CUDDAPAH, a town and district of British India, in the Madras Presidency. The town is 6 m. from the right bank of the river Pennar, and 161 m. by rail from Madras. Pop. (1901) 16,432. It is now a poor place, but has some trade in cotton and indigo, and manufactures of cotton cloth. Hills surround it on three sides, and it has a bad reputation for unhealthiness.
The District of Cuddapah has an area of 8723 sq. m. It is in shape an irregular parallelogram, divided into two nearly equal parts by the range of the Eastern Ghats, which intersects it throughout its entire length. The two tracts thus formed possess totally different features. The first, which constitutes the north, east and south-east of the district, is a low-lying plain; while the other, which comprises the southern and south-western portion, forms a high table-land from 1500 to 2500 ft. above sea-level. The chief river is the Pennar, which enters the district from Bellary on the west, and flows eastwards into Nellore. Though a large and broad river, and in the rains containing a great volume of water, in the hot weather months it dwindles down to an inconsiderable stream. Its principal tributaries are the Kundaur, Saglair, Cheyair, and Papagni rivers. One of the most interesting antiquities in the district is the ancient fort of Gurramkonda. The fort is supposed to have been built by the Golconda sultans; it stands on a hill 500 ft. high, three sides of which consist of almost perpendicular precipices. According to a local legend the name Gurramkonda, meaning “horse hill,” was derived from the fact that a horse was supposed to be guardian of the fort and that the place was impregnable so long as the horse remained there. The story goes that a Mahratta chief at length succeeded in scaling the precipice and in carrying off the horse, and although the thief was captured before reaching the base of the hill, the spell was broken and the fort, when next attacked, fell. The population of the district in 1901 was 1,291,267. The principal crops are millet, rice, other food grains, pulse, oil-seeds, cotton and indigo. The two last are largely exported. There are several steam factories for pressing cotton, and indigo vats. The district is served by lines of the Madras and the South Indian railways.