Page 228 - DLIS006_INFORMATION SOURCES AND SERVICES

Unit 11: Geographical Sources

Notes
Various states and union territories have had published about 125 reoriented district
Gazetteers and 12 of them belong to Karnataka up to the end of financial year 1973-74. In
addition to the district series, there was also the State Gazetteer, one volume for each state.
The work was coordinated by the Central Government that gave grants. There were State
and Central Gazetteer Advisory Committee consisting of official and non-official members.
In each district Gazetteer there were 19 chapters and in addition, general appendices,
illustrations, a select bibliography, comprehensive alphabetical index, addenda and
corrigenda, and maps are provided.

Broadly, the topics treated in the District series are: Physical features, flora, fauna, natural
resources, history and archaeology, the people, heir demography, languages, home life,
social life, social structure, customs and religious beliefs, agriculture, horticulture, forestry,
irrigation, animal husbandry, fisheries, old time industries and various kinds of present
day industries, labour welfare, potentialities of development, banking and finance, co-
operative movement, trade and commerce, transport and communications, miscellaneous
occupations, economic trends, general administration, revenue, law and order and justice,
Government Departments, local self-government, education, sports, art and culture,
medical and public health, other social services, public life and voluntary social services
and places of interest.
In short, nothing of interest pertaining to the district is left out, for instance, whether it is
toponomy (i.e. study of place names) history of less known ruling families like Balam or
Aigur Chiefs, Chautas, Kampili Rayas, agrarian movement, Aliya Santana system of
heritance prevalent in coastal Karnataka and how it differs from Marumakkattayam of
Kerala, the glories of Lakshmidevi temple of Doddagaddavalli, Kalleshwara temple of
Araguppe, Madanike figures of Kuravatti, Ibrrahim Roza of Bijapur, Cathedrals of
Mangalore, problems of recurrent famines in north-eastern districts, beneficial impact of
the gigantic Tungabhadra project, prospects of the Vijayanagara steel mills and Kalinadi
Hydro-electric project, food habits, types of dwellings, ornaments, local festivals, wedding
customs and ceremonies of a particular section, new Mantr-Mangalya marriages, Huttari
dance and peculiar social customs of the Kodavas, legend of the Cauvery, fascinating
sunset of the Agumbe, natural bird sanctuary of Mandagadde, sandalwood carvings, beauty
spots, pineapple cultivation and spicy mango pickles of Malnad, large sized black monkey
of Sagar forests locally called Mushy, a buffalo race and Bhoota cult of South Kanara all
such varied matters must find a place to give a whole picture of life in the territory as it
was and is lived by the people with their natural and other resources, since a precise
knowledge of the past is necessary to understand the present in the correct perspective.

The significant and stupendous all around changes and development that have been taking
place in various spheres in India since the dawn of Independence called for production of
re-oriented Gazetteers with a novel pattern to meet the new national requirements.
A reappraisal of several other features in the light of the fresh data also became imperative.
Because of the special position of the districts as a unit of administrative organization and
in social and economic life of the people, a self-contained and comprehensive volume
devoted to each one of the districts became highly desirable.
The first repatterned series after the attainment of Independence started rolling out in
1975. These new district Gazetteers are being published by the State Government in
accordance with an all-India plan at the instance of the Central Government which gave
grants for the purpose to all the state and union territories. This district Gazetteers were
part of the Gazetteer of India and are hence superscribed as the Gazetteer of India.
In order to have a broad and basic uniformity in the pattern of the new Gazetteers, the
Central Gazetteers Unit in consultation with the State Units devised a common plan of
Contd....

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