CUDDAPAH, town and district, 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. (1931) 22,602. Once the capital of the Nawabs of Cuddapah, it is now a poor place. Hills rise on three sides, and it has a bad reputation from a health standpoint.
The district of Cuddapah has an area of 5,918 square miles. 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 north, east and south-east is a low-lying plain; the other part, in the south and south-west, forms a high table-land from 1,500 to 2,500 ft. above sea-level. The chief river is the Pennar, which enters the district from Bellary on the west, and flows eastwards into Nellore. In the rains it contains a great volume of water but becomes an inconsiderable stream in the hot weather. The most interesting and ancient fort of Gurram konda, which is supposed to have been built by the Golconda sul tans, stands on a hill 500 ft. high, three sides of which consist of almost perpendicular precipices. The population of the district in 1931 was 949,397. The principal crops are millet, rice, other food grains, melons, groundnut and cotton. There are several factories for pressing cotton, and asbestos is worked. The district is served by lines of the Madras and the South Indian railways.