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 433 .
Indian Institute, Oxford .
Purchased 1661

29 A
THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA .
 MORRISON AND GIBB, EDINBURGH ,
PRINTERS TO HER MAJESTY'S STATIONERY OFFICE.
THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA .

W . W . HUNTER, C.I.E., LL.D.,

DIRECTOR-GENERAL OF STATISTICS TO THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA .

VOLUME III.

DABHA TO HARDUAGANJ.

TRÜBNER & Co ., LONDON , 1881.

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 IMPERIAL GAZETTEER

INDIA.

VOLUME III.
D

Dábba .— One of the petty States of Mahi Kánta, Bombay ; esti

mated pop. (1875), 1612 ; estimated area under cultivation , 5045 acres ;
revenue, £402. The Chief or Miah pays an annual tribute of £15 to
the Gáekwár of Baroda, and £5 to the Thákur of Amalyára . The
present ruler is a Mukwána Kolí, converted to Islámism . The religion
of the Miahs of Dábha is a mixture of Muhammadanism and Hinduism ;
they give their daughters in marriage to Muhammadans of rank, and
marry the daughters of Kolí chiefs. They burn their dead.
Dábha . — Town in Chándá District, Central Provinces. Lat. 19°
38' N ., long. 79°42' E. Manufactures - tasar silk , handkerchiefs, coloured
cloths, and silver snuff-boxes. Until recently, Dábha was subject to the
raids of the wild tribes across the Wardha, and even now the shop
keepers are afraid to expose their goods. Government school for boys,
girls' school, police station-house, and District post office ; assistant
patrol of customs. The population is almost wholly Telinga.
Dabhoi. - Town in the territory of the Gáekwár of Baroda, Guzerat,
Bombay ; 15 miles S.E. of Baroda. Lat. 22° 10' N., long. 73° 28' E. ;
pop. (1872), 14 ,898. In the town is a place called mámádokri, where
stands a khirni or musk-melon tree, through whose hollow trunk no
guilty person can pass. Dabhoi is the old Sanskrit Dharbhavati of the
11th century, famous for its ancient fortress.
Dábhol. - Town and port, Ratnagiri District, Bombay. Of con
siderable historical importance, and the principal port of the South
Konkan in the 14th , 15th , and 16th centuries, carrying on an exten
sive trade with Persia and the Red Sea ports. Also noted for its
VOL . III.
 DABLING - DACCA DISTRICT.
beautifulmosque, which is the only specimen of pure Saracenic archi
tecture in the Southern Konkan. Dábhol formed a province of the
Bijápur kingdom under Yusaf Adil Shah , and extended from the
Sávitri river to Deogarh , including nearly the whole of the present
District of Ratnagiri.
Dábling . – Village in Bashahr State, Punjab ; situated in lat. 31°
45' N., and long. 78° 39' E., on a belt of arable land near the left
bank of the Sutlej (Satlej). The cliffs on the opposite side of the river
rise to a sheer elevation of 6000 or 7000 feet. The population have
the Chinese Tartar type of physiognomy, and profess the Buddhist
faith . A mile east stands another village, known as Dúbling; the path
between the two places being rendered practicable by means of hanging
balconies or wooden scaffolds fastened against the face of the precipice.
Thetwo villages generally bearthe joint appellation of Dábling-Dúbling.
Elevation above sea level, 9400 feet.
Dacca.— A Division of Bengal, lying between lat. 21° 48' and 25°
26 ' n., and between long. 89° 20' and 91° 18' E. Bounded on the north
by the Gáro Hills ; on the east by Sylhet District and Hill Tipperah ; on
the south by Noakhali District and the Bay of Bengal ; and on the west
by Jessor, Pábná, Bográ , and Rangpur Districts. Dacca Division com
prises the five Districts of Dacca, Faridpur, Bákarganj, Maimansinh , and
Tipperah. Area (according to Parliamentary Return 1877, and allowing
for recent transfers), 18, 126 square miles; pop. (1872), 9,012,161.
Dacca (Dháká, derived either from the dhák tree (Butea frondosa ) or
from Dhakeswari, ' the concealed goddess '). — THE DISTRICT OF Dacca,
situated in Eastern Bengal, at the junction of the river systems of the
Ganges and the Brahmaputra , lies between 23° 6' 30" and 24° 20' 12"
N . lat., and between 89° 47' 50' and 91° 1' 10 " E. long. Bounded north
by the District of Maimansinh ; east by Tipperah ; south and south
west by Bákarganj and Faridpur ; and west, for a short distance , by
Pábná. To a great extent, rivers form the natural boundaries : on the
east, the Meghná ; south and south -west, the Padma, or main stream of
the Ganges ; and west, the Jamuná, or present channel of the Brahma
putra . The District contains (1878 ) an area of 2796 square miles, and
a population , according to the Census of 1872, of 1,852,993 persons.
The administrative headquarters are at Dacca City
Physical Aspects. — The District is divided into two natural divisions
by the course of the Dhaleswari. The tract north of that river is an
extension of the high lands of Maimansinh . The country is above
flood level, and is broken by small hilly ridges running down from the
Madhupur jungle. The soil is red, with strata of clay and kankar or
nodular limestone, and iron ore exists in considerable quantities. There
are few rivers ; and the surface is overgrown by picturesque jungle,
amid which cultivation is only now beginning to spread. These features
 DACCA DISTRICT.
are intensified in the north -west of the District beyond Dacca city. In
the north -east, towards the Meghná, the land becomes less broken
and jungly, and the soil more fertile. South of the Dhaleswari, the
country presents the familiar aspect common to the greater part of
Lower Bengal. The whole is one uniform level of rich alluvial soil,
annually inundated by the overflow of the great rivers. The villages are
built upon mounds of earth , artificially raised above the flood. During
the rainy season , this tract presents the appearance of a continuous
sheet of green paddy cultivation, through which boats sail to and fro.
The chief means of communication at all times of the year is by water.
Besides the bordering rivers of the Ganges or Padma, the Jamuna or
Brahmaputra, and the Meghná, the following seven streams are navi
gable by boats of large tonnage : (I) Arial Khán, (2) Kirtinásá, (3)
Dhaleswarí, (4 ) Buriganga, (5 ) Lakhmiá, (6 ) Mendikhálí, and (7 )
Gházíkhálí. Many of these represent old channels or offshoots of the
great rivers ; and the southern half of the District is everywhere liable
to annual changes of configuration , due to the activity of fluvial action.
The fisheries of the District are estimated to yield £10,000 a year.
History. — The historical interest of the District centres round Dacca
city , an olden capital of the Muhammadan Mughals in Bengal, and until
recent times the industrial centre of the Province. Here, as elsewhere
throughout Bengal, authentic history begins with the Musalman
chronicles ; butmany local legends and crumbling ruins bear witness to
the power of prehistoric Hindu rulers. This tract of country formed
the easternmost District of Bengal, according to the natural limitations
of the Province. On the north , rise the broken hills and thick jungles of
Maimansinh, into which Hindu civilisation has but recently penetrated.
Eastwards, the broad stream of the Meghná always served as a barrier
against the wild aboriginal races, whose names are preserved in the
dynasties of Tipperah and Cáchár. Before the invasion of the Muham
madans, only part of Dacca appears to have been included within the
Hindu kingdom of Bengal. The course of the river Dhaleswari, which
marks offthe alluvialdelta ofthe Ganges from the highlands of Maiman
sinh, then served also as a political boundary. To the south of this river,
the mythical monarch Vikramaditya is said to have held sway, and his
name is traced in the present parganá of Bikrámpur. The dynasty of
Vikramaditya was succeeded by that of Adisur, and the last occupant
of the throne was Ballál Sen. All these names are the common property
of Bengali legend. The tract north of the Dhaleswari supplies
traditions with a more distinct local colouring. Here was the home
of the Bhuiyá Rájás, as they are called, the founders of a dynasty
which bore the family name of Pál, and are supposed to have professed
the Buddhist faith . The ruins of the capitals and palaces of these
Bhuiyá Rájás lie scattered throughout Eastern Bengal, along the line of
 DACCA DISTRICT.
the Brahmaputra valley ; and their memory is still cherished in the
household tales of the Hindu peasantry. In the portion of Dacca
District lying north of the Dhaleswari, extensive earthworks and mounds
of brick associated with their name are to be seen to this day at
Madhabpur, Sábhár, and Durduriá.
The Muhammadans first entered Bengal in 1203 A.D., but the eastern
Districts were not conquered until a century later. The present
District of Dacca was annexed to the Afghán kingdom of Gaur by
Muhammad Tughlak about 1325, under the nameof SONARGAON , which
town long remained the frontier fortress of the Muhammadans and the
terminus of their grand trunk road. The rise of Dacca city dates from
the beginning of the 17th century , when Islám Khán, the Mughal Vice
roy, transferred the seat of Government from Rájmahál to Dacca. This
change was dictated by military considerations. The valley of the
Ganges then enjoyed peace, but the eastern frontier of the Province was
exposed to the ravages of numerous warlike invaders. From the north ,
the dreaded Ahamsor Assamese ; from the south, the Maghs or Araka
nese, in alliance with the merciless Portuguese pirates, harried the country,
and rendered all thewaterways unsafe. The Mughal viceroys protected
their frontier by maintaining a powerful fleet, and distributing colonies
of veterans on feudal holdings throughout the country . Both these
features of their political system have left traces in the land tenures
that exist at the present day. Except during an interval of twenty
years, when Muhammad Shujá moved the administration back again to
Rájmahal, Dacca was the capital of Bengal during the whole of the
17th century. In the long list of Nawabs, the two most celebrated are
Mír Jumlá , the general of Aurangzeb , who failed disastrously in his
expedition into Assam ; and Sháistá Khán , the nephew of the Empress
Núr Jahán, who broke the power of the Portuguese, and annexed
Chittagong to the Mughal Empire . Both these Nawabs are also known
for their encouragement of architecture, and for the construction of
public works. This was the most flourishing era in the history of
Dacca, for, like all eastern cities, its glory depended upon the
presence of a luxurious court. It is said that the suburbs extended
northwards for a distance of 15 miles, now buried in dense jungle.
Portuguese mercenaries, and Armenian and Greek merchants, settled
at Dacca from an early date. The English , the French, and the Dutch
established factories about the middle of the 16th century, when
the city was visited by the French traveller Tavernier. He describes
all the wealth of Bengal, the richest Province of the Delhi Emperor, as
concentrated in this spot. The muslins of Dacca became famous in
Europe, and the hereditary skill of the weaving castes has not yet
become extinct. Vide Dacca City.
The downfall of Dacca dates from the beginning of the 18th
 DACCA DISTRICT.
century. In 1704, Murshid Kuli Khán transferred the seat ofGovern
ment to Murshidabad on the Bhagirathi, and the short-lived prosperity
followed themovement of the court. Dacca continued to be governed
by a náib or nawáb, a deputy of the Viceroy at Murshidábád, whose
appointment was regarded as the most valuable in Bengal, having a
jurisdiction considerably more extensive than the area of the present
Dacca Division. On the establishment of the British power in 1757,
the office of náib became an empty title, but it was continued in the
family of the last representative until 1845 ; and even to the present
day small pensions are paid by Government on this account. The
decline of the weaving industry of Dacca began with the present century.
Prior to 1801, the East India Company and private traders are said
to have made advances for Dacca muslins to the annual amount of
25 lakhs of rupees ( £250,000). In 1813, the investments of private
traders did not exceed £21,000, and the Commercial Residency of the
Company was discontinued altogether in 1817. The only event of
importance in the recent history of Dacca District is connected with the
Mutiny of 1857. Two companies of sepoys were then stationed in the
fort. On the first alarm of the outbreak at Meerut, a force of 100 men
of the Indian Navy was despatched from Calcutta for the protection of
the city . With these sailors, and about 60 civilian volunteers, it was
resolved to disarm the sepoys, who offered a violent resistance, and
were only dispersed after a sharp struggle. Some of the mutineers
are supposed to have escaped into the jungles of Bhután .
People. — No trustworthy estimates of the population in early times
exist. In 1851, the total number was returned at 600,000, and in 1868,
the official estimate was 1,000,000. The first regular Census was taken
in January 1872. The agency employed consisted mainly of the land
lords' servants, as no village officials are to be found in the District.
The Magistrate expressed his opinion that the returns were ' almost, if
not entirely, correct.' The result disclosed a total population of
1,852,993 persons, dwelling in 5016 mauzás or villages, and in 290,593 -
houses. The total area of the District was taken at 2897 square miles.
These figures yield the following averages :- Persons per square mile,
640 ; persons per village, 369 ; persons per house , 674 ; villages per
square mile, 1 '73 ; houses per square mile, 100. Classified according
to sex, there are 905,775 males and 947,218 females ; proportion of
males, 48 -9 per cent. Classified according to age, there are, under
12 years of age, 354,331 boys and 303,148 girls ; total, 657,479,
or 30 '1 per cent. of the total population . The occupation returns
are not trustworthy ; but it may be mentioned that 296,819 persons,
or 55 per cent of the adult males, are returned as connected with
agriculture, and 17,876 as cotton -weavers. The ethnical classification
of the people shows 193 Europeans (including 14 Greeks), 2 Americans,
 DACCA DISTRICT.
5627 Eurasians, and 121 Armenians, 964 aborigines, 250,620 semi
Hinduized aborigines, 531,437 Hindus (classified according to caste ),
13,891 Hindus not recognising caste, 1,050,131 Muhammadans, and 7
Maghs or Arakanese. As throughout the rest of Eastern Bengal, the
majority of the population are of semi-aboriginal descent, including the
great mass of the Muhammadans, who form considerably more than
half the total. The aborigines proper of the Census Report are very
poorly represented, being chiefly composed of the gipsy tribe of Nats.
Among the semi-Hinduized aborigines, the great tribe of Chandáls
numbers 191,162. Of Hindus proper, the following are the most
numerous castes : - Bráhmans, 51,632, including many Kulin families ;
Káyasths, or clerks by hereditary occupation , 102,084. The several
artisan castes number collectively 121,952 ; the boating and fishing
castes, 53,029 ; the weaving castes, 42,528.
Divided according to religion, the population is thus composed :
Hindus, as loosely grouped together for religious purposes, 793,789, or
42. 9 per cent. ; Musalmáns, 1,050, 131, or 56 '7 per cent. ; Christians,
7844, or 4 per cent. ; 4 Buddhists ; and 1255 others.' Among the
Hindus, the Vaishnav sect numbers 11,886 members. The Bráhma
Samáj was first established in Dacca city in 1846 . The society now
possesses a large hall, erected by public contributions, in which meetings
are held every week . There are about 100 regular subscribers, and at
least 1000 sympathizers, throughout the District. The Muhammadans
constitute a very important element of the community. The great
majority belong to the Sunni sect. The few Shiás to be found are
descendants of the Mughal conquerors. The festival oftheMuharram is
celebrated in Dacca city with great pomp and enthusiasm , and police
measures have to be adopted to prevent an outbreak between these two
rival sects. In recent years, the reforming faith of the Faráizís has
spread rapidly through the District. Its members are intolerant,but
not actively fanatical. Many of them are engaged in trade, dealing in
rice, jute , hides, and tobacco . · The acknowledged chief of the Muham
madan community in Dacca is Nawab Abdul Ganí (1878), famous for his
wealth and his liberality. The Christians of Dacca are a motley race.
They include Portuguese half-castes, Armenians, Greeks, and native
converts, as well as the Europeans. The Portuguese mixed breeds, or
Firinghís, are scattered in little communities throughout the Dis
trict. Most of them are cultivators, but many engage in domestic
service. In religiousmatters, they are subject to the jurisdiction of the
Archbishop ofGoa. The native converts, numbering 1901 persons, are
principally Roman Catholics, under the charge of a mission sent direct
from the Propaganda at Rome. There is also a Baptist mission , with
about 100 converts. Both the Armenians and the Greeks are said to
be now declining in numbers and social position .
 DACCA DISTRICT.
According to the Census of 1872, the following 6 towns each contain
more than 5000 inhabitants :- DACCA CITY, MANIKGANJ, NARAINGANJ,
SHOLAGHAR, HASARA, and NARISHA ; total urban population , 109,542, or
1 '5 per cent of the total population of the District. The first 3 of these
towns have alone been formed into municipalities. The total municipal
income in 1871 was £5833, or an average of is. 3 d . per head. DACCA
City will be fully described in the following article . The chief trading
mart in the District is Nárainganj, in conjunction with its suburb of
Madanganj on the opposite side of the Lakhmiá river. Apart from the
increasing importance of river traffic, the people show no tendency to
gather into towns, but rather the reverse. Manufacturing industry can
hardly be said to exist. The following places deserve mention as sites
of interest :- SONARGAON , the first Muhammadan capital of Eastern
Bengal ; FIRINGHI BAZAR, the earliest settlement of the Portuguese ;
BIKRAMPUR , the capital of the mythicalmonarch Vikramaditya, and his
successors on the throne of Bengal; SABHAR and DURDURIA , both con
taining ruins of palaces ascribed to the Bhuiyá or Pál Rájás. Many
earthworks and ruins of Hindu or Musalmán construction are
scattered through the District.
Agriculture. — As elsewhere throughout Bengal, the staple food crop is
rice, which is divided into four varieties — ( 1) the aman, or cold weather
crop, which yields by far the largest portion of the food supply, sown on
low -lying lands about April, and reaped in December ; (2 ) the dus, or
autumn crop, sown on comparatively high lands, about the same time as
áman, and reaped in July ; (3) the boro or ropá , sown in marshy ground
aboutJanuary, subsequently transplanted, and reaped in May ; (4)the uri
or jará dhán, an indigenous variety found growing wild in the marshes,
which is used as food by the poor. No improvement has recently
taken place in the cultivation of rice, and sufficient is not grown to
satisfy the local demand. Other crops include millets, pulses, oil-seeds,
jute, cotton , indigo, safflower, pán leaf, supárí-nut, cocoa-nut, and sugar
cane. The cultivation of cotton has fallen off, but the fibre produced
is said to be of excellent quality. The chief staples of export are jute ,
oil-seeds, and safflower, all of which are being more extensively grown
year by year. Manure is not generally used, and never for rice land.
Irrigation is sometimes practised in the north of the District, and, in the
same tract, fields are occasionally suffered to lie fallow . In the south
the land is under continuous cultivation with the same crops, and the
cultivators trust to the deposit left by the annual inundation to maintain
the fertility of their fields. About two-thirds of the total area of
the District is estimated to be under cultivation. The out-turn of
rice varies from 13 cwts. to 26 cwts. per acre. The best rice lands yield
a second crop of oil-seeds or pulses. The out-turn of jute is about 17
cwts. per acre. The cultivators, as a class, are described as fairly pros
 DACCA DISTRICT.
perous. Comparatively few of them have obtained rights of occupancy ;
but the recent rise in the value of all agricultural products, caused by
the development of trade, has distinctly raised the standard of comfort
among them . Rates of rent for rice land vary from is. iod. per acre
for boro to gs. per acre for aman land. Land that produces two
crops sometimes rents at as much as 125. an acre. As compared with
the neighbouring Districts, Dacca has tew great landlords, and sub
infeudation has not been carried to an excessive extent. There are
seldom more than two classes of intermediate tenure-holders between
the zamindar and the actual cultivator. In the majority of cases, the
landowner collects his rents by the agency of his own servants, and not
through the intervention of a farmer. Spare land at the present day is
only to be found in the hilly, broken tract in the north of the District,
where the aboriginal tribes of Tipperahs and Kochs are gradually
extending the limit of cultivation .
Dacca District is not specially subject to natural calamities, such as
flood, blight, or drought. Each of these does occasionally happen, but
rarely on such a scale as to affect the general harvest. In the year
1777-78, a terrible inundation occurred , succeeded by a calamitous
famine. But, in more recent times, the drought of 1865 and the flood
of 1870 merely raised the prices of grain , and did not produce acute
distress. If the price ofrice at the beginning of the year were to rise to
165. per cwt., that should be regarded as a sign of approaching scarcity.
At the present time the means of communication with other Districts
by water are so good , and the ordinary course of trade is so active, that
importation could at any time prevent scarcity from growing into
famine. There is no demand for either embankments or canals.
Industrial.— The chiefmeans of communication are by water. The
rivers are crowded by native craft and by steamers at all seasons of the
year, and no corner of the District is remote from some navigable
channel. The principal road, the only one under the Public Works
Department, leads from Dacca city through Tipperah to Chittagong. A
second important road runs northward through the high country to
Maimansinh. The only road that carries much traffic is the branch
from Dacca city to the port of Náráinganj, which is metalled. There
are two short navigable canals, only open during the rainy season ; but
no railway in the District. The principal manufactures are cotton
weaving, embroidery , silver-work, shell-carving, and pottery. The
muslins of Dacca, once so celebrated, have now almost entirely ceased
to be made. A few pieces are occasionally woven to order, to satisfy
the taste of the curious. Coarse cotton cloth is still woven all over the
District. The gold and silver smiths and the shell-carvers work in
their own houses, and on their own account ; and their condition is
decidedly prosperous. The weavers and embroiderers, on the other
 DACCA DISTRICT.
hand, manufacture their goods on behalf of merchants, working on a
system of advances. The merchants take care that the artisan shall
always continue in their debt.
Dacca conducts a very large trade by water, and many of the mer
chants push their enterprise into remote countries. Europeans,
Armenians,Muhammadans, and Márwárís maintain a brisk competition
with each other. In former times, the export of manufactured cotton
goods was by far the most important branch of trade. The two largest
marts of commerce are Dacca city and Náráinganj, with its suburb of
Madanganj. A commercial fair is annually held at Munshiganj, lasting
for three weeks, which is attended by merchants from such distant
quarters as Delhi, Amritsar, and Arakan . According to the registered
statistics of river traffic for the year 1876 -77, the total value of the
exports from Dacca District was £1,944,000— including jute, £742,000 ;
rice, £232,000 ; hides, £131,000 ; oil-seeds, £51,000 ; spices,
£46,000 ; betel-nuts, £39,000 ; safflower, £19,000. The total value
of the imports was £3,245, 000 — the chief items being piece-goods,
£795,000 ; salt, £304,000 ; food grains, £366,000 ; tobacco,
£169,000 ; sugar, £255,000 ; timber, £135,000. On the balance
of trade food grains were imported to the weight of 1,256,400
maunds of 82 lbs.
There are four printing-presses in the District, and six or eight news
papers are published regularly . There are six native societies organized
for the spread of education and other charitable objects, besides ‘ The
Dacca Institute,' common to natives and Europeans.
Administration. - In 1870-71, the total revenue of Dacca District was
£111,620, of which £53,671 was derived from the land ; the total
expenditure was £50,631, or less than half the revenue. In the same
year, the regular police force numbered 430 officers and men,maintained
at a total cost of £8552. In addition, the village watch numbered
3068 men, who received from the villagers sums estimated at £6903 ;
and the municipal police consisted of a force of 263 officers and men ,
maintained at a cost of £2023. The total force, therefore, for the
protection of person and property amounted to 3761men, or i man
to every 0 -8 square mile , or to every 493 of the population ; the total
cost was £17,478, being an average of £6, os. 5d. per square mile, and
24d . per head of population . The number of cognisable ' cases con
ducted by the police was 2084, in which the proportion of convictions
was 53.9 per cent. The number of 'non -cognisable ' cases instituted was
4101. In 1868, the average daily number of prisoners in the District
jail was 436, of whom 8 were females ; being i prisoner to every
4250 of the population. The average cost was £4, 198. 4d. per head.
Jail manufactures yielded a net profit of £166, 7s. 3d .
Education has made rapid progress in recent years. In 1860-61,
10 DACCA DISTRICT.
there were altogether 21 schools in the District, attended by 2003
pupils. By 1870-71, the number of schools had risen to 149, and the
number of pupils to 7155. In that year, the total amount spent on
education was £11, 343, towards which Government contributed
£6945. Sir G . Campbell's reforms, by which the benefit of the grant
in -aid rules was extended to the village schools or páthsálás, has greatly
promoted primary instruction. In 1874-75, the number of schools had
further increased to 416 , and the number of pupils to 17,937, showing
I school to every 6 .9 square miles, and 9'1 pupils to every 1000 of the
population. The chief educational institution is the Dacca College,
originally started in 1835. The present buildings were completed in
1846. There is a staff of professors teaching up to the standard of the
University entrance examination, and also an English school depart
ment.
For administrative purposes, Dacca District is divided into 3 Sub
divisions, and into 12 thánás or police circles. The number of
parganás or fiscal divisions is 182. In the year 1868, there were 8
magisterial and 25 civil and revenue courts open ; the number of
European covenanted officers stationed in the District was 4 .
Medical Aspects. The climate of Dacca during the hot months is
sensibly cooled by the circumstance that the wind has passed over the
wide surface of large rivers. The rainy season lasts from April to
October . The most disagreeable weather in the year is experienced at
the close of this season. The average rainfall for the ten years ending
1870 was 75 '23 inches. Earthquakes are of common occurrence.
Specially severe shocks were experienced in April 1762, April 1775, and
May 1812.
The principal endemic diseases are intermittent and remittent fevers,
elephantiasis and bronchocele, dysentery and diarrhoea, rheumatism ,
ophthalmia, and intestinal worms. Cholera and small-pox both
occasionally visit the District in an epidemic form . No attention what
ever is paid to sanitation in the rural tracts ; but the munificence of
Nawab AbdulGaní has recently presented Dacca city with a fund for
undertaking sanitary improvements, and also with a pure water supply.
The following are the results of the system of collecting vital statistics
in certain selected areas for the year 1874. In the urban area , which
is co-extensive with Dacca city, the death -rate was 25'20, and the birth
rate , 26 '53 per 1000. The death -rate in the rural area was 26 '23 per
1000. The institutions for medical relief comprise the lunatic asylum ,
the Mitford Hospital, an almshouse founded in 1866 by Nawáb Abdul
Gani, and 5 charitable dispensaries. In 1871, the dispensaries and the
hospital were attended by 1092 in -door and 20,732 out-door patients ;
the total expenditure was £1761, towards which Government contri
buted £742.
 DACCA CITY. II

Dacca.-- Headquarters Subdivision of Dacca District, lying between

23° 34' and 24° 20' 12" n. lat., and between 90° 2' 45" and 91° 1' 10 " E.
long.; including Dacca City. Area, 1926 square miles ; townships,
3302; houses, 165,537 ; total population ( 1872), 1,007,073, of whom
413,293 were Hindus, 585,805 Muhammadans, 4 Buddhists, 7308
Christians, and 663 of other denominations. Average number of per
sons per square mile, 523 ; townships per square mile, 1971 ; persons
per township , 305 ; houses per square mile , 86 ; inmates per house, 6 ' 1.
Dacca Subdivision includes the 7 police circles of Lál Bágh, Sábhár,
Kápásiá, Ráipur, Rúpganj, Náráinganj, and Nawabganj. Magisterial
and revenue courts (1869), 10 ; police force, 550 men ; village watch,
1192 strong. Separate cost of administration (1869) returned at
£3067, 75. from District funds, besides £1714, 8s. expended by the
municipality.
Dacca . — The city of Dacca, the chief town of the District and
Commissionership of the same name, and the fifth largest city under the
Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal, is situated on the north bank of the
Buriganga river, in 23° 43' n. lat., and 90° 26' 25" E. long., 8 miles
above the confluence of the Burigangá with the Dhaleswari. The
municipal limits include an area of about 8 square miles, and the popu
lation, according to the Census of 1872, numbers 69,212 persons. In
1876 –77, the gross municipal income was £8827 ; rate of taxation,
25. 2 d. per head.
The town extends along the bank ofthe river for a distance of nearly
4 miles, and inland, towards the north , for aboutone mile and a quarter.
It is intersected by a branch of the Dolái creek. The two principal
streets cross each other at right angles. One runs parallel to the river
for upwards of two miles, from the Lal Bágh Palace to the Dolái creek .
The other leads north from the river to the military cantonments ; it is
about one mile and a quarter in length , of considerable width , and
bordered by regularly built houses. The chauk or market-place, a
square of fine dimensions, lies at the extremewest. The remainder
of the town is composed of narrow , crooked lanes, few of which
admit wheeled conveyances. The native houses vary in height from
one to four storeys. In some of the crowded quarters, such as those
occupied by the weavers and shell-carvers, each house has a front
age of only 8 or 10 feet ; but the side-walls run back for a distance of
60 feet. The two ends only of such houses are roofed in , the middle
forming an open court. The houses of the European residents extend
along the river for a space of about half a mile, in the centre of the
town . In the Armenian and Greek quarters, there are several large
brick houses, now falling into decay. Dacca preserves few traces of its
formermagnificence as the Muhammadan capital of Bengal during the
17th century. The old fort, erected in the reign of the Emperor
12 DACCA CITY.
Jahangir, has entirely disappeared. The only public buildings of this
period still remaining are the Katrá , built by Sultan Muhammad Shujá
in 1645 ; and the palace of the Lal Bagh, which several successive
Nawabs intended to associate with their name, but which was never
completed. Both these buildings are now mere ruins, and their decora
tions have been wantonly destroyed. The factories built by the English ,
the French , and the Dutch during the 17th century have also been
swept away. An outline of the history of the city has been given in the
preceding article on Dacca District. The city was first selected as
the seat of Governmentabout 1610 , owing to its convenient position for
controlling the waterways of the delta , which were then ravaged by
Portuguese pirates in alliance with the Arakanese. In 1704, the Nawab
Murshid Kulí Khán moved his residence to Murshidabád ; and though
Dacca long retained a titular Nawab, its glory departed with the removal
of the court. When in the height of its prosperity, Dacca must have
been very populous. Its suburbs are said to have extended 15 miles
northwards, as far as the village of Tungi, where mosques and brick
houses are still to be discovered buried beneath thick jungle. During
the 18th century, Dacca won a new reputation for its manufacture of
fine muslins, which became famous in the markets of the West. The
cotton grown in the neighbourhood is said to be of peculiarly fine
quality . The weavers, who were mostly Hindus, attained a wonderful
delicacy of taste and dexterity of manipulation , by means of hereditary
devotion to their industry. Atthe close of the last century , the annual
investment made by the East India Company and by private traders for
Dacca muslins was estimated at £250,000. But in the beginning of
the present century, this industry began rapidly to decline, under the
competition of cheaper piece-goods from Manchester. By 1813, the
value of the private trade had fallen to £20,000, and four years later,
the Commercial Residency of the Company was closed. The prosperity
of the city has never recovered from this second blow . The reduced
and impoverished population , the ruinous and abandoned houses, still
show the disastrous results of the loss Dacca has sustained in her cotton
manufactures. In 1800, the number of inhabitants was estimated, and
apparently not over-estimated, at 200,000 ; in 1830, a Census of the
town showed that the total had fallen to 67,000. A small colony of
weavers of muslin still exists, who produce fabrics of exceptional excel
lence,working under a system of advances from native capitalists. In
recent years, the general development of trade throughout Bengal has
brought back to Dacca a little of its former wealth. The city is favour
ably situated to command the three river systems of the Ganges, the
Brahamputra , and the Meghná. If we include the commerce of
Náráinganj and Madanganj, which may be regarded as the river ports
of Dacca, its total trade exceeds that of any inland mart of Bengal
 DACCA CITY. 13
except Patná. The collection of jute, oil-seeds, rice, and hides, and the
distribution of piece-goods and salt, constitute the most important func
tions of the Dacca merchants ; and Dacca boatmen are well known
throughout Bengal as the most adventurous of their class. In the year
1876-77, the total trade of Dacca city, excluding Náráinganj and
Madanganj, was valued at £1,183,000. The chief articles of export
were - hides, £130,000 ; jute, £79,000 ; food grains, £41,000 ; the
imports included - piece-goods, £436,000 ; cotton twist, £79,000 ;
timber, £35,000 ; and salt, £25,000.
The population of the city is thus classified in the Census Report of
1872 : - Hindus, males 20,102, females 14 ,331 — total, 34,433 ;
Muhammadans, males 17,022, females 17 ,253 — total, 34 ,275 ; Chris
tians, males 258, females 221 — total, 479 ; ' others,' males 18,
females 12 — total, 30. Grand total, males 37,395, females 31,817 -
total, 69,212. The large proportion of females among the Muham
madan population is worthy of notice. The total of Christians includes
a few Armenians and Greeks, who formerly conducted a considerable
share of the trade of the city . Foremost among the citizens of Dacca
(1878) may be mentioned Nawab Abdul Ganí, C .S . I., who in 1866
founded the Langar Khána, or almshouse, for the accommodation of
poor persons permanently disabled from work. He has since made a
donation of £5000 to the municipality for the carrying out of sanitary
improvements ; and in the present year (1878), the system of water
works has been opened , which he constructed for the city at his own
expense.
Dacca is well provided with educational institutions. The Dacca
College, with a staff of European professors, is one of the best of its
class in India. In 1874-75, the average daily attendance of students
was 105. Each student pays ios. a month . The total cost was £2765,
towards which Government contributed £2017 ; the average cost per
student was £26, 6s. The number of candidates sent up for the first
arts examination was 40, of whom il passed. In connection with the
college there is an English schooldepartment, and English is also taught
at the four following schools The Pogose School, established by a
wealthy Armenian gentleman ; the Brahma Samaj School, the Boys'
School,and the Bángálá Bázár School.
Until the conservancy reforms effected by the aid of the liberality
of Nawab Abdul Ganí, the sanitary condition of Dacca city had
been very unsatisfactory. During the rainy season, the whole city
is surrounded by a labyrinth of brimming creeks, and the low -lying
suburbs are liable to be flooded every year. In former times, the
simplest rules of conservancy were disregarded, and much difficulty has
been experienced in overcoming the traditional prejudices of all classes
of the community. It is hoped, however, that the health of the city will
 14 DAD - DAD .
AR U
now be sensibly improved by the reforms that have been recently carried
out, and by the introduction of a pure water supply. In the year 1874,
the reported death -rate was 25'20 per 1000, and the birth -rate 26.53.
The principal charitable institution is the Mitford Hospital, established
in 1858, by a bequest of a member of the Civil Service. The wards
are well planned and lofty , and the building stands in grounds of its
own, by the river-side. In 1871, the daily average of in -door patients
was 57-42, and of out-door patients, 58.29. The total expenditure was
£1421, towards which Government contributed £542. A permanent
endowment of £16,000 was left by the founder.
Dádar. – Town in Kachhi Province, Baluchistán ; situated in lat. 29°
28' n., and long. 67° 34' E., on the Bolan river, about 5 miles east of
the Bolan Pass, and 37 north -west from Bagh ; elevation above sea
level, about 700 feet ; pop. not exceeding 2000. Surrounded by bare
and rocky hills, which render the heat in summer perhaps greater than
that of any other place in the world in the same parallel of latitude.
Dádar is supplied with excellent water from the river Bolan during a
great part of the year. Wheat, cotton , cucumbers, and melons are
grown in the neighbourhood of the town.
Dadhálya. — One of the petty States in Máhi Kánta, Bombay. The
area of the land under cultivation in 1875 was estimated at 5000 acres,
the population at 3448, and the revenue atabout £300. The Thákur is a
tributary chief, paying annually £70 as ghás-dána, or forage for cattle,
to the Gáekwár of Baroda, and £61 as kichri, or supplies for troops, to
the Rájá of Edar. He has enjoyed semi-independent power since the
establishment of his family in Máhi Kánta . The family are Sesodia
Rájputs, who originally came from Udaipur (Oodeypore) in Rajputána.
The first Thákur entered the service of the chief of Edar with a body
of horse, and obtained the gift of 48 villages, in 1674. At a later date,
the Dadhálya chief, refusing to serve under the Márwár princes who
assumed the Government of Edar, had his grant reduced to its present
limits.
Dádri. – Village in Bulandshahr District, North -Western Provinces,
lying on the Grand Trunk Road , 20 miles north -east of Buland
shahr, and 23 miles south-east of Delhi. Pop. (1872), 2223 ; police
station , post office, village school, encamping ground for troops. The
railway station (East Indian Railway) is a mile and a half s.- W . of the
village. Fort built at the end of the 18th century by Dargáhi Sinh ,whose
descendants held estates in the neighbourhood till 1857,when they
joined the rebels. Two members of the family were hanged, and their
possessions were confiscated. ColonelGreathed's column occupied Dádri
on the 26th of September 1857, and, finding much property taken from
Europeans, burned the neighbouring villages.
Dádú. — A táluk in the Sehwán Deputy Collectorate, Karáchi
 DADU - DAGSHAI. 15

(Kurrachee) District, Sind. Lat. 26° 29' 30" to 26° 56' 30 " N ., long.67°
22' 30" to 67° 57' 45" E. ; area, 746 square miles; pop. (1872), 66,350 ;
revenue (1873-74), £14,616 , of which £13,467 was derived from
imperial, and £1148 from local funds.
Dádú. - Municipality and chief town in above táluk, Karachi Dis
trict, Sind. Lat. 26° 43' 30" N ., long. 67° 49' E. Pop. ( 1872), 3357,
principally agriculturists ; Muhammadans, 2434, of the Sayyid , Memon ,
Chaki, and Lashári tribes ; Hindus, 923, chiefly Lohános. Múkhti
árkár's station, post office.
Daflapur (or Jath). — One of the Satára jágírs in Bombay, whose
chief, “ The Duflay of Jath,' takes his name from the town of Daflapur.
Lat. 17° 0' N ., long. 75° 7' E. In 1820, the British Government made
an engagement with the ancestors of the present chief, confirming them
in the estates then held . In 1827, the estate was attached by the Rájá
of Satara to pay off the chief's debts, but, after their liquidation , it was
restored in 1841. The British Government have more than once inter
fered to adjust the pecuniary affairs of the jágír ; and, in consequence of
numerous oppressions, were compelled in 1872 to assume the direct
management on behalf of the holder. The jágírdár pays to the
British Government £640 per annum in lieu of the service of 50 horse
men, and a tribute of £473. He also pays £95 to the Panth Pra
tinidhi of Aundh from the revenues of certain villages. The area of the
jágir is about 885 square miles ; population (1871), 70,665 ; revenue,
£8364. The town of Daflapur lies about 80 miles south-east of
Satára, and 85 north -east of Belgáum .
Daga. - A creek in Pegu Division, British Burma, which leaves the
BASSEIN RIVER 3 or 4 miles from its northern mouth , in Henzada District,
in lat. 17° 42' 0" N., and long. 95° 25' 0" E., and after a tortuous south
west course, rejoins it near Bassein town , lat. 16° 55' o ' n ., and long. 94°
48' 0" E The northern entrance has silted up, and is now completely
closed by the embankment of the Bassein ; the bed for about 8 miles
down, as far as Rwathit, is dry during the hot season . In the rains
the downward current is strong, but in the dry season the tide is felt as
far as Thabye-hla at neaps, and 15 miles farther at springs. The Daga
is navigable by river steamers during the rains for 36 miles, from its
southern outlet to the Meng-ma-hnaing creek ; it is practicable all the
year round for native craft as far as Kyun-pyaw , where the creek is
from 200 to 300 feet wide, and so to 15 feet deep. A few miles
below Kyún-pyaw is the Eng-rai-gyi Lake, communicating with the
Daga by a small channel.
Daga . - Revenue circle in Bassein District, Pegu Division, British
Burma, to which is now joined Shwe-gnyoung-beng. Pop. ( 1876 ), 2227 ;
gross revenue, £641.
Dagshái. - Hill cantonment in Simla District, Punjab ; situated
 16 DA -GYAING - DAJAL.
on a bare and treeless height, 16 miles south of Simla , on the cart
road to Kálka, in lat. 30° 53' 5" N., long. 77° 5' 38" E. Established
in 1842 ; now regularly occupied by a European regiment. The
station, though usually healthy, suffered from an epidemic of cholera in
1872. Supplies are drawn from Kasauli.
Da-gyaing . – River in Amherst District, Tenasserim , British Burma.
Rises in the Dawna spur, and, flowing westward , joins the Hlaingbhwai
about half-way between the villages of Khazaing and Hlaingbhwai. In
the rains it brings down a considerable body of water, but a swift
current and numerous rocks render it unnavigable.
Dáhánu . Seaport and municipal town in the Dáhánu Subdivision
of Tanna District, Bombay. Lat. 19° 58' n., long. 72° 45' E. ; pop .
(1872), 3186 ;municipal revenue (1874-75), £90 ; rate of taxation, 6 d.
per head. Average annual value of trade for the five years ending
1873-74 - exports, £10,339 ; imports, £2150.
Dahi. - Petty State in Chakalda, tributary to Holkár, to whom it
pays £30 . It is under the Bhil Agency, a department of the Central
India Agency.
Dahira .- Petty State in South Káthiáwár, Bombay, consisting of
3 villages, with 6 independent tribute-payers. The revenue in 1876 was
estimated at £1000 .
Dai-da-rai.— Revenue circle in Thonkhwa District, Pegu Division ,
British Burma; situated on the right bank of the To river, about 15
miles from its mouth. Pop. (1876), 5319 ; gross revenue, £3106.
Daing-bún. – Revenue circle in Kyouk-hpyú District, Arakan, British
Burma. Area, 117 square miles ; pop. (1876 ), 4111. The southern
portion is divided into numerous islands by inter-communicating tidal
creeks. Gross revenue (1876), £3108.
Dáin -hát. — Trading town and municipality in Bardwán District,
Bengal. Lat. 23° 36 ' 24" n., long. 88° 13' 50" E. ; pop. (1872), 7562.
Situated on the banks of the Bhagirathi; fair held here. Manufactures,
weaving and brass-work ; trade in grain , tobacco, jute, salt, English
cloth , cotton, etc. Gross municipal revenue (1876 -77), £367; average
rate of taxation , 11d. per head of the population .
Dai-pai. — Lake in Karoung township , Henzada District, Pegu
Division, British Burma ; situated near the foot of the eastern slopes
9 Covering are from the neigh of4 or5, fetz * 33'
of the Pegu Yomas, covering an area of nearly one square mile.
Supplied principally by the drainage from the neighbouring hills ; during
the rains it has a depth of 9, and in the dry season of 4 or 5, feet.
Dijal. — Town in Derả Ghazi Khán District, Punjab. Lat. 29° 33
22" N., long. 70° 25' 21" E.; pop. (1868), 5695, comprising 1044
Hindus, 4554 Muhammadans, 8 Sikhs, and 89 ' others.' First rose
to importance under the rule of the Náhirs (vide DERA GHAZI
KHAN DISTRICT), from whom it was wrested by Ghází Khán ; subse
 DAKATIA - DAKSHIN SHAHBAZPUR.
quently fell into the hands of the Kháns of Khelát. Formerly a
thriving town, trading with the country beyond the British frontier, but
now in a decayed state, the traffic having taken different channels.
Forms with the adjoining village of Naushahra a third -class munici
pality ; revenue (1875-76 ), £284, or 10d. per head of population
(6335) within municipal limits.
Dákátiá . — River of Bengal; rises in Hill Tipperah , and flows
through the southern portion of Tipperah District,where it is joined
by numerous mountain torrents . After taking a westerly course past
Lákshám , Chitosi, and Hájíganj, the Dákátiá sweeps suddenly round
to the southward 6 miles east of Chándpur, and empties itself into the
Meghná a little above the village of Raipur, in Noákháli District.
Dakhineswar. – Village on the Húgli, in the Districtof the Twenty
four Parganas, Bengal ; situated a little north of Calcutta . Contains a
powder magazine, and a few country-houses of Europeans. Also noted
for its twelve beautiful temples in honour of Siva, built on the river bank .
Aided vernacular schoolhere.
Dákor. — Municipal town in the Thásra Subdivision of Káira District,
Bombay ; 16 miles north -east of the Anand railway station. Lat.
22° 45' N ., long. 73° 11' E . ; pop. (1872), 7740 ; municipal revenue
(1874-75), £807 ; rate of taxation, 25. id. per head. Dákor is one of
the chief places of pilgrimage in Western India . There are monthly
meetings, but the largest gatherings take place about the full moon in
October - November, when as many as 100,000 pilgrims assemble.
Dispensary and post office.
Dakshin ( Dakhin or Deccan).— Tract of country in Southern India .
- See DECCAN .
Dakshin Shahbazpur.- A large low -lying island in the Meghná
estuary , and now a Subdivision of Bákarganj District, Bengal ; situated
between 22° 16 ' 45" and 22° 51' 30" n. lat., and between 90° 39' 30" and
90° 57' 15" E. long. Created a separate administrative Subdivision in
1845 , finally transferred from Noakhali to Bákarganj in 1869 ; comprises
the two thánás or police circles of Daulat Khan and Dhaniá Maniá.
Area, 818 square miles, with , in 1872, 345 villages, 23,715 houses,and a
population of 221,037. The cyclone of 31st October 1876 is said to have
swept away almost the entire population of Daulat Khán . The island
is a typical deltaic tract, formed out of the silt brought down by the
Ganges and Brahmaputra . Its level is said to be higher than that of the
adjacent delta or the Bákarganj mainland. The strong 'bore' of the
Meghná at spring tides rushes up on the east of Dakshin Shahbazpur,
flooding all the water- courses and creeks. The north and eastern
sides are being cut away by the river, many homesteads with their palm
groves annually disappearing in the river ; while large alluvial accretions
are constantly forming farther down the estuary , at the southern point,
VOL. III.
18 DALA - DALHOUSIE .
of Dakshin Shahbázpur. Seat of a court, with 75 regular police and
482 village watchmen ; total cost of Subdivisional administration
returned at £1525.
Dala .— A suburb of Rangoon town, Pegu Division, British Burma ;
situated on the right or western bank of the Rangoon river. Formerly
the Dala district included Angyí, now a township of Rangoon District,
and Pyapún, a portion of Thonkhwa; but these were transferred at the
end of the last century . In 1650 A . D ., Dala is said to have been
subject to the King of Burma; at one time it belonged to Pegu, at
another it was under an independent governor.
Dala . - A creek in Rangoon District, Pegu Division, British Burma,
which empties itself into the Rangoon river opposite Rangoon town.
On the west side of its mouth are dockyards, and to the east, timber
yards and steam sawmills. In the dry season it is navigable for a few
miles only.
Dala-nwon. - River in Shwe-gyeng District, Tenasserim Division ,
British Burma. Rises in the eastern spurs of the Pegu Yomas, and,
flowing south -east, falls into the Tsittoung a few miles below Thayet
thamien. Navigable by large boats as far as Thonkhwa.
Dalgomá.— Village in Goálpára District, Assam , at which a large
fair is held annually in January, on the anniversary of the death of a
former high priest of the temple. Lat. 26° 6' n., long. 90° 49' E.
Dalhousie. — Municipal town, cantonment, and hill sanitarium in
Gurdaspur District, Punjab. Lat. 32° 31' 45' N., long. 76° ' 15 '' E.
Occupies the summits and upper slopes of three mountain peaks in the
main Himálayan range east of the Rávi river ; distant from Pathankot
52 miles north -west, from Gurdaspur 75 miles ; elevation above sea,
7687 feet. To the east the granite peak of Dáin Kúnd, clothed with
dark pine forests, and capped with snow even during part of summer,
towers up to a height of 9000 feet ; while beyond, again , the peaks of
the Dháola Dhar, covered with perpetual winter, shut in the Kangra
valley and close the view in that direction . The scenery may compare
favourably with that of any mountain station in the Himalayan range.
The hills consist of rugged granite , and the houses are perched in a
few gentler slopes among the declivities ; but building sites are rare
and difficult to obtain , so that most of the houses are double -storied.
The first project for the formation of a sanitarium at this spot originated
with Colonel Napier,now Lord Napier of Magdala, in 1851. In the fol
lowing year, the British Government purchased the site from the Rájá of
Chamba, and the new station was marked off in 1854. No systematic
occupation, however, took place until 1860. In that year, Dalhousie
was attached to the District of Gurdaspur ; the road from the plains was
widened, and building operations commenced on a large scale. Troops
were stationed in the Balún barracks in 1868, and the sanitarium
 DALINGKOT - DALMAU. 19
rapidly acquired reputation as a fashionable resort. The town now
contains a court-house, branch treasury, post office, dispensary, church,
and several hotels. The sanitary arrangements are still somewhat
imperfect. Municipal revenue (1875-76), £649; pop. within municipal
limits (1868), 2019.
Dálingkot (or Damsáng). — A hilly tract situated east of the Tistá,
west of the Ne-chu and De-chu rivers, and south of Independent
Sikkim . It was acquired as the result of the Bhután campaign of
1864, and now forms a part of DARJILING DISTRICT, Bengal.
Dalli. — Ancient chiefship in Bhandara District, Central Provinces.
Pop. (1870), 2331, chiefly Gonds, residing in 17 small villages, covering
an area of about 53 square miles, of which 6 are rudely cultivated.
The Great Eastern Road runs across Dalli, through the Mundipár Pass ,
the hills round which furnish an abundant supply of bamboos. The
chief is a Gond. Principal town, Dalli, situated in lat. 21° 5' 30 " N .,
long. 80° 16' E.
Dalmá. — The principal hill in the mountain range of the same
name in Mánbhúm District, Bengal ; height, 3407 feet. It has been
described as the “ rival of Párasnáth,' but it lacks the bold precipices
and commanding peaks of that hill, and is merely a long rolling ridge
rising gradually to its highest point. Its slopes are covered with
dense forest, but are accessible tomen and beasts of burden. The chief
aboriginal tribes living on Dalmá Hill are the Kharriás and Paháriás.
Dálmau. — Pargana of Lálganj tahsil, Rái Bareli District, Oudh.
Bounded on the north by Rái Bareli parganá ; on the east by
Salon : on the south by Fatehpur District, the Ganges marking the
borderline ; and on the west by Khíron and Sareni parganás.
Originally held by the Bhars till their extirpation by Ibrahim Sharki of
Jaunpur, but first created a parganá by Akbar. The Bais were almost
the sole proprietors till the forfeiture of the great estate of Rájá Beni
Madhu, and its distribution among other proprietors. A large and
fertile tract, with an area of 253 square miles, of which 121 are
cultivated. Government land revenue, £41,114 , being at the high
rate of 55. id. per acre. Ofthe 292 villages comprising the pargand ,
213 are held under talukdárí tenure , 33 are zamindári, and 14 pattidári,
while 32 are Government grants. Pop. (1869), Hindus, 138,757 ;
Muhammadans, 6331 ; total, 145,088, viz. 72,135 males and 72,953
females ; average density of population , 573 per square mile. Ten
market villages, of which LALGANJis themost important. Main imports
- rice and sugar from Faizabád (Fyzabad ), and cotton from Fatehpur ;
extensive trade in cattle. Saltpetre was formerly manufactured in con
siderable quantities , but the industry now exists on a small scale in only
two villages. Two large annual fairs, each attended by about 50,000
persons, are held in the parganá.
20 DALMAU - DAMAN .
Dálmau. — Town in Rái Bareli District, Oudh ; on the right bank of
the Ganges, 16 miles south of Rái Bareli town , and 14 miles north of
Fatehpur. Lat. 26° 3' 45'' n., long. 81° 4' 20" E. The town is said to
have been founded about 1500 years ago by a brother of the Rájá of
Kanauj. It was for long in the possession of the Bhars, and the sur
rounding country was the scene of a protracted struggle maintained by
that tribe against the encroachments of the Muhammadans. About
1400 A . D ., the Bhars were almost annihilated by Sultan Ibrahim Sharki.
Several Muhammadan mosques and tombs, in various stages of decay,
and the ruins of the ancient Bhar fortress, attest the bygone importance
of the town. During the last century it has steadily declined. Its
population in 1869 consisted of 4940 Hindus and 914 Muhammadans ;
total, 5854, residing in 656 houses, of which 245 are of brick . The
principal buildings are several mosques, an old Hindu temple, and a
saráí or rest-house. Three bi-weekly markets, police station, postoffice,
Government Anglo -vernacular school. Large annual fair, attended by
from 50,000 to 60,000 persons, is held on the last day of Kártik , at
which a considerable trade is carried on .
Dálmí.— Site of remarkable Hindu ruins on the Subarnárekhá river,
Mánbhúm District, Bengal. Lat. 23° 4' N., long. 86° 4' E. They
comprise an old fort, with the remains of curious temples, dedicated
both to the Sivaite and Vishnuvite objects of worship.
Daltonganj. — Administrative headquarters of Palámau Subdivision,
Lohárdagá District, Bengal. Prettily situated on the North Koel river,
opposite the old town of Shahpur. Lat. 24° 2' 15 " n ., long. 84° 6' 40" E.
A brisk local trade is springing up. A court-house, and the usual Sub
divisional offices. Named after Colonel Dalton, late Commissioner of
Chutiá Nágpur.
Daltonganj Coal- field . — The name given to an area of 200 square
miles in the valleys of the Koel and the Armánat rivers. The civil
station ofDaltonganjlies just beyond its southern border. Ofthe whole
field , only about 30 square miles are important as coal-bearing tracts.
Damalcherri. — Pass in North Arcot District, Madras ; by which the
Marhattá chief Sivajímade his first descent ( 1676 ) upon the Karnatic ;
and here , in 1740, Dost All the Nawab was killed in battle with the
Marhattás. Lat. 13° 25' 40" N., long. 79° 5' E. During the campaigns
of 1780-82, it formed the main route for the supplies of Haidar Ali's
troops when invading the Karnatic.
Dáman (or · The Border ; ' so called from its position between the
Sulemán Mountains and the Indus). -- A tract in the Punjab lying between
28° 40' and 33° 20' n . lat., and between 69° 30' and 71° 20' E. long.
Comprises the portions of Dera Ghazi Khán, Dern Ismail Khán, and
Kohát Districts on the western bank of the Indus ; length , from the
Salt Range on the north to the confines of Sind on the south , 300
 DAMAN SETTLEMENT. 21

miles; average breadth , about 60 miles. Naturally bare and devoid of

vegetation, it derives fertility in the part bordering the Indus from
irrigation in connection with that river. The southern portion of the
Dáman is known as the Deráját. For further particulars see the separate
Districts.
Damán. - A Portuguese town and Settlement in Guzerat, situated
about 100 miles north of Bombay. Including the pargana of Nagar
Haveli, it contains an area of 82 square miles, with an estimated popu
lation of 40,980 persons. It is bounded north by the river Bhagwán ,
east by British territory, south by the Kalem , and west by the Gulf
of Cambay. Damán town is situated in lat. 22° 25' n., long. 72° 53' E.
The Settlement is composed of two distinct portions, Damán proper
and the parganá of Nagar Haveli, separated from it by a narrow strip
of British territory , 5 to 7 miles in width , and intersected by the
Bombay, Baroda, and Central India Railway. Damán proper, or the
town of Damán, was sacked by the Portuguese in 1531, rebuilt by the
natives, and retaken in 1558 by the Portuguese, who made it one of
their permanent establishments in India . They converted the mosque
into a church , and have since built eight other places of worship . It
contains an area of 22 square miles, and lies at the entrance of the Gulf
of Cambay. It is subdivided by the river Damán-Gangá into two separate
tracts, known as Damao Grande (Great Damán) and Damao Piqueno
(Little Damán ). The first,on the south, contiguousto the British District
of Tanna, comprises 23 villages ; while the other, consistingof 14 villages,
lies towards the north and borders on Surat District. This portion of
the Settlementwas conquered from Bofata on the ad of February 1559,
by the Portuguese under Dom Constantino de Braganza . The parganá
of Nagar Haveli, situated towards the east, has an area of 60 square
miles, and is likewise subdivided into two parts, called Eteli Pati and
Upeli Pati, containing respectively 22 and 50 villages. It was ceded to
the Portuguese by the Marhattás, in indemnification for certain piratical
acts committed against a ship carrying a flag of the former nation, in
accordance with the treaty signed at Poona on the 6th of January 1780.
Physical Aspects. — The principal rivers are — (1) the Bhagwán, forming
the northern boundary of the Settlement ; ( 2 ) the Kalem , running
along the southern boundary ; and (3) the Sandalkhál or Damán -Gangá
(Border Ganges ), a deep navigable stream , rising in the Gháts about
40 miles east of Damán proper. All these fall into the Gulf of Cambay.
The Damán -Gangá has a bar at its mouth - dry at the lowest ebb tides,
but with 18 to 20 feet of water at high tides. Outside this bar is a
roadstead, where vessels of 300 to 400 tons may ride at anchor, and
discharge cargo. Damán has long enjoyed a high celebrity for its
docks and shipbuilding yards, due chiefly to the excellent teak with
which the country is stocked. The climate of the place is gene
 22 DAMAN SETTLEMENT.
rally healthy throughout the year. The Settlement has no minerals,
but possesses stately forests in the parganá of Nagar Haveli, whose
total value is estimated at about £444,000. About two-thirds of these
forests consist of teak (Tectona grandis) ; the other timber-trees include
- sadra (Pentaptera glabra), khayer (Acacia catechu), sissu (Dalbergia
latifolia), cabeariti (?) (Acacia sundra ), tanas (Dalbergia ujjainensis),
siwana (Gmelina arborea ), dambora (Conocarpus latifolius), hedu (Nau
clea cordifolia ), asan (Briedelia spinosa), timburni (Diospyros montana),
and bábul (Acacia arabica). The forests are not conserved, and the
extent of land covered by each kind of timber has not yet been precisely
determined.
Agriculture. — The soil is moist and fertile, especially in the parganá
of Nagar Haveli. Principal crops- rice, wheat, the inferior cereals
common to Guzerat, and tobacco. Despite the facility of cultivation ,
only one - twentieth part of the territory is under tillage. In the
parganá of Nagar Haveli, the greater part of the soil is the property of
Government, from whom the culivators hold their tenures direct. A
tax is levied on all lands, whether alienated or the property of the State.
There is, however, no fixed rate of assessment, as the tax is regulated by
a general estimate of the productiveness of each village. The total
revenue thus obtained amounts to about £800.
Trade, etc. — Before the decline of the Portuguese power in the East,
Damán carried on an extensive commerce, especially with the eastern
coast of Africa, to which the cotton fabrics made at Damán were largely
exported in vessels carrying the Portuguese flag. From 1817 to 1837,
there was a flourishing trade with China in opium imported from Karachi
(Kurrachee). But since the conquest of Sind by the British, the trans
port of opium has been prohibited, and thus Damán has been deprived
of its chief source of wealth . The customs revenue in 1874-75 was
£1106. In old days, Damán was noted for its weaving and dyeing.
The former industry is still carried on to a limited extent, chiefly by
the wives ofMusalman khalásis,while the latter is almost extinct. The
piece-goods, made from a mixture of English and country twist, are of
a quality and pattern worn only by the natives of Goa, Mozambique,
and Diu , to which places they are exported . Mats and baskets of
khajuri and bamboo are manufactured on a large scale. A noteworthy
feature in connection with the industrial occupations of the place is its
deep sea fishing, giving employment to 150 vessels, each with a crew
of about 30 khandis. They make for the coast of Kathiáwár, near
Diu , where they remain for somemonths, and return laden with salted
fish cured on board .
Administration . — The total revenue of Damán in 1873-74 amounted
to £7960, ros., of which the larger portion was derived from the
parganá of Nagar Haveli. The chief sources of revenue are land tax,
 DAMAN-I-KOH .
forests, abkári or excise, and customs duties. The expenditure in the
same year was £7880, 45.
Population. — The total population of the Settlement is estimated at
40,980, of whom 12,980 (almost entirely Hindus) inhabit the parganá of
Nagar Haveli. According to the Census of 1850, the population of
Damán proper was returned at 33,559 — it is now said to be reduced
to 28,080 — being Europeans, 14 ; descendants of Europeans, 23 ;
native Christians, 2220 ; Hindus, 21,743 ; Muhammadans, 3714 ;
Parsis, 188 ; and Africans, 178. The total number of houses amounts to
8151 ; but only a very few are of any size or pretensions. The native
Christians adopt the European costume. Some ofthe women dress them
selves after the present European fashion, while others follow the old
style once prevalent in Portugal and Spain , viz. a petticoat and mantle.
The territory of Damán forms, for administrative purposes, a single
District, and has a municipal chamber or corporation. It is ruled by
a Governor invested with both civil and military functions, subordinate
to the Governor-General of Goa. The judicial department is super
intended by a judge, with an establishment composed of a delegate
of the attorney -general, and two or three clerks. The public force
consisted, in 1874, of 194 officers and men. Damán has two forts,
situated on each side of the river Damán -Gangá. The larger, on the
south , is in Damao Grande, and the smaller, on the north , in Damao
Piqueno. The former is almost a square in shape, and built of stone.
It contains, besides the ruins of the old monastic establishments, the
Governor's palace, together with the buildings appertaining to it,military
barracks,hospital,municipaloffice, court-house, jail, twomodern churches,
and numerous private residences. On the land side, this fort is pro
tected by a ditch crossed by a drawbridge, while at its north -west angle
extends the principal bastion, which commands the entrance to the
harbour. It is occupied by the Governor and his staff, the military
establishments, officers connected with the Government, and a few
private individuals ; all are Christians. The smaller fort, which is a
more recent structure, is placed by the Portuguese under the patronage
of St. Jerome. Its form is that of an irregular quadrilateral, enclosed
by a wall somewhat higher than that of the other fort. The principal
buildings within it are a church , a parochial house, and a mortuary
chapel surrounded by a cemetery. Both the forts have brass and iron
cannon on the walls, some of which are mounted , and others either
attached to old carriages or lying on the ground. Damán, with its
population of 40,980, has only 4 schools, with 94 pupils.
Dáman -i-Koh .- A tract of hilly country in the District of the
Santál Parganas, Bengal. Area, 1366 square miles, which was marked
off by a ring fence in 1832 ; pop. (1872), 264,313 ; number of houses,
51,726 ; average number of persons per house, 5'1. The population of
24 DAM -DAMA - DAMODA RIVER.
R
the Dáman , or skirts of the hills,'has rapidly increased since permission
was given to the Santáls to settle in the lower slopes and valleys of
these mountains (see SANTAL PARGANAS). The Census of 1872 was
taken in this tract by the head-man of each village, by means of
knotted strings of three colours, representing the males, females, and
children separately. Each individual was 'knotted off,' while in some
villages an independent committee kept a reckoning by seeds or small
pieces of gravel, arranged in three sets upon the ground. The women
and children apprehended someterrible natural visitation in consequence
of this numbering of the people.
Dam -Dama. Subdivision and cantonment, Twenty -four Parganas
District, Bengal. — See Dum-DUM .
Dámodar.- A river of Bengal; rises in the Chutiá Nágpur water
shed, and, after a south-easterly course of about 350 miles, falls into the
Húgli just above the ill-famed “ JAMES AND MARY SANDS,' a shoal
which it has helped to deposit at its mouth . The junction is in lat.
22° 17' N., long. 88° 7' 30" E. Together with its tributaries, it forms
the great line of drainage of the country stretching north -west from
Calcutta to the fringe of the plateau of Central India. That plateau
throws off to the eastward a confused mass of spurs and outliers, which,
in the Districts of Hazaribagh and Lohardaga, form a watershed, in the
84th degree of east longitude and 23rd of north latitude, of much,
although inadequately recognised, significance in the hydrography of
Bengal. The ridges culminate near Lohardaga town in a well-defined
barrier, with peaks up to 3476 feet. Two important river systems
here take their rise in close proximity, and then diverge on widely
separated routes. The drainage from the north -western slopes flows
northwards into the Son, the great river of Behar, which joins the
Ganges between Patná and Baxár, 500 miles above the spot where the
waters from the eastern slopes, as represented by the southerly flowing
Dámodar, enter the Húgli. The Hazáribágh or Lohárdaga watershed,
therefore, forms the western apex of a vast triangle, with the Són as its
north -eastern , and the Dámodar as its south -eastern sides, resting upon
the Ganges as its eastern base. The sources of the Dámodar are a two
pronged fork, approximately in 23° 35' to 24° n. lat., and 84° 40' to
84° 55' E. long., --the southern one, the true source, being in the Tori
parganá of Lohárdagá District ; the northern one, the Garhi, in the
north -west corner of Hazaribagh District. After a course of about 26
miles as wild mountain streams, the two prongs unite just within the
western boundary of Hazaribagh ; and the combined river flows through
that District almost due east for 93 miles, receiving the Kunár,
Jamuniá, and other affluents from the watershed on the north-west. It
continues its course still eastward through Mánbhúm , and receives its
chief tributary, the Barákhar, also from the north , at the point where it
 DAMODAR RIVER. 25
leaves that District and touches Bardwán. The united stream now
becomes navigable, and assumes the dignity of an important river. At
the point of junction it turns to the south -east, separating the Ráníganj
Subdivision of Bardwán from Bánkurá ; next entering Bardwán District,
it continues south -east to a little beyond Bardwán town ; then turns
sharp to the right and flows almost due south for the remainder
of its course through Bardwán and Húgli Districts. Shortly before
entering the latter, it assumes the deltaic type, and instead of receiv
ing affluents, throws off distributaries, the. best known being the
Káná nadi, which branches from the parent stream at Sálimábád in
Bardwán District, and finds its way as the Kuntinadi into the Húgli
near the village of Nawa Sarái. The main stream formerly debouched
into the Húglí more directly and higher up than at present ; its old
mouth now being marked by the insignificant water-course known as
the Kánsoná khal. The Dámodar thus exhibits in its comparatively
short course the two great features of an Indian river. In the earlier
part of its career, it has a rapid flow , and brings down large quantities
of silt. At the point of junction of the two prongs on the western border
of Hazaribagh District, the united stream starts with an elevation of
1326 feet above sea level. In its course of 93 miles through Hazári
bágh, its fall averages 8 feet per mile (total, 744 feet), and it leaves the
District with an elevation of only 582 feet to be distributed over its
remaining course of about 250 miles. The fall continues rapidly
through Mánbhúm and north-western Bardwán, in the latter of which
Districts the Dámodar deposits large and shifting sandbanks. In south
Bardwán and Húgli Districts it declines into a sluggish deltaic channel,
and deposits the remainder of its silt at its point of junction with the
Húgli river, opposite Faltá. The Rúpnáráyan , a southern congener of
the Dámodar, from nearly the samewatershed, also falls into the Húgli,
a few miles lower down. Both streams enter the great river at a sharp
angle from the west, and the James and Mary Sands' have been
thrown up between their mouths. These sands are formed from the
silt brought down by the Húgli and Dámodar ; the deposit of the
suspended matter at this spot being caused by the freshets of the
Rúpnáráyan , which dam up the Húglí by backwaters, thus checking
its current and forcing it to drop its burden . During the dry season ,
the Dámodar is only navigable as far as Ampta in Howrah District ,
about 25 miles from its mouth — by native boats of 10 tons bụrden at
neap, and of 20 tons at spring tides. In the rainy season, it is navigable
to near its point of junction with the Barákhar, in the north -western
extremity of Bardwán District. A flotilla of 200 to 300 boats (páutás),
from 20 to 30 tons, built broad with strong transverse timbers to resist
the strain caused by frequent grounding on sandbanks, brings down
yearly about 40,000 tons of coal from the Ráníganjmines, to depôts at
 26 DAMOH DISTRICT.
Maheshrekhá in Howrah District, whence they reach Calcutta via the
Ulúbáriá Canal and the Húgli. In seasons of abundant and evenly
distributed rainfall, each boat can make two or three trips between
June and October. The Dámodar is subject to sudden freshets, which
used to desolate the surrounding country in Mánbhúm and Bardwán
Districts. In 1770, a flood almost totally destroyed Bardwán town ,
ruined the whole line of embankments, and caused a severe local
famine. In 1823, and again in 1855, inundations swept away the
river-side villages, and the terror of a similar calamity has deterred the
people from building on many of the deserted sites. Picture to your.
self,' writes the Calcutta Monthly Journal in 1823, ' a flat country com
pletely under water, running with a force apparently irresistible, and
carrying with it dead bodies, roofs of houses, palanquins, and wreck of
every description !' The floods lasted for three days, during which the
fortunate owners of brick tenements camped on their roofs. The old
landmarks of the peasants' holdings were swept away, and many years
of bankruptcy and litigation ensued. Since the construction of the
railway, which for a space follows the course of the Dámodar, and the
improvement of the river embankments, which Government took into
its own hands after the flood of 1855, calamities on this scale have
been unknown. The Dámodar embankment now protects the country
northwards ofthe river ; and the damage caused by inundations on the
southern or right bank are comparatively insignificant.
Damoh . - A British District in the Chief Commissionership of the
Central Provinces, lying between 22° 10' and 23° 30' n . lat., and 79° 5 '
and 80° E. long. Bounded on the north by Bundelkhand, on the
east by Jabalpur (Jubbulpore ), on the south by Narsinhpur, and on
the west by Ságar (Saugor). Population in 1872, 269,642 ; area, 2799
square miles. The administrative headquarters of the District are at
DAMOh , which is also the principal town.
Physical Aspects. — The contour of the District is irregular, and in
parts ill-defined . To the south, a lofty range of sandstone hills separates
Damoh from Narsinhpur and Jabalpur (Jubbulpore), and at places sends
forth spurs and ridges into the plain below . But these elevations are as
a rule insignificant in size, and add but little beauty to the landscape.
On the east rise the Bhondlá Hills, which run eastwards till they
are lost in the loftier range of the Bhánrer Mountains. The Vind
hyáchál Hills, which stretch for a considerable distance along the
western boundary, though of no great height, form the most picturesque
feature of the District - from time to time opening out into broad up
lands, thickly wooded with low jungle. In this part of Damoh the
overlying trap of the Ságar plateau is met with . From these ranges,
which more or less distinctly mark it off on three sides, Damoh extends
in a vast tableland , sloping gradually towards the north , till an abrupt
 DAMOH DISTRICT. 27
dip in the surface occurs, beyond which the plains of Bundelkhand may
be seen stretching far away into the distant horizon . Except on the
south and east, where the offshoots from the surrounding hills and
patches of jungle break up the country, the District consists, therefore ,
of open plains of varying degrees of fertility , interspersed with low
ranges and isolated heights. The richest tracts lie in the centre. The
gentle declivity of the surface, and the porous character of the pre
vailing sandstone formation , render the drainage excellent. All the
streams flow from south to north . The Sonár and the Bairma, the
two principal rivers, traverse the entire length of the District, receiving
in their progress the waters of the Beas (Biás), Koprá, Guvayya, and
smaller tributaries, rolling with a rapid stream towards the northern
boundary of Damoh . As it approaches the frontier, the Sonár takes a
bend eastwards, and joins the Bairmá; the united stream then leaves
Damoh behind it, and, after receiving the Ken , falls into the Jumna.
Little use has yet been made of any of the rivers for irrigation , though in
many places they offer great facilities for the purpose.
History. — In early times the Chandel Rájputs ofMahobá, in Bundel.
khand, administered the present Districts of Ságar and Damoh by
means of a deputy placed at Balihri, in Jabalpur (Jubbulpore). Except
ing a few temples known as marhs, of rude architecture, and entirely
destitute of inscriptions, the Chandels have left no monuments of
their rule. On the decay of the Chandelí Ráj, about the end of the
uth century, the greater part of Damoh became dependent upon the
Gond power, which had its seat at Khatolá , in Bundelkhand , until its
subversion about 1500 by the notorious Bundelá chief, Rájá Barsinh
Deva. The Muhammadan power made itself felt in Damoh from a
very early period. A Persian inscription, formerly affixed to the
principal gateway of the town of Damoh, purports to have been placed
there during the reign of Ghíyás-ud-din (A . D . 1367-1373). Two hundred
years, however, elapsed from this time before the Muhammadans
actually occupied the District. Their invasion met with little opposi
tion , except at Narsinhgarh , where the Gonds made a show of resist
ance to Shah Taiyab, the commander of the Imperial forces. During
the supremacy of the Muhammadans, Damoh, Narsinhgarh (or as
they called it, Nasratgarh ), and Lakhroní were the principal towns ;
and their presence may still be traced in the ruins of forts, tombs, and
mosques. The Muhammadan element in the population is now very
insignificant both in numbers and in position ; and though the Kázís of
Narsinhgarh claim descent from Shah Taiyab, they have fallen so low
that they are glad to take service as messengers and process-servers .
When theMughal Empire began to give way before the rising Marhattá
power, the Muhammadans fast lost their hold over such outlying
dependencies ; and Chhatra Sál, the powerful Rájá of Panna, took the
28 DAMOH DISTRICT.
opportunity to annex Ságar and Damoh. The Gonds and other
wild tribes, however, who held the more mountainous regions in the
south and east of Damoh , never acknowledged his authority . In his
timewas built the fort of HATTA. In the year 1733, Rájá Chhatra
Sál was forced to solicit the assistance of Bájí Ráo Peshwá to
repel an invasion of the Nawab of Farrukhábád from the north .
To repay the service then rendered, Rájá Chhatra Sál consented to
the cession called the tethrá, by which all his territory was divided
into three equal parts-- one for each of his two sons, and the remaining
third for the Peshwa, whom he formally adopted . In this distribution ,
a part of Damoh was allotted to each of the three ; but no long time
elapsed before the Marhattás wrested the whole of the District from the
Bundelás. From this period, Damoh continued subordinate to the
Marhattá governors at Ságar (Saugor), until by the treaty of 1818 it was
made over to the British . Under the plundering revenue system of the
Marhattás, wide tracts relapsed into jungle, and the cultivating classes
sank into a state of hopeless poverty. Half a century of British
administration has now brought about a new era of prosperity for
Damoh . Our earlier land settlements, based on the Marhattá records,
pressed heavily on the agricultural population ; but this error has been
rectified, and the District now enjoys a light assessment and fixed
tenures. The result has already manifested itself in the spread of culti
vation , and in the high market value of land, in some cases exceeding
thirty years' purchase. The official records of Damoh were destroyed
in the disturbances of 1857.
Population . -- A rough enumeration in 1866 returned the population
of Damoh at 262,641 ; the more careful Census of 1872 at 269,642.
The latest estimate, in 1877, indicates a total of 283,394 inhabitants.
The Census of 1872 still remains, however, the only basis for a detailed
examination of the people. It disclosed a population of 269,642 per
sons, living on an area of 2799 square miles, residing in 1128 villages or
townships and 57,688 houses ; personsper square mile, 96 -34 ; villages
per square mile, :4 ; houses per square mile , 20 '61 ; persons per village,
239'04 ; persons per house , 4 :67. Classified according to sex --males,
139,962 ; females, 129,680. According to age, the male children in
1877 numbered 50,470 ; the female , 45,650. Ethnical division in 1877
- Europeans, 5 ; Eurasians, 18 ; aboriginal tribes, 32,528 ; Hindus,
237,204 ; Muhammadans, 8064 ; Buddhists and Jains, 5418. The most
numerous of the aboriginal tribes are the Gonds, of whom there were
30,209 in 1872, the remainder consisting chiefly of Kúrkús. Among
the Hindus, in 1872, the Brahmans numbered 21,378, the mass of the
Hindu population consisting of Lodhís (33,342), Kurmis (20,664), and
other inferior castes. Native Christians in 1877, 6 .
Division into Town and Country. There are only two towns in Damoh
 DAMOH DISTRICT. 29
District with a population exceeding 5000 — viz. Damoh, the District
capital (pop. (1876 ), 8189) ; and HAITA (pop. 6251). Townships of
1000 to 5000 inhabitants, 33 ; from 200 to 1000, 394 ; villages of
less than 200 inhabitants, 699. Damoh and Hatta form the only
municipalities, containing a population (1876) within municipal limits
of 8690 and 6633 respectively .
Agriculture. — Of the total area of 2799 square miles, only 678 square
miles are cultivated, and of the portion lying waste, 815 are returned as
cultivable. Only 1271 acres are irrigated - entirely by private enterprise .
The Government assessment is at the rate of is. 4 ! d . per acre of
cultivated land, or rod. on the cultivable land. Wheat constitutes the
principal crop, being grown in 1876, on 204,650 acres, while 133,152
acres were devoted to other food grains. Rice and oil-seeds form the
only other important produce. The cultivation of cotton is small and
decreasing. Theaverage rent per acre of land suited forwheat is 2s. 9d.;
for inferior grain , is. 7d.; for rice, 2s. 6d. ; and for oil-seeds, 2s. The
produce per acre averages— wheat, 460 lbs.; inferior grain , 320 ; rice ,
720 ; and oil-seeds, 360. The average prices in 1876 per cwt. were
wheat, 4s. 6d. ; rice, 5s. 8d. ; and linseed, 6s. iod. The usual wages
for skilled labour amounted to is. per diem ; for unskilled labour, 3d .
The Census of 1872 showed a total of about 4400 proprietors, of whom
1207 were classed as ' inferior.' The tenants numbered nearly 34,000,
of whom 20,643 were tenants-at-will, while the remainder had either
absolute or occupancy rights. The best agriculturists are the Kurmís,
who are said to have immigrated from the Doáb about 250 years ago.
The circumstance that their women engage in field -work equally with
the men , contributes in no slight degree to their success. A most
peaceable race, and remarkable for their loyalty to the ruling power, the
Kurmis are exceedingly tenacious of their ancestral holdings, and will
hardly alienate their rights in land under the greatest pressure. The
Lodhis, who rank next as agriculturists,made their way into the District
about three centuries ago. Often turbulent and revengeful, they form
good soldiers, and are generally excellent sportsmen . Both Kurmís
and Lodhis make no distinction between a mistress and a wife,
provided the former is of the same caste as her partner, or,what is more
respectable still, the widow of an elder brother or cousin . The children
born from such connections inherit property, of whatever kind, equally
with those born of regularly married wives. In the wooded and hilly
portions of Damoh, many Gonds pursue agriculture after a humble
fashion ; in the plains they are principally employed as farm servants.
Of the 71 villages held by Muhammadans, 63 are in possession of one
family , who obtained a whole táluk in proprietary right as a reward for
loyal services rendered during the Mutiny.
Commerce and Trade. - The chief tradeof the District is conducted at
 30 DAMOH DISTRICT.
the annual fairs held at Kundalpur and Bándakpur. The Kundalpur
fair takes place in March, beginning with the yearly gathering of Jains,
immediately after the Holi festival, and lasts a fortnight. It owes its
origin to the Jain temple erected at Kundalpur by the Punwar Banias,
to which the neighbouring Jains resorted to worship Nemináth, and to
settle caste disputes. In these adjudications, the delinquents often
incurred fines, which supplied a fund for the repairs of the temple, and
for embellishing the place with tanks and groves. The fairs at Bán
dakpur are held in January and February, at the Basantpanchmi and
Siva-rátri festivals respectively, when crowds of devotees visit the place
for thepurpose of pouring water from the Ganges or Narbadá (Nerbudda )
on the image of Jágeswar Mahadeva, in fulfilment of vows made, for
prayers granted, or favours solicited. Of the offerings made to the
god on these occasions, to the value of nearly £1200 in the year,
one-fourth becomes the property of the priests. The proprietor of the
temple claims the remaining three-fourths, and is said to expend his
share on religious objects. This temple was erected in 1781 by the
father of Nágojí Ballál, a respectable Marhattá pandit of Damoh, in
obedience to a dream , which revealed to him that at a certain spot in
the village of Bándakpur an image of Jágeswar Mahadeva lay buried .
There he built a temple ; and in due time, as the vision foretold , the
image arose without the help of man . The fame of this occurrence
has attracted throngs of pilgrims, and consequently of traders, and, in
January 1869, the attendance amounted to 20,000 persons. Piece
goods manufactured at Mariá -Doh, hardware, with trinkets made at
Hindoria and Paterá , form the articles chiefly dealt in . The import
traffic on the north -east frontier is considerable, consisting of European
and country-made piece-goods, betel, cocoa-nuts, hardware, tobacco,
spices, rum , and sugar from Mirzapur and the north -west. But a great
proportion of these goods merely passes through the District on the way
to Ságar and Bhopál. On the other hand, the Banjárás bring large
quantities of salt from the Rájputána salt lakes, by way of Ságar and
Damoh , to supply the markets of Bundelkhand. The exports consist of
wheat, gram , rice, hides, ghí, cotton , and coarse cloth. The total length
ofmade roads in the District is returned at 113 miles of the second, and
139 of the third class. The principalroad is that connecting themilitary
station of Ságar (Saugor) with the town of Jabalpur (Jubbulpore). For
the 40 miles of its course which lie within this District it is partially
bridged, and all the streams it crosses are fordable. The shorter line
which joins Ságar with Jokái on the Mirzápur road, traversing Damoh
for 30 miles, should become an important railway feeder. The only other
important line runs from Damoh towards Nagode viâ Hatta, and sup
plies the route for commerce with Mirzápur and the Upper Provinces.
Besides these roads, two tracks start from the north-east and north -west
 DAMOH . 31
of the District, along which the Banjárás drive their long trains of pack
bullocks, laden with grain for the markets of Bundelkhand.
Administration. — Damoh was first formed into a separate District
under the British Government of the Central Provinces in 1861. It is
administered by a European Deputy Commissioner with Assistants and
tahsildars. Total revenue in 1876 -77, £32,993, of which the land
revenue yielded £26,680. Total cost of District officials and police of
all kinds, £11,817. Number ofcivil and revenue judges of all sorts
within the District, 4 - magistrates, 8 ; maximum distance from any
village to the nearest court, 50 miles; average distance, 25 miles.
Number of police, 388 (costing £5535 ), being i policeman to about
every 7'3 square miles and to 704 inhabitants. The daily average
number of convicts in jail in 1876 was 48.97, of whom 5:41 were females ;
the total cost of the jail was £366. In the same year the number
of Government or aided schools in the District under inspection was
51, attended by 2019 pupils. Of the two municipalities, Damoh, with
a municipal population of 8690, had in 1876 -77 an income of £543
(of which £423 were derived from taxation , being 11d. per head ), and
expended £523 ; and Hatta, with a municipal population of 6633, had
an income of £330 (ofwhich £279 were derived from taxation , being
iod . per head), and expended £273.
Medical Aspects. — The climate may be pronounced fairly healthy.
The temperature is lower than is usual in the Districts of the Narbadá
(Nerbudda) valley,and thehotwinds provemilder and ofshorter duration
than in Upper India. All the year round, the nights are cool. In the
winter it generally rains, and then the weather becomes really cold , and
sharp frosts sometimes occur. Rainfall in 1876 -77, 68'07 inches ;
annual average, 56'30 inches. Average temperature in the shade at the
civil station :- May, highest reading 107° F., lowest 87° ; July, highest
reading 94°, lowest 68° ; December, highest reading 80°, lowest 52°.
Cholera sometimes sweeps over the District. Small-pox carries off large
numbers of children, but the spread of vaccination will doubtless
diminish its ravages. Fevers prevail at the conclusion of the monsoon ,
but not to so great an extent as in the adjoining District of Jabalpur.
The most common disease is the guinea-worm , which generally breaks
out at the beginning of the rainy season . The first attack is severe, but
with careful treatment the patient usually recovers in two months. It
seldom , if ever, attacks Europeans. In 1876 , 9390 deaths from all
causes were registered, and the ratio per 1000 reached the high figure
of 36°78, the mean for the previous five years being only 23'91. There
were 34 cases of suicide, of which 21 were committed by women ; 53
persons died from snake bite , or were killed by wild beasts. In the same
year, 5 charitable dispensaries afforded medical relief to 11,662 patients.
Damoh. - Tahsil or Revenue Subdivision in Damoh District, Central
32 DAMOH - DANGS, THE.
Provinces. Lat. 23° 9' to 24° 27'n., long. 77° 57' to 79° 24' E. ; pop.
( 1872), 163,184, residing in 695 villages or townships and 33,437
houses, on an area of 1792 square miles. Persons per square mile, 91'06 .
Damoh . – Chief town and administrative headquarters of Damoh
District. Lat. 23° 50' n., long. 79° 29' 30" E., on the high road between
Ságar (Saugor) and Jabalpur (Jubbulpore), and between Ságar and
Allahábád viâ Jokái. Pop. (1876 ), 8189, chiefly Lodhís, Kurmís, and
Bráhmans, with a few Muhammadans. Municipal revenue (1876 -77),
£543 ; incidence of taxation , ud. per head. The porous sandstone on
which the town is built does not easily retain water, and there are but
few wells ; thus, in spite of the fine tank called the Phutera Tál, good
water is scarce. The temperature is considerably increased by radiation
from the bluffs near Damoh .
Dámsang. — Tract of country, Dárjíling District, Bengal. — See
DALINGKOT.
Dangs, The. — Tract of country, situated within the limits of the Poli
tical Agency of Khandesh, Bombay. Bounded north -west by the petty
State of Warsávi in the Rewa Kánta Agency, north -east by the British
Districts of Khandesh and Násik , south by the Peint State in Násik Dis
trict, and west by the Bánsda State in Surat District. The Dangs consist
of 16 petty States, ruled by Bhil chieftains, and extending from 20° 22' to
21° 5' n . lat., and from 73° 28' to 73° 52' E. long. The extreme length
from north to south is 52 miles, and the breadth 28 miles. Estimated
area, about 1000 square miles; pop. (1872), 22,326 ; estimated gross
revenue of all the chiefs, £1930 (chiefly derived from dues on timber).
The country is covered with dense forest, intersected in all direc
tions by precipitous ravines and rugged mountains, the general slope
being towards the west. The rainfall is heavy ; and the air of the
valleys, walled in on all sides by steep hill ranges, is close and hot.
The water obtained from pools and wells is always full of decaying
vegetable matter. From these causes the climate is singularly unhealthy.
Except for a few months during the driest season of the year, no
European, and only the hardiest races of natives, can remain in the
Dangs. The valleys contain tracts of rich black loam , but the soil
on the uplands is the poorer variety of red . None of the mineral
resources have as yet been ascertained. Of vegetable products, teak and
other timber trees are by far the most important. With the exception
of a little rice and pulse , the crops are confined to the inferior varieties
of mountain grains. There are no roads properly so called, but there
are 4 principal cart tracks. The inhabitants of the Dangs belong
almost entirely to the wild forest tribes. Most of them are Bhíls, who,
accompanied by herds of sheep and goats,move about from place to
place, supporting themselves in great measure on game and the natural
products of the forest. Under the former Native Governments, the
 DANGS, THE. 33
Bhíls were the terror of the neighbouring Districts, and on occasions
the most indiscriminate vengeance was taken on them in return for their
habitual depredations. After the occupation of Khandesh by the
British, in 1818, anarchy was at its height. The roadswere impassable,
villages were plundered, and murders committed daily , the only protec
tion the inhabitants of the plain could obtain being through regular
payment of black-mail. An expedition was sent into the Dang
country ; but at the end of three months, less than half the force
marched back to Maligaon, the others having succumbed to the
malaria of the jungle. At that time, Captain (afterwards Sir James)
Outram came among the Bhíls. First conciliating them with feasts and
his prowess in tiger-shooting, he eventually succeeded in forming a Bhíl
corps, originally based on 9 men who had accompanied him on
shooting expeditions. In 1827, this Bhíl corps had reached 600 rank
and file,who fought boldly for the Government and suppressed plunder
ing. The District treasuries are now under their charge, and the chief
police rests in their hands. The tribe next in importance to the Bhíls
is called Konkani. They are somewhat more settled in their habits
and more inclined to agriculture, though little superior to the Bhíls in
appearance. The language of both these tribes is a mixture of Hindu
stání,Maráthí, and Guzeráthí,in which thelast predominates. Education
is in a very backward state. In the whole Dangs, not more than half a
dozen persons can read and write.
There are sixteen petty chiefs in the Dang country , whose States
are returned (1876) as follows :
Estimated Supposed
Name of State. Population . Revenue.
Rs.
Dang Pimpri, . 4 ,025 3, 106
. . . . . . . . . . . . . ..

Wadhwán , . 150 147

Jhari Gárkhardi, . 325 59
Ketak , . . 75 155
Amála , 4,805 2,885
Chinchli, . 675 бох
Pimpládevi, .
2125
120
Palásbihar, . 15 2,20
Auchar, 375 201
Derbhauti, 2,005 3,649
Gárvi,
Siobára
. 4,668 5, 125
, 225 422
Kirti, 903 512
Wásurná , 4,197 2,275
Dhude, 90 85
Surgána, 8,201 11,469
Total, . . 31,059 31,041
(say 63104)
VOI, III.
34 DANGURLI- DANK'AUR .
Of these, fourteen are held by Bhíls, and one by a Kunbí. Four of
the petty chieftains claim the title of Rájá ; the others are called Naiks.
They are all practically independent, though a nominal superiority is
awarded to the Gárvi chief, under whose banner the rest are bound to
serve in time of war. In former times the Gárvi chiefwas, again , in
common with the other Dang chiefs, tributary to the Desmukh of Mulber,
a strong fort in the Báglán Subdivision of Násik District. But the
oppression exercised by the Desmukh in collecting his annual tribute
of £70, gave rise to such frequent disturbances, that the British Govern
ment was induced to deduct the amount from the sumsnow paid to the
Dang chiefs for the leases of their forests, and hand it over direct to the
representative of the Desmukh .
The administration of justice, civil and criminal, in the Dangs is
vested in the Collector of Khandesh as ex officio Political Agent; capital
sentences, or those involving more than fourteen years' imprisonment,
being referred for the confirmation of Government. Petty cases are
settled by the Rájás and Náiks themselves, each in his own jurisdiction,
the punishments inflicted being chiefly fines in money and cattle.
None of the Dang chiefs possesses a sanad authorizing adoption, but
the succession in all cases follows the rule of primogeniture. The
whole area of the Dangs is leased to Government in perpetuity, but the
lease may be relinquished at any time on giving six months' notice of
an intention to that effect.
Dángurli.- Small chiefship on the left bank of the Wainganga
river, in Bhandára District, Central Provinces, containing only one
village. Situated in lat. 21° 36 ' N ., and long. 80° 11' E. ; area, 1905
acres, of which two-thirds are cultivated, producing a large quantity of
the castor-oil plant. The chief claims to be a Rájput.
Dankar. — Picturesque village in Kángra District, Punjab , and
capital of the Spiri tract. Lat. 32° 5 ' 30" N., long. 78° 15' 15" E .
Stands at an elevation of 12,774 feet above sea level, on a spur or bluff
which juts into the main valley, ending in a precipitous cliff. The
softer parts of the hill have been denuded by the action of the weather,
leaving blocks and columns of a hard conglomerate, among which the
houses are curiously perched in quaint and inconvenient positions.
Overtopping the whole rises a rude fort, belonging to Government ;
while a Buddhist monastery stands on a side of the hill. The inhabit
ants are pure Thibetans. Dankar has formed the seat of Government
for the Spiti valley from time immemorial.
Dankaur. – Ancient town in Bulandshahr District, North -Western
Provinces. Situated in lat. 28° 21' 25" n., long. 77° 35 ' 35" E., on the
bank which separates the uplands from the Jumna (Jamuná) valley ;
distant from Bulandshahr 20 miles south-west. Pop. (1872), 5423,
comprising 4210 Hindus and 1213 Musalmáns. Founded according
 DANKIA - DA-NWON . 35
to tradition by Drona or Dona, a hero of the Mahabharata , from whom
the town derives its name. Ruins of a large fort, built by Kayam -ud
din Khan in the reign of Akbar, amid which stands a mosque of com
paratively modern construction. Masonry tank and ancient temple.
Police station , post office, village school. Traffic by Makanpur ghát
passes through Dankaur, which has no trade of its own.
Dankiá . — Mountain in the Chholá range, Sikkim , Bengal; height,
23,176 feet; situated 50 miles east - north -east of Kanchanjangá.
Lat. 27° 57' 30" n., long. 88° 52' 15 " E. Although the Dankiá moun
tain is 5000 feet lower than Kanchanjangá, it is the culminating-point
of a much more extensive and elevated mass. An immense spur, with
an average elevation of 18,500 feet, runs south-west from Dankiá to
Kanchanjangá, forming a great watershed.
Dánta. — Tributary State within the Political Agency of MáhiKánta,
in the Province of Guzerat (Gujarát), Bombay. A wild and hilly country,
with a pop. (1872) of 11,762 ; gross revenue, £4500, inclusive of transit
dues. Tribute- £237 to the Gáekwár of Baroda ; £52 to the Rájá of
Edar ; £50 to the Rájá of Palanpur. Chief crops-- millet, Indian corn,
wheat, and sugar-cane. Marble is found and quarried in Dánta .
There is I school, with 45 pupils. The Chief is a Hindu, and a
Rájput by caste ; his title is Ráná. In matters of succession, the family ,
which has held semi-independent power since 1069 A.D., follows the
rule of primogeniture, but does not hold a sanad authorizing adoption .
Harísinjhí, the present Ráná,was sixty years ofage in 1877. The Amba
Bhawáníshrine, famous throughout India , is situated in this territory. It
is visited by pilgrims of all ranks during August, September, October,
and November, and costly offerings are presented to the goddess.
Dánta . — Chief town of the State of the same name, in Guzerat,
Bombay ; 38 miles east of Disá (Deesa ), and 136 miles north of
Baroda. Lat. 24° 12' 15" n., long. 72° 49' 30" E.
Dantiwára.- Village in Bastár Feudatory State, Central Provinces ;
situated in lat. 18° 54' n ., long. 81° 23' 30" E., at the confluence of
the Dankáni and Sankání rivers, and to the west of the Belá Dílás, a
lofty range of hills. About 60 miles from Jagdalpur, and 120 from
Sironcha, on the direct route between these places. Population, about
300. Famed for its temple to Danteswari or Kali, the patron goddess
of the Rájás of Bastár, where human sacrifices were practised of old .
Dántun . - Chief village in the parganá of the samenamein Midnapur
District, Bengal. Seat of a subordinate judge's court; considerable trade
in cloth , made of silk and cotton, manufactured in MorbhanjState.
Da-nwon.-- A tidal creek in Thonkhwa District, Pegu, British Burma.
Navigable by river steamers. With the Irawadi (Irrawaddy), it forms
an island on which stands the village of Kywonpyathal. Lat. 16° 25' N .,
long. 95° 12' 30" E.
36 DAPHLA HILLS - DARAPUR.
Daphla ( or Duffla) Hills. - A tract of country on the north-east
frontier of India , occupied by an independent tribe called Daphla , akin
to the Abars and the Akás. It lies north of Darrang and Lakhimpur
Districts, in the Province of Assam ; bounded west by the Aká Hills,
and east by the Abar range. The westward boundary is formed by the
Bhoroli river, the eastward boundary by the Sundri. The Daphlas are
divided into two clans — the Tagin Daphlas, whose villages border on
Lakhimpur ; and the Paschim Daphlas, living on the Darrang frontier.
According to the Assam Census Report of 1872, the total number of
Daphlas in British territory was 418. The term Daphla , which is of
uncertain derivation , is that applied to them by the Assamese ; they call
themselves Bangní, a word signifying ‘man ’ in their own language. Their
political constitution is based upon an excessive subdivision of authority.
There are as many as 238 gáms, or village chiefs, in receipt of posá or
commuted black-mail from the British Government, to the total annual
amount of £254. In former times, the Daphlas were notorious for
their raids upon the inhabitants of the plains. At the beginning of the
present century, the northern valley of the Brahmaputra was entirely
depopulated by the terror thus spread ; and during the early years of
British administration , the passes leading from the Daphla Hills were
regularly blockaded by military outposts. Recently, however, the
Daphlas have shown a more peaceable disposition. In return for the
annual payment of posá , they have kept the peace along their own
frontier, and a trade has sprung up between them and the Assamese.
In 1872, there was an unfortunate recurrence of their old practices. A
party of independent Daphlas, of the Tagin clan, suddenly attacked a
colony of their own tribesmen , who had settled at Amtolá , in British
territory, and carried away 44 captives to the hills. The motive of this
raid was a belief that an outbreak of disease among them was intro
duced from the plains. During the next two years, the hill passes were
blockaded by police and soldiers, but with no result. In the cold
season of 1874 -75 , an armed expedition was marched into the hills. No
serious opposition was encountered ; all the captives that survived were
released, and an excellent effect has been produced upon the hill tribes.
Da-pyú-khyaing. – Revenue circle in Kyouk -hpyú District, Arakan
Division , British Burma. Area , 220 square miles, inclusive of Ma-í
circle ; pop. (1876 ), 3617, chiefly Arakanese ; gross revenue (1876 ),
£549.
Dáraganj. - Town in Allahabad District, North -Western Provinces ;
situated in lat. 25° 41' N., long 81° 21' E., on the left bank of the
Ganges, on the route from Allahábád to Jaunpur. Communicating by
ferry with Allahabad city, ofwhich it forms an outlying suburb.
Dárapur. – Village in Jhelum (Jhilam ) District, Punjab ; situated in
lat. 32° 46 ' n ., long. 73° 36' E ., about a mile from the right or west bank
 DARAPUR - DARBHANGAH . 37
of the Jhelum river, just below its junction with the Bunhár torrent. The
neighbouring ruins of Udainagar were identified by Burnes with those
of Niccea, built by Alexander to commemorate his victory over Porus.
General Cunningham , however, with greater probability, places the site
of Alexander's great battle at JALALPUR.
Dárapur.- Táluk and town in Coimbatore District, Madras. See
DHARAPURAM.
Darauti.– Village in Sháhábád District, Bengal ; 5 miles north -east
of Rámgarh. Contains some old remains attributed to the Suars or
Sivirás. Dr. Buchanan Hamilton conjectures, from the style of this
work, that the Cherús once had a temple here, and that the obelisksnow
left standing commemorate its destruction by the Suars.
Daray . - Revenue circle in the extremenorth -west of Bhílú (Bheeloo )
island, Amherst District, Tenasserim Division, British Burma. Pop.
(1876 ), 544, chiefly Talaings ; land revenue, £402 ; and capitation
tax, £59. In Burmese times, Daray was a separate township, includ
ing the whole western Bhílú -gywon, which was cut off from its eastern
portion by the Tsaibala creek , now silted up. Daray has never been
either populous or productive.
Daray-bhyú. — Creek in Bassein District, Pegu Division , British
Burma. Forms one of the entrances from the sea to the RwE. Its
mouth , in lat. 15°51' 20" n. and long. 90° 41' 20" E , is obstructed by
sandbanks, but the rest of the river is easily navigable by river
steamers.
Daray-bouk — The name given to the northern mouth of the Salwin
river from Martaban to the sea . Several centuries ago,it was the ordinary
entrance for ships coming to Martaban in Tenasserim , British Burma ;
but for many years it has been so choked with sandbanks as to be
impassable by sea-going vessels.
Darbelo . - A Government town in the Naushahro Deputy Collec
torate , Haidarábád (Hyderabad) District, Sind . Pop. (1872), 1159,
mainly agriculturists, the Muhammadans being of the Kalhoro and Pír
tribes, the Hindus chiefly Lohános. Annual export of grain , by the
Naulakhi Canal, valued at £2000.
Darbhangah - District in Patná Division , Bengal ; formed out of
the great District of Tirhut on the ist of January 1875. The
geographical and general aspects of Darbhangah will be dealt with
under TIRHUT DISTRICT, which was not divided until after the date
when the materials for this work were collected. Tirhut continued until
1875 the largest and most populous District of Lower Bengal. Ofits six
Subdivisions, the three western were formed into the new District of
MUZAFFARPUR at the commencement of that year. The three eastern
- viz. Darbhangah, Madhubani, and Tájpur — were constituted into the
District of Darbhangah ; bounded on the east by Muzaffarpur District,
38 DARBHANGAH TOWN.
on the south by the Ganges and by Monghyr District, on the west by
Bhágalpur, and on the north by the Nepál frontier. Lat. 26° 40' to 25°
29' N ., long. 85° 34' to 86° 46' E .; area (according to Parliamentary
Return for 1878), 3004 square miles ; pop. (1872), 2,196,324. Principal
town and District headquarters, DARBHANGAH , which is also the
residence of the Rájá of Darbhangah . Cultivated area , 1,661,280
acres ; 951,418 under rice. Of the gross area of Darbhangah Sub
division in 1872, viz. 2 ,159,170 acres, only 223, 976 are left unproductive,
including roads. Darbhangah suffered severely during the famines of
1866 and 1874, and the dense pressure of the population on the soil
formed one of the principal difficulties in dealing with those calamities.
In 1866, the suffering was greatest during July, August, and September,
the price of rice ranging from 7 to 51 sers per rupee, or from 155. 9d.
to £1, os. 9d. per cwt. In 1874, the rates reached 155. 8d. per cwt.
For an account of the Darbhangah Ráj, see DARBHANGAH TOWN.
Darbhangah (“ Town ' and ' Ráj'). — The headquarters station and
principal town of the new District of the same name ; situated in lat.
26° 10' 2" n., long. 85° 56 ' 39" E., on the left or east bank of the Little
Bághmatí river. It is the largest and most populous town in Tirhut,
containing, according to the Census of 1872, 47,450 inhabitants. The
gross municipal income in 1876-77 was £1788 ; gross expenditure,
£1532 ; average rate of taxation per head, 8d. The bázárs are
large, and markets are held daily. A considerable trade is carried on,
and the communications by road are good in all directions. The State
Railway connects the town with Bazitpur on the banks of the Ganges, a
distance of 45 miles ; and Bazitpur in its turn is connected by a steam
ferry with Bárh , one of the stations on the main line of the East Indian
Railway. The principal exports from the city are oil-seeds, saltpetre ,
and timber ; and the imports, food grains and salt. During the year
1876 -77, the registered traffic by river only was as follows:- Exports,
£80,032 ; imports, £30,566. The value of oil-seeds exported was
£49,332 ; of timber, £14,359 ; of saltpetre, £9961. The value of
salt imported was £25,560.
Darbhangah has been the residence of the Mahárájás of Darbhangah
since 1762. The family trace their origin to one Mahesh Thákur, who
originally came from the Central Provinces in the beginning of the 16th
century, and took service as a priest under the ancient Rájás of Tirhut.
After Tirhut was conquered by the Muhammadans, and the race of the
old princes became extinct, Mahesh Thákur is said to have proceeded
to Delhi, where he obtained the grant of the Darbhangah Ráj from
the Emperor Akbar. But the title of Rájá was not duly confirmed until
the timeof Raghu Sinh in 1700. The residence of the family was then
at Bhawára, near Madhubani, where the remains of an old mud fort
are still pointed out, which is said to have been built by Raghu Sinh.
 DARDI JANBAI. 39
A temporary settlement was concluded by the British Government with
Madhu Sinh, who succeeded to the Ráj in 1776 . A long series of
disputes and misunderstandings ensued. The Rájá refused to engage
for the decennial settlement of 1790 , alleging that grave injustice had
been done him by the authorities. The estate was therefore leased out
to two Muhammadan farmers. But in November 1791, the one resigned
his share, and shortly afterwards the other was killed by a fall from his
horse at Patná, and his heirs refused to continue the lease. Madhu
again refused the settlement. The lease was then renewed to a
number of small leaseholders, from 1793 up to 1800, when it expired .
Negotiationswere again entered into with the Rájá, but they fell through
as before , and the estate was once more let in farm . At last the
property was restored to the Rájá on his consenting to pay an increase
of revenue. Madhu Sinh died in 1808. His son Chhatar Sinh, who
lived till 1839, was the first who received the title of Mahárájá. On
his death , the succession was disputed, but after costly litigation, his
eldest son , Rúdar Sinh , was declared heir to the title. Rúdar Sinh
died in 1850. His son Maheshwar died in 1860, leaving two sons,
Lakshmeswar and Rameswar, the present Mahárájá, and his brother.
As these were minors, the Court of Wards took charge of their posses
sions. Everything was in confusion ; the estate was £700,000 in debt,
and the revenue was only £160,000. Under the management of the
Court of Wards, the property has greatly improved ; the debt has been
paid off, and the rental has increased by £40,000. Besides this ,
£ 547,600 had been saved prior to the famine of 1874 ; but nearly
£300,000 was then expended in charitable relief. The estate supports
entirely a first-class dispensary at Darbhangah ; another at Kharakpur;
an Anglo -vernacular school and 22 vernacular schools in its villages.
It further contributes largely to 3 dispensaries and 27 schools. It has
opened 150 miles of new road , along which about 20,000 trees have
been planted. Three iron bridges have been erected over navigable
rivers, and extensive irrigation works, at a cost of £70,000, have been
constructed on the Kharakpur estate in Monghyr District. The wards
have been educated at Benares. When the Government took charge,
the family residence at Darbhangah consisted of a few low -built houses,
hemmed in by hovels in the town. Many of the latter have been
removed , and new buildings have been erected , surrounded by well laid
out gardens of about 55 acres in extent. A new palace, with a menagerie
and aviary, is now under construction ( 1877). The estates of the Ráj are
situated in the four Districts of Tirhut,Monghyr, Purniah ,and Bhagalpur.
Their
Dardi rental is £202,419
totalJanbái.-- One ofthe;petty
the totalGovernment revenue, £42,821.
States in North Káthiáwár, Bombay.
It consists of 1 village with 2 independent tribute-payers. The revenue
in 1876 was estimated at £250 ; no tribute is payable.
 DARIEN - DARJILING DISTRICT.
Darien .- A maritime revenue circle in Martaban township, Amherst
District, Tenasserim , British Burma. It consists of low -lying, highly
cultivated plains, liable to inundation on the west during high tides, the
sea penetrating through a drainage-way cut by a villager some years
ago. In 1876, the population numbered 3181 ; the capitation tax
yielded £327, and the land revenue, £2478.
Dárjiling. – The District of Dárjíling forms the most northerly
portion of the Rajsháhl-Kuch Behar Division, under the Lieutenant
Governor of Bengal. It lies between 26° 30' 50" and 27° 12' 45" N .
lat., and between 88° 1' 30" and 88° 56 ' 35" E. long., running
up between Nepal and Bhután towards the State of Independent
Sikkim . The area was returned in 1876 at 1234 square miles ; and the
population , according to the Census of 1872, numbers 94,712 persons.
The administrative headquarters are at the station and sanitarium of
DARJILING. The British frontier is demarcated on the north from
Sikkim by a series of rivers and mountain torrents, on the west from
Nepál by a lofty range of hills ; along the east and south run the British
Districts of Jalpaiguri and Purniah.
Physical Aspects. — The District naturally divides into two distinct
tracts — the ridges and deep valleys of the lower Himalayas, and the
tarái or submontane marshy strip from which the hills abruptly rise.
The scenery is of a wildly magnificent character. The background is
formed by a jagged line of dazzling snow , connecting the two highest
peaks in the world , Everest and Kánchanjangá, each above 28,000 feet.
Imposing series of parallel mountain ridges intervene, broken by
almost perpendicular valleys. Up to 12,000 feet these ridges are clad
with dark green foliage ; on the high slopes the rhododendron pre
dominates, lower down occur forests of pine and deodar, near the
plains the valuable sál timber. To travellers fresh from the swamps
of Bengal this picturesque region would prove yet more alluring,
were it not for the mists and showers which are continually closing
upon the scene. European planters are now dotting the slopes of the
lower ranges with trim tea gardens. The taráiportion of the District is
overgrown with malarious jungle , amid which the aborigines form clear
ings by fire, and rear crops of rice and cotton on a system of primitive
nomadic husbandry .
The loftiest mountains are situated outside British territory ; but
within it on the western range, marching with Nepál, are several peaks
above 10,000 feet in height. The station of DARJILING itself has an
elevation of 7167 feet above sea level, and on the ridge of Sinchal
Pahár there are barracks for a European regiment 1500 feet higher.
The chief rivers are the Tista and the MAHANANDA,with their numerous
affluents. The Tistá , like many of the other great rivers of Northern
India , rises on the farther side of the Himalayas, and bursts through
 DARJILING DISTRICT. 41

the mountain barrier before it reaches British territory. At the point

where it debouches on the plains, its volume is very considerable, and
it becomes at once navigable for large boats. Its tributaries include
the Ránchu and Roli, on the left bank ; and on the right, the Great
Ranjit, Rangjo, Ráyeng, and Sivak. The Mahánanda, while passing
through Dárjíling District, is a comparatively small stream ,and altogether
loses itself in the sand of the tarái for a portion of its course. Its
tributaries join it below the District boundary . Two small lakes or
tarns are situated amid the hills. The mineral products of the District
comprise coal, iron, copper, calcareous tufa , and slate.
The History of Dárjíling presents a late chapter in the extension of
British Rule. The Gurkha war of 1815-16 first brought the Company
into direct relations with this region . It was then found that the
aggressive Gurkhas had appropriated from the Rájá of Sikkim the
morang or taráï portion of the present District; and it was one of the
articles of the peace of 1816, that this strip should be ceded to the
British, who immediately gave it back again to the Sikkim chief. In
1835, under the Governor-Generalship of Lord William Bentinck , the
nucleus of what was originally known as ' British Sikkim ’ was created by
the purchase, from the Rájá of Sikkim , of the sanitarium of Dárjiling,
with a portion of the surrounding hills, in consideration of an allowance
of £300, afterwards increased to £600 per annum . This ceded tract
is described in the Deed of Grant as 'all the land south of the Great
Ranjít river, east of the Bálásan, Káhel, and Little Ranjit rivers, and
west of the Rangmi and Mahánanda rivers,' containing about 138
square miles. Dárjiling soon became a favourite summer retreat for the
officials of Lower Bengal and their families ; it was also established as a
sanitarium for invalided European soldiers. A good deal of land was
taken up from the Government on building leases, but tea cultivation was
not introduced till a much later date. In 1849, Dr. Hooker paid a visit
to Dárjiling, and founded upon his experiences then gathered his well
known and most interesting Himalayan Journals (2 vols., London 1854).
His visit was also productive of importantpolitical consequences. With
the sanction of the British Government, and with an express permission
from the Rájá of Independent Sikkim , he had crossed the frontier into
that State, accompanied by Dr. Campbell, theSuperintendent of Dárjíling
District. There they were treacherously seized and imprisoned, by the
authority of the Rájá's Díwán or Prime Minister. A military expedition
was despatched to rescue the prisoners, and avenge the insult. The
yearly allowance granted to the Rájá was stopped . The Sikkim morang
or tarái, at the foot of the hills, was annexed ; and a considerable
addition was also made to the British territory that lay among the
mountains. In all, about 640 square miles of land were acquired on
this occasion . Finally, in 1864, the District received a further augmen
A2 DARJ DIST .
ILIN RICT
G east of the Tístá , which had become
tation by the cession of a hilly tract
British territory as the result of the Bhután campaign of that year.
This tract covers an area of about 485 square miles , and is known as
the Subdivision of Dálingkót. The relations between the British
Government and the State of Sikkim , which are conducted through
the Deputy Commissioner of Dárjíling, are now of a most friendly
character. The allowance to the Rájá has not only been restored,
but has been raised to £1200 a year ; and his Darbár lends all the
assistance in its power to the development of the through trade with
Thibet. Dárjíling has obtained a place in the history of oriental
scholarship, as the residence for years of Brian Houghton Hodgson, of
the Bengal Civil Service. Mr. Hodgson , after distinguished services as
Resident in Nepál, retired from active employment, and devoted him
self to the study of the Sub -Himalayan races. He fixed his head
quarters at Dárjíling; and from that District emanated his remarkable
series of essays and researches, which still form the basis of any
systematic study of the non -Aryan peoples of India.
The popularity of Dárjíling as a sanitarium has not been fully main
tained in recent years, owing to the rival attractions of Simla and other
hill stations in Northern India. It is hoped, however, that the opening
of the Northern Bengal State Railway, from the Ganges to the foot of
the hills, will tend to counteract the disadvantages arising from its
comparative inaccessibility . Its excessive humidity must always remain .
The enterprise of European capital, in the form of tea cultivation and
manufacture , has opened a new era of prosperity. The oldest tea
garden now existing only dates back to 1856. In 1875, 121 gardens
were open, with an annual production of more than 4 million pounds.
More recently, the cinchona tree has been successfully introduced, so
that Dárjiling now aids in saving from fevers even those who are com
peiled to remain on the plains.
People. — The Census of 1872, which is not considered entirely
accurate either for the tarái Subdivision or for the tract to the east
of the Tistá , disclosed a total population of 94,712 persons, residing in
18,864 houses. There are no mauzás or villages in the Hills Sub
division ; for the tarái only 19 are returned. The average number of
persons per square mile is 77, varying from 49 in the Hills to 175 in the
tarái ; of houses per square mile, 15, similarly varying from 8 to 41 ; of
persons per house, 5, varying from 6 to43. Classified according to sex ,
there are 53,057 males and 41,655 females ; proportion of males, 56 per
cent. Classified according to age, there are, under twelve years — 16,472
males and 13,782 females ; total, 30,254, or 32 per cent of the total
population. The occupation returns are not trustworthy ; but it may
be mentioned that the total number of male adults connected with
agriculture is returned at 29,877 , as against 6708 male adult non-agri
 DARJILING DISTRICT. 43
culturists. The ethnical division of the people shows : - 419 Europeans ;
i American ; 32 Eurasians; 39,869 aborigines, including Nepális ;
25,029 semi-Hinduized aborigines ; 23,114 Hindus, subdivided accord
ing to caste ; 6248 Muhammadans. The great bulk of the population
consists of aboriginal or semi-aboriginal tribes, among whom the Nepális
and the Rájbansí Kochs are the most numerous. The Lepchás,who
are considered the primitive inhabitants of Sikkim , number only 3952,
and the race is said to be declining. The Nepálís, including the
Murmís, make up a total of 32,338, divided among no less than
42 sub-tribes. The Rájbansí Kochs number 23,124 ; their cognates,
the Dhimáls and Mechs, together amount to 1766 . Sharpa Bhutiás
are returned at 401, but to this ought to be added 3433 Buddhists, in
order to give the total Bhutia population . There are 1648 Uraons,
immigrants attracted by the tea gardens. Of the Hindus proper, the
two superior castes of Bráhman (numbering 1002) and Rajput (8972)
are the most numerously represented . It is estimated that the popula
tion of Dárjiling has doubled within the past twenty-five years. The
Nepálís are coming across the frontier in large numbers, and are eagerly
welcomed by the tea-planters as their most valuable labourers ; while
Bengálís from the plains are gradually extending over the tardi. Classi
fied according to religion , the population is composed of — Hindus
(as loosely grouped together for religious purposes ), 69,831, or 73-7 per
cent. ; Muhammadans, 6248, or 6 6 per cent. ; Christians, 556 , or 6 per
cent., of whom 104 are native converts ; ascertained Buddhists, 1368,
or 1'5 per cent.; ' others,' including many Buddhists, 16 ,709, or 17.6 per
cent. The Brahma Samáj is represented by a few Bengáli Government
clerks at Dárjíling Station, who have no regular place of meeting.
The population may be divided into those connected with the tea
industry, and the aboriginal agriculturists. There are no towns. Dar
JILING station itself has a permanent population of only 3157, but to
this number must be added the temporary visitors during the summer
months. The only other village of any note is KARSIANG (Kurseong),
situated in the lower hills, 20 miles to the south .
Agriculture. — Rice constitutes the one food-crop grown in the tarái
portion of the District ; but among the hills, Indian corn , millets,
(maruá, etc.),wheat, potatoes, and cardamoms are also grown,wherever
practicable. Subordinate crops in the plains are cotton, jute , pulses,
oil-seeds, and sugar-cane. As usual throughout Bengal, the rice crop
is divided into two harvests, the aman or haimantik , reaped in winter ,
and the áus or bhadai, reaped in the Hindu month of Bhádra (August
or September). Rice cultivation is rapidly extending through the tardi,
although somewhat retarded by the requirements of the Forest Depart
ment. Bengali and Nepálí cultivators use the plough ; but the Mechs
and other aboriginal people still adhere to that nomadic method of agri
 NG T
44 DARJILI DISTRIC .
culture known as júm , which consists in burning down a fresh patch
of jungle land each successive year. They use the dáo or hill knife for
all rustic operations. Manure is not commonly applied anywhere ; but
throughout the tardi, and in the hills wherever natural facilities are
afforded , irrigation is industriously practised by the cultivators of all
classes. In the tarái, land is measured by the hál, which is the area
that can be tilled by a plough and one yoke of oxen. Converted into
English measurement, the rent paid per acre varies from 3s. to 6s. ;
and the produce is about 13 cwts., worth about £i, Ios. In the
hills no system of land measurement is known, but it has been estimated
that the amount and value of the out-turn is approximately the same as
in the tarái. No rent is there paid for the land, but a house-tax is levied
by the proprietors, which averages about ios. per house.
The land tenures of Dárjíling are of a very complicated character,
and vary in different parts of the District. A considerable portion of
the area is still held direct by Government, either as forest reserves,
which altogether cover about 700 square miles, or as unallotted culti
vated plots. In the hill tract the tenures divide themselves into two
chief classes — (1) Freehold grants ; and (2) Lease-holds for terms of
years — both of which are largely held by tea-planters. In the tarái, the
greater portion of the soilwas settled with the actual cultivators or jótdárs,
for a term of ten years from 1867, according to the method adopted in
the neiglibouring District of Jalpaiguri. In the tract annexed from
Bhután, no Land Settlement has yet (1877) been introduced , but a poll
tax is collected by the agency of the village head-men.
The ordinary rates of wages are said to have somewhat risen of late
years. In 1871, a coolie or agricultural day-labourer in the tarái
received 4d. a day, together with his food ; on the tea plantations the
wages paid to men or women varied from Ios. to 145. a month .
Skilled artisans received as much as from £ 1 to £1, 16s. a month .
In the sameyear, the price of common rice in the taráiwas 3s. 5d. per
cwt. ; and in the hills, 6s. id. per cwt. During the year of dearth
(1866), in both tracts, the price rose to 135. 8d. per cwt.
Dárjiling is not liable to either of the calamities of flood or drought.
In the event of local scarcity from any cause, the hill people could
always save themselves from starvation by migrating to other localities ;
but in the tarái,previous to the construction of the railway, the inhabit
ants were in some danger of isolation. If the price of rice were to
rise rapidly in January , after the gathering of the aman or low-land rice
crop, that should be regarded as a sign of approaching scarcity.
Manufactures, etc.— Coarse cotton cloth is woven by all the aboriginal
tribes, usually by the women . The staple industry of Dárjiling is the
cultivation and manufacture of tea, conducted under European super
vision and by European capital. The first regular tea garden was
 DARJILING DISTRICT. 45
opened in 1856 ; and after the natural mistakes of the few early years,
the business has continued to prosper with accelerating rapidity. In
1875 , there were altogether 121 gardens open , with an area under culti
vation of 22,162 acres, and an out-turn of 4,600,758 lbs. This last
figure shows an augmentation of nearly 20 per cent. on the previous
year, but it is asserted that the quality has not kept pace with the
increase in quantity. The number of Europeans employed was 139 ;
of natives, 23,938, or rather more than one to every acre. Of the total
number of labourers, 20, 161 were Nepálís, and only 245 had come
under contract from the plains of Bengal. In 1874, the average yield
from an acre of mature plant was about 325 lbs., as against 256 lbs. two
years previous. Within the past ten years the total acreage under tea
has more than doubled, and the out-turn has multiplied itself tenfold .
The cultivation of cinchona was commenced by Government in 1862,
d its successvield of dry ba.3182
and the experiment has now established its success. In 1875, the sum
of £5217 was expended on the plantations ; the yield of dry bark was
211,931 lbs., which produced 1989 lbs. of quinine, valued at £3182.
This was the first year when the young trees fairly cameinto bearing.
The experimental cultivation of ipecacuanha has also been attempted,
and promises well. In 1876, a public botanical garden was established
at Rangárun .
The local trade of Dárjiling is entirely confined to the wants of
the European residents, and of the tea plantations. Great attention
has recently been directed to the development of through trade with
Thibet viâ Sikkim . Registration stations have been established at
Pheydung and Ranjít, within the British frontier. In the year 1876 -77 ,
the total imports from Sikkim were valued at £80, 265, almost exclu
sively consisting of timber ; the exports from Dárjiling were valued at
only £14,164, including indigo (£6600), cattle (£2322), brass and
copper (£1452). A brisk trade is also carried on with Nepál. In
1876 -77, the chief imports from Nepál were 6471 head of cattle, 23,494
sheep and goats, and 97,095 animals not particularized ; the exports
included European piece-goods (£3255), native piece-goods (£753),
and salt (572 maunds). The traffic with Bhután does not exceed
£600 each way.
The mineral wealth ofDárjíling was carefully investigated in 1873 by
Mr. Mallet of the Geological Survey. He was of opinion that the coal
measures, which are easily exposed , but are of a peculiar friable cha
racter, might possibly be used remuneratively on the Northern Bengal
Railway. Their chemical analysis is good, especially for the formation
of artificial fuel, but there would be not a little difficulty in delivering
the coal on the plains. Both iron and copper are worked in several
places by the Nepális, but the character and accessibility of the mines
is not such as to attract European capital. Lime can be procured in
46 DARJILING DISTRICT.
abundance from dolomite, tertiary limestone, and calcareous tufa . The
last mentioned is now largely burned in kilns.
The Northern Bengal State Railway at present ( 1877) stops about
54 miles short of the hills. Its continuation to Adalpur would be of
great benefit to the tea industry. In 1871, the total length of roads
within the District was returned at 427 miles. An excellent suspension
bridge has recently been constructed on the highway to Thibet.
Administration. - In 1870-71, the total revenue of Dárjſling District
amounted to £18,797, towards which the land tax contributed £6001,
or just one-third ; the expenditure was £23, 869, or £5072 more than
the revenue. Under the head of land revenue is included the house
and bullock tax paid in a certain portion of the hills, and also the poll
tax levied in the tract east of the Tístá . In 1870 , there was one cove
nanted officer stationed in the District, and 3 magisterial and 3 civil
and revenue courts open. Dárjiling is divided into three thánás, or
police circles. In 1872, the regular police force consisted of 213 men
of all ranks, maintained at a total cost of £4994. These figures
give i policeman to 5*79 square miles of area, or to every 445 persons
in the population ; the cost averaged £4, Is. per square mile, and
Is. id. per head of population . In addition, there were 5 village
watchmen , maintained at an estimated cost of £24. In the same
year, the number of persons in Dárjiling District convicted of any
offence , great or small, was 327, being i person to every 289 of the
population . By far the greater proportion of the convictions were for
petty offences. The District contains one jail, which is necessarily a
very expensive one on account of the small number of prisoners con
fined. In 1872, the daily average number of prisoners was 52, of
whom one was a female ; the labouring convicts averaged 47. These
figures show i prisoner to every 1837 of the District population .
The total cost amounted to £ 695, or £13, 75. 4 d. per prisoner ; the
jail manufactures yielded a net loss of £77, 18s. The death -rate was
38 per thousand .
Education has considerably advanced in recent years, despite the
difficulties caused by an aboriginal population speaking various strange
tongues, and dwelling in widely -scattered huts among the mountains.
Up to 1860 there was only i school in the District — the Government
English School, attended by 33 pupils. By 1872, the number of
schools had risen to 29, with 723 pupils ; the total expenditure was
£1735, towards which Government contributed £667. In 1875, the
schools further increased to 46 and the pupils to 994, showing i
school to every 27.6 square miles, and ii pupils to every thousand of
the population. The principal educational institution is the St. Paul's
School, established at Calcutta in 1845 for the sons of Europeans
and East Indians, and removed to Dárjiling in 1864. In 1872, it was
 DARJILING SUBDIVISION . 47
attended by 47 pupils, and received a Government grant of £261,
as against £637 derived from fees.
The District is divided into two Administrative Subdivisions, but
not into parzanás or fiscal divisions. In 1876, there were 3 civil judges
and 5 stipendiary magistrates. What is known as the Dárjíling Munici
pality, consists of the tract originally acquired in 1835 from the Rájá of
Sikkim . The area is 138 square miles ; and the population, accord
ing to a special Census taken in 1869, amounts to 22,607. The
municipality has to provide funds for conservancy and police, and to
maintain 120 miles of roadway. In 1870, the income was returned at
£6640, which , however, includes a separate fund distinguished as
' Improvement Fund ;' the municipal receipts proper were only about
£2000. The expenditure is about £4000 a year. Municipal income
( 1876-77), £3377.
Medical Aspects. The climate of Dárjíling is marked by excessive
humidity. According to Dr. Hooker, 'Sikkim is the dampest region in
the whole Himalayas. . . . Throughout the greater part of the year,
the prevailing wind is from the south -east, and comes laden with
moisture from the Bay of Bengal.' The few hours between sunrise and
9 A.M . form the only period of the day entirely free from clouds,mist,
or rain . The average annual rainfall is returned at 129 inches. The
averagemean atmospheric pressure over a period of five years is 23.320.
During 1872, the highest maximum temperature recorded by day was
76°, in the month of September ; the lowest minimum by night was
24°, in both January and February .
The District is not unhealthy, the hills being almost free from endemic
disease except goitre. In the tarái and the lower valleys malarious
fevers occur. Cholera occasionally visits the station , but small-pox has
disappeared before the introduction of vaccination . The vital statistics
for selected areas show a death-rate during 1875 of 14'13 per thousand
in the rural area , and 43'07 in the urban area. During 1872, the
charitable dispensary at Dárjiling station was attended by 88 in -door,
and 2433 out-door patients ; the total income was £398, towards
which Government contributed £.247. Before the close of that year a
second dispensary was opened at Karsiáng.
Dárjiling . – Sadr or Headquarters Subdivision of Dárjíling District,
Bengal. Situated between 26° 46' 30" and 27° 12' 45" n . lat., and
between 88° 1' 30 " and 88° 33' 30" E. long. Area , 960 square miles ;
houses, 7753. Pop. ( 1872), 46,727, of whom 29, 129, or 62'3 per cent.,
were Hindus ; 1027, or 2*2 per cent., Muhammadans ; 1368, or 2.9
per cent., Buddhists ; 544, or 12 per cent., Christians ; others,'
14,659, or 314 per cent. of total population. Proportion of males in
Subdivisional population, 58.6 per cent. ; average density of population,
49 per square mile ; average number of houses per square mile, 8 —
 48 DARJILING TOIVN - DARMAPATA M .
of persons per house, 6 . Dárjíling Subdivision consists of the police
circles (thánás) of Dárjiling and Karsiáng. Police force (1870-71), 187.
The separate cost of Subdivisional administration was returned at
£5791, 25. in 1870-71.
Dárjíling. — Town and administrative headquarters of District of
the same name, situated in the lower Himálayas. Lat. 27° 2' 48" N .,
long. 88° 18 ' 36'' E. The station occupies a narrow ridge,which divides
into two spurs, descending steeply to the bed of the Great Ranjít, up
whose course the eye is carried to the base of the great snowy moun
tains. The ridge is very narrow at the top. The valleys on either side
are at least 6000 feet deep , forest clad to the bottom , with very few
level spots, but no absolute precipice. From the flanks of these
valleys innumerable little spurs project, occupied by native clearings.
The ridge varies in height from 6500 to 7500 feet above sea level.
Dárjiling was acquired by the English Government in 1835 as a sani
tarium , a tract of country 138 square miles in extent being ceded by
the Rájá of Sikkim , in return for an allowance of £300 per annum ,
afterwards raised to £600. The station rapidly increased, and soon
became a favourite summer retreat for the officials of Lower Bengal and
their families. The Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal ordinarily spends
some months of every year in Dárjiling, which is now brought within
easy journey of Calcutta, by the Northern Bengal State Railway. A
military dépôt, consisting of barracks for about 150 men, stands on a
hill some 500 feet above the station, and is occupied by European
invalids during the hot months. Some private dwelling-houses in the
same locality have been adapted for the accommodation of a battery of
artillery. The situation, although very bleak, is a healthy one. The
population of the town fluctuates according to the season, but the
population was returned by the Census of 1872 at 3157. The area of
the municipality coincides with that of the tracť originally ceded by the
Sikkim Rájá, and comprises about 138 square miles, with a population
in 1869 of 22,607, residing in 2223 houses. Municipalincome (1876 -77),
£3377 ; rate of taxation , 2s. 3 d . per head of population .
Darkuti. — One ofthe petty Punjab Hill States under the Government
of the Punjab. The Ráná of Darkuti, Rám Sinh, is a Rájput. When
the Gurkhás were driven out of the hills, the British Government con
firmed the chief in possession of this State, owing to the smallness of
which no tribute is taken. The area is 5 square miles ; lat. (centre),
31° 7' 0” N., long. 77" 38' 30" E. ; the population in 1875 was estimated
at 700, and the revenue at £60.
Darmapatam . - River in Malabar District, Madras, falling into the
sea 3 miles north of Tellicherri. DARMAPATAM town is situated on
an island in this river.
Darmapatam (Darmafattan ; the Dehfattan of Ibn Batuta , and
 DARO - DARRANG DISTRICT. 49
the Darmaftan of the Tohfat-al-Majahidin ). — An island town in
the Kotayam táluk, Malabar District, Madras, lying in the river of the
same name, in lat. 1° 46' N ., long. 75° 30' E . Area , 6 square miles ;
houses, 751 ; pop. (1871), 4736. Darmapatam formerly belonged to
the kingdom of Kalastri, but was ceded in 1734 to the Company. In
1788, it was taken by the Cherakal Rájá, but recovered in 1789. .
Daro. — A Government town in the Shahbandar Deputy Collectorate,
Karáchi (Kurrachee) District, Sind. Pop. (1872), 1012, mainly agricul
tural: being Muhammadans, 762 ; Hindus, 250. The Pinyári river is
here crossed by a masonry bridge of six spans, each 25 feet wide.
Darrang. - A District forming a portion of the upper valley of the
Brahmaputra, in the Province of Assam . It lies between 26° 12' 30"
and 27° 2' 30" n . lat., and between 91° 45' and 93° 50' E. long.
Bounded on the north by the Bhutiá, Daphla, and Aka Hills ; on the
east by the Marámarnai river, separating it from Lakhimpur District ;
on the south by the Brahmaputra ; and on the west by Kamrup
District. According to the recent revenue survey, which closed opera
tions in 1876, the area is 3413*26 square miles ; and the Census of
1872 returned the population at 236,009 persons. The administrative
headquarters are at the town of TEZPUR, situated near the confluence
of the Bhairabí with the Brahmaputra.
Physical Aspects. — The District consists of a narrow strip of land ,
shut in between the lower ranges of the Himalayas and the Brahmaputra.
Its total length is 126 miles from east to west, with an average width
of about 25 miles. Numerous rivers and streams cross it, flowing
southwards from the hills ; and the general level is broken by a range
of low hills, from 200 to 500 feet high , which sweep outwards in a
crescent shape from the Bhairabí to the Brahmaputra. The population
is sparse, and the area under cultivation is still very limited. Extensive
tracts are overgrown with dense reed and cane jungle, characteristic of
the Brahmaputra valley, amid which occur rare patches of rice culti
vation. Virgin forests cover a large portion of the region which lies
under the northern hills. Forest reserves, from which timber-cutting
and júm cultivation are carefully excluded, have recently been declared
by the Government over an aggregate area of about 240 square miles.
In 1874-75, the total amount of revenue realized from the direct sale of
timber, and from royalties on the sale of timber, amounted to £152.
Wild animals of all kinds abound, including elephants, rhinoceros,
buffaloes, bison, and tigers. In 1873,it was found necessary to raise
the reward for tiger-killing from 1os. to £2, 1os. per head ; and in the
following year £172 was paid on this account. Wild elephants
occasionally do considerable damage to the crops. The right of
capturing these animals has recently been placed under restrictions, and
is now leased out for about £150 a year. Gold -washing is carried on
VOL. III.
50 DARRANG DISTRICT.
in several of the hill streams, especially in the Bhairabí. Limestone of
an inferior quality is found in the west of the District ; and travertine,
containing as much as 90 per cent. of lime, has been discovered just
beyond the British frontier. Coal, also, is known to exist outside the
boundary of the District.
The great river of the District is the BRAHMAPUTRA,which forms the
continuous southern boundary, and is navigable for steamers all the
year through. Among its tributaries, the five following are navigable
for large native boats : — The Bhairabi, Ghiladárí, Jiá Dhansiri (Dhanes
wari), Nonái, and Bar Nadi. These all rise in the mountains beyond
the frontier, and flow nearly due south into the Brahmaputra. There
are about 26 minor streams, which only become practicable for small
boats during the rains. Some of the rivers, immediately after leaving
the hills, sink beneath the sandy soil, and reappear several miles lower
down. There are no lakes or artificial water-courses in the District.
Two embankments have been made for purposes of cultivation , to
restrain the flood-waters of the Brahmaputra and Bar Nadi ; and the
old roads of the Aham Rájás, known as Ráj Alís, usually run along
raised earthen banks.
History. — Darrang District possesses no history apart from Assam
generally. Besides sharing in all the vicissitudes of the Province, it has
experienced special troubles of its own, owing to the proximity of the
wild Bhutia and Daphla tribes. Archæological evidence and local
tradition attest the existence of Hindu civilisation high up the Brahma
putra valley in very early times. The hills encircling the town of
Tezpur are still covered with ruins, hidden among the jungle, which
reveal the traces of temples and palaces such as could only have been
erected by a powerful dynasty . The building materials used were
gigantic blocks of granite, which appear to have been supplied by the
immediate neighbourhood. These blocks were carefully hewn to form
altars, columns, and porticoes, and many of them are profusely orna
mented with carvings in basso -relievo, among which the emblems of
Siva are conspicuous. It is conjectured, from the appearance of the
ruins, that these buildings must have been overthrown by the hand
of some invader ; and local tradition points to Kálá Pahár, the
General of Sulaimán, King of Bengal, as the author of the sacrilege.
Another legend is preserved in the Hindu poem of the Prem Ságar,
which relates the battles between Bán Rája and the god Krishna. Bán
Rájá’s name is associated with many of the ruins near Tezpur. He
was a demi-god, sixth in descent from Brahma, and was the first to
introduce the worship of Siva into Assam . But at Tezpur he was over
taken by Krishna and his invading legions, and finally slain after a
battle in which the elements fought in vain on his side. After the
downfall of the early Hindu kingdom , however that may have been
 DARRANG DISTRICT. 51
brought about, Darrang, like the rest of Assam , relapsed into primitive
barbarism . The next dynasty which appears in history is that of the
Ahams, a wild tribe, of Shan origin , from the Burmese Hills, who first
entered the valley ofthe Brahmaputra about the 13th century , and very
gradually advanced downwards. The Ahamsorganized their conquered
territory with minute precision, and held their own until the advent of
the British. Though they have given their name to the Province, it is
surprising to find how small are their present numbers, according to the
Census Report of 1872. In Darrang they number only 3490 in all.
The Kolitás, however, who served as their priests until the reintroduction
of Brahmanism , are returned at 16 ,998.
But the Ahams, though undisputed masters of the valley, never
extended their sway far from the river banks. In the present admini
stration of Darrang District is still to be traced a curious relic of
fluctuating jurisdiction . A tract of country extending along the foot of
the northern hill ranges is said to have been ceded by the Aham Rájá
to the Bhutiás for a period of eight months in each year, in order to
afford them themeans of cultivating rice and other necessaries, which
they could not raise on their own bleak mountains. In consideration
of this grant, the Bhutiás were to pay an annual tribute to the Aham
Rájá of articles produced and manufactured in the mountains ; while
the latter was to retain his jurisdiction over the tract for the remaining
four months of the year, from about the middle of June to the middle
of October. This arrangement was continued during the few first years
after the British conquest of Assam . But in 1840, the claims of the
Bhutiá chiefs were commuted for a money payment of £500 a
year, which was calculated as the equivalent of the average emolu
ments they derived from the land . The revenue at present derived by
the British Government from the debateable ’ tract amounts to £5183.
The Bhutiás here referred to are commonly known as the Towang
Bhutiás, and are entirely independent of the State of Bhután . They
carry on a considerable trade direct with Thibet, and have uniformly
manifested a quiet and friendly attitude. Next to the Bhutiás on the east,
come the Akás or Hrusso, a small tribe, who used formerly to commit
frequent raids on British territory. They now receive posá or black -mail
to the amount of £67 a year. Farther east, again , are the Daphlas,whose
native mountains extend along the neighbouring District of Lakhimpur.
The Daphlas are a tribe of whom little was known prior to the recent
frontier expedition , which was caused by their wanton outrages on
British subjects. In the year 1872, the village of Amtolá , occupied by
Daphla settlers, was attacked by a strong party of hill Daphlas, and 44
persons were carried off to the mountains. It was ascertained that this
raid had no political significance. The object was merely to seize a
number of slaves as an equivalent for certain of their own people who
 G T
52 DARRAN DISTRIC .
had died of disease, said to have been introduced from the plains.
The Daphla Hills were forthwith blockaded by a strong force of police,
stationed in blockhouses at all the passes. The police were subse
quently replaced by military ; but this method of pressure was found
ineffectual. Accordingly, in the cold season of 1874 -75, an armed
force entered the hills, and, without encountering any opposition,
achieved the release of all the surviving captives.
People. - In 1840, the population of Darrang was estimated at about
80,000. The only trustworthy figures are those of the Census of
1871-72. The enumeration was prolonged through an entire month ,
and doubtless there are some small inaccuracies. The results disclosed
a total of 236,009 persons, dwelling in 53,558 houses and in 137
mauzás or clusters of villages. The area of the District was taken at
3413 square miles, which gives the following averages : — Persons per
square mile , 69 ; mauzás per square mile , '04 ; houses per square mile ,
13. The average number of persons per mauzá is 1723 ; of persons
per house, 5'4. Classified according to sex, there are 122,837 males
and 113, 172 females ; proportion of males, 52'03 per cent. Classified
according to age, there are, under twelve years — 40, 067 males and
37,912 females ; total, 77,979, or 33'1 per cent. of the total popula
tion. The ethnical division of the people shows— 47 Europeans, 6
Americans, i Australasian , 4 Eurasians, 44 Bhutiás, 87 Nepálís, 76 ,094
aborigines, 68,701 semi-Hinduized aborigines, 76,492 Hindus sub
divided according to caste, 673 Hindus not recognising caste, 13,859
Muhammadans, i Burmese. In Darrang, as in the rest of the upper
valley of the Brahmaputra, the great majority of the population are of
aboriginal descent. The aborigines of the Census Report are mainly
composed of Cácháris, who number 62,214 out of the total of 76,094 ;
next come the cognate Rábhás, with 10 ,302. The Daphlas within the
District boundaries are 134 in number. There are 58 Uráons and 51
Santáls, immigrants from Chutiá Nágpur, employed on the tea gardens.
Among the semi-Hinduized aborigines are included the Kochs (46,788 ),
the Doms (8023), and the Ahams (3490). Of Hindus proper, the Bráh
mans number 5783,the Rájputs only 75, theKáyasths 1056. The trading
castes of Agarwalá , Kshattriya, Márwárí, Oswal, and Sráwak, who are
all immigrants from the north -west, and of whom many are Jains by
religion , number collectively 190. By far the most numerous caste
is the Kolitá (16,998), the ancient priesthood of Assam ,who are now
admitted to Hinduism as pure Súdras ; the weaving castes are also
strongly represented , with an aggregate of 18,550 members. Classified
according to religion , the population is composed of— Hindus (as
loosely grouped together for religious purposes), 221,389, or 93.8 per
cent. ; Musalmáns, 13,859, or 5 '9 per cent. The remainder is made
up of 397 Buddhists ; 256 Christians, including 198 native converts ;
 DARRANG DISTRICT. 53
and 108 ' others.' The Brahma Samáj has a meeting-house at Tezpur
town, established in 1872 ; but the members entirely consist of immi
grant Bengalis,mostly engaged in Government service. Jain traders are
settled at Tezpur town and at Nalbári. The native Christians for the
most part belong to the Cáchári tribe, among whom is established a
mission of the Church of England. A masonry church has been built,
and £180 is annually allowed by the Government for mission schools.
The Musalmáns are described as a quiet class, without either fanaticism
or the proselytizing spirit.
As throughout the rest of Assam , the entire population is absolutely
rural. The largest place in the District is Tezpur town, with only 2139
inhabitants ; next comes the Subdivisional station of MANGALDAI, with
585. Other places of some importance as trading centres, or as con
taining the residences of wealthy men , are Biswanath , Hawála Mohan
pur, Nalbári, and Kuruágáon . The numerous ruins scattered over the
hills in the neighbourhood of Tezpur, have already been referred to in
the historical section of this article.
Agriculture. — The one staple harvest of the District is rice, grown in
two crops. The sáli crop, corresponding to the aman of Bengal, sown
on low lands and reaped in the winter, furnishes much the largest pro
portion of the food supply. The dus crop is sown broadcast on high
lands, and reaped in the early summer, when the field is again available
for a second or cold weather crop of oil-seeds or pulses. Agricultural
statistics,which are more trustworthy in Assam than in Bengal, show
that the area under rice greatly increased between 1850 and 1866, but
has since steadily diminished. For 1874-75, the total cultivated area is
returned at 198,254 acres, thus divided :— Rice, 182, 172 acres; mustard ,
3644 ; sugar-cane, 1126 ; cotton , 850 ; múg, 955 ; tobacco, 252 ; kalái,
1828 ; tíl, 116 ; jute, 184 ; tea , 7127. The aggregate out-turn of rice,
oil-seeds and pulses, is estimated at nearly 3 million cwts., with a value
of £400,000. The land is divided into three classes, paying rent to
Government at the following rates, which have remained fixed since
1868 : Bastí, or homestead land , on which vegetables, etc . are grown,
6s. an acre ; rupit, or moist lands, suited for sáli rice, 3s. 9d . an acre ;
pharinghatí, for áus rice and second crops, 3s. an acre. The out-turn
from an acre, whether of rupit or pharinghatí land, is estimated at
16 } cwts., valued at about £2, 5s. Manure is nowhere commonly used .
Irrigation is only practised in the tract under the hills inhabited by
the Cácháris, who are very industrious in leading the streams through
artificial channels over their rice-fields, and frequently combine with one
another to effect this operation on a large scale. Rupit lands are
cultivated continuously with the sálí rice crop ; but pharinghati, which
bear two crops in the year, are occasionally allowed to lie fallow .
There is abundance of cultivable waste in all parts of the District ; but
54 DARRANG DISTRICT.
the heavy grass jungle and forest with which it is now overgrown would
be very expensive to clear.
The rate ofwages and the price of food grains have both risen about
threefold within the last twenty years. In 1870, an ordinary labourer
received from 4 d . to 6d . a day. Agricultural labourers are paid in
kind, and frequently live in the houses of their employers. But labour
of all kinds is extremely scarce. The inhabitants have a passion for
cultivating their own plots of land, and a short spell of work on a tea
garden furnishes them with the capital necessary to purchase a pair of
bullocks and the few implements required . In 1870, common rice was
selling at 35. 5d. a cwt.; fine rice, which is usually imported from
Bengal, at 6s. rod. a cwt. The highest prices known to have been
reached were in the season of 1857-58, when common rice fetched more
than £i a cwt.
Darrang is not exposed to either of the natural calamities of flood or
drought, and blight hasnever been known to have seriously injured the
crops. In the event of excessive inundations, compensation would be
found in the increased fertility of the uplands ; and similarly , if the
rainfall were ever to prove deficient, the drying up of the swamps would
offer new fields to cultivation. The single famine recorded in Darrang
was caused , not by the failure of the crops, but by the invasion of the
Burmese in the early years of the present century.
Manufactures, etc. — The only indigenousmanufacture in Darrang is that
of silk -weaving. The silk is of two kinds,known as eriá and mugá. The
former is the produce of the worm Phalana cynthia , which is reared
almost entirely in -doors, and fed on the leaves of the Ricinus communis
or castor-oil plant. The mugá worm , or Phalæna saturnia, is fed on certain
forest trees in the open air, but also requires careful tending. The
entire manufacture is carried on without capital or division of labour.
Each individual spins, weaves, and dyes his own web ; yet some of the
fabrics attain a high standard of excellence, and are bought up for
export by the Márwárí traders. There are minor industries in certain
villages of brass-work and pottery. The braziers, called Mariás, form a
community by themselves.
The cultivation and manufacture of tea is chiefly carried on by means
of European capital and under European supervision. In 1874-75,
there were altogether 94 tea gardens in Darrang District, managed by
14 European assistants and 138 native officials. The total area under
cultivation was 3856 acres, the out-turn amounting to 1,008,077 lbs.
The average number of labourers employed was 4990, of whom 2571
were imported under contract from Bengal.
The external commerce of the District is conducted by means of the
Brahmaputra , which is navigable by steamers all the year through. The
local trade is in the hands of Márwárí immigrants from the north -west.
 DARRANG DISTRICT. 55
The principal exports are tea , oil-seeds, silk cloth , and miscellaneous
forest produce, brought in by the hill tribes. The imports consist of
cotton and woollen cloth , salt, fine rice, dried fruits, spices, etc . The
permanent centres of trade are TEZPUR, MANGALDAI, and BISWANATH .
Weekly markets are held in the neighbourhood of the tea gardens. In
recent years, annual trading fairs have been instituted in certain villages
at the foot of thenorthern hills, in order to encourage intercourse with
the Bhutiás. The most important of these is at Udalguri, on the north
west frontier. The principal articles brought for sale by the Bhutiás
are — ponies, blankets, salt, wax, gold , lac, and musk ; in return for
which they carry away rice, cotton and silk cloth of native manufacture ,
and brass-ware. This gathering lasts for three or four weeks. In 1875 ,
the total value of the articles interchanged was valued at £76,114, the
balance of trade being greatly in favour of the Bhutiás.
Apart from the main highway of the Brahmaputra, means of com
munication are somewhat defective. Second in importance is the
Assam Trunk Road , which runs through the entire length of the
District for a distance of 158 miles. There are several minor roads
crossing north and south, and an elephant path , or háthi poti, skirts con
tinuously the base of the Bhután Hills. The rivers are generally crossed
by ferries. The total length of roads in the District is returned at 542
miles.
Administration . In 1870-71, the net revenue of Darrang District
amounted to £66 ,654, towards which the land contributed £36,503,
and opium £19,158 ; the expenditure was £26,461, of which £9983
was for the commission of the mauzádárs or fiscal officials. The land
revenue has more than doubled within the past twenty years, having
amounted in 1850 to only £15,668. In 1870-71, there were 2
European covenanted officers stationed in the District, and 6 magis
terial and 10 civil and revenue courts open. For police purposes the
District is divided into 6 thánás or police circles. In 1872, the regular
police force numbered 249 officers and men, maintained at a total cost
of £4419. These figures show i policeman to every 13'70 square
miles of the area, or to every 948 of the population , and an average
cost of £1, 6s. per square mile, or 4 d. per head of population. There
is no municipal police in Darrang, and the chaukidárs or village watch
of Bengal are not found anywhere in Assam proper. In the same year,
the total number of persons in Darrang District convicted of any
offence, great or small, was 697, being i person to every 338 of the
population. By far the greater proportion of the convictions were for
petty offences. The District contains 1 jail and i Subdivisional
lock -up. In 1872, the daily average number of prisoners was 165, of
whom two were females ; the labouring convicts numbered 161. These
figures show i person in jail to every 1430 of the population . The
56 DARRANG DISTRICT.
total cost amounted to £1049, or £6, 6s. 2d. per prisoner ; the jail
manufactures yielded a net profit of £104, or £2, 6s. 5d . per manu
facturing prisoner. The death -rate was 30' 3 per thousand.
Education does notmake such progress in Darrang as in the wealthy
Districts of Bengal, but yet some improvement has been exhibited in
recent years. In 1856, the total number of schools was 20 , attended
by 613 pupils. The figures of 1870 show a positive decrease ; but by
1872, when Sir G . Campbell's reforms had come into operation , the
schools had increased to 66, and the pupils to 2788. These figures
show i school to every 52 square miles, and 12 pupils to every thousand
of the population . In the same year, the total expenditure was £897,
towards which Government contributed £693. Since 1871, there has
been no Government higher school, but there are 1 aided and 2 unaided
schools of this class, with an aggregate of 176 pupils. The normal
school at Tezpur is under the management of the English Church
Mission .
The District is divided into 2 administrative Subdivisions, and into
6 thánás or police circles. There are 9 maháls or fiscal divisions, cor
responding to the parganás of Bengal, containing an aggregate of 11
mauzás or revenue estates. There is no municipality in the District.
heast from
not differ
Medical Aspects. — The climate of Darrang does snot morbethat
gin
common to the whole of the Assam valley. The north -east monsoon ,
which marks the opening of the cold season, sets in about the begin
ning of November, and lasts till the end of April. It is frequently
interrupted in March by heavy winds from the south -west, but the
south -west monsoon proper lasts from May to October. The annual
rainfall over a period of twelve years averages 76 .82 inches.
The prevalent diseases are intermittent fevers — generally quotidian or
irregular - dysentery and diarrhæa, goitre, epilepsy. Dyspepsia is said
to be common among the numerous class of opium -eaters. Small-pox
breaks out almost every year, in consequence of the practice of inocula
tion. In recent years, cholera has repeatedly manifested itself with
extreme epidemic violence, and with most fatal results. In 1874, out
of a total of 8061 deaths reported throughout the District, as many as
2997 were assigned to cholera , showing a mortality from this cause
alone of 12:6 per thousand. The total mortality for that year was at
the rate of 34'1 per thousand, being the highest death-rate recorded in
any of the Assam Districts, and more than double the rate in Darrang
for the previous year. The vital statistics for selected areas show a
death -rate in 1874 of 58: 1 per thousand in the rural area , and 46 per
thousand in the urban area , which is conterminous with the town of
Tezpur. Since 1870 , a contagious disorder has been raging among the
cattle of Darrang, which is thought to have been introduced by imported
buffaloes from Bengal. The chief symptoms are loss of appetite, exces
 DARRANGIRI- DARYABAD. 57
sive thirst, high temperature of the body, and watery evacuation . The
proportion of deaths among the animals attacked is very high .
Darrangirí. — Village in the Gáro Hills District, Assam ; situated
in lat. 25° 46' n., long. 90° 56' E., on the Someswari river, near which a
fine out-crop of coal strata is to be seen .
Darsi.— Táluk in Nellore (Nellúru ) District, Madras, forming one of
the four divisions of the Venkatagiri estate. Area, 588 square miles ;
houses, 12,554 ; pop. (1871), 73,139, viz. 69,910 Hindus, 3018 Muham
madans, and 211 Christians (all native Roman Catholics). Of the
Hindus, 43,641 are Vaishnavs, 23,964 Sivaites, and 2305 Lingayats ;
of the Muhammadans, 2960 are Sunnis and 28 Shiás. Chief place ,
DARSI .
Darsi (Dárische). — Town in the Darsi táluk, Nellore District,
Madras; situated in lat. 15° 48' N., long. 79° 44' E., 30 miles north
west of Ongole. Pop. (1871), 1831. As the headquarters of the táluk,
Darsi possesses the usual native subordinate establishments, a police
station, and a post office.
Darwa. — Town and headquarters of a tahsil, Wún District, Berar.
Lat. 20° 18 ' 30" N., long. 77° 49' 0" E . Contains 613 houses, a police
station , post office, and school. An ancient town, once the seat of one
of the Bhonslá chiefs.
Darwání. – Village in Rangpur District, Bengal. Lat. 25° 53' 15 " N.,
long. 88° 55' 15" E. Seat of an annual fair of considerable importance ,
at which cattle and horses form the principal articles of sale .
Daryábád. - Parganá in Bára Bánki District, Oudh ; bounded on the
north by Bádo Sarai, on the east by the Gogra (Ghágra) river, and on
the south by Basorhi parganá. Daryábád is said to be gradually in
creasing its area, owing to the recession of the Gogra towards the east.
The present course of that river is now about 8 miles east of its ancient
bank, the intervening ground being comparatively low . Area , 214
square miles, of which 137 are cultivated. Of the 241 villages which
comprise the parganá, 110 are held under tálukdári and 131 under
zamindári tenure, the principal landholders being SurajbansKshattriyas.
Cultivated area in acres - rice, 26 ,023 ; wheat, 23,801 ; joár, 1097 ;
joár and bájrá , 500 ; sugar-cane, 2063 ; barley, 5479 ; gram , 5000 ;
poppy, 802 ; vegetables, 215 ; oil-seeds, 400 ; miscellaneous, 18,434.
Pop. (1869), Hindus, 118,458 ; Muhammadans, 14,288 ; total, 132,746,
viz. 68,347 males and 64,399 females ; average density of population,
620 per square mile. This parganá is the headquarters of the Sátnámi
sect of Hindus. The founder of the creed, Baba Jagjuván Dás, was
born here, and the present religious head of the sect, Bába Jaskaran
Dás, is his descendant in the twelfth generation.
Daryábád. - Town in Bára Bánki District, Oudh ; situated on the
high road from Lucknow to Faizábád (Fyzabad), about 24 miles east of
 DARYA KHERI- DASPALLA.
Nawabganj. Lat. 26° 53' N ., long. 81° 36' E . Founded about 450 years
ago by a deputy (subahdár) of Sultán Ibrahim Sharki. Formerly the
headquarters of the District, but some years ago the Government offices
and courts were transferred to Nawabganj, owing to the unhealthiness
of the place, induced by its low swampy situation . Daryábád has since
declined in importance ; but it contains a few fine houses, the principal
being the residence of the tálukdár of Rámpur. Pop. ( 1869), Hindus,
2890, and Muhammadans, 2509 ; total, 5399. Two markets ; flourish
ing Government English school.
Darya Kheri. — Petty State held by Thákur Ranjít Sinh as a
guaranteed Girasiá , or mediatized chief, in the Bhopal Agency, under
the Central India Agency and the Government of India. The
Thákur receives a pecuniary allowance (tankhá) of £448 from Sindhia,
Dewas, and Bhopal in lieu of former rights over land. He also holds a
grant of two villages in Shujawalpur under the guarantee of the British
Government, and pays to the Gwalior Darbár a quit-rent of £107.
Daryápur. - Municipal town and headquarters of táluk of same
name in Ellichpur District, Berar. Lat. 20° 56' N., long. 77° 22' 30" E.
Situated about 25 miles south -west of Ellichpur town, on the banks of
the Chandra Bhága. Pop. (1867), 3328, chiefly Kumbís. The town
contains the usual offices of administration, a police station, and 2
schools ; several temples and mosques stand outside it.
Daska. — Town in Sialkot District, Punjab. Pop. (1868), 3026,
chiefly engaged in agriculture. Situated in lat. 32° 20' N., and long.
74° 24' 6 " E ., on the Gujranwala road , 16 miles south -west of Sialkot.
Police station, post office, dispensary, Government school. Forms
with the neighbouring village of Kot Daska a third -class municipal
union. Revenue (1875-76 ), £100, or 4şd. per head of population (5401)
within municipal limits.
Dásna. — Town in Meerut (Mírath ) District, North-Western Pro
vinces. Lat. 28° 40' 30 " N., and long. 77° 33' 55" E. ; pop. (1872),
5605, being 2564 Hindus and 3041 Muhammadans. Situated in the
open plain , 23 miles south -west of Meerut, and i mile west of the
Ganges Canal, a distributary from which irrigates the surrounding lands.
Founded by Rájá Salársi, a Rájput, in the time of Mahmúd of Ghazní.
Formerly contained a large fort, destroyed by Ahmad Shah in 1760.
Religious fair during themuharram in honour of a Musalmán saint.
Mr. Michel's indigo factory at Masuri (Mussooree) employs a large
number of workmen . Police station and post office. Hindu fair twice
a year.
Daspallá .— Tributary State of Orissa, Bengal. Lat. 20° 10' 50" to
20° 35' N., long. 84° 31' 45" to 85° 8' E. ; area , 568 square miles ; pop.
( 1872), 34,805. Bounded on the north by Angul, Narsinhpur, and
the Mahánadi river, which flows through the picturesque Barmúl gorge
 DASUYA - DATIA . 59
and forms an excellent waterway ; on the south by the Madras State
of Gumsar (Ghumsara) ; on the east by Khandpára and Nayagarh ;
and on the west by Bod. The principal mountain in the State is
Goaldes, in the north , 2506 feet high. The chief village is Daspallá , in
lat. 20° 18 ' 40" N ., long. 84° 56' 21" E. The population in 1872 con
sisted of 23,478 Hindus, or 67'5 per cent of the total ; 5 Muham
madans ; other denominations (aboriginal tribes, etc .), 11,322. Of
the aboriginal races, the Kandhs (8382) are most numerous. Pro
portion of males in total population, 49.9 per cent. ; average density of
population, 61 per square mile ; villages per square mile , 76 ; persons
per village, 81 ; persons per house, 4:6. Estimated annual revenue,
£1349 ; tribute payable by the Rájá to the British Government, £66 .
Daspallá State is said to have been founded about 500 years ago by a
son of the Rájá of Bod , the present chief,who claims to be a Kshattriya
of the Solar race, being the sixteenth in descent. It is divided into
two parts ; Daspallá proper, lying south of the Mahánadi, the original
principality ; and Judum , a small tract north of the Mahanadi annexed
to Daspallá by conquest. The Rájá 's military force is returned at 521
men, and his police force at 269. There are 6 schools in the State , one
ofwhich is supported by the Rájá.
Dasúya . — Northern tahsil of Hoshiarpur District, Punjab. Lat.
31° 44' to 32° 5' N ., long. 75° 34' 15" to 75° 57' E. Lies between the
Kángra Hills and the Beas (Biás) river, which sweeps round three sides
of its boundary line. Area, 476 square miles ; pop. (1868), 253,807,
or 533 persons per square mile.
Dasáya .— Town in Hoshiarpur District, Punjab, and headquarters
of the tahsil. Lat. 31° 49' n., long. 75° 41' 45" E. Pop. (1868), 4860.
Ancient town of little modern importance. Brisk trade in local pro
duce. Tahsil, police station, post office.
Dátáganj.— Tahsil of Budáun District, North -Western Provinces.
Area, 437 square miles, of which 273 are cultivated ; pop. (1872),
194 ,030. Land revenue, £22,773 ; total revenue, £25,062 ; rental
paid by cultivators , £45,369 ; incidence of Government revenue per
acre, is. 74d.
Dátha .- One of the petty States of Undsarviya, in Káthiáwár,
Bombay. It consists of 26 villages, with 2 independent tribute-payers.
The revenue in 1876 was estimated at £2300, of which £509 is paid
as tribute to the Gáekwár, and £29 to Junagarh .
Datia . – One of the Native States in Bundelkhand, under the
Central India Agency and the Government of India. Lat. 25° 34'to
26° 17' N., and long. 78° 17' to 78° 56' E. ; area , 820 square miles ;
pop . (1875 ), 180,000. Bounded on the east by Jhansi District, and
surrounded on all other sides by the State ofGwalior (Gawáliár). It came
under the supremacy of the British Government with other territories
 RE
60 DATIA TOWN - DATIV .
in Bundelkhand, ceded by the Peshwá under the treaty of Bassein in
1802. The ruler at that timewas Rájá Paríchhat, with whom a treaty of
defensive alliance was concluded in 1804. After the deposition of the
Peshwa in 1817, Rájá Paríchhat was rewarded for his attachment to
the British Government by the addition of a tract of land on the east
of the river Sind, and a new treaty was made with him . He was
succeeded by his adopted son, Bijái Bahadur, a foundling, who died in
1857, and was succeeded by his adopted son, Bhawání Sinh, who is the
present ruler. At his succession, however, an illegitimate son, Arjun
Sinh, disputed the succession, and it was necessary to send a British
force for the settlement of the country. Rájá Bhawání Sinh is a
Bundelá Rájput, and was born about 1845. The revenues are estimated
at £100,000. The State pays to Sindhia, through the British Govern .
ment, £1500 of Nánashahi currency annually on accountof the parganá
ofNadigaon. The Chief has the right of adoption , and is entitled to a
salute of 15 guns. Themilitary force consists of 97 guns, 160 gunners,
700 cavalry, and 3040 infantry.
Datia .— Chief town of Datia State, Bundelkhand, lying on the road
from Agra to Ságar (Saugor), 125 miles south -east of the former, and
148 miles north-west of the latter. Lat. 25° 40' N., long. 78° 30' E. ;
estimated population 40,000, almost exclusively Hindus. Situated on
a rocky eminence, surrounded by a stone wall, about 30 feet in height,
but incapable of defence against modern artillery. Though com
posed of narrow and intricate streets, the town presents a flourishing
aspect, and contains a large number of handsome houses, the resi
dences of the local aristocracy. The Rájá’s palace also stands in the
town , within the walls of a pretty pleasure garden, planted with
avenues of oranges, pomegranates, and other fruit trees. The wall is
pierced by a fine gateway, and surmounted at each corner by embattled
towers. Besides the Rájá's pavilion , the gardens enclose an octagonal
building surrounded by a reservoir, containing a fountain composed of
four elephants, from whose trunks arises a jet of water. Another
palace, now untenanted, stands within the city precincts ; while a third ,
also deserted, but remarkable for its great size and strength, as well as
for the beauty of its architecture, lies to the west of the town , beyond the
walls. A curious cluster of Jain temples, at a distance of some 4 miles,
deserves the attention of archæologists. The rocky ground in the
neighbourhood of Datia is overgrown with stunted copse, abounding
in game; and a small artificial lake or jhil lies close to the hillon which
the town stands.
Dativre. — Seaport in the Mahim Subdivision of Tanna District,
Bombay. Lat. 19° 17' N., and long. 72° 50' E. Average annual value
of trade for five years ending 1873-74, £9057 — viz. exports, £8279,
and imports, £778.
 DATTAW - DAULATABAD . 61

Dattaw . — A small stream in British Burma, which rises in the

Khyi-ba spur west of the Irawadi (Irrawaddy), and falls into that
river near Pienthalien. Its bed is sandy and muddy ; on its steep
banks are found teak , cutch ,eng-gyeng (Pentacme siamensis),much used
in house-building, thenggan and pyengma. The Dattaw is only navigable
for a short distance during the rains. .
Datt's Bázár (or Biru ). – Village on the Brahmaputra , in Maiman
sinh District, Bengal. Estimated pop. 940. One ofthe principal marts
of the District, carrying on a large trade in jute, etc. with Náráinganj.
Dáúdnagar.– Chief town in Aurangabad Subdivision,Gayá District,
Bengal. Lat. 25° 2' 39" N., long. 84° 26' 35" E.; pop. ( 1872), 10,058.
Situated on the banks of the Son, and consisting mainly of miserable
crooked lanes and irregular streets, containing numerous hovels. The
chief public buildings are the sarái or rest-house built by Dáúd Khán
in the part of the town named after him , and intended probably for
a stronghold ; and a small imámbárá and a chautárá, formerly used for
the transaction of business. Manufactures of cloth , coarse carpets, and
blankets carried on here ; river trade with Patná, which is likely to
increase after the opening of the canal close to the town. Gross
municipal revenue (1871), £206 , 145. ; rate of taxation , 5d. per head
of population . Local police consists of 13 men. Four miles out of
Dáúdnagar, on the road to Gayá, there is a beautiful temple, the
carving of which was recently performed at Mirzápur.
Dáúdpur. - Depôt in Rangpur District, Bengal. Trade in rice,
paddy, and mustard .
Dátdzai.-- Tahsil of Pesháwar District, Punjab, comprising the
doáb, or tract included between the Swát and Kábul rivers, and also
the strip of land lying to the south of the latter stream . The greater
part is fertile and well watered , supporting a thickly distributed popula
tion . Area, 156 square miles ; pop. (1868), 72,676.
Daulatábád. — Town in the Nizam 's Dominions, in lat. 19° 57' N ., and
long. 75° 18' E. ; 10 miles north-west from Aurangábád , 170 north -east
of Bombay, and 280 north -west of Haidarábád (Hyderabad). Celebrated
for its fortress, also known bythe nameofDeogiri,which has from remote
antiquity been the stronghold of the rulers of the Deccan . It consists
of a conical rock scarped for a height of 150 feet from the base. The
fort has been provided with a counterscarp gallery, and a complete
system of countermines. On the summit of the rock is a small
platform , on which are mounted a cannon and flagstaff. A short
distance outside the ditch is a minaret 100 feet high , said to have been
erected in commemoration of the first conquest of the place by the
Muhammadans. The hill on which the fort stands rises almost per
pendicularly from the plain to a height of about 500 feet, and is entirely
isolated . The original name of the place under the Hindus was
62 DAULAT KHAN - DAVANG .
ERE
Deogarh (Deogiri?). It received the name of Daulatábád from the
Emperor Muhammad, son of Tughlak Shah, who proposed to make it
the capital of the Empire in place of Delhi, and endeavoured in vain to
induce the citizens of Delhi to remove their residences accordingly .
Daulat Khán . - Chief village and headquarters of Dakshin Shah
bázpur Subdivision , Bákarganj District, Bengal. Lat. 22° 38 ' N ., and
long. 90° 50' 30 " E. Principal article of export, betel-nuts. Municipal
income (1869-70 ), £240, 175.; pop. under 5000.
Daulatpur. - Government town in Naushahro Deputy Collectorate,
Haidarábád (Hyderabad) District, Sind ; situated in lat. 26° 30' 30 " N.,
and long. 68° 0' 15" E., on the trunk road. Pop. (1871), 1159,mainly
agricultural. The Muhammadans belong to the Hotpotra tribe ; the
Hindus are chiefly Lohános.
Dauleswar. – Town, Godavari District, Madras. - See DowLAISH
VARAM .
Daunat (Dawna ). — A range of mountains forming the eastern
boundary of AMHERST DISTRICT, Tenasserim Division, British Burma.
This chain starts from the Múlai-yit Hill (5500 feet high) in the main
range, in lat. 16° 5' 45" N., long. 98° 42' 3" E., and extends north
west for 200 miles, dividing the waters of the Houng-tharaw and
Hlaing-bhwai rivers from those of the Thoung-yeng. The general
appearance of the range is that of a wooded plateau of laterite cut up
by drainage into hills. At places the underlying rocks project into the
bed of the Thoung-yeng, indicating volcanic agency. Large areas
on the Dauna Hills are covered with evergreen forests, containing many
varieties of valuable timber.
Daundia Khera. — Pargana in Purwa tahsil, Unao District, Oudh .
Bounded on the north by Ghátampur and Bhagwantnagar parganás,
on the east by Sareni, on the south by the Ganges, and on the west
by Ghátampur parganá. Conquered from the Bhars by the Bais clan
of Kshattriyas, who here first laid the foundation of their future
greatness. They rapidly extended their dominions, and their descen
dants now hold considerable possessions in Rái Bareli and Bára
Bánki. Area, 64 square miles, of which 35 are cultivated . Govern
ment land revenue, £10,210, or an average of 55. per acre. Principal
autumn crops — cotton, rice, millet, urd, múg, vetches, etc.; spring
crops — wheat, barley, gram , arhar, oil-seeds, sugar-cane. Pop. (1869),
Hindus, chiefly of the Bais and Bráhman castes, 35,238 ; Musal
máns, 1028 ; total, 36,266 , viz . 17,785 males and 18,481 females ; average
density of population, 567 per square mile. Of the 104 villages com
prising the parganá, 26 are held under tálukdári, 34 under zamindári,
and 44 under pattidári tenures. Six bi-weekly markets are held for the
sale of the ordinary descriptions of country produce.
Davangere. — Táluk in Chitaldrug District, Mysore, augmented in
 DAVANGERE - DAWA. 63

