GENERAL

GEOGRAPHICAL ASPECTS

Sahyadris.

The physical setting of Satara shows a contrast of immense dimensions and reveals a variety of landscapes influenced by relief, climate, vegetation and economic use by man. The variation in relief ranges from the pinnacles and high plateaus of the main Sahyadrian range having height over 4,500 ft. above sea level to the subdued basin of the Nira river in Phaltan Sub-division with an average height of about 1,700 ft. above sea level. The climate ranges from the rainiest in the Mahabaleshwar region which on an average records well over 250 inches per year to the driest in the Man Taluka where the average annual rainfall is about 20 inches. The vegetal cover too varies from, the typical monsoon forests in the western pails to scrub and poor grass in the eastern part. Rice economy dominates the western belt while Jowar and Bajri are the principal crops in the east where famines and scarcities have been frequent in the past. Rugged topography of the hills crowned by historic Maratha forts and well-tilled valleys with villages adhering to their higher slopes is a recurrent theme in the Satara landscape. Rut even then, regionally, there is considerable local variation.

The Sahyadris : (a) The crestline and the high plateaus.—For the major part the western boundary of the district coincides with the water-shed of the Sahyadris. Here, on the Konkan side the scarp is steep and forbidding in appearance, but on the east the land-scape is mature and mellow. The crestline proper is a succession of high plateaus interrupted by occasional rounded peaks and connected by low saddles. On the north the Raireshwar Plateau dominates the source region of the Krishna river. On the south lies the extensive Mahabaleshwar Plateau capped with several rounded peaks and deeply furrowed by the Savitri in the extreme-north and by the Koyna and other tributaries of the Krishna, on the west, south and east. The steeper rock surfaces are void of any vegetation. The narrow ledges of trap layers, however, support luxurious vegetation of monsoonal type which from a distance appears as green bands of vegetal cover against the dark rampart of the main scarp. Vegetation changes to a temperate form in the high plateau of Mahabaleshwar and has many exotic species planted during the period when it was developed as a hill station. Mahabaleshwar has all the facets of a typical hill station with Malcolmpeth as its commercial nucleus. There are extensively developed roads and footpaths, to reach the several points of scenic beauty, and widely spaced bungalows and places for amenities of social life during the season. The old Mahabaleshwar, with the traditional and sacred source of the Krishna river nearby, is situated a little away to the north. To the east across the deep Koyna valley stands the historic fort of Pratapgad where the recently installed equestrian statue of the Shiva Chhatrapati can be seen standing boldly against the skyline. The hill station is swarmed with life during summer and for a short spell during the period of October heat. For the rest of the year heavy rains and mists deny access to the average visitors. But not so with the little satellite town of Panchgani (population 4,538) situated about 12 miles away to the east. Here the salubrious climate of a hill station is available though not with that sharpness as in Mahabaleshwar. But rainfall is distinctly low (about 50" on an average) and that enables the place to have an almost all the year round activity. With several public schools and a population of retired people, Panchgani lives a steady though frugal life. To the south-west of the Mahabaleshwar plateau across the Koyna valley Makrandgad (4,054 ft.) stands prominently on the crest-line. South of this fort the main line continues its sharp form as a water divide, with many peaks of which Jangli Jaygad and Bhairavgad are more important, and sends several offshoots eastwards and thereby separating the small tributary river valleys of the Koyna. In form, the trap rock provides many interesting examples of " Valley-in-the-valley " which has an interesting impact on the land use and human habitation in this region. The top-most plateau surfaces have open forests and scrub the slopes immediately below a dense monsoonal cover, the " Shoulders " of the valleys are plateau surfaces at inter mediate levels and these again support only scrub and grass, while the valley floors are rich-cultivated belts on both sides of which hamlets cling to the slightly elevated ground. These valleys allow some access to communications by means of cart tracks and footpaths, and of these the Fitzgerald pass connecting Mahabaleshwar with Mahad in Konkan and the Kumbharli pass connecting Karad with Chiplun via Patan are more important.

(b) The Koyna Valley.—Of the several tributaries of the Krishna river, the Koyna has acquired a new importance and meaning due to the Hydro-electrical development that is taking place near Helvak. The valley from the source waters to this place is almost longitudinal, possibly occupying a geological fracture, and is deep and narrow. Its limited width and the high plateau shoulders afford a most suitable setting for impounding its waters near Helvak and utilising them for generating electricity near Pophali below the ghats. The power generated is calculated to give a generous supply to the new industrial areas of Maharashtra as well as to the old centres like Bombay and Poona through an all over grid system. Below Helvak, the Koyna swings its course due east and on receiving the water of Kara from the north and Morna and Vang from the south, joins the Krishna at the sacred confluence on which is situated the growing town of Karad. Patan (population 3,630) is a route centre in the valley and local market town with a bright future both due to its location and the new power supply.

