Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 14.djvu/15

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K A K K A K winding ravines. The streets are narrow and irregular, and almost impassable for wheeled conveyances ; there are, however, many costly houses and handsome temples, the sole building material being sandstone. The population is estimated at 28,000. KARCZAG, or KARDSZAG, a corporate town of Hungary, and formerly the capital of the district of Great Cumania (now included in the county of Jasz-Nagy-Kun-Szolnok), lies about 88 miles east-south-east of Budapest, with which city it is connected by railway, in 47 19 N. lat., 20 56 E. long. Karczag is a large straggling town, and contains Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox, and Protestant churches, royal and magisterial courts of law, and tax and post offices. The soil of the surrounding country is exceedingly humid and fertile, and enormous quantities of melons, fruit, grapes, wheat, maize, rape-seed, and mangcorn are grown. In tin more marshy places water-fowl and tortoises are caught in large numbers. Population in 1880, 15,962, almost exclusively Magyars. KARIKAL, a French town and settlement in India, situated on the south-east coast, within the limits of Tanjore district, 10 55 10" N. lat, 79 52 E. long., with an area of 52 square miles, and a population of 92,516. The site was purchased by the French from the Tanjore raj A in 1738. It was captured by the English in 1760, restored in 1765, again taken in 1768, and finally restored in 1816. It formed the base of Lally s operations against Tanjore. The town is neatly built on one of the mouths of the Kaveri (Cauvery), and carries on a brisk trade with Ceylon, Europe, and the French colonies, exporting rice, and importing chiefly European articles and timber. A chef de 1 administration, subordinate to the government at Pondicherri, is in charge of the settlement. KARMATHIANS. Sue ARABIA, vol. ii. p. 259, and MolIAMMKDANISlI. KAUN r AK. See ARCHITECTURE, vol. ii. p. 390, and EGYPT, vol. vii. p. 777. KARNAL, a district in the lieutenant-governorship of the Punjab, India, lying between 29 9 and 30 11 N. lat, and between 76 13 and 77 15 30" E. long., bounded on the X. by Umballa (Ambala) and the Patiala state, W. by Patiala and Jind states and by Rohtak district, 8. by Delhi district, and E, by the Jumna river. The area is 2351 square miles. Karnal forms a portion of the low dividing ridge which separates the watersheds of the Indus and the Jumna. The district falls naturally into two divisions the hangar, or upland plain, and the khddar, or low-lying land, which skirts the valley of the great river. The banks of the larger streams are fringed with magnificent forest trees, and groves of mangoes mark the neighbourhood of every temple or homestead. Irrigation is afforded by the western Jumna canal. As a whole, Karnal is better supplied with trees than most of the plain country of the Punjab. The Jumna itself here presents the usual characteristics of the upper part of its course. Sandbanks shift from one side to the other of the main channel, and from time to time the whole stream suddenly changes its bsd, transferring half a dozen villages together from Muzaf- farnagar to Karnal, or vice versa. The district is famous for its sport. The population in 1868 amounted to 610,927 (330,763 males and 280,164 females) Hindus, 356,305; Mohammedans, 151, 723; and "others," 93,604. Jats numbered 74,840, representing the chief agricultural element ; Brahman s, 52,396, most of them engaged in tillage ; Rajputs, 47,860, chiefly Mohammedans ; Chamars, the land less labouring class, 37,053 ; pastoral Gujars, 20,857, about one-third of them Mohammedans. Five towns have a population exceeding 5000, viz., Karnal, 27,022; Panipat, 25,27<>; Kaithal, 14,940; Sewaii, 6206 ; and Kunjpurah, 5163. The area und< r cultivation is 645,120 acres, the uncultivated area 860,800 acres, of which 578,027 are cultivable. The principal spring crop is wheat ; the autumn harvest consists of rice, cotton, and sugar-cane, besides millets and pulses for home consumption. The growth of the more lucrative crops is on the increase. Grain and raw materials are exported to Umballa, Hissar, and Delhi, the