1875 by the addition of Harihár táluk. Area, 357 square miles; pop.
(1871), 105,987, of whom more than half are Lingáyats ; land revenue
(1874-75 ), exclusive of water-rates, £15,851, or is. 4d. per cultivated
acre. Noted for themanufacture of kamblis or woollen blankets, which
have been known to sell for £30 or £20 a piece.
Davangere. — Municipal town in Chitaldrúg District, Mysore, and
headquarters of above táluk. Lat. 14° 28' N., and long. 75° 59' E., 40
miles north -west of Chitaldrúg ; pop. (1871), 6596, composed of 5866
Hindus, 715 Muhammadans, and 15 others ;' municipal revenue
( 1874-75), £249 ; rate of taxation , uid. perhead. Originally an obscure
village, Davangere became a centre of trade under the patronage of
Haidar Ali, who gave it as a jágír to a Marhattá chief. The merchants
are mostly Sivaite Bhaktas or Lingayats. Their most valuable business
is the carrying trade between Wállájá -pet in North Arcot and the neigh
bourhood of Ságar (Saugor) and Nágar. Exports — areca-nut, pepper,
and kamblis or country blankets.
David , Fort St. (Native name, Thevanapatnam , or Tegnapat). — A
ruined fort in South Arcot District, Madras ; situated in lat. 11°
44' 20" N., and long. 79° 49' 30" E ., 100 miles south of Madras, and is
miles north of Cuddalore, of which itmay be called a suburb. It was
included in the ‘ Kaul ' of 1691, by which that station was granted to
the Company. (See CUDDALORE.) Upon the capitulation of Madras
to the French in 1746, the Company's agent here assumed the general
administration of British affairs in the south of India, and successfully
resisted an attack by Dupleix . Clive was appointed Governor in 1756 .
In 1758, the French dismantled the fort, but sufficiently restored it
in 1783 to withstand an attack by General Stuart. The ruined houses
on the ramparts are still interesting, and some parts of the fort are yet
in good preservation . Subterranean passages appear to have run
completely round under the glacis, thus forming a safe means of com
munication for the garrison ; while, at short intervals, other galleries
striking off at right angles, and terminating in powder chambers, served
as mines. At the south-east corner, the gallery ran down to the edge of
the sea , while on the other three sides the fort was protected by the
river Pennár and two canals. The ruins form a recognised landmark
formariners.
Dawá. — Chiefship in Bhandara District, Central Provinces, lying to
the north of the Great Eastern Road, and about 30 miles north -east of
Bhandára . Pop. (1870), 4085, chiefly Gonds and Halbás, dwelling in
12 villages, on an area of 26 square miles, of which 4709 acres are
cultivated. Dawa and Kor Seoni, the only large villages, both possess
indigenous schools, and the latter contains a strong colony of Koris.
The chief is a Halbá. Dawá village is situated in lat. 21° 1 ' N ., and
long. 80° 13' E .
64 " DAWLAN - DEBI PATAN .
Dawlan. - Revenue circle lying between the Daunat Hills and the
Hlaingbhwai river in Amherst District, Tenasserim Division, British
Burma. Pop. (1876 ), 2836, chiefly Karengs ; gross revenue, £483.
Dayá (' The River ofMercy '). --- Thewestern distributary of the waters
of the KOYAKHAI river, in Orissa , through Puri District into the Chilká
Lake. Subject to disastrous floods, which in the rainy season burst the
banks, and sometimes desolate hundreds of square miles. In the dry
weather, a series of long shallow pools, amid expanses of sand . Fall per
mile at section half-way between Cuttack city and the sea, 1°7 feet ;
mean depth of section, 16°78 feet ; estimated discharge, 33, 100 cubic
feet per second. Thirty -six breaches were made in its embankment in
1866.
Dáyang . – River in Assam , forming the western boundary between
the Nágá Hills District and the unexplored country occupied by the
independent Nágás. It rises in the Deotigarh Mountain , and flows
southwards into the Dhaneswari (Dhansiri) ; lat. 26° 26' n ., and long.
93° 58' E . Navigable by small boats during the rainy season as high as
its junction with the Dihingiján.
Debar. – Lake in Udaipur (Oodeypore) State, Rájputána ; situated
20 miles south-east of Udaipur town, the centre lying in lat. 24° 18 ' N.,
and long. 74° 4' E. It is formed by a dam entirely made of massive
stone, built across a perennial stream , where it issues through a gap
in the hills surrounding the lake. This dike is called Jái Samand, after
Rána Jái Sinh , by whom it was constructed A.D . 1681. The length of
Lake Debar from east to west is about 8 or 10 miles, and its average
breadth about a mile ; elevation above sea level, 960 feet. Its northern
shore is dotted with picturesque fishing hamlets, and its surface with
small wooded islands, adding greatly to the beauty of perhaps one of
the largest artificial sheets of water in the world .
Debhátá. — Municipality and chief village of Maihátí parganá, in the
District of the Twenty -four Parganas, Bengal ; situated on the river
Jamuná. Lat. 22° 33' 30" N., long. 89° 0' 15 " E. The Collector states
that it contains 633 houses, and a population of 1965. Municipal in
come in 1876 -77, £139. Large trade in lime produced from burnt shells.
Debi Pátan. – Village with temples and large religious fair, in Gonda
District, Oudh . Lat. 27° 32' 8'' n ., long. 82° 26 ' 30 " E Stated to be
probably one of the oldest seats of the Sivaite cultus in Northern India .
The earliest legend connects it with Rájá Karna, son of Kunti, the
mother of the three elder Pándavas by the Sun -god, and hero of the
impenetrable cuirass, who, abandoned in his cradle on the Ganges, was
adopted by Adirath, the childless King of Anga. Brought up at the
court of Hastinapur, Karna was refused by Droná the arms of Brahma,
which , however, he eventually obtained from Parasurama by faithful
service at his retreat on the Mahendra Mountain . In after life , he
 DECCAN 65
attended Duryodhana to the Swayamvara , described in the Mahá
bharata, and, having taken a prominent part in the great war, was finally
granted the city of Malini by Jarásindhu, the Sivaite King ofMagadha,
over which he reigned as a tributary to Duryodhana. The ruins of an
ancient fort, once occupying the site of the present temple, and an
adjoining tank, are popularly ascribed to this legendary monarch . In
the middle of the ad century A.D., Vikramaditya, the Bráhmanist king,
who restored the sacred places of Ajodhya on the decline of Buddhism ,
erected a temple on the site of the ancient fort. This in its turn fell
into ruins; and anotherwasbuilt on the same spot at the end of the 14th or
beginning of the 15th century A . D .,.by Ratan Náth, the third in spiritual
descent from Gorakh Náth , the deified saint whose worship is spread
all over the Nepál valley. As far as can be judged from the remains,
this temple must have been of considerable size, adorned by profuse
sculptures, and full of stone images of Siva and Devi in their various
forms. For some centuries, the temple was a great resort for pilgrims,
chiefly from Gorakhpur and Nepál, until its importance attracted the
attention of the iconoclastic Aurangzeb, one of whose officers slew the
priests, destroyed the temple and images, and defiled the holy places.
The temple was soon afterwards restored, but on a smaller scale , and still
exists. A large religious-trading fair, lasting for about ten days, and
attended by about 100,000 persons, is held here each year. The
principal articles of commerce are — hill ponies, cloth, timber, mats,
ghi, iron , cinnamon, etc. During the fair, large numbers of buffaloes,
goats, and pigs are daily sacrificed at the temple.
Deccan ( Dakshin , “ The South '). — The Deccan, in its local accepta
tion , signifies only the elevated tract situated between the Narbadá
(Nerbudda) and Kistna rivers, but it is generally properly understood to
include the whole country south of the Vindhya Mountains, which
separate it from Hindustán proper. In the strict sense , therefore, it
comprehends the valley of the Narbadá (Nerbudda), and all southward
the belt of lowland that fringes the coast, as well as the triangular table
land , the sides of which are formed by the Eastern and Western Ghats,
and the base by the Sátpura range of the sub -Vindhyás. On the western
side, this table-land descends seaward by a succession of terraces, the
Gháts throughout averaging 4000 feet in height above the sea , and ter
minating abruptly near Cape Comorin , the extremesouthern point of the
peninsula , at an elevation of 2000 feet. From here, following the coast
line, the Eastern Ghats commence in a series ofdetached groups,which,
uniting in about lat.11° 40' N ., run northward along the Coromandel coast,
with an average elevation of 1500 feet ; and join themain ridge, which
crosses the peninsula in lat. 13° 20' n. They terminate in nearly the
samelatitude as their western counterpart . The Vindhyán range, running
across the north of the Deccan , joinsthe northern extremities of the two
VOL. III.
 N
66 DECCA .
Gháts, and thus completes the peninsular triangle. The eastern side of
the enclosed tableland being much lower than the western , all the prin
cipal rivers of the Deccan - the Godavari, Kistna, Pennár, and Káveri
(Cauvery) - rising in the Western Ghats flow eastward , and escape by
openings in the Eastern Ghats into the Bay of Bengal. Between the
Gháts and the sea on either side, the land differs in being, on the east,
composed in part of alluvial deposits broughtdown from the mountains,
and sloping gently ; while on the west, the incline is abrupt, and the
coast strip is broken by irregular spurs from the Gháts, which at places
descend into the sea in steep cliffs.
Geologically , the Deccan tableland presents a vast surface of hypo
gene schists, penetrated and broken up by extraordinary outbursts of
plutonic and trappean rock ; varied on the Western Ghats by laterite ;
on the eastern by laterite, sandstones and limestones ; and in the valley
of the Káveri by granite. To the north -west, this schistoid formation
disappears, emerging occasionally from under one of the largest sheets
of trap in the world . Underlying this surface throughout, is a granite
floor ; while in places overlying it are, in the following order, gneiss,
mica and hornblende schists, clay-slate, marble — all destitute of organic
remains — together with fossiliferous limestones, varieties of clay and
sand rocks. Through all these aqueous deposits, the volcanic trap
thrusts itself. Two rocks, characteristic of the Deccan , are found
capping the trap - viz. laterite, an iron -clay, and regar known in its
disintegrated state as 'black cotton-soil. The latter is remarkable
for its retentive power of moisture, and for its fertility.
Little is known of the history of the Deccan before the close of the
13th century . Hindu legends tell of its invasion by Ráma, and
archæological remains bear witness to a series of early dynasties, of
which the Dravida, Chola , and Andhra are the best known. Continuous
history commences with the Muhammadan invasion of 1294 - 1300 A.D.,
when Alá -ud-din , the Emperor of Delhi, conquered Maharashtra,'
* Telingána,' and ` Karnáta.' In 1338, the reduction of the Deccan was
completed by Muhammad Tughlak ; but a few years later, a general
revolt resulted in the establishment of the (Muhammadan ) Báhmani
dynasty and the retrogression of Delhi supremacy beyond the Narbadá.
The Báhmani dynasty subverted the (Hindu) kingdom of Telingana
(1565), and (at the battle of Tálikot in the same year) the kingdom of
Vijayanagar or. Karnata .' A few years later, it itself began to disintegrate,
and was broken up into the (Muhammadan ) States of Bijapur, Ahmed
nagar, Golconda, Bidar, and Berar. The two last became extinct before
1630 ; the other three were successively restored to the Delhi Empire by
the victories of Shah Jehan and his son Aurangzeb . The Deccan was
thus for a second time brought under the Delhi rule, but not for long.
The Marhattás in 1706 obtained the right of levying tribute over
 DEDAN _ DEGH. 67
Southern India . Their leader, concentrating his strength in what is now
the Bombay Presidency, founded the Satára dynasty, which afterwards
resigned all real power to the Peshwa of Poona. Another usurper,
rallying the southern Muhammadans round him , established the
Nizámati of Haidarábád (Hyderabad). The rest of the imperial posses
sions in the Deccan was divided among minor chiefs, who acknowledged
the supremacy of the Peshwa and of the Nizám , according as they were
north or south of the Tungabhadra respectively. Mysore (Maisur)
generally tributary to both, became eventually the prize of Haidar Ali ;
while in the extreme south , the Travancore State enjoyed, by its isolated
position, uninterrupted independence. Such was the position of affairs
early in the 18th century. Meanwhile, Portugal, Holland, France, and
Great Britain had effected settlements on the coast ; but the two former
on so small a scale that in the wars of the Deccan they took no important
part. The French and English, however, espoused opposite sides ; and
the struggle eventually resulted in establishing the supremacy of the
latter. The Deccan is to - day represented by the British Presidency
of Madras and part of Bombay, together with Haidarábád (Hyderabad ),
Mysore , Travancore, and other Native States.
Dedan.— One of the petty States of Babriáwár in Káthiáwár, Bom
bay. It consists of 11 villages, with 2 independent tribute -payers, The
revenue in 1875 was estimated at £3000, of which £295 is payable
as tribute to the Gáekwár of Baroda.
Dedurda . — One of the petty States of Undsarviya in Káthiáwár,
Bombay. It consists of i village, with 2 independent tribute -payers.
The revenue in 1875 was estimated at £410 , ofwhich £10 is payable
as tribute to theGáekwár of Baroda.
Deeg ( Dig ). — Town and fortress in Bhartpur State, Central India. —
See Dig .
Deesa (Dísa ). — British cantonment in Pálanpur State, Bombay.
See Disa.
Degám .-- Seaport in the Jambusár Subdivision of Broach District,
Bombay ; situated in lat. 22° 11' N., and long. 72° 39' E., on the left
bank of the Mahi river, about a mile from the Gulf of Cambay, and
18 miles north -west of Jambusár town. Pop. (1872), 2331 ; average
annual value of trade for the five years ending 1871-72, £14 ,108, viz,
exports, £5135, and imports, £8973. Mention is made of Degám as
a seaport of Broach in the Ain-i- Akbari.
Degh . - River in Jammu (Jummoo) State, and in Sialkot, Lahore ,
and Montgomery Districts, Punjab. Formed by the union of two
streams at Harmandal, in Jammu, both of which take their rise in
the outer Himalayan ranges. Enters British territory near the village
of Takrári in Sialkot, passes into Lahore District, and finally joins
the Rávi in Montgomery District in lat. 31° 2' N ., long. 73° 24' E.
 DEHEJ — DEHRA .
The Degh is a river of the lower slopes, and consequently depends
entirely for water supply upon the local rainfall ; but its channel in
the upper portion never runs dry . In Sialkot District, a fringe of
alluvial land lines the bank , and the current shifts constantly
from side to side of the wide valley ; but artificial irrigation is only
practised by means of Persian wheels in a few isolated spots, where the
banks rise somewhat higher than usual above the river bed . Large
areas, however, benefit by the silt deposited from the summer floods.
At Tappiála, in Lahore District, the Degh divides into two branches,
which join again near the village of Dhenga. Below Uderi, irrigation
can be effected by the natural flow of the water, the banks having sub
sided almost to the river's edge. Excellent rice grows upon the lands
submerged by the inundations. In Montgomery District, the Degh
again flows between high banks, but still contains sufficient water for
irrigation. Its course in this portion of its route is remarkably straight,
and it presents all the appearance of an artificial canal. So much water
is withdrawn for agricultural purposes during its upper course, that the
bed not unfrequently runs dry by the time it reaches Montgomery
District. Several bridges span the Degh , notably an ancient one of
very curious construction , at the point where it passes from Sialkot into
Lahore, besides two at Pindi Dás and Hodiál, erected by the Emperor
Jahangir. The right of fishing produces an annual rental of £300.
Dehej.— Seaport in the Wágra Subdivision of Broach District, Bom
bay ; situated in lat. 21° 42' 45" N ., and long. 72° 38' 30" E., on the
right bank of the Narbadá (Nerbudda), about 3 miles from the sea,
and 26 mileswestof Broach. Houses, 618 ; pop. (1872), 2092 ; average
annual value of trade for five years ending 1871-72 - exports, £6774, and
imports, £53 — total, £6827. Dehej was formerly the chief town of a
fiscal division of 12 villages, which first came under British rule in 1780 .
This tract was ceded to the Marhattás in 1783, and recovered in 1818
on the final overthrow of the Peshwa's power.
Dehli. — Division , District, and City, Punjab. — See Delhi.
Dehra .— Tahsil in Dehra Dún District, North -Western Provinces,
comprising the whole of the eastern and western Dúns. Area (1872 ),
677 square miles, of which 99 are cultivated ; pop. 75,665 ; land
revenue, £3670 ; total Government revenue, £4140 ; rental paid by
cultivators, £9017 ; incidence of Government revenue per acre, 2d.
Dehra . - Municipal town and administrative headquarters of Dehra
Dún District, North -Western Provinces. Lat. 30° 19' 59" N., and long.
78° 5 ' 57" E.; pop. (1872), 7316 . Prettily situated in the midst of a
mountain valley, at an elevation of more than 2300 feet above sea level.
Founded by Guru Rám Rái, who settled in the Dún at the end of the
17th century. His temple, a handsome building in the style of
Jahangir's tomb, forms the chief architectural ornament of the town.
 DEHRA DUN DISTRICT. 69
The native city also contains a tahsili, police station, jail, and schools.
The European quarter lies to the north , and has a fixed English popu
lation of some 400 persons, being one of the largest in the North
Western Provinces. To the west, stand the cantonments of the 2nd
Gurkha Rifles, or Sirmúr Battalion, English church , Roman Catholic
and Presbyterian chapels ; dispensary, which in 1872 relieved a total
number of 8948 patients ; post office ; headquarters of Trigonometrical
Survey. Large and successful mission of the American Presbyterian
Church takes a prominent part in local educational matters. Municipal
revenue ( 1875-76), £1102 ; from taxes, £ 507.
Dehra Dún. - A British District in the Lieutenant-Governorship of
the North-Western Provinces, lying between 29° 57' and 30° 59' n . lat.,
and between 77° 37' 15" and 78° 22' 45" E. long., with an area of 1021
square miles, and a population ( 1872) of 116 ,945 persons. Dehra Dún
forms the northern District of the Mirath (Meerut) Division. It is
bounded on the north by Independent Garhwal, on the west by Sirmúr
and Umballa (Ambála ) District, on the south by Saharanpur, and on
the east by British and Independent Garhwal. The administrative
headquarters are at the town of DEHRA.
Physical Aspects. — The District of Dehra Dún consists of two distinct
portions— the double valley of Dehra proper, and the outlying mountain
tract of Jaunsár Báwar. It projects northward from the alluvial uplands
of the Doáb, like an irregular triangle, toward the sources of the Jumna
(Jamuná) and the main range of the Himálayas. To the south, the
Siwálik Hills, a mass of Himalayan débris, shut off the District from the
level and fertile plain below . Between these hills and the greatmountain
chain , whose farthest outliers they form , lie the two valleys known as
the Eastern and Western Dúns ; the former sloping down toward the
stream of the Ganges,while the latter descendsby wooded undulations to
the bed of its principal confluent, the Jumna (Jamuná). The scenery
of these mountain dales can hardly be surpassed for picturesque beauty
even among the lovely slopes of the massive chain to which they belong.
The perennial streams nourish a fresh and luxuriant vegetation , whilst
the romantic hills to the south and the sternermountains on the north
give an exquisite variety to the landscape. A connecting ridge, which
runs from north to south between the two systems, forms the watershed
of the great rivers, and divides the Eastern from the Western Dún .
The Ganges, passing between this District and Garhwal, pours rapidly
over beds of boulder, through several channels, encircling jungle-clad
islets, and debouches at length upon the plains at Hardwar. The
Jumna sweeps round the whole south-western boundary, and reaches
the level uplands near Badshah Mahál, in Saharanpur District, an
ancient hunting-seat of the Delhi Emperors. Their tributaries have
little importance, except for artificial irrigation. When the District
70 DEHRA DUN DISTRICT.
first passed under British rule, remains of ancient dams, tanks, and
canals studded its surface ; but these works had fallen completely out
of use during the anarchic period of Sikh and Gurkha incursions. Our
officers at once turned their attention to the restoration of the ancient
channels, or the construction of others ; and a number of diminutive
but valuable irrigation canals now traverse both valleys in every direc
tion , spreading cultivation over all available portions of their rugged
surface. North of the Dún proper, the massive block of mountains
known as Jaunsár Báwar fills in the space between the valleys of the
Tons on the west and the Jumna on the east and south . The latter
river, bending sharply westward from the Garhwal boundary, divides
this northern tract from the Dún, and unites with its tributary the Tons
near the Sirmúr frontier. Jaunsár Báwar consists of a confused mass of
rocks, evidently upheaved by volcanic action. Forests of deodara , oak ,
and fir still clothe large spaces on the hillsides ; but cultivation can only
be carried on by means of terraces cut along the mountain slopes, and
artificially irrigated by damsupon the numerous minor streams. The
wild elephant ranges over the Siwálik chain ; while tigers, leopards,
sloth bears, spotted or other deer, and monkeys abound in the remoter
jungles.
History. — In the earliest ages of Hindu legend, Dehra Dún formed
part of the mythical region known as Kedárkúnd, the abode of the
great god Siva, whose sovereignty is still commemorated in the name
of the Siwálik Hills. Many generations later, according to the most
ancient myths of the Aryan settlers, the valley became bound up with
the two great epics of the Rámáyaná and Mahábhárata . Hither came
Ráma and his brother, to do penance for the death of the Bráhman
demon -king Rávana ; and here sojourned the five Pandava brethren , on
their way to the inner recesses of the snowy range, where they finally
immolated themselves upon the sacred peak of Mahá Panth. Another
memorable legend connects the origin of the little river Suswá with the
prayers of 60,000 pigmy Bráhmans, whom Indra , the rain -god, had
laughed to scorn when he saw them vainly endeavouring to cross the
vast lake formed by a cow's footprint filled with water. The indignant
pigmies set to work, by means of penance and mortifications, to create a
second Indra, who should supersede the reigning god ; and when their
sweat had collected into the existing river, the irreverent deity, alarmed
at the surprising effect of their devotions, appeased their wrath
through the good offices of Brahma. Traditions of a snake, Bámun ,
who became lord of the Dún on the summit of the Nágsidh Hill, seem
to point towards a period of Nágá supremacy. The famous Kálsi
stone, near Haripur, on the right bank of the Jumna, inscribed with an
edict of the Buddhist Emperor Asoka, may mark the ancient boundary
between India and the Chinese Empire . It consists of a large quartz
 DEHRA DUN DISTRICT. 71
boulder, standing on a ledge which overhangs the river, and is
covered with the figure of an elephant, besides an inscription in the
ordinary character of the period. Hiouen Thsang does not mention
any cities which can be identified as lying within the present District ;
and tradition asserts that it remained without inhabitants until the nith
century , when a passing caravan of Banjárás, struck with the beauty of
the country, permanently settled on the spot. Authentic history , how
ever, knows nothing of Dehra Dún till the 17th century, when it formed
a portion of the Garhwal kingdom . The town of Dehra owes its origin
to the heretical Síkh Guru , Rám Rái, a Hindu anti-pope, who was
driven from the Punjab and the Sikh apostolate by doubts as to the
legitimacy of his birth, and obtained recommendations from the
Emperor Aurangzeb to the Rájá ofGarhwal. His presence in the Dún
shortly attracted numerous devotees, and the village of Gurudwara , or
Dehra, grew up around the saint's abode. Rájá Fateh Sáh endowed
his temple, a curious building of Muhammadan architecture, with the
revenue of three estates. The Guru possessed the singular and
miraculous power of dying at will, and returning to life after a concerted
interval ; but on one occasion , having mistaken his reckoning, he never
revived , and the bed on which he died still forms a particular object of
reverence to the devout worshippers at his cenotaph. Monuments of
earlier date, erected by one Rání Karnávati, still exist at Nuwádá.
Fateh Sáh died soon after the arrival of Rám Rái, and was succeeded
(1699) by his infant grandson, Partáp Sáh, whose reign extended over
the greater part of a century. But the flourishing condition ofhis domain
soon attracted the attention of Najib Daula , governor of Saharanpur,
who crossed the Siwáliks with a Rohillá army in 1757, and occupied
the Dún without serious opposition . Under Najib Khán's benevolent
and enlightened administration, the District rose to an unexampled
degree of wealth and prosperity. Canals and wells irrigated the
mountain - sides, Muhammadan colonists brought capital to develop
the latent resources of the soil, and mango topes, still standing amid
apparently primeval forest, bear witness even now to the flourishing
agriculture of this happy period. But Najib 's death in 1770 put an end
to the sudden prosperity of the Dún. Henceforth a perpetual inunda
tion of Rajputs, Gújars, Síkhs, and Gurkhas swept over the valley,
till the once fertile garden degenerated again into a barren waste. Four
Rájás followed one another on the throne ; but the real masters were
the turbulent tribes on every side, who levied constant black -mail from
the unfortunate cultivators. Meanwhile, the Gurkhás, a race of mixed
Nepálí origin , were advancing westward, and reached at last the
territories of Garhwal. In 1803, Rájá Pardumán Sáh fled before them
from Srinagar into the Dún, and thence to Saharanpur, while the savage
Gurkhá host overran the whole valley unopposed . Their occupation
72 DEHRA DUN DISTRICT.
of Dehra Dún coincided in timewith the British entry into Saharanpur,
and the great earthquake of 1803 proved the miraculous harbinger of
either event. The Gurkhas ruled their new acquisition with a rod of
iron , so that the District threatened to become an absolute desert. The
few remaining inhabitants emigrated elsewhere, and cultivation began
rapidly to disappear. Under the severe fiscal arrangements of the
Gurkhá governors, slavery increased with frightful rapidity , every
defaulter being condemned to life-long bondage, and slaves being far
cheaper in themarket than horses or camels. From this unhappy con
dition, the advent of British rule rescued the feeble and degraded people.
The constant aggressions of the Gurkhás against our frontier compelled
the Government to declare war in November 1814. Dehra was imme
diately occupied, while our forces laid siege to the strong hill fortress
of Kálanga, which fell after a gallant defence, with great loss to the
besieging party. The remnant of its brave garrison entered the service
of Ranjít Sinh, and afterwards died to a man in battle with the
Afgháns. A resolution of Government, dated 17th November 1815,
ordered the annexation of our new possession to Saharanpur ; while the
Gurkhás, by a treaty drawn up in the succeeding month , formally ceded
the country to our authorities. The organization on a British model
proceeded rapidly ; and in spite of an ineffectual rising of the dis
affected Gújars and other predatory classes, led by a bandit named
Kalwá, in 1824, peace was never again seriously disturbed . Under the
energy and perseverance of its first English officials, the Dún rapidly
recovered its prosperity. Roads and canals were constructed , cultiva
tion spread over the waste lands, and the people themselves, awaking
from their previous apathy, began to acquire habits of industry and self
reliance. Jaunsár Báwar, historically an integral portion of Sirmúr, had
been conquered in the same campaign as the Dún ; but was at first
erected into a separate charge, under a Commissioner subordinate to
the Resident at Delhi. In 1829, however, it was incorporated with the
present District, of which it has ever since formed a part. The events
of 1857 produced little effect in this remote dependency, cut off by the
Siwáliks from direct contact with the centres of disaffection in the Doáb
or the Delhi Division ; and though a party of Jalandhar insurgents, 600
strong, crossed the Jumna into Dehra Dún , they traversed the District
without stopping, and never came into collision with the pursuing
troops.
Population. It is probable that the number of the inhabitants has
more than trebled since the introduction of British rule. The first
regular Census, however, took place as lately as 1865, and it returned
a total population of 102,831. In 1872, the numbers had risen to
116,945, showing an increase of 14,114 persons, or 13'7 per cent.
The latter enumeration extended over an area of 1021 square miles, of
 DEHRA DUN DISTRICT.
which only 128 were cultivated. The population of 116,945 persons
was distributed among 965 villagesor townships, inhabiting an aggregate
of 24,744 houses. These figures yield the following averages - Per
sons per square mile , 114 ; villages or townships per square mile, o'9 ;
houses per square mile, 24 ; persons per village, 121 ; persons per
house, 4 :6 . Classified according to sex, there were, exclusive of non
Asiatics — males, 68,044 ; females, 47,667 ; proportion of males, 58.8
per cent. The disparity between the sexes may be probably attributed
to the number of recent immigrants, amongst whom men naturally
predominate. Classified according to age, there were, with the like
omission , under 12 years — males, 20,264 ; females, 17,306 ; total,
37,570, or 34 :23 per cent. Asregards the religious distinctions of the
people, the Hindus numbered 102,814, or 89-3 per cent. ; while the
Muhammadans were returned at 12,420, or 10 ' 7 per cent. The Dis
trict also contained a resident European population of 1061, besides 190
of mixed race and 460 native Christians. The leading castes comprise
the Bráhmans ( 10,279) and Rájputs (33,125), each of which has two
broad subdivisions into the mountain and the lowland clans. The
latter regard themselves as vastly superior to their hill brethren , and
lose caste by intermarriage with them . The highland Brahmans will
eat any kind ofmeat except beef. The Gujars, immigrant plunderers of
the last century , still retain several villages. Among the lower castes,
the Mehras and Dhúms possess the greatest interest, as being the pro
bable representatives of the aborigines before the tide of Aryan immi
gration had set in . The Mehras inhabit the remoter portions of the
Eastern Dún, inferior both in physique and intelligence, and timidly
averse to intercourse with strangers. The Dhúmshave dingy black skins
and woolly hair ; they form the servile class, only just emancipated from
actual slavery under British rule, and still retaining many traces of their
ancient status. Most of the Muhammadans are mere chance visitors
from the plains. They have secured few proselytes, except among the
wretched Dhúms, and even these prefer Christianity to Islám . The
District contained only one town in 1872 whose population exceeded
5000, namely, Dehra, with 7316 inhabitants. The sanitariums of
MASURI (Mussooree) and LANDAUR, now united into a single town,
contain a large number of permanent residents, and attractmany visitors
from the plains during the hot season. Kalsi, the ancient mart of
Jaunsár Báwar, has now sunk to the position of a country village ;
while the cantonment of CHAKRATA, high among the mountains, has
succeeded to local importance as the modern capital of the tract. The
language in ordinary use consists of a very corrupt dialect of Hindí.
Agriculture. - Out of a total area of 1021 square miles, only 128 were
cultivated in 1872. Tillage is chiefly confined to the valleys, or to
terraces on themountain slopes, artificially irrigated by damsand canals.
74 DEHRA DUN DISTRICT.
The agricultural year follows the same seasons as those which prevail in
the Doáb. The kharif, or autumn harvest, consists chiefly of rice, the
inferior kinds of which can be grown in land entirely dependent on the
rainfall for its water supply . Joár, tíl, and sugar-cane form supple
mentary autumn corps. The rabí, or spring harvest, falls far short of
the kharif in quantity. Its staples comprise wheat and barley, with
very few inferior grains. The District produces no surplus for ex
portation ; and since the hill stations of Masuri and Chakráta have
risen into importance, a considerable amount of food -stuffs is annually
imported for their supply. On the other hand, Dehra Dún now raises
tea and rhea for exportation to the plains, while timber and other forest
produce turn the balance of trade in its favour. Government has
endeavoured to promote the reclamation of the waste lands which
abound in all parts of the District, by means of grants to European
capitalists ; but hitherto little success has attended in these enterprises.
The various agricultural staples cover the following estimated areas :
Wheat, 12,890 acres; barley, 5228 acres; rice , 13,743 acres ; mandwá,
6412 acres. Theaverage out-turn of wheat per acre may be set down
at 11 cwts., valued at £1, 58.; and that of barley at 15 cwts., valued at
£1, is. Nearly three-fifths of the land is held by tenants with rights of
occupancy. In the Dún proper, the peasantry have not yet extricated
themselves from a condition of indebtedness to the village banker ; but
in Jaunsár Báwar, they occupy a comparatively enviable position , free
from debt, and usually cultivating their own little farms themselves.
On the tea plantations, labour obtains excellentwages, which prove quite
sufficient to attract Afgháns and other foreigners into competition with
natives of the Dún. In 1872, ordinary field labourers received 3d. per
diem . Famine has never occurred within the historical period ; and it is
believed that, among a people so favourably situated as regards the
demand for labour, its future occurrence may be considered a very
remote contingency. The average prices of food - stuffs for the ten
years ending 1870, ruled as follows : — Common rice, 12 sers per
rupee, or gs . 4d . per cwt. ; best rice, 9 sers per rupee, or 12s. 5d. per
cwt. ; wheat, 17 sers per rupee, or 6s. 7d. per cwt.; barley, 25 sers per
rupee, or 4s. 6d. per cwt.
Commerce and Trade, etc. — The traffic of Dehra Dún has two main
channels, leading from the valley to the plains and to the hills respec
tively. The exports toward the lowlands include timber, bamboo, lime,
charcoal, rice , and above all, tea. The total annual value of the latter
article raised within the District is estimated at £20,000. Some of it
has even found its way, through Afghánistán, to the Russian army in
Central Asia. In return, the Dún imports from the plains hardware,
cotton cloth , blankets,salt, sugar, grain ,tobacco , fruits, and spices. All
these articles pass on also to the hills; while the return trade consists
 DEHRA DUN DISTRICT. 75
of rice, ginger, turmeric, red pepper, honey, wax, lac, gum , resin, and
other forest produce. No manufactures of more than local importance
exist. The mode of carriage is confined to bullock carts, and the
carrying trade remains chiefly in the hands of Banjáras. The District
has only one bridged and metalled road, from Asámri to Rájpur, along
which goes the traffic from the plains through the Mohan Pass, pierced
by a causeway 7 miles long. Fair second-class roads connect the other
centres of population with the principal passes of the Himalayas or the
Siwaliks. The hill stations, however, can only be reached by means of
horse paths. Two printing-presses exist in the District, and an English
newspaper is published at Masuri.
Administration. - In 1870-71, Dehra Dún District contained 3 cove
nanted officers , the chief of whom bore the title of Superintendent,
with the powers of a Magistrate and Collector. The number of
courts held within the District during the same year was 5. The
total revenue raised in Dehra Dún during the financial year 1874 -75
was returned at £6308, of which sum £5797 was due to the land tax.
The number of policemen of all kinds in the same year amounted to
279, being at the rate of i constable to every 3.6 square miles of
area and every 419 persons. The District jail at Dehra Dún contained
a daily average of 304 inmates in 1875, of whom 297 were male and 7
female. In education, the District still remains very backward . In
1875 -76, the number of schools was returned at 32, with an aggregate
roll of 1196 pupils ; giving an average of 1 school to every 31.87 square
miles, and •102 scholars per thousand of the population . The American
Mission at Dehra , established in 1853, has taken a deep interest in
educational matters, and maintains a female school and girls' orphanage.
For fiscal and administrative purposes, the District is subdivided into 2
tahsils and 3 parganás. Municipalities have been established at Dehra
and Masuri. In 1875 -76, their joint revenue amounted to £3542 ;
from taxes, £2062, or 25. id. per head of the population (19,445)
within municipal limits. During the season , however, the visitors who
flock to Masuri greatly disturb the apparent incidence of taxation.
Medical Aspects. — Extremes of heat and cold are unknown in the
Dehra Dún. The proximity of the Himálayas cools the atmosphere ;
not like Bengal, the warm blasts from the plain do not reach so far
among themountain valleys, while the heavy summer monsoons bring
abundant showers, and even in May or June occasional rainfall refreshes
the country . The temperature generally fluctuates between 37° and
101°; but at the sanitarium of Masuri (Mussooree), 6000 feet above
sea level, the thermometer has a range from 27° to 80°. Earthquakes
occasionally occur, but seldom cause serious damage. The total number
of deaths recorded in the District in 1875 amounted to 2786 , being at
the rate of 23•82 per 1000 of the population. During the same year,
76 DEHRI - DELHI DISTRICT.
the Government charitable dispensary at Dehra gave relief to 19,676
out-door, and 649 in -door patients.
Dehri. — Town in Sháhábád District, Bengal; situated in lat. 24° 54'
30' N., and long. 84° 12' 30" E., on the west bank of the Son , at the
338th mile of the Grand Trunk Road. Now noted as the site of the
head-works of the Són Canals, and of the workshops designed by Mr.
Fouracres, in 1869-70 , to construct and maintain the various stone,
wood, and iron works scattered over the canal system . A cement
factory is attached. In the Dehri training school, opened in 1872 with
the object of recruiting the upper subordinate establishments of the
Public Works Department, European, Eurasian , and native lads from
14 to 17 years of age are taken as indentured apprentices. They are
supplied with free lodging, and receive a small Government allowance.
To the north of Dehri town is a large indigo factory, the property of
Messrs. Gisborne & Co. In 1871, a convict camp was established at
Dehrí, as an experiment on a large scale, for the out-door employmentof
prisoners on remunerative public works. The prisoners were mainly
employed on canal works connected with the Irrigation Department,
till 1875,when theywere moved up to Baxar,where it has been decided
to build a new central jail.
Delhi (Dehli). — A Division under a Commissioner in the Punjab ,
lying between 27° 39' and 30° 1 ' n. lat., and between 76° 13' and 77°
35' E. long. ; and comprising the three Districts of DELHI, GURGAON ,
and KARNAL, each of which see separately. Area, 5609 square miles,
of which about half are cultivated ; pop. (1868), 1,916 ,423.
Delhi ( Dehli). — A British District in the Lieutenant-Governorship of
the Punjab (Panjáb), lying between 28° 12' and 29° 13' n. lat., and
between 76° 51' 15 " and 77° 34' 45" E long. ; with an area of 1277
square miles, and a population in 1868 of 608,850. Delhi forms the
central District in the Division of the samename. It is bounded on
the north by Karnál, on the west by Rohtak, on the south by Gurgaon ,
and on the east by the river Jumna (Jamuná), which divides it from the
Districts of Meerut (Mírath ) and Bulandshahr in the North-Western
Provinces. The administrative headquarters are at the city of DELHI,
the ancient capital of the Mughal Empire.
Physical Aspects. — The District of Delhi forms the meeting place for
the alluvial plain of the Jumna valley and the last outlying ridges of
the Rájputána Hills. Its northern portion presents the usual mono
tonous features which characterise the dry lowlands of the Cis-Sutlej
(Satlaj) tract. Only as we near the Jumna does the nature of the soil
exhibit any variety or increased natural fruitfulness ; but along the
actual verge of the river, an alluvial margin, some 10 miles in width ,
fringing the bank, marks the ancient bed of the main channel, which
has gradually receded eastward during the course of ages, leaving a
 DELHI DISTRICT. 77

considerable cliff far to the west, the only vestige of its original path.
As the river approaches the city of Delhi, however, this lowland region
rapidly contracts in width , terminating about a mile above the town ,
where an offshoot of the Mewat Hills abuts upon the water's edge
in a wide stony plateau. The range to which this northernmost
outlier belongs may be considered as a prolongation of the Aravalli
system . It enters the District from Gurgaon on the southern border,
and immediately expands into a rocky tableland, some 3 miles in
breadth, running in a north-easterly direction nearly across the District.
Ten miles south of the city, the range divides into two branches, one
of which, turning sharply to the south -west, re-enters the borders of
Gurgaon ; while the other continues its northerly course as a narrow
ridge of sandstone, and, passing to the west of Delhi, finally loses itself
in the valley of the Jumna. The whole tableland nowhere attains an
elevation of more than 500 feet above the lowlands at its base ; while its
surface consists ofbarren rock , too destitute of water for the possibility
of cultivation, even in the few rare patches of level soil. Nevertheless ,
the neighbouring villages of the lowland tract have allotted this stony
plateau among their various communities, and watch over their respec
tive boundaries with the utmost jealousy . The land is only valuable as
inferior grazing ground. At the very foot of the hills, however, a few
villages derive fertility from the torrents which course through the
ravines during the rainy season, and spread their waters over the flat
plain below , thus preparing the soil for the reception of the autumn
sowing. The Najafgarh jhil or lake, a shallow scattered sheet of water,
covers a considerable surface in the south -east of the District, the area
submerged amounting in October to about 27,000 acres. The Jumna,
before reaching the borders of Delhi, has been so greatly drained of its
waters for the two older canals which it feeds, that it forms only a narrow
stream , fordable at almost any point except during the rains ; while
at Okhla, a short distance below the city, the whole remaining cold
weather supply is drafted off into the new Agra Canal.
History. — The tract immediately surrounding the Mughal capital can
hardly be said to possess any history of its own , apart from that of the
city, which will be found in full under the proper heading. From the
earliest period of Aryan colonization in India, the point where the
central hills first abut upon the Jumna seems to have formed the site for
one greatmetropolis after another; so that the whole country, for some 10
or 12 miles around themodern Delhi, is covered with the débris of ruined
cities, whose remains extend over an estimated area of 45 square miles.
First upon the list of successive capitals stands the name of Indraprastha,
a city founded (asGeneral Cunningham believes ) not later than the
15th century B.C., by the earliest Aryan immigrants into India , when
they first began to feel their way along the tangled jungles of the Jumna
 78 DELHI DISTRICT.
valley. The Mahabharata vaguely enshrines the memory of this
primitive settlement, and tells how the five Pándavas, leading an
Aryan host from Hastinapur upon the Ganges, expelled or subdued
the savage Nágás, the aboriginal inhabitants ; how , having cleared
their land of forest, they founded the stronghold of Indraprastha, which
grew into a great kingdom ; and how at last, as the Aryan race became
strong enough for discord, they turned their arms against their own
kinsmen , the Pauravas, whom they overthrew in a great war, the
central theme of the Hindu Iliad . Yudisthira, the founder of
Indraprastha, was succeeded on the throne by thirty generations of
collateral descendants, until at length his line was extinguished by the
usurpation of Visarwa, minister of the last Pandavite sovereign. Vis
arwa's family retained the sceptre for 500 years, and was then followed ,
with the usual symmetry of early Indian mythical lore, by a dynasty of
fifteen Gautamas. In the middle of the ist century B .C., the name of
Delhi makes its earliest appearance in tradition or history ; and thence
forth the annals of the District become identical with those of the whole
Upper Indian Empire. Passing in succession under the rule of Hindus,
Patháns, Mughals, and Marhattás, Delhi cameat length into the hands
of the British ,after Lord Lake's victories in 1803. The tract then ceded
to the Company included a considerable strip to the west of the Jumna,
both north and south of the Mughal capital. The Governor-General
assigned a large portion of the territory thus acquired for the mainte
nance and dignity of the royal family of Delhi. Shah Alam , released
from his Marhattá jailors, received as private domain for this pur
pose the greater part of the present Districts of Delhi and Hissár. A
Resident and Chief Commissioner undertook the entire control of the
fiscal arrangements, and exercised a general supervision over the criminal
jurisdiction ; but the king retained exclusive power within the palace
walls, while British officials administered Muhammadan law in his name
throughout the assigned region . A few native princes, however, still
held their independent estates within the Delhi territory, the principal
instance in the present District being the Rájá of BALLABHGARH .
The anomalous mode of government thus instituted was obviously
inconsistent with the full authority of the central power ; and, in 1832, it
becamedesirable to introduce a more practicable system of administration.
A Regulation of that year abolished the office of Resident and Chief
Commissioner, transferred the executive power to a Commissioner in
correspondence with the Government of the North-Western Provinces,
and vested the judicial functions in the High Court of Agra. This enact
ment placed the administration of the Delhi territory, nominally as well
as actually, in the hands of the East India Company. The territory
continued to form part of the North -Western Provinces up till the
Mutiny of 1857. As early as 1819, a District of Delhi had been
 DELHI DISTRICT. 79
regularly constituted, including a part of the present Rohtak District,
but since enlarged by additions from Pánipat and from the confiscated
principality of Ballabhgarh. On the outbreak of the Mutiny, the whole
District passed for a time into the hands of the rebels ; and though
communications with the Punjab were soon restored, enabling us to
recover the northern parganás, it was not till after the fall of DELHI
City that British authority could reassert itself in the southern portion .
When the final suppression of the Mutiny in 1858 enabled the work of
reconstruction to proceed, Delhi District was transferred to the newly
formed Lieutenant-Governorship of the Punjab. At the same time, the
territories of the insurgent Rája of Ballabhgarh, who had been executed
for rebellion, were confiscated and added as a new tahsil to the
District ; while the outlying Doáb villages, hitherto belonging to Delhi,
and known as the Eastern Pargana, were handed over to the North
Western Provinces. Since the banishment of the king to Rangoon ,
where he died in 1862, the Government of the District has been marked
by no diversion from the ordinary routine of peaceful administration.
Population. — The frequent changes of boundary, both in the District
as a whole and in its component parganás, render it impossible to
institute a comparison between the results shown by the Census of 1853,
under the Government of the North - Western Provinces, and those
of the Census of 1868, under the Punjab administration. The
latter enumeration, taken over an area of 1277 square miles, disclosed
a total population of 608,850 persons, distributed among 772 villages
or townships, and inhabiting an aggregate of 168,390 houses. These
figures yield the following averages :- Persons per square mile, 496 ;
villages per square mile, :63 ; houses per square mile, 137 ; persons per
village, 788 ; persons per house, 3•61. Classified according to sex,
there were — males, 326, 306 ; females, 282,544 ; proportion of males,
53.60 per cent. Classified according to age, there were, under 12
years — males, 109,734 ; females, 92,898 ; total, 202,632, or 33:28 per
cent. of the total. As regards religious distinctions, the Hindus number
438,886 ; Muhammadans, 130,645 ; Sikhs, 580 ; and others,' 38,739.
These figures yield thefollowing percentages :— Hindus, 72'08 ; Muham
madans, 21.46 ; Sikhs, o9; and 'others,' 6 '36 . The classification with
reference to occupations shows 135, 121 adult male agriculturists.
Among the various castes and tribes, the Játs come first with 107,856
souls, remarkable here as elsewhere for industrious habits, agricultural
skill, and promptitude in the payment of revenue. North of Delhi the
greater part of the land is in their possession , though they often share
their villages with Bráhman coparceners. They are found more fre
quently in the uplands of the interior than in the alluvial fringe of the
Jumna valley. By far the greater number retain the Hindu faith of
their ancestors, only 2152 being returned asMusalmáns. The Bráhmans
 80 DEL D .
HI ISTRIC
T
stand second in numerical strength with 56,465, most of whom are
honest and industrious cultivators, sharing villages with the Játs,possibly
as a remnant of some conquest-tenure, resembling the Sikh chahárami
of the Cis-Sutlej tract (vide UMBALLA DISTRICT). The Banias or trading
classes number 37,560, scattered as shopkeepers through the country
villages, and forming a large proportion of themercantile body in Delhi
itself. The idle and dishonest Gújars (22, 164) carry on their usual
pastoral and semi-nomad avocations in the hilly plateau of the south ,
with no better reputation for cattle -lifting and thieving propensities
than their clansmen elsewhere. The other tribes comprise 14,109 Ahírs,
10,677 Rájputs, 15 ,776 Patháns, and 8392 Sayyids. The District
contains 4 towns with a population exceeding 5000, in 1872 - DELHI
City, 154,417 ; SONPAT, 12,176 ; FARIDABAD, 7990 ; and BALLABH
GARH, 6281. The aggregate urban population atthe date of the Census
thus amounted to 180, 864 persons, or 29} per cent of the District total.
Urdu or Hindustání forms the prevailing dialect of all classes.
Agriculture. — The District of Delhi has a total cultivated area of
525,255 acres, of which 122, 173 are irrigated from Government works,
and 84,680 by private enterprise. The uncultivated area includes
168,197 acres of grazing land , 12,044 acres of cultivable waste, and
109,176 acres of barren rock or soil rendered useless by saline efflor
escence. The north-western uplands are watered by the Western
Jumna Canal, except in a few spots where the surface of the country
rises above the level of the main channel. Cotton and sugar-cane here
form the commercial staples of the autumn harvest, while joár, bájra,
and Indian corn are the chief food- grains. In the spring sowings, wheat,
barley, and gram make up the principal crops ; but tobacco covers a
considerable area, and rice of excellent quality is produced wherever
water is abundant. The cultivation of cotton is on the increase, a ready
market being obtained at Delhi. The khádar, or alluvial fringe of the
Jumna, cannot competewith theartificially irrigated uplands. The crops
in this tract include the same general staples, but the produce is inferior
in kind. Well-irrigation is almost everywhere possible throughout the
khádar, sweet water being found a few feet below the surface. South of
Delhi, the nature of the soil deteriorates. Most of the land belongs to
the stony ridge which projects into the District from the Aravalli range ;
and though the new Agra Canal traverses this unfruitful region , its level
is too low to permit of irrigation. The Najafgarh jhil,after being filled
in the rains, is drained into the Jumna by an escape channel, and crops
are then sown upon the submerged land ; but only a partial success has
hitherto attended the operations of the Canal Department in this respect,
owing to the want of a sufficient fall. The following list shows the
number of acres under each of the principal staples in 1872-73 :
Wheat, 102,329 ; barley, 73,023 ; gram , 21,600 ; tobacco, 8488 ; rice,
 DELHI DISTRICT. 81

9505 ; joár, 33,029 ; bájra , 38,120 ; cotton , 40,581 ; sugar - cane,

93,330. The Government returns of 1871-72 state the average
out-turn per acre as follows : — Rice, 480 lbs. ; cotton, 144 lbs. ; sugar,
2240 lbs. ; wheat and other grains, 640 lbs. The tenures consist
of the types common in the North -Western Provinces, to which Delhi
belongs in natural position and historical antecedents. The holding
known as bhayáchárá, or brotherhood, is the most frequent. The
village communities are strong and united. From 50 to 100 acres
would be considered a large holding for a cultivating proprietor ; 20
would be regarded as above the average for a tenant ; while 5 repre
sent the whole farm in many cases. By far the greater number of
tenants possess no permanent rights of occupancy. Rents vary much
with the nature of the crop which the land is suited to produce. Rice
lands fetch from ios. 6d. to 175. per acre ; cotton lands, from 14s. to
18s. 4 d.; sugar lands, from £1, 1os. to £1, 145.; wheat lands, from
6s. to nos. ; and dry lands suitable for inferior grains, from 25. to 4s.
Wages are almost universally paid in money. Agricultural labourers
received 3d., or 10 lbs. of wheat, per diem in 1874. Prices ruled as
follows on the ist of January 1873 :— Wheat, 21 sers per rupee, or 55.
4d. per cwt. ; barley , 32 sers per rupee, or 35. 6d. per cwt. ; gram , 22 sers
per rupee, or 5s. id. per cwt., joár, 28 sers per rupee, or 4s. per cwt ;
bájra , 24 sers per rupee, or 4s. 8d . per cwt.
Commerce and Trade. — The trade of the District centres almost entirely
in the city of Delhi. Sonpat, Farídábád, and Ballabhgarh are local
marts of some importance, but have no external transactions of any
value. The manufactures are also confined to the capital, which has
a high reputation for jewellery and other ornamental goods of fine
workmanship . The District now lies a little apart from the main
channel of trade, owing to the diversion caused by the great northern
line of railway, which runs through the Doáb Districts on the other side
of the Jumna. Nevertheless, the means of communication are amply
sufficient, both by land and water. The East Indian Railway has a
branch from Gháziábád Junction, which crosses the Jumna by an iron
bridge, and has a station within the city ; and this branch is also used
by the Punjab line. The Rajputána State Railway traverses the
District for a distance of 12 miles in the direction of Gurgaon . The
Jumna is navigable during the rainy season for country boats of 400
maunds burden. Good metalled roads connect the city with Lahore ,
Agra , Jaipur (Jeypore), and Hissár ; while a network of local trade-lines
runs in every direction to the various minor towns and gháts. Bridges
of boats lead across the river at Bhagpat and Chánsa ; and the railway
bridge at Delhi has an underway for ordinary wheel traffic. The total
length of roads within the District amounts to 360 miles.
Administration . — The District staff usually comprises a Deputy Com
VOL. III.
82 DELHI CITY.
missioner, 2 Assistant and 2 extra Assistant Commissioners, a judge of
the Small Cause Court, and 3 tahsildárs, besides the usual medical,
fiscal, and constabulary officials. The total revenue raised in the
District in 1872-73 amounted to £383,082, of which sum £89,036 was
due to the land tax. Among the other items, the chief were — salt and
customs, £264,909 ; and stamps, £ 14,086. For police purposes, the
District is distributed into 7 police circles (thánás). In 1873, the
regular police numbered 543 officers and men of all ranks, besides a
municipal force of 488 men and a cantonment police of ii men ,
together with II others supplied to private companies. The total
machinery, therefore, for the protection of persons and property con
sisted of 1053 constables, being at the rate of i policeman to every 1:16
square miles of area and to every 576 of the population . But as the
city of Delhi alone has 457 policemen , the real proportion for the
rural parganás may be more fairly estimated at i to every 2.04 square
miles. The total number of persons brought to trial upon all charges,
great or small, in 1872 amounted to 4472. The District jail, adapted
from an old sarái, received an aggregate of 1130 prisoners in 1872, with
a daily average of 301 inmates. Education was carried on in 1872-73
by 98 schools and colleges, having a total roll of 4174 pupils, com
prising 2950 Hindus, 1000 Muhammadans, and 224 others.' The total
amount expended by Government upon the educational budget during
the same year reached a sum of £7759. The principal establishments
include the Delhi College ( see DELHI City), the Upper Zilá School, the
Anglo -Arabic School, and the classes in connection with the mission of
the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. For fiscal and admini
strative purposes, the District is subdivided into 3 tahsils, with an
aggregate of 775 villages, owned by 53,909 proprietors. Five towns
within the District possess municipalities, namely Delhi, Sonpat,
Ballabhgarh, Faridabad, and Najafgarh. In 1875-76, the aggregate
municipal revenue amounted to £28,245, or 2s. uid. per head of the
population (192,762) within municipal limits.
Medical Aspects. The climate of Delhi does not materially differ from
that of other Districts in the Jumna basin . The total annual rainfall
amounted to 21.8 inches in 1869-70, 23.7 inches in 1870-71, and 33' 1
inches in 1871-72. The principal endemic diseases are fever and
bowel-complaints ; but small-pox often commits severe ravages in an
epidemic form . The total number of deaths recorded in 1872 was
19,736, being at the rate of 32 per thousand ; and of these 11,303, or
18:56 per thousand, were due to fevers alone. The average death-rate
for the four preceding years was 27'50 per thousand. The District
contains 3 charitable dispensaries, which afforded relief in 1872 to
18,303 patients.
· Delhi (Dehli). - City in Delhi District, Punjab, the administrative
 DELHI CITY.
headquarters of the District and Division , and former capital of the
Mughal Empire. Lat. 28° 38' 58" N., long. 77° 16' 30" E.; population
in 1868, 154,417, being 85,087 Hindus, 61,720 Muhammadans, 357
Sikhs, and 7253 others.' Distant from Calcutta 954 miles, from Agra
113, from Allahábád 390 miles. Estimated pop. in 1876 , 160,553.
Situation and General Appearance. — The modern city of Delhi or
Shahjahánábád abuts on the right bank of the river Jumna, and is
enclosed on three sides by a lofty wall of solid stone, constructed by the
Emperor Shah Jahán , and subsequently strengthened by the English
at the beginning of the present century with a ditch and glacis. The
eastern side, where the city extends to the river bank, has no wall ; but
the high bank is faced with masonry. The circuit of the wall is 5 !
miles. It has ten gates, of which the principal are the Kashmir and
Mori gates on the north ; the Kábul and Lahore gates on the east ; and
the Ajmere and Delhi gates on the south. The Imperial palace, now
known as ' the fort,’ is situated in the east of the city, and abuts directly
on the river. It is surrounded on three sides by an imposing wall of
red sandstone, with small round towers, and a gateway on the west and
south . Since the Mutiny of 1857, a great portion has been demolished
in order to make room for English barracks. South of the fort, in
the Dariáganj quarter of the city, is the cantonment for a regiment
of native infantry, which , with one wing of a European regiment
stationed within the fort, makes up the ordinary garrison of Delhi. On
the opposite side of the river is the fortress of Salimgarh , erected in the
16th century by Salim Shah , and now in ruins. At this point the
East India Railway enters the city by a magnificent bridge across
the Jumna, passing over Salimgarh, and through a corner of the fort,
to the railway station within the city walls. Thence the line proceeds
as the Rajputána State Railway, and, after traversing the city,
emerges through the wall on the north -west. In the north -eastern
corner of the city , within the walls and close to the Kashmir gate, are
situated the treasury and other public offices. Dariáganj, the fort, the
public offices, and the railway form an almost continuous line along the
eastern and northern faces of the city, — the angle between them being
devoted to public gardens. The area thus occupied amounts to nearly
one-half of the entire city ; it presents a comparatively open appear
ance, and formsa marked contrast to the south -west quarter of the town,
which is densely occupied by the shops and dwellings of the native
population .
The architectural glories of Delhi are famous alike in Indian and
European literature. It is impossible in a brief notice like the present
to attempt any adequate description of them . They have been treated
with admirable knowledge and artistic appreciation in Mr. Fergusson's
History of Indian and Eastern Architecture (1876 ). The palace of Shah
84 DELHI CITY.
Jahán — now the fort - perhaps less picturesque and sober in tone than
that of Agra, has the advantage of being built on a more uniform plan ,
and by themost magnificent of the Royal builders of India . It forms
a parallelogram , measuring 1600 feet east and west by 3200 north and
south , exclusive of the gateways. Passing the deeply-recessed portal,
a vaulted hall is entered, rising two storeys, 375 feet long, like the
nave of a gigantic Gothic cathedral— the noblest entrance,' says Mr.
Fergusson, ' to any existing palace. Omitting all mention of the
music hall and smaller buildings, or fountains, however beautiful, the
celebrated diwán-i-khás or Private Audience Hall forms, 'if not the
most beautiful, certainly the most ornamented of all Jahán's buildings.'
It overhangs the river, and nothing can exceed the delicacy ofits inlaid
work or the poetry of its design. It is round the roof of this hall
that the famous inscription ran : ' If there is a heaven on earth , it is
this — it is this ! which may safely be rendered into the sober English
assertion , that no palace now existing in the world possesses an
apartment of such unique elegance. The whole of the area between
the central range of buildings to the south , measuring about 1000
feet each way, was occupied, says Mr. Fergusson, by the harem and
private apartments of the palace, covering, consequently, more than
twice the area of the Escurial, or, in fact, of any palace in Europe.
'According to the native plan I possess (which I see no reason for
distrusting), it contained three garden courts, and about thirteen or
fourteen other courts, arranged some for state, some for convenience ;
but what they were like we have no means of knowing. Not a
vestige of them now remains. Of the public parts of the palace, all
that now exists is the entrance hall, the naubát kháná , the diwán -i-am
diwan-i-khás, and the rang mahal — now used as a mess-room — and one or
two small pavilions. These are the gems of the palace, it is true ; but
without the courts and corridors connecting them they lose all their
meaning, and more than half their beauty. Being now situated in the
middle of a British barrack-yard , they look like precious stones torn
from their setting in some exquisite piece of oriental jeweller's work and
set at random in a bed of the commonest plaster.'
The buildings in the native town are chiefly of brick ,well-built and
substantial. The smaller streets are narrow and tortuous, and in many
cases end in culs-de-sac. On the other hand, no city in India has finer
streets than the main thoroughfares of Delhi, ten in number, thoroughly
drained,metalled, and lighted. The principal thoroughfare, the Chándni
Chauk, or Street of Silver, leads eastwards from the fort to the
Lahore gate, three-quarters of a mile long by 74 feet broad. Through
out the greater part of its length , a double row of ním and pípál trees
runs down its centre on both sides of a raised path , which has taken
the place of the masonry aqueduct that in former days conducted water
 DELHI CITY. 85
from the canal into the palace. A little to the south of the Chándni
Chauk is the Jama Masjid , or great mosque, standing out boldly from a
small rocky rising ground. Begun by Shah Jahan in the fourth year of
his reign, and completed in the tenth , it still remains one of the finest
buildings of its kind in India. The front courtyard , 450 feet square,
surrounded by a cloister open on both sides, is paved with granite
inlaid with marble, and commands a view of the whole city. The
mosque itself, a splendid structure forming an oblong 261 feet in length ,
is approached by a magnificent flight of stone steps. Three domes of
white marble rise from its roof, with two tall and graceful minarets at
the corners in front. The interior of the mosque is paved throughout
with white marble, and the walls and roof are lined with the same
material. Two other mosques in Delhi deserve a passing notice, — the
Kálá Masjid , or black mosque, so called from the dark colour given to
it by time, and supposed to have been built by one of the early Afghán
sovereigns ; and the mosque of Roshán-ud -daula . Among the more
modern buildings of Delhimay be mentioned the Government College,
founded in 1792 ; the Residency ; and the Protestant church , built at
a cost of £10,000, by Colonel Skinner, an officer well known in the
history of the East India Company. About half-way down theChándni
Chauk is a high clock -tower, with the Institute and Museum opposite.
Behind the Chándni Chauk, to the north , lie the Queen 's Gardens ;
beyond them the city lines ' stretch away as far as the historic
‘ ridge,' about a mile outside the town. From the summit of
this ridge the view of the station and city is very picturesque. To
the west and north-west, considerable suburbs cluster beyond the
walls, containing the tombs of the imperial family . That of Humáyun,
the second of the Mughal dynasty, is a noble building of granite
inlaid with marble. It lies about 2 miles from the city, amid a
large garden of terraces and fountains, the whole surrounded by an
embattled wall, with towers and four gateways. In the centre stands a
platform about 20 feet high by 200 feet square , supported by cloisters,
and ascended by four great flights of granite steps. Above rises the
Mausoleum , also a square, with a great dome of white marble in the
centre. About a mile to the westward is another burying- ground, or
collection of tombs and small mosques, some of them very beautiful.
The most remarkable is perhaps the little chapel in honour of a cele
brated Musulmán saint, Nizám -ud-dín , near whose shrine the members
of the late imperial family, up to the time of the Mutiny, lie buried,
each in his own little enclosure, surrounded by very elegant lattice-work
of white marble. Other buildings, ruins, and pillars will be described
under the next section, History. The Kutab Minár is situated about
10 miles to the south of the city. (See p. 88.)
The palaces of the nobles, which formerly gave an air of grandeur
86 DELHI CITY.
to the city , have for the most part disappeared. Their sites are
occupied by structures of less pretension, but still with some elegance
of architectural design . The city is now amply supplied with water ;
and much attention has of late been paid to cleanliness and sanitary
requirements generally. The principal local institution was, until 1877,
the Delhi College, founded in 1792. It was at first exclusively an
oriental school, supported by the voluntary contributionsofMuhammadan
gentlemen , andmanaged by a committee of the subscribers. In 1829,
an English department was added to it ; and in 1855, the institution
was placed under the control of the Educational Department. The
old college attained to great celebrity as an educational institution, and
produced many excellent scholars. In the Mutiny of 1857, it was
plundered of a very valuable oriental library, and the building com
pletely destroyed. A new college was founded in 1858, and affiliated
to the University of Calcutta in 1864. Under orders of the Government
of the Punjab (February 1877), the collegiate staff of teachers will be
withdrawn, in order to concentrate the grant available for higher-class
education upon the central institution at Lahore, the capital of the
Punjab Province.
History. — Delhi stands upon a site which has been occupied by
many successive capitals, since the first Aryan immigration into the
valley of the Jumna. The village and fort of Indrapat: or Purána
Kilá , 2 miles south of the existing walls, mark the spot where the
earliest colonists placed their city of Indraprastha (see DelhiDISTRICT) ;
but the name of Dilli or Dillipur only makes its appearance in the
middle of the first century B.C. General Cunningham , following the
authority of Ferishta, attributes the foundation of this original Delhi,
5 miles lower down the river than its modern representative, to Rájá
Dilu, apparently the last ruler of the Mayura dynasty, whom tradition
names as successors to the Gautama line of Indraprastha. But the
earliest authentic information which we obtain with regard to the city is
derived from the famous iron pillar of Rájá Dháva, set up in the 3rd
or 4th century A . D . This remarkable relic consists of a solid shaft of
metal, 16 inches in diameter and about 50 feet in length , so firmly
planted in the earth that less than half its height appears above the
ground. A Sanskrit inscription, deeply cut on its western face, records
the story of its origin . Mr. James Prinsep, the first decipherer of the
legend, found that it commemorated the prowess of Rájá Dháva, who
' obtained with his own arm an undivided sovereignty on the earth for
a long period ;' while the letters appear to be “the typical cuts inflicted
on his enemies by his sword, writing his immortal fame.' General
Cunningham suggests the year 319 A .D . as an approximation to the
date, on the ground that the Rájá may probably have contributed
to the downfall of the great Gupta dynasty (see KANAUJ), which is
 DELHI CITY. 87
supposed to have occurred in that year. Tradition, however, running
counter to the unimpeachable authority of the inscription, refers the
erection of the pillar to Anang Pál, founder of the Tuár dynasty in the
8th century A . D . A holy Bráhman assured the Rájá that the pillar
had been driven so deeply into the earth, that it reached the head of
Vasuki, the serpent king, who supports the world ; and, consequently,
had becomeimmoveable, whereby the dominion was ensured for ever to
the dynasty of its founder, so long as the pillar stood. The incredulous
Rájá ordered the monument to be dug up, when its base was found
reddened with the blood of the serpent king. Thus convinced,
Anang Pál at once commanded that the shaft should be sunk again in
the earth ; but, as a punishment for his want of faith, it appeared that
no force could restore it in its place as before. Hence the city derived
its name of Dhili, from the fact that the column remained loose (dhila )
in the ground ! Unfortunately for the legend, not only does the
inscription prove its falsity, but the name of Dilli is undoubtedly earlier
than the rise of the Tuár dynasty . Anang Pál, whose accession is
placed by General Cunningham in the year 736 A.D ., restored Delhi,
which had fallen into ruins for some generations, and made it the
capital of his race. The later Rájás, however, appear to have taken
up their residence at Kanauj, whence they were expelled about the
middle of the 11th century by Chandra Deva, the first of the Rahtor
kings. Anang Pål 11. then retired to Delhi, which became once more
the Tuármetropolis. He rebuilt and adorned the city , surrounding it
with a massive line of fortifications, whose ruins are still believed to
exist in the great circle of masonry lying around the Kutab Minár.
The date of this restoration has been preserved for us by a second
inscription , cut into the more ancient pillar of Rájá Dháva : ' In
Sambat 1109 ' (1052 A . D. ], Anang Pál peopled Dilli.' Just a century
later, under the reign of a third Anang Pál, last of the Tuár line,
Delhi fell before Visaldeva or Bisaldeo, Chauhan ruler of AJMERE.
The conqueror permitted the vanquished Rájá to retain possession as a
vassal ; and from a marriage between the two houses sprang the cele
brated Prithvi Rájá , the last champion of Hindu independence in
Upper India , who thus succeeded to the joint realms of the Tuárs and
the Chauháns. Prithvi Rájá further strengthened the defences of the
city by an exterior wall, which ran round the fortifications of Anang
Pál, and of which remainsmay still be traced for a considerable distance.
In 1191, Shahab-ud-din made his first invasion of Upper India,
bringing the religion of the prophet and authentic history in his train .
Prithvi Rájá successfully defended his kingdom for the time; but two
years later, the Muhammadan marauder returned, utterly overthrew the
Hindus in a great battle, and put their prince to death in cold blood.
Kutab - ud - dín , the Sultán's Viceroy, attacked and took Delhi,
88 DELHI CITY.
which became thenceforth the Musalman capital. On the death
of Shaháb-ud-din , in 1206 , the Viceroy became an independent
sovereign, and founder of the Slave dynasty, to whom Old Delhi owes
most of its grandest ruins. Kutab-ud -din 's mosque was commenced,
according to the inscription on its entrance archway, immediately
after the capture of the city in 1193. It was completed in three years,
and enlarged during the reign of Altamsh , son-in -law of the founder.
This mosque consists of an outer and inner courtyard, the latter
surrounded by an exquisite colonnade, whose richly decorated shafts
have been torn from the precincts of earlier Hindu temples. Originally
a thick coat of plaster concealed from the believers' eyes the profuse
idolatrous ornamentations ; but the stucco has now fallen away, reveal
ing the delicate workmanship of the Hindu artists in all its pristine
wealth . Eleven magnificent arches close its western façade, Muham
madan in outline and design , but carried out in detail by Hindu
workmen , as the intricate lacework which covers every portion of the
arcade sufficiently bears witness. Ibn Batuta , who saw the mosque
about 150 years after its erection , describes it as unequalled either for
beauty or extent.
The Kutab Minár, another celebrated monument of the great
Slave king, stands in the south -east corner of the outer courtyard. It
rises to a height of 238 feet, tapering gracefully from a diameter of 47
feet at the base to nearly 9 feet at the summit. The shaft consists of
5 storeys, enclosing a spiral staircase, and is crowned by a now broken
cupola, which fell during an earthquake in 1803. The original purpose
of the minaret was doubtless as a Muazzam 's tower, whence the call
to morning and evening prayer might be heard throughout the whole
city. The site chosen for the mosque was that already occupied by
Rájá Dháva's pillar, which forms the centre ornament of the inner
courtyard. Around, in every direction, spreads a heap of splendid ruins,
the most striking of which is the unfinished minaret of Alá -ud-dín ,
commenced in 1311. The Slave dynasty retained the sovereignty till
1288, when Jalál-ud-dín founded a new line. During the reign of Alá
ud -din , Delhi was twice unsuccessfully attacked by the Mughal hordes.
In 1321, the house of Tughlak succeeded to the Musalmán
Empire ; and Ghiyás-ud-dín , its founder, erected a new capital, Tugh
lakábád, on a rocky eminence 4 miles further to the east. Remains of
a massive citadel, and deserted streets or lanes, still mark the spot on
which this third metropolis arose ; but no human inhabitants now
frequent the vast and desolate ruins. Ghiyás-ud -din died in 1325,
and was succeeded by his son Muhammad Tughlak, who thrice
attempted to remove the seat of Government and the whole population
from Delhi to Deogiri in the Deccan. Ibn Batuta,a native of Tangiers ,
who visited his court in 1341, gives a graphic picture of the desolate
 DELHI CITY. 89
city, with its magnificent architectural works, and its bare, unpeopled
houses. Firoz Shah Tughlak once more removed the site of Delhi to
a new town, Firozábád, which appears to have occupied the ground
between the tomb of Humáyun and the Ridge. Amid the ruins of
this prince's palace, just outside the modern south gate , stands one of
the famous pillars originally erected by Asoka, the great Buddhist
Emperor, in the 3rd century B .C. This monolith , 42 feet in height,
known as Firoz Shah's láthí or club, is composed of pale pink sandstone,
and contains a Páli inscription, deciphered by the painstaking scholar
ship and ingenuity of Mr. James Prinsep. Its connection with Delhi,
however, does not date further back than the reign of Firoz Shah , who
brought it from near Khizrábád on the upper waters of the Jumna, and
fixed it on the summit of his comparatively modern building.
In December 1398, during the reign of Muhammad Tughlak, the
hordes of Timur reached Delhi. The king fled to Guzerat, the army
suffered a defeat beneath the walls, and Tímur, entering the city , gave it
over for five days to plunder and massacre . Dead bodies choked the
streets ; and when at last even the Mughal appetite for carnage was
satiated, the host retired dragging with them into slavery large numbers
both of men and women . For two months Delhiremained absolutely
without a show of government; untilMuhammad Tughlak recovered a
miserable fragment of his former empire. In 1412, he died ; and his
successors, the Sayyid dynasty, held Delhi with a petty principality in
the neighbourhood until 1444. The Lodí family, who succeeded to the
Musalman Empire in that year, appear to have deserted Delhi, fixing their
residence and the seat of Government at AGRA. In 1526 , Bábar, the sixth
in descent from Tímur, and founder of the so-called Mughal dynasty,
marched into India with a small but disciplined force ; and having over
thrown Ibrahim Lodí, the last Afghán prince, on the decisive field of PAN
IPAT, advanced upon Delhi, which he entered in May of the same year.
The new sovereign, however, resided mainly at Agra, where he died in
1530. His son Humáyun removed to Delhi, and built or restored the
fort of Purána Kila on the site of Indraprastha. The Afghán Sher Shah ,
who drove out Humáyun in 1540, enclosed and fortified the city with a
new wall. One of his approaches, known as the Lal Darwaza or Red
Gate, still stands isolated on the roadside, facing the modern jail.
The fortress of Salimgarh , already mentioned , preserves the name of a
son of Sher Sháh. In 1555, Humáyun regained his throne, but died
within six months of his restoration. His tomb forms one of the most
striking architectural monuments in the neighbourhood. Akbar and
Jahangir usually resided at Agra, Lahore, or Ajmere (Ajmír) ; and
Delhi again languished in disfavour till the reign of Shah Jahán .
This magnificent Emperor rebuilt the city in its present form , sur
rounding it with the existing fortifications, and adding the title of
90 DELHI CITY.
Shahjahánábád from his own name. He also built the Jama Masjid ,
and reopened the Western Jumna Canal. Under the reign of
Aurangzeb , Delhi was the seat of that profuse and splendid court whose
glories were narrated to Europe in extravagant fables by travellers and
missionaries.
After the death of Aurangzeb, the Empire fell rapidly to pieces ; but
the numerous palace intrigues and revolutions amid which it broke
up, belong to the general domain of Indian history. In 1726 ,
during the reign of Muhammad Shah, the Marhattás first appeared
beneath the walls of Delhi. Three years later, Nádir Shah entered
the city in triumph, and re-enacted themassacre of Timur. For fifty
eight days the victorious Persian plundered rich and poor alike ; when
the last farthing had been exacted, he left the city with a booty
estimated at £9,000,000. Before the final disruption of the decaying
empire in 1760, the unhappy capital was devastated by a civil war
carried on for six months in its streets ; twice sacked by Ahmad Shah
Duráni ; and finally spoiled by the rapacious Marhattás. Alamgir 11.,
the last real Emperor,wasmurdered in 1760. Shah Alam , who assumed
the empty title, could not establish his authority in Delhi, which
became the alternate prey of Afghán and Marhattá until 1771, when
the latter party restored the phantom Emperor to the city of his
ancestors. In 1788, a Marhattá garrison permanently occupied the
palace, and the king remained a prisoner in the hands of Sindhia until
the British conquest.
On March 14th , 1803, Lord Lake, having defeated the Marhattás,
entered Delhi, and took the king under his protection. Next year,
Holkár attacked the city ; but Col. Ochterlony, the British Resident,
successfully held out against overwhelming numbers for eight days, until
relieved by Lord Lake. The conquered territory was administered by
the British in the name of the Emperor (see Delhi DISTRICT), while
the palace remained under His Majesty's jurisdiction . For more than
half a century Delhiwas happy in an entire freedom from the incidents
of history. But the Mutiny of 1857 once more gave it prominence as
the revived capital of the fallen Empire. The outbreak at Meerut took
place on the evening of May roth ; and early next morning the
mutinous troopers had crossed the Jumna, and clamoured for admis
sion beneath the Delhi wall. The Commandant of the Guards, the
Commissioner, and the Collector retired to the Lahore gate of the palace,
and were there cut to pieces. Most of the European residents had then
their houses within the city. The mutineers and the mob fell upon
them at once, carrying murder and plunder into every house. The
mutinous infantry from Meerut arrived ; and by eight o'clock the rebels
held the whole city , except the magazine and the main -guard. News of
these events soon reached the cantonment beyond the Ridge, where
 DELHI CITY. 91

three battalions of Native infantry and a battery of Native artillery were

stationed. The 54th N .I.was marched promptly down to themain -guard,
but proved rebels on their arrival, and cut down several of their
officers. Portions of two regiments, however,together with the artillery,
remained all day under arms in the main -guard, and were reinforced
from time to time by the few fugitives who succeeded in escaping from
the city. Themagazine stood half-waybetween the palace and themain
guard ; and here Lieutenant Willoughby, with eight other Europeans,
held out bravely for some time, determined to defend the immense
store of munitions collected within ; but about mid -day, defence
became hopeless, and the nine brave men blew up the magazine behind
them . Five perished in the explosion ; two reached the main-guard ;
while the remaining two escaped by a different road to Meerut. All day
long the Sepoys in the cantonment and the main -guard were restrained
by the expected arrival ofwhite regiments from Meerut ; but as evening
drew on , and no European troops appeared, they openly threw off
their allegiance, and began an indiscriminate massacre of the officers,
women , and children . A few escaped along the roads to Meerut
or Karnál, but most even of these were murdered or perished of
hunger on the way. By nightfall, every vestige of British authority
had disappeared alike in the cantonments and in the city. Meanwhile,
in Delhi, some fifty Christians, European or Eurasian , mostly women
and children , had been thrust indiscriminately into a room of the palace,
and, after sixteen days' confinement, were massacred in the courtyard .
The restoration of Mughal sovereignty, and the acts by which it
was accompanied, belong rather to Imperial than local history . The
Court of the rebel Emperor did not long enjoy its independence. On
June 8th , 1857, the British forces fought the battle of Badli-ka-Sarai,
and the same evening swept the mutineers from the cantonments, and
encamped upon the rocky ridge outside the city. For three months
the siege proceeded under the most disadvantageous conditions, and
at length , on September 8th , the heavy batteries were got into action,
and an assault was prepared. On the 14th , our troops advanced to
storm the gates, in the face of an overwhelming rebel garrison, and,
in spite of serious losses and heavy fighting, succeeded by a mar
vellous display of gallantry in carrying the bastions and occupying the
whole eastern quarter of the city. For five days fighting continued
in the streets, the rebels retreating from point to point, and every
defensible position being occupied by our troops only after a severe
struggle. On the night of the 20th , the palace and the remaining
portions of the city were evacuated by the mutineers, and Delhi came
once more into the possession of the British forces. The king, with
several members of his family, took refuge in the tomb of Humáyun,
and surrendered on the 21st. Tried by a military commission, he
92 DELHI CITY.
was found guilty of encouraging acts of rebellion and murder, but,
owing to the terms of his surrender, received no heavier penalty than
that of perpetual banishment. He died at Rangoon on October 7th ,
1862. Delhi, thus recovered, remained for a while under military
government ; and it became necessary , owing to the frequent murders
of European soldiers, to temporarily expel the population from the city.
Shortly after, the Hindu inhabitants were freely readmitted ; but
the Muhammadans were still rigorously excluded, till the restoration
of the city to the civil authorities, on January the 11th , 1858. The
work of reorganization then continued rapidly during the remainder
of that year ; and after a few months, the shattered bastions and the
ruined walls alone recalled thememory of the Mutiny. Since that date
Delhi has settled down into a prosperous commercial town, and a great
railway centre. The romance of antiquity still lingers around it, and
Delhi was chosen as the scene of the Imperial Proclamation on the ist
of January 1877.
Population. - In 1853, the number of inhabitants of Delhi City was
returned at 152,426 . In 1868, the population numbered 154,417,
showing an increase of 1991 persons in the fifteen years. Taking
into consideration the actual losses during the Mutiny, the expulsion
of the Musalmáns after its suppression, and the large number
of persons thrown out of employment by the removal court, the
fact that such an increase should have taken place bears witness to
the renewed prosperity of the city. According to the Census of
1868, the population was composed of 83,346 males and 71,071
females. The Hindus numbered 85,087, being 46,541 males and
38,546 females; the Muhammadans, 61,720, being 32, 361 males and
29, 359 females. There were also 357 Sikhs, and 7253 ' others.' In
1876 , the population of Delhi and its suburbs was returned at 160,553.
Institutions, Public Buildings, etc. — The Delhi Institute, a handsome
building in the Chándni Chauk, erected by public subscription, with
the assistance of a Government grant, contains a Darbár Hall, a
museum , a library and reading room , and the lecture theatre and ball
room of the station . The municipal committee and the honorary
magistrates hold their sittings in the Darbár Hall. The official
buildings include the District court offices and treasury , just within the
Kashmir gate, the tahsili and police offices, the District jail, the lunatic
asylum , the sick hospital, and a dispensary, with two branches. The
poorhouse is supported by private subscription ,supplemented by a grant
from the municipal funds. Four churches exist in Delhi, the Station
Church, the Roman Catholic and Presbyterian chapels, and a chapel
belonging to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. The
Delhi College, founded in 1792, and supported by the voluntary con
tributions of Muhammadan gentlemen , acquired a large accession of
 DEMAGIRI- DENKANKOTAI. 93
income in 1829, from the gift of £17,000 by Nawab Fazl Ali Khán of
Lucknow . In 1855, the Educational Department undertook the
management. During the Mutiny, the valuable oriental library was
plundered , and the building destroyed. A new institution, founded in
1858, was affiliated to the Calcutta University in 1864, and educates
up to the level of its degrees.
Communications, Trade, etc. — The East Indian Railway enters Delhi
by an iron bridge over the Jumna, from Gháziábád Junction in Meerut
District. The Punjab Railway also runs its trains over the same
branch line. The terminus stands in the city, near the fort. The
Rájputána State Railway, running to Ajmere, has its station adjoining
that of the other lines. The Grand Trunk Road and other metalled
highways lead to all important centres, and the Jumna carries a large
portion of the heavy traffic. Delhi possesses a very considerable
trade, though the continuation of the great north -western trunk railway
on the eastern bank of the river has thrown it somewhat off the
modern line of traffic. It still forms, however, the main entrepôt
for commerce between Calcutta or Bombay on the one side, and
Rájputána on the other. The chief imports include indigo, chemicals,
cotton , silk , fibres, grain , oil-seeds, ghí, metals, salt, horns, hides, and
European piece-goods. The exports consist of the same articles in
transit, together with tobacco, sugar, oil, jewellery, and gold or silver
lacework. Beyond the borders of the Province, Delhimerchants corre
spond with those of Jind, Kábul, Alwar, Bikaner (Bickaneer ), Jaipur
(Jeypore), and the Doáb ; while with all the Punjab towns they have
extensive dealings. The Bengal and Delhi banks represent European
finance, and several cotton merchants have agents in the city. The
only manufacture of importance consists of gold , silver, or tinsel filigree
work , forwhich Delhihas long been famous ; but the imitation of European
models is unfortunately destroying its originality and beauty. The
abolition of the Mughal court has also acted prejudicially to this branch
of industry. The internal affairs of the city are managed by a first
class municipality. The municipal income in 1875-76 amounted to
£26 ,577, and the expenditure to £24,512 .
Demágiri. Falls in the river KARNAPHULI in the Chittagong Hill
Tracts, Bengal. About three days' journey from Barkal, where the
Karnaphuli narrows considerably as it enters the higher ranges of hills
in the District. Above the Demágiri Falls it becomes an insignificant
stream . A bázár for trade in india-rubber, opened at the village of
Demágiri in 1872, has now become a flourishing mart.
Denkankotai. — Town in Osúr táluk, Salem District, Madras.
Lat. 12° 31' 45' N., long. 77° 49' 50" E ; elevation above sea level about
2000 feet ; houses, 902 ; pop. (1872), 4797. Situated 68 miles north of
Salem . As the headquarters of the Subdivision of the same name, it
 94 DENWA - DEOBAND .
contains the usual subordinate administrative establishments. Up to
1859, Denkankotai, the upland Division of Osúr, formed a separate
táluk, now incorporated with Osúr. It was ceded with the Bára Mahal
to the British in 1792.
Denwa. — River in Hoshangábád District, Central Provinces, running
in a rough semicircle round the scarped cliffs on the eastern and
northern faces of the Mahadeo chain . Rising in lat. 22° 20' N., and
long. 78° 27' 30'' E., it winds through a deep glen into a small valley
shut off from the main Narbadá (Nerbudda) valley by an irregular line
of low hills, and entering the hills again towards the west, it meets
the Táwa (lat. 22° 34' N., long. 78° 0' 30'' E.) a few miles above Bágrá .
Denwa. — Forest in Hoshangabad District, Central Provinces,
covering a level tract of about 100 square miles along the valley of the
Denwa river. Abounds in fine sál wood.
Deo .— Town in Aurangabad Subdivision , Gayá District, Bengal.
Lat. 24° 39' 30" N., long. 84° 28' 38'' E . Seat of the Deo Rájás, one
of themost ancient families of Behar, who trace their descent from the
Ránás of Udaipur (Oodeypore). In the struggle between Warren
Hastings and the Rájá of Benares, the Deo Rájá , although too old to
take the field in person, joined his forces to those of the British . His
next successor mustered a loyal contingent against the mutineers at
Sargujá. His son, in turn , rendered good service to us in quelling the
Kol insurrection. The present Rájá stood boldly forward for the British
during the Mutiny of 1857. Four generations of unswerving loyalty
have been rewarded by liberal grants of land and villages, and the
present chief (1877), Sir Jái Prakash Sinh , K .C .S.I., received the title
of Mahárájá Bahadur, with a Knight Commandership of the Star of
India , for his services in 1857. Seat of an old ruined fort and famous
temple, at which thousands of people congregate twice a year to hold
the Chhat festival in honour of the Sun -god
Deoband. - Southern tahsil of Saharanpur District, North -Western
Provinces, consisting of a level agricultural plain , traversed by the
Eastern Jumna (Jamuná) Canal, and by the Sind, Punjab, and Delhi
Railway. Area , 387 square miles, of which 314 are cultivated ; pop.
(1872), 198,693 ; land revenue, £30,205 ; total Government revenue,
£33,356 ; rental paid by cultivators, £48,682 ; incidence of Govern
ment revenue per acre, 2s. 5 d.
Deoband . -- Municipal town in Saharanpur District, North-Western
Provinces, and headquarters of the tahsil of the same name. Area,
193 acres ; pop. ( 1872), 19, 168, being 8614 Hindus and 10 ,554
Muhammadans. Lies in lat. 29° 41' 50" N., and long. 77° 43' 10 " E.,
about 21 miles to the west of the East Kali Nadi, with which it was
formerly connected by a waterway known as the Jor. Half a mile from
the town, the Jor expands into a small lake, the Devi-kúnd ,whose banks
 DEOCHA - DEODAR STATE . 95
are covered with temples, gháts, and sati monuments, much frequented
by devout pilgrims. The town has 4 bázárs, 3 of which are prosperous
and cleanly . The dominant Musalmán population maintain no less
than 42 mosques. Yet Deoband is essentially a town of Hindu origin ,
with a legendary history of 3000 years. The Pandavas passed their
first exile within its precincts, and the fortress was one of the earliest
to fall before the famous Musalmán saint, Sálár Masáúd Ghází,
Originally the town bore the name of Deviban or the Sacred Grove,
and a religious assembly still takes place yearly in a neighbouring
wood, which contains a temple of Devi. During the Mutiny several
disturbances occurred, but theywere repressed without serious difficulty .
Export trade in grain , refined sugar, and oil ; manufacture of fine cloth .
Dispensary, Anglo-vernacular school, police station, post office, tahsili.
Distant from Muzaffarnagar 154 miles north . Municipal revenue
(1875-76), £2011; from taxes, £1010 , or is. ožd. per head of popula
tion (18,976) within municipal limits.
Deocha. - Village in Bírbhúm District, Bengal. One of the three
or four places in the District where the smelting of iron is carried
on . There are here thirty furnaces for the reduction of the ore into
pig -iron , and as many more for refining it. A curious feature of this
industry is, that these two operations are conducted by people of totally
different sects and religion — the reducers of the ore being invariably
Muhammadans, and the refiners as invariably Hindus. The furnaces
work throughout the year, with occasional stoppages for festivals.
From each furnace a produce of about 34 tons of pig -iron is annually
obtained ; the characteristics of the Birbhúm metal are toughness and
malleability .
Deodangar (or Deodonga).— Mountain peak in Párla Kimedi estate,
Ganjám District, Madras ; situated in lat. 18° 54' 35" N ., and long. 84°
6 ' 2 " E., 20 miles south -west from Mahendragiri, and 9 from Naman
agaram . Height, 4534 feet above the sea ; a station of the Trigono
metrical Survey.
Deodar (Diodar).- Native State under the Political Agency of
Pálanpur, in Guzerat, Bombay ; bounded on the north by Thárad,
on the east by Kánkrej, on the south by Bhábhar and Terwára , and
on the west by Suigám and Thárad. Estimated area, 440 square miles ;
pop. (1872), 19,701, principally Rájputs and Kolís ; estimated revenue,
£2500. The country consists of a flat, open plain , covered with
low brushwood. The soil is generally sandy, producing but one crop
yearly ,and that only of the common sorts of grain . There are no rivers,
but numerous ponds and reservoirs, which , as a rule, dry up before the
end ofMarch . There are nomeans of irrigation, and the water, found at
a depth of from 40 to 60 feet, is brackish. April, May, June, and July
are excessively hot ; rain falls in August and September ; October and
 ON RH
96 DEOGA - DEOGA .
November are again warm ; while the period from December to March
is cold and agreeable. Fever is the prevailing disease. Coarse cloth ,
worn bythe poorest classes, is manufactured by men of the Dher caste.
There are numerous country tracks fit for carts, but no regular road
has yet been made. Clarified butter is the only export, which finds a
ready market in the neighbouring Districts. The present (1875) Chief
is fifty years of age. His name is Malají Akhesinh Waghela , and his
title Thákur. He has no issue, but his co -sharer, Bhupat Sinh , who is
forty-eight years of age, has two sons. The chief does not possess a
sanad authorizing adoption, nor does the succession follow the rule of
primogeniture. No military force is maintained . The first relations
between Deodar and the British date from 1819. This State depends
on the British Government for external defence, but is allowed complete
freedom in the internal management of its affairs. The chief town of
the State, Deodar, is situated in lat. 24° 8' 30" N., and long. 71° 49' E.,
45 miles west of Palanpur.
Deogáon.-- South-eastern tahsil of Azamgarh District, North-Western
Provinces. Area, 261 square miles, of which 139 are cultivated ; pop .
(1872), 135,458 ; land revenue, £17, 104 ; total Government revenue,
£18,773 ; rental paid by cultivators, £37 ,012 ; incidence of Govern
ment revenue per acre, 2s. o d .
Deogarh . — Subdivision of the District of the Sántal Parganas, Bengal.
Lat. 24° 2' 30" to 24° 36' N., and long. 86° 30 'to 87° 6' 30" E. ; area ,
1734 miles ; townships, 3334 ; houses, 57,854 ; pop. (1872), 342,390.
Of the total population , 254, 149, or 74 '3 per cent., are Hindus ; 22,684,
or 66 per cent., are Muhammadans ; 73 Christians ; and 65,484, or
19'1 per cent., belong to other denominations not specified. Proportion
ofmales in total population, 50*7 per cent. ; average density of popula
tion , 197 per square mile ; average number of townships per square
mile, I'92 ; inhabitants per township , 103 ; houses per square mile, 33 ;
inmates per house, 5' 9. This Subdivision comprises the 3 thánás or
police circles of Deogarh , Koron, and Jámtára. It contained, in
1870 -71, 4 magisterial and revenue courts, a general police force of
172 men, and a village watch of 1326 men ; the cost of Subdivisional
administration was returned at £2073, 8s.
Deogarh . - Administrative headquarters of Deogarh Subdivision,
Santál Parganas District, Bengal. Lat. 24° 29' 34" n., long. 86° 44'
35" E ., about 4 miles east of the Chord line of railway ; pop. (1872),
4861. Deogarh is the only municipality in the Santál Parganás ;
revenue ( 1876 -77), £317 ; average rate of taxation, 10 d. per head of
population. The principal object of interest is the group of 22 temples
dedicated to Siva, which form a centre of pilgrimage for Hindus from
all parts of India.
Deogarh. - Seaport in the Deogarh Subdivision of Ratnagiri District,
 DEOGARH - DEONTHAL. 97

Bombay. Lat. 16° 22' N., long. 73° 24' E.; average annual value
of trade for five years ending 1873-74 - exports, £7428 ; imports,
£6052.
Deogarh. — Village in Chhindwara District, Central Provinces ;
picturesquely situated among the hills, about 24 miles south -west of
Chhindwara town. Ancient seat of the midland Gond kingdom .
Though now containing only 50 or 60 houses, the traces of foundations
in the surrounding jungle, and thenumerous remains ofwells and tanks,
show that the former city must have covered a large area. Deogarh
contains several old temples, and on a high peak outside the village
stands a ruined stone fort. All the buildings are constructed of the
finest limestone.
Deogarh. - State forest in Chhindwara District, Central Provinces ;
occupying an area of about go square miles, and containing fine teak
and other timber trees.
Deobrá. — Village in Bashahr State, Punjab ; situated in lat. 31° 6 '
N., long. 77° 44' E., upon a tributary of the river Pálar, in a fertile
valley enclosed by mountains, on whose terraces rice and other crops
are carefully cultivated . Thornton describes the residence of the Ráná,
as built in partially Chinese style , the lower portion consisting of
masonry, while the upper half is ringed round with wooden galleries,
and capped by overhanging eaves. Elevation above sea level, 6550
feet.
Deoláli. — Cantonment in the Násik Subdivision of Násik District,
Bombay. Lat. 19° 56' 20" N ., and long. 73° 51' 30" E. ; pop. (1872),
1906. Well known to European soldiers as the railway station at which
all reliefs are halted for the first time after disembarkation at Bombay.
Deolí. — Town in Wardha District, Central Provinces, and the second
largest cotton mart in the District ; II miles south-west of Wardha.
Lat. 20° 39' N ., long. 78° 31' 30" E . ; pop. (1876 ), 5558. At the
market, held every Saturday and Sunday, a brisk traffic is carried on in
cattle and agricultural produce. Deolí has two market - places, one
specially set apart for the cotton merchants, in which the ground is
covered with loose stones, to preserve the cotton from dirt and white
ants ; in the centre are two raised platforms, on which the cotton is
weighed. Anglo -vernacular town school, Government garden , sarái
with furnished rooms for Europeans, dispensary, and police station, etc.
In 1870, Rájá Tánojí Bhonslá , the representative of the former rulers of
Nágpur, held Deolí at a quit-rent.
Deonthál. – Village in Simla District, Punjab, lying in lat. 31° 1' N.,
and long: 77° 2' E., on the route from Subáthu to Simla , 31 miles north
of the former station ; situated in a romantic glen, on the banks of the
Gambhar, with cultivated terraces, artificially made upon the mountain
sides. Elevation above sea level, 2200 feet.
VOL. III.
98 DEONTHAL HILL - DEORI.
Deonthál. - Hill in Hindúr State, Punjab. Lat. 31° 11' N., long.
76° 53' E. A peak of the Maláun range, celebrated as the site of a
decisive engagement during the Gurkha war of 1815. Lies it mile
south of Maláun, between that fort and Sarajgarh , both of which were
held by the Gurkhas in April 1815, when General Ochterlony advanced
to reduce them . A detachment under Colonel Thompson occupied
Deonthál, and repulsed, with great loss, a body of 2000 Gurkhas, who
attacked their position. This engagement terminated the war, and
the Gurkhas soon after ceded the Hill States.
Deoprayag. – Village in Garhwal District, North -Western Provinces ;
situated in lat. 30° 8' N., and long. 78° 39' E., at the confluence of the
ALAKNANDA and the BHAGIRATHI rivers ; elevation above sea level,
2266 feet. Below the village the united stream takes the name of the
GANGES, and the point of junction forms one of the five sacred halting
places in the pilgrimage which devout Hindus pay to Himachal. The
village is perched 100 feet above the water's edge, on the scarped side
of a mountain , which rises behind it to a height of 800 feet. The great
temple of Ramá Chandra, built of massive uncemented masonry , stands
upon a terrace in the upper part of the town , and consists of an irregular
pyramid , capped by a white cupola with a golden ball and spire. The
Brahmans compute its age at 10 ,000 years. Religious ablutions take
place at three basins, excavated in the rock at the point of junction of
the holy streams. An earthquake in 1803 shattered the temple and
other buildings ; but the damage was subsequently repaired through the
munificence of Daulat Ráo Sindhia. The inhabitants consist chiefly of
Bráhmans from the Deccan .
Deora Kot. - Town in Faizabád (Fyzabad) District, Oudh ; 16 miles
from the town of Faizábád , on the Oudh and Rohilkhand line of rail
way. Pop. (1869), 2271 Hindus and 191 Muhammadans — total, 2462.
Temple to Mahadeo.
Deori (Devari).— Ancient chiefship attached to Ráipur District,
Central Provinces ; on thewest of the Jonk river. Consists of 50 villages,
the principal of which is situated in lat. 21° 16' 30" n., and long. 82°
46 ' 30' E. The chief is a Binjwár.
Deorí.— Chief town of a tract of the same name in Ságar (Saugor)
District, Central Provinces ; situated in lat. 23° 23' N., and long. 79° 4 '
E ., about 37 miles south of Ságar, on the Narsinhpur road, at an
elevation of 1700 feet above sea level. Pop. (1876), 3994, mainly
agricultural. Deorí is sometimes spoken of as Bára Deorí, and was
formerly called Rámgarh Ujárgarh. The present name was derived
from a temple still largely resorted to . Weekly market ; coarse white
cloth is manufactured for export. The fort, situated to the west of the
town, and still in tolerable preservation , must once have been a place of
great strength. The walls enclose a space of 3 acres, formerly covered
 DEORIA - DERA GHAZI KHAN DISTRICT. 99
with buildings, but now a complete waste. It was built, as it now
stands, about 1713, by Durga Sinh , the son of Himmat Sinh , the Gond
ruler of Gaurjhámar, at the cost of a lákh of rupees (say £10,000 ), and
taken from him in 1741 by the troops of the Peshwa. Under the
Marhattás, the town flourished . In 1767, the Peshwá bestowed Deori
and the Pánch Mahál, or five tracts attached to it, rent free on Dhonda
Dattatraya, a Marhattá pandit, whose descendant, Ramchandra Ráo,
still held it in 1817. In 1813, Zálím Sinh, Rájá of Garhákola , plun
dered the town, and set it on fire ; on which occasion 30,000 persons
perished. In 1817, the Peshwá ceded Ságar to the British Govern
ment, but during the next year the Pánch Mahál, with Deorí, were
made over to Sindhia , Rámchandra Ráo receiving another estate in
compensation . In 1825, they were again transferred by Sindhia to the
British Government for management, and were finally made part of
British territory by the treaty of 1860. In 1857, soon after the begin -.
ning of the Mutiny, a Gond named Durjan Sinh, who owned Sinhpur
and other villages near Deori, seized the fort with a band of rebels ; but
about a month later he was expelled by Safdár Husain , the officer in
charge of the Deorí police. Deorí has a dispensary, police station ,
District post office, customs station, and 3 schools — 2 for boys and 1 for
girls.
Deoria . — Southern tahsil of Gorakhpur District, North -Western
Provinces ; consisting of an almost unbroken plain Area, 869 square
miles, of which 603 were cultivated ; pop. (1872), 454,495 ; land
revenue, £40,998 ; total Government revenue, £45,008 ; rental paid
by cultivators, £98,495 ; incidence of Government revenue per acre,
35. 5 d.
Deosár. — Town in Jaipur (Jeypore) State, Rajputána, situated on
the road from Agra to Ajmere ; lat. 26° 51' N., long. 76° 23' E.
Described by Thornton as a town of considerable size, built on one side
of a rocky hill, nearly 4 miles in circumference, and containing the
State prison . The town is in a decaying state , and is surrounded by a
half-ruined wall. Contains many handsome temples and tombs, but all
crumbling away from neglect.
Deotígarh. - Mountain range in the Province of Assam , forming the
south -eastern boundary of the Nágá Hills District. It contains the
sources of the Barák , Dáyang, and Makru rivers. The lower slopes
project in table-shaped masses with grassy slopes.
Derá . - Southern tahsil of Kángra District, Punjab. Area, 494
square miles ; pop. (1868), 126,294 ; persons per square mile , 255.
Derá Ghází Khán . A British District in the Lieutenant-Governor
ship of the Punjab (Panjáb), lying between 28° 27' and 31° 14 ' 30"
N . lat., and between 69° 35' and 70° 59' E. long.; with an area, accord
ing to the Parliamentary returns for 1876-77, of 4740 square miles,
 100 DERA GHAZI KHAN DISTRICT.
and a population (1868) of 308,840 persons. Derá Gháại Khán is
the southernmost District of the Deráját Division. It is bounded
on the north by Derá Ismail Khán, on the west by the Sulaimán Hills,
on the south by Jacobábád in Sind, and on the east by the Indus.
The administrative headquarters are at the town of Dera GHAZI
KHAN.
Physical Aspects. The District of Dera Ghází Khán consists of a
narrow strip of sandy lowland, between the Sulaimán Hills and the
bank of the river Indus. On the west, the mountains rise in a succes
sion of knife-like ridges towards the hilly plateau beyond the 'frontier,
and give shelter to independent tribes of Baluchi origin . From their
feet, the plain slopes gradually eastward, in a dreary and monotonous
level only broken from time to time by sandy undulations, and com
posed of a rigid clay which requires profuse irrigation before it can
yield to the arts of the cultivator. Numerous torrents pour down from
the hilly barrier on the west, but soon sink into the thirsty soil, or
are checked by artificial embankments for the water supply of the
surrounding fields. The Kaha and the Sanghar alone possess perennial
streams, all the minor water-courses drying up entirely during the
summer months. The whole western half of the District, known
as the Pachád, is then totally deserted, and its Baluchí inhabitants
seek pasturage for their flocks either among the hills beyond the
border, or in the moister lands which fringe the bank of the Indus.
Water can only be procured from wells in this arid region at a depth of
250 or 300 feet. Between the Pachád and the river, a barren belt of
desert sand intervenes — without water, without inhabitants, and without
vegetation. But as the plain still slopes eastward, it reaches at last a
level at which the waters from the Indus begin to fertilize the sandy
soil. The country rapidly assumes a fresher and greener aspect, a few
trees again appear upon the scene, and human habitations grow more
and more numerous as the cultivated plain approaches the Indus itself.
Much of the land in the lower slopes lies open to direct inundation
from its floods, while the higher tracts are irrigated by canals and wells.
This portion of the District, known as the Sind, comprises the greater
part of the whole cultivated area , and has also considerable tracts of
jungle under themanagement of the Forest Department. Date palms
grow luxuriantly in picturesque groves, and shelter the town and can
tonment of Dera Ghází Khán with their pleasant shade. With these
exceptions, however, the District is almost destitute of trees, and even
in the most favoured parts the jungle seldom attains a height of more
than 12 or 15 feet. The wood serves chiefly as fuel for the steamers
on the Indus. The principal peak of the Sulaimán mountains reaches
an elevation of 7462 feet. The most important passes are those of
Sanghar, Sakhi-Sarwar, Kaliá, Cháchár, and Sori: they are all held by
 DERA GHAZI KHAN DISTRICT. 101
independent Baluchís, responsible to the British Government for the
proper police duties of their respective highways.
History. — The tract between the Sulaimán mountains and the Indus
appears to have been the seat of a Hindu population from a very early
date. Many towns in the District have close associations with ancient
Hindu legend, and especially with the mythical Punjab hero , Rasálu .
Ruins still exist at Sanghar, and elsewhere, which probably date
back to a period earlier than the Muhammadan invasion of India ;
while tradition connects the surrounding country with the ancient
native kingdom of Múltán (Mooltan ). Like the rest of that territory ,
it fell in the year 711 A . D . before the young Arab conquerorMuhammad
Kasim , the first Musalmán invader of India. Throughout the period
of Muhammadan supremacy, the District continued to rank as an out
lying appanage of the Múltán Province. About the year 1450 A. D .,
a branch of the Lodi family, connected with the dynasty which sat upon
the throne of Delhi, succeeded in establishing an independent govern
ment at Kin and Sítpur ; the former town lying in the southern portion
of the present District, while the latter, by a change in the shifting
channel of the Indus, has since been transferred to the eastern bank of
the river. The Náhir dynasty thus established, originally extended their
dominions for a considerable distance in the Deráját ; but as time went
on , their power became circumscribed by the encroachments of Baluchi
mountaineers upon the western frontier. Malik Sohráb , the first of these
hardy invaders, was soon followed by the Mahráni chieftain Háji Khán,
whose son , Ghází Khán, gave his name to the city which he founded ,
and to the modern District which lies around it. This eventmust have
taken place before the end of the 15th century . The new rulers at
first held their dominions as vassals of the Múltán Government, but
in the third generation they found themselves strong enough to throw
off the yoke and proclaim their independence of the Lodi court.
Eighteen princes of the same family held successively the lower
Deráját, and bore alternately the names of their ancestors Háji and
Ghází Khán . In the extreme north , however, the Náhir rulers con
tinued to maintain their position until the early part of the 18th cen
tury. Under the house of Akbar, the dynasty of Ghází Khán made a
nominal submission to the Mughal Empire ; but though they paid a
quit-rent, and accepted their lands in jágír, their practical independence
remained undisturbed. During the decline of the Delhi court, and the
rise of the rival Duráni Empire, the country west of the Indus came
into the hands of Nadir Shah in 1739. The twentieth successor of
Ghází Khán then sat upon the throne of his barren principality ; but
having made submission to the new suzerain , he was duly confirmed
in the possession of his family estates. He died shortly after, however,
leaving no heirs ; and Derá Ghází Khán becameonce more , in name at
102 DERA GHAZI KHAN DISTRICT.
least, an integral portion of the Múltán Province. The date of this
event, though by no means free from doubt, may be placed in or near
the year 1758. About the same time, the District appears to have been
overrun and conquered by the Kalhora kings of Sind, whose relations
with the feudatories of Ahmad Shah in this portion of their dominions
are far from clear. In any case, Ahmad Sháh 's authority would seem
to have been restored about 1770 by one Mahmúd Gújar, an active
and enterprising governor, who did good service in excavating canals
and bringing the waste land into cultivation . A series of Afghán
rulers succeeded, under the Duráni Emperors ; but this period was
much' disturbed by internecine warfare amongst the Biluch clans, who
now held the whole District. Before long, all semblance of order
disappeared, and a reign of anarchy set in , which only terminated with
British annexation and the introduction of our firm and peaceable
Government. Canals fell into disrepair ; cultivation declined ; the
steady and industrious amongst the peasantry emigrated to more
prosperous tracts ; and the whole District sank into a condition more
wretched and desolate than that which had prevailed up to the accession
of Ghází Khán, three centuries before. Meanwhile, the Sikh power
had been rising in the Punjab proper, and culminated under Ranjit
Sinh in a great and consolidated empire. In 1819, the aggres
sive Mahárajá extended his conquests in this direction beyond the
Indus, and annexed the southern portion of the present District.
Sadik Muhammad Khán , Nawab of Bahawalpur, received the newly
acquired territory as a fief, on payment of an annual tribute to Lahore.
In 1827, the Nawáb overran the northern portion of the District, all of
which passed under the suzerainty of the Sikh darbár. Three years
later, however, in 1830, he was compelled to give up his charge in
favour of General Ventura, the partisan leader of the Lahore forces.
In 1832, the famous Sáwan Mal of Múltán (see MULTAN DISTRICT)
took over the District in farm ; and his son Múlráj continued in posses
sion untilthe outbreak ofhostilities with the British in 1848. At the close
of the second Sikh war in the succeeding year, Dera Ghází Khán passed,
with theremainder of the Punjab Province, into the hands of our Govern
ment. Since that period, an active and vigilant administration has pre
served the District from any more serious incident than the occasional
occurrence of a frontier raid . The wild hill-tribes have been brought
into comparative submission , while the restoration of the canals has once
more made tillage profitable, and largely increased the number of in
habitants. The Mutiny of 1857 found Dera Ghází Khán so peacefully
disposed that the protection of the frontier and the civil station could
be safely entrusted to a home levy of 600 men ; while the greater part
of the regular troops were withdrawn for service in the field elsewhere.
On the whole, the District may be cited as a striking instance of the
 DERA GHAZI KHAN DISTRICT. 103
prosperity and security afforded by a strong but benevolent Govern
ment in a naturally barren tract, formerly desolated by border strife and
internal anarchy.
Population .— In 1854, the number of inhabitants was returned at
238,964. In 1868, it had reached a total of 308,840, showing an
increase for the fourteen years of 69,876 persons, or 29'24 per cent.
The Census in the last-named year, taken over an area of 4950 square
miles, disclosed 380 villages or townships, and an aggregate number
of 62,139 houses. These figures yield the following averages :— Persons
per square mile, 62'39 ; villages per square mile, '07 ; houses per square
mile, 12'55 ; persons per village, 812 ; persons per house,4'97. Classified
according to sex, there were — males, 170,252 ; females, 138,588 ; propor
tion of males, 55'13 per cent. Classified according to religion, there
were 38,467 Hindus, 264,527 Muhammadans, 1124 Sikhs, and 4722
others.' The Musalmán element thus amounted to 85:65 per cent. of
the whole population , while the percentage of Hindus and Sikhs was
only 12'45 and 0 - 36 respectively . Among the Muhammadans, 162,519
are classed as Játs, a term which appears to include all the aboriginal
tribes, once Hindu, but long since converted to the faith of the domi
nant races from the west, who have more recently settled in the
District. Foremost among the latter in social and political importance
stand the Baluchís,who in 1868 numbered 92,590, or 29 per cent of the
whole population. A few Patháns (3011) and Sayyids (5324) represent
the later colonists in the District. The geographicalboundary between
the Pathán and Baluchí races in the hills nearly corresponds with the
northern limit of the District ; and it naturally follows that the Baluchís
are more numerous in Derá Ghází Khán than in any other portion of
the Punjab. The settlers, in the western half of the District especially ,
retain in a very marked manner the tribal organization of their native
hills. Each clan owes allegiance to a hereditary chieftain (tumandár),
assisted by a council of head-men who represent the subdivisions of
the clan . Though shorn of certain monarchical prerogatives by the
necessity of submission to an alien rule, the influence of the tumandárs
still ranks paramount for good or for evil ; and our Government has
found it desirable to rule the clans through their powerful instru
mentality. They receive a regular official recognition, and enjoy certain
assignments of land revenue, fixed in 1873 atthe sum of £3600. The
Baluchí, inured to toil, and endowed with great powers of endurance,
has a special hatred of control, and can scarcely be induced to enlist
in our army, or to take any regular service. The mass of the popu
lation live in small hamlets, scattered over the face of the country ;
and a vast majority subsist by agricultural or pastoral pursuits. The
District contains five municipal towns, only two of which have a popu
lation exceeding 5000 — DERA GHAZI KHAN , 20, 123 ; DAJAL, 6335 ;
104 DERA GHAZI KHAN DISTRICT.
JAMPUR, 4209 ; RAJANPUR, 3556 ; and MITHANKOT, 3347. DERA GHAZI
KHAN , the civil and military headquarters, ranks as a trading mart of
considerable activity. Rájanpur, in the south ofthe District, 73 miles
from headquarters, is the station of an Assistant Commissioner and of a
regiment of cavalry. Mithánkot, once a busy commercial centre , has
now sunk into the position of a quiet country town.
Agriculture. — The cultivated area of Dera Ghází Khán has increased
enormously since the introduction of British rule. Early returnsshow the
total area under tillage at 261,065 acres in 1849, and at 276,981 acres in
1859 ; while the SettlementReport for 1871-72 gives a total of 1,063,680
acres, of which 427,599 received artificial irrigation . The staple crops
of the District consist of wheat and joár. The former ranks as the
principal produce of the rabi or spring harvest in the Sind ; the latter
is grown as a kharif or autumn crop in the Pachád. Barley, poppy,
gram , peas, turnips, and mustard also cover a considerable area in the
rabi ; while rice, pulses, cotton, indigo, tobacco, and oil-seeds form
the chief supplementary items of the kharif. Throughout the whole
District, regular cultivation depends entirely upon artificial irrigation ,
derived from three sources, — the hill streams, the wells, and the inun
dation canals from the Indus. The last begin to fill, in prosperous
years, towards the end of June, when the sowings at once commence.
The Pachád can only produce a good autumn crop if the hill torrents
fill some time between May and August ; but when rain does not fall
until September, the cultivator abandons all hope of the kharif, and
sows his land with wheat or some other spring staple. The number of
main channels drawing their supplies directly from the Indus is 15,
two of which belong to private proprietors, while the remainder are
controlled and kept in order by the State . A well, unaided by canal
supplies, suffices to irrigate an average of 10 acres ; with the assistance
of a canal, it can water an area of 30 acres. In the latter case,
however, only half the land is cultivated at a time, and each field
lies fallow after every second crop. The average out-turn of wheat or
joár per acre amounts to 71 cwts. ; that of cotton to I cwt. 14 lbs. of
cleaned fibre. The District has no village communities in the sense
which the term usually implies in India. The villages consist of hold
ings classified into mere artificial groups for purposes of revenue
collection. The only bond of union between the proprietors con
sists in their joint responsibility for the payment of taxes. The
proportion of land belonging to each proprietor is stated by wells or
fractions of a well in the Sind, and by bandhs or irrigation embank
ments in the Pachád . Eight wells form a large holding, while one
fourth of a well would be the smallest amount capable of supporting a
cultivating proprietor. Rents usually take the shape of a charge in
kind upon the produce. Tenants-at-will pay from one-seventh to one
 DERA GHAZI KHAN DISTRICT. 105
half the gross out-turn ; a quarter may be regarded as the fair average.
Agricultural labourers receive their wages in kind, to the value of from
4 }d .to6d. per diem . Skilled workmen in the towns earn as much as 2s.
per diem . Prices ruled as follows on the ist of January 1876 :— Wheat,
20 sers per rupee, or 55. 7d . per cwt. ; barley and joár, 28 sers per
rupee, or 4s. per cwt ; gram , 27 sers per rupee, or 4s. 2d. per cwt. ;
bájra, 25 sers per rupee, or 4s. 6d. per cwt.
Commerce and Trade, etc. — Petty Hindu merchants, settled in almost
every village, entirely control the trade of the District. Their dealings
centre chiefly in the commercial town of Dera Ghází Khán . The
Indus forms the high road of traffic. Mithánkot, just below its
junction with the united stream of the Punjab rivers, was long the
mercantile capital of the District; but a diversion of the navigable
channel 5 miles to the east has turned the course of traffic to the
headquarters town. Thence indigo, opium , dates, wheat, cotton ,
barley, millet, ghi, and hides are despatched down the river to Sukkur
(Sakkar) and Karáchi (Kurrachee). The annual value of the opium
exported amounts to £2500 ; that of indigo probably exceeds £10,000.
The grain of all kinds may be estimated at £60,000. Sugar, gram ,
woollen goods, English piece-goods and broadcloth , metals, salt, and
spices form the principal items of the import trade. Little traffic at
present exists with the country beyond the hills, owing to the turbu
lence of the independent Baluchí tribes. Commercial importance has
lately attached to the annual religious gathering at the shrine of a
Muhammadan saint, Sakhi Sarwar. The chief means of communica
tion consist of — the Frontier military road, which passes through the
District from north to south and strikes the Indus at Mithánkot ; the
river road from Derá Ghází Khán to Sukkur ; and the road from the
headquarters station to Múltán, crossing the Indus at the Kureshi
ferry. None of these are metalled, but they cross the canals and hill
streams for the most part by means of bridges. The total length of
unmetalled road within the District amounted in 1872-73 to 1223 miles.
Administration. — The District staff ordinarily comprises a Deputy
Commissioner, with two Assistant and oneextra Assistant Commissioners,
besides the usual fiscal, constabulary, and medical officers. The total
amount of revenue (excluding income tax) raised in the District in
1861-62 was returned at £37,182. In 1875 -76 , it had reached the sum
of £46,681. The land tax forms the principal item of receipt, producing
in 1875- 76 a total of £38,800 , or more than four-fifths of the whole .
The remaining items consist of stamps and excise. During the same
year, the District contained 16 civil and revenue judges of all grades.
The regular police force numbers 500 men, or i to every 616 of
the population. The District jail at Derá Ghází Khán , a large and
substantial building, had a daily average number of 352 prisoners in
106 DERA GHAZI KHAN TAHSIL AND TOWN.
the three years ending 1872. The military force maintained in the
District for the protection of the frontier comprises 2 regiments of
infantry and 2 of cavalry. One regiment of cavalry and one com
pany of infantry are stationed at Rajanpur ; and the remainder at Derá
Ghází Khán. A force of mounted militia , levied among the Baluchi
tribes of the Pachád, assists the regular troops in the maintenance of
order. In 1875-76, the District had only 39 schools, with a total roll of
1767 scholars. These figures show one school to every 121 square
miles of the area, with a proportion of 5 '7 pupils to every thousand
of the population . In 1872-73, the sum spent on education, including
grants-in -aid , amounted to £1206. The five municipalities of Derá
Gháuí Khán, Jảmpur, Rajanpur, Mithankst, and Dajal had an aggregate
revenue in 1875 -76 of £3396 , or is. 101d. per head of the population
(36 ,539) within municipal limits.
Medical Aspects. — Derá Ghází Khán cannot be considered an
unhealthy District, although the heat in summer often reaches an
intense degree. The annual rainfall for the eight years ending 1874 ,
averaged only 6 .6 inches, the maximum during that period being 10 :8
inches in 1869-70. Fever of the ordinary type prevails in August and
September, when cold nights alternate with hot days. In June and
July, a scorching and unhealthy wind sweeps down from the hills into
the Pachád. Four charitable dispensaries gave relief in 1875 to 42,815
persons, of whom 969 were in -patients.
| Derá Ghác Khán. – Tasíl of Derá Ghazi Khán District, Punjab,
consisting of a narrow strip of land between the Indus and the Sulaimán
Mountains. Lat. 29° 36 'to 30° 30 ' 30" N., and long. 70° 11'to 70° 59' E. ;
area , 1923 square miles ; pop. (1868), 136,376 ; persons per square
mile, 70 '91 ; number of villages, 164.
Derá Ghází Khán . — Municipal town and administrative head
quarters of Dera Ghazi Khán District, Punjab. Lat. Joº 3 57
N ., and long. 70° 49' 8" E. Pop. (1868 ), 20,123, comprising 8850
Hindus, 10 ,699 Muhammadans, 328 Sikhs, 52 Christians, and 194
others.' Pleasantly situated in lat. 30° 3' 57" N., and long. 70°
49' E., about 2 miles west of the present bed of the Indus, which
once flowed past its site. The Kasturi Canal skirts its eastern border,
fringed with thickly planted gardens of mango trees ; while ghats line
the banks, thronged in summer by numerous bathers. Above the town
stands a massive dam , erected in 1858 as a protection against inunda
tions. A mile to the west lie the Civil Lines, and the cantonments
adjoin the houses of the District officials. The original station
stood to the east of the town, but disappeared during the flood of 1857.
The city owes its foundation to Ghází Khán Mahráni, a Baluch settler
in the District, who made himself independent in this remote tract
about the year 1475. It has continued ever since to be the seat of
 DERA ISMAIL KHAN DISTRICT. 107
local administration under the successive Governments which have
ruled the surrounding country. (See DERA GHAZI KHAN Dis
TRICT.) The court-house occupies the site of Ghází Khán 's garden ;
while the tahsili and police office replace an ancient fort, levelled at
the time of the English annexation. The other public buildings include
a town hall, school-house, dispensary, staging bungalow , and post office.
A handsome bázár has several good shops, built on a uniform plan .
Many large and striking mosques adorn the town , the chief being those
of Ghazi Khán, Abdul Jawar, and Chútả Khản. The Sikhs converted
three of them into temples of their own faith during their period of
supremacy. Two Muhammadan saints are also honoured with shrines,
and the earlier religion has four temples dedicated to Hindu gods. The
trade of Dera Ghází Khán is not extensive : exports - indigo, opium ,
dates, wheat, cotton , barley, millet, ghi, and hides ; imports — sugar,
Kábul fruits, English piece-goods, metal, salt, and spices. Silk and
cotton manufacture, formerly thriving, has now declined . Weekly fair
on the banks of the canal during the summer months. Ordinary
garrison, I cavalry and 2 infantry regiments of the Punjab Frontier
force. Municipal revenue in 1875-76, £2294, or 25. 4 d. per head of
population (19,092) within municipal limits.
Derá Ismail Khán . - A British District in the Lieutenant-Governor
ship of the Punjab (Panjáb), lying between 30° 35' 45'' and 32° 33' N .
lat., and between 70° 14' and 72° 2' E. long. ; with an area of 7096 square
miles, and a population (1868) of 394,864 persons. Derá Ismail Khán
forms the central District of the Deráját Division. It is bounded on the
north by Bannu, on the east by Jhang and Shahpur, on the south by
Derá Ghází Khán and Muzaffargarh , and on the west by the Sulaimán
Mountains. The administrative headquarters are at the town of DERA
ISMAIL KHAN.
Physical Aspects. — The District of Derá Ismail Khán, a purely arti
ficial creation for administrative purposes, comprises two distinct tracts
of country, stretching from the Sulaimán Mountains across the valley of
the Indus far into the heart of the Sind Sagar Doáb. The channel of
the great river thus divides it into nearly equal sections, each of which
possesses a history and physical characteristics of its own. To the west,
the Sulaimán Mountains rise barren and precipitous above the hard
alluvial plain , ascending in a series of parallel ridges, which culminate
nearly opposite Derá Ismail Khan in the two peaks of Takht-i-Sulaimán,
11,295 and 11,070 feet respectively above the level of the sea . The
range is thehomeof various independent tribes,responsible to our Govern
ment for the maintenance of peace upon the frontier, and the preven
tion of robbery among the passes. Numerous mountain torrents score
the hillsides, and cut for themselves deep and intricate ravines in the
plain below ; but little of their water reaches the Indus even in times
108 DERA ISMAIL KHAN DISTRICT.
ofheavy flood. Only one among them , the Gomál or Lúni, is a perennial
stream . On the north , some low and stony spurs project into the
valley, till finally the Shaikh-budin range closes the view upward and
separates this District from that of Bannu. Near the Indus, a third
rugged group, the Khisor Hills, intervenes between the Shaikh-budin
system and the river, which is overhung by its eastern face in a precipi
tous mass, some 3000 feet above the sea. From this point the plain
stretches southward along the river-side, till it merges in the similar
tract of DERA GHAZI KHAN DISTRICT. Sloping downwards from the
feet of the Sulaimán range through an intermediate barren belt, it
gradually attains a lower level, at which percolation from the Indus
makes its influence felt. Cultivation soon becomes general, and the
soil of this lowland tract supports a population of considerable density .
In the summer months, the river, rising 6 feet above its cold -weather
level, submerges the country for 11 miles inland ; while canals and
natural channels convey its fertilizing waters to a still greater distance
from the main stream on either side. The principal channel shifts from
year to year, causing great alteration in the conditions of agriculture.
The eastern or Sind Ságar portion of the District consists in part of a
similar irrigated lowland, lying along the edge of the Indus. The limit
of this favoured tract is marked by an abrupt bank, the outer margin of
a high plateau, the Thal, which stretches across the Doáb to the valley
of the Jhelum (Jhilam ). Below this bank , wide patches of closely
cultivated soil, interspersed with stretches of rank grass, or broken by
occasional clumps of trees, meet the eye ; but above appears the
ordinary monotony of a Punjab desert, extending in a level surface of
sand, or rolling into rounded hillocks and long undulating dunes. Yet
the soil beneath is naturally rich ; and unless the rainfall entirely fails, a
yearly crop of grass pushes its way through the sandy covering, and
forda' ofthsheep
e afflocks
suffices to supportrfacvast e ; wcattle.
e scenand Patches oof scrubby
hile , Patches
jungle here and there diversify the scene ; while the coarse vegetation
of the general surface affords excellent fodder for camels. Cultivation,
however, can only be carried on by means of laborious artificial irriga
tion from deep wells, and nothing but the brave and steady industry of
the inhabitants renders life possible in this sterile region .
History.— Themassive ruins of two ancient forts, one in this Dis
trict, the other just within the borders of Bannu, overlooking the Indus
from projecting spurs of the northern hills, alone bear witness to an
early civilisation in the upper Deráját. Both bear the name of Káfir
Kot, probably connecting their origin with the Græco-Bactrian period
of Punjab history. The plain portion of the District contains none of
those ancient mounds which elsewhere mark the sites of ruined cities.
But the earliest traditions current in this remote quarter refer to its
later colonization by immigrants from the south , who found the country
 DERA ISMAIL KHAN DISTRICT. 109
entirely unoccupied. The Baluchí settlers, under Málik Sohráb, arrived
in the District towards the end of the 15th century . His two sons,
Ismail Khán and Fateh Khán , founded the towns which still bear their
names. The Hot family , as this Baluchídynasty was termed, in contra
distinction to the Mahránihouse of Dera Ghází Khán, held sway over the
upper Deráját for 300 years, with practical independence, until reduced
to vassalage by Ahmad Sháh Duráni about 1750 A .D . Beyond the
Indus, too, the first important colony settled under the auspices of
another Baluchí chieftain ,whose descendants, surnamed Jaskáni, placed
their capital for nearly three centuries at Bhakkar in the eastern low
lands of the great river. Farther south , the family of Ghází Khán
established several settlements, the chief of which gathered round the
town of Leiah . Aboutthe year 1759, the Kháns of Leiah were involved in
the conquest of the parent family by the Kalhora kings of Sind. Shortly
afterwards, Ahmad Shah Duráníbecamesupreme over the whole of the
present District. In 1792, Shah Zamán , then occupying the Durání
throne, conferred the government of this dependency, together with
the title of Nawab, upon Muhammad Khán , an Afghán of the Saduzái
tribe, related to the famous governors of Múltán (Mooltan ). Armed
with the royal grant, Muhammad Khán made himself master of almost
all the District, and built himself a new capital at Mankera. Hedied
in 1815, after a prosperous reign of 23 years. His grandson, Sher
Muhammad Khán , succeeded to the principality, under the guardian
ship of his father, the late Nawab's son-in -law . Ranjít Sinh , however,
was then engaged in consolidating his power by the subjection of the
lower Punjab. Nothing daunted by the difficulties of a march across
the desert, the great Síkh leader advanced upon Mankerá sinking wells
as he approached for the supply of his army. After a siege of 25 days,
the fortress surrendered, and the whole Sind Ságar Doáb lay at the
mercy of the conqueror. The young Nawab retired beyond the Indus
to Derá Ismail Khán , retaining his dominions in the Deráját for fifteen
years, subject to a quit-rent to the Sikhs, but otherwise holding the
position of a semi-independent prince. His tribute, however, fell into
arrears ; and in 1836 , Náo Nihal Sinh crossed the Indus at the head of
a Síkh army, and annexed the remaining portion of the District to the
territories of Lahore. The Nawáb received an assignment of revenue
for his maintenance , still retained by his descendants, together with
their ancestral title. Under Síkh rule, the Cis- Indus tract formed
part of the Mooltan Province , administered by Sáwan Mal and his son
Múlráj (see MULTAN DISTRICT). The upper Deráját, on the other
hand, was farmed out to the Diwán Laki Nál, from whom it passed to
his son, Daulat Rái. British influence first made itself felt in 1847, when
Lieutenant (afterwards Sir Herbert) Edwardes, being despatched to the
frontier as Political Officer under the Council of Regency at Lahore,
IIO DERA ISMAIL KHAN DISTRICT.
effected a summary assessment of the land tax. In the succeeding year,
levies from Derá Ismail Khán followed Edwardes to Múltán, and served
loyally throughout the war that ended in the annexation of the Punjab .
The District then passed quietly under British rule. On the first sub
division of the Province, Derá Ismail Khán became the headquarters
of a District, which also originally included the trans-Indus portion of
Bannu ; Leiah was erected into the centre of a second District east of
the river. The present arrangement took effect in 1861, Bannu being
entrusted to a separate officer, and the southern half of the Leiah Dis
trict being incorporated with Derá Ismail Khán . In 1857, some traces
of a mutinous spirit appeared amongst the troops in garrison at the
headquarters station ; but the promptitude and vigour of the Deputy
Commissioner, Colonel Coxe, loyally aided by a hasty levy of Muham
madan cavalry, averted the danger without serious difficulty . In 1870,
the District attracted for a time a melancholy attention through the
death of Sir H . Durand , Lieutenant-Governor of the Punjab , who was
struck by an arch and precipitated from his elephant as he entered a
gateway in the town of Tánk . His remains were interred at Derá
Ismail Khán.
Population . — The changes of territory in the cis- Indus portion of
the District since the Census of 1855, render it impossible to institute
a comparison between that enumeration and the returns of 1868. In
the trans-Indus subdivisions, however, which remain substantially un
altered in extent, a considerable increase took place between those
dates. The Census of 1868 was taken over a total area of 7096 square
miles, and it disclosed a total population of 394,864 persons, distributed
among 716 villages or townships, and inhabiting an aggregate of 85, 100
houses. These figures yield the following averages :- Persons per square
mile, 56 -64 ; villages per square mile, Oʻ10 ; houses per square mile,
11'97 ; persons per village, 551 ; persons per house, 4'64. Classified
according to sex, there were — males, 212,734 ; females, 182,130 ;
proportion of males, 53.88 per cent. As regards the religious dis
tinctions of the people, Derá Ismail Khán contains an essentially
Muhammadan population , as might be expected from the late date and
quarter of its colonization. The Census showed 338,387 Musalmáns,
48,756 Hindus, 1587 Sikhs, and 6134 'others. Amongst the Hindus,
the Aroras form by far the largest element, numbering as many as 42,087
persons; they comprise the principal trading classes of the District, a
few wealthy families being found in the larger towns, while the majority
carry on business as petty dealers in corn or money throughout the
country villages. The mass of the agricultural population are Játs,
who profess the Muhammadan religion, but are of Hindu origin . Their
ancestors, according to tradition, accompanied the Baluchí chieftains on
the first colonization of the District. The Patháns occupy a strip of
 DERA ISMAIL KHAN DISTRICT. III

country extending immediately below the Sulaimán Hills, throughout

their whole length from north to south . Most of them belong to
inconspicuous tribes, the highest in social position being connected
with the Saduzái Nawabs of Dera Ismail Khán. Seven towns
contained a population exceeding 5000 in 1868 — namely, DERA ISMAIL
KHAN , KULACHI, LEIAH, KHAROR, BHAKKAR, PANIALA, and TAKWARA.
The two latter, however, are purely agricultural villages, and in the
remainder, also , a large proportion of the population inhabits outlying
hamlets. Themunicipalities, with their populations, as ascertained by
a special Census taken in 1875, rank as follows:- (1) DERA ISMAİL
KHAN , 20,002 ; (2) KULACHI, 7865 ; (3) LEIAH, 5686 ; (4 ) BHAKKAR,
4803 ; (5) TANK, 3186 ; (6 ) KHAROR, 2766 ; (7) Kor SULTAN , 1386 ;
(8) MANKERA, 1259. Tank is the capital of an Afghán Principality till
lately ruled by its semi-independent Nawab, but now brought directly
under British administration . The sanitarium of SHAIKH -BUDIN , at an
elevation of 4516 feet above sea level, occupies the highest point in the
hills which separate this District from Bannu.
Agriculture. — Throughout all portions of Dera Ismail Khan District,
tillage depends entirely upon artificial irrigation. The hill streams render
but scanty service in this respect, their volume being speedily lost in the
intricate ravines which they have cut for themselves through the hard
clay of the submontane tract. Nevertheless, they afford to the Afgháns
of the border a chance of raising some few crops, sufficient for their own
frugal subsistence. In the low -lying lands within the influence of the
Indus, canals and wells offer an easy and abundant supply of water ;
but in the Thal or Sind Ságar uplands, wells can only be worked at an
enormous depth . Even here, however, the indomitable energy of the
Ját cultivators succeeds in producing harvests not inferior to those of
the richest alluvial tracts. The State does not maintain any irrigation
works in this District ; but returns compiled in 1873-74 show a total
of 422,526 acres artificially watered by private enterprise. The area
cultivated without irrigation amounted to 95,337 acres, giving a grand
total of 517,863 acres under cultivation. The remainder of the Dis
trict falls under the following heads : — Grazing lands, 364,864 acres ;
cultivable waste, 1, 353,846 acres ; uncultivable waste, 2,305,227 acres.
It would thus appear that more than two-thirds of the available soil has
not yet been brought under tillage. Wheat and barley form the staple
products of the rabi or spring harvest, while the common millets, joár
and bájra, constitute the principal kharif or autumn crops. Sugar and
tobacco are grown in the lowlands of the Indus, but not in sufficient
quantities to meet the local demand. In 1872-73, the areas sown with
each staple were returned as follows:- Wheat, 137,410 acres ; barley,
18,812 acres ; oil-seeds, 14,264 acres ; millets, 55,812 acres ; cotton,
15,291 acres. Throughout the District, village communities of the
 II2 DERA ISMAIL KHAN DISTRICT.
ordinary types prevail, though many of them , especially among the
Patháns of the frontier, appear to have adopted the communal system
only as a consequence of British fiscal arrangements. Elsewhere, in
the Ját villages, the existence of immemorial common lands attests the
indigenous nature of the institution. Rents are universally paid in kind,
at rates which range as high as one-half the gross produce. Unskilled
labourers in towns received from 6d. to gd. per diem in 1875-76 ; while
skilled workmen obtained from gd. to is. Prices on the whole have
rather fallen than risen of late years. The chief food -stuffs were
quoted at the following rates on ist January 1876 : Wheat, 32 sers per
rupee, or 3s. 6d. per cwt. ; barley, 46 sers per rupee, or 25. 5 d. per
cwt. ; gram , 41 sers per rupee, or 2s. 8 d . per cwt. ; joár, 45 sers per
rupee, or 2s. 5 d. per cwt. ; bájra , 41 sers per rupee, or 2s. 8 }d. per
cwt.
Commerce and Trade, etc. — One of the main streams of caravan traffic
between India and Khorásán traverses the District twice a year. The
Povindah merchants cross the Gomal Pass between Tánk and Kuláchi
during the month of October, and, after passing on into India proper,
return again in April or May. They seldom , however, unpack any
portion of their wares in the local markets. The traffic of the District
centres in thetowns of Dera Ismail Khán, Leiah, and Bhakkar. Wheat,
millet, and wool are thence despatched down the Indus to Múltán
(Mooltan ), Sukkur, or Karáchi (Kurrachee), while Indian and
English piece-goods form the staples of import trade. Hides from
Sháhpur and Jhang, salt from Kohát and Pind Dadan Khán,
and fancy ware of various kinds from Múltán (Mooltan ) and Sukkur
(Sakkar) also figure upon the list of entries. Derá Ismail Khán
and many villages have considerable manufactures of coarse cloth
for domestic use. The main channels of communication consist of
the Frontier military road, which skirts the base of the hills from north
to south ; the Múltán and Ráwal Pindi road, which follows the high
right bank of the Indus, viâ Kot Sultán , Leiah, Kharor, and Bhakkar ;
and the line from Derá Ismail Khán to Jhang, and thence to Chíchawatni
on the Lahore and Múltán (Mooltan ) Railway. Though unbridged
and unmetalled, they are all practicable in ordinary seasons by wheeled
conveyances or artillery. The total length of roads within the District
in 1875-76 amounted to 1538 miles.
Administration . — The District staff ordinarily comprises a Deputy
Commissioner, with one Assistant and one extra Assistant Commissioner,
besides the usual fiscal, constabulary , and medical officers. The total
amount of revenue raised in the District during the year 1875-76, was
returned at £47,299 ; of which sum , £38,580, or more than four
fifths of thewhole, was contributed by the land tax. A local revenue of
about £5c0o provides for objects of public utility within the District
 DERA ISMAIL KHAN TAHSIL AND TOWN. 113
itself. In 1875-76, Derá Ismail Khán possessed 17 civil and revenue
judges of all grades, 2 of whom were covenanted civilians. The regular
police force in 1875 numbered 603 men , giving an average of 1 police
man to every 11°76 square miles of area and every 654 of the popu
lation . This force was supplemented by a body of 487 village watch
men (chaukidárs). The District jail at Derá Ismail Khán received a
total number of 1080 inmates in 1872 ; while the daily average of
prisoners for that and the two preceding years was 342'55. Education
is rather more forward than in the country immediately to the south ,
but still remains at a low standard . The District contained 26 schools
supported or aided by the Government in 1876 , with an aggregate roll
of 2105 scholars. The Church Missionary Society has an educational
station at Dera Ismail Khán , in receipt of a grant-in -aid from Govern
ment ; the number of pupils in 1873 amounted to 308. The total sum
spent on education during the same year was returned at £896 . The
troops quartered in the District for the defence of the Frontier, comprise
2 regiments of infantry, i regiment of cavalry , and a battery of field
artillery , amounting in all to 2200 rank and file of all arms, with 4 guns.
The headquarters are at Dera Ismail Khán . A small force of local
militia supplements the regular troops in the outpost stations upon the
Frontier. The 8 municipal towns had an aggregate revenue in 1875-76
of £4504, being at the rate of is. vid . per head of the population
within municipal limits.
Medical Aspects. — According to a private record kept at Derá Ismail
Khán for the three years ending 1871, the maximum temperature in
the shade during that period was 110'30° in June 1869, and the
minimum 37.25° in December of the same year. Up to the middle of
May, the climate is tolerable for Europeans ; but after that date, the
season of fierce summer-heat sets in . The average annual rainfall for
the eight years ending 1874 amounted to only 7'5 inches. The
rainy season , or rather the period of occasional showers, occurs
during the months of June, July, August, and September. Malarious
fever, dysentery, and small-pox form the prevalent diseases of the
District. The headquarters station , however, bears a good reputation
from a sanitary point of view . Seven charitable dispensaries afforded
relief in 1875 to 53,511 persons, of whom 1753 were in -patients.
Dera Ismail Khán. – Tahsil of Dera Ismail Khán District, Punjab,
consisting of a narrow strip of land between the Sulaimán Mountains
and the Indus. Lat. 31° 20 ' to 32° 33' N ., and long. 70° 33' 30" to
71° 25' E. ; area, 1827 square miles ; pop. ( 1868), 101,922 ; persons per
square mile, 55' 78 ; number of villages, 226.
Derá Ismail Khán. - Municipaltown, cantonment, and administrative
headquarters of Dera Ismail Khán District, Punjab. Lat. 35° so N.,
long. 70°55' 44" E.; pop. (1868), 24,906, comprising 8381 Hindus, 15 ,659
H
VOL. 11 .
II4 DERAJAT - DERA NANAK .
Muhammadans, 206 Sikhs, 224 Christians, and 436 others.' Distant
from the right bank of the Indus 41 miles west, from Lahore 200 miles
west, and from Múltán (Mooltan ) 120 miles north -west. Founded in the
end of the 15th century by the Baluch adventurer Malik Sohráb, who
called the town after one of his sons. The original city was swept
away by the Indus in 1823, and all the existing buildings are of
quite modern construction . Stands on a level plain , so badly drained
that pools of water collect for weeks after heavy rain , and many
of the streets become impassable. Surrounded by a thin mud wall,
with five gates, enclosing an area of about 500 acres. Tortuous and
ill-ventilated alleys, especially in the Hindu quarter. The cantonment
lies to the south -east of the city, and contains a total area of 4 square
miles. Lines exist for a regiment of Native cavalry, two regiments of
Native infantry , and a battery of artillery. The cantonment also con
tains a church, staging bungalow , and swimming-bath . European
detachments garrison the small fort of Akalgarh , half a mile from the
north -west angle of the city. The civil station lies to the south of the
native town , and contains the court-house , treasury, Commissioner's
office, jail, police lines, postoffice, and dispensary. The English Church
Mission has an important station, and supports a considerable school.
In time of flood, the whole strip of land between the city or cantonments
and the river is covered by the inundations. The trade of Dera Ismail
Khán ranks as of second-rate importance only, but some foreign traffic
with Khorásán passes through in the course of transit. Povindah
caravans traverse the town twice a year, on their road to and from
India. Chief imports — English and native piece- goods, hides, salt, and
fancy wares ; principal exports — grain, wool, and ghí. Manufacture of
scarves and inlaid wood-work . Municipal revenue in 1875-76 , £3017,
or 3s. per head of population (20,002) within municipal limits.
Deráját. - A Division under a Commissioner in the Punjab , situated
between 28° 27' and 33° 15' n . lat., and between 69° 35' and 72° 2 ' E.,
comprising the three Districts of DERA ISMAIL KHAN, DERA GHAZI
KHAN, and BANNU, each of which see separately. Area , 15,007 square
miles; pop. (1868), 991,251.
Derá Nának. — Municipal town in Gurdaspur District, Punjab.
Pop. (1868), 8082, being 2747 Hindus, 3541 Muhammadans, 1387
Sikhs, and 407 ' others.' Lies in lat. 32° 2' 15" N., long. 75° 4' E.,
on the banks of the river Rávi, 13 miles north -west of Batála.
Bába Nának, the first Sikh Guru , settled and died at the village of
Pakhoki, opposite the modern town ; and his descendants, the Bedis,
continued to reside upon the same spot until the encroaching river
swept away their village. They then crossed the stream , and built a
new town, which they called after the name of their holy ancestor.
The majority of the inhabitants still consist of Bedis. Handsome
 DERAPUR - DERI SHAHAN. 115
Sikh temple, dedicated to Bába Nának . A second temple, known as
the Táli Sahib, was carried away by an inundation in 1870. Considerable
export of cotton and sugar. Police station , Anglo -vernacular school,
post office. Municipal revenue (1875 -76 ), £328, or id. per head of
population (7199) within municipal limits.
Derápur. – South -western tahsil of Cawnpore District, North-Western
Provinces ; stretching inland from thebanks of the Jumna, and traversed
by the Bhognipur and Etawah branches of the Ganges Canal. Area,
318 square miles, of which 186 are cultivated ; pop. (1872), 123,558 ;
land revenue, £25 ,442 ; total Government revenue, £27,987 ; rental
paid by cultivators, £42, 486 ; incidence of Government revenue per
acre, 25. 6d.
Derbend. — Military station in Hazára District, Punjab ; lies in
lat. 34° 18' N., long. 72° 55' E., on the left bank of the Indus, at the
point where its stream expands on entering the plains. Near this point,
in 1827, Sher Sinh, the Sikh commander, defeated Sayyid Ahmad, an
Afghán fanatic who had excited a religious war against the Síkhs.
Deri Kot.— Town, Shikárpur District, Sind. - See Ghaibi DERO.
Deri Shahán (or Shah Dheri). – Village in Ráwal Pindi District,
Punjab. Lat. 33° 17' N., and long. 72° 49' 15 " E. Identified by
General Cunningham with the ancient city of Taxila. The existing
remains extend over an area of 6 square miles, and rank as themost
interesting and extensive, and the best preserved memorials of antiquity
in the whole Punjab Province. The number and size of the stupas
and monasteries render them worthy of the greatest attention. The
earliest inhabitants of the surrounding region appear to have been the
Takkas, who originally held all the Sind Ságar Doab ; and from their
nameGeneral Cunningham derives that of Taxila or Takshasila, which
Arrian describes as “ a large and wealthy city, the most populous
between the Indus and the Hydaspes ' (or Jhelum ). The city stood a
few miles to the north of the Margala Pass, where several mounds still
mark the sites of its principal buildings. Alexander rested his army
at this point for three days, and was royally entertained by the reigning
sovereign. The Chinese Buddhist pilgrim Fa Hian visited Taxila ,
as a place of peculiar sanctity , about the year 400 A.D. Again , in
630 and 643, his countryman and co-religionist, Hiouen Thsang,
also made it a halting-place of his pilgrimage, but found the seat of
Government removed to Kashmir. The ruins of Taxila consist of six
separate portions. The mound of Bír, close to the modern rock -seated
village of Deri Shahán , abounds in fragments of brick and pottery, and
offers a rich mine of coins and gems for the antiquary. Hatiál, a
fortified spur of the Margala range, probably formed the ancient
citadel ; it is enclosed by a ruined wall, and crowned by a large bastion
or tower. Sir-Kap presents the appearance of a supplementary fortress,
 116 DERO MOHBAT - DEULGHAT.
united with the citadel by a wall of circumvallation . Kacha-Kot
possibly gave shelter to the elephants and cattle during a siege.
Bábar-Khána contains the remains of a stupa, which General Cunning
ham identifies with that of Asoka, mentioned by Hiouen Thsang.
Besides all these massive works, a wide expanse, covered by monasteries
or other religious buildings, stretches on every side from the central
city to a considerable distance.
Dero Mohbat. — Táluk of the Tándo Deputy Collectorate, Haidar
ábád (Hyderabad ) District, Sind. Lat. 24° 58' 15" to 25° 19' N., and
long. 68° 32' 30" to 69° 20' 45' E . ; area, 670 square miles ; pop. (1872 ),
30,445 ; revenue (1873-74 ), £5014, of which £4610 were derived from
imperial, and £404 from local funds.
Detanaw . — A small but once flourishing village in Angyi township ,
Rangoon District, Pegu Division , British Burma. At the close of the
first Anglo -Burmese war, numbers of the inhabitants who had sided
with the British escaped to Tenasserim , but the rest were massacred
by the Burmese for their adherence to our cause. In the neighbour
hood, there are the ruins of a large and very ancient pagoda.
Deulgáon Rájá. — Town in Buldána District, Berar. Lat. 20° n .,
long. 76° E. ; population , according to the Census of 1867, 9296 — by
the Administration Report of 1876 -77, 10 ,265. Bordered on the
north by a small range of hills, and on the south by the small river
Amni. The town was once fortified by a wall, now in ruins. The
principal articles of trade are cotton and silk . There are about 250
families of weavers, and 15 of silk traders. The Sráwaks or Jain traders ,
who deal in cloth , are said to have comefrom the north about 300 years
ago. The origin of the great Jádon family , a member of which founded
Deulgáon , is uncertain . Lakhji Jádon Ráo gave his daughter Jijia to
Sháhjí the son of Máloji ; and in 1627 she became themother of Sivají,
the founder of the Marhattá Empire. Rásojí, a natural son of one of
the Jádon family, gained for himself the title of founder of Deulgáon,
by enlarging the town , which before was known as Deulwarſ. The
hereditary dues enjoyed by the family were confiscated in 1851, when
a body of Arabs under the command of Bájí Ráo, then head of the
family, engaged in a severe fight against the Haidarábád contingent.
Bájí Ráo died a State prisoner in 1856. Of all the dewastháns in Berar,
that of Bálájí at Deulgáon , founded by the Jádon Rájás, is the most
celebrated. At the annual fair held generally in October in honour of
this deity , the offerings exceed a lákh of rupees, or £10 ,000, in value,
At this time, food is supplied gratuitously to pilgrims and religious
mendicants attending the festival.
Deulghát. — Town in Buldana District, Berar ; situated in lat. 20°
31' N., and long. 76° 10 ' 30 " E., on the Penganga river. Pop. (1867)
3954. An ancient town, - formerly known as Deoli, a name probably
 DEVALA - DEVI. 117
derived from the numerous Hemár Panti temples, of which ruins still
exist. Considerably augmented about 1700 A.D. by Aurangzeb ; now
of little importance.
Deválá (or Nambalakod).- Village in the Wynád, Malabar District,
Madras ; situated in lat. 11° 28' N ., long. 76° 26' E., about 8 miles
from Gudalúr, at the head of a pass. It was here that the Wynád Gold
Company first started operations, and recently the place has grown into
importance as a coffee centre. When the transfer of this tract to the
District of the Nilgiris has been completed , it is in contemplation to
station a European magistrate at Deválá.
Devanhalli. - Táluk in Bangalore District, Mysore. Area, 238
square miles ; pop. (1871), 70,459 ; land revenue (1874-75), exclusive
of water rates, £9748, or 35. 3d. per cultivated acre. Among special
crops are poppy, sugar, potatoes, and pumelos.
Devanhalli. — Municipal town in Bangalore District, Mysore ; 23
miles by north road of Bangalore. Lat. 13° 15' n., long. 77° 45'
30" E ; pop. (1871), 5771, composed of 5487 Hindus and 284 Muham
madans ; municipal revenue (1874- 75), £39 ; rate of taxation , 2d. per
head. The former seat of a family of poligárs,who traced their descent
from one of the refugees of the Morasu Wokkal tribe, who founded
petty dynasties throughout Mysore in the 14th century. The last of
the Gaudas, as the chiefs were called, was overthrown in 1748 by the
Hindu Rájá of Mysore. It was in the siege of Devanhalli, on this
occasion , that Haidar Alí first gained distinction as a volunteer horseman ,
and it was here that his son Tipú was born , Haidar erected a fort
of stone, which was captured by Lord Cornwallis in 1791. A weekly
fair held on Wednesdays is attended by 500 persons. Headquarters of
a táluk of the same name.
Devaraydurga (* Hill of Deva Rájá '). - Fortified bill in Túmkúr
District, Mysore. Lat. 13° 22' 30 " N., long. 77° 14' 50” E. ; 9 miles
east of Túmkúr; 3940 feet above sea level. It consists of 3 terraces,
well supplied with water, and is now used as a summer retreat for
the EuropeanGol by Deva Rájá, dedicated to Durgains jewellery
the European officials of the District. It was captured from a local
chieftain in 1608 by Deva Rájá , who built the present fortification . A
small temple on the summit, dedicated to Durga Narasinha, was
erected by a subsequent Rájá of Mysore. It contains jewellery , etc .
worth £1000, and is endowed with £85 a year. An annual festival is
attended by 3000 persons.
Deví (literally · The Goddess,' a title specially applied to thewife of
Siva, the All-Destroyer ). — River in Orissa, Bengal; formed by the junc
tion in Cuttack District of the Great and Little Devi, two distributaries
thrown off from the right bank of the Kátjurí, an important offshoot of
the Mahánadi. The united stream passes into Purí District, and falls
into the Bay of Bengal a few miles below the southern boundary of
118 DEVIKOTTA - DEWA.
Cuttack. The Deví forms the last part of the great network of
channels into which the Kátjurí branch of the Mahánadi bifurcates ;
most of these streams reunite as they approach the sea, forming a
broad and noble estuary , which, under the name of the Deví, enters
the ocean in lat. 19° 58' n ., and long. 86° 25' E . Some years ago, a
permanent beacon was erected at the mouth ; an excellent channel of
from 16 to 24 feet is obtained for 7 miles inland from the entrance to
the Deví. Above this distance the river shoals rapidly , and is only
navigable by country craft. This harbour is unfortunately rendered
almost useless by bars of sand across its mouth, which vary in depth
from year to year. As soon as the south -west monsoon sets in , the
surf rages outside in such a way as to render the approach of vessels
perilous in the extreme. The ordinary tidal rise is from 4 to 6 feet,
and runs for 28 miles up the river, the limit of navigation in the dry
season . After the rains, a much greater depth of water is obtained ,
and an extensive rice trade has developed itself at Máchhgaon, 9 miles
up the Deví. Themouth of the river is surrounded by dense jungle,
destitute of inhabitants and of tillage.
Devikotta . A small ruined fort in Tanjore District,Madras ; situated
24 miles north of Tranquebar, in lat. 11° 22' 28" N ., and long. 79° 52' E .,
on the Coromandel coast, at the mouth of the Coleroon (Kolladam )
river. This was one of the earliest settlements of the Company on this
coast, the fort with a small tract ofadjoining country having been ceded
in 1749 by the Rájá of Tanjore.
Devjagáon. — Place of Hindu pilgrimage in the Jambusár Sub
division of Broach District, Bombay ; situated about three-fourths of a
mile from the village of Nárá , at the mouth of the Dhadhar river. The
lighthouse at Devjagáon is built on the mainland at the mouth of the
Dhadhar river ; the height of the lantern above high water is 49 feet.
Dewa. - Parganá in Nawabganj tahsil, Bára Bánki District, Oudh .
At the time of the first Muhammadan invasion of Oudh, under Sayyid
Sálár Masáúd, in 1030 A. D ., this parganá appears to have been held by
the Janwar Rajputs ; and the present Shaikh residents of Dewa assert
that they are descended from Shah Wesh , the first Musalmán conqueror
of the village, and lieutenant of Sayyid Sálár. But for a long time it
formed only their entrenched camp ; they did not acquire any proprie
tary rights in the parganá till about the commencement of the 16th
century, when aimá grants were made to several Shaikh families.
Another Musalman settlement is that of the Sayyids of Kheoli, who
colonized a tract of 32 villages west of Dewa about the commencement
of the 13th century. A third colony to the south is that of the
Shaikhs of Kidwára, who probably came about the same time. Other
smaller Musalmán communities have also spread over the parganá.
The Bais Kshattriyas also obtained a footing in the parganá,and during
 DEWA - DEWALWARA. 119

the latter years of the native Government, they seized almost the
whole of the north of the pargand, by annexing the villages of their
weaker neighbours. They became the terror of the whole neighbour
hood , and for a long time they set the King's Government at open
defiance. Ultimately a strong force captured the fort of one of the
chiefs, who with his son were taken prisoners, and beheaded at
Lucknow . The other Janwar chief was afterwards killed in battle.
Both estates were confiscated and partitioned out, principally among
Muhammadan Shaikhs. The percentage of cultivated land is higher in
this than in any other pargana of the District, and south of Dewa the
soil is very fertile and highly cultivated. Many of the husbandmen
belong to the industrious class of Ahírs, who pay high rents to the
Musalmán proprietors. Area, 141 square miles, of which 82 are
cultivated ; Government land revenue, £15,203, the average inci
dence being 5s. 7 d. per acre on cultivated area , 3s. 10d. per acre
on assessed area, and 35. 3d . per acre of total area. Ofthe 163 villages
which comprise the parganá, only 57 are held by Hindus, the rest
belong to Musalmáns. Half the villages are held under tálukdári, and
half under zamindári tenure. Population, according to the Census of
1869, but allowing for changes of area, Hindus 62,235, Muhammadans
9687 — total, 71,922, viz. 37,723 males and 34,199 females ; average
density of population , 510 per square mile. Five towns only contain a
population exceeding 1000 ; 4 unmetalled roads intersect the parganá.
Dewa. — Town in Bára Bánki District, Oudh ; 8 miles from the town
of Bára Bánki. A Muhammadan colony of old standing, and the resi
dence of two well-known families of Shaikhs. Pop. (1869), 3600,
residing in 521 houses. Noted for its manufactures of glassware and
delf. Government school.
Dewala. — Village in Chánda District, Central Provinces. Lat. 20°
6 ' N ., and long. 79° 6 ' 30" E . ; 6 miles west of Bhandak. Interesting on
account of its architectural remains, for which see BHANDAK .
Dewálgáon . – Village in Chánda District, Central Provinces. Lat.
20° 23' N., and long. 80° 2' E ; 10 miles south -west of Wairágarh .
Near it stands a remarkable hill, from which excellent iron -ore is
quarried .
Dewália. — One of the petty States of Jhaláwár in Káthiáwár,
Bombay. It consists of 2 villages, with 2 independent tribute-payers.
The revenue in 1876 was estimated at £523, ofwhich £46 is payable
as British tribute and £5 to the Gáekwár of Baroda.
Dewálwára. - Small village in Wardha District, Central Provinces ;
on the river Wardha, 6 miles west of Arvi. Noted for the large fair held
every November for over a century past, in the bed of the river close by.
The fair lasts from 20 to 25 days, during which time pilgrims and
merchants from Nagpur, Poona, Násik , Jabalpur (Jubbulpore ), etc. flock
120 DEWALWARA - DEWAS STATE.
to the fine temple of the goddess Rukmí, besides transacting business to
the value of £10,000 or £12,500. Immediately opposite Dewalwára
stood Kundinapur, described in the oth chapter of the sacred book
Bhagvat as extending from the river Vidarbha (Wardha) to Amráoti,
where King Bhimák reigned over the Vidarbha country, and gave his
daughter in marriage to the god Krishna.
Dewalwára. — Village in Ellichpur District, Berar ; situated in lat.
21° 18' N ., and long. 77° 45' E., on the Púrna river, about 14 miles from
Ellichpur. Formerly a town of some importance, containing 5000
houses, but now only noteworthy for its ancient buildings, the chief of
which are a mosque, built about 300 years ago, and 2 Hindu temples.
One of these is dedicated to the Nar Sinh of Hindu mythology,
who, having killed Hírania Kásipú, was able, after failing everywhere
else, to wash away the blood-stains at Dewálwára . Near the temple
is a place now called “ Kar Shudhí Tírth,' or " holy place of cleaning
hands.'
Dewas. — Native State under the Central India Agency and the
Government of India . Lat. 22° 42' to 23° 5' n.,long. 75°57' to 76° 21' E.
The chief products are grain , opium , sugar-cane, and cotton. The State
has two chiefs. The elder chief, Kishnají Ráo Puár, is commonly
known as the Baba Sahib ; the younger chief, Náráyan Ráo Puár, is
styled Dada Sáhib . They are of the Puár Rájput race, and of the same
stock as the Rájá of Dhar. The area of the Senior Branch is estimated
at 1378 square miles, with a population (1875) of 62,884, and a revenue
of £27,783. This Branch keeps up a force of 87 horse and about 500
policenwith
foot, including police, is est10ia agunsreveforn abosaluting
ut purposes. The area
of the Junior Branch is estimated at 6197 square miles, with a popu
lation (1875) of 58,925, and a revenue of £32,506. This Branch
maintains a force of 123 horse and about 500 foot, including police.
The territories of Dewás were allotted by Bájí Ráo Peshwá to
the common ancestor Kalují. His two sons quarrelled, and the State
was divided between them . By a treaty in 1818, with the two chiefs
conjointly, the State was taken under British protection ; the chiefs under
taking to forego communication with other States, and to supply a body
of contingent troops,which was ultimately commuted for an annual cash
payment of about £3500. In 1828, the chiefs of Dewas made over to
the administrative charge of the British Government the parganá of
Bagode, an outlying District in Nimar. The annual surplus revenue of
this parganá, which in 1875-76 amounted to about £180, after payment
of all administrative charges, is paid to the chiefs of Dewas. Both
the chiefs of Dewas did good service during the Mutiny of 1857-58.
Both have received a sanad guaranteeing the right of adoption , and are
entitled to a salute of 15 guns. The chief town of the State, Dewas, is
situated in lat. 22° 58' N., and long. 76° 6' E.
 DHABIEN, NORTH - DHALANDHAR. 121
Dhabien, North . - Revenue circle in the Hpoung-leng township of
Rangoon District, Pegu Division , British Burma. Pop. (1876), 3076 ;
gross revenue, £2751.
Dhabien, South. - Revenue circle in the Hpoung-leng township of
Rangoon District, Pegu Division, British Burma. Pop. (1876), 2604 ;
gross revenue, £2876.
Dhabien . — Tidal creek in Rangoon District, Pegu Division, British
Burma. It runs between the Púzwondoung and Pegu rivers, and at
Dhabien village is 15 feet deep at high tide. In the rains its water is
sweet, and it is navigable throughout its whole course.
Dhabla Dhir . — One of the guaranteed Girasiá or mediatised States
under the Bhopal Agency, the Central India Agency, and the Govern
ment of India . The Thákur, Chánd Sinh ,receives tankha, or pecuniary
allowances in lieu of rights over land, from Holkár, Sindhia, Dewas,
and Bhopál to the total amount of £425. In addition, he holds a
grant of 3 villages in Shujáwalpur under the guarantee of the British
Government, for which he pays a quit-rent of £140 annually. Chánd
Sinh is also Thákur of Kankerkherah, in which right he holds another
village in Shujáwalpur, paying an additional quit-rent of £17, subject
to a deduction of 2 per cent. on the transfer of the parganá to Sindhia .
He also in this right receives a tankha of £80.
Dhábla Ghosi. — One of the guaranteed Girasiá or mediatised
States under the Bhopál Agency, the Central India Agency, and the
Government of India . The Thákur, Gopal Sinh , receives tankha, or a
pecuniary allowance in lieu of rights over land, from Sindhia, Dewas,
and Bhopal to the total amount of £500. He also holds a village in
Shujáwalpur on a quit-rent of £105.
Dhadhar. - River in Western India, which rises behind Chámpáner,
in the western spurs of the Vindhyá range, in lat. 22° 20 ' n., and long.
73° 40' E., and after receiving on the right the Viswamitri river, on the
banks of which stands the city of Baroda, ultimately falls into the Gulf
of Cambay, in lat. 21° 54' N ., and long. 72° 38' E. Total length , 70
miles ; drainage area estimated at 1850 square miles.
Dha-gnya -wadí. — A revenue circle in Toung-gnú District, Ten
asserim Division, British Burma. It extends eastwards from the Pegu
Yoma Hills along both banks of the Khaboung,and occupies the whole
basin of that river and its tributaries. With the exception of a small
tract of rice land, this circle consists of wooded hills and undulating
ground. Eng (Dipterocarpus tuberculatus), sha (Acacia catechu), theng
gan, pyengma, pyenggado, and teak abound. The last is excellent,
but limited in quantity . In 1876 , the inhabitants numbered 3787 ; the
gross revenue was £247.
Dhalandhar.– Village in the District of the Twenty-four Parganas,
Bengal. Contains a native asylum for lunatics. Daily average number
I 22 DHALDIGHI- DHAMASIA .
of inmates in 1870 was 309, 28.8 per cent. of whom were discharged as
cured, and 9 .7 per cent. as improved . The deaths amounted to 126
per cent.
Dhaldighi. – Village in Dinajpur District, Bengal. Fair held
annually, which lasts for eight days, commencing on the first day of
Phálgun (latter half of February ) ; attendance, about 20,000. Consider
able trade carried on at this time.
Dhaleswari. — The name of several rivers in Eastern Bengal and
Assam : (1) an offshoot of the Jamuná, or main stream of the Brahma
putra , which runs across Dacca District and forms a valuable com
munication with the Meghná ; ( 2 ) the stream formed by the junction of
the Surma and Kusiára rivers before its confluence with the Meghná,
forming the boundary between the Districts of Maimansinh and Sylhet ;
(3) a river in Cáchár District, rising in the Lushái country, and flowing
northwards into the Barák through the fertile valley of Hailákándi. At
the point where it crosses the frontier, a permanent bázár has been
established for trade with the Lusháis. In the lower part of its course ,
the stream has been diverted by an embankment, said to have been
constructed by a Rájá of Cáchár. The old channel reaches the Barák
at Siáltekh Bázár ; the new channel, called the Kátákhál, is navigable
by large boats. This river has given its name to a forest reserve
covering an area of 33 square miles.
Dhalet. - A revenue circle in Kyouk-hpyú District, Arakan Division ,
British Burma. Its area is 420 square miles, extending along the upper
course of the Dhalet river. The inhabitants in 1876 numbered 4629,
chiefly Khyeng ; the gross revenue was £542.
Dhalet. — A river in Kyouk -hpyú District, Arakan Division , British
Burma. Rises in the main range and falls into Combermere Bay ; it is
navigable as far as Dhalet (sometimes called Talak), a village 25 miles
from its mouth. In its upper reaches the stream is a mountain torrent,
only passable by small canoes.
Dhalkisor (or Dwarkeswar). — River of Bardwán and Húgli Districts,
Bengal. It rises in the Tilábani Hill in Mánbhúm District, whence it
flows through Bánkurá District, following a tortuous south -easterly
course, with several bifurcations. It then enters Bardwán District a
few miles east of Bishnupur ; flows south -east and south past the town
of Jahánábád, and leaves the District at Berári village, after which it is
known as the RUPNARAYAN, eventually joining the Húgli opposite Húgli
Point. It is subject to sudden floods, but portions of the bordering
country are now protected from inundation by embankments. In its
upper reaches, within Bánkurá District, it is only navigable in the rainy
months by craft of 2 tons burden .
Dhamasiá . — One of the petty States in Rewa Kánta , Bombay.
The name of the chief is Chauhan Kalubawa. Area of State, 5 square
 DHAMBI- DHAMONI. 123
miles ; estimated revenue, £400, of which £13 is paid as tribute to
the Gáekwár of Baroda.
Dhambí. — Revenue circle on the Bassein river, in Henzada Dis
trict, Pegu Division , British Burma. The country is now protected by
an embankment from inundation by the Irawadi (Irrawaddy). Pop.
(1876), including Myo-gweng, 7471, chiefly engaged in rice cultivation ;
gross revenue, £1699.
Dhamdá. — Town in Raipur District, Central Provinces. Lat. 21°
27' N ., long. 81° 23' E. ; about 24 miles north -west of Raipur. The
population includes a colony of brass-workers, who manufacture the
heavy brass anklets worn by the women of the country. Near the
town are fine groves, and the remains of some large tanks, and of an .
old fort, with two handsome gateways. Dhamdá was formerly the
headquarters of a Gond chief, subordinate to the kings of Ratanpur.
On the conquest of Chhatisgarh by the Marhattás, their officers
arrested the chief of Dhamdá on a charge of treachery, and blew him
from a gun. Dhamdá has a town school, a District post office, and a
police station-house.
Dhámi.- One of the Punjab Hill States under the Government of the
Punjab. When Shaháb -ud-din Ghori invaded India in the 14th century,
the founder of this family fled from Raipur, in Umballa (Ambála ) Dis
trict, and conquered the territory which now forms the State of Dhámi.
It was at one time a feudatory of Bilaspur, but was made independent
of that State by the British Government when the Gurkhás, having
overrun the country from 1803 to 1815, were finally expelled in the
latter year. Fateh Sinh, the Ráná of Dhámi, is a Rajput by caste.
The area of the State is 26 } square miles. The population in 1875
was estimated at 5500 ; the supposed gross revenue at £800. The
State pays an annual tribute of £36. The principal articles of
production are grains and opium .
Dham -ma-tha. - A small town on the Gyaing river, in Amherst
District, Tenasserim Division, British Burma. To the south is an
extensive outcrop of limestone rocks covered with dense forest, and
pierced by a large cave, containing images ofGautama Buddha. These
rocks terminate immediately below the village in an overhanging cliff,
crowned by a pagoda ; and between this and the village is the Govern
ment rest-house, with a flight of steps down to the Gyaing river. The
massive and rugged Zwai-ka-beng limestone ridge, known as the ' Duke
of York's Nose,' is situated to the north of Dham -ma-tha.
Dhámoní. – Village in Ságar (Saugor) District, Central Provinces.
Lat. 24° 12' N., long. 78° 49' E. ; 29 miles north of Ságar. Súrat Sáh ,
a scion of the great Gond dynasty of Mandla , the original founder of
Dhámoní, was defeated about 1600 by Rájá Barsinh Deva, the Bundelá
chief of the neighbouring State of Orchha, who took possession of
124 DHAMPUR - DHAMRA RIVER.
the country, and rebuilt the fort and town on so large a scale that it
became the capital of a large tract with 2558 villages, including the
greater part of the present Districts of Ságar and Damoh. His son
and successor, Pahár Sinh, continued to reign till 1619, when the
country became an integral portion of the Delhi Empire. During the
next 80 years it was ruled by 5 successive governors from Delhi, the
last of whom was, about 1700, defeated by Rájá Chhatra Sál of Panná.
His descendants retained Dhámoni till 1802, when Umráo Sinh , Rájá
of Pátan, a small neighbouring place, seized the fort and country by
treachery, but was himself in a few months compelled to yield to the
army of the Rájá of Nagpur. In 1818, soon after the flight of Apá
Sahib , the fort was invested by a British force under General Marshall ;
who, having ineffectually offered the garrison £ 1000 ‘in discharge of
arrears of pay, on condition of immediate evacuation ,' opened batteries
against the place, with such effect that in six hours it was surrendered
unconditionally . Dhámoní thus came under British rule, but by that
time the tract had been reduced to only 33 villages. Its present con
dition is desolate in the extreme, the population scarcely exceeding 100 ;
but the ruins of mosques, tombs, and buildings for nearly a mile round
the fort and lake attest the importance of the place under Muhammadan
rule . The fort, which covers an area of 52 acres, stands on an eminence
near the summit of the gháts leading to Bundelkhand , commanding the
valley of the river Dhásán . The ramparts are in most parts 50 feet
high and 15 feet thick , with enormous round towers. Interior works
further strengthen the defences of the eastern quarter, where the
magazine was probably situated. Inside and around it are large groves
of custard-apple trees. The town lies to the west of the fort, and the
lake, which is of considerable size, to the south-west of the town. The
supply of water is excellent, and the soil near the village remarkably
fertile , as the luxuriant and varied vegetation shows.
Dhámpur. – Tahsil of Bijnaur (Bijnor) District, North -Western Pro
vinces. Area, 323 square miles, of which 223 are cultivated ; pop . (1872),
169,134 ; land revenue, £ 26 ,668 ; totalGovernmentrevenue, £29,417 ;
rental paid by cultivators, £56,819 ; incidence of Government revenue
per acre, 2s. 6 d .
Dhámpur.- Municipal town in Bijnaur (Bijnor) District, North
Western Provinces, and headquarters of the tahsil of the same name, in
lat. 29° 18' 43" N ., and long. 78° 32' 46" E. Area, 79 acres ; pop .
(1872), 6555. Lies on the road from Moradabad to Hardwár, 22 miles
east of Bijnaur. Small but wealthy and well-built town, with a good
bázár. Municipal revenue in 1875-76, £622 ; from taxes, £551, or
it
is. 8d. per head of population (6555) within municipal limits.s
Dhámra . - River and estuary in Bengal, formed by the combined
waters of the BRAHMANI and BAITARANI and their tributaries, which
 DHAMRA PORT - DHAMTARI. 125
enter the Bay of Bengal in lat. 20° 47' N., and long. 87° E. The
Dhámrá is a fine navigable river, but rendered dangerous by a bar
across its mouth . It forms the boundary line between the Districts of
Cuttack and Balasor, but lies within the jurisdiction of the latter ; the
entrance is marked by the Kaniká buoy in 21 feet reduced, and by
Shortt's tripod beacon , on the extreme north-east dry portion of Point
Palmyras Reef. Since 1866 a second outer channel, with 10 feet at
in 1870,8.859, 12 feet ofwathe south . 7
lowest tide, has opened about a mile to the south. The inner bar is
constantly shifting. In 1859, 12 feet of water were found here ; in 1866 ,
only 3 ; and in 1870, 8 . The water in the Dhámrá estuary rapidly
shoals from a minimum depth of 21 feet at the Kaniká buoy to 6 feet
on the Central Sand . Within the southern outer channel (minimum
depth , 10 feet at low tide) vessels are absolutely sheltered from the
monsoon. The latest Survey Report (dated May 13, 1870 ) returns the
tidal range of the Dhámrá at 10 feet, with variations from a minimum
of 6 feet 10 inches to a maximum of 10 feet. Brigs and Madras
traders drawing from 10 to even 18 feet frequent the harbour of the
Dhámrá , which was declared a port in 1858, with perfect safety .
Dhámra. - Port in the estuary of the same name, Cuttack District,
Bengal. Lat. 20°47' 40" N ., long. 86° 55' 55" E. The name is applied
to the navigable channels of the rivers forming the DHAMRA, as far as
they are affected by tidal waters. These limits embrace Chándbalí, on
the Baitaraní, a seat of coasting-steamer traffic, and a rapidly rising
town ; Hansuá, on the Brahmaní, formerly a great salt emporium ;
Patámundái, on the same river ; and Aul, on the Kharsuá, — the three
last within Cuttack District. The trade of Chándbáli and Mahurigaon
(a town 2 miles above Chándbalí, on the Cuttack side of the river) is
mainly steamer traffic, monopolizing almost entirely the import and
export trade of BALASOR DISTRICT. The rest of the trade of Dhámrá
port is carried on exclusively in sailing ships, and consists chiefly in the
export of rice. In 1874-75, the value of the Chándbáli and Mahurigaon
imports was £200,858,and of Dhámrá proper only £89 ; the value of the
Chándbáli and Mahurigaon exports was £139,554, and that of Dhámra
£11, 407. The eastern boundary of the port is the Dhámrá customs
station .
Dhamtari. — Tahsil or Revenue Subdivision in Raipur District,
Central Provinces. Lat. 20° 22' 30" to 21° 1' N., long. 80° 41' 30"
to 81° 46' 30" E.; pop. ( 1872), 275,461, residing in 1020 villages or
townships and 53,283 houses, on an area of 2495 square miles.
Dhamtári. — The largest town in the southern portion of Raipur
District, Central Provinces, lying in lat. 20° 42' N., and long. 81° 35'
30" E ., on the main road from the north to Bastár and Kánker, 36
miles south of Raipur. Pop. (1876), 6023. The fertile plain around
produces crops of wheat, rice , cotton, oil-seeds, and sugar-cane unsur
 RA
126 DHANAU - DHANU.
passed in any part of Chhatisgarh. Dhamtári does a considerable
trade in lac, exporting from 2000 to 2400 bullock -loads yearly. It has
a town school, girls' school, dispensary, post office, and police station .
Dhanaura. — Agricultural town in Moradábád District, North
Western Provinces. Lat. 28° 58 ' N., long. 78° 18' 30 " E.; area, 68
acres ; pop. (1872), 5287, comprising 4651 Hindus and 656 Muham
madans. Lies on the plain, 9 miles east of the Ganges, and 33 miles
west from Moradábád. Ofmerely local importance.
Dhanauti. — River in Champáran District, Bengal. Formerly a
branch of the Lál Begi, a bifurcation of the Lower Harha, a tributary
of the Gandak. It is 113 miles long, but has now quite silted up in its
upper parts, and for many years has received no flood discharge. It
ultimately falls into the Sikhrená, near Sítákúnd.
Dhandhuka . — Chief town of the Subdivision of the same name in
Ahmedabad District, Bombay. Lat. 22° 21' 15" n ., long. 72° 2' 20 "
E .; 62 miles south -west of Ahmedabad and 100 miles north -west of
Surat ; pop. ( 1872), 9782 ; municipal revenue ( 1874 -75), £504 ; rate
of taxation, is. per head . Dhandhuka, which is a place of considerable
antiquity, has a sub-judge's court, post office, and dispensary.
Dhaneswari. — River of Assam , rising in the Barel Mountains,
which form the watershed between the Nágá Hills and Cáchár ; in
lat. 25° 20' N., and long. 93° 24 ' E. Its course through the Nágá Hills
District is on the whole northerly, through a vast plain of heavy
jungle, amid which are to be seen the ruins of Dimápur, until it is
joined by the Dayang. The combined stream then turns towards the
north-east, and finds its way after many windings into the Brahma
putra, near the village of Bagdwar Chápari, in lat. 26° 44' N., and long.
93° 42' E . In this portion of its course it forms for several miles the
boundary between the Districts of Nowgong and Sibságar. The only
important place on its banks is Golághát, in Sibságar District, which is
a centre of trade for the Nágá tribes. Up to this point it is navigable
by steamers during the rainy season, but small boats can proceed as
high as Dimapur.
Dhangáin . — Pass in Hazaribagh District, Bengal; by which the
Old Trunk Road to Sherghátí left the upper plateau for the lower
level. Lat. 24° 23' 30 " N ., and long. 84° 59' 45" E It is now imprac
ticable for wheeled traffic , and has fallen into disuse.
Dhánikholá . — Town in Maimansinh District, Bengal. Lat. 24° 39'
10" N., long. 90° 24' 1 " E.; pop. (1872), 6730. Situated on the
Satuá river, an insignificant stream .
Dhanú . — An extensive revenue circle in Tha-htún township , Amherst
District, Tenasserim , British Burma, lying on the right bank of the
Kyouk-tsarit and Bheng-laing rivers. Consists of hilly tracts liable to
inundation, partly from the spill of the Bheng-laing, and partly from
 DHANU RIVER - DHAR STATE . 127
that of the Bhíleng, which is excluded from the Thah-tún plains and
forced round the northern end of the Martaban Hills by the Dúnwon
embankment. Pop . ( 1876 ), 7661, chiefly Toungthús; land revenue,
£145 ; and capitation tax, £589. The name is derived from the
Dhanú, one of the hundred and one races into which the world (accord
ing to the Burmese traditions) is divided .
Dhanu. - River in the south -east of Maimainsinh District, Bengal,
which falls into the Meghná. Navigable by small boats during the
rainy season .
Dhanúl Bhúra-gyí.— A vast pagoda, now in ruins, in the Angyi
township , Rangoon District, Pegu Division, British Burma. It was
formerly the site of a flourishing village ; but there are no records
extantbearing upon the history of either village or pagoda.
Dhánur. – Lake in Sirsa District, Punjab ; formed by an expansion
of the river Ghaggar, 3 miles long by 1 broad. Though shallow and
swampy, it contains water throughout the year. A few Persian wheels
are worked upon the banks, but the water is little used, except for
purposes of drinking and bathing.
Dháola Dhar. — Mountain chain in Kángra District, Punjab ;
formed by a projecting fork of the outer Himalayan range, marking the
boundary between the Kángra valley and Chamba. Themain system
here rises steeply from the lowlands at its base, unbroken by anyminor
hills, to an elevation of 13,000 feet above the valley beneath . The chain
is formed by a mass of granite, which has forced its way through the
superincumbent sedimentary rocks, and crowns the summit with its
intrusive pyramidal crests, too precipitous for the snow to find a
lodging. Below , the waste of snow-fields is succeeded by a belt of
pines, givingway to oaks as the flanks are descended,and finally merging
into a cultivated vale watered by perennial streams. The highest peak
attains an elevation of 15 ,956 feet above sea level; while the valley
has a general height of about 2000 feet.
Dhápewára. — A clean and healthy town in Nagpur District,
Central Provinces, on either side of the river Chandrabhágá, in a
fertile plain . Situated in lat. 21° 18' n., and long. 78° 57' E., 20 miles
north-west of Nágpur ; pop. (1870 ), 4566, chiefly Koshtís, employed in
the manufacture of cotton cloth , of which industry Dhápewára was
one of the earliest seats in the District. The fort was built for protec
tion against the Pindárís about seventy years ago.
Dhar. - One of the States within the Bhíl (Bheel) Agency, under the
Central India Agency and the Government of India ; situated between
22° 1' and 23° 8' n. lat., and between 74° 43'and 75° 35' E. long. The
present Rájá of Dhar, Anand Ráo Puár, who was born about 1843, is a
Puár Rajput,and the family claim descentfrom the famous Vikramaditya
of Hindu legend. Their ancestors belonged to a Rajput tribe, settled
128 DHARAKOTA - DHARAMPUR STATE .
in Málwá, whence they emigrated to the neighbourhood of Poona, and
eventually became distinguished commanders under Sivaji and his
successors. The present dynasty was founded by Anand Ráo, who, in
1749, received the grant of Dhar from Bájí Ráo Peshwá. For twenty
years before the British conquest of Málwá, Dhar was subjected to a
series of spoliations by Sindhia and Holkár, and was preserved from
destruction only by the talents and courage of Mína Bái, widow of
Anand Ráo 11. and adoptive mother of Rámchandra Puár, the fifth in
descent from the founder of the family. Rámchandra Puár was suc
ceeded by his adopted son, Jeswant Ráo, who died in 1857, and was
succeeded by his half-brother, Anand Ráo, the present Rájá. The State
was confiscated for rebellion in 1857, but subsequently restored to
Anand Ráo (then a minor), with the exception of the District of Bairsia ,
which was granted to the Sekandra Begam . The area of the State is
2500 square miles. The population in 1875 was estimated at 150,000 ,
and the revenue at £67,000. By the treaty of January 1819, Dhar
was taken under British protection. The State pays a contribution of
£1965 to the Málwá Bhil corps. The military force consists of 276
cavalry and about 800 infantry, including police, 2 guns, and 21
artillerymen. The chief hasreceived a sanad ofadoption, and is entitled
to a salute of 15 guns. There is 1 English school and 18 vernacular
schools, 2 dispensaries and a new hospital recently built by the Rája.
The chief products are wheat, opium , gram , sugar-cane, Indian corn ,
and cotton . The town of Dhar is in lat. 22° 36 ' N ., long. 75° 20' E .
Dhárákota . — Estate in Ganjám District, Madras. Number of
houses, 6753 ; pop. (1871), 31,923 — viz. Hindus, 31,868 (all Vaishnavs
except 2200 Sivaites), and Muhammadans (all Sunnis ), 55.
Dharamkotta . — Shrine, Kistna District, Madras. - See AMRAVATI.
Dharampur. - Native State within the Political Agency of Surat, in
the Province ofGujarát (Guzerat), Bombay. Bounded north by the State
of Bánsda, east by the State of Sulgáná and the Dangs, south by the
State of Peint, and west by the Bulsár Subdivision of Surat District.
The territory is 48 miles long from north to south, and 30 in breadth
from east to west. Area, 225 square miles ; pop. (1872), 74,592. A
small portion only is cultivable ; the rest is hilly, rocky, and covered
with forest and brushwood. Except in Dharampur town and a few other
villages,where there are reservoirs,wells are the only source of the water
supply. The climate is very unhealthy. The prevailing diseases are
fever, dropsy, diarrhoea , and asthma. The principal products are the
flower of the mahud (Bassia latifolia ), teak, blackwood, and other timber.
The crops — rice, pulse, and sugar-cane. The manufactures — mats,
baskets, and other articles of bamboo. A cart-road, passing southwards
through Peint, connects the State of Dharampur with Násik station on
the Great Indian Peninsula Railway, while another rougher track running
 DHARAMPUR TOWN - DHARAPURAM . 129
westwards joins it with Bulsár station on the Bombay, Baroda, and Central
India Railway line. The gross revenue is estimated at £25,000. In
1873, there were 3 schools, with 50 pupils. The present (1875) Chief, a
Hindu of the Sesodiá clan of Rajputs, is thirty -four years of age. His
name is Náráyandevji Ramdevjí, and his title Rájá Mahárána Srí. He
is entitled to a salute of 9 guns, and has power to try his own subjects
for capital offences without the express permission of the Political
Agent. He administers the State himself, and maintains a military
force of 184 men. The house follows the rule of primogeniture in point
of succession , and holds a sanad authorizing adoption. It would seem
probable that the territory of Dharampur, or Rámnagar, as it was
originally called , was once much more extensive than now , stretching
westward as far as the sea -coast. The claims of the Peshwá on the
revenues of this State were ceded to the British under the terms of the
treaty of Bassein (1802), and are still levied by officers of the British
Government; they yield a yearly sum of from £600 to £700.
Dharampur. — The chief town of the State of the same name;
situated in lat. 20° 34' N., and long. 73° 14' E. Pop. (1872), 3233.
Dharangáon. — Municipal town in the Erandol Subdivision of
Khandesh District, Bombay. Lat. 21° n., long. 75° 20' 20 " E.; 35
miles east by north of Dhuliá. Pop. (1872), 11,649 ; municipal
income (1874-75), £80 ; rate of taxation, ifd. per head. Dharangaon
has a post office, and is the headquarters of the District superintendent
of police and of the Bhil corps. A considerable trade in cotton and
oil-seeds is carried on with Galgaon, a town and railway station about 16
miles to the east, where many of the Dharangaon merchants have agents.
The paper and cloth of Dharangáon were formerly held in esteem . At
present the manufacture of paper has entirely ceased ; but the weaving
of coarse cloth still gives employment to more than 100 looms. In the
year 1855, Government established a cotton ginning factory at Dharan
gáon ,with 93 saw -gins, under the management of a European overseer ;
merchants and cultivators were charged £r a month for the use of
a gin . But the experiment proved costly, and was subsequently
abandoned. Under Marhattá rule, Dharangáon was the scene of a
terrible massacre of Bhíls, who had on several occasions plundered the
town. In 1818, the place came into the possession of the British
Government ; and it was here that Lieutenant, afterwards Sir James,
Outram was engaged from 1825 to 1830 in improving the position of
the Bhíls, by training them in an irregular corps. .
Dharapuram . — Táluk in Coimbatore District, Madras. Houses,
39,950. Pop. (1871), 217,493 — being Hindus, 213,242 (chiefly
Sivaites ) ; Muhammadans, 3915 (all Sunnis except 28 ) ; Christians, 336
(all native Roman Catholics). Chief town , Dárapur or DHARAPURAM .
Dharapuram (Dárapur). - Chief town in above táluk, Coimbatore
VOL . IIL.
130 DHARI- DHARMA.
District, Madras. Houses, 1282 ; pop. (1871), 7009, of whom 81 per
cent. are agricultural ; proportion of Hindus, 82 per cent. Situated in
lat. 10° 44' 35" N., and long. 77° 34' 28" E., 46 miles east-south -east of
Coimbatore and 250 from Madras, on the left bank of theriver Amravati,
in a fine plateau of open country 909 feet above the sea, which stretches
nearly to the Palani Mountains, some 15 miles south . A channel from
the river bisects the town. Dhárapuram is said to have been the capital
of the Kshattriya King Bhaja , and is otherwise interesting as having, in
1667, and again in 1746, been taken from Madura by Mysore. In the
campaigns with Haidar Ali and Tipú Sáhib , it was also a point of
some strategical importance, being captured by Colonel Wood in 1768,
retaken by Haidar in the same year ; again occupied by the British in
1783 ; given up by the treaty of Mangalore,and finally resumed in 1790
by General Meadows. In 1792, the fort was dismantled. For a time
Dharapuram was the headquarters of the District, and the seat of the
zilá court, but is now only the headquarters of the táluk, and as such
possesses the usual subordinate administrative establishments, a police
station, post office, school, and dispensary. At the weekly market held
here, the ghí, paddy, and pepper, which, with tobacco and oil-seed, form
the staple products of the taluk, are collected for export in exchange
for metal-ware and cloth . The town is connected by road with three
railway stations— Tirupur, Perundurai, and Karúr.
Dhari.— One of the petty States ofRewa Kánta, Bombay. Area, 27
square miles ; there are 6 chiefs. The estimated revenue is £250, and
a tribute of £95 is paid to the Gáekwár of Baroda.
Dharlá (or Torshá). - River of Bengal, which rises in the Bhután
Hills, flows south through the Western Dwars of Jalpaiguri District,
passing through the centre of Madári parganá, till it enters Kuch
Behar territory at Nekobarpára village. Chief tributaries in Jalpaiguri,
the Bhelá Kubá and the Hánsmára. Its course through Kuch Behar
is tortuous, its old beds and affluents forming a perfect network of
channels. Gives off the Torshá river in Kuch Behar ; joined by the
Singimári or Jáldhaká near Durgapur ; turns south through Rangpur
District, and falls into the Brahmaputra at Bagwá, in lat. 25° 40' N.,
and long. 89° 47' 30" E Navigable by cargo-boats during the rains.
Dharma. — Tract of country in Kumáun District, North -Western
Provinces, lying on the northern or Thibetan side of the main
Himalayan range ; situated between 30° 5 ' and 30° 30' N ., and between
80° 25'and 80°45'E. Ofconsiderable elevation — its chief peak, Lebong,
rising 18,942 feet above sea level ; while the Dharma Pass, on the
northern frontier, leading into Hundes, reaches a height of about 15,000
feet. The habitable portion consists of narrow and very rugged valleys,
traversed by the river Dhauli and its tributaries. The inhabitants are
Bhotiyas, a Thibetan race, who carry on a trade between Hundes and
 DHARMANPUR - DHARMAVARAM . 131
Kumáun, by means of pack-sheep, over the Dharma Pass. Estimated
area, about 400 square miles.
Dharmánpur.– Pargana in Nánpára tahsil, Bahraich District, Oudh ;
bounded on the north by Nepál, on the east and south by Nánpára
parganá, and on the west by theKauriála river, separating it from Kheri
District. Formerly included in Dhaurahra , and only constituted a
separate parganá since the British annexation of Oudh. Largely
occupied by forest tracts, which comprise 172 square miles out of a
total area of 304. The remainder, 132 square miles, is occupied by 64
villages, the cultivated area being only 47 square miles. The Govern
ment land revenue, which , on account of the large area of cultivable
waste land available, has been fixed at a rate progressively increasing
every ten years, is as follows :- 1871, £3303 ; 1881, £4177 ; 1891,
£5052. Average incidence of final assessment, 25. 1 d. per acre of
cultivated area ; 10 d. per acre of assessable area , and 8 d. per acre of
total area. Graziers from all parts of Northern Oudh drive their herds
into the forests of this parganá. Game of every description abounds.
Pop. (1869), Hindus, 22,627 ; Muhammadans, 1694 ; total, 24,321,
viz. 13,552 males and 10,769 females ; average density of population,
81 per square mile.
Dharmapuri. — Táluk in Salem District, Madras. Houses, 32,336 ;
pop. ( 1871), 190,626, viz. 95,080 males and 95,546 females. Classified
according to religion - Hindus, 183,894, including 115,783 Sivaites and
68,088 Vishnuvites ; Muhammadans, 4366, including 4142 Sunnis and
166 Shiás ; Christians, almost exclusively Roman Catholics, 2366,
being 7 Europeans and 2359 natives. Chief town, DHARMAPURI.
Dharmapuri. — Town in Dharmapuri táluk, Salem District, Madras ;
situated in lat. 12° 9' N., and long. 78° 13' E., 35 miles north of Salem .
Houses, 1621 ; pop. (1871), 7434. As the headquarters of the táluk, it
contains the subordinate judicial and magisterial courts, a post office ,
police station , school,and dispensary. Until 1688, Dharmapuri belonged
to the kingdom of Aura, but in that year was annexed by Mysore. In
1768, it was captured by ColonelWood, but reoccupied by Haidar Ali
until the signature of peace.
Dharmavaram .— Táluk of Bellary District, Madras. Area, 1226
square miles, with a population in 1871 of 119,877, or 97 persons to
the square mile ; revenue (1869-70 ), £18 ,485, the land contributing
£12,176. Of the total area, 266,489 acres are cultivated , only 22,078,
however, being under ' wet' crops, owing to the insufficiency of irrigation
works, from which this large táluk suffers. About 100 miles of made
road connect the large towns — Dharmavaram , Kalyandrúg, Konderpi
drúg, and Kambadúr with each other. Chief town, DHARMAVARAM .
Dharmavaram . — Town in Dharmavaram táluk, Bellary District,
Madras. Lat. 14° 24' N., long. 77° E.; houses, 1408 ; pop. (1871), 7029.
 132 DHARMKOT- DHARMSALA.
Situated on the Chitrávati river, 50 miles south of Gooty (Guti) and 196
north -west of Madras. It is the headquarters of the táluk, and the
market held here is of considerable local importance. Said to have
been founded by Kriyasakti Wodeyar, and formerly fortified .
Dharmkot. — Municipal town in Firozpur (Ferozepore ) District,
Punjab . Lat. 30° 56' 45' N., and long. 75° 16 ' 30'' E. ; pop. (1868),
5379, being 1349 Hindus, 2465 Muhammadans, 1305 Sikhs, and 260
* others.' Lies on the road from Firozpur to Ludhiána, 56 miles
east of the former city. Originally known as Kutálpur, but renamed
after its occupation in 1760 by the Sikh chieftain , Tára Sinh, of the
Dallewala confederacy, who built a fort, now destroyed. Well paved
and drained. Middle -class school, sarái, police station. Many wealthy
merchants ; large trade in grain . Municipal revenue (1875 -76), £136,
or 5 d. per head of population (5478) within municipal limits.
Dharmpur. – Village in Hardoi District, Oudh ; 11 miles east of
Fatehgarh , and the first encamping-ground on the route from Fateh
garh to Lucknow and Hardoi. Noteworthy as the residence of Rájá
Sir Hardeo Baksh, K .C .S.I., in whose fort were loyally sheltered several
English officers during the Mutiny.
Dharmsála . — Hill station, municipality, and administrative head
quarters of Kángra District, Punjab. Lat. 32° 15' 42" N., long. 76
22' 46" E.; pop., in July 1869, 2862, comprising 137 Europeans and
2725 natives ; but as the number of residents fluctuates greatly , these
figures can only be accepted as approximate. Probably the actual
population is now much larger. Dharmsála lies on a spur of the
DHAOLA DHAR, 16 miles north -east of Kángra, in the midst of wild and
picturesque scenery . It occupies the site of an old Hindu sanctuary
or dharmsála (whence the name), and originally formed a subsidiary
cantonment for the troops stationed at Kángra . In 1855, the District
headquarters were removed to the spot ; and a small town rapidly
collected around the civil station . It now contains several private
European residences, a church, two large barracks for soldiers invalided
from English regiments, three bázárs, public gardens and assembly
rooms, court-house, jail, treasury, hospital, and other public buildings.
. The town and cantonments stretch along the hillside, with an elevation
varying from 4500 to 6500 feet. The churchyard contains a monument
in memory of Lord Elgin, who died at Dharmsála in 1863. Picturesque
waterfalls and other objects of interest lie within reach of an easy
excursion. A cart-road connects the town with Jalandhar (Jullundur)
and the plains ; supplies can be obtained at moderate prices ; and the
station bids fair to becomea favourite retreat for civilians and invalids.
The rainfall, however, is very heavy , its annual average being returned
at 148'3 inches. Trade is confined to the supply of necessaries for
European residents and their servants. Municipal revenue (1875 -76 ),
 DHARNAODA - DHARWAR DISTRICT. 133
£295, or 25. 10 d. per head of population (2024) within municipal
limits.
Dharnaoda. — A petty State in theGúna (Goona) Agency, under the
Central India Agency and the Government of India . There are seven
Thákurs, of whom Thákur Burrál Sinh is the chief. Thieving and
cattle-lifting are incessant in this State. A sarái for protection of
travellers on the Bombay and Agra road is built at Notgage.
Dharupur. – Village in Partábgarh District, Oudh ; 24 miles from
Bela, and 16 from Mánikpur. Founded by Dháru Sáh , the ancestor of
the present tálukdár, whose fort and residence are still in existence.
During the Mutiny, British refugees were hospitably received here. At
the bázár adjoining the fort, a considerable trade is carried on , the
annual sales reaching £10,000 in value. Pop. (1869), Hindus, 1287;
and Muhammadans, 316 ; total, 1603. Three Sivaite temples ; Govern
ment school.
Dharwár. - A British District in the Southern Marhattá country,
Bombay, lying between 14° 17' and 15° 50' n. lat., and between 74° 51'
and 75° 57' E long. Area, according to Parliamentary Blue Book of
1878, 4565 square miles ; population in 1872, 988,037. Its greatest
length from north to south is 116 miles, and its greatest breadth 77 miles.
Physical Aspects. — Dharwár District is roughly divided into two belts,
characterised by differences of configuration and of soil and products.
The Poona and Harihar road may be considered the dividing line.
To the north and north -east of that road, in the Subdivisions of
Nawalgund, Ron, and the greater part of Gadag, spread vast unbroken
plains of black soil, which produce abundant crops of cotton. In the
south -eastern portion of this plain are the Kapad Hills ; and again , after
passing over a stretch of black soil in the Karajgi Subdivision, there is
an undulating country of red soil, extending to the boundary of Mysore.
The western belt of the District is traversed by low hills, extending
from the southern bank of the river Málprabha to near the Mysore
frontier. This tract consists of a succession of low ranges covered with
herbage and brushwood. They are separated by flat valleys ; and it is
to these valleys and the lower slopes of the hills that cultivation is
chiefly confined. Farther west, the country becomes still more hilly,
and the trees increase in size towards the frontier of North Kanara .
In this tract all the Government forest reserves are to be found. The
Subdivisions of Hangal and Kod, to the south of Dharwár, present
almost the same appearance, small hills rising out of the plain in all
directions with fertile valleys between . The number of tanks in these
Subdivisions is a special feature in the landscape ; but, with somemarked
exceptions,they are small and shallow , retaining water for not more than
three or four months after the rains.
From its position on the summit of the watershed of the Peninsula,
 134 DHARWAR DISTRICT.
Dhárwár is devoid of large rivers. Of its 7 principal streams, 6 run
eastwards to the Bay of Bengal, and one flows through the Western
Gháts to the Arabian Sea. (1) The Málprabha, for about 20 miles,
forms the northern boundary of the District, dividing it from Kaládgi.
(2 ) The Bennihalla has its source about 20 miles south of the town of
Hubli, and, flowing northwards through the central plain of the District,
falls into the Málprabha. (3 ) The Tungabhadra , on the south -eastern
frontier, divides Dharwár from Mysore , Bellary, and the Dominions of
the Nizám . (4 ) The Wardha,a tributary of the Tungabhadra, passes from
east to west through two of the southern Subdivisions of the District.
(5) The Dharma crosses Dharwár in a south-westerly direction, and
eventually joins the Wardha ; and (6 ) the Kumadwati flows east and
then north -east through Kod Subdivision, falling into the Tunga
bhadra near Holianaweri. (7) The one westward flowing stream is the
Birti Nálá, which passes through the Kalghatgi Subdivision. None of
these rivers are navigable ; but with the exception of the Bennihalla,
whose brackish stream soon dries up, they afford plentiful supplies both
for drinking purposes and for irrigation. The Málprabha and Wardha
are considered the best for drinking,while thewater of the Tungabhadra
is said by the natives to be heavy and exceptionally sweet. In the
west, near the hills, the rainfall is abundant ; and as the natural uneven
ness of the ground offers suitable sites, many tanks have been con
structed, and a sufficient supply of water is thus kept in store. But in
the central and eastern portion of Dharwar, the water supply is very
scanty, and the flat surface of the country presents few natural
advantages for the storage of water on a large scale. Though almost
every village has its own tank, the want of drinking water is at times
keenly felt, for the shallow tanks rapidly become choked with the drain
age from the black cotton -soil. Even in a season of ample rainfall, they
dry up by the beginning of March. In 1869, the inhabitants of some
of the villages in the plain were forced to fetch their water from distances
of 10 or 12 miles, while many migrated with their cattle to the banks
of the Tungabhadra and Málprabha. Nor can a sufficient supply be
easily obtained from wells. In most parts the water-bearing strata lie
far below the surface, occasionally as deep as 80 or 90 feet, while the
water obtained is often found to be brackish . Large sums are spent
annually on the reservoirs and tanks of the District. The black soil,'
or regar, occurs in beds from a few inches to 30 or 40 feet in depth,
but it is interrupted by chains of hills, and at places covered by alluvial
soil and pebbles washed down from their sides. In the north -east of
the District some singular hills are met with, rising abruptly out of
the plain as isolated landmarks. They are not more than 300 feet
high ; and the stone varies much in structure, being a loose variegated
gritty substance, which sometimes approaches a compact quartz rock,
 DHARWAR DISTRICT. 135