The main Sahyadris and the adjoining steep valleys thus present a landscape of scenic beauty and human significance. Its forts are a reminder of its glorious past, with its hamlets and cultivation created by the sturdy Maratha race having a fighting tradition, its ghat routes facilitating the much desired contact between the Desh and the Konkan, and the Koyna Hydel scheme reflecting the people's ambitions of the future.

The Krishna Basin.—Sanctity is writ large on the landscape of the Krishna Basin. Almost every important village situated on the bank of the river has temples and bathing ghats. Below its traditional source near old Mahabaleshwar, Wai (population 16,099) is the first place of religious importance. Originally situated on the left bank of the river, Wai has grown into a larger township as the headquarters of the taluka and a route centre for the upper Krishna valley and the Mahabaleshwar-Panchgani hill stations. The town has thrown its urban arm across the river and has a good development along the Poona-Mahabaleshwar road. Educational institutions within the town and good vegetable gardening in the environs add to its urban importance and to its growth.

Krishna Basin.

Below Wai, the valley widens out, and on the right bank, is joined by the leading tributaries Kudali, Vena, Urmodi and Tarli. The valley floors are well-cultivated and well-populated, the streams draining in the valleys have carved out small amphitheatres into the sides of the intermediate ridges. The sides of these ridges are generally bare but carry poor grass and scrub, and are usually given to grazing, and some of the tops carry the ancient fortified sites like Vairatgad. Each of these valleys is connected by good roads to the Poona-Kolhapur highway running along the main Krishna valley and every valley has one or two local market centres like Kudal and Humgaon in the Kudali valley and Medha in the Vena valley. The Medha Ghat route to Mahabaleshwar also passes through the Vena valley. The historic town of Satara (population 41,070) is situated in the Vena valley nestling below the Ajimtara Fort. The old city occupies an amphitheatre of a tributary stream. The old cantonment area spreads out eastwards to healthier open lands, and the intermediate belt is getting filled up by new urban development. Satara ever since the days of the early Chhatrapati rulers has had a changing fortune. Chosen as a capital in the early period of the Maratha rule, it lost its importance to Poona; after the annexation of the State to the Bombay Presidency, it prospered for some time as a cantonment station, but declined when the British troops were shifted from there. It now retains its urban importance as the headquarters of the district and is gradually making progress through educational institutions, banking and small industry.

South of the Ajimtara range lies the Urmodi valley well-cultivated and peopled. The Sajjangad fort is a place of devotional significance. The source waters of the Tarli river begin in a deeply entrenched valley. But its lower reaches take the common pattern of the Krishna tributaries. At the confluence of Tarli and Krishna is situated Umbraj (population 4,507) which acts as a local route and commercial centre, just below Umbraj, the small tributary of Mand joins Krishna in the valley of which is situated Chaphal having associations with Swami Ramdas.

From the left flank, the Krishna has two main tributary basins, the Chandrabhaga and the Vasna. The Chandrabhaga draining the valley between the Dhamni hills and the Chandan-Vandan range supports a variety of crops and garden products. The villages are large and prosperous. The Poona-Kolhapur route leaves the main Krishna valley and passes through this valley to cross the Khambatki ghat via Bhuinj, Sural and Vela. The first two are local market towns and Vela a halting place for carts and heavy trucks negotiating the ghat. The Vasna lying further to the east and draining the land enclosed by the Chandan-Vandan range and the main Mahadeo Range with its southern off-shoots is a much larger valley, but it wears a drier appearance due to the lower annual rainfall. The transition from the wetter western parts to these is sudden and is reflected in almost every aspect of natural and human setting. Water courses are seasonal. Drier crops like Jowar and Bajri gain more space in land use. Villages are medium-sized but nucleated. These geographical characteristics persist in the tributary valleys of Vasna and Tilganga. Only the immediate flanks of the water courses are agriculturally important, but the lines of communications are acquiring now-a-days a much greater importance due to their influence on commerce and industry. It is through this valley end and the Adarki gaps in the Mahadeo range that the Poona-Bangalore railway crosses the region. The old Poona-Tasgaon road follows almost the same route. In the north, Wathar is a route centre. Satara Road (population 6,447), owed its earlier importance as a station to reach the Satara town but it has now developed an industrial bias. Koregaon (population 7.230) is a growing commercial centre.

