| Voice of Dharmapuri
District : Shankar

Female foeticide.
The sex ratio of women has fallen down drastically. This issue needs
urgent attention.
People migrate to our district in search of jobs. Migration has
become a major issue of our district.
The chronic disease of HIV is highly prevalent.
Dharmapuri District
Area, Population & Sex Ratio
Geographical Area : 9622.0 Km2
Population in Dharmapuri (Census 2011)
Total Population
Total : 1502900
Male : 772490
Female : 730410
Disabled population
Total disabled population : 81448
In seeing : 55063
In speech : 5381
In hearing : 2467
In movement : 14456
Mental : 4081
Rank ( VoiceOfBharat.org Analysis
)
Backwardness : 358
Disability : 34 (Census 2001)
Minority : Does not figure in MCD
Literacy Ratio : 349 (Census 2001)
Sex Ratio Rank : 286
(Rank one is least sex ratio - Cenus 2001)
HIV Category District : A (HIV Sentinel Surveillance 2004 - 2006)
Water : Flouride in Groundwater above permissible limits

Brief About Dharmapuri District
History
The earliest known chieftain who ruled Tagadur (present Dharmapuri)
during the Sangam era, is Adigaman Naduman Anji, whose patronage
sustained the famous poetess Avvaiyar. The next we hear in the 8th
century when the northern parts of Salem District were probably
under the Pallavas regime. Subsequently, we hear of the Ganga Pallavas
having sway over the Western parts of the Salem District. The Western
Gangas are also mentioned as having ruled Baramahal during the end
of the 8th century. In the beginning of the 9th Century, the Rashtrakutas
gained power and influenced the history of the district for the
next two centuries. During the period, the Cholas also rose to power
in the south and Aditya-I conquered the Kongunadu in 894 A.D. During
949-950 A.D., the Cholas suffered a defeat from the Rastrakuttas
whose decline started later after the death of their king Krishna-III.
Subsequently, the entire area in Salem District came under the rule
of the Cholas. The Gangavadi was then annexed to the Chola territory
and placed in charge of an Adigaman Tagadur. The 12th century witnessed
the decline of the Chola empire when the Hoysalas rose to power
and routed the Cholas from Gangavadi. They are said to have captured
Kolar, sacked Kotayur and over ran the western parts of Kongunadu.
The Baramahal and Talaget areas apparently still remained with the
Cholas. But the Adigaman seems to have practically become free and
owed only nominal allegiance to the Cholas. Soundrapandia-I assisted
the Yadavas in driving out the Hoysala king, Vira Someswara from
the Chola territory.The history of the 13th Century revolve itself
between the Hoysalas and the Pandyas. This portion may be added
after when they were attacked from the North by the Yadavas, the
Hoysalas retreated towards the South in Kongunadu. It is known that
Jatavarman Soundrapandian-I assisted the Yadavas in driving out
the Hoysalas king, Vira Someswara, from the Chola territory. But
it is doubtful whether he made himself master of the Talaghat area
as there are records to show that Vira Someswara's son Vira Ramanatha
later ruled the whole of Salem District and the Pandiyas were then
eclipsed by the Mohammadan emissaries of the Delhi Sultanate.The
rise of Vijayanagar kingdom was seen in the 14th century. In 1365-66
A.D., Bukka-I turned his attention towards the south to overthrow
the Mohammedan Sultanate of Madurai. One of these campaigns must
have brought Salem District under the Vijayanagar kings. They ruled
these parts till 1565 A.D when the glory of the Vijayanagar king
was laid in dust by the combined armies of the Deccan Sultans on
the field at Talikota Hosur Denkanikota. While Jagaderea Raya of
Chennapatna ruled the Baramahal along with Mysore. Meanwhile the
ascendancy of the Madurai Nayakas reached its zenith during the
time of Tirumala Nayak who came to power in 1623 A.D. and this tract
was placed in charge of Poligars owing allegiance to him. Ramachandra
Nayaka, one of his poligars was incharge of Talaimalai a hill overlooking
the Cauvery in the south Namakkal taluk. The Namakkal Fort is said
to have been built by them. The Gathi Mudaliars were incharge of
the most dangerously exposed province of the Nayak Kingdom with
Kaveripuram on the right bank of the Cauvery as their strategic
capital commencing one of the principal passes to the Mysore plateau.
