*Thread on a forgotten hill-station in Sandur block, Ballari district*
After Thomas Munro annexed the territory of Sandur he decided “the [Raja of Sandur] was as much a sovereign in his own valley as any prince in India” & re-instated him as a prince through a Sanad on 7.7.1826.
The Sanads(deeds) were renewed periodically & in 1846,the Raja permitted the establishment of a
Sanitarium in Ramandurg on application of the Collector, Bellary.The town of Bellary now hosted a number of Europeans,mostly in the Cantonment working in the military or civil service.
The hill-station had places with names like Tower Hill, Bee Flat, Watergate, Redclyffe Rock, the Bamboo Jungle, Neill's Road, Mr. Story’s house, Captain Fredfield’s house. James Morant, the Chaplain of Bellary, captured these places on his canvass between 1851-56.
Ramandurg, located at an altitude of 3150 feet, has a salubrious climate. The surgeon at the Sanitarium described the weather as cool & pleasant,at least 12 degrees cooler than Bellary. The Ramandurg Sanitarium is compared with the Bombay Sanitarium at Mahabaleshwar by him.
The Madras District Gazetteer of Bellary District compiled in 1904 discusses Ramandurg. It speaks about the major buildings on the plateau - the barracks, a hospital built to accommodate 70 soldiers & some fifteen bungalows belonging to the residents of Bellary.
Philip Meadows Taylor, administrator & novelist , stayed at Ramandurg in1859 ,"Even during the hottest season the sea-breeze makes it way up, and there is no oppressive heat..I well remember we had to have a fire lighted that evening as it was so chilly,..How I slept that night!"
Europeans moved to Ramandurg during the hotter months & a Sub-Magistrate was stationed at Ramandurg.The Bellary District's Record room has several letters addressed by the Collector from his Ramadurg Camp in the hotter months. Ramandurg was the Shimla of Bellary.
A cemetery exists in Ramandurg where several Europeans are buried. A list of the graves can be seen on a website maintained by Barry Lewis. barry-lewis.com/research/cemet…
Today, Ramandurg is called Ramgad- a village located far away from the madding crowds. I could see that the Hospet-Swamihalli Railway line passed via the Ramdurg Railway station but no trains go there today. The neel-kurinji flowers bloom on the hill-slopes of these ranges.
Sources: 1.The Bellary District Gazetteers, 1872 & 1904. 2. Website of Prof. Barry Lewis, University of Illinois, Urbana.
3. Photos in color have been clicked by me in 2014, the photos from the 1800s are from the Digital Collections of the Leiden University Libraries.
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