showing grey and whitish yellow to red bands of all shades of colour.
The Kapad Hills are principally composed of hornblende and
chloritic schists, gneiss, and mica slate. Manganese is found in con
siderable quantities. Some of the hills are capped with laterite. The
bed of the Doni rivulet, which has its rise in these hills, contains
gravel and sand, in which gold dust is found associated with magnetic
iron -sand, grains of platinum , grey carbonate of silver, and copper. It
is, however, chiefly among the chlorite slate hills on the western side
that gold is found. The zone of hills on the west of the District, from
15 to 25 miles broad, consists entirely of various hypogene schists. In
its northern part, jaspideous schists predominate ; in the centre , these
pass into chloritic and argillaceous slates and shales of all shades of
white, yellow , red, brown , and green , interstratified with beds of white
or iron coloured quartz, and of jaspideous rock. These layers
generally form crests and mural ridges on the summits of the hills,
which run in parallel ranges north -west by north , and south -east by
south .
In former times, gold is said to have been obtained in abundance,
and even now the Kapad range of hills in the neighbourhood of
Dambal in the east of the District, and the beds of streams issuing
from them , yield some gold . Washing is practised by a class of
people called Jalgárs, but their employment is not constant, being
carried on only for a short time in every year after the flood. At this
season their gains are said not to average more than from gd . to is.
a day. In the hills in the west of the District, iron was formerly
smelted in considerable quantities. Owing, however, to the great
destruction of timber during the past forty years, fuel has become
scarce, and this industry is now only carried on to a limited extent.
The iron made is of superior quality, but cannot as a general rule
compete in cheapness with imported iron . The western or hilly portion
of the District contains much forest land, of which 66 ,499 acres have
been set apart by Government for reserves. The black soil plains, on
the other hand, suffer from a scarcity of trees ; timber for building
purposes has to be brought from great distances, and sun-dried cakes
of cow -dung are the chief fuel. To supply these wants, strict conser
vation, with replanting, is being carried on in the Government forest
reserves.
Fera Naturæ .- Of wild animals, the District contains the tiger,
panther, bear, wolf, hyæna, fox, jackal, wild boar ; and of game, the
spotted deer and the common antelope. Most of the rivers and tanks
contain fish , and in the larger reservoirs some of great size are caught.
History. - The territory comprised within the present District of
Dhárwár appears to have formed part of the ancient Hindu kingdom of
Vijáyanagar. On the overthrow of the Vijáyanagar power at the battle
 R ISTRICT
136 DHARWA D .
of Tálikot, in 1565, by a confederacy of Musalmán princes, Dharwar
was annexed to the Muhammadan kingdom of Bijápur. In 1675,
the country was overrun , and partially conquered , by the Marhattás
under Sivají ; and from that time, for about a century , remained subject
first to the Marhattá ruler of Satára, and afterwards to the Peshwa of
Poona. In 1776 , under Haidar Ali, the usurper of Mysore, the Musal
máns again occupied Dharwár ; butbefore five years were over, by the
help of a British force, the Marhattás, in 1791, captured a second time
the fort and town of Dhárwár. The country remained under Marhattá
management till 1818, when , on the overthrow of the Peshwá, it was
incorporated with the Bombay Presidency. There are many old forts
scattered through the District, and a few religious buildings, elaborately
sculptured and ofbeautiful though somewhatheavy design . The chief
modern buildings are the religious houses or maths of the Lingayat sect.
These are ugly but commodious structures, used as a residence for the
priests or ayahas, and also to a large extent as resting-places for travellers.
Population. — The Census of 1872 returned a total population of
988,037 persons, or 217.82 to the square mile. Of these, 872,390, or
88 :29 per cent., including 11,285 Sráwaks or Jains, are Hindus ;
114, 106 , or 11.54 per cent., Musalmáns ; 1521, or oʻ15, Christians,
including 1245 native converts ; 13 Pársís ; 6 Jews; and i ' other.'
The percentage ofmales in the total population is 51'21.
In the Subdivisions of Dharwár, Hubli, Gadag, and Bankápur, and
in the State of Sawanúr, the population contains a considerable
Musalmán element. Among the nomadic tribes, the chief are the
Waddars, Lambanis, Gollars, and Advichinchis. The Waddars move,
with their wives and families, from place to place in search of work.
They are generally employed on earthwork, quarrying, sinking wells,
or making roads and reservoirs. The Lambanis also wander about in
gangs. They correspond to the Banjáras of Guzerat and Central
India, and do a large carrying trade on pack - bullocks and ponies.
The Gollars and Advichinchars are a class of wandering jugglers, who
live in the forest and pick up a precarious and often dishonest liveli
hood ; but they are not thieves by profession.
Of the total number of Hindus, 380,919, or 43:66 per cent., belong
to the sect of Lingayats.
The population of Dharwár is, on the whole, prosperous. The soil
is fertile, the climate favourable, and the people not wanting in
energy. The cultivators have a good stock of cattle, especially in the
eastern parts of the District. Towards the Western Ghats, cultivation
is scantier, and the people less thriving.
There are three Christian Missions in the District. The chief one is
subordinate to the Basle German Mission , with resident missionaries at
Dhárwár, Hubli, and Gadag-Betigeri,and congregations at the villages
 DHARWAR DISTRICT. 137

of Unkal, Hebsur, and Thagoti. The second mission is subordinate to

the Roman Catholic Bishop of Bombay ; its chief station is Dharwar,
and it has congregations at Hubli and Tumrikop. The third mission
is subordinate to the Archbishop of Goa ; excepting the town of
Dharwár, its congregational stations are situated beyond the District
boundary.
Kanarese is the vernacular language of the District, though the
Dharwar dialect is not so pure as that spoken in Kanara itself. By
many of the better classes Marhatti is understood ; but Hindustání is
known only to a few Musalmáns.
The chief towns of the District are — (1) HUBLI, pop. (1872), 37, 961;
(2) DHARWAR, Pop. 27,136 ; (3) RANIBENNUR,pop. 11,623 ; (4)GADAG,
pop. 10,319 ; (5) NARGUND, pop. 9931 ; (6 ) NAWALGUND, pop. 9578 ;
(7) BETIGERI, pop. 8716 ; (8) ANNIGERI, pop. 7098 ; (9) MULGUND ,
pop. 6844 ; (10) HEBLI, pop. 6483 ; (11) SHAHABAJAR or BANKAPUR ,
pop. 6268 ; (12) KURLKOTI, pop. 5901; (13) HAVERI, pop. 5465 ; (14)
Ron, pop. 5251; (15) SHALWARI, pop. 5220 ; and (16) NAREGAL, pop.
5182.
Of the total population, 168,976 persons, or 17 .20 per cent., live in
towns containing a population of more than 5000. Formerly all the
principal towns, and even villages, were defended by a fortwithin which
the richest inhabitants lived in well-built houses ; without thewalls were
the huts of the poorer and less influential classes. Though the fortifi
cations have now been allowed to fall into decay, a marked distinction
still exists between the town proper or pét and the houses within the fort.
Villages in the western and southern parts of the District have in general
a thriving appearance, arising from the common use of tiled roofs.
In the northern and eastern parts, houses are, as a rule, flat-roofed, and
there are few trees near the villages. They are chiefly constructed on
massive woodwork frames, built in with mud bricks, the ends ofwhich
are triangular in shape. Formerly many of the villages were sur
rounded by low walls of mud and sun-dried bricks, as a protection
against the attacks of thieves, but most of these walls are now falling
into decay.
Exclusive of 48 hamlets, there were, in 1872, 1309 inhabited State
and alienated villages, giving an average of o‘29 villages to each square
mile, and 754-23 inhabitants to each village. The total number of
houses was returned at 205,072, showing an average of 47 houses per
square mile , and of 4:8 persons per house .
Three annual fairs or religious meetings are held in the District- ( 1)
at Hulgur in Bankápur Subdivision, in February, in honour of a famous
Musalmán devotee ; attendance of pilgrims in 1875, 3300 ; (2) at
Yamnur in Nawalgund Subdivision, in March, also in commemoration
of a Muhammadan saint ; attendance of pilgrims, 26,000 ; (3 ) at Gud
138 DHARWAR DISTRICT.
guddápur in Ránibennur Subdivision, in September, in honour of a
Hindu deity, Maydar Martand ; attendance of pilgrims, 8700. Trade
is carried on only to a very limited extent at these festivals. There are
21 other religious gatherings of less importance.
The staff of the village community consists of two classes, one con
nected with the Government, and the other useful to the community
alone. The first class comprises the pátel, or head -man ; the kulkarna,
or accountant ; shetsumlis, or policeman ; and talwars, barkis, and
mahars, the menial servants. In the second class are the joshi, or
astrologer ; the kázi and mullá , the Musalmán priests ; the jangam , or
aya ; the sutár, or carpenter ; the lohár, or blacksmith ; the kumbhár,
or potter ; the sonár, or goldsmith ; the hajjám , or barber ; the baidya , or
doctor ; the dhor, or manufacturer of leathern articles for farmers ; the
dhobi, or washerman ; the pújári, or worshipper ; the mathapati, or
procurer ofmilk and butter for strangers ; and themahárs, or sweepers.
In large villages, the organization may be found complete ; but in
small villages, the joshi, sonár, vaulya, dhobi, and hajjam , do not
generally exist. Besides the above, in some few villages in the Hángal,
Karajgi, and Kod Subdivisions there is a class of village servants called
nir manégárs,whose special duties are to keep the tank water-courses
in repair, and let water on to the fields.
Agriculture. -- Exclusive ofland belonging to other jurisdictions situated
within its limits, Dhárwár District contains a total area of 2,902,258
acres, of which 864,204 acres, or 29.8 per cent., have been alienated .
Ofthe remainder, 1,662,040 acres are assessed arable land , and 376,013
acres are unassessed waste. The soil of the District may be divided
into three classes, viz. red soil, black soil, and a rich brown loam . The
red soil is a shallow gravelly deposit formed by the disintegration of
hills and rocks. The black soil is the well-known regar, or cotton -soil,
on which the value of Dharwár as a cotton -producing District depends.
It ordinarily varies in depth from 2 to 20 feet. The brown loam is found
chiefly on the west of the District, once the site of large forests ; it is
supposed to be chiefly of vegetable origin , and is of little depth . The
Government land is held under the Survey tenure, at a revenue fixed for
a term of thirty years. The land alienated by the State is, as a rule, held
at a fixed quit-rent. There are two chief crops in the year — the early
or kharif, and the late or rabi harvest. The early crops are sown in
June, and harvested in October and November. The late crops, except
cotton, are sown in October and reaped in February . Cotton is sown
in August, and picked in March . A field of black soil requires only
one ploughing in the year, and is seldom manured. A field of red soil,
on the other hand, is ploughed three or four times, and is generally
manured . The entire stock of agricultural implements required by a
single husbandman may be valued at from ios. to £2.
 DHARWAR DISTRICT. 139

The oxen are of three varieties — two of inferior breed, indigenous

to the District, and the large and well-made animals imported from
Mysore. These Mysore bullocks are much valued ; an ordinary pair
fetches about £15, and for a superior pair as much as £45, or even
£200, is sometimes paid . The ponies of Dharwar were once famous.
Of late years the breed is said to have fallen off, and efforts are now
being made to improve it by the introduction of Pegu sires.
The agricultural stock in possession of the cultivators of State or
khálsá villages during 1874-75 numbered 94,010 ploughs, 38,608 carts,
235,214 bullocks, 137,646 buffaloes, 124,080 cows, 6687 horses,
174,334 sheep and goats, and 6863 asses. Of the total cultivated area in
the same year - grain crops occupied 706,504 acres, or 52 43 per cent. ;
pulses, 136 ,426 acres, or 10-12 per cent. ; oil-seeds, 37,614 acres, or
279 per cent. ; fibres, including cotton , 285,582 acres, or 21'19 per
cent. ; and miscellaneous crops, 183, 406 acres, or 13'61 per cent. In
addition, 182,869 acres were fallow or under grass.
Of the total just enumerated , 283,810 acres, or 21°06 per cent., were
under cotton, the indigenous variety occupying 141,641, and Orleans
cotton 142,169 acres. Several attempts have been made by Govern
ment to introduce the culture of New Orleans cotton, but up to 1842
without success. In that year, however, the results were most satis
factory. Both in quantity and quality the out-turn was better than the
indigenous variety , and the cultivation of New Orleans cotton has since
spread rapidly. Its superiority is now generally recognised , not only
in Dharwar, but in the neighbouring Districts. As American cotton
cannot be properly ginned by the native process, it was found necessary
to introduce new machinery. To ensure a sufficient supply of the best
gins, they are imported from England and offered for sale at the
Government factory at Dharwar, while for their repair branch factories
have been established at local centres of trade.
From the earliest date of which historical record is available, the
District appears to have suffered from droughts of more or less severity .
Between 1787 and 1796 a succession of droughts, accompanied by
swarms of locusts, occurred . This period of famine is said to have been
at its height about 1791-92. The people were forced to feed on leaves
and berries, and women and children were sold or deserted . No
measures were taken by the Government of the day to relieve the
sufferers. The next famine was in 1802-1803, occasioned by the
immigration of people from the valley of the Godavari and the march of
the Peshwa's army through the country. In 1832, from want of rain ,
prices ruled very high, but the distress cannot be said to have amounted
to famine. Owing to successive bad seasons, famines occurred in the
years 1866 and 1877, and it was found necessary to employ large bodies
of people on works of public utility.
140 DHARWAR DISTRICT.
Trade, etc. - In no part of the Bombay Presidency has more been
done of late years to improve communications than in Dhárwár. Thirty
years ago, there were neither roads nor carts. In 1874 -75, the number
of carts was returned at 38,608, and about 1000 miles of road were kept
in sufficient repair to allow a spring carriage to be driven over them .
The District lies inland , and no railway passes through it. It is con
nected with the ports of Coompta , Kárwár, and Vingorla by excellent
roads, the distance from the western frontier to the sea being about 100
miles. On the east, a road runs to the railway station of Bellary, in the
Madras Presidency. The distance of Bellary from the Dhárwár frontier
is also about 100 miles.
No returns of the internal trade of the District are available. Cotton
is the chief article of export, and European goods, chillies, cocoa-nuts,
molasses, and betel-nuts are imported from Kanara and Mysore. The
local trade in joári is also considerable.
The manufactures consist of cotton and silk cloth , and the usual
household utensils and ornaments. Common silk and cotton cloth
are woven to a considerable extent in all the large towns. Fabrics
of delicate texture and tasteful design are occasionally produced .
Fine cotton carpets are manufactured at Nawalgund, both for home
consumption and for export to the neighbouring Districts. The wild
aloe grows well, and the manufacture of matting from its fibre has been
carried on at the jail with success. In the city of Dharwar there is
also a considerable manufacture of glass bangles. Blocks of blue and
green glass in a rough state are imported from Bellary and remelted
in crucibles, made of a species of clay brought from Khánápur, in
Belgaum . During eight months of the year (October to June) iron
smelting is carried on in small furnaces in parts of the District, but
want of fuel prevents any extension of this industry.
At present ( 1876 ) the majority of the traders are local capitalists, a
few representing firms in Bombay and other important places. Except
a few Pársis in the town of Dharwar, they are by caste generally
Bráhmans or Lingáyats, a few being Muhammadans, Gújars, etc.
Porters and other unskilled labourers earn from 4 d. to 6d. a day ;
agricultural labourers from 3d. to 4 d., bricklayers and carpenters from
is. to is.6d. Female labourers earn about one-third less than males.
Lads of from twelve to fifteen get about two-thirds less than full-grown
men. The current prices of the chief articles of food in Dharwár during
1875 were — for a rupee (2s.),wheat, 41 lbs. ; rice, 36 lbs. ; joári (Holcus
sorghum ), 45 lbs.; bájra (Holcus spicatus), 47 lbs. ; and dál or pulse ,
37 lbs.
Administration . — The District is divided into ii táluks or Subdivi
sions, and into 3 petas or larger fiscal units. The administration in
revenue matters is entrusted to a Collector and 5 Assistants, ofwhom 3
 DHARWAR DISTRICT. 141
Coin 1874.4.civildecservants.
are covenanted
are ided was TFor
hirtthe
y- onsettlement
e of civil disputes there
were , in 1874, 4 courts, including the court of the District Judge. The
number of cases decided was 2575, the average value of the property
under litigation being £18,45. Thirty -one officers, including 6 Europeans,
shared the administration riminal justice ; of these 6 were magis
ooff ccriminal
trates
s
the first-clas
rictof the first-class. In the year 1874, the total strength of the
ist or regular police force was 793 officers and men , of whom 43
DDistrict
were paid from local funds and 750 from imperial revenue. The total
cost of maintaining this force was £12, 373, 145., of which £453, 125.
was debited to local funds. These figures show onepoliceman to every
5 .75 square miles as compared with the area, and i to every 1246
persons as compared with the population ; the cost of maintenance was
£2, 14s. 2d. per square mile, or 3d. per head of the population .
There is 1 jail at Dhárwár town, in which 523 male and 43 female
prisoners were confined in 1874. The District contains 29 post offices
and 3 telegraph offices, viz. at Dhárwár, Hubli, and Gadag-Betigeri.
In 1874-75, the land tax of the District was £195,951. The local
funds, created since 1863 for works of public utility and rural educa
tion , yielded a sum of £21,495. There are 6 municipalities in the
District ; their total receipts in 1874 -75 amounted to £7703, and their
expenditure to £8548. The incidence of municipal taxation varied
from 7fd. to is. 4d. per head.
Medical Aspects. — The climate is, for both natives and Europeans,
about the healthiest in the Bombay Presidency. In December and
January , dews are heavy and general. From February to the middle
of April is the hot season ; and from the latter date to the beginning
of June, when the regular rainy season sets in , showers are frequent.
Except in November and December, when strong winds blow from the
east, the prevailing winds are from the west, south-west, and south -east.
The average maximum temperature for the hot months (March to May)
is 93° F . ; the maximum for the rainy season (June to October), 83° ;
the maximum for the cold season (November to February ), 84° F. For
a series of years from 1852 to 1861, the average annual rainfallwas 31.39
inches ; between 1862 to 1871, the average fell to 20.68 inches ; and in
1875, 21°78 inches were registered.
There are 2 dispensaries and a hospital at Dharwár town . During
1874 -75 , 16,654 persons in all were treated, ofwhom 16 ,361were out-door
and 293 in -door patients. There is also a lunatic asylum at Dharwár.
In the year 1873-74, there were 136 Government schools, or an
average of 5 schools for every 48 villages, with an attendance of 5978
pupils. There were, besides, 8 grant-in -aid schools, with an average
daily attendance of 364 pupils. Of the total expenditure on education,
£2463was debited to imperial,and £4098 to local and other funds. In
Dhárwár town there is į library, and 3 local newspapers are published .
 142 DHARWAR TOWN .
Dharwár. - The chief town of the District of the same name;
situated in lat. 15° 27' N., and long. 75° 3' 20" E . Area, including the
suburbs, 3 square miles ; pop. ( 1872), 27,136 . The fort stands on
undulating ground. Towards the west low hills run down to the plains,
forming the last spurs of the Western Ghats. The fort and the town are
almost hidden from view on the east by trees and rising ground. The
approach from the south is striking. The highest point is occupied by
the Collector's office, from which a commanding view of the town,
suburbs, and surrounding country is obtained. Below the office and
adjacent to it is the temple of Ulvi-Basapa, and beyond, the hill of
Máilargud, formerly considered the key to the fort of Dhárwár. Be
yond the town extensive plains of black soil stretch across to the
hills of Nawalgund and Nargund on the east, and on the north -east to
the famous hills of Yellama (a Hindu deity) and Parsagad. Towards
the south -east, the hill of Mulgund appears at the distance of about
36 miles. There is no authentic evidence of the date when the
fort was founded. A purána or legendary chronicle concerning the
origin of the neighbouring temple of Sameshwar makes no mention of
Dhárwár. According to local tradition, the fort was founded in 1403
by one Dhár Ráo, an officer in the Forest Department, under Rám Rája ,
the Hindu King of Anigundi. The Anigundi kingdom was overthrown
by Mahammad Adil Shah of Bijápur in 1568 A.D. In 1685 A.D., the
fort was captured by theMughal Emperor of Delhi; and in 1753 A . D., it
fell into the hands of the Marhattás. In 1778, Dhárwár was taken
by Haidar Ali, the Muhammadan usurper of Mysore ; and in 1791,
it was retaken by a British force auxiliary to the Marhattás. On the
final overthrow of the Peshwá, Dharwar, with the other possessions of
that potentate, fell to the disposal of the British Government. The
fort is described as being well planned and naturally strong. Previous
to 1857 it was kept in repair. Since then it has been breached ; and,
like all other forts in the District, it is now fast falling into ruins.
The town, which is very straggling, is made up of 7 quarters, or
maháls. There are few good houses with upper storeys. A market is
held every Tuesday. The only monument of historical interest is
that erected in memory of Mr. St. John Thackeray and Mr. J. C . Munro ,
who were killed at Kittur in 1824. About a mile and a half south of
Dhárwár is a hill called the Máilargud ; on its summit stands a small
square stone temple, built after the Jain fashion, and facing the east.
The columns and beamsare of massive stone, and the roof ofthe same
material is handsomely carved. On one of the columns is an inscription
in Persian, recording that the temple was converted into a mosque in
1680 by the deputy of the King of Bijápur. In 1851, the town con
tained a total population of 21, 774, which in 1872 rose to 27,136.
The only prosperous classes of the population are the Brahmans and
 DHASAN - DHAULESHVARAM . 143
Lingayats. The influential Bráhmans are generally public officers, vakils,
zamíndárs, and saukárs. The Lingayats are, as a rule, traders, who
almost monopolize the export of cotton, timber, and grain . Some
of the Musalmáns are also wealthy merchants. A few Pársis and
Márwárís, who have recently settled in the town, deal chiefly in
European goods. The chief articles of export are cotton and rice ; the
imports comprise English piece-goods, chillies, cocoa-nuts, molasses,
dates, betel-nut, groceries, indigo, lead,zinc,and wrought and unwrought
copper and brass. There are no manufacturing industries of any
importance ; but in the jail, carpets, table-linen, cloths, and cane articles,
- all of superior quality, — are made by the prisoners. In 1875, the
municipal income amounted to £1680, and the expenditure to £1728 ;
the incidence of municipal taxation being 9 / d . per head . The water
supply is drawn from two honds or reservoirs. There are also several
wells in the town, but with one or two exceptions they are not used for
drinking purposes, the water being brackish. The native quarter was
formerly unhealthy; but since the introduction of the Municipal Act,
some attention has been paid to drainage and sanitary requirements.
Dhasán. - River of Central India , rising in Bhopal, in lat. 23° 30 ' N.,
and long. 78° 32' E., a few miles north of Sírmau, at an elevation of 2000
feet. After a course of 10 or 12 miles, it enters Ságar (Saugor) District,
Central Provinces ; through which it flows for 60 miles, and then runs
along the southern boundary of Lalitpur District, North-Western Pro
vinces; finally , after a course of 220 miles, falling into the BETWA. On
the road between Ságar (Saugor) and Ráhatgarh , the Dhasán is crossed
by a stone bridge.
Dhathwai-Kyouk.-- An unnavigable river in Prome District, Pegu
Division, British Burma. It rises in the southern slopes ofthe Tshenglan
spur, and flows south and west into the Zay, which it joins just before
that river enters the Engma Lake. The lower portion of its course is
through rice-fields ; but higher up it flows through forests, producing
valuable timber, such as pyenggado, eng -gyeng, bhanbhwai (Careya
arborea), and eng.
Dhathwai-Kyouk . – Village in Prome District, Pegu Division ,
British Burma. Lat. 18° 41' N., long. 95° 34' 35" E. Situated on the
river of the same name, 20 miles south -east of Prome, and near the
great rice tract, which occupies the centre of the valley between the
Pegu Mountains and the Prome Hills. The inhabitants are mainly
agriculturists.
Dhaulagiri. — Mountain in Nepál. Lat. 29° 11' N., long. 82° 59' E.
One of the loftiest peaks of the Himalayas ; height, 27,600 feet above
sea level.
Dhauleshvaram . — Town, Godavari District, Madras. See Dow
LAISHVARAM .
 144 DHAURAHRA PARGANA AND TOWN.
Dhaurahra.— Pargana of Nighasan tahsil, Kheri District, Oudh ;
bounded on the north by the Kauriála, on the east by the Daháwar,
and on the south by the Chauka rivers ; the western boundary is Nighasan
parganá. In early times, prior to the Muhammadan conquest of
Kanauj, Dhaurahra was the freehold property of Alha and Udal, the
famous generals of Mahoba. It then formed a part of Garh Kila
Nawá, which was settled and visited by Firoz Shah, and was probably
owned by Pásis, whose Rájá lived at Dhaurahra . The Bisens held this
tract during the decline of the Mughal power; but they were displaced
by the Chauhán Jángres, who now own it. First constituted a parganá
by Nawab Safdár Jang. It consists of alluvial deposits from the Kauriala
and Chauka rivers, and is annually inundated. The inhabitants suffer
much from fever, and cultivation is very backward . Soil principally
loam and clay, rather sandy towards the Chauka. Area, 261 square
miles, of which 145 are cultivated and 72 cultivable. The 117 villages
which the parganá comprises are held in tálukdárí tenure by 18
proprietors. Pop. (1869), Hindus, 64,877 ; Muhammadans, 5920 ;
total, 70,797, viz. 38,093 males and 32,704 females. The roads consist
merely of rough bridle-paths, crossing the rivers by ferries. Communi
cation principally by the Kauriála, Daháwar, and Chauka rivers; by
means of which , during ten months of the year, a brisk trade is carried
on in grain and oil-seeds.
Dhaurahra . — Town in Kheri District, Oudh ; 3 miles west of the
Chauka river, 80 miles north of Lucknow , and 73 miles east of Shah
jahanpur. Lat. 28° n., long. 81° 9' E.; pop. (1869), 2722 Hindus and
1534 Muhammadans — total, 4256, residing in 845 mud houses. During
the Mutiny of 1857, the fugitives from Sháhjahanpur and Muhamdi,
escaping towards Lucknow , sought the protection of the Dhaurahra
Rájá ; but he, on pressure from the rebel leaders, gave them up to
their enemies. For this he was afterwards tried and hanged , and his
estates confiscated .
Dhaurahra . — Town in Faizábád (Fyzabad ) District, Oudh ; 4 miles
from the Gogra river, and 20 miles from Faizábád town on the road to
Lucknow. Pop. (1869), Hindus, 3197, of whom 765 are Kshattriyas ;
and Musalmáns, 82 ; total, 3279. It contains neither temple, mosque,
nor school ; but a handsome gateway, said to have been built by a king
of Oudh, Asaf-ud-daulá , stands just outside the town. On the opposite
side of Dhaurahra is an ancient Hindu shrine, shaded by a magnificent
grove of tamarind trees. A Hindu legend relates that Mahadeo once
lived here, his body being buried in the earth . A party of religious
mendicants on their way to Ajodhya conceived the idea of digging out
the holy man and exhibiting him for gain . As they dug, however, his
head sank into the earth , and the party filed in horror. To com
memorate the miracle , a dome, surrounded by a masonry platform and
 DHENKANAL - DHODAR ALI. 145
a wall, was constructed over the spot by two devout merchants. The
place is now almost in ruins.
Dhenkánal.— Tributary State of Orissa, Bengal. Lat. 20° 31' to 21°
11' 30 " N., long. 85° 3' to 86° 5' E. ; area, 1463 square miles ; pop. (1872),
178,072. Bounded on the north by Pál Lahára and Keunjhar, on
the east by Cuttack District and Athgarh , on the south by Tigariá and
Hindol, and on the west by Tálcher and Pál Lahára , the Brahmaní
forming the boundary for a considerable distance. This river runs
from west to east, through a richly cultivated valley, affording a water
way for trade. Cultivable waste land abounds. Iron is plentifully
found , but is only worked on a small scale. A petty trade in cochineal
is also carried on . Chief village, also the residence of the Rájá, Dhen
kánal, situated in lat. 20° 39' 45" N ., long. 85° 38' 16" E. Weekly
markets, for the sale of country produce, are held at Hodipur and
Sadaipur villages . Of the total population , 141,421, or 79 4 per cent.,
are Hindus ; 416 , or 2 per cent., Muhammadans ; other races, 36,235 ,
or 20'4 per cent. Of the aboriginal tribes (31,195, or 17.7 per cent. of
population ), the Savars (15,934) are the most numerous ; of the semi
Hinduized aborigines (32,827, or 18'3 per cent.), the Páns (24,099)
form the greatmajority. Average density of population , 122 per square
mile ; average number of villages, '52 ; of persons per village, 233 ; of
houses per square mile, 24 ; of persons per house, 5' 1. Estimated
annual revenue, £7010 ; tribute payable to Government, £509 ;
military force, 286 men ; rural police, 742. Eight schools were main
tained by the late chief, attended in 1872 by 235 pupils ; in addition,
17 páthsálás, or indigenous village schools, were also open in that year.
Dhenkanal is the best organized and most prosperous of the Orissa
Tributary States. The late chief received the title of Mahárájá in
1869, in recognition of his moderation and justice towards his people ,
and of his liberality in the Orissa famine of 1866.
Dhobá .— Mountain peak in the Pratapgiri estate, Ganjám District,
Madras. Lat. 20° N., long. 84° 23' E. It forms part of the Eastern
Ghát range, 8 miles distant from Dimrigiri. Height, 4166 feet above
the sea . A station of the Great Trigonometrical Survey,
Dhobákhál. – Village in the Gáro Hills District, Assam ; on the
Someswari river, near which a fine outcrop of the coal strata was
discovered in 1873 by the officers of the Survey. Lat. 25° 28' N.,
long. 90° 46' E.
Dhodár Ali.— One of the most important of the raised roads or
embankments constructed in Assam by forced labour during the rule of
the Aham dynasty. It runs parallel to the Brahmaputra through the
entire length of Sibságar District, for a distance of about 115 miles,
of which 35 miles are under the supervision of the Public Works
Department.
VOL. III.
146 DHOLA - DHOLPUR STATE.
Dhola . — One of the petty States of Gohelwár, in Kathiáwár,
Bombay ; consisting of i village, with i independent tribute-payer .
Estimated revenue, £150, of which £32 is payable as tribute to the
Gáekwár of Baroda and £5 to Junagarh.
Dholbájá. — Large village in Purniah District, Bengal. Lat. 26° 16'
N., long. 87° 19' 21" E.; pop. (1872), 1784. Situated on the Matiyári
road , 40 miles distant from Purniah town and 16 miles from Basantpur.
Primary school.
Dholera. — Seaport in the Dhanduka Subdivision, Ahmedabad
District, Bombay ; 62 miles south -west of Ahmedabad. Lat. 22° 14'
45" N ., and long. 72° 15' 25" E. ; pop. ( 1872), 12,468. Situated in
the swampy tract extending along the west of the Gulf of Cambay,
within the limits of the Peninsula of Káthiáwár. The space between
the town and the port, a distance of about 4 miles, is traversed by a
tramway constructed by a company of native speculators. Post office
and dispensary. Dholera has given the trade name to a quality of
cotton well known in the European market.
Dholka. - Chief town of the Subdivision of the same name in
Ahmedabad District, Bombay ; 25 miles south -west of Ahmedabad.
Lat. 22° 43' 30" N., long. 72° 28' 30" E ; pop. (1872), 20,854 ;
municipal revenue (1874-75), £1688 ; rate of taxation, is. 7d. per
head. Dholka is situated amidst ruined palaces, mosques, mausoleums,
and spacious tanks, embanked and lined with masonry. Though not
regularly fortified, it is surrounded by a wall of mud 4 miles in
circumference. Sub-judge's court, post office, and dispensary.
Dholpur.- Native State in Rájputána, under the political super
intendence ofthat Agency and the Government of India , lying between
26° 22' and 26° 57' n . lat., and between 77° 26' and 78° 19' E long. ;
area , 1174 square miles. It extends from north -east to south -west for
a length of 72 miles, with an average breadth of 16 miles. Dholpur is
bounded on the east and north by the British District of Agra , from
which it is for the most part divided by the Banganga river ; on the
south by the river Chambal, which separates it from the State of
Gwalior ; on the west by the States of Karáuli (Kerowlee) and
Bhartpur (Bhurtpore ).
Physical Aspects. The Chambal flows from south -west to north -east
for over 100 miles through Dholpur territory . During the dry weather,
it is here a sluggish stream 300 yards wide, and lies 170 feet below the
level of the surrounding country. In the rains, it rises generally about
70 feet above its summer level ; its breadth is then increased by more
than 1000 yards, and it runs at the rate of 55 miles an hour. It is
bordered everywhere by a labyrinth of ravines, some of which are go
feet deep, and extend to a distance of from 2 to 4 miles from the river
bank. The Chambal is unnavigable on account of its rapid changes of
 DHOLPUR STATE. 147
level. The most important crossing is that at Rájghát, 3 miles south
of the town of Dholpur, on the high road between Agra and Bombay.
A bridge of boats is kept up between ist November and the 15th June,
and a large ferry-boat plies during the rest of the year. A permanent
bridge is now in course of construction, at about 5 miles from the
town of Dholpur, for the Sindhia State Railway between Agra and
Gwalior. The Banganga or Utangan river runs for about 40 miles
between the northern boundary of Dholpur and the British District of
Agra ; its bed is about 40 feet below the surrounding country . The
other rivers are the Párbati, which rises in Karáuli (Kerowlee), and,
traversing the State in a north -easterly direction, falls into the Bán
ganga ; and its two tributaries, the Mirka and Mírki. These three
streams dry up in the hot season, leaving only occasional pools where
the channels are deep. The general nature of the soil being a friable
alluvium overlying a stratum of stiff yellow clay, the beds of all the
rivers in Dholpur are considerably below the general level of the
country.
A ridge of red sandstone, with an elevation of from 560 to 1074 feet
above sea level, runs over 60 miles through the State in the direction
of its greatest length . It affords a very valuable stone for build
ing purposes, fine grained and easily worked in the quarries ; it
hardens by exposure to the weather, and does not deteriorate by lami
nation. The railway bridge over the Chambal, above alluded to , is
being built entirely of this stone. Kankar or nodular limestone is found
in many places in the ravines leading to the rivers, and a bed of excel
lent limestone occurs on the banks of the Chambal, near the Agra and
Bombay road . The soil is everywhere poor on the sandstone, and
in its immediate vicinity ; but it becomes richer and more fertile in
proportion to the increase of distance from the ridge. In the north and
north -west, the soil is for the most part a mixture of sand and clay,
known as domat, which is as productive as the best land in Agra
District. To the north-east, an area of about go square miles is covered
with black soil, similar to that of Bundelkhand, yielding excellent cold
weather crops. Dholpur is a grain -producing country, and is not
remarkable for any special manufactures. The chief crops raised are
bájra (Holcus spicatus), moth , and joár (Holcus sorghum ) ; and in
the cold season a considerable quantity of wheat and barley is grown .
Cotton and rice are also produced. Irrigation is carried on by means
of tanks and wells, the average depth at which water is found being 25
feet. Of the total area of the State (751,216 acres), about 36 -4 per
cent. was under cultivation in 1876 ; about 17. 3 per cent. was cultivable
but uncultivated . This is not first-rate land, and it has been lying
fallow since the famine of 1868 -69 ; but as the people, year by year,
gradually regain their normal condition, it is being once more broken
148 DHOLPUR STATE .
up. About 43'3 per cent. of the country is barren, and about 3 per
cent. is occupied by villages, rivers, tanks, etc .
The land tenures are in most respects similar to those of the
North -Western Provinces, with this important exception,that in Dholpur,
as under other Native Governments, the chief is the absolute owner of
the land. The zamindárs, or lambardárs as they are more usually
termed , are persons (generally descendants of the original founders of
the village) who contract with the State for the payment of the revenue
demand, which they collect from the cultivators. So long as they
observe their contract, they are considered as owners of the land
actually cultivated by them and by their tenants, and also of uncultivated
land sufficient for the grazing of the village cattle. The remainder of
the untilled land, with its produce, groves, tanks, etc., belongs to the
State.
Population . — A rough Census of the population was taken during the
survey of the State in 1876. The returns show a total of 227,976
inhabitants. It may be surmised, however, that these numbers do not
give the whole population ,and that the Census was not accurately taken,
especially as regards the number of women. Perhaps the population
of the State may be reckoned at 250,000, or about 213 inhabitants
to the square mile. The most numerous classes are at two extremes
of the social scale — Bráhmans, 36 ,884, and Chamárs, 32,092.
Thákurs number 23,703 ; Gújars, 17,229 ; Kachhis, 15,090 ; Minás,
10,620 ; and Lodhás, 8050. The remainder of the population is
divided among 75 other castes. There are 9964 Muhammadans, who
reside for the most part in the towns of Bári and Dholpur. The people
generally are engaged in tilling the land, and the whole country is agri
cultural. The dominant religion is Hinduism of the Vishnuvite sect.
In 1876, 8 schools, with 509 pupils, were maintained in the larger towns
of the State. In one of these, English , Persian,' and Hindí were
taught ; in four, Persian and Hindi ; and in three, Hindí only. The
Dholpur jail is managed on a system in great measure similar to that
obtaining in British jails throughout India .
The Trunk Road from Agra to Bombay runs through the State from
north to south , passing by Dholpur town . There were in 1877 no other
metalled roads but a few fair-weather tracks - one leading from Dholpur
by Rájá Khera to Agra ; a second with a main direction west from Dholpur
to Bári, and thence to Bhartpur on one side and Karáulí on the
other ; a third having a main direction to the north -east from Dholpur
to Kolári and Baseri, and thence to Karáulí.
The Sindhia State Railway, in course of construction between Agra and
Gwalior, runs through the State in a direction generally parallel to the
Grand Trunk Road. It will cross the Chambal by a bridge of 12 spans
of 200 feet each , about 112 feet above the river bed.
 DHOLPUR STATE. 149
Administration .— The land revenue of Dholpur in 1876 amounted
to £76,339. Customs and other sources of revenue brought up the
gross total to £106 ,869. The land, which had not been surveyed since
1570 , in the reign of Akbar, was resurveyed in 1875-76, preparatory to
a re -settlement which is to be conducted on a basis similar to that of .
the North -Western Provinces, but simpler in its details.
The climate is generally healthy. The hot winds blow steadily and
strongly during the months of April, May, and June. The annual
rainfall averages from 27 to 30 inches.
History. — According to local tradition, Dholpur derives its namefrom
Rájá Dholan Deo Tonwár (of the ancient Tomar or Tonwár dynasty of
Delhi),who about 1004 A.D. held the country between the Chambal and
Bánganga rivers. Very little is authoritatively known of the country
until theMusalmán conquests, with which it became early incorporated .
After the death of Aurangzeb, Rájá Kalián Sinh Bhadauriyá, taking
advantage of the troubles which beset the Emperor on every side,
obtained possession of the Dholpurterritory. The Bhadauriyás remained
undisturbed till 1761, when the Jat Rájá Suraj Mall of Bhartpur (Bhurt
pore), after the battle of Panipat, seized upon Agra and overran the
country. During the succeeding forty -five years, Dholpur changed
masters no less than five times. In 1775, it shared the fate of the rest
of the Bhurtpore possessions, which were seized by Mírzá Najaf Khán .
On the death ofMirzá in 1782, it fell into the handsof Sindhia. Atthe
outbreak of the Marhattá war in 1803, it was occupied by the British ,
by whom , in accordance with the treaty of Sarji Anjengáon, it was, at
the end of the year, ceded to the Gwalior chief. In 1805, under fresh
arrangements with Daulat Ráo Sindhia, it was resumed by the English ,
who in 1806 , finally uniting the territories of Dholpur, Bári, and Rájá
Khera with Sir Muttra into one State, made it over to Maháráná Kirat
Sinh (the ancestor of the present chief of Dholpur) in exchange for his
territory of Gohad, which was given up to Sindhia. The reigning
family of Dholpur are Játs of the Bamráolia family, belonging to the
Deswali tribe, which claims a very ancient lineage. The ancestor of the
family is said to have been in possession of lands at Bamráoli near
Agra in 1195, from which circumstance they have taken their name.
They joined the side of the Rájputs against the Musalmáns, and
received a grant of the territory of Gohad,whence the title of Ráná was
assumed. This is said to have occurred in 1505 A. D. They appear to
have become connected with Bájí Ráo Peshwá ; and in 1761, when the
Marhattás had been completely defeated at Panipat, Ráná Bhím Sinh
seized the fort of Gwalior. In 1777, Sindhia besieged and took the
fortress. In order to form a barrier against the Marhattás, Warren
Hastings in 1779 made a treaty with the Ráná, and the joint forces of
the English and the Ráná retook Gwalior. In 1781, a treaty with
150 DHOLPUR TOWN - DHOLURWA.
Sindhia stipulated for the integrity of the Gohad territories ; but after
the treaty of Salbye, the Maháráná was abandoned , on the ground that
he had been guilty of treachery , and Sindhia repossessed himself of
Gohad and Gwalior. The Ráná went into exile, until Lord Wellesley's
policy against the Marhattás again brought him forward, when the terri
tories of Dholpur were made over to Kirat Sinh in 1804. But in 1805,
Lord Cornwallis retransferred Gohad and Gwalior to Sindhia, leaving
to the Ráná the lands which he still possesses. Kirat Sinh 's successor,
Bhagwant Sinh, showed a loyal attachment to the British Government,
especially during the Mutiny of 1857, for which he received the insignia
of K .C . S. I. He died in 1873, and was succeeded by his grandson ,
the present chief, Mahárájá Ráná Nihál Sinh, born in 1863, whose
mother is a sister of the Rájá of Patiala. The Ráná of Dholpur is
entitled to a salute of 15 guns. The military force of the State consists
of 600 cavalry , 3650 infantry, 32 field guns, and 100 gunners.
Dholpur. — The capitalof the State of the same name, situated in lat.
26° 42' N ., and long. 77° 56 ' E., on the Grand Trunk Road between
Agra and Bombay, about 34 miles south of Agra and 37 miles north
west of Gwalior. In 1875, it contained 3337 houses, with a population
estimated at 15,000. Three miles south of Dholpur, the Chambal river
is crossed at Rájghátby a bridge of boats between the ist Novemberand
the 15th June, and by ferry during the rest of the year. The Sindhia
State Railway between Agra and Delhi will pass through Dholpur, and
the railway bridge across the Chambal is within a distance of 5 miles.
The original town is supposed to have been built by Rájá Dholan Deo
in the beginning of the 17th century. The Emperor Bábar mentions
Dholpur, and states that it surrendered to him in 1526 . His son,
Prince Humáyun, is said to have moved the site farther to the north ,
in order to avoid the encroachments of the Chambal river. An enclosed ,
and to some extent fortified, sarái was built in the reign of Akbar.
The new portion of the town and the palace of the Ráná were built by
Ráná Kirat Sinh, the great-grandfather of the present chief. A fair is
held here for fifteen days in the latter part of October, when a large
traffic in merchandise, cattle, and horses is carried on . Goods are
brought from Delhi, Agra , Cawnpore, and Lucknow .
Dhol Samudrá .— Marsh in Faridpur District, Bengal ; situated to
the south -east of the Civil Station . During the rains it expands into
a lake about 8 miles in circumference, the water extending close to the
houses of Faridpur town . In the cold weather it gradually dwindles,
and in the hot season is only a mile or two in circumference.
Dholurwa. — One of the petty States in South Káthiáwár, Bom
bay ; consisting of 1 village, with i independent tribute -payer.
Estimated revenue, £200 per annum , of which £10 is payable as
tribute to the Gáekwár of Baroda and £2 to Junagarh .
 DHORAJI— DHROL STATE. 151
Dhoráji.— Fortified town in the peninsula of Kathiáwár, Bombay.
Lat. 21° 45' n., long. 70° 37' E. ; 43 miles south-west of Rájkot, and
52 miles east of Porbandar ; pop. (1872), 15 ,562.
Dhrángadrá .— Native State within the PoliticalAgency ofKathiáwár,
in the Province of Guzerat (Gujarát ), Bombay. It lies inland between
22° 30' and 23° n. lat., and between 71° and 71° 49' E. long., and con
tains 125 villages; pop. (1872), 87,949 ; gross revenue, £30,000. An
uneven tract intersected by small streams, and consisting of hilly and
rocky ground, where stone is quarried. With the exception of a small
extent of rich black loam , the soil is of inferior quality . The climate
is hot, but healthy. The principal crops are cotton and the common
varieties of grain . The manufactures are salt, copper and brass
vessels, stone handmills, cloth, and pottery . There are no made roads,
but the country tracks admit of the passage ofbullock-carts. DHOLERA,
about 70 miles to the south -east of Dhrángadrá town, in Ahmedabad
District, is the nearest port. There are 15 schools, with 550 pupils.
The chief of Dhrángadrá entered into engagements with the British
Government in 1807. Among the small chieftains of Kathiáwár, he
holds the position of a ruler of a first-class State, and is entitled to a
salute of 11 guns. The present chief (1875) is thirty-eight years of age.
He is a Hindu, a Rájput by caste of the Jhálá stock . His name is
Mán Sinhji, and his title Rájá Sahib . He pays to the British Government
and the Nawab of Junágarh an annual tribute of £4467, and maintains
a military force of 470 men. He holds no sanad authorizing adoption,
but the succession follows the rule of primogeniture. He has power
of life and death over his own subjects. The Jhálá family is of great
antiquity, and is said to have entered Kathiáwár from the north, and
to have established itself first at Pátri, in the Viramgám Subdivision of
Ahmedabad District, whence it moved to Halwad , and finally to its
present seat. The greater part of this territory would seem at one
time to have been annexed by the Muhammadan rulers of Guzerat.
Subsequently, during the reign of the Emperor Aurangzeb ( 1658-1707),
the Subdivision of Halwad, then called Muhammadnagar, was restored
to the Jhálá family . The petty States of Limri, Wadhwán , Chura,
Sayla, and Thán-Lakhtar in Kathiáwár are offshoots from Dhrángadrá ;
and the house of Wánkáner claims to be descended from an elder
branch of the same race.
Dhrángadra. — Chief town of the State of the same name in
Káthiáwár, in political connection with Bombay. Lat. 22° 59' 10 " N.,
long. 71° 31' E.; 75 miles west of Ahmedabad ; pop. ( 1872), 10,954.
The town is fortified.
Dhrol. - Native State within the Political Agency of Káthiáwár, in the
Province of Guzerat, Bombay ; situated between 22° 14 ' and 22° 42' n .
lat., and between 70° 24'and 70° 45' E.long. It lies inland,and contains
152 DHROL TOWN - DHULIA TOWN.
61 villages ; estimated area , 400 squaremiles ; pop. (1872), 18,321. The
country is for themost part undulating and rocky. The soil is generally
light, and irrigated by water drawn from wells and rivers by means of
leather bags. The climate, though hot in the months of April, May,
and October, is generally healthy. The crops are sugar-cane and the
ordinary varieties of grain . Coarse cotton cloth is manufactured to a
small extent. There are no made roads, butthe country tracks permit
the passage of carts. The produce is chiefly exported from Juriá, a town
on the coast. The gross revenue is estimated at £15,000. There are
3 schools, with 145 pupils. Dhrol ranks as a second-class State among
the States in Káthiáwár. The ruler entered into engagements with the
British Government in 1807. The present (1875) chief, named Jesinhji,
is fifty-one years of age ; he is a Rájput by caste of the Járeja branch ,
with the title of Thákur. He holds no sanad authorizing adoption , but
the succession follows the rule of primogeniture . He pays a tribute of
£1023, 2s. to the Gáekwár of Baroda and the Nawab of Junagarh , and
maintains a military force of 148 men. He has power of life and death
over his own subjects.
Dhrol. — Chief town of the State of the same name, Bombay ;
situated in lat. 22° 34' N ., and long. 70° 30' E.
Dhubri.— Subdivision in Goálpára District, Assam . Pop. (1872),
187,589. .
Dhubrí. — Headquarters of the Subdivision of the same name in
Goalpára District, Assam ; situated in lat. 26° 2' N., and long. 90° 2' E.,
on the right bank of the Brahmaputra, at the point where that river
leaves the valley of Assam , and turns south to enter the plains of
Bengal. Pop. ( 1872), 477. Dhubrí is also the headquarters of the
executive engineer of the Lower Assam Division ; and as the terminus
of the emigration road running through Northern Bengal, and a stopping
place for Assam steamers, the town is rapidly rising in importance. It
is also proposed to make Dhubrí the terminus of a branch of the
Northern Bengal State Railway. A steam ferry crosses the Brahma
putra to Goálpára town . A trading fair held here in January is annually
attended by about 10,000 people, many of whom come from con
siderable distances.
Dhude. - Petty State, Bombay. -- See DANG STATES.
Dhulápra .- Jhil, or natural reservoir in Saharanpur District, North
Western Provinces. In connection with the drainage arrangements of
the Eastern Jumna Canal, a cut has been made from this ſhíl for pur
poses of reclamation ; but up to the end of 1873, only 272 bighás had
been reclaimed
Dhulia . — Chief town of Khandesh District, Bombay, and head
quarters of the Subdivision of the same name; situated in lat. 20° 54' N.,
and long. 74° 46' 30" E., on the southern bank of the Pánjhra river, and on
 DHULIA TOWN. 153
the line of the Bombay and Agra road . Area, including suburbs, i
square mile ; houses, 2620 ; pop. (1872), 12,489 ; municipal revenue
(1874-75), £1768 ; rate of taxation , 2s. 9 d. per head. The town is
divided into New and Old Dhuliá. In the latter,thehouses are irregularly
built, the majority being of a very humble description. In 1872,
Dhulia was visited by a severe flood, which did much damage to houses
and property .
Until the beginning of the present century , Dhulia was an insignificant
village, subordinate to Láling, the capital of the Láling or Fatehabad
Subdivision. Under the rule of the Nizám , Láling was incorporated
with the District of Daulatábád. The fort of Láling occupies the
summit of a high hill, about 6 miles from Dhuliá, overhanging the
Agra road and the Avir Pass leading to Málegáon. This stronghold ,
like all ancient buildings in Khandesh, is locally ascribed to the Gauli
Rájá , but it was more probably built by the Farrukhi kings, whose
frontier fortress it subsequently became. To the same Arab princes
may be attributed the numerous stone embankments for irrigation found
throughout the country, of which those on the Pánjhra river above and
below Dhuliá may be taken as the types. The old fort at Dhulia is also
assigned to this dynasty, but it was probably, like the village walls,
restored and improved by the Mughal governors. The town appears to
have passed successively through the hands of the Arab kings, the
Mughals, and the Nizam , and to have fallen into the power of the
Peshwá about 1795. In 1803, it was completely deserted by its
inhabitants on account of the ravages of Holkár and the terrible famine
of that year. In the following year, Balájí Balwant, a dependant of the
Vinchurkar, to whom the parganásof Láling and Songír had been granted
by the Peshwá, repeopled the town, and received from the Vinchurkar,
in return for his services, a grant of inám land and other privileges.
He was subsequently entrusted with the entire management of the
territory of Songir and Láling, and fixed his headquarters at Dhuliá ,
where he continued to exercise authority till the occupation of the
country by the British in 1818. Dhulia was immediately chosen as the
headquarters of the newly formed District of Khandesh by Captain
Briggs. In January 1819, he obtained sanction for building public
offices for the transaction of revenue and judicial business. Artificers
were brought from distant places, and the buildings were erected at a
total cost of £2700. Every encouragement was offered to traders and
others to settle in the new town . Building sites were granted rent free
in perpetuity, and advances were made both to the old inhabitants and
strangers to enable them to erect substantial houses. At this time,
Captain Briggs described Dhulia as a small town, surrounded by garden
cultivation, and shut in between an irrigation channel and the river.
In 1819, the population numbered only 2509 persons, living in 401
154 DHULIAN - DIAMOND HARBOUR.
houses. In 1863, there were 10,000 inhabitants ; while by 1872 the
number had further increased to 12 ,489. From the date of its occupa
tion by the British , the progress of Dhulia appears to have been steady ;
but it is only since the recent development of the trade in cotton and
linseed that the town has become of any great importance as a trading
centre. Coarse cotton and woollen cloth and turbans are manufactured
for local use. Since 1872 a little colony ofMusalmáns from Allahábád,
Benares, and Lucknow have settled at Dhulia, who say that they have
left their own homes on account of poverty. They are Momins by
caste, and declare themselves orthodox Muhammadans, but their
co-religionists in Dhuliá take them to be Wahábís. They support them
selves by weaving sáris of fine texture , which they sell at a lower rate
than the localmerchants. Dhulia is a cantonment town , and possesses
2 hospitals, telegraph and post offices. There were in 1873-74, 4
Government schools, with 551 pupils.
Dhulián . - Village in Murshidabad District, Bengal ; situated on the
Ganges. Site of an annual fair, and one of the most important river
marts in the District. Large trade in rice, pulses, gram , wheat, and
other food grains.
Dhulipnagar. - Town and cantonment in Bannu District, Punjab.
- See EDWARDESABAD.
Dhurwái.— One of the petty States in Bundelkhand, under the
Central India Agency and the Government of India . The founder of
the family was Rái Sinh, a descendant of Bír Sinh Deo, Rájá of
Orchha, who held the territory of Báragaon . He divided it amongst
his eight sons, whence their jagirs were called the Hasht-bhaya (or
eight brothers). There now remain four, of which this is one. The
present holder, Díwán Ranjúr Sinh, is a Hindu Bundela. Area ofState,
18 square miles ; estimated pop. (1875), 8000 ; revenue, £1200.
Dhúsan. - River of Bengal. — See PARWAN .
Diamond Harbour. Subdivision of the District of the Twenty-four
Parganas, Bengal; situated between 21° 31' and 22° 21' 30" n. lat.,
and between 88° 4' and 88° 33' 30 " E. long. Area, 417 square miles ;
villages, 1282 ; houses, 57,688. Total population (1872), 309, 168, of
whom 227,483, or 73:6 per cent., are Hindus ; 79,404, or 25 '7 per cent.,
Muhammadans ; 2267, or . 7 per cent., Christians ; and 14 of other
religious denominations. Proportion of males in total population ,
50 per cent.; number of persons per square mile, 741 ; villages per
square mile, 3 '07 ; persons per village, 241 ; houses per square mile ,
138 ; inmates per house, 5 .4. The Subdivision comprises the five
police circles (thánás) of Diamond Harbour, Debípur, Bánkipur,
Sultánpur, and Mathurápur; i magisterial court in 1871 ; police force,
112 men ; village watch , 897 men ; cost of Subdivisional administration ,
£7422. The cyclone of October 1864, with its accompanying storm
 DIAMOND HARBOUR - DIBAI. 155
wave, caused a fearful destruction of life and property here. The
greatest number of deaths occurred on Ságar Island, within Diamond
Harbour Subdivision, and in the Sundarbans. Out of a population of
5625, only 1488 persons survived. It was estimated that in all the
villages within one mile of the river the loss of life was 80 per cent.,
with a loss of cattle in the same proportion . The famine of 1866
also caused great distress in this Subdivision .
Diamond Harbour. - Port and headquarters of Diamond Harbour
Subdivision, Twenty -four Parganas District, Bengal; situated on the
left bank of the Húgli river, in lat. 22° 11' 10" n., long. 88° 13' 37" E.
Well known as the anchorage of the Company's ships in olden times ;
now a telegraph station . A harbourmaster and customs establishment
are maintained here to board vessels proceeding up the river, and the
movements of all shipping up or down are telegraphed from Diamond
Harbour, and published several times a day in the Calcutta Telegraph
Gazette. But no town or even village has sprung up ; and since the
introduction of steam , few vessels have to wait here for the tide. The
chief relic of its historical importance is its graveyard. Distant from
Calcutta 30 miles by a good road, 41 by river.
Diamond Harbour Canal. - In Diamond Harbour Subdivision ,
Twenty-four Parganas, Bengal ; extending from Thákurpukur to Kholá
kháli, a distance of 23 miles.
Diamond Island.- A low wooded island, about 1 square mile in
area, and visible at 5 leagues, lying off the mouth of the Bassein river,
in Pegu , British Burma. Lat. 15° 51' 30 " N ., and long. 94° 18' 45" E .
It is 50 miles distant from Pagoda Point, and about 8 miles from
Negrais Island or Haing-gyí. In shape it is quadrilateral, its angles
facing the points of the compass. During strong southerly gales, land
ing is difficult. This island appears to have been never inhabited by
the Burmese, to whom it is known as Miemma-hla -kywon ; but it is
visited by those engaged in collecting the eggs of turtles, which are
very abundant. Important as the home station of the Alguada Reef
lighthouse-keeper, and connected with Bassein by telegraph.
Dibái. — Ancient town in Bulandshahr District, North -Western
Provinces ; lat. 28° 12' 30" N., long. 78° 18 ' 35" E. Pop. (1872), 7782,
being 4515 Hindus, and 3267 Muhammadans. Distant from Buland
shahr 26 miles south -east, and from Aligarh 26 miles north . Lies
between the two head branches of the Chhoiya Nála, whose ravines
form an efficient natural drainage-channel. Said to have been built
about the time of Sayyid Sálár Masáúd Ghází, 1029 A. D ., upon the
ruins of Dhundgarh , a captured Rájput city . The old fort now does
duty as an indigo factory. Trade has greatly declined, and the streets
show evidences of former prosperity. A metalled road connects the
town with Kaser Dibái station, on the Oudh and Rohilkhand Railway,
 156 DIBRU - DIG .
3 miles to the east. Market on Mondays, 4 saráis, Anglo -vernacular
school-house, bázár, post office, police station.
Dibru (or Sonápur). — The name of two rivers in the Province of
Assam , one of which, in the southern half of Kámrúp District, flows
northwards into the Brahmaputra ; the other, in the southern half of
Lakhimpur, flows nearly parallel to the Brahmaputra for about 100
miles, and finally empties itself into that river just below the town of
Dibrugarh , to which it has given its name.
Dibrugarh .- Subdivision in Lakhimpur District, Assam , comprising
the two divisions formerly known as Matak and Sadiya. Area, 2038
square miles ; pop. (1872), 82,109.
Dibrugarh (' Fort on the Dibru river '). — Chief town in Lakhimpur
District, and headquarters of the Subdivision of the same name, Assam ;
situated in lat. 27° 28' 30° n ., and long. 94° 57' 30 " E ., on the Dibru
river, about 4 miles above its confluence with the Brahmaputra . Pop.
(1872 ), 3870, including 1096 in themilitary cantonment. Dibrugarh is
the centre of an important river trade, as steamers can reach the town
during the rainy season ; at other times of the year they stop at Dibru
mukh, on the Brahmaputra. The exports are almost entirely confined to
tea and caoutchouc ; the imports comprise cotton goods, rice, salt, and
oil. The headquarters of the 44th Light Infantry , numbering about
500 fighting men, are stationed in the cantonments.
Diddaur. – Town in Rai Bareli District, Oudh ; on the banks of the
Sai, 2 miles from the road from Bareli to Behar. A flourishing town,
pleasantly situated among numerous groves, with a population in 1869
of 2123 Hindus (including 838 Kshattriyas), and 4 Muhammadans ;
total, 2127.
Díg ( Deeg). — Town and fortress in Bhartpur (Bhurtpore) State,
Central India. Lat. 27° 28' N., and long. 77° 22' E. Lies in a
lonely marshy tract, amid numerous jhils or shallow lakes, fed by
the stream of the Mánás Nái. Almost inaccessible to an enemy
during the greater part of the year, being nearly surrounded with
water. Before being dismantled by the British , it possessed great
strength , and its fort, 24 miles west of Muttra, still commands the
whole town. The Rájá 's palace, a remarkably beautiful building
of massive sandstone blocks, decorated with oriental profusion,
adjoins the citadel. Díg lays claim to great antiquity, being men
tioned by name in the Puránas. Wrested from the Játs in 1776 by
Najaf Khán , it reverted after his death to the Rájá of Bhartpur.
On November 13, 1804, a British force, under General Fraser,
defeated the army of Holkár ; and the Játs having fired upon the
conquerors, siege was laid to the town in the succeeding month , and
it was carried by storm on the 23d. Dismantled after the capture
- of Bhartpur by Lord Combermere.
 DIGBIJAIGANJ- DIHANG . 157
Digbijaiganj. - Tahsil or Subdivision of Rai Bareli District, Oudh ;
bounded on the north by Haidargarh tahsil of Bára Bánki District,
on the east by Musáfirkhána tahsil of Sultánpur, on the south by Salon
and Rai Bareli tahsils, and on the west by Púrwa tahsil of Unao
District Lat. 26° 17' 30" to 26° 36 ' N., long. 81° 1' 30 " to 81° 37' E.
Area, 465 square miles, of which 219 are under cultivation ; pop.,
according to the Census of 1869, but allowing for recent changes,
250, 159 Hindus, 19,318 Muhammadans — total, 269,477, viz. 134,576
males and 134, 901 females ; number of villages or towns, 364 ; average
density of population, 579 per square mile. The tahsil comprises the 6
parganás of Inhauná, Bachhráwán, Kumhráwán, Hardoi, Simráuta, and
Mohánganj.
Dígnagar.– Village in Bardwán District, Bengal. Lat. 23° 22' N.,
long. 87° 45' E. Described by Jacquemont as a place of some im
portance ; now a local market for grain and sugar.
Digras. — Town in Wún District, Berar. Lat. 20° 6' N., long.
77° 45' E . ; 18 miles south of Dárwa. A small entrepôt for the cotton
of the western half of the District. A few Bombay dealers come here
during the cotton season to make purchases. Houses (small thatched
huts), 639.
Digsár. - Pargana in Gonda District, Oudh ; bounded on the north
by Gonda and Mahadewa, on the east by Nawabganj, on the south by
the Gogra river, and on the west by Guwárich . A well-wooded plain ,
almost throughout covered with careful cultivation. The northern
and western tracts are watered by the Tirhi ; the centre, which
has the richest soil, is drained by a number of small channels, and
supports a denser population than is found in the north or south . The
southern division, along the Gogra border, is generally marked by a
light soil, and the cultivated spots are interspersed with large barren
plains, overgrown with grass and scrub jungle. The whole parganá lies
low , and is liable, after heavy rains, to destructive floods. Area, 157 }
square miles, or 100,696 acres, ofwhich 67,880 acres are under cultivation,
nearly one-half yielding two crops in the year. Area under principal
crops - rice, 14 ,773 acres ; Indian corn, 19,590 ; wheat, 11,945 ; gram ,
8665 ; arhar, 9075 ; and barley, 7060 acres. Pop. (1869), Hindus,
87,694, and Muhammadans, 2888 — total, 90,582, viz. 46,306 males and
44,276 females ; average density of population, 577 per square mile.
No manufactures.
Dih . — Town in Rái Bareli District, Oudh ; 12 miles from Bareli town ,
on the banks of the Sái. Pop. (1869), Hindus, 2766 ; Muhammadans,
171 ; total, 2937. Good bázár.
Dibang (or Dihong). — River in Lakhimpur District, Assam , one of
the three which contribute to make up the BRAHMAPUTRA. It brings.
down the largest volume of water, and is generally regarded as the con
158 DIHING - DIMAPUR.
tinuation of the Tsanpu or great river of Thibet, and thus the real parent
of the Brahmaputra. It is supposed to pierce the barrier range of the
Himalayas through a narrow gorge in the Abar Hills.
Dihing. - The name of two rivers in Lakhimpur District, Assam ,
which contribute to make up the waters of the Brahmaputra — (1 ) the
Noá Dihing, rising in the Singpho Hills in the extremeeastern frontier
of British territory, flows in a westerly direction into themain stream of
the Brahmaputra just above Sadiya ; (2) the Buri Dihing, rises in the
Pátkai Hills in the south -east corner of Lakhimpur District, and also
flows in a westerly direction, past Jaipur town, and finally forms the
boundary between Lakhimpur and Sibságar Districts before reaching
the Brahmaputra . It is navigable up to Jaipur by steamers during the
rainy season. The two rivers are connected by an artificial channel,
passing near the village of Bishgaon. The valley of the Buri Dihing
contains an extensive coal-field , with outcrops at Jaipur and Makum .
The total marketable out-turn is estimated at about 20 million tons, of
excellent quality, and there are tolerable facilities for water-carriage.
Petroleum also exists in abundance in the same tract. In 1866, both
the coal and the petroleum were worked under a Government grant by
a European capitalist, but on his death the enterprise was discontinued.
In the years 1874-1876, the mineral resources of this tractwere examined
by an officer of the Geological Survey, and favourably reported on.
Diji (Kot Diji, also called Ahmadábád ). - Fort in the Khairpur State ,
Sind. Lat. 27° 20' 45" N., long. 68° 45' E. Of no importance as a
place of strength .
Diláwár. - Fort in Bahawalpur State, Punjab. Lat. 28° 44' n.,
long. 71° 14' E. Situated in a desert, 40 miles from the left bank of the
river Panjnad. Very difficult of access.
Dilli ( Delly). — The correct name is d'Ely (Monte d'Ely of the
Portuguese), representing the name of the ancient Malabar State of
Hely or Hili. Hill in the Cherakal táluk, Malabar District, Madras.
Lat. 12° 2' N., long. 75° 14' E. ; height, 800 feet above the sea.
Situated on the coast, with creeks on either side, which, joining, make
it an island. The fortifications, now in ruins, have been occupied at
different periods by Dutch , French, and British troops. A station of the
Great Trigonometrical Survey, and a prominent landmark for mariners,
being visible in fine weather at 27 miles' distance. The jungle covering
the hill and surrounding the base affords cover to large game, sambhar,
panthers, etc., and is a favourite resort of sportsmen . A project set on
foot for the construction of a harbour off this headland was abandoned
on account of the enormous expense attending it. Dilli was the first
Indian land seen by Vasco da Gama.
Dimápur. – Village in the Nágá Hills District, Assam ; on the
Dhaneswari river, 15 miles north of Samáguting. Here was one of the
 DINAJPUR DISTRICT. 159
early capitals of the Cáchári Rájás, the brick ruins of which are still to
be found amid the jungle . It is now a police outpost, and the centre
of some little trade with the Nágás, as the river is navigable up to this
point by country boats. All around is wild jungle.
Dinajpur. — The District of Dinajpur occupies the west of the
Rájshahi Kuch Behar Division , under the Lieutenant -Governor of
Bengal. It lies between 24° 43' 40" and 26° 22' 50 ” n. lat., and
between 88° 4' o" and 890 21' 5" E. long., being bounded roughly
on the east by the Karátoyá, and on the west by the Mahananda
river. Area (according to Parliamentary Return , 1878), 4126 square
miles ; population (according to the Census of 1872), 1,501,924. The
administrative headquarters are at DINAJPUR Town, on the left bank
of the Purnábhába.
Physical Aspects. — The District exhibits a less uniformly level appear.
ance than the rest of Northern Bengal. The plain that stretches from
the Himalayas to the Ganges is here represented by a peculiar clay
formation, locally known as khiár, which is sufficiently stiff to resist the
diluviating action of the rivers. In the southern part of the District,
and again in the north -west along the Kulik river, this clay soil rises
into undulating ridges, some of which attain the height of 100 feet.
The entire country is intersected by numerous rivers, which run in well
defined channels and have deposited in their floods a later alluvium of
sandy loam , called pali. The agriculture of the District is determined
by the difference between these two kinds of soil. The river valleys
are everywhere much wider than the narrow limits within which the
streams are confined during the dry season. In the rains, the flood
water spreads out into large lakes, about 2 miles across ; but there are
few permanent marshes of any size throughout the District. The clay
ridges in the south are still much overgrown with scrub-jungle, which
affords cover to numerous wild beasts,and yields but little forest produce
of any value.
The rivers in Dinajpur arrange themselves into two systems, one of
which carries off the drainage southwards by the Mahánandá into Maldah
District, while the other is connected with the old Tistá river , and flows
in a south -easterly direction towards Bográ and Rájsháhí. TheMAHA
NANDA itself only skirts the western frontier of the District for about 30
miles ; its chief tributaries are the NAGAR , TANGAN , and PURNABHABA .
All these rivers are only navigable for large boats during the rains.
They run through the khiár country , along shallow valleys, bordered by
elevated clay ridges. The Tista river system has been much broken
up by the violent changes which took place in the course of the main
channel towards the close of the last century. The various channels
of the old Tístá still flowing through Dinajpur, are now known as the
ATRAI, JAMUNA, and KARATOYA. Their value for boat traffic has
160 DINAJPUR DISTRICT.
been greatly lessened by the circumstance that the great volume of
the water now finds its way eastwards into the Brahmaputra. There
are several short artificial canals in the District ; but some of them
appear to have been dug with a view to facilitate religious processions,
rather than as a means of assisting trade.
History. — Dinajpur District, with the rest of Bengal, passed under
British rule in 1765, and has no independent history of its own.
Population . — In the beginning of the present century , Dr. Buchanan
Hamilton , in the course of his statistical inquiries, arrived at a most
elaborate estimate of the population of Dinajpur. His calculations
yielded a total of about 3 millions, or 558 persons to the square mile .
The District was then about one-third larger than at present. During
the Revenue Survey (1857-61), when the area of the District was
also somewhat larger than now , the number of houses was counted ,
and the inhabitants living therein were estimated to number 1,042,832,
or only 227 per square mile. It seems probable that this latter estimate
was as much too low , as Dr. B . Hamilton's estimate must have been
too high . The Census of 1872, which was not taken simultaneously
in a single night, as in other Bengal Districts, disclosed a total popu
lation of 1,501,924 persons, residing in 7108 mauzás or villages, and in
264,526 houses. The area was taken at 4126 square miles, which
gives the following averages :- Persons per square mile, 364 ; villages
per square mile , 1 '72 ; houses per square mile, 64. The average
number of persons per village is 211 ; of persons per house, 5 .7 .
Classified according to sex, there are 776,431 males, and 725,493
fémales ; proportion of males, 51°7 per cent. Classified according to
age, there are, under 12 years — 293,695 males, and 233,126 females ;
total, 526,821, or 35' 1 per cent. ofthe totalpopulation. The occupation
returns are not trustworthy ; but it may be mentioned that the total
number of male adults connected with agriculture is given at 368,913,
as against 113,823 male adult non-agriculturists. The ethnical division
of the people shows 21 Europeans ; 4431 aborigines ; 505,527 semi
Hinduized aborigines ; 181,550 Hindus, subdivided according to caste ;
17, 180 persons of Hindu origin not recognising caste ; 793,215 Muham
madans. There can be no doubt that in Dinajpur, even to a greater
extent than in the rest of Bengal, the great bulk of the people are of
aboriginal descent ; and that the majority became willing converts to
the conquering faith of Islám , in preference to remaining out-castes
beyond the pale of exclusive Hinduism . The tribes now ranked as
aboriginal are very poorly represented. The most numerous is the
Dhángar, a generic term for the hillmen who come from Chutiá Nágpur,
to work on the roads or to clear jungle ; they number 2907, and
the cognate Santáls 1039. The semi-Hinduized aborigines, who are
nearly three times as numerous as the Hindus proper,mostly consist of
 DINAJPUR DISTRICT. 161
the kindred races of Pálí, Rájbansí, and Koch, who are known to be
still more largely represented among the general Muhammadan popula
tion . These three tribes number collectively 443,927. The few who
retain the name of Koch are palanquin -bearers ; Rájbansi is the high
sounding title which they have adopted for themselves ; whereas Pálí is
the appellation applied to them by their neighbours. This last term is
almost confined to Dinajpur and the adjoining District of Maldah ; it
would notbe recognised in Kuch Behar State. Among Hindus proper,
the Brahmans number 6269 ; they are traditionally reported to have
settled in the District within recent times. The Rajputs number only
1813 ; the Káyasths, 4523. By far the most numerous caste is the
Kaibartta ,with 38,051 ; the fishing castes are also strongly represented ,
especially the Tior, with 17 ,364, and the Jáliya, with 10 ,296 members.
A little immigration into Dinajpur of a temporary character takes place
every harvest season ; emigration from the District there is none.
Classified according to religion, the population is composed of,
Hindus (as loosely grouped together for religious purposes), 702,235,
or 46-8 per cent.; Musalmáns, 793,215, or 52.8 per cent. Theremainder
is made up of 271 Christians, including 250 native converts settled
in three separate communities ; 295 Buddhists, all in the Porshá
police circle ; and 5908 others.' The Brahma Samáj has a small body
of followers at Dinajpur town , who are mostly engaged in Government
service ; and at the sameplace there are a few families of Jain merchants,
immigrants from the north -west, with their servants and retainers .
The Vaishnavs are returned at 16 ,710 , which number only includes
the professed religious mendicants ; many of the Pálí tribe are said to
belong to this sect. The Gosáins, who are the religious teachers of
the Vaishnavs, number 30 ; the Sanyásís, 187 ; the Aghorís , 3. The
Muhammadans belong almost entirely to the agricultural class ; few of
them are landholders, and still fewer engage in trade. The reforming
sect of Wahábís or Faráizás is known to have exercised some influence
among them , but no active fanaticism exists.
The entire population is absolutely rural. The only place returned
in the Census Report as containing more than 5000 inhabitants is
DINAJPUR Town, pop. 13,042. The people display no tendency towards
urban life , but rather the reverse. The trading marts consist merely
of a line of golás or warehouses along the river banks, where agri
cultural produce can be conveniently stored until the rainy season
opens the rivers for navigation . Out of a total of 7108 villages, as
many as6512 contain less than 500 inhabitants each.
Agriculture. — Rice constitutes the staple crop throughout the District.
Of the total food supply , the aman or winter crop, grown on low lands
and usually transplanted, furnishes from 80 to 96 per cent. ; the áus or
autumn crop, grown on high lands, about 17 per cent.; the boro or
VOL. III.
162 DINAJPUR DISTRICT.
spring crop, grown on the borders of marshes and rivers, in certain
tracts supplies from 4 to 8 per cent. This last is the only crop in the
District which demands irrigation, and the water required is easily
obtained from the immediate neighbourhood . Though the area of rice
cultivation has widely extended in recent years, it is said that the
productive powers of the soil have decreased, owing to over-cropping.
Amongmiscellaneous crops may be mentioned maize and millet, pulses,
oil-seeds, tobacco, jute, sugar-cane, pán or betel leaf. The staples
grown for export are rice, jute, and tobacco. The cultivation of sugar
cane is on the decline. Manure, in the form of cow -dung, is applied
to khiár rice lands, and to the more valuable crops grown on pali soil.
Khidr land is never allowed to lie fallow , but palí requires an
occasional rest of about one year in every five. The principle of the
rotation of crops is not known. There is still a good deal of spare land
capable of cultivation, to be found in the south of the District. Horned
cattle are very abundant; but owing to the indifference shown in
breeding,and to the insufficiency of nourishing pasturage, their condition
has miserably deteriorated . The average produce of an acre of good
rice land renting at gs., is about 20 cwts. of rice, valued at £1, 18s. ;
exceptionally good land will sometimes yield as much as 37 cwts. per
acre. Khiar land produces only one rice crop in the year ; but from
pali land a second crop of oil-seeds or pulses is obtained in the cold
season , in addition to the áus rice. This cold -weather crop may be
valued at from £1, 1os. to £2, 2s. per acre. The rate of rent paid for
khiar land varies from gs. to 12s. an acre ; pali land rents at from 6s.
to £2, 25. There is little peculiarity in the land tenures of Dinajpur.
It is estimated that over about five- eighths of the total area of the Dis
trict, the superior landlords have parted with their rights in favour of
intermediate tenure holders. Only a small fraction of the cultivators
have won for themselves rights of occupancy by a continuous holding
ofmore than twelve years ; the great majority aremere tenants-at-will.
The following were the current rates ofwages in 1870 : - Coolies and
agricultural day-labourers received 4s. a month with food, or gs . a month
without food ; bricklayers and carpenters, from 125. to 16s. a month ;
smiths, from £1, to £1, 1os. In the same year, the prices of food
grainswere as follow :- Common rice, 25. 9d. per cwt.; common paddy
or unhusked rice, is. 6d. per cwt. ; barley, 75. 8d. per cwt. ; barley
flour, 13s. 8d. per cwt. The highest price reached by rice in 1866,
the year of the Orissa famine, was sis. 2d. per cwt.
Dinajpur is exceptionally free from either of the calamities of flood
or drought. Owing to the rising of the rivers and the heavy local rain
fall, a considerable portion of the District is annually laid under water ;
but this inundation is productive of good rather than harm . The
single occasion on which the general harvest has been known to be
 DINAJPUR DISTRICT. 163
injuriously affected, was in the autumn of 1873, when the protracted
drought caused a failure of the áman rice crop, upon which the popu
lation almost entirely depends for its food supply. It was only the
prompt interference of Government that prevented scarcity from
intensifying into famine, and £162, 188 was expended on relief
operations.
For the future , Dinájpur District will be saved from all danger of
isolation by the recently opened Northern Bengal State Railway, which
runs northwards for about 30 miles through its eastern half. The
roads are comparatively few and unimportant. In 1874, in connection
with the famine relief operations, a sum of £14,466 was devoted to
repairs and the construction of new roads, particular attention being
paid to such tracks as will serve for feeders to the railway. The most
important means of communication are the rivers, which unfortunately
are only navigable by large boats during three or four months in the
year.
Manufactures, etc.— The whole population is so entirely agricultural,
that scarcely any manufactures exist. Neither indigo nor silk is
prepared, and the production of sugar has decreased since the beginning
of this century . A little coarse cotton cloth is made for home use ;
and in some parts a durable fabric called mekli is woven from the wild
rhea grass. Gunny cloth is manufactured to a considerable extent in
the north of the District, this industry being chiefly confined to the
women of the Koch tribe.
Until the opening of the railway, Dinajpur was entirely dependent
upon its rivers for all its trade. The chief exports are rice, jute,
tobacco, sugar, and gunny cloth ; the imports are piece-goods, salt and
hardware. The western half of the District, so far as the valley of the
Pumábhábá, exports its surplus rice towards Behar and the North
Western Provinces by means of the Mahánandá ; the eastern half uses
the old channels of the Tístá , and sends its produce direct to Calcutta.
During the dry season, pack-bullocks and carts traverse the whole
country , carrying the surplus rice to the river marts, to be there stored
until the streams swell. The principal ofthese depôts are Ráiganj, Nit
pur, Gorághát, Kumárganj, and Churaman . Themost importantcentre
of localbuying and selling is the NEKMARD fair,which is held annually
in honour of a Musalmán saint, and attended by about 100,000 persons.
Properly, it is a cattle fair, but traders frequent it with miscellaneous
articles collected from the farthest corners of India. Lesser gatherings
take place at Alawárkháwá, Dhaldighí, and Sontapur. The registration
returns of river traffic are only useful for Dinajpur in so far as they refer
to the exports. The imports into the District are chiefly received over
land, passing by routes that escape registration . For the year 1876-77,
the exports were valued at £480,371, against imports worth only
 164 DINAJPUR DISTRICT.
£81,518 . The chief exports are — Rice , 1, 186,500 maunds,and paddy,
77,600 maunds, valued together at £245, 160 (placing Dinajpur seventh
in the list of rice-exporting Districts in Bengal) ; jute, 240,500 maunds,
valued at £72,150 ; gunny bags, 3,650,100 in number, and gunny cloth ,
51,520 pieces, valued together at £93,110 ; tobacco , 49,000 maunds,
valued at £24,500. Almost half the value of the registered imports
was contributed by salt, 77,200 maunds, valued at £38,600 ; the
European piece -goods only amounted to £6190. Of the local marts,
Ráiganj stands first, with exports valued at £ 108,820 (almost entirely
jute and gunny bags), and imports valued at £13,503 ; Nitpur exported
£27,430 (almost solely rice), and imported £7640. Of the total
quantity of rice, 877,700 maunds were consigned direct to Calcutta ,
128,000 to Behar, and 180,000 to the North -Western Provinces.
Administration. In 1870-71, the net revenue of Dinajpur District
was £212,340, towards which the land tax contributed £173,454, or
81 per cent. ; the net expenditure amounted to £36,839, or little more
than one-sixth of the revenue. The large proportion derived from the
land revenue is to be explained by the circumstance, that the District
was in an exceptionally prosperous condition at the date of the Per
manent Settlement. The total land revenuewas then fixed at £160,669;
and the increase which has since taken place seemsthemore remarkable,
when it is considered that Dinajpur has since lost nearly one-third
of its area. In 1870-71, there were 4 covenanted civil servants stationed
in the District, and 7 magisterial and 15 civil and revenue courts open .
For police purposes, Dinajpur is divided into 17 thánás or police circles.
In 1872, the regular police force numbered 388 men of all ranks, main
tained at a total cost of £7273. In addition , there was a municipal
police of 42 men, and a rural police or village watch of 5297men. The
total machinery, therefore, for the protection of person and property
amounted to 5727 officers and men , giving i man to every •72 of a
square mile of area, or to every 262 persons in the population. The
estimated total cost was £15 ,716 , averaging £3, 16s. 2d. per square
mile and 2 } d . per head of population. In 1872, the total number of
persons convicted of any offence, great or small, amounted to 2490, or
I person to every 603 of the population . By far the greater number of
the convictions were for petty offences. The District contains i jail at
Dinajpurtown. In 1872, the average daily number of prisoners was 387,
of whom 6 were women ; the labouring convicts averaged 337. These
figures show i person in jail to every 3880 of the population. The
total cost amounted to £1948, or £4, 165. 3d. per prisoner ; the jail
manufactures resulted in a cash loss of £90. The death -rate was 36 '2
per thousand, against 53.4 for Bengal generally.
Education has widely spread of recent years, owing to the changes
by which the benefit of the grant-in -aid rules has been extended , first to
 DINAJPUR TOWN . 165
the vernacular middle-class schools, and ultimately to the village schools
or páthsálás. In 1856, there were only 10 schools in the District,
attended by 532 pupils. In 1860, both these numbers had actually
decreased ; but by 1870, the number of schools had risen to 247 and the
pupils to 5723. In 1872, there was a further increase to 456 schools
and 8574 pupils, showing i school to every 9 square miles and 5
pupils to every 1000 of the population. In the last-mentioned year,
the total expenditure on education was £ 3618, towards which Govern
ment contributed £2568, or more than two-thirds. The higher class
English school at Dinajpur town was attended by i82 pupils ; the
normal school by 49.
Up to the close of 1876, the Subdivisional system of administration
had not been extended to Dinajpur, but two new Subdivisions were
sanctioned at that date. The District is divided into 17 police circles,
and into 81 parganás or Fiscal Divisions, with an aggregate of 778
revenue-paying estates. In 1876, there were 1o civil judges, and 8
stipendiary magistrates ; the maximum distance of any village was 60
miles from a criminal, and 30 miles from a civil court ; the average
distance was 15 miles. Dinajpur town, with a population of 13,042
souls, is the only municipality in the District. According to the latest
returns for 1876 -77, the gross municipal income was £983, theaverage
rate of taxation being 1s. 4 d. per head.
Medical Aspects. — The climate of Dinajpur is considerably cooler
than that of the Gangetic delta . The hot weather does not set in so
early, and the temperature at night continues low until the end of April.
During the winter months a heavy dew falls at night, and a thick mist
hangs over the ground until dispelled by the morning sun . It has been
observed that the hot season proves the least healthy to strangers ,
while the natives suffer most at the close of the rains. The average
annual rainfall is 85.54 inches. Themean annual temperature in 1869
was returned at 83.5°; the maximum being 104 '02° in the month of
May, the minimum 63° in December.
The principal diseases of the District are remittent and continued
fevers, ague, enlargement of the spleen, bowel complaints, cholera, and
small-pox. The outbreaks of small-pox are to be referred to the popular
practice of inoculation. The vital statistics for selected areas show a
death-rate during 1875 of 46.02 per thousand in the rural area, and
23•68 in the urban area, which is conterminous with the town of
Dinajpur. There was in 1872 only one charitable dispensary in the
District, at Dinajpur town, at which 244 in -door and 2396 out-door
patients were treated during the year ; the expenditure was £237,
towards which Government contributed £146. A second dispensary
has since been opened at Ráiganj.
Dinajpur.— Chief town and administrative headquarters of Dinajpur
166 DINANAGAR - DINAPUR .
District, Bengal ; situated on the east bank of the Purnábhábá, just
below its point of confluence with the Dhápá river, in lat. 25° 38' N., and
long. 88° 40' 46" E. Pop. ( 1872), 13,042, being 7016 Muhammadans,
5847 Hindus, 99 Christians, and 80 others.' Dinajpur is the only
municipality in the District. Revenue (1876 -77), £983 ; rate of taxa
tion, 1s. 4 }d. per head of population. Municipal police force (1872),
42 men .
Dinánagar.- Municipaltown in Gurdaspur District, Punjab. Pop.
(1868), 7652, being 3253 Hindus, 4011 Muhammadans, 201 Sikhs, and
187 others.' Situated in lat. 32° 8' 15" N ., and long. 75° 31' E ., on a
low and swampy plain , the source of the river Kirran, whose malarious
exhalations render the town unhealthy, and produce endemic fever.
Derives its name from Adina Beg, the opponent of the Sikhs in 1752.
A dilapidated mud wall surrounds the town ; the neighbourhood is
profusely irrigated from the Bári Doáb Canal, and dense vegetation
comes up to the very gates. Centre of trade in country produce ;
annual cattle fair during the Dasahára festival. Headquarters of a
police subdivision (tháná ). Lies on the main road from Amritsar to
Pathankot, 6 miles north-east of Gurdaspur. Municipal revenue
( 1875-76 ), £587, or is. 9d. per head of population (6626 ) within
municipal limits.
Dinápur (Dánápur). - Subdivision ofPatná District, Bengal; situated
between 25° 32' and 25° 44' n. lat., and between 84° 50' 15" and 85°
7' E. long. Area, 132 square miles ; villages, 295 ; houses, 25,452.
Total pop. ( 1872), 141,337, of whom 117,716, or 83'3 per cent., are
Hindus ; 21,631, or 15.3 per cent., Muhammadans ; 1963, or 1' 4 per
cent., Christians; and 27 of other religions. Proportion ofmales to total
population, 47' 9 per cent. Average number of persons per square mile ,
1071 ; villages per square mile, 2 '23 ; persons per village, 479 ; houses
per square mile, 193 ; inmates per house , 5:6. The Subdivision com
prises the police circles (thánás) of Dinápur and Máner. One magis
terial court in 1870 -71 ; general police force, 216, and village watch,
144 men ; cost of Subdivisional administration , £1850, 6s.
Dinápur (Dánápur).- Civil and military headquarters of Patná Dis
trict, Bengal ; situated on the right or south bank of the Ganges, in lat.
25° 38' 19" N., long. 85° 5' 8" E. Divided into two parts, theCantonments
and the Nizámat. Population (1872), 14,170 ; inclusive of the Nizámat,
42,084. Gross municipal income (1876 -77), £2124 ; rate of taxation ,
is. Id . per head of population ; municipal police force, 7 men . The
military force quartered at Dinápur in 1876 consisted of 1 European and
1 Native infantry regiment, and a battery of artillery. The Cantonment
magistrate administers thewhole Şubdivision . The road from Dinápur to
Bánkipur, 6 miles in length , is lined throughoutwith houses and cottages;
in fact, Dinápur, Bánkipur, and Patná may be regarded as forming
 DINDIGAL TALUK . 167
one continuous narrow city hemmed in between the Ganges and the
railway
History. — The Mutiny of 1857, in Patná District, originated at Diná
pur. The three Sepoy regiments stationed here openly revolted in July,
and went off en masse, taking only their arms and accoutrements with
them . Thus lightly equipped , the majority effected their escape into
Sháhábád, a friendly country, with nothing to oppose them but the
courage of a handful of English civilians, indigo planters and railway
engineers. A reinforcement was sent from the European garrison of
Dinápur to aid in the defence of ARRAH, which was shortly after
besieged by the rebel Sepoys ; but the expedition failed disastrously,
though individual acts of heroism saved the honour of the British
name. Two volunteers, Mr. M ‘Donell and Mr. Ross Mangles, of the
Civil Service, conspicuously distinguished themselves by acts of intrepid
valour. The former, though wounded, was one of the last men to
enter the boats. The insurgents had taken the oars of his boat and had
lashed the rudder, so that although thewind was favourable for retreat,
the current carried it back to the river bank. Thirty-five soldiers
were in the boat, sheltered from fire by the usual thatch covering ; but
while the rudder wasbeing fixed, the inmates remained at themercy of
the enemy. At this crisis, Mr. M ‘Donell stepped out from the shelter,
climbed on to the roof of the boat, perched himself on the rudder, and
cut the lashings amidst a storm of bullets from the contiguous bank.
Strangely enough , not a ball struck him ; the rudder was loosened, the
boat answered to the helm , and by Mr. M ‘Donell's brilliant act the
crew were saved from certain destruction. Mr. Ross Mangles' conduct
was equally heroic. During the retreat, a soldier was struck down
near him . He stopped , lifted the man on to his back, and though he
had frequently to rest on the way, he managed to carry the wounded
man for 6 miles, till he reached the stream . He then swam with his
helpless burden to a boat, in which he deposited him in safety. Both
these civilians afterwards received the Victoria Cross as a reward for
their valour.
Dindigal (Dindu-kal). — Táluk of Madura District, Madras ; number
of houses, 61, 902 ; pop. (1871), 324, 366. Classified according to
religion - Hindus, 294,612, being 212,287 Sivaites and 82,325 Vaish
navs ; Muhammadans, 11,778, being 11,720 Sunnis, 49 Shiás, 9 Wahábís ;
Christians, 17,950, of whom 17,887 are native Roman Catholics. For
merly a separate Province, though subject to Madura , it was ceded by
the treaty of 1792 to the Company. It is watered by the Kodavar,
Mageri, and other streams, and contains also 3517 tanks, with abundance
of fish. A pearl-bearing mussel is said to have been once found here.
Among the vegetable products are enumerated croton, sarsaparilla ,
and senna, the last equal to that brought from Egypt.' The ironworks
168 DINDIGAL TOWN.
at Gútum and Kalampetti were once of considerable importance. Chief
town , DINDIGAL.
Dindigal ( Dindu-kal, The Rock of Dindu,' an Asura or demon ).
- Municipal town in the Dindigaltáluk, Madura District,Madras. Lat.
10° 21' 39" N., long. 78° 6' 17" E. Number of houses, 2029 ; pop. (1871),
12,818, viz. Hindus, 11,503 ; Muhammadans, 1279 ; and Christians,
36 ; about 20 per cent of the whole being weavers, 15 per cent, traders,
and therest principally agriculturists. Formerly the number of Christians
was larger, and they lived in a separate quarter, their houses being dis
tinguished by a cross on the roof. Their priest was a native of Malatar,
subject ecclesiastically to the Bishop of Cannanore. Situated 880 feet
above the sea, on the trunk road from Coimbatore to Pondicherri, about
20 miles from Kodaikanal, the sanitarium on the Paláni Hills, and :o
from Madura. It is connected by railway with the chief towns of the
Presidency ; the returns for the first three months after the line was
opened, in 1875, show a passenger traffic of 44,710 , and in goods 2317
tons, realizing £2982. The staples of local trade are hides, tobacco,
coffee, and cardamoms, for the export of which the system of roads
radiating from the town afford exceptional facilities. The silks and
muslins manufactured here had once a high repute, as also the blankets
made from 'Carumba ' wool. As the headquarters of the Subdivision,
Dindigal contains the courts of European as well as native officials,
police and telegraph stations, travellers’ bungalow , school, dispensary ,
and post office. There are two churches, a Protestant and a Roman
Catholic . The municipal revenue for 1875-76 was £750, and the ex
penditure £1240, the incidence of taxation being is. id. per head of
the population. Formerly the capital of an independent Province,
nominally part of the Madura kingdom . The fort, built on a remark
able wedge-shaped rock 1223 feet above the sea, to the west of the
town, remains in good preservation , having been occupied by a British
garrison until 1860. As a strategical point of great natural strength ,
commanding the passes between Madura and Coimbatore, its possession
has always been keenly contested . Between 1623 and 1659, it was
the scene of many encounters between the Marhattás and the Mysore
and Madura troops, the Poligár of Dindigal holding at that time feudatory
authority over eighteen neighbouring chieftains. Chánda Sáhib , the
Marhattás, and the Mysore troops occupied the fort in turn , and during
the intervals in which no greater power was in possession, the strongest
local chief made it his headquarters. In 1755, however, Haidar Ali
garrisoned Dindigal, and, while still ostensibly the faithful soldier of
Mysore, used it as the basis of his schemes for distant conquest and
self-aggrandisement, subduing in succession the powerful Poligars of
Madura , and annexing the greater part of that District, as well as Coim
batore, to his fief. As the gate to Coimbatore from the south, the fort
 DINDIVARAM - DIPALPUR. 169
proved, in the wars with Haidar, a serious obstacle to the operations
of the British troops at Trichinopoli and Madura. It was taken
by the British in 1767, lost again in 1768, retaken in 1783, given up
to Mysore by the treaty of Mangalore in 1784, recaptured on the
next outbreak of war in 1790, and finally ceded to the Company by
the treaty of 1792.
Dindivaram ( Tindivanam ). — Táluk in South Arcot District,
Madras. Area , 810 square miles, of which about four-fifths are culti
vated or cultivable, yielding a revenue of £55,155. Number of houses,
29,253. Pop. (1871), 239,784, viz. Hindus, 228,451 ; Muhammadans,
5145 ; Christians (native Roman Catholics), 2699 ; Buddhists and
Jains, 3489. Chief places, DINDIVARAM and GINGEE (Gingi).
Dingarh Kiner. – Village in Sirmúr State, Punjab . Lat. 30° 44' N.,
long. 77° 21' E. Stands on a picturesque site, in the gorge traversed by
the route from Náhan to Rájgarh . Northwards, it looks towards the
Chaur Mountain ; southwards, along the valley of the Jalál river.
Well-built flat-roofed houses, arranged in rows on the solid limestone
ledges of the mountain in its rear. The surrounding country , though
rocky, contains some fertile spots, which produce luxuriant crops of
wheat.
- A Rfort (with walls 15
siDingi.
nd.corces of _ angehe highlir Agen
feet high ) in the Khairpur State ,
Sind. Lat. 26° 52' n ., long. 68° 40' E . The rendezvous in 1843 of
the forces of the Mirs. Water supply abundant.
Dingier . - Range of mountains in the Khasia and Jaintia Hills
District, Assam . The highest peak is 6400 feet above sea level.
Diodar. — State, Palanpur Agency, Bombay. — See DEODAR .
Dipálpur. - Tahsil of Montgomery District, Punjab ; consisting for
the most part of desert waste , portions of which are being slowly
reclaimed under the influence of settled Government. Pop. (1868),
129,838.
Dipálpur.-- Ancient and decayed town in Montgomery District,
Punjab ; headquarters of the tahsil of the same name. Pop. (1868),
3628. Situated upon the old bank of the Beas (Bias), 17 miles from
the railway station of Okhára and 28 miles north - east of Pákpattan .
Dipálpur, now an insignificant village, once formed the capital of the
Northern Punjab under the Pathán emperors of Delhi; and even as
late as the 16th century, Babar mentions it as the sister city of Lahore.
General Cunningham attributes its foundation to Rájá Deva Pála ,
whose date is lost in immemorial antiquity . Tradition , however,
ascribes the origin of Dipálpur to one Bíja Chánd, a Kshattriya , from
whose son it derived its earliest name of Sripur. Old coins of the
Indo -Scythian kings have been frequently discovered upon the site ;
and General Cunningham believes that the mound, on which the
village stands, may be identified with the Daidala of Ptolemy.
170 DIPALPUR - DISAI.
Firoz Tughlak visited the city in the 14th century, and built a large
mosque outside the walls, besides drawing a canal from the Sutlej to
irrigate the surrounding lands. At the time of Timur's invasion,
Dipálpur ranked second to Múltán (Mooltan ) alone, and contained,
according to popular calculation, the symmetrical number of 84 towers,
84 mosques, and 84 wells. At the present day, only a single inhabited
street runs between the two gates. A high ruined mound on the
south -west, connected with the town by a bridge of three arches, pro
bably marks the site of the ancient citadel. The walls apparently
completed a circuit of 2 miles, but suburbs stretched around in every
direction, and may still be traced by straggling mounds and fields
strewn with bricks. The decay of the town must be attributed to the
drying up of the old Beas (Bias), after which eventmany of the inhabit
ants migrated to Haidarábád (Hyderabad) in the Deccan. The restora
tion of the Khánwa Canal, since the British annexation , has partially
revived the prosperity of Dipálpur as a local trade centre. Tahsili,
police station , sardi.
Dipálpur. — Town in Sindhia's territory, Central India ; situated in
lat. 22° 51' N ., and long. 75° 35' E., on the route from Mhow (Mau) to
Neemuch (Nímach), 27 miles north-west of the former, and 128 south
east of the latter. Pop. in 1820 (Thornton ), about 4000 ; number of
houses in the same year, 1035.
Dipla . — Táluk under the Thar and Párkar Political Superintendency,
Sind. Lat. 24° 16'to 24° 57' 15" N., and long. 69° 5' 30" to 69° 45' E ;
pop. (1872), 14,524. Revenue (1873-74 ), £2316, of which £2148 were
derived from imperial, and £168 from local sources.
Dipla .— Municipal town in the táluk of the same name in Sind. Lat.
24° 28' n.,long.69° 37' 30" E. ; pop. 893. Municipal revenue (1873-74),
£78 ; incidence of taxation per head, Is. gd. Headquarters of a
Múkhtyárkar. Ruined fort, built about 1790.
Dirápur. - Tahsil of Cawnpore District, North -Western Provinces.
- See DERAPUR .
Dísa ( Deesa). — Cantonment in Pálanpur State, Bombay ; situated on
the river Banás, in lat. 24° 14' 30' N., and long. 72° 12' 30" E., about
301 miles north -west of Mhow (Mau), 251 west by south of Nímach
(Neemuch ), and 370 north by west of Bombay. Pop. (1872), 5940.
The British cantonment is stationed on the left bank of the Banás, 3
miles north -east of the native town. Post and telegraph offices. Disa
is surrounded with a wall and towers, now in very bad repair. In
former times it successfully resisted the attacks of the Gaekwár and of
the Rádhanpur forces.
Disái. — River in Síbságar District, Assam ; rising in the Nágá Hills,
and flowing northwards into the Brahmaputra . On its left bank is
JORHAT, the most importantmart of river traffic in the District.
 DISAUN - DIU ISLAND. 171
Disaun. - River of Central India. — See DHASAN.
Diu .-- An island forming portion of the Portuguese possessions in
Western India ; situated in lat. 20° 43' 20" N., and long. 71° 2' 30" E.,
at the entrance of the Gulf of Cambay, near the southern extremity of
the peninsula of Guzerat (Gujarát). Its extreme length from east to
west is 6 miles, and its greatest breadth from north to south, i mile .
On the north it is separated from the mainland by a narrow channel,
practicable only for fishing boats and small craft. It has a small
but excellent harbour, where vessels can safely ride at anchor in 2
fathoms of water. The climate is generally dry and sultry, the soil
barren , and water scarce. Agriculture is much neglected. The
principal products are — wheat, millet, náchni, bájra , cocoa-nuts, and
some kinds of fruits. The entire population of Diu is computed at
10,765 persons, of whom 419 are Christians, 9575 Hindus, and 771
Muhammadans. In the days of its commercial prosperity , the town
alone is said to have contained above 50,000 inhabitants. There are
3017 houses, which , with very few exceptions, are poorly constructed .
Some of the dwellings are provided with cisterns, of which there are
altogether 300, for the accumulation of rain-water. Diu , once so opulent
and famous for its commerce, has now dwindled into utter insignificance.
Not long ago, it maintained mercantile relations with several parts of
India and Mozambique, but at present its trade is almost stagnant.
The customs revenue in 1874-75 amounted to £1394, 6s. The principal
occupations of the inhabitants were formerly weaving and dyeing, and
articles manufactured here were highly prized in foreign markets. At
present, fishing affords the chief employment to the impoverished
inhabitants. A few more enterprising persons, however, emigrate
temporarily to Mozambique, where they occupy themselves in com
mercial pursuits, and, after making a sufficient fortune, return to their
native place to spend the evening of their lives in comfort and repose.
The total revenue of Diu in 1873-74 was £3802, and the expenditure,
£3749, 145.
The Governor is the chief authority in both the civil and military
departments, subordinate to the Governor-Generalof Goa. The judicial
department is under a Juiz de Direito, with a small establishment to carry
out his orders. For ecclesiastical purposes, the island is divided into
two parishes, called Se Matriz and Brancawara, the patron saints being
St. Paul and St. Andrew . They are both under the spiritual jurisdic
tion of a dignitary styled the Prior, appointed by the Archbishop of
Goa. The office of Governor is invariably filled by a European, the
others being bestowed on natives of Goa. The public force consisted
in 1874 of 97 soldiers, including officers. The present fortress of Diu
was reconstructed, with several later improvements, after the siege of
1545, by Dom Joao de Castro. It is an imposing structure,
172 DIU ISLAND.
situated on the extreme east of the island, and defended by several
pieces of cannon, some of which are made of bronze, and appear
to be in good preservation. It is surrounded by a permanent bridge
and entered by a gateway, which bears a Portuguese inscription , and
is defended by a bastion called St. George. Towards the west of
the fortress lies the town of Diu, divided into two quarters, the pagan
and the Christian. The former comprehends two-thirds of the total
area, and is intersected by narrow and crooked roads, lined with houses.
The remaining portion of the island consists of two principal villages
- Musiwara , in the centre, and Brancawara , in the west. Besides
these, the Portuguese possess the village of Gogola, towards the north ,
in the Káthiáwár peninsula, and the fort of Simbor, conquered in 1722,
and situated in an islet about 12 miles distant from the town. .
Diu was formerly embellished with several magnificent edifices, some
of which are still in existence. Of these the most noteworthy is the
college of the Jesuits, erected in 1601, and now converted into a
cathedral, called Se Matriz . Of the former convents, that of St.
Francis is used as a military hospital ; that of St. John of God, as a
place of burial; that of St. Dominic is in ruins. The parochial hall
of the once beautiful church of St. Thomas serves as a place ofmeeting
for themunicipal chamber. The mint,where, in the days of the greatest
prosperity of the Portuguese,money of every species used to be coined,
is now gradually falling into decay. The arsenal, once so renowned,
contains a few insignificant military stores. Besides these buildings,
there are the Governor's palace, a prison , and a school, attended in 1870
by 20 pupils. The Hindus possess 10 small temples, and the Muham
madans 2 mosques, one ofwhich is in good condition.
Owing to the great advantages which the position of Diu afforded for
trade with Arabia and the Persian Gulf, the Portuguese were fired
from an early period with the desire of becoming masters of this island ;
but it was not until the time of Nuno da Cunha that they succeeded in
obtaining a footing in it. When Bahadur Shah, King of Guzerat, was
attacked by the Mughal Emperor Humáyun, he concluded a defensive
alliance with the Portuguese, allowing them to construct, in 1535, a
fortress in the island , and garrison it with their own troops. This
alliance continued till 1536 , when both parties began to suspect each
other of treachery. In a scuffle which took place on his return from a
Portuguese ship , whither he had proceeded on a visit to Nuno da
Cunha, the Guzeratmonarch met his death in 1537. In the following
year, the fortress was besieged by Muhammad 111., nephew of Bahadur ;
but the garrison, commanded by Antonio de Silveira, foiled the attempts
of the enemy, and compelled him to raise the siege. Subsequently,
in 1545, Diu was again closely invested by the same ruler ; but
was obstinately defended by the gallant band within , under the com
 DIVI POINT- DOAB. 173
mand cf Dom Joao Mascarewas. While the Muhammadans were still
under the walls, Dom Joao de Castro landed in the island with large
reinforcements, and immediately marching to the relief of the place,
totally routed the army of the King of Guzerat in a pitched battle.
This heroic defence, and the signal victory gained by Castro , which
form a brilliant page in the annals of the Portuguese empire in the
East, were followed by the acquisition of the entire island. In 1670, a
small armed band of the Arabs of Muscat surprised and plundered the
fortress, retiring to their country with the booty they had acquired.
Since this event, nothing worthy of note has occurred in connection
with the Portuguese settlement.
Diví Point. — A low headland in the Bander táluk, Kistna District,
Madras ; situated in lat. 15° 57' 30" N ., and long. 81° 14' E., at the
mouth of one of the branch outlets of the Kistna river, and surrounded
by shoal flats for 6 miles south and east, the edge of the shoal some
times extending 5 or 6 leagues out to sea. A dioptric light on a
column 43 feet high marks the danger. ' Diví False Point ' stands 16 }
miles north -west by west of ‘ Diví Point.'
Diwala . – Village in Chánda District, Central Provinces. — See
DEWALA.
Diwalgaon. – Village in Chánda District, Central Provinces. See
DEWALGAON.
Diwálgáon Rájá . — Town in Buldána District, Berar. – See DEUL
GAON RAJA.
Diwálghát. — See DEULGHAT.
Diwáliá . — Petty State in Kathiáwár, Bombay. - See DeWALIA.
Diwálwára. – Village in Wardha, Central Provinces. -- See DeWAL
WARA.
Diwalwára.- Ruined town in Ellichpur District, Berar. - See
DEWALWARA.
Diwángirí.– Village in the north of Kamrup District, Assam ;
situated in lat. 26° 51' N., and long. 91° 27' E., close beneath the
Bhután Hills. It is the site of a large annual fair, to which the
Bhutiás come down in large numbers, bringing gold -dust, silver, lead ,
knives, blankets, ponies, yáks' tails, etc., to exchange for rice, dried fish,
silk , madder, etc.
Diwás.- Native State in Central India. — See DEWAS.
Doáb (Duáb, or two rivers). - A tract of country in the North
Western Provinces, comprising the long and narrow strip of land
between the Ganges and the Jumna, from the Siwálik range south -east
ward . The name properly applies to any wedge-shaped tract enclosed
by confluent rivers, but it is especially employed to designate this great
alluvial plain , the granary of Upper India . The Doáb includes the
British Districts of SAHARANPUR, MUZAFFARNAGAR , MEERUT, BULAND
174 DOABA DAUDZAI - D0D. BALLAPUR.
SHAHR, ALIGARH , parts of MUTTRA, and AGRA, ETAH , MAINPURI, the
greater portion of Etawah, and FARRUKHABAD, CAWNPORE, FATEHPUR,
and part of ALLAHABAD, — all of which see separately. Naturally a rich
tract, composed of the detritus brought down from the Himalayan system
by its great boundary rivers, the Doáb has been fertilized and irrigated
by three magnificent engineering works, the Ganges, the lower Ganges,
and the Eastern Jumna Canals. Throughout its entire length it pre
sents an almost unbroken sheet of cultivation , varied only by a few
ravines along the banks of the principal streams and their tributaries,
or by occasional patches of barren usar plain , covered with the white
saline efflorescence known as reh . It supports a dense population,
most of whom derive their subsistence from agriculture . ALLAHABAD,
CAWNPORE,MEERUT, and ALIGARH form the chief commercial centres,
and the principal stations of the civil and military authorities. The
East Indian Railway enters the Doáb at Allahábád, and passes through
the heart of the tract, by Cawnpore, Etáwah, and Aligarh, to Delhi on
the opposite shore of the Jumna. A branch line also runs across the
river to Agra . The Sind, Punjab, and Delhi Railway continues the
East Indian line from Gházíábád Junction, nearly opposite Delhi,by
Meerut, Muzaffarnagar, and Saharanpur, to Umballa (Ambála ) and the
other Punjab towns. The Doáb thus possesses unrivalled means of com
munication, both by land and water, with all the neighbouring tracts ;
and its surplus grain can be transported in almost every direction, upon
any pressure of scarcity or famine. Three principal divisions are
commonly recognised ; the Upper Doáb, from Saharanpur to Aligarh ;
the Middle Doáb , from Muttra and Etah to Etawah and Farrukhábád ;
and the Lower Doáb , from Cawnpore to the junction of the two rivers
at Allahábád. For history, inhabitants, and other particulars, see the
various Districts separately .
Doába Dáúdzái. - Tahsil of Pesháwar District, Punjab, including
the tongue of land between the rivers Swát and Kábul, above their
junction , together with the strip of territory to the south of the Kábul.
Area, 156 square miles ; pop. (1868), 72,676 ; number of villages, 174.
Consists for the most part of a fertile and well-watered plain , inter
sected by ravines and artificial channels.
Dobbili. — Zamindári, Vizagapatam District, Madras. - See BOBBILI.
Dodábetta (' The Big Mountain ; ' Toda-Nanc - Petmartz). — The
highest peak of the Nilgiri Mountains, Madras. Lat. 11° 25' n., long.
76° 40' E. ; height, 8760 feet above the sea.
Dod -ballapur. — Táluk in Bangalore District, Mysore. Area, 292
square miles ; pop. (1871),63,707 ; land revenue (1874-75), exclusive
of water rates, £9655, or 2s. rod. per cultivated acre.
Dod -ballapur (Great Ballapur, to distinguish it from CHIK -BALLA
PUR). — Municipal town in Bangalore District,Mysore, on the rightbank
 DODDERI- DOHARIGHAT. 175
of the Arkavatí river ; lat. 13° 13' 40" n ., long. 77°22' 50 ” E.; 27 miles by
road north -west of Bangalore ; pop. (1871), 7449, being 6610 Hindus and
839 Muhammadans ; municipal revenue (1874-75), £62 ; rate of taxa
tion , 2d. per head. The fort was built in the 14th century by one of
the refugees of the Morasu Wokkal tribe, who also founded Devanhalli.
In 1638, it was captured by a Bijapur army under Ran -dullá Khán ;
and after forty years ' possession by that power, was surrendered to the
Marhattás. About 1700, it was again taken by the Mughals, by whom
it was entrusted to a succession of rulers as part of the Province of
Sira, until annexed to Mysore by Haidar Ali in 1761. In the fort are
the remains of several fine buildings and tanks. Cotton cloth of good
quality and great variety is woven. A weekly fair, held on Thursdays,
is attended by 3000 people. Headquarters of a táluk of the same
name.
Dodderi. — Village in Chitaldrúg District, Mysore. Lat. 14° 17' 50"
N., long. 76° 45' 5" E. ; pop. (1871), 1003. Gives its name to a táluk
with headquarters at Chalakere ; area, 851 square miles ; pop. (1871),
77,231 ; land revenue (1874 -75 ), exclusive of water rates, £10, 369, or
25. uid . per cultivated acre. Among the local manufactures are cotton
cloth , silk scarves, kamblis or country blankets, carts, agricultural
implements, brass utensils, and various articles of bamboo and leather.
The industry of papermaking has died out.
Dodka. – One of the petty States in Rewa Kánta, Bombay, ruled by
three chiefs called Pátels. Area, 24 square miles ; estimated revenue,
£220, of which £110 is payable as tribute to the Gáekwár of Baroda.
Dohad . — Chief town of the Subdivision of the same name in the
District of the Pánch Maháls, Bombay. Lat. 22° 53' N ., and long. 74°
19' E.; 77 miles north -east of Baroda ; pop. ( 1872), 11,472. As the
name Dohad (or ' two boundaries ') implies, the town is situated on the
line separatingMálwá on the east from Guzerat (Gujarat) on the west.
It is a place of considerable traffic, commanding one of the main lines
of communication between Central India and the seaboard . The
strongly -built fort dates from the reign of the Guzerat King Ahmad 1.
(1412-1443). It was repaired by Muzaffar 11. (1513-1526), also a
Guzerat monarch , and is said to have been again restored under the
orders of the Emperor Aurangzeb ( 1658-1707). The town contains a
sub-judge's court, post office, and the District jail. In addition to the
unarmed police , the Guzerat Bhil corps, 530 strong, is quartered at
Dohad. This regiment is not on the rolls of the army, but is com
manded by the superintendent and assistant superintendent of police.
About half the strength of the corps is employed on outpost duty.
Dobarighat. — Town in Azamgarh District, North-Western Provinces;
lies in lat. 26° 16 ' N., and long. 83° 33' 30 " E., on the bank of the
Gogra, at the point where the roads from Gházípur and Azamgarh to
 176 DOLPHINS NOSE - DONABYU MYOMA.
Gorakhpur cross the river. Extensive through traffic to the Oudh and
Rohilkhand Railway. Great bathing festival on the full moon of the
month of Kártik .
Dolphin's Nose. — Promontory and lighthouse in Vizagapatam District,
Madras. Lat. 17° 41' N., long. 83° 17' E. The southern point of
Vizagapatam harbour, 640 feet above the sea , and forming, with the
ruined castle on it, a conspicuous landmark to mariners. The light
( fixed ) is visible 5 miles to seaward.
Domáriaganj. — North -western tahsıl of Basti District, North
Western Provinces. Traversed by the river Rápti, and consisting chiefly
of a marshy and water-logged submontane plain , suitable only for the
cultivation of rice. Area, 582 square miles, of which 410 are culti
vated ; pop. ( 1872), 259,047 ; land revenue, £26 ,650 ; total Govern
ment revenue, £29, 373 ; rental paid by cultivators, £65, 960 ; incidence
of Government revenue, is. 5 d. per acre.
Domel. - An island in the Mergui Archipelago, between lat. 11° 26 '
and 11° 28' n., and long. 98° 2' and 98° 11' E., forming a portion of
Mergui District, Tenasserim Division , British Burma. It lies 3 or 4 miles
west of Kissering, the navigable channel between them , however, being
very narrow . Extreme length from north to south , about 28 miles ;
breadth from east to west, about 4 miles.
Domeli.— Agricultural town in Jhelum (Jhſlam ) District, Punjab.
Lat. 33° 1' N., long. 73° 24' E. ; pop. ( 1868), 4135. Headquarters of
a police circle (tháná).
Donabyú. — A township in Thonkhwa District, Pegu Division, British
Burma. It lies principally on the right bank of the Irawadi (Irrawaddy),
and was formerly a part of Henzada District ; it is now protected from
inundation by extensive embankments along the west bank of the river.
Pop . (1876 ), 36,122 ; gross revenue, £10,856.
Donabyú. — A town on the right bank of the Irawadi, 35 miles
south of Henzada, in Thonkhwa District, Pegu Division, British Burma.
Lat. 17° 15' n ., long. 95° 40' E. The inhabitants in 1876 numbered
5800 ; revenue (1875 -76), £425. In the first Anglo -Burmese war, after
the capture of Rangoon , the Burmese commander-in -chief, Bandúla,
entrenched himself in Donabyú with a force of 15,000 men ; but he was
killed by the bursting of a shell when the British batteries opened fire
on the town, and the Burmese retreated. During the second war, the
Burmese general evacuated the place before the arrival of the English ;
but shortly after this,MoungMyat Htún made it his headquarters. He
was finally routed in 1853, by a detachment under Captain Loch, R .N .,
and later on was overtaken by Sir John Cheape and killed . From this
time Donabyú remained in undisputed possession of the British .
Donabyú Myoma. — A revenue circle on the right bank of the Irawadi
(Irrawaddy), in Thonkhwa District, Pegu Division , British Burma. The
 DONGARGARH - DOUNG -GYI. 177

southern part was formerly subject to inundation, but is now protected

by embankments. Pop. ( 1876 ), 7328 ; gross revenue, £1513.
Dongargarh . — A small village in the south -east of the Kháiragarh
Chiefship , attached to Ráipur District, Central Provinces. Lat. 21° 11'
30" N., long. 80° 50' E. Formerly an important town, and still the
seat of a large weekly market. The remains of the fort, which must
have been a place of great strength , stretch along the north -east base of
a detached rocky hill, about 4 miles in circuit, near the village. The
spurs of the hill, which is very steep and covered with large boulders,
were connected by walls of rude and massive masonry, inside which
tanks were dug, while a deep fosse ran beyond the walls. On its other
faces the hill is almost inaccessible, and no works can be traced. Nor
have any remains of buildings been found, although the fort could only
be held by a large garrison.
Dongarpur. - Native State in Rájputána. - See DUNGARPUR.
Dongartál. – Village in Seoni District, Central Provinces. Lat. 21°
36 ' n., long. 79° 24' E. Situated on the old road between Seoni and
Nagpur. Celebrated for its breed of cattle. Fine tank and ruins of an
old fort.
Doranda. — Military cantonment in Lohárdagá District, Bengal ;
situated to the south of Ránchí, the civil station of the District. Lat.
23° 21' 31' N ., long. 85° 22' 5" E. It has a parade ground and a rifle
range, with a small bázár. Military force quartered here (1874), the
33d Regiment of Madras Native Infantry. A rural municipality under
Actxx. of 1856. Municipal revenue (1876-77), £30. Population not
separately returned by the Census of 1872.
Dornal Ghát. — A pass over the Eastern Gháts, Nellore District,
Madras. Lat. 14° 41' N., long. 79° 14' E. The main road to
Cuddapah from Nellore (41 miles distant east by north ) and the coast
passes through it.
Double Island. — A small island about 12 miles south of Amherst
Point, Tenasserim Division, British Burma. It is raised high above the
sea,and lies in lat. 15° 52' 30" N ., and long. 97° 36 ' 30" E . On it stands
a lighthouse containing a dioptric fixed light of the first order, with a
catadioptric mirror visible 19 miles, and first exhibited in December
1865. Its object is to guide ships making for Maulmain , and to pre
vent their running up the Tsittoung river to certain destruction .
Doulatábád . — Town, Salem District, Madras. - See KRISHNAGIRI.
Doungbún. — Revenue circle in Prome District, Pegu Division,
British Burma ; situated to the north -east of Lake Eng-ma in a highly
cultivated rice country. Pop. (1876 ), 9296 ; gross revenue, £2078.
Doung-gyi. — Town in Bassein District, Pegu Division, British
Burma ; situated on the Bassein river, in lat. 17° 22' 30" N., and long. 95°
8' E, surrounded by an open waste country , which is covered with grass
VOL. II. M
178 DOUNG -MANA - DRAVIDA .
and tree forest, and liable to inundation. The inhabitants are chiefly
employed in fishing and in the manufacture of clay pots for salt-boiling.
Doung -mana. — Revenue circle in Martaban township , Prome
District, Pegu Division, British Burma. Pop. (1876), 544 ; gross
revenue, £157.
Dowlaishvaram (Dowlaishwar; Davaleshwaram , or "White Siva ').
— Town in the Rájahmundry táluk, Godavari District, Madras. Lat.
16° 56' 35" n., long. 81° 48' 55" E. ; houses, 1376 ; pop. (1872), 7252.
Situated 5 miles south ofRájámahendri (Rajahmundry), at the bifurcation
of the Godavari river, where the great anicut has been constructed .
During its construction , Dowlaishvaram ,as the headquarters of the sappers
and miners and a large engineering staff, was a place ofmuch importance.
At present it is the permanent station of the District engineering staff ;
the Government workshop established here turns out work for the
Public Works Department valued officially at £17,000 per annum .
The houses of the former European residents, built on the hills in the
neighbourhood, are now in ruins. Quarries of good building stone are
here worked to the extent of 10,000 cubic yards annually , and the
demand appears to be increasing year by year. During the wars
between the Sithapatis of Rájámahendri (Rajahmundry) and the
Muhammadan rulers of Ellore, in the 15th and 16th centuries, Dow
laishvaram was the usual crossing point of the contending armies, and
the scene, therefore, of frequent struggles. At present the town is con
nected with the coast at several points by numerous navigable canals of
the Godávari irrigation system . - See GODAVARI RIVER.
Dowlatábád . — Town in the Nizám 's Dominions. — See DAULAT
ABAD .
Drafa . – One of the petty States of Hallár in Kathiáwár, Bombay.
It consists of 24 villages, with 9 independent tribute-payers. The
revenue is estimated at £6000 ; tribute is paid of £370 to the British
Government, and £116 to the State of Junágarh.
Dravida .— A Division of the Peninsula , ethnological and philological
rather than geographical, comprising all India south of the Vindhya
range and the Narbadá (Nerbudda) river, except Orissa and those parts of
Western India and the Deccan where Guzerathi and Marathiare spoken.
As early as 404, Dravida is spoken of (in the Brihat Samhita of Varaha
Mihira ) as being divided into Chola, Pandya, Kerála, Karnataka,
Kalinga, and Andhra. Manu mentions the inhabitants, ' the Dravidas,'
as outcasts and barbarians, ie. not in communion with Brahmans.
Modern authoritiesassign 12 dialects to the Division , the four chiefbeing
Támil, spoken in Pandya, Chola, and Eastern Kerala , i.e. throughout
the central and southern Districts of Madras ; Telugu, the language
of the Kalinga and Andhra countries, or “ Telingana,' corresponding
to the Northern Circars,' spoken by a population of 144 millions;
 DRUG - DUBLANA. 179

Malayalam , spoken in Western Kerala , i.e. Malabar, Travancore,

and Cochin , the language of about 4 millions; and Kanarese, in ‘ Kar
natika,' or Kanara, Mysore, and a few tracts of the Wynád and
Coimbatore, comprising about 9 million inhabitants. Tulu is spoken
round Mangalore by some 300,000 persons, and in Coorg , in the Province
of that name, by some 150,000. The other six 'uncultivated ' dialects
belongida may be takihe words Dravida , as also the identity of Pto
belong to some 24 millions of people, so that the entire Division of
* Dravida ' may be taken to include nearly 46 millions of inhabitants.
The identification of the words Dravida and Tamil (or Tamul) hasbeen
ingeniously proposed by a modern scholar,as also the identity ofboth with
the Dimyrice of the Peutingerian tables and the Limyrice of Ptolemy.
The great authority on the languages of Southern India is Bishop Cald
well's Comparative Grammar. As Dravida is a linguistic and not an
administrative division, the above inadequate notice must suffice here.
Drág. - Tahsil or Revenue Subdivision in Raipur District, Central
Provinces. Lat. 20° 45' 30" to 21° 33' N., and long. 80° 54' to 80° 41'
E ; pop. ( 1872), 295,153, residing in 980 villages or townships, and
64,625 houses ; area , 2198 square miles.
Drúg . - Town in Raipur District, Central Provinces, lying in lat.
21° 11' N., and long. 81° 21' E , on the Great Eastern Road, 24 miles
west of Raipur. Pop. ( 1870), about 2200. Headquarters of tahsil of
same name. The Marhattás made Drúg their base of operations in
1740-41, when they overran Chhatisgarh . Besides occupying the
ancient fort, which is now dismantled, they formed an entrenched camp
on the high ground on which the town stands, commanding a clear view
of the surrounding country. Drúg manufactures excellent cotton cloth,
and has a tahsili, police station, girls' school, town school, post office,
travellers' rest-house, and dispensary.
Duáb. — A long narrow wedge-shaped tract of country enclosed by
two confluent rivers. The name is specially applied to designate the
great alluvial plain between the Ganges and the Jumna. – See DOAB.
Dúb .— Pass in Kashmir State, Punjab , on the route from Attock to
Kashmir by the Báramula road. Lat. 34° 17' n ., long. 73° 21' E.
Held by freebooters during the Sikh period , whom Hari Sinh attacked and
exterminated. Lies on thewatershed dividing the feeders of the Kishan
ganga and the Jhelum on the east, from those of the Indus on the west.
Dubári. — Agricultural town in Azamgarh District, North-Western
Provinces. Lat. 26° 11' 26" n., long. 83° 49' 5" E.; area, 138 acres ;
pop. ( 1872), 5014.
Dubláná . — Town in Bundi ( Boondee) State , Rájputána. Lat. 25°
35 ' N., long. 75° 41' E. ; 272miles south -west of Mhow (Mau), and 235
north of Delhi. Scene of a battle fought in 1744 between the forces of
the exiled Rájá of Bundi and of Jaipur (Jeypore ), in which the former
were defeated .
180 DUBRAJPUR - DUJANA.
Dubrájpur. – Town in Bírbhúm District, Bengal. Lat. 23° 47' 35"
N., long. 87° 25' E. A fine town, containing an akbári or excise officer's
bungalow , a munsif's kachári or subordinate judge's court, and a police
station ; also a good market for English piece-goods, cloth , brass pots,
sugar, lac, rice, and sweetmeats. Dubrájpur is surrounded by tanks,
the banks of which are generally planted with fan -leaved palms, yielding
a powerful spirit from their juice,which brings in a considerable revenue
to Government. The supply of fish in the tanks is inexhaustible. In
the south of the town, huge picturesque rocks of granite and gneiss
(composed of glassy quartz, pink and grey felspar, and black mica)
crop up through the soil, covering an area of about one square mile. In
the centre is a vast block of granite united to a mass of gneiss, which
adheres to it at an angle of 45°. A good view of the surrounding
country, with the Parasnáth Mountain , Rájmahal and Pánchet Hills, in
the distance, can be obtained from the summit of this rock , which is
about 60 feet high . A flat-roofed temple has been built on one of these
granite rocks, and the whole block is worshipped by the Brahmans as
Mahadeo.
Dúdhpur. – One of the petty States in Rewa Kánta , Bombay. The
State contains an area of gths of a square mile. The chief is Rahtor
Umedbáwa. The revenue is estimated at £30, and tribute of £3 is
paid to the Gáekwár of Baroda.
Dúdhráj. – One of the petty States of Jhaláwár in Kathiáwár,
Bombay. It consists of 2 villages, with 3 independent tribute -payers.
The revenue is estimated at £1834 ; a tribute of £110 is paid to the
British Government and £9 to the Nawab of Junágarh .
Duduyá. — One of the chief rivers of Jalpaiguri District, Bengal ;
formed mainly by the junction of the Gayerkatá and Nanái, which
streams, after uniting, flow in a south -easterly direction through the
Western Dwars of Jalpaigurí, passing into Kuch Behar territory at a
village called Dakálikobá Hát. Its principal tributaries are the
Gulandi, the Kaluá or Rehti, Barabank, Demdema, and Tásátí, all of
which rise in the Bhután Hills.
Dugria. – One of the petty States in the Bhopal Agency, under the
Central India Agency and the Government of India . On the settle
ment of Malwa, Rájá Khán, brother of the notorious Pindári chief
Chítu , was allowed an assignmentofland in Shujáwalpur for his lifetime.
But in 1825 he was assured that, in consideration of his past good
conduct, the circumstances of his family would receive favourable
consideration after his death. In accordance with this promise, at his
death the estate was divided among his five sons. The third son
received Dugria , and his descendant Karim Baksh is now chief.
Dujána. - One of the Native States, under the Government of the
Punjab ; situated between 28° 39' 15 " and 28° 42' 15" n. lat., and
 DULHI- DUM -DUM . 181

between 76° 37' and 76° 43' E. long. Muhammad Sádat Ali Khán, the
Nawab of Dujána, comes of an Afghán stock. The estates of the family
were originally granted to Abdul Samand Khan and his sons for life by
Lord Lake, as a reward for service rendered . In 1806 , the tenure was
made perpetualby a sanad of theGovernor-General, and several estates in
Hariána District were added, which were afterwards exchanged for the
villages of Dujána and Mehana in Rohtak. Dujána is about 37 miles west
of Delhi. The chief holds his tenure on conditionswhich may be briefly
described as fidelity to the British Government and military service when
required. The force to be furnished on application is 200 horse. The
territories of the Nawab are not more than 100 square miles in extent.
The principal products are opium and grain . There is a force of cavalry
and infantry, including police, amounting to 130 men. The population
in 1875 was estimated at 27,000, and the supposed gross revenue at
£6500 per annum .
Dulhí. — Town in Kheri District, Oudh ; 2 miles north -east of the
Chauka river . Pop. ( 1869), 2400 Hindus and 205 Muhammadans— total,
2605. Formerly the residence of a large landholder, who was trans
ported , and his estates confiscated , for disloyal conduct during the
Mutiny.
Dumagudiem ( Dooma). — Town in the Badráchalam táluk, Godá
vari District, Madras. Lat. 17° 48' n., long. 80° 55' E. ; pop. ( 1871),
1400, chiefly Kois. Situated on the Godavari river, 15 miles above
Badráchalam and 101 north of Rájámahendri (Rajahmundry). Until
recently the headquarters of the Upper Godávari engineering works, and
still the station of an executive engineer, with police establishment and
post office. With the rest of the táluk, the town formed part of the
Nizam 's territory until 1860, when it was incorporated with the Central
Provinces. In 1874, it was transferred to Madras. The ‘ first barrier '
on the Godavari is at Dumagudiem . - See GODAVARI RIVER.
Dum -Dum .- Subdivision of the District of the Twenty-four Parganas,
Bengal; situated between 22° 34' and 22° 41' n. lat., and between 88° 26 '
and 88° 31' E. long. It consists ofthe single police circle (tháná) of Dum
Dum . Area, 24 square miles; villages, 41; houses, 6855. Pop. (1872),
34,291 - of whom 19,127, or 55.8 per cent.,were Hindus ; 13,726, or 40
per cent.,Muhammadans ; 1421, or 4' 1 per cent., Christians ; and 17 of
other religions. Proportion ofmales to total population , 53-8 per cent. ;
average number of persons per square mile, 1444 ; villages per square
mile, 1972 ; persons per village, 836 ; houses per square mile, 289 ;
inmates per house, 5 '6 . One magisterial court in 1870 -71; general
police force, 104 men ; village police, 47 men ; cost of Subdivisional
administration returned at £1577, 125.
Dum -Dum (Dam -Damá). — Municipal town and cantonment in
Dum -Dum Subdivision, Twenty-four Parganas District, Bengal. Lat.
182 DUM -DUM - DUMRAON .
22° 37' 52" N ., long. 88° 27' 51" E. ; 41 miles north -east of Calcutta.
Pop. ( 1872), 5179 ;municipalrevenue (1876 -77), £127, or 5 d. per head,
including the troops. The strength of the force stationed here in 1873
was as follows: — Headquarters of62d Foot, consisting of 12 officers and
626 non-commissioned officers and men ; and a detachment of the 27th
Native Infantry, consisting of 2 native officers and 108 non-commis
sioned officers and men ; total of all ranks, 110 ; grand total, 784.
The barracks are built of brick and very commodious, with a bázár
some distance from the lines. Dum Dum is a station on the Eastern
Bengal Railway ; contains an English school. In Major Smyth 's
Report, referring to a period anterior to 1857, it is stated that
Dum -Dum was the headquarters of the artillery from 1783 until
their removal to Meerut, a more central station , in 1853. At that
date the town possessed a magazine and percussion cap manufactory ;
barracks ; European and native hospital; a large bázár; several clear
water tanks ; and a Protestant church , containing monuments erected to
the memory of Colonel Pearse, the first commandant of the artillery
regiment, and of Captain Nicholl and the officers and men of the ist
troop, ist brigade, Horse Artillery, who perished during the retreat
from Kábul in 1841. The treaty by which the Nawab of Bengal rati
fied the privileges of the British , and restored the settlements at
Calcutta , Kásimbázár, and Dacca, was signed at Dum Dum , February
6, 1757.
Dum -Dum . - Valley and pass in Kashmir State, Punjab ; situated in
lat. 33° 45' N ., and long. 75ºE., between the Fateh Panjal and Pír Panjal
Mountains, at an elevation of 11, 800 feet above sea level. Through it
lies the route from the Punjab to Kashmir by Rájáwar. The Rem
beara river rises on its summit, and, flowing north -east, falls into the
Jhelum (Jhílam ).
Dumká. - Subdivision and town in the District of the Santál Par
ganás, Bengal. - See Naya DUMKA.
Dumrá Falls. - A succession of rapids in Hill Tipperah, Bengal;
situated just below the point where the Chaima and Ráimá unite to
form the Gumti. These rapids continue for a distance which is
reckoned a day's journey by water, and end in a grand picturesque
cascade, which leaps into a pool whence the stream issues through a
narrow gorge.
Dumraon.— Municipal town in Sháhábád District, Bengal. Pop.
(1872), 17, 356. Lat. 25° 32' 59" N., long. 84° 11' 42" E. Station on
the East Indian Railway Municipal revenue (1876-77), £557 ; rate
of taxation per head, 41d.
Dumraon . - Branch of the Arrah Canal in Sháhábád District, Bengal;
with its 12 distributaries forming a portion of the Són system . It is
403 miles long, and leaves the main canal at the 17th mile.
 DUMURDAH - DUNGARPUR STATE. 183
Dumurdah.— Town in Húgli District, Bengal; situated on the Húgli
river just above Naya Sarái, in lat. 23° 2' 15 " N., and long. 88° 28'
50" E. Notorious for its gangs of river dákáits, and as the home of
the ill-famed robber chief Biswanath Babu, who was at last betrayed
by one of his comrades and hanged on the scene of his capture. Even
as recently as 1845, it was said that people fear to pass by this place
after sunset, and no boats are ever moored at its gháteven in broad
daylight.' The population of Dumurdah is not separately returned in
the Census of 1872.
Dún. - A range of hills in the north -west of Champaran District,
Bengal; extending in a slightly south -easterly direction from the Rohuá
nadí to the Achuí nadi, a distance of about 20 miles, the average
breadth being 4 miles. It has been suggested by some that this range is
adapted for tea cultivation ; others consider the climate too dry. The
Dún valley is inhabited by the aboriginal tribe of Thárus.
Dunal Ghát. — Pass over the Eastern Gháts, Nellore District,
Madras. — See DORNAL GHAT.
Dundwáraganj. - Small trading town in Etah District, North
Western Provinces. Lat. 27° 43' 50" N., long. 78° 59' 34 " E.;
area , 65 acres ; pop. ( 1872), 5414 , being 2778 Hindus and 2636
Muhammadans. Situated on the Saháwar and Patiálí road, 22 miles
north -east of Etah. Consists of two separate villages, Dundwáráganj
and Dundwára Khás, sufficiently close to one another for inclusion
under a common title. Derives its name from a colony of Dundiya
Káyasths, established on the spot by Shaháb-ud -din Ghori in 1194 A.D.
Básár, market-place, sarái, school. The central roadway generally
presents a busy scene, and the town , though small, containsmany com
paratively wealthy residents.
Dungagali (Dungá Gáſ). — Small sanitarium in Hazára District,
Punjab ; composed of a few houses, or rather huts, scattered over the
southern slopes of the Mochpura Hill, belonging to Europeans, who
visit it from Abbottábád and Murree. Staging bungalow and branch
post office.
Dúngarpur.- Native State in Rajputána, under the political superin
tendence of that Agency and the Government of India. It extends from
lat. 23° 31' to 24° 3' N ., and from long. 73° 37' to 74° 16' E. Its length
from east to west is 40 miles, and breadth from north to south 35 miles ;
total area, 952 square miles. Bounded on the north by Udáipur
(Oodeypore) ; on the east by Udaipur and the river Máhi, which
separates it from the State of Bánswára ; on the south by the Mahi ;
and on the west by the Mahi Kánta Agency in Guzerat (Gujarát). The
country consists for themost part of stony hills covered with low jungle
of cactus, jujube trees, and a gum -producing tree called salar by the
natives, together with several other varieties of shrubs and trees requir
184 DUNGARPUR STATE.
ing neither a deep soil nor moisture. In the north and east of the
State the landscape is wild and rugged, but towards the south -west
border the harsher features are much softened, and for several miles
the country resembles Guzerat in character and appearance. There
are two or three large forest tracts, producing blackwood, ebony, and
other valuable timber-trees. Of pasture land, properly so called, there
is scarcely any; and during the hot season the numerous cattle
kept by the Bhils are reduced to a miserable state of leanness. The
cultivated area is almost entirely confined to the valleys and low ground
between the hills, where the soil is of a rich alluvial nature, and can
be irrigated from numerous wells and tanks. On the hillsides, the only
cultivation attempted is by burning down occasional patches of forest,
and scattering seed in the ashes. Though the country is broken and
hilly, none of the hills attain a great height. The geological structure
of Dúngarpur is of trap ; the rocks belong to the granitic, primitive, or
metamorphic order of formation, their chief constituents being gneiss,
hornblende, argillaceous schist or clay slate, mica , calcareous sandstone,
quartz, etc. A good durable stone of the granitic class, fit for building
purposes, is quarried from a hill about 6 miles south of the capital. A
soft greenish greystone (serpentine) is found near the village of Matu
gamra, about 6 miles east of the capital. This is carved extensively
at Dúngarpur town and elsewhere, into idols, drinking cups, and
effigies of men and animals. Another species of hard stone (basaltic ),
of which grindstones and similar articles are manufactured, is mined
near the town of Sagwára . Lime is found in tolerable abundance, but
not of very pure quality. No attempt ever appears to have been made
to work an iron mine in this Province, although the presence of this ore
in the form of iron pyrites is manifest.
The only rivers are the Mahi and Som , which meet near the sacred
temple of Baneshwar, where a large fair is held every year. The Mahi
divides the State from Banswara, and the Som from the estate ofSalumbar
in Udaipur (Oodeypore). Both these streams are perennial, although
in several places the water of the Som runs in a subterranean channel,
suddenly disappearing and emerging again , apparently but little affected
by its temporary subsidence. The bed of the Máhi is on an average
about 300 or 400 feet in breadth , and is, on the whole, very stony. Its
banks are in many parts steep, but never very high, and are thickly
lined in many places with Vitex trifolia (chaste tree), called by the
natives bena, which affords cover in the hot weather to tigers and other
wild beasts.
The natural productions of the State are — wheat, barley, gram ,
millet, Indian corn , rice, and a few inferior sorts of grain ; also cotton,
opium , oil-seeds, ginger, chillies, turmeric, and sugar-cane. Vegetables
(onions, yams, sweet potatoes, egg plants, and radishes) are grown in
 DUNGARPUR STATE. 185
considerable quantities. Fruit is not abundant, little else being seen
but melons, limes, mangoes, and plantains. Mahuá trees are very
numerous, and from their fruit a strong fermented liquor is distilled.
The total population is estimated in the Gazetteer of Dúngarpur
(1878) at 175,000 souls. Three-fourths of the inhabitants are Hindus,
one-eighth Jains, and one-eighth Musalmáns. The Bhils aggregate
about 10 ,000 souls. There are said to be sixteen first-class nobles and
thirty-two of inferior rank, who compose the aristocracy of the State.
All these Thákurs are Rájputs, who hold their land nominally by grant
from the ruling chief, but really by right of kinship or alliance with his
family ; their united estates comprise lands in which are situated
170 villages. The principal traders are the Hindu Mahájans and the
Bohras. A number of Patháns and Mekránis reside in Dúngarpur
territory,most of whom are employed as soldiers or armed attendants.
The language spoken is a mixture of Guzerathi and Hindustání, locally
called Bágar.
Some years ago, carefully prepared statistics showed that the total
land revenue of Dúngarpur amounted to about £18,335, of which
£7968 went to the State, £9196 to the Thákurs, and the balance to
the religious orders. The State pays tribute to the British Govern
ment of Salim Shahi Rs. 3500. No schools have been established
in Dúngarpur, nor is there any system of education . All civil and
criminal cases of any importance are settled by a court presided
over by the diwan or minister, from which, however, an appeal lies
to the Maháráwal. There are six police centres, at each of which
is stationed an official called a thánádár. The thánádárs are of two
classes ; the first can sentence offenders to one month 's imprisonment,
or impose a fine of 50s. The second can impose a fine of £1, or
eight days' imprisonment. There is a jail at the capital.
There are no made roads in the State. The principal towns are the
capital DUNGARPUR,Galliákot, and Sagwára. Two fairs are held during
the year, one at Baneshwar in February or March, the other at Galliákot
about the end of the latter month , each lasting about fifteen days.
Baneshwar is also a place of Hindu pilgrimage.
Maháráwal Udái Sinh is the present chief of Dúngarpur. He
belongs to the Sesodiá clan of Rájputs, and claims descent from an elder
branch of the family which now rules at Udaipur (Oodeypore). The
early history of the family is not known with certainty ; but when the
Mughal Empire had been fairly consolidated, the Dungarpur chief appears
to have opened communication with the court. His successors paid
tribute and did military service. Upon the fall of the Empire, Dúngarpur
became tributary to the Marhattás, from whose yoke the prince and his
people were rescued by the British , and a treaty was concluded in
1818. As in other States inhabited by wild hill tribes, it became
186 DUNGARPUR TOWN - DUNRENG .
necessary at an early period of the British supremacy to employ a
military force to coerce the Bhíls, who had been excited to rebellion
by some of the disaffected nobles. The Bhil chiefs, however, sub
mitted to terms before actual hostilities commenced. The Maháráwal
Jaswant Sinh was found incompetent as a ruler, and deposed by the
British Government in 1825. His adopted son , Dalpat Sinh, second
son of the chief of Partábgarh, was made regent, and succeeded him .
But on his accession to the State of Partábgarh, he was permitted to
adopt the present ruler, Udái Sinh, then a minor, as his successor in
Dúngarpur. The military force consists of 4 guns, about 400 cavalry,
and 1000 infantry. The chief is entitled to a salute of 15 guns.
Dúngarpur.— Town and residence of the Maháráwal of the State
of the samename in Rajputána ; lies in lat. 23° 52' n., long. 73° 49'
E ., on the route from Nímach (Neemuch ) to Dísa (Deesa ), 139 miles
south -west of the former and 121 miles south -east of the latter. The
town is overlooked by a hill about 700 feet high, and 5 miles in cir
cumference at base, which , with the Maháráwal's palace on its summit,
and a lake at its foot, forms a striking picture.
Duni. — Town in Jaipur (Jeypore) State, Rájputána. Lat. 25° 52' x.,
long. 75° 38' E. ; 70 miles south of Jaipur.
Dúnran. — A tidal creek in Thonkhwa District, Pegu Division,
British Burma. Its total length is 13 miles, and it runs from the To or
China Bakir in a southerly direction to the sea. The depth of water
varies from fathom to 8 or 9 fathoms, the northern end being shallow ,
and the southern deep ; the water is sweet, except at spring tides when a
high bore is formed . The Dúnran,on account ofnumerous shoals, is only
navigable by small boats. On its rightbank, in the interior,stretch exten
sive plains abounding in game ; and on the left, wild elephants are found.
Dúnreng . - A peak in the Zwai-ka-beng Hills, north of Maulmain ,
Amherst District, Tenasserim Division, British Burma. It is difficult
of ascent, owing to the precipitous nature of the limestone rocks. At
the summit is a large basin , which appears to be the crater of an
extinct volcano ; this is surrounded for miles by dark precipitous crags
of every form . Down a steep descent of one or two hundred feet,
an uneven plain covered with a luxuriant forest is seen. This impreg.
nable natural fortress has been the refuge of the Karengs for many
generations. Its great drawback is the deficient water supply. It is
said that a large number of Karengs besieged here by the Siamese,
perished for want offood and water. Dúnrengmeans “ City of weeping,'
and derives its name from this tradition .
Dúnreng. - Revenue circle in Amherst District, Tenasserim
Division, British Burma; situated on the western slopes of the
Zwai-ka-beng Hills. Pop. (1876), 1881, chiefly Karengs ; land revenue,
£236, and capitation tax, £256.
 DUNTHAMIE - DURGARA YAPATNAM . 187
Dúnthamie. - River in the Tenasserim Division, British Burma,
which has never been thoroughly explored. It rises somewhat below the
latitude of Shwe-gyeng, between the Bhíleng and Salwin rivers, and,
after a very tortuous course southwards, unites with the Kyouk-tsarit in
about lat. 16° 59' 30" N., to form the Bhenglaing, a tributary of the
Salwin . Navigable by native boats. In the upper part of its course
it flows through a hilly teak-covered country, and its tributary streams
facilitate the transport of the timber in the rains.
Dúnwon . — A village in Tha-htún township, Amherst District,
Tenasserim Division , British Burma ; situated on the left bank of the
Bhíleng river now embanked. Pop. (1876), 281. In former times
Dúnwon was an important walled city , and the chief town of the sur
rounding country. In 1306 and 1351, when it formed a portion of
Martaban , it was captured by the King of Zeng-mai, east of the Salwin ;
later on, it was taken by Radzadierit.
Dára. — Revenue circle in Henzada District, Pegu Division, British
Burma The country is low and well cultivated, and protected from
inundation by the Irawadi (Irrawaddy) embankments. Pop. (1876),
7216 ; gross revenue, £3153.
Dura . - An extensive group of intercommunicating lakes in Henzada
township, Henzada District, Pegu Division , British Burma. The Dúra
proper is about 2 square miles in extent, and is connected with the
Irawadi (Irrawaddy) by the Atha-rwot stream ; it is divided into two
portions by an island. The Moshún portion is 21 miles in length, and
from 300 to 400 yards in breadth , with a depth of from 6 to 9 feet of
water in the dry season . The other chief lakes are the Engtha-nwot,
length 1400 feet, maximum breadth 700 feet, and depth of water 4 to
6 feet ; and the Mobalai, with about 5 feet of water in the dry weather.
These lakes are fed by the drainage of the surrounding country, but
the Irawadi embankments have now closed the mouths of the streams
by which they communicated with that river during the rains.
Durduria. - Site of a ruined fort in Dacca District, Bengal, said
to have been built by the Bhuiyá Rájás; its popular name is
Ránibárí. Dr. Taylor states that the fort is. laid out in the shape of
a crescent, bounded by the river Banar. In 1839, the outer wall,
upwards of 2 miles in circuit, was 12 or 14 feet high . The citadel,
which appears to have had three openings, contains the remains
of two buildings, one of which seems to have been a tower. Opposite
to Durduria are the foundations of a town, of which the only vestiges
existing in 1839 were mounds and loose bricks scattered over the
surface of the plain .
Durgárayapatnam (Zuvarayapatam ,‘City of the Minister,' Telugu).
- Town in the Gúdúr táluk, Nellore District, Madras. Lat. 13° 59' N.,
long. 80° 12 ' E .; houses, 372 ; pop. (1871), 1970. Formerly the chief of
188 DUROD - DWARKA .
the groupofsmall ports — Púdi, Pamanji, Túpili — lying near the Armeghon
lighthouse, but now of as little commercial importance as the others ,
the East Coast Canal having diverted the coasting traffic upon which
they depended. Still possesses a customs' station and a fine travellers'
bungalow . The salt manufacture at this place is of some repute.
Historically, Durgárayapatnam , or Armeghon as it is sometimes called,
is of interest as being the first British settlement on the Coromandel
coast. In 1625, after unsuccessful attempts to settle at Pulicat and
Masulipatam , a colony was established here ; and in 1628 a factory
was built at Chenna Kupam (renamed ' Arumugam ,' in recognition of
the friendly aid given by Arumugam Modelliar, the chief man of
the native town ), and fortified with 12 guns. The remnants of the
Masulipatam settlement was then transferred here. But owing to the
interference of the Dutch at Pulicat, and the hostility of the Rájá of
Venkatagiri, the trade languished ; and on the chief factor's recommenda
tion to move the settlement to some spot south of Pulicat, the site of
Madras city was purchased.
Durod . — One of the petty Statesof Jhaláwár in Kathiáwár, Bombay.
It consists of i village, with 2 independent tribute-payers. The
revenue is estimated at £118 ; tribute of £36 is paid to the British
Government, and £5 to the Nawab of Junagarh .
Durrung . - District of Assam . -- See DARRANG .
Dussara. — One of the petty States of Jhaláwár in Káthiáwár,
Bombay. It consists of 22 villages, with 6 independent tribute -payers.
The revenue is estimated at £6000 ; a tribute of £1296 is payable to
the British Government.
Dutieya Khareng.-- Revenue circle in the Gyaing Attaran township,
Amherst District, Tenasserim Division, British Burma. It occupies a tract
of country stretching southward from the junction of the Hlaingbhwai
and Houngtharaw rivers. Pop. (1876), 477, mainly Karengs ; land
revenue, £46, and capitation tax, £60.
Dwárband. - Pass in the Tilain range of hills, in Cáchár District,
Assam , through which the road has been led joining Hailakándi with
the station of Silchár.
Dwarikeswar.– River of Bengal. — See DHALKISOR.
Dwarká. - A place of Hindu pilgrimage, situated in the peninsula
of Káthiáwár, Bombay, within the dominions of the Gaekwár of Baroda.
Lat. 22° 14' 20" N., and long. 69° 5' E.; 235 miles south -west of
Ahmedabad , and 270 west of Baroda ; pop. (1872), 4712.
Dwarká (or Babla). - An unnavigable river of Bengal, rising in the
Santál Parganas District; in lat. 23° 57' N .,and long. 87° 21' E. Thence
it enters Bírbhúm from the north , and from Birbhúm passes into
Murshidábád near Margrám town. At first the course of the Dwarká
is easterly, until joined by the Bráhminí stream at Rámchandrapur.
 DWARKESWAR - DWARS, EASTERN. 189
It then turns towards the south -east, and receives the Mor and Kuiya,
two rivers also flowing down from Bírbhúm towards the Bhagirathi.
At this point the numerous back -waters commence which connect the
Dwarká with the BHAGIRATHI, a branch of the Ganges or Padma.
Dwarkeswar. – River of Bengal. - See DHALKISOR .
Dwár-khaling . – Forest reserve in Darrang District, Assam , skirt
ing the southern base of the Bhután Hills. Area,6242 acres. The
mahal or fiscal division of the same name has an area of 194 square
miles ; pop. (1872), 7224 ; revenue ( 1875), £1487.
Dwars, Eastern . — The Subdivision of the Eastern Dwars formsan
integral portion of Goálpára District, under the Chief Commissioner of
Assam . It lies between 26° 19' and 26° 54' n. lat., and between
89° 55' and 91° E . long. It is bounded on the north by the hills
of Independent Bhután ; on the east by the Manás and Dhirsuti
rivers, separating it from the District of Kámrúp ; on the south by the
main portion of Goálpára District ; and on the west by the Gadadhar or
Sankosh river, which separates it from the Western Dwars, attached to
Jalpaiguri District, in Bengal, and the State of Kuch Behar. Accord
ing to the Revenue Survey conducted in 1869-70, the area amounts to
1568-10 square miles, and the population to 37,047 persons. The
Census of 1872 was not extended to this tract. The principal town ,
or rather village, is BIJNI; but the Subdivision is administered from
GOALPARA town , the headquarters of the entire District.
Physical Aspects. — The Eastern Dwars form a flat strip of country ,
lying beneath the Bhután Mountains. The only elevated tract is
Bhumeswar Hill, which rises abruptly out of the plains to the height of
nearly 400 feet, andmay be regarded as a detached spur of the Gáro
Hills on the south of the Brahmaputra. The remainder is an absolute
level, intersected by numerous streams, and overgrown with wild vege
tation. In some parts there are extensive tracts of sál forest ; but the
greater portion is covered with heavy grass and reed jungle, amid which
the beautiful cotton-tree (Bombax pentandrum ) is the only timber-tree
to be seen . This grass jungle is especially thick along the banks of the
rivers, where it is almost impenetrable to man . The few villages are
marked by clearings of rice and mustard cultivation. The houses
themselves are embowered in clumps of bamboos and plantains, above
which tower the graceful betel-nut, palm , and various fruit trees. At
the foot of the mountains, where the rivers debouch upon the plain , the
scenery assumes a grander aspect.
The following eleven rivers are navigable by native boats throughout
the year : - Manás, Dalání, Pákájání, Aí, Kánámákrá, Chámpámáti,
Gauráng, Saralbhángá, Gangiá, Gurupálá , and Gadádhar. In addition,
there are numerous small streamswhich become navigable during the
rainy season. By far the most important channel of communication is
 190 DWARS, EASTERN.
afforded by the Manas,which might be navigated by steamers of light
draught. All the rivers take their rise in the Bhután Hills, and flow in
a southerly direction into the Brahmaputra. Their beds are filled with
boulders in the hills, but they become sandy as they advance into the
plain . There is a peculiar tract of pebbles, gravel, and sand fringing
the hills, into which the water of all the minor streams sinks during the
greater part of the year, not again appearing above ground until it
reaches the alluvial clay.
The valuable forests of the Eastern Dwars have recently been placed
under Government supervision . The area which has been declared
open forest ' amounts to 422 square miles, or just one quarter of the
aggregate area of the Subdivision About 80 square miles are sál
timber, which is described as the most valuable property in the whole
Province of Assam , and should yield an annual produce of 25,000
trees. At present, however, owing to the indiscriminate havoc wrought
in former years by the Bengali woodcutters, there are no mature trees
left standing. Besides sál (Shorea robusta ) the following timber-trees
are carefully preserved in an open forest ': - Sissu (Dalbergia sisu ;
khair (Acacia catechu ), and chelauni (Schima vel Gordonia mollis) ;
all other timber is free. The great danger to which the forests are
exposed is the spread of júm cultivation, by which fresh tracts of jungle
are fired every year. Stringent regulations are enforced against this
practice within Government reserves. The jungle products include
lac, bees-wax, pipáli or long pepper (Chavica roxburghii), and a creeper
from which a red dye called asu is obtained. No metals or mineral
products are known to exist. Wild animals of all kinds abound,
including elephant, rhinoceros, buffalo, tiger, bear, hog, and deer.
History. This tract first became British territory as the result of the
Bhután war of 1864, and does not possess any independent history of
its own. It is known , however, that the despotic rule of the Bhutiás
was only of recent date. The earliest dynasty that can be localized in
this tract is that of Visu Sinh, the ancestor of the Kuch Behar Rájás,
who founded an empire in the 16th century on the ruins of an earlier
kingdom , extending from Darrang in the upper valley of the Brahma
putra to the frontier of Purniah in Bengal. But this wide empire
rapidly fell to pieces, owing partly to the anarchical system , by which
large tracts were granted out as appanages to younger sons of the royal
family. In this way the Rájás of Bijni and Sidli Dwars, as well as
the Rájá of Darrang, acquired their present estates. While the State
thus became enfeebled, invaders were pressing forward from every
quarter. On the west, the Mughals rapidly advanced, and annexed the
permanently -settled portion of Goálpára to their Province of Bengal.
The wild tribe of Ahams spread down the Brahmaputra valley, and
maintained themselves at the ancient capital of Gauhati against the
 DWARS, EASTERN. 191
Musalmán armies. At about the same time, the Dwars or lowland passes
along the foot of the mountains fell to the Bhutiás, who here found the
cultivable ground that their own bare mountains did not afford . They
exercised predominant influence over the whole tract from the frontier
of Sikkim as far east as Darrang, and frequently enforced claims of
suzerainty over the enfeebled State of Kuch Behar. They do not
appear to have occupied this tract permanently, but merely to have
exacted a heavy tribute, and subjected the miserable inhabitants
to the cruellest treatment. In contradistinction to the results of
Muhammadan rule, it is to be observed that the Buddhism of the
Bhutiás has left no traces in the religion of the native population.
Kuch Behar was delivered from the Bhutiá tyranny by the treaty of
1772, in accordance with which the Rájá placed himself under British
protection , and paid tribute to the East India Company. The Bhután
Dwárs, as they were called, remained for nearly a century longer in a
state of anarchy. In 1863, a British ambassador was subjected to gross
insults by the Bhután Government; and, as a punishment, it was
resolved to annex the Dwars to British territory. Accordingly , in
December 1864, four strong military columns made a simultaneous
advance, and occupied the low country and the hill passes above, after
slight opposition . In the tract known as the Western Dwars, which
is now a portion of the Bengal District of Jalpaiguri, a temporary
reverse to the British armswas experienced in the following spring ; but
before the close of 1865, the Bhutiás consented to accept the terms of
peace which had been offered to them before the outbreak of hostilities.
By this treaty the Dwars were ceded in perpetuity to the British
Government, and an annual allowance of £2500 was granted to the
Bhután Rájá , which sum may be increased to £5000, or withdrawn
altogether, at the option of the British. Since that date our relations
with Bhután have been entirely peaceful. The frontier raids, which
were formerly of frequent occurrence, have altogether ceased. A brisk
traffic has sprung up on the frontier, and cultivation is rapidly extending
in the annexed territory.
The Bhután Dwars were forthwith divided into the two administra
tive Districts of the Eastern and Western Dwars, of which the latter
has since been apportioned between the Bengal Districts of Jalpaiguri
and Dárjiling. The Eastern Dwars were at first placed in charge of a
Deputy Commissioner, with his headquarters at the village of Datmá, in
the Goálpára pargana of Khuntaghát. In December 1866 , they were
completely incorporated with the District of Goálpára, and have since
shared in all the changes of jurisdiction by which that District has been
transferred between Bengal and Assam . Since 1872, when Assam was
erected into an independent Province under a Chief Commissioner, the
Eastern Dwars have been permanently detached from Bengal. But
 192 DWARS, EASTERN.
though the settled portion ofGoálpára and the Eastern Dwars are under
the control of a single officer, the system of administration is quite
distinct. By Act xvi. of 1869, all matters relating to immoveable
property, revenue, and rent, are exempted from the jurisdiction of the
civil courts. The property in the soil is vested in the State. By the
settlement which expired in March 1877, leases were granted for seven
years. In some of the Dwars these leases were granted direct to the
cultivators, without the interposition of any middle-men ; but in other
cases the Rájás received farming leases of the whole area over which
they claimed to exercise authority. The latter system has not been found
advantageous ; and for the future it has been proposed to effect the
land assessmentwith the cultivators year by year,according to themethod
universally adopted in Assam proper. During the settlement of 1869-70
a careful record was made of all rights and interests in the land , and the
extension of cultivation was greatly encouraged. It is believed that the
population has approximately doubled during the ten years that have
elapsed since British annexation.
Population. — At the time of the settlement of 1869-70, the Deputy
Commissioner personally conducted an enumeration of the people , and
consequently it was not thought desirable to repeat the operation at the
regular Census in 1872. The enumeration of the Deputy Commissioner
showed a total population of 37,047 persons, dwelling in 2863
enclosures or villages and in 6888 houses. The area of the Eastern
Dwárs is 1568 squaremiles, which gives the following averages :- Persons
per square mile, 53, varying from 50 in Bíjni Dwár to only 1 in Chirang
Dwár ; houses per square mile, 4'39. The average number of persons
per enclosure is 12'94 ; of persons per house , 5 '38. The detailed
Census forms of race and religion were not applied to the Eastern
Dwars. The Deputy Commissioner, however, obtained returns of the
male and female population according to age, and of the tribe or caste
of the adult males. The males number 19, 240, and the females,
17,807 ; proportion of males, 52 per cent. Divided according to age,
there are, under twelve years,6763 boys and 5613 girls — total, 12,376,
or 33 per cent. of the population . The great bulk of the inhabitants
belong to the two aboriginal tribes of Mech or Cáchári and Koch
or Rájbansí. The number of Hindus proper is very small, and the
Muhammadans only number 110, who are supposed to represent pro
selytes made at the time of the Mughal conquest of Goálpára. The
Mechs are returned by the Deputy Commissioner as numbering 8752
adult males, or 70 per cent of the total. This tribe is generally
regarded as cognate to the Koch, Cáchárí, Gáro , and Rábhá, all of
whom inhabit this part of the country. According to local authority,
the names of Mech and Cáchárí are indifferently applied to the same
people, the latter name being especially used in the extreme east of the
 DWARS, EASTERN . 193
District. The tribe is widely scattered over all North-Eastern Bengal,
being able to support life in the malarious tardi that continuously
fringes the first slopes of the Himalayas. In the Eastern Dwars, and
especially in Sidli Dwar, where, under the Bhután Government, they
remained comparatively free from Hindu influences, they have pre
served their own language and customs in greater purity than elsewhere.
They describe themselves as having originally come from a place they
call Rangsar, on the south side of the upper valley of the Brahmaputra,
whence they were gradually pushed westwards into Assam . Their
occupation of the Eastern Dwars is said not to date back for more than
a hundred years. Owing to the anarchy that prevailed in Assam towards
the close of the last century, the majority of the population crowded
into the frontier District of Goálpára. The upper classes returned
to Assam upon our annexation of the Province in 1824-25 ; but
the poorer wanderers settled permanently in the parganás of Khuntághát
and Hábrághát, whence they have recently spread into the Eastern
Dwárs. At the present time, they are rapidly falling under the influence
ofHinduism , and converts find no difficulty in being received among
the Rájbansi and other mongrel castes. Their indigenous religion
consists in the propitiation of evil spirits by the sacrifice of fowls. Con
verts to Hinduism are known as Soroniás, but the change does not
seem to be very extensive ; they are only required to bathe, to call on
the name of someguru or spiritual instructor, and to abstain from pork
and liquor. Their social condition is very low . They do not appear to
have ever achieved any form of polity of their own. They have but few
traditions, no ancient songs, no monuments, no written character, and
no literature of any kind. Their marriage ceremony preserves the
primitive form of abduction. They still retain migratory habits, which
are illustrated by the nomadic form of agriculture known as júm , On
the other hand, they are not destitute of the virtues of savages. They
are more uniformly honest and trustworthy than the lowland peasantry ;
chastity is esteemed a virtue, and crime of any sort is rare. Above all,
the Mechs are possessed of a physical constitution that enables them to
live and flourish all the year through in a malarious tract which is
absolutely fatal to strangers ; and their rude methods of agriculture are
gradually rendering the country habitable for successors of a superior
race. The Rájbansis number 2400 adult males, or 20 per cent. of the
total. This tribe is identical with the Koch of Assam and of Kuch
Behar. They are said to have originally inhabited the lower ranges of
hills to the north , and to have first descended into the plains in about
the 16th century. The high -sounding name of Rájbansi, meaning of
the royal kindred,' is adopted by those Kochs who have embraced
Hinduism , as well as by converts from other aboriginal tribes.
Among Hindus proper, the Bráhmans number 16 adult males ; the
VOL. III, N
 194 DWARS, EASTERN.
Rájputs, 2 ; the Káyasths, 13 ; the Banias or shopkeepers, 1. The
most numerous of the pure Súdra castes is the Kolitá (23), who acted
as priests to the native kings of Assam , and are now engaged as peons,
Bairagis, oro. religious
clerks, and cultivators. The Bairágís, temales;mendicants
the Ga Samofájthehas
Vishnuvite sect, are returned at 20 adult males ; the Goswámís or
Gosáins, who are their spiritual preceptors, at 5. The BrahmaSamajhas
no followers in the Eastern Dwárs. Two native Christian preachers
have recently been stationed at Bijni by the Church Missionary
Society .
The population is absolutely rural, every person being directly
engaged in agriculture. The only village that possesses a permanent
bázár is BIJNI, and even small shops are rarely to be seen. There is
abundance of spare land that can easily be brought under cultivation,
and the sparsely scattered inhabitants are described as being all
prosperous and contented . Immigration is steadily going on from the
neighbouring parganás of Kámrúp and Goálpára, and the new -comers
at once amalgamate with the rest of the people, as they are usually of
the same race.
Agriculture, etc. — The staple crop throughout the Eastern Dwars is
rice, which is cultivated in three principal varieties. The áus or ása
crop is sown on comparatively high lands in March ; it is not trans
planted, and reaped in July. The báo or bává, which is a long-stemmed
variety, is not much grown. The aman, haimantik, or sáli furnishes the
greater portion of the food supply ; it is sown broadcast in nurseries in
June, transplanted in the following month , and reaped in December.
Mustard seed is extensively grown as a second crop after áus rice.
Minor crops include vegetables, barley , pulse, tobacco, pán or betel-leaf,
and betel-nut (Areca catechu). According to the Survey of 1869-70 ,
out of a total area of more than one million acres, only 51,224 , or
about one-twentieth, are under cultivation, — thus subdivided : sáli rice,
32,296 ; dus rice and mustard, 15,498 ; homestead lands, 2493. The
Mechs follow the júm method of cultivation, and raise a good deal of
cotton on their forest clearings in addition to the ordinary crops.
Manure is only used for the pán plant, and then in the form of refuse
from the cow -sheds. Irrigation is universally practised in the case of
the sáli rice crop. The cultivators combine to cut channels from the
hill streams, by which they distribute the water over their fields. Waste
land is abundant on all sides, and consequently the same fields are
never cultivated after they begin to lose their natural productiveness.
Aus land is generally abandoned after two years ; but sáli land continues
to yield annual crops for a longer period. The entire soil is the
property of Government, and, by the settlement of 1869-70, was leased
out for a term of seven years, on conditions favourable to the spread of
cultivation. The rates of rent then fixed were the following :- For
 DWARS, EASTERN , 195
homestead and sálí lands, 3s. per acre ; for áus lands, is. 6d. per acre .
The average out-turn from an acre of sálí land is estimated at about
23 cwts. of paddy or unhusked rice, valued at £2, 155. ; an acre of dus
land yields about 15 cwts. of paddy, and an additional 5 cwts. of
mustard seed, the whole being valued at £2, 5s. Women and children
are largely employed in the fields.
No professional class of day-labourers exists in the Eastern Dwárs ;
but coolies may sometimes be obtained for 4d. a day. Agricultural
labourers are generally remunerated by being allowed to retain a fixed
share of the produce, without having any interest in the soil. Artisans
also, such as smiths or carpenters, are paid in kind for any odd job they
may do. The price of rice varies regularly with the season of the year.
Best rice shortly after harvest sells at about 5s. 5d. per cwt., which
gradually rises through the year till it reaches 8s. 2d., just before the
áman crop is gathered. Similarly the price of common rice varies from
25. 8d. to 5s. 5d per cwt. Unhusked paddy fetches from one-third to
one-half the price of cleaned rice. The prices of food grains were not
affected by the famines of 1866 and 1874.
Since the Eastern Dwars came under British rule in 1864, such a
calamity as the general destruction of the harvest by either flood ,
drought, or blight has been unknown and unthought of. The rice
crops have been occasionally injured by river floods and excessive local
rainfall. The irrigation universally practised by the cultivators furnishes
an efficient guarantee against the effects of drought. If an unpre
cedented misfortune were to happen, and the price of rice were to rise
to ios. per cwt. at the beginning of the year, that should be regarded as
a sign of approaching famine. The wild tribes, however, know how to
support life on various jungle products, and the numerous rivers afford
amplemeans of communication. The only road in the Eastern Dwars
is one that crosses the whole Subdivision from east to west, running a
length of 73 miles. It is interrupted by unbridged rivers and swampy
tracts, and becomes altogether impassable during the rainy season.
Wheeled carts are nowhere used.
Manufactures, etc. There is no manufacturing class in the Eastern
Dwars. In addition to their livelihood of agriculture, the people make
for themselves their own houses, their own clothes, baskets, and mats.
Brass utensils and pottery require to be purchased from Goálpára.
The only article manufactured for sale is a coarse silk fabric called eriá ,
which is woven from the cocoons of a worm fed on the castor-oil plant
(Ricinus communis). A piece, 14 feet long by 4 feet broad,sells for from
125. to £1, according to the fineness of its texture. The Mechs also
hollow out the trunks of trees into boats, called dungás, which are floated
down the streams in the rainy season for sale on the Brahmaputra. This
industry is mainly supported by advances from the Goálpára merchants.
 N
196 DWARS, WESTER .
The trade of the Eastern Dwars is mainly conducted by barter, and is
in the hands of Márwárí merchants from Goálpára and Kámrúp. Boats
come up the rivers during the rainy season, and transact their business
at the villages on the river banks. There are no large permanent
markets. The principal articles of export are rice, mustard seed , eriá
cloth , cotton, india-rubber, a dye called ásu , timber, and boats ; in
exchange for which are received brass -ware, pottery , salt, cotton cloth ,
oil, spices, cocoa-nuts, and miscellaneous hardware . In ordinary
seasons, the crops provide a considerable surplus for exportation .
Administration. — The Subdivision consists of the following 5 Dwars :
- BIJNI — area 374 square miles, pop. (1870) 18 ,837 ; SIDLI— area 361
square miles, pop. 12,696 ; CHIRANG — area 495 square miles, pop. 756 ;
Ripu — area 242 square miles, pop. 2645 ; GUMA — area 96 square miles,
pop. 2113. The administrative statistics cannot be separated from those
of the District of Goalpára, and are given in the aggregate in the special
article on that District. It is there stated that the total land revenue
from temporarily settled estates, which may be assumed to be co -exten
sive with the Eastern Dwars, amounted in 1874-75 to £5158, collected
from 27 estates. The tract is entirely administered from Goalpára
town, and no European officer is permanently stationed in it.
A settlement of the land revenue was made for seven years in 1870.
Chirang Dwar was held khás, or, in other words, engagements were
taken from the occupants actually in possession ; for the four other Dwárs
collective leases were granted to neighbouring landlords or chiefs.
Provision was made for the protection of occupancy rights, and permis
sion to extend cultivation was conceded to the leaseholders, who receive
the profits arising from such extension during the currency of their
term . The following is a brief sketch of the recent history of Sidli
Dwar :- It was settled with Gaurí Náráyan, the hereditary Rájá of
Sidli, at a revenue of £1939 a year,which sum had been arrived at
after a regular measurement of the cultivated land, and a deduction of
30 per cent. for landlord 's profits and cost of collection . In the first
year of his lease, the Rájá failed to discharge the Government demand,
and the estate was forthwith placed under the Court of Wards, who
have equally failed to collect the assessed revenue. In 1874-75, after
the payment of certain allowances to the dispossessed Rájá and his
infant son , only £1620 remained to be paid into the treasury .
Dwars, Western . - Subdivision of Jalpaiguri District, Bengal. This
tract, together with the EASTERN DWARS, was taken from the Bhutiás,
and annexed to British India in 1864, in order to put a stop to
incessant raids by the Bhutiás upon the people in British territory lying
along the foot of the hills (vide supra, p . 191). These Dwars are 9 in
number, viz. :- (1) BHALKA, area (1870 ), 119 square miles; 856 houses;
pop. 6544 ; (2) BHATIBARI, area, 149 square miles; 824 houses ; pop.
 EASTERN DWARS- EDAR STATE. 197
5874 ; (3) BAXA, area, 300 square miles ; 714 houses ; pop. 5142 ; (4)
CHAKOA-KSHATTRIYA, area, 138 square miles ; 277 houses ; pop. 2335 ;
(5) MADARI, area, 194 square miles ; 663 houses ; pop. 4961; (6 )
LAKSHMIPUR , area, 165 square miles ; 577 houses ; pop. 3780 ; (7)
MARAGHAT, area, 342 square miles ; 1846 houses ; pop. 11,873 ; ( 8)
MAINAGURI, area, 309 square miles ; 8134 houses ; pop. 44,416 ; (9)
CHENGMARI, area, 146 square miles ; 903 houses ; pop. 5138. Total
area (1870 ), 1862 square miles ; 14,794 houses ; pop. 90,063. Later
returns give the area at 1880 square miles.