The centre of then power seems, however to have been Taramangalam
where they built a grand edifice of a temple. It is said that their
domination extended as far as Talaivasal to the east, Dharapuram
in Coimbatore District in the south. The forts of greatest strategic
importance held by the Gathi Mudaliars were Omalur and Attur.Several
places in Coimbatore were taken by Kantirave Narasa Raja of Srirangapatinam
from Gathi Mudaliars in 1611 A.D. After 11 years, he seized Baramahal
including Viralahadradurg, Pennagaram, Dharmapuri and Denkanikotta
in 1654 A.D., he took over Hosur from Chandra Sankar Dodda Devaraju
the king of Mysore wrested Omalur from the Gathi Mudaliars and thus
erased them out of political scene. The aggression of Marattas,
however checked the power of the Mysore Kings. For a time Baramahal
and Talaghat passed into the hands of Marattas. In 1688-89 A.D.,
Chikka Deva Raya king of Mysore felt strong enough once again to
invade Baramahal and wrested Dharmapuri, Manukonda, Omalur Paramathi,
Kaveripatinam and Attur were also retrieved by Chika Deva Raya and
the whole district of Salem came under his control before his death
in 1704 A.D. Meanwhile Abdul Nabikhan of Nawab of Cuddapah extended
his possession towards South and by 1714 A.D., he made himself master
of the Baramahal.By about 1750 A.D., Hyder Ali was in power in Mysore
Baramahal came under his sway in 1760 A.D. By 1767 A.D., the British
Government at Madras planned an attack on Hyder Ali and seized Kaveripattinam
without serious opposition. Krishnagiri was then besieged. Meanwhile,
reinforcement was brought by Hyder Ali and they drove away the British.
Thus, Kaveripattinam was recaptured. Some months later the British
made another invasion on the Baramahal. Further, South Dharmapuri,
Salem, Attur, Sendamangalam and Namakkal were surrendered to the
British without serious difficulties. The victory, however, was
shortlived because Hyder Ali soon recaptured Dharmapuri, Denkanikota,
Omalur, Salem and Namakkal. During the period of second Mysore war,
Salem District was in the hands of Hyder Ali.Tippu Sultan succeeded
Hyder Ali and proved to be a formidable power. The British made
an alliance with the Marattas and the Nizam and started the third
Mysore war in 1790 A.D., in order to curb the power of Tippu Sultan.
A wing of the British forces stationed itself fully reinforced at
Kaveripattinam. Even though Tippu Sultan rushed to this spot with
his full force, he could not dislodge the British. A number of alternations
took place between the commanding forces in the Baramahal area.
In 1791, Hosur, Anjetti, Nilgiri and Ratnagiri came under the British
Royakotta and many other small forts fell without much resistance.
In 1791 Tippu sent a force from the South along the Tippu pass.
In the battle at Pennagaram they surrendered to the British. In
1792 A.D., a peace treaty was signed between Tippu and English.
According to this, a half of the dominion of Tippu was taken away.
The whole of Salem District except the Balaghat and a portion of
Hosur came into the hands of the British. The first British Collector
had is headquarters at Krishnagiri on strategic consideration.The
last Mysore war in 1799 added up several places in Hosur Taluk like
Nilgiri, Anjetti, Durgam, Ratnagiri and Kelamangalam which were
recaptured by British. After the fall of Srirangapattinam in which
Tippu Sultan lost his life the Balaghat area was also added to Salem
District. The present Dharmapuri District was then the part of the
Salem District. The British on their victory over Tippu had control
over this area since 1792 A.D. During the British rule in the country
and even till 1947 there was no separate district except Dharmapuri
as one of the taluks of Salem District. This was formed as a separate
district in 1965 with it headquarters at Dharmapuri.
About District
Dharmapuri district, which came into existence from 2.10.1965
is situated in the North western Corner of Tamil Nadu and is bounded
by Tiruvannamalai and Villupuram Districts on the east, Salem District
on the South, Krishnagiri District on the north and Kaveri river
on the west. It is located between latitudes N 11 47’ and 11 57’
and longitudes E 78 02’ and 78 40’. The total geographical area
of Dharmapuri District is 4497.77 Sq Kms, i.e. 3.46% of Tamil
Nadu.
Climate and Rainfall
The climate of the Dharmapuri District is generally warm. The
hottest period of the year is generally from the months of March
to May , the highest temperature going up to 38 C in April. The
Climate becomes cool in December and continuous so up to February,
touching a minimum of 17 C in January. On an average the District
receives an annual rainfall of 895.56 mm.
Soil
The Soil type ranges from black to mixed loam; Red
sandy soils are seen in Harur Taluk. Black and loam soil are
found in Dharmapuri Taluk. Generally the soil is low in Nitrogen
and Phosphate content with no marked variation between Taluks
|