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Rfi YACHOTI TAIL UK
the Papaghni, which flows through a small part of the western portion,
the Mandavi, the Bahuda, and the Chitleru. All of them are affluents
of the Cheyyeru, and none is perennial or of any size. The Papaghni
runs in a rocky channel with a very rapid stream. The Mandavi, on
the banks of which the town of Rayachoti is situated, usually consists
of a narrow stream of water trickling through a wide sandy bed.
Rayachoti Town (Rdjd-vidu, 'the abode of the Raja').-Head-
quarters of the tdluk of the same name in Cuddapah District, Madras,
situated in r4° 4' N. and 78° 46' E. Population (igor), 7,123. It
stands on the banks of the Mandavi river, and seven roads con
verge on it. It has some trade and a weekly market. An old temple
here is dedicated to Virabhadraswami, and a large number of people
(about 6,ooo) attend the annual car-festival. Two odd superstitions
are connected with the feasts at this shrine. Early in the morning of
the day of the car-procession a big ruby of the size of a nutmeg is
placed between the two eyebrows of the god to represent the third eye
of Siva. Opposite. to the idol a large heap of boiled rice is placed so
as to catch the first glance of the ruby eye. Till this is done, the
doors are shut, and the people are prevented from going in front of
the idol, lest they should be instantly killed by the rays from the third
eye. The person who conducts the ceremony stands behind the idol,
out of the range of the eye, and stops there till the rite is over. At
another time of the year the god is taken out hunting. He is carried
to a small open building supported by stone pillars half a mile outside
the town, and there placed on the ground. Beneath the flooring of
this building are a large number of scorpions. While the god is taking
his rest therein, the attendants, it is said, can catch these scorpions
and hold them in their hands without being stung, but directly he leaves
it the creatures resume their old propensities.
Rayadrug Taluk.-South-eastern Nluk of Bellary District, Madras,
lying between 1q.° 28' and 15° 4' N. and 76° 47' and 77° 21' E., with
an area of 628 square miles. The population in 1go1 was 82,789,
compared with 78,625 in 1891. The demand for land revenue and
cesses in 1903-4 amounted to Rs. 1,86,ooo. It contains only one
town, RAYADRUG (population, 10,488), the head-quarters; and 71
villages. The tdluk contains a far smaller proportion of black cotton
soil than the other three eastern tdluks of Adoni, Alur, and Bellary.
Twenty-seven per cent., mainly consisting of land in the basin of the
Hagari, is cotton soil; while about a fifth is red land, and more than
one-half is covered with the light mixed soils. The Hagari and its
tributary the Chinna Hagari drain practically the whole area. Raya-
drug has the smallest population of any tdluk in the District, and its
people are the worst educated. More than half of them speak Telugu,
and two-fifths Kanarese. It contains a large number of wells, and
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