Eastern Dwárs. — Tract of country in Goálpára District, Assam .--

See DWARS, EASTERN .
Eastern Ghats. - Mountain range extending along the Eastern .
coast of India . - See GHATS.
Edar. — The principal Rajput State of the Mahi Kánta Agency in
Guzerat (Gujarát), under the political superintendence of the Govern
ment of Bombay ; bounded on the north by Sirohi (Sirohee) and Udái
pur (Oodeypore), on the east by Dúngarpur, and on the south and west
by the territories of the Bombay Presidency and the Gáekwár of Baroda.
Estimated pop. (1875 ), 217,382 ; estimated gross revenue,including transit
dues, £60,000. The exact area of the State has not been ascertained,
but the area of land under cultivation is estimated at 200,000 acres. Soil
generally fertile ; in some places it is of a light sandy nature, in others
rich and black ; towards the north and north -eastern parts near the hills,
poor and stony. A peculiar feature of the country is the abundance of
mahuá, mango, khirni, and other fruit trees. The jungle in some parts,
particularly at the foot of the hills, is very thick and intersected with
ravines. Principal products - grains, oil-seeds, sugar-cane ; manu
factures - opium , and a small quantity of country soap. There are
quarries in the neighbourhood of Ahmednagar, and the stone is used
for building purposes.
The greater part of the population are Kolis, the remainder consists
of Rajputs, Bráhmans, Banias, Kúmbís, etc. The present ruling family,
though Rajputs of the most ancient lineage, only arrived in Edar at a
comparatively recent date. Tradition relates that the original sovereigns
of Edar, as in most of the rest of Guzerat, were Bhalsúr Kolis. The
last chief of this tribe was named Sambla. Being a debauched and
vicious man, his ministers conspired against him , and invited Ráo
Sonag of Simatra, the ancestor of the Ráos of Pol, to their aid . This
chief killed Sambla , and took possession of his territory. About twelve
generations of this family are reckoned to the expulsion of Jagannath,
198 EDAR STATE .
the last Ráo of Edar, in 1656, by Murad Baksh , at that time the
Subahdár of Guzerat. A Desai or Deputy was afterwards placed in
charge of Edar for some years. In 1729, Anand Sinh and Rái Sinh,
two brothers of the Raja of Jodhpur, accompanied by a few horsemen
from Vamo and Pálanpur and the Kolis of Godwára , established
themselves in Edar without much difficulty. This family is the last
that effected a settlement in Guzerat by conquest. They are said to
have acted under an order from Delhi; but the truth seems to be, that
they were tempted by the state of the country, and most likely assisted
by the Márwár princes, who at that period held the Subahdárí of
Ahmedabad. The Edar principality consisted of the districts of Edar,
Ahmednagar, Morása , Báad, Harsol, Parántij, and Vizápur, to which
five other districts were rendered tributary . Some years after the con
quest, at the instigation of the Desai above mentioned, who appears
to have been displaced by the Márwárís, an officer in the service of
Damájí Gáekwár, named Bachájí Duvájí, was despatched on the part
of the Peshwá to take possession of Edar. This he accomplished
with the aid of the Rahwár Rájputs, the servants of the late Ráo.
Anand Sinh was killed about 1753 ; and Bachájí, after leaving a detach
ment behind, returned to Ahmedábád. Rái Sinh, however, collected a
force, and again obtained possession of Edar. Seo Sinh , son of Anand
Sinh , now became ruler under the guardianship of his uncle Rái Sinh,
who died in 1766. During the rule of Seo Sinh, the State was
stripped, by the Peshwá, of Parantij, Vizápur, and half of the three
districts of Morása , Báad, and Harsol, which districts were afterwards
ceded by the Peshwa to the British Government. The other half of the
Edar territories fell to the Gaekwár, who contented himself with the
exaction of a share of the annual revenues, which at the settlement of
1812 was fixed in perpetuity at Rs. 24,001 (say £2400) for Edar, and
Rs. 8952 (say £895) for Ahmednagar. Seo Sinh died in 1791,
leaving five sons, the eldest of whom , Bhawan Sinh , succeeded him , but
died in a few days, leaving the State to his son Gambhir Sinh , a boy of
ten years. Dissensions in the family now arose , which resulted in the
temporary dismemberment of Edar. Sugram Sinh, second son of Seo
Sinh , who had received Ahmednagar from his father in feudal grant,
assumed independence ; and with his assistance Zalim Sinh and Amír
Sinh , two other sons of Seo Sinh , after a long struggle possessed them
selves respectively ofMorása and Baad during Gambhir Sinh's minority.
Indra Sinh , the fifth son of Seo Sinh , who was blind, received Sur
and three other villages for his support. Sugram Sinh , chief of Ahmed
nagar, died in 1798, and was succeeded by his son Kuran Sinh. Zalim
Sinh ofMorása died childless in 1806, and his appanage ought to have
lapsed to Edar. His widow , however, was allowed by the Gáekwár to
adopt Pratáp Sinh, Kurun Sinh's brother, on whose death , in 1821,
 EDAR TOWN - EDWARDESABAD . 199
Morása was united with Ahmednagar. On the death of Amír Sinh of
Báad without children, the reversion was claimed both by Edar and
Ahmednagar. The chief of Ahmednagar, Kuran Sinh, died in 1835 ,
and was succeeded by his son Takht Sinh, who was elected ruler of the
State of Jodhpur in 1843. On his removal to Jodhpur, he still claimed
the right to retain Ahmednagar in his family ; but in 1848, the British
Government decided that Ahmednagar should revert to Edar, and with
it Morása and Báad .
Mahárajá Juwán Sinh, a Knight Commander of the Star of India,and
a member of the Legislative Council of Bombay, died in 1868, and
was succeeded by his son Keshri Sinhjí, the present Mahárájá ,who was
born in 1861. He is a Rajput of the Rahtor clan and the Joda family.
He exercises first-class jurisdiction , having power to inflict capital
punishment. He holds a sanad giving him the right of adoption,
and is entitled to a salute of 15 guns. There are many relatives of
the Mahárájá and feudal chiefs whose ancestors helped to secure the
country for the present dynasty, and who now enjoy large estates on
service tenures. The revenues of the State are shared by the Rájá with
these feudal chiefs . In 1875, out of a total gross revenue of £60,000,
it was estimated that only £25,000 was received by the central authority.
The Mahárájá receives £1914 annually from several chiefs in the Mahi
Kánta , and pays £3034 as tribute to the Gáekwár of Baroda. The
chiefs subordinate to Edar hold their estates on condition of military
service, the quota being 3 horsemen for every £100 of revenue. The
actual force maintained by them amounts to about 568 cavalry, and
the samenumber of infantry, all undisciplined.
Edar. – Chieftown of the State of the samename in Guzerat, Bombay.
Lat. 23° 50' N., long. 73° 4' E.; 64 miles north -east of Ahmedabad.
The town is traditionally known as Ildúrg .
Eddawána. – Village in Malabar District, Madras ; situated in lat.
11° 59' 45" N., and long. 75° 45' 50" E., on the left bank ofthe Beypore
( Bepur) river, at the head of its navigable course, and 8 miles above
Ariákod. Houses, 820 ; pop. ( 1871), 4471.
Edwardesábád (or Dhulipnagar). — Municipal town, cantonment,
and administrative headquarters of Bannu District, Punjab. Pop.(1868),
3176 . Situated in lat. 32° 59' 45" N., and long. 70° 38 ' 51" E , near
the north -west corner of the District, 1 mile south of the river Kuram ,
and 89 miles north of Derá Ismail Khán. Founded in 1848 by Major
(afterwards Sir Herbert) Edwardes, who selected the site for political
reasons. The fort, erected at the same time, bore the name of
Dhulipgarh, in honour of the young Mahárájá of Lahore ; and the
bázár was also known as Dhulipnagar. A town gradually grew up
around the cantonment, and many Hindu traders removed hither from
the village of Bázár Ahmad Khán, which formed the commercial centre
200 EGATPURA - ELEPHANTA ISLAND.
of the Bannu valley prior to the annexation. The main bázár consists
of a wide and handsome roadway, and contains a fine market-place. A
mud wall runs round the town, within which lie the tahsili and police
office. The civil station , to the west of the fort, includes the court
house, treasury , jail, sarái, staging bungalow , dispensary, mounted police
lines, and post office. The Church Missionary Society supports a
small church and a school-house . The cantonment centres round the
fort of Dhulipnagar, which possesses quarters for two infantry regi
ments ; outside the fortifications are lines for a cavalry regiment and a
field battery of artillery. The profuse irrigation and insufficient drainage
of the surrounding fields render Edwardesábád a swampy and unhealthy
station ; and the troops in cantonments suffer greatly from malarious
fevers and prostration. The town has a considerable trade, embracing
the whole traffic in local produce of the Bannu valley. A weekly fair
collects an average number of 2000 buyers and sellers. Chief articles of
trade - cloth , live stock, wool, cotton, tobacco, and grain . Municipal
revenue in 1875-76 , £1115, or 5s. 81d . perhead of population (3900)
within municipal limits .
Egatpura (or Egutpoora).— Town in Násik District, Bombay . See
IGATPURI.
Egmore. — Quarter of Madras Town.
Ekambá . – Village in Purniah District, Bengal. Lat. 25° 58' N.,
long. 87° 36' 30" E . One of the chief seats of commerce in the District,
with trade in agricultural products, spices, piece-goods, hides, etc.
carried on at permanent markets. Large annual fair held in February.
Eklaspur. — Town in Sháhábád District, Bengal. Pop. (1872), 2441.
Ekwárí.— Town in Sháhábád District, Bengal. Pop. (1872), 2661.
Elatúr. River of Madras ; rises in the mountains west of the
Tambur Cherri Pass, in lat. 11° 30' 0” N ., and long. 75° 56' 6 " E., and,
after a devious course of 30 miles through Malabar District, flows into
the extensive backwater which communicates with the sea at Elatúr,
in lat. 1° 20' 30 " N ., and long. 75° 45' 45" E . Near this place are
several islets whence fine views of the Wainád Mountains are obtained ;
it is a favourite resort of the residents of Calicut.
Elavárásanandal ( Iliyarasainendal). - Group of agricultural hamlets
in Tinnevelli District, Madras. Lat. 9° 12' N ., long. 77° 50' E.
Pop. (1871), 14,803 ; number ofhouses, 3452.
Elephanta (called by the natives Ghárápuri). — An island on the
Bombay coast, situated in lat. 18° 57' N ., and long. 73° E., about 6 miles
from Bombay City and 4 from the shore of the mainland. The island
measures from 4 to 41 miles in circumference, and consists of two
long hills separated by a narrow valley. It was named Elephanta by
the Portuguese , from a large stone elephant which stood near the
old landing-place on the south side of the island. This elephant was
 ELEPHANTA ISLAND. 201

13 feet 2 inches in length , and about 7 feet 4 inches high ; but its head
and neck dropped off in 1814, and subsequently the body sank down
into a shapeless mass of stones, which were, in 1864, removed to the
Victoria Gardens in Bombay. Near the point where the two hills
approach each other, and not far to the south -east of the Great Cave,
once stood the stone statue of a horse, described by an early writer as
being so lively , with such a colour and carriage, and the shape finisht
with that Exactness, that many have rather fancyed it, at a distance, a
living Animal, than only a bare Representation. This statue has
disappeared. The landing-place is now on the north -west of the island.
Steam launches or sailing boats, which can be hired at the Apollo
Bunder, Bombay,run to Elephanta in about an hour; and a small steamer
can lie alongside the pier which has been built at the landing-place.
The island is greatly resorted to by visitors to the far-famed rock
caves. Of these wonderful excavations, four are complete or nearly so ;
a fifth is a large cave now much filled up, with only rough masses of
stone left to support the roof ; and a sixth is merely the beginning of
the front of what seems to have been intended for a very small excava
tion - possibly two or three cells for recluses. The most important and
most frequently visited of these rock -temples is the Great Cave, which
is situated in the western or larger of the two hills of the island, at an
elevation of about 250 feet above high -water level. The entrance is
reached by a winding path about three-quarters of a mile in length from
the landing-place. The cave faces the north, and is entirely hewn
out of a hard compact variety of trap rock. From the front entrance
to the back it measures about 130 feet, and its length from the east
to the west entrance is the same. It does not, however, occupy the
entire square of this area. What may be called the porticoes or the
three open sides, are only about 54 feet long and 165 feet deep.
Omitting these and the back aisle, immediately in front of three of the
principal sculptured compartments, which is of about the same dimen
sions as each portico , we may consider the body of the cave as a square
of about 91 feet each way, supported by 6 rows of columns with 6
columns in each row , except at the corners, where the uniformity is
broken on the west side to make room for the shrine or sacellum , which
occupies a space equal to that enclosed by four of the columns.
There were originally 26 columns, with 16 half-columns ; but 8 of the
separate pillars have been destroyed , and others are much injured .
Asneither the floor nor the roof are perfectly horizontal, they vary in
height from 15 to 17 feet. The most striking of the sculptures is the
famous colossal three-faced bust, or trimurti, at the back of the cave,
facing the entrance. This is a representation of Siva in his threefold
character of Creator, Preserver, and Destroyer ; and all the other
sculptures relate to the same god , the cave being, like all the other
202 ELEPHANTA ISLAND,
Hindu rock temples of Western India, a Sivaite one. The trímurti
is 17 feet 10 inches in height ; and a line drawn round the three
heads at the level of the eyes measures 22 feet 9 inches in length.
The length of the middle face is 4 feet 4 inches ; those of the others,
4 feet 1 inch and about 5 feet. In 1865, this unique bust was
mutilated by some ' barbarian clothed in the garb of civilisation,' who
broke off a portion of the noses of two of the faces ; and since then
some of the other sculptures in the temple have been similarly treated,
so that it has been found necessary to place a sergeant and two native
policemen to protect the cave. The trimurti is guarded by two gigantic
dwarapálas or doorkeepers of rock, respectively 12 feet 9 inches,
and 13 feet 6 inches high ; both figures are much defaced. The Linga
chapel, on the right hand side of the temple on entering, contains
several dwarapálas and other figures ; and two compartments on either
side of the trimurti, are also ornamented with numerous sculptured
groups. There are several other compartments in the Great Cave, all
containing interesting sculptures, of which it is impossible to give
even a bare list in the limits here available. The reader who desires
to pursue the subject cannot do better than consult the lucid and
exhaustive account of Mr. Burgess ( The Rock Temples of Elephanta or
Ghárápuri, Bombay, 1871), from which this article is chiefly condensed.
“ The impression on the mind,' writes Mr. Burgess, ‘may be imagined
rather than described, when one enters the portico [of the Great Cave),
passing from the glare and heat of tropical sunshine to the dim light
and cool air of the temple, and realizes that he is under a vast roof of
solid rock, that seems to be supported only by the ranges of massive
columns that recede in the vistas on every side, some of which
appear to have split or fallen under the tremendous superincumbent
weight. And the feeling of strange uncertain awe that creeps over the
mind is only prolonged when in the obscure light we begin to con
template the gigantic stony figures ranged along the walls from which
they seem to start, and from the living rock of which they are hewn.'
The Second Cave, which is situated a short distance to the south -east
of the Great Temple, faces east-north -east, and is 1091 feet in length,
including the chapel at the north end. The façade, which was nearly
80 feet in length , is completely destroyed, and the cave is so full of
débris and so ruined by water that no proper estimate can now be
formed of the appearance it originally represented . It contains at
present only one sculptured group. Atthe south end of the portico of
this cave is a large block of rock not hewn away, above which is a hole
through a thin partition of rock into one of the cells of the Third Rock
Temple. The entrance to it, however, is a little to the south . This
cave is in an even more dilapidated condition than the second. The
Fourth Temple, now known to the natives as ' Sítá Bái's Dewála,' is
 ELLENABAD - ELLICHPUR DISTRICT. 203
situated on the other hill of the island, and about 100 feet above the
level of the Great Cave. It is in better preservation than those last
mentioned , and had formerly a beautiful gate with a marble porch of
exquisite workmanship ; but these have now disappeared .
Sufficient data do not exist to enable us to fix , with anything like
precision , the date of the Elephanta Caves. An absurd tradition
attributes them to Alexander the Great,and many not less unreasonable
conjectures have been hazarded regarding them . Mr. Fergusson con
cludes (for reasons for which the reader is referred to his Rock -cut
Temples of India ) that the Great Temple was excavated in the roth
century of our era ; but Mr. Burgess, while admitting that there are
grounds for this conclusion, is inclined to attribute them to the latter
part of the 8th or to the gth century .
The Great Temple is still used on Sivaite festivals, and specially by
Hindus of the Banian caste ; and at the Sivaratri, the greatest of
the Sivaite festivals, just before the first new moon falling after the
middle of February, a religious fair is held here. The view from the
front of the great cave is very beautiful; and from the site of an old
bungalow , not far from the porch, a fine prospect is commanded of
Bombay harbour, with Butcher Island in the foreground.
Ellenábád. — Municipal town in Sirsa District, Punjab ; situated in
lat. 29° 26' N., and long. 75° 54' E., on the banks of the Ghaggar, 23
miles west of Sirsa. Pop. (1868 ), 3414. Founded in 1865 by Mr.
Oliver, Deputy Commissioner. Has great facilities, as a frontier town ,
for trade with Márwár, and merchants have settled on the spot in con
siderable numbers. Export and import traffic in country produce and
salt with the towns of Bikaner (Bickaneer) State. Manufacture of
coarse woollen cloth . Police outpost; dispensary. On the opposite
side of the Ghaggar lie the ruins of the ancient town of Khariál.
Municipal revenue in 1875-76, £304, or is. rod. per head of population
(3293) within municipal limits.
Ellichpur (Ilichpur). — A British District in the Commissionership
of East Berar, within the Haidarábád Assigned Districts, lying between
20° 50' 30" and 21° 46' 30 " n. lat., and between 76° 40' and 77° 54' E.
long. Area (Parliamentary return for 1878), 2623 square miles ; pop.
(Parliamentary return revised from Census of 1867), 278,576 ; nine
tenths Hindus. Bounded on the north by the Tápti river, and Betul
and Chindwara Districts of the Central Provinces ; on the east by the
Wardha river ; on the south by Amráoti District ; and on the west by
Nimár and Akola.
Physical Aspects. — The entire northern half of Ellichpur consists of
a succession of hills and valleys known as the Melghát or Gáwilgarh
Hills, a section of the Satpura Mountains. The main ridge or water
shed of the Satpuras runs through the District from east to west,
204 ELLICHPUR DISTRICT.
attaining its greatest elevation at Bairát, 3987 feet above sea level.
The southern portion of the District is flat, and drained by numerous
small streams flowing into the Wardha and Purná rivers. The only
metalled road is that from Amráoti to Ellichpur ; but there are several
other country roads and fair - weather tracks from village to village
passable for eight months in the year. In the hill country, the chief
passes are Mallára on the east, and Dúlghát and Bingára on the west,
none of which, however, are practicable for wheeled vehicles.
Agriculture and Commerce. — The principal agricultural products are
rice and wheat (of excellent quality ), gram , pulses, and oil-seeds ; and
these, together with ghi and forest timber, comprise the chief exports
of the District. The imports are mainly English and country cloth ,
iron and copper utensils, tobacco, salt, sugar, etc.
As regards physical aspects and economic conditions, the MELGHAT,
or Upper Tract, formsthe most interesting part of Ellichpur District,
and will be dealt with separately.
History . — The History of the District centres in Ellichpur town,
which formed an important nucleus of Muhammadan influence in the
Deccan. Tradition asserts that the city was founded by Rájá Il, a
Jain , who camefrom Khánjáma Nagár, near Wadgaon, about 1058 A .D .
Whatever may be the date of its foundation , the town certainly holds
no mean rank among the ancient historical cities of India, and during
a short period it was a well-known capital. It lost most of its local
importance from the timewhen the first Nizam -ul-Mulk became supreme
ruler in the Deccan, and the city was placed under a viceroy or governor.
The first governor appointed was Ewaz Khan, who ruled five years —
from 1724 to 1728 — and was succeeded by Sújáyat Khán ( 1729 to
1740), who quarrelled with Raghoji Bhonslá, fought with him near
Bhúgáon, and was killed in the battle. The Ellichpur treasury on that
occasion was plundered by the victor. Sharif Khán next succeeded,
and held office from 1741 to 1752. He claimed equality with the
Nizam , who consequently deposed him . The Nizam 's son , Ali Jáh
Bahadur, was then appointed governor, but he administered by deputy,
and was succeeded by Salábat Khán, who, though he only remained
two years at Ellichpur, did much to improve the city. He enlarged
the palace, made a great public Bágh, and extended the ancient water
channel. He was a brave soldier,and on the war breaking out between
the Nizám and Tipu Sultán, he was ordered to join the army, and
distinguished himself there, and afterwards at the battle of Kardla, also
with General Wellesleys army in I853. Nảmdám Khán, Son of Salabat
Khán , received, besides his jágir of 2 lákhs of rupees (£20,000), another
of like value at Ellichpur, and managed his estate under the title of
Nawab until his death in 1843. He is said to have been placed specially
under the protection of General Wellesley by his father, and he received
 ELLICHPUR TOWN. 205
a jágir for the payment of the Ellichpur brigade. After some years,
getting into arrears, he gave up the greater part of his jágír, merely
retaining a rental of 31 lákhs (£3500 ). Námdár Khán was succeeded
by his nephew , Ibrahim Khán, who lived till 1846, when his widow 's
father, Gholám Hassan, was allowed to inherit the estate and the title of
Nawab, on payment of a nasarána of 7 lakhs. This sum he borrowed
of a local banker, at whose suit the palace, with other property of the
Nawab at Ellichpur, is now under attachment. In 1853, the District
was assigned to the British with the rest of Berar.
From the time that the Nizám -ul-Mulk declared his independence,
the history of Ellichpur was intimately connected with that of the
family of Shadi Khán and Nasib Khán, two Pathản gamindars, who
originally came from Jaipur (Jeypore) to Haidarábád (Hyderabad ) as
horse dealers ; and there attracting the notice of the Nizam , Násir Jang,
rose to high importance. From their descendants the governors of
Ellichpur were generally chosen ; of these, Ismail Khản, Salábạt Khán,
Ballal Khán, Namdar Khản, and Ibrahim Khán were governors of
Ellichpur, Námdár Khán receiving the title of Nawab.
Ellichpur. - Chief town and municipality of Ellichpur District,
Berar. Lat. 21° 15' 30" N., long. 77° 29' 30" E. ; pop., according
to Census of 1867, 27,782 ; within municipal limits ( 1876 -77), 27,047.
Ellichpur was once a great and prosperous city , and is said to have
contained 40,000 houses. It is not on any line of traffic, nor is it the
centre of any particular trade, but it was the capital of a localGovern
ment until the first Nizám , throwing off his dependence on Delhi,
became supreme ruler of the Deccan. Ellichpurwas then placed under
a viceroy or governor,and from this time it declined rapidly. The town
contains several interesting buildings. The dargáh or burial shrine,
in memory of Dalla Ráhman, built 400 years ago by one of the
Bahmani kings, on the bank of the Bichan river, has a spacious
chabutra or masonry platform , 11 bastions, and 4 gates, and is endowed
by the State. The extensive palace, built by Salábat Khán and Ismail
Khán, and afterwards added to by Námdár Khán , has some good carving
and stonework, but is rapidly falling to ruin . Some of the tombs of
the Nawabs, commenced by Salábat Khán sixty or seventy years ago,
are very handsome. A detached fort, ‘ Sultán Garhi,' built more than
a hundred years ago by Sultán Khán, and a very fine well (said to be
500 years old ) called Mamdel Sháh, built of stone finely cut, are also
worthy of notice. An English-Marathí school is maintained, and also
a school for females. Police stations, dispensary , etc. Municipal
revenue in 1876-77, £1007 ; incidence of taxation , 7 d. per head of
population within municipal limits.
About 2 miles from the city, on the Sápan and Bichan streams, lies
PARATWARA, the military cantonment and civil station . A force of all
206 ELLORA TOWN.
arms is generally stationed here. The cantonment is well laid out ;
the hills in the background give it an attractive appearance, but the
site is low , and it lies too near the hills to be healthy. A police station
and reserve guard are located in the bázár. English school and two
others in the bázár – one for boys and one for girls. A Government
garden has also been formed . Small cause court, cantonment and other
courts. The population varies with the strength of the troops ; in
1876 -77, the total was 12,319, of whom about 1000 were military,
exclusive of camp followers.
Ellora (Eluru or Verul). — Town in the Nizam 's Dominions, Deccan.
Lat. 20° 2' n., long. 75° 13' E. Distant from Aurangabad 13 miles,
from Daulatábád 7 miles. Famous for its rock caves and temples.
These contain , besides the symbols of Sanskrit mythology and statues
of the Hindu deities, several Jain and Buddhist objects of worship.
• The caves,' writes Mr. Burgess, the Archæological Surveyor to the
Government of Bombay,“are excavated in the face of a hill, or rather the
scarp of a large plateau, and run nearly north and south for about a
mile and a quarter, the scarp at each end of this interval throwing out
a horn towards the west. It is where the scarp at the south end begins
to turn to the west that the earliest caves — a group of Buddhistic ones
— are situated ; and in the north horn is the Indra Sabhá or Jain group,
the other extremity of the series. The ascent of the ghát passes up
the south side of Kailás, the third of the Brahmanical group, and over
the roof of the Dás Avatára , the second of them . Sixteen caves lie
to the south of Kailás, and nearly as many to the north , but the latter
are scattered over a greater distance.
Most of the caves have got distinguishing names from the local
Bráhmans, but it may be quite as convenient, for the sake of reference,
to number them from south to north, beginning with the Buddhist
caves, ofwhich there are twelve , and passing through the Brahmanical
series, of which seventeen are below the brow of the scarp , and a large
number of smaller ones above, and ending with the Jain ones, of which
there are five at the extreme north . There are also some cells and a
colossal Jain image on the north side of the same spur in which is the
Indra Sabhái
The chief building, called the Kailas- -a perfect Dravidian temple,
complete in all its parts — is characterised by Fergusson (History
of Indian and Eastern Architecture, p. 334 ) as one of the most
wonderful and interesting monuments of architectural art in India. Its
beauty and singularity,' continues Mr. Fergusson, always excited the
astonishment of travellers, and in consequence it is better known than
almost any other structure in that country from the numerous views
and sketches of it that have been published . . . . It is not a mere
interior chamber cut in the rock , but is a model of a complete temple
 ELLORA TOWN. 207
such as might have been erected on the plain . In other words, the
rock has been cut away externally as well as internally.' This wonderful
structure, of which a detailed account is given by Fergusson (loc. cit.),
measures 138 feet in front ; the interior is 247 feet in length by 150
feet in breadth, the height in some places being 100 feet. This
temple, as well as the others (which are also described by Fergusson ),
is said to have been built (about the 8th century) by Rájá Edu of
Ellichpur – by whom the town of Ellora was founded — as a thank
offering for a cure effected by the waters of a spring near the place.
' All the sculptures and the whole architectural style of the central
temple,' says Mr. Burgess, the Archæological Surveyor of Bombay,
impress mewith the conviction that it is later than the Pápanáth temple
at Pattadkal, but probably earlier than the great Sivaite temple of
Virúpákshadeva there. It has at one time all been painted in a style
befitting its elaborateness of sculpture. This painting has been renewed
again and again , perhaps in a continuous succession of debased styles,
the latest certainly poor enough. But there are still some bits in the
roof of the porch, of two or three successive coatings, that would com
pare favourably even among many of the Ajantá paintings. The lofty
basement of the temple is of itself a remarkable conception, with its
row of huge elephants and sârdulas or lions, griffins, etc., in every
possible attitude, tearing one another or feeding. And then the great
hall above, with its sixteen pillars and more pilasters, all carved with
different details of sculpture ; its balcony porches at the sides, and
double pavilions before the front porch ; its vestibule to the sanctuary,
with large sculptures on each side ; and its five shrines round the out
side of the principal one and on the same platform , all testify to the
attempt made to rival and outdo all previous temples of the kind .
'Dedicated to Siva, it is surrounded with figures also of Vishnu and
the whole Puránic pantheon . Its sculptures bear testimony to the pre
valence of the eclectic Smartta school. The interior, and parts at least,
if not the whole, of the exterior, have been plastered over and painted,
and,where this has not very long ago peeled off, has had the effect of
preserving the stone inside from the smoke of wandering jogís' and
travellers' fires, with which it must for ages have been saturated.
Unlike any of the preceding cave temples, Kailás is a great mono
lithic temple , isolated from surrounding rock, and carved outside as well
as in . It stands in a great court averaging 154 feet wide by 276 long
at the level of the base, entirely cut out of the solid rock, and with a
scarp 107 feet high at the back . In front of this court a curtain has
been left, carved on the outside with the monstrous forms of Siva and
Vishnu and their congeners , and with rooms inside it. It is pierced
in the centre by an entrance passage with rooms on each side. Passing
this, the visitor is met by a large sculpture of Lakshmi over the
208 · ELLORE TALUK AND TOWN.
lotuses, with her attendant elephants. There are some letters and a
date on the leaves of the lotus, on which she sits, but illegible, and
probably belonging to the 15th century. On the bases of the pilasters
on each side have been inscriptions in characters of the 8th century .
As we enter, to right and left is the front portion of the court, which is
a few feet lower than the rest, and at the north and south endsof which
and two gigantic eaf and ascending a few stepes 164 feet fron
stand two gigantic elephants, — that on the south much mutilated.
Turning again to the east and ascending a few steps, we enter the great
court occupied by the temple, whose base measures 164 feet from east
to west, by 109 feet where widest from north to south. In front of it,
and connected by a bridge, is a mandapa for the Nandi, and on each
side ofthis mandap stands a pillar or dvajadand — “ ensign staff” — 45 feet
high, or with what remains of the trisula of Siva on the top, a total
height of about 49 feet.'
Ellora was ceded in 1818 by Holkár to the British , who transferred it
to the Nizám , in 1822, by the treaty of Haidarábád (Hyderabad ).
Ellore (Eluru).— Táluk of Godavari District, Madras. Area , 729
square miles, containing 250 villages and 36,518 houses ; pop. (1871),
136,875, including 128,606 Hindus and 7996 Muhammadans. No
other táluk of the District contains so many Musalmáns. The
arable land amounts to 91,877 acres, paying a revenue of £8213, while
other sources (water cess, quit-rent on estates, etc.) raise the total
revenue to £20,054. The canals that pass through the táluk connect
its chief town, ELLORE, with Rájámahendri (Rajahmundry), etc., and
besides irrigating the táluk, afford a highway for the export of various
kinds of grain . Much of the taluk is covered with jungle.
Ellore (Eluru ; elu , ruling - uru, town). — Municipal town in Godá
vari District, Madras. Lat. 16° 42' 35" n., long. 81° 9' 5" E. ; houses,
4253 ; pop. (1871 ), 25,487, of whom 20,253 are Hindus, 5046
Muhammadans, and 188 Christians. Situated 255 miles north ofMadras,
on the Tammaler river. The high -level canal from Vijeshwaram passes
through the táluk, and joins the Bezwára canal at Ellore, where the
waters of the Godavari and Kistna unite. As the headquarters of the
táluk, it possesses the usual subordinate magisterial and judicial estab
lishments, police station, post office, school, etc. ; also the station of the
AssistantCollector and an executive engineer. Both Church Missionary
and Lutheran missions are established here. The municipal income
for 1875-76 was £769 ; the expenditure, £957 ; and the incidence of
taxation , about 2d. per head of the population . The manufactures of
woollen carpets and saltpetre form the chief industries. Historically,
Ellore is of importance, as having been the capital of the NORTHERN
CIRCARS. Originally portion of the Vengi kingdom , it probably formed
part of the Orissa conquests till 1480, when it was occupied by the
Muhammadans. Under the supremacy of the Vijáyanagar kingdom ,
 EMINABAD - ENGLISH BAZAR . 209
Ellore became once more Hindu ; but early in the 16th century it was
captured by Kutab Shah of Golconda, by whom and his successors it was
held against the Rájputs ofRájámahendri (Rajahmundry)and the Reddis
and Kois of the surrounding country, who perpetually harassed the
garrison, until the Golconda power was merged in the Subah of the
Deccan . In later history, Ellore shared in the vicissitudes common to the
other Circars, being in turn possessed by native princes, the French, and
finally the British . (See NORTHERN CIRCARS.) The ruins of the old
fort, built from the Buddhist remains of Vengi, are still visible on the
north side of the town ; the modern barracks now form the offices of
the Subdivisional officer. The heat here is remarkable, even for so
hot a District, the thermometer rising to 110° in the shade.
Eminábád . — Municipal town in Gujranwala District, Punjab. Lies
in lat. 32° 2 ' 15" N ., and long. 74° 18' E., on the Grand Trunk Road ,
9 miles south of Gujranwala town. Pop. (1868), 6711, being 1899
Hindus,4440 Muhammadans, 88 Sikhs, and 284 others.' Now a town
of small importance, but perhaps the most ancient in the District ; con
tains some fine specimens of Muhammadan architecture. Residence
of a leading Kshattriya family, whose members include Jawala Lahái,
minister to the Mahárájá of Jammu (Jummoo) (Kashmir), and the late
Diwán Hárí Chánd. Trade insignificant. Considerable annual fair in
April, 17th to 19th. Municipal revenue (1875-76 ), £101, or 3 d. per
head of population (6711) within municipal limits.
Eng-ga -bú . - Revenue circle in Thonkhwa District, Pegu Division ,
British Burma. Towards the east, the country is low and liable to
inundation ; in the west it is higher, and cultivated with rice. Pop.
(1876), 4736, chiefly engaged in fishing ; gross revenue, £2600.
Eng-gyeng. – Revenue circle in Kyouk-hpyú District, Arakan
Division, British Burma. Area, 6 square miles ; pop. (1876 -77), 791 ;
gross revenue, £112.
English Bázár (or Angrazábád ). - Chief town, civil station, and
administrative headquarters of Maldah District, Bengal. Lat. 25° Ó'
14" n., long. 88° 1 ' 20 " E. ; pop. ( 1872), 12,859. The town consists
in reality of a series of trading villages lining the right bank of the
Mahánandá for a considerable distance. Being situated in a mulberry
growing country , it was chosen at an early date as the site of one of
the Company's factories. The factory was of considerable importance
during the last quarter of the 17th century, and its ‘ Diaries and Con
sultations,' from •1685 to 1693 (with breaks), are still preserved in the
India Office under the title of Maulda and Englesavad.' In 1770,
English Bázár was fixed upon for a commercial residency, and retained
its importance until the discontinuance of the Company's private
trade. An extensive trade in food-grain is carried on here. Gross
municipal revenue (1876 -77), £533 ; rate of taxation per head, old.
VOL. III.
210 ENGMA-MYOMA - ENG -RAI-GYI.
The largest building is the Collector's house, originally a factory of
the East India Company. It is regularly fortified, and within its walls
are all the public offices of the District, as well as the private residence
of the Collector. A small embankment protects the town from inun
dations, which are of frequent occurrence in Maldah District.
Engma-myoma.-- Revenue circle in Prome District, Pegu Division,
British Burma ; situated just below the Engma Lake. The west and
central portions consist of hilly undulating ground ; the eastern tracts
are fairly level. A narrow belt of rice cultivation runs nearly through
out the whole length of the revenue circle. The main road from
Rangoon to the frontier traverses Engma -myoma in a westerly
direction .
Eng -rai. — Revenue circle in Bassein District, Pegu Division, British
Burma. Pop. (1876-77), 6248 ; gross revenue (derived chiefly from
fisheries), £3642. The northern part consists of rice-fields, and the
southern portion of open undulating plains,affording excellent pasturage
for cattle. There are good fair-weather cart roads in the north .
Eng-rai.— Town in Eng-rai circle, Bassein District, Pegu Division,
British Burma ; situated on the right bank of the Daga river, in lat.
17° 10' 30" N., and long. 95° 18' 30" E. Formerly the headquarters of
the extra -Assistant Commissioner. Pop. (1876 -77), 1500, engaged in
rice cultivation and fishing.
Eng-rai-gyí. — Lake in Bassein District, Pegu Division , British
Burma ; about 3 miles in circumference, with a fairly uniform breadth
of 280 to 300 yards, and a depth of from 20 to 45 feet in the centre.
It is connected with the Daga branch of the Bassein by a small outlet,
which serves to replenish the lake from the Irawadi (Irrawaddy) and to
carry off the surplus water. This lake is by some supposed to have
been a former portion of the bed of the Daga, by others it is thought to
have been caused by a slip of the lower-lying beds, totally independent
of Auvial action. It is very valuable as a preserve for fish , and proved
an important source of revenue to the Burmese Government, who
exacted an annual tax of £780 from the Paineng or hereditary chief of
the lake, who had sole authority over the villagers employed in the
fishery. Each villager had the right of investing his capital in the
general working of the fishery, and received a share in the out-turn at
the end of the season proportionate to the sum subscribed. The
process of dragging the lake is performed by floating capstans worked
by hawsers of jungle rope attached to a frame, and occupies three months'
working, at the rate of about 45 fathoms each day. The fishing begins
with the full moon in June, when the temperature of the water has been
reduced by the first showers of the monsoon. The number of fish
caught is never below 70 ,000 to 80,000 of all kinds; the principal
belonging for the most part to the genera of Cerca , Cyprinus, Gobio,
 ENG -WON - ERAN . 2IT

Labeo, Cimelodus, Cirrhinus, Cyprinodon, and Silurus. The largest

specimens weigh about 56 lbs. each . Crocodiles of all sizes are found
in the drag-net, but no casualty has been known to have been caused
by them . Some 8000 to 10 ,000 persons are engaged in the taking and
disposal of the fish, of which about 40 tons are annually sold on the
spot.
Eng -won .— Revenue circle in Tavoy District, Tenasserim Division,
British Burma. Area, 9 square miles, of which 3 are under rice ; pop.
(1876-77), 2730 ; gross revenue, £628.
Eng-zaya. — Revenue circle in Thonkhwa District, Pegu Division,
British Burma. Pop. (1876 -77), 3739 ; gross revenue, £2290. The
eastern part consists of extensive plains and swamps. Some of the
latter contain fish, and yield a large revenue to theState. The principal
products are tobacco, betel leaves, and vegetables.
Ennore ( Ennúr). — Town in Chengalpat District, Madras. Lat. 13°
13' 40" n., long. 80° 21' 55" E. ; houses, 238 ; pop. (1871), 1286. It
is in reality only a fishing village ; but being a favourite resort of
Europeans from Madras, it contains several bungalows, built on the strip
of land between the sea and the backwater ; and, until lately, the oldest
club-house in India. Situated 12 miles north of Madras, to which
there is some export of the salt manufactured here. In 1769, Haidar
Alí encamped near Ennore.
Entalli. Suburb of Calcutta , Twenty-four Parganas, Bengal. Lat.
22° 33' 15" N., long. 88° 24' 30" E. Contains an English school, a
large native school belonging to the Baptists, and a Roman Catholic
convent.
Eran .- Chief village of a tract of the same name in Ságar (Saugor)
District, Central Provinces, 48 miles west of Ságar town. Lat. 24° 5'
30' n ., long. 78° 15' E . ; pop. ( 1870 ), 446 ; number of houses, 107. Eran
is remarkable for its monumental remains, attributed to Rájá Bahrat.
The chief of these is a rudely -shaped image of Vishnu in his manifesta
tion as the boar. The animal stands about 10 feet high, with his snout
in the air. Successive rows of small figures in short tunics and high
caps cover the body ; while a band, ornamented with seated figures,
encircles the neck . The tip of the projecting tongue supports a human
figure erect. The breast bears an inscription, and, as at Oodehghir
(Udaigarh ?), a young female hangs by the arm from the right tusk .
On one side of Vishnu stands a four-armed deity, more than 12 feet
high, with girt loins, a high cap, and round his neck and reaching to
his feet a thick ornamental cord. On the columns before this statue
are seen figures weaving the sacred thread , with twisted snakes,
elephants, nude female figures, seated Buddhas, faces of satyrs, and
other devices. Besides these and other remains, there are three figures
of crouching lions; and in front of them , a pillar, and a small temple
212 ERANDOL - ERODE TALUK .
half buried in the soil. The pillar has a broad base, for about 15 feet
the shaft is square, and for about 10 feet more round. The bell capital
occupies 2 feet, and sustains a pedestal about 3 feet high, on which
stands a small double-fronted four-armed statue. From the inscription
on this column the date of Buddha Gupta, of the great Gupta line of
Magadha, has been established .
Erandol. — Chief town of the Subdivision of the same name in
Khandesh District, Bombay ; situated on the Anjáni river, 40 miles east
of Dhuliá . Lat. 20° 56' N., long. 75° 20' 30" E. ; pop. (1872), 11,071 ;
municipal revenue ( 1874-75), £24 ; rate of taxation, d. per head
of population (10,846 ) within municipal limits. Sub -judge's court, post
office, and dispensary. Erandol is connected by made roads with the
towns of Dhuliá , Dharangaon (8 miles north-west), and the railway
station of Mahásawar (8 miles south -east). It is a place of some
antiquity, and was formerly celebrated for its manufacture of coarse
native paper, an industry which still survives to a limited extent. There
is a considerable local trade in cotton, indigo, and grain ; the chief
market being Jalgaon , a station 8 miles north-east.
Ernád (Eránádu).— Táluk in Malabar District, Madras. Houses,
59,139. Pop. ( 1871), 287,936 — being 146,468 Hindus, all Sivaites
except 264 ; 141,016 Muhammadans, being 119,944 Sunnis and 21,072
Shiás ; 452 Christians.
Ernakolam ( Yernacoulam ). — Town in Cochin State, Madras ;
situated on the backwater 2 miles east of, and opposite to , Cochin .
Lat. 9° 58' 55 " N., long. 76° 19' 21' E.; houses, 2571 ; pop. (1871),
14,038. The chiefmembers of the local Government reside here ; and
the town also contains the judicial courts, several public offices, and a
grand Darbár palace, where the British Resident pays his state visits to
the Rájá of Cochin . Some of the roads are metalled , and there are
two churches. The suburb of Anjikamal (so called in memory of five
chiefs who at a distant period of history shared the surrounding country)
contains a large and regularly built market, and has a considerable trade,
chiefly in the hands of the Jews and Konkanis.
Erniál. — Town in the district of the same name, Travancore State,
Madras. Lat. 8° 12' 12" N., long. 77° 21' 31" E.; pop. (1871), 4878 ;
houses, 1085. As the headquarters of the Subdivision , it possesses the
usual subordinate native establishments. The London Missionary
Society have a school here.
Erode (Iródu). - Táluk of Coimbatore District, Madras. Watered
by the Káveri (Cauvery) and Bhaváni rivers, with their tributaries, the
Amravati and Moriar. From Vangal on the Amravati, a few miles
below Karúr, the teak timber cut on the Anamalai Hills is floated down
the Káveri, which the Amrávati joins near the same spot. The
timber is carried thence to Trichinopoli, or to one of the mouths of the
 ERODE TOWN - ETAH DISTRICT. 213
same river at Porto Novo. The high road from Coimbatore to
Trichinopoli crosses the Amrávati at Karúr. The Moriar rises in the
Nilgiris, and falls into the Bhaváni near Danaikenkotta.
Erode (Iródu). — Town in Coimbatore District, Madras. Houses,
2159 ; pop. ( 1871), 10,201, ofwhom 9581 are Hindus, chiefly Vallálas,
and only 6 per cent.Muhammadans. Situated in lat. 11° 20' 29" N.,
and long. 77° 46' 3" E ., on the Káveri (Cauvery) river, at the extreme
east of the District, 243 miles by rail from Madras, 85 from Trichinopoli,
70 from Coimbatore, and 37 from Salem . Being the headquarters of
the táluk of the same name, it possesses the usual subordinate judicial
establishments, police station , school, telegraph and post office, and
rest-house for European soldiers. It is now also the headquarters of
the District Sub -Collector, who, until 1874, was stationed at Kangayam .
In the time of Haidar Ali, Erode contained 3000 houses ; but in conse
quence of successive Marhattá, Mysore, and British invasions, the town
became almost utterly deserted and ruined. As soon, however, as peace
was signed , the people returned to a place with so many advantages in
position and fertility ; and within a year it had 400 houses, and a popu
lation of over 2000. The garrison was withdrawn in 1807, and the
ruined fort levelled, as a relief work during the famine of 1877. The space
enclosed within the ramparts had been long before occupied by cotton
presses and saltpetre warehouses. The trade of Erode consists chiefly
in the export of cotton, saltpetre, and rice ; it is an important railway
entrepôt. Besides the Great Trunk Road from Madras, which passes
through Erode, the main lines to Karúr, Perindorai, and Mysore
one via the Hassanúr Ghát, the other via the BurghurGhát - radiate
from it, serving as feeders to the railway, which has here a station at
the junction of the Madras, South -Western , and Southern India lines.
Exclusive of the junction traffic , the returns for 1875 show a traffic
of 352,633 passengers, and 26,035 tons of goods despatched and
16,103 tons unloaded. About 1 miles east of the town a bridge of 22
arches crosses the Káveri (Cauvery ), 1536 feet in length, constructed
at a cost of £40,875. The town is well built, and amongst other
public edifices has a fine court-house , erected at a cost of £3000.
Historically , Erode is a place of considerable interest. Until 1667 it
formed part of the Madura kingdom , but in that year fell to Dad Deo,
Rájá of Mysore. In 1768, it was taken and lost by the British ; and in
1790 , it was finally recaptured.
Etah. - A British District in the Lieutenant-Governorship of the
North -Western Provinces, lying between 27° 19 ' 42" and 28° 1' 39" N.
lat., and 78° 27' 26" and 79° 19' 23" E. long. Area, 1512 square miles ;
population in 1872, 703,527. Etah is the northernmost District of the
Agra Division. It is bounded on the north by the river Ganges, on
the west by Agra and Aligarh, on the south by Máinpuri, and on the
214 ETAH DISTRICT.
east by Farrukhábád. The administrative headquarters are at the
town of ETAH , but KASGANJ is the chief centre of population and
commerce.
Physical Aspects. — The District of Etah lies on the eastern edge of
the middle Doáb, where the elevated plateau composing that fertile
tract dips into the valley of the Ganges. From the banks of the great
river to the terraces which form the escarpment of the upland plain
stretches a belt of level land known as the tarái, bounded on the
west by the Búrh Gangá, or ancient bed of the river. The abandoned
channel is still marked by a line of swamps and hollows, which receive
the surface drainage of the neighbouring fields. The whole tardi,
lying as it does between the former and the present stream of the
river, is covered with a rich alluvial deposit, and abundantly supplied
with water, so that artificial irrigation is unnecessary. But in its widest
portion, the crust of alluvial matter becomes thinner, and sandy undu
lating downs begin to crop up. Above the marshy bed of the Búrh
Gangá rises the old high bank of the ancient channel, which leads at
once to the central Doáb plateau. This upland tract exhibits the same
natural characteristics in Etah as elsewhere, being for the most part a
level plain , interspersed with hillocks of yellow sand and patches of rich
loam , which latter are generally chosen as village sites ; but it is neither
go fertile nor so highly cultivated as in the Meerut (Mírath ) Division to
the north , owing to the want of irrigation. The Lower Ganges Canal,
however, now in course of construction ,will shortly supply all the needs of
Etah ; and the District may be expected before long to rival the fertility
of Aligarh and Bulandshahr. The central plateau is bounded to the
west by the deep gorge of the KaliNadi, a tributary of the Ganges,
which provides Etah with a main drainage channel, and, occasionally
overflowing its banks after heavy rain , fertilises the fallow land with a
rich layer of fine silt and decaying vegetable matter. The angle to
the south-west of the Káli is by far the most fruitful portion of the
District. Naturally composed of a strong and rich clay, it is inter
sected by the Cawnpore and Etawah branches of the Ganges Canal,
which supply water to the fields by 138 miles of distributary streams.
It is much cut up, however, by wide stretches of usar plain , which are
absolutely barren of all vegetation . Indeed , the whole District is
distinguished for its bare and treeless appearance. The larger villages
and towns are surrounded with pleasant groves, but there are few woods
of any extent, and very little jungle land. Though about one-fifth of
the area is returned as waste, only a small fraction of this is cultivable,
and that will doubtless be reclaimed as soon as the irrigation schemes
now on foot are completed. The remainder consists either of dry saline
usár plain or barren flats of bhúr waste. As a whole, while Etah cannot
boast of such advantages as the Districts which lie above it in the Doáb,
 ETAH DISTRICT. 215
it is more flourishing than the majority of its neighbours to the south
and west.
History . — Tradition points to the valley of the Káli as the seat of
populous cities in mythical times ; and the accounts of the Buddhist
pilgrims from China, in the 5th and 7th centuries, bear out to some
extent the legendary statements. The District was at that timerich in
temples and monasteries, as befitted a place which had been honoured
by the personal presence of Buddha, many incidents in whose life
are connected with the ruined mounds of ATRANJI. From the 6th
to the roth century, Etah appears to have been held by Ahírs and
Bhars, and then to have been occupied by the Rájputs, during the
course of their great immigration eastwards. When Mahmúd of
Ghaznímarched against the kingdom of Kanauj in 1017, he must have
taken Etah on his route; and the Districtmust again have been traversed
nearly two centuries later by the army of the second great Musalmán
conqueror, Muhammad Ghori, on its way to the final battle with the
Rahtor Rájá, Jái Chánd, in the Jumna ravines of Agra. From that
time forward, Etah remained a dependency of the Musalmán rulers at
Kanauj or Koil, and never again fell into the hands of a Hindu prince.
But the District was then a wild expanse of dhák forest, studded with
the mud forts of robber chieftains and the villages of a lawless peasantry,
and such it remained until the introduction of British rule. Patiáli, the
principal town, lying on the old channel of the Ganges, was infested by
robber hordes whose misdeeds roused the indignation of Sultán Balban,
about the year 1270. The Sultán proceeded in person to Patikli, and
opened the roads to Hindustán for merchants and caravans by placing
strong garrisons in the fortresses of the banditti, so that “Musalmáns
and guardians of the way took the place of highway robbers. The
principal Muhammadan inhabitants still trace the origin of their families
to this period. During the frequent Musalmán invasions of the 15th
century, Etah was constantly exposed to the ravages of both parties, as
it lay on the direct route to the great cities on the Ganges. Akbar
included it in his sarkárs of Kanauj, Koil, and Budáun, and used it as
an outpost against the refractory Hindus of Máinpuri. At the end of
the last century, Etah passed into the hands of the Nawab Wazir of
Oudh, and formed a portion of the territory ceded to the British in
1801-2. It was then distributed among the adjoining Districts of ETAWAH,
FARRUKHABAD, ALIGARH, and MORADABAD. The outlying parganás
which compose the present District were from the first so remote from
the central authority, that it was found necessary in 1811 to place a
subordinate European officer at Patiáli, with criminal jurisdiction over
the surrounding country. After many changes of an intricate sort, the
condition of the parganás around Etah attracted serious consideration
in 1845. The Ahírs and Aheriyas had commenced a system of
216 ETAH DISTRICT.
organized plunder, and dakáitis (gang-robberies), planned by an outlaw
from the Jumna ravines of Máinpuri, became so frequent as to call for
more efficient police arrangements. Much of the country was still
covered with dhák jungle , and studded with mud forts, moated and
fenced on every side. The landowners even considered it a mark of
disrespect to call for the revenue without some show of force to back up
their demand . Accordingly , a Deputy Collector and Joint Magistrate
was stationed at Patiali in 1845 ; and in 1856 the headquarters were
transferred to a more accessible position at Etah , a village on the
Grand Trunk Road, from which the District takes its name. The
succeeding year saw the outbreak at Meerut (Mírath), which quickly
developed into the Mutiny of 1857. As soon as the troops garrisoned
at Etah received intelligence of the revolt at Aligarh , the whole body
left the station without any disturbance. As there was no place of
strength in the town , and no force with which to defend it, the Magis
trate found it necessary to withdraw until the mutineers from Mainpuri
and Etáwah had passed through. After a gallant but unsuccessful
attempt to hold Kasganj, the whole District was abandoned on the
7th of June, and the officers reached Agra in safety. Damar Sinh, Rájá
of Etah, then set himself up as an independent ruler in the south of
the District. As usual, however, rival claimants appeared in various
quarters ; and towards the end of July, the rebel Nawab of Farrukhábád
took practical possession for some months. On the approach of
General Greathed's column, the rebels retired for a while , and Mr.
Cocks was appointed special commissioner for Etah and Aligarh .
The force at his disposal, however, was quite insufficient to restore
order, and the rebels still continued to hold Kasganj. It was not till
the 15th of December that Colonel Seaton's column attacked the rebels
at Gangiri, and, after totally routing them , occupied Kasganj. By the
middle of 1858 order was completely restored, and the peace of the
District has not since been disturbed.
Population . — The Census of 1865 was the first in which Etah was
recorded as a separate District ; but by selecting from the adjoining
Districts the statistics for those parganás which at present compose it,
we find the population to have been 446,275 in 1848, and 616,856 in
1853. At the enumeration of 1865, Etah was accredited with a total
of 614,351 inhabitants. The last Census, that of 1872, showed a popu
lation of 703,527 persons, or 89,176 more than in 1865 ; number of
villages, 2620 ; number of houses, 136,864. These figures yield the
following averages :— Persons per square mile, 465 ; villages per square
mile, 1 '7 ; houses per square mile, 90 ; persons per village, 269 ; persons
per house , 5 '1. Classified according to sex, there were (exclusive of
non-Asiatics ) - males, 382,746 ; females, 320,739 : percentage of males
in total population, 54 4. The small proportion of females suggests a
 ETAH DISTRICT. 217
suspicion of infanticide, which has long been a common practice amongst
the Rájputs, and which recent investigations have proved to be even
more rife amongst the Ahírs. A large number of villages belonging to
both these castes were placed on the ' proclaimed list ' under the In
fanticide Act in 1874. Classified according to age, there were, children
-males, 157,122 ; females, 127,428 ; total, 284,550 : percentage of
children , 40'44. As regards the religious distinctions of the people,
Etah is one of the most thoroughly Hindu Districts in the Doáb,
showing a total Musalmán population of only 67,278 by the side of
636,149 Hindus. The percentage of Hindus amounts to 90'4, and that
of Muhammadans to 9 :6 . The number of Christians is 58. Ofthe four
great classes into which the Hindus are conventionally divided , the
Brahmans number 60,691 persons. They own a large portion of the
Districtas zamindars, and most of them belong to the ancient Kanaujiya
subdivision . The Rájputs are exceptionally numerous in Etah, being
returned at 57,025. They are by far the most important landown
ing class in the District, and include many of the great territorial
families. The Banias or trading castes are represented by only 13,056
persons; but they are a wealthy mercantile body, and own a consider
able proportion of the land. The great mass of the population
(505,383) is here, as elsewhere, included in the other castes ' of the
Census returns. The Chamárs are their most numerous tribe, forming
the landless labouring class throughout the whole Doáb, where they
have only just emerged under British rule from a state of rural serfdom .
Next come the Ahirs, once the dominant race, and still the possessors
of 82 villages. The Káyasths are few in number, but rich in land ;
while the Lodhás and Káchhís are large tribes, but of small social
importance. The Musalmáns still retain much of their landed posses
sions. About two-thirds of the adult male population are dependent
upon the soil for their support, the District being strictly agricultural.
In 1872, there were 8 towns with a population exceeding 5000 persons,
viz. Etah, 8044 ; MAREHRA, 9214 ; SORON , 11,182 ; SAHAWAR, 5156 ;
SAKIT, 5415 ; DUNDWARAGANJ, 5414 ; ALIGANJ, 7912 ; and KASGANJ,
15,764. The language in ordinary use is Hindí.
Agriculture. — The principal crops grown in the District are wheat and
other cereals, pulses and millets, cotton , sugar-cane, indigo, and poppy ;
the harvests are the usual kharif and rabi, the former being the more
important of the two. In 1872, the area occupied by the principal
cropswas distributed as follows:- Wheat, 134,306 acres ; barley, 92,154
acres ; indigo , 90,055 acres ; cotton, 56,519 acres ; sugar-cane, 16,992
acres. Total cultivated area,619,329 acres. The average out-turn of
an acre of wheat is 21 maunds, or nearly 16 cwts., valued at £3, 6s.
The employment of manure is almost universal, though a single applica
tion is expected to suffice for two successive harvests. As a rule, only
218 ETAH DISTRICT.
one crop a year is raised on each plot, but cotton is often succeeded by
tobacco or vegetables,and indigo bywheat or barley. Rotation of crops
is rapidly supplanting the old wasteful habit of leaving the lands to lie
fallow after exhausting products have been grown . Irrigation is exten
sively practised from wells and canals, though it has not kept pace with
the other agricultural improvements. The completion of the Lower
Ganges Canal, however, will doubtless effect an immense change in this
respect. The area under sugar- cane has decreased in recent years, except
where an abundant water supply can be obtained from the canals which
intersect the south -western corner of the District ; but all the other
export staples have been grown in larger quantities, while no corre
sponding diminution has taken place in the area devoted to food
stuffs. The cultivators are in comfortable circumstances, less wealthy
than their neighbours in the Meerut Division, but removed far above
the squalid poverty of Bundelkhand. Temples and mosques are rare
in Etah, a mound of earth being often the only place of worship in a
village ; while in Aligarh , beyond the northern boundary, handsome
buildings for religiouspurposes are to be seen on every side. Cultivators
with rights of occupancy hold 64 per cent of the cultivated area, and
tenants-at-will 21 per cent., while the remaining 15 per cent is occupied
by small proprietors,who farm their own land. Rents are unusually low ,
chiefly owing to the jealous care with which Government has guarded the
rights of hereditary tenants, and resisted all attempts at illegal enhance
ment. The average rates vary from 25. 9d. to 75. id. per acre.
Wages ruled as follows in 1872 :— Carpenters,masons, and blacksmiths,
6d. per diem ; tailors, 41d. per diem ; coolies, water-carriers, etc., 3d.
per diem . Agricultural labourers are generally paid in kind ; when
paid in cash , men get 3d., women itd ., and children d. per diem .
Prices have risen steadily during the last thirty years. The average of
ten years, ending in 1870, shows the following rates at Kasganj :
Wheat or grain , 22 sers per rupee, or 5s. id. per cwt.; barley or joár,
28 sers per rupee, or 4s. per cwt. ; bájra , 27 sers per rupee, or 4s. 1d.
per cwt. Prices at Etah town ruled about i ser per rupee dearer than
these quotations.
Natural Calamities. - Etah suffers from the ravages of locusts, white
ants, and other destructive insects ; and the cereal crops are liable to
several kinds of blight. Floods also occasionally occur in the low -lying
valley of the Ganges, and overwhelm the fertile soil with ridges of
barren shingle. But the great enemy of Etah , as of all the Doáb, is
drought, which has frequently produced severe famines. The last was
that of 1860-61, known among the peasantry by the graphic title of the
" Seven-ser famine,' in which rice sold at the rate of 7 sers per rupee,
or 7 lbs. for a shilling. The people were forced to live upon wild fruits
and vegetables, and even to extract food from grass seeds. The drought
 ETAH DISTRICT. 219
of 1868-69, however,was felt in Etah much less severely than in neigh
bouring Districts. Though both harvests were partial failures, the
scarcity which ensued did not rise to the intensity of famine, and the
highest quotation for wheat was only 13 sers per rupee, or 8s. 7 d .
per cwt. Famine rates are reached in this District when wheat sells at
less than 12 sers per rupee, or more than gs. 4d. per cwt. But it is
hoped that the completion of the Lower Ganges Canal will secure the
District in future from the extremity of famine.
Commerce, Trade, etc. — Etah has a considerable export trade in
agricultural produce. In an average season the surplus for exporta
tion is estimated to amount to the following quantities : - Rice, 100,000
maunds, or 73,469 cwts.; cleaned cotton, 46,909 maunds, or 34,463
cuts.; uncleaned cotton , 140,727 maunds, or 103,391 cwts. ; wheat and
barley, 1,831,725 maunds, or 1,345,757 cwts., besides a large quantity
of pulses and millets. The only important manufacture is that of
indigo, which is carried on in about 200 factories, some of them under
European management. Sugar is refined to a large extent in the
northern part of the District ; and the parganás lying on the banks of
the Ganges and the Búrh Gangá prepare salt from the saline earth
which is common throughout the District. Ropes and coarse sack
ing are also made from the hemp of the country , and exported as far
as Calcutta. Before the Mutiny, fire-arms of finished workmanship
and elaborately inlaid with silver were manufactured in the District ;
but since the Disarming Act, this trade has greatly declined. A religious
fair is held once a year at Soron , when the Hindus bathe in the purifying
waters of the Búrh Gangá, and lay in their annual stock of clothing and
household utensils. Another fair is held at Kakora in Budáun District,
just opposite the village of Kadirganj in Etah ; and although the traders
congregate chiefly on the Budáun bank, many pilgrims, whose object
is purely religious, bathe and remain at Kádirganj. No railway passes
through the District, but a good metalled road connects the head
quarters at Etah with the Shikohábád station on the East Indian
line, 35 miles distant. There are 101 miles of first-class, 113 miles of
second-class, and 327 miles of third -class roads. The last class are
being raised and bridged in portions from year to year. The Ganges is
navigable throughout the District, and the exports of Kasganj and
Dundwáraganj are shipped at the gháts of the samename. Some small
traffic also passes by the Cawnpore branch of the canal. In 1876, there
was but one printing-press in the District, owned by a native at Etah,
provided both with Nágari and Persian type.
Administration . - In 1860-61, the total revenue of the District from
all sources amounted to £88,867, of which £73,743 was derived from
the land tax ; while the total expenditure amounted to £23,680, or
hardly more than one-fourth of the revenue. In 1870-71, the total
220 ETAH DISTRICT.
receipts had increased to £119,399, while the land tax had remained
almost stationary at £78,852. The increase was mainly due to canal
collections, and to a large rise in the proceeds of local cesses,the income
tax, and the items of stamps and octroi. At the same time, the
expenditure had risen to £37,272, or nearly one-third of the revenue.
This increase was due to the need for more active administration, and
was chiefly set down to such items as salaries of officials, education,
post office, canals,medical staff, and local cesses. In 1875,the District
was administered by 3 covenanted civilians, and contained 8 magisterial,
2 civil, and 7 revenue courts. The regular police amounted, in 1874,
to 528 men of all ranks, maintained at a cost of £6863, chiefly from
provincial funds. This force was supplemented by 1321 village watch
men (chaukidárs) and 70 road patrols, for whose maintenance a sum of
£4797 was expended from the local treasury . The whole machinery ,
therefore, for the protection of person and property consisted of 1919
officers and men, or i policeman to every 0 .78 square mile and every
366 inhabitants ; and the total cost of their maintenance was £11,660,
or about 3 }d . per head of the population . In the same year, 1045
persons were convicted of all offences, great or small, in Etah ; the
proportion of convictions to the whole population being i to every 673
persons. The District has but one jail, the average daily number of
prisoners in which was 117 in 1860, and 210 in 1870 ; the proportion
to the total population was o'019 and 0'034 per cent. respectively.
The cost per inmate in the latter year was £4, 195. 7 d., and the
average earnings of each prisoner were gs. 8d. Education ismaking
steady advances in Etah ; it is gaining rapidly in the popular estima
tion, and some of the village schools are models of excellence. In
1870-71, the District contained 166 schools, with a total of 3953
pupils ; while the sum expended upon education amounted to £2052.
By 1874-75, the number of schools had risen to 184, the roll of pupils
to 4979, and the sum expended on their instruction to £2298. The
District is divided into 3 tahsils and 14 parganás, with an aggregate, in
1870, of 1407 estates, held by 13,724 registered proprietors or copar
ceners ; the average revenue paid by each estate was £55, 16s. 2 d.,
and by each proprietor, £5, 145. 5d. The District contains 5
municipalities -- Kasganj, Etah, Soron, Marehra, and Aliganj. In
1875-76, their joint income amounted to £4878, and their expendi
ture to £4043 ; average incidence of municipal taxation, Is. 3£d. per
head of population .
Sanitary Aspects. — The climate of Etah is dry and healthy, but sand
and dust storms are of almost daily occurrence in the hot season.
During the cooler months the air is cold and bracing , and fires are
often found necessary, especially in the winter rains. The total rainfall
was 44 7 inches in 1867-68, 12.9 inches in 1868-69 (a year of scarcity),
 ETAH TAHSIL - ETAWAH DISTRICT. 221
27'3 inches in 1869-70, and 34:1 inches in 1870-71. The principal
diseases are fever and small-pox, but cholera sometimes visits Etah
with severity. The reported death -rate was 22 per 1000 in 1872, 24'2
per 1000 in 1873, and 22'1 per 1000 in 1874. In the latter year,
the total number of deaths recorded was 15,593, of which as many as
12,706 were due to fever alone. There are 5 charitable dispensaries
in the District, which afforded assistance in 1873-74 to 17,636 out-door
and 695 in -door patients.
Etah - South -western tahsil of Etah District, North -Western Pro
vinces, lying to the west of the Kali Nadi, and watered by three
branches of the Lower Ganges Canal. Area, 491 square miles, of
which 276 are cultivated ; pop. (1872), 246,552 ; land revenue,
£32,435 ; total Government revenue, £35,679 ; rental paid by
cultivators, £57,231 ; incidence of Government revenue per acre,
25.od.
Etah. — Municipal town and administrative headquarters of Etah
District, North -Western Provinces. Pop . (1872), 8044, being 5884
Hindus, 2150 Muhammadans, and 10 Christians. Situated in lat. 27°
33' 50” N ., and long. 78° 42' 25" E ., on the Grand Trunk Road, 9 miles
west of the Káli Nadi. Rather an overgrown village than a town,
deriving its whole importance from the presence of the civil station ,
removed hither from Patiáli in 1856, on account of the superior
accessibility of the site. The principal market-place, Mayneganj, per
petuates the name of Mr. F. O . Mayne, C . B ., late Collector of the
District. Westward lies the new town of Etah, containing the tahsili
school, while to the east Rájá Dílsukh Rái's temple towers over the
other buildings to an extraordinary height. Large tank with handsome
flight of steps, municipal hall, court-house , tahsili office, dispensary .
The site is low , and was formerly subject to floods ; but a cutting to the
Isan Nadi, effected by Mr. Mayne, has remedied this evil. Founded
about 500 years since by Sangrám Sinh, a Chauhan Thákur, whose
mud fort still exists to the north of the town. His descendants
occupied the surrounding territory , with the title of Rájá , till the
Mutiny,when Rájá Damar Sinh rebelled ,and lost his property, together
with the family honours. ( See ETAH DISTRICT.) Chief trade — the
scarlet ál dye, indigo-seed , cotton , and sugar. Municipal revenue in
1875 -76, £1345 (from taxes, £844 ), or 2s. 1 d. per head of population
(8044) within municipal limits.
Etawah. — A British District in the Lieutenant-Governorship of the
North-Western Provinces, lying between 26° 21' 8" and 27° 0' 25" n. lat.,
and between 78° 47' 20" and 79° 47' 20" E.long. Area (1878), 1691 square
miles ; population (1872), 668,641 persons. Etáwah is a District of the
Agra Division. It is bounded on the north by Máinpuri and Farrukh
ábád ; on the west by the Jumna (Jamuná) river, and Agra District, the
222 ETAWAH DISTRICT.
Chambal Kuári Nadi, and the Native State of Gwalior; on the south
by the Jumna ; and on the east by Cawnpore. The administrative
headquarters are at the town of ETAWAH , which is the only place of
importance in the District.
Physical Aspects. — The District of Etáwah is a purely artificial
division for administrative purposes, stretching from the level plain of
the Doáb, across the valley of the Jumna (Jamuná), to the gorges and
ravines of the Chambal, which form the last outliers of the Vindhyán
range. It exhibits an unusual variety of scenery. The north -eastern
portion of the District, known as the Pachár, which is separated
from the remainder by the deep and fissured bed of the river Sengár,
belongs in its physical features to the great upland plateau of the
Doáb. This tract consists of a fertile loam , occasionally interrupted
by barren usár plains, and interspersed with saucer-like depressions
of clay, whose centre is occupied by marshes or shallow lakes. It
is well watered, both by the streamswhich take their rise from these
swampy hollows, and by the great artificial canals which intersect and
fertilize the Upper and Central Doáb . The Cawnpore branch canal,
though it does not enter the District, runs close to its borders , and sends
off distributaries which supply the extreme eastern angle ; the Etáwah
branch traverses the centre of the plateau ; while the Lower Ganges
Canal, now in course of construction, will pass between the two older
works, and irrigate the intervening country. The whole Pachár is
rich and fertile , and it is clothed in the season with a green expanse
of wheat and sugar-cane. On the opposite bank of the Sengár lies
another stretch of uplands, which reaches almost to the bed of the
Jumna. This tract is not unlike the Pachár in its natural characteristics ;
but as it has no canal system to develop its resources, while water is
only found at a great depth in wells, cotton and inferior food grains
here replace the crops for which abundant irrigation is necessary. The
Bhognipur branch of the canal, however, will pass through the very
heart of this region , whose native fertility is even now considerable.
The uplands descend into the Jumna valley through a wild terraced
slope, broken by ravines, and covered with thorny brushwood. Upon
its sides the villages are scanty, and lie concealed in the remotest
nooks, while cultivation is difficult and unprofitable . Below , the river
bank is sometimes fringed by a strip of rich alluvial deposit ; but in
other places, the Jumna sweeps close round the bold bluffs which
terminate the upland terraces. Its bank should form the natural
boundary of the District, but a narrow strip of British territory lies along
its opposite side, cut off from the Native State of Gwalior by the rapid
torrents of the Chambal and the Kuári Nadi. This outlying region has
been attached to Etáwah for administrative purposes. A little alluvial
soil is found here and there on small plots of tableland in the trans
 ETAWAH DISTRICT. 223
Jumna tract; but the greater part consists of a perfect labyrinth of
gorges, amongst whose recesses may be found some of the wildest and
most romantic scenery in Upper India. From the fortress-crowned
cliff of Bhareh the eye wanders over a tangled mass of rock and valley,
threaded by eddying rivers, overgrown with leafy jungle of acacia or
oleander, and studded on every prominent bluff with the ruined strong
hold of someancient robber chief. The rugged and picturesque nature
of this intricate range, known as the Pánchnada, or Country of Five
Rivers, contrasts strangely with the cultivated and monotonous level of
the Doáb to the east.
History. — The physical features of Etáwah, which rendered it practi
cally inaccessible to invaders in early times,marked it out formany ages
as a secure retreat for the lawless and turbulent. Numerous mounds
still show the ancient sites of prehistoric cities throughout the District,
which long formed a main stronghold of the Meos, the Ishmaelites of
the Upper Doáb . In their hands it doubtless remained until after the
earliest Muhammadan invasions,as none of the tribes now inhabiting its
borders has any traditions which stretch back beyond the 12th century
of our era. Etáwah was probably traversed both by Mahmúd of
Ghazní and by Kutab-ud -dín , on their successful expeditions against the
native dynasties ; but the memorials of these events are indistinct and
uncertain on all local details. It is clear, however, that the Hindus of
Etawah succeeded on the whole in maintaining their independence
against the Musalmán aggressors ; for while the neighbouring Districts
have a number of wealthy and influential Muhammadan colonies, only
a thin sprinkling of Shaikhs or Sayyids can be found amongst the
territorial families of Etawah. The Rájputs seem to have occupied the
District in the course of their great eastward migration during the 12th
century, and they were shortly followed by the Kanaujiya Bráhmans,
whose descendants still form the most important element of the land
owning community. Musalmán histories teem with notices of raids
conducted with varying success by the Sayyid generals against the
'accursed infidels ' of Etáwah . The Hindu chiefs were generally able
to defend their country from the invaders, though they made peace
after each raid by the payment of a precarious tribute. Early in the
16th century, Bábar conquered the District, together with the rest of
the Doáb ; and it remained in the power of the Mughals until the
expulsion of Humáyun. His Afghán rival, Sher Shah, saw that no
order could be established without a thorough system of internal
communications ; and he opened up the country with roads and watch
houses, besides stationing 12,000 horsemen in Hathkáut, who dealt out
such rude but prompt measures of justice as suited the circumstances
of the place and the people. His reforms laid the foundation for the
imperial organization of the Mughal dynasty . Akbar included Etáwah
224 ETAWAH DISTRICT.
in his sarkárs of Agra , Kanauj, Kálpi, and Irich . But even that
great administrator failed thoroughly to incorporate Etáwah with the
dominions of the Delhi court. Neither as proselytizers nor as settlers
have the Musalmáns impressed their mark so deeply here as in other
Districts of the Doáb. During the decline of the Mughal power,
Etawah fell at first into the grasping hands of the Marhattás. The
battle of Pánipat dispossessed them for a while ,and the District became
an appanage of the Ját garrison at Agra . In 1770, the Marhattás
returned, and for three years they occupied the Doáb afresh . But when,
in 1773, Najaf Khán drove the intruders southward, the Nawáb Wazír of
Oudh crossed the Ganges, and laid claim to his share of the spoil.
During the anarchic struggle which closed the century , Etáwah fell
sometimes into the hands of the Marhattás and sometimes into those
of the Wazir ; but at last the power of Oudh became firmly established,
and was not questioned until the cession to the East India Company
in 1801. Even after the British took possession, many of the District
Chiefs maintained a position of independence, or at least of insubordi
nation ; and it was some time before the revenue officers ventured to
approach them with a demand for the Government dues. Gradually,
however, the turbulent landowners were reduced to obedience , and
industrial organization took the place of the old predatory régime.
The murderous practice of thaggi (thuggee) had been common before
the cession , but was firmly repressed by the new power. In spite of a

-
devastating famine in 1837 , which revolutionized the proprietary system
by dismembering the great tálukas or fiscal farms, the District steadily
-
improved for many years, under the influence of settled government. -
The opening of the Ganges Canal, with its daily increasing branches, -
diffused fertility through a wide portion of the area ; and every class
of the community was advancing in material prosperity , while the
opening of schools and public libraries gave an earnest of future
advancement. The Mutiny of 1857 interrupted for somemonths this
progress. News of the outbreak at Meerut (Mirath ) reached Etawah
two days after its occurrence. Within the week, a small body of
mutineers passed through the District, and fired upon the authorities,
upon which they were surrounded and cut down. Shortly after,
another body occupied Jaswantnagar, and, although a gallant attack
was made upon them by the local officials, they succeeded in holding
the town. On the 22d of May, it was thought desirable to withdraw
from Etáwah station , but the troops mutinied on their march, and it was
with difficulty that the officers and ladies reached Barhpura. There
they were joined by the ist Gwalior Regiment, which , however, itself
proved insubordinate upon the 17th of June. It then became necessary
entirely to abandon the District and retire to Agra. The Jhansi
mutineers immediately occupied Etáwah, and soon passed on to Máin
 ETAWAH DISTRICT. 225
puri. Meanwhile, many of the native officials proved themselves steady
friends of order, and communicated whenever it was possible with
the Magistrate in Agra. Bands of rebels from different quarters
passed through between July and December, until on Christmas-day
Brigadier Walpole's column re-entered the District. Etawah station
was recovered on the 6th January 1858 ; but the rebels still held the
Shergarh ghát, on the main road to Bundelkhand, and the whole south
west of the District remained in their hands. During the early months
of 1858, several endeavours weremade to dislodge them step by step,
butthe local force was not sufficient to allow of any extensive opera
tions. Indeed, it was only by very slow degrees that order was restored ;
and as late as the 7th of December a body of plunderers from Oudh ,
under Firoz Shah , entered the District, burning and killing indiscrimi
nately wherever they went. They were attacked and defeated at
Harchandpur, and by the end of 1858 tranquillity , was completely
restored. Throughout the whole of this trying period , the loyalty
exhibited by the people of Etáwah themselves was very noticeable.
Though mutineers were constantly marching through the District,
almost all the native officials remained faithful to the cause of order ;
and many continued to guard the treasure, and even to collect revenue,
in the midst of anarchy and rebellion. The principal zamíndárs also
were loyal almost to a man.
Population . — The Census of 1865 was the first enumeration of the
people in which the area corresponded with that of the present time
sufficiently for purposes of comparison. It revealed a total population
of 627,378, or 384 to the square mile. The Census of 1872 showed
an increase to the number of 668,641 persons, or 395 to the square
mile. The District then contained 3529 villages, giving an average of
2 villages to each square mile, and 189 inhabitants to each village.
Classified according to sex, there were (exclusive of non-Asiatics) --
males, 369,928 ; females, 298,653 : proportion of males, 55'3 per cent.
of the total population . These figures show the usual preponderance
ofmales, which must doubtless be to a great extent accounted for by
the former prevalence of infanticide. There is reason to fear that this
practice still lingers amongst the people. Classified according to age,
there were (with the like exception ), under 15 years of age -- males,
139,606 ; females, 112,459 ; total, 252,065, or 37'70 per cent of the
whole population . As regards religious distinctions, Etawah is one
of the Districts where the faith of Islám has never succeeded in
obtaining any large body of followers. The Census of 1872 showed
631,923 Hindus, and only 36 ,571 Musalmáns, the percentages being
94'5 and 5'5 respectively, or as many as 19 Hindus to every Muham
madan. There were also 61 Europeans and Eurasians, and 86 Native
Christians. The proportions which the various castes and tribes bear
VOL. III.
226 ETAWAH DISTRICT.
to one another are the same as those prevalent throughout most of
the Doáb. Of the 4 great Hindu divisions, the Brahmans numbered
93,082 persons, minutely subdivided into the usual stocks and clans.
They hold 685 villages in the richest portions of the District, and are
the most important element of the population , both from their social
position and their newly-acquired landed estates. The Rájputs are
given at 58,358, inhabiting 507 villages. They form the old terri
torial aristocracy of Etáwah, who are being gradually ousted from
their possessions by Bráhman usurers and Bania traders. The last
named class is returned at 32,693 persons, holding 77 villages. The
other castes ' of the Census include the great body of the population,
amounting in the aggregate to 452,790 persons. The Chamárs ( 96 ,923)
head the list ; they are almost without exception agricultural labourers,
whom the benevolent efforts of British rule have only now succeeded
in raising from a condition of abject serfdom . Ahírs come next in
numerical order, with 75,035, and this tribe has some landed property
of small value. The Káyasths number only 8492 persons, but they
possess 150 villages, and are the wealthiest landholding community,
in proportion to their numbers, in Etawah. The Kshattriyas or
Khatris amount to no more than 278 persons, but they are zamindárs
in 24 villages, and are of great commercial importance. The other
leading tribes are the Káchhis (48, 160), Lodhás (34,795), Gadarias
(21,926), and Kolís (20,391). The Musalmáns are for the most part
Shaikhs or Patháns, and are to be found chiefly in the larger towns ;
they hold 48 villages in the District. The population is still essentially
agricultural, and there is little movement towards urban life. In 1872,
only 4 towns had a population exceeding 5000 — namely, ETAWAH
(30,549), PHAPHUND (6536), AURAIYA (6459), and JASWANTNAGAR
(5310 ).
Agriculture. — A large portion of the area of Etawah, especially in the
trans-Jumna region, is covered with jungle or rendered barren by usár
plains. But the District contains 547,619 acres of cultivated land, most
of which has reached a high degree of tillage. At the date of the last
fiscal settlement ( 1869-72 ), the area under each crop for the two harvests
was found to be as follows :- Rabí, or spring crops — wheat, 54,776
acres ; bejar, or wheat mixed with gram or barley, 137,458 acres ;
barley, 13,373 acres ; gram , 21,830 acres ; together with poppies,
vegetables, and other cropsmaking up a grand total of 247,245 acres :
Kharif, or rain crops— sugar-cane, 22,484 acres ; cotton, 77,007acres ;
bájra,78,347 acres ; joár, 102,845 acres; indigo, 7344 acres ; togetherwith
rice, Indian corn , and other crops, making up a grand total of 300,371
acres. The average out-turn of wheat on good soil is 21 maunds or
about 15 cwts. per acre, valued at £4, 18s., inclusive of the straw and
the crops grown amongst it ; the out-turn of cotton is 7 maunds or 5
 ETAWAH DISTRICT. 227
cwts. per acre, valued at £3. The system of cultivation is the same as
that prevalent in the Doáb generally . Manure is applied every second
year, and rotation of crops is practised to a slight extent. Irrigation is
widely employed, and its advantages are thoroughly appreciated. Over
48 per cent of the cultivated area has been already watered by artificial
means ; and when the proposed extensions of the canal system are
completed , there will be an immense improvement in this respect. As
many as 104,773 acres were irrigated from canals alone in 1874, and
the amount supplied from wells and ponds brings up the total to
265,208 acres. As elsewhere, the canals have been instrumental, not
merely in extending the area of cultivation, but also in improving
the character of the crops, by substituting indigo, sugar-cane, opium ,
and superior cereals for the commoner sorts of grain . The con
dition of the peasantry is comfortable ; the Bráhman and Rajput
proprietors are in easy circumstances. The people are better clothed
and better fed than formerly, and their standard of living has been
steadily rising of late years. The proprietors till 11 per cent. of the total
area as homestead ; tenants with rights of occupancy hold 57 per cent.;
tenants-at-will cultivate only 23 per cent. ; and the remainder is revenue
free. Rents have risen of late years, with the rise of prices and increase
of population , but the enhancements have been slow and slight, owing
to the strong local feeling in favour of the customary rates. It is diffi
cult to give any statistics, as the amount varies somewhat capriciously,
not only with the nature of the soil, but also with the caste of the
cultivator and the mode of tenure. Good irrigated land brings in as
much as £1, is. an acre , common dry landsmay fetch as little as 3s. 6d .
an acre. The average of all soils may be taken at from 8s. to ros.
Wages have also been on the increase for some years. In 1875,
cabinetmakers, masons, and smiths received 7 }d. per diem ; water
carriers, 4 d. per diem ; labourers, 3d. ; women and boys, 2 d. per
diem . Prices in the cis-Jumna tract have risen more than 50 per cent.
within the last thirty years. The average prices of food grains for the
decade ending in 1870 were as follows :- Wheat, 4s. 8d. per cwt. ;
gram , 55. 4d. per cwt. ; joár, 3s. 11d. per cwt.
Natural Calamities. - Etawah has suffered much in previous years from
drought, which produced famines in 1803, 1813, 1819, and 1837. In
1860-61, the District escaped with comparatively little distress, though
even here measures of relief were necessary, and thenumber of persons
relieved amounted in all to 54, 101. In 1868-69, again , Etáwah was not
visited with nearly so much severity as many other portions of the Doáb.
Though one-half of the kharif harvest was destroyed, rain fell in time to
bring the rabí to fully two-thirds of its average amount. The highest
price reached by wheat during the period of scarcity was about 9 sers
per rupee, or 12s. 5d . per cwt. The spread of irrigation has done much
228 ETAIVAH DISTRICT.
to remove the extreme danger of famine ; and the construction of the
new Lower Ganges Canal will probably render the District safe in
future years from actual want of food , so far as human calculation can
foresee .
Commerce and Trade, etc. — The exports of Etáwah consist almost
entirely of agricultural produce, amongst which the chief items are
cotton , gram , and oil-seeds. Some of the cotton goes as far as Bombay,
and a little is even sent beyond the bounds of India itself. Cloth goods,
metals, drugs, and spices form the staple imports. They are distributed
to consumers by the medium of religious fairs, one of which, at
Doba, sometimes attracts as many as 30,000 visitors. There is also a
good deal of through traffic to and from Gwalior, grain passing outward
and ghi inward. The communications have improved greatly of late
years. The East Indian Railway runs through the centre of the District,
with stations at Jaswantnagar, Etáwah , Bharthna, Achalda, and Pha
phúnd. The Jumna is also largely used as a water-way, and carriesa great
part of the heavy traffic. The District contains 62 miles of first-class '
roads, bridged and metalled throughout ; the second ' and third '
class roads have a total length of 124 and 313 miles respectively.
Administration . - In 1860, the total revenue amounted to £136 ,582,
of which £121,375, or eight-ninths of the whole, was due to the land
tax. At the same date, the total expenditure amounted to £90 ,103, or
two-thirds of the revenue. In 1873, the receipts had risen to £191,097,
while the land-tax remained almost stationary at £128,540. The
increase was mainly owing to irrigation dues and other rates. In the
same year, the expenditure was £110, 174, or less than three -fifths of
the revenue. In 1875, the administrative staff consisted of 3 covenanted
civilians, with 6 subordinate officers ; and the District contained 13
magisterial courts. The regular police in 1875 numbered 531 men
of all ranks, maintained at a cost of £7306, chiefly from provincial
funds. This force was supplemented by 1388 village watchmen (chau
kidárs) and 82 road patrols, upon whose maintenance a further sum
of £5341 was expended. The whole machinery, therefore, for the pro
tection of person and property consisted of 2001 men of all ranks,
being i man to every 0.84 square mile and every 334 inhabitants ; and
the total expense of the establishment was £12,647, or about 4 d . per
head of the population . The number of persons convicted for any
offence in 1874 was 1556 , or i to every 429 inhabitants. A single
jail suffices for the criminal population ; the average daily number of
prisoners in 1870 was 226, or o '036 per cent. of the inhabitants. The
cost per head in that year was £4, 175. 14d., and the average earnings
of each prisoner was 16s. 7£d. In 1874-75, there were 237 schools,
with 4608 pupils, and the sum expended on education amounted to
£3458. The District possesses a superior educational establishment in
 ETAWAH TAHSIL AND TOWN. 229
Hume's High School, founded by the Collector of that name in 1861,
and now under European management. In 1873, it contained 187
pupils ; and between 1865 and 1873, 42 boys matriculated successfully
for the Calcutta University . The annual cost to Government is £1160.
The District is subdivided into 5 tahsils and parganás, with an aggregate
of 1813 estates, owned by 15,523 registered proprietors or coparceners ;
average land revenue paid by each estate , £73, 4s. 7d., and by each
proprietor, £8, ris. od. There were 2 municipalities in 1875-76,
Etáwah and Jaswantnagar, the latter of which has now been abolished.
Their joint revenue amounted to £3530, and their expenditure to
£3345 ; incidence of municipal taxation , is. 6 ]d. per head of popu
lation .
Medical Aspects. — The climate of Etáwah was formerly reported as
hot and sultry to an oppressive degree, but the planting of trees and
the spread of canal irrigation have modified its character of late
years. It is now comparatively moist and equable, and the District
is among the healthiest in the plains of India . The rainfall was
49:6 inches in 1867-68, 14 :8 inches in 1868-69 (the year of scarcity ),
34 '2 inches in 1869-70, and 46 6 inches in 1870 -71. The chief
endemic disease is fever of a malarious type, which seems occasionally
to assume an epidemic typhoidal form . The District is also visited
from time to time by small-pox and cholera. In 1874, the total
number of deaths recorded was 19,276 (28.83 per 1000 of the popula
tion ) ; and of these no fewer than 12,684 were due to fever alone, while
4841 were set down to small-pox. The cattle of Etawah are subject to
frequent attacks both of rinderpest and of foot-and-mouth disease .
Etawah . — North -western tahsil of Etáwah District, North-Western
Provinces, including a considerable tract in the Doáb, watered by a
branch of the Ganges Canal, and extending into the ravine-covered
country on the banks of the Jumna (Jamuná), together with an isolated
wedge of land between that river and the Chambal, consisting for the
most part of wild jungle-clad gorges. Area, 425 squaremiles, of which
222 are cultivated ; pop. (1872), 186 ,299 ; land revenue, £27,813 ;
total Government revenue, £29,473 ; rental paid by cultivators,
£49,032 ; incidence of Government revenue per acre, 2s. o d.
Etawah . — Municipal town and administrative headquarters of
Etáwah District, North-Western Provinces. Area, 461 acres ; pop.
(1872), 30,549, being 21,241 Hindus, 9256 Muhammadans, and 52
Christians. Situated in lat. 26° 45' 31" N., and long. 79° 3' 18 " E.,
among the ravines on the left bank of the Jumna, at a point where the
river bends sharply backwards upon its own course. The suburbs
stretch down nearly to the water's edge , but the main quarter is
separated from the stream by a mass of gorges, about half a mile in
breadth . The East Indian Railway has a station outside the town.
230 EVEREST , MOUNT.
Hume-ganj, a handsome square, called aftera late Collector, A .O . Hume,
C. B., contains the public buildings, and forms the centre of the city.
It includes a market-place, tahsili and Magistrates' courts, mission -house,
police station, and dispensary. Hume's High School is a handsome
building, erected chiefly by private subscription . The north and south
sides of the square form the principal grain and cotton markets. A
sarái, with a fine well and arched gateway, adjoins the square. The
Jamá Masjid , or 'great mosque,'originally a Hindu or Buddhist temple,
stands on the right-hand side of the Gwalior road, and is interesting
from its numerous fragments of early workmanship . The Asthala,
situated in a grove to the west of the city, ranks first among the Hindu
places of worship ; it was built about ninety years ago by one Gopal
Dás, a Bráhman, in honour of Nara Sinha, an incarnation of Vishnu.
Another Hindu temple, dedicated to Mahadeo Tiksi, stands among the
ravines between the city and the Jumna. The bathing gháts along
the river's edge are lined by many handsome shrines ; and a modern
Jain building, with a lofty white spire, forms a striking object. The
fort, the stronghold of a Thákur in olden times, appears to have been
founded on a still earlier mound, and makes a handsome ruin , with
massive bastions and an underground passage, used to the present day
as a pathway to the summit. The picturesque position of Etáwah in
the midst of ravines, and the trees dotted about amongst its straggling
mahallas (wards), give it a pleasant and shady appearance , very rare
in Indian towns. The city dates back to a period before the Musal
mán - conquest, both Mahmúd of Ghazní and Shaháb-ud-din Ghori
having plundered it during their respective expeditions. The fort was
built by the Chauhans on their immigration into this wild tract, and
occupied by a Musalmán governor after their expulsion . Bábar and
the Muhammadan historians frequently mention it as a place of great
strength . In the 17th century, Etawah becamea famous banking and
commercial town, but suffered greatly, on the decline of the Mughal
empire, from Rohilla and Marhattá raids. For its later history and
the events of the Mutiny, see ETAWAH DISTRICT. The modern civil
station lies about half a mile to the north of the town , and contains the
railway station, jail, District offices, English church, and public gardens,
besides telegraph and post offices. Trade in ghi, gram , cotton, and oil
seeds. Imports of grain from the Punjab, on its way to Gwalior ; exports
of cotton to Cawnpore and Mírzápur. Municipal revenue in 1875-76,
£3064 ; from taxes, £2435, or is. 7 d . per head of population
(30,386 ) within municipal limits.
Everest, Mount. — The loftiest known peak in the world , situated in
the Nepál ranges of the HIMALAYAS, beyond Bengal. Lat. 27° 59' 12"
N., long. 86° 58' 6 " E. Altitude above the sea, 29,002 feet. Named in
honour of Sir G . Everest, Surveyor-General of India, by his successor,
 FAIZABAD DIVISION AND DISTRICT. 231
Sir Andrew Waugh, at the time when the height was first accurately
calculated.