Below Wai the main river valley of Krishna develops a fertile ribbon, well-cultivated and densely populated. In fact this is the richest tract in the district, and the sacred waters of the rivers find (heir religious expression in the temples and ghats at Nimb and Sangam Mahuli. Below the confluence of the Krishna and Vasna, the main Krishna valley is closed by a succession of spurs approaching the river almost at right angles. The valley proper is deeply entrenched and meanders, old river terraces, and intense gully erosion introduce considerable local variation in landscape and land use. The large-sized and populated villages are perched on high banks and older high level terraces. The Satara-Rahimatpur road crosses the stream near Dhamner, Rahimatpur (Population 8,055) is a commercial centre. Downstream below Tasgaon, the river is further closed in by the Chaphal and Vasantgad hills on the right and the high spurs of the Vardhangad range on the left. The Poona-Bangalore railway passes through this narrow reach skirting along the base of these spurs avoiding the highly eroded left flank of the river and the high level areas of the spurs. Masur (population 5,814) is a commercial centre, but Karad station is a flourishing township drawing its advantage from the industrial Ogalewadi and the growing town of Karad itself. The town of Karad (population 25,721) practically marks the terminal end of the Krishna valley in Satara District, although the administrative boundary runs about 15 miles south of this town. Situated at the confluence of the Krishna and Koyna, Karad is a place of great antiquity. It was an important commercial centre in the Hindu and Muslim periods connecting the eastern Deccan with the Konkan through Kumbharli pass. During the British rule, its commercial activity was further strengthened by the improved communications, by its being a taluka headquarters and by the industrial growth of Ogalewadi. The high level bridge across the Krishna river connecting the town with the railway station meant further impetus, and as the gateway to the Koyna-Hydel Project, it has recorded during recent years a considerable all round growth in commerce, education and industry. With the development of the Koyna electricity, Karad well promises to establish a healthy rivalry with Sangli and Kolhapur in the south and Poona in the north.

The Eastern Ranges.—The Mahadeo range branches off from the main Sahyadris in the region of Raireshwar plateau, with major peaks and plateau tops having a height over 4,000 feet. East of the Eruli plateau the range bifurcates with one ridge trending northwards to the Nira river near Bhor; the main Mahadeo range continue eastwards with a lower general level at about 3,000 ft. The Khambatki pass allows the Poona-Kolhapur road to cross the range. East of this pass the range assumes a general south-eastern trend and develops very interesting relief forms. First of all, the range is essentially a plateau presenting a highly eroded appearance on the northern flank and well moulded residual topography on the sourthern. The rainfall in this region averages about 25" per year, but it is intensely seasonal and very dry conditions prevail during the rest of the year. Accordingly, the northern plateau face oriented towards the Nira valley suffers intense erosion from the monsoonal flooded courses and the area presents a highly uneven topography with fantastic local forms. This can be well seen from the railway line passing through the Adarki gap. This and other gaps in the Mahadeo scarp originate in the heavy headward erosion of the streams which have 'eaten ' their way well into the plateau surface. Rounded peaks, trap benches skirting all round such peaks, detached knolls and terraced stream courses are common in this area. The region has a vegetation cover of a coarse kind, and cultivation is limited to only a few and favoured patches along the stream beds. Communication is difficult due to the highly uneven and infertile surface. It is a thinly populated area with people living in small and fragmented hamlets and ekking out their existence on poor agriculture and sheep grazing.

This highly eroded Mahadeo scarp continues eastwards through Awalpathar-Palwan plateaus and Shikhar Shingnapur, and after a stretch continues south-eastwards to provide the district boundary between Satara and Sholapur. Santoshgad (Tathavada) and Varugad are detached knolls. The scarp is crossed by some routes of which the one via Shingnapur and the other connecting Mhaswad and Malsiras (in Sholapur district) are more frequented.

On the southern flank the Mahadeo range being a part of the higher plateau elevation presents a more subdued appearance. The relative heights are lower and the variation in relief appears in the form of low residual ranges and detached hills. Such is the landscape of the Chandan-Vandan, Vardhangad, and Mahimangad ranges. The Chandan-Vandan being in a wetter tract supports some green landscape, but the other two present a dry and bare appearance. The Vardhangad range extends southwards with a height varying between 3,000 ft. to 2,500 ft. and develops many transverse ridges east and west. The Mahimangad range is its eastern counterpart. The tops occasionally crowned bv ancient fort walls and temples, dark and bare scarp faces, poor scrub and grass on terraces and at foot hills and occasional stony wastes, form the typical landscape of these dry hill ranges of the Satara district. Apart from sheep grazing and footpaths linking the fragmented hamlets they hold little that is of economic importance.

