of the Kurnool school of painting. In 1688, Adoni was attacked by Firuz Jang, a Mughal general. Siddi Musud surrendered with his courtiers and family. At the fall of the Mughal Empire, around 1760, Adoni was ruled by governors appointed by the Nizam of Hyderabad, a Mughal splinter clan. One such governor was Salabat Jung, brother of the Nizam. The French supported the appointment. However, "Salabat Jung was very mild by disposition and neither Bussy nor Dupleix rated his intelligence highly. In fact, Dupleix went to the extent of calling him a duffer." In 1786, Adoni was besieged for one month and then captured by Tipu Sultan of the Kingdom of Mysore of South India. On 4 May 1799, Tipu Sultan died at the hands of the English. On 15 June 1800, Arthur Wellesley, Marquess of Wellington, wrote to the resident at Hyderabad about appropriate reparations to the Nizam for English occupation of Adoni. Adoni became one of twenty taluqs and in 1810, the Adoni and Nagaldinna taluqs were combined. In 1817 Adoni, at the beginning of the Third Anglo-Maratha War, the British raised a new battalion from other nearby regiments. By 1842, the military had left Adoni because of the perception that the area was susceptible to cholera and because of the unfavourable rugged surrounding geography. Under British rule, South India was divided into several administrative districts. Adoni fell into the district of Bellary of Madras presidency. On 29 April 1861, the acting district engineer of Kurnool wrote to the chief secretary to government at Fort St George, "North and by east of Bellary, on the Hyderabad road, the only important town is Adoni; it contains a very large population of Mussulmen, and is a place of considerable trade and manufacture." In 1867, the Adoni and the Bellary Municipal Councils were created. Between 1876 and 1878, a severe El Nino famine affected Adoni and the surrounding areas where nearly one third of the population died. In 1953, after the linguistic reorganisation of the states, Adoni gained its present seat as part of Andhra Pradesh. Geography Adoni is located at . It has an average elevation of above sea level. The climate is mainly tropical, with temperatures from 31 °C to 45 °C in summer and 21 °C to 29 °C in winter. The soil is black and red. There are large limestone deposits suitable for cement and minerals such