Faizabád ( Fyzábád ). - A Division or Commissionership of Oudh ,

under the jurisdiction of the Lieutenant-Governor of the North -Western
Provinces, lying between 26° 9' and 28° 24' n. lat., and between 81° 5 '
and 83° 9' E. long. Area (Parliamentary return , 1877), 7118 square
miles ; population, according to the Census of 1869, 2,965,084. The
Division comprises the three Districts of FAIZABAD, Gonda, and
BAHRAICH , all of which see separately . It is bounded on the north by
the Nepál tarái ; on the east byGorakhpur ; on the south by Azamgarh
and Sultánpur ; and on the west by Bára Bánki, Sítápur, and Kheri.
Number of towns or villages, 7366 ; number of houses, 565,576. The
population (1869) consists of — 2,648,070 Hindus (89-35 per cent. of
the total) ; Muhammadans, 315,604 (10 '65 per cent.) ; Christians,
1410. Average density of population, 416 per square mile ; villages
per square mile, 1 '03 ; houses per square mile, 79 ; persons per
village, 402 — per house, 5 '2. Number of males, 1,534, 118, or 51*7 per
cent. of total population .
Faizábád ( Fyzábád ). - A District of Oudh, in the Division of the
same name, under the jurisdiction of the Lieutenant-Governor of the
North -Western Provinces, lying between 26° 9' and 26° 50' n. lat., and
between 81° 43' and 83° 9' E . long. Area (Parliamentary return, 1877),
1649 square miles; population , according to Census of 1869, after
allowing for recent changes of area, 1,024,092. Prior to recent
administrative transfers, the District contained an area of 2332 square
miles, and a population of 1,440,957. In shape, the District is an
irregular parallelogram running from west to east,with a slight tendency
southwards ; length , varying from 85 miles in the north to 64 in the
south ; average width , from 20 to 25 miles. Bounded on the north by
Gonda and Basti Districts, the Gogra river forming the boundary line ;
on the east by Gorakhpur ; on the south by Azamgarh and Sultánpur ;
and on the west by Bára Bánki.
Physical Aspects. — The physical features of the country are similar
to those of the neighbouring Districts of Oudh, and require but brief
notice. Faizabád consists of a densely populous, well cultivated plain
of great fertility, having an average elevation of 350 feet above sea
level, without hills or valleys, and devoid of forests, but well wooded
with numerous mango and bamboo groves, and scattered pipal and
simul trees. The drainage is towards the south -east. The principal
river, and that which affords the chief means of communication
between Faizábád and the Gangetic valley, is the Gogra, which flows
232 FAIZABAD DISTRICT.
along its whole northern frontier for a distance of 95 miles, being
navigable throughout by the largest - sized cargo - boats and river
steamers. The banks of the river are about 25 feet above cold -weather
water level. They are never flooded, but a breadth of low -lying
land between the banks and the stream is submerged every rainy
season. The other rivers are — the Tons, formed by the confluence of
the Bisoi and the Madha rivers ; and the Majhoi, which marks the
boundary between Faizabad and Sultanpur. The Tons is navigable
during the rains as far as Akbarpur by boats of about 5 tons burden.
Its banks are steep ; in many places covered with usár, in others
fringed with jungle. Many other small streams flow through the
District. Water is everywhere abundant, and lies close to the surface.
Although there are no large jhils or lakes, there are innumerable
artificially constructed tanks and natural water holes and small swamps,
which afford ample means for easy irrigation. Owing perhaps to the
greater extent of cultivation, Faizabád is worse stocked with game than
any other District of Oudh . Wild pigs are tolerably numerous near
the Gogra, and black buck are occasionally met with in the west of the
District ; bears and spotted deer are unknown ; ducks and geese com
paratively scarce. Fisheries unimportant.
History. — The early history of Faizabád is that of AJODHYA, of
which kingdom it formed a part. Passing from the time ofRámchandra
the hero of the Sanskrit epic , the Rámáyana — through the subsequent
period of Buddhist supremacy ; its decline ; the revival of Brahmanism
under King Vikramaditya of Ujjain ; the struggles between Buddhism
and Brahmanism ; and the subsequent re -establishment of the Bráh
manical faith about the 8th century A.D . — we come to the first event
in what may be called the modern history of the country, namely the
Muhammadan invasion. In 1030 A. D ., Sayyid Sálár Masáúd, the son
of Sálár Sáhu, one of the generals of Sultán Mahmúd, invaded Oudh,
and passed through Faizabád. It is not certain whether any great battle
was fought here, but a portion of the high road is still pointed out,
along which the country people will not pass after dark . They say that
at night the road is thronged with headless horsemen of Sayyid Sálár's
army. Sayyid Sálár, after a series of victories, was slain , and his troops
completely defeated , at BAHRAICH by the confederate Rajput princes.
These afterwards turned against each other, and the Province seems to
have been split up into a number of petty fiefs. After the conquest of
Kanauj, the Musalmáns again overran Oudh , and succeeded in con
solidating their rule. Ajodhya long remained the capital of the
Province ; but by the early part of the 18th century , it had given way
to Faizábád, a few miles to the west. Shujá -ud -din , however, was the
first of the Oudh Viceroys, whomade Faizábád his permanent residence
in 1756. After his death in 1780, the capital was removed to Lucknow.
 FAIZABAD DISTRICT. 233
The only important event in the history of the District since the
annexation of the Province was the Mutiny of 1857. In the early
part of that year, the troops in cantonments consisted of the 22d
Bengal Native Infantry, the 6th Irregular Oudh Cavalry, a company of
the 7th Bengal Artillery, and a horse battery of light field guns. The
troops revolted on the night of the 8th June, but the outbreak was
not accompanied with the scenes of massacre which occurred at
other military stations. The European officers, with their wives and
families, were allowed to leave unmolested ; and although some of them
were attacked in their flightby mutineers of other regiments, they nearly
all succeeded, aftermore or less hardship , in reaching places of safety.
A Muhammadan landholder, Mír Muhammad Husáin Khán, sheltered
one party in his small fort for several days, until the road was open and
they could reach Gorakhpur in safety .
Population . — The population of Faizabád, according to the Census
of 1869, but allowing for recent transfers, is 524,431 males and 499,661
females; total, 1,024,092, dwelling in 2567 villages and townships, and
193,479 houses ; average pressure of the population on the soil, 62 I
per square mile. The Hindus number 922,360, or go per cent. of
the total; Muhammadans, 100,410, or 9:8 per cent. ; Christians,
1322 , of whom 1267 are returned as Europeans. The castes of
Faizabád are the same as those which are found in the rest of Oudh.
The Brahmans are the most numerous, forming about 15 per cent. of the
total population of the District ; Chamárs, the lowest in social rank,
come next, numbering about 12 per cent. ; then Ahírs, and then
Kshattriyás, who hold two-thirds of the soil, but form only 7 per cent.
of the people ; Kurmis constitute 6 per cent. ; and Koris, Kahárs,
Vaisyas, Mallas, and Muráos, each about 3 per cent. The Census
returned 89 different castes of Hindus. The Muhammadans are
divided as to sect into Sunnis and Shiás, the former constituting the
great majority. The Shiás, however, are influential, and are principally
met with in Faizabád city, which was for long the residence of a Shiá
court. Five towns in the District contain a population (1869) exceeding
5000 — viz. FAIZABAD (population , 37,804) ; TANDA, 13,543 ; AJODHYA,
7518 ; JALALPUR, 6275 ; and SINJHAULI, 5069 to 5614. Faizábád
and Ajodhya, which are adjacent towns, have been constituted into a
single municipality . The only other municipality is Tánda. Of the
3479 villages which the District contained in 1869, prior to the recent
changes of area, 1311 contained fewer than 200 inhabitants ; 1323
from 200 to 500 ; 594 from 500 to 1000 ; 197 from 1000 to 2000 ;
49 from 2000 to 5000 ; and 5 upwards of 5000 inhabitants.
Agriculture. — The principal agricultural staples are wheat and rice,
which together make up 46 per cent. of the total area under cultiva
tion, which is estimated at 947 square miles, or 606,080 acres,
234 FAIZABAD DISTRICT.
including land yielding two crops in the year. The acreage under
each crop is approximately as follows : — Wheat, 200,000 ; rice,
150,000 ; joár, urd , gram , peas, barley, and arhar, each 50,000 ;
sugar-cane, 40,000 ; and miscellaneous crops, 80,000 acres. Irrigation
is largely practised. The water is principally derived from jhils and
tanks, but masonry wells are more commonly used for this purpose in
Faizábád than in any other District in Oudh . Water is met with at
various depths, varying from 12 feet along the banks of the Gogra to
37 feet in parts beyond the old bed of the river. A masonry well, 25
feet deep, and sufficiently large for two pulleys to be worked at once,
costs about
costs aked b£25 en, wone worat£17,
y fiveifmmortared, ering 1os.
costsifn unmortared.
the ta Such a well
is worked by five men, who can irrigate one local bíghá (about 1150
square yards) in a day. One watering costs from 35. od. to 55. an acre,
according to the current rate of wages. In the tarái, where water is
found within 12 feet of the surface, the well is a mere hole, and 3 men
are able to irrigate a bíghá at a cost of from 25. 4 } d . to 3s. Ild for
each watering. As a rule , sugar-cane is watered 10 times, opium and
tobacco each 7 , barley, peas, and masuri, once. Wheat requires a double
well for every 12 acres, opium and tobacco for every 5, and barley , peas,
etc., for every 15. Rents are high, and are still rising. The rate per
acre for land growing the different crops is thus returned :— Opium and
tobacco, 18s. 6d. ; sugar-cane, 16s. 6d. ; wheat, 135. 6d. ; rice, ros ;
oil-seeds, 8s. 6d. ; maize , etc., 75. 6d. Classified according to the
different qualities of land, rents may be set down as follows :- Manured
crops near the village, 25s. per acre ; irrigated loam , 16s. ; unirrigated
loam , 125. ; sandy unirrigated loam , 7s. The cultivator's profits are
probably the same in Faizábád as in other parts of Oudh — just enough
to pay for his labour and for the keeping up of his stock. Of late
years, however, owing to the rise of rent, bad harvests, and cattle
murrain , they have not reached this standard . The difficulties of the
cultivating class are not due to the Government revenue being too
heavy, but to pressure put upon them by the petty proprietors and
middle -men , who have to raise the rents in order to enable them to
live according to their old standard of comfort. The land is divided
among a few large and an immense number of small proprietors. The
large tálukdári estates are 28 in number, containing an area of 998,000
acres, or an average of 55 square miles each. Included within these
fiefs are many sub-tenures, which have been granted by the tálukdárs
or decreed by the courts. These consist of 703 villages, and cover
an area of 250,000 acres, or a little over one-fourth of the parent
estates. The number of these sub-proprietors is 22,846 , the average
area of each estate being 14 acres. The small independent estates
number about 17,000 ; average area, 29 acres. The cultivating tenants
are returned at 183,447 in number, the average area of each tenant's
 FAIZABAD DISTRICT. 235
holding being 33 acres. Tenants possessing occupancy rights are said
to number 2288, or about 2 } per cent of the whole. Wages are paid
both in money and in grain . Throughout the District the ordinary rate
of money wages for unskilled labour is id. a day, but is higher in the
neighbourhood of Faizabád town. Prices of food grains have consider
ably advanced of late years. Between the ten years 1861-1870, prices
for common unhusked rice rose from 35. to 45. 2d . a cwt., common
husked rice from 75. to 8s. 2d., wheat from 4s. 6d. to 55. 11d ., joár from
35. 6d. to 4s. 7d., bájra from 4s. 2d. to 75. rod., gram from 45. 8d . to
6s. 3d., arhar from 45. 7d. to 5s. gd., urd from 5s. 6d. to 75. 3d.,múg
from 75. 2d. to 8s. 4d., masuri from 45. 2d. to 55. 7d. a cwt.
Natural Calamities. — The two last famines which afflicted the Dis
trict occurred in 1869 and 1874, being caused by the failure of the rains
in the preceding years. The entire rainfall of neither year was
deficient; but the distribution was capricious, and no rain fell in those
monthswhen it was most needed for agricultural purposes. Famines in
Faizabád are of two kinds - one of food itself, and the other of the
means to purchase food, which may be termed a labour famine. The
first outward sign of distress is shown when the small farmers, who pay
their labourers grain wages, turn them off to shift for themselves. The
result is that these men emigrate from the District as scarcity
approaches, long before there is absolute famine ; the demand for food
is diminished, and the crisis perhaps tided over till the next harvest.
Another cause which mitigates the effect of a bad crop in Faizabád,
is the great variety of the staples sown. Rice, joár, barley, gram , urd,
and peas are all grown in fair proportion ; while in the neighbouring
Districts of Gonda and Bahráich, if the rice fails, there is nothing to fall
back upon. In Faizábád, the harvests follow within every two months
of each other, except from June to September.
Communications, Trade, Commerce, etc. — Besides the water highway
along the Gogra , means of communication are afforded by two good
metalled roads to Sultanpur, Partábgarh , and Allahabad on the north ,
and to Daryábád, Nawabganj, and Lucknow on the west, aggregating 60
miles in Faizábád District. Good unmetalled roads cross the country
in every direction, aggregating 428 miles. There are numerous ferries
on the Gogra, and a bridge of boats is maintained at Faizábád town
during the dry season . A branch of the Oudh and Rohilkhand Railway
also intersects the District for a length of 66 miles, with stations at
Akbarpur, Gosáinganj, Nára, Ajodhya, Faizabád, and Sohwal. The
trade of Faizabad District cannot be estimated with any approach to
accuracy. The registered river-borne imports and exports for 1872
and 1873 are returned as follows: — The value of the imports, con
sisting principally of sugar, tobacco, spices, salt, cattle, and English
piece-goods, was returned at £159, 350 in 1872, and £158,272 in
236 FAIZABAD DISTRICT.
1873 ; while that of the exports (principally wheat and other food
grains, hides, timber, country cloth , etc.) was returned at £333,336
and £306,325 in 1872 and 1873 respectively. The figures, however,
do not show the actual exports and imports of the District, but merely
indicate the course of river trade at marts within the river boundary.
The internal trade by road or river with other parts of Oudh is not
given. For instance, Faizabád exports a vast quantity of opium by rail
to Lucknow ; but although much of it is produced in Faizabád itself,
none of it, or of any other railway traffic , is credited to the District in
the trade returns. These, again , exhibit Faizábád as a large importer of
sugar ; it really produces more than is required for its own consumption
The fact is that the sugar of Basti and Azamgarh passes through Faiz
ábád to Lucknow , whence it is distributed to Cawnpore and Bareli.
Country cloth is largely exported from Tánda ; timber is exported really
from Kheri and Bahráich , but is credited to Faizabád, as the logs are
counted in this District. The grain exported is mainly rice, wheat, and
maize , but much of it comes from neighbouring Districts, and is
embarked in Faizabád, which acts as an emporium for Eastern Oudh.
Administration. — The judicial staff consists of the Divisional Com
missioner, sessions judge, deputy commissioner, with 2 European and 3
native assistants, a cantonment magistrate, and 4 revenue collectors
(tahsildars). There are also ir magistrates, all of whom have civil and
revenue powers ; besides 3 honorary magistrates. The total imperial
revenue of the District in 1875 -76 amounted to £151,856, of which
£133,242 was derived directly from the land. The total expense of
civil administration, as represented by the cost of the District officials
and police , amounted in the same year to £18,097. The regular
police force in 1873 consisted of 576 officers and men, maintained ata
cost to the State of £8058 ; the village watch or rural police consisted
of 2203men , maintained by the landholders at a cost of £5347 ; and
there was also a municipal force of 197 men, costing £1524 from
municipal funds. During 1873, 4050 cases were brought by the police
before the magistrates, and 3239 convictions obtained. Faizábád has
the worst criminal reputation in Oudh, particularly for cattle -stealing
and poisoning ; 19 persons of the Chámár or leather-dealing caste were
convicted of cattle poisoning in 1872, the motive being simply to obtain
the hide. Pargana Birhár is notorious for cattle-lifting. Crimereaches
its maximum in July, the month when grain is scarcest. The Govern
ment or aided educational institutions consisted in 1872-73, of 162
schools, attended by 4633 pupils ; and in the following year, of 167
schools, with 4801 pupils.
Medical Aspects. — The rainfall of Faizábád is more regular than in
Western Oudh, and during the fourteen years ending 1875 has averaged
43:2 inches. Mean temperature (1875 ), May 87-9° F., July 85-6°,
 FAIZABAD TAHSIL - FAIZPUR TOWN. 237
December 65:6° F. The principal diseases of the District are fevers.
Small-pox is also prevalent, and cholera occasionally makes its appear
ance in an epidemic form .
Faizábád ( Fyzábád). - Tahsil or Subdivision of Faizabad District,
Oudh, lying between 26° 32' 30" and 26° 50' n. lat., and between 81°
51'and 82° 31' 15" E. long. ; bounded on the north by Begamganj tahsil
of Gonda, on the east by Basti District in the North-Western Provinces,
on the south by Bikápur tahsil, and on the west by Rám Sanehi tahsil
of Bára Bánki. Area, 342 square miles, of which 208 are cultivated.
Pop., according to the Census of 1869, but allowing for recent changes
of area - Hindus, 244,212 ; Musalmáns, 34,535 : total, 278,747, viz.
143,640 males and 135, 107 females. Number of villages or townships,
479 ; average density of population , 815 per square mile. The tahsil
consists of the 3 parganás of Haweli Oudh , Mangalsi, and Amsír.
Faizábád ( Fyzábád). — Chief town and administrative headquarters of
Faizábád District,Oudh ; situated in lat. 26° 46'45" N., and long. 82° 11'
40" E., on the left bank of the river Gogra, 78 miles east of Lucknow ;
adjoining it to the west is the modern town of Ajodhya, both towns
being on the site of the ancient city of AJODHYA. The town is a com
paratively modern one, although there are severalancientMuhammadan
buildings in its vicinity. Mansúr Ali Khán, Viceroy of Oudh, in 1732
passed a portion of his time here ; but his successor, Shujá-ud -daulá ,
took up his permanent residence at Faizábád, and made it the Provincial
capital in 1760. Twenty years later, Asíf-ud-daulá moved the court
back again to Lucknow . Pop. (1869) (exclusive of Europeans and
troops), 21,930 Hindus and 14 ,620 Muhammadans — total, 36 ,550, in
8077 houses, 1776 being ofmasonry . The city has fallen into decay since
the death of the celebrated Bahu Begam in 1816, who had held it rent-free
since 1798, and who lived and died here. Her mausoleum is described
as ' the finest building of the kind in Oudh .' The Dilkusha palace
adjoining the tomb was the residence of this lady ; it is now the opium
storehouse. Several other Muhammadan buildings, mosques, gardens,
etc., allmore or less out of repair, are situated in the town. Faizábád
together with Ajodhya constitutes one municipality. The municipal
income (1876 - 77) amounted to £4764, and the expenditure to £4410 ;
average rate of taxation, 2s. 3 d. per head of the population within
municipal limits. There are numerous markets in the town, and trade
is very active, the estimated annual sales within municipal limits
amounting to £148,780, of which upwards of one-half consists of wheat,
rice, and food grains. Large station on the Oudh and Rohilkhand
Railway, and also a military cantonment. Total pop. ( 1869), 37,804.
Taizpur. – Town in Khandesh District, Bombay ; situated in lat.
21° 1 ' N ., and long. 75° 56' E., 72 miles north -east of Dhulia . Pop.
(1872), 8365. Faizpur is famous for its cotton prints, and its dark
238 FAKHRPUR PARGANA AND TOWN.
blue and red dyes. There are about 250 families who dye thread ,
turbans, and other pieces of cloth , and print cloth of all sorts. Weekly
timber market.
Fakhrpur. Pargana in sBahraich District, Oudh ; bounded on the
e manue onby the
north by Nánpáraonpargana,
ia aand
Sítádeast nd ssouth
ou by Bahraich and
Hisámpur, and on the west by Sítápur District. A large pargani,
which has undergone many changes of area . As at present defined ,
it comprises a great portion of what was once Firozábád , while, on
the other hand, a number of its former villages have been transferred
to Hisámpur. The Sarju and a small sluggish stream , the Bhakosa,
flow through the parganá, and several well-defined deserted channels
mark old beds of the Gogra (Ghagrá ), which now flows to the south.
Water is commonly met with so close to the surface, that irrigation
is scarcely required. Area, 383 square miles, of which 217 are under
cultivation and 114 are cultivable waste. Government land revenue,
£9248 ; average incidence, Is. 5 d. per acre of cultivated area,
ugd. per acre of assessed area , and 9 d . per acre of total area
The principal landlord is the Rájá of Kapurthala, on whom the estate
of the rebel Rájá of Baundi has been conferred at a quit-rent for ever.
Sardárs Fateh Sinh and Jugjot Sinh, reputed grandsons of Mahárájá
Ranjit Sinh of Lahore , are the grantees of the Cháhlári Rájá 's estate.
The Rájá of Rahwa's estates also lie almost entirely in this pargani .
Of the 288 villages which compose the parganá, 227 are held under
tálukdárí tenure, and 161 are permanently settled. Pop. (1869),
Hindus, 125,899 ; Muhammadans, 14,200 ; total, 140,099, viz. 74,045
males and 66 ,054 females ; average density of population, 366 per square
mile. Most numerous castes — Brahmans, 19,262; Ahirs, 17,812;
Chamárs, 15,316. Three lines of road intersect the parganá. Eight
market villages, the most important of which is at Jáitápur, which has a
large well-frequented bázár. Government schools maintained in nine
villages, besides an English town school at Baundi; police station at
Sísia ; post offices at Baundi and Sísia .
Fakhrpur.— Town in Bahraich District, Oudh ; on the high road
from Bahramghát to Bahráich, 103 miles from the latter town. Lat.
27° 25' 55" n., long. 81° 31' 41" E. The town is pleasantly situated
among park-like groves ofmango trees, but is unhealthy, owing to bad
water ; goitre is very prevalent. In former times the place is said to
have been held by Ahírs. In Akbar's reign it was made the head
quarters of a parganá named after it, a fort was built, and a tahsil or
revenue collectorate established . Up to 1818, the tahsildar had his
fort and treasury here, but in the latter year the larger portion of the
parganá was incorporated in the Baundi estate (iláká), and from that
time the fort has ceased to be used. The village has been held now
for many years by the revenue officers of the parganá. Pop. (1869),
 FAKIRGANJ - FALSE POINT. 239
Hindus, 1236, and Muhammadans, 904 ; total, 2140, residing in 409
mud houses. Saltpetre is prepared, but not to any great extent. No
market. Government school.
Fakirganj. — Commercial village in Dinajpur District, Bengal.
Trade in rice, tobacco , gunny cloth, sugar, and jute.
Fakírhát. – Village in the District of the Twenty-four Parganas,
Bengal. Lat. 22° 23' 30" N., long. 89° 7' 15 " E. Bi-weekly market.
Traffic carried on entirely by means of water communication .
False Point. — Cape, harbour, and lighthouse in Cuttack District,
Bengal; situated in lat. 20° 20' 10" N., and long. 86° 46' 25" E., on
the north of the Mahánadi estuary, and consisting of an anchorage,
land-locked by islands and sandbanks, with two navigable channels.
False Point takes its name from the circumstance that it was often
mistaken by ships for Point Palmyras, one degree farther north. It is
the best harbour on the Indian coast between the Húgli and Bombay.
The lighthouse stands on the point which screens it from the southern
monsoon, in lat. 20° 19' 52" n., long. 86° 46' 57" E. The anchorage is
protected by two sandy reefs, named Long Island and Dowdeswell
Island, and is completely land-locked by the latter. Point Reddie, on
Dowdeswell Island, shelters the entrance. Farther in lies Plowden
Island, for the most part a low jungly swamp, butwith a limited area
of high ground suitable for building purposes, and with good drinking
water. The harbour is safe and roomy, the channel properly buoyed ,
and a soft mud bottom prevents injury to vessels running aground.
The port is now open throughout the year, and ships of large tonnage
can lie in security in all weathers. Two separate channels lead inland
from the anchorage — the JAMBU river on the north, and on the south
the BAKUD creek, a short deep branch of the Mahanadi. Bars of sand
intervene between the anchorage and these channels, but at full tide
cargo-boats and steamers enter with ease. Several tidal creeks, narrow
and winding, but navigable by country boats throughout the year,
connect False Point with the Dhámra and Bráhmani rivers on the
north , and with the Dévi on the south .
History of False Point Harbour.— It is only within the last twenty
years that the capabilities of False Point Harbour have been appreciated.
Prior to this period — although the place is but two days by steamer from
Calcutta — no regular communication existed, and the exports, consisting
chiefly of rice, were entirely in the hands of native shipmasters from
Madras. The port was opened in 1860, about which date an enter
prising French firm in Calcutta established an agency for the export of
rice, and the East Indian Irrigation Company perceived its natural
advantages as an import depôt. But it was during the year of the great
Orissa famine (1866 ), when Government was anxiously exploring every
means of throwing supplies into the Province, that the capabilities of
240 FALTA - FARIDABAD.
False Point were first publicly appreciated. The formation of new
canals has been the making of the port. The KENDRAPARA CANAL,
which reaches from Cuttack for a distance of 421 miles, connects False
Point with the capital of Orissa ; and False Point has now become the
entrepôt for the trade of the Province. A small Government steamer
plies between the harbour and the entrance to the canal at Mársághái
a distance of 23miles ; the extension of the canal from Mársághái for
15 miles nearer False Point is now in course of construction . The
British Indian General Steam Navigation Company make the place a
regular port of call; it is also visited by French ships from Mauritius,
which take rice and oil- seeds for that island, and for Havre, Bordeaux,
and other French ports. False Point was formerly considered very
unhealthy ; but the malaria to which it owed this evil reputation has, to
a great extent, disappeared . A harbourmaster and superintendent of
customs have been appointed.
Trade. - In 1860, 4 vessels, with a total tonnage of 2830 tons, entered
the port ; the value of exports was returned at £6759. During the years
between 1863-64 and 1874-75, the trade has increased from £51,921
to £261,212, or upwards of five-fold , and the number of vessels from
16 (tonnage, 8681) to 110 (tonnage, 118,375). The chief trade is with
other Indian ports.
Falta . – Village in the Twenty -four Parganas, Bengal ; situated on the
Húglí, nearly opposite its point of junction with the Damodar. Lat.
22° 18' N ., long. 88° 10 ' E . The site of an old Dutch factory, and
also noted as the place of retreat of the English fleet on the capture of
Calcutta by Suráj-ud-daula.
Faradnagar. — Town in Noakhali District, Bengal, and head
quarters of the Pheni Subdivision ; situated in lat. 22° 57' N ., and long.
91° 30 ' 15" E., near the Grand Trunk Road, 2 miles north of the Big
Pheni ghát at Bhurbhuria .
Farah . — North -western tahsil of Agra District, North -Western Pro
vinces, lying wholly on the right or western bank of the Jumna
(Jamuna), and consisting for the most part of an alluvial plain . Area ,
202 square miles, of which 159 are cultivated ; pop. (1872), 100,498 ;
land revenue, £16 ,728 ; total Government revenue, £19,001; rental
paid by cultivators, £ 29,156 ; incidence of Government revenue per
acre , 25. 7d .
Farah. - Chief town of the tahsil of the same name, Agra District,
North -Western Provinces ; situated in lat. 27° 19' N., and long. 77°
49' E., on the route from Agra to Muttra (22 miles north -west of the
former, and 13 miles south-east of the latter ), a mile from the right
bank of the Jumna (Jamuná). Well supplied with water. Small
bázár.
Faridábád. - Municipal town in Delhi District, Punjab ; 16 miles
 FARIDKOT' STATE. 241
south of Delhi. Lat. 28° 25' n., long. 77° 21' 45" E. ; pop. (1868),
7990, being 5741 Hindus, 1952 Muhammadans, 8 Sikhs, and 289
others.' Formed part of the estate held by the Rájá of Ballabhgarh ,
but was confiscated with the rest of his possessions after the Mutiny
of 1857. Founded in 1605 A.D., during the reign of Jahángír, by one
Shaikh Farid, from whom it takes its name. Police station , school
house, sarái. Little trade, no manufactures. Municipal revenue in
1875-76, £309, or 9 d. per head of population (7583) within municipal
limits.
Faridkot.— One of the Sikh States, under the political superintend
ence of the Punjab Government; lying between 30° 13' 30" and 30° 50'
N. lat., and between 74° 31' and 75° 5' E. long., south-east of Firozpur
(Ferozepur) District, and north -west of Patiala . It consists of two
portions, Faridkot proper and Kot-Kapúra. Faridkot, the chief
town, is 60 miles south-west of Ludhiana (lat. 30° 40' N ., long.
74° 59' E .). The chief of the State is head of the Burar Ját tribe.
One of his ancestors, named Bhallan , in the time of the Emperor
Akbar, acquired great influence, and laid the foundation of the great
ness of his house. His nephew built the fort of Kot-Kapúra , and
made himself an independent ruler. Early in the present century, the
Kot-Kapúra District was seized by Ranjit Sinh , and in the following
year Faridkot was also taken ; but when the British Government
demanded from the Mahárájá the restitution of all his conquests made
on the left bank of the Sutlej (Satlaj) during 1808 and 1809, Faridkot
was unwillingly resigned to its former possessors. The revenue of the State
was at that time both small and fluctuating. The country was entirely
dependent on rain for cultivation , and this falls in small quantities, and
in some years not at all. Wells were difficult to sink , and hardly repaid
the labour of making them , the water being from go to 120 feet below
the surface. On the outbreak of the Sikh war in 1845, the chief, Pahár
Sinh, exerted himself in the English cause, and was raised to the rank
of Rájá, and further rewarded by a grant of half the territory confiscated
from the Rájá ofNábha, his ancestral estate ofKot-Kapúra being then
restored to him . Wazir Sinh, the son and successor of Pahár Sinh ,
served on the side of the British during the second Sikh war in 1849.
In the Mutiny of 1857, he distinguished himself by seizing mutineers,
guarding the Sutlej ferries, and attacking a notorious rebel, Sham Dás,
whose village he destroyed. For these services Wazir Sinh was duly
rewarded . He died in April 1874, and was succeeded by his son ,
Bikram Sinh , the present Rájá , who wa- born in 1842. He holds his
State under a sanad of 1863, by which the domain belongs for ever to
the Rájá and his male heirs lawfully begotten. The right of adoption
has also been accorded. The Rájá has abandoned excise and transit
duties in exchange for compensation . He is entitled to a salute of 11
VOL. III.
 242 FARIDPUR DISTRICT.
guns. The area of the State is 600 square miles, its population in 1876
was estimated at 68,000 persons, and its revenue at £30,000. The
military force consists of 200 cavalry, 600 infantry and police, and 3
field guns.
Faridpur.— A British District in the Lieutenant-Governorship of
Bengal, lying between 22° 47' 53" and 23° 54' 55" n. lat., and between
89° 21' 50" and 90° 16 ' E. long. Area in 1877, after recent transfers,
2365 square miles ; population in 1879 (according to the Census of
1872, but allowing for the transfers just referred to ), 1,502,436. Bounded
on the north and east by the Padma or main stream of the Ganges ; on
the west by the Chandná, Barásiá , and Madhumatí rivers ; and on the
south by the Kumar and a line of swamps. The civil station and chief
town of the District is FARIDPUR town ( Q . V .), on the bank of the
Mará Padma.
Physical Aspects. - Faridpur District is essentially a fluvial creation ,
and exhibits the later stages in the formation of the Gangetic delta .
In the north , the level is now comparatively well raised, and
lies above water during the summer and cold weather months. But
from the town of Faridpur the level gradually declines down the
delta to the southward , until on the confines of BAKARGANJ DISTRICT
the country sinks into one vast swamp, never entirely dry . The soil
changes from a light sandy loam in the north , to a comparatively recent
alluvial deposit farther south . The highest levels, as in other deltaic
Districts, are found on the river banks, being formed by the annual
deposits from overflow . The lowest levels lie midway between the
rivers, as such situations obtain less silt from overflows, and remain
perennial swamps. The population clings to the higher levels ; and the
villages are chiefly built along the river banks, or on the margin of the
swamps, surrounded with a picturesque jungle of bamboos, betel palms,
and plantains. These villages or hamlets consist of mud huts, and
often stand on artificially raised sites, which, during the rainy season ,
rise from the universal expanse of water-like wooded islets. Communi
cation is almost entirely conducted by water. The District forms a
tongue of land between the two great rivers, the Ganges or Padma and
the Madhumatí, and is cut through by their innumerable distributaries
and lines of swamps. The chief of these intersecting water-ways is the
Ariál Khán. Fisheries are extensively carried on in Faridpur, and
supply an important source of revenue.
History. — The present District of Faridpur has been a gradual
growth , arising out of the desire to bring the courts nearer to the
people. Under Akbar's redistribution of Bengal (1582), Faridpurwas
included within the sarkár of Muhammad Abúd ; and for the next two
centuries remained exposed to the piratical incursions of the Maghs or
Burmese from the seaboard, and of the Assamese , who sailed down the
 FARIDPUR DISTRICT. 243
Brahmaputra from the north, ravaging the country on either side. During
the first 46 years of British rule (1765-1811), it formed an outlying
corner of the great Dacca District, under the name of Dacca Jalálpur.
As the headquarters then lay at Dacca town, on the farther side of
the Ganges, distinct courts were erected at Faridpur in 1811; and from
this year the separate existence of the District dates. After various
transfers and readjustments, Faridpur now forms a compact administra
tive entity, shut in between the Ganges on the east and the Madhumatí
on the west.
Population , etc. — No accurate returns of the population exist before
the Census of 1872. Since that year, the Subdivision of Mádáripur,
excepting Gaternadi tháná, has been transferred from Bákarganj District
to Faridpur, raising the present area of Faridpur to 2365 square miles,
and the population to (1879) 1,502,436 . But the Census of 1872 is
the only enumeration for which the details in a collected form are avail
able. Itdisclosed a total population of 1,012,589 persons, inhabiting
157,518 houses ; average pressure ofpopulation , 677 persons per square
mile. The twomost densely populated thánás in the District are Deorá,
reported to have 947, and Bhúshná, 846 inhabitants to the square mile.
Classified according to sex, there were in Faridpur District in 1872,
497,854 males and 514,735 females ; proportion of males to total popula
tion 49'2 per cent. Classified according to age, there were , under 12
years old — males, 179,536 ; females, 142,951; total children, 322,487,
or 31.8 per cent. of the population . The total number of Hindus in
the District was 420,988 ; Muhammadans, 588,299 ; Christians, 463 ;
others ' of unspecified denominations, 2839. Towards the south , the
country is almost entirely peopled by Chandáls, a caste or race of
Hinduized aborigines, who numbered 156,223 in 1872. The Chandáls
are semi-amphibious in their habits,and capable of enduring almost any
exposure or fatigue. They are a despised class, and a Bráhman thinks
himself defiled by even crossing the shadow cast by a Chandál; but in
1873, they organized a general strike in the District, resolving not to
serve the upper classes until their own position was ameliorated. The
Bunás, another aboriginal race, number 2412. The majority of the
Muhammadans in the District are engaged in husbandry ; they are
divided into the two classes of Shiás and Sunnis. Daulatpur village,
in Faridpur District, was the birthplace of Haji Sharit-ullá, the founder
of the Faráizí or reformed sect of Muhammadans, which has rapidly
Spread throughout the whole of Eastern Bengal during the past fifty
years. The Faráizís are properly a branch of the great Sunni division ,
and in matters of law and speculative theology they profess to belong
to the school of Abu Hanifa, one of the four authoritative commenta
tors on the Kurán. Their essential point of difference from the general
body of Sunnis consists in their rejection of traditional custom . They
 244 FARIDPUR DISTRICT.
declare that the Kurán is the complete guide to spiritual life ; and they,
therefore , call themselves Faráizís or followers of the faráiz (plural of
the Arabic word farz), the divine ordinances of God alone. Historically
they represent a Puritan reaction against the corrupt condition into
which Islám had fallen in Bengal at the close of the last century , and
in this as in other respects bear an analogy to the Wahábis of Arabia.
There can be no doubt that the vast majority of Musalmáns in the
delta of the Ganges and Brahmaputra are descendants of the aborigines,
who willingly embraced Islám at the time of the Muhammadan con
quest, in preference to remaining outcasts beyond the pale of exclusive
Hinduism . But though they became converts in outward profession ,
they still retained many of the superstitious ceremonies of their former
life, and joined in socialmerry-makings with their fellow-villagers. The
reform inaugurated by Haji Sharit-ullá was a protest against such pagan
practices, and a return to the simple habits and pure monotheism of
the Kurán. In especial, he objected to the squandering of large sums
of money on marriage festivities, and to the exclusive employment of
certain persons to perform the rite of circumcision. The articles of
faith on which he chiefly insisted were the duty of the holy war (jihád ),
the sinfulness of infidelity , (kufr) of introducing rites and ceremonies
into worship (bida'at), and of giving partners to the one god (shirk).
Externally, a Faráizimay be known by the fashion of wrapping his dhuti
or waistcloth round his loins without crossing it between his legs, so as
to avoid any resemblance to a Christian 's trousers, and by his ostenta
tious mode of offering prayers with peculiar genuflexions in public.
The rapid spread of the Faráizí movement in the lifetime of its founder
affords sufficient justification for his enthusiasm . On his death , his
followers met together and elected his son , Dudu Miyán, as their
spiritual chief. This man appears to have abused the implicit confi
dence imposed in him . He was charged with having applied the
subscriptions to his own use, and with many tyrannical acts. On more
than one occasion he was sentenced to terms of imprisonment by the
British courts, and he finally died in obscurity at Dacca in 1862. He
left no direct successor, but three of his sons, together with a nephew ,
set themselves up as leaders, and still maintain themselves in that pro
fession. At the present day the Faráizis do not exhibit any active
fanaticism , nor would it be just to accuse them as a class of disloyalty
to the British Government. The majority of them are cultivators of
the soil, but not a few occupy the rank of traders, being especially
active in the export of hides. All alike are characterised by strictness
of morals, religious fervour, and faithful promotion of the common
interests of the sect.
In 1872, 2300 villages were returned as having a population under
3000, and 5 towns had from 3000 to 5000 inhabitants ; only 2 towns
 FARIDPUR DISTRICT. 245
contained more than 5000, viz. the municipalities of FARIDPUR (8593)
and SAYYIDPUR (6324). The other chief towns of the District are
Bhángá (pop. 1000), Gopálganj (2000), Goálanda (1000), and Sátair
(500).
Agriculture, etc. — Staple products of the District :- Rice, of four
principal varieties, viz. áman (or winter rice), aús (the autumn crop),
boro (or rice grown in deep water), and ráidá ; wheat, barley, oats,
maize, pulses, tubers, oil-seeds, fibres, sugar-cane, date-palm , indigo,
pán, fruits, and tobacco . In 1871, 1143 square miles were returned as
actually under cultivation. Good land in Faridpur yields 7 cwts. of
áman paddy per acre, and rents at 35. gd. ; the highest rent paid
is under gs. an acre. From 10 to 12 acres are considered a fair
sized holding for a peasant family. Much land is held on the mirası
tenure - a tenure in perpetuity, conveying rights of inheritance and
transfer upon the cultivator, and not liable to enhancement of rent.
Hawálá (háolá ) and nunhaiválá tenures, of a similar character, are also
common in this District. The cultivators as a rule are well off, as
about 75 per cent. of them have occupancy ' rights in their holdings.
It is estimated that only about 16 per cent are in debt. The cattle
and implements required for ' a plough of land,' or a holding of 5
acres, represent a capital of about £4, 1os. ; a peasant family can
live respectably on £i a month . Wages and prices have greatly risen
of late years. In 1855, day-labourers received 2 d. to 3d. per diem - in
1870, from 4td. to 6d. ; carpenters in 1855, 12s. to 16s. a month - in
1870, £1 to £ 1, 4s. The cultivators do much of their ploughing and
reaping by a system of mutual assistance ' or gati. Common rice rose
from 25. 8d. per cwt. in 1860 to 35. 6d. in 1870 ; and other staples in
proportion.
Natural Calamities.— Partial blights occur nearly every year, being
chiefly caused by insects and worms. Floods occur annually on a
more or less destructive scale, and are due to the rising of the rivers
Padma and Chándná before they enter Faridpur. The waters spread
over the whole District, but seldom cause a general failure of the
crops ; they did so , however, in 1824, 1838, and 1871. The
country is not protected by embankments or other defensive works.
Partial droughts occur at intervals, but no precautions are taken against
them . The large landholders have not yet undertaken reclamation
works with a view to draining the numerous swamps and marshes.
Manufactures, etc. — The most important manufacture of Faridpur,
and the staple article of District trade, is sugar, prepared both from the
juice of the date-tree and from the cane. Indigo was formerly manu
factured to a considerable extent, but all the European factories are
now, with one exception , closed. A fine matting called sital pátia
very cool to sleep on during the hot season - is skilfully woven out of a
246 FARIDPUR DISTRICT.
peculiar wild grass. All the local manufactures are conducted by the
workers on their own account, and in their own houses, excepting
sugar, which is made by hired labourers on monthly wages. Chief
articles of trade - rice, pulses, oil-seeds, oil-cake, jute, sugar, molasses,
onions, cocoa-nuts, betel-nuts, ghí, salt, piece-goods, iron, spices, timber,
mustard , oil, fish , mangoes, fruit, oranges, potatoes, honey, brass, bell
metal, and copper utensils. GOALANDA , at the confluence of the
Ganges and Brahmaputra , is one of the principal river marts in Eastern
Bengal, being the terminus of the railway and the point of departure of
the Assam steamers. The chief seats of local trade are — Bhánga,
Gopalganj, Boálmari, Sayyidpur, Madhukhálí, and Kámárkhálí. The
water -ways carry the entire traffic of the District. There are only three
importantlinesofroad in Faridpur - viz. the Calcutta and Jessor Imperial
road , from Faridpur town to Dhuliághátá on the Barásiá, 19 miles in
length ; the Belgachhí road, from Faridpur to Kálinagar, 16 miles in
length ; and the Talmá road, from Faridpur to Talmá, 10 miles in length.
These roads are often damaged by floods, and at times lie underwater for
many days. The Eastern Bengal Railway runs for 22 miles from west
to east through the north of the District, having its terminus at
GOALANDA. The chief native association in Faridpur is a Society
for the Reform of Kulinism , and the Abolition of Pan , or the sale of
daughters in marriage,' started in the civil station about 1870, and still
endeavouring to do good work .
Administration , etc.- Owing to changes in jurisdiction, it is impossible
to show accurately the increase in the revenueof Faridpur. In 1850-51,
the total revenue of the District was only £10,229, of which £4171
was derived from the land ; in that year the total expenditure was
£8374. By 1870-71, or within twenty years, the revenue had risen to
£58,868, of which £27,321 came from land , and £11,980 from
stamps ; while the expenditure in the same period had grown to
£25 ,013. The extent to which the subdivision of landed property has
progressed may be inferred from the fact that in 1871 there were only
165 estates on the rent-roll, with an average payment of £23, is. odd.;
whereas in 1870 the number of estates was 2307, and the average
payment of £11, 16s. 4d. In 1869, there were in the District 4
magisterial, and 11 civil and revenue courts. The regular police force
in 1871 numbered 314 men of all ranks (including a river patrol of
43 men , with 4 boats), or iman to every 4:85 square miles. The village
watch was 2026 strong, and the municipal police numbered 20 men.
The total police force, therefore,amounted to 2360men . In 1870, the
daily average number of prisoners in Faridpur jail was 315 ; total
number admitted during the year, 683. The hard-labour prisoners are
employed in manufacturing cloth or gunny, gardening, husking rice, and
making bamboo or rattan articles. Since the introduction of Sir George
 FARIDPUR SUBDIVISION - FARIDPUR TAHSIL. 247
Campbell's reforms (1872), by which primary education was greatly ex
tended, the number of schools rose to 176, and the number of pupils
from 2653 to 6497. Active measures are being taken to establish schools
among the Chandáls ; among whom , out of a total of 156,223 persons,
fewer than 200 boys were returned as attending school in 1872. In
1872, the number of villages in Faridpur District was returned at 2307 ;
average population, 439. There are two administrative Subdivisions
(FARIDPUR and GOALANDA), and only 3 municipalities (FARIDPUR,
MADARIPUR, and SAYYIDPUR ) ; total income ( 1876 -77), £966 .
Medical Aspects, etc. — The climate of Faridpur is very damp ; the
rains often set in at the end of April, and by the end of June the
greater part of the District is under water. Average annual rainfall for
the ten years ending 1868, 85:42 inches. Malarial fevers are prevalent.
There is a dispensary at Padamdi; number of out-door patients in
1871, 1078.
Faridpur. — The Sadr or Headquarters Subdivision of Faridpur
District, Bengal, comprising the seven thánásor police circles of Faridpur,
Bhúshná, Awanpur, Sadrpur, Deorá, Maksúdpur, and Gopalganj, lying
between 22° 52' 30 " and 23° 38 ' n . lat., and between 89° 34' and 90°
14' E. long. Area, 1067 square miles ; townships, 1381 ; houses,
107,793. Pop. (1872 ), 709,451 — of whom the Muhammadans number
408,436 , or 57-6 per cent. ; and the Hindus, 298,728, or 42'1 per cent.
The number of Christians is 400 ; and of persons belonging to other '
denominations, 1887. Proportion of males, 46'i per cent. Average
pressure of Subdivisional population, 665 per square mile ; number of
villages per square mile, 1:29 ; persons per village, 514 ; houses per
square mile , 101 ; persons per house, 6 6 .
Faridpur. - Chief town and civil station of Faridpur District,
Bengal ; situated on the west bank of the small river Mará Padma, in
lat. 23° 36 ' 25 " N ., and long. 89°53' 11" E. Pop. (1872), 8593. To
the south lies the Dhol Samudra, a fresh-water lake, which affords
ample drainage except in the height of the rains ; water is abundant
and tolerably wholesome. Municipal revenue ( 1876-77), £543 ; rate of
municipal taxation , is. Izd. per head of population within municipal
limits. In January , an annual agricultural exhibition is held ; this
show , first instituted in 1864, has of late much increased in importance ,
and has given a considerable impetus to the manufactures and agri
culture of the District. The South Australian Baptist Mission has a
branch in the town ; and the Bráhma Samáj was represented in Decem
ber 1857 by 10 followers. An anniversary Samáj is held every year,
which is largely attended both by Bráhmas and orthodox Hindus.
Faridpur. – Southern tahsil of Bareli (Bareilly) District, North
Western Provinces. Area, 249 square miles, of which 177 are
cultivated ; pop. (1872), 119,811 ; land revenue, £16 , 160 ; total
248 FARIDPUR VILLAGE - FARRUKHABAD DISTRICT.
Government revenue, £17,781 ; rental paid by cultivators, £30 ,846 ;
incidence of Government revenue per acre, 25. 0fd.
Faridpur. – Chief village of the tahsil of the same name, Bareli
(Bareilly ) District, North -Western Provinces ; situated in lat. 28° 12' 17 "
N., and long. 79° 4' 45" E., on the route from Bareli town to Shahjahan
pur, 12 miles south-east of the former. Pop. (1872), 4940. Water and
supplies abundant. Near the village is a fine mango grove. Surround
ing country well cultivated.
Farrukhábád. A British District in the Lieutenant-Governorship
of the North-Western Provinces, lying between 26° 46' 31" and 27° 42'
51" n . lat., and between 79° 9' 59" and 80° 3' 59" E. long Area, 1744
square miles; population (1872), 918,850 persons. Farrukhabad forms
the south -eastern District of the Agra Division . It is bounded on the
north by Budáun and Shahjahanpur, on the east by the Oudh District
of Hardoi, on the south by Cawnpore and Etawah , and on the west by
Mainpuri and Etah. Theadministrative headquarters areat FATEHGARH ,
but Farrukhábád, on thewest bank of the Ganges, is the most populous
town in the District.
Physical Aspects. — The District of Farrukhábád consists of an
irregular strip of country in the middle Doáb, together with a small
outlying tract on the left or eastern bank of the Ganges. The former
portion presentsthe usualmonotonous features of the great alluvial plain
to which it belongs. Starting from the banks of the sacred river, a
broad belt of well-watered lowland is first encountered, bounded to the
west by the high cliff which marks the ancient limit of the narrower
Ganges valley. Above this cliff rises the general upland plain , divided
into two main sections by the little stream of the Káli Nadi, and further
intersected by the lesser water-courses of the Rind and the Isan. Each
of these minor divisions displays the samegeneral characteristics, con
sisting of a narrow lowland belt along the banks of the boundary rivers,
together with a central level of sandy soil (bhúr), rising by a series
of ravines from the valley below, and culminating in a watershed of
loamy earth, often accompanied bymarshy lakes and wide expanses of
the white saline efflorescence known as usár. The dorsal ridge of
loam comprises, roughly speaking, the irrigated portion of the District,
where wells can be sunk with little difficulty or expense, and cultivation
lies in scattered patches, like green islands amongst the barren stretches
of usár. The trans-Gangetic tract, on the other hand, consists entirely
of lowland, scarcely ever rising above the level of the yearly inundations,
and liable to a sterile deposit of sand after heavy rains. Much of
the land is subject to erosion by the river ; and the areas of the villages
vary greatly from year to year, as the floods devour or cast up again
the cultivable soil. The Rámganga passes through the extreme
eastern angle, which it often overflows, forming large but temporary
 FARRUKHABAD DISTRICT. 249
swamps. The whole District is uniformly though not thickly wooded,
and the strip lying along the high bank of the Ganges, a poor and
barren tract, has a comparatively large proportion of trees.
History.— The District of Farrukhábád possesses great antiquarian
interest, owing to the presence within its boundaries of KANAUJ, the
capital of a powerful Hindu kingdom in the earliest centuries of the
Christian era. This city lies on the left bank of the Káli Nadi, 4 miles
from the modern bed of the Ganges, which once flowed close below
its walls. Ruins of ancient buildings extend over the lands of five
villages, and occupy a semicircle fully 4 miles in diameter ; but as
their walls consisted entirely of brick , the foundations alone now
remain . The relics are constantly used as a storehouse of building
material, so that the traces of the ancient metropolis grow fainter day
by day. The principal monument is the shrine of Rájá Ajái Pál,
supposed to be the prince conquered by Mahmúd of Ghazní, and
killed in 1021 A . D . by the Chandel Rájá of Kálinjar. The famous
Gupta dynasty of Kanauj ruled over the whole upper basin of the
Ganges for about six centuries, from 315 B.C. to 275 A.D. Their coins
and other monuments are still found in considerable numbers over the
whole of their wide domain , and have yielded a comparatively con
sistent chronology to the patient labours of Lassen, Rajendralála Mitra,
and English scholars. Tradition points to Thákur colonists as the
earliest Aryan settlers in the District, after the extermination of the
Bhars, as the aboriginal inhabitants are here universally called. The
tract south of the Kali Nadi was peopled by the celebrated Jái Chánd,
Rájá of Kanauj; but the northern angle passed into the hands of its
present occupants some seven generations later, after the Musalmán
invaders had completed the overthrow of its early Tuár possessors. We
know nothing of the District,however, from authentic historical records,
up to a comparatively modern period of Muhammadan rule. During
the 18th century, the northern portion of Farrukhabad , together with
many parganás now lying in Etah and Mainpuri, constituted the jágir
of the Nawab of Farrukhábád ; while the southern region was admini
stered by deputies sent from Lucknow . In 1751, on the death of Ali
Muhammad, the Rohillá chief (see Bareilly DISTRICT), the emperor
refused to acknowledge Hafiz Rahmat Khán as his successor, and
despatched the Farrukhabad Nawab to reduce that turbulent leader
to order. Rahmat Khán, however, defeated and slew the imperial
lieutenant, four of whose parganás in Budáun he proceeded to annex.
Safdar Jang, Wazir of Oudh, thereupon plundered the defenceless
territories of the Farrukhábád Nawab ; but his interposition led to a union
between the Farrukhábád Rohillas and their Bareli clansmen, under
the leadership of Háfiz Rahmat Khán. The allied forces defeated
Safdar Jang, retook Farrukhábád, and laid siege to Allahábád ; while
 250 FARRUKHABAD DISTRICT.
another body invaded Oudh itself. But Safdar Jang called in the
aid of theMarhattás, defeated the Rohillás at Bisauli, near Aonlá, and
once more recovered Farrukhabad. His successor, Shujá-ud-daulá,
conquered all Rohilkhand in 1774, with the aid of an English force,
granted by Warren Hastings ; and the whole country remained in his
hands until its cession to the British in 1801. From the period of its
passage under a firm and regular Government, the District remained
free from historical events up to the date of the Mutiny. News of
the outbreak at Meerut (Mírath) reached Fatehgarh on the 14th of May
1857 ; and another week brought tidings of its spread to Aligarh . The
10th Native Infantry showed symptomsof a mutinous spirit on the 29th
of May ; but it was not till the 3rd of June that a body of Oudh insur
gents crossed the Ganges, and arranged for a rising on the following
day. The European officials and residents abandoned Fatehgarh the
same evening ; but several of them returned to Fatehgarh a few days
later, and remained till the 18th, when another outbreak occurred, and
the rebels placed the Nawab of Farrukhábád on the throne. The
41st Native Infantry , from Sítápur, marched into Fatehgarh , and the
Europeans began to strengthen the fort. On the 25th , the rebels
attacked their position , which became untenable by the 4th July. The
fortwas then mined, and its defenders escaped in boats. The first Fateh
garh boat reached Cawnpore, where all its fugitives were murdered by
the Nána on roth July ; the second boat was stopped 10 miles down
the Ganges, and all in it were captured or killed except three. The
Nawab governed the District unopposed till the 23rd of October, when
he was defeated by the British at Kanauj. Our troops passed on,
however, and the Nawab, with Bakht Khan of Bareli, continued in
the enjoyment of power until Christmas. On the 2nd of January 1858,
our forces crossed the Káli Nadi, and took Fatehgarh next day. The
Nawab and Firoz Sháh fled to Bareli. Brigadier Hope defeated the
Budáun rebels at Shamsábád on the 18th of January, and Brigadier
Seaton routed another body on the 7th of April. In May, a force of
3000 Bundelkhand insurgents crossed the District and besieged Káim
ganj; but they were soon driven off into the last rebel refuge, in Oudh,
and order was not again disturbed.
Population . — The Census of 1853 returned the population of Farrukh
ábád District at 924,594 persons. In 1865, the number was given at
917,496 ; while in 1872, it rose again to 918,850. These figures show
a decrease for the 19 years of 5744 persons, or 0:63 per cent. ; but as
the area had undergone meanwhile a loss of 378 square miles, or 2I'I
per cent., the decrease may be regarded as merely nominal. The
statistics of densitymore truthfully represent the real state of the case,
and they show an actual and considerable increase for every square
mile of area ; the proportion being 501 persons per square mile in
 FARRUKHABAD DISTRICT. 251
1853, and 527 in 1872. The enumeration in the last-named year took
place over an area of 1744 square miles, and disclosed a total popula
tion of 918,850 persons, distributed among 3934 villages or townships,
and inhabiting an aggregate of 192,080 houses. From these data the
following averages may be deduced : — Persons per square mile, 527 ;
villages per square mile, 2 -3 ; houses per square mile, 110 ; persons
per village, 234 ; persons per house, 4º7. Classified according to sex,
there were (exclusive of non -Asiatics) - males, 499,722 ; females,
419,026 ; proportion of males, 54 3 per cent. Classified according to
age, there were (with the like exception), under twelve years — males,
162,005 ; females, 134,804 ; total, 296 ,809, or 32:31 per cent. of the
population. As regards religious distinctions, the District still remains
essentially Hindu, in spite of its long subjection to Muhammadan rule.
The Hindus were returned in 1872 at 816,733, or 88: 9 per cent.,
while the Musalmáns numbered 101,538, or il'i per cent. There were
477 Christians. Among the Hindus, the Brahmans numbered 85,987
persons. The Rájputs, descendants of the original colonists, and still
the leading landowners in the northern half of the District, were
returned at 63,769 persons. South of the Káli Nadi, in the tract
formerly subject to the Oudh Wazirs, the Thákurs were for the most
part dispossessed by the severe fiscal exactions of the Lucknow court.
The other principal tribes include the Baniás (15,717), Ahírs (86,372),
Chámárs (94,274), Káyasths (15,378), and Kurmis (30,884). The
District contains 6 towns with a population exceeding 5000 - namely ,
FARRUKHABAD , 79, 204 ; FATEHGARH , 13,439 ; CHHIBRAMAU, 5444 ;
KAIMGANJ, 10,323 ; KANAUJ, 17,093 ; and SHAMSABAD, 8710. Farrukh
ábád is thus by far the largest and most important town in the District,
being the main centre of commerce and communications.
Agriculture. - Out of a total area of 1744 square miles, all but 86
square miles pay Government revenue. Of the assessed area, thus
amounting to 1658 square miles, 372 are uncultivable, 264 cultivable
waste, and 1021 actually under tillage. The usual agricultural seasons
of the Doáb prevail throughout — the kharif, or autumn crops, being
sown in June and harvested in October or November ; while the
rabi, or spring crops, are sown in November and reaped in March
or April. Cotton , rice, bájra, joár, and moth form the staples of the
autumn harvest ; while wheat, barley, oats, vetch , and peas are
the spring products. The cultivation of potatoes has been intro
duced, especially in the neighbourhood of Farrukhábád itself, and the
smaller towns of Káimganj, Shamsábád , and Chhibramau. In the
villages near the city, the system of a triple crop (one of them , potatoes)
is in full working. The cultivation of sugar-cane gives rise to an
exceptional rotation of crops. When the autumn harvest has been
gathered in November, the land remains fallow , and undergoes frequent
 252 FARRUKHABAD DISTRICT.
ploughings for the next sixteen months, and the cane is planted in the
second following March. It is not cut till January or February of the
second year. Cultivators with rights of occupancy have a fairly com
fortable livelihood ; tenants-at-will pay heavier rents and clear a
much smaller margin of profits. Occupancy tenants hold 64 per cent.
of the whole cultivated area ; and where the proprietors do not them
selves till their lands, they obtain the best plots, which the landlords
would otherwise have kept as homestead. The average rent rates per
acre ruled as follows in 1877 :- Resident tenants, 75. uid. ; non -resident,
6s. 7d. The principal landowning tribes are the Thákurs, Bráhmans, and
Musalmáns, who held 36 , 20, and 21 per cent. of the District respec
tively in 1873. Coolies and unskilled town labourers received 24d.
to 31d. per diem in 1877 ; agricultural labourers, 2 d. to 3d.; brick
layers and carpenters, 6d. to 2s. The prices-current of food grains
ruled as follows in 1876 :— Wheat, 45. 4d. per cwt.; rice, 16s. per cwt.;
joár, 3s. per cwt. ; bájra, 3s. id . per cwt. These prices are nearly
double of those which prevailed in 1803.
Natural Calamities. The famines of 1770 and 1783 doubtless
affected Farrukhábád, as they did the whole of the North-Western
Provinces, but the existing accounts are too scanty to admit of
separate estimates for each District. In subsequent famines, Farrukh
ábád suffered severely in the four worst years, 1803-04, 1815-16,
1825-26, and 1837-38. The area affected by minor scarcities did
not extend so far northward as to embrace the parganás then
included under the present District ; and the southern portion of the
existing territory, originally incorporated with Cawnpore and Etawah,
has always been much more liable to dearth than the northern
region . In the disastrous season of 1837-38, Farrukhábád suffered
with great severity, nearly one-fourth of the cultivated area being
abandoned . In August 1837, relief measures were adopted, reaching
their maximum in March 1838. The famine of 1860 was confined to
the Upper Doáb and Rohilkhand, and scarcely affected this District,
except by raising the price of grain . The last scarcity, in 1868-69,
occasioned considerable distress in Farrukhábád for a short period,
but the dearth rapidly passed away. Relief operations continued from
February to October 1869.
Commerce and Trade. — The crops produced in the District barely
suffice for local needs, and no surplus for export exists ; on the con
trary, grain is largely imported from Oudh and Rohilkhand. The
receipts at the ferries, ghats, and bridges have increased fivefold since
1844, a fact which shows how enormously the traffic of the District
has widened during that interval. The city of Farrukhabad contains a
few native banking establishments ; but their operations do not extend
to the villages of the District, where the Bania money-lender and the
 FARRUKHABAD DISTRICT. 253
zamíndár still retain the exclusive power of making cash advances, and
keep a firm hold over the indebted peasantry . The prevalent rates of
interest in 1877 were 18 to 37 per cent. on personal security , 6 to 15
per cent. on jewels or other pledges, and 10 to 24 per cent. on mort
gages of landed property . Fatehgarh is noted for its manufacture of
tents. The Grand Trunk Road formsthe chief connecting link between
Farrukhabad and the surrounding country, keeping up the communi
cation with the east and north -west. The line of road passing into
Rohilkhand crosses the Ganges at Fatehgarh , where a bridge of boats
suffices for the requirements of traffic during the greater part of the
year; but interruption is often caused in the rains by the substitution
of ferry-boats for a standing bridge. The District has been injuriously
affected by its distance from the railway system . When the Grand
Trunk Road and the river Ganges formed the main channels of com
merce, the situation of Farrukhabad admirably adapted it for the trade
in which its merchants were chiefly engaged ; but when the railway
offered a new and better outlet for the produce of the North -West, the
course of traffic deserted the city for towns more favourably situated on
the modern route. Internal communication is well maintained by an
excellent system of unmetalled roads, while abundant feeders in every
direction connect the various villages with each other and with the main
thoroughfares.
Administration. — The District staff usually comprises a Collector
Magistrate, two Joint Magistrates, an Assistant and two Deputy Magis
trates, besides the ordinary fiscal, medical, and constabulary officials.
Farrukhábád is the headquarters of a civil and sessions judge, whose
jurisdiction is entirely confined to the District. The whole amount of
revenue, imperial, municipal, and local, raised within the District in
1876, was £197, 229, or 4s. 14d. per head on an estimated population
(corrected to date ) of 955,497 persons. Of this sum , £124,673, or
more than five-eighths, were derived from the land tax. The last land
settlement was commenced in 1863, and completed in 1874 ; it resulted
in an increase of revenue by £12,127. Farrukhábád contains two
places of confinement for criminals — the central prison and the District
jail, both of which are situated at Fatehgarh. The central jail had a
daily average of 1265 prisoners in 1875, all of whom were males ; the
average cost per inmate amounted to £4, 5s. 3d., and the average
earnings of each prisoner to 6s. The District jail contained in the
same year a daily average of 371 prisoners, of whom 21 were females ;
the average cost per head amounted to £3, iis. 6d., and the average
earnings of each prisoner to ios. The total strength of the District
regular police force was 943 ; and the cost of their maintenance was
£10,279. These figures give an average of 1 policeman to every 1°79
square mile of area and every 974 of the population ; while the cost
254 FARRUKHABAD CITY- FARRUKHNAGAR.
of maintenance amounted to £5, 16s. per square mile and 2 d. per
head. There are 15 imperial and 12 local post offices ; and the
Government maintains a telegraph station at Fatehgarh. There were,
in 1875, 320 schools, with a joint roll of 7507 pupils ; showing 1 school
to every 5:45 square miles, and 8.1 scholars for every thousand of
the population. The city of Farrukhábád has a zilá school, and
Anglo - vernacular schools are established at Fatehgarh, Kaimganj,
Shamsábád , and Chhibramau. The total cost of Government educa
tion in 1876 was £3416. The District contains only one municipality,
Fatehgarh-cum -Farrukhabad. Its revenue amounted in 1875-76 to
£8177 ; from taxes, £6957, oris. 10 d. per head of population
(74,225 ) within municipal limits.
Medical Aspects. — Farrukhábád bears the reputation of being one of
the healthiest Districts in the Doab. The general elevation is con
siderable, the climate is dry, and the country possesses remarkable
freedom from epidemics. The trans-Gangetic parganás, however,must
be excepted as low -lying and damp. The annual mean temperature
was 77° F. in 1870, and 84° F. in 1871 ; the lowest monthly mean
being 58° in January, and the highest 93° in June. The average
annual rainfall for the eleven years ending 1871 amounted to 29 4
inches ; the maximum being 47'2 inches in 1867, and the minimum
12' 1 inches in 1868 (the year of scarcity ). Fevers prevail in August
and September. The total number of deaths recorded in 1875 was
20,609, or 22:43 per thousand of the population ; the average death-rate
for the previous six years was returned at 16 '09 per thousand. Four
charitable dispensaries, at Farrukhabad, Fatehgarh , Káimganj, and
Mírán-ki-Sarái, afforded relief in 1875 to 20,521 persons, including 789
in -door patients.
Farrukhábád. — Municipal city in Farrukhábád District, North
Western Provinces. Area, 1411 acres ; pop. (1872), 79,204. Situated
in lat. 27° 23' 55" N., and long. 79° 36 ' 50” E., two or three miles
from the right or west bank of the Ganges ; distant from Cawnpore 83
miles north-west, and from Etawah 62 miles north -east. It is a hand
some and well-built town , with many of its streets shaded by avenues
of trees. A mud fort, once the residence of the Nawab, commands
an extensive view of the Ganges valley. The trade was formerly con
siderable, but has fallen off of late years, owing to the diversion of
commerce by the opening of the railway system . Zilá school ; dispen
sary ; headquarters at the adjacent British fort of FATEHGARH. For
early history and Mutiny narrative, see FARRUKHABAD DISTRICT.
Forms with Fatehgarh a municipality ; revenue in 1875-76, £8177 –
from taxes, £6957, or is. 10 d . per head of population (74,225 )within
municipal limits.
Farrukhnagar. — Municipal town in Gurgaon District, Punjab
 FATEHABAD - FATEHGANJ. 255
Lat. 28° 25' N ., long. 76° 51' 30" E .; area, 99 acres ; pop. (1868),
10,631, being 3409 Hindus, 2523 Muhammadans, and 4699 others.'
Founded by Nawab Faujdár Khán, in the reign of the Emperor
Farrukh Siyyar (A.D. 1713) ; conquered by the Játs of Bhartpur; bestowed
by Lord Lake in 1803 upon Nawab Muzaffar Khán , whose grandson
was hanged for rebellion in 1857. Regranted to Sardár Tafuzzul
Hussain Khán as a reward for services during the Mutiny, and now
held by his son on istimrári tenure. Extensive export of salt,produced
upon the banks of the Najafgarh jhil ; surrounding country being
extremely sterile , the return trade embraces all the necessaries of
life. Municipal revenue in 1875-76, £727, or is. 43d. per head of
population within municipal limits.
Fatehábád. — Municipal town in Hissár District, Punjab, and
headquarters of a tahsil of the same name. Lat. 29° 31' n ., long.
75° 30' E. ; pop. (1868), 3175 ; distant from Hissár 30 miles north
west. Founded by the Emperor Firoz Shah , and named after his son
Fateh Khán . Held at the beginning of the present century by the
Bhatti chieftain , Khán Bahadur Khán. North of the town runs a cut
from the river Ghaggar, constructed by Firoz Shah, and still used for
purposes of irrigation. Considerable manufacture of country cloth ;
export of grain and ghi to Bíkaner (Bickaneer) and the Bagar territory ;
brisk trade in leather. Tahsili, police station, sarái, staging bungalow .
Municipal revenue in 1875-76 , £82, or 61d. per head of population
(3079) within municipal limits.
Fatehábád . — Tahsıl of Agra District, North -Western Provinces,
lying on the south bank of the river Jumna (Jamuná). Area, 204
square miles, of which 142 are cultivated ; pop. (1872), 89,159 ; land
revenue, £18 ,150 ; total Government revenue, £20 ,188 ; rental paid
by cultivators, £30,832 ; incidence of Government revenue per acre ,
25. 9£d . Lat. 29° 15 ' to 29° 34' N. ; long. 75° 16 ' to 75° 51' E.
Fatehganj. – Village and battle -field in Bareli (Bareilly ) District,
North -Western Provinces, lying in lat. 28° 4' N., and long. 79° 42' E.,
on the route from Bareilly to Shahjahanpur, 23 miles south -east of the
former town. Founded by Shujá -ud-daulá , Nawab Wazír of Oudh , in
commemoration of the British victory over the Rohillas in 1774, which
gave him possession of the greater portion of Rohilkhand. Háfiz
Rahmat Khán, the Rohillá chieftain , fell in this engagement. Thornton
describes the village as an insignificant hamlet, surrounded by a mud
wall.
Fatehganj. – Village in Bareli (Bareilly) District, North -Western
Provinces ; famous as the scene of a British victory over the Rohillas
in 1796. Lat. 28° 28' N ., long. 79° 24' E . A monument marks
the burial-place of the Company's troops, and a carved tomb with
minarets covers the remains of two Rohilla chiefs.
256 FATEHGARH - FATEHPUR DISTRICT.
Fatehgarh. - Administrative headquarters of Farrukhabad District,
North -Western Provinces. Adjoins the native city of FARRUKHABAD
3 miles to the eastward . Lat. 27° 22' 55" N., long. 79° 40' 20"
E . ; pop. (1872), 13,439. Military station for the District ; Govern
ment maintains an important gun-carriage factory within the old fort.
The cantonment was first established in 1777, and formed an extreme
outpost against the Marhattá power under Perron , and the doubtful
fidelity of the Oudh Nawabs. Holkár attacked the town in 1804, but
was defeated and driven into precipitate flight. Central and District
jails, Government telegraph office , Anglo - vernacular school, charitable
dispensary. Forms with Farrukhábád a joint municipality ; revenue in
1875-76, £8177 — from taxes, £6957, or is. 10 d. per head of popu
lation (74,225) within municipal limits.
Fatehjang.-- Tahsil of Ráwal Pindi District, Punjab, lying along
the banks of the river Indus, between 33° 9' 30" and 33° 44' 30" x .
lat., and between 72° 25' 30" and 73° 3' 30 " E. long.
Fatehkhelda. — Town in Buldána District, Berar ; situated in lat.
20° 11' 30" N., and long. 76° 27' E., on the small river Bhogáwati, an
affluent of the Penganga. Pop. (1867), 3108. The original name of
the town was Shakarkhelda, but it was changed to Fatehkhelda (* Field
of victory ') in commemoration of a decisive success gained here by
the Nizam in 1724 over Mubariz Khán, who was slain on the field
of battle. Since the sack of the town by Sindhia 's troops in 1803,
before Assaye, and the great famine of that year, Fatehkhelda has
fallen into decay ; and a large extent of ground is covered with ruined
habitations.
Fatehpur. — A British District in the Lieutenant-Governorship
of the North-Western Provinces, lying between 25° 26' 17" and 26°
12' 50" n. lat., and between 80° 16' 39" and 81° 23' E. long. Area,
1585 square miles ; population (1872), 663,877. Fatehpur forms
a District of the Allahábád Division. It is bounded on the north by
the Ganges, on the west by Cawnpore, on the south by the Jumna,
and on the east by Allahábád. The administrative headquarters are at
FATEHPUR Town.
Physical Aspects. — The District of Fatehpur forms a portion of the
Doáb, or great alluvial plain between the Ganges and the Jumna
(Jamuná), being only separated from their point of junction by a
triangular tongue of land, which belongs to the adjoining District of
ALLAHABAD. Its main features do not differ from those common to
the whole monotonous level enclosed by the two great rivers of Upper
India. It consists for the most part of a highly cultivated plain , whose
soil is composed of the loam , silt, and clay deposited in earlier periods
by the drainage of the Himalayan slopes. The central portion presents
the appearance of an unbroken level, only relieved in places by barren
 FATEHPUR DISTRICT. 257
and sharply defined usár plains, the saline efflorescence of which
glistens like hoar-frost in the morning sun, or thickly studded in the
neighbourhood of the villages with large and leafy groves ofmango and
mahuá trees. A ridge of higher land, forming the watershed of the
District, runs through it from east to west, at an average distance of
5 miles from the Ganges. The country is thus divided into two
declivities — the one, only a few miles in breadth , sloping rapidly
down toward the Ganges on the northern border ; the other, with a
stretch of some 15 or 20 miles, falling gradually southward till it ends
in the wilder valley of the Jumna. The portions of these plains which
abut on the two great rivers are seamed in every direction by deep
ravines, especially on the banks of the Jumna and its tributary streams.
In the extreme west of the District, three large water -courses may be
considered to attain the dignity of rivers. The Pándu flows northward
into the Ganges ; the Rind and the Nún swell the waters of its
great confluent. The tract enclosed between the Jumna and the two
last-named streams is one tangled mass of ravines, whose scenery is
often picturesque and varied. The main channels are fed by innumer
able rivulets, each of which cuts its way through beds of nodular
limestone into the central gorge ; while the sides are clothed with
matted jungle , in whose recesses lurk wild boars, wolves, and
leopards. Shallow lakes ( jhils) abound in the midland portion of the
District, which is not drained by any considerable stream . They are
generally temporary , being filled during the rains,and drying up in January
or February. As long as the water stands in them , wild -fowl of every
kind may be found in abundance ; and during the hot weather nilgai
and antelope take refuge in the dry beds, when driven by the harvest
from their ordinary shelter among the standing crops. As a whole, the
western region is the most cut up by ravines and covered with bábul
jungle ; the central tract is more generally cultivated, though inter
spersed with frequent patches of useless usár ; and the eastern slope,
near the Allahábád border, is one unbroken reach of smiling and
prosperous tillage.
History. - In the earliest times, Fatehpur was inhabited by the Bhíls,
a tribe of non -Aryan aborigines, one of whose kings is mentioned
in the Rámáyana as the host of Ráma. At a later date, it appears
to have formed part of the wide dominions ruled over by the Rájás of
Argal, whose territories stretched from the borders of Kanauj to the
gates of Allahábád . After their fall, it passed into the hands of the
Thákur Rájás of Asothár, in whose possession it remained until its
conquest by the Patháns. Like the rest of the Doáb, it was overrun in
1194 A .D. by Shaháb-ud-din Ghorí, and became thenceforth a portion
of the Delhi kingdom . In 1376, the fief of Fatehpur was made over,
with Kora in Allahábád and Mahoba in Hamirpur, to the care of a
VOL. III. R
 258 FATEHPUR DISTRICT .
Viceroy known as the Málik-ul-Shark . Order was successfully main
tained by this officer during the terrible raids of Timur, and the
country enjoyed comparative security throughout the troublous period
which preceded the final establishment of Mughal rule. Babar con
quered the District about 1529 ; but it still remained a stronghold of
the Pathán resistance, and was the centre of the reactionary movement
under Sher Shah, by which Humayun was driven for a while from the
newly -founded throne of his father. During the slow decline of the
Delhi dynasty , Fatehpur was entrusted to the Governor of Oudh ; but
in 1736, it was overrun by the Marhattás, on the invitation of Ajaju, a
disaffected landholder of Kora. The Marhattás retained possession
of the District until 1750, when it was wrested from them by the
Patháns of Fatehgarh. Three years later, Safdar Jang, the practically
independent Wazír of Oudh , reconquered the country for his own
benefit. In 1759, the Wazir threw off his nominal allegiance to Delhi,
and was acknowledged by the British as a sovereign prince in 1765. By
the treaty of that year, Fatehpur washanded over to the titular Emperor,
Shah Alam ; but when , in 1774, the Emperor threw himself into the
hands of the Marhattás, his eastern territories were considered to have
escheated, and the British sold them for 50 lakhs of rupees to the
Nawáb Wazír. As the Oudh Government was in a chronic state of
arrears with regard to the payment of its stipulated tribute , a new
arrangement was effected in 1801, by which the Nawab ceded Allahabad
and Kora to the English , in lieu of all outstanding claims. Fatehpur
at first was divided between the Districts of Allahabad and Cawnpore ;
but in 1814, a separate charge was erected at Bithúr on the Ganges,
which was transferred eleven years later to Fatehpur. The benefits
of settled government were nowhere more conspicuous than here.
In 1798, the District was described as a waste, whose ruined
towns bore lamentable marks of former prosperity. But some half
century later, it is spoken of as a boundless garden , in which fields
of sugar-cane, cotton, poppy, and cereals alternated with beautiful
groves of mango or tamarind, overshading the village mosques and
tanks. No event of interest occurred after the introduction of
British rule, until the Mutiny of 1857. On the 6th of June, news of
the Cawnpore outbreak arrived at the station . On the 8th , a treasure
guard returning from Allahábád proved mutinous ; and next day the
mob rose, burnt the houses, and plundered all the property of the
European residents. The civil officers escaped to Banda, except the judge,
who was murdered. On the 28th of June, the fourteen fugitives from
Cawnpore landed at Shiurajpur in this District, and were all killed but
four, who escaped by swimming to the Oudh shore. The District
remained in the hands of the rebels throughout the month ; but on
the 30th , General Neill sent off Major Renaud's column from Allahabad
 FATEHPUR DISTRICT. 259
to Cawnpore . On the uth of July,General Havelock's force joined
Renaud 's at Khaga, and next day they defeated the rebels at Bilanda.
They then attacked and shelled Fatehpur, drove out the rebels, and
took possession of the place. On the 15th, Havelock advanced to
Aung and drove the enemy back on the Pandu Nadi. There a second
battle was fought the same day, and the insurgents were driven out of
the District in full flight on Cawnpore. We could not, however, retain
possession of the District except just along the Grand Trunk Road ;
and order was not finally re -established till after the fall of Lucknow
and the return of Lord Clyde's army to Cawnpore, when the Gwalior
mutineers were finally driven off.
Population . - Fatehpur is one of the Districts where agriculture and
population appear to have reached their utmost limits. In 1865, the
Census showed a population of 681,053, being a steady increase upon
the returns of 1848 and 1853. In 1872, the Census gave a total popula
tion of 663,877, or a decrease of 17, 176 persons in seven years. But
there is no reason for suspecting any actualdepopulation ,and it is believed
that one of the two last returns is in error. The area on which the
enumeration in the last-named year was taken, was 1585 square miles ;
number of villages, 2741 ; houses, 152,777. From these data the
following averages may be calculated : - Persons per square mile, 419 ;
villages per square mile, 1°7 ; houses per square mile, 96 ; persons per
village, 242 ; persons per house,4'3. Classified according to sex,there were
(exclusive of non-Asiatics) - males, 345,533 ; females, 318,282 ; propor
tion of males, 52 per cent. Classified according to age, there were (with
the like omission ), under 12 years— males, 105,230 ; females, 92,712 ;
total, 197,942, or 29.81 per cent. of the whole population. As regards
religious distinctions, Fatehpur, like the rest of the Doáb, remains
essentially Hindu, in spite of its long subjection to a Muhammadan
power. The Census of 1872 showed a total of 593,256 Hindus, as
against 70,554 Musalmáns, the relative proportions being 89-4 and 10 6
per cent. respectively . The number of Bráhmans is 74, 388,most of
whom are landholders or domestic servants. A few , however, are to be
found at Shiurájpur and other places of pilgrimage along the Ganges,
as superintendents of the religious bathing, priests in the temples, or
guides and caterers for the pilgrims. The Rájputs number 44,566
persons. They are generally well-to -do landlords ; but as cultivators,
they are reputed quarrelsome and lazy, and they do not make good
tenants. There are a few villages owned by Káyasth auction -purchasers,
and tilled by Thákur peasants, the former proprietors ; in which it
is said that the landlord dare not show his face from year to year,
and that the agent can only collect the rents at great personal risk .
Banias number 21,842, engaged , as usual, in commercial pursuits.
These three tribes form the upper and more prosperous classes. The
 260 FATEHPUR DISTRICT.
remainder of the Hindus, numbering in all 452,460 persons, are lumped
together under the general head of other castes.' As a rule they are
darker, shorter, and more sparely built than the higher castes,besides
often betraying in their features other traces of aboriginal descent.
The Kúrmís and Kachhis, who together amount to 89,044, are
industrious and diligent tenants, the agricultural backbone of the
District. They pay higher rents than any other tribes, and pay them
easily. The Ahírs, Lodhs, Arakhs, and Pásis, who number in all
162,907 persons, are a turbulent and quarrelsome set, but sometimes
make fair cultivators under Thakur masters. It is from them that the
criminal class is most frequently recruited ; and they also furnish a
large proportion of the village watchmen and protective servants. The
Kewats (boatmen and fishers) and the Garáriyas (shepherds and herds
men ) number together 42,490. The Musalmáns are found chiefly in
the north -eastern portion of the District. As a rule, they are more
prosperous and energetic than the Hindus, a large number being small
zamindárs, but in the towns many have been reduced to great poverty.
In Tappa Jár parganá there is a considerable body of half-converted
Rájputs, who still describe themselves by their caste title . There was
only one town in 1872 with a population exceeding 5000 — namely,
FATEHPUR, which had 19,879 inhabitants. The total agricultural
population included 344,748 persons, or 51'9 per cent. of the whole.
Agriculture. — The District contains 869 square miles of cultivated
land, and a very small margin of the available area now remains
untilled. The ravine-clad country of the western parganás is of course
incapable of cultivation, while a few usár plains break in upon the
ploughed fields of the central portion ; but the greater part of the soil
is cultivated up to a very high point. The fertile black alluvial mould,
known as már, occurs in several places along the Jumna, and there is
a strip of similar deposit between the high and low water mark of
the Ganges, on which the best crops of the District are raised. The
harvests are those common to the whole Doáb. The kharif or autumn
crops are sown after the first rains in June, and ripen in October or
November. They consist of rice, cereals, and millets ; joár and bájra
being the principal staples. As soon as the rains are over and the
water has drained off the land , the wheat, barley, gram , oats, peas, and
other rabí crops are sown, about the end of October, and these ripen
from March to May. Autumn and spring harvests are not generally
taken off the same lands within the twelve months ; but if the autumn
rice crop has been harvested early , the land may be made to produce a
rabi crop as well. Manure and irrigation are both employed for the
spring harvest, but are seldom applied to the kharif. The jhils or
shallow lakes of the central parganás are of great value for purposes of
irrigation . The rabi and the rice crops entirely depend upon them .
 FATEHPUR DISTRICT. 261
If the rainfall is scanty, the jhils are drained dry by the end of
November, the cultivators working night and day in relays to raise the
water by means of leathern baskets. The condition of the peasantry
is far from comfortable, and indebtedness is still their almose universal
state. The modes of tenure are those of the adjoining country. The
caste pancháyats have very much the character of guilds or trades
unions. The Kúrmi and Kachhí cultivators in parganas Ekdála and
Dháta have been known to unite together to resist enhancements of
their rents. They then pay a fixed rate per plough or per field towards
a general defence fund,from which are defrayed the expenses of defend
ing actions brought by zamindárs. Blacksmiths,masons, and carpenters
often enforce very strict labour rules among their communities ; an
artisan is not allowed to work for lower wages or longer hours than his
fellows, and piece-work is discouraged as much as possible . Wages
ruled as follows in 1877 :- Coolies and unskilled labourers, 2 d . to
31d. per diem ; agricultural labourers, 24d. to 3d. ; bricklayers and
carpenters, 6d. to 25. ; boys and girls get about one-half the wages of
adults. The following were the average prices-current of food grains in
1876 :- Wheat, 25 sers per rupee, or 4s. 6d. per cwt. ; rice, 14 sers per
rupee, or 8s. per cwt. ; joár, 44 sers per rupee, or 2s. 6d . per cwt. ;
bájra , 35 sers per rupee, or 35. 2d. per cwt.
Natural Calamities. — Fatehpur has not suffered so severely from
drought of late years as many neighbouring Districts. Famines from
this cause occurred in 1770 , in 1783, and in 1837. In 1860 , scarcely
any rain fell in the Doáb, but the worst distress never reached its lower
extremity ,and Fatehpur escaped with comparative immunity . In 1864,
although only 16 inches of rain fell, and the rice crops suffered greatly,
there was no actual fainine. In 1868 the rain , though more copious,
wasbadly distributed, and with the exception of a single heavy downpour
in September, none fell after the middle of July. The solitary shower,
however, prevented the crops from utterly perishing ; but the autumn
harvest was very poor, and as the winter passed away without rain, it
became evident that the spring crops would fail in all high or dry places
where the land could not be irrigated. In January 1869, relief works
were started on a large scale in the southern parganás, and about
200 miles of raised roads were constructed. This gave employment to
the starving poor till the spring crops were cut in April ; and the worst
pressure was thus relieved. There has been no severe distress in the
District since that date , although in 1870 heavy floods did a great deal
of damage to the autumn crops.
Commerce and Trade, etc. — The trade of the District is mainly in
agricultural produce, and is concentrated in the towns of Fatehpur and
Naráini. Bindki, however, is the great grain and cattle mart of the
District, where dealers from Bundelkhand and the Doáb meet to
262 FATEHPUR DISTRICT.
exchange their respective produce. Most of the Bundelkhand grain is
sent off from the Mauhár railway station , 5 miles north of Bindki. Brass
and copper work is turned out in considerable quantities at Khajuha and
Kora ; and the latter town has likewise some trade in whips and skins.
Saltpetre is manufactured to a large extent in the northern portion of
the District, from the saline deposits of the usár plains ; a good dealof
refined salt is also made, but only surreptitiously, as the manufacture is
prohibited . The means of communication are ample. The East
Indian Railway main line runs through the heart of the District, with
five stations, and a total length within its boundaries of 55 miles. The
Grand Trunk Road also traverses the District from side to side, with a
length of about 60 miles. Other excellent roads connect Fatehpur
with Oudh, Bundelkhand, and the Doáb generally. The Ganges and
Jumna afford water communication along the whole northern and
southern frontiers. They still carry a large part of the heavy traffic in
cotton , grain , and stone, though of course the railway and the Grand
Trunk Road have seriously diminished its dimensions. The only fair
of any importance is that held at Shiurájpur, on the Ganges, in the first
week of November. Its object is primarily religious, but a good deal
of business is transacted side by side with the bathing in the sacred
river. From 20,000 to 50,000 people often attend it. Horses, cattle,
whips, shoes, and toys are the chief articles sold .
Administration . The District staff usually consists of a Collector
Magistrate , a Joint Magistrate, an Assistant, and an uncovenanted
Deputy Collector. The whole amount of revenue - imperial, municipal,
and local— raised in the District in 1876 , was £165,409, or 45. old. per
head of the population . In 1875, the regular police amounted to 522
men , and the cost of their maintenance was £6732. These figures
give an average of 1 policeman to every 3 square miles and every
1272 of the population. The expenditure upon the force is equal to
an average of £4, 4s. per square mile and 2 }d. per inhabitant. The
regular police were supplemented by 1898 village watchmen (chaukidárs),
maintained at a cost of £6898. The total machinery , therefore, for the
protection of persons and property consisted of 2420 officers and men,
being iman to every o 6 square mile of the area and to every 274 ofthe
population. This force was maintained at a gross cost of £13,630,
being at the rate of £8, 115. 11 d . per square mile and of 4 d . per
inhabitant. During the same year, the Fatehpur jail contained a daily
average of 402 prisoners, of whom 382 were males and 20 females.
The average cost per prisoner was £3, 6s. 7 }d., and the average
earnings of each inmate were nos. The District contains 22 post
offices, of which 14 are imperial and 8 local. The Government has no
telegraph station in Fatehpur, but there is a railway telegraph office at
each station on the East Indian line. Education was carried on in this
 FATEHPUR TAHSIL AND TOWN. 263
District in 1875 by 260 schools, with 6416 scholars ; being an average
of i school to every 6 .09 square miles, and of 9 .6 scholars to every
thousand of the population . Six of the schools are for girls. The
total cost of the educational establishment was £2662, of which £610
was paid from provincial revenue and £2052 from local funds. For
fiscal and administrative purposes, Fatehpur is subdivided into 6 tahsils
and 13 parganás. In 1876, the land revenue amounted to £134, 943.
The District contains only one municipality - Fatehpur town. In
1875 -76 , its total revenue was £1314, while its gross expenditure
was £1196 . The incidence of municipal taxation was at the rate of
IS. 1}d . per head of the municipal population .
Medical Aspects. — The climate of Fatehpur is that of an ordinary
Doáb District ; but from its easterly position, the west winds do not
reach it with such force in the hot weather as they display at Agra
and the adjoining towns. The surface is somewhat marshy, and the
numerous shallow lakes ( jhils) render the atmosphere damper than that
of the Upper Doáb. The humidity of the climate makes it rather
feverish , but the natives do not consider it unhealthy, especially when
compared with the malarious flats and valleys of Bundelkhand to the
south . Europeans enjoy moderate health ; and the once notorious
headquarters at Fatehpur have now been rendered safe by the drainage
of a large swamp, which formerly stretched to the west of the station .
During the winter months the climate is most enjoyable , but towards
the end of March the weather gets rapidly hotter, and in June the
thermometer often remainsat 96° or 98° F. day and night. The average
annual rainfall of the 17 years from 1859 to 1875 was 35º7 inches. The
maximum for the 17 years was 53'5 inches in 1870, and the minimum
was 16 ' 3 inches in 1864. The slight rainfall of the latter year was,
however, so evenly distributed, that drought was not felt so severely as
in 1868, when 18 .6 inches fell, but so irregularly as to cause a partial
famine during the following winter. The total number of deaths
recorded in 1875 was 11,870, or 17.88 per thousand ofthe population .
Themean ratio of recorded deaths per thousand during the previous
six years was 20 :48. There is one charitable dispensary in the District,
at Fatehpur town ; in 1875, it afforded relief to a total number of 5273
patients.
Fatehpur. - Tahsil of Fatehpur District, North -Western Provinces.
Area, 346 square miles, of which 167 are cultivated ; pop. (1872),
160,933; land revenue, £29,614 ; total Government revenue, £32,581;
rental paid by cultivators, £45,370 ; incidence of Government revenue
per acre, 2s. 8d.
Fatehpur. — Municipal town and administrative headquarters of
Fatehpur District, North -Western Provinces ; lies in lat. 25° 55' 20"
N., long. 80° 53' 10 " E., on the road from Allahábád to Cawnpore,
264 FATEHPUR TAHSIL, PARGANA, AND TOWN .
70 miles north -west of the former and 50 miles south -east of the
latter. Pop. (1872), 19,879. The town lays claim to considerable
antiquity , and Bábar mentions it in his memoirs. The tomb of
Almas Ali Khán, a eunuch, and minister of the Oudh Nawabs at the
end of the last century , forms the chief architectural ornament of the
principal street. The Jamá Masjid , or great mosque, and the mosque
of Hákím Abdul Hasan of Kora, also possess considerable interest.
For the Mutiny narrative, see FATEHPUR DISTRICT. Station on the
East Indian Railway main line. Telegraph office, District jail, admini
strative offices, charitable dispensary . Trade in hides, soap, and grain.
Municipal revenue in 1875-76 , £1314 ; from taxes, £1100, or is. 14d.
per head of population (19,431) within municipal limits.
Fatehpur,- Tahsil or Subdivision of Bára Bánki District, Oudh ;
lying between 26° 58' and 27° 21' N . lat., and between 80° 58 '
and 81° 36 ' E. long. ; bounded on the north by Mahmudábád tahsil
of Sítápur, on the east by Hisámpur tahsil of Bahraich , on the
south by Bára Bánki tahsil, and on the west by Malihabad tahsil of
Lucknow . Population, according to the Census of 1869, but allowing
for recent transfers — Hindus, 258,791 ; Muhammadans, 41,633 ; total,
300,424, viz. 157,924 males and 142,500 females. Number of
villages or towns, 690 ; average density of population, 570 per square
mile. The tahsil comprises the 6 parganás of Fatehpur, Kursi, Muham
madpur, Bhitauli, Rámnagar, and Bádo Sarái.
Fatehpur. - Pargana in tahsil of same name, Bára Bánki District,
Oudh . The original seat of the Khánzáda family , to which the great
tálukdárs of Mahmudábád, Bhatwámau ,and Bilahrá belong ; the Shaikh
zádas of Fatehpur are connections of the family of the same name, once
so powerful in Lucknow . The parganá is picturesquely situated on the
high lands above the Gogra (Ghagrá), between Dewa on the north and
Mahmudábád on the south. Area, 154 square miles, or 98, 352 acres,
of which 65,358 acres are cultivated and 13, 186 are cultivable waste.
Government land revenue, £13,219 ; average incidence, 4s. o£d . per
acre of cultivated, or 3s. 43d. per acre of cultivable area. Pop. (1869),
Hindus, 76 ,905 ; Muhammadans, 16 ,888 ; total, 93,793, viz. 48,980
males and 44,813 females. Number of villages or towns, 251 ; average
density of population, 609 per square mile.
Fatehpur.— Town in Bára Bánki District, Oudh ; 15 miles north
north -east of the headquarters town, at the junction of the Daryabád,
Rámnagar, Bára Bánki, and Sítápur roads. Lat. 27° 10' 15" N .,long. 81°
15' 5" E. A town of considerable importance during the days of Mughal
supremacy. Many large Muhammadan buildings exist, but all in a state
of decay. The principal of these is an imámbárá, said to have been built
by Maulvi Karámat Ali, an officer of high rank at the court of Nasir-ud
dín Haidar, but now only used during the muharram festival. There
 FATEHPUR VILLAGE - FATEHPUR CHAURASI. 265
is also an old masjid, said to have been built in the time of Akbar ; the
present owner of the ground attached to it holds under a sanad or
deed of gift, purporting to have been granted by Akbar himself. There
are also many Hindu temples. Pop. (1869), Muhammadans, 3927 ;
Hindus, 3267 ; total, 7194. Besides a well-attended daily bázár, a
special bi-weekly market is also held , the principal trade being in grain
brought from the trans-Gogra District, and in English cloth. Coarse
country cloth is manufactured by a numerous colony of weavers.
Police station, revenue court, and well-attended Anglo -vernacular school.
Fatehpur. – Village in Hoshangábád District, Central Provinces ;
situated in lat. 22° 38' N., and long. 78° 34' E., on the outer
slope of the low limestone hills which shut in the Denwa valley ,
and upon the road from Bánkherí to Pachmarhi. A line of semi
independent Gond Rájás held the surrounding country from the days
of the Mandla dynasty ; and its present representatives still live at
Fatehpur, and hold large estates in the neighbourhood. Tántia Topi
passed this way to the Satpura Hills in 1858.
Fatehpur Chaurasi. - Pargana in Unao District,Oudh, lying along
the banks of the Ganges, south of Bangarmau, and north of Safipur
parganá ; colonised about 250 years ago by Janwar Rajputs, who ousted
the aboriginal Thatheras. The last chief, who held the whole parganá
as his estate, rebelled in the Mutiny of 1857. He seized the English
fugitives who were escaping by boat from Fatehgarh , and delivered
them up to the Nána, by whom they were massacred on the Cawnpore
parade. He died from the effects of a wound received in an attack on
Unao ; one of his sons was hanged, and the other fied. The family
estates were confiscated and given to strangers. The parganá possesses
varied scenery, being dotted with picturesque groves, and intersected
by channels leading to the Ganges. Indian corn of the best descrip
tion , and barley of a fair quality, are the principal crops. Area, go
square miles, of which 49 are cultivated. Government land revenue,
£6258, or an average assessment of 2s. 2 d . per acre. Land is held
under the different tenures as follows : - Tálukdári, 25, 966 acres ;
zamindári, 25,806 acres ; pattidári, 5442 acres ; and Government, 308
acres. Pop. ( 1869), Hindus, 40,624 ; Musalmáns, 1087 ; total, 41,711,
viz. 22,038 males and 19,673 females. Number of villages or town
ships, 90 ; average density of population, 463 per square mile ; 4 market
villages.
Fatehpur Chaurasi.— Town in Unao District, Oudh ; 6 miles west
of Safipur, and 25 north -west of the headquarters town . Said to have
been held successively by the Thatheras, a colony of Sayyid emigrants,
and the Janwars, each of whom ousted the previous holders by force.
The estates of the last holder were confiscated for rebellion in 1857.
Pop. ( 1869), Hindus, 2530, of whom 564 are Bráhmans and 132
266 FATEHPUR SIKRI TAHSIL AND TOWN.
Kshattriyas ; Muhammadans, 273 ; total, 2803. Five Hindu temples.
Bi-weekly básár, and small annual fair on the occasion of the Dasahara
festival.
Fatehpur Sikri. - Tahsil of Agra District, North -Western Pro
vinces, lying in the western or trans-Jumna portion of the District.
Area, 167 square miles, of which 137 are cultivated ; pop . (1872),
84,085 ; land revenue, £ 18,169 ; total Government revenue, £20,088 ;
rental paid by cultivators, £31,437 ; incidence of Government revenue
per acre, 35. 4 d.
Fatehpur Sikri. — Municipal town and a former capital of the
Mughal Empire ; situated in Agra District, North-Western Pro
vinces ; administrative headquarters of the tahsil of the same name.
Pop. ( 1872), 6878. Lat. 27° 5' 35" N., long. 77° 42' 18" E. Founded
by the Emperor Akbar in 1570 A . D ., with a view to its establish
ment as the permanent seat of the Mughal court ; and enriched by
magnificent architectural works in the time of Akbar and Jahangir ;
it was abandoned within fifty years of its foundation , in favour of
Delhi. It chiefly consists of a vast expanse of ruins, enclosed by
a high stone wall, some 5 miles in circuit. The great mosque is
approached by a magnificent gateway, known as the Buland Darwáza,
which surmounts a splendid flight of steps, and gives access to the
Dargah or sacred quadrangle , a courtyard some 500 feet square, sur
rounded by a lofty cloister and a range of cells for Fakirs or pilgrims
The quadrangle contains a large mosque with three handsome domes
of white marble, besides the tomb of Shaikh Salim Chishti, a Musalmán
ascetic, through whose intercession Akbar obtained an heir in the
person of Prince Salím , afterwards known as the Emperor Jahángír.
The tomb consists of an elaborately carved shrine in white marble,
enclosing a sarcophagus within a screen of lattice-work , inlaid with
mother-of-pearl. North of the Dargah stand the houses of Abul Fazl
and his brother Fáizí, now used as a boys' school. Eastward is the
principal palace, containing the apartments of Akbar's chief wife.
It consists of a spacious courtyard, surrounded by a continuous
gallery , from which rise rows of buildings on the north and south ,
roofed with slabs of blue enamel. A lofty and richly carved gate
gives access to a terrace paved with sandstone flags, and formerly
enclosed by a colonnade. On this terrace stand , among other noble
buildings, the so - called houses of Birbal and of the Christian lady.'
Bírbal's palace, which modern antiquaries assign with greater probability
to his daughter, is noticeable for its massive materials and the lavish
minuteness of its detail. The Christian lady's house ' belonged,
according to tradition, to Bíbí Mariam , a Portuguese wife of Akbar.
Some of the paintings are supposed to represent Christian scenes, but
the Musalmáns have nearly obliterated all traces of these offensive
 FATEH PANJAL - FAZILKA. 267
pictures. Great doubts, however, have been cast upon the traditions
respecting the ' Christian lady,' who was probably a Hindu princess, the
mother of Jahangir. Among the other architectural masterpieces, the
Diwán-i-Khás and the Diwan-i-ám , or Council Chamber and Hall of
Judgment, especially attract the attention of visitors. The Elephant
Gate contains two massive figures of the animals from which it derives
its name ; but their heads were removed by the Muhammadan bigotry
of Aurangzeb. Close by towers the Hiran Minár, a pile some 70 feet
in height, covered with enamelled imitations of elephants' tusks, which
are commonly believed by the populace to consist of solid ivory .
Numerous other splendid buildings, dating back in every case to the
reign of Akbar, or of his son Jahángír, stand in various parts of the
city. Fatehpur Sikri has little modern importance, and its architectural
remains, which attract many tourists from Agra, are its chief claim
to attention. During the Mutiny of 1857, it was occupied by the
Nimach (Neemuch ) and Nasirabad (Nusseerabad ) rebels on the 2nd
of July, and the British authorities did not permanently recover the
place until November. Police station, Anglo -vernacular school, charit
able dispensary. Municipal revenue in 1875-76, £461; from taxes,
£392, or id. per head of population (8513) within municipal limits.
Fateh Panjál. - Mountain chain in Kashmir (Cashmere) State,
Punjab, forming a segment of a circle, and bounding the Kashmir
valley to the south. Lat. 33° 34' N., long. 74° 40' E. Estimated height,
about 12,000 feet ; total length, 40 miles.
Fatwa. - Municipal town in Patná District, Bengal. Pop. ( 1872),
11,295. Situated in lat. 25° 30' 25" N., and long. 85° 21' E., at the
junction of the Púnpún with the Ganges, and supported in a great
measure by river traffic. Municipal revenue (1876 -77), £516 ; rate
of taxation , 7 d. per head of population ; police force, 34 men .
Fatwa was described by Dr. Buchanan Hamilton , in 1812, as a
large country town, which might contain 2000 houses and 12 ,000
people, with a considerable trade and manufacture of cloth . Its position
on the railway and on the Ganges naturally renders it a place of
commercial importance. It is also a place of considerable sanctity .
Five festivals are held here annually, when large numbers of pilgrims
bathe in the sacred river. At the Bárni Dawádasi, or festival com
memorating an incarnation ofVishnu in the form of a dwarf, from 10,000
to 12,000 persons bathe at the junction of the Púnpún with theGanges.
Fázilka. — Tahsil of Sirsa District, Punjab , lying along the bank of
the river Sutlej (Satlaj). Pop. ( 1868), 66,970, or 53.56 persons per
square mile.
Fázilka.— Municipal town in Sirsa District, Punjab, and headquarters
of the tahsil of the same name. Lat. 30° 24' 57" n., long. 74° 4' 10 " E. ;
pop. ( 1868 ), 3406. Situated on the left bank of the Sutlej (Satlaj).
268 FEROKHI- FIROZABAD.
Founded in 1844 by Mr. Oliver on the ruins of a deserted village,
named after a Wattu chief, Fázil. Great entrepôt for the produce of
the neighbourhood, and of the western portion of Patiala , exported
towards Múltán (Mooltan ) and Karáchi (Kurrachee). Considerable
trade with Bháwalpur and the towns of Márwár. Station of an extra
Assistant Commissioner, court-house, tahsili, police station , customs
office, charitable dispensary, staging bungalow , sarái. Municipal
revenue in 1875 -76, £1213, or 5s. 6 d. per head of population (4355)
within municipal limits.
Ferokhi (Farrukhábád, ' Fortunate city '). — The town which Tipú
Sahib in 1789 designed to be the capital of Malabar, and whither in
that year he removed the inhabitants of Calicut. In the following year,
however, it was captured by the British, and hardly a vestige now
remains of the town. The site lies a few miles from Beypore (Bepur)
in Malabar District, Madras.
Ferozábád. — Tahsil and town in Agra District, North - Western
Provinces. — See FIROZABAD.
Ferozábád . - Parganá in Kheri District, Oudh . - See FIROZABAD.
Ferozepur. — District, tahsil, and town, Punjab . — See FIROZPUR.
Ferozesháh . — Battle-field in Firozpur District, Punjab . — See
FIROZSHAH.
Fingeswar. - Chiefship in the Central Provinces. — See PHINGES
WAR .
Firinghi Bázár. – Village in Dacca District, Bengal; situated in
lat. 23° 33' n., and long. 90° 33' E., upon a branch of the river
Ichámatí. Noted as the first Portuguese settlement in the District,
formed, about 1663, during the Governorship of Shaista Khán. These
Portuguese were mainly persons who had deserted from the service
of the Rájá of Arakan to that of Husáin Beg , the Mughal general
besieging Chittagong, which at that time was Arakanese territory.
Firinghi Bázár was once of considerable size , but its prosperity has
declined since the decay of the Dacca trade, and it is now an insigni
ficantvillage.
Firingipet (Parangipetái). — Town in South Arcot District, Madras.
- See PORTO Novo .
Firozábád.— Tahsil of Agra District, North -Western Provinces,
lying along the northern or Doáb bank of the river Jumna (Jamuná).
Area, 205 square miles, of which 145 are cultivated ; pop. ( 1872 ),
111,031 ; land revenue, £20,382 ; totalGovernment revenue, £22,364 ;
rental paid by cultivators, £33,256 ; incidence of Government revenue
per acre, 3s. Igd.
Firozábád. — Municipal town in Agra District, North - Western
Provinces. Pop. (1872), 14,255, being 10,088 Hindus, 4166 Muham
madans, and 1 other.' Lies in lat. 27° 8' 34" N., and long. 78° 25'
 FIROZABAD PARGANA — FIROZPUR DISTRICT. 269
56" E., on the route from Muttra (Mathura) to Etáwah ; distant from
Agra 25 miles east. Contains numerous ruins of handsome buildings,
and appears to have been in former times an important centre. Station
on the East Indian Railway main line. Telegraph office, charitable
dispensary , Anglo-vernacular school, police station . Municipal revenue
in 1875-76, £893 ; from taxes, £777, or is. I£d. per head of popu
lation (13,788) within municipal limits.
Firozábád .- Pargana of Kheri District, Oudh, lying between the
Chauka, Kauriala , and Daháwar rivers. The parganá receives its
name from the Emperor Firoz Shah, with whom it was a favourite
hunting-ground. In olden times, it belonged in great part to the
Bisens ; but they were expelled, after repeated conflicts, by the Jangres,
who in their turn were ousted in 1776 A.D ., and their Rájá killed .
About sixteen years afterwards, a relative of the deceased chief was
granted a few patches of rent-free ground, which he gradually increased
till in forty years he had obtained possession of the whole northern
portion of the parganá , which now forms the estate of Isánagar, and
is still in the possession of the family . The entire south of the
parganá also forms a single estate, which has grown out of five villages
granted to a Raikwár Kshattriya chief, who extended his possessions
at the expense of his neighbours. The parganá is of alluvial formation ,
but is now well raised, and but little of it is exposed to flood . Soil,
principally loam , but towards the centre is a good deal of clay. Area,
163 square miles, of which 104 are under cultivation. Pop. ( 1869),
Hindus, 52,938, and Muhammadans, 4559 ; total, 57,497, viz. 30,491
males and 27,006 females. The Lodhs, who form 16 per cent. of the
population , are the most numerous caste ; next come Ahírs (11 per
cent.), and Bráhmans (10 per cent.). Average density of population ,
355 per square mile. The 91 villages constituting the parganá are held
entirely by the Jangre and Raikwár tálukdárs above mentioned, who
divide the parganá in about equal proportions.
Firozpur. - A British District in the Lieutenant-Governorship of
the Punjab, lying between 30° 8' and 31° 11' n. lat., and between 74° 3'
30% and 75° 27' E. long. Area (1878), 2739 square miles ; population in
1868, 549,253. Firozpur forms the southern District of the Lahore
Division. It is bounded on the north-east by the river Sutlej (Satlaj),
which separates it from Jalandhar (Jullundur) ; on the north -west by
the united stream of the Sutlej and Beas (Biás), which divides it from
Lahore ; on the east and south -east by Ludhiána District, and the
Native States of Faridkot, Patiála, and Nábha ; and on the south -west
by Sírsa District. The administrative headquarters are at the town of
FIROZPUR, on the southern bank of the Sutlej.
Physical Aspects. — The District of Firozpur is one unbroken plain ,
comprising within its limits every variety of soil, from the most fertile to
270 FIROZPUR DISTRICT.
the most barren, to be found in the western half of the Punjab. The
action of the Sutlej has played a chief part in determining its
geographical features. Striking the District at its north-eastern corner,
the great river trends northwards to its junction with the Beas (Bias),
after which the united channel turns sharply toward the south -west,
until it passes beyond the borders of Firozpur. The angular segment
thus circumscribed has for its base an ancient bed of the river, known
as the Sukhar Nái, which winds in a tortuous course east and west
across the District, and joins the modern channel near the confines of
Sirsa. The abrupt cliff which rises above its right bank forms themost
marked element in the physical aspect of the country. Within the
memory of the present generation , water is said to have flowed in its
bed, while groves of shisham trees lined the banks ; but no traces of
timber now remain . Evidence, however, still exists of yet another and
more ancient change of course in the shifting waters of the Sutlej.
The original bank, locally known as the Dánda, crosses the south
western corner of the District 35 miles east of the present stream . It
can be traced distinctly as far as the battle-field of Múdki (Moodkee),
and thence at intervals to the Sutlej, 15 miles farther to the north.
The poorest portion of Firozpur lies to the west of the Dánda, beyond
the fertilizing influence of the modern river. The soil consists of hard
and hopelessly sterile sand, while the water obtained from wells is
largely impregnated with salt, and lies at a depth of 180 feet below the
surface. East of the Dánda, however, excellent agricultural land
stretches over the upland tract or rohi ; and the wells yield sweet and
drinkable water, sufficiently close to the surface for purposes of irriga
tion. The bét or low -lying tract between the great river and the high
bank of the Sukhar Nái, has a maximum width of 14 miles opposite the
confluence of the Beas (Biás) and the Sutlej. Much of its soil consists
of a poor and sandy loam , but great facilities exist for artificial water
supply ; while the annual inundations render the border fringe extremely
productive, through the deposit of a rich black silt. The northern
portion of the District comprises a fairly wooded region , though most
of the trees have been planted in recent years ; but the southern half
is still extremely bare of shade. When Firozpur first came under
British rule, our authorities almost despaired of arboriculture in so dry
a tract; yet the constant efforts of the settlement officers, who set apart
a piece of ground as a plantation in every village, have at length been
crowned with success, and the neighbourhood of the river, at least, now
presents a pleasing variety of siris, farásh , and pipal trees. Plantations
have also been established round every police station throughout the
District, forming agreeable breaks in the monotony of the level and
cultivated plain .
History: — Tradition , supported by remains of antiquity, assigns a
 FIROZPUR DISTRICT. 271
former period of great prosperity to a region which now forms the
dreariest waste in the District of Firozpur. The neighbourhood of the
dry Dánda channel, at presentalmost uninhabited, bears witness, by its
deserted sites and choked-up wells, to the existence of a vigorous
agricultural population along its now desolate banks. Though no date
can be absolutely determined for this epoch of prosperity, there are
good grounds for the belief that the Sutlej still flowed east of Firoz
pur in the time of Akbar ; for the famous Mughal Domesday-Book,
known as the Ain -í- Akbari, describes the town as the capital of a large
district attached to the western Province of Múltán (Mooltan ), and not to
that of Sirhind, as would probably have been the case had the river
already taken its modern course. The shifting of the river, from which
the tract derived its fertility, and the ravages of war, were doubtless the
chief causes of its decline,which probably commenced before the end of
the 16th century . The country certainly presented the appearance of a
desert when , about two centuries ago, the Dogras, a tribe who claim to
rank as Chauhán Rájputs, settled near Pakpattan, and gradually spread
up the Sutlej valley. They found none to oppose them , as the scattered
Bhatti population who occupied the soil retired before the new colonists.
At length , in 1740, according to tradition, they reached Ferozepore,
which became thenceforth the capital of the tribe. The imperial
authority was represented by an officer stationed at Kasúr, to the west
of the Sutlej, bearing the title of the ‘ Faujdár of the Lakka Jungle.'
About the same time, a tide of Ját immigration appears to have set in
from the direction of Umballa (Ambála ) and Sirhind ; and Sikh chief
tains began to carve out petty principalities for themselves in the
western portion of the District. In 1763, the Bhangi confederacy, one
of the great Sikh sections, attacked and conquered Firozpur under
their famous leader, Gujar Sinh, who made over the newly acquired
territory to his nephew , Gurbakhsh Sinh. The young Sikh chieftain
rebuilt the fort and consolidated his power on the Sutlej, but spent
most of his time in other portions of the Province. In 1792, he seems
to have divided his estates with his family , when Firozpur fell to
Dhanna Sinh , his second son . The little State , encircled by enemies,
proved almost too difficult a realm for its new ruler, who lost his
territories piece by piece, but still retained possession of Firozpur
itself, when Ranjit Sinh crossed the Sutlej in 1808, and threatened to
absorb all the minor principalities which lay between his domain and
the British frontier. But the English Government, established at Delhi
since 1803, intervened with an offer of protection to all the cis-Sutlej
States ; and Dhanna Sinh gladly availed himself of the promised aid ,
being one of the first chieftains who accepted British protection and
control. Ranjit Sinh at once ceased to interfere with the minor States
when the assistance of the British arms lay ready to support their
 272 FIROZPUR DISTRICT.
rights ; and Dhanna Sinh retained the remnant of his dominions
unmolested, until his death in 1818. He left no sons, and his widow
succeeded to his principality during her lifetime; but on her death in
1835, the territory escheated to the British Government, under the con
ditions of the arrangement effected in 1809. The political importance
of Firozpur had been already recognised, and an officer was at once
deputed to take possession of the new post. After the boundary had
been carefully determined, the District was made over for a while to a
native official ; but it soon became desirable to make Firozpur the
permanent seat of a European Political Officer. In 1839, Sir Henry
(then Captain ) Lawrence took charge of the station,which formed at
that time the advanced outpost of British India in the direction of the
Sikh power. Early accounts representthe country as a dreary and desert
plain ,where rain seldom fell,and dust-stormsnever ceased. The energy
of Captain Lawrence , however, combined with the unwonted security
under British rule, soon attracted new settlers to this hitherto desolate
region . Cultivation rapidly increased, trees began to fringe the water
side, trade collected round the local centres, and Firozpur, which in
1835 was a deserted village, had in 1841 a population of nearly 5000
persons. Four years later, the first Sikh war broke out. The enemy
crossed the Sutlej opposite Firozpur on the 16th December 1845 ;
and the battles of Múdki (Moodkee), Firozshah, Alíwál, and Sobraon
- all of them within the limits of the present District - followed one
another in rapid succession. Broken by their defeats, the Sikhs once
more retired across the boundary river, pursued by the British army,
which dictated the terms of peace beneath the walls of Lahore. The
whole cis-Sutlej possessions of the Punjab kingdom passed into the
hands of the East India Company, and the little principality of Firoz
pur became at once the nucleus for an important British District. The
existing area was increased by subsequent additions, the last of which
took place in 1864. Since the successful close of the first Sikh cam
paign , the peace of the District has never been broken, except during
the Mutiny of 1857. In May of that year, one of the two Native
infantry regiments stationed at Firozpur broke out into revolt, and,
in spite of a British regiment and some European artillery, plundered
and destroyed the buildings of the cantonment. The arsenal and
magazine, however, which gave the station its principal importance ,
were saved without loss of life to the European garrison. Themutineers
were subsequently dispersed.
Population. — The earliest Census of Firozpur District was taken
in 1854, and showed a total population of 475,624 persons. The
area then differed but little from that of the present time. A second
enumeration, undertaken in January 1868, disclosed an increase of 13
per cent. in the fourteen years . It extended over an area of 2692 square
 FIROZPUR DISTRICT, 273
miles, and disclosed a total of 549,253 persons, distributed among
1312 villages or townships, and inhabiting 119,490 houses. From
these data the following averages may be deduced : - -Personsper square
mile, 204 ; villages per square mile, oʻ49 ; houses per square mile ,
44'01; persons per village, 418 ; persons per house, 4:6. Classified
according to sex , there were — males, 303,489 ; females, 245,764 ; pro
portion of males, 55-25 per cent. Classified according to age, there
were, under 12 years — males, 108,948 ; females, 94,077 ; total, 203,025,
or 36 '96 per cent. As regards religious distinctions, the District is
mainly noticeable for the comparatively large proportion of its Sikh
inhabitants, who number 160,487, or 29'22 per cent. of the total.
The Muhammadans were returned at 245,659, or 44 .72 per cent. ; the
Hindus at 68,406 , or 12'45 per cent. ; and the other sects at 74,701, or
13 60 per cent. The agricultural population amounted to 339,842
persons, of whom 104,558 were male agriculturists above the age of 18
years. As regards ethnicaldivisions and caste distinctions, the Hindus
and Sikhs comprised 8632 Bráhmans, 8294 Kshattriyas, 10,702 Banias,
11,678 Aroras, and 104,391 Játs ; while the Musalmán element included
17,133 Rájputs, 20,042 Játs, and 10,124 Gújars. The Muhammadans
chiefly inhabit the low -lying lands (bét) along the banks of the Sutlej.
The Dogras and Bhattis form the leading Rájput tribes, and bear the
reputation of being lazy and thriftless. They also contribute to swell
the returns of crime far beyond their fair numerical proportion . On
the other hand, they hold a high social position in the District. The
Sikh and Hindu Játs, fine specimens of their hardy and industrious
race, apply their energy to cultivation in the upland plateau of the
rohi. The Rájás of the neighbouring States of Patiala, Jhind, and
Nábha, belong to the Barár Subdivision of the Ját tribe. The popula
tion lies scattered very unevenly over the various portions of the District.
In some parts of the low -lying Sutlej belt, a message can be passed from
village to village, according to popularbelief, by the human voice ; while
in the extreme south , a horseman at full speed could not pass from one
inhabited spot to another within an hour. The District contains 7 muni
cipalities — namely, FIROZPUR, pop. (1868) 20,592, exclusive of canton
ment; MUKTSAR, 4694 ; DHARMKOT, 5379 ; ZIRA, 3010 ; MAKHU, 1715 ;
FATEHGARH , 1654 ; Kor Isa KHAN, 1520. Firozpur, the headquarters
station, is also important as a great military cantonment, and the chief
arsenal of the Punjab. Pop, of cantonment (1877), 15,837.
Agriculture. — According to returns compiled in 1873-74, the District
contained a total cultivated area of 1,243,508 acres ; of which 136,450
were irrigated from private works, leaving 1,107,058 acres unsupplied
with water by artificialmeans. The remainder comprised 377,722 acres of
cultivable waste, and 132,020 of barren land. It appears, therefore, that
only 7'5 per cent of the whole District consists of irreclaimably sterile
VOL. III.
274 FIROZPUR DISTRICT.
soil, while 76 -7 per cent. has already been brought under the plough.
The staple crops include wheat for the rabí or spring harvest, and the
two common millets, joár and bájra , for the kharif or autumn harvest.
Other important items are - barley, gram , tobacco, and oil-seeds for the
rabi; and maize, cotton, pulses, and til for the kharif. The low -lying
lands along the Sutlej also produce a small quantity of rice. The area
under the various staples was returned as follows in 1875 -76 : - Wheat,
208,763 acres ; jour, 178,939 acres ; bájra , 28,651 acres ; maize , 34,620
acres ; barley, 193,568 acres; gram , 187, 921 acres ; pulses, 160,628
acres ; tobacco, 6131 acres ; and cotton, 7326 acres. Irrigation is
supplied from wells and canals. A single well in the bét tract will water
from 20 to 40 acres ; in the rohi, from 12 to 20 acres. The canals,
being cuts filled by the Sutlej when in flood, exist only in the bét. All
of them are of very recent construction, and owe their origin to the
native industry of the people, aided by the advice and encouragement
of an energetic British official. In 1875-76, as many as 43,331 acres of
land received irrigation in this manner for the first time. The whole
southern portion of the District still lies exposed to the ravages of
famine, water being found at too great a depth to permit the use of
wells for agricultural purposes ; but to this thirsty tract the projected
Sirhind Canal, now in course of construction , will shortly afford an
abundant means of irrigation . The tenures of land conform to the
ordinary Punjab types — gamindárs being commonest among the Rájputs
of the lowlands, while a partition of shares has usually taken place in
the Ját communities of the interior. Tenant cultivators ordinarily pay
their rents in kind, at rates which range from one-fourth to one-half of
the gross produce. Money rates are paid only by occupancy tenants,
who were permitted at the settlement of the land tax to commute pay
ment in kind for a cash percentage upon the revenue due from their
holdings. Occasional agricultural labour is always paid in grain . Cash
wages in 1875-76 ranged from 3 d. to .41d. per diem for unskilled
labour, and from 7 d. to gd. for skilled labour. The prices-current of
food grains ruled as follows on the ist of January 1876 :— Wheat, 22 sers
per rupee, or 5s. id . per cwt. ; barley, 37 sers per rupee, or 3s. per cwt. ;
gram , 36 sers per rupee, or 3s. id . per cwt. ; joár, 37 sers per rupee, or
35. per cwt. ; and bájra , 24 sers per rupee, or 4s. 8d. per cwt.
Natural Calamities. — Although the southern half of the District
depends entirely upon the rainfall for its harvests, yet Firozpur has
suffered comparatively little from famine. In 1869-70, the District not
only supplied its own internal needs, but continued to export grain
throughout the season of scarcity. Relief was required during several
months, but principally for immigrants from Bikaner (Bickaneer ). On
January ist, 1870, wheat sold for 8 sers per rupee, or 145. per cwt. ; and
barley, for 11 sers per rupee, or ios. 2d. per cwt.
 FIROZPUR DISTRICT. 275
Commerce and Trade, etc. — The staple export of the District consists
of grain , for which the market of Firozpur forms the local centre.
The enterprising Ját cultivators of the interior carry on trade upon their
own account, conveying their produce on camels or in carts, not only
to Firozpur itself, but also to Amritsar, and even to Lahore . In the
Sutlej (Satlaj) belt, the village bania acts as merchant and banker.
Firozpur does a considerable trade with all the towns between the
Jumna (Jamuná) and the Beas (Biás), while large consignments of
wheat and cotton , collected from the District and the neighbouring
Native States, are shipped down the Sutlej for Sukkur and Karachi
(Kurrachee). The exports to towns beyond the Punjab ' alone reached
a value of £54,056 in 1871-72. An important cattle-fair takes place
annually in the month of January at Muktsar, on the occasion of a
great Sikh festival. The local manufactures are of the humblest
description, being entirely confined to the supply of the neighbouring
country. The chief road is that which connects Firozpur with
Lahore on the one side, and with the Punjab Railway at Ludhiána on
the other ; it is metalled throughout, and passable by wheeled vehicles
at all seasons. Good lines also radiate from Firozpur to Jalandhar
(Jullundur), Karnál, Patiala, Fázilka, and other neighbouring towns.
The total length of communications in 1875-76 was returned as
follows:- By water, 128 miles ; by metalled road, 80 miles ; by unmetalled
road , 475 miles. A line of telegraph connects the cantonment and
arsenal of Firozpur with Ludhiána, and so with the other military
centres ofthe Punjab.
Administration . - In 1851-52, the total revenue derived from the
District amounted to £44,587 ; in 1861-62, it had risen to £50,712 ;
and in 1875-76, to £62,386 . This steady increase is mainly due to
the growth of the land revenue, under the influence of extended irriga
tion and the impetus given to agricultural industry by a settled and
peaceable Government ; but part of it must also be attributed to the
larger income derived from stamps. In 1851-52, the land -tax amounted
to £36,044 ; by 1875-76, it had reached £ 50,953, or more than four
fifths of the total revenue. The Settlement at present in force was
effected between the years 1852-55, and will not expire until 1883.
Besides the imperial revenue, a local income of £9500 is realized by
means of cesses for expenditure upon works of public utility within the
District. In 1875 -76, the administrative staff included 12 civil and
revenue judges, two of whom were covenanted civilians. During the
same year, the regular police force numbered 564 men , including the
municipal constabulary ; being an average of 1 man to every 4 .95
square miles and every 973 of the population. This force was further
supplemented by a rural body of 542 village watchmen or chaukidárs.
During six years ending 1872, the criminal calendar contained 30 cases
276 FIROZPUR TAHSIL AND TOWN.
of murder and 81 cases of robbery with violence, while the average
number of thefts or criminal trespasses amounted to 1224 per annum .
The District jail at Firozpur contained 1180 prisoners in 1872.
Education has made but little way against the universal apathy of
the inhabitants. In 1872-73, Government supported or aided 45
schools within the District, with 2569 pupils. The total cost of the
educational establishment amounted to £1229, of which the State
contributed £ 845. In 1875-76 the number of schools had risen
to 53, and of pupils to 2755. These figures show an average of 1
school to 31•6 square miles, and of 5'0 scholars for every thousand of
the population. The seven municipal towns had in 1875-76 an
aggregate income of £4481, being at the rate of 2s. 9 d. per head of
their population.
Medical Aspects. — The District enjoys a reputation for exceptional
healthiness, but in September and October, fever and pleuro-pneumonia
largely prevail. Small-pox also exists in an endemic form . The official
returns for 1875 give the total number of deaths during the year at
9813, being at the rate of 18 per thousand on the corrected population
up to date. The District contains only one charitable dispensary, at
Firozpur, which gave relief in 1875-76 to 10 ,971 persons, of whom
384 were in -patients. The rainfall is capricious, and scanty even in the
best years ; but its quantity appears to have increased, while its regu
larity has greatly improved with the spread of cultivation and the growth
of trees. The average annual rainfall for the eight years ending 1873-74
was 1968 inches ; but that of the southern tract falls far short of the
quantity in the northern lowlands.
Firozpur.— Tahsil of Firozpur District, Punjab, lying between 30°
44' 15" and 31° 7' 15" n. lat., and between 74° 27' 30 " and 74° 59' 30"
E. long. Area, 470 square miles ; pop. (1868), 131,500 ; persons per
square mile, 278 ; number of villages, 365.
Firozpur. - Municipal town, military cantonment, and administra
tive headquarters of Firozpur District, Punjab. Pop. ( 1868), exclusive
of cantonment, 20,592, being 7181 Hindus, 11,171 Musalmáns, 1347
Sikhs,and 893 'others.' Pop. of cantonment, 15,837 ; total pop. 36,429.
Situated in lat. 30° 56' 42" N., and long. 74° 38' 24" E ., on the old
high bank of the Sutlej (Satlaj), 3 } miles from the present bed of the
river. It was founded, according to tradition, in the time of Firoz
Shah, Emperor of Delhi, A.D. 1351-1387, but was in a declining state
at the period of the British annexation . Under a settled govern
ment, however, its growth has been rapid and steady, the population
having increased fivefold since 1841. Now the seat of a thriving
commerce , due principally to the exertions of Sir H . Lawrence, who
induced many native traders to settle in the city, and more lately to the
enterprise of an English merchant, who has erected a powerful cotton
 FIROZPUR TAHSIL - FIROZSHAH . 277
press in the vicinity. The main streets are wide and well paved , while
a circular road which girdles the wall is lined by the gardens of wealthy
residents. The cantonments lie 2 miles south of the city ; and the
garrison, now much reduced, ordinarily consists of a regiment of British
infantry, one of Native infantry , and two batteries of artillery. The
arsenal, to which the town owes its political importance, is by far the
largest in the Punjab , and well stored with munitions of war. The
public buildings include the District court-house, treasury, post office ,
police station, and staging bungalow, within the cantonments ; the
jail, town-hall, dispensary , school-house , and sarái, upon the road con
necting the city with the military station ; and the memorial church,
in honour of those who fell in the Sutlej campaign of 1845-46,
destroyed during the Mutiny, but since restored. Thriving trade in
grain and other agricultural produce. For early history and events
of 1857, see FIROZPUR DISTRICT. Municipal revenue in 1875-76 ,
£4050, or 55. 4d. per head of pop. (15,164 ) within municipal limits.
Firozpur.- Southern tahsil of Gurgaon District, Punjab ; lying
between 27° 39' and 27° 59' n . lat., and between 76° 56' and 77° 9'
E. long.
Firozpur.- Municipal town in Gurgaon District, Punjab, and head
quarters of the tahsil. Pop. (1868), 9156, being 2744 Hindus, 1229
Muhammadans, 3 Síkhs, and 5180 'others.' Situated in lat. 27° 46'
30" N ., and long. 76° 59' 30 " E., on a small perennial stream , in the
extreme south of the District. Said to have been founded by the
Emperor Firoz Shah,who placed a cantonment here for the subjugation
of the neighbouring hill tribes. Annexed by the British Government
in 1803, but granted in jágír to Ahmad Baksh Khán, whose son, Nawab
Shams-ud-din Khán, was executed in 1836 for the murder of Mr. W .
Fraser, Commissioner of Delhi. Since that period, it has formed the
headquarters of a sub -collectorate. Thriving trade in country produce ;
exports of grain and cotton ; imports of rice, sugar, and English piece
goods. Tahsili, police station, school-house. Municipal revenue in
1875-76, £757, or is. 5d. per head of population ( 10,580) within
municipal limits.
Firozsháh. — Battle-field in Firozpur District, Punjab; situated in
lat. 30° 53' N ., and long. 74° 49' 45 " E., about 12 miles from the left
bank of the Sutlej (Satlaj). Rendered famous by the attack made
upon the formidably entrenched Sikh camp, Dec. 21, 1845, by the
British forces under Sir Hugh Gough and Sir Henry Hardinge. After
two days' severe fighting, the entrenchments were carried and the
enemy completely routed, but not without heavy losses on the part of
the conquerors. No trace of the earthworks now remains, but a
monument erected upon the spot perpetuates thememory of the officers
and men who fell in the engagement.
278 FORT ST. DAVID - FRENCH POSSESSIONS.
Fort St. David. — South Arcot District, Madras. — See David ,
Fort St.
Fort St. George. — Citadel of Madras, and the name offi
cially applied to the Government of the Presidency. — See MADRAS
Town .
Fort-William . - Citadel of Calcutta, and the nameofficially applied
to the Government of Bengal. — See CALCUTTA.
Foul Island (in Burmese , Nan -tha-kywon). — An uninhabited island
off the coast of Sandoway, in Arakan Division , British Burma ; lying
about lat. 18° 3' N., 6 leagues from the mainland, and 7 from Bluff
Point, and visible from a distance of 8 leagues. The island is about
2 miles long, and is conical in form . To the north -east there are islets
and rocks near the shore , and a reef partly above water extending south
wards. The name is derived from a so -called mud - volcano, which
at times emits a torrent of hotmud bubbling with marsh gas.
Fraserpet. — Town in the territory of Coorg ; situated in lat. 12°
27' 30" N., and long. 76° ó' 20" E., on the banks of the Káveri
(Cauvery) river, 20 miles east of Merkára,and 2720 feet above sea level.
Pop. (1872), 1832. Originally called Kushalnagara, the name was
changed in honour of Colonel Fraser, the first British Political Agent
in Coorg (1834). The fort was built of hewn stone by Tipu Sultán ,
and stormed and demolished in 1789 by the Coorgs under their native
Rájá , Dodda Vira Rájendra. The ruins supplied materials for the
construction of the fine bridge over the Káveri (Cauvery), finished in
1848. Fraserpet is the residence of the Superintendent of Coorg
during the monsoon months, when the climate is much less damp
and unhealthy than at Merkára .
French Possessions. — I have condensed the following brief account
of the French Settlements from materials courteously furnished to meat
Pondicherri by His Excellency the Governor-General of French India ,
supplemented by later documents kindly placed at my disposal in the
Ministère de la Marine et des Colonies, Paris, June 1879. Pains have
been taken to render it accurate ; but no responsibility rests with Her
Majesty's Government of India for any statements contained in it. A
separate account of each of the Settlements will be given under its own
name. I have not, however, always found it possible to bring the
local figures into exact accord with those obtained in France for this
general résumé.
The French Possessions in India comprise five Settlements, with
certain dependent · Lodges,'atwhich the right is reserved of hoisting the
French flag. They aggregate 178 square miles, and had a total popu
lation in 1876 of 285,022, distributed as follows :
 FRENCH POSSESSIONS. 279
FRENCH POSSESSIONS IN INDIA .

Name. Area in Population Revenue

co ronowo
quare Miles. 1070 . for 1878 .

Pondicherri, 156 ,094 £40,720

Chandarnagar, . 22,496 8 ,046
Karikál, · · 92,516 16,037
Mahé, . . 8 ,442 1,852
Yanaon, or Yanán, . 5 ,474 1,426
Total, · · · 285,022 £68,081

A more detailed statement, dated Pondicherri, ist January 1877,

gives the total population at 280,381 - viz., Europeans, 1116 ;
Eurasians, 1511 ; natives, 277,754 : total, 280,381.
History. — The first French expedition into Indian waters, with a view
to opening up commercial relations, dates as far back as 1603. It was
undertaken by private merchants of Rouen ; but it failed, as also did
several similar attempts which followed it. In 1642, Cardinal'Richelieu
founded the first Compagnie des Indes Orientales, but its efforts met
with no success. Colbert reconstituted the Company on a larger basis
in 1664, granting it exemption from taxes and amonopoly of the Indian
trade for fifty years. After having twice attempted, without success, to
establish itself in Madagascar, Colbert's Company again took up the
idea of direct trade with India, and its president, Caron, founded in 1668
the ' comptoir ' or agency at Surat. But on finding that city unsuited
for a head establishment, he seized the harbour of Trincomali in Ceylon
from the Dutch. The Dutch, however, quickly retook Trincomali,
and Caron, passing over to the Coromandel coast, in 1672, seized Saint
Thomas, a Portuguese town which had for twelve years been in the
possession of Holland. But he had to restore it to the Dutch in
1674.
The ruin of the Company seemed impending,when one of its agents,
the celebrated Francois Martin , suddenly restored it to life. Rallying
under him a handful of sixty Frenchmen, saved out of the wrecks of
the colonies at Trincomali and Saint Thomas, he took up his abode at
Pondicherri, which he purchased in 1683 from the local Rájá. He
built fortifications, and a trade began to spring up ; but he was unable
to hold the town against the Dutch, who accordingly wrested it from
him in 1683, and held it until it was restored to the French by the
Treaty of Ryswick in 1699.
Pondicherri became in this year, and has ever since remained, the
most important of the French Settlements in India. Its foundation was
exactly contemporaneous with that of CALCUTTA ; like Calcutta, its site
280 FRENCH POSSESSIONS.
was purchased by a European Company from a Native Prince; and
what Job Charnock was to Calcutta, Francois Martin proved to Pondi
cherri. On its restitution to the French by the Peace of Ryswick in
1699, Martin was appointed Governor-General, and under his able
management Pondicherribecamean entrepôt oftrade. CHANDARNAGAR ,
in Lower Bengal, had been acquired by the French Company in 1688,
by grant from the Delhi Emperor ; MAHE, on the Malabar coast, was
obtained in 1725-26, under the government of M . Lenoir ; KARIKAL,
on the Coromandel coast, under that of M . Dumas in 1739. YANAON
and MASULIPATAM (the site of a French factory in the 17th century ),
on the northern coast of Madras, were taken possession of in 1750 ,
and were formally ceded to the French two years later.
The war of 1741 between France and England, led to the attack
alike of Madras and of Pondicherri, the capitals of the French and
English Companies in Southern India. Labourdonnais equipped at
his own charges a fleet, and laid siege to Madras, which capitulated
on the 21st September 1746. It was ransomed for £400,000. The
English in due time made reprisals. On the 26th April 1748, they
appeared before Pondicherri, but eventually retired after a most skilful
defence of the town conducted by Dupleix during forty -two days.
The peace of Aix -la-Chapelle put a stop, in that year, to further
hostilities, and left Dupleix free to realize his dream of an Indian
Empire for France. Between 1746 and 1756, he obtained from the
Delhi Emperor the Nawabship of the Karnatic ; established a pro
tectorate over the Subah of Arcot and other parts of Southern India ;
made large additions to the French territory around Pondicherri,
Karikál, and Masulipatam , and extended the French authority over
the four Districts of Montfanagar, Ellore, Rájáhmandri with Chikakol
and the island of Seringham , formed by two arms of the Cauvery .
These various annexations opened up to the French commerce 200
leagues of seaboard, and yielded a revenue of £800,000 ( 20 millions
de francs ').
This period of power proved of short duration . Dupleix, feebly sup
ported by the Court of Versailles,met with a series of reverses from the
English Company, and was recalled to Paris in 1753. A certain extent
of territory still remained to his successor ; but during the Seven Years'
War, the Government of France could afford no reinforcements for its
Indian possessions. The English Company overran them , defeated the
French at Wandewash, and seized Arcot. Lally -Tollendal, after a
chivalrous defence , surrendered Pondicherri on the 6th January 1761.
The English demolished the town ; the walls, the forts, the public
buildings, were all destroyed. The captured troops and all Europeans
in the French Company's service were deported back to France.
Two years later, the peace of 1763 restored Pondicherri and the
 FRENCH POSSESSIONS. 281

other Indian factories to the French ; but with their former territories
greatly curtailed. The abolition of the monopoly of the French Com
pany in 1769 threw open the trade, and Pondicherri began to show
signs of a new vitality. But in 1778, it again fell into the hands of the
English East India Company. In 1782, the Bailli de Suffren made a
brilliant effort on behalf of his depressed countrymen, fighting fourbattles
with the English in seven months, and retaking the fort of Trincomali.
Next year, the Treaty of Versailles restored Pondicherri and the other
factories to the French , 20th January 1783. But the English Company
took advantage, as usual, of the breaking out of the next war in Europe
to seize the French possessions in India , and again compelled their
rivals to evacuate their settlements in 1793. The Peace of Amiens
once more restored them to the French in 1802 ; on its cessation , the
English Company again seized them , with September 1803. Pondi
cherri passed for the fourth time under British rule, and during the
long Napoleonic wars, the French power ceased to exist in India .
Pondicherri and the other factories were restored to the French by
the treaties of 1814, 1815, the territories being finally reduced to their
present narrow limits. The French had to begin the whole work of
their Indian settlements de novo ; and an expedition arrived at Pondi
cherri on the 16th September 1816 to re- enter on possession . On the
4th December 1816 , Pondicherri and Chandarnagar were delivered
over to them ; Karikál, on the 14th January 1817 ; Mahé, on the 22d
February 1817 ; and Yanáon, on the 12th April 1817. A convention
between the Governments of France and England , dated 7th March
1815, regulated the conditions of their restoration . The French
renounced their former right, under the convention of the 30th August
1787, to claim annually from the English East India Company 300
chests of opium at cost price, and agreed to henceforth pay the average
rates realized at the Calcutta sales. They also bound themselves to
make over to the English Company, at a fixed price, all surplus salt
manufactured within their restored territories over and above the
requirements of the local population . In compensation for these
lucrative concessions, the English agreed to pay 4 lakhs of sikká rupees
(one million francs, or, say, £40,000) annually to the French
Government. As it was found that the right to make salt at all in the
French Settlements led to the smuggling of that article into the sur
rounding British Districts, the French Government were induced on
the 13th May 1818 to surrender it altogether for an annual payment of
4000 pagodas' (33,600 francs), or, say, £1344. This second treaty,
although at first made for only fifteen years, has been indefinitely pro
longed ; the English Government supplying the French authorities
with salt at cost price, and allowing the latter to sell it to their own
subjects at their own rates.
282 FRENCH POSSESSIONS.
Present Territories. — In addition to the five Settlements already
mentioned, and which are treated of in separate articles , the French
retain certain houses or patches of ground within British territory ,where
they have the right to hoist their flag. These · Loges ' or patches of
ground mark the sites of ancient French factories. The retention of
such memorials of former times was conceded to the French sentiment ;
but most of the ' Lodges ’ are now unknown to the inhabitants of
the towns in which they are situated ; and their interest is purely
historical. The following is a list, from French official sources, of the
five Settlements, together with their dependent loges or factoreries within
British territory :
Ist. On the Coromandel coast. — (a ) The Settlement of PONDICHERRI,
composed of the Districts of Pondicherri proper, Villenour, and Bahur ;
total, 113 square miles. (6 ) The Settlement of KARIKAL, 52 square
miles.
2d. On the northern Madras coast. — The Settlement of YANAON ,
5 square miles, with a loge at Masulipatam , marking the site of the
French factory of the last century . The British took possession of
Masulipatam in 1769 ; and the French authorities have resigned their
right to make or sell spirituous liquors within their loge for a sum of
£350 a year (Convention , dated 31st March 1853). The loge,with the
village of France-pet, 3 kilometres north -west of Masulipatam , is said
to have from 100 to 200 native inhabitants.
3d . On the Malabar coast. — The SettlementofMAHE, 5 square miles ;
with a loge in the British town of Calicut, ' occupée par un gardien .'
4th . On the northern Bombay coast. — No Settlement, but a factorerie
in the British town of Surat, ' occupée par un gardien ;' and consisting
of a patch of ground with some huts, let for a rental of £8 a year.
5th. In Bengal. — The Settlement of CHANDARNAGAR, 3 square miles ;
with 5 loges, claimed at Kásímbázár, Jugdia, Patná, Dacca, and
Balasor, each said to consist of a small patch of ground with a ruin ,
a hut, or a tenementof some sort on it. The French reserve the right to
hoist their flag at them all, but they are not in active possession of any
of the five. The loges at Dacca and Balasor (like the loge at Surat already
mentioned) are let for a trifling rental; the other three Bengal loges
claimed at Kásímbázár, Jugdia, and Patná have never been given up
by the British Government.
Revenue and Expenditure for 1878. - Receipts, as per budget, for all
the French Settlements in India, £68,081 (1,702,042 francs); ex
penditure, £68,081. The million francs (£40,000) annually paid by
the English Government in compensation for the surrender by the
French authorities of their rights in regard to opium and salt, only
passes through the Colonial accounts on its way to the National
Exchequer, and does not appear in the above statement. Among
 FRONTIER DISTRICT, SIND. 283
items of expenditure may be noted — law and justice, £6000 ; police,
£4184 ; roads and bridges, £3048 ; public instruction , £3425; public
worship , £968 . The following table of the receipts and expenditure for
each of the five Settlements is reproduced, without conversion, from the
official budget for 1878 :
RECEIPTS. EXPENDITURE .
Francs. Centimes. Francs. Centimes.
Pondicherri, . . . . . 1,018,031 58 1,207,434 96
Chandarnagar, · · · · 201, 148 80 137, 388 52
Karikál, 400 ,942 70 277, 204 56
Mahé, . . . . . 46,292 5 44,057 26
Yannon, . . . 35,627 17 33, 957 00
1,702,042 30 1, 702,042 30
Total, . . £68,081 £68,081
Administration. The number of children under public instruction
was 1629 boys and 1248 girls — total, 2877 — in 1878. The army, and
establishments connected with the Governor-General and his staff at
Pondicherri ; those of the local governors or chefs de service at Chan
darnagar, Yanáon, Mahé, and Karikál; together with other headquarters'
charges, necessarily engross a large proportion of the revenue. All the
state and dignity of an independent Government, with four dependent
ones, have to bemaintained out of a total incomeof £68,081. This
is effected by rigid economy, and the prestige of the French Govern
ment is worthily maintained in the East. Pondicherri is also the
scene of considerable religious pomp and of some missionary activity.
It forms the seat of a ‘ Préfecture Apostolique,' founded in 1828, con
sisting of a Préfet Apostolique and 7 priests for all French India ;
and of the Mission du Carnatic ,' founded by the Jesuits in 1776 . But
the chief field of this mission lies outside the French Settlements. Of
its 115,000 Christians, 160 churches, and 65 missionaries, no fewer than
92 ,000 ofthe Christians are British subjects, and 159 of the churches
are in British territory . The capital, Pondicherri, is a very handsome
town, and presents, especially from the sea, a striking appearance of
French civilisation . It forms the headquarters of the French national
line of steam communication with the East, the excellent Messageries
Maritimes ; but its natural situation does not admit of any great trade.
The total exports and imports for French India in 1876 is returned at
£1,111,628 (27,790,717 francs), of which £300,000 was with France
and about £800,000 with other countries, chiefly British. The details
of each of the four Settlements which have ports will be found under
Pondicherri, Karikál, Mahé, and Yanáon .
Frontier District, Sind. See UPPER SIND.
284 FURREED — GADHALI.
ABAD
Furreedábád. — Town in Delhi District, Punjab . — See FARIDABAD.
District and to See Faridpuk-town in
Furreedcote. - Native state in the Punjab. See FARIDKOT.
Furreedpore. — District and town in Bengal, and tahsil and town
in the North -Western Provinces. - See FARIDPUR.
Fyzábád . — Division , District, tahsil, and town in Oudh. — See
FAIZABAD.

Gad. — One of the petty States in Rewa Kánta, Bombay. Area, 134
sq. miles ; estimated revenue, £1270. The chief, Ráná Bharat Sirhjí,
pays tribute of £50 as a feudatory of the Rájá of Chotá Udaipur.
Gadádhar. — River in North -Eastern Bengal; tributary to the
Brahmaputra. It rises among the mountains of Bhután, and debouches
upon the plains of the Dwars through a picturesque gorge. The main
stream of this river forms the boundary between the Western Dwars, or
Jalpaiguri District, and the Eastern Dwars, which are included within
Goalpára . Owing to many alterations in its course and variations in
the size of the different channels, the Gadádhar undergoes several
changes of name. The upper reaches are sometimes identified with
the SANKOS, which is properly the name of a separate river. After
entering Goálpára District, the river bifurcates, the larger volurne of
water now passing into the Brahmaputra by a channel called the Gan
gádhar. The old channel, which retains the original name, is nearly
dry, and only supported by the water of a small tributary , the Bámnái.
The Gadádhar is navigable in the plains by boats of 4 tons burthen.
Gadag (Garag). — Petty State in Káthiáwár, Bombay. -- See GARAG .
Gádawára . — The western tahsil or revenue Subdivision of Narsinh
pur District, Central Provinces. Pop. (1872), 138,670, residing in 342
villages or townships and 25,898 houses, on an area of 654 square
miles ; land revenue (1869-70), £17,088.
Gádawára . — A flourishing town in Narsinhpur District, Central
Provinces ; on the left bank of the river Shakar, at the junction of the
roads to Jabalpur (Jubbulpore) and Sagar (Saugor), and 28 miles by
the main road from Narsinhpur station . Lat. 22° 55' 30" n., long. 78°
50' E. ; pop. ( 1876), 6068, chiefly tradesmen and artisans. Gádawára
manufactures Khárwá cloth and chhántí, and does a brisk trade in
cotton , salt, and grain at the markets held every Monday and Friday.
The public offices are in the small fortress on the river bank, built by a
family of Gond Rájputs in the early days of Marhattá rule. There is a
boys' school with an English class.
Gaddilam (or Garudánadi). - River in South Arcot District, Madras.
See GARUDANADI.
Gadhali. — One of the petty States of Gohelwár in Káthiáwár, Bom
 GADHIA - GAHIJA . 285
bay ; consisting of 3 villages, with 3 independent tribute - payers.
Estimated revenue, £900 ; tribute of £169 is paid to the Gaekwár
of Baroda, and £30 to Junágarh .
Gadhia. — One of the petty States in South Káthiáwár, Bombay ;
consisting of 2 villages, with 2 independent tribute -payers. The revenue
is estimated at £250 ; tribute of £27 is paid to the Gaekwár of Baroda,
and £2 to Junagarh .
Gadhi Dúbhar. – Village in Muzaffarnagar District, North -Western
Provinces. Pop. (1872), 2417, including manyMuhammadan Baluchís,
relations and clansmen of the samíndár. The town contains several
brick-built houses, and the roads are also paved with brick. Six
mosques, daily bázár, and large weekly market on Sundays. Principal
articles of trade - sugar and salt. Several fine groves of trees surround
the village.
Gadhula . – One of the petty States of Gohelwár in Kathiáwár,
Bombay ; consisting of i village, with 2 independent tribute -payers.
The revenue is estimated at £300 ; tribute of £16 is paid to the
Gáekwár of Baroda, and £2 to Junagarh .
Gadkhálí. — Town and police station in Jessor District, Bengal ;
situated on the river Kabadak , on the road from Calcutta to Jessor.
Lat. 23° 5' 30" n ., long. 89° 6 ' E. In former days the scene of numerous
outrages, perpetrated by the Bediyás, then a predatory tribe, now a
vandering gipsy caste.
Gadra. - Municipaltown in Umárkot táluk, Thar and Párkar Political
Superintendency, Sinh. Pop. (1872), 1126 ,— 48 Muhammadans ; 1078
Hindus, chiefly Brahmans, Lohános, Sodhos, Mengwárs, and Bhíls.
Municipal revenue (1873-74), £71 ; disbursements, £87 ; rate of taxa
tion per head within municipal limits, is. 3d .
Gágar. - Range of mountains in Kumaun District, North -Western
Provinces, forming a portion of the outer Himalayan range ; situated
between lat. 29° 14' to 29° 30'E ., and long. 79° 9' to 79° 39' E. The chain
runs along the whole southern border of the District, parallel to the
plains, from the Rámganga to the Káli, and presents a line of higher
elevation than any ranges between it and themain ridge of the central
Himalayas. The principal peak is that of China, overlooking the lake
and station of NAINI TAL, which nestle among the hollows of the Gágar.
Forests of cypress, tún, fir, and other timber trees clothe the various
summits to their very tops. Average elevation, between 7000 and 8000
feet.
Gáglá. — Trading village and produce depôt in Rangpur District,
Bengal, lying between the Sankos and Dharlá rivers. Chief exports
jute, tobacco, and ginger. Lat. 25° 59' N., long. 89° 40' 30 " E.
Gahijá . — Government town in Shikárpur District, Sind. Pop. (1872),
1123, the Muhammadans belonging chiefly to the Gahijá tribe, whence
286 GAHMAR - GALIKONDA.
the village derives its name; the Hindus are mainly Lohános.
Travellers' bungalow .
Gahmar. — Town in Ghazipur District, North -Western Provinces.
Lat. 25° 29' 40" n., long. 83° 50' 55" E. ; area, 108 acres ; pop. ( 1872),
9050. Stands in the southern portion of the District, i mile south of
the Ganges and 15 miles south -east of Ghazipur. Station on East
Indian Railway main line.
Gajapatinagar.- Táluk in Vizagapatam District, Madras. Houses,
24,707, collected into 228 villages, all zamindári; pop. (1871),
108,351, being 55,653males and 52,698 females. Classified according
to religion , there were — Hindus, 107,781, including 12,073 Sivaites and
95,680 Vishnuvites ; Muhammadans, 570, of whom 505 were Sunnis.
Chief town, GAJAPATINAGAR.
Gajapatinagar.— Town in above táluk, Vizagapatam District,
Madras. Lat. 18° 16' N., long. 83° 25' E. ; pop. (1871), 2272, residing
in 579 houses. Headquarters of the táluk, with sub-magistrate's and
munsif's courts, and a good school. An importantmart for hill produce.
Gajendragad. -- Town in Kaládgi District, Bombay ; 41 miles
south -east of Kaládgi town. Lat. 15° 44' 30' n., long. 76° 0' 45" E.;
pop. (1872), 7665.
Gajghantá . — Trading village and produce depôt in Rangpur Dis
trict, Bengal. Chief exports — jute and lime. ' Lat. 25° 49'45" N., long.
89° 10 ' (89° 19'?) E
Galáothí. — Town in Bulandshahr District, North -Western Provinces ;
situated on the Grand Trunk Road, 12 miles north of Bulandshahr town.
Pop. (1872), 5608, 2658 Hindus and 2943 Muhammadans, and 7 others.'
The followers of the two religions are said to be on bad terms with each
other, and are frequently engaged in affrays. Akbar gave revenue-free
grants to a number of Sayyids, whose descendants held them till 1858,
when they were confiscated on account of the rebellion of their holders.
The celebrated rebel, Wálidad Khán of Málagarh, held a half-share in
the village. Halting-place and encamping ground for troops, travellers'
rest-house (sarái), police station, post office, and weekly market. A
small village police force and conservancy staff are maintained out of
municipal funds derived from a house tax.
Galghásiá (or Bánstála ). - River in the District of the Twenty-four
Parganas, Bengal; formed by the junction of the Bánstálá Khál and
Guntiákhálí. Falls, after a south -easterly course, into the KHOLPETUA,
opposite Kalyanpur village.
Galikonda (or Galiparvat, 'Windy Hill'). — Range of hills in Vizaga
patam District, Madras. Lat. 18° 30 ' n., long. 18° 50' E.; averaging
from 2800 to 5000 feet above sea level, about 45 miles from the sea.
The two highest peaks reach a height of 5345 and 5287 feet respec
tively. The shape of the range is that of a double crescent joined by a
 GALLU - GANDAI. 287
narrow saddle. The summits of the range are of gneiss and syenite,
capped with laterite and black mould . They are easy of access except
near the top, butthe road throughout has been improved byGovernment
sappers. In 1860, the Madras Government tested this range as a
sanitarium by sending up a detachment of Europeans to a site selected ,
and named ' Harris's Valley.' The place, however, proved unhealthy,
the men suffering much from fever, and, after repeated attempts, the
experiment was abandoned. It was thought, however, that a healthier
site for the cantonment might have been found. The land is the
property of the Rájá of Vizianagaram , who has a coffee estate here.
Gallu. — A branch of the Indus river, in Karachi (Kurrachee) Dis
trict, Sind. It diverges from the main stream in lat. 24° 28' n ., and
long. 67° 54' E., and debouches in lat. 24° 6 ' n.,and long. 67° 22' E., by
the Hajámro mouth .
Gambat. — Town in the Khairpur State, Sind. Pop . (1872), 4537.
Formerly a centre of cotton-weaving; annual produce about 5000 pieces.
Gambhar. - Mountain stream of the Punjab, taking its rise in the
lower ranges of the Himalayas, in lat. 30° 52' N., long. 77° 8' E., and
flowing in a north -westerly direction past the military station of Subáthu ,
until it falls into the Sutlej (Satlaj), after a course of about 40 miles,
in lat. 31° 17' N ., long. 76° 47' E . It is nowhere navigable, and in the
rainy season it is liable to sudden floods. The river is bridged near
Subathu, on the road to Simla .
Gambíla (or Tochi).— River in Bannu District, Punjab ; rises in the
independent hill country , among the Safed Koh Mountains, and enters
British territory a few miles from the town of Bannu. Its banks afford
but little opportunity for cultivation, being at first composed of boulders,
and afterwards of pure sand. A few irrigation cuts, however, supply
water to some 12,138 acres of tilled land. It falls into the KURAM
a few miles below Lakki, lat. 32° 37' 30" n., long. 71° 6' 15" E. Sweet
and wholesome drinking water. Average depth , it feet in the cold
season , 4 feet during the rains. Nowhere bridged, but fordable at all
times, except after heavy rain in the hills.
Gamún -aing. - Revenue circle in the valley of the Kyoukgyí, a
tributary of the Tsittoung in Shwe-gyeng District, Tenasserim Division ,
British Burma. Area, 120 square miles ; pop. (1876), 6538, chiefly
Karengs towards the east ; gross revenue, derived mainly from fisheries
and net tax, £1774.
Gandái.- Chiefship attached to Ráipur District, Central Provinces, at
the foot of the Sáletekri Hills, 56 miles north -west of Raipur. The estate
was formerly much larger ; but in 1828, by the sanction of the Rájá of
Nágpur, it was divided among the three sons of the former holder.
This part now consists of 85 villages. The chief is a Gond. The prin
cipal village, Gandái, is situated in lat. 21° 40' 30 " N., and long. 81° 9' E.
288 GANDAK , GREAT - GANDAVA .
Gandak , Great (known also as the Náráyani or Salırámi; the
Kondochates of the Greek geographers). — River in the North
Western Provinces and Behar; rises high among the recesses of the
Nepál Himalayas, in lat. 30° 56 ' 4" N., and long. 79° 6 ' 40 " E.,and
flowing with a general south -westward course till it reaches British
territory, passes into our frontier between the North-Western District of
Gorakhpur, and the District of Champáran in Bengal. For some 20
miles it forms the boundary between the two Provinces, after which it
flows entirely within the limits of Bengal for 40 miles farther, and
then once more separates the Provinces for 12 miles of its course.
Thence it enters the limits of Bengal, flowing between the Districts of
Champáran and Muzaffarpur (Tirhut) on the north -east, and Sáran on
the south -west. It finally joins the Ganges just opposite Patná, in lat.
25° 49' 53" N., and long. 85° 13' 45" E. The Gandak is a snow -fed
stream , issuing from the hills at Tribeni ghat, in the north -west of Cham
páran , but it soon afterwards acquires the character of a deltaic river.
Its banks generally rise above the level of the surrounding country, and
floods accordingly often inundate large tracts of the low -lying land on
either side. It has no tributaries in its course through the plains, and
the drainage of the neighbouring region sets not towards it, but away
from it. The lowest discharge of water into the Ganges, towards the
end of March, amounts to 10,391 cubic feet per second ; the highest
recorded flood volume is 266,000 cubic feet per second. During a great
part of its course , the river is enclosed by protective embankments.
Where it issues from the hills it has a clear and rapid current of great
size, never fordable, full of rapids and whirlpools, and navigable with
difficulty on account of its fierce outflow . Rafts of timber come down
the stream from Nepál, and these, with the sunken snags, render navi
gation perilous. Grain and sugar are sent down from Gorakhpur Dis
trict ; and during the rains, boats of 1000 maunds burden can make
their way up stream as far as Lálganj in Tirhut. The down traffic is
easier and more considerable than the up trade, and a register kept for
fourmonths of 1868 showed an export of 26, 300 tons of produce during
that period.
Gandak , Little . — River in the North -Western Provinces ; rises in
the Nepál Hills, and enters Gorakhpur District about 8 miles west of
the Great Gandak ; flows parallel with the latter channel southward
through the District, and empties itself into the Gogra (Ghagra) at
Súnaria , just within the limits of Sáran in Bengal, in lat. 25° 41'N.,
long. 85° 14' 30" E. Except in the rains, it has a small stream only
20 yards in breadth, and fordable in most places.
Gandava. — Town in Baluchistán, situated on the Mulá Pass route.
Lat. 28° 32' n ., long. 67° 32' E . A fortified place, built apparently on
an artificial mound. The winter residence of the Khán of Khelát,
 GANDEVI- GANDIKOT. 289
whose palace was described as the only respectable edifice in the place.
This building was almost entirely destroyed by the great floods of 1874.
Gandevi.— Town in Guzerat, Bombay, within the territory of the
Gáekwár of Baroda ; 8 miles north of the Bilimora station of the
Bombay, Baroda, and Central India Railway, and 28 miles south -east of
Surat. Lat. 20° 47' 30" n., long. 73° 3' E. ; pop. ( 1872), 7218 .
Gandgarh. - Range of hills in Ráwal Pindi and Hazára Districts,
Punjab. Lat. 33° 57' n., long. 72° 46' E. These hills take their rise in
Hazára, and, projecting into Ráwal Pindi, end in the lofty mountain
which specially bears the name of Gandgarh . The northern escarp
ment toward the valley of Chach descends by gentle cultivated slopes
into the fertile vale at its feet ; but the remaining sides form rugged and
precipitous cliffs, intersected by ravines, through which the tributaries of
the little river Haroh have cut themselves deep channels.
Gandha Mádan .- One of the principal peaks in the Orissa Tribu
tary States, Bengal; situated in Keunjhar State. Lat. 21° 38 ' 12" N.,
long. 85° 32' 56" E. ; height, 3479 feet.
Gandhol. - One of the petty States of Undsarviya in Kathiáwár,
Bombay ; consisting of i village, with i independent tribute-payer.
Estimated revenue, £200 ; tribute of £10 is paid to the Gáekwár of
Baroda, and 16s. to Junagarh
Gandikot (' The Fort of the Gorge ;' Gunjicottah ). — Mountain for
tress in Cuddapah District, Madras ; situated in the Yerramalai
Mountains, 1670 feet above sea level. Lat. 14° 48' N., long. 78° 20' E.
The fort, with its temple (endowed by the earliest of the Vijayanagar
kings), was a famous stronghold in ancient days. Built (according to
Ferishta) in 1589, it was captured by Golconda, and held by Mír
Jambá ; later it was the capital of one of the five Circars (Sarkárs ) of
the Karnatic Haidarábád Bálághát, until absorbed by the Pathán
Nawab of Cuddapah. It was here that Fateh Náik , the father of the
great Haidar, first distinguished himself. Haidar improved and
garrisoned the fort, which was captured by Captain Little in the
first war with Tipú in 1791. “ The strong natural fortress of Gandikot,
must in olden times have been impregnable . Perched on the scarped
rock that overhangs at a height of some 300 feet the winding Pennár,
this picturesque group of buildings, military and religious together,
illustrate the wild secluded life which to a Hindu robber chief seemed
to be grandeur. Cut off from all but those who sought (and could
climb innumerable stairs) to see him , he surrounded himself at once
with temples and bastions, with a crowd of priests and a rabble of
soldiers ; and yet no sooner was the impregnable fort attacked, than it
belied its name, and yielded to treachery or fear. The fort of Gandikot
was, however, one of the most important in the Cuddapah country. It
was the key to the valley of the Pennár, and its name frequently occurs
VOL. III.
290 GANESWARI- GANGAIKANDAPUR.
in the account of ancient struggles'- (Gribble). The population of
Gandikot town (1871) was 1175.
Ganeswári.— River in the Gáro Hills District, Assam , rising in lat.
25° 18 ' n., long. 90° 49' E. Its course lies through a limestone forma
tion , in which there are some large stalactite caverns. Its rocky banks
form scenery of a picturesque beauty.
Ganga Bál.— Lake in Kashmir State, Punjab ; on the Harámak
Mountain , near the north-eastern boundary of the valley. Lat. 34° 27'
N., long. 74° 58' E. Length, it mile ; breadth , 300 yards. Remarkable
only for its sanctity in the eyes of Hindus, who make pilgrimages to its
banks, and throw into the waters such fragments of the bones of their
relatives as remain unconsumed after the funeral cremation .
Gangaikandapúr (Gangá-kanda puram (Tamil), “ The city visited
by the Ganges,' from a well in the temple mythically connected with
the Ganges; sometimes also called Gangáikondu Solapúr, or “ The
city of the Chola king, Gangái'). — Town and temple in Trichinopoli
District, Madras. Lat. il' 12' 30" N., long. 79° 30' E., about 6 miles to
the east of Jáiamkondu Solápuram ; connected with Udaiyárpolaiyam
by the Chellambaram road,and i mile distant from the great Trunk Road
running from Tanjore to South Arcot. The village is purely agricultural,
66 per cent of the population being cultivators ; total pop. ( 1871),
1014 ; houses, 143. Close to the village is one of the most remark
able but least known temples in Southern India. The building consists
of one large enclosure, measuring 584 feet by 372. This was evidently
once well fortified by a strong surrounding stone wall, with batteries at
each corner. In 1836, however, the batteries were almost entirely
destroyed, and the wall removed, to provide materials for the dam
across the river Coleroon known as the Lower Anicut, which was then
under construction. In the place of the old wall, a low one of stone
has been built on two sides of the enclosure, but the other sides have
been left open. The Vimana in the centre of the courtyard is a very
conspicuous building, and strikes the eye from a great distance. The
pyramid surmounting it reaches a height of 174 feet. The ruins of
six gopuras, or gate pyramids, surmount different parts of the building.
That over the eastern entrance to the main enclosure was evidently
once a very fine structure, being built entirely of stone except at the very
top. It is now almost completely in ruins. All the lower part of the
centre building is covered with inscriptions, which have not as yet
been deciphered. Dr. Caldwell is of opinion that this temple is one
of the great, if not the greatest, of present Hindu temples, and that
the old and splendid temple of Tanjore is probably merely a model of
it. Tradition says that the village was once one of the principal seats
of the Chola kings ; and there is no doubtthat it was formerly a much
more important spot than it now is. Northward from its site runs an
 GANGAWALI- GANGES RIVER. 291
embankment 16 miles long, provided with several substantial sluices,
and of great strength , which in former times must have formed one of
the largest reservoirs in India. This huge tank or lake was filled partly
by a channel from the Coleroon river, upwards of 60 miles in length,
which enters it at its southern end ; and partly by a smaller channel from
the Vellár, which entered it on the north . Traces of both these channels
still remain . The tank has been ruined and useless for very many
years, and its bed is now almost wholly overgrown with high and thick
jungle. It is said , traditionally, that its ruin waswilful,and the act of an
invading army. ' All round the Pagoda and village, but completely
overgrown with jungle, are some remains of ancientbuildings, now much
resembling the mounds or “ heaps ” which indicate the site of ancient
Babylon, but in which the village elders point out the various parts of
an extensive and magnificent palace. When this palace was in exist
ence, Ganga-kanda-puram was the wealthy and flourishing capital of a
small monarchy; and the great tank spread fertility and industry over
miles and miles of what is now trackless forest '- (Pharaoh ). It has
more than once been projected to restore this magnificent work , and to
supply it by a channel from the Upper Anicut.
Gangáwali. — Seaport in Subdivision of North Kanara District,
Bombay. Lat. 14° 36 ' N., long. 74° 21' E. Average annual value of
trade for five years ending 1873-74 — exports, £1311 ; imports,
£240.
Ganges. The great river of Northern India , formed by the drainage
of the southern ranges of the Himalayas. This magnificent stream ,
which in its lower course supplies the river system of Bengal, rises in the
Garhwal State, in lat. 30° 56' 4" N ., and long. 79° 6' 40" E., and falls
into the Bay of Bengal after a course of 1557 miles. It issues under the
name of the Bhagirathi from an ice cave at the foot of a Himálayan
snow-bed above Gangotri, 13,800 feetabove the level ofthe sea. During
its earlier passage through the southern spurs of the Himalayas, it
receives the JAHNAVI from the north -west, and subsequently the ALAK
NANDA, after which the united stream takes the name of the Ganges.
DEO PRAYAG, their point of junction , is a celebrated place of pilgrimage,
as is also Gangotri, the source of the parent stream . AtSukhi, it pierces
through the Himalayas, and turns south-west to HARDWAR , also a place
of great sanctity. Thence it proceeds by a tortuous course through the
Districts of Dehra Dún, Saharanpur, Muzaffarnagar, Bulandshahr, and
Farrukhábád , in which last District it receives the Rámganga. At
Allahábád, the type of the river changes. Heretofore, the Ganges has
been little more than a series of shoals, pools, and rapids, except, of
course, during the melting of the snows and the rainy season. At
Allahábád, however, 668 miles from its source, it receives the Jumna, a
mighty confluent, which also takes its rise in the Himalayas to the west
292 GANGES RIVER .
of the sources ofthe Ganges. The combined river winds eastwards by
south -east through the North -Western Provinces, receiving the Gumti
and the Gogra. The point of junction of each of these streams has
more or less claim to sanctity. But the tongue of land at Allahábád,
where the Jumna and the Ganges join, is the true Prayag, the place of
pilgrimage, to which hundreds of thousands of devout Hindus repair to
wash away their sins in the sacred river.
Of all great rivers on the surface of the globe, none can compare
in sanctity with the Ganges, or Mother Ganga, as she is affectionately
called by devout Hindus. From her source in the Himalayas to her
mouth in the Bay of Bengal, every foot of her course is holy ground ;
and many of the other sacred rivers of India borrow their sanctity
from a supposed underground connection with her waters. It is
interesting to observe that this superstition is not to be found in the
earliest books of Sanskrit literature, composed at a time when the
primitive Aryan race had not yet penetrated into the great plain of
Eastern Hindustan . The legend ofthe Ganges first appears in the two
epic poems of the Mahábhárata and Rámáyana, and affords abundant
scope for the mytho-poetic faculty subsequently displayed in the
voluminous literature of the Puránas. In this legend, which admits of
numerous variations, the three supreme gods of the Hindu Pantheon
-- Brahma, Vishnu , and Siva — each perform a conspicuous part, so
that the Ganges has been preserved from sectarian associations. The
human dramatis persone in the story are localized as princes of AYODHYA ,
themodern Oudh. Ganga herself is described as the daughter of the
Himálayas, who is persuaded, after infinite solicitation , to shed her
purifying stream upon the sinful earth . The ice-cavern beneath the
glacier atGANGOTRI, from which the river springs, is represented as the
tangled hair of the god Siva. The names of BHAGIRATHI and SAGAR
have a prominent place in the legend .
After the lapse of twenty centuries, and the rise and fall of rival
religions, veneration for the Ganges still figures as a chief article in
the creed of modern Hinduism . The pre-eminently sacred spots on
its banks — GANGOTRI, HARDWAR, ALLAHABAD, BENARES, and SAGAR
ISLAND — are frequented by thousands of pilgrimsfrom every Province
of the peninsula. Even at the present day the six years' pilgrimage
from the source to themouth , and back again , known as Pradakshina ,
is performed by many ; and a few fanatical devotees may yet be seen
wearily accomplishing this meritorious penance by measuring their
length .' To bathe in the Ganges, especially at the great stated
festivals, will wash away the stain of sin ; and those who have thus
purified themselves carry back bottles of the sacred water to their
less fortunate relations. To die and be burned on the river bank is a
passport to eternal bliss. Even to exclaim Ganga, Ganga,' at the
 GANGES RIVER. 293
distance of a hundred leagues,will atone for the sins committed during
three previous lives.
The river thus reverenced by the Hindus deserves their homage by
reason of its exceptional utility for agriculture and navigation . None
of the other rivers of India approaches the Ganges in beneficence.
The Brahmaputra and the Indus may have longer streams, asmeasured
by the geographer, but the upper courses ofboth lie hidden within the
unknown recesses of the Himalayas. Not one of the great rivers
of Central or Southern India is navigable in the proper sense of the
term . The Ganges begins to distribute fertility as soon as it reaches
the plains, within 200 miles of its sources ; and at the same point it
becomes in some sort navigable. Thenceforwards it rolls majestically
down to the sea in a bountiful stream , which never becomes a merely
destructive torrent in the rains, and never dwindles away in the hottest
suinmer. If somewhat diminished by irrigation, its volume is forthwith
restored by numerous great tributaries ; and the wide area of its river
basin receives annually a sufficient rainfall to maintain the supply in
every part. Embankments are in few places required to restrain
its inundations, for the alluvial silt which it spills over its banks year
by year affords to the fields a top -dressing of inexhaustible fertility . If
one crop be drowned by the food, the cultivator calculates that his
second crop will abundantly requite him .
Shortly after passing the holy city of Benares, the Ganges enters Behar,
and after receiving an important tributary, theSón, from the south , passes
Patná, and obtains another accession to its volume from the Gandak ,
which rises in Nepal. Farther to the east, it receives the Kusí, and then,
skirting the Rájmahál Hills, turns sharply to the southward , passing near
the site of the ruined city of Gaur. By this time it has approached to
within 240 miles, as the crow flies, from the sea. About 20 miles farther
on, it begins to branch out over the level country , and this spot marks
the commencement of the Delta, 220 miles in a straight line, or nearly
300 by the windings of the river, from the Bay of Bengal. The main
channeltakes the nameof the Padma or Padda, and proceeds in a south
easterly direction, past Påbná to Goálanda, where it is joined by the
Jamuná or main stream of the BRAHMAPUTRA. The vast confluence of
waters rushes towards the sea, receiving further additions from the hill
country on the east, and forming a broad estuary known under the
name of the MEGHNA, which enters the Bay of Bengal near Noákháli.
This estuary, however, is only the largest and most easterly of a great
number of mouths or channels. The most westerly is the Hugli,
which receives the waters of the three westernmost distributary channels
that start from the parent Ganges in or near Murshidabad District.
Between the Húglí on the west and the Meghná on the east, lies the
Delta. The upper angle of it consists of rich and fertile Districts, such
294 GANGES RIVER.
as Murshidabad, Nadiyá, Jessor, and the Twenty-four Parganás. But
towards its southern base , resting on the sea , the country sinks into
a series of great swamps, intercepted by a network of innumerable
channels. This wild waste is known as the Sundarbans, from the
sundri tree, which grows in abundance in the seaboard tracts. The
most important channel for navigation is the Húgli, on which stands
CALCUTTA, about 80 miles from the mouth . Above this city , the
navigation is almost entirely conducted by native craft ; the modern
facilities for traffic by rail, and the increasing shoals in the river, having
put an end to the previous steamer communication , which plied until
about 1860 to as high up as Allahábád. In the upper portion of its
course in the North -Western Provinces, timber and bamboos form the
bulk of the river trade; and in the lower part borderingon Bengal, stone,
grain , and cotton. Below Calcutta, important boat routes through the
Delta connect the Húgli with the eastern branches of the river, both for
native craft and steamers. The Ganges is essentially a river of great
cities : Calcutta ,Monghyr, Patná, Benares, lie on its course below its
union with the Jumna and Allahábád at the point of junction.
Till within a recent period, the magnificent stream of the Ganges
formed almost the sole channel of traffic between Upper India and the
seaboard . The products not only of the river valley, but even the
eotton of the Central Provinces, used formerly to be conveyed by this
route to Calcutta. But though the opening of the railway has caused a
revolution in the channels of trade, heavy goods in bulk still follow the
old means of communication ; and the Ganges may yet rank as one
ofthe most frequented waterways in the world . In 1877-78, the total
imports from the interior into Calcutta were valued at 36 millions ster
ling, ofwhich 17 millions came viâ the Gangetic channels ; country boats
carrying more than 14 millions, and river steamers (chiefly from the
eastwards) 3 millions. The downward traffic, as might be expected, is
most brisk in the rainy season, when the river comes down in flood .
During the rest of the year the boats make their way back up stream ,
often without cargoes, either helped by a favourable wind or laboriously
towed along the bank. The dimensions of the river traffic of Bengal
may be inferred from the following figures, which give the number of
boats passing certain registration stations in 1876-77 :— At Báman
gháta, on the Circular Canal, 178,627 boats, of which 59,495 were
laden ; at Húglí, 124,357, of which 73,233 were laden ; at Patná,
61,571, of which 44,384 were laden ; at Goálanda, 54,329, of which
42,249 were laden ; at Sahibganj, 43,020 , of which 30,798 were laden .
The river trade of Bengal with the North -Western Provinces and
Oudh will be seen from the following statistics for 1877-78 :- Im
ports into Bengal viâ the Ganges - oil-seeds, 2,619,818 maunds ; food
grains, 952,521 maunds; sugar, 970,132 maunds; cotton , 40,192
 GANGES RIVER . 295
maunds; exports from Bengal— food grains (chiefly rice), 2,299,797
maunds ; salt, 481,820 maunds. Articles of European commerce, such
as wheat, indigo, cotton, and saltpetre , mostly prefer the railway, as
also do the imports of Manchester piece-goods. But if we take into
consideration the new development of the export trade in oil-seeds, and
the growing increase in the interchange of food grains between various
parts of the country, it seems probable that the actual amount of traffic
on the Ganges by native craft has not at all diminished since the open
ing of the railway ; and the river is not only a rival, but also a feeder
to the railway Stations favourably situated on its banks form centres
of collection and distribution for the surrounding country . Such cities
as Cawnpore, Allahábád, Benares, and Patná have thus been able to
preserve their former importance, while fishing villages like Sáhibganj
and Goalanda have by the same means been raised into river marts of
the first magnitude.
The catchment basin of the Ganges and its tributaries is bounded on
the north by a section of about 700 miles of the Himalayan range,
on the south by the Vindhya Mountains, and on the east by the
ranges which separate Bengal from Burma. The vast river basin
thus enclosed , embraces 391, 100 square miles. The flood discharge
of the Ganges at Rájmahal, after it has received all its important
tributaries, was formerly estimated at 1,350,000 cubic feet of water
per second. Latest calculation : length of main stream of Ganges,
1509 miles by the Hügli route, or 1557 to the Meghná mouth ,
or with its longest affluent, 1680 ; breadth at entrance, 20 miles ;
breadth of channel in dry season, it to 21 miles ; depth in dry
season , 30 feet ; high-flood discharge at Rájmahál, 1,800,000 cubic feet
per second ; ordinary discharge, 207,000 cubic feet ; longest dura
tion of flood, about 40 days. Average discharge at Hardwar, when
the river is at its lowest, 7000 cubic feet per second ; at Benares,
19,000 cubic feet per second. At the point at which it issues from its
snow -bed , the Ganges is 27 feet broad and 15 inches deep, 13,800 feet
above sea level. At Gangotri, 10 miles lower, it is 43 feet broad and
18 inches deep ; elevation, 10 ,319 feet. At Bháiroghati the river is
8511 feet above sea level; at Deo Prayág, at its confluence with the
Alaknanda, 133 miles from its source, 1953 feet ; at Hardwár, 1024 feet ;
and at Cawnpore, 379 feet above sea level. Average fall from Allahábád
to Benares, 6 inches per mile ; from Benares to Calcutta , between 4 and 5
inches ; from Calcutta to the sea, i to 2 inches. The total length of
the stream in its different stages, from the source of the Jahnavi to the
Húglímouth is returned as follows:- From the source of the Jahnavi
to the junction of the Alaknanda and Bhagirathi rivers, 133 miles ;
thence to Hardwár, 47 miles ; thence to Allahábád, at its confluence
with the Jumna, 488 miles; thence to Sibganj,where the Húgli channel
296 GANGES RIVER - GANGES CANAL .
commences in a branch thrown off from the main stream , known as the
Bhagirathi, 563 miles ; thence to the junction of the Bhágirathi and
Jalangí, below which the stream takes the name of the Húgli, 120
miles ; thence to Chandernagar, 48 miles ; thence to the sea by way of
Calcutta , 110 miles ; total, 1509 miles. The length from Chanderna
gar to the sea may be variously stated from 100 to 150, according to
the point in the estuary at which the sea is reckoned to commence.
The distance here taken (110 miles) ends at the Ságar anchoring buoy.
The water of the Ganges begins to rise towards the end of May, and
is usually at its maximum in September. The following table, drawn up
by Captain Thomas Prinsep (quoted from Thornton ), illustrates the rise
of water in the river at various places :

Soomo
Greatest known Rise in low
Annual Rise. Seasons,
Ft. In . Ft. lo .

oo
At Allahábád, . . . . .
. . . . . . . .

