CAUVERY, the Chaberos of Ptolemy, a river of the Peninsula of India, which rises in the mountains of Coorg, 50 miles from Mangalore, in lat. 12° 25' N., and long. 75° 35' E., and, after an easterly course of 472 miles, it dis embogues into the Bay of Bengal, receiving the Magunmurchy, 40 miles ; Bhawaui, 120 miles ; Noyel, 95 miles; Seringapatam, Triehinopoly, Tan jore, and Tranquebar are on its banks. It passes through and from .Mysore to the coast ; at Trichi nopoly it forms the island of Srirangam ; and a mound at Coiladdy prevents the rejunction of the two forks of the Cauvery and Colerun, and the stream is led into numerous large irrigating channels that are conducted all through Tanjore. The largest of these are the Vettar, the Vellar, and Arselar, all of which enter the Bay of Bengal. Navigable for craft through the low country during the inundation. A waterfall occurs in its course. It is deemed by the Hindus a sacred river, and is called by them the Dakshini Ganga, or Southern Ganges. At its source at Tala Kaveri and at Bhaga mandla, where it receives its first tributary, are ancient Hindu temples which are largely frequented by pilgrims in the Tule masa (October to November).
The Cauvery drains an area of about 28,000 square miles. The area of its delta is 2760 square miles, and its irrigation system supplies about 835,208 acres, yielding a revenue of Rs. 35,30,336. Its delta has the largest area of artificial irrigation in the Madras Presidency. About 10 miles west of
Trichinopol7, the Agenda Cauvery divides at the head of the island of Seringham into two branches, the Colerun and the Cauvery. Colonel Sim and Sir Arthur Cotton, about 1834=6, constructed a weir across the Colerun, which has given great benefits to the people of Tanjore. The head of the Cauvery branch is 1950 feet wide, and the bed level is regulated by a dam. After a course of 16 or 17 miles, the Cauvery bifurcates into two principal streams,•called the Cauvery and the Vennaur, which irrigate nearly equal areas, and which give off numerous branches, and regulating works have been constructed at all the bifurca tions. Prior to British rule, the native princes had connected the Cauvery with the Colerun at the east end of the island of Srirangarn, about 20 miles from the upper Colerun anicut, and across this channel they , had constructed the Grand Anicut. In the northern delta, the whole of the distribution of water has been artificially carried out by canals, but in the Cauvery delta the principal distribution has been effected natu rally by the numerous branches thrown off by the Cauvery and Vennaur. The chief work left to be done by the British was to render the water supply more reliable, and this was secured by the Upper Anicut in 1836, at an expenditure of Es. 1,83,000.