394 KONGNOLI
yarn, grain, molasses, tobacco, and from 2,000 to 3,000 cattle are
disposed of. Weaving of women's saris, waist-cloths, and inferior
blankets are the only industries. Paper for packing purposes and for
envelopes was manufactured to a large extent before the famine of
1876-7, but during the famine the paper-makers deserted the village.
It contains a boys' school with go pupils.
Konkan.-A name now applied to the tract of country below the
Western Ghats south of the Damanganga river, including Bombay, the
Districts of Thana, Kolàba, Ratnagiri, the coast strip of North Kanara,
the Native States of Janjlra, Savantvadi, and the Portuguese territory of
Goa, with an area of 3,907 square miles. Population (1901), 5,610,432.
7.'he term ` Konkan' seems to be of Dravidian origin, but has not so
far been satisfactorily explained. The language of the Konkan was
probably, at a remote period, Kanarese, but is now mainly Marathl.
Mention is made of the people of the Konkan in the Mahabharata,
Ilarivamsa, and Vishnu Purana, as well as in the work of Varaha
Mihira, the geographer of the sixth century, and in the Chalukya
inscriptions of the seventh century. The tract is found referred to
under the name of Aparanta in the third century s. c. and the second
century A. D. Late Sanskrit works apply the name Konkan to the
whole western coast of India from about Trimbak to Cape Comorin,
and mention seven divisions, the names of which are variously given,
but Konkan proper is always one of these and seems to have included
the country about Chiplan. The Konkan does not seem at any time
to have been a political unit. The Arab geographers of the ninth to
the fourteenth century were familiar with it in its present signification.
In history it appears either as a number of petty states or as part of
a larger whole as in the early days of Maratha power, when the Konkan
Ghdt Mdtha, or spurs of the Ghats,' were linked with such territory in
the Deccan as from time to time came into the possession of Sivaj! and
his successors.
The coast strip of the Konkan is a fertile and generally level tract,
watered by hill streams and at parts intersected by tidal backwaters,
but has nowhere any great rivers. A luxuriant vegetation of palms rises
along the coast, the coco-nut plantations being an important source of
wealth to the villagers. In the southern portions the Ghats forming
the eastern boundary are covered with splendid forest. The crops are
abundant; and owing to the monsoon rainfall being precipitated upon
the Ghats behind, the Konkan is exempt from drought or famine.
The common language is a dialect of Marath! known as Konkan!, in
which a Dravidian element is traceable.
The history of the Konkan can best be gathered from a perusal of
the historical portions of the articles on the included States and Dis-
tricts. The earliest dynasty which can be connected with this tract is
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