,, Benares, ,
,, Colgong, .
Jalangi, . .
„ (according to Rennell),
Kumárkhálí (not quite certain ), . .
, Agradwíp (Nadiya), . .
,, Calcutta (independent of tide), . 6 7
,, Dacca (according to Rennell), . ..
Great changes take place from time to time in the river bed, and
alter the face of the country. Extensive islands are thrown up, and
attach themselves to the bank ; while the river deserts its old bed and
seeks a new channel, it may be many miles off. Such changes are
so rapid and on so vast a scale, and the corroding power of the current
on the bank so irresistible , that it is considered perilous to build any
structure of a large or permanent character on the margin. Many
decayed or ruined cities attest the alterations in the river bed in ancient
times ; and within our own days, the main channel which formerly
passed Rájmahalhas turned away from it, and left the town high and dry,
7 miles from the bank. The scheme of this Gazetteer is to deal with
India by its administrative divisions ; and much information regarding
the Ganges will be found in the articles on the Districts, cities, etc.,
along its route. For example, a very full account will be given of the
Hugli River, the great commercial mouth of the Ganges. To save
repetition, therefore, the foregoing notice only attempts a brief, general
description of the course of the river.
Ganges Canal. — An important irrigation work and navigable
channel in the North-Western Provinces, passing through the eastern
portion of the Upper Doáb, and watering a large tract of country, from
Hardwár to Cawnpore, extending from lat. 26° 30' 30" to 29° 57'N., and
from long. 78° 13'to 80° 21' 15" E. The plan for this greatwork origin
ated in the success of the EASTERN JUMNA CANAL, coupled with the
 GANGES CANAL. 297
periodical recurrence of drought and famine in the opposite half of the
Doab , which remained unprotected by the distributaries from that main
channel of irrigation. Attention was thus directed to the Ganges as
affording a constant water supply for a similar undertaking, which should
irrigate the eastern portion of the Doáb, from the Siwálik Hills to
Cawnpore District. As early as 1827, Captain Debude had proposed
a plan for utilizing the waters of the West Káli Nadi, along an ancient
line through the Districts of Meerut, Bulandshahr, and Aligarh ; but as
practical difficulties would have prevented the realization of this scheme,
Colonel Colvin in 1836 recommended the examination of the Ganges
in the neighbourhood of Hardwar, where it emerges upon the plains
from a gorge of the Siwáliks. The terrible famine of 1837- 38 , which
shortly afterwards devastated the Doáb, and caused an enormous loss
of life and revenue, directed the thoughts of our Government towards
the desirability of providing against similar calamities in future. In
1839, Major (afterward Sir ) Proby Cautley was deputed to inspect
the Hardwar lowlands, and on his report a committee was appointed to
investigate the question. On the 16th of April 1842, the actual works
were commenced by opening the excavation between Kankhal and
Hardwár. After many delays, caused by administrative changes or
alterations of engineering plans, the Ganges Canal in its earliest form
was opened on the 8th of April 1854. In 1866, a committee was again
appointed to consider the advisability of further modifications ; and
their deliberations resulted in the construction of several new works,
and the continuance of the main line towards Allahabad, by means of
a cut from Rájghát, known as the Lower Ganges CANAL. The canal,
as at present constituted, derives its supplies from the Ganges at
Hardwár. The main channel then proceeds through the Districts of
Saharanpur and Muzaffarnagar, giving off the Fatehgarh branch in the
latter District. Thence it sweeps in a bold curve westward, across
the headwaters of the Káli Nadi, and through the heart of Meerut
District. Near Begamábád it trends south -eastward , through Buland
shahr and Aligarh , and at Akrábád gives off the Etawah branch. The
main line next continues across the western corner of Etah District,
and through the centre of Mainpuri ; and after traversing the southern
parganás of Farrukhabad , rejoins the Ganges at Cawnpore. The
Fatehgarh branch, which leaves the main channel in Muzaffarnagar
District, proceeds almost parallel with the Ganges through the whole
western edge of the Upper Doáb, ending near Anúpshahr in a number
of minor distributaries. The Etawah branch, leaving the main line at
Akrabad, runs along the south-western side of the Middle Doáb, and
falls into the Jumna above Hamirpur. Supply -branches from the
Lower Ganges Canal assist in feeding both the main channel and the
Etáwah branch in their lower course. The length of the main canal,
298 GANGES CANAL.
since 1859-60, amounts to 519 miles. Theminor branches vary much
from time to time, as new portions are opened or old channels disused .
The total capital outlay on the canal up to the end of the year 1875-76,
amounted to £2,826,480. The total revenue during that year, directly
or indirectly due to the canal, was returned at £289,925 ; of which sum
£212,881 consisted of direct payments for water rates, navigation , etc.;
while £77,043 wasproduced by increased land revenue, through the in
fluence of irrigation. The aggregate amount of annual income realized
from the opening of the canal to the end of the year 1875-76 , amounted
to £2,652,009, a sum which hardly falls short of the original capital out
lay. Out of this amount, £2,330,190 consisted of direct income from
rates, etc.;while £321,819 was due to increased land revenue. Against
these figures must be set the working expenses, which amounted to
£105,462 during 1875-76 ; and to £1,400,982 during the whole
period from the opening of the canal up to the end of that year.
The above data show that the net revenue to the end of 1875 -76
amounted to £,929,207, exclusive of the increased land revenue ; and
to £1,251,027, inclusive of increased land revenue. Against the net
profit thus calculated must be set a sum of £2,419,912, as charge
for interest on capital outlay to the end of the year, being at the
rate of 5 per cent. up to 1870-71, and 43 per cent. since that date.
The difference between the net revenue and the interest charge,
up to the end of 1875 -76, leaves an adverse balance of £1,490,704,
excluding land revenue, and £:1, 168,885, including the increased land
revenue. The following statement shows the actual work accomplished
during the year 1875-76 :- Average water supply at Rúrki (Roorkee)
in cubic feet, kharif 5235, rabí 4868 ; area irrigated in acres, kharif
317,325, rabí 571,842 — total, 889, 167 ; area irrigated per cubic foot
of supply, 178 acres ; length of distributaries open, 3386 miles ; area
irrigated per mile of distributary , 262 acres ; water rate, £202,813. In
calculating the economical value of the canal, it is necessary to take
into consideration, not merely the direct relation of revenue and
capital, but also the indirect benefits of security against famine, and
consequent ultimate insurance of the revenue against losses from non
realization , or actual disbursements for purposes of relief. The falls
along the canal have been utilized in part as a motive power for mills,
but much of the available power has never yet been employed.
Navigation takes place along the entire length of the main canal, and
consists in the rafting of timber, or the carrying of merchandise in
boats. The rafting is almost entirely confined to the upper portion of
the main channel, as far as the point opposite Meerut. The number
of boats plying in 1875-76 amounted to 325. Further details as to
the agricultural benefits derived from the canal, the principal distribu
taries, the crops specially irrigated, and the effects of percolation, will
 GANGES CANAL, LOWER. 299
be found under the District notices of Saharanpur, Muzaffarnagar,
Meerut, Bulandshahr, Aligarh , Muttra, Etah, Máinpuri, Etawah,
Farrukhábád, and Cawnpore, all of which see separately .
Ganges Canal, Lower. - An important irrigation work in the North
Western Provinces, designed to water the whole southern portion of
the Doáb. The new channel may be regarded as a southward extension
ofthe GANGES CANAL, with which it has direct communication. The
headworks draw their supply from the river at Narora (lat. 27° 47' N .,
long. 78° 18 ' E.), on the border of Aligarh District, about 4 miles
below the Rájghát station of the Oudh and Rohilkhand Railway.
The main line crosses the Káli Nadi at Nadrái, and, running down
the watershed between that stream and the Isan , is conveyed over
the latter river and the Cawnpore branch of the Ganges Canal ;
thence it turns the head of the Pandu river, and, flowing between
that channel and the Rind, follows a course south of the East
Indian Railway to Allahabad. The present work owes its origin
to a committee appointed in 1866 to examine the various projects
for strengthening the irrigating power of the Ganges Canal ; but
the scheme actually adopted is due to the joint efforts of General
Strachey, C.S.I., Mr. R. Forrest, Major Jeffreys, and Colonel Brownlow .
Under their design, the water for the canal will be raised at the point
above mentioned, with a discharge fixed at 3500 cubic feet in the cold
weather and 6500 cubic feet in the rains. The main channel com
mences with a bottom width of 216 feet, a slope of 6 inches per mile,
and a full supply depth of 10 feet. A distributary branch will be
thrown off at the 26th mile , to water the Káli-Ganges Doáb in
Farrukhabad District ; and at the 39th mile a supply channel wili
diverge, to feed the Cawnpore and Etáwah branches of the Ganges
Canal, which are intersected by the new line at 29 and 37 miles
respectively in their course below Nánu. Henceforth the demands on
the water drawn for the older work at Hardwar will cease at these
points, and the upper canal will be relieved of irrigation 128 miles above
Cawnpore on the branch for that District, and 130 miles on the Etawah
branch. The Lower Ganges main line will then pass on through Etah
and Máinpuri Districts, crossing the rivers Isan and Káli by aqueducts
in its 34th and 112th miles, and the Cawnpore branch of the Ganges
Canal at its 94th mile. Then , heading the Pandu Nadi, the line will
cut off a corner of Etáwah District, intersect that of Cawnpore, and,
running along a narrow watershed between the Pándu and the Rind to
Fatehpur District, will continue in a still-water channel to Allahábád .
Through the latter portion of its course, it will interfere but little with
the natural drainage of the country ; and on approaching the Sasur
Khaderi Nála, will skirt the right bank of the ſumna, into which the
surplus waters will find their way by a dry ravine. From the Etáwah
300 GANGES CANAL, LOWER .
branch the Bhognipur line will water the tract between the Sengar
and the Jumna. The main line will be navigable to Allahábád ; the
Cawnpore branch itself is already fit for that purpose ; and the Etawah
branch will undergo the necessary remodelling. A still-water channel
will also connect the town of Fatehgarh with the main line. The
original scheme embraced in all 555 miles ofnew trunk lines, estimated
at a total cost of £1,825,845 ; and if we add to this sum the primary
cost of the Cawnpore and Etáwah branches, now absorbed by the new
project, the capital account would rise to £2, 226,523. Estimates
return the probable gross income at £258,000 ; and the net income at
£195,000, giving a direct profit of 8 .8 per cent. From these approxi
mate figures, and the actual cost of the Ganges Canal, it would seem
that the total ultimate outlay on this great united system of protective
irrigation will not probably exceed the sum of 5 millions sterling.
Three divisions of the work were set on foot during the year 1873-74,
at Narorá , Kásganj, and Bhongáon, comprising the necessary prepara
tions for 107 miles of main canal and 24 miles of supply channel. The
chief engineering feat of the upper portion consists in the weir and head
works at Narorá, which include a solid wall 3800 feet in length, with a
section of 10 feet by 9, having 42 weir-sluices, founded on rows of huge
square blocks. Among other important works now (1877) completed
may be mentioned the approach to the canal head from the river, the
embankment and aqueduct across the Káli Nadi, the double regulator
at the Cawnpore branch crossing 12 large bridges, and 3 syphon culverts
for cross drainage. Amongst the works still (1877) under construction
are scouring sluices near the head-works, 2 further syphons, the head of
the Fatehgarh branch , a masonry fall into the Káli Nadi escape, and a
fall at the junction ofthe UpperGanges Canal. The outlay up to April 1,
1877, amounted to an estimated sum of £1,148,000 ; and a further
expenditure of about £170, 000 will bring the works to a point at which
the water may be admitted by the supply channel to feed the Cawnpore
and Etawah branches. Government proposes to open these branches
by the ist of June 1878 ; and during the cold weather of 1878-79
the first small returns in the shape of revenue may be expected to accrue.
The original estimate of cost has been increased during the progress of
the works, owing to changes of plan and other causes, so that it now
(1877) amounts to £2,296,482, exclusive of indirect charges for
interest. The revised scheme will bring under irrigation 462,706 acres
of land in the kharif or autumn harvest, and 739,620 acres in the rabi
or spring harvest, as a maximum attainable in course of time. In
estimating the probable financial results of this, as of other Indian
canals, it must be remembered that, besides the direct benefits from
water dues, navigation fees, etc., and the indirect benefits from increased
land revenue or other taxes, the canal irrigation acts as an insurance
 GANGIRU - GANGPUR STATE . 301
against famine, thus preventing great ultimate loss to the treasury , and
affording ameans of safety for thousands among the poorer population
in seasons of drought. For further particulars, see Cawnpore, Etáwah,
Farrukhábád, Fatehpur, and Máinpuri Districts.
Gangiru. — Agricultural town in Muzaffarnagar District, North
Western Provinces. Lat. 29° 18' n., long. 77° 15' 30" E. Pop . (1872),
5117, being 2613 Hindus and 2504 Muhammadans. Distant from
Muzaffarnagar 35 miles south -west. Straggling village, with many brick
ruins; on a raised site, but containing numerous undrained water
holes. Canal channel to the east of the town, and another i mile
west.
Gangoh. — Town in Saharanpur District, North -Western Provinces.
Lat. 29° 46' 20" N., long. 77° 18' E. ; area, 99 acres; pop. (1872 ),
10,982, including 5049 Hindus and 5930 Musalmáns. Distant from
Saharanpur 23 miles south-west. Consists of an old and a new quarter,
the former founded by the legendary hero , Rájá Gang, from whom
the town derives its name, and the latter by the Muhammadan saint,
Shaikh Abdul Kaddús, who gives his title to the western suburb, where
his tomb still stands in the midst of many other sacred shrines. Sur
founded by groves of mango and other trees ; narrow , tortuous streets,
now paved and drained with brick-work ; good water ; public health
generally above the average. School-house, charitable dispensary, police
station, post office. Little trade ; prosperity confined to money-lenders.
During the Mutiny of 1857, Gangoh was frequently threatened by the
rebel Gújars under the self-styled Rájá Fathná ; but Mr. H . D. Robert
son and Lieutenant Boisragon attacked and utterly defeated them
towards the end of June. An income of £519 was raised for local
purposes in 1872-73, being at the rate of 9 d . per head of population .
Gangotri. — Mountain temple in Garhwal State, Punjab. Lat. 30°
59'n., long. 78° 59' E. Stands on the right bank of the BHAGIRATHI or
GANGES, 8 miles from its source, in a small bay or inlet, surrounded
by a wall of unhewn stone. The temple is a square building, about 20
feet high, containing small statues of Ganga, Bhagirathi, and other
mythological personages connected with the spot. Pilgrims visit the
shrine as the goal of their journey, regarding this point as the source of
the holy river ; but no houses exist for their accommodation, and
comparatively few reach so far up the course of the stream . Flasks
filled at Gangotri with the sacred water are sealed by the officiating
Bráhmans, and conveyed to the plains as valuable treasures. Elevation
above sea level, about 10 , 319 feet.
Gángpur. – Tributary State of Chutiá Nágpur, Bengal. Lat. 21° 47'
5" to 22° 32' 20" n., long. 85° 10' 15" to 85° 34 ' 35 " E. ; area , 2484
square miles ; pop. ( 1872), 73,637. Bounded on the north by Lohár
dagá District and the State of Jashpur ; on the south by the States of
 302 GANGPUR STATE.
Bonái, Sambalpur, and Bámrá ; on the east by Singbhúm District ;
and on the west by Raigarh, a chiefship of the Central Provinces.
Physical Aspects. - Gángpur consists of a long undulating tableland,
about 700 feet above the sea , gradually sloping down in the north from
the higher plateau of Chutiá Nágpur ; the southern portion is separated
from Bámrá State in the Central Provinces by the Mahávíra Hills,
which rise abruptly from the plain . The whole tableland is broken
by detached ranges and isolated peaks, rising to a height of 2240 feet.
The chief rivers of Gángpur are the Ib , the Sankh ,and the South Koel;
the two latter unite in the east of the State, and, after a southerly course,
fall into the sea in Cuttack District as the Bráhmani. Diamonds and
gold are occasionally found in the Ib ; coal exists in Hingír, but is not
yet worked. The principal jungle products are lac, tásár silk , resin ,
and catechu. Tigers, leopards, wolves, bison, etc. abound.
History. — Gángpur, with Bonái and eight neighbouring States now
attached to the Central Provinces, was ceded to the British by the
treaty of Deogáon in 1803, but was restored to the Rájá of Nágpur by
special agreement in 1806 . It reverted to the British under the pro
visional engagement with Madhojí Bhonslá (Apá Sahib ) in 1818, and
was finally ceded to us in 1826. Gángpur yields the Rájá an annual
income of £2000 ; annual tribute to the British Government, £50.
Population . — Total population, 73,637 in 1872, being 37,751 males
and 35,886 females ; density of population , 30 per square mile ;
number of villages, 601, or 0 -24 per square mile ; number of houses,
13,977, or 6 per house, 53,larian), 45,208, 9129705 13'4 per
13,977, or 6 per square mile ; personsper village, 123 ; average number
of persons per house, 5 '3. Classified according to race - Pure
aborigines (Dravidian and Kolarian ), 45,208, or 61'3 per cent. of total
population ; semi- Hinduized aborigines, 9843, or 134 per cent. ;
Hindus, 18 ,349, or 24'9 per cent. ; Muhammadans, 231, or 0-3 per
cent. Of the Dravidian races the Bhuiyás are the most numerous,
amounting in 1872 to 13,828 ; the Uraons numbered 10 ,069. For a
full account of these tribes, see Statistical Account of Bengal, vol. xvii.
pp. 192- 195. The residence of the Rájá is at Suádí, on the Ib, the
valley of which is very fertile. Chief crops - rice , sugar-cane, oil-seeds,
and tobacco . Villages in Gángpur are held either on feudal tenures or
on farming leases. The feudal tenures date from early times, when the
vassals of the chief received grants of land in consideration ofrendering
military service, and making certain payments in kind. These pay
ments have been commuted for a quit-rent in money ; but the attend
ance of the vassals with rusty matchlocks or bows and arrows is still
enforced when the chief moves through his domains.
In the hamlets, the priests of the aboriginal deities rank next to the
Gáontiá ; their duties are to decide boundary disputes, to propitiate the
gods of the mountains and forest, and to adjudicate on charges of
 GANGURIA - GANJAM DISTRICT. 303
witchcraft. Since the State came under British rule, human sacrifices
have been abolished. The police force is purely indigenous. The
feudatories, with one exception , form a rural militia .
Ganguriá . – Village and headquarters of a police circle, in Bardwán
District, Bengal. Lat. 23° 12' 22" N., long. 88° 8' 48” E.; population
under 5000.
Ganjám (Ganj-ámad, “a granary ' or 'depôt'). - A District in the
extreme north -east of the Madras Presidency, lying between 18° 15'
and 20° 15' n . lat., and between 83° 49' and 85° 15' E . long. Area
( Parliamentary Return , 1876-77), 8313 square miles; population, accord
ing to the Census of 1871, 1,520,088. Bounded on the north by Puri
District in Orissa ; on the east by the Bay of Bengal ; on the south by
Vizagapatam District ; and on the west by the estates (zamindáris)
of Kaláhándi, Patná, and Jaipur (Jeypore).
Physical Aspects. The District is mountainous and rocky, but inter
spersed with valleys and fertile plains. In shape it resembles an hour
glass, contracted in the centre, where the Eastern Ghats nearly meet the
sea, and widening out into undulating plains in the north and south .
Pleasant groves of trees give to the scenery a greener appearance than
is usually met with in the plains farther to the south ; whilst the rugged
mountains, frequently covered with dense jungle , relieve the eye. A
chain of fresh -water or brackish lakes runs all along the coast, being
separated from the sea by narrow strips of sand. ' Salt swamps and
backwaters are also not uncommon. The chain of the Eastern Ghats,
known as the Máliyás, which occupies the western portion of the
District, rises to an average height of about 2000 feet. The principal
peaks are - Mahendragiri (4923 feet), Singháráj (4976 ), and Deodongá
(4534). The form of the Maliyá Mountains is usually conical, and
they are more or less wooded along the sides ; whilst the fertile valleys
lying between are either cultivated by the rude aboriginal tribes who
inhabit the tract, or afford pasture to large herds of buffaloes, cows, or
goats. The passes which lead from the low country of Ganjám into
the Máliyás along their entire length of some 140 miles, are very
numerous ; but only one, the Kalinga Ghát, possesses a road available
for wheeled traffic. Many of the passes are, however, available for
elephants and other beasts of burden, although the paths are generally
rocky, rugged, and steep . The chief rivers are— ( 1) the Rushikulya in
the north , which rises in the hills beyond the District boundary, and,
after a course of about 100 miles , falls into the sea near Ganjam town ;
the river is not ordinarily navigable, but rafts can be floated down it
in the flood season between June and November : ( 2 ) the Vamsadhára
rises in the Jáipur (Jeypore) Hills,and, after a course of about 145 miles,
falls into the Bay of Bengal near Kalingapatam in the south of the Dis
trict ; more or less navigable for about 65 miles from its mouth, but as
304 GANJAM DISTRICT.
the banks are steep and fringed with trees, the want of a towing-path
is a great obstruction to navigation : (3) the Lánguliyá takes its rise in
Kaláhándí, and, after flowing for about 115 miles, enters the sea near
Máphuz Bandar. Besides these rivers, there are numerous mountain
streamsand torrents, which are utilized for the purposes of irrigation .
The banks of the rivers are usually steep and high , and there is in all
of them a great tendency to accumulate silt. Their channels dry up in
the hot season , but during the rains between June and November they
are usually in full flood and frequently overflow the country. Owing
to the vicinity of the Eastern Ghats to the sea, however, the floods
subsidewith rapidity , and from the same cause the rise of the waters in
the rivers is frequently so great as to cause considerable damage to
property, and not unfrequently loss of life. Sea and river fisheries
form an important industry, and the fishing castes are returned at nearly
50,000, or 3 -3 per cent of the Hindu population. Pearl oysters, but
of an inferior quality, are found in the Sonapur backwater, and in the
canal which runs from the Chilká Lake to the Rushikulya river. Iron
ore, limestone, building stone, sandstone, talc, and crystal comprise the
mineral products. Timber forests are numerous and extensive, con
sisting chiefly of sál, with satin -wood, sandal, and ebony, in smaller
quantities. Bees-wax, honey , turmeric, and myrabolans are jungle
products, and important articles of commerce, being sold by the hill
Kandhs to the low -country merchants. Wide grazing grounds exist,
which afford pasturage to large herds of cattle. Wild beasts are
numerous in the hills.
History. — Ganjám anciently formed part of the southern kingdom of
Kalinga. Its early history is involved in obscurity, and it was not
until the long line of Gajapati or Ganga-vansa kings (1132-1532)
occupied Orissa that the adjoining District of Ganjám was annexed to
that Province. Owing to the nature of the country , Ganjám was only
nominally reduced by the Musalmáns, who overran Orissa for the
first time about 1560. In 1641, the king of the Kutabsháhi kingdom
sent a deputy, Sher Muhammad Khán, to Chicacole (Chikakol) to rule
over the country as its first Faujdár. The presentGanjám District formed
under theMusalmáns a part of the Chicacole Circar, and the country
south of the Rushikulya river at Ganjám ,as far as Kásibugá,was known
by the name of the Ichhápúr Province. Different Faujdárs and Náibs
continued to rule over the Chicacole Circar until 1753, in which year
the Northern Circars were granted to the French by Salábat Jang, to
cover the pay and equipment of the French auxiliaries in his service.
M . de Bussy, who managed the affairs of the French at Hyder
abad, proceeded to the Northern Circars in person in 1757, in order
to secure the revenues on behalf of his native allies. After reduc
ing the country as far as Gúmsoor, on the south -west border of
 GANJAM DISTRICT. 305
Ganjám , M . de Bussy was obliged to return , being recalled by M .
Lally, the Governor of Pondicherri, who required his services at
the siege of Madras (1758). In 1759, an expeditionary force under
Colonel Forde, sent from Bengal by Lord Clive, was successful in taking
Masulipatam ; and upon the key of their position in the Northern
Circars falling into the hands of the English, the French found them
selves obliged to abandon Ganjám and their other factories in the
north. In 1765, the Northern Circars were granted to the English by
the Mughal Emperor's firmán, dated the 12th August 1765 ; but it was
not until the 12th November 1766, that Nizam Ali, the Subah of the
Deccan, agreed to ratify this firmán by actually ceding the country to
the English . In August 1768, Mr. Edward Cotsford took possession
of Ganjám as the first English Resident, and founded an English
factory there, which he secured by means of a small fort. From 1768
down to 1802, the Ichhápur Province was ruled by a succession of
Residents, Chiefs in Council, and Collectors ; and in the latter year, the
country south of the Púndi river, as far as Chicacole , was formed into
the present District of Ganjám . The earlier records (1768- 1802) of
the District show that the zamíndárs were accustomed only to pay
their tributes under actual pressure ; and that the country was
continually in a state of disturbance and confusion. Plunder, rapine,
murders, and incendiarism were common ; and one zamindár had to be
reduced by troops. In 1815, a severe epidemic fever prevailed in
the town ofGanjám , and carried off some 20,000 people in the course
ofthe three years that it raged in the District. In 1816 , the Pindárís
came down upon the Párla Kimedi zamíndári, and spread fire and
sword from Ichhápur to Ganjám . In 1819, the disturbances in the
Párla Kimedi and Mohirry zamíndárís had risen to such a height, that
Government sent Mr. Thackeray to Ganjám as Special Commissioner
to devise means for quieting the country. It needed the presence of a
strong body of regular troops to crush the spirit of insubordination
which had been fostered in the District by many years of a weak and
vacillating policy. In 1834-35, the Párla Kimedi campaign took place,
Brigadier-General Taylor in command. The judicious measures of
Mr. George Russell, the Special Commissioner in this and the two
succeeding Gúmsúr campaigns of 1835-37, did much to place the
District on a more satisfactory footing, by reducing the two most
refractory and influential camíndárs in the District. The first contact
of the English with the aboriginal Kandhs occurred in 1836, when it
was discovered that they were addicted to the practice of human
sacrifice (Meriah ). A special Agency, under European officers, was
deputed to the tract, and succeeded in inducing the Kandhs to abandon
the rite. In 1865, a partial rising of the Kandhs took place , but it was
of an unimportant character, and was suppressed without the aid of
VOL. III.
 306 GANJAM DISTRICT.
regular troops. Since then the District has enjoyed undisturbed
peace. (For further details, see my Orissa, vol. i. 18 ; ii. 49-53.)
Population . — A Census of the District was taken in 1871, which
returned a total population of 1,520,088, inclusive of the hills. Ex
cluding these sparsely populated tracts, the population of the plains
amounted to 1,388,976 — viz.695,295 males and 693,681 females. The
population is almost entirely composed of Hindus, who are returned at
1,513,673, or 99:6 per cent.,divided as follows:- Vishnuvites, 1, 163,002 ;
Sivaites, 130,925; Lingayats, 5743 ; other Hindus, 214,003. The
Muhammadan population numbers 4826 , comprising 3422 Sunnis, 177
Shiás, 14 Wahábís, and 1213 others.' Christians number 1413, of
whom 149 are Europeans, 205 Eurasians, 679 native Christians, and
10 others.' Buddhists and Jains number 45 ; and all others, 501.
The aboriginal tribes inhabiting the hill tracts are principally Kandhs
(55,735) and Sauras (21,656),who have now nearly all embraced some
form of Hinduism , and are included in the general number of Hindus
returned above. Ethnically, the Uriyás form two-thirds of the District
population, the remainder being for the most part Telugus. Their
manners and customs differ, and they speak a distinct language. The
Uriyás are chiefly found in the north of the District, extending as far
south as Párla Kimedi. South of Kásibugá, and throughout the
Chicacole Division, the larger number of the inhabitants are Telugus.
There is, however, no clearly defined line between the country occupied
by the two races. The principal towns in Ganjám are — BERHAMPUR
( 1871), 21,670 ; PARLA KIMEDI, 15 ,958 ; CHICACOLE, 15,587 ; ICHHA
PUR, 12,493 ; BARUVA, 6739 ; RAGHUNADHAPURAM , 5206 ; KALINGA
PATAM , 4675 ; ASKA, 4225 ; GANJAM , 4163; RUSSELLKONDA, 2625 ; and
GOPALPUR, 2416. Forty-three other towns contain upwards of 2000
inhabitants. The only municipalities are Berhampúr and Chicacole .
Agriculture. — Principal crops: — ( 1) Cereals— rice, cholam , ragi,
wheat, kambu ; ( 2 ) Pulses and oil-seeds — gingelly, castor oil, rape,
methi, dál, and several other varieties of gram ; (3) Fibres - cotton,
hemp, flax, jute ; (4) Miscellaneous — sugar-cane, tobacco, chillies,
indigo, onions, garlic. Agricultural operations commence in June,
during which month the rains of the south -west monsoon usually begin
to fall. In June the early dry grains and paddy seed (rice) intended
for transplanting are sown Rice is sometimes sown broadcast, but is
usually transplanted from specially prepared seed -beds. In July and
September an ample and continued supply of water is essential to the
growth of the young plants. The reaping of the rice or paddy crop
commences soon after the ist November, and sometimes lasts until
the 15th January , according as the season has been early or late .
An early season betokens, as a rule, a favourable harvest. The dry
grain crops (i.e., those grown upon unirrigated land) and early paddy
 GANJAM DISTRICT. 307
are reaped between the ist September and the 15th October. The
after crop of dry grains continues, however, to be reaped from the
middle of February to the beginning of April. A second crop of rice
in Ganjám is almost unknown ; it occurs, however, in a tract of land
not far from Ichhápur, bordering upon the sea. Neither cotton nor
fibre cultivation is pursued in Ganjám , to the decrease of food grains.
The sugar-cane grown in Ganjam is of excellent quality, and is said to
be thebest in India. It demands more care and attention, however,
than any other crop, and is never grown for two years in succession
on the same land . The ground requires to be well manured with
oil-cake or other suitable manure. Sugar-cane is estimated to require
one-third more water than rice, and takes ten months before it reaches
maturity . In spite of these drawbacks, however, the crop is one which
is exceedingly profitable to the peasantwho can afford to grow it. Sugar
cane is chiefly cultivated about Aska.
Condition of the People. — The total area of the District (1876 ) now
ascertained by the Revenue Survey, amounts to 8500 square miles, of
which 3359 are comprised in the Máliyá Hill Tracts, and 5141 form the
plains portion . Of this latter, about one-third is returned as under
cultivation , one-third as cultivable , and the remainder as uncultivable
waste. Rice occupies more than two-thirds of the area under cultiva
tion . The peasantry, as a class, are poor, and generally in debt to the
money-lenders, forestalling their crops by borrowing, or by selling the
produce at a cheap rate for payment in advance. An average holding
consists of about 8 acres, paying a rental of about £2. Wages have
increased of late years. The average rates from 1871 to 1876 were, for
ordinary labourers, from 2 d . to 3d. per day ; foi women, from itd. to
2d . per day ; and for blacksmiths and carpenters, 6d . to gd. Prices of
rice and food grains have risen to more than double the rates prevailing
in 1850, and in the case of rice, to treble the former rates. The rates
in 1876 , per Madras garce of 9874 lbs., were as follow :- Best rice, £32 ;
common rice, £26 , 145. ; wheat, £29 ; ragi, £13, 6s. Tenures are
of three kinds— (1) Rayatwári,or small farms held by individuals direct
from Government ; (2) kosht-guta , in which whole villages unite in a
system of holding lands in common, direct from Government, with joint
responsibility for rent; (3 )mustazárí, or the farming-out system ,which
is confined to the zamíndári tracts. By the last system lands are put
up to auction, either in lots or in entire villages, and knocked down to
the highest bidder, who is left to make what profit he can out of the
actual cultivators of the land.
Natural Calamities. — Famines, caused by flood and drought, are
the principal natural calamities to which the District is liable. The great
famine of 1865-66 was principally confined to the northern portion of
the District, but its ravages did not reach the same intensity as in the
308 GANJAM TOWN.
Orissa Districts. The famine was caused by the failure of the rains
following upon two years of partial scarcity in 1863 and 1864. It is
estimated that 60,000 persons perished , either of starvation or of
diseases induced by privation .
Communications, Manufactures, etc. — The District contains 661miles
of made road in the plains, costing an annual expenditure of £7675 ;
besides 323 miles of road in the hill country , maintained at a cost of
about £700 a year. A tidal canal, 9 miles long, connects the Chilká
Lake with the Rushikulya river. Salt manufacture is a Government
monopoly , and is carried on at Ganjám , Náupáda, and Vomarávilli,
yielding a Government revenue of over £200,000 per annum .
Administration . The District is administered by a Collector-Magis
trate, who is the chief executive and revenue officer, aided by 3
European Assistants, a judge, a superintendent of police, and a staff of
subordinate English and native officials. The Government revenue
exhibits a steady increase. In 1805-6, the total revenue amounted to
£88 ,512, and the expenditure to £6143 ; in 1850-51, the revenue was
£136,144, and the expenditure £22, 325 ; in 1860-61, the revenue was
£216,196, and the expenditure £23,970 ; in 1870-71, the revenue
amounted to £285,397, and the expenditure to £20,710 ; while by
1875- 76 , the revenue had increased to £338,705, and the expenditure
to £28,123. The principal items are salt and land, the former having
yielded in 1875-76 a total of £196,396, and the latter of £117,348.
For the protection of person and property, there are 27 magisterial and
13 civil and revenue courts in the District. The regular District police
numbered 1087 officers and men of all ranks in 1871, costing £13,270.
During the year they made 5127 arrests, and obtained convictions
against 2389 persons. The average daily number of prisoners in jail
was 798. Murders are unusually frequent in Ganjám District, no less
than 26 having occurred in 1875. The other prevalent crimes are
housebreaking and theft. Education is in a very backward state , only
3.3 per cent of the population of the plains being able to read and
write. In 1875, there were in the plains 334 schools maintained or
aided by the State, and attended by 6909 pupils, besides 17 hill schools,
attended by about 860 boys.
Ganjám . — Town in Ganjám District, Madras. Lat. 19° 22' 27" N.,
long. 85° 2' 52" E. ; containing a population (1871) of 4163, and 1298
houses. A seaport, formerly the capital of the District to which it gives
its name, situated at themouth of the Rushikulya river,697 miles north
east ofMadras, 315 miles south -west of Calcutta . The town itself and
the remains of the old pentagon fort are on a rising slope ; but to north
of the town the ground is low and feverish . It was formerly a seat of
considerable trade, and of a Factory and Fort (1768) presided over by
a Chief and Council ; but since the removal of the headquarters of
 GANJAM — GANTUR. 309
the District in 1815, it has declined in size and importance. The
removal was caused by an epidemic fever, which carried off a large
proportion of its inhabitants, both European and native. The sanitary
condition of the town has been much improved of late. While it
remained the chief town, Ganjám was remarkable for the magnificence
of its European residences. Some of these still exist, as also the
remains of the old forts (see my Orissa , vol. i. p . 17). The Government
salt manufacture forms now the principal industry. The fort ofGanjám
is situated at themouth of the Rushikulya river, but has no harbour, and
theheavy surf and constant shifting of the sandbanks render it difficult of
access. There is amud dock for the repair of native vessels. European
steamers occasionally visit the port. The chief trade consists of the
export of rice. During the ten years ending 1876, the annual average
number of ships calling at Ganjám was 21, with a tonnage of 7828 .
Value of exports, £30 ,570 ; imports, £2065.
Ganjám . - River, Madras. — See RUSHIKULYA .
Ganjám .- Suburb of SERINGAPATAM , in Mysore District, Mysore
State. Lat. 12° 24' n ., long. 76° 47' E . It occupies the eastern or
upper portion of the large island in the Káveri (Cauvery) river, on which
Seringapatam is built. It was established by Tipu Sultán, who trans
ported hither thousands of families from Síra . Now the most thriving
part of the island , the residence of several well-to -do merchants, with
manufactures of cotton cloth and paper. The Karighata játra or
festival held in February or March is annually attended by 20,000
persons.
Gantang .– Mountain pass in Bashahr State, Punjab , over the range
dividing Kunáwar from Chinese territory. Lat. 31° 38' N ., long. 78°
47' E. The highest part lies within the limit of perpetual snow .
Scenery wild and rugged ; the Rishi Gantang Mountain rising over the
pass to a height of 21,229 feet above sea level, while the crest of the
pass itself has an elevation of 18 ,295 feet. Fuel can be obtained with
great difficulty, and the pass is consequently but little frequented.
Gantúr (Guntoor ). — Táluk in Kistna District, Madras. Houses,
53,503 ; pop. ( 1871), 126,997, viz. 64,148 males and 62,849 females.
Classified according to religion, there were — Hindus, 114,780, including
67,484 Sivaites,44,822 Vishnuvites,and 3064 Lingayats. The Muham
madans numbered 9580, including 8013 Sunnis, 342 Shiás, and 6
Wahábís ; Christians, 637 (chiefly Roman Catholics ). No Buddhists
nor Jains. Chief town, GANTUR.
Gantúr (Guntoor). - Chief town of above táluk, Kistna District,
Madras; situated on the Grand Trunk Road,about 46 miles from Masuli
patam . Lat. 16° 17' 42" n.,long. 80° 29' E.; containing 4480 houses and
( 1871) 18,033 inhabitants. The headquarters of the sub -collector and
the District judge of Kistna ; municipal revenue, £2385 ; incidence
310 GANUTIA - GARAG .
of taxation , 2s. 74d . per head. Considerable trade in grain and cotton .
Four cotton steam -screw presses. A branch of the Bank of Madras
is located in the town.
Gantúr (Guntoor) was the capital of a Circar (Sarkár) under the
Muhammadans. It was ceded to the French by the Nizám in 1753,
by Muzaffar Jang. At the time of the cession of the NORTHERN
CIRCARS to the English in 1766 , Gantúr was specially exempted during
the life of Basálat Jang, whose personal jágír it was. In 1778, the
English rented it from him , but it was given up by order of the
Governor-General in 1780. In 1788, it came again into British pos
session, and the cession was finally confirmed in 1803.
Ganutiá . — Town in Bírbhúm District, Bengal. Lat. 23° 52' 30 " N .,
long. 87° 52' 45” E. Situated on the north bank of the river Mor, and
famous as the centre of the silk industry of Bírbhúm . The Ganutiá
factory was established in 1786, by Mr. Frushard, a merchant, who
engaged to supply the East India Company with silk at fixed rates.
Mr. Frushard's story is typical of the private adventurers ' of the last
century. It is told at length in the Annals of Rural Bengal, p. 357,
et seq., 5th edition . He met with much opposition from the District
officials in his endeavours to become a producer of Bírbhúm silk on a
large scale. The natives charged him the highest prices for everything,
and the Company allowed him the smallest. Atlength , in 1790, he was
compelled to make a final appeal to the Government for relief ; and in
1791, Lord Cornwallis commanded all his arrears of revenue to be
remitted, and his rent to be reduced by about one-half. Thus relieved,
Mr. Frushard began to prosper. He converted the forest and waste
around Ganutiá into thriving and prosperous villages, and founded
little tributary factories throughout the whole north -eastern jungle of
Bírbhúm . His factory, rebuilt several times, now forms the most
imposing edifice in that District, and is the property of an English firm
in Calcutta . The single process of winding off the cocoons employs
2400 artisans, and it has been calculated that the factory supports
15 ,000 persons ; its average annual outlay was unofficially returned in
1868 at about £72,000.
Garag (Gadag). — Chief town of the Subdivision of the samename in
Dhárwár District, Bombay ; 43 miles east of Dharwár town. Lat. 15°
24 ' 50" n., long. 75° 40' E. ; pop. (1872), 10 ,319. Together with the
neighbouring town of Betigeri, Garag forms a municipality, with a muni
cipal revenue (1874-75) of £1182 ; rate of taxation, is. 3d . per head of
the joint population (19,035 ) within municipal limits. Garag is a four
ishing town, with considerable trade in raw cotton and cotton and silk
fabrics, the cotton trade alone amounting to upwards of £50,000 a year.
There is a sub-judge's court and a post office, together with the chief
revenue and police offices of the Subdivision ; a weekly market is held .
 GARAI- GARHA. 311
Garái (Gorai). — The name given to the upper reaches of the
Madhumatí, the largest and most important river in Jessor District,
Bengal. The Garái is one of the principal channels by which the
waters of the Ganges are carried to the sea ; its chief tributary is the
Kumár, which was formerly itself the main stream , theGarai being then
a feeder. Below Kushtiá, the Garái throws off several cross streams
towards theKumár, themost considerable being the Káliganga . During
the rains so much water flows through this channel into the Kumár that
at Rámnagar, near Mágura, the latter has to get rid of the surplus, and
discharges part of its waters back again into the Garái channel. But in
the cold season , when but little water comes down the Kumár, this
cross stream flows in the opposite direction, and brings down the waters
of the Garái towards Mágura with the Nabaganga . The Garái flows in
a southerly direction from Ganespur to Haripur, about 35 miles ; it is
420 yards wide in the rains, and navigable by steamers all the year
round.
Garamli Moti. — One of the petty States in South Káthiáwár, Bom
bay ; consisting of 1 village,with 1 independent tribute-payer. Estimated
revenue, £200, of which £19 is paid as tribute to the Gáekwár of
Baroda and £2 to Junagarh.
Garamli Náni.- One of the petty States in South Káthiáwár, Bom
bay ; consisting of 1 village, with 2 independenttribute-payers. Estimated
revenue, £150, of which a tribute of £19 is paid to the Gáekwár of
Baroda.
Garaspur. — Town and fort in Gwalior State, Central India. Lat. 23°
40'n ., long. 78° 9' E. Noted for some fine ancient buildings elaborately
sculptured, in the sandstone of the neighbouring hills.
Garden Reach. — A suburb of Calcutta ; situated on the Húgli, 3
miles south of the city. Lat. 22° 32' 35" N., long. 88° 21' 40" E. The
Peninsular and Oriental Navigation Company and the Messageries
Maritimes have large establishments here, where passengers for Europe
by their mail steamers embark. The small forts of Aligarh , on the left
or Garden Reach side of the river, and Tanná, on the opposite bank,
were taken by Lord Clive in the recapture of Calcutta, December 1756.
Branch dispensary. The suburb was long a favourite place of residence
of the European inhabitants of Calcutta, and contains many fine houses,
situated in large compounds.' These houses are said to have been
built between 1768 and 1780. The residence of the ex-King of Oudh
has been fixed here by the Government, and he occupies a series of
magnificent mansions on the river bank , with menagerie and pleasure
grounds attached.
Gargariba .— Town in Maldah District, Bengal. - See HAIATPUR.
Garha. — Ancient town in Jabalpur (Jubbulpore) District, Central
Provinces ; 90 miles south -east of Ságar (Saugor). Lat. 23° 10 'n., long.
 312 GARHA - GARHAKOTA TOWN .
79° 56' 30 " E. ; pop. ( 1876 ), 2588. Formerly the capital of the Gond
dynasty of Garha Mándla, whose ruined keep, built about 1100 A.D ., by
Madan Sinh, and known as the Madan Mahál, still crowns the low
granite range, along the foot of which the town stretches for about 2
miles. Under the Mahal, to the west, is the beautiful Ganga Ságar
tank, and near it the large sheet of water called the Bái Ságar. Garha
has an excellent Government school, with about 100 scholars. The
trade is insignificant, its decline dating from the removal of the Gond
dynasty to Singaurgarh. The Garha mint, which coined an inferior
rupee called the Bálá Sháhí, formerly current throughout Bundelkhand,
was in full operation when Mr. Daniel Leckie passed through the place
in 1790.
Garha. — A petty State in the Gúna (Goona) Agency, under the
Central India Agency and the Government of India. Present Rájá ,
Bijải Sinh.
Garha Kalán.- Village in Banda District,North-Western Provinces.
Pop. (1872), 1214, consisting chiefly of Brahmans and Chamárs.
Founded about 500 years ago, and burnt during the Mutiny by troops
of the rebel Náráyan Ráo of Karwí, in revenge for the inability or
unwillingness of the inhabitants to provide supplies.
Garhákota. — The chief town of a tract of the samename in Ságar
(Saugor) District, Central Provinces. Lat. 23° 47' N., long. 79° 11' 30 " E.;
situated in an angle formed by the rivers Sonár and Gadháiri, 27 miles
east of Ságar ; about 1435 feet above sea level ; pop. (1876), 9085.
It was probably founded by the Gonds, who held it until about 1629,
when a Rájput chief from Bundelkhand, named Chandra Sáh, expelled
them , and built the fort. In 1703, Hirde Sáh , son of the famous
Chhatra Sál, the Bundela Rájá of Panná, took the fort, giving the
Rajput chief in lieu the single village of Naiguwán , in Rehli, still held
( 1872) at a quit-rent by a descendant of Chandra Sáh. Hirde Sáh
built another town east of the fort, on the other side of the river, and
called it after himself, Hirdenagar. Five years after his death , which
happened in 1739, dissensions arose between Subhá Sinh and his
younger brother, Prithvi Sinh. The latter invited the Peshwá to his
assistance, promising in return a fourth of the revenues, and by these
means succeeded in constituting himself ruler of the town and tract of
Garhákota . In 1810, the Rájá of Nagpur invested the fort. Mardan
Sinh, a descendant of Prithvi Sinh , was killed in a skirmish , and his
son , Arjun Sinh, applied to Sindhia , offering to cede one-half of the
territory in payment for his protection . Sindhia accordingly despatched
an army under Colonel Jean Baptiste, who defeated the Nagpur troops,
and retained Málthon and Garhákota for Sindhia, leaving for Arjun
Sinh the country of Shahgarh , with other territory. Baptiste remained
for some time at Garhákota, as governor of the fort. In 1819, how
 GARHAKOTA RAMNA - GARHBETA . 313
ever, Arjun Sinh seized the fort by treachery, and held it for six
months, when he was ejected by a British force under General Watson.
From that time the English administered the country on behalf of
Sindhia, till in 1861 an exchange was effected, and Garhákota became
British territority .
Garhákota really consists of two towns, divided by the river Sonár
Garhákota and Hirdenagar, in the latter of which all the trade of the
place is carried on. The chief manufactures are red cloths called ádhi
and pathi, worn chiefly by women. Gur, or coarse sugar, is largely
produced and exported ; and grain , especially rice and wheat, sent both
north and south. Besides the market held every Friday for the sale of
grain , cattle , and native and English cloth , there is a large cattle fair,
beginning on the 18th January, and lasting for six weeks, which is
attended by about 30,000 persons from Gwalior, Bhopal, Bundelkhand,
and most Districts of the Central Provinces. In the year 1868-69, the
imports of Garhákota amounted to £16 ,958, the exports to £20, 068.
There is a District post office, and schools for boys and girls. The fort
is solidly constructed on a lofty eminence east of the town, between the
rivers Sonár and Gadháiri, with an artificial moat on its unprotected
side. The inner walls enclose a space of 11 acres, mostly covered
with buildings. These, however, are in ruins, as also are the outer walls
and bastions,which were partly levelled by sappers, after Sir Hugh Rose
captured the fort in 1858. About 2 miles north of the town, on the
borders of the GARHAKOTA RAMNA, stand the remains of a large
summer palace built by Mardan Sinh. The square tower is still in fair
preservation. At the base, each side measures about 15 feet ; and the
tower rises to the height of 100 feet, in 6 storeys, each slightly tapering
upwards. There is a winding stone staircase the whole way up. Near
these ruins Sir Herbert Maddock, when Agent to the Governor-General
at Ságar (Saugor), built a large flat-roofed house, which has lately been
placed in charge of the Forest Department.
Garhákota Ramná. — Teak forest in Ságar (Saugor) District, Central
Provinces. Area, 6 square miles.
Garhauli. — Rural town in Hamirpur District, North -Western Pro
vinces. Pop. (1872), 4501. Distant from Hamirpur 35 miles. Large
Chandel tank, now nearly silted up,testifies to former importance. Two
annual fairs, halkáhbandi school.
Garhbetá. — Subdivision of Midnapur District, Bengal; situated
between 22° 34' 30" and 22° 57' n. lat., and between 87° 6' and 87°
50' 45" E. long. Pop. (1872), 354,486, of whom 311,488, or 8769
per cent., are Hindus ; 20,514, or 5 -8 per cent., Muhammadans ; 18
Christians ; and 22,466, or 6'3 per cent., of other denominations.
Number of villages, 1474, with 63,511 houses. Density of population,
546 per square mile ; villages per square mile, 2'27 ; inhabitants per
314 GARHBORI- GARHGAON.
village, 240 ; houses per village, 98 ; inmates per house, 5'6 . The Sub
division comprises the thánás or police circles of Garhbetá, Chandrakona,
and Ghátál. In 1870-71, it contained one magisterial and revenue
court; the regular police force numbered 67 men ; the village watch,
420 ; cost of Subdivisional administration, £1516 .
Garhborí. — Pargand in Chánda District, Central Provinces, con
taining 129 villages, with an area of 576 square miles. A hilly and
thickly wooded tract, intersected from north to south by four branches
of the Andhárí, and rendered picturesque by the magnificent tanks or
lakes. The soil is chiefly red, and devoted to rice and sugar-cane.
The population mostly consists of Koris and Mánás.
Garhborí. — Town in Chánda District, Central Provinces ; on a
branch of the Andhárí river, 16 miles north -north -west of Múl. Lat.
20° 18 ' N., long. 79° 38' 30" E. Manufactures a sárí (native female
garment) of a peculiar pattern, and produces excellent pán. The
houses cluster round a fortified hill, with forests on all sides ; and near
the town are quarries of freestone and limestone. Garhborí has
Government schools for boys and girls, and a police outpost.
Garhchiroli. — Town in Chánda District, Central Provinces ; on left
bank of the Wainganga river, 23 miles east-north -east of Múl. Lat.
20° 11' N ., long. 80° 3' E. Brisk trade in cotton , cotton cloths, tasar
cocoons and thread, jungle produce, carts, and salt. Government schools
for boys and girls, and police outpost.
Garhdiwala . — Town in Hoshiarpur District, Punjab. Lat. 31° 44'
30” n., long. 75° 47' 30 " E.; pop. (1868), 3611. Scene of an important
fair, in honour of Devi, held in March in September. Average attend
ance, 20,000 persons.
Garhgáon.— Ruined town and fort in Sibságar District, Assam .
The earliest seat of government of the Aham princes, and the capital
of their kingdom till the prosperity of the dynasty began to wane,
when it was transferred to Rangpur in the same District about 1698.
The fort and palace of Garhgaon are situated on the banks of the Dikhu
river, to the south -east of Sibságar town . The fort had bastions at the
corners, but they are now destroyed. The magazine was situated a
short distance east of the fort. The royal palace, one of the oldest
buildings in the Province, is described by Robinson, in his Descrip
tive Account of Assam , as having been 'surrounded by a brick wall
about 2 miles in circumference ; but the whole town and its suburbs
appear to have extended over many square miles of country. The
ruins of gateways, built chiefly of masonry, are still to be seen within
the fortified circumvallations which surrounded the town. It may be
observed that one of the gateways is composed principally of large
blocks of stone bearing marks of iron crampings, which show that they
once belonged to far more ancient edifices. From this evidence alone,
 GARHI- GARHSHANKAR. 315
were there no other, it might safely be presumed that, long antecedent
to the conquest of the Ahams, the country had been inhabited by a
race far advanced in some of the arts of civilised life.' This ancient
building is fast falling into complete ruin, though not altogether by the
hand of time, for the Survey Report for 1867-68 states : ' It is a great
pity that the Assam Company are allowed to carry away the bricks ;
they have already pulled down the gates, a portion of the palace, and
the wall enclosing the palace.'
Garhi (also known as Bháisa Khiri). — Petty State in the Deputy
Bhíl (Bheel) Agency, under the Central India Agency and the Govern
ment of India . It consists of 3 villages in Dharamporí, for which the
chief pays a small tribute, and is responsible for all robberies. The
present holder is Nahar Sinh.
Garhi-Adu -Shah.— Government town in Shikárpur District, Sind.
Pop. ( 1872), 1327, mainly agricultural: Muhammadans, of Súmra,
Cháchar, and Katpar tribes, 790 ; Hindus, chiefly Bráhmans, Lohános,
and Sonáros, 537. One of the Grand Trigonometrical Survey pillars is
set up here.
Garhi Yásin . - Municipal town in Shikárpur District, Sind. Lat. 27°
54' N., long. 68° 33' 15" E. Pop. 4808 — Muhammadans, 1814, chiefly
Patháns; Hindus,2994, principally Banias. Municipal revenue (1873-74),
£620 ; disbursements, £543 ; incidence of local taxation, 2s. 7d. per
head. Considerable trade in oil. Travellers' bungalow ; post office.
Garhmukhtesar. – Ancient town in Meerut (Mírath) District,North
Western Provinces. Lat. 28°47' 10" N ., long. 78° 8' 30" E. ; pop. (1872 ),
7962, being 5401 Hindus and 2561 Muhammadans. Stands on the
high cliffs of the right bank of the Ganges, 4 miles below its junction
with the Búrh Ganga ; distant from Meerut 26 miles south - east.
Originally a ward (mahalla ) in the mythical city of Hastinapur, cele
brated in the Bhagavat Purána and in the Mahábhárata . Ancient fort,
afterwards occupied by a Marhattá leader. Derives its name from
the great temple of Mukhteswara Mahadeo , dedicated to the goddess
Gangá, consisting of four separate shrines, two on the cliff and two
below it. Close by stand 80 sati pillars. A great fair at the full moon
of Kártik attracts 200,000 pilgrims from all parts of the country.
Inhabitants chiefly Bráhmans. Little trade except in timber and
bamboos, rafted down the Ganges from the Dún and Garhwál. Police
station, four saráis, staging bungalow, charitable dispensary. Ferry in
the rains, and bridge of boats during the remainder of the year.
Garhshankar. - Southern tahsil of Hoshiarpur District, Punjab ;
situated between 30° 58' and 31' 25' 30 " n. lat., and between 76° 1'
and 76° 33' 45" E. long. Area, 502 square miles ; pop. (1868), 223,031 ;
persons per square mile, 444 ; number of townships, 497.
Garhshankar. — Town in Hoshiarpur District, Punjab, and head
 I AL CT
316 GARHV - GARHW DISTRI .
quarters of the tahsil. Lat. 31° 12' 58" N ., long. 76° 11' 2" E ; pop.
( 1868), 5739, being 1627 Hindus, 3506 Muhammadans, 109 Síkhs, and
497 others.' Situated on the road from Hoshiarpur to Rúpar. Con
siderable trade in sugar and tobacco. Tahsili,police station,post office.
Police force of 16 men .
Gárhvi.— River of the Central Provinces ; rising near Chichgarh , in
Bhandara District, in lat. 20° 52' N., long. 80° 34' E., and flowing south
wards for 150 miles, falls into the Waingangá below Seoni, in Chánda
District, lat. 20° 26' N ., long. 80° E . According to a local legend, the
stream issued from the earth at the prayer of a holy man named Gárga
Rishi.
Garhwal. — A British District in the Lieutenant-Governorship of the
North -Western Provinces, lying between 29° 26 ' and 31° 5' n. lat., and
between 78° 17' 15 " and 80° 8' E. long.; with an estimated area of 5500
square miles, and a population (1872) of 310,288 persons. Garhwalforms
the north -western District of the Kumáun Division. It is bounded on
the north by Chinese Thibet, on the east by Kumaun District, on the
south by Bijnaur, and on the west by Independent Garhwal or Tehri,
and Dehra Dún District. The administrative headquarters are at
PAURI, but SRINAGAR is the chief town of the District.
Physical Aspects. — The District of Garhwal consists for the most part
of rugged mountain ranges, the central peaks or outliers of the main
Himalayan chain , tossed wildly about in the most intricate confusion ,
and severed by narrow valleys, which may rather be described as
gorges or ravines. The broadest among them , that of Srinagar,
measures barely half a mile in width , and has an elevation of 1820 feet
above sea level. A narrow strip of bhábar, or waterless forest, some
2 or 3 miles in breadth , intervening between the southern bases
of the hills and the alluvial lowlands of Rohilkhand, forms the only
level portion of the District. To the north , the mountains belong to
the central upheaval line of the Himalayas, the principal peaks within
the boundaries of Garhwal being - Trisúl, 23,382 feet ; Nanda Deví,
25,661 feet ; Dúnagiri, 23,181 feet ; Kamet, 25,413 feet ; Badrinath ,
22,901 feet ; and Kedárnath , 22,853 feet. North -westward from this
massive chain , the mountains fall away to the elevated plateau
of Thibet, scored by the valleys of the Saraswati and the Dhauli,
through which the MANA and Niti Passes respectively lead across the
frontier into Chinese territory . Southward from themain range again ,
parallel spurs run towards the plain in a direction from north -east to
south -west, while cross systems of irregular hills connect their lines from
time to time, interspersed with occasional ridges of greater elevation,
which reach a height of from 10,000 to 12 ,000 feet. South of the
river Nyár, however, the ranges assume a direction more parallel to
the plains, and nowhere exceed an elevation of 7500 feet. Along
 GARHWAL DISTRICT. 317
the larger rivers, the hills present a gradual slope at their bases, and
end in a succession of dry terraces, which are generally cultivated by
artificial irrigation . Above, a belt of forest clothes their flanks ; while
the actual summits rise high into the region of perpetual snow . The
ALAKNANDA RIVER, one of the main sources of the Ganges, marks the
central line of greatest depression, and with its affluents receives the
whole drainage of the District. The Alaknanda forms one of the
holiest amongst Indian objects of reverence , and each of the points
where it meets a considerable confluent is regarded as a sacred station
in the pilgrimage which devout Hindus perform to Himachal At
Deoprayag, a place of special sanctity, it joins the BHAGIRATHI, and the
united streams thenceforward assume the name of GANGES. The only
important river in Garhwal that does not fall into the Ganges within
the borders of the District is the Rámganga, which rises near Lobha,
and, flowing through Kumáun and the plains of Rohilkhand, finally
debouches into the great stream in Farrukhábád District Navigation
is impracticable on all the rivers, owing to their great velocity, and the
existence of shoals or rapids ; but several among them afford a water
way for rafting timber. Wherever cultivable land occurs along their
banks, they are employed for purposes of irrigation ; while two small
canals supply water to an insignificant area in the bhábar. The
southern portion of the District is still covered with primeval forest,
and tiger-haunted jungles abound in the central tract ; but cultivation
encroaches yearby year on the wild lands, and the people are encouraged
to settle and reclaim the soil by grants at a nominal rent.
History. — In the almost total absence of written records, the annals
of Garhwal have to be constructed partly from local tradition and partly
from inference. Some five hundred years since, the valley of the
Alaknanda was divided into 52 petty chieftainships, each chief having
his own independent fortress (garh ), from which the country is said to
have derived its name. Between four and five centuries ago, Ajai Pál,
ruler of Chándpur, reduced all these minor principalities under his own
sway, and became the founder of the Garhwal kingdom . He placed
his capital at Srinagar, where he built a palace, the ruins of which still
remain in tolerable preservation. The Rájás of his line, known as
the Chánd Dynasty, ruled over Garhwal and the adjacent Tehri
State until their expulsion by the Gúrkhas in 1803. The succession
appears to have been strictly hereditary. One of the line, Pritám
Sáh , was chosen ruler of Kumáun ; but on his father's death , he pre
ferred the certain tenure of his ancestral dominions to the precarious
throne of the neighbouring State, which lay at the mercy of the party
from time to time in power at Almora . The Chánd Rájás seem
generally to have ruled with justice and moderation, and their country
attained a considerable degree of prosperity for a mountain principality.
 L
318 GARHWA DISTRICT.
Twice they successfully repelled an invasion of the Rohillás— on one
occasion when the freebooters attacked them through Kumáun, and
again when they attempted to enter the hill country through Dehra
Dún. But a constant predatory warfare existed between Garhwal and
the Kumáun people, each party making forays into the territory of their
rivals whenever opportunity offered, and plundering all that came in
their way. To the present day, a slumbering animosity between the
inhabitants of the two Districts is only kept in check by the British
authority. In 1803, the Gurkhas, then the dominant race in Nepál,
made their way westward , conquering everything before them , and
drove Pridhiman Sáh , the Chánd Rájá, into the plains. For twelve
years the Gurkhás ruled with a rod of iron over the whole of Garhwal
and Dehra Dún, and impoverished the country by their tyranny and
fiscal exactions. They divided the District into a number of petty
military fiefs, in which each commandant exacted as much as he was
able in addition to the demand of the central power. The villages
were left waste ; the inhabitants fled into the densest and most
impenetrable jungles ; and to this day the name of Gurkhá forms a
popular synonym for all that is cruel and tyrannical. Years of our rule
have hardly sufficed to obliterate the effects of this terrible invasion,
which threw back the progress of the country for at least a quarter of
a century. The Gurkhas then commenced a series of petty encroach
ments on the British territories at the foot of the Himalayas, which were
not resisted with any vigour until the attention of our Government was
attracted in 1812 by their outrageous aggressions on the Gorakhpur
and Tirhut frontier. After an unsuccessful attempt at conciliation, war
broke out in November 1814. The events of the campaign , which
resulted in our capture of Almora, and the reduction of the two Districts,
belong rather to the history of KUMAUN. At the close of the war,
the Tehri principality, known as INDEPENDENT GARHWAL, was restored
to Pridhiman Sáh , whose grandson , Pratáp Sáh , still retains it ; but
the valley of the Alaknanda was erected into a British District, and
organized on the usual model. Under our strong and peaceful ad
ministration, British Garhwal has risen from a state of desolation
scarcely paralleled elsewhere in India, to a height of material prosperity
which it never before enjoyed . Cultivation has rapidly increased, and
the growth of tea culture has opened the District to British capital and
enterprise , which are turning this once wretched tract into an important
and wealthy region .
Population. — The Census of 1872 was taken over an area approxi
mately estimated at 5500 square miles ; and it disclosed a total popula
tion of 310,288 persons, distributed among 3944 villages or town
ships, and inhabiting 57,293 houses. Persons per square mile, 56 ;
villages or townships per square mile, 0.7 ; houses per square mile, 10 ;
 GARHWAL DISTRICT. 319
persons per village, 79 ; persons per house, 5'4. Classified according
to sex, there were — males, 155,750 ; females, 154,538 ; proportion of
males, 50*2 per cent. As regards the religious distinctions of the
people, Garhwal is almost exclusively a Hindu District, as many as
2008,398 pers creed ; " Musalmár
308,398 persons, or 99'3 per cent., being returned as adherents of
the ancient creed ; while the Muhammadans number only 1799, or
097 per cent. The Musalmáns live in such scattered localities that
they possess little or no social influence. There is a Christian mission
at Chapra , near Pauri, and 85 persons were returned in 1872 as belong
ing to that persuasion . The great Hindu temples of BADRINATH and
KEDARNATH attract large numbers of pilgrims, and have produced a
deep influence on the history and manners of the people. They lie
among the inmost recesses of the snowy range. The sanctity of these
shrines has contributed to render the inhabitants superstitious and
bigoted ; but the yearly influx of pilgrims has added greatly to the
wealth of the District. Three principal races inhabit the southern
slopes of Garhwal. The Dhúms appear to be the descendants of the
aboriginal tribes, and now form the menial class throughout the District.
They differ totally in features, habits, and religion from the other castes
by whom they have been brought into subjection. The Khasiyás
evidently came from the plains of Hindustán, but they preserve no
memories of their immigration . They comprise many castes of
Brahmans, Rájputs, etc., all of which , however, are regarded by the
orthodox Hindus as Súdras. They reside principally in the central
and northern parganás, and resemble the Gurkhas in appearance, from
which fact it may perhaps be inferred that they are not free from a
Nepálese admixture. The third class includes the true Brahmans and
Rajputs, most of whom arrived in the country after the establishment
of a settled Government. Some of the Brahmans trace back their
immigration to the times of Ajai Pál. A totally distinct race inhabits
the region lying within the snowy range. These are the Bhutiás, a tribe
of Indo-Chinese origin , much intermixed with Hindu elements. They
talk the Húnia or Thibetan language, as well as the Hindi, and they
have also a patois of their own. They number in all only 3030 souls ;
but they control the whole carrying trade with Thibet. Both men and
women are powerfully built, dirty in their habits, and greatly addicted
to drink. Among the social customs of Garhwal generally, must be
noticed the universal prevalence of polygamy. Wives are looked
upon in the light of beasts of burden, so that every man obtains as
many as his means will afford. Desertion and suicide are common ,
in spite of all the efforts of the British officials in ameliorating the
condition of women . The District contained no place in 1872 with
a population exceeding 5000 persons. PAURI, the headquarters station,
can hardly claim to any higher rank than that of a hill village ; and
320 GARHWAL DISTRICT.
SRINAGAR, in the valley at its foot, is the only place which reaches the
dignity of a town.
Agriculture. - Out of an estimated area of 5500 square miles in
1872, only 209 were returned as under cultivation . Nevertheless, this
amount is nearly treble of the tilled land in 1815. Agriculture is
carried on with considerable skill and great industry. Taking into
account the steep nature of the country, it must be allowed that the
people deserve great credit for the manner in which they have divided
it into terraces, some of the fields having a breadth of only 3 yards.
Wheat, rice, and manduá form the staple crops ; and the quantities
grown not only suffice for local wants, but leave a surplus for exporta
tion to Thibet. The chief food of the lower classes is manduá, which
yields a larger return than any other crop. Cotton is little cultivated,
as it can be purchased elsewhere at a cheaper rate than that for which
it could be produced in the District. The people have grown richer of
late years, and are enabled to keep more cattle than formerly, and con
sequently to employ more manure for their fields. Abundant pasture
lands stretch along the upper slopes of the snowy range, affording
excellent grazing for large herds of goats and sheep during the rains.
Unlimited pasturage also exists in the valleys and in the bhábar at the
foot of the hills, but this has been preserved by the Forest Department,
which levies dues on all animals permitted to enter its boundaries.
Cattle in numbers come for grazing from the western parganás of
Kumáun, where no pasturage is found. The cultivators chiefly consist
of petty proprietors, and the peasantry as a whole are well-to-do and
free from debt. Rents are generally paid in cash, except by tenants
at-will, who settle in kind at the rate of from one-fourth to one-third
of the crop. Irrigation is practised wherever water can be obtained ;
and two small canals in the bhábar supply an area of 1300 acres.
The regular rotation of crops consists of rice, followed by wheat, and
again by manduá ; after which the land lies fallow till the next rice
season. Tea-planting is carried on under European supervision to a
considerable extent. The planters give occupation to about 400
permanent and 600 short-service labourers, the latter being employed
during the tea-picking season . Wages have more than doubled during
the last thirty years. In 1850, ordinary coolies obtained id. per diem ;
they now receive 3d . per diem . Smiths, braziers, and carpenters used
to get from 3d . to 4 d. ; they are now paid from 41d. to gd. Agricul
tural day-labourers are unknown in Garhwal. The ordinary price of
manduá varies from 30 to 40 sers per rupee, or from 3s. 9d. to 25. 1od.
per cwt.
Natural Calamities. - Floods occasionally occur on the Alaknanda,
one of which , before the Gurkhá conquest, swept away half the town of
Srinagar. In 1868, again , an inundation of the same river inflicted con
 GARHWAL DISTRICT. 321
siderable damage. Droughts also affect the District from time to time,
but owing to the high ranges of hills on every side,they are never general,
though they may extend over so wide a tract as to make their effects
felt throughout the whole country . The last great scarcity from this
cause took place in 1867, when the rabí crops in all the lower and more
fertile portion of Garhwal almost entirely failed. Government made
an advance of £1000, and grain purchased in the bhábar was carried
up by the people themselves for sale at certain established centres.
Money was plentiful in the District at the time, so that most purchasers
paid in cash , only a few giving labour in exchange for food. The
kharif crops of the same year proved excellent in their yield , and
entirely relieved the temporary distress. Garhwal suffered but little
from the terrible famine of 1868-70, and probably gained in the end,
asmeasures were taken to prevent the export of grain or the ingress
of pilgrims; and the crop of 1869 turning out a good one, the people
sold large quantities of food-stuffs, after the removal of the embargo,
at very high rates, to the inhabitants of Bijnaur. This famine also
acted as an incentive to increased cultivation . Want of carriage forms
the great difficulty in relieving distress among the Garhwal Hills, since
supplies can only be drawn from the bhábar, or the adjacent plain
Districts ; and to reach these places a very malarious jungle must be
traversed. Sir H . Ramsay has done much to avert the recurrence of
dearth by his settlements in the bhábar of Kumáun , but the similar
tract in Garhwal does not possess like capacities for cultivation .
Famine rates are reached when wheat sells at 8 sers per rupee, or
145. per cwt., and manduá at 10 sers per rupee, or 11s. 2d . per cwt.
Commerce and Trade, etc. — The Bhutiás carry on a considerable
traffic with Thibet, to which country they export grain , sugar, cloth , and
tobacco ; while salt, borax, wool, gold , and precious stones form the
chiefstaples ofthe return trade. Sheep and goats imported from Chamba
are employed as beasts of burden on these routes, which lie over the
lofty crests of the Mána and Niti Passes. Bird -skins and the pods of
musk-deer formerly ranked as main items in the exports southward ;
but owing to the reckless way in which the animals were destroyed ,
measureshave been taken to preserve them , which cause a temporary
interference with the trade. Several valuable minerals are found in
Garhwal, including copper, iron , lead, silver, and gold ; none, however,
occur in paying quantities or positions. Coin accumulates from year
to year, mainly through the influx of pilgrims to the great temples.
Tea-planting has not hitherto proved remunerative, but its financial
prospects are improving, as the planters gradually learn to economize
labour and to reduce expenditure. No railway station exists nearer
than Saharanpur, distant from Pauri about 100 miles. Good hill roads,
from 10 to 12 feet in width , intersect the District in every direction .
VOL. III.
322 GARHWAL STATE.
Most of them are bridged throughout. The total length of roads
amounts to about 1000 miles. The chief routes, in a commercial point
of view , are those — (1) from Srinagar to Níti, 125 miles,which serves
the Thibet trade ; (2) from Srinagar to Kotdwára, 55 miles, which
serves the traffic to the plains ; (3) from Kainúr to the great trading
mart at Rámnagar, which carries the hill produce ; and (4) from Pauri
to Almora, connecting the two headquarters stations.
Administration . — The District is administered by an Assistant Com
missioner, who resides at Pauri, and possesses criminal and revenue
jurisdiction. The office is now (1877) held by a military officer in
civil employ, assisted by a tahsildár who is stationed at Srinagar.
The latter place is also the headquarters of the native civil judge.
In 1822, the total land revenue amounted to £5851 ; by 1875, it had
risen to £9555. There is no regular police except at headquarters,
and little crimeof any kind. Long-term prisoners are sent to the jail
at Almora , and the only place of confinement in Garhwal is a lock-up at
Pauri. Education hasmade much greater progress among these moun
tain valleys than in the plain country at their feet. The total number
ofschools in the District in the year 1875-76 amounted to 73 ; and the
total number of pupils on their rolls to 3609. These figures show an
average of 1 school to every 75 34 square miles of area, and 116
scholars per thousand of the population . For administrative purposes,
the District is divided into ir parganás and 86 pattis. The number
of registered proprietors at the last settlement amounted to 31,118.
There are no municipalities in Garhwal.
Medical Aspects. For six months in the year the climate ofGarhwal
is damp and rainy ; but during the remaining half of each -twelvemonth
it is dry and bracing. The natural features of the country, however,
introduce manyminor modifications in various portions of the District.
Towards the Níti and Mána Passes, in the Bhutiá country , periodical
rains do not occur, and the climate is always cool. In the valleys,
intense heat prevails during the summer months, while the nights and
mornings in the cold season are bitterly cold. The average annual
rainfall at Pauri is about 48:4 inches, and at Srinagar about 37 '1
inches. Fevers and bowel complaints form the chief endemic
diseases, but cholera prevails to a much greater extent than in the
plains. The total number of deaths recorded in 1875 was 8750, or
20'21 per thousand. Small-pox formerly ravaged the District, but
owing to the vaccination arrangements lately made, this annual plague
has ceased to recur with its former regularity. There are 7 charit
able dispensaries — at Pauri, Srinagar, Mahál Chaurí, Karnprayág,
Ukhimath , Chimoli, and Joshimáth . During the year 1875-76, they
gave relief to 7710 patients.
Garhwal (or Tehri). - A Native State in political relationship with
 GARNEMETTA - GARO HILLS DISTRICT. 323
the Government of the North -Western Provinces ; lying between lat.
30° 2'and 31° 20' n., and between long.77° 54' and 79° 19' E. It extends
over the south -western declivity of the Himalayas, and consists through
out of a vast range of mountains of enormous height, intermingled with
several valleys, the drainage of the whole ultimately finding its way to the
Ganges. The chief town is Tehrí, by which appellation the State is
sometimesmentioned. The Rájá ofGarhwal, Pratáp Sáh, is a Kshattriya
of the Solar race. The early history of the dynasty is very obscure ; but
it appears that they exercised authority over the whole of Garhwal for
many generations, paying, however, a small tribute to the Emperor of
Delhi. In 1804, the Gurkhas overran the country and expelled the
Rájá, but he was replaced by the British after the Nepál war of 1815,
and that portion of his hereditary possessions which lay to the west of
the Alaknanda river was restored to its old Rájá ; the lands to the
east, the Dehra Dún and the District of Garhwal, being retained
by the British Government. (See GARHWAL DISTRICT, supra.) During
the Mutiny of 1857, the Rájá rendered valuable assistance to Govern
ment. He died in 1859 without legitimate issue, and, in accordance
with the terms of the treaty , the State lapsed to Government; but, in
consideration of the services of Sudar Shan Sáh, his eldest illegitimate
son , Bhawání Sinh, was allowed to succeed. Bhawání Sinh subse
quently received a sanad giving him the right of adoption . He was
succeeded in 1871 by his eldest son , Pratáp Sáh , the present ruler, who
was born about 1850. The Rájá pays no tribute . The area of Garh
wál is about 4180 miles, the population in 1875 was estimated at
150,000, and the revenue at £8000. The hills are generally very
steep, and a large portion of the territory is covered with forests, which
include valuable deodar tracts. These were leased to the British
Government in 1864.
Garnemetta (Gurnimetta ). — Town in Cuddapah District, Madras.
Lat. 13° 48' n., long. 78° 56' E .; pop. (1871), 5938 ; houses, 1179.
Gáro Hills. — The District of the Gáro Hills forms the south -western
corner of the Province of Assam . It lies between 25° 9' and 26° 1' N .
lat., and between 89° 52' and 91° 3' E. long., forming a mountainous
projection between Goálpára and the Bengal District of Maimansinh .
According to the recent revenue survey, which closed operations in
1875, it contains an area of 3180 square miles, with an estimated popu
lation of from 80,000 to 100,000 persons. The administrative head
quarters are at the station of TURA, on the mountain range of the same
name.
Physical Aspects. — The entire District, as implied by its name, is
broken by hills. On the north , near the Brahmaputra river, the hills
are low , and covered only with grass or scrub jungle ; but they gradually
increase in height towards the interior of the District. The two
324 GARO HILLS DISTRICT.
principal ranges are known as the Turá and Arbelá Hills, which run
parallel to another east and west. Their greatest height is about
4500 feet, which is attained by two peaks in the Turá range. As is the
case with all the mountains on the north -east frontier of India , these
ranges take the form of a series of long even ridges, with deep valleys
between, occasionally diversified by peaks or towering masses of rock.
Except on the rare spots where júm cultivation has been introduced,
they are clothed with dense forest, containing timber-trees of majestic
dimensions. From the summit of Turá Hill a magnificent view can be
obtained over the flat Districts of Goálpára, Rangpur, and Maimansinh ,
and the sweeping course of the Brahmaputra can be traced for a
distance of upwards of 100 miles. On a clear day in the months of
October and November, the eye can discern the snowy peaks of the
Himalayas, far beyond the distant station of Dárjiling. In the valleys,
also, the scenery is of a very picturesque character. The hill streams
break through rocky gorges, which are overgrown to the water's edge
with forest trees, creepers of many varieties, and gigantic ferns.
The BRAHMAPUTRA, called the Amáwári by the Gáros, nowhere
touches the boundary of the District ; but several tributaries of that
river take their rise among the hills, and find their way out into the
Districts ofGoálpára and Maimansinh . Of these, the five most import
ant are the KRISHNAI, KALU , BHOGAI, NETAI, and SOMESWARI, all of
which are used for floating down timber rafts, and can be navigated by
canoes during the cold season . The Turá range constitutes the water
shed of the District, all the streams north of that line draining into
Goalpára , while those to the south flow into Maimansinh. The streams
abound in fish , which the Gáros are expert in catching by several
ingenious devices.
The extensive forests of the District are too remote from means of
communication to yield much profit. The valuable sál tree is very
abundant, and the tún, kurái, and ajár are also felled for timber. In
recent years , the British authorities have adopted the policy of taking
into their own hands the entire management of the forests, after com
pensating the ramíndárs and the hillmen for the rights which they
formerly enjoyed. It is proposed to plant nurseries of sál in spots con
venient for water carriage, and carefully reserve them from the fires of
júm cultivation . At present the woodcutters take out licences to fell
timber within certain limits. In the year 1874-75, the revenue derived
from this source amounted to £2005, but the collections are very
fluctuating. The jungle products are — lac, bees-wax, various fibres
used for making string and cloth, and a few dyes. Wild animals and
large game abound, including elephants, rhinoceros, tigers, wild dogs,
buffaloes, mithún or wild cows, and many kinds of deer. Government
has recently asserted its prerogative to the sole right of capturing wild
 GARO HILLS DISTRICT. 325
elephants. It has been estimated that the District can annually supply
nearly 200 of these valuable animals for several years to come, which
alone would more than repay all the local expenses of administration .
The mineral products known to exist are - coal of fair quality and
under a large area, building stone, and lime. No metals have hitherto
been discovered.
History. — The Gáro Hills were first constituted a separate admini
stration in the year 1866 . Previous to that date the independence of
the tribes living in the remote hills had been tacitly recognised. From
the time when the British obtained possession of the diwáni of Bengal
in the last century , numerous Gáro villages along the foot of the hills
were included within the Districts of Goalpára and Maimansinh. The
frontier, however, was always very ill-defined, being fixed neither by
geographical nor ethnical principles. The boundaries were finally
settled by the survey executed between 1870 and 1875. Towards the
east a line has been drawn along rivers and other natural boundaries, to
demarcate the Gáro from the Khási Hills. On the north and west, some
tracts previously included within Goálpára District have been definitely
attached to the Gáro Hills ; and the dues and cesses formerly levied by
the lowland zamindárs are now collected on their account by the direct
agency of Government. On the south side, towards Maimansinh , a
similar principle has been adopted ; and a long-standing dispute has
been terminated,which dated back to the Permanent Settlement. The
Rájá of Susang and other Maimansinh zamíndárs had persistently
asserted their claim to a large portion of the hills, as having been
originally included within their permanently settled estates ; and they
urged, accordingly , that such portion of the hills lay within the juris
diction of the Collector of Maimansinh. These claims, however, were
never admitted by theGovernment. In 1866 , the boundary was roughly
drawn at its present line, and the Maimansinh landholders were left to
prosecute in the courts of law any claims which they might possess.
But though a British officer was appointed to theGáro Hills in 1866,
the mountainous interior still remained a terra incognita ,and its inhabit
ants continued to be known as the Independent Gáros. In December
1867 the Deputy Commissioner took up his quarters at Turá, and by
the end of 1871 nearly 100 villages had tendered their submission . In
that year, however, there occurred the unfortunate incident which led
to the armed expedition of 1872-73. After the conclusion of the
survey of the adjoining Khási Hills, the survey party was deputed to
explore the country of the Independent Gáros. At first, no active
opposition was encountered, though it was found that the hillmen
gradually ceased to offer ready assistance. Their suspicions evidently
were aroused . In March 1871, two Bengali coolies of the survey party,
who had been detached to procure labour from the secluded villages of
326 GARO HILLS DISTRICT.
Rangmágiri and Pharámgiri, were treacherously attacked , and one of
them was murdered . This outrage was followed by several raids on
the part of the Independent Gáros against their countrymen who lived
under British protection. The Deputy Commissioner immediately
occupied the rebellious villages with bodies of police, but he was not
strong enough to pursue the inhabitants into their retreat amid the
forests. Accordingly it was determined to take advantage of the cold
season of 1872-73, in order to enforce the authority of the British
Government throughout the whole country, and to receive the submis
sion of about 60 villages that still held out. The expedition consisted
of three strong detachments of police , operating from separate points,
and three companies of the 43d Assam Light Infantry . The military ,
however, were never required to advance farther than the frontier of
the Khási Hills. After one engagement, in which the Gáros suffered
some loss, the three police parties effected their junction , having
marched through the country in all directions. Every one of the
independent villages now came in to tender their submission. They
surrendered the heads of the persons killed by them in their several
raids, and paid the fine that was inflicted on them . At the same time,
permanentmeasures were adopted for maintaining order in the future.
Every part of the lately independent country was thoroughly examined,
the number and size of the villages noted, and arrangements made for
the appointment of lashkárs or heads of circles. Every village was
compelled to contribute to the revenue, according to an assessment
levied on each house . By the end of May 1873, a map of the entire
Gáro Hills District had been prepared , on the scale of four miles to the
inch ; and the wild interior was thus robbed of its chief protection ,
which our ignorance had conferred upon it. The results of this
expedition have been most beneficial, and the civil administration has
since been conducted with little or no trouble.
People. — No attempt at a regular enumeration of the inhabitants has
ever been attempted in the Gáro Hills. The Deputy Commissioner
estimates the population at from 80,000 to 100,000. The former
estimate is adopted in the Census Report of 1872. In the hills proper,
the only race to be found is the Gáro itself, with the exception of one
small isolated village called Thápá, which is inhabited by Rábhás. But
several villages on the plains, which have recently been included within
the boundaries of the District, are peopled by Rábhás, Kochs, Ráj
bansis, Dálus, Mechs, and a few Musalmáns. All these tribes possess
ethnical affinities in common with the Gáros, but the latter retain
sufficient national characteristics to be classed as a people by them
selves. They are thought to represent the primitive stock , of which the
Rábhá, Mech, Káchári, and Koch represent offshoots, that have been
modified by life on the plains and contact with Hinduism . According
 GARO HILLS DISTRICT. 327
to local tradition, the Gáro Hills were once occupied by Kochs, who
were gradually driven northward by an invasion of Gáros ; and it is a
fact that the Kochs at the present day claim land in the hills.
The Gáros proper are a robust and active race, capable of enduring
a great amount of exertion . They are of about the middle height, and
of a dark -brown swarthy colour. Neither the men nor women have
any pretensions to good looks. Their cheekbones are prominent, noses
broad , lips thick , ears large, and eyes of a hazel colour. The men are
remarkable for deficiency of beard, whatever hair grows on the face
being carefully plucked out. The hair of the head with both sexes is
never cut, but either tied up in a knot or kept off the face by means of
a piece of cloth. The dress of the men consists merely of a strip of
home-spun cotton cloth, about a yard and a half in length , which is
passed round the waist and between the legs, and then tied at the back.
The dress of the women only differs in being slightly more extensive.
In addition , both sexes carry a small blanket, usually made from the
bark of a tree. This is manufactured by steeping the bark in water,
beating it out, and afterwards drying it well in the sun. In the
eastern hills, the Gáros have adopted the short fringed jacket, which is
characteristic of the Khásiás. Both men and women are inordinately
fond of personal ornaments. The males wear three or four brass ear
rings, and as many bead necklaces as they can afford. Men of heredi
tary rank wear an iron or brass armlet above the elbow , and a peculiar
ornament round the head,which consists of brass plates connected by a
string. It is said that this last may only be assumed by one who has
slain an enemy in battle. The women wear, besides necklaces of glass
and bell-metal beads, ear-rings of enormous size and weight. It is a
coveted mark of distinction to have the lobe of the ear altogether torn
away by the strain thus caused, in which case the ear-rings are suspended
from a string passed over the top of the head. The weapons of the
Gáros consist of spear, sword, and shield . The sword which is
peculiar to these hills is a two -edged instrument with an abrupt point,
the blade and handle forming one piece. Besides being a weapon, it is
used for every variety of domestic and agricultural purpose. The
shield is composed of thin strips of bamboo ingeniously worked
together, so as to be almost proof against a spear-thrust. In the back
of the shield is a receptacle for bamboo spikes, which form an essential
item in the equipment of a Gáro warrior. These spikes are intended
to be planted in the ground, so as to block the way against a shoeless
enemy; and they have been found to answer their purpose very
effectually. In food, theGáros may be styled omnivorous ; they eat not
only beef and pork,but also tigers,dogs, snakes, and frogs. Their staple
diet is rice, and their drink rice beer. Milk they altogether eschew ,
like many of thehill tribes of India . They are great smokers of tobacco,
 T
328 GARO HILLS DISTRIC .
but touch no intoxicating drug. Their villages are usually placed on the
side of a hill, some distance from the crest, and within easy reach of
water. The houses, as is generally the case among the tribes of the
north -east frontier, are built on piles, and are frequently of considerable
size. The materials are bamboo and thatch. The structure is usually
divided into the following compartments : A large room where the
family live, an apartment for the women , a place where the cattle are
kept, and verandahs in front and behind. A rude fireplace, consisting
merely of smoothed clay, occupies the middle of the house ; and the
smoke is left to escape as best it can. During the agricultural season ,
the entire body of villagers occupy temporary huts in the immediate
neighbourhood of the common cultivation. The most remarkable
custom of the Gáros is one which they share with the Khasias. The
wife is regarded as the head of the family , and through her the descent
of property is traced. Theman who marries the favourite daughter of
the house is required to marry his own mother-in -law , on the death of
his father-in -law ; and in this manner he succeeds to the family property .
This custom is apparently a survival of the system ofpolyandry . That
system still exists intact among Himálayan tribes ; for example , among
the tribes between Simla and Thibet. It is also practised among the
Nairs and the aboriginal Todas of Southern India . According to this
system when in full force, a woman is the lawful wife of a family
of brethren , and a man 's property descends, not to his own, but to
his sister's children. Among tribes who have advanced so far as to
give up the practice of polyandry, but who still preserve its tradi
tions, it leaves behind curious customs of inheritance, such as that
just described among the Khásias. Property still descends through
the females, and the sons receive nothing, but have to look to the
family into which they marry for their advancement in life. As
among the Khásias, in all domestic matters, the women enjoy a
position of the highest consideration, and it is said that their voice
has great weight also in public councils. Marriages are arranged
by the parents, and concluded when the parties are of fit age. No
dower is demanded on either side. The husband immediately migrates
to the house of his wife's family, and becomes one of her clan .
Intermarriages between members of the same clan are not permitted,
but otherwise no regard is paid to the ties of consanguinity . A second
wife cannot be taken without the consent of the first. Adultery is
punished by a fine. The funeral ceremonies imply the belief in a
future state of existence. The body is burned, and the ashes finally
buried near the hut-door. At the time of cremation, dogs are sacrificed,
in order that they may direct the spirit on his way. Up to a very recent
period, human victimswere offered on the occasion of the death of a
chief. If no slaves were available , a foray was made into the plains to
 GARO HILLS DISTRICT. 329
bring back heads. The Gáros believe in a supreme being called
Saljang, who is impersonated in the sun. But the real objects of their
religion are numerous malignant demons, to whom is attributed every
physical and moral evil, and whose wrath requires to be appeased by
bloody sacrifices. It is the duty of the priest or kamál to determine by
certain omens which particular evil spirit is at work, to arrange the
ceremonies, and repeat the necessary incantations. Like the aborigines
of Central India , the Gáros are excessively superstitious, and believe in
the existence of witches and imps of all kinds. They have a curious
idea that certain persons are capable of leaving their human frames,
and taking up their abode in the body of a tiger or other animal.
The Gáro villages vary greatly in size. Some may have as many as
2000, others have no more than 30 inhabitants. TURA STATION, with
only about 300 inhabitants, is the only place possessing any special
characteristics. It is situated on a spur of the Turá range, about 2000
feet above sea level, and the same distance from the summit. It con
tains a large bungalow for the Deputy Commissioner, barracks and huts
for 150 constables, and the school-house of the American Mission .
The stockade by which it was originally protected, and a small outpost
station, have now been suffered to fall into decay. Water is plentiful in
the immediate neighbourhood, and an aqueduct has recently been cut,
running right through the station .
Agriculture, etc. — The Gáros cultivate their land on the system
known as júm . A spot of land is selected on the hillside, and the
jungle cut down during the cold season. Towards the end of March ,
the trees and brushwood are burned as they lie ; and the rice crop is
planted in April, at the commencement of the rains. Shortly after
wards, the crops of vegetables, cotton, pepper, and pulses are sown in
the same field ; and each crop is reaped in order, as it comes to
maturity . In the second year, rice only is grown ; and after two years'
cultivation, the clearing is abandoned and suffered to lie fallow for
about ten years. The sole implement of agriculture is the large knife
or sword , called áte by the Gáros. Neither plough nor spade is used,
except in the few Hinduized villages bordering on the plains. The
rice crop generally raised corresponds to the áus of Bengal; the out
turn is estimated at about 4ž cwts. per acre, valued at 155. The cotton
is short in staple and poor in quality . Several experiments have been
made with seed from Hinganghát, but hitherto without any success.
The attempted introduction of the Khasia potato has also resulted
in failure. Among miscellaneous crops may be mentioned — pulses
(reared as food for the lac insect), indigo, ginger, turmeric, and pán or
betel-leaf. Domestic animals are not used for purposes of agriculture.
Cattle are purchased from the plains for sacrifice ; pigs, goats, and
fowl are reared for food. Every village contains several watch -dogs,
330 GARO HILLS DISTRICT.
and numbers of dogs are imported from the plains to be used for
food.
There are no regular day-labourers in the District. A fair remunera
tion for a Gáro casually engaged to carry baggage, would be from 4d.
to 6d. a day. The work at the station is mainly carried on by coolies
imported from the plains. The Gáros have no weights nor measures
of quantity, but they are extremely acute in guessing the amount of
the commodities they barter with Bengali traders. In 1871, the price
of the best cleaned rice at Turá was 13s. 8d. per cwt.; of common rice,
6s. rod. per cwt.
No such calamity as blight, flood, or drought has been known to
occur in the Gáro Hills. The country is well watered both by streams
and rainfall, but the average harvest of rice is barely sufficient for the
local consumption . In the improbable contingency of distress from a
failure of the dus crop, the inhabitants could be best relieved by the
establishment of food depôts at the hill passes, which would prevent a
turbulent population from crowding into the plains. The deficient
rainfall of 1873 did not seriously affect the rice harvest.
Manufactures, etc. — There are no special local manufactures in the
hills. The Gáro women weave a coarse cotton cloth for the scanty
garments of themselves and the men , using a loom which has evidently
been borrowed from Bengal. The cloth is dyed blue with indigo, and
generally ornamented with red stripes. A rude pottery is made in
certain villages , but all metal utensils are imported. The District
trade is entirely conducted at the small markets situated at the passes
leading into the plains. The principal articles of export are - cotton ,
timber, boats, bamboos, firewood , rubber, and lac ; the imports received
in exchange consist of — rice, dried fish, cattle, goats, fowls, pigs, cloth ,
and ornaments. The raw cotton grown on the jums is bought up by
Márwárí merchants, to be shipped to Sirajganj. In 1874-75, about
25,000 cwts. of cotton were exported , valued at vis. per cwt. In the
same year, the exports of lac were estimated at about 1600 cwts., worth
about £3 per cwt.
Administration . — In the year 1869-70, the total revenue derived
from the Gáro Hills was £798, while the expenditure on administra
tion amounted to £6476 . By 1874-75, the revenue had risen to
£3745, of which £610 was collected on account of certain zamíndárs
in Goálpára District.
Medical Aspect. — The rainy season generally lasts from about the
middle of June to the end of October, but occasional showers set in as
early as May. The cold weather lasts from November to February ;
and the months of March and April are usually dry and warm . During
the two years 1874 and 1875, the average annual rainfall registered at
Turá station was 126 .97 inches. The chief diseases affecting strangers
 GAROL - GARUDANADI. 331
to the hills are fevers of a malarioustype, sometimes complicated with en
largement of the spleen or liver, diarrhæa, dysentery, rheumatism , chest
affections, and ulcers. The Gáros, in addition , suffer from bronchocele
and elephantiasis. In 1871, a severe epidemic of cholera broke out at
the station of Turá. Out of 80 persons attacked ,as many as 32 died .
Garol. — Petty State in Rewá Kánta , Bombay. It has been lately
transferred to the Pánch Maháls District ; but the tribute of £3 is
still paid to the Gáekwár of Baroda through the Rewa Kánta Agency.
Garola . — Rent- free estate in Ságar (Saugor) District, Central
Provinces; consisting of one village, with an area of 5479 acres, and
yielding a yearly revenue of £88. Pop. (1870 ), 1043. The village
became the headquarters of a tract bestowed by the Emperor of Delhi
on Ráo Kám Chandra ; the greater part of which was resumed by the
Peshwá in 1746. Garolá contains a small fort, and is surrounded by a
stone wall. To the east is a fine lake, covering 76 acres; the soil around
is fertile. Government school for boys.
Garotha. — The north -eastern tahsil of Jhansi District, North -Western
Provinces ; consisting of a hilly country , gradually sloping down to the
plains along the Betwa and the Dhasán rivers , and much intersected by
native territory. Area, 501 square miles, of which 232 are cultivated ;
population (1872), 85,202 ; land revenue, £14,061; total Government
revenue, £15,350 ; rental paid by cultivators, £36 ,659; incidence of
Government revenue per acre, 10 d .
Garrauli.— One of the petty States of Bundelkhand in the Central
India Agency, under the Government of India. It is divided into
eight tracts. Gopál Sinh, the first jágírdár, and the father of the
present chief, was one of the most active and daring of the military
adventurers who opposed the occupation of Bundelkhand by the
British Government in 1803. He had been in the service of Darjan
Sinh and Hari Sinh , the grandsons of Chhatarsál Sinh , in Jáso ; and on
the invasion of Ali Bahadur, he seized the parganá of Kotrà for him
self. For years he resisted all efforts of persuasion or force to reduce
him to submission ; but being at last convinced of the hopelessness of
the unequal contest, he submitted on condition of receiving a full
pardon and a provision in land. Accordingly , in 1812, he received a
sanad and the grant of the Garrauli jágír. He was succeeded by
his son, Diwán Bahadur Parichit, a Hindu of the Bundela caste , who
is the present chief or jágírdár. The chief has received a sanad of
adoption . The area of the State is estimated at 25 square miles; the
population (1875 )at about 5000 ; the revenue at £1500. Themilitary
force consists of 75 men .
Garuda-giri (or Gardan-giri). - Hill peak in Kádúr District,Mysore;
3680 feet above sea level. Lat. 13° 29' N., long. 76° 17' E.
Garudanadi (or Gaddilam ). — River in South Arcot District,Madras.
332 GARUMARI- GAUHATI TOWN.
It rises in the Yegal Tank , in Kallakurchi, and is fed by the Mallatár.
After a course of 59 miles between Fort St. David and Cuddalore, it
falls into the Bay of Bengal.
Garumári. — Forest reserve in Darrang District, Assam ; containing
valuable sál timber (Shorea robusta ). Area, 205'18 acres.
Garvi. — Petty Bhíl (Bheel) State in Khandesh , Bombay Presidency:
- See DANG STATES.
Garwá. - Municipal village on the North Koel river, Lohárdaga
District, Bengal. Lat. 24° 9' 45" n., long. 83° 51' 10" E. The chief
distributing centre for the surplus produce of Palámau Subdivision ,
and of a great part ofSargujá and the tributary States of Chutiá Nágpur.
The Garwá market is held in the dry season, on the sands of a river ;
and here stick -lac, resin , catechu , cocoons of tasar silk , hides, oil-seeds,
ghi, cotton , and iron are collected for exportation ; the imports are food
grains, brass vessels, piece-goods, blankets, silk , salt, tobacco, spices,
drugs, etc. Municipal revenue (1876-77), £204, or iod. per head of
population .
Gathar. — Town in Shikárpur District, Sind. Pop. (1872), 2531 –
Muhammadans, 1174 ; Hindus, 1357.
Gatka.— One of the petty States of Hallár in Kathiáwár, Bombay ;
consisting of 5 villages, with i independent tribute-payer. The revenue
in 1876 was estimated at £1000 ; of which tribute of £64 is payable
to the British Government, and £20 to Junagarh.
Gauháti (Gowhatty ). — Chief town of Kámrúp District, and the largest
in Assam ; situated on the left or south bank of the Brahmaputra , in lat.
26° 11' N., and long. 91° 48'E. Pop. (1872), 11,492 ; municipal revenue
(1875-76), £2727 ; rate of taxation, 4s. gd. per head. Gauhati was
the ancient capital of the Hindu kingdom of Assam , and the seat of the
British administration until the formation of the Province in 1874, when
the residence of the Chief Commissioner was fixed at Shillong in the
Khási Hills. It is still the most populous town in the Brahmaputra
valley, and spreads over an area of 2 square miles. According to local
tradition , it is identified with the city of Prágjotishpur, the capital of
Narak and his son Bhagadáttá , monarchs mentioned in the Mahábhá .
rata . In historical times, it was the capital of the Hindu kingdom of
Kámrúp, which extended over great part of Northern Bengal ; and
subsequently it was the residence of the Bar Phukán, or viceroy of the
Aham dynasty. Its former glories only exist in the ruins which lie
scattered on both banks of the Brahmaputra. The remains of extensive
fortifications can still be traced, though the gateways existing at the
beginning of the present century have now entirely disappeared. A
large proportion of the soil in the cultivated fields in the neighbourhood
is composed of brick, mortar , and pottery ; and carved stones and
beautifully finished slabs, the remains of once noble temples, are fre
 GAULI- GAUR CITY. 333
quently found beneath the surface. The numerous tanks, that attest
the command of naked labour possessed by its former rulers, are now
choked up with weeds and jungle, or are entirely effaced by a false
though luxuriant soil that floats on the stagnant waters concealed
beneath. The site of the town is regarded as very unhealthy. The
houses are situated along the southern bank of the Brahmaputra, on
comparatively high ground ; but behind there stretches a malarious
swamp or bíl, several square miles in area. In recent years, some
improvement has been effected, by enforcing sanitary rules within the
limits of the municipality . In 1875, the military cantonments were
occupied by the 42d Assam Light Infantry, with a total strength of
500 men. Gauhati is an important centre of river trade, being one of
the largest seats of commerce in Assam . In 1876 -77, European piece
goods were imported to the value of £16 ,000, and cotton twist to the
value of £10,500. An excellent cart road leads south to Shillong, a
distance of67 miles. The High School atGauhati is the only one in the
Province with a College Department, teaching up to the university
standard . There is also a flourishing Persian school. In the immediate
neighbourhood are two frequented places of Hindu pilgrimage —the
temple of Kámákhyá, on a hill two miles west of the town ; and the
rocky island of Umánánda, in the mid -channel of the Brahmaputra .
Gauli (or Mewási). — One of the Mowár States in Khandesh, Bom
bay. Area unknown ; estiniated pop. ( 1875-76), 500 ; supposed gross
revenue, £1500. The country is extremely mountainous, and covered
with dense forests. Principal produce , timber. Climate exceedingly un
healthy. The chief is named Khatia Walad Nana Wálvi, a Bhil Hindu of
the Giras family . He resides at Raisinhpur. He is one of the superior
chiefs of Khandesh , and can read and write Marathi and Gujarathi.
Gaur (or Lakhnauti).— Ruined city and ancient capital of Bengal,
Maldah District ; situated on a deserted channel of the Ganges, in lat.
24° 52' n ., long. 88° 10' E . The time of the foundation of the city is
involved in utter obscurity, and the whole course of its history, down to
the day when itwas finally deserted, is only to be vaguely conjectured.
With regard to its origin , it is known that it was the metropolis of
Bengal under its Hindu kings. Local traditions connect some of its
ruinswith the oft-recurring names of Adisur, Ballál Sen, and Lakshman .
Themost ancient name for the city itself seems to have been Laksh
manáwatí, corrupted into Lakhnauti. The name Gaur is also of
great antiquity, but it is probable that this name was more strictly
applicable to the kingdom than to the city. The ascertained history of
Gaur begins with its conquest in 1204 A. D . by the Muhammadans, who
retained it as the chief seat of their power in Bengal formore than three
centuries. This was the period during which were erected the numerous
mosques and other Muhammadan buildings, which yet remain in a
334 GAUR CITY.
tolerable state of preservation . When the Afghán kings of Bengal
established their independence, they transferred the seat of govern
ment to PANDUAH , also in Maldah District ; and to build the
public structures of their new capital, plundered Gaur of every monu
ment that could be removed. Hence it is, that while the ruins of
Panduah are covered with stones bearing Hindu sculptures, scarcely a
single relic has been found on the site of Gaur that could be definitely
referred to a Hindu building. Panduah was soon afterwards deserted,
and the royal residence retransferred to Gaur, which continued, under
the name of Janatábád, to be the capital of Bengal so long as its
Muhammadan kings retained their independence . During the latter
years of the Afghán dynasty, the seat of government was removed
to TANDAN or Tangra , in the same District ; but Gaur preserved
the wealth and populousness of a great metropolis until it finally dis
appeared from history at the time when Akbar's generals reconquered
Bengal. During these last years of its greatness, it suffered many vicissi
tudes. It was plundered by its own kings, repeatedly besieged,and more
than once taken by storm . Dáúd Khán was the last of the Afghán dynasty.
His refusal to pay homage to the Mughal Emperor at Delhi, led to the
final subjugation of Bengal. A large army under Mana'im Khán finally
defeated Dáúd in 1575, and occupied during the rainy season the already
decaying city of Gaur. A pestilence , however, broke out, by which
thousands of the troops and inhabitants are reported to have died daily.
This completed the desolation of the city. The imperial general,
who had resolved to maintain Gaur as the seat of government, and to
restore its former magnificence, fell a victim to the general contagion.
From henceforth the name of Gaur is scarcely to be found in Muham
madan annals, and it is supposed that the city was never reoccupied
after this depopulation. Such is the generally received account of the
desertion of Gaur ; but Dr. Buchanan -Hamilton discredits the story of
the pestilence, and states that the Mughal viceroys of Bengal used
occasionally to reside at Gaur, and that as late as 1639 Shah Shujá,
the brother of Aurangzeb, added buildings to the city . This prince
made Rájmahál the capital of Bengal; and from that time, according to
Dr. Buchanan-Hamilton , dates the desolation of Gaur. He thinks
that the city then went to instant ruin , not from any great or uncommon
calamity, but merely from the removal of the seat of government.'
The ruins have been a quarry, not only for the brick houses of the
neighbouring towns and villages, but also for the mosques, palaces, and
public monuments of Murshidabad. It is said that the Commercial
Residency at English BAZAR was constructed with bricks from Gaur.
Dense jungle now reigns supreme over the half-obliterated ruins of
walls, forts, and palaces ; and tigers, rock pythons, and pelicans are
the chief inhabitants ofGaur.
 GAUR CITY 335
The ruins were first explored by Mr. H . Creighton in 1801, and
afterwards by Dr. Buchanan-Hamilton in 1810 . This latter gentleman
has left an elaborate description of the ruins as they then appeared, from
which the following account is mainly condensed. It must be remem
bered, however, that their dilapidation, partly from natural causes, but
chiefly by the hand ofman , has rapidly advanced since that time.
The city , with its suburbs, covered an area variously estimated at
from 20 to 30 square miles. The situation is somewhat elevated, and
the soil is clay, well suited to preserve the houses from inundations.
The dimensions of the city proper, i.e. the part within the great con
tinuous embankment, were about74 miles in length from north to south ,
and from 1 to 2 miles in breadth , giving a total area ofabout 13 square
miles. The west side of the city was throughout washed by the main
stream of the Ganges, the eastern side being protected partly by the
Mahánanda and partly by a line of perennial swamps. To the south
but little protection was needed , for the junction a little lower down of
the Mahananda and the Ganges would have prevented an invader from
choosing such a circumscribed base of operations. To the north ,which
was themost accessible quarter, an artificial bulwark was required. A
line of fortifications, about 6 miles in length, extends in an irregular
curve from the old channel of the Bhagirathi at Sonatálá to near the
Mahánanda at Bholahát. This rampart, mainly composed of brick , is
about 100 feet wide at its base. At each end, where it touches on the
rivers, it is cut off by a ditch 120 feet wide. At the north -east part of
this curve is a gate , protected by a strong projecting outwork in the
form of a quadrant, through which a high embanked road passes north
and south. This outwork contains many tanks, and the monument of
a Muhammadan saint. It seemsto have been the station of the police
officer who had charge of this part of the city. Near the north -east
corner of the outwork, at the confluence of the Kálindrí with the
Mahánanda, stands a minár or tower, which , although now fallen to
ruin, still presents a striking object as viewed from the ferry at Miná
sarái. North ofthe rampart, and entirely apart from the city , are two
isolated ruins, connected with the names of Adisúr and Ballál Sen ,
early Hindu kings of Bengal. Close by are the ruins of the palace
where Ballál Sen is said to have resided, consisting, like the palace at
Dacca, of a square of about 400 yards, surrounded by a ditch. Behind
the rampart is the northern suburb of the city. It is of vast extent, in
the shape of a quadrant of a circle, with an area of about 6000 yards.
It does not appear to have been at any time thickly inhabited. The
eastern portion is now occupied with marshes ; but the western portion,
near the Bhagirathi, is enclosed by earthworks, and containsmany public
buildings. Here is situated the Large Ságar Díghí, the most celebrated
artificial piece of water in Bengal. Its dimensions are almost 1600
336 GAUR CITY.
yards from north to south , and more than 800 from east to west. The
banks are built of brick, and the water remains pure and sweet to the
present day. This was, no doubt, a Hindu structure ; and in the
neighbourhood are the two most frequented places of Hindu devotion
in the District. The banks, however, are now occupied with Muham
madan buildings, of which the most conspicuous is the tomb of Mukh
dam Shah Jalál, a saint who is stated to have exercised great influence
in the time of the early Musalmán kings of Bengal. Near this tomb is
a small mosque. Both these buildings are supported by an endowment,
and tolerably well cared for. Opposite this suburb, at a market-place
now called Sadullápur, is the chief descent (ghát) to the old bed of the
holy stream . To this spot dead bodies of Hindus are still brought
from great distances to be buried.
Immediately to the south lies the city itself, which, towards each
suburb and along the Ganges, has been defended by a strong rampart
and ditch . On the side facing the Mahánanda the rampart has been
double , and in most parts there have been two immense ditches, and in
some parts three. No doubt these works were designed as much for
embankments and drains as for fortifications. The base of the outer
embankment was in one place measured by Mr. Creighton, and found
to be 150 feet thick. By far the greater portion of the 13 square
miles thus enclosed appears to have been thickly inhabited. Small
tanks are everywhere to be seen, as well as many foundations of houses
and the remains of small places of worship . In the southern part,
there have been numerous roads, raised very high, and so wide, that in
many places, small buildings of brick were erected on their sides. These
were probably chapels, or other places of public resort; while the
dwelling-houses were huddled together along the sides of the tanks.
Somewhat to the south , on the banks of the Bhagirathi, was the citadel
or kilá, a work evidently of the Muhammadan period. It extends
about a mile in length from north to south , by about from 600 to 800
yards broad. The rampart which encircles this area has been very
strongly built of brick, with many flanking angles and round bastions at
the corners. The palace, at the south -east corner of the citadel, was
surrounded by a wall of brick about 40 feet high and 8 feet thick . In
the interior, the remains of several cross-walls are visible, but the
arrangement of the apartments cannot be ascertained . Indeed, almost
the whole site is now under cultivation. A little north of the palace are
the royal tombs, where Husáin Shah and other independent kings of
Bengal lie buried . This building has been almost entirely destroyed,
but it had evidently considerable pretensions to elegance. The floor
was paved with stone, and the graves were covered with slabs of
polished hornblende. Not one of these stones, however, now remains.
Within the citadel, also , are two mosques, the larger of which has fallen
 GAUR CITY. 337
into ruins. The smaller, built by Husáin Shah, or by his successor,
Nazrat Shah, known as the Kadam RásúlMosque, is in good preserva
tion , being supported by an adequate endowment. Just outside the
east wall of the citadel stands a lofty tower of brick, up the centre of
which runs a winding stair leading to a chamber at the summit. It is
known as the Pír Asá Manára, but no object is assigned for its erection
by the natives. Mr. Fergusson, however, in his History of Eastern
Architecture, states that it is evidently a pillar of victory, a Jaya
Stambhá,such as the Kutab Minár at Delhi. Abouta mile and halfnorth
of the citadel is a place of 600 sq. yards, surrounded by a rampart and
ditch, known as the Flower-Garden . South -east of this is the Pijaswárí
or " Abode of Thirst,' a tank of considerable dimensions, but contain
ing bad brackish water. A tradition states that condemned criminals
were allowed to drink nothing but water from this tank, and thus
perished of thirst. There are many other large tanks within the city
walls, some containing tame crocodiles, which are fed by the resident
fákirs. Of these , the finest is the Small Ságar Dighi, which only in size
is inferior to the tank of the same name in the north suburb . Between
the Píjáswárí and the citadel is the Great Golden Mosque, reckoned
the grandest building in Gaur. Dr. Buchanan -Hamilton thought its
proportions mean . It is 180 feet from north to south , 60 feet from east
to west, and 20 feet high to the top of the cornice. It is a perfect
parallelopiped without projection or recess, except that it was formerly
covered with 33 domes. The only other structure of interest is the
fine central gate in the south wall of the city . It is called the Kotwali
Darwázá , presumably from the circumstance that the superintendent of
police was stationed here . The gate is described as being still in good
preservation.
Southwards from this gate stretches an immense suburb as far as
Pukhariyá, a distance of about 7 miles. Its width is comparatively
small, but it bears abundant traces of having been at one time densely
populated. It was called Firozipur, from Firoz Shah, the second of
the two kings of Bengal of that name. Towards the east and south
lay an embankment and ditch , probably designed to ward off the
floods, which have now created large marshes in that direction. This
southern suburb contains a good number of public buildings. The
most prominent among these are the Lesser Golden Mosque, which Dr.
Buchanan-Hamilton describes as one of the neatest pieces of archi
tecture in the whole place ; ' and the tomb of Niámat-ullá -Wáli. This
person was the spiritual guide of Shah Shujá, and his monument, which
is small and clumsy , is to this day carefully tended by his descendants.
Such are the ruins ofGaur. No doubt, many of the accounts of its
vast population are oriental exaggerations. But, even according to Dr.
Buchanan -Hamilton , who places the inhabited area at 20 square miles,
VOL. III.
 338 GAURA JAMUN — GAW .
it would have contained over 600,000 or 700,000 souls. It is now
entirely deserted, and overgrown with dense jungle, except where culti
vation is again gradually spreading.
Gaura Jamún. - Pargana in Musafirkhána tahsil, Sultánpur Dis
trict, Oudh. Area, 93 square miles, of which 49 are under cultivation.
Pop. (1869), 50,016, or 538 per square mile ; 91 villages.
Gaurangdihi. — Hills in Bánkurá District, Bengal. Three conical
hills at a village of the same name, 24 miles from Bánkurá , on the road
to Raghunathpur ; about 300 feet above the level of the surrounding
country, covered with tree jungle, and so steep as to be only accessible
to men . Lat. 23° 26 ' N ., long. 86° 48' 45" E.
Gauridár.— Petty State in Hallár, Káthiáwár, Bombay ; consisting
of 6 villages, with 1 independent tribute -payer. Estimated revenue
(1876 ), £1300 ; tribute of £101 payable to the British Government,
and £61 to Junagarh .
Gaurihár. - One of the petty States in Bundelkhand, under the
Central India Agency ; situated between 25° 14' and 25° 26 ' n. lat., and
between 80° 12' and 80° 21' E . long. It is bounded on the east by
Banda District and part of Hamirpur, on the north and west by Bánda,
and on the south by the Chhatarpur State. Area, 72 square miles ;
estimated pop . 12,000 ; revenue, £5000. The predecessor of the
present ruler was a guerilla leader of importance during the period of
anarchy in Bundelkhand which prevailed at the close of the last cen
tury. He received a grant of the Gaurihár jágír in 1807. The present
chief, Ráo Bahadur Rudra Sinh , did good service, at great personal
loss, during the Mutiny of 1857 ; for which he received the title of Ráo
Bahadur, a dress of honour worth Rs. 10 ,000, and the privilege of
adoption, which was subsequently confirmed by sanad. The chief has
a military force of 3 guns, 35 cavalry, and 240 foot soldiers. Gaurihár
town is situated in lat. 25° 16 ' N., and long. 80° 14 ' E.
Gauripur.– Village in Goálpára District, Assam , on the right or
north bank of the Brahmaputra . Lat. 26° 11' N ., long. 90° 7' E . ; pop .
(1872), 1805. It is the residence of the wealthiest landowner in the
District, and a busy centre of river traffic. A large trading fair is held
here during the Durga Puja festival in October or November. In
1876-77, Gauripur exported to Sirajganj, in Pábná District, 28,900
maunds of jute.
Gavipur.– Village in Bangalore District,Mysore ; 1mile south-west
of the fort of Bangalore. Lat. 12° 56 ' n ., long. 77° 36' E .; pop. (1871),
548. Celebrated for the cave temple of Gavi Gangádharesvara , con
structed in the time of Kempe Gauda (1537). The emblems of Siva
the trident, the umbrella, and the double drum - are carved out of the
solid rock on a colossal scale , each being 15 feet high.
Gaw . - Revenue circle in Tha-htún Subdivision, Amherst District,
 GAWILGARH HILLS. 339
Tenasserim , British Burma. It lies partly in the valley formed by the
Martaban Hills on the east, and the Debharien Spur on the west, and
partly in the plain country between the hills and the sea-coast. In
1876 , the population was 4688, chiefly Toung-thús ; the capitation tax
yielded £432, and the land revenue, £1216 . It formerly extended
eastward as far as the Bhenglaing, but was reduced to its present limits
a few years ago.
Gawilgarh. - Hill range, a branch of the Sátpura Mountains, in
Berar ; situated between 21° 10' and 21° 46' 30 " n. lat., and between
76° 40' and 77° 53' E. long. Immediately east of Betúl District they
divide into two distinct ranges of hills — the one running on to the
west coast between , and nearly parallel to, the Tápti and Narbadá (Ner
budda) rivers ; whilst the other, passing in a south -westerly direction
through Betúl, the Melghát or upland country of Ellichpur, and the
southern portion of Nimár, terminates at the junction of the Tápti
with its principal tributary, the Púrna. In Melghát, the crest of the
range attains an average elevation of 3400 feet above sea level, the
highest point, Bairát, being 3987 feet. The main height of the
lower hills, bordering upon the Tápti, is about 1650 feet. The chief
passes are - Mallára on the east, Dulghát on the west, and Bingára on
the extreme west. There are several smaller intermediate tracks, used
almost solely by Gonds in bringing their wood and forest produce for
sale in the markets at the foot of the hills. None of the passes are
practicable for wheeled vehicles.
Gawilgarh . - Hill fortress in the above range, in the Melghát Sub
division of Ellichpur District, Berar ; situated on the watershed between
the Púrna and Tápti rivers. Lat. 21° 21' 30'' N., long. 77° 24' 30" E. ;
elevation , 3595 feet above sea level. The hill was first fortified by the
Gaulis, a tribe from whom it takes its name, and who are still numerous
here. The fortress, however, dates from 1420, its construction being
assigned to Ahmad Shah of the Báhmani dynasty. It was held at
different times by the Nizám and the Marhattás, being captured from
the latter by the British in December 1803. At that time it consisted
of one complete inner fort facing the steepest part of the mountain ,
covered by an outer fort, defending its approaches to the north and
north -west. The walls were strongly built, and fortified by towers and
ramparts. The march of General Stevenson up the hills through the
Dámangáon Pass eastward of Gawilgarh , and round to Labáda on the
northern side of the fort, is described by Sir Arthur Wellesley as one
of the most difficult, as well as successful, operations he had witnessed .
The fort was breached by batteries from Labáda, and gallantly carried
by storm on the 15th December 1803. The fort was dismantled in
1853, and the only buildings now standing are two mosques, the powder
factory, and Shora-khána .
340 GAWTAMAW - GAYA DISTRICT.
Gawtamaw . - A small revenue circle in Martaban township , Prome
District, Pegu Division, British Burma. The greater portion is under
rice cultivation . In 1876-77, the population was 355 ; the gross
revenue, £89.
Gayá.— A British District in the Lieutenant-Governorship of Bengal,
lying between 24° 17' and 25° 19' n . lat., and between 84° 4' and
86° 5' E. long. Area, 4716 square miles ; population, according to the
Census of 1872, 1,949,750. It is bounded on the north by Patná
District, on the east by Monghyr, on the south and south-east by Lohár
daga and Hazaribagh, and on the west by Sháhábád, the boundary line
being formed by the river Són.
Physical Aspects. — The southern boundary of Gayá is formed by an
irregular ridge of hills of no great height, but prettily wooded, and
full of game. These hills may be regarded as part of the Vindhyan
system by which the great Gangetic plain is bounded on the south ;
from them the District slopes gently northward towards the Ganges.
The country is generally flat, but here and there hills are found, either
isolated or in groups, the higher ones covered with jungle and coarse
grass, the others rocky and bare. The loftiest of these peaks is
Máher Hill, about 12 miles south -east of Gayá town, which rises to a
height of 1620 feet above the sea. The only other remarkable clusters
of hills in the District, besides the southern range already referred to,
are the Barábár, or, as they are called in old maps, Currumshaw Hills ;
and a range which forms portion of the boundary between Gayá and
Patná, and contains (on the Patná side) Rájgriha, the famous sacred
mount, a place of great antiquarian interest. The eastern part of Gayá is
highly cultivated ; the portions to the north and west are less fertile , and
the remainder of the District consists of hills and jungles, which are full
of wild animals, and in which , too , the hunters collect tasar silk , bees
wax, resin , gums of all kinds, and the valuable fruit of the mahuá tree.
This part of the country was formerly thinly peopled and little culti
vated, but of late years much of the jungle has been cleared away, and
the cultivated area is rapidly increasing ; the soil generally is alluvial.
Most of the rivers of the District take their rise in the southern
mountains, and flow from south to north ; the principal of them ,
however, the Son, which forms the boundary between Gayá and
Sháhábád Districts, rises in the Central Provinces. Next in importance
is the Púnpún, which follows a north -easterly course more or less
parallel to that of the Són. Both of these rivers retain somewater
throughout the hot season ; the stream of the Púnpún is extensively
used for irrigating purposes. The Són derives its name from the golden
colour of its sand, with which are intermixed a variety of small pebbles,
some of them prettily coloured, and susceptible of polish . The Phálgú ,
formed by the junction of two hill torrents, flows through the District,
 GAYA DISTRICT. 341
and is chiefly noteworthy for the reverence in which it is held by the
pilgrims who flock in large numbers to Gayá ; during the hot weather
the stream dries up. The other rivers of the District worthy of notice
are the Dhárhár, the Dongá, the Tiliyá, the Dhanarjí, the Shob, the
Kúsí, and the Sakrí, all used for irrigation.
History. — Materials for the administrative history of Gayá are scanty ,
as the records were burnt during the Mutiny. After the acquisition of
the Province of Behar by the English in 1765, the management was
entrusted to a distinguished native, Shitáb Rái. Gayá, as at present
constituted , then formed part of the District of Behar, and its history
for the first fifty years of British rule does not admit of separation from
the Province of the same name. In 1814, the south of the District was
placed under the jurisdiction of a special Joint Magistrate, stationed at
Sherghátí. In 1825, Gaya was constituted an independentCollectorate ,
with a jurisdiction including the present Subdivision of Behar. For
revenue purposes, the Collector was under the jurisdiction of the Board
of Commissioners at Patná and Benares, created in 1817. For judicial
purposes, there were native munsifs, under a Judge-Magistrate ; from
whom , again , an appeal lay to the Provincial Civil Court at Patna. In
1829, this Court, and also the Board , were abolished, and their powers
were vested in a Commissioner at Patná, acting under the orders of the
Board in Calcutta. In 1831, increased powers were given to the Judge
Magistrate of Gayá as a Sessions Judge, and his magisterial powers were
made over to the Collector. Thus the present unit of administration ,
the Magistrate -Collector, was created. In 1845, the offices ofMagistrate
and Collector were separated, to be reunited by order of the Secretary
of State in 1859.
Though Gayá was not the scene of fighting during the Mutiny of
1857, yet an incident took place in the District worthy of record. The
Sepoys in the neighbouring cantonments at Dinapur mutinied in July ,
and escaped into Sháhábád . After the first attack upon them by a
British force had resulted in disaster, orders were issued by the Com
missioner of Patná to all the civil officers within his jurisdiction to
withdraw their establishments and retire on Dinapur. A small garrison
of the 64th Regiment, together with a few Sikhs, were then stationed at
Gayá town. In obedience to the written orders of the Commissioner,
the handful of soldiers and civilians at Gayá started on the road to
Patná, leaving behind about 7 lákhs of rupees (£70,000) in the
treasury. But on the way bolder counsels prevailed . Mr. Money, the
Magistrate of the District, and Mr. Hollings, an uncovenanted official
in the opium agency, determined to return to Gayá and save what they
could from the general pillage that would inevitably follow upon the
abandonment of the town. The detachment of the 64th was also sent
back. The town was found still at peace. A few days were spent in
342 GAYA DISTRICT.
providing carriage for the treasure. But the Patná road had become
unsafe, and the only means of retreat now open was by the Grand
Trunk Road to Calcutta . As soon as the little party had started a
second time, they were attacked by a mixed rabble of released prisoners
and the former jail-guards. After repulsing the attack , Mr. Money
conveyed his treasure safely to Calcutta , where his arrival was welcomed
with enthusiasm .
Population. — The population of the District, according to the Census
of 1872, is 1,949,750 persons, dwelling in 6530 villages or townships,
and 327,845 houses, the average pressure of the population on the soil
being 413 to the square mile. The greatmajority of the people — 88 7
per cent. — are Hindus ; the proportion of Muhammadans is 11'3 per
cent. ; the Christians number 203, of whom 82 are native converts .
The aboriginaltribes and semi-Hinduized aborigines number altogether
409,125, the most numerous of the semi-Hinduized tribes being the
Dosádhs, of whom there are 92,929 ; and the Bhuniyas, who number
90,666. The aborigines live chiefly in the south of the District, and
support themselves on the produce of the jungles, or by thieving, cattle
lifting, and hunting. Of high-caste Hindus in Gayá, there are 171,273,
the Bráhmans numbering 65,301, and the Rájputs 102,918 ; of agri
cultural, pastoral, and labouring castes, there are 358,947 (of whom
278,665 are Goálás, themost numerous caste in the District) ; oftrading
and artisan castes, 207,031. Among the 65,301 Bráhmans of Gayá are
included a number of persons who, though not regular or orthodox
Brahmans, are allowed a kind of brevet rank as such. Of these the
most remarkable are the Gayáwáls , of whom there are about 300
families in the District. Although they are held in great esteem at
the places of pilgrimage in Gayá town, respectable Bráhmans look
down upon them ; they live an idle, self-indulgent life, but are very
wealthy, extorting large sums out of the numerous pilgrims. A detailed
account of the origin and customs of this curious class of men is to be
found in vol. xii. of the Statistical Account of Bengal (pp. 35, 49, 77).
Seven towns in Gayá contain more than 5000 inhabitants , namely ,
GAYA (including Sáhibganj), with a population (1872) of 66 ,843 ;
JAHANABAD , pop. 21,022 ; DAUDNAGAR , pop. 10 ,058 ; TIKARI, pop .
8178 ; SHERGHATI, pop. 7033 ; Hasua, pop. 6119 ; RAJAULI, pop.
5012 .
The District of Gayá is full of places of the greatest sanctity . The
rocky hills, which here run out far into the plain of the Ganges valley ,
teem with associations of the prehistoric religion of Buddhism , many
of which have been diverted to new objects by modern superstition .
The Brahmans stamped out the Buddhist faith, but they have utilized
its local traditions to their own profit. At the present day, the chief
pilgrims to the sacred tree at Bodh Gayá are devout Marhattás,who
 GAYA DISTRICT. 343
come to pray for the souls of their ancestors in purgatory. As a place
of Hindu pilgrimage, the town of Gayá is of comparatively modern
interest. The name is derived from that of a pagan monster, whose
fate is recorded in the Váyu Purána. His only crimewas his desire
to save sinners from perdition. Accordingly , Brahma himself under
took the task of putting a stop to his career. This he effected by
treacherously persuading him to lie down , and then placing a heavy
stone upon his body. When the monster struggled to get free, the
gods prevailed upon him to keep quiet,by the promise that they would
come and take up their abode on the spot, and that all pilgrimswho
worshipped there should be delivered from the pains of hell. The
profitable lesson of this legend has been turned to good account by the
Gayáwáls, or Brahman priests, who possess the monopoly of pointing
out the sacred spots, and reciting the appropriate prayers. The
pilgrim who would effectually secure admission for his ancestors into
heaven ,must scrupulously perform the whole routine of duties, each
one of which involves presents to the priest. Before leaving his home,
he must first walk five times round his native village, calling upon the
souls of his ancestors to accompany him on his journey. Arrived at
Gayá, he is forthwith placed in charge of a special Bráhman guide.
There are 45 sacred localities, which he should visit in proper order and
on particular days. The full round occupies 13 days ; but for those
who have not sufficient devotion, or sufficient wealth , 38 shrines, two,
or even only one, will serve the desired purpose. Each of these sacred
places, bedi, tirat, or tirtha, is supposed to represent the footprint of
some deity . At each, a pindá or ball of rice and water has to be
deposited by the pilgrim , while a hymn is chanted by the attendant
Bráhman. Some of the spots lie a considerable distance beyond the
city walls, on the summit of steep hills, the ascent of which demands
not a little enthusiasm on the part of the devotees. Others are
crowded together within the walls of old narrow temples. The popu
larity of Gayá appears to have increased with the growth of the
Marhattá power. The records frequently allude to the arrival of
Marhattá princes, as matters of political importance during the early
years of British rule . Towards the end of last century, a Peshwa is
said to have expended £10,000 upon a pilgrimage to Gaya. The
average number of pilgrims in the year is now estimated at 100,000 ;
and it has been calculated that a poor man might accomplish the full
round at a cost of £2. The pilgrim tax, varying from about 45. to
28s. per head, levied under the native government, was abolished
during the early years of British rule.
TIKARI, on the Murhar river, contains the fort of the Rájás of Tikárí;
JAHANABAD and DAUDNAGAR are chiefly interesting as having formerly
contained flourishing cloth factories established by the East India
344 GAYA DISTRICT.
Company. Among the other noteworthy villages in the District are
ARWAL on the Són, once famous for its paper and sugar manufactories,
and now the centre of the only indigo concern in Gayá ; Deo, the seat
of the Rájás of that name, one of the most ancient families in the
District ; Nawádá,Wazirganj, Bela , Hasúá, and Wárisaliganj, consider
able trading places. At BUDDH (or BODH ) GAYA , about 6 miles south
of Gayá, and a few hundred yards west of the Phálgú or Nilájan river,
there are ruins of great sanctity. Here dwelt Sakya Sinha, the founder
of the Buddhist religion, and here is the pipal tree underwhich he sat in
mentalabstraction for five years. Here, too, are extensive remains of
temples and monuments, and of the Rajasthan or palace, said to be the
residence of Dharma Asoka, and some of his successors on the throne
of Magadha. Close at hand is a convent, the mahant or abbot of
which shows the place to visitors. Another place of interest in the
District is a temple of great antiquity , which crowns the highest peak of
the Barábár Hills. This temple is sacred to Sidheswara, and contains
a lingá said to have been placed there by Bárá Rájá , the Asar King of
Dinajpur. In September, a large fair, attended only by men , is held
here. The pilgrims, who number between 10,000 and 20,000, spend a
night on themountain . Near the foot of the hill are some caves cut in
the rock about 200 years B.C., and in the immediate neighbourhood are
a sacred spring and tank, and several sculptures of great interest to the
antiquary.
Agriculture. Themost important crop of the District is rice, which
is sown in June or early in July. The bhadái crop is reaped in August
or September ; the kharif crop is transplanted in July or August, and
cut in December or January . Wheat is sown broadcast in September
and October, and reaped in March. Among the other cereals grown in
Gayá are barley, Indian corn ,marúá, and kodo. The chief leguminous
crops of the District are khesári, gram , peas, and beans. The other
crops include yams and potatoes, hemp and flax, cotton, oil-seeds,
opium , indigo, sugar-cane, and pán . Rotation of crops is common in
the District, and irrigation is much practised, the means used being
natural and artificial water -courses, reservoirs, and wells. Manure is
always used for cotton and opium . The area cultivated with rice is
about 900,000 acres, producing over 400,000 tons, of which a fourth
part is exported to other Districts ; the average wheat-growing area has
been estimated at nearly 170,000 acres, producing about 60,000 tons,
of which about a half is exported ; and the area devoted to oil-seeds is
about 35,000 acres. The area under opium cultivation in Gayá cannot
be given exactly, as the boundaries of the opium Subdivisions are not
conterminous with those of the District ; but the two Subdivisions of
Tehtá and Gayá are almost co-extensive with Gayá District, and the
sum of their areas is but little in excess of the opium area. In
 GAYA DISTRICT. 345
1872-73, the area under cultivation in these two opium Subdivisions
was 67,858 acres, the amount of crude opium produced being 668 tons,
and the average produce per acre about 22 lbs. There is only i indigo
factory under European management in the District, and for some
unexplained reason the dye here cannot be brought to such a state of
perfection as it attains north of the Ganges. The area under sugar
cane has been estimated at 13,000 acres. Speaking roughly, a fifth of
the total area of the District still lies uncultivated . A fair out-turn of
paddy or unhusked rice from an acre of good . land would be 30 cwts.,
value £2, 145. ; from inferior lands, 18 cwts., value £1, 12s. 5d. The
out-turn of wheat or barley, and their value, is much the same as in
the case of paddy ; but the cultivation of these crops is less expensive,
and the net profit to the cultivator is consequently higher. Wages
for labour are generally paid in kind. There seems to have been little
or no variation in money wages during the last quarter of a century,
but at an earlier period they were 25 per cent. less than at present.
The money wage of a bricklayer or day-labourer is now 3d., that of a
smith or carpenter, 4 d. per diem . Prices seem to have fallen of late
years. In 1859, 1860, and 1870, the prices of the best cleaned rice
were respectively 6s. old., 75. 6d., and 4s. 5d. per cwt. ; in the same
years the prices of common rice were 55. 4d., 6s. rod., and 3s. 9d. per
cwt. respectively.
Natural Calamities. - Gayá does not suffer from blights or floods to
any great extent, but droughts are very common , and seriously affect
the prospects of the District. The Són Canals, recently completed, will
no doubt prevent much of the loss arising from dry seasons. The
District suffered considerably from the famine of 1866,and the mortality
was increased by an outbreak of cholera which took place in the middle
of July in the town of Gayá, and spread through the greater part of the
District. The number of recipients of gratuitous relief never exceeded
a daily average of 1200, and the average daily number of persons
employed on relief works was about 350. The maximum price of
common rice was 18s. 6d., and of paddy, 9s. 3d . per cwt.; but prices in
Gayá are not by any means a trustworthy index to the pressure from
scarcity . The famine of 1873-74 did not affect the District seriously ;
the food-supply was augmented by private trade, and the Government
had only to supplement this supply by a small amount of grain .
Commerce and Trade . - No important manufactures are carried on
in Gayá. Common brass utensils for home use , black stone orna
ments, pottery , tasar silk cloth , and rope made of a grass called
sabih , are manufactured. Cloth and paper were formerly the
principal manufactures of the District, but these industries have
now almost entirely died out. Soda effloresces in parts of the District,
and a considerable quantity of saltpetre ismanufactured and despatched
346 GAYA DISTRICT.
to Calcutta. The principal exports are — food grains of all kinds
( especially rice), oil-seeds, indigo, crude opium (sent to Patná for
manufacture), saltpetre, sugar, blankets,brass utensils,etc. Among the
imports are — salt, piece-goods, cloth , cotton, timber, bamboos, tobacco ,
lac, iron, spices, and fruits. The principal trade with other Districts is
by the Patná branch road, along which it has been proposed to lay a
tramway or a light railroad .
Administration . - Owing to the loss of all office records at the time
of the Mutiny, it is impossible to give the revenue and expenditure
of Gayá District before 1858-59. In that year the net revenue was
£213, 125, and the net expenditure £164,748 ; in 1870-71, the net
revenue was £192,870, and thenet expenditure £224 ,176. The land
revenue constitutes in Gayá,as elsewhere in Bengal, themost important
item of the revenue ; in 1870-71, it amounted to £138,032. Sub
division of estates has progressed very rapidly in Gaya ; the number of
estates in 1871 was 4411, and the number of registered proprietors ,
20,453. The average payment, therefore, from each estate was £31,
55. rod., or from each individual proprietor, £6, 145. uid. Comparing
these figures with the corresponding ones for 1789, found in an old
register in the Patná office , it appears that in eighty years each estate
had on an average split up into six, and where there had in 1789
been one proprietor there were in 1871 eighteen. The land revenue
in the former year was £104,170 ; the subsequent increase has not
been great, as remissions have been granted to the Deo Rájás and
others for military services. The machinery for the protection of person
and property in the District has been steadily increasing in strength .
There are now 7 magisterial and 12 civil courts. For police purposes,
Gayá is divided into 13 thánás, with 24 outposts. The regular
police consisted at the end of 1872 of 2 superior and 104 subordinate
officers , and 509 constables ; the municipal police at the same time
consisted of 303 officers and men , the village watch numbered 6926 ;
and in addition to all these , there was a body of 122 digwárs or road
policemen , maintained by the landholders at a total annual cost of
£786 , 125., or £6, 9s. for each digwár. These digwars are peculiar
to Gayá, and appear to have been first appointed early in the present
century, in consequence of frequent accidents to travellers on roads and
hill passes. Highway robbery, once very prevalent in the District, is
said to have almost entirely ceased since the introduction of the digmári
system . The entire police forces of the District consisted in 1872 of
7966 officers and men, or i man to every o 6 square mile. The total
cost ofmaintaining this police in 1872 was £26,182, equal to a charge
of 3 } d. per head of the population. In the same year, the number of
persons tried for cognizable' and 'non-cognizable ' offences was 2499,
of whom 1457, or 583 per cent., were convicted. Burglary and
 GAYA SUBDIVISION. 347
dakáití are very common in this District ; the criminal classes are
principally recruited from the Bábhans, Goálás, Dosádhs, and Doms.
There were 5 jails in the District in 1870 — the District jail at Gayá,
and Subdivisional lock -ups at Jahánábád , Aurangabad, Nawádá, and
Sherghátí. In that year the daily average number of prisoners in the
Gayá jail was 445, and the average cost of maintenance per prisoner
was £3, 78. 9d., excluding cost of police guard. Education (specially
primary) has made rapid progress of late years. The number of pupils
subject to the Education Department increased from 574 in 1856 -57
to 8139 in 1873-74 ; the total number of schools in the latter year
was 446 , or i school to every 10.5 square miles. For administrative
purposes, the District is parcelled out into 4 Subdivisions — the sadr
or headquarters Subdivision , occupying an area of 1853 square miles ;
Nawádá, 1020 square miles ; Aurangabad, 1246 square miles ; and
Jahánábád Subdivision, 599 square miles.
Medical Aspects. — The climate of Gayá is dry, and the District is
regarded as very healthy. The average temperature is about 79.98°,
and the annual rainfall at the town of Gayá, 35'59 inches. The wettest
month is July , and in thatmonth the average rainfall is 12'49 inches.
Among the endemic diseases of the District are cholera , leprosy , small
pox, neuralgia, headache, and the ' Gayá sore.' Cholera breaks out
every now and then in some part of the District, and also occurs occa
sionally in an epidemic form . There was an outbreak of cholera in
1866 , which caused from 1200 to 1400 deaths. Small-pox is endemic ,
owing to the strong objection of the people to vaccination. Neuralgic
headache occurs in a very intense form ; it often returns periodically ,
and in some cases defies all treatment. Its prevalence is attributed to
the dryness and heat of the atmosphere. The ‘Gayá sore ' commences
as a cluster of small vesicles, which coalesce and form a large one ; this
ruptures and leaves an ulcerated surface, irritable and tiresome to
heal.
Gaya . — Principal Subdivision of the District of the same name, lying
between 24° 17' and 25° 6' 30 " n. lat., and between 84° 20' 30 " and 85*
26' 45" E. long. Area, 1853 square miles, with 2667 villages or town
ships, and 134,504 houses ; pop. (1872), 759,270, viz. 371,414 males and
387,856 females. Classified according to religion, there are 663,481
Hindus, 95 ,579 Muhammadans, 146 Christians, and 64 ' others.'
Average density of population, 409*75 per square mile ; villages, 1:44
per square mile ; houses, 72-5 per square mile ; average persons per
village, 284 ; per house , 5 :64. The Subdivision comprises the 6 police
circles ( thánás) of Gayá municipality, Gayá, Atri, Tikárí, Sherghátí, and
Báráchatí. In 1869, it contained 12 magisterial and revenue courts ,
and a police force of 330 officers and men , besides 3104 village watch
men ; total cost of Subdivisional administration returned at £9839.
 A
348 GAYA TOWN - GEWARD .
Gaya. - Chief town and administrative headquarters of the District
of the same name; situated on the right bank of the Phálgu river.
Lat. 24° 48' 44" N ., and 85° 3' 16 " E . long. The town consists of two
distinct portions adjoining each other — the old town or Gayá proper,
which contains the residence of the priests ; and Sáhibganj, the trading
quarter, and also the seat of administration , where the civil offices
and the dwelling-houses of the European residents are situated . The
streets are wide, but the native houses are generally small and insig .
nificant. Besides the ordinary official courts, Sáhibganj contains the
jail, police lines , hospital, circuit bungalow , and church . There is also
a public library, billiard-room , and racecourse. Gayá with Sahibganj
forms one municipality. The population of the united towns in 1872
amounted to 66,843, viz. 33,071 males and 33,772 females. Hindus
numbered 52,265 ; Muhammadans, 14,444 ; and Christians, 134.
Municipal income ( 1876 -77), £2758 ; expenditure, £3303 ; average
incidence of taxation, 8 d. per head of population within municipal
limits. The town police force consists of 20 officers and men. For
the history and shrines of Gayá, see ante, Gaya DISTRICT.
Gazzalháthi (* The Elephant Track ').-- Pass in Coimbatore District,
Madras. Lat. 1° 33' N ., long. 77° 3' E. Formerly the principal
pass from Coimbatore into Mysore, one track leading from Saty
amangalam , and another from Coimbatore town viâ Denayakenkota to
the foot of the ghát. An old -fashioned bridge at the foot still stands,
but the road is no longer kept in order. Pack -bullocks and donkeys
still cross it in considerable numbers. The head of the pass, 2800 feet
above sea level, is 17 miles from the Mysore frontier.
Gedí. — One of the petty States of Jhaláwár in Kathiáwár, Bombay ;
consisting of 2 villages, with 2 independent tribute - payers. The
revenue in 1876 was estimated at £428, of which tribute of £ 120 is
payable to the British Government and £13 to Junagarh .
Geonkhálí (Cowcolly). — Lighthouse,13 miles east and 4 miles north
of Contai, Midnapur District, Bengal. Lat. 21° 50' 15 " n., long. 87°
59' 15" E. The cyclone of October 1864, with its accompanying
storm -wave, visited this place and the surrounding country with terrific
force. For a full and interesting account of it, given by the lighthouse
superintendent, see Statistical Account of Bengal, vol. iii. pp. 220-2 26.
Georgegarh . — Fort in Rohtak District, Punjab . Lat. 28° 38' N.,
long. 76° 37' E . Built by the adventurer George Thomas during his
temporary dominion over this part of India . He was besieged here by
the Marhattás in 1801, but succeeded at the head of a small body of
cavalry in cutting his way through the investing lines to Hánsi, where
he was finally overthrown .
Gewarda. — Chiefship in Chánda District, Central Provinces. - See
GIWARDA.
 GHAGAR AND GHAGGAR RIVERS. 349
Ghágar. – River rising in the Kotwalipára Marshes, Bákarganj Dis
trict, Bengal ; rising in lat. 23° 1' 45" n., long. 90° 8' 45" E. It flows
south into the Madhumati (lat. 22° 48' 30" N., long. 89° 57' 15" E.), a
distributary of the Ganges, and is called the Síldáha in the lower part
of its course.
Ghaggar. – River in the Punjab and Rájputána. Once an important
confluent of the Indus, but now a comparatively insignificant stream ,
which loses itself in the deserts of Bhatnair. The Ghaggar rises among
the Himalayan slopes in the Native State of Náhan or Sirmúr (lat. 30°
41' N ., long. 77° 14' E .), leaves the hills a few miles above the town of
Mani Májra , and crosses Umballa (Ambála ) District at its narrowest
point ; thence it traverses the Native State of Patiala, flowing close
to the British frontier, and passing only 3 miles to the west of Umballa
city, where it actually touches the borders of our territory ; emerging
into Hissár District near the town of Akalgarh , it divides into two
channels, and formerly passed on to Sírsa with a very uncertain water
supply , but the whole amount is now diverted in Hissár itself for pur
poses of irrigation . Another branch , however, reaches Sirsa from
Patiala direct, and crosses the District into the Rájputána deserts.
The water penetrates no farther than the fort of Bhatnair, just beyond
the frontier, but the dry bed may be traced as far as Mirgarh in
Baháwalpur State. In ancient times the lower portion of the river
appears to have borne the name of its confluent the SARASWATI or
Sarsuti, which joins the main stream in Patiala territory. It then
possessed the dimensions of an important channel, receiving the whole
drainage of the lower Himalayas between the Jumna (Jamna) and the
Sutlej (Satlaj), and debouching into the Indusbelow the junction of the
five great Punjab rivers. At present, however, every village through
which the stream passes has diverted a portion of its waters for irrigation,
no less than 10,000 acres being supplied from this source in Umballa
District alone. The dams thus erected check the course of the stream ,
while the consequent deposit of silt, greatly facilitated by the dams,
has permanently diminished the power of the water, both in the main
stream and its tributaries, to force its way across the dead level of the
Karnál and Patiala plains. In Sírsa District the river expands into
three jhils or swampy lakes, on which a few Persian wheels are worked
for purposes of irrigation. The Ghaggar water, when employed for
drinking, produces disastrous results upon the health of those who
use it, causing fever, enlarged spleen, and goitre ; families die out,
according to report, in the fourth generation ; and the villages along
its banks are greatly under-populated . Only the prospect of obtaining
immense out-turns for their labour can induce cultivators to settle in
such an unhealthy region. During the lower portion of its course, in
Sirsa District, the bed of the Ghaggar runs dry from November to
350 GHAGRA RIVER - GHATAMPUR TAHSIL .
June, affording a cultivable surface for rich crops of rice and wheat.
Even in the rains the water supply is very capricious, and from time
to time it fails entirely , except in the immediate neighbourhood of the
hills.
Ghagra. - River of Oudh . - See GOGRA.
Ghaibi Dero (or Dero Kot). - Jágír town in Shikárpur District, Sind.
Lat. 27° 36' N., long. 67° 41' E. ; pop. (1872), 857 – Muhammadans,
487 (mainly Chándias), and Hindus, 370. It is the principal town in
the gágir of Ghảibi Khán Chándia, the chief of the Gháibi Khán and
Chándia tribes, long established in CHANDKO .
Ghan . - River of Berar, rising in the tableland north of the Pen
gangá valley, Buldána District, Berar, in lat. 20° 26' 30 " N., long. 76°
23' 30'' E . The stream , which dries up in thehot weather, flows in a
northerly direction past Pimpalgaon and Nándwa, and joins the Púrna
in lat. 20° 55' N., and long. 76° 33' E.
Ghansor.– Village in Seoni District, Central Provinces ; 64 miles
north -east of Seoni town. Lat. 22° 21' N., long. 79° 50' E. Re
markable for the remains of forty or fifty temples, very elaborately
ornamented with sculptures carved in a beautiful sandstone. The
Nágpurmuseum possesses specimens representing the incarnations of
Vishnu. The village is also a police outpost station .
Ghará. — A name sometimes applied to the united stream of the
Beas and the Sutlej, from their confluence at Endrísa to their junction
with the Chenáb. Below the latter point the whole river bears the
title of Panjnad. The length of the course between these points
amounts to about 300 miles.
Ghárápuri ( Hill of Purification ' ?), sometimes also vulgarly called
Gáripuri; the Galipouri of Du Perron and Niebuhr ; spelt Gárápuri,
and translated " Town of Excavations ' by Dr. Stevenson . — Se
ELEPHANTA.
Gháro. – Village in Karachi (Kurrachee) District, Sind. Lat. 24°
44' 30" N., long. 67° 37' 30" E. ; pop. (1872), 828, viz. 586 Hindusand
242 Muhammadans. Occupied chiefly in grain trade with Kurrachee ,
Tatta , and Mirpur Sakra. The Karachi-Kotri Railway, which runs
within 8 miles, has diverted much of the former trade from this place.
A bridge of four arches spans the creek of Gháro .
Ghátál. — Municipal town in Midnapur District, Bengal; situated
on the Silki river, near its junction with the Rúpnáráyan, and recently
transferred to Midnapur from Húgli District. Lat. 22° 40' 10 " N., long.
87° 45' 50" E. ; pop. (1872), 15,492, of whom 15 ,130 are Hindus.
Municipal revenue (1876 -77), £419 ; expenditure , £669. Ghátal is
an important commercial town, carrying on trade in rice, silk , sugar,
cotton cloth, etc .
Ghátampur. - Southern tahsil of Cawnpore District, North-Western
 GHATAMPUR PARGANA - GHATS MOUNTAINS. 351
Provinces, lying along the banks of the Jumna, and traversed by a
branch of the Lower Ganges Canal. Area , 335 square miles, of which
224 are cultivated ; pop. (1872), 123,800 ; land revenue, £29,413 ;
total Government revenue, £32,386 ; rental paid by cultivators,
£46,026 ; incidence of Government revenue per acre, 25. 83d.
Ghátampur. – Parganá in Unao District, Oudh. A small parganá,
8 miles long by 7 broad. Area, 264 square miles, or 16 ,937 acres, of
which 12 square miles are cultivated. Government land revenue,
£2274, or an average of 25. 8 d. per acre. Land is held under the
following tenures : - Zamindári, 15,056 acres ; tálukdári, 267 acres ; and
pattidári, 1414 acres. Pop. (1869), Hindus, 15,979 ; Muhammadans,
201 ; total, 16 ,180, viz. 7767 males and 8413 females. The Báis
Kshattriyas form the most numerous caste . Number of villages , 92 ;
average density of population,622 per square mile.
Ghátampur Kalán. — Town in Unao District, Oudh ; 18 miles
south -east of Unao town, and 12 south of Purwa. Lat. 26° 22' N ., long.
80°46' E. Said to have been founded many centuries ago by an epony
mous Tiwari Brahman, whose heirs are still in possession. Noted for
excellence in goldsmiths' and carpenters' work . Pop. ( 1869), 1750
Hindus and 59 Muhammadans ; total, 1809, dwelling in 372 houses.
Four Hindu temples ; Government school.
Ghátkúl. - Parganá in Chánda District, Central Provinces; consist
ing of 81 villages, on an area of 368 square miles. Hilly and densely
wooded , except in the east along the Wainganga river, where the
black loam produces good crops of rice, sugar-cane, and wheat. Popu
lation chiefly Telingás. At the beginning of this century , plunderers
from the opposite side of the Wardha constantly overran the parganá,
and many villages remain desolate to this day.
Gháts (meaning etymologically 'a pass through a mountain ,' or
‘landing stairs from a river;' in this case the 'passes ' or ' landing
stairs ' from the coast to the inner plateau ). — Two ranges of moun
tains, forming the eastern and the western walls which support
the triangular tableland of Southern India. The Eastern and the
Western Gháts pass through many Districts, and their sections are
treated in detail in the articles on the Administrative Divisions in which
they are situated. The present notice of them must therefore be a very
general one. The EASTERN Ghats run in fragmentary spurs and ranges
down the Madras side of India , receding inland, and leaving broad
tracts between their base and the coast. THE WESTERN GHATS form
the great sea-wall for the Bombay Presidency, with only a narrow strip
between them and the shore. At one part, they rise in magnificent
precipices and headlands out of the ocean, and truly look like colossal
landing stairs' from the sea . The Eastern and theWestern Ghats
ineet at an angle near Cape Comorin , and so complete the three sides
 352 GHATS MOUNTAINS.
of the interior tableland. The inner plateau itself lies far below the
snow line, and its ordinary elevation seldom exceeds from 2000 to
3000 feet. Its best known hills are the Nilgiris (Blue Mountains),
which contain the summer capital of Madras, UTAKAMAND, 7000 feet
above the sea. The highest point is DODABETTA PEAK , 8760 feet, at
the southern extremity of Mysore. This wide region of highlands
sends its waters chiefly to the eastern coast. The drainage from the
north edge of the three-sided tableland falls into the Ganges. The
Narbadá (Nerbudda) runs along the southern base of the Vindhyás
which form that edge, and carries their drainage due west into the
Gulf of Cambay. The Tápti flows almost parallel to the Nerbudda, a
little to the southward , and bears to the same gulf the waters from the
Sátpura Hills. But from this point, proceeding southwards, the
Western Ghats rise into a high unbroken barrier between the Bombay
coast and the waters of the inner tableland . The drainage has
therefore to make its way right across India to the eastwards, now
twisting round hill ranges, now rushing down the valleys between
then , until the rain which the Bombay sea-breeze drops upon the
Western Gháts, finally falls into the Bay of Bengal. In this way the
three great rivers of the Madras Presidency - namely , the GODAVARI,
KISTNA, and KAVERI (Cauvery) — rise in the mountains overhanging the
Bombay coast, and traverse the whole breadth of the central tableland
before they reach the ocean on the eastern shores of India .
The entire geography of the two coasts of the Indian Peninsula is
determined by the characteristics of these two mountain ranges. On
the east, the country is comparatively open , and everywhere accessible
to the spread of civilisation. It is here that all the great kingdoms of
Southern India have fixed their capitals. Along the west, only a narrow
strip of lowland intervenes between the barrier range and the seaboard .
The inhabitants are cut off from communication with the interior, and
have been left to develop a civilisation of their own. Again , the east
coast is a comparatively dry region. Except in the deltas of the great
rivers, the crops are dependent upon a local rainfall which rarely
exceeds 40 inches in the year. The soil is poor, the general elevation
high, and the mountains are not profusely covered with forest. In
this region the chief aim of the Forest Department is to preserve a
sufficient supply of trees for fuel ; but on the west, all these conditions
are reversed. The rivers are mere hill torrents, but the south -west
monsoon brings an unfailing rainfall in such abundance as to clothe
even the hill slopes with a most luxuriant vegetation. The average all
along the coast from Khandesh to Malabar reaches 100 inches, and in
many exceptional spots high up among the mountains more than 200
inches of rain are registered in every year. What the western coast
loses in regular cultivation it gains in the natural wealth of its primeval
 GHATS MOUNTAINS. 353
forests,which display themost magnificent scenery in all India. The
mountains of Kánara , Malabar, Mysore, and Coorg furnish the Forest
Department with the richest supplies. Along the highest ridges, on
both slopes , grow the trees constituting what is technically known as
' the evergreen forest.' Chief among these is the pún (Calophyllum
angustifolium ), which often attains theheight of 100 feet without branch
or bend. No other tree in the world is better suited in every respect
for supplying ship 's spars andmasts. Other timber-trees in this region
are the jack (Artocarpus integrifolia), iron-wood (Mesua ferrea ), Indian
mahogany (Cedrela toona), ebony (Diospyros ebenaster), and champak
(Michelia champaca ). Interspersed among the tall trees grow an
infinite variety of shrubs and creepers, among which latter pepper
and cardamoms may be noticed for their commercial value. Farther
east, sloping towards the plateau of Mysore, but still within the influ
ence of the south-west monsoon, comes the region of ' deciduous
forests,' in which the characteristic trees are blackwood (Dalbergia
latifolia), teak (Tectona grandis), sandal-wood (Santalum album ), and
bamboo. In both these forest tracts European enterprise has recently
introduced the successful cultivation of coffee. In wild beauty, nothing
can surpass the luxuriance of a Coorg forest, as viewed from the summit
ofone of the peaks ofthe Western Gháts. A waving sea of green,broken
into terraces of varying elevation, extends beneath on every side.
North and south run parallel ranges of peaks, wooded almost to the
summit ; while to the west,many thousand feet below , the view is
bounded by the blue line of the Arabian Ocean. Wild animals of all
kinds swarm in the jungle , and haunt the grassy glades. Of these the
most characteristic are the elephant, the tiger, the still more furious
bison , the sámbhar deer, and the jungle sheep or ibex .
The following details must here suffice with regard to the Gháts ,
the reader being referred for further information to the separate
articles on the Districts in which they are situated :
THE EASTERN GHATS commence in Balasor District, Orissa, and
form a continuation of the hills which close the south -western side
of the Gangetic valley . They pass southwards through the Districts
of Cuttack and Purí (in Orissa), enter the Madras Presidency in
Ganjám District, and sweep southwards through the Districts of
Vizagapatam ,Godavari, Nellore, Chengalpat, South Arcot, Trichinopoli,
and Tinnevelli. They run at a distance of from 50 to 150 miles from
the coast, except in Ganjám and Vizagapatam , where in places they
almost abut on the Bay of Bengal. Average elevation, about 1500 feet.
Geological formation , granite, with gneiss and mica slate , with clay
slate, hornblende, and primitive limestone overlying. " The surface of
the country,' says Thornton, appears to consist of the debris of
granitic rocks as far north as the Pennár, in approaching which , the
VOL. III.
 354 GHAZIABAD TAHSIL.
laterite or iron clay formation expands over a large surface. From
the Kistna northwards, the granite is often penetrated by injected
veins of trap and dikes of greenstone. Passing on to Vizagapatam
and Ganjám , syenite and gneiss predominate, occasionally covered by
laterite.'
The WESTERN Ghats start from the north of the valley of the
Tápti, and run southwards through Khándesh, Násik , Tanna, Sátára,
Ratnagiri, Kánara , and Malabar, and the Native States of Cochin and
Travancore. Length of range from the Tápti to the Pálghát gap,
800 miles ; south of this pass they run for about 200 miles farther, to
Cape Comorin . The coast line from the sea to their base is generally
flat and low , but the hills rise abruptly on the western side to an
average height of 3000 feet. On the eastern side, the slope is more
gradual. Highest peaks in the northern section — MAHABALESHWAR,
4700 feet ; Purandhar, 4472 ; and Sinhgarh, 4162. South of Mahá
baleshwar, the elevation diminishes to about 1000 feet above sea level.
Farther south the elevation again increases, and attains its maxi
mum towards Coorg, where the highest peaks vary from 5500 to
7000 feet, and where the main range joins the Nilgiris. South of the
Pálghát gap, many peaks rise to the same elevation. “Geologically,
says Thornton, ' it may be observed generally , that the great core of the
Western Ghats is of primary formation, enclosed by alternating strata
of more recent origin . These strata , however, have been broken up
by prodigious outbursts of volcanic rocks ; and from Mahabaleshwar to
the Tápti, the overlying rock of the Western Ghats is stated to be
exclusively of the trap formation. . . . In consequence of the boldness
of the declivities and the precipitous character of the faces of the trap
rocks, the summits in many parts of the range are nearly inaccessible.
The natural strength of these portions has in many instances been
increased by art ; and the hill forts in all ages of Indian history have
been regarded as the bulwarks of the Deccan. The trap formation
terminates southward on the sea-coast in about lat. 18° n ., and is suc
ceeded by laterite. This last-mentioned formation extends southwards
as the overlying rock, almost without interruption , to Cape Comorin ,
covering the base of the mountains and the narrow strip of land that
separates them from the sea.'
Gházíábád . — South - western tahsil of Meerut (Mirath ) District,
North -Western Provinces, lying along the bank of the river Jumna ;
traversed by the Sind, Punjab, and Delhi, and East Indian Railways;
intersected by the Hindan river, and irrigated by the Ganges and
Eastern Jumna Canals. Area , 494 square miles, of which 353 are
cultivated ; pop. (1872), 253,037 ; land revenue, £39,532 ; totalGovern
mentrevenue, £43,089 ; rentalpaid by cultivators, £78,786 ; incidence
of Government revenue per acre, 2s. 6d.
 GHAZIABAD TOWN - GHAZIPUR DISTRICT. 355
Gházíábád. — Municipal town in Meerut District, North -Western
Provinces, and headquarters of the tahsil. Lat. 28° 39' 55" N., long.
77° 28' 10" E. ; distant from Meerut 28 miles south -west ; pop. (1872),
7365, thus classified — 4762 Hindus, 2598 Musalmáns, and 5
Christians. Has risen greatly in importance of late years, owing to the
junction of the East Indian Railway with the Sind, Punjab, and Delhi
line at this point. The branch to Delhi also diverges from Gházíábád
junction. Founded in 1740 by the Wazir Ghází-ud -dín , brother of
Salábat Jang, ruler of the Deccan (Dakshin ), from whom it derived its
original name of Gházi-ud -din -nagar, shortened to the present form on
the opening of the railway. In May 1857, a small British force from
Meerut encountered and defeated the Delhi rebels, who had marched
hither to attack them . Several saráis, tahsili, school-house, municipal
hall, police station, 6 mosques, several Hindu temples (the handsomest
known as Mandir Dudheswarnáth ). Numerous barracks, bungalows,
and houses for native employés have sprung up in the neighbourhood
of the railway station . Rapidly improving trade. Municipal revenue
in 1875-76, £827 ; from taxes, £579, or is. 1 d. per head of popu
lation (10, 366 ) within municipal limits.
Ghazipur. - A British District in the Lieutenant-Governorship of
the North -Western Provinces, lying between 25° 18' 31" and 26° 2' 10 "
N. lat., and between 83° 6' 20' and 84° 42' 40" E. long., with an area
of 2167 square miles, and a population in 1872 of 1,345,570 persons.
Gházípur is a District in the Benares Division. It is bounded on the
north by Azamgarh and Sáran ; on thewest by Benares and Jaunpur ;
on the south by Sháhábád ; and on the east by Sáran . The administra
tive headquarters are atGHAZIPUR town.
Physical Aspects. — The District of Gházípur formspart of the great
alluvial plain of the Ganges, and stretches in equal portions on either
side of the sacred river. The northern Subdivision lies between
the Gumti and the Gogra (Ghagra), whose confluences with the main
stream mark its western and eastern limits respectively . The southern
tract is a much smaller strip of country, enclosed between the
Karamnása and the great river itself. No hill or natural eminence is
to be found within the District on either side; but both north and
south of the Ganges the country may be divided into an upland and
a low-lying tract. The higher land consists of the ancient alluvial bed,
deposited at some very early period by the vast streamswhich carried
down toward the sea the detritus of the Himalayan range. Through
this elevated plateau, the modern rivers at a later date have cut for
themselves broad channels, flooded at certain periods of the year, but
forming the low -lying tilth in the harvest season . The process of
denudation still goes on with every inundation , and the upland slopes
are gradually diminishing in extent under the erosive action of the
356 GHAZIPUR DISTRICT.
principal streams. In high floods, the Ganges and its great affluent
the Gogra join their waters, sweeping across the entire delta enclosed
between their beds. On such occasions, the villages, raised on artificial
embankments, stand out like islands in the midst of an inland sea ;
but when the floods have subsided, stagnant pools collect in the pits
from which the embankments were taken, thus rendering the popula
tion sickly and feeble. The principal rivers are the Ganges, Gogra,
Sarju , Gumti, and Mangái. The first four are permanent streams,
which flow during the dry season in narrow channels, cut through
their own alluvial deposits. A few lakes are scattered about the
District, formed where a river has deserted its former channel, and
a bank of silt has dammed up the abandoned bed at either end. The
largest is that of Suraha in parganá Khand, once a northern bend of
the Ganges, but now an almost isolated sheet of water, some 4 miles
broad by 5 long. All the river channels are liable to frequent changes,
and backwaters or side streams cut up the District into numerous
alluvial islands. The soil in many portions of the upland shows a
tendency to develop the noxious saline efflorescnce known as reh ,
the frequency of which is increased by the obstruction to drainage
arising from the cultivation of rice. With this exception, however, the
greater part of Gházípur is fertile and fully cultivated. Gameis com
paratively scarce, owing to the general prevalence of tillage ; and deer,
which prove so destructive to the standing crops in neighbouring
Districts, are here almost unknown.
History. — Tradition refers the foundation of the city of Ghazipur
to a mythical hero , Rájá Gádh , who is said to have called his
stronghold Gádhipur. The name, however, as will be presently
proved, is of Musalmán origin , and, in fact, the town was not really
founded until the 14th century A .D . Nevertheless, the District can
boast a long history of its own , stretching far back into the earliest
days of Aryan colonization . Carved monoliths bear witness to a very
ancient Hindu civilisation ; and one in particular, at Bhitri, contains
an inscription of Samudra Gupta , who probably reigned over the
surrounding country as far as Kanauj about the end of the 4th century
A .D . Indeed, the monuments found in Gházípur have been of in
estimable value in enabling us to unravel the intricate history of the
Ganges valley before the advent of the Musalmáns. The result of
late investigations, as applied to these remains, may thus be briefly
summarized. At the time of Sákya Muni, B.C. 550, the country from
Sayyidpur to Baxaf was already the seat of a civilised Aryan nationality,
whose metropolis was situated near the former town, where numerous
ruins and architectural remains of the earliest age are still found .
The country embraced the religion of the new teacher, and formed a
portion of the Buddhist Empire under Asoka, who reigned about the
 GHAZIPUR DISTRICT. 357
year 250 B.C. Asoka erected here one of his well-known pillars,and
at least two stupas. From the 4th to the 7th century of our era ,
Gházípur was included in the territories of the Gupta dynasty of
Magadha, in whose columns and coins the District is unusually rich .
Hiouen Thsang, the Chinese pilgrim , about the year 630 A.D., found
this tract inhabited by a mixed population of Buddhists and Hindus.
He visited a monastery built by Asoka, and mentions many other
buildings, whose sites have been identified with a high degree of pro
bability. After the extirpation of Buddhism by Bráhmanism in Northern
India , the aborigines appear to have recovered these regions from their
Aryan lords, who were perhaps weakened by internecine religious
strife. In the interval between the Gupta monarchy and the Muham
madan conquest,an age of darkness supervenes, during which Ghazipur
was apparently in the hands of Bhar chieftains. The ancient Aryan
civilisation would seem to have been utterly trampled out, as no great
monuments or architectural remains mark this intermediate period .
But just before the Musalmán inroads, the Bráhmans and Rájputs
from the north and west, driven from their own homes by the advancing
wave of Islám , moved eastward to occupy the neglected tracts which
had fallen for awhile into the hands of the indigenous races. The
descendants of this second Aryan colony form the modern land
owning class of the District ; but they have no traditions with respect
to their predecessors, and attribute the ancient monuments of their
fellow -tribesmen to the Bhar Rájás, whom their fathers found in pos
session of the soil. The Rájput settlers, however, did not long enjoy
their independence in the new home to which they had migrated .
The aggressive Muhammadan power followed eastward close upon their
heels. In the year 1193, Behar and the middle Ganges valley were
conquered by Kutab -ud -dín , the general of Muhammad Ghori, first
Musalman Emperor of Delhi. He had defeated and slain the Hindu
champion, Jái Chánd, Rahtor Rájá of Benares and Kanauj, in the
Jumna ravines of Etawah ; and the whole country as far as Bengal
lay at the feet of the conqueror. During the succeeding century, we
hear little of the present District ; but about the year 1330, the city
of Ghazipur was founded (according to a probable tradition ) by a
Sayyid chief named Masáúd, who slew the local Hindu Rájá in battle.
Sultán Muhammad Tughlak thereupon granted him the estates of his
conquered enemy, with the title of Ghazi, or Champion of the Faith ,'
which gave the name to the newly -founded city. From 1394 to 1476 ,
Gházípur was incorporated in the dominions of the Sharki dynasty at
JAUNPUR, who maintained their independence for nearly a century as
rival to the Lodi rulers of Delhi. After their fall, it was reunited to
the dominions of the Western Sultáns, and was conquered, like the
surrounding country,by the Mughal Emperor Bábar in 1529. Ten years
358 GHAZIPUR DISTRICT.
later, however, the southern border of the District was the scene of
a decisive engagement between the Afghán Prince Sher Shah and
Humáyun, the son of Bábar, at Baxar, just within the Sháhábád border,
in which the latter was utterly defeated and driven out of the country .
Sher Shah's victory settled the fate of Gházípur for the next twenty
years. It remained in the undisturbed possession of the Afgháns, not
only through the reigns of the three intrusive emperors belonging to
the dynasty of Súr, but throughout the restored supremacy of Humáyun .
It was not till the third year of Akbar that Gházípur was recovered
for the Mughal throne by Khán Zamán, Governor of Jaunpur, from
whom the town of Zamániá derives its name. After his rebellion
and death in 1566, the District was thoroughly united to the Delhi
Empire, and organized under the subah of Allahábád . During the
palmy days of Akbar's successors, the annals of Ghazipur are purely
formal and administrative, until the rise of the Nawab Wazírs of Oudh
at the beginning of the last century . In 1722, Saadat Khán made
himself practically independent as Viceroy of Oudh. In 1738 , he
appointed Shaikh Abdullá, a native of the Districtwho had fled from
the service of the Governor of Patná, to the command of Gházípur.
Abdulla has left his mark in the city by his splendid buildings, the
chief of which , now in ruins, is known as the Palace of the Forty
Pillars. He also constructed a garden , the Nawab's Bágh, near which
he was buried under a handsome mausoleum . His son Fazl Ali
succeeded him , but, after various vicissitudes, was expelled by Rájá
Balwant Sinh of Benares. Balwant Sinh died in 1770 , but the Nawab
Wazir permitted his illegitimate son, Chait Sinh, to inherit his title
and principality . In 1775, the suzerainty of the Benares Province was
ceded to the British by the Wazir Asaf-ul-daula. The new Government
continued Chait Sinh in his fief until the year 1781, when he was
deposed by Warren Hastings. From this final introduction of the British
rule till the Mutiny, Ghazipur enjoyed undisturbed peace.
In 1805, Lord Cornwallis died here, and a monument, with a statue
by Flaxman , was erected to his memory. In 1857, order was pre
served till the mutiny at Azamgarh became known , on 3d June. The
fugitives from Azamgarh arrived on that day, and local outbreaks took
place. The 65th Native Infantry, however, remained staunch, and 100
European troops on their way to Benares were detained, so that order
was tolerably re -established by the 16th of June. No further disturb
ance occurred till the news of the Dinapurmutiny arrived on the 27th of
July. The 65th then stated their intention of joining Kuár Sinh's
force ; but after the rebel defeat at Arrah, they were quietly disarmed ,
and some European troops were stationed atGhazipur. No difficulties
arose till the siege of Azamgarh was raised in April, when the rebels
came flying down the Gogra and across the Ganges to Arrah. The
 GHAZIPUR DISTRICT. 359
disorderly element again rose, and by the end of June the eastern half
of the District was utterly disorganized. In July 1858, a force was sent
to Ballia which drove the rebels out of the Doáb, while another
column cleared all the parganás north of the Ganges. The parganás
south of the river remained in rebellion till the end of October , when
troops were sent across which expelled the rebels and completely
restored order.
Population. — Gházípur is one of the numerous Districts which ,
after suffering a loss of population about the middle of the present
century, has partially recovered its lost ground of late years. In 1853,
the total number of inhabitants was returned at 1,596,324. In 1865,
it had sunk to 1,342,455, showing a decrease of 253,869 persons, or
16 per cent., in spite of an intermediate enlargement of its area by
41 square miles. By 1872, however, although 55 square miles of
territory had been transferred to other Districts, the population had
risen again to a total of 1,345,570, which showed an increase of 3115
persons, or '2 per cent. The statistics of density display these
changes even more conspicuously and truthfully than a mere enumera
tion upon a constantly shifting area . The Census of 1853 gave an
average of 732 persons to the square mile ; that of 1865 showed only
604 to the square mile ; while that of 1872 disclosed a density of 621
to the square mile. The enumeration of 1872 was taken over an area
of 2167 square miles, and it returned a total population of 1,345,570
persons, distributed among 3725 villages or townships, and inhabiting
285,007 houses. These figures yield the following averages :- Persons
per square mile, 621 ; villages per square mile, 107 ; houses per square
mile , 131 ; persons per village, 361; persons per house , 4º7 . Classified
according to sex, there were (exclusiveof non -Asiatics) - males,696 ,572 ;
females, 648,829 ; proportion of males, 51°7 per cent. Classified
according to age, there were (with the like exception), under twelve
years - males, 236,069 ; females, 178,197 ; total, 414,266, or 30*79
per cent. of the population. As regards religion , Ghazipur contains
about the average proportion of Hindus and Muhammadans which is
found throughout the North-Western Provinces. The Census showed
1,221,810 adherents of the Hindu faith , or 90°7 per cent., as
against 123,455 Musalmáns, or 993 per cent. There were also 136
Christians. The higher Hindu castes were returned as follows :
Bráhmans, 123,012 ; Rájputs , 295,355 ; and Banias, 49,538. The
lower tribes are represented by the Ahírs, 171,216 ; Chamárs, 122,075 ;
Káyasths, 22,480 ; and Kurmis, 18 ,136. Amongst the Musalmáns,
the Shaikhs numbered 26,940 ; Sayyids, 4525 ; Mughals, 570 ; and
Patháns, 18 ,452. The pancháyats, or caste guilds, have here as else
where very much the practical effect of trades-unions ; and they also
regulate matters of social arrangement, petty debt, occupancy of land,
360 GHAZIPUR DISTRICT.
and domestic questions generally . The District is permanently
assessed, and both landowners and cultivators are richer and more
independent than in the country farther west. In the poorer parts,
the peasantry are generally in debt ; but in the more fertile tracts
of the District, where they have mostly rights of occupancy, they are
well to do, and are (perhaps in consequence) the most turbulent
and litigious community in the North -Western Provinces. There are
sixteen towns in the District with a population (1872) exceeding 5000
souls - namely,GHAZIPUR, 38,853 ; MAHATWAR KHAS, 8975 ; SHIUPUR
DIAR, 9279 ; GAHMAR, 9050 ; SHERPUR, 7958 ; RIOTIPUR , 9323 ;
BARAH, 5424 ; CHIT, 5821 ; NARHI, 5527 ; BANSDIH , 7319 ; RIOTI,
7700 ; MANIAR, 5285 ; BALLIA , 8521 ; BAIRIA , 5589 ; SONBARSA, 7162;
and RASRA, 7261. These give a total urban population of 148,047
souls. The agricultural population was returned at 705,609 souls, or
51°7 per cent. of the whole.
Agriculture. — The greater portion of the cultivable soil in Ghazipur
is already fully tilled, there being a total of 1546 square miles under
cultivation , with an available margin of only 229 square miles. The
black earth called kharril, resembling the már of Bundelkhand, is
common in the lowlands and in the plateau south of the Ganges. It
produces a good spring crop without irrigation , but its character is
much improved if sand is spread over the surface ; otherwise it is liable
to dry up into deeply-fissured masses of hardened clay. In all the
Gangetic lowland, the upper layer of a well-raised tract always consists of
alluvial mould ; but the sub -soil is sandy. The rivers which have had
the longest course from the hills, deposit mud ; the others leave behind
them beds of sand ; but the Ganges forms alternate layers of each .
Hence a flood from the Gogra or the Sarju is injurious to the fields,
while an inundation of the Ganges benefits the crops. The harvests
are those common to the whole north -western plain . The kharif
crops are sown after the first rains in June, and reaped in October or
November. The early rice , however, is sometimes harvested as soon
as the end of August,while cotton is not ready for picking till Feb
ruary. The other autumn staples are the millets bájra and joár, and
moth . The rabi or spring crops are sown in October or November,
and reaped in March or April. They consist of wheat, barley, cats,
vetch, and pulses. Manure is used ,where it can be obtained, for both
harvests ; and land is allowed to lie fallow whenever the cultivator can
afford it. As a rule , spring and autumn crops are not taken off the
same land, but sometimes a plot of early rice is reaped in August or
September, and a second crop of somekind is sown in its place for the
spring harvest. If rain is delayed beyond the 20th of June, this keeps
back the sowing and endangers the yield of the early autumn crops.
At the settlement of Ghazipur District, made in 1789, and sub
 GHAZIPUR DISTRICT. 361

sequently declared permanent, fraternities or brotherhoods belonging

to various Hindu and Muhammadan tribes were recognised by Govern
ment, in the great majority of cases, as the owners of the soil. The
settlements were concluded with a few head-men on each estate, who
were the representatives of the whole community. In some cases, by
accident rather than by design, the head-man of a proprietary community
was treated as sole owner. In no instance did Government admit
the existence of any divided ownership , or of superior and inferior
proprietary rights. No talukdárs were therefore recognised, though
there were immense talukás (single estates) held by brotherhoods of
shareholders. A detailed record of the extent of ownership of the
various shareholders was not attempted till 1840. Meanwhile, estates
were sold for arrears of revenue, and till after the Land Act of
1859, the purchasers were constantly at law with the old landowners,
who rented and cultivated the fields they formerly possessed. In
1877, wages ruled as follows:- Coolies and unskilled labourers, 24d.
to 3 d. per diem ; agricultural labourers, 24d. to 3d. per diem ;
bricklayers and carpenters, 6d. to 2s. per diem . Women are paid
about one-fifth less than men, while boys and girls get from one-half to
one-third the wages of adults. Agricultural hands are most frequently
paid in grain . In villages, payments for labour are made daily. The
following were the average prices-current of food grains in 1876 :
Wheat, 22 sers per rupee, or 55. id. per cwt.; rice, 8 sers per rupee, or
145. per cwt. ; joár, 29 sers per rupee, or 3s. rod. per cwt. ; bájra , 28
sers per rupee, or 4s. per cwt. .
Natural Calamities. — The District is not specially subject to flood,
drought, or blight, and it has suffered from no great famine during
the present century. It possesses ample means of external communi
cation in the rivers Ganges , Gogra, and Gumti, and the East Indian
Railway. Much of the Ballia Subdivision, which consists of low
alluvial islands, is annually submerged ; and if autumn crops have been
sown on any part of it, they are of course lost in the floods. In 1783,
severe scarcity occurred from the failure of the rains in thepreviousyear,
but there were no deaths from famine as far as known. In 1803, the
rice crop was destroyed and the spring harvest endangered. In 1837
38, there was again a scarcity, but no actual famine occurred. There
were also partial droughts in 1859-60, 1864-65, and 1865-66 , besides
floods in 1871-72. The last scarcity was in 1868-69, when only 21
inches of rain fell in twelve months. The greater part of the autumn
and about half the spring crops were lost, and severe distress resulted.
Relief operations were set on foot, and continued from June to
September 1869, butno actual deaths from famine occurred.
Commerce and Trade, etc. — The chief imports into the District are
English piece-goods and yarn, cotton, salt, spices, and grain . The
362 GHAZIPUR DISTRICT.
principal exports are country cloth , sugar, fuller's earth, oil-seeds, and
hides. The headquarters of the Government Opium Department for
the North -Western Provinces are at Ghazipur. The poppy has been
cultivated in India since the 16th century ; and when the English first
acquired the Benares Province, they farmed themonopoly to contractors.
In 1797, an opium agent was appointed for Benares, but natives still
managed the manufacture , and were paid by commission. In 1852,
Lord Dalhousie introduced the present system . There are 10 deputies
under the agent, and each of these has one or two European assistants.
The 10 divisions are again subdivided into 39 offices, each supervised
by a native overseer. Licences are granted and advances made to the
cultivators, who in return engage to place a certain amount of land
under opium . After the fields are sown, they are measured carefully,
and estimates made of the quantity of opium which each cultivator
ought to produce. In March and April, the opium is collected and
brought to the factory, where it is weighed, and its consistence is tested ,
before the cultivator is paid for it. The amount disbursed in working
expenses at the Gházípur factory is £10,125 per annum . The opium
is classified according to its consistence, and is then made up into
special balls, which are packed in boxes and despatched to Calcutta
for sale by auction . Carbonate of soda is manufactured from the reh
or saline efflorescence of the barren usar plains, and exported to
Calcutta. Saltpetre is also largely prepared from the same source.
The parganás south of the Ganges are traversed by the East Indian
Railway for a length of 24 miles ; there are three stations within the
District - at Zamániá , Dildárnagar, and Gahmar. Three stations in
Sháhábád District are also situated within easy distances from portions
of Ghazipur. Zamániá , connected with the ghát opposite Ghazipur by
a metalled road, which continues 5 miles farther south to the Grand
Trunk Road, is the principal station in the District, and the outlet
for most of the traffic from Ghazipur, Azamgarh , and Gorakhpur. At
present, however, the heavy commerce of the District is conveyed
by the Ganges. Good roads, of which 112 miles are metalled,
connect all the principal centreswith one another and with the adjacent
towns. A great bathing fair is held at Ballia in themonth of October,
on the full moon of Kártik , and attended by about 50,000 persons.
Another, of inferior sanctity, held on the same day at Chochakpur,
attracts some 10, 000 visitors.
Administration.— The ordinary District staff consists of a Collector
Magistrate, 2 Joint Magistrates, an Assistant, and 2 Deputies. Gházi
pur is the seat of a Civil and Sessions Judge, who has no other District
under him . The whole amount of revenue raised in the District, for
imperial,municipal, or local purposes, amounted in 1876 to £200,000,
being at the rate of 25. 10 d. per head of the population . In the same
 GHAZIPUR CITY. 363
year, the total strength of the regular police force was 526 officers and
men , and the cost of their maintenance was returned at £7576 .
These figures show i policeman to every 4'1 square miles of the area
and to every 2557 of the population ; while the expenditure was at
the rate of £3, ios. per square mile and 1 d . per inhabitant. The
District jail is at Ghazipur town. In 1875, it contained a daily average of
530 prisoners , of whom 490 were male and 40 female. The average cost
per head amounted to £3, 125. 10 d ., and the average earnings of each
inmate to £1. The District possesses 21 imperial and 7 local post
offices ; and telegraph offices are connected with each of the stations
on the East Indian Railway. Education was carried on in 1875 by 240
schools, with a total roll of 7824 scholars, being an average of 1
school to every 902 square miles, and 5 .8 scholars per thousand
of the population. The expenditure on the educational establishment
amounted to £3892, of which £1198 was paid from the provincial
treasury and £2694 from local sources. For fiscal purposes,Ghazipur
is subdivided into 6 tahsils and 18 parganás. The District contains
two municipalities – Gházípur and Ballia . In 1875-76, their joint
income amounted to £4742, and their expenditure to £3846. The
incidence of municipal taxation was at the rate of is. 2d . per head of
the population within municipal limits.
Sanitary Aspects. — Ghazipur is one of the hottest and dampest
Districts in the North-Western Provinces. In 1869, the mean annual
temperature was 80° F.; the lowest monthly mean was 61° F. in
January, and the highest 98° F. in May. The average annual rainfall
for the eleven years from 1860 to 1871 was 40'1 inches ; during this
period , the maximum was 50 .5 inches in 1861, and the minimum was
21'5 inches in 1868. The total number of deaths recorded in the year
1875 was 24,566, or 18:25 per thousand of the population . The
average death -rate for the previous six years was 16 '56 per thousand.
There are 7 dispensaries in the District, at Gházípur, Ballia , Sayyidpur,
Rasra, and Pírnagar. During the year 1876, they afforded relief to
75,085 persons, of whom 947 were in -door and 74,138 out-door patients .
The total receipts were £800, and the cost of the establishments,
£361.
Ghazipur. - Tahsil of Ghazipur District, North -Western Provinces,
lying along the north bank of the Ganges. Area, 432 square miles, of
which 267 are cultivated ; pop. ( 1872), 286 ,046 ; land revenue, £32,070 ;
total Government revenue, £33,952 ; rental paid by cultivators,
£63,769.
Ghazipur.- City, municipality, and administrative headquarters of
Gházípur District, North -Western Provinces ; situated on the low
alluvial northern bank of the Ganges, 64 miles north -east of Benares.
Lat. 25° 33' 36" N.; long. 83° 35' 13" E.; area , 416 acres ; pop.
364 GHAZIPUR - GHAZNI.
(1872), 38,853. Founded, according to Hindu tradition, by Rájá
Gádh, an eponymous hero , from whom it took the name of Gádhipur :
according to Muhammadan history , by the Sayyid chief Masáúd,
about the year 1330, from whose title of Málik -us-Saádat Ghází the
city really derives its name. For later history and Mutiny narrative, see
GHAZIPUR DISTRICT. Palace of the Forty Pillars, built by Shaikh
Abdullá , governor under the Oudh viceroys, now lies in ruins. Tombs
of Masáúd, Abdullá, and Fazl Alí also adorn the city . Monument to
Lord Cornwallis, who died here in 1805, consisting of a domed quasi
Grecian building, with a marble statue by Flaxman . Metalled road
runs to Zamániá Station on the East Indian Railway, 134 miles south
west. Trade in sugar, tobacco, coarse long-cloth , and rose-water.
Headquarters of the Government Opium Department, where all the
opium from the North -Western Provinces is collected and manufactured
under a monopoly. Municipal revenue in 1875-76, £3912 ; from
taxes, £2709, or is. 4 d. per head of population (40,000) within
municipal limits.
Ghazipur. — Tashil of Fatehpur District, North-Western Provinces,
on the north bank of the Jumna. Area, 266 square miles, of which
152 are cultivated ; pop. (1872), 89,497 ; land revenue, £22,603 ;
total Government revenue, £24,864 ; rental paid by cultivators,
£32,813.
Ghází-ud-din -nagar. — Town in Meerut District, North -Western
Provinces. — See GHAZIABAD .
Ghazní. — Town and fortress in Afghánistán ; situated on the left
bank of the river of the same name, 85 miles south-west of Kábul, and
233 miles north -east of Kandahár. Lat. 33° 34' N., long. 68° 19' E.
The town may be described as an irregular square, each side averaging
400 yards, and having a total circuit ofabout 1750 yards, inclusive of
the citadel. It is surrounded by a high wall, and flanked at irregular
intervals by towers. The city itself is composed of dirty irregular
streets of houses, several storeys high , and will not bear comparison
with either Kábul or Kandahár. The citadel is situated at the north
angle of the town . Ghazní was captured by Sir John Keane's force
during the first Afghán war, being carried by storm on the 230 July
1839. At the time of the Afghán rising in 1841, the citadel was
garrisoned by the 27th Bengal Native Infantry. The place was
besieged by the Afgháns, and the garrison forced to retire to the
citadel. The little force held out, after suffering great privations, from
November 1841 till the 6th March 1842,when, their supply ofwater
failing, theywere forced to evacuate the fort, and afterwards to surrender
to the Afghán chief. The officers were brutally treated , and the Sepoys
either sold into slavery or murdered. In September 1842, General
Nott recaptured Ghazní. The citadel was destroyed before the with
 GHERIA – GHORASAR. 365
drawal of General Nott's army to India. During the last Afghán cam
paign, General Sir D . Stewart took Ghazní, on his march to Kábul,
after a severe action, 19th April 1880 ; occupied the place for a few days,
and then moved on to join General Roberts at Kábul. He placed
Sardár Alam Khán at the head of the administration , to hold the town
on behalf of the new Amír , Abdur Rahman Khán . Ghazní formed the
centre of intrigue of Yákub 's faction after the abdication of Yakub
as Amír. The town gave its name to the founder of the Musalmán
Empire of.India, and Mahmúd ofGhazní (997- 1030 ) was only the fore
runner of a long series of invaders who streamed southwards over the
passes from Afghánistán .
Gheriá. — Town and fort in Ratnagiri District, Bombay. — See
VIZIADRUG .
Gheriá . - Small town to the South of Súti, Murshidabad District,
Bengal. Lat. 24° 30' 15" N., long. 88° 8' 15" E. Famous as the scene
of two important battles — the first in 1740, when the Nawab Ali
Vardí Khán defeated Sarfaraz Khán, his rival for the government of
Bengal ; the second ship atintac1763,
hed he when
condMir meKásim
und , wwas
Nawab nallofy ddefeated
eBengal,
feated
after declaringhiefwar upon the EastseIndian tiCompany, as fifinally
and the throne bestowed for the second time upon Mír Jafar.
Ghes. — Chiefship attached to Sambalpur District, Central Provinces,
about 50 miles west of Sambalpur. Pop. (1870), 5333, residing in
19 villages, on an area of 10 to 12 square miles, of which three-fifths
are cultivated, chiefly growing rice. The principal village, Ghes,
situated in lat. 21° 11' 30 " N ., long. 83° 20 ' E., contains a pop. (1870 )
of 652, with a fine school-house , attended by about 130 pupils. The
chief's family are Binjwáras.
Ghoghá. — Town in Ahmedabad District, Bombay.- See Gogo.
Ghogháro.— Government town in Shikárpur District, Sind. Lat.
27° 29' N., long.68° 4' E.; pop. (1872), 1415, viz. Muhammadans, 1175
(chiefly of Mangan, Siál, and Wagan tribes), and Hindus, 240. It
possesses a considerable rice trade.
Gholghát. – Village in Húgli District, Bengal. Famous as the site
of a fortress built by the Portuguese, which gradually grew into the
town and port of Hugli. Traces of this fort are still visible.
Gholwad . — Seaport town in Tanna District, Bombay. Lat.
20° 5' N., long. 72° 46'.E. Annual value of trade for five years ending
1873-74 - exports, £2420 ; imports, £18 .
Ghorásar. - Petty State within the Mahi Kánta Agency in the
Province of Guzerat, Bombay. Pop. (1872), 8273 ; gross revenue,
£2200. Products - cotton and the ordinary cereals. For admini
strative purposes, the State is included in the Wátrak Kánta Sub
division of the Mahi Kánta Territory. There are 2 schools, with 139
pupils. The chief,who enjoys the title of Thákur, is a Hindu of the
 366 GHORIBARI- GHUG US.
Koli caste. The present ( 1875) chief, Suráj Mall, is twenty-six years of
age. The succession follows the rule of primogeniture, but there is no
sanad authorizing adoption . An annual tribute is payable of £48, 16s.
to the British Government, and £350 to the Gáekwár of Baroda.
Chief town , Ghorásar, situated in lat. 23° 28' N., long. 73° 20' E.
Ghoríbári. - Táluk of Karachi (Kurrachee) District, Sind ; situated
between 24° 5' and 24° 34' n . lat., and 67° 21' 15" and 68° 1' e. long. ;
pop. (1872), 32,362 ; area, 537 square miles ; revenue (1873-74 ), £8363,
viz. £7505 imperial and £858 local.
Ghotána. - Municipaltown in Haidarábád (Hyderabad)District,Sind.
Lat. 25° 44' 45" n., long. 68° 27' E. ; pop . (1872), 953, including 553
Muhammadans and 341 Hindus (chiefly Muhános and Lohános).
Municipal revenue (1873-74 ), £146 ; rate of taxation, 3s . per head .
Being situated only 2 miles from the landing-place on the Indus, where
the products of Shikárpur, Adam -jo - Tando, etc. are received for re
exportation, Ghotána possesses a large transit trade in grain , cotton ,
seeds, and potash ; annual value, £12,600. The local trade, chiefly in
cereals, has an annual value of £1300 .
Ghotki. - Táluk of Shikárpur District, Sind ; situated between 27°
46' 45" and 28° 18' n. lat., and between 69° 10' and 69° 36' E, long. ;
pop. (1872), 46,406 ; area, 372 square miles; revenue ( 1873-74),
£10 ,212, viz. £9372 imperial and £839 local.
Ghotki. — Municipal town in Shikárpur District,Sind. Lat. 28°0 ' 15"
N ., long. 69° 21' 15" E. ; pop. (1872), 3689, viz. Muhammadans, 1803
(chiefly of Pathan , Malak, Sayyid , Mochi, and Lohár tribes), and
Hindus, 1867 (principally Banias). Founded about 1747. Municipal
revenue (1873-74), £294 ; disbursements, £156 ; incidence of local
taxation, is. 7d. pér head. Situated on the railway. Sessions court
house, headquarters of a múkhtiárkár, post office, travellers' bungalow .
Proposed headquarters of Rohri Deputy Collector. Themosque of Pír
Músa Shah, the founder of the city, 113 feet long by 65 feet broad, is
the largest in Sind, and of very considerable sanctity. Local trade
chiefly in cereals, indigo, wool, and sugar-cane. The Lohárs of
Ghotki are famed for their metal-work ; wood carving and staining are
also very creditably executed.
Ghugus. - A large village in Chánda District, Central Provinces ; 13
miles west of Chánda town. Lat. 19° 56' 30 " n., long. 79° 9' 30" E. It
contains three temple-caves, and near them some carved stones appa
rently meant to represent animals. Near the village, about A . D . 1700,
was fought the battle between the Gond king Rám Shah and the rebel
princes Bágbá , Agbá, and Rágbá. Agbá fell on the field , where his
tomb may still be seen ; and hard by is the 'Ghorá Ghát,' so called
from Bágba's fabled leap across the Wardha. On the bank of this
river, between Ghugús and Chándur, a seam of coal, 33 feet thick,
 GHUSAL - GIDU-JO-TANDO. 367
crops out on the surface, and the Ghugús field is estimated to cover
3 square miles. An experimental shaft was sunk, but has now been
abandoned .
Ghusal. — Mountain pass in Bashahr State, Punjab, across the range
of the Himalayas which forms the southern boundary of Kunáwar.
Lat. 31° 21' N., long. 78° 13' E. Two other passes, the Guna and the
Nítrang, lie within half a mile to the north -west ; but Thornton states
that only one of the three is ever practicable at any particular season .
They lead from Sangla to Chuára. Elevation above sea level, 15,851feet.
Ghusri. – Village in Húgli District, Bengal. Manufacture of dhutis
and sáris carried on according to European methods. Permanent
market, with large trade in agricultural products.
Ghutasán Deví. — Hill pass in Sirmúr State, Punjáb, lying over the
crest of a low transverse ridge, which runs across the Khiárda Dún
from the sub-Himálayan chain to the Siwáliks. Lat. 30° 31' N., long.
77° 28 'E . Thornton says that the ridge divides the waters ofthe Bhuta,
a tributary of the Jumna, from those of the Markanda, flowing south
west toward the Sutlej. The route from Dehrá to Nahan runs through
this pass. Elevation above sea level, 2500 feet.
Gidhaur. — Town in Monghyr District, Bengal. Lat. 24° 51' 20" n.,
long. 86° 14 ' 25" E. The site of a deserted hill frontier town, and
interesting as the seat of one of the oldest of thenoble families of Behar,
In the neighbourhood are the ruins of an ancient castle , the erection of
which is often attributed to Sher Shah, but it is probably ofmuch earlier
origin . The Gidhaur family, which now after twenty-two generations is
still wealthy and influential,was founded about 1168 A.D. by Bir Vikram
Sinh , a Rájputof the Chandrabansí or Lunar sept Puran Mall, the 9th
Rájá , built the great temple of BAIDYANATH ; and in the Sanskrit verse
inscribed above the inner door of the sanctuary he is called ure pati, or
' king ofmen ,' a title that bears witness to the position of the family
centuries ago. Sir Jái Mangal, who has lately retired from active life,
was created a Mahárájá in 1865, and a Knight Commander of the
Star of India in 1866, in consequence of his loyal exertions on our
behalf during the Santál Rebellion of 1853 and the Mutiny of 1857.
Gidhaur Galli. — Pass in Pesháwar District, Punjab, lying on the
road from Peshawar to Attock , 5 miles north -west of the latter town.
Lat. 33° 56' N ., long. 72° 12' E. Derives its name (the Jackal's Neck)
from its extreme narrowness, being not more than 10 or 12 feet wide,
and bounded on either side by considerable hills. Its military import
ance is slight, from the facility with which it may be turned.
Gidu-jo- Tando. - Government town in Haidarábád (Hyderabad)
District, Sind. Lat. 25° 22' 15" n ., long. 68° 21' E. ; pop. (1872), 1832,
viz .Muhammadans, 1170, and Hindus,662. Situated on the Indus, and
connected by a fine road, 34 miles in length, with the city of Haidarábád,
 ARAN
368 GIGAS - GINGI FORT.
in which municipality it is included. Very large transit trade, chiefly
in cotton and grain . A steam ferry connects Gidu-jo- Tando with the
railway station of Kotree on the opposite bank of the Indus.
Gigasaran. - Petty State in South Káthiáwár, Bombay ; consisting
of i village, with 4 independent tribute-payers. Estimated revenue,
£500. The tribute due is paid by Amreli in lieu of certain villages
taken possession ofby that State.
Gilgaon. - Ancient chiefship in Chánda District, Central Provinces;
containing 12 villages. Most of the area, which measures 26 miles
by 16 , is covered by hill and forest, the latter containing some good
timber, mostly sál and bijesál. Gilgaon village is situated in lat. 20° ó
30" N., long. 80° 5' 30" E.
Gilgit.— Valley in Kashmir State, Punjab, lying on the southern
slope of the Hindu Kúsh , between BALTISTAN and CHITRAL. Lat. 35
47' N., long. 74° 31' E. The river Gilgit traverses its centre , and finally
joins the Indus a little south -east of the village bearing the same
name.
Ginaur. - North -western tahsil of Budáun District, North -Western
Provinces, lying along the northern bank of the Ganges. Area , 310
square miles, of which 176 are cultivated ; pop. (1872), 128,788 ; land
revenue, £ 16,437 ; total Government revenue, £18,085 ; rental paid
by cultivators, £31, 145 ; incidence of Government revenue per acre,
IS. 7 } d .
Gingi (Chenji). - Fort in South Arcot District, Madras. Lat. 12°
15' 19" N., long. 79° 26' 8" E. ; situated on the road from Kistnagiri
to the coast, about half-way between Tindevanam and Trinomalái; 82
miles south -west from Madras, and 50 north -east from Cuddalore, the
chief town of the District.
There is no village of Gingi beyond a few houses near the foot of
the hills. The interest of the place is exclusively historical. The
fortress consists of three strongly fortified hills, connected together
by walls of circumvallation. The highest and most important hill
is called Rájágiri ; the two others being known as Kistnagiri and
Chendrayan Drúg. Rájágiri is about 500 or 600 feet high , and con
sists of a ridge terminating in an overhanging bluff, facing the south,
and falling with a precipitous sweep to the plain on the north . On the
summit of this bluff stands the citadel. The long walls of circumvalla
tion, already alluded to , enclose an area of over 7 miles in circumference.
Before the fortifications existed, the summit of the Rájágiri bluff must
have been utterly inaccessible on all sides but the south -west. At this
point, where the crest of the ridge meets the base of the bluff, a narrow
and steep ravine probably gave a difficult means of access to the top,
across which the Hindu engineer built three walls, each about 20 or 25
feet high, rising one behind the other at some little distance, and ren
 GINGI FORT. 369
dering an attack by escalade in that direction almost impracticable.
On the north side, a narrow chasm divides a portion of the rock from
the main mass. This chasm , the fortifiers of the rock artificially pro
longed and heightened ; and where it had a width of about 24 feet and
a depth of about 60, they threw a wooden bridge over it, and made the
only means of ingress into the citadel through a narrow stone gateway
facing the bridge, and about 30 yards from it, with flanking walls fitted
with embrasures for guns and loopholed formusketry.
It is not known with certainty who constructed the fort. It is probable
that the site was originally built on by the Chola kings, and quasi
authentic history attributes the commencement of the great fort to a
son of Vijaya Rangá Náik , the Governor of Tanjore in 1442. The
works were completed during the time of the Vijáyanagar kings. The
martello towers and cavaliers show traces of European supervision , and
some of the more modern embrasures were the work of the French .
The great lines of fortification which cross the valley between the three
hills, were evidently built at different periods. In their original form ,
they each consisted of a wall about 5 feet thick , built up of blocks of
granite, and filled in with rubble ; but subsequently a huge earthen
rampart, about 25 or 30 feet thick , has been thrown up behind these
walls, and riveted roughly on the inside with stone,while at intervals
in this rampart are barracks or guard -rooms.
Several ruins of fine buildings are situated inside the fort. Of these
the most remarkable are the two pagodas, the Kaliyána Mahál, the
Gymkhána, the granaries, and the I'dgah. There are various mandaps
(porches ) on each of the hills, and a very large granary on the
top of Kistnagiri. The most noticeable building of all, perhaps, is
the Kaliyána Mahál. This consists of a square court surrounded by
rooms for the ladies of the Governor's household. In the middle of
this court is a square tower of eight storeys, and altogether about 80
feet high , with a pyramidical roof. The first six storeys are all of the
same size and pattern, namely , an arcaded verandah running round a
small room , about 8 feet square, and communicating with the storey ·
above by means of small steps. The room on the seventh storey has
now no verandah, but there are indications of one having existed
formerly. The topmost room is of smaller size than the others. The
only other interesting feature in the building is an earthenware pipe
leading to the sixth storey, and brought all the way from a tank 600
yards off, outside the walls of the fort, and carried under the wall to
the back of the ladies' quarters, and thence over the roof to the Mahal.
One of the most singular features about Gingi is the water supply .
There are two perennial springs of excellentwater on the top of Rájá
giri - one outside the gateway of the citadel, and the other on the very
summit of the rock . Atthe foot of the ridge at the back of Rájágiri,
VOL. III. 2 A
370 GINGI RIVER - GIRAR.
and between it and Chandrayan Drúg, are two tanks, and on thewestern
side of the bluff is a third reservoir constructed to catch the surface
drainage. The principal objects of interest are — the great gun on the
top of Rájágiri ; the Rájá's bathing-stone, a large smooth slab of granite,
15 feet square and 4 or 5 inches thick, near the spot where the palace
is said to have stood ; and the prisoners' well. This latter is a very
singular boulder, about 15 or 20 feet high, poised on a rock near the
Chakrakulam and surmounted by a low circular brick wall. It has a
natural hollow passing through it like a well, and the bottom , having
been blocked up with masonry and the upper edges smoothed with a
little masonry work plastered with chunam , a natural dry well was
formed, into which prisoners are said to have been thrown and allowed
to die of starvation. The top of the boulder can only be reached by
means of a ladder, but the hollow has now been filled up with rubbish .
A little to the south of Rájágiri is a fourth hill called Chakli Drúg.
The summit is strongly fortified, but these fortifications are not con
nected with those ofGingi.
History. — As mentioned above, Gingi was a stronghold of the
Vijayanagar power, till its overthrow by the allied Muhammadan kings
of the Deccan in 1564, at Tálikot. It was not till 1669, however, that
Bandullá Khán, the Bijapur general, captured the fort ofGingi. The
division of his army that effected this was commanded by Shahji,
father of Sivaji the Great. In 1677, the fort fell to Sivají by stratagem ,
and remained in Marhattá hands for twenty years. In 1690, the armies
of the Delhi Emperor, under Zulfikár Khán, were despatched against
Gingiwith a view to the final extirpation of the Marhattá power. The
siege was prolonged for eight years, but the fort fell in 1698, and after
wards became the headquarters of the standing army in Arcot. In 1750,
the French captured it by a skilful and daringly executed surprise,and
held it with an efficient garrison for eleven years, defeating one attack by
the English under Major Kineer in 1752. Stephen Smith took the place
after five weeks' siege in 1761. In 1780, it was surrendered to Haidar,
but subsequently itplayed no part of importance in the wars of Southern
India. Gingi has long enjoyed the reputation of being one of the most
unhealthy localities in the Karnatic. The French are said by Orme to
have lost 1200 European soldiers during their eleven years' tenancy of
it, and their garrison of Europeans rarely exceeded 100 men . There is
no trace, however, of any burial-ground where these men were interred.
The place is now deserted, but Government allows an annual main
tenance for the preservation of the ruins.
Gingi. — River of South Arcot District, Madras. - See ARIAKUPUM.
Girar. — Town in Wardha District, Central Provinces ; 37 miles
south -east ofWardha. Lat. 20° 40' N ., long. 79° 9' 30" E. The shrine
of the Musalmán saint, Shaikh Khwaja Farid , crowns the summit ofa
 GIRDABADI- GIRNAR. 371
neighbouring hill, and attracts a continual flow of devotees, both Hindus
and Musalmáns. This holy man was born in Hindustán, and, after
wandering for thirty years as a fakír, he settled on the Girar Hill about
1244. Two travelling traders once mocked the saint, on which he
turned their stock of cocoa-nuts to stone ; then moved by their suppli
cations, he created a fresh stock from dry leaves. The traders were
so struck by these wonders, that they attached themselves to the saint's
service, and their two graves may yet be seen on the hill. The shrine
absorbs the revenues of five villages, Girar itself, however, not being
among the number. The town has a police outpost, a good village
school, and a weekly market. Pop. (1870), 1836 .
Girdábádi. One of the peaks of the Eastern Ghats, in Chinna
Kimedi Zamindári, Ganjám District,Madras. Lat, 19° 29' 44" N., long.
84° 25' 18" E. ; 3399 feet above sea level. A Great Trigonometrical
Survey station .
Giriyák – Village on the Panchána river, Patná District, Bengal.
Lat. 25° 1' 45" n., long. 85° 34' E ; situated in the double range of hills
commencing near Gayá, on one of its peaks (about 6 miles in length),
which General Cunningham identifies with Fa Hian 's Solitary Moun
tain, suggesting at the same time that its name is derived from ek -giri,
or ' one hill ;' but this statement has been doubted. Dr. Buchanan
Hamilton has described the ruins ofGiriyák, which are full of archæo
logical interest. They were originally ascended from the north -east,
and remains of a road about 12 feet wide, paved with large stone
blocks, and winding so as to procure a moderate gradient, still exist.
It could , however, never have been practicable for wheeled carriages.
At the west end of the ridge,a steep brick slope leads up to a platform ,
on which there are some granite pillars, probably part of an ancient
temple . East of the ridge is an area 45 feet square, called the
chabutara of Jarasindhu , the centre of which is occupied by a low
square pedestal supporting a solid brick column 68 feet in circum
ference and 55 feet in height. Dr. Buchanan -Hamilton considers the
general impression that the ruins on this hill are the remains of Jara
sindhu's country -house erroneous, for the ascent to Giriyák must always
have been too arduous to render it a place of luxurious retirement.
Girnár. – Sacred hill, with ruined temples, in Kathiáwár, Bombay ;
situated about 10 miles east of Junágarh town. Lat. 21° 30' N ., long.
70° 42' E . The hill rises to about 3500 feet above sea level, and forms
one of the sacred seats of Jainism , only second in importance to
Palitána. A rock at the foot of the hill outside the town is covered
with a set of Asoka's inscriptions, 250 B.C. Another inscription (150
A. D .) relates how the localmonarch , Rudra Dama, defeated the king of
the Deccan ; while a third (457 A . D .) records the bursting ofthe embank
ment of the Sudarsána tank, and the rebuilding of a bridge which was
 372 GIRWA - GIRWAN .
destroyed by the flood. There are, however, no remains of any ancient
city, temples, or ruins of a corresponding age to these inscriptions,and
but for their dates the place would have seemed to be unknown before
the roth century . Mr. James Fergusson , in his History of Indian and
Eastern Architecture (1876 , pp. 230-232), thus describes the architec
tural features of Girnár :— The principal group of temples at Girnár,
some sixteen in number, is situated on a ledge about 600 feet from the
summit, and nearly 3000 feet above the level of the sea. The largest
and possibly the oldest of these is that of Nemináth . An inscription
upon it records that it was repaired in A. D. 1278, and unfortunately a
subsequent restorer has laid his heavy hand upon it, so that it is diffi
cult now to realize what its original appearance may have been . The
temple stands in a courtyard measuring 195 feet by 130 feet over all.
Around the courtyard are arranged 70 cells, with a covered and
enclosed passage in front of them , each of which contains a cross-legged
seated figure of the Tirthankar, to whom the temple is dedicated
(Nemináth), and generally with a bas-relief or picture representing
some act in his life. Immediately behind the temple of Nemináth is
a triple one, erected by the brothers Tejpála and Vastupala , who also
erected one of the principal temples in Abu.
Girwa. — River of Nepál and Oudh ; a branch of the KAURIALA,
leaving that stream on its eastern bank a mile below the point where it
emerges through a gorge in the Himalayas known as Shisha-páni or
Crystal waters. Some years ago, the Gírwa was a mere water-course,
but its volume has gradually increased till it is now considerably larger
than the parent stream . Both are rapid rivers ; their beds covered with
large pebbles, often a foot in diameter, particularly at the fords where
they are broad and shallow , enabling elephants to cross generally without
difficulty . Both streams are about 400 yards broad, and from 3 to 4
feet deep ; they are unfordable by men, except at one or two places.
The Girwa in particular is a beautiful stream , its banks being covered
with dense sál, with the mountains showing over the tree-tops. In
many places the river has worn for itself large clearings amid the
jungle, several miles broad, through which the water passes in several
clear channels. The islands thus formed are generally covered with
shishám trees and thickets of willow . Diagonally across the stream in
its upper course extend ridges of kankar or limestone, forming rapids, and
causing a complete obstruction to navigation. In its lower course, the
Gírwa enters Bahraich District, and finally reunites with the Kauriala
a few miles below Bharthapur. The stream is navigable by large boats
up to Dhanaura, just beyond British territory. The waters of the
Kauriála and Girwa, afterwards swelled by the SARJU and CHAUKA,
finally become the GOGRA, or great river of Oudh .
Girwán. - South -westerly tahsil of Banda District, North -Western
 GNA-PUTAN - GNYOUNG -DUN. 373
Provinces ; consisting of hilly eminences sloping down into an elevated
plain , with detached granite rocks. Area , 308 square miles, of which
170 are cultivated ; pop. (1872), 78,848 ; land revenue, £15,885 ;
total Government revenue , £16 ,231 ; rental paid by cultivators ,
£26,693 ; incidence of Government revenue per acre, is. 7 d .
Gna-putan. — Township and town , British Burma. See NGA-PUTAN.
Gna-thaing -khyoung. – See NGA-THAING-KHYOUNG.
Gnyoung -Beng. - Revenue circle, between the Pegu and Tsittoung
rivers, in Rangoon District, Pegu Division, British Burma. The
country in the west is undulating and cultivated with rice. In 1876,
the population was 8339 ; the gross revenue, £8848.
Gnyoung-beng -hla . - Revenue circle,with an area of 8 squaremiles,
in Kyouk-hpyú District, Arakan Division, British Burma. The principal
manufacture is salt. In 1876, the population was 1650 ; the gross
revenue, £442.
Gnyoung-beng-tha. — Revenue circle in Prome District, Pegu
Division, British Burma. The surface of the country is undulating, and
the hillsides are covered with fruit and vegetable gardens. The villages
are all on the bank of the Irawadi, and are inhabited by cultivators and
fishermen. In 1876 -77, the land revenue was £91, and the capitation
tax, £114.
Gnyoung -beng -tha. — Revenue circle on the right bank of the
Irawadi, in Henzada District, Pegu Division , British Burma. The
land is well cultivated with rice, and protected from inundation by an
embankment. The population in 1876 was 4467 ; the gross revenue,
£1292.
Gnyoung-beng-tshiep .— Revenue circle, 6 square miles in extent,
on the left bank of the Irawadi, in Thayet District, Pegu Division ,
British Burma. The population in 1876 -77 numbered 4115, almost all
Burmese ; the gross revenue was £1024. Before the annexation of
Pegu, Gnyoung-beng-tshiep was an independent jurisdiction under a
Myo-thúgyí, under whom were five Thúgyiships. The last Myo-thúgyí
took office under the English as an extra -Assistant Commissioner.
Gnyoung -beng -tshiep. - Revenue circle, east of Maulmain , at the
junction of the Gyaing and Attaran rivers, and on the right bank of
the former, in Amherst District, Tenasserim Division, British Burma.
This circle is noted for its manufacture of earthen pots for salt-boiling,
etc. In 1876 -77, the population was 2999 ; the land revenue, £424 ;
and the capitation tax, £323.
Gnyoung - dún (or Yandoon ). — Town 60 miles north -west of
Rangoon , at the junction of the Pan-hlaing or Gnyoung-dún creek
with the Irawadi, in Thonkhwa District, Pegu Division, British Burma.
It is the seat of a large transit trade between the upper part of the
Irawadi valley and Rangoon. The principal imports are wheat,
374 GNYOUNG -DUN - GOA SETTLEMENT.
gram , beans, pickled tea, oil, onions, silk . The principal exports are
rice (husked and unhusked ), piece-goods, crockery , earthenware, tobacco,
and betel-nuts. Small steamers occasionally run between this town
and Rangoon, making the trip, with a favourable tide, in one day.
Gnyoung -dun . - Revenue circle in the township of the samename,
Thonkhwa District, Pegu Division, British Burma. In 1876-77, the
population was 12 ,354, inclusive of Gnyoung-dun town ; the gross
revenue, £2966.
Gnyoung-khyoung. - Revenue cirole in Thonkhwa District, Pegu
Division , British Burma. It lies on the right bank of the Irawadi; and
until this river was embanked, the southern portions of the circle were
uncultivable, owing to periodical inundations. In 1876 -77, the popula
tion was 10,212 ; the gross revenue, £2761.
Gnyoung - le -beng. - Revenue circle in Shwe-gyeng District, Tenas
serim Division, British Burma. Its area is 70 square miles. The
population in 1876 -77 was 5284, chiefly Talaing ; the gross revenue
was £1448.
Gnyoung -rwa-gyí. — Revenue circle in Henzada District, Pegu
Division, British Burma. There are extensive rice plains in the centre.
The population in 1876 -77 was 4981 ; the gross revenue, £1184.
Gnyoung -rwa-ngay. - Revenue circle in Henzada District, Pegu
Division , British Burma. It extends eastward from the Arakan Yomas,
being in that portion mountainous and covered with tree forest ; the
tract to the east consists of extensive rice-fields. The population in
1876-77 was 2556 ; the gross revenue, £394.
Gnyoung -tsa -re. — Revenue circle in Prome District, Pegu Division,
British Burma. The surface of the country is level, except towards the
east ; in the centre and south -west portion, rice is extensively cultivated .
During the rains, a tract of country in the south is entirely separated
from the rest by the Dún -kúla water -course , which joins the Irawadi
just below Gnyoung-tsa-re. In 1876 -77, the population was 5961 ; the
gross revenue, £1246.
Goa . - Portuguese settlement on the Malabar or western coast of
India, lying between 14° 53' and 15° 48' n . lat., and between 73°
43' and 74° 24' E . long., about 250 miles south -south -east from Bom
bay. Bounded on the north by the river Tirakul or Auraundem ,
separating it from Sáwant Wári State ; on the east by the range of the
Western Gháts"; on the south by Kanara District; and on the west by
the Arabian Sea. Extreme length from north to south , 62 miles;
greatest breadth from east to west, 40 miles. Total area, 1062 square
miles; population (1876), 392,234.
Goa formsa patch of foreign territory on the coast of the Bombay
coast, and is surrounded on all sides, except to the seaward, by British
Districts. It was not practicable to extend to this settlement the
 GOA SETTLEMENT. 375
minute statistical survey which wascarried out in British territory , and a
personal visit disclosed the impossibility ofadhering to the same arrange
ment. The following account was kindly drawn up for the Imperial
Gazetteer by Dr. Jose Nicolau da Fonseca , President of the Sociedade
dos Amigos das Letras, from official sources in Goa ; it is now printed
(as requested ) with as few modifications as possible , although in a much
condensed form , and with some historical amplifications.
Physical Aspects. — Goa is a hilly country , especially that portion
which was most recently acquired, known as theNovas Conquistas (new
conquests). Its distinguishing feature is the Sahyadri Mountains,
which, after skirting a considerable portion of the north-eastern and
south -eastern boundaries, branch off westwards across the territory into
numerous spurs and ridges. Of the isolated peaks with which these
ranges of mountains are studded, the most conspicuous are, on the
north — Sonságar, 3827 feet above sea level ; Catlanchimauli, 3633
feet; Vaguerim , 3500 feet; Morlemchogor, 3400 feet, all in the
Satári mahál or Province ; on the east and west - Sidnato at Ponda,
Chandarnate at Chandrawadi, Consid at Astragar, and Dudeagar at
Embarbákam .
The territory is intersected by numerous rivers, which are generally
navigable . Beginning on the north , the eight principal rivers are
(1) The Tirakul or Araundem , so called from the fortress of that
name guarding its estuary ; has its source in the Western Ghats,
in the Sáwant Wári State, flows south-west for 144 miles, and, after
forming the northern boundary of the Province of Pernem , and also of
the territory of Goa, discharges its waters into the Arabian Sea : (2)
the Cháporá or Colvalle, 18 miles long, rises at Rám Ghát, and ,
after separating the Provinces of Bárdes, Bicholim , and Sanquelim
from Pernem , takes a zigzag direction to the south-west through the
villages of Salem , Revora , Colvalle, and empties itself into the sea close
to the village of Cháporá : (3) the Bága, only i mile long, rises in
Bárdes, and passes a redoubt of the same name: (4 ) the Sinquerim ,
31 miles long, also rises in Bárdes close to the village of Pilerne, and,
after describing almost a right angle, westwards and southwards, and
forming the peninsula of Aguada, falls into the bay of the same name :
(5 ) the Mandavi, 384 miles in length , is the most important stream in
the territory, both the ancient and modern metropolis being situated on
its banks ; it rises at Parvar Ghát in the Province of Satari, first runs
north-west of Ponda, and then south-west of Bicholim and Bárdes, and,
after forming several islands and passing Panjím or New Goa , dis
charges its waters into the Bay of Aguada ; its principal offshoots pass
the villages of Mapuca, Tivim , and Assonora , watering the Provinces
of Bicholim , Sanquelim , and Zambaulim , and are locally known by
those names : (6) the Juari, 39 miles in length, rises at the foot of
 MENT
376 GOA SETTLE .
Digny Ghat in the Province of Embarbákam , runs northwards,
separating Salsette from Ponda, and falls into the Bay of Mormugao ;
like the Mandavi, it has numerous offshoots, one of which joins the
former river between Marcaim and Sao Lourenço after forming the
island of Tissuadi : (7 ) the Sál, 15 miles long, runs close to the town
of Margao, and discharges itself into the sea near the fort of Betul :
(8) the Talpona, 7 miles long, rises at Ambughát in the Province of
Astragar, and, running westwards through the Province of Canacona,
falls into the sea near the small fort of Talpona. The boats by which
these rivers are navigated are called tonas, and the ferries across them
are designated passa -gens.
The territory of Goa possesses a fine harbour, formed by the pro
montories of Bárdes and Salsette. Half-way between these extremi
ties projects the cabo (cape) from the island of Goa, dividing the
harbour into two anchorages, known as Alguada and Mormugao.
Both are capable of safely accommodating the largest shipping from
September to May. Alguada is virtually closed to navigation during
the south -west monsoon , owing to the high winds and sea, and the
formation of sandbanks in the estuary of the Mandovi at that period ;
but Mormugao is accessible at all times. A consequence of the inter
section of numerous rivers, is the formation of many islands, of which
the chief number 18.
The rainfall for the three years ending 1875, as registered by the
Meteorological Department, averaged 100'22 inches. The prevailing
diseases are intermittent and remittent fevers, diarrhea, and dysentery .
Laterite is the stonemost abundant throughout the territory. Iron
is found at Bága, Satari, Pernem , and especially in the Provinces of
Zambáulim . The geological resources of Goa have not yet been
scientifically explored.
Stately forests are found in the Novas Conquistas. The reserve and
other forests scattered over an area of 30 ,000 hectares, or 74,133
acres, have an aggregate value, according to the Report of the Forest
Committee of 1871, of £700,000. The wasteful practice of kumri
or nomadic cultivation, till lately prevalent, has denuded them of
valuable trees. More attention is now paid to this branch of public
administration , which is entrusted to a special department. In 1874,
the forest revenue amounted to £1040, 75. 6d., and the expenditure to
£,429, 16s.
Population . The population of Goa Proper, in 1800, i.e. the
Velhas without the Novas Conquistas, was calculated at 178,478 ;
comprising 91,436 males and 87,042 females. The whole population
of the Velhas (old ), and Novas (new ) Conquistas, according to the
Census of 1851, was 363,788 ; showing a density of 342'54 to the
square mile , being an increase of 1044 over that of 1848, when the
 GOA SETTLEMENT. 377
aggregate was returned at 362,744. By the enumeration of 1851,
the population was classified under the following heads:- 1. Sex. —
Males, 180,240 ; females, 183,548. 2. Age. — Males and females from
birth to five years of age, 52,387 ; from five to fifteen, 73,633 ; from
fifteen to twenty -five, 85,895 ; from twenty-five to fifty, 104,856 ; from
fifty to a hundred, 47,006 ; above a hundred , 11. 3. Races. — (A )
European males and females and their descendants, 1851 ; (B ) Asiatic
males and females, 361,241; (c) African males and females and their
descendants, 696. 4 . Social Condition . — Married males, 81,522 ;
married females, 81,682 ; widowers, 16,753 ; widows, 35,202 ; un
married males, 81,965 ; unmarried females, 66,664. 5. Religion.
Christians, 232, 189 ; Hindus, 128,824 ; Muhammadans, 2775.
The population of Goa in 1876-77, as gathered from the statistics
published in the Boletim do Governo, is given on p . 378.
The total population of Goa in 1876 -77, according to the statement
on p . 378, was therefore 392,234, showing a density of 369-335 persons
to the square mile.
The inhabitants are divided into three classes — (1) Europeans, (2)
the descendants of Europeans, and (3) Natives. The last class maybe
again subdivided into Christians and Pagans. The native Christians,
who constitute about two -thirds of the total population , are the
descendants of Hindus converted to Christianity on the subjugation of
the country by the Portuguese, and can still trace the caste to which
they originally belonged . The predominating caste among the Pagans
is that of Shenvis, or Saraswati Brahmans. Chitpáwans and Karádás
are also to be found, as well as the low or depressed castes, such as
Mahárs , Chambárs, etc ., who are generally to be distinguished by their
darker colour. The few Musalmáns are as a class in a poor condition.
The males among native Christians for the most part adopt European
costumes, while the females still wear the indigenous sári. The ordinary
expenses of a middle-class family seldom exceed £3 a month . All
classes of the people, except Europeans, use the Konkani language,
with some admixture of Portuguese words. But the official language
is Portuguese,which is commonly spoken in the capital and the principal
towns, as well as by all educated persons. French is understood by
some, and English chiefly by those who have resided for a long time in
British territories.
The majority of the population profess the Roman Catholic reli
gion , and are subject in spiritual matters to an Archbishop, who has
the title of the Primate of the East, and exercises jurisdiction over the
Catholics of all the Portuguese colonies in the East, and of a great
portion of British India. His nomination rests with the King of
Portugal, subject to confirmation by the Pope. There are altogether
[ Sentence continued on page 379.
 PORTUGUESE
THE
OF
SETTLEMENT
IN1876
GOA
-77
.POPULATION
378

MALES
. .
FEMALES
District
. Grand
Under Unmarried . Under Unmarried .
Total
14 above
14 .WidowersTotal
Married arried
idows
14Motal
T.|Wabove
.years .
years .
years
14 .
years

Ilhas
·, · 85, 11 4,511 ,040
I1 949 ,311
22 5,390 3,696 ,059
11 3,651 ,796
23 46,107
Bárdes
,· · · · L,11465 9,086 ,242
23 3,068 49
54961
,812 4,978 41
|12306698227
,825101
,Salsette. . . ,688
15 15,251 ,212
22 3, 32 56,483 15,944 11,959 304773
,0|122 3061623
,8|160

VelhasConquistas.
Ist
Division
, · · 4,504 1,360 6,505 409 12,778 3,639 306 6,402 2,038 12,385 25,163
2d do
., : 2,3 28 67,| 26 ,01| 26 316,08 23, 94 1,774 7,923 2, 79 ,270
15 31,578
ENT
GOA SETTLEM .

