ANANTAPUR  , a

town and district of India, in the Madras presidency . The town has a station on the Madras railway, 62 M . S.E. from Bellary . Pop . (1901) 7938 . The district of Anantapur was constituted in 1882 out of the unwieldy district of Bellary . It has an area of 5557 sq. m., and in its northern and central portions is a high plateau, generally undulating, with large granite rocks or low hill ranges rising here and there above its surface . In the southern portion of the district the surface is more hilly, the plateau there rising to 2600 ft. above the sea . There is a remarkable fortress rock at Gooty, 2171 ft. above the sea, and a similar but larger rock at Penukonda, with an elevation equal to that of Bangalore, about 3100 ft . Gooty fortress was a stronghold of the Mahrattas, but was taken from them by Hyder Ali . In 1789 it was ceded by Tippoo to the nizam, and in 1800 the nizam ceded the district of Anantapur with others to the British in payment for a subsidiary British force . The population in 1901 was 788, 254, showing an increase of 8 % in the decade .

The

principal crops are millet, rice, other food grains, pulse, oil seeds and cotton . There are several steam factories for pressing cotton . Two railways traverse the district .