return trade consisting of Euro- j pean piece goods, salt, and refined sugar. A considerable quantity of cotton is woven for local use. Sal-ammoniac is obtained from the clay of Kaithal and Gula tahslls to the value of 3450 per annum. Karnal town has a few blanket factories, and ornamental glass-ware is made at Panipat. The Grand Trunk Road connects Karnal with Delhi and Umballa. The district is administered by a deputy commissioner. In 1872-73 the revenue was 78,847", of which 67,048 was derived from the hind ; and education was afforded by 99 schools, with 2541 pupils. No district of India can boast of a more ancient history than Karnal, as almost every town or stream is connected with the legends of the Mafidbhdrata. The city of Karnal itself is said to owe its foundation to Kaja Kama, the mythical champion of the Kauravas in the great war which forms the theme of the national epic. Panipat, in the south of the district, is said to have been one of the pledges demanded from Duryodhana by Yudisthira as the price of peace in that famous conflict. In historical times the plains of Panipat have three times proved the theatre of battles which decided the fate of Upper India. It was here that Ibrahim Lodi and his vast host were defeated in 1526 by the veteran army of Baber ; in 1556 Akbar reasserted the claims of his family on tl:i- same battlefield against the Hindu general of the house of Slier Shah, which had driven the heirs of Baber from the throne for a brief interval ; inul at Panipat too, on the 7th of January 1761, the Marhatta confederation was defeated by Ahmed Shah Durani. During the troublous period which ensued, the Sikhs managed to introduce themselves, and in 1767 one of their chieftains, Uesu Sinh, appropriated the fort of Kaithal, which had been built during the reign of Akbar. His descendants, the Bhais of Kaithal, were reckoned amongst the most important cis-Sutlej princes. Different portions of this district have lapsed from time to time into the hands of the British. The towns are not generally in a nourishing condition, but the district possesses considerable commerce and great agricultural resources. KARNAL, a municipal town, the headquarters of the above district, 29 42 17" N. lat, 77 1 45" E. long., with a population in 1868 of 27,022. The civil station stretches to the west of the town. The Government main tains a large stud farm. There is a brisk trade with Delhi and Umballa ; country cloth i3 manufactured for local consumption, and blankets for export, the latter trade em ploying about one hundred looms. KARNUL, a district in Madras, India, bounded on the N. by the Tungabhadra and Kistna rivers and by Kistna district, S. by Cuddapah and Bellary, E. by Nellore and Kistna, and W. by Bellary, lies between 14 54 and 16 14 N. lat, and between 77 46 and 79 3 15 E. long., I with an area of 7151 square miles. Two long mountain ranges, the Nallamalais and the Yellamalais, extend in parallel lines, north and south, through the centre of the district The principal heights of the Nallamalai range are Biranikonda (3149 feet Gundlabrdhmeswaram (3055 feet), and Durugapukonda (3086 feet). The Yellamalai is a low range, generally flat-topped with scarped sides ; the highest point is about 2000 feet. Several low ridges run parallel to the Nallamalais, broken here arid there by gorges, through which mountain streams take their course. Several of these gaps were dammed across under native rule, anil tanks formed for purposes of cultivation. One of these is the magnificent Cumbum Tank, closed in by a dam across the Gundlakamma river. It covers an area of nearly 15 square miles. The principal rivers are the Tun gabhadra and Kistna, which bound the district on the north. When in flood, the Tungabhadra averages 900 yards broad and 15 feet deep. In 1860 an anicut or weir was built across the river at Sunkesala, 18 miles above Karnal town, and a canal dug for irrigation and navigation. The Kistna flows here chiefly through un inhabited jungles, sometimes in long smooth reaches, with intervening shingly rapids. The Bhavanasi rises on the Nallamalais, and falls into the Kistna at Sun- gameswaram, a place of pilgrimage. Below their junc tion is a whirlpool which is regarded as holy by the