3d do., . 3,197 9, 74 1,093 18,493 2,856 1,068 9,535 2,435 15,894 ,387
34
4th do

Novas Conquistas.
., . . 4,730 3,169 9,279 1,478 18,656 4,129 1,304 9,286 ,|297171091 36,366

Total
, · ,55355 ,889397802 ,1481945113900155 31|269025,0974349392446585
 GOA SETTLEMENT. 379
Sentence continued from page 377.]
96 Christian churches in Goa, mostly built by the Jesuits and the
Franciscans prior to the extinction of the religious orders in Portuguese
territory. The chief of these churches is the cathedral or metropolitan
church , called the Se Primacial de Goa . The religious orders have
been abolished in Portuguese India, and the churches are under the
charge of secular priests, all of whom are natives of Goa. In 1873-74,
the State contributed £4955, iis. towards the maintenance of the
ecclesiastical establishment. The Catholics of Goa are very regular
in the fulfilment of religious duties, and celebrate the chief festivals
sanctioned by the Catholic Church with much devotion and pomp.
The Hindus and Muhammadans enjoy perfect liberty in religious
matters, and have their own places of worship . The chief Hindu
temples are those of Mangesh , Málshá, Sántádurgá, Kapleshwar,
Nágesh , and Ramnáth , all of which are situated in the Novas Con
quistas.
At the conquest of Goa by Alfonso de Albuquerque in A.D. 1510 , the
village communities, among which the inhabitants were distributed ,
were found to be in the enjoyment of certain immunities from taxa
tion and other privileges. Albuquerque carefully maintained the con
stitution of these village communities, and avoided all appearance of
fresh taxation. The same policy was followed by his successors ; and in
1526 , a register was compiled, called ' Foral dos usas e Costumes,' con
taining the peculiar usage and customs of the communities, and the
privileges enjoyed by them from time immemorial. This register
served as a guide-book to subsequent administrators. But in time the
communities were burdened with additional imposts , and placed under
certain restrictions. At present they are under the supervision of
Government, which appoints in each District (conselho) of the Velhas
Conquistas an officer called Administrador das Communidades, to
watch rigidly over their proceedings. They are precluded from spend
ing even the smallest sum without Government sanction , and have to
pay certain contributions to the parish churches and for the construc
tion and repair of roads, the establishment of schools, etc. The
staff of village servants is not the same in all parts, but it usually
comprises the following members :— The tax-collector (sacador), the
clerk (escrivao), the carpenter (carpinteiro), the barber (barbeiro), the
shoemaker (alparqueiro), the washerman (mainato), the crier (parpoti),
and the mahár ( faraz). There is, however, no village head-man . On
questions affecting the interests of a whole village, a sort of a pancháyat
or council is held , composed of one or more members of each clan
(vangor), and the decisions are determined by themajority of votes. In
the Velhas Conquistas, a great portion of the land is held by the village
communities, which , after paying the rent and other Government taxes,
380 GOA SETTLEMENT.
divide the annual produce amongst themselves ; while in the Novas
Conquistas the lands are distributed among the vangors, who cultivate
them and enjoy their net produce. The total number ofvillage com
munities is 421. The aggregate revenue of the villages comprehended
in the Velhas Conquistas amounted in 1872 to £77,111, 16s., against
an expenditure of £26,436,6s. 8d.
Agriculture. — The entire territory of Goa contains 915,369 acres, of
which 234,754 acres are stated to be under cultivation , thus distributed
among the different crops :- Rice, 122,566 acres ; other cereals, vege
tables, etc., 77,076 ; cocoa-nut trees, 33,194 ; areca palms, 565 ; and
fruit trees the remainder. The soil is chiefly argillaceous, but also
contains light sand andmore or less of decayed vegetable matter. In
many parts it is full of stone and gravel. Its fertility varies according
to quality and situation in reference to the supply of water. Manure,
consisting of ashes, fish , and dung, is largely employed. As a rule, the
Velhas Conquistas are better cultivated than the Novas Conquistas. In
both these divisions of the Goa territory a holding of 15 or 16 acres
would be considered a good-sized farm , though the majority of holdings
are of smaller extent.
The staple produce of the country is rice (Oryza sativa), of which
there are two harvests — ( 1) the winter crop, called sorodio, and (2) the
summer crop or vangana, raised by means of artificial irrigation from
the rain -water accumulated in reservoirs, ponds, and wells. For the
sorodio crop , the field is ploughed before the commencement of the
monsoon, the seed scattered in May or June, and the crop harvested in
September ; while as regards the vangana , the ploughing operations
begin in October, the sowing in November, and the harvesting in
February. Rice is cultivated in low lands (cazana or cantor) situated
near the banks of rivers , slopes of hills (molloy), stiff grounds (dulpan or
dulip ), and sandy soils (quero ). The ratio of the produce to the seed
is roughly estimated as follows :- Near the banks of rivers, fifteenfold ;
in dry and stiff soils, sixfold ; and in other places, eightfold. The
quantity of rice produced is barely sufficient to meet the local demand
for two-thirds of the year. Next to rice, the culture of cocoa-nut
trees (Cocos nucifera) is deemed most important, from the variety
of uses to which the products are applied. They grow in luxuriant
groves on all lands not hilly or serviceable for the production of rice,
and along the sea -coast. Areca palm (Areca catechu) is chiefly culti
vated in the Novas Conquistas on lands irrigated from rivulets. Hilly
places and inferior soils are set apart for the cultivation of such cereals
as nachinim (Dolichos biflora ), urid (Phaseolus max), culita (Dolichos
uniflorus), orio (Panicum italicum ), mug (Phaseolus radiatus), tori
(Cytisus cajan). Of fruit-trees the most important are mango (Mangi
fera indica ), jack (Artocarpus integrifolia ), cashew (Anacardium
 GOA SETTLEMENT. 381
occidentale). Among the various kinds of vegetables are potato
(Convolvulus batata ), radishes (Raphanus sativus), yams (Dioscorea
sativa),melons (Cucumis melo ), cucumber (Cucumis sativus), bendas
(Abelmoschus esculentus), etc. Besides these — chilies (Capsicum
frutescens), ginger (Zingiber officinale ), turmeric (Curcuma longa),
onion (Allium cepa), and certain vegetables of daily consumption are
extensively cultivated in some villages. In the Province of Satári a
party of enterprising foreigners rented some years ago from Govern
ment certain plots of ground for coffee plantations. Severalexperiments
were tried, but the result did not prove encouraging.
Goa is seldom subject to great floods, though some of its Provinces
occasionally suffer from partial inundations during heavy rains. In
times of drought, the agricultural classes sustain heavy loss, but the
people at large are supplied , though at great cost, with rice from British
territories. It is only when a general famine occurs beyond the frontier
that signs of extreme distress are visible amongst the inhabitants of
Goa. Formerly the country was frequently subject to famine. The
years 1553, 1570, and 1682 are said to have been seasons of great
scarcity. In subsequent years, the constant incursions of the Marhattás
occasioned much distress.
The condition of the agricultural classes in the Velhas Conquistas
has of late improved, owing partly to the general rise in prices of all
kinds of agricultural produce, and partly to the current of emigration
to British territories. In the Novas Conquistas, however, the culti
vators are said to have been reduced to great want and misery through
the oppression of the landowners.
Commerce and Manufactures. — In the days of its glory , Goa was the
chief entrepôt of commerce between the East and West. But with the
downfall of the Portuguese Empire, it lost its commercial importance,
and its trade has now dwindled into insignificance. Few manufacturing
industries of any importance exist, but the country is not devoid of
skilful artisans, such as goldsmiths, carpenters, blacksmiths, shoemakers,
etc. Some of the articles produced are disposed of privately, while
others are exposed for sale at the annual and weekly fairs held in
various places. The principal exports are — cocoa-nuts, betel-nuts,
mangoes, water-melons, jack , and other fruits ; cinnamon , pepper, salt
fish , gum , coir-work , firewood, fowls , and salt. Of these the last forms
one of the principal sources of profit, the numerous salt-pans that exist
in the country yielding a large quantity of salt over and above the local
demand. The chief articles imported are - rice, cloth , refined sugar,
wines, tobacco, glass -ware, hardware, and other miscellaneous goods.
The value of the imports largely exceeds that of the exports, thus
causing a drain ofmoney which would certainly have materially affected
the financial condition of Goa, had not a stream of coin flowed con
382 GOA SETTLEMENT.
stantly into the country from the savings of those of its inhabitants who
reside temporarily in British territory . In 1874, the customs revenue
amounted to £21,388, 18s. The total number of vessels of every kind
that entered the port of Goa in the same year was 1075, with 97,900
tons of cargo, while the number of those that left was 2084, with
119,756 tons.
There is at present (1877) no railway in Goa, but negotiations are
pending with the British Government for the construction of a line in
connection with themain system of the Great Indian Peninsula Rail
way. Several new roads have recently been made, and others are in
course of construction. According to the report of the Committee of
Engineers, published in 1870, there were in that year 31 roads, complete
and incomplete; of these the chief runs northwards from Verem , opposite
Panjim , through the villages of Pilerne, Saligao, Parramaprica, and Asso
nora , meeting at Sankarwalle the road constructed in British territory.
There are no banking establishments or professionalmoney-lenders
in the country ; but in cases ofnecessity, money can be borrowed from
wealthy proprietors or religious confraternities at 5 per cent. In
Districts inhabited by Hindus, however, the current rate of interest is
about 10 per cent. Landowners not unfrequently advance petty sums,
or their equivalent in kind, without interest, to such of the cultivators
or labourers as are their dependants, or live in their oarts (palmares),
deducting the debt by monthly instalments from the wages due. In
the Novas Conquistas, the rate of interest charged for an advance of
grain is generally half asmuch as the value of the advance.
Owing to the want of labourers, and the comparative increase in the
price of grain, wages have of late risen considerably . Formerly they
varied from 2d. to 3d. a day, but at present a male labourer earns as
much as 6d., and a female 24d. Agricultural labourers generally
receive their wages in kind, either daily or weekly . Good masons and
carpenters are paid at the rate of is. per diem ; and male servants at
about 4s. per month besides food. Wherever female servants are
employed, they, as a rule, receive no fixed wages, but it is usual to give
them periodically some suits of clothes, and jewels on the occasion of
marriage. The average price of a cow is about £i ; of a pair of oxen ,
£5 ; of a pair of buffaloes, £5 ; of a pig, £i; of a score of fowls,
1os. ; and of a score of ducks, £1. In 1874-75, rice sold at 26 lbs.
per rupee (25.) ; urid,'at 30 lbs. ; culita , at 50 lbs.
Administration . — Previous to 1871, Goa possessed a comparatively
large Native army, but owing to the rebellion which broke out in that
year, it was disbanded, and a battalion composed wholly of Europeans
was obtained from Portugal. The force now consists of 313 men of all
ranks. The entire strength of the police is 919 men. The total ex
penditure on the public force was in 1874, £49,687, 6s.
 GOA SETTLEMENT. 383
There is at present no naval force at Goa ; but in the year 1874-75,
the Settlement contributed a sum of £9815, 155. towards the mainten
ance of the Portuguese navy.
There is one telegraph office in Goa, at Panjím , maintained jointly
by the British and Portuguese Governments, the latter contributing
yearly the sum of £160, besides paying £3 monthly as house rent.
During the year 1874-75, the total number of messages sent was 1294 ,
and those received, 1869. The receipts amounted to £198, 3s. 9d.,
and the expenditure to £256, iis.6d. The headquarters of the post
office are also at Panjím , with branches at Margao, Mapuça , Ponda,
Bicholim , Chinchinim , and Pernem . Letters sent from Goa to any
part of British India , or vice versa , bear the postage stamps issued by
both Governments. The total postal receipts in 1874-75 were
£1815, 6s.
There are two hospitals — one formilitary men ; and the other for the
poor and destitute, called ' Hospital da Santa Caza de Misericordia '
(Hospital of the Holy House of Mercy). In the year 1875, the latter
contained 520 inmates, of whom 226 were females. The most
important charitable institutions are — the Santa Caza de Misericordia
(Holy House of Mercy), at Chimbel; Sociedade de Caridade (Charit
able Society ), at Panjim ; Hospicio de Sagrodo Coraçao de Maria
(Asylum of the Sacred Heart of Mary ), at Margao ; and Asylo de
Nossa Senhora de Milagres (Asylum of our Lady of Miracles), at
Mapuca . The first is coeval with the conquest of Goa by the Portu
guese , and maintains the hospital alluded to above and two establish
ments for the reformation and education of females. In 1874, these
two houses contained a total of 48 inmates.
Of late years, education has made considerable progress in Goa. In
1869-70, there were 137 lower schools, of which 52 were public and 85
private , with 6027 pupils of both sexes ; 29 higher schools, of which 21
were public and 8 private, including i national lyceum or college,with
2433 pupils ; i medical school, with 60 pupils ; i school of chemistry,
with 48 pupils ; i mathematical and military school, with 137 pupils ;
i seminary for priests, with 92 pupils. Besides these, there are 3 public
schools for girls. Since 1870, the military schoolhas been closed, and
a college for practical sciences, called Instituto Professional, established
in its place. Besides the Government Gazette, called Boletim do
Governo , there are five weekly periodicals — viz. (1) A 'Gazeta de Bárdes,
(2) A' India Portuguesa, ( 3) A 'Nova Goa, (4 ) A ' Patria, and (5 )
O Ultramar, all edited in the Portuguese language by natives. In
addition, there is a Portuguese religious paper called A 'Cruz, and a
Marathi newspaper called Desha Sudhárnechá. Of the four literary
associations established in the country, the most important is the
Instituto Vasco da Gama.
 384 GOA SETTLEMENT.
The total revenue in 1873-74 was £108, 148, 10 ., and the ex
penditure, £107,145, 18s. The sources of revenue are — tithes at 10
per cent. on rice, cocoa-nuts, and salt, customs and postal dues, seal
and stamp duties, tobacco licences, taxes on liquor-shops, etc.
Goa is regarded as an integral portion of the Portuguese Empire,
and, with Damán and Diu, forms, for administrative purposes, one
Province subject to a Governor-General, who is appointed directly by
the King of Portugual, and holds his office for five years. Besides his
civil functions, he is invested with the supreme military authority in
the Province. His personal staff consists of two aides-de-camp, and
of a secretary styled the Chief Secretary of the Governor-General of
Portuguese India , and likewise appointed by the king. Though the
chief executive functionary, the Governor-General cannot, except in
cases of emergency, impose new taxes, or abolish the existing ones,
contract loans, create new appointments, or reduce the old ones,
retrench the salaries attached to them , or generally incur any expenses
not sanctioned by law ; nor can he, under any circumstances what
ever, leave the Province without the special permission of the Home
Government. In the administration of the Province he is aided by a
council composed of the Chief Secretary, the Archbishop of Goa, or ,
in his absence, the chief ecclesiasticalauthority exercising his functions,
the Judges of the High Court, the two highest military officers in
Goa, the Attorney-General, the Secretary of the Junta de Fazenda
Publica (council of public revenue), the Health Officer, and the
President of the Municipal Chamber or Corporation of the Capital
(camara municipal de capital). As a rule, all the members give their
opinions, and vote in every matter on which they are consulted by the
Governor-General. There are also three other Juntas or councils,
called the Junta Geral da Provincia (general council of the Province),
the Junta da Fazenda Publica (council of public revenue), and the
Conselho de Provincia (the council of the Province). The first of
these is composed of the Chief Secretary , the Archbishop or his
substitute, the Attorney-General, the Secretary of the Junta da Fazenda
Publica, the Director of Public Works, the Health Officer, a Professor
of the Medico -Surgical College, a Professorof the Instituto Professional,
a Professor of the Lyceum , a Professor of the Normal School, and a
representative from each of the municipal corporations of the Pro
vince. This Junta discusses and decides all questions relating to
public works, and the expenses necessary for their execution, the pre
servation of public health , the establishment of schools, the alteration
of custom duties, etc. The Governor-General is empowered to suspend
the operation of any resolution passed by this Junta, pending a refer
ence to the Home Government. The second council consists of the
Governor-General as President, the Attorney-General, the Secretary of
 GOA SETTLEMENT: 385
the same council, and the Accountant-General. This Junta exercises
a direct and active control over the public revenues, making the
requisite provisions for their proper collection and expenditure ; and
no public expense can be made without its sanction . The third
council is altogether of inferior importance.
In addition to the above machinery of administration , there are sub
ordinate agencies for the local government of the different Districts.
In connection with these agencies, the entire territory ofGoa is divided
into two tracts, known as the Velhas and Novas Conquistas (old and
new conquests). The former tract is subdivided into three Districts
(conselhos) — viz. the Ilhas, Salsette , and Bárdes — and each of these
again into parishes, of which there are 96 in all. Every District has a
municipal corporation , and is placed under the charge of a functionary ,
called Administrador do Conselho. This officer is appointed by the
Governor-General, and is entrusted with duties of an administrative
character, besides those connected with the public safety and health .
Every parish has likewise a minor council, called Junta da Parochia ,
presided over by a magistrate, called Regedor, whose duties are to
inspect and direct the police establishments of the parish , keep a strict
surveillance over liquor-shops, gaming-houses, etc ., open wills and
testaments, and report generally every important occurrence to the
Administrador. Similarly in each of the four divisions into which the
Novas Conquistas are subdivided, there is an officer called Administrador
Fiscal, whose duties are almost identicalwith those of the Administrador
do Conselho. The functions ofa Regedor are here exercised by a village
Kulkarni. Of the above named four divisions, the first consists of
Pernem , the second of Sanquelim or Satari and Bicholim ; the third
of Ponda and Embarbacem ; and the fourth of Astragan, Bally,
Chandorowadi, Cacora , and Canacona with Cabo de Ráma. Each
of the Subdivisions of the Velhas and Novas Conquistas is also known
by the name of Province. The offices of Governor, Chief Secretary,
Attorney-General, and some other important ones are almost invariably
filled by Europeans ; while those of Administrador do Conselho and
Regedor are held by natives. As stated above, there are three muni
cipalities in the Velhas Conquistas, the chief being that of the Ilhas.
Themunicipal receipts in 1874-75 amounted to £1232, 155.
Goa with its dependencies in India , viz. Damán and Diu , and with
Mozambique, Macao, and Timor, constitutes, for judicial purposes, but
one District. This judicial District is divided into Comarcas, which
are subdivided into Julgados, and these again into Tregulsias or
parishes. Each parish is superintended by a Justice of the Peace,
whose appointment is honorary . It is the duty of this functionary to
arbitrate between litigants, in civil suits, except those affecting the
interests of minors, and those relating to mortmain ; to institute pre
VOL . III. 2 B
 T
386 GOA SETTLEMEN .
liminary inquiries into criminal matters previous to their submission
for trial ; to try municipal offences, and decide petty suits not exceeding
in amount or value 2500 reis (12s.). Against his decision an appeal
lies to the court of a judge of higher jurisdiction called Juiz Ordinario.
In every Julgado there is a Juiz Ordinario, with an establishment con
sisting of a sub-delegate of the Attorney-General, two clerks, two or
more bailiffs, and a translator or interpreter. All these officials are
paid by Government, and are besides entitled to fees, except the clerks,
who receive fees only. A Juiz Ordinario holds his sittings twice a week,
for the purpose of deciding civil and criminal cases within his juris
diction. The former are chiefly connected with disputes concerning
landed property not exceeding the value of £2, or moveable property
ofnotmore than £6. The latter relate to offences for which no higher
punishment can be awarded than a fine of 15s., or three days' rigorous
imprisonment. The Juiz de Direito holds the next grade, in charge
of a Comarca, with a staff composed of a delegate of the Attorney
General, three clerks, one interpreter and translator, an accountant, four
or five bailiffs, all of whom , exceptthe clerks and accountantreceive, in
addition to certain fees, fixed salaries. A judge of this class exercises
ordinary and extraordinary jurisdiction in matters both civil and
criminal. He is required to go on circuit annually to the Julgados,
where he hears complaints against subordinate functionaries, examines
their proceedings and registers, and sometimes tries those suits within
his jurisdiction which may not have been submitted to his tribunal by
the ordinary judges. His decision in suits relating to landed property
exceeding in value £10, and moveable property above £15, are
subject to appeal to the High Court of Goa. Within the limits of the
Julgado, where the seat of his tribunal is fixed, this officer exercises the
functions of a judge of ordinary jurisdiction aswell as those of a District
judge. The supervision of all the above judges is entrusted to a High
Court ( Tribunal da Relaçao),whose seat is in Nova Goa (new Goa), in
consequence ofwhich it is sometimes called Relação de Nova Goa This
court consists of a Chief Justice (Presidente ), and 3 puisne judges, with
a staff consisting of an Attorney-General, an assistant, a registrar, 2
assistant registrars, an accountant, and 2 bailiffs, all drawing salaries
from the public treasury besides certain perquisites. The High Court
has jurisdiction , both ordinary and extraordinary , in all cases, whether
civil or criminal, and is invested with appellate powers. Its decisions
are final in all suits except those relating to immoveable property
exceeding in value £150, and moveable property above £250, in
which an appeal lies to the Supreme Tribunal of Portugal. Besides
the High Court, there are in Goa 3 courts of the Juiz de Direito ,
established in the three Comarcas of the Ilhas, Bardez, and Salsette.
The Ilhas are divided into two Julgados41) Panjim , and (2) Ponda.
 GOA SETTLEMENT. 387
Bardez into four — (1) Mapuça, the chief town of the Comarca,
(2) Calangute, (3) Pernem , (4) Bicholim . Salsette into three - (1)
Margao, (2) Chinchinim , and (3) Quepem . The offices of the judges
of the High Court, and of District judges, are filled by Europeans, and
those of the judges of Julgados by natives. The total sum spent on
judicial administration in 1873-74 amounted to £5551, 16s. The
following are the statistics of the High Court in 1874 : Civil judgments,
167 ; criminal judgments, 164 ; total, 331.
History. — Certain inscriptions lately deciphered corroborate the
evidence of the Puránás that Goa was in ancient times known under
the various names of Gomanchala, Gomant,Goapuri, Gopakapur, and
Gopa-Kapatanua ; while recent investigations prove its identity with
the Sindabur of Arab writers. The accounts handed down from
antiquity teem with legendary tales, on which little reliance can be
placed. In the Sahyadri Khanda of the Skanda Puráná, it is recorded
that at an early period of time the Aryans settled in Goa, having been
brought by Parasurama from Trihotrapur or Mithila , the modern
Tirhut. Some of the inscriptions referred to above show that it after
wards passed under the sway of the Kadambas or Banawasi, whose first
king, Trilochana Kadamba, is supposed to have flourished in Kaliyug
3220, or about A .D . 109-110 . This dynasty continued to rule until
1312, when Goa fell for the first time into the hands of the Muham
madans, under Malik Tubliga. They were , however, compelled to
evacuate it in 1370, having been defeated by Vydyáranya Mádhawa,
the Prime Minister of Harihara of Vijayanagar, under whose successors
Goa remained for about 100 years. In 1449, it was conquered by
Muhammad Gawan, the general of Muhammad 11., the 13th Báhmaní
King of the Deccan (Dakhin ), and incorporated into the dominions of
that sovereign. After the downfall of this house, Goa became subject
to the Adil Shahí dynasty reigning at Bijápur, about the time that
Vasco da Gama landed at Calicut in 1498. This family retained
possession until the 17th February 1510 , when Goa was captured by
Alfonso de Albuquerque. The Portuguese fleet, consisting of 20 sail
of the line, with a few small vessels and 1200 fighting men , hove in
sight of the harbour. A holy mendicant or jogi had lately foretold its
conquest by a foreign people from a distant land, and the disheartened
citizens rendered up the town to the strangers.
Eight leading men presented the keys of the gates to Albuquerque on
their knees, together with a large banner which was usually unfurled on
State occasions. Mounted on a richly caparisoned steed , Albuquerque
entered the city in a triumphal procession, drums beating, trumpets
sounding, with the Portuguese banners carried by the flower of the
Lisbon nobility and clergymen at the head, amidst the acclamations
of an immense multitude, who showered upon the conqueror filigree
388 GOA SETTLEMENT.
flowers of silver and gold . Albuquerque behaved well to the inhabitants,
but was shortly afterwards expelled by the Bijápur King.
Yusaf Adil Shah, King of Bijapur, marched against the place with
a considerable force , and after several sanguinary contests, retook
it from the Portuguese on the 15th August of the same year.
Reinforced, however, by the large armament which opportunely
arrived from Portugal about this time, Albuquerque hastened back to
Goa with his fleet, and conquered it a second time on the 25th of
November. With 28 ships, carrying 1700 men, he forced his way into
the town after a bloody assault, in which 2000 Musalmáns fell. For
three days the miserable citizens were given over as a prey to every
atrocity. The fifth part of the plunder, reserved for the Portuguese
Crown, amounted to £20,000. Albuquerque promptly occupied him
self in fortifying the place , embellishing the city, and establishing the
Portuguesthis time Goa rapithe Portuguese babout 4
Portuguese rule on a firm basis.
From this time Goa rapidly rose in importance, and eventually
became the metropolis of the Portuguese Empire in the East,
which is said to have comprehended an area of about 4000 leagues.
In 1543, during the governorship of Martin Alfonso, who came to
India together with the celebrated St. Francis Xavier, the two im
portant Provinces or maháls of Salsette and Bárdes were ceded to the
Portuguese by Ibrahim Adil Shah, who, however, not long afterwards,
attempted to regain them , but was foiled in his endeavours by the
intrepidity of Dom Joao de Castro. To provide against any future
invasion on the part of the Muhammadans, the eastern part of the
island of Goa was protected by means of a long wall. In 1570, Ali
Adil Shah besieged the city with an army of 100,000 men ; but it was so
bravely defended by the little garrison under the Viceroy Don Luis
de Athaide that the Muhammadan army, greatly thinned in number ,
retreated precipitately after a tedious siege of ten months' duration .
About this period, the Portuguese were alarmed by the appearance
on the coast of India of a new enemy. The Dutch , having shaken off
the Spanish yoke, assumed a warlike attitude towards the Portuguese,
owing to the intimate connection between Portugal and Spain .
The subsequenthistory of the town has been one of luxury , ostenta
tion, and decay. After bearing a siege by the King of Bijapur, and
suffering from a terrible epidemic, Goa reached the summit of its
prosperity at the end of the 16th century, during the very years when
the English Company was struggling into existence under Elizabeth .
‘Goa Dourada,'or Golden Goa, seemed a place of fabulous wealth to the
plain merchants who were destined to be the founders of British India.
“Whoever hath seen Goa, need not see Lisbon,' said a proverb of that
day. Indeed, if the accounts of travellers are to be trusted, Goa
presented a scene ofmilitary, ecclesiastical, and commercialmagnificence
 GOA SETTLEMENT. 389
which has had no parallel in the European capitals of India. The de
scriptions that have been left of Calcutta in the last and during the first
quarter of the present century , leave behind them a feeling of insignifi
cance compared with the accounts of Goa, written nearly three hundred
years ago. To find a parallel, we must go to the travellers' tales
regarding Agra and Delhi during the zenith of the Mughal prosperity.
The brilliant pomp and picturesque display of Goa was due to the fact
that it was not only a flourishing harbour, but also the centre of a great
military and ecclesiastical power. The Portuguese based their dominion
in India on conquest by the sword . They laboured to consolidate it by
a proselytizing organization,which throws themissionary efforts of every
other European power in India into the shade. The Portuguese in
India were destined to prove how rotten was this basis, and how feebly
cemented was the superstructure reared upon it. But during the great
ness of Goa, it had all the splendours which the church and a powerful
military court could cast around it.
After the genius of Albuquerque and the energies of the early
viceroys had spent themselves, these armaments constituted a vast idle
population in the capital. The work of conquest was over, and it left
behind it a gay and wealthy society of conquerors who had nothing to do.
Every Portuguese in India , says a traveller, set up as a ' Fidalgo ' (sic).
These gentlemen had to be amused. There were no hotels or inns in
the city , but many boarding houses and gambling saloons. The latter,
writes a voyager in the 17th century , were sumptuously furnished, and
paid a heavy tax to the Government. People of all classes fre
quented them , and entertainments were provided for the lookers -on by
jugglers, dancing girls,musicians,wrestlers,and native actors or buffoons.
• Those who were inordinately fond of gambling stayed there sometimes
for days together, and were provided with board and lodging.'
Such gambling houses were not places for respectable women, and
while the male society thronged their saloons, the Portuguese ladies were
rigorously shut up at home. The family income was derived from the
labour of slaves, and as no ' Fidalgo ’ (sic) could follow a trade or calling
without disgrace, so neither could his wife busy herself in domestic
affairs without losing her social importance. The society of Goa,
therefore, divided itself into two idle populations — an idle population of
men in the streets and gambling houses, and an idle population of
women in the seclusion of their own homes. This was one of the
first results of the intensely military spirit,with its contempt for peaceful
forms of industry, on which rested the Portuguese power in India. The
ladies ofGoa soon obtained an unenviable notoriety in books of travel.
Excluded from male society, they spent their time in indolence,
quarrelling, and frivolous pursuits. A European zanána life grew up,
and brought with it some very ugly consequences. A lady valued
390 GOA SETTLEMENT.
herself in her female coterie upon the number and the daring of her
intrigues. Almost every traveller who visited Goa during its prime tells
the same curious story regarding the rashness with which the Portuguese
matrons pursued their amours. Both Pyrard and Linschoten relate, in
nearly the same words, how the ladies of Goa were wontto stupefy their
husbands with dhatura, and then admit their lovers. The perils of
such interviews became almost necessary to give a zest to their profligacy,
and the Goanese became a byword as the type of an idle, a haughty,
and a corrupt society.
Strangers are inclined to laugh at Englishmen for adhering in India
to the British costumes devised for a more temperate zone. There can
be no doubt that the Dutch in Java have adapted their clothing much
better to the climate than we have in Calcutta. But the very rigidity
with which English society in India insists upon matters of dress is not
without its value. It forms a perpetual check upon the tendency to
fall into the slip -shod habits of oriental domestic life. In Goa, these
habits were carried to an extreme length. Athome, both ladies and
gentlemen dressed very much like the natives, except for the large
rosaries which they wore round their necks. While untidy and careless
in their dress at home, they made an ostentatiousdisplay when they stirred
abroad. When a gentleman rode out, he was attended by a throng of
slaves in gay and fanciful liveries, some holding large umbrellas, others
bearing richly inlaid arms; while the horse itself was loaded with gold
and silver trappings, the reins studded with precious stones, with jingling
silver bells attached, and the stirrups wrought into artistic shapes in gilt
silver. The poor followed the example of the rich, and resorted to
amusing makeshifts to maintain an air of dignity and grandeur. The
gentlemen who lived together in a boarding-house had a few suits of
silk clothes between them in common . These they used by turns when
they went out, and hired a man to hold an umbrella over them as they
strutted through the streets.
Holland, having thrown off the Spanish yoke, began to assert herself
in the East. While our own East India Company was struggling into
existence during the last years of Elizabeth , the Dutch were preparing
to dispute with the Portuguese for the supremacy in the Indian Ocean.
In 1603, they blockaded Goa. The attempt proved abortive ; but it
left behind it a struggle between the two nationswhich, during the next
seventy years, shattered and dismembered the Portuguese power in
India. One by one, the Portuguese possessions fell into the handsof the
Dutch ; their fleets were captured, or driven within the shelter of their
forts, and their commerce was swept from the seas. Goa suffered not
only from these disasters, but also from a return of the fever which had
afflicted the city in the preceding century . It broke out again in 1635,
and raged for several years. Towards the end of this visitation, the
 GOA SETTLEMENT. 391
Dutch once more blockaded Goa in 1639, but were again compelled to
withdraw .
A period of pride and poverty followed, during which the splendour
of the previous century was replaced by shabby devices to conceal the
decay that had blighted the Portuguese power. In 1648, Tavernier
admired the architectural grandeur of Goa, but was struck with the
indigence of several Portuguese families whom he had seen in affluence
and prosperity during his first visit. He says that many who had six
years previously enjoyed an ample income, were now reduced to the
necessity of secretly begging alms. “ Yet they did not put aside their
vanity. The ladies were particularly observed going in palanquins to
seek charitable relief, attended by servants who conveyed theirmessages
to the persons whose assistance they implored . “ The city,' says
Thevenot in 1666, “ is great and full of beautiful churches and convents,
and well adorned with palaces. There were few nations in the world
so rich as the Portuguese in India ; but their vanity isthe cause of their
ruin .' In 1675, Dr. Fryer described Goa as “ Rome in India ' - looks
well at a distance - stands upon seven hills ; everywhere colleges,
churches, and glorious structures ; but many houses disgracing it with
their ruins.'
The Portuguese, indeed, were becoming unable to hold their capital
even against the native banditti. In 1683, it narrowly escaped falling into
the hands ofSambájí at the head of his roving Marhattás, who plundered
up to the very gatesof the city. All hopes of resistance were abandoned ,
when a powerful Mughal force suddenly made its appearance from the
Gháts, and compelled the Marhattás to come to terms. This unex
pected deliverance was ascribed to the miraculous interposition of St.
Francis Xavier. Subsequently the Bhonslás from the State of Sáwant
Wári invaded theGoa territory ; but though at the outset they obtained
partial successes, they were eventually defeated by the Portuguese, who
conquered from them the islands of Corjuem and Panelem , and
destroyed their fortress at Bicholim . To defend the place against
future inroads, the Viceroy Vasco Fernandes Cæsar de Minezes (1712
1717) built a fortress on the frontiers of Bardes, and another at Cha
pora. During the administration of the Count of Sandomil (1732-41),
the Portuguese became once more involved in a war with the Marhattás,
and lost some of their most important possessions towards the north of
Goa. In 1741, the Marhattás invaded the peninsulas of Salsette and
Bardes , and threatened the city of Goa itself. At the same time the
Bhonslás availed themselves of the opportunity to overrun the Settle
ment. At that critical period a new Viceroy arrived at Goa, the
Marquis of Louriçal, bringing with him from Europe a reinforcement
of 12,000 men. With this army he encountered and defeated the
Marhattás at Bardes with great slaughter, captured the celebrated
392 GOA SETTLEMENT.
fortress of Ponda and other minor forts, and compelled them to retire
from Goa. He then marched against the Bhonslás, and forced them
to sue for peace, making their chief, Khem Sáwant, a tributary of the
Portuguese. Shortly afterwards, however, the Bhonslás renewed
hostilities, but were defeated by the Marquis of Castello -Novo, who
conquered Alorna (whence his later title), Tiracol, Neutim , Rarim ,
Sanquelim , or Satari. In 1750, the Marhattás and Bhonslás jointly
attacked the fortress of Neutim , which they closely invested both by
sea and land. The Viceroy Marquis of Tavora hastened to the relief
of the place with all the available force, and compelled the enemy to
raise the siege, after which he turned his arms against the King of
Sunda, and captured the fortress of Piro (Sadashivgar). His successor,
Count of Alva, prosecuted successfully for a time the war against the
Marhattás, but eventually lost Rarim and Neutim , and was killed at the
siege of one of the fortresses which had fallen into the hands of the
enemy. About this period, the Court of Lisbon sent peremptory orders
to the Viceroy Count of Ega to restore the fortresses of Piro and
Ximpem to the King of Sunda, and Bicholim , Sanquelim , and Alorna
to Khem Sáwant i1. Subsequently , however, the former allowed the
Portuguese to possess themselves of Ponda, with the adjacent territory
of Zambaulim , Cabo de Ráma, and Canacona, during the time that
his dominions were invaded by Haidar Ali. After some years of
repose , Khem Sáwant again attempted to disturb the Portuguese ; but
being defeated , had to surrender to them Bicholim , Sanquelim or
Satari, Alorna, and Pernem .
The decay of the capital had become so notorious that the Portuguese
Government in Europe determined at a great cost to rebuild it. After
a century of fruitless efforts and foolish expenditure, Old Goa still lay
in ruins, and the remnants of the population drew themselves together at
Panjim or New Goa, at the mouth of the river. The changes in the
river itself had contributed to render Old Goa stillmore unhealthy than
of old , and to make the navigation of its channels dangerous even for
the comparatively small class of ships which the Portuguese employed .
During the 18th century, the decayed settlement, instead of being a
centre ofmilitary pomp and courtly display, had become a burden on
the HomeGovernment, and cost Portugal a considerable sum of money
annually. It required a force of 200o European soldiers to protect it from
the Marhattás ; the privates receiving a miserable subsistence of rice
and fish , and the captains drawing a salary of 6 rupees a month . Such
commerce as survived was in the hands of the Jesuits. This fraternity
still preserved the traditions, and something of the energy, of the pro
selytizing era. Captain Hamilton, early in the 18th century, declared
that he counted from a neighbouring hill nearly eighty churches and
convents. He states the number of Roman Catholic priests at 30,000
 GOA SETTLEMENT. 393
for the city and settlement. The native merchants had been driven
away by oppressions and insults, and during the first half of the last
century, the Jesuits monopolized the remnants of the trade, which still
clung to the capital. In 1739, when the territory was overrun by the
Marhattás, the nuns and monks had streamed forth in panic to the
refuge ofMormugáo. Nevertheless, high offices and military commands
were still lavished among the poverty -stricken remnants of the
Portuguese in India. All the talk at Goa was about fine titles.
' A post which would be filled by a small tradesman everywhere else,
needed a general.'
From 1794 to 1815, the Government of Goa and other Portu
guese Settlements in India received little attention from the Court
of Lisbon , owing to various causes, the chief of which was the
invasion of the Iberian Peninsula by the French . To protect Goa
against any contingency, an English auxiliary force was obtained to
garrison the two fortresses commanding the port until the general
peace in Europe after thebattle of Waterloo. In 1817, the Viceroy, the
Count of Rio Pardo, repelled the inroads of the predatory forces from
the Sáwant Wári State, capturing the fortress of Uspa and Rarim .
This governor was, however , deposed in consequence of a revolution
which took place in Goa in 1821. In 1835, a native of the place named
Bernardo Peres da Silva was appointed Governor and Prefect of the
Portuguese State of India by Dona Maria 11., in reward for his adher
ence to the House of Braganza during the usurpation of Dom Miguel.
But his reforms in Goa during the 17 days of his government ended in
an émeute and his flight to Bombay. For about sixteen years after this
event, Goa was undisturbed either by external foes or internal dissen
sions, except a brief military revolt, which resulted in the deposition
of the Governor, Lopes de Lima. During the administration of
Pestana, in 1845, the disturbances at Sáwant Wári and the shelter
afforded at Goa to the rioters who had Aed thither, threatened for a
time to bring about a rupture with the British Government of Bombay.
In 1852, the Ránís of Satari, headed by Dipají, revolted. In 1871,
a rebellion broke out among the native army at Goa, in consequence
of the Portuguese authorities making a stand against its exorbitant
demands. To suppress this insurrection, the Court of Lisbon despatched
a reinforcement, accompanied by the king's own brother, Dom Augusto.
On the restoration of peace, the native regiments that had revolted were
disbanded, and the colony is now held by 313 Portuguese soldiers.
The former army has not been reorganized, as native regiments could
only be dangerous to the handful of European troops ; and the peace
maintained throughout India by the British supremacy renders them
unnecessary for any practical purposes.
The chief towns in the territory of Goa are - Goa or PANJIM , with
394 GOA CITY.
3850 houses, and an estimated population of 14,134 souls ; Margao
3898 houses, pop. 20,000 ; Mapuça, 3150 houses, pop. 12,097.
Goa City. — The capital of the Portuguese territory of the same
name; situated near themouth of the river Mandavi, in 15° 30' n. lat.,
and 73° 57' E. long. Goa is properly the name of three cities, which
represent three successive stages in the history of Western India. The
earliest of the three was an ancient Hindu city, before the invasion
of the Muhammadans ; the second , known as Old Goa, was the first
capital of the Portuguese, and is still the ecclesiastical metropolis of
Roman Catholic India ; the third , commonly called Panjim , is the
present seat of Portuguese administration . The original city of Goa
(Goa Velha), built by the Kadambas, was situated on the banks of the
river Juary. No traces of buildings exist at this day. The next town
of Goa (Velha Cidade de Goa), generally known to foreigners as Old
Goa, situated about 5 miles to the north of the Hindu capital, was
built by the Muhammadans in 1479, nineteen years before the arrival of
Vasco da Gama in India. This famous city, conquered by Albuquerque
in 1510 , became the capital of the Portuguese Empire in Asia ; as such
it was once the chief emporium of commerce between the East and
West, and enjoyed the same privileges as the city of Lisbon. It
reached the climax of its splendour during the 16th century ; but with
the decline of the Portuguese power in the following century , it began
gradually to lose its significance in every respect, save as an ecclesi
asticalmetropolis. The frequent plagues by which the population was
repeatedly thinned, together with the removal of the seat of govern
ment to Panjim , and the suppression of the religious orders, con
tributed finally to effect its complete downfall. Instead of the 200,000
inhabitants which once formed its population ,hardly 100 poverty-stricken
creatures remain to haunt the few ecclesiastical edifices still standing.
Foremost among the surviving edifices is the Cathedral dedicated to
St. Catherine by Albuquerque, in commemoration of his entry into Goa
on the day of her festival. Built as a parochial church in 1512, it was
reconstructed in 1623 in its present majestic proportions, having been
about a century before elevated to the rank of a primatial see , which
it has ever since retained. Service is regularly held every day by the
Canons attached to the Cathedral. The Convent of St. Francis,
originally a Muhammadan mosque, converted into a church by the
Portuguese , was the first structure consecrated to Catholic worship in
Goa. Its chief portal, curious as being the earliest of its kind in
Portuguese India, has been preserved intact to this day, though the
convent itself was rebuilt in 1661. The Chapel of St. Catherinewas
erected in 1551, on the site of the gate of the Muhammadan city
through which Albuquerque entered. The Church of Bom Jesus,
commenced in 1594 and consecrated in 1603, is a splendid edifice,
 GOA CITY. 395
enjoying a wide renown for the magnificent tomb holding the remains
of the apostle of the Indies, St. Francis Xavier, the events of whose
life are represented around the shrine. The Convent of St. Monica ,
commenced in 1606 and completed in 1627, was constructed for a
community of nuns, now represented by a single venerable member .
The Convent of St. Cajetan , erected in the middle of the 17th century
by the order of the Theatines, is noted for its resemblance to St. Peter's
at Rome, and is in excellent preservation . Of the other historical
edifices with which Old Goa was formerly embellished , but few traces
remain to give a conception of their pristine beauty and magnificence.
The once renowned palace of the Viceroys, the spacious custom -house,
and many other public buildings, have been completely destroyed .
The College of St. Roque, belonging to the order of Jesus, the
Senate-house , the once famous Palace of the Inquisition, the Church of
the Miraculous Cross, the College of St. Paul, the Hospital of St.
Lazarus, the Church and Convent of St. Augustine, as well as the
college of the same name close by, are all in ruins. The arsenal, the
chapel of the Cinco Chagas (the Five Wounds), and the ecclesiasticaljail
still remain standing in a dilapidated condition , but every year their
walls yield to the crumbling finger of decay. The sites of the vanished
buildings have been converted into cocoa -nut plantations, the ruins are
covered with shrubs and moss, and the streets are overrun with grass.
But though Old Goa has long since lost its civil importance, forming as
it does at present only a suburb of Panjím , its ecclesiastical influence
as the See of the Primate of the East still remains; and, as long
as it can boast of its noble monuments of Christian piety, and retains
the shrine of the great eastern evangelist, it will not cease to attract
pilgrims from the most distant parts of the Catholic world .
The history ofGoa has been very fully given in the preceding article.
As far back as 1759, the ruin of the old city was complete. The governor
changed his residence to Panjim , near the mouth of the river, and in
the same year the Jesuits were expelled. With them went the last
sparks of commercial enterprise. In 1775, the population, which at
the beginning of the century had numbered nearly 30,000, was reduced
to 1600, of whom 1198 were Christians. Goa remains in ruins to this
day. Every effort to re-people it has failed, and Old Goa is now a city
of fallen houses and of streets overgrown with jungle. Almostthe only
buildings which survive are the convents and churches, with miserable
huts attached. In 1827, the Superior of the Augustinian Convent thus
wrote : ' Il ne reste plus de cette ville que le sacre : le profane en est
entièrement banni.' ' Nothing remains of the city but the sacred ; the
profanehas entirely disappeared.' The statelymansions and magnificent
public buildings of Old Goa are now heaps of bricks covered with rank
grass, and buried in groves of cocoa-nut trees. “ The river,' wrote Dr.
 N
396 GOALANDA SUBDIVISIO .
Russell in 1877, washes the remains of a great city, — an arsenal in
ruins ; palaces in ruins ; quay walls in ruins ; churches in ruins; all in
ruins. We looked and saw the site of the Inquisition, the bishop's
prison, a grand cathedral, great churches, chapels, convents, religious
houses, on knolls surrounded by jungle. We saw the crumbling
masonry which once marked the lines of streets and enclosures of
palaces, dockyards filled with weeds and obsolete cranes.'
Nova Goa, the present capital of Portuguese India, comprehends
Panjím , Ribandar,aswell as the old city ofGoa, and is6 miles in extent.
It is situated on the left bank of the river Mandavi, at a distance of
about 3 miles from its mouth . The suburb of Ribandar is connected
with the central quarter of Panjím by a causeway about 300 yards long,
through which lies the main road leading to Old Goa. Panjím occupies
a narrow strip, enclosed by the causeway on the east, the village of St.
Ignez on the west, the river on the north , and a hill which walls it on
the south . In the last century it was a miserable village, inhabited by
a few fishermen dwelling in cadjan huts, and remarkable only for the
fortress built by Yusaf Adil Shah, which is since transformed into a
viceregal palace. As in the case of Bombay city, the surface has been
gradually formed by filling up hollows and reclaiming large tracts of
marshy land. The present population is returned at 14, 134 persons,
dwelling in 3850 houses.
Panjím was selected as the residence of the Viceroy in 1759 ; and
in 1843, it was formally raised by royal decree to the rank of the
capital of Portuguese India . From the river, the appearance of the
city, with its row of public buildings and elegant private residences,
is very picturesque ; and this first impression is not belied by a
closer inspection of its neat and spacious roads bordered by decent
houses. Of public structures, the most imposing are the barracks, an
immense quadrangular edifice, the eastern wing of which accom
modates the College or Lyceum , the Public Library, and the Profes
sional Institute for teaching chemistry , agriculture, and other sciences.
The square facing this wing is adorned by a life-size statue of Albu
querque standing under a canopy. The other buildings include the
cathedral, the viceregal palace, the high court, the custom - house, the
municipal chamber, the military hospital, the jail, the accountant
general's office, and the post office. For trade, etc., see pp. 381-2.
Goálánda. - Subdivision ofFaridpur District, Bengal; extending from
23° 31' to 23° 55' n. lat., and from 89° 22' to 89° 54' E. long. Area ,
429 square miles; number of villages or townships, 926 ; number of
houses, 49,725 ; total pop. (1872), 303,138, viz. 179, 863 Muhamma
dans, 122,260 Hindus, 63 Christians, and 952 others.' Average
number of persons per square mile, 706 ; villages, 2'16 ; persons per
village, 327 ; houses per square mile, 116 ; persons per house, 6*1.
 GOALANDA RIVER. 397
Goálánda Subdivision includes the three thánás or police circles of
Goálánda, Belgachhí, and Pángsá .
Goálanda.- River mart in Faridpur District, Bengal ; situated in 23°
50' 10 n . lat., and 89° 46' 10" E. long., at the confluence of the main
streams of the Ganges and Brahmaputra. Estimated pop., about 1000.
Ten years ago but a small fishing village, with an evil reputation for river
dakaiti, Goalanda has now become one of the most important centres
of trade in Bengal, as the terminus of the Eastern Bengal Railway and
the point of departure of the Assam steamers . Its modern career has
not been without vicissitudes ; and it is not impossible that the irresist
ible waywardness of the rivers, which have brought to it its prosperity ,
may again in a few years divert commerce to another direction . The
town,which consists of little more than a railway station , a bázár, and
a court-house , stands upon an alluvial tongue of land lying at the
junction of two great river systems. During the cold weather, a
temporary line of rail is laid down to the river bank, and the process
of transhipping goods from steamer or boat to railway truck is con
ducted safely on the water's edge. But when the two rivers rise in
flood about July, the operations of commerce are driven back inland.
The river bank over which trains were running a few weeks before,
becomes a boiling sea of waters, where even the steamers find a
difficulty in making headway. At this season , the eye may look north
or east over 3 or 4 miles of uninterrupted water. When a storm
comes on, the native craft flee for shelter to distant creeks on the
opposite banks of the river, and the steamers themselves are sometimes
compelled to make for the less exposed mart of Kushtia. The railway
extension from Kushtia to Goálanda was first opened in 1870 ; and
up to 1875 the station stood upon an artificial embankment near the
water's edge, protected by a masonry spur running out into the river.
From first to last, about £130,000 was spent upon these protective
works, and it was hoped that engineering skill had conquered the
violence of the Gangetic flood. But in August 1875, the river rose to
an unprecedented height. The solid masonry spur, the railway station ,
and Subdivisional offices were all swept away ; and at the present time
there is deep water over their site. A new permanent terminus has
been erected about 2 miles from the river bank,
The trade of Goalanda consists almost entirely in the transhipment
of goods from river to rail. In addition to a large through traffic con
ducted direct with Assam , the agricultural produce of the surrounding
Districts is here collected for despatch to Calcutta. In the year 1876
1877, the value of the total trade, including both exports and imports,
was returned atmore than 3millions sterling . The principal item is jute,
of which 1,685,200 maunds were received during the year, valued at
£505,000. The aggregate amount of oil-seeds (chiefly mustard ) was
 RA T
398 GOALPA DISTRIC .
642,000 maunds, valued at £250,000 ; of food grains (chiefly rice),
994,000 maunds, valued at £180,000 ; of tobacco, 270,000 maunds,
valued at £140,000. Themost important articles obtained in exchange
from Calcutta are European piece-goods and salt. In 1876 -77, the
imports of cotton goods were valued at £300,000, entirely by rail ; the
importation of salt was 180,000 maunds (of which only one-third came
by rail), valued at £88,000. The steamers of three companies touch
atGoalanda, running to Assam , Sirajganj, Dacca, and Cáchár; but the
greater portion of the trade is still carried in country boats, of which
54,000 were registered as passing Goálanda in 1877-78. This number
does not include the fleets of fishing boats, which add so much to the
liveliness of the scene. The curing of hilsa fish formsa staple industry
of the place. Salt is issued to the curers under close Government
supervision, and a drawback is allowed at the rate of Rs. 2 .12 per
maund of salt used. The merchants of Goálanda are chiefly Márwárís,
or Káyas as they are locally called . The most influential man ,
Mahásinh Magráj, Rái Bahadur, of Murshidabad, has agents at every
mart on the Brahmaputra as far up as Dibrugarh . There are also
many Bengáli and Musalmán traders. The bázár is held daily , and is
largely frequented both by wholesale dealers and petty shopkeepers.
Goalpára. — The District of Goálpára is the most westerly District
of the Province of Assam , forming the entrance to the upper valley of
the Brahmaputra. It lies on both sides of the great river, extending
from 25° 32' to 26° 54' n. lat., and from 89° 44' to 91° E. long. It is
bounded north by the mountains of Bhután , and south by the newly
formed District of the Gáro Hills. Excluding the Eastern Dwárs,
which are treated of in a separate article , it now contains an area of 2865
square miles ; and the population , according to the Census of 1872,
numbers 407,714 persons. The administrative headquarters are at
GOALPARA Town, situated on the left or south bank of the Brahmaputra .
Physical Aspects. — The permanently settled portion of the District
occupies the narrow valley of the Brahmaputra, at the corner where the
great river leaves Assam Proper and turns due south to enter the wide
plain of Bengal. It is very irregularly shaped, extending for only 65
miles along the northern bank of the Brahmaputra, and for 120 miles
along its southern bank . The level land on the south bank forms but
a narrow strip , in some parts notmore than 8 miles across, being shut
in by the ridges of the Gáro Hills. On the north , the cultivated plain
gradually merges in the low jungle of the Eastern Dwárs. The scenery
throughout is of a striking character. Along the channel of the river
grow dense clumps of cane and reed. Farther back , thewide expanses
ofrice cultivation are only broken by the fruit-trees surrounding the
village sites. In the background rise forest-clad hills, overtopped in
the far distance by the snow -capped peaks of the Himalayas. The
 GOALPARA DISTRICT. 399
soil of the hills and of the higher ground consists of a red ochreous
earth , interspersed with large blocks of granite and sandstone. The
latter are subject to disintegration from exposure to the weather. In
the plains, the soil is of alluvial formation , being either tenacious clay
or clay more or less mixed with sand. Earthquakes are common in
Goálpára , and very severe shocks have occasionally been experienced.
Besides the Brahmaputra, the three following tributaries of the great
river on its northern bank are navigable for boats of considerable size
throughout the year : — The Manás, Gadádhár, and Sankos. These
all rise in the Bhután Hills, and flow through the Eastern Dwars into
Goalpára. Several other minor streams become navigable during
the rainy season . Alluvion and diluvion are continually taking place
in the course of the Brahmaputra , as testified by thenumerous islands
and sandbanks that dot its broad channel. This river, also, annually
inundates a large tract of country on both its banks; and the flood
water stands all the year long in the wide bils or marshes, some of
which cover an area of from 6 to 12 miles each . In the Eastern
Dwars, the Government forests form an important department of the
administration, and cover an area of 422 square miles. There are also
valuable forests in private hands, estimated to yield about £3000 a
year to their proprietors. Wild animals of all kinds abound in Goal
pára, including tigers, rhinoceros, and buffaloes. It is on record that,
about twenty -five years ago, more money was annually expended in
rewards for the killing of wild animals than was realized from the land
revenue. Even in the three years ending 1870, the average number of
deaths from wild beasts and snake bite averaged 116 annually . No
coal or other minerals have been found in Goálpára , but the hills
abound with large stones which might be utilized for building purposes.
History. - Goalpára has always formed the frontier between Bengal
and Assam , and has participated to the full in the vicissitudes attending
such a position . In the earliest times, it must have constituted part
of the legendary Hindu kingdom of Kámrúp, which is said to have
extended from the head of the Assam valley far across the plains
of Bengal to what are now the borders of Purniah District. The only
remains of this period may perhaps be found in the ruined temple of
Thákeswari. The next dynasty which can be localized in this region
is that of the early Rájás of Kuch Behar,whose empire was almost
as extensive as that of the fabled Kámrúp. But it fell to pieces by
subdivision in the generation after it was founded ; and the present
Rájá of Bíjni Dwar, who holds a large zamindárí in the settled portion
of the District, claims to be descended from a younger son of a Kuch
Behar king, and to hold his lands as a royal appanage. About 1600
A.D ., two armies of invaders were closing upon Goálpára from different
directions, and the divided kingdom could offer no resistance . From
 400 GOALPARA DISTRICT.
the east, the wild Ahams gradually spread down the valley of the
Brahmaputra , to which they subsequently gave their own name of
Assam ; while, from the west, theMughals pushed forward the limits of
the Delhi empire and of the faith of Islam . The Muhammadans first
appeared on the scene ; and thus Goálpára was definitively assimilated
to Eastern Bengal in administration and ethnical characteristics. It
was in the year 1603,twenty-seven years after Bengal had been wrested
from the Afgháns by Akbar's generals, that the Mughals first reached
the Brahmaputra, and annexed the Assam valley as far as the present
District of Darrang. But here they soon came into collision with the
Ahams. After a decisive defeat in the neighbourhood of Gauhati, in
1662, Mir Jumlá , the well-known general of Aurangzeb, was obliged to
retreat ; and the Muhammadan frontier was permanently fixed at the
town of Goálpára . At this place and at Rángámátí, on the opposite
bank of the Brahmaputra , military officers were stationed, among
whose duties it was to encourage the growth of jungle and reeds,
to serve as a natural protection against the inroads of the dreaded
Ahams. About this time, also, the Eastern Dwars fell into dependence
upon Bhután.
This was the position of affairs when the British obtained possession of
the diwani of Bengal in 1765. The small extent to which the Mughals
here assimilated their conquest may be judged from the fact, that the
Musalmán element in the population of the District now amounts to
22 per cent., as against 51 per cent in the neighbouring jurisdiction of
Rangpur. Another significant feature in the Mughal administration of
Goálpára was the lightness of the revenue assessment. The land was
left in the hands of border chieftains, whose residence in some cases
lay beyond the recognised frontier, and who paid a merely nominal
tribute. This system was stereotyped in the Permanent Settlement of
1793, by which the land revenue of the District was fixed in perpetuity
at the trifling total of £1170. At the present day, Goalpára is the
paradise of great landlords. There are altogether only 18 estates ;
and it is estimated that theaverage rentals exceed the amount paid to
Government by fifty -fold . The average rate of assessment throughout
the settled portion of Goálpára is less than id. per head of population ,
as compared with is. 5d. in Assam generally, and is. 2d. in Bengal.
During the early years of British administration, Goálpára was
administered as an integral portion of Rangpur District ; but in 1822,
it was formed into an independent jurisdiction under a Commissioner.
This step was undertaken with a view to establishing a special system
of government over the Gáros and other wild tribes on the frontier,
It was also thought desirable to place a European officer at Goalpara
town, which was then the outpost station towards the disturbed
frontier of Assam . This town had long occupied a peculiar position of
 GOALPARA DISTRICT. 401
commercial and political importance. So far back as 1788, a European
merchant,Mr. Raush, who settled there , is stated to have despatched
at his own charges an armed force of 700 men to assist the Assam
Rájá in quelling an insurrection of the Moámáriás ; and as the opposite
bank of the Brahmaputra lay within Assamese territory, Goálpára had
become a sort of free port for river traffic. After the conquest of
Assam by the British in 1825, Goálpára District was immediately
annexed to the new Province, though for revenue purposes the
administration has always continued to be conducted in accordance
with the Bengal Regulations. The Bhután war of 1864 brought about
another change. The Dwars ceded by the Bhutiás were attached
partly to the newly formed District of Jalpaiguri and partly to
Goalpára ; and the whole tract, together with the State of Kuch Behar,
was erected into the Kuch Behar Commissionership under the
Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal. But this severance was not of long
duration. In 1868, the civil and criminal jurisdiction of Goalpára
was again transferred to the Judicial Commissioner of Assam ; and in
1872, when Assam was constituted a Province independent of Bengal,
the entire administration in all departments was included in the new
Province. The Deputy Commissioner, as the chief European officer is
now styled, exercises the powers possessed in Bengal by a Magistrate
and Collector, and also those of a subordinate judge ; while the
functions of a civil and sessions judge rest with the Judicial Commis
sioner of the Province.
People. — Goálpára, as forming part of the Bengal District of
Rangpur, was included in the statistical survey conducted by Dr.
Buchanan-Hamilton in the beginning of the present century. He
estimated the total number of inhabitants at 176 ,000, within an area of
2915 square miles. There can be no doubt that the population has
houses:714 persons, dwpently settled irregular Census
largely increased since that date. The regular Census of 1872,which was
confined to the permanently settled tract, disclosed a total population
of 407,714 persons, dwelling in 1330 mauzás or villages and in 65,767
houses. The area was then taken at 2571 square miles,which gives
the following averages :- Persons per square mile, 159 ; villages per
square mile, '52 ; houses per square mile , 26. The average number
of persons per village is 307 ; of persons per house, 6'9. Classified
according to sex, there are 210 ,134 males and 197,580 females ;
proportion ofmales, 51'54 per cent. Classified according to age, there
are , under twelve years of age - 76 ,692 males and 63,915 females ;
total children , 140 ,607, or 34:4 per cent. of the total population . The
ethnical division of the population shows 27 Europeans, 4 Americans,
and 12 Eurasians ; 74 Asiatics from beyond the British frontier ;
97,732 aborigines ; 132,095 semi-Hinduized aborigines ; 86,001 Hindus
subdivided according to caste ; 1853 persons of Hindu origin not
VOL. III. 2 C
402 GOALPARA DISTRICT.
recognising caste ; 89,916 Muhammadans. Generally speaking,Goal
pára presents the ethnical aspects of a frontier District, in which the
hill tribes have been imperfectly assimilated by the Hindus. It
is curious to observe that the number of the Hindus proper is
actually exceeded by that of the Muhammadans, who did not hold
possession of the country for much over a hundred years. The
aborigines of the Census Report are chiefly represented by the three
kindred tribes of Rábhá (30,124), Mech (29,877), and Káchárí or
Cachari (22,775). Next come the Gáros, numbering 9957, who are
immigrants from the neighbouring hills on the south , and are fully
described in the article on the Garo Hills DISTRICT. The great
bulk of the semi- Hinduized aborigines consists of the Kochs, who
number 118,091. The Kochs are properly an aboriginal tribe, akin to
the Káchárís and Mechs ; but since the high position attained by the
conquering Rájás of Kuch Behar, their tribesmen have been admitted!
within the pale of Hinduism under the high-sounding title of Rájbansi.
The term 'Koch ,' also, is vaguely used at the present time as applicable
to all new converts made by the Bráhmans ; and members of every
rank in society may be found included in this caste. Among Hindus
proper, the Bráhmans number 2366 , chiefly belong to the Vaidik sept,
who are said to have migrated from Hindustan at a remote period ;
the Rájputs number only 267 ; the Káyasths, 1438. By far the most
numerous caste is the Jaliyá (19,230), whose occupation is that of
fishermen, and who are supposed to be connected with the well-known
Kaibarttas of Bengal. Next in number come the Kolitás (11,527 ),
a caste peculiar to Assam , who exercised priestly functions under the
native dynasty before the advent of the Bráhmans. They now rank as
pure Súdras, and are chiefly employed in agriculture. They are found in
greater numbers in the Districts of Upper Assam . Classified according
to religion, the population consists of - Hindus (as loosely grouped
together for religious purposes ), 311,419 , or 76 per cent. ; Musalmáns,
89,916 , or 22 per cent.; the remainder is made up of 141 Christians
(including 98 native converts), and 6238 others. The majority of
the Hindus belong to the Vishnuvite sect, but the Vaishnavs proper
are returned in the Census Report as numbering only 1602 persons. A
branch of the Brahma Samájwas established by Bengali immigrants in
1868, but theistic principles have not made progress among the natives
of the District. Mention is made of a peculiar sect called Maha
purushiya Bhakat, whose members meet at night to eat flesh and drink
wine. The Jains are represented by a few Márwárí traders from the
north -west, settled at Goálpára town. Of the Musalmán population,
those residing in the towns have adopted the Faráizi or reforming
creed , while many in the interior are described as scarcely differing
from their Hindu neighbours in their rites and image-worship. The
 GOALPARA DISTRICT. 403
native Christians are mainly Gáros, dwelling on the southern boundary
of the District, under the charge of the American Baptist Mission .
The population ofGoálpára is entirely rural. There is no place with
more than 5000 inhabitants ; and out of the 1330 villages of the
Census Report, 1083 each contains less than 500 persons. GOALPARA,
with between 3000 and 4000 inhabitants, is the most populous place in
the District, as well as the chief centre of trade. DHUBRI is the head
quarters of a Subdivision , and the point where the traffic of Northern
Bengal is shipped on board the Assam steamers. Gauripur and
Lakhshmipur possess a thriving trade in timber, and are both the
residences of wealthy zamindárs. All these places are situated on the
banks of the Brahmaputra .
Agriculture, etc. — The staple crop of the District is rice,which is not,
however, cultivated so exclusively as in Upper Assam . The principal
harvest is the haimantik, sálí, or áman rice, sown on low lands about
June, transplanted a month later, and reaped in mid -winter. Next in
importance is the dus rice, sown about March on comparatively high
lands, from which a second crop of pulses or oil-seeds can be taken
later in the year, and reaped about July. Báo or long-stemmed rice
is cultivated in marshes, being sown in March and reaped in October.
Neither of these two last varieties are transplanted. Mustard is largely
grown as an oil-seed on the chars and alluvial accretions in the bed
of the Brahmaputra. The acreage under jute has rapidly increased in
recent years, and this fibre now furnishes the staple export from the
District. The less important crops include many varieties of pulses
and vegetables, wheat, sugar-cane, and pán or betel-leaf. According to
the latest agricultural statistics, out of a total area of 1,832,000 acres
only about 600,000 are under tillage ; rice is grown on about 400,000
acres, and mustard seed on 74,000. Manure, in the form of cow -dung,
is used on dus or highlands, especially for the sugar-cane crop.
Irrigation is only practised in the neighbourhood of the northern hills,
where the villagers combine to divert the hill streams over their fields
by means of artificial channels. Land is nowhere suffered to lie fallow
all the year through ; but, for the most part, only one crop in the
year is taken off the same field . A fair out-turn from an acre of sáli
land would be 18 } cwts. of unhusked paddy, worth about £3 ; from
an acre of dus land , 15 cwts. of paddy, worth about £,2, 8s. Under
favourable circumstances, a second crop from either description of
land might raise the total value of the annual out-turn to nearly £4.
As Goálpára is a permanently settled District in accordance with the
Regulations prevalent in Bengal, the rates of rent are not fixed by
Government as in Assam Proper , but vary on the estates of the several
zamíndárs. According to official returns furnished in 1870, the rent
paid for bastu or homestead land varies in the different purganás, from
404 GOALPARA DISTRICT.
35. to 145. an acre ; for sálí land , from 25. 7d. to 6s. 3d. ; and for cus
land , from is. to 5s. The forms of land tenure resemble those in the
neighbouring Districts of Bengal. Various classes of under-tenants
intervene between the zamindár and the actual cultivator of the soil ;
and in many cases the cultivator has no recognised interest in the
land, but is merely a labourer paid by a certain proportion of the
produce. The most numerous class of under-tenants with permanent
rights are those styled jotdárs; while prája , ádhiar, and chukánidár
are the common names for labourers, the amount of whose service or
remuneration varies in each case. Rights of occupancy are almost
unknown in Goalpára .
Rates of wages have approximately doubled within the past twenty
five years. Ordinary labourers, when paid in cash , now receive from
9s. to 125. a month ; skilled artisans can earn as much as £2. The
price of food grains has also risen greatly. In 1871, best rice sold at
135. 8d. per cwt. ; common rice, at 4s. id. ; common unhusked paddy,
at 2s. ; sugar-cane, at 45. id.
The District is not specially liable to any form of natural calamity.
Blights, caused by worms and insects, have been known to occur ; and
in 1863, the country was visited by swarms of locusts. These visita
tions, however, have never been on such a scale as to affect the
general harvest. Similarly, Goálpára is exposed to river floods,
especially in the upper part of the District,where there is great need
of protective embankments ; but no inundation has ever produced
a scarcity . Partial droughts are caused by deficiency of the local
rainfall ; but in such cases the sterility of the higher levels would be
compensated by the increased area of marshy land brought into
cultivation. If the price of common rice were to rise in January
to 145. a cwt., that should be regarded as a sign of approaching
distress later in the year.
Manufactures, etc. — The manufactures of Goalpara consist of the
making of brass and iron utensils, gold and silver ornaments, the
weaving of silk cloth , basketwork, and pottery. It is said that in recent
years the competition of the cheaper Bengal articles has seriously
injured the local industries, which used to be of a highly artistic
character and of honest workmanship . A speciality still remaining is
the thagi or sarái, a silver tray occasionally inlaid with gold . Silk cloth
is woven from the cocoons of the erid and mugá worms. The former,
which is the more domesticated variety of the two, is fed on the leaves
of the castor oil plant ; the latter on the saola or súm tree. The silk
of Goálpára is regarded as inferior in texture, but superior in dura
bility to that of Upper Assam . The cultivation and manufacture of
tea has recently been introduced into Goálpára. In 1874, there were
284 acres under cultivation (including newly opened gardens), with an
 GOALPARA DISTRICT. 405
out-turn of 5248 lbs., showing a considerable increase on the previous
year. None of the 781 labourers employed were imported under con
tract from Bengal.
The external commerce of the District is entirely conducted by
means ofthe Brahmaputra, the chief centres of traffic being Goálpára
town, Dhubri, Jogigophá, Bijni, Gauripur, and Singimári. The local
trade is principally in the hands of Márwárí merchants from the north
west. It is carried on at permanent bázárs, weekly háts or markets,
and periodical fairs held on the occasion of religious festivals. The
chief exports from the Districts are mustard seed and jute from the
plains, and cotton, timber, and lac from the hills ; there is also some
export of silk cloth , india -rubber, and tea . The commodities received
in exchange comprise - Bengal rice, European piece-goods, salt and
hardware, oil and tobacco.
The chief means of communication are the rivers, especially the
Brahmaputra , which is navigated by steamers and the largest native
boats all the year through. Three roads in the District, including the
Assam Trunk Road in the north , are under the management of the
Public Works Department. The other roads, maintained out of local
funds, are in a poor condition ; but an improvement in this respect is
anticipated from the extension of the Road Cess Act to the District,
which took place in 1875. It has been proposed to construct a line
of railway in the north of the District, to connect it with the recently
opened Northern Bengal State Railway at Jalpaigurí.
Administration . - In 1870-71, the net revenue of Goálpára District
(including the Eastern Dwars) amounted to £18,309, towards which
the land tax contributed £4235 , and the excise, £6225 ; the expen
diture was £20, 266, or nearly £2000 more than the revenue. The
balance in the treasury is adjusted by the receipt of £6770 from Kuch
Behar, being the tribute of that State, which is still paid at Goálpára .
The total of the land revenue is extremely small, but it has increased
somewhat since the annexation of the Eastern Dwars. By 1874-75,
it had risen to £6229, of which only £1170 was obtained from the
permanently settled portion of the District. It is curious to observe
that, in the matter of excise or ábkári, Goalpára clearly manifests its
character of a border region. Under this item , the incidence of
taxation is 3 d. per head of population , against 8 d. in Assam
generally, and ad. for the whole of Bengal. In 1870, there was i
European officer stationed in the District, and 3 magisterial and 4
civil and revenue courts were open . For police purposes, Goalpára is
divided into 8 thánás or police circles, excluding the Eastern Dwars.
The following statistics,however, apply to the entire District : - In 1872,
the regular police force consisted of 321 men of all ranks, maintained
at a total cost of £5678. These figures show i policeman to every
406 GOALPARA DISTRICT.
13°81 square miles, or to every 1385 of the population, the average
cost of maintenance being £1, 55. 7 d . per square mile and 3d . per
head of population. There is no municipal police, nor any chaukidárs
or village watch . In the same year, the total number of persons
in the District convicted of any offence, great or small, amounted to
579, or 1 person to every 568 of the population. By far the greater
number of the convictions were for petty offences. There is one jail
at Goálpára town, with a Subdivisional lock -up at Dhubri. In 1872, the
average daily number of prisoners was 99, of whom one was a woman ;
the labouring convicts numbered 85. These figures show i prisoner
to every 4488 of the District population . The total cost of the jail
was £694, or £7, is. 8d. per prisoner. The jail manufactures yielded
a net profit of £23, os. 7d. The death -rate was 40-8 per thousand.
Education had not made much progress in Goálpára until within
the last few years. In 1856, there were only 15 schools in the District,
attended by 194 pupils. By 1870, after a temporary decline, these
numbers had increased to 31 schools and 862 pupils. The reforms of
Sir G . Campbell, by which the benefit of the grant-in -aid rules was
extended to the village schools or pathsálás, raised the total number of
inspected schools in 1873 to 92, and of pupils to 2137, giving i school
to every 27 square miles, and 5 pupils to ever 1000 of the population .
In that year the total expenditure was £1419, towards which Govern
ment contributed £582. The chief educational establishment is the
Higher-Class English School at Goalpára town, which is described as
not being in a prosperous condition, the number of pupils having
steadily fallen from 120 in 1869 to 57 in 1873. The American Baptist
Mission is assisted by Government in maintaining a normal school and
13 pathsálás among the Gáros, who live on the southern boundary of
the District.
For administrative purposes, Goálpára is divided into 2 Subdivi
sions, not including the Eastern Dwars, and into 8 thánás or police
circles. In the permanently settled tract there are 17 parganas or
fiscal divisions, with an aggregate of 18 estates, of which only 6 date
from a period subsequent to the Permanent Settlement. Goalpára
town was constituted a municipality in 1875, under Act vi. of 1868.
The estimated municipal income is £300, ofwhich the greater part is
expended on sanitation .
Medical Aspects. — The rainy season ormonsoon lasts for five months,
from themiddle of May to the middle of October. It is succeeded
by the cold weather, which is marked by heavy fogs during the early
morning. The prevailing winds are easterly ; but during the three
months from March to May, hot winds occasionally blow from the
west, and thunderstorms come up from the south -west. The mean
annual temperature is returned at 75°. In 1873, the maximum
 GO.ALPARA TOWN. 407
recorded was 99 70° in the month of July ; and the minimum , 41°3°
in January . The average annual rainfall is 98.75 inches.
Goalpára District is considered very unhealthy both for Europeans
and natives, especially during the rainy season. The whole country
round Goálpára town is charged with malarious exhalations. The
prevalent diseases are — intermittent and remittent fevers, complicated
with affections of the spleen ; diarrhoea, dysentery , rheumatism , and
chest affections. Epidemic outbreaks of cholera are frequent, and
small-pox annually appears, owing to the popular custom of inocula
tion. The vital statistics for selected areas show a death-rate for 1874
of 40' 4 in the rural area, and 68 .4 in the urban area, the latter
being practically Goálpára town . Out of a total of 597 deaths,
333 were assigned to fevers, 113 to cholera , and 85 to bowel com
plaints. There are 3 charitable dispensaries in the District, which
were attended in 1874 by 324 in -door and 2718 out-door patients; the
total expenditure was £443, towards which Government contributed
£147.
Goalpára. — Headquarters Subdivision of above District, Assam ;
containing a pop . (1872) of 220,125 persons, residing in 849 villages
or towns and 38,721 houses. The Subdivision comprises the 3 police
circles (thánás) ofGoálpára, Fákirgaon, and Sálmára.
Goalpára Town.- Chief town of the District of the same name,
Assam ; situated on the south or left bank of the Brahmaputra . Lat. 26°
II' N ., long. 90° 41' E.; pop. (1872), 4678 ; municipal revenue (1876
1877), £398 ; rate of taxation , is. 4d . per head of population within
municipal limits (6061). Goálpára is said to derive its name from a
colony of Hindu Goálás or cowherds who settled here in early times.
It was the frontier outpost of the Muhammadans in the direction of
Assam , and afterwards a flourishing seat of trade before the British
annexed that Province. In 1788, the name of a Mr. Raush appears as
a merchant settled here, who sent a force of 700 armed guards to
assist the Rájá of Assam against his revolted subjects. The civil
station is built on the summit of a hill, rising 260 feet above the plain,
which commands a magnificent view over the valley of the Brahmaputra ;
bounded north by the snow -capped Himálayas, and south by the Gáro
Hills. The native town is situated on the western slope of this hill,
and the lower streets are subject to inundation from the marshy land
which stretches all around. The town is regularly laid out, but the
houses are almost all made of wooden posts,mats , and thatch, so that
destructive fires are of frequent occurrence. Goálpára is still an im
portant centre of river trade, and especially a depot for the timber
floated down from the Eastern Dwars. In 1876-77, the imports from
Bengal included 153,400 maunds of rice, 97,400 maunds of salt, and
European piece-goods valued at £64,700. Communication is main
408 GOBARDANGA - GODAGARI.
tained by a steam ferry with Dhubri on the opposite bank of the
Brahmaputra, the terminus of the Bengal system of roads.
Gobardángá. — Municipal town in the north of the District of the
Twenty-four Parganas, Bengal. Lat. 22° 52' 40" n ., long. 88° 47' 55 "
E . ; situated on the eastern bank of the Jamuná. Pop. (1872), 6952 ;
municipal revenue (1876 -77 ), £ 331 ; rate of taxation, 10 d. per head
of population. Police force, 18 men. English school, branch dis
pensary. Export of jute , molasses, and sugar. Tradition points out
this village as the spot where Krishna tended his flocks.
Gobardhán. — Ancient town and place of pilgrimage in Muttra
(Mathura) District, North -Western Provinces. Lat. 27° 29' 55" N.,
long. 77° 30' 15" E. ; lies among the low rocky hills on the western
frontier. Noticeable only for its antiquarian remains, which include
the sacred tank of Manasi Gangá, where the pilgrimsbathe at the close
of the rains ; the temple of Hari Deva, erected during Akbar's reign
by Rájá Bhagwán Dás of Ambar, governor of the Punjab ; the two
cenotaphs of Randhír Sinh and Baldeva Sinh, Rájás of Bhartpur, who
died in 1823 and 1825 ; and the monument of Suraj Mall, erected
by Jawahir Sinh, his son, soon after his death at Delhi in 1764. The
last-named memorial comprises three cenotaphs, nine kiosks, and a
large garden with an artificial lake.
Gobardhángiri. — Fortified hill on the frontier between Shimogá
District, Mysore (lat. 14° 9 ' N ., long. 74° 43' E .), and the Madras
District of North Kanara , commanding the old pass that leads by the
Falls ofGersoppa. Annually traversed by 50 ,000 pack-bullocks. The
fort is in fair repair, but abandoned.
Gobindpur.- Subdivision of Mánbhúm District, Bengal ; situated
between 23° 38' and 24° 3' 30" n . lat., and between 86° 9' 15" and 86°
52' 15" E. long. Pop. ( 1872), 154,742, viz. 119,772 Hindus, 10,842
Muhammadans, 31 Christians, and 24,097 others ;' area, 782 square
miles ; villages or townships, 1220 ; houses, 28,593. Average number
of persons per square mile, 198 ; villages per square mile, 1'56 ;
persons per village, 127 ; houses per square mile , 37 ; persons per
house , 5 '4 . This Subdivision comprises the 3 police circles of
Gobindpur, Nirshá, and Topchánchi. In 1870-71, it contained 2
magisterial courts, a general police force of 87 men, and a village
watch 680 strong ; the cost of Subdivisional administration was
returned at £1448.
Gobrá. — Solitary village in the Jessor portion of the SUNDARBANS,
Bengal. Cited as a proof that this tract was once inhabited. Ruins of
masonry buildings still exist ; but embankments alone prevent Gobrá
from being washed away by the Kabadak.
Godágari. – Village and headquarters of a police circle , Rájsháhí
District, Bengal. Lat. 24° 28' N ., long. 88° 21' 33" E . ; situated in the
 GODAVARI DISTRICT. 409
extremewest of the District, on the banks of the Ganges. An important
trading village, with a considerable river traffic with the North-Western
Provinces.
Godávari. — A District of British India in the Madras Presidency,
lying between 16° 15' and 17° 35' n. lat., and between 80° 55' and
82° 38 ' E . long. Area, after recent transfers, 7345 square miles ; popula
tion, by Census of 1871, 1,592,939. Bounded on the north by the
Central Provinces and Vizagapatam District, on the eastby Vizagapatam
and the Bay of Bengal, on the south by the Bay of Bengal and Kistna
District, and on the west by the Nizam 's Dominions.
Physical Aspects. — The District is divided into two almost square
parts by the GODAVARI river. At Dowlaishvaram , 30 miles inland, the
river separates into two main branches, enclosing the táluk of Amalápur,
the central delta of the river. The eastern delta comprises the táluk
of Ramachandrapúr with the zamindári of Cocanada ; the western ,
the táluks of Narsapur, Bhímávaram , and Tanuku. These deltas are
fiat, in some places even marshy. They present a vast and unbroken
expanse of rice cultivation, dotted by villages, and varied only by
clusters of palmyra , cocoa-nut or betel-nut palms. North of the delta
the land gradually undulates, and the horizon is broken by conical hills
interspersed here and there. Farther north the hills come closer
together, and are thickly covered with jungle ; but there is no real
range of mountains met with till the long broken tableland of
Papikonda (4200 feet) is reached. Here the Godavari river is com
pletely shut in by hills, forming a magnificent gorge, in some places
only 200 yards wide ; whereas the river attains a breadth of about 3
miles at Rájámahendri (Rajahmundry), 50 miles lower down. The
hills in all parts of the District are covered with jungle more or less
dense. They are never quite inaccessible, but the numerous blocks
of gneissic rock with which they are strewn render the construction
of any road through or over them almost impossible. Teak is found
here and there, and some of the higher hill ranges are covered with
clumps of the feathery bamboo.
The only navigable rivers of the District are the GODAVARI and the
SAVERI,which joins the former at Vaddigudem in Rekapilli táluk. The
Godávari has seven mouths, viz. the Tulyabhága, the Atreya, the
Gautami, the Vruddhagautami, the Bharadwajam , the Kausika, and the
Vasishta . The large town of Narsapur is situated at the mouth of one
of the two main branches, the French Settlement of Yanán at the
mouth of the other. Thirty miles up the river is the famous Dow
laishvaram anicut; 4 miles farther on , the town of Rájámahendri
(Rajahmundry ). Northwards still, is the picturesque island of Pata
patteshim , covered with pagodas, and a favourite resort of pilgrims;
and close to it, the timber market of Polávaram . The shipbuilding
410 GODAVARI DISTRICT.
trade of the District is carried on at Tallarevu, on the Coringa branch
of the river. Owing to the volumeof the Godavari, and the quantity
of silt brought down by it, not only the islands of the river (termed
lankas) but the sea-coast itself are continually changing in form . Each
of the seven mouths of the river is deemed holy, and the Godávari
is one of the 12 rivers of India at which the feast of Pushkaram is
celebrated. The bed of the Godavari, at the point where it enters the
District, is sandy ; but gradually turns into alluvial mould in its course
through the delta . The only lake of importance is the Koleru, which
is studded with islands and fishing villages. Sea -fishing is carried on
along the coast. Building and lime stone are found in abundance in
the uplands, and iron is smelted in small quantities. The forest tracts
are those of Rampa and Bhadrachalam . Chief jungle products
myrabolans, soap-nuts, tamarind, bamboo-rice, honey, and bees-wax.
The wild animals comprise the tiger, leopard, hyæna, wild-boar, ante
lope, deer, wolf, and bear. Game birds are plentiful.
History. — The present District of Godavari formed part of what
is known as the Andhra Division of the Drávida country ; the tract
to the north -west of the river having probably been part of the
kingdom of Kalinga, and more or less subject to the Orissa kings ;
while the south -western tract belonged to the Vengi kingdom , and owed
allegiance to the Ganapatis of Warangul. The District formed for
centuries a battle-field, on which the Chalukyas, Narapatis, the Reddi
war chiefs, and the aboriginal hill tribes, fought with varying success,
until the arrival of the Muhammadans in the beginning of the 14th
century . After a struggle lasting a century and a half between the
Hindu chiefs and the Musalmán invaders from the west and north ,
the contest ended in the subjugation by the latter of nearly the whole
of this District (1471-77). Subsequently, Krishna Ráya, the King of
Vijáyanagar, overran the country in 1516 , and for a time restored
the ancient Hindu kingdom ; lesser Hindu chiefs temporarily asserted
and maintained their independence ; but the whole of the country
may be regarded as having passed under Muhammadan domination
from the commencement of the 16th century. In 1687, the rule of
the Kutab Shahi kings was succeeded by that of the Delhi Mughals ;
Aurangzeb, after a long struggle, having succeeded in overthrowing the
independent Bijápur and Golconda kings. Thenceforward the District
became known as the Nawabship of Rájámahendri (Rajahmundry) in
the Subah of Golconda, under the governorship of Asaf Jah. From
the death of this illustrious Nizám , in 1748, commenced the struggles
between the English and the French in the Deccan and Karnatic,
which terminated in the final overthrow of the French power in the
East. By 1753, Godavari had become a French Province, but in that
year it was overrun by the Marhattás, then at the zenith of their power.
 GODAVARI DISTRICT. 411
Long anterior to this, the English, French, and Dutch had placed
factories within the District. The English settled at Masulipatam in
1611, the Dutch in 1660, and the French in 1679 ; in 1668, the Dutch
seized the administration of the town . The English opened factories
at Pettapalam , Virávasaram , and Madapolliem in the 17th century, at
Injeram and Bandemarlanka early in the 18th ; the Dutch held Palakollu ,
Narsapur, and Cocanada in 1650 ; the French occupied YANAON a cen
tury later (1750). In 1756, the French captured without resistance the
English factories at Madapolliem , Bandemarlanka, and Injeram ; but
Lally's ill-advised recall of Bussy in 1758 soon put an end to the French
domination in the Northern Circars. In the latter year, Colonel Forde's
expedition marched into the District, and in December completely
routed the French army under Conflans at Condore. This, followed
by the capture of Narsapur and Masulipatam , practically left the Circars
(including what now forms Godavari District) in English hands, - a
state of things confirmed by Imperial Sanad in 1765. Until 1823, the
Company paid an annual tribute to the Nizám ,for the Northern Circars.
In that year, it was commuted for a single payment of 11 lakhs.
Till 1794, this new acquisition of the East India Company was adminis
tered on the old system , viz. by a Chief and Provincial Council. As
that arrangementwas not found satisfactory and proved unequal to the
suppression of risings, such as these in Polávaram and Gutalá (1785
1787),a system of Collectorateswas adopted ; and three of these,under
a principal Collector at Masulipatam , nearly represented the present
Godavari District. From 1794 till 1802-3, when the Permanent
Settlement was introduced, thehistory of the District is one continuous
struggle with recusant zamindárs. The Settlement, owing to insuf
ficient knowledge, was unequal in its incidence, and consequently
unsuccessful. Constant sales, lawsuits, and distraints were the result.
The failure of the system was pointed out by Sir Thomas Munro in
1822 ; but it was not till 1843, after several seasons of famine, distress,
and steady decline in wealth and population (the latter decreased 30
per cent. in 20 years), that Sir Henry Montgomery was appointed to
inquire and report. The reforms instituted on his representations
practically put an end to the Permanent Settlement in this District.
In thirty years the population has doubled, and, thanks to the
splendid system of navigable irrigation works, the agriculture and
commerce of the District are now in a most prosperous condition .
In 1859, the boundaries were readjusted, and the three Districts of
Gantúr (Guntoor), Rájámahendri (Rajahmundry ), and Masulipatam
became the present Districts of Kistna and Godávari. In 1874, the
táluks of Bhadrachalam and Rekapilli were transferred to this District
from that of Upper Godávari in the Central Provinces.
Population has increased largely of late years. In 1856, the number of
412 GODAVARI DISTRICT.
inhabitants was returned at 1,081,703, and in 1861 at 1,366 ,831 ; while
by 1871, the number had risen to 1,592,939, on an area of 6224
square miles, and dwelling in 389,712 houses. Classified according to
age and sex, there were — male children , 310,898 ; female children,
256 ,223 ; male adults, 492,705 ; and female adults, 533,113 : total
males, 803,603 - females, 789,336 ; grand total, 1,592,939. Boys below
12 and girls below io are reckoned as children. The population is
almost entirely composed of Hindus, who are returned at 1,555,981,
made up as follows :- Vishnuvites, 1,219,676, or 78 .3 per cent. ; Sivaites,
323,288, or 20.8 per cent. ; Lingayats, 10,210, or •7 per cent. ; other
Hindus, 2807, or '2 per cent. The most numerous Hindu castes are
the Vallálars or cultivators, who number 498,373, or 32 per cent. ; the
Shanáns or toddy-drawers , 165,833, or 10 '7 per cent. ; and the Brahmans
or priestly caste, 90,882, or 5 -8 per cent. Of the Muhammadans — who
number 35,173 in all — 31,394, or 89 per cent., are Sunnis ; 2303 Shiás ;
and 19 Wahábís. The Christian population consists of 451 Europeans,
385 Eurasians, 585 native Christians, and 62 others ' ; total, 1483.
Protestants and Roman Catholics are about equally divided, there
being 712 of the former to 772 of the latter. The remaining population
consists of 39 Buddhists, and 263 belonging to other denominations
not separately classified. The following 19 towns contain upwards of
5000 inhabitants : - ELLORE, 251,487 ; RAJAMAHENDRI, 19,738 ; COCA
NADA, 17 ,839 ; PITHAPURAM , 9246 ; PEDDAPURAM , 9202 ; DOWLAISH
VARAM , 7252 ; AMALAPURAM , 7083 ; NARSAPUR, 6819 ; Polekurtu,
5427 ; PALAKOLLU, 5931; ATTILI, 5878 ; ACHANTA, 5846 ; KORINGA,
5649 ; SAMULCOTTAH , 5535 ; KAPILESWARAPURAM , 5463 ; MANDAPETA,
5440 ; Velpuru, 5377 ; Velivelu , 5319 ; NAGAVARAM , 5271. Besides
these there are 150 towns and villages of over 2000 inhabitants ; the
total number of villages being 2127. Three towns are constituted
municipalities, viz. Ellore, Rájámahendri,and Cocanada,with an aggre
gate population (1871) of 63,064 ; total municipal income (1875 -76),
£5152, or at the rate of is. 7 d . per head of municipal population .
Agriculture. — The total area of the District, including recent transfers,
is 7345 square miles, of which 2713 square miles, or 1,736,791 acres,
are Government land. Of this, 488,615 acres are under cultivation ,
386,440 acres are cultivable , and 861,736 acres uncultivable waste.
The remaining area is comprised in the zamíndári estates (for which no
detailed information exists ), or is forest land. By far the greater
portion of the cultivated land is under rice. The chief crops of the
District are : - (1) Cereals - (a ) rice transplanted (white paddy), five
varieties, sown in May and July, and reaped in November and January ;
two other sorts are sown in June and reaped in October; these crops
are grown on marshy land : (6) black paddy, sown in June, and
harvested in October ; (C) cholam , sown in June and reaped in
 GODAVARI DISTRICT. 413
November and January ; (d ) rági, sown in May and June, and reaped
in September ; these last grow on dry lands: (2) Green crops
(a) gram (4 varieties), sown in December and reaped in February ;
(6) red -gram , sown in June and reaped in December : (3) Fibres —
(a) cotton , sown in October and gathered in March ; (6) jute , and
(c) hemp, sown from June to August, and harvested from September to
January ; these are sown on dry land. The District also produces large
quantities of gingelly, tobacco, sugar-cane, and indigo. Tobacco
requires moist, and sugar-cane marshy, land ; the other crops are dry .'
Great improvement has taken place of late years in the quality of the
rice and other food grains raised in the District, owing to the extension
of irrigation by canals. A farm 100 acres in extentwould be considered
a large holding for an agriculturist, one of about 30 acres a middling
sized one, and one of 5 acres a very small one. Government tenants
have a permanent right of occupancy in their lands so long as they pay
the Government demand. In zamindári estates, on the other hand ,
the cultivators are mostly yearly tenants. A few holders of service
lands cultivate their fields for themselves without assistance. A
number of landless day-labourers are employed in cultivation , paid
sometimes in money, and sometimes at a fixed rate in grain , but never
by a regular share in the crop. Wages have doubled since 1850. A
carpenter, smith , or bricklayer now earns from gd. to is. a day, and an
agricultural labourer from 3d . to 4d. Women employed in weeding
and transplanting are paid at from one-half to two-thirds of the rates
for men, while children receive a lower rate. Paddy or unhusked rice,
which in 1850 was returned at £2, 8s. per garce (9860 lbs. avoirdupois),
is now (1876) worth £12 per garce.
Natural Calamities. — Godávari District was formerly liable to severe
floods caused by a sudden rising of the river, but these are now con
trolled by the embankments. No great famine has occurred since 1833.
In that year, a famine caused by want of rain lasted from March
to September, and numbers of the inhabitants fed the District.
Private charity was widely extended, but no reliefworks were opened.
Pressure from high prices was also experienced in 1876 -77 ; but the
mass of the people being themselves cultivators, and irrigation being
abundant, the distress did not require extraordinary relief.
Means of Communication, Manufactures, Trade, etc. — The District is
well supplied with means of communication by 491 miles of good road,
and 431miles of canals. Principal manufactures — cotton and woollen
carpets, sheep-wool blankets, Uppada cloths and sugar ; chiefly con
ducted by the people on their own account. Indigo manufacture is
carried on by natives. The chief articles of trade are grain , cotton ,
jaggery, turmeric, cocoa nut, flax cloth , onions, garlic, lace cloths,
tobacco, gingelly seed, lamp-oil seed, salt, tamarind , cattle, teakwood,
414 GODAVARI RIVER.
hides, opium , indigo, etc. The trade is carried on along the coast and
in large towns and ports by means of permanent markets and in almost
all other places by fairs. The principal seats of commerce are
Cocanada, Ellore, Rájámahendri, Mandapetta , Jaggampetta, Hasan
bada, Narsapur, Palakollu , Dowlaishvaram , Ambajipetta , Jagannathpur.
The estimated value of imports in 1874-75 was £204,238, exclusive of
treasure, which amounted to £41,464. Estimated value of exports,
£903,253, exclusive of £75,550 oftreasure.
Administration. — The Government revenue has steadily increased.
In 1860 -61, the first year after the present District was constituted, the
total revenue amounted to £421,246, and the expenditure on civil
administration to £48,017. In 1870-71, the revenue was £531,043,
and the civil expenditure, £23, 368. By 1875-76, the revenue had
reached £558,812, while the expenditure was £28,604. For the
protection of person and property, there were in 1870-71, 28 magis
terial and 15 revenue and civil courts in the District. The regular
police and municipal police force in 1876 numbered 1247 officers and
men . In 1874-75, there were 387 schools maintained or supported by
the State, attended by 7759 pupils. The administrative headquarters
of the District are at Cocanada ; but the judges' court and the District
jail are at Rájámahendri.
Medical Aspects. — The prevailing endemic diseases of Godávari
District are beri-beri and fevers. Cholera is prevalent during the hot
seasons of the year ; small-pox also occurs at the same periods ; fevers
come after the cessation of rain . Cattle diseases are also prevalent.
Cholera is usually imported by travellers coming from the north. The
average annual rainfall from 1871 to 1875 was 43 35 inches ; the
highest rainfall being in 1873, when 50.68 inches were registered, and
the lowest in 1871, when only 33.64 inches fell. The mean tempera
ture (Fahr.) for each month during 1876 at Rájámahendri was— January
85°, February 89', March 97°, April 90°, May 80°, June 84°, July
86°, August 83°, September 74°, October 75°, November 74 ', and
December 74º.
Storms. — The last great cyclone was in 1832. The sea broke in at
Coringa, and destroyed a great number of men, cattle, and houses ; a
small village near Coringa was entirely swept away, and the country
was under water for many miles inland. Again , on the 16th
November 1839, a similar storm destroyed great parts of Cocanada,
Koringa, Tallarevu, and Nilapalli. Most of the vessels lying near
these places were wrecked, and the value of the property lost was
estimated at £100,000.
Godávari (Godavery). — A great river of Central India, which runs
across the Deccan from the Western to the Eastern Ghats ; for sanctity ,
picturesque scenery, and utility to man, surpassed only by the Ganges
 GODAVARI RIVER. 415
and the Indus; total length , 898 miles ; estimated area of drainage basin,
112 ,200 square miles. The traditional source is on the side of a hill
behind the village of Trimbak, in Násik District, Bombay, only about
50 miles from the shore of the Indian Ocean . At this spot is an artificial
reservoir, reached by a flight of 690 steps, into which the water trickles
drop by drop from the lips of a carven image, shrouded by a canopy of
stone. From first to last, the general direction of the river is towards
the south -east. After passing through Násik District it forms for some
distance the boundary between Ahmednagar and the doininions of the
Nizám of Haidarábád. It then crosses into the territory of the Nizám ,
running for more than 500 miles of its course through a country that
has been little explored. Near SIRONCHA, where it again strikes British
territory, is the confluence of the PRANHITA, itself a noble river, which
brings down the united waters of the WARDHA, the PENGANGA, and the
WAINGANGA . From Sironcha to the point where it bursts through the
barrier range of the Eastern Gháts, the south bank of the Godavari
continues to lie within the Nizam 's Dominions; while on the north
stretches the narrow strip of country known as the UPPER GODAVARI
DISTRICT, in the Central Provinces. In this portion of its course it is
joined by the INDRAVATI, the Tal, and the SAVERI. It is now an
imposing stream , with a channel varying from i mile to more than 2
miles in breadth , occasionally broken by long alluvial islands. The
British bank is for the most part rocky and steep, and covered with
primeval jungle. Parallel to the river run long ranges of hills, which
at places advance their abrupt spurs almost to the water's edge. On
the opposite side, the country is more open and cultivated . Several
flourishing towns are to be seen, and the plain stretching away south
wards,which included the capital of the ancient kingdom of Telingána,
is thickly dotted with tanks for irrigation . Below the junction of the
Sabari, the scenery assumes the character which has earned for the
Godavari the name of the Indian Rhine. The channel begins to con
tract ; the flanking hills gradually close in on either side, until the pre
cipitous gorge is reached, only 200 yards wide, through which the entire
volume of water is poured upon the alluvial plain of the delta , about
60 iniles from the sea. Thismountain range, and the remainder of the
course of the river until it reaches the Bay of Bengalby three principal
mouths, is entirely included within the Madras District of GODAVARI.
The head of the delta is at the village of Dowlaishvaram , where the
main stream is crossed by the irrigation anicut. The largest of the
three branches, known as the Gautami Godavari, turns eastward, and,
after passing the quiet French settlement of Yanán, enters the sea at
Point Koringa, not far from the port of Cocanada. The most southerly
branch, or the Vashista Godávari, debouches at Point Narsapur, after
throwing off the third offshoot called the Vainateyam Godávari.
 I
416 GODAVAR RIVER .
The peculiar sacredness of the Godávari is said to have been
revealed by Ráma himself to the rishi, or sage Gautama. The river is
sometimes called Godá, and the sacred character especially attaches to
the Gautamimouth. According to popular legend, it proceedsfrom
the same source as the Ganges, by an underground passage ; and
this identity is preserved in the familiar name of Vriddha-ganga. But
every part of its course is holy ground, and to bathe in its waters will
wash away the blackest sin. Once in every twelve years a great
bathing festival, called Pushkaram , is held on the banks of the Godá.
vari, alternately with the other eleven sacred rivers of India. The
spotsmost frequented by pilgrims are — the source at Trimbak ; the town
of Bhadrachalam on the left bank, about 100 miles above Rájá.
mahendri, where stands an ancient temple of Ráma-chandradu, sur
rounded by twenty -four smaller pagodas ; Rájámahendri itself ; and
the village of Kotipali, on the left bank of the eastern mouth .
Throughout the upper portion of its course, the waters of the Godavari
are scarcely at all utilized for irrigation ; but within recent times, the
entire delta has been turned into a garden of perennial crops bymeans
of the anicut constructed at Dowlaishvaram . This great work was
first projected in 1844, when the impoverished condition of the people,
from repeated failures of the harvest, became the subject of a special
report from Sir H . Montgomery. It was resolved by the Madras
Government to undertake irrigation works on a comprehensive scale ;
and themanagementwas entrusted to Captain (now Sir Arthur)Cotton,
who had experience of the successful works on the Káverí (Cauvery) in
Tanjore District. Operationswere commenced in 1847, and completed
according to the original design by 1850. Up to 1853, the total expen
diture had been £153,000. The principalwork is the anicut or weir at
Dowlaishvaram , at the head of the delta , from which three main
canals are drawn off. The river channel here is about 3 } miles wide,
including the space occupied by islands. The anicut itself is a sub
stantialmass of stone, bedded in lime cement, about 2 miles long, 130
feet broad at the base, and 12 feet high. The stream is thus pent
back , so as to supply a volume of 3000 cubic feet of water per second
during its low season, and 12,000 cubic feet at time of flood. As is the
case with all deltaic streams, the river runs along the crest of a natural
embankment several feet above the alluvial plain . Dowlaishvaram is
about 20 feet above the lowest level, and therefore easily commands
the whole area of the delta. The total length of the main channels of
distribution is estimated at 528 miles, capable of irrigating 780,000
acres. Of the 528 miles of canal, 463 miles are also used for navigation ;
and in 1872-73 carried 52,000 boats and rafts. In 1864, an extension
of the original schemewas sanctioned , by which water communication
has been opened between the river systems of the Godavari and the
 GODDA - GODHRA. 417
Kistna. For a minute account of the history of these irrigation works,
see The Godavery District, by Mr. H . Morris ( Trübner, 1878 ).
The more recent project for opening for navigation the upper waters
of the Godavari has not been crowned with equal success. In 1851,
before the railway had penetrated through the heart of the peninsula , it
was hoped that the Godavari, or rather its tributary the Wardha, might
supply a cheap means of carriage for the cotton and other agricultural
produce of the Central Provinces. This line of navigation would have
had its upper terminus at the mart of Nachangaon , not far from Nág
pur and Amráoti ; and it would pass by the great cotton emporium of
Hinghanghát, and the towns of Wún and Chánda, reaching the sea by
the flourishing port of Cocanada. During nine months of the year,
there is sufficient water for shallow river steamers ; and the force of the
current does not exceed 3 miles an hour. There are, however, three
great obstructions to navigation , caused by rocky barriers and rapids.
The first of these barriers is at Dumagudiem , about 115 miles above
Rájámahendri ; the second about 68 miles higher up, just below the
confluence of the Pránhita ; the third is on the Wardha, about 75 miles,
above the second . It was proposed to construct canals round these
barriers by means of anicuts and locks, and to clear the river bed in
other places by blasting. Between 1861 and 1863, about £700,000
was expended upon the navigation works ; but comparatively little real
progress had been made, and the prospects of any remunerative return
had become more than doubtful. Finally , in October 1871, the entire
undertaking was abandoned, in accordance with instructions from the
Secretary of State for India. The navigation on the canals of the
delta has already been alluded to .
Goddá. – Subdivision of Santál Parganas District, Bengal ; situated
between 24° 30' and 25° 14' n. lat., and between 87° 5' and 87° 38' E.
long. Pop. (1872), 293,440, viz. 147,235 Hindus, 18,829 Muham
madans, 9 Christians, and 127,367 others ;' area , 937 square miles ;
villages or townships, 1634 ; houses, 54,439. Proportion of males in
total population, 50 per cent. ; average density of population, 313 per
square mile ; villages per square mile, 1974 ; persons per village, 180 ;
houses per square mile , 58 ; inmates per house , 5 '4 . This Sub -district,
which was constituted in 1856, consists of the one tháná or police circle
of Goddá. In 1870-71 it contained i magisterial and revenue court, a
general police force of 32 men , and a village watch of 600 men ; the
cost of Subdivisional administration was returned at £1585.
Godhra. — Chieftown ofthe Subdivision of the same name, and of the
District of the Pánch Maháls,Guzerat Province, Bombay. Lat. 22° 46'
30 " N ., and long. 73° 40' E.; situated on the main road from Nímach
(Neemuch ) to Baroda, 40 miles north -east of Baroda town, and 43 west
ofDohad. Pop. ( 1872), 10,635. In addition to the usual District head
VOL III. 2 D
 NA TOWN .
418 GOD
quarters offices and courts, there is a sub -judge's court, a post office, a
dispensary, and a subordinate jail Mfor short-term prisoners. A consider
abiearea
able r Reland
dnáof( orice 84° 41fromuhaamlarge
verstisong.irrigated madatank
ns in the neighbourhood.
Godná (or Revelganj). — Municipal town in Sáran District, Bengal.
Lat. 25° 46' 56" N., long. 84°41' 7" E.; pop. ( 1872), 13,415, of whom
11,125 were Hindus and 2290 Muhammadans. Situated just above
the junction of the Ganges and Gogra (Ghagra), and built along the
banks of the latter river ; the largest mart in Sáran District. Its trade
may be classed under two heads :- (1) Its local trade as the port of
Sáran, representing also Champáran and Nepál; exports — maize, barley,
peas, oil-seeds,saltpetre and sugar ; imports — rice, salt, and piece-goods :
(2) Its through trade between Bengal and the North -West. Revel
ganj is the great changing station, where the boats from Lower Bengal
tranship their cargoes of rice and salt into the Faizábád (Fyzabad ) and
Gorakhpur boats, which give in exchange wheat, barley, pulses and oil
seeds. Several Calcutta firms are represented in the town. Municipal
revenue (1876 – 77 ), £812 ; incidence of taxation , is. 23d. per head ;
municipal police, 39men. Dispensary , bazár, and fair held twice a year.
The native name of this town is Godná. It is celebrated as the resi
dence of Gautama, the founder of the school of Nyáyá philosophy or
Indian logic. No traces of his dwelling exist ; but a wretched hovel
and a pair ofshoes are still pointed out to simple pilgrims.
The commercial importance of Godná dates from the end of the last
century. In 1788, Mr. Revell, collector of Government customs, was
deputed to open a custom -house and bázár at this place . After his
death he became an eponymous hero. To the present day his tomb
is visited as a shrine by the market people , and his name is invoked
on all occasions of calamity . The chief business done is in oil-seeds,
brought down by the Gogra from the Districts of Oudh, and here tran
shipped into larger boats for conveyance to Patná and Calcutta . The
traders are mostly agents of firms at those two cities, and they transact
business on commission . The principal European firms represented
are those of Messrs. Ralli and Messrs. Valetta, of Patná and Calcutta .
A distinction in their course of business is observed by European and
native merchants. The object of the Europeans is to use the railway
at Patná to the utmost. They therefore have their oil-seeds cleaned at
Patná by a special class of trained women . The rate of freight from
Godná to Patná is í anna per bag, or Rs. 3 per 100 maunds ; the
voyage takes two days during the rainy season and three days at other
times of the year. From Patná the cleaned seed is despatched by rail
to Calcutta . The nativemerchants scarcely use the rail at all. They
buy up oil-seeds when the prices are low , and store them along the
river bank until they can obtain a good market at Calcutta . Then
they despatch them all the way by boat, in their uncleaned state.
 GOGHAT - GOGO. 419
There are no facilities for cleaning at Godná. The freight to Calcutta
varies from Rs. 20 to Rs. 25 per 100 maunds. The voyage occupies
about fifteen days during the rains and forty days in the dry weather.
The native traders do not insure. They draw bills, accepted by their
bankers at Calcutta , who thus becomepractically the insurers ; for if a
heavy loss is sustained, the traders fail, and the bankers have to pay.
In the year 1876 -77, the total registered trade of Godná, including
both imports and exports, was valued at over one million sterling.
But it is admitted that great part of the imports, especially European
piece-goods from Dinápur, have escaped registration altogether. Oil
seeds were imported to the amount of 559,000 maunds, valued at
£207,000. Nearly one -half came from the District of Faizábád
(Fyzabad ),the rest from Bahraich ,Gorakhpur, Gonda, Sítápur,and Basti.
The exports of oil-seeds were 895,000maunds, valued at £333,000 , con
signed in almost equalmoieties to Patná and Calcutta. Considerably
more than half the total was linseed. Food grains of all kinds were
imported to the amount of 976 ,000 maunds, valued at £181,000.
Wheat, pulses, and gram , and other spring crops, are received from
Oudh , to be sent on to Calcutta, Patná, and the Districts of Behar.
Rice is imported for local consumption to the amount of 293,000
maunds, chiefly from Northern Bengal. The total export of food
grains was 530,000 maunds, valued at £110 ,000, chiefly wheat to
Calcutta and Patná, and inferior grains to Tirhut. Salt was imported to
the amount of 203,000 maunds, valued at £101,000, of which 140,000
maunds came direct from Calcutta , and the rest from Patna. The
exports of salt were only 24,000 maunds, valued at £17,000, principally
to Gorakhpur. The other articles of trade include timber, £35, 000 ;
sugar, £ 16 ,000 ; saltpetre, £4000.
Goghat. – Village and police station in Bardwán District, Bengal.
Lat. 22° 53' 15" N., long. 87° 44' 50 '' E. Also a station on the Chord
line of the East India Railway. Recently transferred from Húglí
District.
Gogo (or Ghoghá).— Chief town of the Subdivision of the same
name in Ahmedabad District, Bombay ; situated in the peninsula of
Káthiáwár, on the Gulf of Cambay, in lat. 21° 39' 30" N ., long. 72°
21' E., 193 miles north -west of Bombay. Pop. (1872), 9571. About
three-quarters of a mile east of the town is an excellent anchorage,
in some measure sheltered by the island of PERIM , which lies still
farther east. The natives of this town are reckoned the best sailors or
laskars in India ; and ships touching here may procure water and
supplies, or repair damages. The roadstead is a safe refuge during
the south -west monsoon , or for vessels that have parted from their
anchors in the Surat roads, the bottom being an entire bed of
mud, and the water always smooth . Gogo has of late years lost
420 GOGRA RIVER .
its commercial importance. Its rival, Bháunagar, is 8 miles nearer
to the cotton districts. North of the town is a black salt marsh,
extending to the Bhaunagar creek. On the other sides is undulating
cultivated land , sloping to the range of hills 12 miles off. South of the
town there is another salt marsh . The land in the neighbourhood is
inundated at high spring tides, which renders it necessary to bring fresh
water from a distance of 4 or 5 miles. Average annual value of trade
for five years ending 1871-72 - exports, £56,227 ; imports, £103,083.
Gogra (Ghágra ). — The great river of Oudh . It rises in the upper
ranges of the Himalayas, and, after passing through Nepál as the
KAURIALA, issues from the hills at a place called Shishapáni, or
the Crystal Waters,' where it sweeps down on the plains in a series
of rapids over immense boulders which it has brought with it from
the hills during the course of ages. Almost immediately after it
debouches on the tarái, the stream splits into two, the western branch
retaining the name of the Kauriála , but the eastern, known as the
GIRWA, has a volume of water superior to that of the main stream .
After a course of about 18 miles through the midst of fine sál
forests, and over rough stony beds, the twin streams enter British
territory in lat. 26° 27' n ., long. 82° 17' E., a few miles distant from
each other, and reunite a few miles below Bharthapur ; and here the
bed loses its rocky character, and becomes sandy. Almost immediately
below the confluence of the Kauriála and Girwa, the stream is joined
by the Suheli from Kheri District ; but it receives no other affluents of
any importance until, after a southerly course of 47 miles, marking the
boundary between Bahraich and Kheri, it is joined by the SARJU just
above Katáighát. Below the confluence, the united stream is swelled
by the Chauká and Daháwar at Bahramghát. From this point the river
takes its name of theGogra . It flows in a south -easterly and afterwards
an easterly course, forming the boundary between Bahraich and Gonda
on the north , and Bára Bánkiand Faizabád (Fyzábád) on the south . It
leaves Oudh in the west, and,marking the boundary between the North
Western Provinces Districts of Basti and Gorakhpur on the north , and
Azamgarh on the south, receives the Muchora and Rápti as tributaries
on its left bank. It then touches on the Bengal District of Sáran at
Darauli, and finally empties itself into the Ganges at Cháprá, in lat.
25° 43' N., long. 84° 43' 30 " E., after an estimated course of upwards of
600 miles. Many changes in the course of the river have taken place
in olden times. Its waters have shown an inclination towards aban
doning lateral channels, and selecting a central one, as in the well
known case of the SARDA. On both sides of the present stream are
seen ancient channels of the river, and high banks within which it
once flowed. There were formerly, probably, three main channels of
the river, whose volumes varied each year as accidental circumstances
 GOHAD _ GOHANA. 421
diverted the greater part of the water into one or other. A great
inroad of the Gogra took place about 1600 A.D ., which swept away
the town of Khurása in Gonda. For the past century, there has been
but little change in the channel beyond slight encroachments on its
banks, by which villages are occasionally swept away during the rains.
The old eastern and western channels have entirely silted up. The
depth of the river in mid channel is nowhere less than 6 feet, but boats
drawing more than 4 feet are not desirable, because they may be carried
by the current on to shallows. The boats are generally clinker built,
the largest carrying about 1200 maunds or 45 tons. They are usually
without decks, the cargo being protected by mat awnings ; the cost of
carriage is very small. The only large town on the banks of the river is
FAIZABAD (Fyzábád ). A bridge of boats during the cold and hot seasons
is kept up at Faizabád and Bahramghát ; during the rains it is replaced
by a well-served ferry ; 45 other ferries are maintained at different points
of the river in Oudh , and several in the North -Western Provinces.
Gohad. — Town in Gwalior State, Central India ; on the road from
Etawah to Gwalior, 55 miles south-west of the former, and 28 north
east of the latter town. Lat. 26° 25' n., long. 78° 29' E. A fortified town,
formerly the capital of a Ját chieftain , who rose into power from the
position of a landholder during the troublous times at the beginning of
the last century , and established himself at the expense of his neigh
bours. In 1779, the chief entered into alliance with the British , who
assisted him in a struggle against Sindhia . Sindhia 's capital was cap
tured by a British force, and made over to the Gohad chief. Five
years later, however, the position was reversed ; Sindhia besieged and
re-obtained possession of Gwalior fort, and also captured the capital of
his enemy. In 1803, certain territorial arrangements were effected by
which the town and territory of Gohad were transferred to Sindhia ,
and the Gohad Rána received instead the territory of DHOLPUR, which
his descendants still hold . The fortifications of Gohad consist of an
outer curtain of mud, faced with stone, enclosing an extensive area,
between which and the citadel are two other walls. The citadel is
lofty , with massive towers, and has spacious and commodious apart
ments. Thieffenthaler, who visited Gohad in the last century, describes
it as a populous and rich place. It is now , however, much decayed .
Gohána. - Northern tahsil of Rohtak District, Punjab ; irrigated by
the Western Jumna Canal, which affords a water supply to 35,755
acres. Pop. (1868), 119,539 ; persons per square mile , 352.
Gohána . - Municipal town in Rohtak District, Punjab, and head
quarters of the tahsil. Lat. 29° 8' N ., long. 76° 45' E. ; pop. (1868),
7124, being 3361Hindus, 3757 Muhammadans, and 6 Sikhs. Founded
about the middle of the 13th century by a Rájput and a Bania ,
converts to the faith of Islám , who were permitted to settle on
422 GOHELWAR - GOLA.
hori iTahsili,
the present Gsite.
dost
amma post ooffice,
in Muhstation,
n his uid-dpolice choo Yearly
ffice, sschool.
fair at tomb of Shah Ziá -ud-din Muhammad, a saint who accompanied
Muhammad Ghori in his invasion of Upper India . Two temples of
the Suráogi deity , Parasnáth , where an annual festival takes place in
the month of Bhadra. Municipal revenue in 1875-76 , £318, or rožd.
per head of population (7302) within municipal limits.
Gohelwár (or Gohelwad ). — Tributary State, forming one of the five
southern divisions of Kathiáwár, so named from the tribe of Gohel
Rájputs by whom it is principally peopled. The State, however, is
more generally known as BHAUNAGAR, from its chief town.
Gokák. — Chief town of the Subdivision of the same name in
Belgaum District, Bombay. Lat. 16° 10' N ., long. 74° 52' E .; 30 miles
north -east of Belgáum . Pop. (1872), 12 ,612 ; municipal revenue
(1874-75 ), £362 ; rate of taxation, 7d. per head. Headquarters of the
chief revenue and police officers of the Subdivision , post office, and
dispensary . Gokák was formerly the seat of a large dyeing and weaving
industry ; of late years this business has much decayed, but there is still
a considerable trade in coarse paper. Toys representing figures and
fruits, made of light wood, and of a particular earth found in the neigh
bourhood, command an extensive sale.
Gokáru. — Municipal town in North Kanara District, Bombay.
Pop . (1872), 3707 ; municipal revenue (1874-75), £226 ; rate of
taxation, is. 2d. per head. Gokáru is a place of pilgrimage frequented
by Hindu devotees from all parts of India, especially by wandering
pilgrims and ascetics who go round the principal shrines of the country .
A fair is annually held in February, at which from 2000 to 8000 people
assemble.
Gokul. — Town in Muttra (Mathura ) District, North -Western Pro
vinces; situated on the left or eastern bank of the Jumna river. Lat.
27° 26' n.,long. 77° 46 ' 30" E.; 6 miles south -east ofMuttra town. Hindu
tradition regards the village as the spot where Vishnu first visited the
earth in the form of Krishna. Also noted as the place where Vallabhi
Swami, a Hindu reformer of the 16th century, first preached his doctrines.
Gola . — Tahsil, or Subdivision of Kheri District, Oudh. Pop. (1869),
Hindus, 201,479 ; Muhammadans and others,' 19 ,442 ; total, 220,921.
Area , 1051 square miles, or 672,591 acres ; 262,744 acres culti
vated, and 176,186 acres cultivable but not under tillage ; remainder
revenue-free or barren . Land revenue (1868-69), £14,936. Average
assessment on total area, 5 d. per acre ; on assesssed area, 8 d. per
acre ; on cultivated area, is. igd. per acre.
Gola. — Town in Kheri District, Oudh, on the road from Lakhimpur
to Shahjahanpur. Lat. 28° 4 ' 40" N ., long. 80° 30' 45" E. Picturesquely
situated at the base of a semicircle of small hills, covered for the most
part with sál forests , with a lake to the south . The Gosáin community
 GOLAGHAT- GOLCONDA. 423
has a monastic establishment here, and numerous tombs have been built
in honour of its principalmen . Pop. (1869), 2584. Seatof considerable
sugar manufacture. Daily market, and special bi-weekly market. Seat
of an important Hindu fair held twice every year, in the months of
Phálgun and Chaitra, in honour of Gokarnáth Mahadeo. These fairs
last for fifteen days each, and are attended by from 75 ,000 to 100,000
persons, pilgrims as well as traders. Estimated average annual value
of trade, £10,000.
Golághát. - Subdivision in Sibságar District, Assam ; containing
54 mauzás or village unions, and 14,826 houses. Pop. (1872),
Hindus, 72,616 ; Muhammadans, 3528 ; Christians, 28 ; 'others,' 314 ;
total, 76 ,486, viz. 39,532 males and 36 , 954 females. Average number
of persons per mauzá, 1416 ; persons per house, 5 '2. The Subdivision
was constituted in 1846. In 1870 -71, it contained 4 magisterial,
revenue, and civil courts, together with a regular police force of 35 men ;
the separate cost of Subdivisional administration amounted to £2055.
Golághát. - Village in Sibságar District, Assam , and headquarters
of the Subdivision of the same name, on the Dhaneswari river. Lat.
26° 30' N ., long. 94°E. ; pop . (1872), 1615. It is built on high ground ,
broken by ravines, and ranks as one of the healthiest places in Assam .
Steamersare able to reach Golághátduring the rainy season, and the river
is navigable for small boats all the year through. In the cold weather,
the Nágás from beyond the frontier come down in large numbers,
bringing cotton and vegetables to barter for salt, fish , and live stock.
Golconda. - Fortress and ruined city , situated in the Nizam 's Domi
nions, 7 miles west of Haidarábád (Hyderabad ) city . Lat. 17° 22' N.,
long. 78° 26 ' 30" E . In former times ,Golconda was a large and powerful
kingdom of the Deccan , which arose on the downfall of the Báhmani
dynasty, but was subdued by Aurangzeb in 1687, and annexed
to the dominions of the Delhi empire. The fortress of Golconda,
situated on a rocky ridge of granite, is extensive, and contains many
enclosures. It is strong and in good repair, but is commanded by the
summits of the enormous and massive mausolea of the ancient kings,
about 600 yards distant. These buildings,which are now the chief
characteristic of the place, form a vast group, situated in an arid , rocky
desert. They have suffered considerably from the ravages of time, but
more from the hand ofman , and nothing but the great solidity of their
walls has preserved them from utter ruin . These tombs were erected
at a great expense, some of them being said to have cost as much as
£150,000. Golconda fort is now used as the Nizam 's treasury, and
also as the State prison . The diamonds of Golconda have obtained
great celebrity throughout the world ; but they were merely cut and
polished here, being generally found at Partial, near the south -eastern
frontier of the Nizam 's territory.
424 GOLCONDA - GONDA DISTRICI.
Golconda (Golugonda or Golgonda). — Government táluk in Vizaga
patam District, Madras. Lat. 17° 28 ' to 18° 4 ' N ., long. 81° 30' to
82° 40' E. ; area , 5009 square miles, with 228 villages, 23,666 houses,
and (1871) 94,782 inhabitants - viz.males, 48,763, and females, 46,019.
Classified according to religion, there were in 1871 — Hindus, 93,773,
including 58,591 Vishnuvites and 35, 164 Sivaites; Muhammadans,
987, including 822 Sunnis, 14 Shiás, and 96 Wahábís ; Christians, 22.
Of the villages, 113 are rayatwári, or held direct from Government by
the cultivators. Land revenue, £9334. This táluk, which contains a
large tract of hill country, and about 2000 square miles of Government
forest, was one of the largest and most ancient zamindárís or landed
estates in the District, the zamindárs being relatives and feudatories of
the Jáipur (Jeypore) chief. In 1836, in consequence of the murder of
the Rání, the British authorities had to sequestrate the estate and im
prison the samindár, and in the following year the estate was bought by
Government at auction. In 1845, the sardárs or chiefs rose in rebellion ,
and held their ground for three years ; and again , in 1857-58, it was
found necessary to send troops against them . The zamindari has
been converted into a Government táluk with headquarters at Narsa
patam , where a strong police force under an assistant superintendent
is maintained. The forests are of considerable value, and are now
conserved . Also noted for the excellence of its oranges. The chief
town of the táluk , another Golconda, is situated in lat. 17° 40' 40" N .,
and long. 82° 30' 50” E.
Gollagudem . - Small village on the Godavari river, in Upper Godá
vari District, Central Provinces. Lat. 17° 39' N., long. 81° 1' 30" E
Vessels navigating the Upper Godavari take in and deliver cargo here,
and travellers are permitted to occupy the small inspection bungalow
belonging to the Public Works Department.
Golugonda. - Táluk in Vizagapatam District, Madras. — See Gol
CONDA.
Gomal. — Pass across the Sulaimán range, from the Punjab into
Afghánistán. It follows the course of the Gomal river, and is a pass
of great importance, being the great highway of the Povindah trading
tribes to Kábul and Kandahár.
Gonda. — A District of Oudh in the Faizabád (Fyzabad) Division or
nership,under
Commissionership, underthe lying betweofen theE.Lieutenant-Governor
ites,jurisdiction Area of
the North -Western Provinces, lying between lat. 26° 46' and 27° 50' N.,
and between long. 81° 35' and 82° 48' E. Area (Parliamentary
Return, 1877), 2824 square miles ; population, according to Census of
1869, 1,166 ,515. In shape, the District is an irregular oblong, slightly
pinched in themiddle , with an extreme length of 68 and an extreme
breadth of 66 miles. Bounded on the north by the lower range of the
Himalayas, separating it from Nepál ; on the east by Basti District ;
 GONDA DISTRICT. 425
on the south by Faizábád and Bára Bánki, the Gogra river forming the
boundary line ; and on the west by Bahraich.
Physical Aspects. — Gonda presents the aspect of a vast plain , with
very slight undulations, studded with groves of mango trees ; in parts,
the large mahuá trees, left standing on green pasture grounds where
the other jungle has been cut down, give an English park -like
appearance. During the fine clear months at the end of the rainy
season, the range of the Himalayas, with the towering peak of Diwála
giri in the centre, forms a magnificent background to the north . The
villages, except in the north , are very small, being generally divided
into a number of minute hamlets, of which over thirty will sometimes be
included in a single village boundary. This may be attributed partly
to a comparative freedom from the disastrous clan wars which, in other
parts ofOudh , drove the villagers to congregate for the sake of security ,
and partly to the fact that a large part of the District has been only
lately reclaimed from jungle. Throughout the District, the surface
consists of a rich alluvial deposit, which is divided naturally into three
great belts, known as the tarái or swampy tract, the uparhár or
uplands, and the tarhár or wet lowlands. (1 ) The first of these, the
tarái, extends from the forests on the northern boundary , and reaches
southwards to a line about 2 miles south ofthe Rápti, running through
the towns of Balrampur and Utraula. The soil is generally a heavy
clay, except in places where the rain -swollen mountain torrents which
flow into the Rápti and Buri Rápti have flooded the neighbouring
fields with a sandy deposit of debris from the hills. ( 2 ) The uparhár
begins where the tarái ends, and extends south to a rough line
drawn east and west about 2 miles below Gonda town. The soil
is generally a good domát, or mixture of clay and sand, with occa
sional patches of clay. (3) The tarhár or wet lowland reaches from
the uparhár to the Gogra, which forms the southern boundary of the
District. The soil is a light domát, with an occasional excess of sand .
These three belts are marvellously fertile; and there is said to be hardly
an acre of land in the District which would not eventually reward patient
labour. The vast tracts of barren saline efflorescence ( reh ) which are
so common in the south of Oudh are quite unknown here. The chief
rivers, beginning in the north , are the Buri Rápti, Rápti, Suwawan ,
Kuwána, Bisúhi, Chamnái, Manwar, Tírhi, Sarju, and Gogra , all
flowing from north -west to south -east. The Gogra and Rápti are alone
of any commercial importance, the first being navigable throughout the
year, and the latter during the rainy months. The rivers in the centre
of the District are mere shallow streams in the hotweather, fringed in
most places with a jungle of young sál trees, mixed with mahuá, and
ending at the water's edge with a cane-brake or line of jámun trees.
Dangerous quicksands, covered with a green coating of short grass, are
426 GONDA DISTRICT.
exceedingly common along the edge of the water. The whole District
is studded with small shallow lakes, the water of which is largely used
for irrigation, and on the margin of which grows a variety of wild rice
(tinni), which furnishes an important article of food to the lower classes.
A strip ofGovernment reserved forest runs along the foot of the hills,
the most valuable trees being the sál (Shorea robusta ), dhám (Cono
carpus latifolia ), ebony (Diospyros melanoxylum ), and Acacia catechu.
The wild animals consist of tigers, leopards, bears, wolves, black
antelope, deer of various kinds, and wild pigs, among large game.
Snipe, jungle fowl, quail, peacock , partridges, ortolans, and pigeons,
are the principal game birds. Fish are abundant in the rivers and
lakes ; alligators and porpoises are common .
History. — The early history of the District is centred in that of
Sravasti, the modern SAHET MAHET, capital of the kingdom ruled over
by Lava, the son of Ráma. After a period represented in the Vishnu
Purána by fifty generations of kings, who ruled either at Sravasti or at
Kapilavastu (Gorakhpur), the historical age commences (6th cent. B.c )
with King Prasenáditya, the contemporary of Buddha, and one of his
early converts, who invited the Sage to Sravasti. During eight genera
tions, Sravasti remained a principal centre of the Buddhist religion .
The kingdom reached its culminating power in the reign of the
Oudh Vikramaditya , in the ad century A.D. This monarch was a
bigoted Brahmanist; and it was perhaps through civil wars between the
followers of the rival religions that his kingdom so quickly collapsed.
Within thirty years of his death , the sceptre had passed to the Gupta
dynasty, and this thickly populated seat of one of the most ancient
kingdoms in India before long relapsed into jungle. The high
road between the two capitals, Sravasti and Kapilavastu , was in
the time of the Chinese pilgrim a dense forest infested with wild
elephants. When it next emerges into history, the District was the
seat of a Jain kingdom , which, in the hands of Sohildeo, was powerful
enough to exterminate the victorious forces of Sayyid Salár, the nephew
ofMahmúd of Ghazní. It was not long, however, before this dynasty
shared the fate of its predecessors ; and at the time of the second
Muhammadan conquest, a Dom Rájá ruled Gonda with his capital at
Domangarh on the Rápti, in Gorakhpur. The most famous ruler of
this race was Rájá Ugrasen ,who had a fort at Dumriadih in Mahadewa
parganá. The establishment of many villages in the south of the
District is traced to grants of land , generally in favour of Tharus,
Doms, Bhars, and Pásís, made by this Rájá. As no similar tradi
tion exists to the north of the Kuwána, it may be conjectured that
that tract was then mainly covered with forest. This low -caste Dom
kingdom was subverted in the beginning of the 14th century by
the Kshattriya clans of the Kalhánsis, Janwars, and Bisens. The
 GONDA DISTRICT. 427
first-named tribe occupied the country from Hisámpur in Bahraich
far into the interior of Gorakhpur. It is related of them that their
leader Saháj Sinh, at the head of a small force, came from the Nar
badá (Nerbudda) valley, with the army of one of the Tughlak
emperors, and was commissioned by him to bring into obedience
the country between the Gogra and the hills. Their first settle
ment was in the Koeli jungle , about 2 miles south -west of Kurása,
which town subsequently gave its name to the chieftainship thus
established. The thinly populated country was distributed in jágirs of
about 31 kos each among the leading officers of the cavalry. The
ruling family came to a tragic end. Rájá Achal Náráyan Sinh, having
carried off the daughter of a Bráhman zamindar by force, the latter sat
down before the door of the oppressor's palace, and deliberately starved
himself to death , after having pronounced the curse of extinction upon
the Rájás, with the exception of the offspring of the youngest queen .
The Bráhman 's prediction was speedily fulfilled, the Rájá’s palace and
fortress being soon afterwards overwhelmed by the river Sarju , and
himself and family drowned, save only the young queen , who was
exempted from the Bráhman 's avenging prediction . She afterwards
gave birth to a son , whose descendants are the present Kalhánsi zamin
dárs of Babhnipáir. The overthrow of the great Kalhánsi dynasty
occurred in the latter part of the 15th century. Some time before this,
however, the north of the District had been occupied by the Janwárs,
whose forest kingdom comprised the whole sub-Himalayan tarái; and
for long they divided with the Kalháns the chieftainship of thewhole
of the District. The overthrow of the Kalhánsi dynasty was followed by
several years ofanarchy. In the reign of Akbar, with the exception of
Ikauna and Utraula , there were no powerful chieftains in this part of
Oudh. The Kalhánsis of Babhnipáir and Guwárich were never of any
considerable importance ; and the rest of the District was covered with
small semi-independent tribes of Bisens and Bandalghotis, and quasi
proprietary communities of Brahmans. During the next period, the
Bisens, who had been steadily rising in power for some time, consoli
dated the great Bisen ráj of Gonda, comprising a territory of 1000
square miles ; the Janwárs sent out an independent branch between
the Kuwana and the hills, and the large chieftainships of Balrampur,
'Tulsipur, and Mánikpur were formed. For some time before the
separation of Oudh from the Delhi Empire, and its erection into a
separate Muhammadan kingdom under Saadat Khán, the trans-Gogra
chiefs had enjoyed a virtual independence, waging wars among them
selves, and exempt from any regular calls for the payment of tribute or
revenue. The new Muhammadan power was vigorously resisted by
the Rájá of Gonda, who defeated and slew the first of the new Gover
nors, Aláwal Khán of Bahraich . A second force was sent against him ,
 T
428 GONDA DISTRIC .
and he was for a time reduced to extremities ; but the arrival of rein
forcements compelled the Nawab to raise the siege, and to be satisfied
with a partial submission, and a promise to pay a fixed tribute. For
the next seventy years, a series of powerful Bisen chiefs retained a semi
independence ,and engaged separately for the whole oftheir five ancestral
parganás of Gonda, Pahárapur, Digsár, Mahadewa, and Nawabganj.
It wasnot till the murder of Rájá Hindupat Sinh and his entire family
by his hereditary enemies, the Brahman Pándes, that the Oudh
Government, by obtaining possession of his successor, a youth named
Gumán Sinh, was enabled to break up the power of theGonda princi
pality , and to collect the revenue direct from the village head -men .
Balrampur and Túlsipur still held out for independence, and, though
worsted in many fights, managed to retain their positions as chieftains,
and were let off with a lump assessment on their whole estates, which
left them considerable profits. The lords of Mánikpur and Babhnipáir
in the same way were allowed to collect the rents in their own villages ,
and pay the revenue in a lump sum to the Názim . Up to the com
mencement of the present century, there was nothing at all in Gonda
District resembling the táluka estates in other parts of Oudh . The
hereditary chieftains were each supremewithin the territorial limits of
his ráj. As soon as Gonda and Utraula became broken up, and the
revenue realized by official collectors, tálukas sprang into existence.
The Názims found it convenient, and in some cases necessary, to let
large numbers of villages to wealthy individuals as tálukdárs, or simple
farmers ofGovernment revenue. As a rule, these tálukdárís lasted but
a short time, and their small collections of villages became absorbed by
the Pándes, with whose power and wealth no one in the District could
compete. The dispossessed Rájás of Utraula and Gonda attempted to
acquire tálukas, and to combine the character of revenue farmer with
that of feudal lord. The Rájá of Utraula succeeded for a few years ,
but finally had to content himself with the few villages assigned for his
support. The Gonda Bisens, however, got together the magnificent
estate of Bisambharpur. The exactions of the Názims, or revenue
deputies of the Lucknow Court, have been described in the account of
BAHRAICH. The annexation of Oudh broughtrelief to the people ; but
in making the land settlement, the first Deputy Commissioner of the
District, Colonel Boileau, was killed by a notorious freebooter named
Fazl Alí.
On the outbreak of the Mutiny, the Rájá of Gonda, after honour
ably escorting the Government treasure to Faizabád (Fyzabad), threw
in his lot with the rebels, and joined the standard of the Begam of
Oudh at Lucknow . The Rájá of Balrampur remained loyal throughout
the struggle . He steadily declined to recognise the rebel Government,
received and protected Sir C. Wingfield , the Commissioner of Gonda
 GONDA DISTRICT. 429
and Bahráich, together with other English officers, in his fort,and after
wards forwarded them safely, under a strong escort, to Gorakhpur.
The Gonda Rájá , after the relief of Lucknow , fixed his camp at
Lampti on the Chamnái river, with a force said to amount to 20,000
men, who were, however, dispirited at the English successes else
where. After only a very feeble resistance, the broken remnants of his
forces were swept across the Rápti and over the lower range of the
Himalayas into Nepál. Most of the rebel tálukdárs accepted the
amnesty, but neither the Rájá ofGonda nor the Rání of Tulsipur could
be induced to come in (although the conduct of the former throughout
the Mutiny had been free from overt crime) ; and their estates were
accordingly confiscated and conferred as rewards upon Mahárajá Dig
Bijái Sinh of Balrámpur and Maharajá Sir Man Sinh of Shánganj. .
Population . — The population of Gonda District, according to the
Census of 1869, amounted to 602, 862 males and 563,653 females ;
total, 1,166,515, dwelling in 2834 villages or townships, and 219,090
houses ; average pressure of the population on the soil, 413 per square
mile. The Hindus number 1,049,397, or 89 per cent. of the popula
tion ; Muhammadans, 117,070, or 11 per cent. ; Christians (European,
Eurasian , and native ), 48. The Brahmans are the most numerous
caste, numbering 203,149, or 18 per cent. of the total population .
They are almost all of the Sarwáriá sept, but with a slight sprinkling of
Gaurs, Kanaujias, and Sakaldwipis. The Gonda Bráhmans have long
been noted for their military spirit ; and they formed one of the most
important elements in the forces of the great Bisen Rájás. With the
exception of the Patháns ofUtraula, the ruling classes are everywhere
Kshattriyás, of which the principal families are the Kalháns of Babhni
páir and Chhedwára, the Bisens of Gonda and Mánikpur, the Bandal
ghotis of Mánikpur and Nawabganj, the Janwárs of Balrampur, and
Goráha Bisens of Mahadewa. These Rájput castes number 49,313.
The great cultivating castes are the Ahírs, 122, 106 ; Koris, 110 ,916 ;
and Kurmís, 92,321. The Kahárs , mostly servants and palanquin
bearers, number 44,978. The remnants of aboriginal tribes comprise the
Tharus, Bhars, Doms, Pásis, Araks, and Khatiks and Náts. Of these,
the first three are the pioneers of cultivation . Settling along the edge
of the jungle, they clear the trees and prepare the land for tillage, only
to leave it, when the task is accomplished, to the steadier industry of
the Kurmi or the Ahír. The Barwars are a predatory tribe of Hindus,
who spread over the country in gangs of 40 or 50 ; they have no scruple
in robbing temples, but will not steal cattle. The Muhammadans are
most influential, and most numerous in proportion to the Hindus, in
the old Pathán estate of Utraula , where they form the majority of the
village proprietors ; as common cultivators they are very thick all over
the north of the District. Their religion is strongly intermingled with
 430 GONDA DISTRICT.
Hinduism , and the services of the Bráhman astrologer are held in high
estimation by high and low . Five towns in the District contain a
population exceeding 5000 — viz. GONDA, pop. 11,966 ; BALRAMPUR,
13,878 ; COLONELGANJ, 9788 ; NAWABGANJ, 6141 ; and UTRAULA,
5988, _ all of which see separately . The above, together with Kátrá
and Khargupur, are municipalities; total municipal income, £2375.
The different villages and townships are thus classified :- 1005 contain
less than 200 inhabitants ; 1079, from 200 to 500 ; 542, from 500 to
1000 ; 152, from 1000 to 2000 ; 35 from 2000 to 5000 ; and 5 up
wards of 5000 inhabitants. The principal places of pilgrimage are
the temple of Pateswari Debi at DEBI PATAN , the thákurdwara of
the new Vaishnavi sect at CHHIPIA , and the temples of Baleswarnáth
Mahadeo in Mahadewa, Karnanáth Mahadeo atMachhligaon, Bijleswari
Debi at Balrampur, and Pacharanáth and Pritwináth at Khargupur.
Agriculture. — Rice, wheat, and barley are the chief agricultural
staples, comprising more than one-half the total cultivated area of the
District. There are three harvests — the kharif, the henwát, and the
rabi — of which the relative importance varies in different parts of
the District. In the centre tableland, the rabí, and in the north , the
henwát, are most depended upon. In the south, the kharif, when
the rains are moderate, yields a magnificent crop of Indian corn ; and
excessive rains, while they are fatal to that particular crop , leave a fair
crop of rice, and secure an abundant wheat harvest for the rabí.
Ploughing for the kharif begins at the end of May, and continues
throughout June ; the seed is sown in the beginning of July , and cutting
commences in September, or, in the case of rice, even earlier. By the
middle of October, all the autumn crops are off the ground. Land for
the henwát or Christmas crop is ploughed at the commencement of the
rains, and the sowing continues during the growth of the kharif. In
the case of transplanted rice ( jarhan), the planting out is done at the
beginning of August, and the cutting continues throughout November.
In the middle of December, the cutting of the oil-seeds commences,
and lasts till the first week of January. Preparations for the next
year's spring crop commence before the rains set in ; and in the
case of wheat, the first ploughing generally takes place in June. At
the end of August, the field receives two or three more ploughings, and
a last ploughing in September. Sowing takes place in October and
November, and the crop is cut early in March. April is occupied in
threshing and winnowing. The total cultivated area of the District is
returned at 993,858 acres, but including land bearing two crops,
1,311,469 acres are cultivated yearly . The acreage under the seven
principal crops in 1874 was as follows : - Rice, 408 ,171 ; wheat,
190,468 ; barley, 108,200 ; joár, 95,035 ; arhár, 85,519 ; kodo, 59,844;
alsi, 52,910. Irrigation is largely practised , the area watered in 1874
 GONDA DISTRICT. 431
being returned at 429,280 acres, of which 137,369 acres were watered
from tanks, 147,852 from rivers, and 144,059 from wells. Prices of
food grains do not range quite so high in Gonda as in other Districts ;
but they are higher than might be expected from the scanty population,
owing mainly to the great facilities for export afforded by the Gogra .
Prices have considerably risen of late years. Between the ten years
1861-70, the rates for unhusked rice rose from 2s. 2d.to 3s. 6 }d. a cwt.;
common husked rice from 4s. 2d. to 6s. 7d. ; wheat, from 3s. 3d. to
5s. 9d .; barley, from is. 11d . to 4s. 7d. ; bájra, from 3s. 9d. to 4s. 7d .;
jcár, from is. rid. to 3s. rod. ; gram , from '2s. 6d. to 4s. 2d. ; arhár,
from 45. 2d. to 5s. 6d.; urid , from 3s. 9d. to 8s. 6d. ; múg,from 55. gd.
to 7s. 6d. ; musuri, from 2s . 3d. to 4s. 7d. a cwt. Prices, however,
ranged unusually high in 1870, as the District had not recovered from
the effects of the scarcity in the previous year. The famine of 1874 was
severely felt, and Government relief works on a large scale were under
taken . Gonda is pre -eminently a District of large landed proprietors ;
21 tálukdárs are returned as in the possession of estates covering
1,341,448 acres, and including 1993 whole villages and 199 shares;
875 villages or shares are held on ordinary tenure by small proprietors.
The principal estates are those of the Mahárájá of Balrampur, with
568,188 acres ; Rájá Krishna Datt Rám Pánde, 226,871 acres ;
and Mahárájá Mán Sinh , 201,734 acres. The táluká estates are
assessed at a total Government revenue of £ 127,726, or an average of
IS. 10 d. per acre over the entire area ; while the small proprietors are
assessed at £42,212, on a total area of 408,030 acres, or an average
of 2s. id . per acre. The apparent advantage on the side of the
tálukdárs is due to the fact, that the Mahárájá of Balrampur holds the
whole of the thinly populated and poorly cultivated plains of Túlsipur ;
and also one-tenth of the entire assessment of Balrampur has been
remitted as a reward for loyal services. As a rule, consideration has
been had for coparcenary bodies of village proprietors, who have
been assessed lower in proportion to the area of cultivated land in
their possession than the large individual landholders. The cultivating
classes are well-to-do and independent ; and, owing to the thinness of
its population and the considerable area of fertile waste land, Gonda
enjoys almost complete freedom from the worst forms of poverty.
The system of cultivating land by means of Sáwaks or bondsmen, as
described in BAHRAICH District, is also common here.
Communications, Trade, Commerce, etc. — The three principal lines of
road are — from Faizábád (Fyzabad) to Gonda town, 28 miles; from
Nawabganj to Utraula, 36 miles ; and from Nawabganj to Colonelganj,
35 miles. Theminor roads are - Gonda to Begamganj, 16 miles ; Gonda
to Bahraich, 16 miles ; Gonda to Utraula ; Gonda to Colonelganj, 29
miles ; Gonda to Balrampur, 28 miles ; Colonelganj to Mahárájganj,
 432 GONDA TAHSIL .
II miles ; Colonelganj to Bahráich , 8 miles ; Utraula to Tulsipur, 16
miles ; Khargupur to Chaudhari Dih , 31 miles ; Balrámpur to Ikauna,
14 miles. Rice and food grains are the chief exports ; and cotton,
European piece-goods, and salt the principal imports.
Administration. — The District is administered by a Deputy Commis
sioner, aided by 2 European Assistants, and I or more extra Assistants.
The courts number 15 magisterial and 22 revenue and civil. The total
imperial revenue of Gonda in 1871-72 amounted to £138,795, of
which £122,234 was derived directly from the land. The imperial
expenditure in the same year amounted to £32,101, of which , how
ever, one-half, or £15,385, was on account of the Settlement Depart
ment, which has now ceased its operations. By 1875-76 the revenue
amounted to £157,349, of which the land contributed £135,509 ;
the expenditure in that year amounted to £15,810. The regular
police force in 1873 consisted of 484 officers and men , maintained
at a cost of £6655 ; the village watch numbered 3271 men , costing
£11,898 from local sources ; and municipal police 146, costing
£783. During 1873, 2530 cases were sent by the police to the
magistrates, in which convictions were obtained in 1842. Female
infanticide is common in Aija and Colonelganj thánás. Efforts have
been made to stamp out this crime; but in 1874, in 52 proclaimed '.
villages, the proportion of females to every 100 males was only 72.
Education is still in its infancy, but village schools are now springing
up in all directions. In 1875 -76, there were 116 schools under
Government inspection , attended by 5879 pupils.
Medical Aspects. — The average annual rainfall of the District during
the eleven years 1865-75 was 42 inches ; the highest fall in any one year
was 68.7 inches in 1871, the lowest is reported at 6:10 inches for 1874.
The heavy rains commence early in June, and continue, with slight inter
ruptions, to the end of September or middle of October. Showers fall
in every month of the year, and particularly in February and March .
Owing to the proximity of the hills, the rains are more assured, and less
subject to violent variations than in more southerly Districts. The
averagemonthly temperature for the three years ending 1875 is thus
returned - January 62° F., February 64°,March 75°,April 82°, May 91°,
June 87', July 87°, August 86°, September 81°, October 80°, November
70°, December 64°; yearly average, 77'5° F. The highest recorded
range of the thermometer is 106°, lowest 48° F. Fever is very prevalent
in the tarái pargana of Tulsipur during the drying up of the rains, and
is also common throughout the District. The other principal diseases
are scurvy, cholera , diarrhea, and goitre.
Gonda. — Tahsil or Subdivision ofGonda District, Oudh ; bounded on
thenorth by Bahraich and Balrampur tahsils, on the east by Utraula tahsil,
on the south by Begamganj tahsil, and on thewest by Hisámpur and
 GONDA PARGANA. 433
Bahráich tahsils. Area , 632 square miles, of which 392 are cultivated ;
pop. (according to the Census of 1869, but allowing for recenttransfers ),
247,107 Hindus, 23,970 Musalmáns - total, 271,077, viz. 139,322
males and 131,755 females ; number of villages or towns, 780 ; average
density of population, 546 per square mile. The tahsil consists of the
two parganás of Gonda and Pahárapur.
Gonda . — Pargana in tahsil and District of the same name, Oudh .
Bounded on the north by the Kuwána river, which divides it from
Balrampur and Utraula parganás; on the east by Sadullánagar and
Mánikpur; on the south by Mahadewa, Digsár, Guwárich , and Pahár
pur parganás; and on the west by Bahraich District. The history of
the parganá is identical with that of the District (vide supra ). In
appearance the parganá is a large, fairly well-wooded plain , with hardly
perceptible undulations. In the north are some rather extensive sál
jungles,butthe trees are not of sufficient size to be ofmuch value. Ex
cepting these jungle tracts, the whole parganá is under high cultivation ,
and produces luxuriant crops of wheat, rice, sugar, gram , Indian corn,
and barley . Groves of mahuá trees are dotted all over the parganá.
The soil is generally a light and fertile loam . Water is obtainable at a
depth of from 15 to 20 feet, and irrigation is much practised . Area,
-509 square miles, of which 314 square miles, or 201,300 acres, are
under cultivation ; 130,450 acres yield spring and 113,920 autumn
crops ; while 56 ,850 bear a double harvest. At the time of British
annexation, a summary investigation was made into the assets of the
pargana ; and on the principle of taking half as the Government share,
the land revenue was fixed at £25,500. A revised assessment was
made in 1869-70, when a thirty years' settlement was effected at an
assessment of £42,404, equal to an average of 45. 2 d. per acre of
cultivated area, or 25. 7 d . per acre of total area . This increase of
upwards of 66 per cent. probably represents, with some approach to
accuracy, the rapid extension of cultivation during fifteen years of undis
turbed peace. Of the 652 villages comprising the parganá, 461, paying
a revenue of £33,531, are held by tálukdárs ; and 182, paying a
revenue of £8893, are held by independent zamindárs. Pop. (accord
ing to the Census of 1869, but allowing for recent changes), 247, 107
Hindus, 23,970 Muhammadans — total, 271,077, viz. 139,322 males
and 131,755 females ; average density of population, 524 per square
mile . The Brahmans are by far the most numerous caste , number
ing 60,713, or nearly one-fourth of the entire population . They
belong, almost without exception , to the great Sarwariá division , and
retain no tradition of their first settlement in the District, of which
it is probable that they are among the most ancient inhabitants .
Next to the Brahmans in point of number come the low -caste Koris
(28 ,458), Kurmis (26,288), and Ahírs (18,699). The semi-monastic
VOL. III. 2 E
434 GONDA TOWN.
order of Gosains numbers 2 143 members, some of whom are wealthy
landed proprietors. The most peculiar tribe in the parganá are the
Barwars, who are said to have migrated from Basti about 200 years ago.
Their distinguishing profession is theft, which they carry on with great
success, though therules of their religion sternly restrict their operations
to the period between sunrise and sunset. Any one stealing by night
is at once turned out of caste. The Barwars go on distant plundering
expeditions in parties of two or three, and on their return the proceeds
are impartially divided, a share being set apart to buy sacrificial offerings
of goats and ardent spirits to Devi, and a percentage being paid to the
zamíndár of the village. A police Census returns the number of this
caste at 2449 of all ages and sexes in this parganá. They have now
been brought under the Criminal Tribes Act. The principal market
villages are Gonda town, Jigna, Dhángpur, Dubha, Rájgarh , and
Khargupur. Principal exports, wheat and rice ; imports insignificant,
consisting of salt, brass vessels, and English cotton cloth . Metalled
road from Gonda town to Faizábád (Fyzabad), and several other
unmetalled roads and cart tracks.
Gonda. — Chief town and administrative headquarters ofGonda Dis
trict, Oudh ; situated 28 miles north-north -west of Faizábád (Fyzabad).
Lat. 27° 7' 30" n ., long. 82° E . The site on which the town now stands
was originally a jungle on the estate of the Rájás of Kurása, in
the centre of which was a cattle-fold (Gontha or Gothám ) where the
Ahírs enclosed their cattle at night as a protection against wild beasts,
from which the town derived its name. Rájá Mán Sinh of Kurása
built a palace and fortress here, and it has since been the residence of
his successors, under whom the town gradually grew up. As mentioned
in the account of Gonda DISTRICT, the last Rájá of Gonda at the time
of the Mutiny threw in his cause with the rebels, and his large estates
were confiscated . The population of the town and civil station in
1869 was returned at 13,722. The place is not now noted for any
manufacture, but in the days of native rule was celebrated for its
shields,which were in great request. It is not a commercial centre,
nor is it of any religious importance to either Hindus orMuhammadans.
The principal buildings in the native town are — 2 thákurdwárás; the
palace, which for some hundreds of years formed the residence of
the Gonda Rájás, but is now falling into decay ; a handsome sarái
or rest-house ; and a large masonry tank known as the Rádhákund.
North -west of the native town , and between it and the civil station,are
the civil dispensary and District school, two fine buildings. Beyond
these is a large handsomeartificial lake, constructed by Rájá Seo Prasád ,
and surrounded by groves of tall mango trees and ornamental grounds.
On the bank of the lake is a Literary Institute , known as the Anjuman
i-rifah , supported by European and native subscribers, and containing
 GONDA TOWN - GONDAL. 435

an extensive library. Beyond the Ságar or lake are the civil lines, and
what were formerly the cantonments. The troops were withdrawn in
1863 ; and the only traces ofthe military occupation of this quarter now
left are the barracks, which up till recently were occupied as the civil
court buildings, a church which has been reduced in size to suit the
requirements of the small civil station , a burial-ground, racquet court,
and a Government garden ,which is carefully kept up, and forms one of
the finest pleasure-grounds in Oudh. On what was the parade grounds
the handsome new court-house now stands, and south of it the
jail. Municipal revenue (1876-77), £799 ; expenditure, £679 ;
average incidence of taxation , 9 d . per head of population within muni
cipal limits.
Gonda.— Town in Partábgarh District, Oudh ; 2 miles from Belá, on
the road from Allahábád to Faizábád (Fyzabad). Lat. 27° 7' 30 " N .,
long. 82° E. ; pop. (1869), 1540 Hindus, 523 Muhammadans— total,
2063. Said to have been founded by the Gonds. Hindu temple ,
Government school. Large bázár, with annual sales amounting to
about £1500. Two fairs are held annually in honour of the tutelary
goddess, Asht Bhují Devi, each attended by about 2500 people.
Gondál. - Native State in Káthiáwár, Province of Guzerat, Bombay.
Area , 699 square miles ; 180 villages ; estimated pop. (1876 ), 137 ,217 ;
estimated gross revenue, £88,000. With the exception of the Atam
Hills, the country is generally flat. The soil is chiefly black . Several
small streamsintersect the State, the largest, the Bhadar, being navigable
by small boats during the rains. For purposes of irrigation , water is drawn
in leather bags from wells and rivers bymeans of bullocks. The climate
is good. Products - cotton and grain . Manufactures — cotton cloth ,
and silver and gold cord . There are a few miles of made road between
Gondál and Rájkot, but for the rest, internal communication is carried
on by the ordinary country tracks. The produce is exported from
Mángrol, Veráwal, and Juriá. There are 37 schools, with 1716 pupils.
Gondál ranks as a second -class State among themany States in Kathiá
war. The ruler entered into engagements with the British Government
in 1807. He is a Hindu, a Rájput by caste of the Járejá family .
The name of the present Chief is Bhagwatsinhji Sagrámji, and his title
Thákur Sahib. Heis at present (1876) a minor of eleven years of age,
and is being educated at the Rajkumar College at Rájkot. The State
of Gondál pays a tribute of £11,218 in all to the British Government,
theGáekwár of Baroda,and the Nawab of Junagarh . The family holdsno
sanad authorizing adoption, but the succession follows the rule of primo
geniture. During theminority ofthepresentchief,the State is administered
by a British officer, styled Assistant Political Agent. The chief has power
to try his own subjects for capital offences only. His military force
consists of 198 cavalry, and 659 infantry and police, with 16 cannon .
436 GONDAL - GOOTY.
Gondál. - Capital of Gondál State , in Káthiáwár, Bombay. Lat.
21° 57' 30" N., long. 70° 53' E.; estimated pop. 13, 180. The town is
fortified.
Gond-umri. — Estate in Bhandara District,Central Provinces ; 5 to 10
miles north-east of Sángarh ; containing 10 small villages, the largest of
which , Gond-umri, possesses an indigenous school, and much valueless
jungle. Area, 17,715 acres, of which only 2862 are cultivated ; pop.
(1870), 2282, chiefly Gonds and Dhers. The chief is a Brahman .
Gondwana . — Tract of country, Central Provinces ; so called from
the aboriginal tribe of Gonds who principally inhabit it. - See CENTRAL
PROVINCES.
Goomsar. — Táluk and town, Ganjám District, Madras. - See Gum
SAR .
Goona (Gúna). — Tract of country in Central India , comprising the
States of RAGHUGARH and PARONE (known as the Goona Agency).
Gooriattum . - Táluk and town in North Arcot District, Madras.
SeeGUDIATHAM .
Gooty (Gúti ). — Town in Bellary District, Madras ; 48 miles from
Bellary town. Lat. 15° 6' 53" n., long. 77° 41' 32" E. ; containing (1871)
1388 houses and 6730 inhabitants. Headquarters of the Subdivision of
the same name; municipality ; courts of the joint and sub-magistrate,
and District munsiff or civil judge ; post and telegraph offices ; sub- jail ;
and important railway station , 257 miles from Madras,which was opened
in 1869. Municipal revenue (1875-76), £526 ; expenditure, £508 ;
incidence of municipal taxation, 7 d. per head. The fort of Gooty,
built in the early part of the 16th century, was a place of immense
strength , and was the stronghold of the great Marhattá guerilla chief,
Morári Ráo,who joined Clive in 1751 on the relief of Arcot. Originally
belonging to a dependant of the Vijáyanagar family, it formed one of
the conquests of Mír Jumla . It was afterwards held by the Patháns of
Cuddapah and Sawanúr, from whom it was wrested in 1714 by the
Gauripur family ofMarhattás, the most distinguished of whom obtained ,
in 1744, the Nizam 's recognition of his territory as a Marhattá State.
In 1776, Haidar Ali beseiged the town, which was forced to capitulate
after a siege of four months, the water-supply being exhausted. Haidar
used this fortress as his point d'appui in several expeditions against
the neighbouring poligárs. Gooty was captured by the British in the
campaign of 1799.
Wilks describes the fort as follows : — ' The fort is composed of a
number of strong works, occupying the summits of a circular cluster of
rocky hills, connected with each other, and enclosing a level space
which forms the site of the town. The town is approached from the
plain by a single fortified gateway on the south-west, and by two small
footpaths across the lower hills, communicating through small sally
 GOPALGANJ - GOPALSWAMI- BETTA. 437

