimated reading time: 3 minutes]