The Yerla Valley.—The Vardhangad and Mahimangad ranges enclose between them the fairly wide Yerla valley which drains the land of the district to the Krishna, but the confluence lies in the Sangli district. The Yerla has an intensive monsoonal regime and the nearby semi-arid conditions of climate cause heavy gully erosion. On either side deeply entrenched stream courses notched in the receding trap platforms and meandering courses are a common feature of the landscape. Vegetation consists of scrub and grasses and the cultivation though fairly extensive in area has a poor yield and is confined to crops like Bajri and Jowar. The upper portions of the valley carry a less dense population with people settled in small and detached hamlets. Khatav (population 5,530) and Vaduj (population 6,838), are local markets with Vaduj serving as a nodal centre for routes across the valley. Aundh (population 4,652), the headquarters of a former princely State is situated at the head of the tributary Nandi valley and is enclosed on the north by an are of residual hills. South of Aundh and Goregaon the Yerla valley opens out to develop a gentler and rolling topography and receives the Chand tributary from the east. Bhushangad stands as an isolated but prominent knoll. Cultivation improves and the population is denser. Puse savli and Mayni are route centres and local market towns. Mayni is situated on the Umbraj-Pandharpur road which crosses the Mahimangad range through the Tarashkhind ghat; it has also a large tank which affords some local irrigation.

Man Valley.

The Man Valley.—Situated between the Mahimangad range and the main Mahadeo range, the Man valley has relief forms similar to those of the Yerla, but the landscape is drier, stonier and more forbidding, especially along the base of the hill range. The source waters of the Man river are gathered from several streams highly entrenched in the plateau surface. Extensive terracing along the courses is quite common. Jhir, Pather Bhojling hill, Tembi hill and Masari hill about four miles east of Dahiwadi, are remnant features of the old Mahimangad plateau level, but now detached by erosion. The vegetation is scrub and poor grass, and cultivation typically of jirayat type with great incidence of scarcity.

Canals developed from the Dahiwadi and Mhaswad tanks are designed as protection measures. Dahiwadi (population 4,057) and Mhaswad (population 9,145), are local route centres and market towns. On the whole, the Man valley is economically a backward and thinly populated region. To the south-west it has the eroded scarp face of the Mahimangad range and northwards the plateau edge, with occasional heights, drops into the lower much eroded 'badland' topography of the Sangola region in the Sholapur district.

The Nira Basin.—The northern strip of the district with a varying width between 10 to 15 miles has an orientation to the Nira river which for a good length serves as the district boundary. The Nira valley, as a whole, drains a plateau surface that is at a much lower level than the upper Krishna plateau in the south. This means erosive forces are more rapidly at work in this basin than in the south. This largely explains the formation of the steep northern scarp of the Maha-deo hill range. From this range the level to the Nira river is reached in a succession of steps each becoming broader at the lower level. This is particularly seen in the western portion of the basin between the Eruli-Bhor range and the railway line between Adarki and Nira stations. Valleys are deeply entrenched and their floors offer strips of cultivation. Inspite of its having a more western situation, nearer the Sahyadrian main range, this belt has a low and erratic rainfall, with the result that irregular features carry scrub, and level surfaces some grass which supports grazing. Population settlements are small-sized and generally follow the valley courses. Only with the approaches of the main Nira river cultivation improves and larger villages decorate the landscape. Khandala is situated at the foot-hill of the Khambatki pass and Shirwal, a centre for Bhor-Phaltan valley route and the Poona-Kolhapur road.

East of the Poona-Bangalore road, the landscape of the Nira basin becomes drier, stony and often bleak, but east of the railway line, the Mahadeo scarp recedes to give way to a more mature topography of the valley floor. Although this semi-arid area was once known for its famines and scarcities, a new vigour has been infused into the economic life of the people with the development of canals drawn from the Bhatghar lake. A further expansion is expected with the construction of the Vir Dam. What was once a purely jirayat cultivation tract with precarious living conditions has now gradually blossomed into an extensive sugar-cane land and fruit gardens. Sugar industry finds a favourable location near Phaltan (population 12,142), a route centre and the headquarters of a former princely State, and with the co-operative movement gathering strength, it promises to show a way out to similarly situated scarcity areas north and south, towards better economic prosperity.

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