KOLHAPUR, a native state of India, within the Deccan division of Bombay, and the principal state under the political control of the government of Bombay. Together with its jagirs or feudatories, it covers an area of 3,217 sq.m. In 1931 the population was 957,137. Kolhapur stretches from the heart of the Western Ghats eastwards into the plain of the Deccan. Along the spurs of the main chain of the Ghats lie wild and picturesque hill slopes and valleys, producing little but timber. One tenth of the district is reserved forest. The centre of the state is crossed by several lines of low hills running at right angles from the main range. In the east the country opens into a well-cultivated and treeless plain, broken only by an occasional river. Among the western hills are the ancient Mahratta strongholds of Panhala, Vishalgarh, Bavda and Rungna. The rivers, though navigable during the rains by boats of 2 tons burthen, are all fordable during the hot months. Iron ore exists, but is not now worked. The principal agricultural products are rice, millets, and sugar cane, and coarse cloth and pottery are made.
The rajas of Kolhapur trace their descent from Raja Ram, a younger son of Sivaji the Great, the founder of the Mahratta power. The prevalence of piracy caused the British government
to send expeditions against Kolhapur in 1765 and 1792; and in the early years of the 19th century the misgovernment of the chief compelled the British to resort to military operations, and ultimately to appoint an officer to manage the state. In recent years the state has been conspicuously well governed, on the pattern of British administration. The raja Shri Chhatrapati, G.C.I.E. (who is entitled to a salute of 19 guns) was born in 1897, and succeeded in 1922. The principal institutions are the Rajaram college, the Albert Edward Hospital, the high school, a technical school, and training-schools. The state railway from Miraj junction to Kolhapur town is worked by the Madras and Southern Mahratta company.
The town of KOLHAPUR (pop. 1921, 55,594) has, besides a number of handsome modern public buildings, many evidences of antiquity. Originally it appears to have been an important re ligious centre, and numerous Buddhist remains have been dis covered in the neighbourhood. It has a cotton mill, and manu factures of pottery, paper, lace, etc.