ports. An immense smooth rock, rising from the northern limit of the
circle, and fortified by gradations surmounted by 14 gateways, overlooks
and commands the whole of the other works, and forms a citadel
which famine or treachery alone can reduce. The rock is composed of
granite , in which red felspar prevails. Its extreme height above the
sea has been ascertained to be 2171 feet, but notwithstanding this, the
heat in April and May is intense. Its height above the plain is 989
feet. On the summit of the hill are several wells and reservoirs for
water, and various buildings where State prisoners were at one time
confined.' On one of the bastions overlooking a precipice of about
300 feet, is a small building, called Morári Ráo's seat. Here the
Marhattá chieftain was wont to sit and play chess, watching at the same
time all that was going on in the town below , or as a spectator of
prisoners being hurled from the top of an adjoining precipice and
dashed to pieces on the rocks. Besides the fort, the most interesting
features in Gooty are the tomb and memorial well of Sir T . Munro, who
died at Pallikonda in 1827.
Gopalganj. — Town in Faridpur District, Bengal; situated on the
Madhumati river in lat. 23° Ó' 22" N., long. 89° 52' E. ; pop. (1870)
estimated at about 2000. Famous for jute, rice, salt, clarified butter,
and the manufacture of sitálpatimats of fine quality.
Gopálnagar. - Town in Nadiya District, Bengal. Lat. 23° 3' 50" n.,
long. 88° 48' 40" E. One of the principal seats of commerce, trade
being chiefly carried on by means of permanentmarkets.
Gopalpur (Gopaulpore). — Town in Ganjám District, Madras. Lat.
19° 21' 5" n., long. 85° 1' E. ; distant 5 miles south - east of Berhampur,
the chief town of the District, of which it forms the seaport. A
place of rapidly increasing importance. Pop. (1871), 2416 , residing
in 509 houses. In 1875-76, Gopálpur was visited by 158 ships of
139,836 tons burden. It has a considerable export trade to Europe
in grain , myrobalans, hemp, horns, hides, and seeds. French and
English vessels load here. It is also a port of call for the coasting
steamers. The number of registered boats in 1875-76 was 95 . Value
of exports (1875-76 ), £290,987 ; imports, £161,141. The port light
(fixed white) is displayed at an elevation of 80 feet, and is visible from
8 to 10 miles at sea ; good anchorage (sand and mud) is found in 8 to
9 fathomsabout 13 mile off shore. Post office ; staging bungalow .
Gopálswami-betta (' Hill of the shepherd god, Vishnu '). — Isolated
peak, forming a spur of theWestern Gháts, in Mysore District, Mysore
State ; about 4500 feet above sea level. Lat. 11° 43' 20'' n., long. 76°
37' 45" E . Crowned with fortifications, said to have been erected by
the Danáyak brothers in the 12th century. On the summit stands a
temple of Vishnu, attended by two Bráhmans, at which a car festival
is held annually .
 U A
438 GOPAMA PARGAN AND TOWN .
orrpaná inin DaHardoi
t by on th—e nParganá
casGopámau. rating attahsil, lardoi
and biHardoi District, Oudh .
Bounded on the north by Mansurnagar and Piháni parganás ; on the
east by the Gumti river, separating it from Chandra, Misrikh, and
Aurangábád parganás; on the south by Sandíla and Bálamau parganás;
and on the west by Bangar, Báwan , and Sára parganás, the Sái river
marking the boundary for a considerable distance. The earliest
traditions show the Thatherás as possessors of this tract, which they
still held in 1033 A.D. at the time of Sayyid Sálar Masáúd's invasion .
A great battle was fought near Gopámau between the Musalmáns and
the Thatherás, in which the former were successful ; but two years
afterwards, on the defeat of Sayyid Sálar at Bahráich, his army of
occupation at Gopamau was overpowered and put to the sword . The
Thatherás remained masters for some time, when they were ousted by
an Ahban chief, named Gopi or Gopal Sinh , who founded the present
town of GOPAMAU. On the overthrow of the Hindu, Delhi, and
Kanauj kingdoms by Shahab -ud -din in 1193 and 1194 A.D., the several
Kshattriya clans poured into the trans-Ganges Districts, and effected
fresh settlements. The Shaikhs obtained a footing in the parganá in
Humáyun's reign , when two Musalmáns were appointed kazis of
Gopamau ; and a descendant still holds the Kasmandi estate. The
parganá forms the watershed of the Gumti and Sai rivers. Round
Tandiáon , in the heart of the parganá, is all that now remains of the
great Bangar jungle, which up to our annexation (1856) was a robber
haunted tract, which all the efforts of the king's troops could not
reduce to order. Area , 328 square miles, of which 172 are cultivated .
Staple products — barley, bájra , and wheat, which occupy three-fifths
of the cultivated area. Government land revenue, £17,544 ; average
incidence, 3s. 3d . per acre of cultivated area ; and is. 8d. per acre of
total area.
are sathe
owned by Rajputs,
es
Of the 240 villages constituting the parganá, 145 are
minAhbans rante ,hating ;; KKáyasths
44mil gpredominating
only 28slightly ágas hold
361 villages ; Brahmans, 21 ; and grantees, 10. Muhammadans
possess 46 villages. Only 281 villages are held under tálukdári
tenure, 111 } are zamindári, 95 pattidári, and 5 bhayáchára . Popu
lation (1869), Hindus, 103,338 ; Musalmáns, 8668 ; total, 112 ,006,
viz. 60,476 males and 51,530 females ; average density of population,
341 per square mile. The most numerous castes are Chamárs and
Pásís, who form a third of the entire population . Bráhmans and
Rájputs are each about a tenth . The Oudh and Rohilkhand Railway
runs along the eastern side of the pargand ; the Gumti in the east
provides water communication ; and the Sítápur and Mehndighát
road runs along the south . In the interior, however, the only road is
the Hardoi and Sítápur road, with a branch northward to Gopámau ,
Majhia, and Piháni. Five schools, of which two are for girls.
Gopámau . - Principal town in the parganá of the same name,
 GORA - GORAKHPUR DISTRICT. 439
Hardoi District, Oudh ; 2 miles west of the Gumti river, 14 miles
north -east of Hardoi town, and 20 west of Sítápur. Lat. 27° 32' N.,
long. 80° 19' 40" E. The town is said to have been founded in the
uth century by an Ahban chief named Rájá Gopi, who drove out the
Thatheras from what was then a mere clearing in the forest. The
Muhammadan population dates from the invasion of Oudh by Sayyid
Sálar (A.D . 1033) ; since which date it has always been an important
seat of Musalmán influence. The chief development of the town took
place in the reign of Humáyun ,who first appointed a chaudhári and
kási for the parganá, with their headquarters in the town. Till 1801,
when Saadat Ali removed the headquarters of the parganá to Tandiáon,
Gopamau seems to have thriven. Many of its residents attained
high posts under the empire, and contributed to the wealth and
importance of the town. Numerous mosques, wells, and large build
ings attest its importance in the days of Musalmán supremacy. In
1869, the town contained a population of 2984 Muhammadans and
2965 Hindus ; total, 5949, dwelling in 1614 houses, of which 1318
are of mud and 296 of masonry . Two bi-weekly markets ; Govern
ment school. The only manufacture is one peculiar to the place, the
making of arsis, or thuinb-mirrors of silver.
Gora. -- Town in Gorakhpur District, North - Western Provinces,
lying on the river Rápti, 1mile west of Barhaj. Lat. 26° 33' n., long.
83° 50 ' 30" E . Area, 103 acres ; pop . ( 1872), 5482.
Gorábázár. — The southern suburb of Barhampur town, Murshid
ábád District, Bengal. Lat. 24° 5' 15" N., long. 88° 17' 15" E.; pop.
(1872), 4903, chiefly Musalmáns and Urdu-speaking immigrants from
the north -west. An annual fair called Chaltia melá is held here in
honour of Raghunath , attended by about 20,000 people.
Gorághát. A ruined city in Dinajpur District, Bengal. Lat. 25°
15 ' N ., long. 89° 20' E. Once the capital of the eastern Mughal
Government, with a revenue-circle of go lákhs of rupees (£900,000 ).
The capitalwas afterwards removed to Dacca by the Emperor Jahangir.
The site ofGorághát is now a vastmass of ruins buried in dense jungle,
on the west bank of the Karátoyá river.
Gorai. — River of Bengal. - See GARAI.
Gorakhpur. — A British District in the Lieutenant-Governorship of
the North -Western Provinces, lying between 26° 5' 15" and 27° 28'
45" N. lat., and between 83° 7' and 84° 29' E. long. ; with an area of
4578 square miles, and a population in 1872 of 2,019,361 persons.
Gorakhpur is a District in the Benares Division. It is bounded on
the north by the territory of Nepál, on the east by Champáran and
Sáran, on the south by the river Gogra, and on the west by Basti and
Faizábád (Fyzabad).
Physical Aspects. — The District of Gorakhpur lies immediately south
 440 GORAKHPUR DISTRICT.
of the lower Himalayan slopes, but forms itself a portion of the great
alluvial plain , derived from the detritus of the mountain region , and
deposited by the mighty rivers which take their rise amid the snow
clad northern heights. No greater elevation than a few sandhills
breaks the monotony of its level surface. It is, however, closely
intersected by numerous rivers and streams, and dotted over with
lakes and marshes. The water supply is abundant, and the moisture
of the soil gives a verdant appearance to the country , which contrasts
strongly with the arid aspect of the Districts south of the Gogra . In
the north and centre, extensive tracts of sál forest diversify the scene;
the trees in which are not, as a rule, of any great size, but the density
and extent of the woodland strikes the eye of a visitor from the
populous and highly cultivated Districts farther south. Immediately
below the first range of hills stretches the turái or lowland , a tract of
sub-montane character, with clear and rapid streams, flowing through
a thickly wooded forest region. Here and there, glades used for
pasturage open out among the wilder portions, and the cultivated
patches are generally devoted to the growth of rice. The inhabitants
are either hillmen like the Gurkhás and Nepális, or else aboriginal
Thárus, who alone can live in the tarái during the rains, when its
pestilential climate drives away all other tribes. The snowy range can
be distinctly seen from the frontier. As we move southward, the
forest disappears, and we enter a well-tilled plain , only broken by
occasional woods or rare tracts of the saline waste known as usár. In
the south of the District,the general expanse of cultivation is diversified
by shady mango groves, or intersected by frequent lakes. The west
and south -west are low -lying plains, subject to extensive inundations.
In seasons of heavy rain , the water collects in the valley of the Ami,
and, joining the lakes to the east, forms an immense inland sea.
Beyond the Rápti, the ground rises slightly, but again sinks towards
the south -east, and slopes away as it reaches the border of the District.
The principal rivers are the RAPTI, a tortuous torrent, with a very
shifting channel ; the GOGRA, a large stream , with a volume of water
here surpassing that of the Ganges, navigable by steamers during the
rains, and never fordable in the driest weather ; the GREAT GANDAK , a
clear and rapid river, full of cataracts and whirlpools, and navigable
with difficulty on account of its fierce current and sunken snags ; the
LITTLE GANDAK , the Kuána, the Rohin, the Ami, and the Gunghi.
The principal lakes are the Rámgarh , Nandaur, Nawar, Bhenri, Chillua,
and Amiyar Táls. The tiger is found in the north, and the jackal,
wolf, fox, and wild boar throughout the District ; deer are rare.
Wild -fowl of all kinds abound on the larger lakes, which are also well
stocked with fish . The latter afford a livelihood to numerous boatmen
(málás), who rent a lake of the landholder and then fish it in concert.
 GORAKHPUR DISTRICT. 441
History. — The tract of country north of the river Gogra and
between Oudh and Behar, which now forms the Districts of Gorakhpur
and Basti, was originally included in the ancient kingdom of Kosála ,
of which Ajodhya was the capital. It was visited by the mythical
hero Ráma, whose death may be placed at about 750 B.C. Gautama
Buddha, the founder of the wide-spread religion which bears his name,
was born at Kapila just beyond the border, and died at Kasia within
this District. A colossal statue still marks the place of his decease.
Gorakhpur thus became the headquarters of the new creed, and was
one of the first tracts to receive it. Tradition further recounts, that a
prince belonging to the solar dynasty of Ajodhya attempted to found
here a great city which should rival the glories of Kási (or Benares) ;
but that when it was nearly completed, he was overwhelmed by an
irruption of the Thárus and Bhars. These aboriginal and mixed races
held all the country north - east of Oudh and the Ganges for a long
period, and drove out the Aryans who had at first conquered them .
Their reappearance was apparently connected with the rise of the
Buddhist faith . The Bhar chieftains seem to have held the country
at first independently, and afterwards as vassals of the Magadha
Buddhists. On the fall of that dynasty, the Bhars regained their
autonomy till about 550 A . D. From this time, the Aryans began to
recover their lost ground ; and in 600 A. D., the Rahtors of Kanauj
invaded the District, which they conquered up to the modern town
of Gorakhpur. Hioueng Thsang, the Chinese Buddhist pilgrim , who
visited this part of India about the year 630, notices the large number
of monasteries and towers, the latter a monument of the continuous
struggle between the aboriginal Bhars and their Aryan antagonists, the
Rahtors. In about 900 A .D ., the Domhatárs or military Bráhmans
made their first appearance on the scene, and, with other tribes of
mixed Brahman and Rájput descent, began to push up from the south
and to dispossess the Rahtor chiefs, whom they expelled from the
town of Gorakhpur. In the 11th century, Bisen Sen of Nagar became
the leading chief in this region ; but the Bhars continued to hold the
western tracts, until ousted by the Jáipur (Jeypore) Rájás in the time
of Akbar. Early in the 14th century, the Rájputs, expelled from
the country farther west by the Muhammadans, began to enter this
District. Dhúr Chánd established himself in Dhúriápár, and Chandra
Sen in Satási. The latter murdered the Domhatár chief of Doman
garh (the Gorakhpur fort), seized his stronghold, and established
himself in the city. During the whole century, the Batwal and Bánsi
Rájás carried on an incessant warfare, which desolated the whole
country ; and from 1350 to 1450, the Satási and the Majholi Rájás
waged war without intermission. The present town of Gorakhpur
was founded about 1400. A century later, the Majholi family held
442 GORAKHPUR DISTRICT.
the south -east ; the descendants of Dhúr Chánd reigned in the south
west ; the Aonla and Satási Dominions came next ; while the extreme
north -west belonged to the principality of Batwal. All these Rájás
seem to have been quite independent of one another, and isolated
from the outer world , as no bridges or roads attest any intercourse
with the Districts to the south or east. Until the Mughal period, the
Musalmáns do not appear to have crossed the Gogra ; but in 1576,
Akbar passed across it on his return from the successful expedition
against Dáúc Khán of Bengal. The Emperor's general, Fidải Khán,
defeated all the Rájás who opposed him , and occupied Gorakhpur.
Bahadur Shah visited the District for the sake of its sport during the
lifetime of Aurangzeb ; but until the establishment of the Nawab
Wazírs of Oudh at Lucknow in 1721, the Musalmáns interfered very
little with Gorakhpur, and allowed it to be controlled entirely by the
native Rájás. After Saádat Ali's accession, however, a firmer grasp
of the District was taken ; and in 1750 , a large army under Ali Kasim
Khán reduced it completely to submission. Even then the Muham
madan governor exercised no real power, and collected what revenue he
could obtain through the Rájás,who carried on war amongst themselves
as they pleased. At the middle of the 18th century, the Banjáras
had become a perfect scourge to the District. They first appeared
from the west about 1725 ; but thirty years later, united under able
leaders, they were formidable enough to contend with chiefs like the
Rájá of Bánsi. They kept the eastern parganás in a constant state of
terror, and weakened the power of the Rájás so greatly that the latter
could no longer resist the fiscal exactions of the Oudh officials, who
plundered and ravaged the country to an extent which they had never
ventured to attempt in its more independent days. After the battle of
Baxar in 1764, a British officer received command of the Nawab's
troops, and was instructed to collect the taxes of Gorakhpur ; but
all he could do was to sub -let the collection to native revenue
farmers, who rack-rented the cultivators in a merciless manner. The
District formed part of the territory ceded by Oudh to the British
under the treaty of 1801 ; and an officer was immediately put in charge
of the country now divided between the Districts of Gorakhpur,
Azamgarh , and Basti. Efforts were made to bring this extensive
region under a firmly organized Government, and the revenue was
reduced from time to time, to meet the needs of the landholders. An
invasion of the Nepális in 1813 was successfully repulsed ; and the
District was happily free from the incidents of history until the
Mutiny of 1857. It was then lost for a short time at the beginning
of the disturbances, but soon after recovered by the aid of the friendly
Gurkhas. Later on , in the month of August, the rebels under
Muhammad Hassan occupied the whole District; and it was not till
 GORAKHPUR DISTRICT. 443
the 6th of January 1858 that the Gurkhá army under Jang Bahadur
marched in and occupied Gorakhpur. Muhammad Hassan was then
driven out of the city , and shortly after the other rebels were ex
pelled from the outlying parganás, which once more passed under our
rule.
Population. - In 1853, the Gorakhpur Census returned the number
of inhabitants at 1,816 ,390. By 1865, the figures had risen to
2,024,150, showing an increase of 207,760 persons, or 114 per
cent. In 1872, there was an apparent falling off to the reduced total
of 2 ,019,361, which would show a decrease of 4789 persons, or ' 2
per cent. This loss, however, is only nominal, as the area for the
Census of 1872 was less than that for the Census of 1865 by 22
square miles, or 4 per cent. The density of population per square
mile was 398 persons in 1853, 440 persons in 1865, and 441 persons
in 1872, so that a real increase has steadily taken place during the
whole period of nineteen years. The enumeration of 1872 was
effected upon an area of 4578 square miles, and it disclosed a total
population of 2,019,361 persons, distributed among 7097 villages or
townships, and inhabiting an aggregate of 381,237 houses. These
figures yield the following averages :— Persons per square mile, 441 ;
villages per square mile, 1'5 ; houses per square mile, 83 ; persons
per village, 285 ; persons per house, 5'2. Classified according 10
sex, there were (exclusive of non-Asiatics) — males, 1,078,072 ; females,
941,278 ; proportion of males, 53-4 per cent. Classified according
to age, there were (with the like exception ), under 12 years —
males, 384,042 ; females, 300,402 ; total, 684,444, or 33.89 per cent.
In religion , Gorakhpur still retains for the most part the original
creed of its Aryan conquerors. The Census shows a total of 1,819,445
Hindus, or goʻi per cent., as against 199,372 Musalmáns, or 9 .9 per
cent. The District also contains 533 Christians. The higher caste
Hindus include 193,270 Bráhmans, 76 ,018 Rájputs, and 58,064
Banias. Among the inferior castes, the Ahirs are the most nume
rous, numbering 242,383 souls ; but the Chamárs nearly equal them
with a total of 210, 108. The other principal Hindu castes are the
Káyasths (22,757) and Kurmís (76 ,550 ). TheMusalmáns consist of
Shaikhs (126 ,835), Sayyids ( 3048),Mughals (611),and Patháns (20,228).
South of Gorakhpur, and particularly along the Gogra, the country is
densely inhabited, and the peasantry are civilised, comfortably housed ,
and much like the inhabitants of the southern Districts ; but in the
extreme north , where forests still abound, the people remain in a very
backward condition , living in miserable huts , and being generally
wilder, poorer, and more barbarous than the Doáb tribes. The only
trade in that part of the District is the through traffic from Nepál,
and the roads are few and bad. The great density of population
444 GORAKHPUR DISTRICT.
throughout renders the masses extremely poor, the standard of living
low , and the margin of superfluity against evil times exceedingly
narrow . There were 7 towns in 1872 with a population exceed
ing 5000 souls - namely, GORAKHPUR, 51,117 ; GOLAH , 5147 ; GORA,
5482 ; PENA, 5331 ; AMUA, 6150 ; PADRAUNA, 5092 ; RUDARPUR,
6538. The united urban population accordingly amounted to 84 ,857.
The vast majority of the inhabitants are scattered over the country in
small hamlets.
Village Communities. The villages in this District exemplify each
of the three usual tenures - pattidári, with imperfect pattidári, zamin
dári, and bhayachára ; but the village has never assumed the same
importance as a clearly separate unit here which it possesses in the
revenue system of other Districts . The bond of connexion among
the landholding classes was a feudal attachment to the Rájá on whom
they were dependent ; and village communities, in the sense of associa
tions bound together by common proprietorship and residence in the
same hamlet, were rare and of little importance. The various de
pendants and relatives of the Rájá were at first obliged to live with their
chief, in order to be constantly at hand for his defence ; and villages
grew up around the fort or house of the Rájá as soon as his following
became too large to be accommodated within its walls. The more
defined and customary unit in this District is the tappa or hundred , a
subdivision of the parganá, which appears to have existed before the
time of the Muhammadans. In many cases the tappas correspond
with natural divisions formed by rivers or other physical features;
but very often they appear to be purely artificial, and probably
represent the tract made over by a Rájá to some one of his de
pendants on a feudal tenure. In consequence of this peculiarity,
the earlier revenue settlements were not made by villages, but by
tálukas and tappas. The Muhammadan Divisions of chaklás and
sarkárs were never much known in Gorakhpur, as their revenue
system did not fully develop itself under the imperfect and transitory
administration which they maintained in this outlying dependency.
The uniformity of British rule, however, is making itself felt in this
respect.
Agriculture.- Gorakhpur District contains a total cultivated area of
2621 square miles, but there still remains a margin of 897 square miles
available for cultivation , most of which is now under forest. The
mode of tillage does not differ from that which prevails elsewhere
throughout the great alluvial basin of the Ganges and its tributaries.
There are two harvests a year, in the autumn and in the spring. The
kharif or autumn crops are sown after the first rain in June, and
gathered in October or November. They consist of cotton, rice, bájra ,
joár, moth , and other food grains. The rabi or spring crops are sown
 GORAKHPUR DISTRICT. 445
immediately after the autumn harvest, and reaped in March or April.
They are mainly composed of wheat, barley, oats, peas, and other
pulses. Manure is used, where it can be obtained , for both harvests.
Spring and autumn crops are seldom taken off the same ground, but
sometimes a plot of early rice is gathered in August, and a second crop
sown in its place for the spring harvest. Owing to the heavy and long
continued rains at the foot of the Himalayas, the country is often
flooded, and the rabí sowing delayed much later than in other Districts.
A great part of the surface is so long inundated, that it yields no autumn
crops at all, the spring seed being sown as soon as the water clears off.
This flooded land, however, is rendered exceedingly fertile by the
deposits which are left behind as the waters recede. The forests
possess little economical value. Wild honey is their chief product ;
the Bhars contract to collect it, and sell it in the neighbouring
towns. The trees used to be tapped for their gum , but this practice
has been stopped since the forests passed into the hands of Govern
ment. Compared with the misrule and oppression which took place
under the native Rájás, and the Musalmán revenue-farmers, the condi
tion of the people is now vastly improved. Wages and prices are still
(1877 ) on the whole rather lower than in the Districts to the south of
the Gogra ; but the construction of the Oudh and Rohilkhand Rail
way will probably increase the demand for labour, besides equalizing
the cost of necessaries. In 1877, coolies and unskilled hands received
from 24d. to 31d. a day ; agricultural labourers from 2 d. to 3d.; brick
layers and carpenters from 6d. to 2s. Women get about one-fifth less
than men , while children are paid one-half or one-third the wages of an
adult. Prices ruled as follows in 1876 :— Wheat, 24 sers per rupee, or
45. 8d. per cwt. ; rice, 17 sers per rupee, or 6s. 7d. per cwt. ; joár, 38
sers per rupee, or 3s. per cwt. ; bájra, 34 sers per rupee, or 3s. 4d.
per cwt.
Natural Calamities. — Gorakhpur, being a naturally moist and rainy
District, suffers less from famine than most other portions of the great
north -western plain . The distress in 1780 and 1783 did not seriously
affect the Districts beyond the Gogra. In 1803, the rice harvest
failed, and the spring cropswere endangered,butrain fell in September,
and the scarcity was never very severe . The next great famine, in
1837-38, was most heavily felt in the Upper Doáb and Bundelkhand,
and did not seriously attack Gorakhpur. The District suffered some
what, however, in the dearth of 1860-61, when, under the pressure of
want, crimes against property became twice as numerous as in ordinary
years. In 1873-74, the drought extended to the Districts ofGorakhpur
and Basti, and it became necessary to establish relief works in the
spring of 1874. The rains shortly afterwards put an end to the
distress, and the reliefmeasures were at once discontinued .
446 GORAKHPUR DISTRICT.
Commerce and Trade, etc. — The commerce of Gorakhpur is chiefly
confined to the export of agricultural produce ; but there is a small
amount of through traffic with Nepál. BARHAJ is the principal mart of
the District. In the north , the trade in rice and pepper is considerable,
and that in timber, iron , and copper is large and increasing. The
means of communication are still imperfectly developed. No railroad
passes through the District, and the nearest railway stations are at
Faizábád (Fyzabad) (80 miles), Akbarpur (68 miles), or Zamániá ( 76
miles). A goodmetalled road runsdue south from Gorakhpur to Benares
viâ Barhalganj, with a length of 36 miles in this District. It is carried
over the depression of the Amiyar and Bigra lakes by an embankment
3 miles long, known as the Tucker bandh, flanked with solid masonry,
and having four considerable bridges on its line. Another metalled
road leads from Gorakhpur to Basti and Faizábád, with a length of 15
miles in this District. There are 910 miles of unmetalled road, of
which 527 are raised and bridged throughout. The Rápti is navigable
for country boats, which convey a large amount of grain and timber
into the Gogra , and thence down to the Ganges. The Gogra itself
receives a considerable quantity of grain from Barhaj and Barhalganj
for the Ganges ports. Rafts of timber are floated down the fierce and
dangerous channel of the GreatGandak from Nepál, besides grain and
sugar from this District.
Administration. The local staff generally consists of a Collector
Magistrate , 2 Joint Magistrates, and i Deputy , besides the usual
fiscal, medical, and constabulary establishments. The whole amount
of revenue - imperial,municipal, and local— raised in the District in
1876 was £227,738, being at the rate of 25. 2 d. per head of the
population. A new settlement of the land revenue was commenced in
1859 and completed in 1871. The land-tax in 1876 produced a total
sum of £168,071. In 1875, the total strength of the regular police
force amounted to 755 officers and men ; while the cost of their
maintenance was returned at £9374. These figures give an average
of i policeman to every 6 .07 square miles of area and every 2674
of the population , maintained at a rate of £2, os. 8 d . per square
mile , or id. per head of the inhabitants. The regular force was
supplemented by a rural body of 2298 village watchmen (chaukidárs).
The District jail contained in 1875 a daily average of 672 prisoners, of
whom 616 were male and 56 female. The average cost per head
amounted to £3, 135. 1}d., and the average earnings of each prisoner
to 12s. There are 18 imperial and 19 local post offices in the District,
but no telegraph station. Education was carried on in 1875 by
means of 435 schools, with a joint roll of 13,525 pupils ; which gives
an average area of 10'52 square miles for each school, and 66
scholars to every thousand of the population . Fifteen of these were
 GORAKHPUR TAHSIL - GORI-BIDNUR TALUK , 447
girls' schools. The total expense of the educational establishment was
£4012, of which £1347 was paid from the Provincial treasury , and
£2665 from local funds. For fiscal purposes, Gorakhpur is subdivided
into 6 tahsils and 12 parganás. The District contains i municipality ,
Gorakhpur. In 1875-76, its total income amounted to £4771, and
its gross expenditure to £3732. The incidence of municipal taxation
was at the rate of is. 6 d . per head of the population within the limits
of themunicipality.
Sanitary Aspects. — The District is not subject to very intense heat,
being secured from extremes by its vicinity to the hills, and by the
moisture of its soil. Dust storms are rare, and cool breezes from the
north , rushing down the gorges of the Himalayas, succeed each interval
of very hot weather. The climate is, however, relaxing, and there is no
bracing cold . The southern and eastern portions, where the jungle has
been cleared, is as healthy as most parts of the Province ; but the tarái
and the forest tracts are still subject to malaria . The average rainfall
from 1860 to 1871 was 45.8 inches ; the maximum was 60 inches in
1861, and the minimum 25 inches in 1868. The mean monthly
temperature in the shade was 77° in 1870, and 76° in 1871 ; the range
was from 61° in January to 90° in June. The total number of deaths
reported in 1875 was 40,092, or 19:85 per thousand of the population .
The average death -rate for the previous six years was 18:23 per thou
sand. Thereare 4 charitable dispensaries in the District - atGorakhpur,
Rudarpur, Kasia, and Barhalganj. In 1875, they afforded relief to a
total number of 34,258 patients.
Gorakhpur. – Central tahsil of Gorakhpur District, North -Western
Provinces ; traversed by the river Rápti, and consisting throughout of
a level plain . Area, 654 square miles, of which 379 were cultivated ;
pop. (1872), 330,875 ; land revenue, £25,923 ; total Government
revenue, £28,426 ; rental paid by cultivators, £62,021 ; incidence of
Government revenue per acre, is. 2 d.
Gorakhpur. — Municipal city and administrative headquarters of
Gorakhpur District, North -Western Provinces. Lat. 26° 44' 8 " N .,
long. 33° 23' 44" E. ; area, 727 acres; pop. (1872), 51,117.
Lies on the river Rápti, about the centre of the District. Founded
in or near the year 1400 A .D ., on the site of a more ancient
city. For early history and Mutiny narrative, see GORAKHPUR
DISTRICT. Headquarters of a civil and sessions judge ; District jail ;
usual administrative offices. Considerable trade in grain and timber,
sent down the Rápti to the Gogra and the Ganges. Government
charitable dispensary. Municipal revenue in 1875-76, £4771 ; from
taxes, £3941, or is. 6 d. per head of population (51,633) within
municipal limits.
Gori-bidnur. - Táluk in Kolár District,Mysore. Area , 150 square
 448 GORI-BIDNUR VILLAGE - GOSAINGANJ.
miles ; pop. ( 1871), 36 ,501 ; land revenue ( 1874-75), exclusive ofwater
rates, £5031, or 2s. 8d . per cultivated area . Soil loose and fertile ,
with water easily procurable below the surface. Products - cocoa-nut
and areca-nut, sugar-cane, rice and turmeric .
Gori-bidnur. - Municipal village in Kolár District, Mysore ; on the
left bank of the North Pinakini river, 56 miles north -west of Kolár.
Lat. 13° 37' N., long. 77° 32' 50 " E. ; pop. (1871), 1454 ; municipal
revenue (1874 -75), £26 ; rate of taxation, 4d. per head. Ancient town
with a legendary history connecting with the Mahabharata Head
quarters of táluk of the same name.
Gorigangá. — River in Kumaun District, North -Western Provinces ;
one of the headwaters of the Gogra ; rises from a glacier about 12 miles
south of the Anta Dhára Pass, at an elevation of 11,543 feet above sea
level; runs in a perpetual cascade for 60 miles down the mountain
valleys ; and joins the Káli in lat. 29°45' n ., long. 80° 25' E., at a
height of 1972 feet above sea level.
Gorinda Parsandan . — Parganá of Unao District, Oudh. A small
parganá, formerly a waste and jungle tract used by Ahírs as grazing
ground for their flocks and herds. Said to have been first cleared
about 500 years ago by a Bráhman and a Káyasth . Area, 44 square
miles, of which 25 are cultivated. Government land revenue, £3541,
or an average of 25. 1 d. per acre. Land is held under the following
tenures : Tálukdári, 3492 acres ; pukhtádári, 504 acres ; zamindári,
8775 acres ; pattidári, 15,281 acres. Pop. ( 1869), Hindus, 21, 103 ;
Musalmáns, 665 ; total, 21, 768, viz. 11,326 males and 10,442 females.
Number of villages, 53 ; average density of population, 495 per square
mile .
Gosainganj. — Town in Lucknow District, Oudh ; 14 miles from
Lucknow city, on the road to Sultánpur. Founded by Rájá Himmat
Gir Gosáin, in the reign of the Nawab Shujá -ud-daula , in 1754. The
Rajá commanded a force of 1000 Rájput cavalry, and held the pargana
of Amethi in jágír for the pay of the troops. On building the town
and his fort, the extensive ruins of which are still in existence, he
transferred the headquarters of the parganá hither, and altered the
name of the parganá to that of the town . His power must have been
considerable, for on one occasion ,when the Nawab was flying before
the English after the battle of Baxar, the Gosáin refused him admission
and shelter within the walls of his fort. On the conclusion of peace
between the Nawab and the English , however, the Rájá found it
expedient to leave the place, and retire to his native village near
Hardwár,where a small jágér was granted him by the British . The
population of Gosáinganj in 1869 amounted to 3691, almost ex
clusively Hindus, dwelling in 856 houses. The town is clean and well
kept, with a conservancy establishment maintained by levy of a house
 GOSTANADI--GUASUBA. 449
tax. Gosainganj has always been noted as a flourishing market town ,
and a brisk local trade is carried on . It has the advantage of direct
communication with Lucknow and Cawnpore by a road connecting
it with the Cawnpore imperial road at Bani bridge on the left bank
of the Sai. This road is the great outlet for country produce, and
in turn conveys to Gosainganj European piece-goods and articles
of English manufacture. Annual value of sales in the market are
estimated at £19,150. Two religious festivals in the year are held in
honour of the local goddess, each attended by about 5000 people,
at which some trade is carried on. Two mosques, and one or two
small Sivaite temples ; police station ; Government school.
Gostanadi (Go-stani-nadi, 'River of the Cow 's Udder '). — River
in Godavari District, Madras. An important stream , which has been
converted into a useful navigable irrigation channel by the Godávari
engineers. Its waters are considered sacred by the Hindus.
Gostháni (Champavati or Konáda). - River rising in Gajapatinagar
taluk, Vizagapatam District, Madras ; flowing south -east for 48 miles till
it enters the sea atKonáda. Principal villages,Gajapatinagarand Andhra.
Gotardi. - One of the petty States of Rewa Kánta , Bombay. Area,
If square mile. There are four chiefs. Revenue in 1875 estimated
at £60 ; tribute of £42 payable to the Gáekwár of Baroda.
Govindgarh. — A fortress lying north -west of the city of Amritsar,
Punjab, at a short distance from the walls. Lat. 31° 40' n., long. 74°
45' E. Built by Ranjit Sinh in 1809 A. D., nominally for the protection
of pilgrims to the holy city of the Sikhs, but really to overawe their
tumultuous assemblage. Now garrisoned by a battery of artillery and
a company of British infantry.
Gramang.– Village in Bashahr State, Punjab. Lat. 31° 33' N.,
long. 78° 33' E .; lies in the valley of Tidang, on the banks of a river
bearing the same name, which flows with a violent course down the
rapid descent. Well built, neatly laid out, and intersected with water
courses. The neighbourhood contains an immense number of temples,
shrines, and other sacred buildings, devoted to the religious exercises
of the Buddhistmonks and nuns who inhabit the village. Elevation
above sea level, 9174 feet.
Guásubá . — River in Twenty-four Parganas District, Bengal; one of
the principal arms of the Ganges, falling into the sea in lat. 21° 38'
N., long. 88° 54' E. Although of considerable size, it is themost difficult
river to enter of any on the coast, on account of a bending channel at
its mouth . A vessel entering it must bring the middle of the land on
the east side of the river to bear north , and steer directly in for it till
near shore ; she ought then to steer to the westward until close to
Bángáduní island, whence the channel takes a fairly straight direction
to the north.
VOL. III. 2 F
450 GUBBI- GUDALUR.
Gubbi.— Municipal town in Túmkúr District, Mysore ; 13 miles by
road west of Túmkúr ; headquarters of the Kadaba táluk. Lat. 13°
18' 40" N., long. 76° 58' 30 " E.; pop. ( 1871), 3714, including 292
Muhammadans, 57 Jains, and 19 Christians ; municipal revenue
(1874-75 ), £125 ; rate of taxation, 8d. per head . Entrepôt for the
trade in areca-nut between the high lands of Mysore and Wallájah -pet
in North Arcot, and also for local traffic. Said to have been founded
about 400 years ago by the gauda or chief of Hosahalli, the head of the
tribe of Nonaba Wokligars. His descendant was dispossessed by
Tipu Sultán, and the family are now ordinary cultivators, though their
rank is acknowledged in their own tribe. Gubbi has suffered much
from the antagonistic spirit prevailing between the rival trading castes
of Komatis and Banajigas or Lingayats, and was once in danger of
being entirely abandoned owing to their dissensions. There are fairs,
both weekly and annual, frequented by merchants from great distances.
The neighbourhood produces coarse cotton cloths (both white and
coloured), blankets, sackcloth, wolágra areca-nut, cocoa-nut, jaggery
sugar, tamarind, capsicum , wheat, rice, rági and other grains, lac, steel,
and iron . Large imports are received in exchange for these articles,
and Gubbi forms an intermediate mart for goods passing through the
south of the peninsula in almost all directions. The local trade in
areca-nut is estimated at 335 tons — value, £21,840 ; kopri or dry
cocoa-nut, 134 tons - value, £3328 ; cotton cloth , £1500. In addi
tion , areca -nut, pepper, and cardamoms are imported from Nagar
and transmitted to Vellore and Wallájah-pet, whence nutmeg, mace,
and European piece-goods are received in exchange. Sugar, sugar
candy, and silk from Bangalore are exchanged for cotton and thread
from Dhárwár.
Gubut. — One of the petty States in Máhi Kánta, Bombay. Area
under cultivation, 3000 bighas ; estimated pop. (1875 ), 1225 ; estimated
revenue, $ 250. The Thákur of Gubut, Wujái Sinh , is a Múkwána
Koli, born about 1873. The State pays a tribute of £4 to the
Rájá of Edar.
Gúdalúr. — Pass in Travancore State,Madras ; crossed by the road
from Madura to Travancore. Gúdalúr village is situated in lat. 11° 9'
N ., and long. 77° E .
Gúdalúr. – Village in Malabar District,Madras ; situated at the foot
of the Nediwatham Ghát, on the road to Utákamand (Ootacamund),
and at the junction of the main roads from Mysore and Malabar.
Lat. 11° 30' N ., long. 76° 34' E. The whole township , formerly known
as Wambalakod, contains 880 houses and 13,277 inhabitants. Since
1850 Gúdalúr has become the centre of the south -east Wynád coffee
industry, and is a place of growing importance. A sub-magistrate, with
a munsiff's jurisdiction , is stationed here. There are also police
 GUDIATHAM - GUDUR. 451
and post offices, and a travellers' bungalow . The transfer of this
station and the surrounding country to the jurisdiction of the Nilgiri
Commission has been (1877) decreed.
Gudiátham (Gooriattum ). — Táluk in North Arcot District, Madras.
Houses, 25,863; pop . (1871), 162,980, being 82,466 males and 80,514
females. Classified according to religion , there were — Hindus, 147,525,
including 90 ,829 Sivaites, 56 ,400 Vishnuvites, and 181 Lingayats ;
Muhammadans, 14 ,627, including 13,719 Sunnis, 194 Shiás, and 31
Wahábis ; Christians (chiefly Roman Catholics), 828 , viz. 11 Eurasians
and 817 natives. Chief town, GUDIATHAM .
Gudiátham . — Town in North Arcot District, Madras ; situated on
the Madras Railway, 75 miles west from Madras, 15 miles west from
Vellore (Velúr). Lat. 12° 57' 20" N., long. 78° 54' 40" E.; containing
(1871) 1678 houses and 10,804 inhabitants. Headquarters town of
the táluk,with court, sub-jail, school, post and telegraph offices. Centre
of a considerable weaving industry ; exports rice to Malabar.
Gudibanda (* Temple Rock '). — Táluk in Kolár District, Mysore.
Area, 220 square miles ; pop. (1871), 44,233 ; land revenue (1874-75),
exclusive ofwater rates, £6864, or 25. 2d. per cultivated acre.
Gudibanda (* Temple Rock ').— Municipal village and headquarters of
above táluk, in Kolár District, Mysore ; 55 miles north -west of Kolár.
Lat. 13° 41' N ., long. 77° 44' 35" E .; pop. (1871), 2909 ; municipal
revenue ( 1874-75), £48 ; rate of taxation , 3d. per head. Situated at
the foot of a rock, crowned by fortifications, and having a temple on the
summit ; residence of a local chief during the 17th century .
Gudiváda. — Táluk in Kistna District, Madras. Houses, 15, 266 ;
pop. ( 1871), 87,138, viz. 43,473 males and 43,665 females. Classified
according to religion, there were— Hindus, 84,463, including 66,676
Vishnuvites, 15,641 Sivaites, and 900 Lingayats ; Muhammadans,
2468, including 2218 Sunnis, 92 Shiás, and 15 Wahábis ; Christians,
all natives, and chiefly Protestants, 207.
Gúdúr.- Táluk in Nellore District, Madras. Area, 817 square
miles ; houses, 26,233 ; pop. ( 1871), 147,141, being 76,637 males
and 70,504 females. Classified according to religion, there were
- Hindus, 140,923, viz. 77,921 Sivaites and 63,002 Vishnuvites ;
Muhammadans, 6129, including 5863 Sunnis and 240 Shias ; Chris
tians (chiefly Roman Catholics), 76 , viz. 25 Europeans and 51 natives.
Revenue ( 1870-71), £35,886. Chief town, GUDUR.
Gúdúr. – Town in Nellore District, Madras ; situated on the Great
Northern Trunk Road, about 20 miles south of Nellore town. Lat.
14° 8' 43" N ., long. 79° 53' 30" E. ; containing (1871) 1235 houses
and 6086 inhabitants. The headquarters station of the above táluk,
with the usual Subdivisional courts, sub -jail, post office, police station,
travellers' bungalow, and good camping ground.
452 GUDUR - GUJRANWALA DISTRICT.
Gúdúr. — Town in Karnúl (Kurnool) District, Madras ; situated
about 19 miles north -west of Karnúl town , with which it is connected
by a cart track. Lat. 15°43'n ., long. 78° 34'40" E. ; containing (1871)
1098 houses, and a population of 5825. Formerly the headquarters
of the táluk. The town is of no local note, except for its cotton
cloths, in the manufacture of which a large section of its population
is employed. There is also a small silk -weaving business.
Gugera. — Northern tahsil of Montgomery District, Punjab ; stretch
ing on either side of the Rávi, and consisting for the most part of a
dry and barren waste, with a narrow strip of cultivation along the
river bank. Pop. (1868), 95,404 ; total cultivated area, 112,529
acres.
Gugera. — Town in Montgomery District, Punjab, and headquarters
of the tahsil ; situated on the high southern bank of the Rávi, 30 miles
north -east of Montgomery . Lat. 30° 58' N., long. 73° 21' E. ; pop.
( 1868), 2114 souls. Formerly headquarters of the District, but aban
doned in favour of Montgomery on the opening of the Lahore and
Múltán (Mooltan) Railway in 1864. Since that time the town has
declined in population and importance, and has now little claim to
notice. Tahsili, police station.
Guindy (Kindi). — Village in Chengalpat District, and suburb of
Madras, 4 miles south -west of Madras. Lat. 13° n., long. 80° 16 ' E. ;
containing (1871), with Roshambágh, 176 houses and 828 inhabitants.
The country house and park of the Governor are at Guindy. The
Government farm and School of Agriculture are at Roshambágh .
Gujáinli.- Village in Bashahr State, Punjab, on the road from
Kotkái to the Burinda Pass. Inhabited by a mining population, who
extract and smelt the iron ore of the neighbouring hills. Lat. 31° 8' N.,
long. 77° 42' E.
Gujar Khan. - South -eastern tahsil of Rawal Pindi District, Punjab,
lying near the foot of the Marrí (Murree) Hills ; situated between 33° 4
and 33° 26' n. lat., and between 72° 59' and 73° 39' 30" E. long.
Gujarát. - Northern seaboard Province of Bombay Presidency.
SeeGUZERAT.
Gujranwala . — A British District in the Lieutenant-Governorship of
the Punjab, lying between 31° 32' and 32° 33' n. lat., and between 73°
II' 30" and 74° 28 ' 15" E. long., with an area (according to the Parlia
mentary Return of 1877) of 2563 square miles, and a population in
1868 of 550,576. Gujranwala is a District in the Lahore Division.
It is bounded on the north -west by the river Chenáb, on the south
and south -east by the Districts of Jhang and Lahore, and on the east
by the District of Sialkot. The administrative headquarters are at the
town of GUJRANWALA.
Physical Aspects. The District of Gujranwala forms the central
 GUJRANWALA DISTRICT. 453
portion ofthe Rechna Doáb,intermediate between the fertile submontane
plains of Sialkot and the desert expanses of JHANG . It displays,
accordingly, all the transition stages by which the rich silt of the
lower Himalayan slopes merges into the waterless level characteristic
of North -Western India. On the northern frontier, a belt of alluvial
land, some 2 to 6 miles in breadth , fringes the Chenab throughout its
course, and marks the wider valley within which the river has now
and again shifted its uncertain channel. This low -lying strip is
bounded on the south by a steep bank, whence the central uplands
rise at once to the general level, which they maintain across the whole
Doáb. For 10 miles from the river bed , the influence of the water is
felt in all the wells; butbeyond that line, the country becomes entirely
dependent upon the rainfall for a precarious harvest. The eastern
portion of the plateau , bordering on Siálkot, has a rich soil, with
accessible water, and is quite equal in productive power to the country
immediately above it ; the villages here lie close together, while the
people are careful and industrious cultivators. But as we recede from
the hills, the soil becomes harder and drier, the water is hidden at
greater depths, and the villages begin to lie farther apart. At last, in
the extreme south , we reach the desolate tableland known as the bár,
a flat expanse of seemingly barren land, dotted with low jungle, and
only covered by grass after the rainy season has brought out the
natural fertility of its thirsty soil. On its southern border, the bár
assumes its worst characteristics, and passes slowly into the utter desert
of JHANG . Even here, however, a few large marshes are to be found,
whose stagnant waters serve as the last resource of cattle in seasons of
drought. In the south -east corner of the District, the little river Degh
irrigates and fertilizes a tiny valley of its own, which its annual inunda
tions supply with a rich deposit of loam . Two or three minor water
courses carry off the surface drainage into the Degh or the Chenáb,
and are used for purposes of irrigation in the villages through which
they pass. The District is very bare of trees, having little timber
except the scrubby brushwood of the bár, which is only useful for fire
wood. Its scenery is everywhere tame, and in the central plateau
becomes tediously monotonous. Yet it would be possible, by means
of an extensive irrigation system , to raise the productiveness of the
driest parts to as high a level as that now attained by the most fertile
portions of the northern slope.
History. — The Districtof Gujránwála isessentially amodern creation ,
alike in its boundaries, its population, and its principal towns ; yet it
can claim important relics of the past, constructed during an early
period of prosperity , which is completely separated from its later annals
by a comparative blank. It seems likely, indeed , that the District once
contained the capital of the Punjab , at an epoch when Lahore had not
454 GUJRANWALA DISTRICT.
yet begun to exist. We learn from the Chinese Buddhist pilgrim ,
Hiouen Thsang, that about the year 630 he visited a town known as
Tse-kia (or Taki), the metropolis of thewhole country ofthe Five Rivers.
The site of this town hasbeen identified by General Cunningham with a
mound,nearthemodern village ofAsarur in this District,where immense
ruins of Buddhist origin are still to be seen . Their date is marked by
the discovery of coins, as well as by the great size of the bricks, which
is characteristic of the period in which they were constructed. After
the time of Hiouen Thsang, we know as little of Gujranwala as of
Indian Districts generally, until the Muhammadan invasions brought
back regular chronological history. Meanwhile, however, Táki had
fallen into oblivion , and Lahore had become the chief city of the
Punjab. Under Muhammadan rule , the District flourished greatly.
From the days of Akbar to those of Aurangzeb, wells were scattered
over the whole country, and villages lay thickly dotted about the
southern plateau, which is now a barren waste of grass land and scrub
jungle. Their remains may still be found in the wildest and most
solitary reaches of the bar. EMINABAD and HAFIZABAD were the chief
towns, while the country was divided into 6 well-tilled parganás. But
before the close of the Muhammadan period, a mysterious depopulation
fell upon this tract, the reasons of which are even now by no means
clear. The tribes at present occupying the District are all immigrants
of recent date , and before their advent the whole region seems for a
time to have been almost entirely abandoned . Indeed, there is reason
to think thatmost of the occupying clans have not held villages in the
District for more than sixty years, and that previously their ancestors
were nomad graziers in the ruined plain of the bár. The only plaus
ible conjecture to account for this sudden and disastrous change is
that of the settlement officers, who regard it as a simple result of the
constant wars by which the Punjab was convulsed during the last years
of Muhammadan supremacy . At the first beginning of the Sikh
reaction, the waste plains of Gujranwala were seized by the various
military adventurers who then sprang up on every side. Charat Sinh,
the grandfather of the great Mahárájá Ranjit Sinh, took possession of
the village of Gujranwala , then an inconsiderable hamlet, and made it
the headquarters of himself and his son and grandson. Minor Sikh
chieftains settled at WAZIRABAD , SHEKHUPURA, and other towns; while
in the western portion of the District, the Bhattis and Játs maintained
a sturdy independence. In the end , however, Ranjit Sinh succeeded in
bringing all the scattered portions of the District under his own power.
The great Mahárájá was himself born at Gujranwala , and the town con
tinued to be his capital up to his occupation of Lahore. The Sikh
rule, which was elsewhere so disastrous, appears to have been an
unmitigated benefit to Gujranwála . Ranjit Sinh settled large colonies
 GUJRANWALA DISTRICT. 455
in the various villages, and was very successful in encouraging cultiva
tion throughout the depopulated plain of the bár. In the Degh valley,
especially , he planted a body of hard -working Hindus, the Labánas, to
whom he granted the land at a nominal rent, on condition that each
cultivator should break up and bring under tillage the ground allotted
to him . On the other hand, the paternal rule of the Mahárájá is said
to have unfitted the people for self-reliant exertion under a more liberal
régime. In 1847, the District came under British influence, in connec
tion with the regency at Lahore ; and two years later, in 1849, it was
included in the territory annexed after the second Sikh war. It formed
a part originally of the extensive District of Wazirábád , which comprised
the whole upper portion of the Rechna Doáb . In 1852, this unwieldy
territory was subdivided between Gujranwala and Siálkot. The present
District, as then constituted, stretched across the entire plateau, from
the Chenáb to the Rávi ; but in 1853, the south -eastern fringe, con
sisting of 303 villages, was transferred to Lahore ; and three years
later, a second batch of 324 villages was similarly handed over to the
same District. Since that time Gujranwala has enjoyed an immunity
from the catastrophes of history, with the exception of the events of
1857,which, however, are in itmore properly connected with the general
annals of India than with the records of a single tract. Under Síkb
and British rule, the relative importance of the various towns has been
completely revolutionized ; Gujranwala and Wazírábád have risen to
the first place in wealth and populousness, while the older cities have
declined into mere villages.
Population . - Owing to the large transfers of territory between
this District and Lahore , it is impossible to employ the statistics
afforded by the Census of 1855 for purposes of direct comparison ; but
there is reason to believe that the total increase in the population of
the District, as at present constituted , between 1855 and 1868,
amounted to 63,420, or 13'01 per cent. The enumeration under
taken in the latter year was the first for which the area was correctly
ascertained . It disclosed a population of 550 ,576 , scattered over a
territory of 2653 square miles, with an aggregate of 1114 villages
or townships, and 157,928'houses. These figures yield the following
averages :- Persons per square mile, 207 ; villages per square mile,
0:42 ; persons per village, 494 ; houses per square mile, 59'44 ; persons
per house, 3.49. Classified according to sex, there were — males,
306 ,296 ; females, 244,280 ; proportion of males, 5563 per cent.
Classified according to age, we have the following results : - Under
12 years— males, 99,742 ; females, 84,186 ; total, 183,928, or 33:40
per cent. In religion , the District is mainly Muhammadan, though
the Hindu element is much stronger here than in the border region
to the north -west. The Census shows the following numbers and per
456 GUJRANWALA DISTRICT.
centages :— Musalmáns, 357,550, or 64'94 per cent.; Hindus, 104,156 ,
or 18:91 per cent. ; Sikhs, 38,911, or 7 '07 per cent.; 'others,' 49,959,
or 9 '07 per cent. Asregards the ethnical division and caste distinctions
of the people, the Bráhmans number 17,084, a few of whom are
employed in agriculture or commerce, while the greater part maintain
theniselves by the exercise of their priestly functions. The Kshattriyas
(22,624) and Arorás (25,789), both Hindus by creed , are the chief
mercantile tribes. They also hold respectively 49 and 4 villages in the
District, their landed property having been generally acquired by recent
purchase. The Banias are only represented by 90 persons, as their
usual functions of bankers and money-lenders are here usurped by the
Kshattriyas and Arorás. The Játs number in all 237,600 persons, or
43' 15 per cent. of the whole population. Farther north , their fellow
tribesmen have almost universally abandoned the Hindu creed - with
its caste exclusiveness and narrow restrictions which press so heavily on
the inferior classes - in favour of the comparative equality offered by
Islám ; but in Gujranwala, more than one-fourth of the tribe still retain
their ancient faith , 174,754 being returned as Musalmáns, while 62,846
are enumerated as Hindus. Most of them lay claim to Rájput origin ,
a pedigree which is not improbable, as large clans of Játs appear to
be composed of broken Rájput stocks. As elsewhere, they are indus
trious and cheerful cultivators, and they own no less than 549 villages.
Some of the clans, however, still lead a nomad life in the wild pasture
lands of the bár. The undoubted Rájputs number 9290, Muham
madans almost to a man ; amongst whom the half-tamed Bhattis of
the south -west form the principal subdivision . They are a grazing
and cattle-lifting race, who till only so much land as is absolutely
requisite for their subsistence, and accumulate great wealth from the
produce of their herds. The otherMuhammadan tribes are the Sayyids
(4604), Patháns (4421), Balúchis (5965), and Gújars (1326). As
regards occupation, 224,778 persons are returned as agriculturists, and
325,798 as otherwise employed. There were 5 towns in 1868 with a
population exceeding 5000 souls - namely , GUJRANWALA, 19,381;
WAZIRABAD, 15,730 ; RAMNAGAR , 7598 ; EMINABAD, 6711 ; and AKAL
GARH, 5038. These figures show a total urban population of 54,458
persons, or 9:88 per cent of the inhabitants. The language in common
use is Panjabi, but the townspeople and more intelligent peasants
understand Urdu.
Agriculture. — According to the latest available returns, the total
cultivated area of Gujranwala amounts to 567,849 acres, while the
cultivable margin reaches the high figure of 701,761acres. It will thus
be seen that only 46 .55 per cent. of the land fit for tillage has been
actually brought under cultivation. However, as the cultivated area
in 1850-51 amounted to only 424,184 acres, it follows that an increase
 GUJRANWALA DISTRICT. 457
of 143,665 acres has taken place since that period, being in the propor
tion of 33.87 per cent upon the tillage at the former date. The staple
crop of the District is wheat, which occupies one-third of the cultivated
area . The principal agricultural products, with the extent occupied by
each , were returned as follows in 1872-73 : Rabi or spring harvest
wheat, 162,199 acres ; barley, 42,529 acres ; gram , 8933 acres ; tobacco,
5360 acres ; oil-seeds, 3006 acres ; vegetables, 16 ,780 acres : Kharif
or autumn harvest- rice, 20,333 acres ; joár, 34,509 acres ; bájra , 9105
acres ; Indian corn , 15 ,610 acres ; pulses, 39,065 acres ; oil-seeds,
10,055 acres ; cotton , 42,400 acres ; sugar-cane, 33,180 acres ; vege
tables, 18,512 acres. Ofall these, the most valuable crop in proportion
to its acreage is sugar-cane ; it is the most remunerative product grown
in the District, and its cultivation is steadily increasing. Within the
last few years, the out-turn of sugar has doubled, and all the irrigated
land of the Wazírábád and Gujranwala parganás is now covered by
waving fields of the green cane. Cotton was largely produced during
the scarcity which followed the American war, but the culture has now
shrunk once more to the normal demand for home consumption . The
evergreen shrub mehndi, from whose leaves a valuable scarlet dye is
procured, formsan occasional crop in the District ; it might be grown
in much larger quantities to great advantage, but the development of
this important industry is retarded by the superstitions of the peasantry ,
who regard the plant as unlucky, and walk about in the constant dread
of sudden death if they possess a patch of it in their holding. Irriga
tion is very general, as many as 327,832 acres being artificially watered
from private works in 1868. Part of this area is supplied from the
natural overflow of the Chenáb and the Degh ; the remainder is
irrigated by wells, or by Persian wheels in connection with natural and
artificial ponds. The use of manure is also common , especially for the
richer crops, such as sugar-cane, cotton, tobacco, maize, and garden
produce, almost all of which also require copious watering and great
attention. Wheat is likewise very generally manured. Rotation of
crops, though still in its infancy, is partially practised. The land always
receives at least two or three ploughings for each harvest; in the case
of the richer products, eight or ten are found necessary ; while soil
intended for sugar-cane is sometimes ploughed as many as sixteen
times. The average out-turn of wheat per acre is 454 lbs., valued at
135. 41d. ; that of sugar-cane is 618 lbs., valued at £1, 16s. 44d. Most
of the land is held under the tenure known as pattidári, in which the
rights and liabilities of sharers are regulated by ancestral or customary
usage. Few of the tenants have acquired hereditary or occupancy
rights. Rents ruled as follows in 1872- 73, in accordance with the
nature of the crop for which the soil is fitted :- Rice lands, from 8s. to
145. ; cotton lands, from 6s. to 145. ; sugar lands, from 18s. to £1, 18s. ;
 WALA T
458 GUJRAN DISTRIC .
wheat(irrigated ), from 6s. to 12s. and (unirrigated) from 45. to 8s.; inferior
grains (irrigated ),from 45. to 8s.and (unirrigated) from 45. to 6s. Agricul
tural labourers are universally paid in kind . In the towns, wages ruled
as follows in 1872-73 :- Skilled labour, from 4 d. to od. per diem ;
unskilled labour, from 3 d. to 6d. per diem . In 1873, the prices of
food grains were returned at the following rates :- Wheat, 22 sers per
rupee, or 5s. id . per cwt. ; gram , 19 sers per rupee, or 5s. 10 d . per
cwt. ; Indian corn, 29 sers per rupee, or 3s. 10 d. per cwt. ; joár, 30
sers per rupee, or 3s. 8 d. per cwt.
Commerce and Trade, etc. — The trade of the District is unimportant, and
purely local in its character. The only exports are agricultural produce,
brass vessels, leathern bottles, and timber. The return trade consists
of salt, iron, cattle, spices, and English piece-goods. Sugar, wheat,
ghí, and wool are sent down the Chenab from Wazírábád, Rámnagar,
and other water-side towns ; land transport is chiefly effected by means
of camels. The manufactures are almost confined to cotton and
woollen fabrics for home consumption ; but the smiths of Wazírábád
have a good reputation for small cutlery and ornamental hardware.
The principal religious fair is held at Dhonkal, at which it is calculated
that 200,000 persons assemble. As usual, business is largely mixed with
the sacred character of the festival. The great channel of communi
cation is the Northern State Railway from Lahore to Pesháwar, which
is opened as far as Wazírábád, and has stations at that town and at
Gujranwala . The Grand Trunk Road, connecting the same two
places, traverses the District for a distance of 42 miles, metalled and
bridged throughout. Of unmetalled roads, there are 1055 miles in
Gujranwala, besides a number of local by-ways. The Chenab is
navigable throughout for the boats of the country , the chief river marts
being those of Wazírábád, Rámnagar, and Mahánwala. A line of
telegraph runs along the side of the Grand Trunk Road.
Administration. — The ordinary civil staff of Gujranwala consists of a
Deputy Commissioner, Assistant and Extra -Assistant Commissioners,
and three tahsildars, besides the usualmedicaland constabulary officials.
In 1871, the revenue was returned at £ 53,560 ; while the amount
contributed by the land tax was set down at £44,352. The other
principal items are stamps and excise. In 1872-73, the District con
tained 12 civil or revenue and 19 magisterial courts. In the same
year, the imperial police numbered 406 men of all ranks, besides 117
municipal constables. There was thus a total police force of 523
men , being i policeman to every 1052 of the population and to every
4.89 square miles. The regular force was supplemented by 1092
village watchmen or chaukidárs. The number of persons brought
to trial for all offences, great or small, in 1871, amounted to 2773 ;
or i offender to every 198 of the population . There is i jail in the
 GUJRANWALA TAHSIL AND TOWN. 459
District, the total number of prisoners in which was 1081 in 1870,
1308 in 1871, and 1191 in 1872 ; while the daily average strength for
the same three years was 413, 423, and 512 respectively. Education
is still unfortunately backward , the agricultural population especially
having made no advance in their appreciation of its advantages. The
.total number of pupils on the rolls of the various schools amounted in
1873 to 5818 ; while the sum expended upon their maintenance was
£2469, of which £1241 was derived from the public funds. The
District is subdivided into 3 tahsils and 11 parganás, containing an
aggregate of 1195 villages, owned by 35,110 proprietors or coparceners.
Average land revenue from each village, £37, 25. 7 d. ; from each
proprietor, £1, 55. 3£d. The only regularly constituted municipalities
in the District are those ofGujranwala and Wazírábád , but a municipal
income is also realized at 14 union towns or large villages. Their
aggregate population amounts to 83,788 persons, and their joint revenue
gave a total of £3048 in 1871-72, being at the rate of 8 d . per head
of their inhabitants .
Sanitary Aspects. — No statistics as to the temperature of Gujranwala
are available for any date later than the year 1867. Observations
made at that time show that the mean monthly temperature ranged
from 53° in January to 95° in June ; while the minimum and maximum
readings for the same year were 20° and 120° respectively. The
average rainfall for the eleven years ending in 1867 was 24 inches for
thewhole District. The prevalent diseases are intermittent fever and
small-pox, the latter of which exists always in an endemic form . The
total number of deaths recorded in 1872 amounted to 12 ,592, or 23
per thousand of the population ; but these figures are probably below
the truth . The towns are badly drained, or rather not drained at all ;
and the urban death -rates are extremely high . The returns for 1872
show the following results :- Gujranwala , 51 per thousand ; Eminábád ,
77 per thousand ; and Wazírábád, 43 per thousand. The Government
has 4 charitable dispensaries — at Gujranwala , Akálgarh , Wazirábád, and
Háfizábád,which afforded relief in 1872 to 17, 168 patients .
Gujranwala. — Tahsil in Gujranwala District, Punjab ; situated
between 31° 49' and 32° 20' n. lat., and 74° 28' 15" and 75° 50' E.
long. Area, 758 square miles ; pop. (1868), 222,549 ; number of
villages, 400.
Gujranwala . — Chief town and administrative headquarters of
Gujránwála District, Punjab. Lat. 32° 9' 30" N., long. 74° 14' E. ; pop.
(1868 ), 19,381, comprising 7951 Hindus, 9019 Muhammadans, 1867
Sikhs, 85 Christians, and 459 others.' Lies on the Grand Trunk
Road and Northern State Railway, 40 miles north of Lahore. The
town is of modern creation, and owes its importance entirely to the
father and grandfather of Mahárájá Ranjit Sinh, whose capital it
460 GUJRAT DISTRICT.
formed during the early period of the Sikh power. Ranjit Sinh him
self was born at Gujranwala, and made it his headquarters until the
establishment of his supremacy at Lahore. Large dwelling-houses of
Sikh architecture line the main streets ; the minor lanes consist of
tortuous alleys, often ending in culs-de-sac. The town lies in a plain of
dead level, destitute of natural drainage ; and its sanitary condition has
called forth severe comments. Mausoleum to Máhan Sinh , father of
Ranjit Sinh ; lofty cupola covering a portion of the ashes of the great
Mahárájá himself. Civil station lies a mile south -east of the native
town. It contains the court-house, treasury, jail,dispensary, post office,
staging bungalow , and church . Trade in local produce only ; small
manufactures of country wares, including brass vessels, jewellery, shawl
edgings, and silk and cotton scarves. Municipal revenue in 1875-76,
£1767, or is. 87d. per head of population (20,215) within municipal
limits.
Gujrát.— A British District in the Lieutenant-Governorship of the
Punjab, lying between 32° 10' 30" and 33° n . lat., and between 73° 20 '
and 74° 31' E. long., with an area (according to the Parliamentary Return
of 1877) of 2029 square miles, and a population in 1868 of 616 ,347
persons. Gujrát forms the easternmost District of the Ráwal Pindi
Division. It is bounded on the north -east by the Native State of
Kashmir, on the north-west by the river Jhelum (Jhilam ), on the west
by Shahpur District, and on the south -east by the rivers Távi and
Chenáb, separating it from the Districts of Sialkot and Gujranwala.
The administrative headquarters are at the town of GUJRAT, 4 miles
from the present bed of the Chenáb .
Physical Aspects. — The District of Gujrát comprises a narrow wedge
of sub-Himalayan plain country , enclosed between the boundary valleys
of the Jhelum and the Chenáb. The tract of land thus cut off
possesses fewer natural advantages than any other portion of the sub
montane Punjab region . From the basin of the Chenab on the
south , the general level of the country rises rapidly toward the
interior, which , owing to the great depth of water below the surface,
begins to assume a dreary and desert aspect almost from the very
base of the great mountain chain itself. The bed of the Jhelum on
the northern boundary of the District has an elevation of 11 feet
above that of its south -eastern affluent, and thus testifies to the
considerable rise in the general surface of the upland plateau. A
range of low hills, known as the Pabbi, traverses the northern angle of
Gujrát, commencing on the Jammu frontier, 5 miles below the town of
BHIMBAR, and passing south -westward in a direct line till it abuts
upon the bank of the Jhelum ; rising again beyond the valley of that
river, the system trends northwards once more , and ultimately merges
in the Salt range. These hills consist of a friable tertiary sandstone
 GUJRAT DISTRICT. 461
and conglomerate, totally destitute of vegetation, and presenting to the
view a mere barren chaos of naked rock, deeply scored with precipi
tous ravines. The highest point attains an elevation of 1400 feet
above sea level, or about 600 feet above the surrounding plain .
Immediately below the Pabbi stretches a high and undulating plateau,
which runs eastward across the whole breadth of the Doáb, and ter
minates abruptly in a precipitous bluff some 200 feet in height, over
looking the channel of the Távi, an affluent of the Chenab, in the
north -eastern corner of the District. At the foot of the plateau, again ,
succeeds a dry but not infertile champaign country, bounded by a low
land strip some 8 miles in width , which forms the actual wider valley
of the Chenáb itself, and participates in the irrigation from the river
bed. Scarcely one-fifth of the plain has been brought under the
plough ; the remainder consists of brushwood jungle, valued only as a
pasture-ground for the herds of cattle which make up the principal
wealth of its inhabitants. The dreary and sterile aspect of the country
increases in a marked degree as we move westward. Even in the
best portion of the plain, water can only be obtained in wells at a
depth of 60 feet below the surface, which precludes the possibility of its
general use for purposes of irrigation. At the foot of the high bank ,
however, which terminates this central plain , the Chenab lowlands
have a fertile soil of consistent loam , whose natural fruitfulness
is enhanced by artificial water supply from the mountain streams,
which pass in deeply-cut channels through the dry uplands, but expand
once more into broad reaches as they flow through the alluvial fats.
Close to the actual channel, a fringe of land, some 2 } miles in width,
is exposed to inundation from the flooded river , and produces rich
crops upon the virgin silt. A similar belt of lowland fringes the
Jhelum ; but the deposits from this river contain a large admixture of
sand, which renders the soil far less fertile than in the valley of the
Chenáb . The District as a whole is well wooded , and great attention
has been paid to arboriculture . The State preserves some 60,000
acres of waste land for the growth of timber, under the management
of the Forest Department.
History. — Numerous relics of antiquity stud the surface of Gujrát
District. Mounds of ancient construction yield considerable numbers
of early coins, and abound in archaic bricks, whose size and type
prove them to belong to the prehistoric period of Hindu architecture.
General Cunningham has identified one of these shapeless masses,
now occupied by the village of Moga or Mong, with the site of
Nikæa, the city built by Alexander on the field of his victory over
Porus. This mound, a conspicuous object for many miles around, lies
about 6 miles west of the Pabbi rạnge, and has a height of 50 feet, with a
superficial dimension of 600 by 400 feet. Copper coins of all the so
462 GUJRAT DISTRICT.
called Indo-Scythian kings are found in abundance amongst the rubbish
which composes the heap . Gujrát itself evidently occupies an ancient
site, though the existing town dates only from the time of Akbar. Ját
and Gújar tribes form the principal elements of the population , and
their legends afford a concurrence of testimony in favour of the view
that their ancestors entered the District from the east in comparatively
modern times. The Delhi Empire first made a settlement in this
portion of the Punjab under Bahlol Lodi (A .D . 1450 -88), by whom the
town of Bahlolpur upon the Chenáb , 23 miles north -east of Gujrát,
was founded as the seat of Government. A century later, Akbar
visited the District, and restored Gujrát as the local capital. That
emperor's administrative records are still extant, having been preserved
in the families of the hereditary registrars (kanúngos). They exhibit
Gujrát as the centre of an administrative division comprising 2592
villages, and producing a revenue of £163,455. During the long
decay of the Mughal power, the District was overrun by the Ghakars
of RAWAL PINDI, who probably established themselves at Gujrat in
1741. The country also suffered at the same time from the ravages
of Ahmad Shah Durání, whose armies frequently crossed and recrossed
the District. Meanwhile the Sikh power had been asserting itself
in the eastern Punjab ; and in 1765, Sardár Gújar Sinh, head of the
Bhangi Confederacy, crossed the Chenab, defeated the Ghakar chief,
Mukarrab Khán, and extended his dominions to the banks of the
Jhelum . On his death in 1788, his son , Sahib Sinh , succeeded to
the domains of his father, but became involved in war with Máhan
Sinh , the chieftain of Gujranwala, and with his son, the celebrated
Ranjit Sinh. After a few months of desultory warfare in 1798, the
Gujrát leader found it well to accept a position of dependence under
the young ruler of Gujranwala . At length in 1810, Ranjit Sinh , now
master of the consolidated Sikh empire, determined to depose his
tributary vassal. Sahib Sinh withdrew to the hills without opposition ,
and shortly afterwards accepted a small portion of the present Sialkot
District as a private landowner. In 1846 , Gujrat first came under the
supervision of British officials, a settlement of the land tax having been
effected under orders from the Provisional Government at Lahore.
Two years later, the District became the theatre for the series of im
portant battles which decided the event of the second Sikh war. While
the siege of MULTAN (Mooltan) still dragged slowly on ,Sher Sinh estab
lished himself at Ramnagaron , the Gujranwala side of the Chenáb, 22
miles below Gujrát, leaving the main body of his army on the northern
bank. Here he awaited the attack of Lord Gough , who attempted
unsuccessfully to drive him across the river, 22nd November 1848. Our
commander withdrew from the assault with heavy loss ; but sending
round a strong detachment under Sir Joseph Thackwell by the Wazír
 GUJRAT DISTRICT. 463
ábád ferry, he turned the flank of the enemy, and won the battle of
Sadullápur. Sher Sinh retired northward,and took up a strong position
between the Jhelum and the Pabbi Hills. The bloody battle of Chilián
wála followed (13th January 1849), a victory as costly as a defeat.
On 6th February , Sher Sinh again eluded Lord Gough's vigilance,
and marched southwards to make a dash upon Lahore ; but our army
pressed him close in the rear, and, on the 22d of February, he turned
to offer battle at Gujrat. The decisive engagement which ensued
broke irretrievably the power of the Sikhs. The Punjab lay at the feet
of the conquerors, and passed by annexation under British rule. At
the first distribution of the Province, the whole wedge of land between
the Chenáb and the Jhelum , from their junction to the hills, formed a
single jurisdiction ; but a few months later, the south -western portion
was erected into a separate charge, with its headquarters at SHAHPUR.
Various interchanges of territory took place from time to time at later
dates ; and in 1857, the north -eastern corner of the original District,
comprising the tongue of land between the Távi and the Chenáb, was
transferred to Siálkot. Gujrát District then assumed its present form .
Population . — The first Census of Gujrát took place in 1855, and
it returned the number of inhabitants in the area now composing
the District at 500, 167 souls. A second enumeration, effected in
1868, disclosed a total population of 616 ,347, showing an increase
of 116 ,180 persons, or 23:22 per cent in the thirteen years. The
last-named Census was taken over an area of 1900 square miles,
and it resulted in the following statistics :— Number of villages, 1429 ;
number of houses, 156,195 ; persons per square mile, 324 ; villages
per square mile, 0975 ; houses per square mile , 82 ; persons per
village, 430 ; persons per house, 3.94. The western portion of the
District is very sparsely populated. Classified according to sex, there
were — males , 331,919 ; females, 284,428 ; proportion of males, 53.85
per cent. Classified according to age, there were , under 12 years
males, 124,368 ; females, 106 ,456 ; total children , 230,824, or 37: 45
per cent. As regards religious distinctions, Gujrát is an essentially
Musalmán District, where the ancient religion has been almost
crushed out, and the Sikh reaction has produced but little effect. In
1868, the Muhammadans numbered no less than 537,696, or 87.24
per cent. ; while the Hindus amounted to only 53,174, or 8:63 per
cent., and the Sikhs to 20,653, or 3 .35 per cent. The District also
contained 49 Christians, and 4775 others.' The agricultural popula
tion was returned at 355,152 persons, of whom 109,983 were males above
18 years of age. Among Hindus and Sikhs, the ethnical divisions
comprised 9377 Bráhmans, 20,697 Kshattriyas, 20,150 Arorás, and
1749 Játs. The Muhammadans included 14 ,808 Sayyids, 25,352
Rajputs, 160,879 Játs, and 84,966 Gújars. Hence it appears that
464 GUJRAT DISTRICT.
the mass of the Musalmán population consists of converts to Islám ,
drawn either from the old Rájput
faith ofof the Llus aristocracy, Amon forcibly
c be who were
ive orreedfrom lithe
the Prophet, cent
ef. lower ercastes,
brought under the faith
which readily exchanged the exclusive creed of their fathers for
the comparative freedom of the Muhammadan belief. Among those
who profess the two branches of the ancestral religion , 70 per cent.
belong to tribes engaged almost exclusively in commerce. The most
important Rájput tribe is that of the Chibs, who occupy the country
immediately below the Himalayas, both in this District and in Jammu,
and hold a high social rank. The Játs and Gújars, comparatively
recent converts to Islám , engage in agriculture or pastoral pursuits over
the central uplands. In 1875-76 , the District contained 4 municipal
towns with a population exceeding 5000 — namely, GUJRAT, 17,391;
JALALPUR, 14 ,022 ; KUNJAH , 5354 ; and DINGA, 5077.
Agriculture. — Wheat forms the staple product of the rabi or spring
harvest ; while the common millets, joár and bájra ,make up the chief
itemsin the kharif or autumn crops. Barley , gram , rice, pulses, oil
seeds, and cotton also cover considerable areas ; while sugar-cane
is grown in small quantities on the better irrigated soil. With the
exception of rice, which is of inferior quality, all these staples reach an
average level of goodness. The following statement shows the acreage
under each crop in 1875-76 :- Wheat, 260,621 acres ; barley , 66,430
acres ; gram , 30,822 acres ; oil-seeds, 53,379 acres ; joár, 71,570 acres ;
bájra , 129,076 acres ; pulses, 35,052 acres ; cotton , 21,466 acres ; sugar
cane, 6869 acres ; and rice , 7303 acres. No canals exist in the Dis
trict, either public or private ; and artificial irrigation is entirely con
fined to wells. Of these, 6772 were returned as in operation during
the year 1866 -67. Each well may be considered to supply water on
an average to an area of some 18 acres. In the central plateau, cul
tivation depends entirely upon the comparatively regular rainfall. In
1875 -76, 708,863 acres were returned as under cultivation, of which
267,893 acres were provided with artificial irrigation. The area under
tillage has largely increased of late years. Property in the soil rests
for the most part in the hands of the village communities, which differ
from one another only in the degree to which division of holdings has
been carried ; a very small number of villages still retain the prin
ciple of common proprietorship ; in the remainder, division has been
either partially or wholly effected . In any case, the State holds the
entire village responsible for the amount of the land tax assessed
upon it. Less than one-fourth of the tenants possess rights of occu
pancy. The average holding of a joint proprietor amounts to 18
acres ; of an occupancy tenant, 8 acres ; of a tenant-at-will, 5 acres.
The latter class invariably pay their rents in kind. Occasional
agricultural labourers also receive their wages in kind. In 1875-76,
 GUJRAT DISTRICT. 465
cash wages ranged from 6d. to 7d. per diem for skilled workmen ,
and from 3 d. to 4d. per diem for unskilled workmen. Prices of
food grains ruled as follows on ist January 1876 :— Wheat, 23 sers per
rupee, or 45. rod. per cwt.; barley, 35 sers per rupee, or 3s. 2d. per
cwt.; gram , 26 sers per rupee, or 4s. 4d. per cwt. ; joár, 40 sers per
rupee, or 2s. rod. per cwt.; bájra, 35 sers per rupee, or 3s. 2d. per cwt.
Owing to the regularity of the rainfall, drought is comparatively in
frequent. The famine of 1869-70 produced little effect on this District,
beyond raising the price of provisions to rather less than double the
above quotations.
Commerce and Trade, etc. — The petty merchants of Gujrát, Jalálpur,
Kunjáh , and Dingá hold in their hands the greater partof the localtrade.
The exports consist chiefly of grain , ghí, wool, and other agricultural
produce, most of which goes down the river to Múltán (Mooltan ) or
Sakkar ; but the opening of the Northern State Railway now affords a
new outlet for traffic . The imports come chiefly from Lahore, Amritsar,
Jammu, and Pind Dádan Khán. Boats sent down the stream seldom
return , being bought up upon their arrival at their destination , and
employed in the lower navigation of the three rivers. The Northern
State Railway passes through the District from south -east to north
west, with stations at Gujrát, Lála Musa , and Khárián. The bridge
across the Chenáb was formally opened by the Prince of Wales in
January 1876 ; while another leads across the Jhelum into the District
of that name. Bridges of boats conduct the Grand Trunk Road over
both rivers. Good branch lines of road connect Gujrát with all
surrounding centres ; that to Bhimbar being much frequented as a
route to Kashmír. In 1875-76, the District contained 55 miles of
metalled and 650 miles of unmetalled roads.
Administration . — The total revenue derived from the District in
1861-62 amounted to £55,171. By 1875 -76, it had increased to
£64,425. This gain is chiefly due to improvement in the land-tax,
while the remaining increase must be set down to the items of excise
and stamps. The land settlement now in force took place in 1865 ,
and will have effect till the year 1886 -87. Besides the imperial
revenue, the District contributes a sum of about £10,000 by local
cesses for expenditure on works of public utility within its limits. In
1875-76, 11 civil and revenue judges of all kinds held jurisdiction in
the District, three of whom were covenanted civilians. The regular
police force in the same year numbered 514 men , giving an average
of i constable to every 365 square miles of area and every 1199 of
the population. This force was further supplemented by a body of
620 village watchmen (chaukidárs). For the six years ending 1872,
the District criminal calendar showed an aggregate list of 28 murders,
and 33 cases of dacoity and robbery with violence. Thefts and
VOL. UL. 2 G
466 GUJRAT TAHSIL AND TOWN.
criminal trespasses in 1872 together numbered 1414. The District jail
at Gujrát received in 1872 a totalnumber of 797 prisoners. During
the same year, the number of State -supported schools amounted to 46 ,
schohich theTheimpeducational
3550 scholars.
having a joint roll ofof 3550 mong numshowed
erlas one abudget ber
an expenditure of £1613, of which the imperial revenues contributed
£1221. The District school at Gujrát ranks as one among the eight
“ higher class ' schools of the Punjab. In 1875-76, the number of
schools was returned as 47, and that of pupils as 3600. These figures
show an average of 43•1 square miles for each school, and 58
scholars per thousand of the population. In 1875 -76, the District
contained 4 municipalities — namely , GUJRAT, JALALPUR, KUNJAH ,
and DINGA. They had a joint revenue of £1675, giving an average
incidence of 9 d. per head of their united population.
Medical Aspects. — Gujrat generally bears an excellent reputation as
a healthy District, but excessive irrigation in the neighbourhood of
the headquarters town is said to breed fever and ague. Small-pox
prevails largely along the eastern border, imported probably from
Jammu from time to time. The official returns of 1875-76 state the
total number of deaths recorded in the District during that year as
11,294, being at the rate of 18 per thousand of the population . In the
towns of Gujrát and Jalálpur, 547 and 517 deaths respectively were
registered ; being at the rate of 31 and 36 per thousand . The Dis
trict contains 6 charitable dispensaries, which gave relief in 1875 to
31,788 persons, of whom 329 were in -door patients. I have obtained
no thermometric returns, but the heat at Gujrát is considered mode
rate, even in the months of May and June, owing to the proximity of
the hills. The average rainfall varies from 33 inches immediately below
the Himalayas to 26 inches or less in thewestern uplands. As a rule ,
the fall is regular, nor does the District suffer from drought so much
as many of its neighbours. The annual average for the whole District
during the eight years ending 1873-74 was 28.5 inches.
Gujrát.— South -eastern tahsil of Gujrat District, Punjab ; situated
between 32° 24' and 32° 53' n. lat., and between 73° 49' 30% and
74° 31' E. long., consisting chiefly of the lowland tract along the
Chenáb. Area , 552 square miles; pop. ( 1868), 272,055 souls ; river
number of villages, 553; persons per square mile, 492.
Gujrát. - Chief town and administrative headquarters of Gujrát
District, Punjab, lying a short distance to the north of the present bed
of the Chenáb . Lat. 32° 34' 30 " N., long. 74° 7' 15" E.; pop. ( 1868),
14,905, consisting of 5499 Hindus, 8979 Muhammadans, 307 Sikhs,
and 120 others.' Pop. (1876 ), 17,391. Stands upon an ancient
site, formerly occupied by two successive cities ; the second of which
General Cunningham supposes to have been destroyed in A.D . 1303,
the year of an early Mughal invasion of Delhi. Nearly 200 years later,
 GULARIHA - GUMANI. 467
Sher Shah turned his attention to the surrounding country, and either
he or Akbar founded the existing town . Though standing in the
midst of a Ját neighbourhood, the fort was first garrisoned by Gújars,
and took the name of Gujrát Akbarábád . Remains of the imperial
period still exist. During the reign of Shah Jahan , Gujrát became
the residence of a famous saint, Pír Shah Daula , who adorned the
city with numerous buildings from the offerings of his visitors. The
Ghakar chief, Mukarab Khán of Ráwal Pindi, held Gujrát for twenty
five years, till his expulsion in 1765 by the Sikhs under Sirdár Gújar
Sinh Bhangi. For subsequent history, see GUJRAT DISTRICT. The
town was rendered memorable during the second Sikh war by the
battle which decided the fate of the campaign , bringing the whole
Punjab under British rule. Akbar's fort, largely improved by Gújar
Sinh, stands in the centre of the town . The civil station lies to the
north of the native city, and contains the court-house , treasury, jail,
dispensary, police lines, staging bungalow , and post office. The trade
ommon use form Coarse
gold anisd inconsiderable.
inof Gujrát otton clcloth
these ccotton oth ., pottery, and other
articles of common use form the chief manufactures. Inlaid work
in gold and iron, however, known as Gujrát ware , has acquired a
considerable reputation , and meets with a ready sale among Euro
peans as a spécialité of Punjab art. Municipal revenue in 1875-76 ,
£780, or 104d. per head of population (17,391) within municipal
himits.
Gulariha . — Town in Unao District, Oudh ; 36 miles from Unao
town , and 16 from Purwa. Lat. 26° 24' N ., long. 81° 1' E. Founded
about 500 years ago by one Gulár Sinh Thákur. Pop. (1869), Hindus,
4029 ; Muhammadans, 94 ; total,4123. Government school.
Guledgud. — Town and municipality in Kaládgi District, Bombay ;
situated 22 miles south-east of Kaládgi, and 9 miles north -east of
Bádámi. Lat. 16° 3' N., long. 75° 50 ' E. ; pop. ( 1872), 10,674 ;
municipal revenue (1874-75), £380 ; rate of taxation, 8 d. per head.
Local manufactures of cotton and silk cloth , which are exported to
Sholapur, Poona, the Konkan , and Bombay. Post office.
Gulerí. — Pass across the Sulaimán Hills, Afghánistán ; much
frequented by the Povindah traders on their journeys from Kábul and
Kandahár into the Punjab. — See GOMAL.
Guma. - One of the Eastern Dwars attached to Goálpára District,
Assam . Area, 96.14 square miles, of which only 6.53 are returned as
under cultivation ; pop. (1870), 19,240 males and 17,807 females
total, 37,047, residing in 6888 houses. - See DWARS, EASTERN .
Gumání. — River of the Santál Parganas District, Bengal ; rises in the
southern division of the Rájmahal Hills, and at first runs north - east into
the Barháit valley. It is there joined by the Moral, coming from the
northern hills ; and the united stream , which has thus collected the
 468 GUMANI- GUMSAR .
entire drainage of the range, flows south -east through the GhátiáríPass
to join the Gangesnear Mahadeo-nagar.
Gumání. — Name given to the ATRAI River of Northern Bengal,
when it passes through the southern extremity of the Chalan bil in
Rájsháhí District,whence it passes into Pabná.
Gumár. – Village in Mandi State, Punjab, on the southern slope of
the Himalayas. Lat. 31° 57' N ., long. 76° 24' E. Thornton states that
it contains a mine of rock-salt, rudely worked under the control of the
Mandi Rájá .
Gumgaon. - Town in Nagpur District, Central Provinces ; situated
on the Waná river, 12 miles south of Nagpur town. Lat. 21° 1' N.,
long. 79° 2' 30" E. ; pop. (1870), 3342, chiefly agricultural, though the
Koshtis largely manufacture cotton cloth . Near the police quarters, and
commanding the river, are the remains of a considerable Marhattá
fort, and near it a fine temple of Ganpatí, with strongly built walls of
basalt facing the river. Both fort and temple were built by Chímá
Bái, wife of Rájá Raghojí 11., since whose time this estate has continued
in the direct possession of the Bhonslá family .
Gumnayakan -palya. — Táluk in Kolár District,Mysore, with head
quarters at BAGEPALLI. Area, 342 square miles ; pop. ( 1871), 48,600 ;
land revenue ( 1874-75), exclusive of water rates, £,6485, or 3s. 4d . per
cultivated acre. Products, a fine breed of sheep and iron ore.
Gumnayakan-palya.— Village in Kolár District, Mysore. Lat. 13°
48' 15" n., long. 77° 58' 10" E. ; pop. (1871), 239. Situated on a small
rocky hill, crowned with fortifications, erected by a local chief, Gumna
Náyak, about 1364. The family gradually extended their territory,
and maintained their independence until overthrown by Haidar Ali.
Gúmsar (Ghumsar, or Goomsar). — Táluk in Ganjám District,
Madras. Houses, 32, 164 ; pop. ( 1871), 158,061, viz. males, 79,300 ,
and females, 78,761. Classified according to religion, there were
Hindus, 157,054, including 124,436 Vishnuvites and 9590 Sivaites ;
Muhammadans, 366 , of whom 321 were Sunnis ; Christians (chiefly
Roman Catholics), Eurasian 6 , native 146 — total, 193 ; no Buddhists
or Jains. The Gúmsar country till 1835 was native territory ; but
in that year the chief rose in rebellion against the British power, a
military expedition was despatched against him , and his territory was
annexed . One of the principal benefits which resulted from this ex
pedition was the suppression of the practice of human sacrifice, which,
as was then discovered for the first time, prevailed to a considerable
extent among the Kandhs, a wild tribe inhabiting the hilly country
in the neighbourhood. - See Orissa TRIBUTARY STATES, BUNDARE, etc.
Gúmsar. — Town in above táluk, Ganjám District, Madras. Lat.
19° 50' n., long. 84° 42' E.; containing (1871) 408 houses and 2319
inhabitants. Formerly the chief town of the táluk to which it gives
 GUMTI RIVER. 469
its name; 6 miles south -east from Russellkonda, the present head
quarters town. Previous to the disturbances of 1835-36, it was the
seat of the Gúmsar chiefs, and members of the family still reside
there. The town is now of no importance.
Gumti. — River of the North -Western Provinces and Oudh. It
rises in Shahjahánpur District of the North -Western Provinces, in an
alluvial tract between the Deoha or Gara and the Gogra rivers. Its
source is in a small lake or morass called the Phaljar Tál, in lat. 28°
37' N., long. 80° 7' E. ; 19 miles east of Pilibhit town, and about 605
feet above sea level. The river takes a sinuous, but generally south
eastern course for 42 miles, when it enters Oudh in Kheri District, in
lat. 28° 11' N., long. 80° 20' E. It continues its course to the south
east, till at about 94 miles from its source it receives the Kathna as a
tributary on its left bank , in lat. 27° 28' N ., long. 80° 27' E. Continuing
south - eastwards for 80 miles farther, and receiving during its course the
Saráyan in lat. 27° 9' N., long. 80° 55' E., Lucknow city is reached, where
· the river is spanned by five bridges. The river here becomes navigable
throughout the year; its banks are from 30 to 70 feet high, and it
has a minimum cold -weather discharge of 500 cubic feet per second.
Below Lucknow , the valley of the Gumti becomes very narrow , and
the scenery picturesque. At Sultánpur, about 170 miles south -east of
the Oudh capital, the stream in the dry season is 100 yards wide,
with a depth of 4 feet, and a current running at the rate of 2 miles
an hour. About 52 miles south -east of Sultánpur, the river re-enters
the North -Western Provinces in Jaunpur District. At Jaunpur town ,
30 miles from the Oudh frontier, the Gumti has become a fine stream ,
spanned by a bridge of 16 arches ; 18 miles below Jaunpur, it receives
the Sái river on its left bank ; and 33 miles lower, in Benares District,
the Nind river also on the left bank. Five miles below this last
point, the Gumti falls into the left bank of the Ganges, in lat. 25°
31' N., long. 83° 13' E., after a total course of about 500 miles. Just
above the confluence, the Gumti is crossed by a bridge of boats in the
cold and hot weather, which is replaced by a ferry in the rainy season .
The Gumti is navigable byboats of 500 maunds, or about 17 tons burden ,
throughout the year as far as Diláwarpur Ghát, near Muhamdi in Kheri
District. The worst shoals are in Sultánpur District. Average fall, 8
inches per mile .
Gumti. — River in Tipperah District, Bengal; formed by the junc
tion of two rivers — the Chaima and Ráimá, which rise respectively in
the Atármurá and Lanktharái ranges of the Tipperah Hills. These
streams unite to form the Gumti near the eastern boundary of the
Tipperah State, justabove the succession of rapids known as the Dumrá
Falls. The Gumti enters Tipperah District near the village of Bibíbázár,
about 8 miles east of Comillah, and divides the District into two nearly
470 .GUNA - GUNDLAKAMMA .
equal portions. After a westerly course, it joins the Meghná at Dáúd
kándi,in lat. 23° 31'45" n., long. 90°44' 15" E. Its entire length, inclusive
of windings, is 66 miles ; but from the point where it enters British
territory to where it empties itself into the Meghná, its direct length is
36 miles. During the rains, the Gumti is deep and rapid ; in the cold
and dry seasons, it becomes fordable atmany places. The chief tribu
taries in Tipperah Hill State are the Kásiganj, the Pithráganj, and the
Mailákсherral,all on the right or north bank. The principal towns
on the Gumti are COMILLAH , Jáfarganj, and Pánchpukuria . Ferries
at Comillah , Companyganj, and Nurpur.
Gúna (Goona). — Tract of country in Central India, comprising the
States of RAGHUGARH and PARON (known as the Gúna Agency ).
Gunás. — Pass in Bashahr State, Punjab, across the southern
Himálayan range. Lat. 31° 21' n., long. 78° 13' E. The path winds
up the bank of the river Rupin , a tributary of the Tons, and crosses
an expanse of snow , as far as the eye can reach , over the northern
slope. Elevation of the crest, 16 ,026 feet above sea level.
Gund. - Petty hill State in the Punjab ; tributary to the Rájá of
KEUNTHAL. Area, 3 square miles ; estimated pop. 1000 ; estimated
revenue, £100 .
Gundamorla Bar. – Nellore District,Madras. Lat. 15° 31' N.,long.
80° 16 ' 30" E. An opening into the sea about 2 miles south of the
Gundlakamma river ; about 325 yards wide, and 7 feet deep.
Gundár (Gundu-ár or Shaumuganadi). – River in Madura District,
Madras ; formed by the junction of several streams which rise in the
Andipatti or Varshanád range, and meet about lat. 9° 36 ' N ., long. 780
14' E. After a south -easterly course of about 100 miles, it falls into
the sea at Kilkarái, lat. 9° 8' N., long. 78° 33' 30 " E.
Gundárdihi. — Chiefship attached to Raipur District, Central Pro
vinces; containing 52 villages, on an open and well-cultivated area of
80 or go square miles. Has belonged for 300 years to the family of
the present chief. Gundárdihi village is situated in lat. 20° 56' 30" N.,
long. 81° 20' 30" E.
Gúndialí. - One of the petty States of Jháláwár in Kathiáwár,
Bombay ; consisting of 2 villages, with 1 independent tribute-payer.
Estimated revenue, £1200 ; tribute of £140 is payable to the British
Government.
Gundlakamma (literally, “Stony Bed '). - River of Madras, which
rises in the Nalla Mallái Hills in KarnúlDistrict,near Gundla Brahmes
varam , in lat. 15° 40' N., long. 75° 49' E. After receiving two mountain
streams, the Jampaleru and the Yenamaleru , it passes into the low
country through the Cumbum (Kambham ) gorge, at which spot a fine
lake has been formed by a dam thrown across the course of the river.
This sheet of water, known as the Cumbum Tank, is about 13 miles in
 GUNDLAMAU - GUNDLUPET. 471
circumference. It then follows a tortuous course through Karnúl,
Kistna, and Nellore Districts, and finally falls into the Bay of Bengal,
12 or 14 miles north of Ongole, in lat. 15° 33' N.,long. 80° 18' E. The
principal or new mouth of the river is always open, varying in width ,
according to the season , from 600 to 250 yards, and in depth from 6 to
121 feet. The second mouth , called by the people Pata Gundla
kamma, is open only in the rains, and has a maximum depth of 6 feet
on the bar.
Gundlamau. — Pargana of Sítápur District, Oudh. Bounded on the
north by Machhrehta and Kurauna parganás; on the east by the
Sarayan river, separating it from Bári tahsil ; and on the south and
west by the Gumti river, separating it from Hardoi District. The
early inhabitants of the parganá were Kachheras,who were driven out
by the three sons of a Báchhil Kshattriya, one of whom , named Gonde
Sinh , founded and gave his name to the place. The descendants of
these Báchhils still own 53 out of the 67 villages which constitute the
pargana. The Kuchlái estate in the north -east of the parganá is
owned by a community of the tribe of the same name. The parganá
is , on the whole, a poor one, with a scanty population . The villages
to the east, bordering on the Sarayan , are much cut up by ravines; and
those to the west are subject to a deposit of sand blown from the
Gumti in the hot season ; a few of them , however, especially in the
south , have a fertile tract of tarái land fringing the river. Area , 65
square miles, of which 46 are cultivated ; incidence of Government
land revenue, 25. 6 } d . per acre on cultivated area, 25. old. per
acre on assessed area , and is. 9 d . per acre on total area. Rents
are paid almost entirely in kind. Pop. (1869), Hindus, 19,647 ;
Muhammadans, 573 ; total, 20,220, viz. 10 ,936 males and 9284
females; average density of population , 316 per square mile. Nomade
roads, but the Gumti and Saráyan afford good water communication .
Three small market villages, at which only the commonest articles of
trade are sold . No manufactures.
Gundlupet. — Táluk in Mysore District, Mysore State. Area, 539
square miles ; pop. (1871), 58,529 ; land revenue (1874 -75), exclusive
ofwater rates, £5697, or is. 4d. per cultivated acre. Has decreased
in population and prosperity during the present century.
Gundlupet. — Principal village in above táluk, Mysore District,
Mysore ; situated on the Gundul river, 36 miles south of Mysore
town . Lat. 11° 50' N., long. 76° 44' E. ; pop. (1871), 1000, including 109
Muhammadans, 14 Christians, and about 100 Márka or old Canarese
Bráhmans. Municipal revenue (1874-75), £95, or is. 11d. per head .
Old town, formerly called Vijáyapura , refounded about 1674 by
Chikka Deva Rájá , Wodeyar of Mysore, as being the scene of his
father's cremation . He built an agrahára, now destroyed , and a fine
472 GUNDWA - GURDASPUR DISTRICT.
temple to Aparamita Paravása Deva, fast falling to ruin. The pros
perity of the town suffered on the accession of Tipu Sultán , and it
has since been depopulated by fever.
Gundwa.— Pargana of Hardoi District, Oudh. Bounded on the
north and east by the Gumti, separating it from Aurangabad, Gund
lamau, and Manwan parganás, in Sítápur ; on the south by Malihabad
in Lucknow ; and on the west by Sandíla and Kalyánmal. The
portion of the parganá lying towards the Gumti consists of branching
ravines, occasional sandhills, and poor uneven stretches of sandy bhúr
land. Towards the south -east corner, an old channel of the river seems
to have silted up, and become converted into a network of jhils.
At a distance from the river, the soil changes from bhúr to dumát,
but the sand still remains as a substratum . A number of small creeks
and water-courses fall into the Gumti, carrying with them the over
flowings of the jhils in the interior. Area, 140 square miles, of
which 88 are cultivated. Government land revenue, £10 ,514 ;
average incidence, 3s. 9 d. per acre of cultivated area, or 25. 4 d.
per acre of total area. Staple products — barley and wheat, which
occupy gths of the cultivated area ; other crops - másh , gram , bájra ,
ahar, moth, joár, linseed, rice, kodo, and peas. Of the 117 villages
comprising the parganá, 48 form the táluka or estate of Bharáwán ;
36 are pattidári, 30 zamíndári, and 6 bhayáchári. Kshattriyas own
94 villages ; Brahmans and Káyasths, 7 each ; Kurmís, 3 ; and
Muhammadans, 6. Pop. (1869), Hindus, 53,643 ; Muhammadans,
3228 ; total, 56 ,871, viz . 29,989 males and 26 ,882 females ; average
density of population , 406 per square mile. An unmetalled road
intersects the parganá, and rough cart tracks link the main villages
together. Three Government village schools.
Guni. — Táluk in Haidarábád (Hyderabad) District, Sind ; situated
between 24° 30' and 25° 13' n . lat., and between 68° 19' and 68°
50' E. long. Pop. (1872), 59,971 ; area, 989 square miles ; revenue
(1873-74), £ 11,545.
Guntoor. — Táluk and town in Kistna District, Madras. - See
GANTUR .
Guptasar. - Sacred cave in Shahabad District, Bengal; about 7
miles from Shergarh . It is situated in a glen, and the entrance, about
18 feet wide by 12 high, lies a little way up the hill ; the surface of
interior is everywhere broken and irregular, and masses of rock project
from the sides. There are three galleries in the cave, one of which
contains the chief object of worship , viz . a stalactite revered as
Mahadeo. This cave has never been thoroughly explored, but its
various windings are said to be half a mile long.
Gurdaspur. — A British District in the Lieutenant-Governorship
of the Punjab, lying between 32° 30' and 31° 36' n . lat., and
 GURDASPUR DISTRICT. 473
between 74° 56' and 75° 45' E. long., with an area (according to the
Parliamentary Return of 1877) of 1818 square miles, and a popula
tion in 1868 of 906,126 persons. Gurdaspur forms the north -eastern
District of the Amritsar Division. It is bounded on the north by
the Native Himálayan States of Kashmir and Chámba, on the east by
Kángra District and the river Beas, on the south -west by Amritsar
District, and on the west by Sialkot. The administrative headquarters
are at the town ofGURDASPUR ; but BATALA is the chief centre of trade
and population .
Physical Aspects. — The District of Gurdaspur occupies the submon
tane portion of the Bári Doáb, or tract between the Biás (Beas) and
the Rávi, and stretches westward beyond the latter river so as to
include a triangular wedge of territory which naturally belongs to the
adjoining District of Sialkot. An outlying spur of British territory
also runs northward into the lower Himálayan ranges, to include the
mountain sanitarium of Dalhousie. The rapid torrent of the Chaki
separates the Gurdaspur Hills from those of Kángra ; while beyond
the Rávi, the Jammu boundary encroaches on the submontane tract for
some 10 miles below the southern escarpment of the Himalayan system .
DALHOUSIE station crowns the westernmost shoulder of a magnificent
snowy range, the Dháola Dhár, between which and the plain two
minor ranges intervene. Below the hills stretches a picturesque and
undulating plateau, covered with abundant timber, and made green by
a copious rainfall. In the triangular wedge west of the Rávi, water
from hill streams is everywhere available for irrigation, besides conferring
additional fertility through the deposit of virgin loam . The streams of
the Bári Doáb, however, diverted by dams and embankments, now
empty their waters into the Beas directly, in order that their channels
may not interfere with the Bari DOAB CANAL, which derives its
supply from the Rávi. The centralwatershed of the Doáb consists of an
elevated plain , contracted to an apex just below the hills, but rapidly
spreading out like an open fan until it fills the whole space between
the two river beds. Well-defined banks terminate the plateau on
either side, the country falling abruptly away to the present level of the
rivers. The bank toward the Biás (Beas) valley attains a considerable
height, and is covered by a ridge of drifted sand ; that toward the Rávi
is lessmarked. The plain , though apparently a dead level, has a suffi
cient westward slope to cause a rapid flow of water in definite drainage
lines after heavy rain . Five principal water-courses of this description
collect a volume large enough to be employed for purposes of irrigation
many miles beyond the borders of the District. The Bári Doáb Canal,
drawing its supplies from the Rávi at Madhupur, just south of the
hills, runs for some miles through a deep cutting, but emerges on the
level a little east of Gurdaspur town, and divides into three main
474 GURDASPUR DISTRICT.
branches, which become immediately available for irrigation. The
District contains several large jhils or swampy lakes, whose shallows
afford excellent opportunities for the cultivation of rice and singhára.
History . - Few facts can now be recovered with regard to the early
annals of Gurdaspur. The principal cities during the Mughal period
were BATALA and PATHANKOT. The former town, situated in the
centre of the Doáb , was the residence of Shamsher Khán ,the Emperor's
foster-brother, who enlarged the walls, and built a magnificent tank,
which still exists. Pathankot, at the foot of the hills, once formed the
capital of a little Rájput State , said to have been established in the
12th century by one Jet Pál, an emigrant from Delhi. His family
afterwards transferred their residence to Núrpur, a town situated within
the hill tract, now included in the neighbouring District of Kángra .
Kalánaur also has some claims to antiquity , and finds mention in the
Muhammadan annals as the place where the great Akbar learned the
news of his father's death , and assumed the title of Emperor. Dehrá
Nának , on the Rávi, preserves the name of the founder of the
Sikh religion, who died in A. D . 1539 at a village on the opposite
bank. In spite of such local reminiscences, however, we know little of
the District as a whole during the days of the wide-spread Mughal
empire , beyond the fact that its government was administered from the
Provincial capital at Lahore. Our first distinct historical knowledge
begins with the rise of the Sikh confederacy. After long struggles with
the imperial governors on the one hand, and with Ahmad Sháh Duráni
on the other, the vigorous young sect found itself at last triumphant;
and from A. D . 1764, its chiefs began to parcel out the Punjab and the
cis-Sutlej country into such portions as each could conveniently hold.
The western section of the Bári Doáb fell into the hands of one Amar
Sinh , surnamed Bhaga, a Mán Ját from Amritsar, who joined the
community or misl known as the Kanhia . Other chieftains of the
samemisl occupied neighbouring estates on either side of the Ravi.
Batála fell to Jagra Sinh , the famous leader of the Rámgharia com
munity, together with DINANAGAR, KALANAUR , SRIGOVINDPUR, and
other surrounding towns. Jagra Sinh was expelled by the Kanhias,
but returned in 1783, and securely established himself in his former
dominions. He died in 1803, and his son Jodh Sinh succeeded to his
estates. The latter formed a close friendship with Ranjit Sinh, the
great Mahárájá of Lahore. On his death in 1816 , however, Ranjit
Sinh took advantage of a disputed succession to annex the whole of
his territories. The dominions of the Bhaga family in the westem
half of the District had been absorbed by the Sikh Lahore Govern.
ment in 1809. Beyond the Rávi, the triangular wedge, now attached
to this District, had fallen piecemeal into the power of Ranjít Sinh by
similar acts of spoliation between the years 1789 and 1813. Much of
 GURDASPUR DISTRICT. 475

the territory thus acquired remained in the hands of its masters on a

feudal tenure (jágír ), while other estates were similarly granted to new
holders. Pathankot and a few neighbouring villages in the plain ,
together with the whole hill portion of the District, formed part of the
area ceded by the Sikhs to the East India Company after the first Sikh
war in 1846. Under the original distribution of the new territory,
they were attached to Kángra ; but after the final annexation in 1849,
the upper portion of the Bári Doáb became a separate District, having
its headquarters at Batála. In 1855, the District received an addition
by the transfer of Shakargarh tahsil, beyond the Rávi, the headquarters
at the same time being removed to Gurdaspur. In 1861-62, the neck
of hills connecting the plains with the new sanitarium of Dalhousie was
acquired by the British Government ; and this addition brought the
District into its present shape. The chief landholder in Gurdaspur at
the present time is Sardár Bhagwan Sinh of Batála, nephew of the great
Sikh general, Tej Sinh , who commanded at Firozsháh and Sobráon .
Tej Sinh obtained Batála in 1861 from the British Government,
whom he had so bravely opposed , in exchange for scattered estates in
other parts of the Province.
Population . — The numerous transfers of territory which took place
in the interval between the Census of 1855 and that of 1868 render it
impossible to give a detailed comparison of their results ; but it appears
that in the portion of the District unaffected by those changes, the
inhabitants increased during the thirteen years at the rate of about 121
per cent. The enumeration of 1868 was taken over an area of 1822
squaremiles,and it disclosed a totalpopulation of 906 ,126 persons, distri
buted among 2376 villages or townships, and inhabiting an aggregate
of 208,256 houses. From these data the following averages may be
deduced :- Persons per square mile, 496 ; villages per square mile, 1'29 ;
houses per square mile , 114 ; persons per village, 381; persons per
house, 4'35. Classified according to sex, there were — males, 501,247 ;
females, 404,879 ; proportion of males, 55'32 per cent. Classified
according to age, there were, under 12 years — males, 179,288 ; females,
150,693 ; total children , 329,981, or 36 .41 per cent of the whole
population . As regards religious distinctions, the population of
Gurdaspur is evenly distributed between the great leading sects. The
Hindus number 303, 107, or 33.45 per cent. ; the Muhammadans,
422,196 , or 46 .59 per cent. ; while the Sikhs are returned at 79,387,
and the others ' (including the sweeper class) at 101,436, or 8 76
and 11'19 per cent. respectively. The agricultural population
numbers 420,882 persons, of whom 202,382 are male agriculturists
above the age of 18 years. The ethnical division shows the following
results :- Játs, 126,200, ofwhom 87, 922 are Hindus or Sikhs, and 38 ,278
Muhammadans — they hold almost the whole of the uplands in the
476 , GURDASPUR DISTRICT.
Bári Doáb , the Muhammadans being most frequent in the neighbour
hood of the hills, while round Batála the Játs are almost universally
Sikhs ; Rájputs, 77,387, of whom 50,942 are Hindus, and the
remainder Musalmáns — the greater part of the submontane tract is in
the hands of Hindu Rajputs ; Bráhmans, 54,222 ; Gújars, 47,301, all
Muhammadans ; Kshattriyas 18,720 ; Kashmiris, 12,583 ; and
Patháns, 10,236. In 1875-76, the District contained 16 municipal
towns, but of these only 6 had a population exceeding 5000 souls
namely, BATALA, 26,897 ; DERA NANAK, 7199 ; DINANAGAR, 6626 ;
SUJANPUR, 6556 ; KALANAUR, 6030 ; and SRIGOVINDPUR, 5531.
GURDASPUR, the headquarters town , has 4137 inhabitants. The total
population of the 16 municipal towns amounts to 89,295 persons. Derá
Nának and Srígovindpur possess great sanctity in the eyes of the Sikhs.
The sanitarium of DALHOUSIE , 7687 feet above sea level, though only
returned as containing 2019 inhabitants, has a large fluctuating popula
tion during the warmer months.
Agriculture. — The District possesses throughout an excellent soil,
except in some small patches on the Biás (Beas) side, where sand
covers the surface. The chiefagricultural staples comprise wheat, barley,
and gram for the rabí or spring harvest, with rice, joár, bájra, pulses,
cotton, and sugar-cane for the kharif or autumn crop. Abundant
means of irrigation exist where required, either from canals, wells,
or mountain streams ; but in no part of the Punjab can better
crops be produced without such artificial aid . In 1875-76 , the total
cultivated area amounted to 855,675 acres, of which 140,639 acres
were protected by irrigation against the effects of drought. The Bári
Doáb Canal supplies 33,314 acres, and the remainder is watered by
private enterprise, chiefly from wells. The Rávi and the Biás (Beas)
inundate about 44,000 acres in time of flood. The acreage under the
principal crops in 1875 -76 was returned as follows :- Wheat, 196 , 142
acres ; barley, 124,013 acres ; gram , 21,449 acres ; rice, 75 ,057 acres ;
joár , 27,778 acres ; bájra , 12 ,259 acres ; pulses, 37,697 acres ; cotton ,
11,122 acres ; and sugar-cane, 32,899 acres. The large proportion of
the area devoted to the richer food- grains — the cereals and rice and
to commercial crops like cotton and sugar-cane, sufficiently attests the
agriculturalprosperity of the District. The usual types of village tenure
prevail throughout, differing from one another only in the varying
degrees of division between the coparceners. The returns of 1873-74
show that out of a total of 1942 villages, a purely communal tenure
exists in only 116 . Among the remainder, either the whole or a part
of the village lands has been divided off in definite portions to the
individual holders. By far the greater part of the area is cultivated by
tenants-at-will. Rents are almost universally paid in kind. Occasional
agricultural labourers also receive their wages in kind. Cash wages in
 GURDASPUR DISTRICT. 477

1875-76 ranged from 7 }d . to gd. per diem for skilled workmen , and
from 3 d . to 4id. per diem for unskilled workmen. During the same
year, the prices of food-grains ruled as follows:— Wheat, 21 sers per
rupee, or 55. 4d. per cwt.; barley, 22 sers per rupee , or 5s. id . per
cwt. ; gram , 25 sers per rupee, or 4s. 64. per cwt. ; bájra, 20 sers per
rupee, or 55. 7d. per cwt.
Natural Calamities. — The famine of 1869-70, which caused severe
distress in the adjoining District of Amritsar, scarcely affected the
prosperity of Gurdaspur. The harvests attained an average excellence ,
aand Jhigh
anuarprices
st January
ist 1870 enabled
y 1870, trthe
adeatcultivators
The sold
_wheat o10re serstheperctohirupee,
efmake
itemorallarge
cons2dprofits.
lris. ig.n per cwt.On
Commerce, etc. — The trade of the District consists mainly in the
export of its agricultural produce, the chief items being wheat, rice,
raw sugar, and cotton . These staples pass in small consignments by
road to Amritsar, or by boat to Lahore and Múltán (Mooltan ). The
imports are insignificant, as the wants of the District are chiefly met
by home production. English piece-goods, salt, and fancy articles
form the main items. The local traffic centres on Batála. Coarse
cotton cloth is manufactured in the villages, and better fabricsat Batála,
in imitation of the work of the Amritsar looms. The principal road of
the District connects Amritsar with Pathankot, at the foot of the hills ,
and passes through Batála , Gurdaspur, and Dinánagar. Minor lines
radiate from Batála and Gurdaspur to Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur, Sialkot,
and other surrounding towns. The total length of highways in 1875-76
was 54 miles of metalled and 507 miles of unmetalled road.
Administration. — The revenue of the District has been nearly
stationary for the last decade. In 1876 , the total receipts amounted to
£123,608, of which the land-tax yielded £108,641, or more than
five-sixths. The other items of importance were stamps and excise.
The present land settlement, effected in 1863-65, will continue in force
until 1883. Besides the imperial revenue, an income of not less than
£10,000 is raised by local cesses for expenditure upon works of public
utility within the District. The administrative staff usually includes
three covenanted or staff-corps civilians. An Assistant Commissioner
is always stationed at Dalhousie. In 1875 -76, the District contained
12 civil and revenue judges of all ranks ; and 14 officers exercised
magisterial powers. During the same year, the regular police force,
including the municipal constabulary, numbered 596 men ; being at
the rate of i policeman to every three square miles of area and every
1520 of the population . These forces are further supplemented
by a large body of rural watchmen (chaukidárs), of whose numbers,
however, no returns exist. The District jail at Gurdaspur received
in 1872 a total number of 862 prisoners. Education makes slow but
steady progress. In 1875-76, the State contributed to the support of
 478 GURDASPUR TAHSIL - GURGAON DISTRICT.
112 schools, having an aggregate roll of 5708 pupils, showing an
average area of 16 ' i square miles to each school, and 6 '2 scholars per
thousand of the population. During the same year, the 16 municipal
towns had a joint income of £5584, or is. 3d. per head of their
aggregate population .
Medical Aspects. — The climate at Gurdaspur station is comparatively
agreeable to Europeans even during the summer months ; but the heat
increases rapidly on receding farther from the hills. The mean
temperature in 1871 was 86 .85° in May, and 53:8° in December,at
Gurdaspur ; and 67.8° in May, and 46.96° in December, at Dalhousie.
The maximum in the shade during the same year was 113 3° at
Gurdaspur, and 85° at Dalhousie. The rainfall is regular and plentiful,
but decreases with the distance from the hills. The average annual
rainfall for the whole District for the eight years ending 1873-74
amounted to 30-96 inches. The District is not considered unhealthy,
though large swamps in the neighbourhood of some of the lesser
towns expose them to malarious fevers and ague ; and the sameresults
are attributed to alleged excessive irrigation elsewhere in the plains.
The total number of deaths recorded in 1875-76 was 38,519, being at
the rate of 42 per thousand of the population . Seven charitable
dispensaries afforded relief in the same year to 80,614 persons, of
whom 776 were in -patients.
Gurdaspur. – Central tahsil of Gurdaspur District, Punjab ; situated
between lat. 32° 12' 45" and 31° 47 ' 30 " N., and long. 75° 8' and 75'
38' 30" E.
Gurdaspur. — Chief town and administrative headquarters of
Gurdaspur District, Punjáb. Lat. 32° 2' 40" n., long. 75° 27' E.;
pop. (1876), 4137. Situated on the elevated plain midway be
tween the Rávi and the Beas, 44 miles north -east of Amritsar, on
the Pathankot road. Selected as headquarters in 1856, on account
of its central position . Small civil station , containing court
house and treasury , posting bungalow, sarái, tahsili, police station ,
post office , dispensary, and school-house. Well wooded and com
paratively cool, even during the summer months. Town unimportant,
except as a trading centre for the produce of the neighbouring
villages ; irrigated by the Bári Doáb Canal. Exports of sugar and food
grains to Amritsar. The proximity of the hill sanitarium of DALHOUSIE
renders Gurdaspur a favourite station with European officials.· Muni
cipal revenue in 1875-76, £376 , or is. 9 d. per head of population
(4137) within municipal limits. (Pop. in 1868, 3325.)
Gurgaon. - A British District in the Lieutenant-Governorship of
the Punjab , lying between 27° 39' and 28° 30' 45" n . lat., and
between 76° 20 '45" and 77° 35 ' E. long. ; area, 2015 square miles in
1868 (1980 by Parliamentary return of 1878); pop. (1868), 696,646.
 GURGAON DISTRICT. 479
Gurgaon forms the southern District of the Delhi Division. It is
bounded on the north byRohtak ; on thewest and south -west by portions
of the Ulwur (Alwár), Nábha, and Jind Native States ; on the south by
Muttra District of the North -Western Provinces ; on the east by the river
Jumna ; and on the north -east by Delhi District. The administrative
headquarters are at the town of GURGAON , but REWARI is the chief
ulation ..
centre of trade and population
Physical Aspects. — The District of Gurgaon comprises the southern
most corner of the Punjab, and stretches away from the level
plain which composes the greater portion of that monotonous Pro
vince, towards the hilly outliers of the great Rajputána tableland,
Accordingly , its surface presents a greater variety of contour than is
usual among the alluvial Districts to the north and west. Two low
rocky ranges enter its borders from the south , and run northward in a
bare and unshaded mass toward the plain country . The western ridge
divides the District for some distance from the adjacent Native State of
Ulwár (Alwár), and finally terminates in three low and stony spurs a few
miles south of the civil station ; while the eastern line disappears some
25 miles from the frontier, butagain crops up at thenorth -eastern angle,
and runs on into the District of Delhi, where it abuts at last upon the
Jumna close to the Mughal capital. The highest point of either range
does not exceed 600 feet above the level of the neighbouring plain ;
and a scanty growth of grass in the rainy season, together with a few
patches of scrub jungle , alone redeems the coarse sandstone summits
from utter sterility. The northern plain falls into two natural divisions,
on either side of the western range. Eastwards, the valley between
the two ridges lies wide and open throughout ; and after the escarp
ment of the shorter ridge, an alluvial level extends in an unbroken line
to the bank of the Jumna. The soil for the most part, though abruptly
diversified in character, affords great facilities for agriculture ; while
midway between the river and the hills, water occurs at a depth of 70
feet below the surface. Immediately at the foot of the uplands,
undulating hollows become filled with water during the rains, forming
extensive swamps. Westward from the sandstone range lies the sub
division of Rewári, almost entirely separated from the remainder of the
District, with which it is connected only by a narrow strip of territory.
It consists of a sandy plain , dotted with isolated hills, but having water
at a depth which permits of easy irrigation from wells. Though
naturally dry and sterile, it has grown under the careful hands of its
Ahír cultivators into a flourishing garden. Numerous torrents carry off
the drainage from the upland ranges ; and the most important among
them empty themselves at last into the Najafgarh jhil. This swampy
lake lies to the east of the civil station of Gurgaon , and stretches long
arms into the neighbouring Districts of Delhi and Rohtak. Embank
480 GURGAON DISTRICT.
ments raised for purposes of irrigation check the water of the smaller
torrents at their exit from the hills,and distribute it among thecultivated
fields around. The Jumna receives no tributaries in this District.
Salt is manufactured from brine in wells at twelve villages near Noh ,
and along the banks of the Najafgarh jhíl on the border of Rohtak.
Iron ore abounds in the southern portion of the hills, and Firozpur
(Ferozepore) in the extreme south once possessed considerable smelting
works, now rendered unremunerative by the exhaustion of the timber.
The other mineral products include copper ore, plumbago, and ochre.
Sonah , at the base of the western range, has a sulphur spring whose
medicinal properties rank high in the treatment of rheumatism , Delhi
ulcers, and other cutaneous disorders. The District contains no forest,
and few trees of any sort. Wolves are common in the hills, and
leopards are occasionally shot. Deer abound throughout ; nilgái may
be met with more rarely ; while jackals, hares, and foxes are found in
all parts of the District.
History. - Gurgaon possesses but little historical interest, and con
tains no noteworthy relics of antiquity. In the Muhammadan annals,
however, it finds frequent mention under the name of Mewát, or
country of the Meos, who form to this day one of the most important
of its tribes. These Ishmaelites of Upper India gave constant trouble
by their turbulence to the authorities of Delhi during the Mughal
period. Marauding bands would issue from the dense jungle , which
then clothed the whole western portion of the District, and plunder the
cultivated plain up to the very walls of the imperial city. So secure
were their fastnesses among the hills, that no repressive efforts ever
took permanent effect. Accordingly, Gurgaon remained without any
annals during the whole period of Mughal and Marhattá supremacy,
and passed into our hands as a mere desert after Lord Lake's conquests
in 1803. Semi- independent chieftains then held the territory on
military tenures ; and only the unalienated portion passed under the
civil administration of the Delhi Political Agent. Gradually, however,
as estate after estate lapsed from failure of heirs, or from forfeiture
through misconduct, the District assumed its present form . Many
years passed before order could be firmly established in these savage
wilds. Bishop Heber, who passed through Gurgaon in 1825, describes
the country as still badly cultivated, while he speaks of its state only
fifteen years before as resembling that of the tarái, abounding with
tigers, and having no human inhabitants except banditti. But under
the settled influence of British rule , improvements steadily and rapidly
progressed , so that the officers engaged upon the land settlement in
1836 found few traces either of the jungle or the tigers. The banditti
were still represented , perhaps, by many turbulent tribes, especially
among the Rájputs ; but the general condition of affairs had been
 GURGAON DISTRICT. 481
greatly ameliorated. No single date can be given for the extension of
direct British administration over the whole of this outlying tract.
The Rájá of Bhartpur ( Bhurtpore) at first farmed the country ; but his
grant was revoked on the outbreak of the Bhartpur war in 1804.
Thenceforth , the native chieftains held their lands direct from our
Government during good conduct; and the District was formed from
the various lapsed estates which fell in from time to time. The last
important addition took place in 1858, when the territories held by the
Nawab of Farrukhnagar were confiscated on account of his participa
tion in the Mutiny. The administrative headquarters were originally
fixed at the small cantonment of Bharawás, near Rewári, but were
transferred to the unimportant village of Gurgaon in 1821. The
District, with the rest of the Delhi territory, was annexed in 1832 to
the Government of the North -Western Provinces, and so remained
until 1858. On the outbreak of the Mutiny at Delhi in May 1857,
the Nawab of Farrukhnagar, the principal feudatory of the District,
rose in rebellion. The maraudingMeos and many Rájputs followed his
example, and flew to arms. A faithful native officer preserved the
public buildings and records at Riwári from destruction ; but with this
exception , British authority became extinguished for a time throughout
Gurgaon. So long as the siege of Delhi lasted, no attempt was
made to restore order ; but after the fall of the rebel capital, a force
marched into the District, and easily captured or dispersed the leaders
ofrebellion . Civil administration was resumed under orders from the
Government of the Punjab, to which Province the District was formally
annexed on the final pacification of the country .
Population . — A Census of the District effected in 1853, under the
Government of the North -Western Provinces, returned the total
number of inhabitants at 682,486 . A second Census, taken on
the roth of January 1868, showed an increase of 14,160, which
would probably have been far greater had not the disturbances of
1857 intervened between the two dates. The latter enumeration
extended over an area of 2015 square miles, and it disclosed a total
population of 696 ,646 persons, distributed among 1299 villages or town
ships, and inhabiting an aggregate of 156,775 houses. These figures
yield the following averages : - Persons per square mile, 345 ; villages
per square mile , 0 :64 ; houses per square mile, 7777 ; persons per
village, 536 ; persons per house, 4:59. A transfer of territory to Delhi
District a few months later reduced the area to 1981 square miles,
and the population to 690,295 ; which are the statistics accepted for
the gegeneral
the statements
nera sa notice . Classified according to sex,
86 retof this 370
the Censusl of 18688 returned ,251 males and 326 ,395 females ;
proportion of males , 53•15 per cent. Classified according to age,
there were, under 12 years — males , 133,532 ; females, 111,608 ; total
VOL. 111.
2 H
 482 GURGAON DISTRICT.
children , 245, 140, or 35'19 per cent. As regards religious distinctions,
the Hindus numbered 480,307, or 68.94 per cent. ; theMuhammadans,
216 ,147, or 31'02 per cent. ; while the Sikhs were returned at 130,
and others' at 62. The statistics of occupation show an agricultural
population of 397,492 persons, of whom 115,881 were males above 18
years of age. With reference to the ethnical divisions and caste
distinctions of the people, the Meos form the largest element, being
returned at 114,693. The Játs rank second in numerical order, with
a total of 75,567. The Meos are probably of pure Indian blood,
descendants of Rajputs by marriages with lower castes. They hold
large tracts of land in the southern portion of the District, and are now
without exception Musalmáns, though retaining many Hindu customs.
The tribe has laid aside its former lawless turbulence, and the Meo
villages rank among the most careful and industrious communities in
the Punjab . The Játs live chiefly in Palwal and the northern parganás.
Very few of them have deserted their ancestral religion for the faith
of Islám . Some of their villages worthily sustain the general high
reputation of the tribe ; but others, especially on the Delhi frontier,
are reported as ill cultivated. The Ahírs number 70,623 souls. They
form the bulk of the population in Rewári, and are justly esteemed
for the skill and perseverance with which they have developed the
naturally poor resources of that sterile region. The Bráhmans are
returned at 55,402 ; Banias, 38,214 ; Gújars, 21,818 ; Rájputs, 12,867;
and Ránghars, 5883. The two last-named tribes bear a bad name
as indolent and thriftless cultivators, and swell the returns of crime
far beyond their just proportion . The criminal class of Minas, found
only in Gurgaon District, are notorious for their thieving propensities.
Deví, under the name of Sítala, as goddess of small-pox, forms the
chief object of Hindu worship throughout the District. In 1875 -76 ,
the municipal towns numbered four, with populations as follows:
REWARI, 25,237 ; FIROZPUR (Ferozepore ), 10,580 ; PALWAL, 13,542 ;
FARRUKHNAGAR , 10,611 ; total population within municipal limits,
59,970. The other chief towns, with populations as returned in 1868,
include- GURGAON , 3539 ; SOHNA, 7507 ; HODAL, 7032 ; and Now,
4575. The headquarters town is only noticeable from the presence
of the civil station .
Agriculture.- Out of a total area of 1, 267,335 acres, as many as
967,440 were returned in 1875-76 as under cultivation. From the
remainder, 184,021 acres must be deducted for uncultivable waste,
leaving a narrow margin of only 115,874 acres of available soil not
yet brought under the plough. Wheat and barley form the principal
staples of the rabi or spring harvest ; while joár and bájra , the two
common millets, make up the chief itemsamong the kharif or autumn
crops. These millets compose the ordinary food of the people them
 GURGAON DISTRICT. 483
selves, the wheat and higher cereals being universally reserved for
exportation . Gram , oil - seeds, pulses, cotton , and tobacco are also
important crops. “ Irrigation is not very generally practised. The
Agra Canal, which draws its supplies from the Jumna somemiles below
Delhi, and traverses the eastern portion of the District, supplies a
small angle with water ; and dams on the hill torrents irrigate about
an equal area at the foot of the tableland. With these exceptions,
however, artificial irrigation can only be practised with great labour
from wells, often of immense depth . The use of the Persian wheel is
unknown, and water is drawn in leather buckets. The returns of
1875-76 give the area irrigated by State works at 2537 acres ; by
private enterprise , 135,462 acres ; dependent upon the seasons,
829,405 acres. The acreage under the principal crops in the same
year was returned as follows:- -Wheat, 158,890 acres ; barley , 169,894
acres ; joár, 117,853 acres; bájra , 195 ,225 acres ; gram , 95 ,602 acres ;
pulses, 151,380 acres ; oil-seeds, 1,
10,468 acres; cotton, 44,076 acres ;
195 23 acres
of th
and tobacco, 2507 acres. Village communities of the usual type own
the soil in varying degrees of communal or individual proprietorship .
Out of a total number of 1139 villages in 1873-74, only 237 retained
the primitive form of joint tenure ; in the remainder, the whole or
some part of the land had been divided into definite portions for the
separate sharers. Under all circumstances, the State holds the entire
village responsible for the payment of the land revenue assessed upon it.
By far the larger number ofunder tenants possess no rights of occupancy.
Rents are almost invariably paid in kind, by division of the produce,
the landlord receiving from one-fourth to one-half of the gross out-turn .
Occasional agricultural labour is also paid in kind. Cash wages in
1875 -76 ranged from 7d. to gd. per diem for skilled workmen , and
from 3d. to 4 d. per diem for unskilled workmen . Prices of food-grains
ruled as follows on ist January 1876 :— Wheat, 21 sers per rupee, or
55. 4d. per cwt. ; barley, 32 sers per rupee, or 3s. 6d. per cwt.; gram ,
293 sers per rupee, or 3s. 9fd. per cwt. ; joár, 33 sers per rupee, or
35. 5d. per cwt. ; bájra, 25 sers per rupee, or 4s. 5d. per cwt.
Natural Calamities. - Owing to the deficiency of artificial irrigation ,
Gurgaon must always be exposed to great risk from drought. Seven
periods of dearth have occurred since the disastrous year 1783, known
throughout Upper India as the San chálísa famine - namely, in 1803,
1812, 1817, 1833, 1837, 1860, and 1869. In 1833 and 1837, many
villages, according to report, lost their entire population through death
and emigration . In 1869-70, the distress was chiefly confined to the
crowd of starving immigrants from Rajputána, many of whom entered
British territory in too emaciated a condition to permit of their being
employed upon relief works. The autumn harvest of 1869 proved
moderate in its yield , thus averting the extremities of famine endured
484 GURGAON DISTRICT.
in some of the neighbouring Districts. Government organized effi
cient measures of relief, both gratuitously and by means of public
works; and in September 1869, the total number of persons obtaining
relief amounted to 8336. On ist January 1870, wheat sold at 8 sers
per rupee, or 145. per cwt. ; barley at 16 sers per rupee, or 75. per
cwt.; and bajrá at 20 sers per rupee, or 55. 5 d. per cwt.
Commerce and Trade, etc.— The traffic of Gurgaon District centres
entirely in the town of REWARI, which ranks as one of the chief
trading emporiums in the Punjab. Its merchants transact a large part
of the commerce between the States of Rajputána and the Northern
Provinces of British India. Salt from the SAMBHAR Lake, together
with iron, forms the principal import ; while sugar and English piece.
goods compose the staple items of the return trade. Hardware of
mixed metal is the chief manufacturing industry. In 1871-72, the
imports of Rewari were valued at £208,892, and the exports at
£99,028. Cereals and pulses are produced in the District considerably
beyond the needs of home consumption ; but the traders hoard the
surplus supply, and only part with it when high prices in some neigh
bouring market afford an unusually good opportunity for the seller.
In ordinary years, very little export of grain takes place. Now,
FIROZPUR (FEROZEPORE), Palwal, HODAL, and HASSANPUR are the
chiefminor marts for country produce. FARRUKHNAGAR is the entrepôt
for the Sultanpuri salt, obtained by evaporation on the banks of the
NAJAFGARH jhil, both in this District and in Rohtak. The means of
communication are not of the highest order. One good metalled road
traverses the District, from Delhi to Muttra , but the lines of greatest
mercantile importance are unmetalled , and become heavy and difficult
during the rainy season . The Rájputána State Railway, however, now
passes through the District, with stations at Gurgaon, Jhársa, Jatkoli,
Kalipur, and Rewári. A branch line from Jhársa connects Farrukh
nagar with the main system . In 1875-76 , Gurgaon contained 45 miles
ofmetalled and 741 miles of unmetalled road.
Administration . — The total revenue derived from the District in
1875-76 amounted to £111,885, of which £107,008 was contri
buted by the land-tax. The present settlement was set on foot in
the year 1871-72. Besides the imperial revenue, an income of about
£8000 is annually raised by local cesses, for expenditure upon works
of public utility within the District. The administrative staff usually
includes two covenanted civilians. In 1875-76 , 13 civil and revenue
judges had jurisdiction in the District, and 11 officers exercised magis
terial powers. During the sameyear, the regular police force, including
the municipal constabulary, numbered 605 men, yielding an average
of i policeman to every 3.27 square miles of area and every 1140
of the population . This establishment is further supplemented by
 GURGAON TOWN. 485
the usual rural body of village watchmen (chaukidárs), whose numbers,
however, are not on record. For the five years ending 1872, the
District calendar showed a total of 26 murders, and 73 cases of dacoity
and robbery with violence. The District jail at Gurgaon received
610 inmates in 1872. Education makes satisfactory progress. In
1875 -76, the State supported or aided 66 schools, with a joint roll of
3560 pupils, being an increase of 980 upon the numbers returned in
1872. These figures show an average area of 30 square miles to each
school, and 5 '1 scholars per thousand of the population. For fiscal and
administrative purposes, the District is subdivided into 5 tahsils. The 4
municipal towns had a joint revenue of £5101 in 1875- 76 , being at the
rate of 1s. 8 d. per head of the population within municipal limits.
Medical Aspects. — The summer heat of Gurgaon reaches a great
intensity . No neighbouring mountains or shady groves temper the
scorching rays of the sun ; while burning winds from the barren uplands
ofRajputána sweep over it with full effect. No record of temperature ,
however,exists. The average annualrainfall for the eightyears ending
1873-74 amounted to 23.5.2 inches. The dryness of the air is generally
favourable to health , but small-pox is very prevalent. The totalnumber
of deaths recorded in the District during the year 1875 was 18,938 ,
being at the rate of 27 per thousand of the population. In the towns,
however, where registration can be more effectually controlled, the
figures show much higher results, amounting to 53 per thousand at
Rewari,and 48 per thousand at Farrukhnagar. The District contained
4 charitable dispensaries in the same year, which afforded relief to
18,034 persons, ofwhom 973 were in -patients.
Gurgaon . — Northern tahsil of Gurgaon District, Punjab ; consisting
for the most part of a level cultivated plain .
Gurgaon . — Administrative headquarters of Gurgaon District,
Punjab ; situated on the Rájputána State Railway, distant 21 miles
south of Delhi. Lat. 28° 27' 30" N., long. 77° 4' E.; pop. ( 1868),
3539. The town scarcely deserves to rank higher than a country
village, with an administrative importance from the presence of
the civil station, which was removed hither from Bharawas in 1821.
At the beginning of the present century, Gurgaon formed part of
the estates held by the well-known Begam Samru of Sardhana ; which
lapsed on her death in 1836, and were incorporated with British
territory. The place then served for some timeas a military canton
ment ; and this circumstance, combined with the healthiness of the
situation , led to its adoption as District headquarters. The civil
authorities now occupy the old cantonment buildings. The station
stands like an island in the midst of cultivated fields. The public
buildingsinclude a court-house and treasury, police court, tahsili, police
station , dispensary, staging bungalow , and sarái.
 RA
486 GURJIPA - GURU -SIKAR .
Gurjipárá. — Trading village in Rangpur District, Bengal; with an
export of rice , paddy, and mustard.
Gurkhá. — Town in Nepál State ; situated 53 miles west of Khat
mandu, the capital. Lat. 27° 52' N ., long. 84° 28' E. It was formerly
the capital of the Gurkhás, or ruling race of Nepál, to whom it gave its
name.
Gurpur. - River in South Kanara District, Madras ; enters the sea
2 miles north of Mangalore, and , with the Nitrávati, formsthe Mangalore
Harbour.
Gurramkonda. — Town and ancient fort in Cuddapah District,
Madras. Lat. 13° 46' N., long. 78° 38' E. ; containing 394 houses and
(1871) 1948 inhabitants. One of themost important fortresses in the
Bálághát. It is supposed to have been first built by the Golconda
kings, and is situated on the summit of a detached and almost inac
cessible hill. It was the capital of Haidarábád (Hyderabad ) Bálághat,
one of the five circars (sarkárs) of the Karnatic, at the commencement
of the 18th century . Afterwards, when held by a Poligár under the
Kurpa (Cuddapah) Nawab , it was of such importance that the tenure
was purely military , and the governor had the privilege of coining
money . When Mir Sahib betrayed (1766 ) Sera, he received Gurram
konda (which had at some former time been held by his ancestors) as
a Marhattá jágír. Two years later, he made it over to Haidar, his
brother-in -law . In 1771, Sayyid Shah , Haidar's general, surrendered
it to Trimbak Rao. Tipú recaptured it in 1773. In 1791, the Nizam 's
forces, aided by a British battery under Captain Read, besieged Gurram
konda, and captured the lower fort, but the citadel held out till the
peace, when the place was ceded to the Nizám . In 1799, it was
transferred to the Company, with the rest of the District of Cuddapah .
Gursarái.— Town in Jhansi District, North -Western Provinces, and
capital of a small jágir estate. Lat. 25° 36 ' 55" N., long. 79° 13' 15 " E.;
pop. (1872), 6368 souls. Lies on the Jaláun and Ságar road , 40 miles
north-east of Jhansi. The Rájá is a Deccani (Dakhini) Pandit, whose
family settled in Bundelkhand under the Marhattá Peshwas. He ranks
as an honorary magistrate, with large civil and revenue powers, and
exercises independent jurisdiction on his own estates. The town con
sists in large part of brick -built houses and double -storied shops. An
imposing fort, with buildings raised to a height of 250 feet, overlooks it
from the west. Numerous retainers and followers of the Rájá swell
the population of the town. Chief trade in sugar, imported from
Hamirpur District. The estate comprises63 surrounding villages.
Gurudwara. — Town, Dehra Dún District, North -Western Provinces. I
- See DEHRA.
Guru -Sikar. — The name given to the highest peak of Mount Abu,
Rajputána ; elevation, 5650 feet above sea level. - See ABU.
 GURUVAYUR - GUZERAT. 487
Guruvayár. – Village in Malabar District, Madras. Lat. 10° 36' n.,
long. 76° 4' E. ; containing 1275 houses and (1871) 6703 inhabitants,
chiefly Nambúri Brahmans, Nairs, and high - caste Hindus. Notable
for its large temples, destroyed by Tipú in 1784, and restored by the
Zamorin 1794 .
Guthni. - Town in Sáran District, Bengal, situated on the east bank
of the Little Gandak river, 54 miles north -west of Chhapra . Lat.
26° 9' 45' N., long. 54° 5' E.; pop. (1872), 4379. Noted as being a
principal seat of the sugar manufacture. The town possesses 4 sugar
refineries, and has a large export trade. Fine bázár.
Guti. — Town, Bellary District, Madras. -- See Gooty,
Guwárich. — Pargana of Gonda District, Oudh. Bounded north
by the Tirhi river and Gonda parganá ; east by Digsár pargana ;
south by the Gogra river, separating it from Bára Bánki District ;
and west by Kurásar parganá in Bahráich . In the time of Suhel
Deo, the head of the Rajput confederate princes who ousted the
Muhammadan invaders under Sayyid Sálár Masáúd in 1032 A.D.,
Guwárich was included in the pargana of Rámgarh Gauriya in the
kingdom of Gauda, which comprised the present Districts of Gonda,
Basti, and Gorakhpur. It afterwards became included in the Kurása
ráj ; and on the downfall of Achál Sinh ( vide GONDA DISTRICT), it
passed into the hands of Maharaj Sinh, an illegitimate son of the late
Rájá , whose descendants are still in possession of the soil. Several
rivers and streams intersect the parganá, which slopes from north
west to south -east, the lower levels being the most fertile. Area , 267
square miles, or 170,962 acres, of which 99,142 acres are cultivated , as
follows : - Indian corn , 30,878 acres ; rice, 20,822 ; wheat, 14,875 ;
barley, 6055 ; gram , 3380 ; other produce, 23, 132 acres. Government
land revenue, £16 ,033. Pop. (1869), Hindus, 144, 395 ; Muham
madans, 10,350 ; total, 164, 745, viz. 89,820 males and 74,925 females.
Number of villages and towns, 219 ; average density ofpopulation , 577
per square mile.
Guzerat (Gujarát). — The name given to the northern seaboard of
the Bombay Presidency, extending from 20° to 24° 45' n . lat., and from
699 to 74° 20' E. long. It is bounded on the north by Rajputána,
on the east by the spurs of the Vindhya and Satpurá ranges, on
the south by the Konkan , and on the west by the sea. On the
mainland , it comprises the British Districts of SURAT, BROACH , KAIRA,
PANCH MAHALs, and AHMEDABAD , with a total area of 10,082 square
miles, and a population (1872) of 2,810,522 ; together with the great
but scattered territories of the Gaekwár of BARODA, and the Native
States of the MahI KANTA and Rewa KANTA Agencies, PALANPUR,
RADHANPUR , BALASINOR , CAMBAY, DANG , CHAURAR, BANSDA, PEINT,
DHARAMPUR, THARAD, SACHIN , WASRAVI, etc. The term Guzerat is
 R
488 GWALIO STATE .
sometimes also employed to include the peninsula of Káthiáwár,with its
180 petty States. Total area, inclusive of the peninsula of Káthiáwár,
41,536 square miles. For an account of the history, geography, etc. of
Guzerat, the reader is referred to the articles on the various States and
Districts mentioned above. Guzerat gives its name to the vernacular
of Northern Bombay, viz. Gujarathi,which forms one of the three great
languages of that Presidency ; the other two being Kanarese on the
south coast, and Marathi in the central and southern regions.
Gwalior. - Native State in political relationship with the Central
India Agency and the Government of India , the hereditary dominions
of the great Marhattá chief, Sindhia . The State consists of several
detached Districts ; the principal one being bounded on the north
east by the Chambal, dividing it from the British Districts of Agra and
Etawah ; on the east by Bundelkhand and Ságar (Saugor) District ; on
the south by the States of Bhopal and Dhar ; on the west by those of
Rájgarh , Jhaláwár, and Kotah ; and on the north -west by the Chambal,
which separates it from Karauli (Kerowlee) and Dholpúr in Rajputána.
Previous to 1860, the Mahárájá Sindhia possessed territories south of
the Narbadá (Nerbudda) ; but in that year and 1861, these were ex
changed for lands of equal value on the Sind and Betwa rivers. The
extreme points of the Gwalior territory lie between 22° 8' and 26° 50'
N. lat., and between 74° 45'and 79° 21' E. long. The area ofthe whole
State comprises 33,119 square miles, comprehending part of the ancient
Province of Agra , and most of Málwá.
The extreme north - eastern part of Gwalior, adjoining Agra, is
generally level, of no great fertility, and much cut up by deep pre
cipitous ravines in the vicinity of the streams. A little farther south,
in the vicinity of the town of Gwalior, the surface rises. The country
is dotted over with small isolated hills, which start abruptly out of
the level plain . One of them is the celebrated fortress of GWALIOR.
The geological formation of these rocky eminences is a fine-grained
sandstone, disposed in horizontal strata, and yielding an excellent
building stone, for which purpose it can be hewn in slabs of great
length and breadth . The other tract of Gwalior State, comprising a
large portion of Malwa, is a plateau , having an average eleva
tion of about 1500 feet, though there are some points rising greatly
above that height, as in the instance of Shaizgarh in the Mandu range,
which is 2628 feet above the sea. The general slope of the plateau is
very gentle from the Mandu range towards the north or north -east,
Thenumerous
as indicated by the coursee of sloping gflowing
Mandu nu,streams eds the inN those
directions to the Chambal. The Mandu range, running east and west,
forms the southern boundary of the plateau , sloping gently northwards
towards it, and dipping precipitously southwards towards the Narbadá.
The State is watered by numerous rivers. The NARBADA, flowing
 GWALIOR STATE. 489
west, forms the boundary of the southern part of the State. But by
far the greater portion of the drainage of the territory is discharged
into the CHAMBAL, which , receiving the waters of several minor tribu
taries, flows along the north - west frontier, separating Gwalior from
Jáipur (Jeypore ), Kerauli (Kerowlee), and Dholpur. Subsequently
turning south-east, it forms the north -eastern boundary towards Agra
and Etawah, and joins the Jumna in the latter District. The Sind
flows parallel to the Chambal, but farther to the east, and finally falls
into the Jumna a short distance below the confluence of the Chambal
with that river. The Kuwári, Asar, Sankh, and other lesser streams
take their rise in the north of the State, and, after flowing in an easterly
or north -easterly direction, fall into the Sind on its left bank. The
south -western portion of Gwalior is noted for its abundant production
of the Málwá opium of commerce. Other products – wheat, gram ,
pulses of various kinds, joár (Holcus sorghum ), bájra (Holcus
spicatus), múg (Phaseolus mungo ), maize , rice , linseed and other
oil-seeds, garlic, turmeric, ginger, sugar-cane, indigo, áal (Morinda
multiflora ) yielding a fine red dye. Tobacco of excellent quality, but
in no great quantity, is raised in the vicinity of Bhilsá. Cotton is
largely grown.
BURHANPUR is the site of a considerable manufacture of fine cottons
and silks, and rich brocades. CHANDERI was formerly noted for its
cotton fabrics, but themanufacture has decayed since the introduction
of English piece-goods. Iron ore is raised and smelted in many places.
The imports consist principally of British woollens, cottons, silks,
cutlery, Cashmere shawls, pearls from the Persian Gulf, Ceylon
diamonds, and agates from Bundelkhand, gold , silver, mercury, copper,
lead, and zinc. Opium is the principal export, sent to the coast by
way of Bombay. Cotton is also largely sent to Bombay, and to
the towns on the Jumna and Ganges. The remaining exports of any
importance are tobacco, dyes, and iron . The Indore and Ajmere
narrow -gauge railway, now (1878) in course of construction, will pass
through the west of Gwalior State ; while a railway on the broad gauge,
to connect Gwalior town with Agra, is approaching completion.
In the dry and hot seasons the climate is not unhealthy, but
during the rainy season fevers prevail, especially in the north . The
range of the thermometer is unusually small, except during the latter
part of the year, when great and sudden changes often take place. The
cool season comprises the period between the beginning of November
and the end of February ; the hot season succeeds, and continues to
the middle of June, when the periodical rains set in , and last to the
close of September, the average fall being about 50 inches. In 1875,
the rainfall was only 19.6 inches. During the sultry season the hot
winds are comparatively mild , and of short duration, though the ther
490 GWALIOR STATE,
mometer sometimes rises to nearly 100° during the day ; but the nights
are invariably cool and refreshing.
Wild animals comprises the tiger, leopard, bear, wolf, hyæna, wild
dog, jackal, fox, ounce , lynx, badger, ichneumon, civet, otter, rat, bat,
mouse , wild hog , nilgau or blue bull, and various kinds of antelope,
deer of several species, wild buffalo , ape, monkey, squirrel, porcupine,
and hare. Of birds, there are the vulture , eagle , hawks of various
kinds, kite, buzzard , owl, hornbill (Buceros), raven, crow , daws and
pies, parrot, jay, cuckoo, humming-bird ,wild goose, wild duck , pelican,
cormorant, spoon-bill, stork, crane, heron, adjutant, curlew , snipe,
bustard, floriken, peafowl, pheasant, partridge, quail, pigeon, dove, and
sparrow. The rivers abound in fish , especially of the carp kind . Of
snakes, there are the boa, water-snake, cobra, black spotted snake,
spectacled snake, yellow -clouded snake, whip -snake, and leaping snake.
The magar or round blunt snouted crocodile infests some of the rivers.
Population . — The population of the north - eastern part of the territory
is of a mixed kind, comprising, besides the ruling order of Marhattás,
Bundelas, Játs, and Rájputs, with some less distinctly defined divisions
of Hindus and Muhammadans. Until the Marhattá inroads in the last
century, the country was from an early period in the possession of the
Muhainmadan rulers of Delhi, and in no part of Gwalior do the Mar
hattás form any large proportion ofthe inhabitants. In the greater part
of the southern and south -western parts, comprising a portion of Málwa,
a very considerable section of the population is Hindu. There is
perhaps no part of India where the tribes of Brahmans are so various
and their numbers so great. Rájputs exist in large numbers. The
Muhammadan population is estimated at about a twentieth of the
whole. Including the transfers to Sindhia under the treaty of 1860, the
territories of Gwalior were, in 1875, estimated to contain a population
of about 2,500,000 persons.
The total revenue of the State in 1875 was estimated at £1,200,000,
including £783,890 derived from the land, and £147,020 from
customs; the remainder consists of tributes from feudatories ; and jágir
and local taxes. The customs revenue is realized from transit duties
on iron, tobacco, sugar, and salt (all other articles being free), and from
jágír and local taxes. No transit duties are taken on those portions of
the Agra and Bombay road or its branches which pass through the
State , or on the roads connecting Gwalior with Etawah, Farrukhabad,
Datia , Jhansi, and Kalpi. Education is afforded by 92 schools,
attended by 3206 pupils. The average attendance at the Lashkár
College in 1875 amounted to 548 persons. The present Prime
Minister is Sir Ganpat Ráo Kharkái, K . C .S . I., who is assisted in the
administration by 5 Náib Diwáns, for the several departments of
revenue, civil, criminal, appeal, and public works.
 GWALIOR STATE . 491

History. — TheGwalior family, whose armies and chiefs have played

so conspicuous a part in the history of India, and whose representative
now rules over a State larger than Scotland and Wales united, and
richer than some independent kingdoms, was founded by the Maharatta,
Ranojí Sindhia , who was the slipper-bearer of Balají Peshwá at
the beginning of the last century. His father was the hereditary
pátel (head-man ) of a Deccan village. Once in the household of the
Peshwá, Ranoji's rise was rapid , and he soon found himself at the head
of the bodyguard. After leading many Marhattá raids through Málwa
into Hindustán, he was, at the time of his death , the acknowledged
possessor of landswhich still form part of the Gwalior State. Ranoji
was succeeded by his second son, Mahádají Sindhia , whose ability as
a statesman and a soldier has rarely been surpassed. Mahádají was
conspicuous for his gallantry at the battle of Pánipat in 1761, being
amongst the last to leave that field - so disastrous to the Marhattás.
Probably the events of that fightled him to see the value of discipline,
for when the Marhattá tide of fortune again set in there was a change
of system . He turned his Marhattá horse into disciplined infantry
with sword and matchlock, and formed them into brigades ; he paid
great attention to his artillery , and placed his entire army under the
command of French and English adventurers. Though nominally the
servant of the Peshwa, he was practically independent, and made his
State one of the strongest in India. The Delhi Emperor sought his
protection ; the Rajput chiefs, with hosts of the best cavalry India could
produce, fought in vain against his battalions. He negotiated and
guaranteed the treaty at Salbái (Salbye) ( 1783) between the Peshwa
and the British Government. Mahádají was succeeded in 1794 by
his grand-nephew , Daulat Ráo Sindhia. During the distractions which
followed the death of Madhu Ráo Narayan Peshwá, Daulat Ráo gained
an ascendancy, which enabled him to place Bájí Ráo in power, to
usurp most of the possessions of Holkár, and to secure to himself the
fortress of Ahmednagar in the Deccan , which gave him the entrance
into the territories both of the Peshwa and the Nizám . The power
of Daulat Ráo, whose army was commanded by French officers, had
now become dangerous to the British Government. When by the
treaty of Bassein the British Government recovered its influence at
Poona by the establishment of a subsidiary force, Daulat Ráo Sindhia
entered into a league with Ragojí Bhonslá Rájá of Berar, to defeat the
objects of the treaty ; and the allied chiefs in 1803 invaded the territory
of the Nizám , which was at that time under the protection of the East
India Company. On the 23d of September in that year, the Marhattá
army was attacked at Assaye by a British force of about an eighth of
its number, commanded by Sir Arthur Wellesley, subsequently Duke
of Wellington, and, after a prolonged and fiercely -contested battle , was
492 GWALIOR STATE .
totally defeated. The overthrow of Sindhia's military resources in the
Deccan was completed by the defeat which the confederated Marhattás
received from Sir Arthur Wellesley at Argaum , in Berar, on the 28th
of November 1803.
The destruction of the Marhattá power to the north of the Narbadá
(Nerbudda ) had in the meantime been not less signally effected by
General (afterwards Lord ) Lake, the British commander-in -chief, who
in the beginning of Septeinber 1803 stormed Aligarh ; and a few days
afterwards, nearly opposite Delhi, totally defeated Sindhia 's disciplined
army, commanded by the Frenchman Bourquin , and effectually cleared
the Doáb of the Marhattás. Delhi was immediately occupied by the
victorious army. Before the close of the same year, Agra also yielded
after a brief attempt at defence. General Lake, indefatigably following
up his advantages, a few weeks afterwards destroyed the remnant of
Sindhia 's disciplined force at Laswári (Laswaree). The power of Daulat
Ráo being thus completely broken , he was compelled to sue for peace ,
and to sign the treaty of Sarji Anjengáon, by which he resigned his con
quered territories in Hindustán and south of the Ajanta Hills, with the
exception of somehereditary villages. The discontentwhich Daulat Ráo
felt at the determination to deprive him of Gohad and Gwalior, under
this treaty, induced him to enter into a correspondence with Holkár,
which nearly led to a fresh rupture with the British . Among other
acts of hostility, he attacked and plundered the Resident's camp, and
detained the Resident a prisoner. The change, however, in the policy
of Government on the arrival of Lord Cornwallis, who, independently
of any reference to the settlement of differences with Sindhia , deemed
it inexpedient to retain possession of Gohad and Gwalior, led to the
renewal of negotiations on the basis of the restoration of these territories.
A treaty was accordingly concluded on 22d November 1805,which
confirmed the treaty of Sarji Anjengáon in part, but ceded Gwalior and
Gohad to Sindhia, and constituted the Chambal the northern boundary
of his territory ; the British Government bound itself not to make
treaties with Udaipur (Oodeypore), Jodhpur, Kotah , or any chiefs
tributary to Sindhia in Málwa, Mewár, or Márwár, or to interfere in
any arrangements he might make regarding them . Daulat Ráo so
highly appreciated the advantages arising from the strength of the fort
of Gwalior, that he fixed his residence in a permanent camp at the base
of the rock , and since that time it has always been considered the
capital of the State, to which it has also given its name.
On the outbreak of the Pindári war in 1817, the plundering hordes
who had been generally hangers-on to the Marhattá camps during their
campaigns in the latter half of the 18th century, looked for support to
Sindhia , as the most powerful of the Marhattá princes. Daulat Ráo
was also subjected to strong solicitations from the Peshwa, who was
 GWALIOR STATE. 493
endeavouring to resuscitate the old Marhattá confederacy. But the
Marquis of Hastings, then Governor-General, promptly advanced with
a formidable army to the river Chambal, and so far overawed Sindhia
that a treaty was executed abrogating the article of the treaty of 1805,
which restrained the British Government from forming engagements
with the Rájput States, and binding Sindhia to co -operate with the
British against the Pindárís, and also to give up the forts of Asírgarh
and Hindia for three years as a security for the lines of communication ,
and as a guarantee for the performance of his engagements. The
fortress of Asírgarh was not, however, surrendered, and it became
necessary to occupy it by force. In the captured fort a letter was
found, in which Sindhia directed the governor to obey all orders of the
Peshwa, who, by attacking the Residency at Poona, had declared war
with the British Government. In consequence of this want of good
faith , Sindhia was required permanently to cede the fort of Asírgarh .
Daulat Ráo died at Gwalior in 1827 without an heir, and without
having adopted a successor. On his deathbed, he left the State and
succession in the hands of the British Government, indicating a wish
that his younger widow , Báiza Bái,might be treated with consideration .
The death of Daulat Ráo was followed by internal discord throughout
the State. The succession of a boy of Sindhia's family,Múgat Ráo,
to whom it was thought the wishes of Daulat Ráo turned, was admitted
by the British Government, under the regency of Báiza Bái. The
young Mahárájá was subsequently married to the granddaughter of
Daulat Ráo and Báiza Bái. He took the name of Janakjí Sindhia .
But Báiza Bái's regency came to a sudden collapse in 1833. Jealous
of power and headstrong, her treatment of the young chief at last
became intolerable, and he broke away from her, supported by a large
portion of the troops, who now found themselves masters of the situa
tion. The wealth of Báiza Bai was enormous, and it was used for
intrigue and dissension without scruple, until it became necessary to
remove her from Gwalior. During the whole of the reign of Janakjí,
although the State was at complete peace with external foes, there was
constant turbulence within the borders. Janakjí Sindhia died in 1843,
without issue, and without having expressed any wish in regard to the
succession, though repeatedly urged to do so by the Resident. His
widow , with the concurrence of the chief nobles, adopted Bajirát Ráo,
a lad eight years of age, belonging to a distant branch of the Sindhia
family. The British Government recognised theadoption, and Bajirát
Ráo, under the name of Bájí Ráo Sindhia, succeeded, and is the
present ruler. Early in the regency, disturbances took place, and the
advance of British troops on Gwalior became necessary to restore order.
This, however, was not effected without hard fighting. Two battles,
Mahárájpur and Panniar, were fought on the same day — the 29th
494 GWALIOR TOWN AND FORT.
December 1843 — between the British forces and the mutinous army.
They both resulted in the total defeat of the insurgent troops. The
young chief was replaced in power by the British Government. The
Gwalior army was disbanded, and the force was reduced to a fixed
number — 5000 cavalry, 3000 infantry, and 32 guns. Indemnity was
taken for the war expenses, and an annual provision of £180, 000
assigned to the British Government for the maintenance of a force to
preserve order. Thus matters continued till the Mutiny of 1857, when
the Gwalior contingent and Sindhia's army again revolted. The Mahá
rájá, then but a youth , displayed courage and unswerving loyalty to
the British Government. In June 1858, he was deserted by his troops
on the approach of the rebels under Tántia Topí, and he and his
minister, Dinkar Ráo, were compelled to flee to Agra . On the 19th
June, Gwalior was retaken by Sir Hugh Rose 's force, and the Maharaja
was re -established in his palace. In recognition of his services , the
Government conferred upon him the right of adoption, together with
lands yielding a revenue of £30,000, and permitted an increase to his
army, which now stands at 48 guns, 6000 cavalry, and 5000 infantry .
The Mahárájá is a general in the British army, a Knight Grand Cross
of the Bath , and Knight Grand Commander of the Star of India. He
is entitled permanently to a salute of 19 guns in British territory, but
to a salute of 21 guns in his own territory . The present Maharaja
enjoys a personal salute of 21 guns in British territory also.
Gwalior.— The capital of GWALIOR STATE, and fortress residence
of the Mahárajá Sindhia ; situated in lat. 26° 13' 0" N ., and long.
78° 12' 0" E., 65 miles south from Agra , and 277 north -west of Alla
habad. No new materials are available in the Foreign Office,
Calcutta, for this article ; and I have therefore to compile it partly from
Thornton (1862) and Fergusson (History of Indian Architecture, 1876).
Gwalior city has a threefold interest. First, as a very ancient seat of
Jain worship ; second , for its example of palace architecture of the
best Hindu period (1486 - 1516 ) ; third , as the fortress capital of one
of the greatest native chiefs of India . A considerable British force is
posted in its immediate neighbourhood ; but this aspect will be treated
of in a separate article on the MORAR Cantonments. The fort of
Gwalior stands on an isolated rock of ochreous sandstone formation,
capped at places with basalt. The face of the fort is perpendicular,
and where the rock is naturally less precipitous it has been scarped ,
and in some portions the upper parts overhang the lower. Its greatest
length from north -east to south -west is a mile and a half, and the
greatest breadth, 300 yards. The rock at thenorthern end attains its
maximum height of 342 feet. On its eastern side are sculptured several
colossal figures in bold relief. A rampart, accessible by a steep road,
and farther up by huge steps cut out of the rock , surrounds the fort.
 GWALIOR TOWN AND FORT. 495
This vast staircase, the principal entrance of which is known as the
' Elephant's ' Gate, from the figure of that animal being sculptured above
it, is protected on the outer side by a massive stonewall, and is swept
by guns. The citadel stands at the north -eastern corner of the enclosure,
and presents a very picturesque appearance. The old town ofGwalior,
which is of considerable size , but irregularly built, and extremely dirty,
lies at the eastern base of the rock. It contains the tomb of Muham
mad Ghaus, which was erected during the early part of Akbar's reign .
Fergusson thus describes the building : — ' It is a square measuring 100
feet each way, exclusive of the hexagonal towers, which are attached to
the angles. The chamber of the tomb itself is a hall 43 feet square, with
the angles cut off by pointed arches, so as to form an octagon , on which
the dome rests. Around this square building is a gallery, 20 feet wide
between the piers, enclosed on all sides by a screen of themost exquisite
tracery in pierced stonework , with a projecting porch on each face .'
Jain Remains. — There are two remarkable Hindu temples in Gwalior.
' One,' says Mr. Fergusson , known as the Sas Bahu, is understood to
be a Jain erection , and seems to be so designated and dedicated to
Padmanáth , the sixth Tirthankar. General Cunningham doubts this
adscription, in consequence of the walls being adorned with bas-reliefs,
belonging certainly to the Vaishnav and Siva sects. This temple was
finished apparently in A.D. 1093, and,though dreadfully ruined, is still
a most picturesque fragment. What remains is the cruciform porch of
a temple which,when complete, measured 100 feet from front to rear,
and 63 feet across the arms of the porch . Of the sanctuary, with its
sikra , nothing is left but the foundation ; but the porch, which is three
storeys in height, is constructively entire, though its details — and
principally those of its roof— are very much shattered . An older
Jain temple is described by General Cunningham ; but as it was used
as a mosque it is more likely that it is a Muhammadan building,
although made up of Jain details.' Another temple in the fortress of
Gwalior is called the Teli-ka-Mandir or “ Oilman 's Temple. It is 60
feet square, with a portico on the east projecting about u feet, and
terminates in a ridge of about 30 feet in extent. " The building,' says
Mr. Fergusson, ' was originally dedicated to Vishnu, but afterwards
converted to the worship of Siva. There is no inscription or any
tradition from which its date can be gathered, but on the whole I am
inclined to place it in the roth or with century.'
· Themost striking part of the Jain remains at Gwalior is a series of
caves or rock-cut sculptureswhich are excavated in the rock on all sides,
and amount, when taken together, to hardly less than a hundred, great
and small. Most of them are mere niches to contain statues, though
someare cells that may have been originally intended for residences.
One curious fact regarding them is, that, according to inscriptions, they
496 GWALIOR TOWN AND FORT.
were allexcavated within the short period of about thirty-three years,
between A .D. 1441 and A .D . 1474. Some of the figures are of colossal
size ; one, for instance, is 57 feet high , which is greater than any other
in the north of India.
Hindu Palace-Architecture. — The palace built by Mán Sinh (A.D.
1486 -1516) forms the most remarkable and interesting example of early
Hindu work in India . Its external dimensions, according to Mr. Fer
gusson , are 300 feet by 160 feet ; and on the east side it is 100 feet
high, having two underground storeys looking over the country. On
all its faces the flat surface is relieved by tall towers of singularly
pleasing design, crowned by cupolas covered with domes of gilt copper
when Bábar saw them in 1527. Mán Sinh 's successor, Vikramá
ditya, added another palace, of even greater extent, to this one in
1516 ; and Jahangir and Sháh Jahán added palaces to these two, — the
whole making up a group of edifices unequalled for picturesqueness
and interest by anything of their class that exists in Central India .
Among the apartments in the palace was one called the Báradári,
supported on 12 columns, and 45 feet square , with a stone roof, which
was one of the most beautiful apartments of its class anywhere to be
found. It was, besides, singularly interesting from the expedients to
which the Hindu architect was forced to resort to imitate the vaults of
the Moslems. They had not then learned to copy them , as they did
at the end of that century at Bindrában (Brindaban) and elsewhere
under the guidance of the tolerant Akbar. Ofthe buildings, however,
which so excited the admiration of the Emperor Bábar, probably little
now remains. The Moslems added to the palaces of the Hindus, and
spared their temples and the statues of the Jains.
Rock Fortress. According to Wilford, the fort ofGwalior was built in
773 by Surya Sen , the Rájá of the neighbouring country. In 1023, it
was unsuccessfully besieged by Mahmúd of Ghazní ; in 1196, Gwalior
was captured by Mahmúd Ghori ; in 1211, it was lost by the Musal
máns, but recovered in 1231, after a blockade of a year by Shams-ud
dín Altamsh , the Slave King of Delhi. Narsinh Rái, a Hindu chief,
taking advantage of the trouble produced by the invasion of Tamerlane
in 1398, seized Gwalior, which was not regained by the Musalmans
until 1519, under Ibrahim Lodi, the Pathán monarch of Delhi. In
1526, Bábar took the fortress by stratagem ; and in 1543, after the
expulsion of his son Humáyun, it fell into the hands of his rival, Sher
Shah ; but after the re -establishment of Humáyun , Gwalior was, in
1556, recovered by his successor Akbar, who made it a state prison for
captives of rank. In the dismemberment of the Delhi Empire,Gwalior
was seized by the Ját Ráná of Gohad. Subsequently it was garrisoned
by Sindhia, from whom it was wrested in 1780 by the forces of the East
India Company. Transferred by the British Government to the Ráná
 GWE-KHYO - GYAING ATTARAN . 497
of Gohad, Gwalior was, in 1784, recovered by Madhají Sindhia , from
whose successor, Daulat Ráo Sindhia (1794-1827), it was taken in
1803, but restored again in 1805. After Daulat Ráo's death in 1827,
his widow governed as guardian of her adopted son, Janakjí, till 1833,
when he assumed the Government. He died in 1843 without an heir.
A contest took place between his uncle and the adopted relative ofhis
widow . A revolution was impending, and the Government decided to
interfere. Our troops crossed the Chambal, and unexpectedly found
the forces of Gwalior drawn up at Mahárájpur, a few miles distant from
the fortress . A battle ensued on the 29th December 1843, resulting
in the complete overthrow of the Marhattás. On the same day , another
victory was gained by the British troops at Panniar. The British con
tingent stationed in the town was increased, and affairs were placed on
a peacefuli footing. It
The last event of historical importance was the
yo. contingent
revolttofottheGwalior uY in October 1857. - SeeGWALIOR STATE.
Gwe-khyo. - River in the north of Prome District, Pegu Division ,
British Burma. It rises in the Padouk spur, 20 miles west of the
main range of the Pegu Yomas ; after a south -westerly course, it joins
the Naweng near the village by the samemouth as the Eng-gún and
Khyoung-tsouk. Near its source the bed is rocky, but lower down,
sandy and muddy ; it is unnavigable. The trees most common on its
banks are eng and htien (Nauclea sp.).
Gyaing . – River in Amherst District, Tenasserim Division, British
Burma. It is formed by the junction of the Hlaing-bhwai and
Houngtharaw near Gyaing village, in lat. 16° 34 ' N., and long. 98° 3' E.
The united waters flow west for 45 miles, and fall into the Salwin at
Maulmain . The Gyaing is a broad but shallow river , containing
numerous sandbanks ; it is navigable by boats all the year round. The
most importantplaces on the banks are — Kado,at the mouth, theGovern
ment timber-revenue station ; Zatha-byeng ; Tarana ; and Dhammatha.
Gyaing . – Revenue circle at the junction of the Gyaing and Attaran
rivers, in Amherst District, Tenasserim Division, British Burma. Pop.
( 1876-77), 2983 ; land revenue, £350 ; capitation tax, £215.
Gyaing Attaran . — Township in Amherst District, Tenasserim
Division, British Burma ; situated between 15° 59' and 16° 40' n. lat.,
and between 97° 41' and 97° 55' E . long. It occupies the valley of the
Attaran river, and extends from the hills forming its southern boundary
northwards to the Gyaing. Above the junction of the Zamí and Wen
graw , which unite to form the Attaran , are large tracts of valuable forest
land. The timber can only be felled by licence. Teak was formerly
very plentiful, but the supply has diminished considerably, owing to
the indiscriminate felling in the first years after the British occupation .
( See AMHERST DISTRICT.) The headquarters of the township are at
Nga-bye-ma (pop. in 1876 , 233), on the Attaran. A few miles above is
VOL. III. 21
498 GYAING - THAN -LWENG - HABIGANJ.
Rebor, famed for its hot springs. Gyaing Attaran is divided into 15
circles. Pop. ( 1876 -77), 20,496 ; gross revenue, £4318.
Gyaing -than -lweng. - Division of Amherst District, Tenasserim
Division, British Burma; situated between 16° 33' and 16° 56' n . lat.,
and between 97° 38' and 98° o' E. long. The three chief rivers are the
Salwín , the Hlaing -bhwai, and the Gyaing, with their tributaries. In
the west and south -west, the country consists of an extensive plain
traversed by parallel ridges iofntelimestone
rv irocks,
nu having a general north
with ionally ndaere is a se
and south direction , with intervening narrow and cultivated valleys.
Portions of this tract are occasionally inundated by the Salwin . In
the east and north -east of the township , there is a series of low
laterite hills, open bamboo forests, and small low -lying grassy plains.
The southern part is a long, narrow rice-producing area. In the more
hilly portion, where water and fodder are plentiful all the year round,
cattle are extensively bred, and are sold to purchasers who come
from Tha-htún and Pegu, and other places west of the Tsittoung.
Cattle are imported by the Shans ; the chief export is rice . Gyaing
than-lweng contains 16 revenue circles ; the headquarters station is
Za-tha-byeng. Pop. (1876 -77), 39,524 ; revenue, £10,327.

Hab . – River on the western frontier of Sind, and for some distance
the boundary between British territory and Balúchistán. It rises in
Khelát (lat. 26° 22' 30" n., long.67° 16 ' E .), flowssouth -east for 25 miles,
then due south for 50 miles, and then south -west, till it falls into the
Arabian Sea, in lat. 24° 52' n., long. 66° 42' E., after a total length of
about 100 miles. Except the Indus, it is the only permanent river in
Sind. It abounds in fish. A proposal to supply Karáchí (Kurrachee)
with drinking water from the Hab has been before the Bombay
Government since 1867.
Habiganj. – Village in the south -west of Sylhet District, Assam , on
the Barák river. An important centre for the export of rice to Calcutta.
In 1876 -77, 43,200 maunds of rice and 194,600 maundsof paddy were
exported , and £10 ,000 of European piece- goods were imported.
Habiganj forms a striking example of how a trading town, without any
other local advantages, now springs up in Bengal, in consequence of
possessing facilities for transport. It is situated on the outskirts of a
vast dismal region of swamps and inundated rice-fields. The town is
to a large extent built on piles (or, at any rate, was so when I visited
it in 1873). The houses for themost part consisted of mats stretched
on bamboos, and a busy fleet of cargo-boats loaded or unloaded at each
of the principal merchants' doors.
 HABRA - HAIDARABAD STATE. 499
Hábrá. — Village and headquarters of a police circle (tháná) in
Dinajpur District, Bengal ; situated on the Tilái river, a tributary ofthe
Brahmaputra . Lat. 25° 36 ' 3" n., long. 88° 57' 50" E. Large rivermart,
trading in rice, tobacco, gunny cloth, sugar, jute, etc.
Hadarnaru. — Village in Mysore District, Mysore. Pop. (1871),
1523. It formed the scene of a chivalrous story of the 14th century,
and is regarded as the cradle of the present ruling family .
Háfizábád. -- Southern tahsil of Gujranwala District, Punjab, lying
between 31° 32' and 32° 20' 30 " n . lat., and between 73° 1 ' 30" and
74° 7' 15" E , long. ; consisting for the most part of a dry and uncul
tivated upland plain. Area, 1440 squaremiles; pop. (1868), 176, 986 ;
number of villages, 561; area under cultivation, 172,630 acres.
Háfizábád. - Ancient town in Gujranwala District, Punjab, and
headquarters of the tahsil. Distant from Gujranwala 32 miles west ;
formerly a place of great importance, and mentioned in the Aín -i- Akbari
as headquarters of a mahál.
Haggri. - River of Madras. — See HUGRI.
Haiátpur. - Town in Maldah District, Bengal; situated on the left
bank of the Ganges. Lat. 25° 16' 20" n., long. 87° 54' 21" E. The
town occupies an important situation at the spot where the waters of
the Ganges have effected a junction with the Kálindri, and is the largest
river mart in the District. It lost a good deal of its trade some years
ago, when the main stream of the Ganges shifted its channel several
miles from the town ; but the stream has recently returned to its old bed,
and commerce has revived .
Haidarábád (Hyderabad, or the Nizam 's Dominions).-- A Native
State or feudatory kingdom , roughly co-extensive with the Deccan
( Dakshin ) or central plateau of Southern India , which takes its
name from its capital, HAIDARABAD City. “ The form of the terri
tory, inclusive of the HAIDARABAD ASSIGNED DISTRICTS, known as
Berar, is that of a trapezium . Its base is about 420 miles in a
direction from north -east to south -west, from Hampaságar in lat. 15°
10' N ., long. 76° E., to Malkálghari in lat. 17° 49' n., long. 81°
30 ' E.; its north -eastern side extends from south -east to north-west a
distance of 390 miles, from Malkálghari, above mentioned, to Mel
ghát in lat. 21° 41' n., long. 77° 15 ' E .; its north -western , in a direction
from north -east to south -west, a distance of 220 miles from Melghát,
as above, to Phúltamba, lat. 19° 47' N ., long. 74° 40' E .; and the south
western , a distance of 330 miles from Phúltamba to Hampaságar.
Though such is the general outline of the country, the boundaries are
marked by numerous sinuosities, causing them to deviate greatly from
right lines. The territory lies between lat. 15° 10' to 21° 41' N .,and long.
2010' to 81° 31' E. It is 475 miles in length from south -west to north
east, and about the same distance in breadth. The area of Berar is
500 HAIDARABAD STATE.
17,728 square miles, that of the remaining portion of the Nizam 's
Dominions is estimated at about 80,000 square miles ; the total area of
the whole State being thus about 98,000 square miles. “ It is bounded
on the north and north -east by the Central Provinces ; on the south
and south -east by territory subject to the Presidency of Madras; on
the west by territory subject to the Presidency of Bombay. Within
the western part are somesmall isolated British possessions.'
As Haidarábád is one of the leading Native States, the following
article has been drawn up in the Foreign Office, Calcutta. The autho
rities there have deemed it expedient to use as their basis the article

-
prepared by Mr. Edward Thornton under the directions of, and from

-
materials furnished by, the East India Company. But such new infor

-
mation as was available has been added , with a view to bringing it up
to date. The inverted commas refer to Mr. Thornton 's work.
Physical Aspect.— Haidarábád is a tract of considerable elevation,
averaging 1250 feet above the level of the sea, and somegranite summits
attain a height of 2500 feet. The elevation of the fort ofGolconda, in
the city of Haidarábád, has been ascertained to be 2024 feet above sea
level. With the exception of the valley of the Tápti at the northern
extremity of the territory, which is bounded on the north by the
Vindhya range and on the south by the high land of the Godavari, the
whole drainage of the country is either from west to east or from north
west to south -east, discharging into the Bay of Bengal by the channels
of the Godavari and the Kistna. The drainage of the valley of the
Tápti, flowing westward, falls into the Gulf of Cambay.' This wide
expanse of country presents much variety of surface and feature. In
some parts it is mountainous, wooded, and picturesque ; in others, flat
or undulating. The champaign lands are of all descriptions, including
many rich and fertile plains,much good land not yet brought under
cultivation, and numerous tracts too sterile ever to be cultivated at all.
' The geological formations are on a large scale ; in the north -west
being of the great volcanic formation extending through the greater
part of the Deccan, consisting principally of trap, but in some parts
basalt. In themiddle, southern, and south -western parts, the greater
part of the country is overlaid with gneissic formations. In the north
east, along the right bank of the Godávari, there is much sandstone,
some of it carboniferous.' Near the junction of the Penganga with the
Wardha, and in the valley ofthe latter river ,there are coal-fields. Those
which have been examined over a small area near Sasti and Páoni show
an average of 40 feet in thickness. The quality of the coal hitherto
mined is inferior to that of Ráníganj, but good enough for railway pur
poses. Iron ore is found in the same neighbourhood, also limestone
and kankar, or nodular limestone, atKamaram in the extreme east; and
100 miles north -east of Ellore there is also a small coal-field . At Shah
 HAIDARABAD STATE . 501
ábád, near the junction of the Great Indian Peninsula Railway with
the Nizam 's State Railway, are quarries of excellent limestone, which
are extensively worked for a considerable distance along the line of
the latter railway. The stone found is of two colours , grey and black ,
and takes a polish almost equal to marble . It is now imported
to Haidarábád city , and exported elsewhere in large quantities for
building purposes, for which it is well suited from its regular cleavage
and the ease with which it can be worked.
Rivers. - The Haidarábád territory is, on the whole, well watered ,
rivers being numerous, and tanks or artificial pieces of water very abun
dant. The GODAVARI, rising on the eastern declivity of the Western
Gháts, near Násik in the British District of that name, takes a course
south -east for about 90 miles to Phúltamba, where it first touches on
this territory, and continues to flow along the border south -eastward
for 70 miles to Mungi, in lat. 19° 27' N., long. 75° 30' E. Here it enters
Haidarábád territory, through which it holds a course nearly easterly
for about 160 miles, to the vicinity of Lasona, in lat. 19° 7' N.,long.
77° 5' E. At that place, it receives on the left side the Dudna river,
which flows from the north -east and has a considerable stream after
its junction with the Púrna river. About 85 miles lower down, in
lat. 18° 48' n., long. 77° 55' E., it receives on the right side the Man
jira . It thence continues to hold a course generally easterly for
about 190 miles, to Kuláisar, in lat. 18° 52' N., long 79° 53' E., where ,
on the left, it receives the Pranhíta , a large river from the north .
After the confluence turning south - east, it flows for about 155 miles in
that direction along the south -western base of themountains of Bastar
to Kottúr, in lat. 17° 29' N., long. 81° 29' E., where it passes into
Godavari District of the Madras Presidency. Below Kuláisar, it forms
the north -eastern boundary of Haidarábád territory. Thus the total
length of this great river, along the border and through the territory,
is about 600 miles, for above 200 ofwhich it is navigable from June to
February. The WARDHA, rising in the hills of Betúl and Chhindwara ,
Districts of the Central Provinces, flows south -west for a few miles, and
first touching on this territory at Gudra , in lat. 21° 35' n., long. 78°
25' E., thence flows towards the south -east 170 miles towards Chanda.
In lat. 19° 55' N., long. 79° 15' E., it receives on the right side the
Penganga, a large river from the west, which for the greater part of its
course forms the boundary between East Berar and the more southern
portions of the Nizam 's Dominions. After the junction with the
Penganga, the Wardha continues to flow in a south -easterly direc
tion for 60 miles, and in lat. 19° 37' N ., long 79° 15' E., on the left
bank receives the Wainganga, from the north. Below the conflu
ence, the united stream , now called the PRANHITA, flows in a tortuous
direction , but generally south , for about 80 miles to Kuláisar, in
502 HAIDARABAD STATE .
lat. 18° 52' N ., long. 69° 53' E. This stream , through nearly its whole
length ,whether denominated the Wardha or the Pranhita, marks the
boundary between this territory and the Central Provinces. It is
navigable for about 170 miles. The Kistna or KRISHNA, rising near
Mahabaleshwar, in the Western Ghats, holds a course south- east for
about 320 miles to lat. 16° 10' N ., long. 76° 18' E ., where it touches,
and 10 miles farther passes into , this territory, through which it flows
in a direction generally north -east for about 75 miles to Kadlur in lat.
16° 24' N ., long. 77° 20' E , where on the left bank it receives the Bhima
from the north -west, and is soon after spanned by the Great Indian
Peninsula Railway bridge. From near this point the river, turning
south -east, flows 80 miles in that direction to its confluence with the
Tungabhadra in lat. 15° 58' N., long. 78° 19' E., where it turns north
east and flows 180 miles to lat. 16° 50' N., long. 80° 10 ' E., at
which point it passes into Kistna (Krishna) District of the Madras
Presidency . From the confluence to the point last named, it forms
part of the south -eastern boundary of Haidarábád territory . Thus its
total length of course connected with this territory is 345 miles ; but in
consequence of the ruggedness of its bed, it is of little use for navigation
The TUNGABHADRA, formed by the junction of the rivers Tunga and
Bhadra in Mysore, flows north -eastward , and atMúdlapur, in lat. 15°
8' n., long. 76° 1' E., first touches this territory, along the south -eastern
boundary ofwhich it flows, separating it from the Madras Districts of
Bellary and Karnúl (Kurnool) for a distance of 200 miles, to its conflu
ence with the Krishna. Many other streams (considerable rivers during
the periodical rains, but much reduced in volume at other times of
the year) discharge into these main channels of drainage. Tanks are ,
as before observed, numerous, and some of them are of very great size ,
as that at Pakhal, which is at least 30 miles in circuit. They are
generally formed by throwing an embankment across the lower end
of a valley, and thus causing the accumulation of the water of such
streams as may flow into it.
* Theclimate may be considered in general good ; and as there are no
arid , bare deserts, similar to those of Rájputána and some other tracts
of Northern India , the hot winds are less felt. In the vicinity of the
city of Haidarábád, the mean temperature indoors, according to
observations made at sunrise, at two o 'clock in the afternoon , and at
sunset, for one year, was - in January, 741° F.; February , 767° ; March ,
84º; April, 911° ; May, 93° ; June, 88°; July, 81° ; August, 801" ;
September, 79°; October,80°; November,761° ; and December,743° ;
giving as an annualmean 811'. Ophthalmic diseases are prevalent in
the sandstone district. The wells in general yield impure , unpalatable
water, productive of disease, especially the dracunculus or guinea-worm ,
from which those who use the water from tanks or streams are exempt.'
 HAIDARABAD STATE . 503
The annual fall of rain is estimated at from 28 to 32 inches at
Haidarábád ; this occurs principally during the south -west monsoon
between June and October. In the north-west monsoon , there is a
fall of only 4 to 7 inches. The winds are generally westerly in June,
July, August, and September ; during October, November, December,
January, and February they blow from the east ; and in March , April,
and May the north -westerly breezes are frequent.
Animals. — Horses adapted for military or general purposes are not
reared in the same number as formerly in the Nizam 's Dominions.
The chief mart for Deccan-bred horses is a fair at Malegaon in Bidar
District, about 160 miles from Haidarábád and 200 from Poona.
There is also a horse bázár near the capital, which is open throughout
the year ; and is resorted to by merchants from almost every quarter of
Asia , with strings of elephants, horses, and camels.
Agriculture.— ' The soil is in generalfertile, though in some parts it con
sists of chilka,a red and gritty mould ,little fitted, from the coarseness of
its particles, for purposes ofagriculture. Resembling this, but composed
of particles more minute, is lal-zamín , a soil also of a reddish hue, and
considered by Walker to be formed of the remains of broken -down ant
hills,which are surprisingly numerousin this country. “ Thus,” observes
the writer just referred to, “ we see that those insects, usually looked
upon as troublesome and destructive pests, are not without their use in
a grand natural operation. The peculiar acid (the formic), which is
their chief constituent, acts upon the alkali and lime,and most probably
on the silica of the rock debris, pulverizing it, and facilitating, in all
probability , fresh combinations. The soil, when manured, is fitted for
the reception ofall kinds of crops, without reference to season .” Though
less extensive than the kinds just enumerated , the regar or black cotton
soil occurs in many places, and is esteemed the best of any, and , as
indicated by the epithet above applied to it, peculiarly suited for the
cultivation of cotton. It requires no manure, except that left by sheep
generally fed upon it when under fallow previous to cultivation. This
is, however, an important resource, as flocks of sheep are everywhere to
be seen. There is also a soil denominated taláo-ka-zamín , a black
earth , dug from the bottoms of tanks ; but not much prized, being a
stiff clay and containing a profusion of small fresh -water shells. Its
extreme tenacity is found unfavourable to vegetation , which is still
further thwarted by a large impregnation of carbonate of soda. This ,
however, is collected in great quantities for manufacturing and
commercial purposes. All those soils effervesce with acids, thereby
indicating that they contain carbonate of lime. Throughout this
territory the ground, wherever left uncultivated, even but for a year or
two, becomes covered with a low jungle, composed chiefly of the Cassia
auriculata and Zizyphusmicrophylla . In process of time, the appear
504 HAIDARABAD STATE.
ance of the jungle is enlivened by the growth of numerous trees, of
which the principalare Butea frondosa , Bombax heptaphyllum , Erythrina
indica, Hyperanthera moringa, Cassia fistula, Anona reticulata, Melia
azadirachta, Bauhinia parviflora, Capparis trifolia, Ficus indica, Ficus
religiosa, Bombax gossipium , Feronia elephantum , and several species
of Acacia. The toddy palm , Borassus flabelliformis, and Phoenix
sylvestris, are extensively cultivated on account of their sap, which
is drawn off, and fermented into an intoxicating beverage. The
cocoa-nut tree cannot be brought to high perfection, even with the
greatest care, accompanied by the most favourable circumstances ; and
in consequence , its cultivation is very circumscribed . Mango and
tamarind trees occur in great numbers about the villages. The betel
vine is also cultivated , but in no great quantities. The principal grain
crops are rice (of which there are no less than eight varieties ), wheat,
maize of various kinds, joár (Holcus sorghum ), bájra (Holcus spicatus),
rági (Cynosurus corocanus); of oil plants — mustard , Sesamum orien
tale, and Ricinus communis or castor-oil plant ; of leguminous
growths, — Dolichos lablab, Dolichos gladiatus, Phaseolus mungo,
chenna (Cicer arietinum ). Melons, cucumbers, gourds, and some
other cucurbitacea are largely grown, and form important articles of
diet. The gardens produce onions, garlic , carrots, radishes, potatoes,
sweet potatoes, coriander, ginger,turmeric ,and various kindsofamaranth
used as pot-herbs. Tobacco is cultivated , but not to a great extent.
Cotton, indigo, and sugar-cane are the more important objects of the
agriculturist's care. Al (Morinda citrifolia) and chayrút (Oldenlandia
umbellata ), valuable dyes, occur wild, and are also cultivated.' The
cotton -producing capabilities of the country are well known. The
produce of Kunar Idlábád District, which chiefly finds its way to the
Hinganghát market, is greatly valued, and fetches a high price. In
1875, there were no mills or manufactories in the territory ; but a
cottonspinning factory is now under construction in connection with
a wealthy European firm in Bombay. Fruit of many different kinds
is plentiful. The mango and custard-apple grow wild over large tracts.
The melons and pine-apples of Haidarábád are as celebrated in their
way as the oranges of Nágpur, and the large purple grape of Daulatábád
is exported to many distant markets. Plants rich in textile fibre are
not less abundant, and will one day, it may be presumed , be utilized
on a large scale. “ Tasar silk , the produce of a wild species of worm ,
is everywhere gathered in the jungles. Hides, raw and tanned, both of
domesticated and wild quadrupeds, are articles of some importance in
commerce. Wild bees swarm in all the jungles ; consequently wax and
honey are very abundant and cheap. Lac, suitable for use as a resin
or a dye, may be obtained in quantities far beyond the present
demand. Mucilaginous gums are produced in the woods in ines
 HAIDARABAD STATE. 505
haustible quantities, and there are someconsidered not inferior in quality
to the best African gums. Of gum resins, the most worth notice is that
yielded by the Boswellia thurifera. Dika-mali, a resin yielded in great
quantities by several species of Gardenia, is much used in native phar
macy, and probably might serve important purposes in the arts, but its
properties have not been adequately tested. Some sorts of nuts yield
oils,which might prove important articles of commerce. Cordage is
supplied by the common san (Crotalaria juncea), also by some species
of Bauhinia , and of admirable quality by Asclepias tenacissima. Of
timber, the teak (Tectona grandis) produced in this territory is stunted
and indifferent; but some of fine quality is floated down the river from
the forests of Nágpur. Othervaluable woods are Diospyrosmelanoxylon
and Dalbergia or sissu.
People. — No Census of the population has been attempted in the
Nizam 's Dominions, with the exception of Berar or the HAIDARABAD
AssignED DISTRICTS, which are temporarily under British administra
tion. The Statistical Abstract relating to British India for 1876 -77
gives the population of Berar at 2,226,496 persons, and the population
of the remainder of Haidarábád territory is estimated in the same
table at 9 ,000 ,000. The above estimates would give an average
density of population for Berar of 126 to the square mile, and for the
rest of Haidarábád of about 112 to the square mile. In the south
eastern part of the territory, the Telugu language prevails ; and in the
south -western Districts, in the vicinity of the Kistna (Krishna) river,
Kanarese is spoken. In the northern and western parts, Marathi is
generally spoken ; and, as the border-land between this language and
the Dravidian languages passes through the Nizam 's Dominions, there
is a considerable intermixture of the people speaking the different
languages. The Marhattás are most numerous in the west. The
Musalmáns are chiefly to be met with in the capital, and everywhere
in the civil and military service of Government. In addition to
the Hindu and Muhammadan population , there is a large admixture
of Parsis, Síkhs, Arabs, Rohillás, aborigines, and others.' Owing to the
generaldistribution of arms among all classes, the people ofHaidarábád,
as of other Native States, present to the casual observer a more
formidable appearance than is borne out, perhaps, by anything in their
actual character or disposition. The Telingas or Telugu-speaking
folk , though not in a highly -advanced state of civilisation , are by no
means sunk in barbarism . They generally inhabit straggling villages,
in houses built of mud, with pyramidal roofs of palmyra leaves,
though a few dwellings are more substantially constructed of brick , and
tiled . In some of the less civilised parts, the habitations are mere
sheds of palmyra leaves, or hovels made ofbamboosand wattle. There
is usually to each village a detached fort, constructed either ofmasonry
 D
506 HAIDARABA STATE .
or mud, about 50 yards square, and containing the dwellings of the
zamíndár and his immediate dependants. There is a considerable
proportion of Brahmansamong the Telingas ; and the usual diet ofthese
and the higher classes consists of rice in some localities and ofwheat
and joár in others, with vegetable curries, and cakes flavoured with
garlic or assafoetida and fried in butter. The Bráhmans profess to
abstain from animal food ; but the zamindárs of the Kumbí caste
consume mutton, poultry , and game. The lower orders subsist on
rági and other inferior sorts of grain ; all are addicted to intoxi
cation with the fermented sap of various kinds of palms and spirit
distilled from the flowers of the mahuá (Bassia latifolia ). Tobacco is
generally used, both for smoking and chewing, as well as in the form of
snuff. Bhang, or the intoxicating narcotic obtained from hemp, and
opium are also in use, but to no great extent. The Gonds, who
lurk in the hills and fastnesses, are a wild and savage race ; yet
they may be rendered tractable and obedient by kind treatment.
At present the majority are nearly in a state of nature, sheltering in
caves or hollow trees, and feeding on game when obtainable, at other
times on vermin , reptiles, and wild roots or fruits.
Commerce, etc. — The principal items of export are cotton, oil-seeds,
country cloth , hides, metal ware, and agricultural produce ; those of
import are salt from the eastern and western coasts, grain , timber,
European piece-goods, and hardware. In the absence of any complete
system of registration, the only means of approximately estimating the
annual value ofthe trade of the Nizam 's Dominions with other Provinces
is by calculating it from the known yield of the ad valorem duties levied
at customs houses. The amount thus deducible would be about
£10 ,000,000 sterling per annum . Among the manufactures of the
country may bementioned the ornamentalmetalware of Bedar ; the gold
embroidered cloths of Aurangabad, Gulbarga, and other towns ; and the
excellent paper of different kinds which is made by the inhabitants of
the hamlet of Kághazpur, near the famous fortress of Daulatábád .
Communications. The railway line connecting Bombay with Madras
traverses the south -western part ofthe State. TheGreat Indian Peninsula
Railway runs the line as far as Ráichur, where it is joined by the Madras
Railway. AtWadi, 7 miles from the station of Sháhábád , on the Great
Indian Peninsula line, the Nizam 's State Railway branches off to Haidar
ábád and to the military cantonment of Secunderábád (Sikandrábád).
From Haidarábád two lines of telegraph separate, one going south
west to Bellary, the other with an easterly direction towards Masuli
patam , near the mouth of the Krishna. “ The principal roads are the
military ones — (1) from north to south , from Nagpur through the city
of Haidarábád to Bangalore ; (2 ) from south-east to north-west, from
Madras and Masulipatam through the city of Haidarábád to Poona and
 HAIDARABAD STATE . 507
thence to Bombay ; (3) from south-east to north-west, from the city of
Haidarábád to Aurangabad.'
Administration. — The revenue of the Nizam 's Dominions, Berar
included, may be stated in round numbers at £4,000,000, inclusive of
receipts from all sources. About two-thirds of the above large sum is
collected by the Nizam 's own Government from tracts under native
rule . The remaining one-third is realized by British officers principally
from Berar. All revenue collected by our Government from Districts
owning the sovereignty of the Nizám is either spent by us in admini
stering and opening up those Districts, or is handed over to him as
unexpended balance or surplus. The only feudatory of the Nizam is
the Rájá ofGudwal, who is independent in his internal administration
so long as he pays an annual tribute of Rs. 115 ,000 (say £11,500 ).
The land revenue is still collected in kind in some parts of the
country ; the rate for irrigated crops being half to the Government and
half to the cultivator. In the parts where it is paid in money, the rate
is much the same, about 8 annas in the rupee on the value of the crop.
The Haidarábád Government has a mint and a currency of its own .
In former days, rupees of different kinds were manufactured in various
parts of the country. Now there is only one mint, situated inside the
city of Haidarábád ; and only one kind of rupee, namely, the hali sicca ,
or “ rupee of the period,' is turned out. Though smaller in disc, it is
also a good deal thicker than our rupee, and the difference in weight
and intrinsic value between the two coins is trifling.
History. — The dynasty of the Nizám was founded by Asaf Jah , a
distinguished general of the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb , of Turkoman
descent. After a long life at the Delhi Court, distinguished alike in
war and political cunning, he was in 1713 appointed Subahdár or
Viceroy of the Deccan, with the title of Nizam -ul-Mulk (Regulator of
the State ), which has since become hereditary in the family. The
Mughal Empire was at this time torn by internal dissension, and at the
sametime threatened by the rising power of the Marhattás. Amid the
general confusion, Asaf Jah had little difficulty in asserting his indepen
dence against the degenerate descendantof Aurangzeb, though he was
less successful in repelling the inroads ofMarhattá cavalry. On his death
in 1748, he was firmly established as an independent sovereign, with
Haidarábád for his capital, and a kingdom roughly co-extensive with the
present State. The right of succession was fiercely contested among his
descendants. The claimantsmost favoured were two. One ofthese ,Nasir
Jang, the second son of the deceased ruler, being on the spot when his
father died, had seized the treasure, and obtained the support of the
army ; and ,moreover, fortified his claim by an alleged renunciation of
the right of inheritance on the part of his elder brother. The other,
named Muzaffar Jang, was a grandson of Nizám -ul-Mulk by a favourite
508 HAIDARABAD STATE.
daughter ; and to him , it was said , the succession was conveyed by
testamentary bequest. Each of the two candidates had the good
fortune to secure the countenance and support of one of the great
European powers then commencing their career of contention for
supremacy in the East, — the English espousing the cause of Nasir Jang,
the French that of his rival, Muzaffar Jang ; but after a very brief
period, dissensions between the commander and his officers caused the
retirement of the French force from the field , and Muzaffar Jang,
deprived of support, became the prisoner of Nasir Jang. Nasir Jang
soon after perished by the hands of some of his own followers, and
Muzaffar Jang was proclaimed Subahdár of the Deccan ; but his
authority was exercised under the control of the French commander ,
Dupleix, whose will was supreme. Muzaffar Jang was not destined
long to enjoy even the appearance of power. He fell in an affray with
some Pathán chiefs, who, having been instrumental in placing him on
the throne, were disappointed in the amount of reward to which they
thought their services entitled . A new occupant of the seat of power
was now ,to be sought ; and the French , passing over an infant son of
Muzaffar Jang, selected Salábat Jang, a brother of Nasir Jang, to be
ruler of the Deccan . Another claimant for the dignity, however ,
shortly afterwards appeared in the person of Gházi-ud-dín , the eldest
son of the Nizam Asaf Jah . The impending contest between the
brothers was, however, averted by the sudden death of Ghází-ud-din ;
and though the Marhattás, by whom he was supported, continued for
their own purposes to maintain hostilities, their unvarying ill-success
disposed them to listen to proposals for procuring their absence, on the
usual terms. The English and French , however, continued to struggle
for power and influence in the Deccan ; but the latter were compelled
after a while, by the danger threatening their own possessions from the
victories gained by Clive, to withdraw from the support of Salábat Jang,
who thus weakened, and apprehensive, moreover, of the designs of a
younger brother, Nizam Alí, entered into an engagement with the
English , by which he promised to dismiss the French from his country
and service, and renounce all connection with them . In 1761, this
weak prince was dethroned by his own brother, Nizam Ali, whom ,
contrary to the advice of themost judicious of his French counsellors,
he had entrusted with power which was used to supplant the donor.
Two years afterwards, the usurper made further acknowledgment of
his brother's favour by putting him to death. In 1765 he ravaged the
Karnatic, exercising in his course a measure of cruelty far beyond what
was necessary to his purpose ; but he retired on the approach of a
British force. Still the British Governmentwas anxious to be on better
termswith him , partly from a desire to obtain his concurrence to their
retention of a maritime District known as the NORTHERN CIRCARS, for
 HAIDARABAD STATE. 509
merly possessed by the French , butnow occupied by the English , who
had fortified their right by the firmán of the Emperor.
Accordingly, in 1766, a treaty was concluded by which, on condition of
a grant of the Circars,the British Governmentagreed to furnish the Nizám
with a subsidiary force when required, and to pay 9 lákhs of rupees (say
£90,000) a year, when the assistance of their troops was not required .
The Nizám on his part engaged to assistthe British with his troops. There
were other stipulations ; and among them one reserving the life right of
Basálat Jang, a brother of Nizam Ali's, in one of the Circars, subject to
his good behaviour. The aid of British troops was afforded ,asprovided
bythe treaty,to enable Nizám Alito proceed against HaidarAli ofMysore,
then rapidly rising into power ; but after a good deal of vacillation ,
Nizam Alí preferred to unite with thatadventurer. The allies, however,
were unprosperous, and the Nizám was compelled to sue for peace,which
was concluded by a new treaty in 1768. By the Sixth Article, the East
India Company and the Nawab of the Karnatic (who was a party to
the treaty ) were to be always ready to send two battalions of Sepoys
and six pieces of artillery, manned by Europeans, wherever the Nizam
should require them , and the situation of affairs would allow of such
assistance being rendered, the Nizam paying the expense during the
time such force should be employed in this service. In 1782, Basalat
Jang died ; but the Company did not obtain possession of the Circar
held by him till 1788. The peshkash, or payment to be made to the
Nizam on account of the Circars, had fallen into arrear, and was not
adjusted till even a later period. These matters, however, having been
at length arranged, the British Governor-General, Lord Cornwallis, in
1789, addressed a letter to the Nizám explaining and interpreting the
treaty of 1768, but declining to enter into any new treaty, as had been
suggested . This letter was subsequently declared, by a resolution of
the House of Commons, to have the full force of a treaty executed in
due form . In it the Governor-General agreed that the force stipulated
for in the Sixth Article of the treaty of 1768 should be granted whenever
applied for, provided it was not to be employed against any power in
alliance with the Company. In the following year, on the breaking
out of a war with Tipú, son of Haidar Alí, a treaty of offensive and
defensive alliance was concluded between the Nizám , the Peshwá, and
the British Government. Tipú purchased peace at the price of half
his dominions, and the Nizám had no reason to be dissatisfied with
his share of the spoil. At a later period, the Nizám , being engaged in
war with theMarhattás, claimed the assistance of the British Government
under the subsisting relations between them ; but the Governor-General,
Sir John Shore, was precluded by the treaties with the Marhattás from
interfering further than as mediator, and the Nizám was eventually
obliged to conclude an ignominious peace with his enemy. The refusal
510 HAIDARABAD STATE.
of assistance and its results so incensed the Nizám , that he requested
that two battalions stationed at his capital as a subsidiary force should
be withdrawn . The Nizám now sought safety in the entertainment of a
body of troops commanded by French officers, who, however, were dis
missed in accordance with the provisions of a treaty concluded in 1798,
under the administration of the Earl ofMornington, afterwards Marquis
Wellesley. By this treaty, a subsidiary force augmented to 6000 Sepoys
with a due proportion of field -pieces, was assigned to the service of the
Nizam . On the fall of Seringapatam and the death of Tipú Sultán,
the Nizám participated largely in the division of territory , under the
partition treaty of 1799, and his share was increased on the Peshwa's
withdrawal from the treaty . In 1800, the subsidiary force with the
Nizam was further augmented, and the pecuniary payment for its
maintenance was commuted for a cession of territory. The country
ceded on this occasion consisted of the acquisitions made from Tipú
allotted to the Nizam under the treaty of Seringapatam in 1792, and the
treaty of Mysore, concluded in 1799, after the destruction of Tipu's
power and government. This territory is known to the present time
under the title of the Ceded Districts.
By the treaty of 1800, the Nizám agreed to furnish in time of war
6000 infantry and gooo cavalry to co-operate with the British army, and
to employ every effort to bring into the field as speedily as possible
the whole force of his dominions. But his troops proved very
inefficient in the first Marhattá war, and, after the conclusion of the
campaign , various schemes were from time to time proposed for their
reform with little success. Eventually battalions were raised, which
were clothed , armed, and equipped like the Company's troops ; and for
the regular payment of this contingent, advances were made in 1843
from the British treasury, on the distinct understanding that in the
event of further advances becoming necessary, a territorial security for
the payment of the debt would be demanded . No efforts, however,
were made to pay off the debt, which continued to increase. At last,
in 1853, a new treaty was concluded, by which the British Government
agreed to maintain an auxiliary force of not less than 5000 infantry,
2000 cavalry , and 4 field batteries , and to provide for its payment and
for certain pensionsand the interest on the debt ; the Nizam on his part
agreed to cede in trust Districts yielding a gross revenue of 50 lakhs
of rupees (say £500,000). By this treaty the Nizám ,while retaining
the full use of the subsidiary force and contingent, was released from
the unlimited obligation of service in time of war; and the contingent
ceased to be part of the Nizam 's army, and became an auxiliary force
kept up by the British Government for the Nizam 's use. In 1857,when
the Mutinyhad broken out, the condition ofHaidarábád and the Nizam's
Dominions became critical; and in July, an attack,which was repulsed,
 HAIDARABAD CITY. 511

was made upon the Residency. The Haidarábád contingent displayed

its loyalty in the field against the rebels. In 1860, a fresh treaty was
made by which the territorial acquisitions of the Nizám were increased,
a debt of 50 lakhs of rupees was cancelled, and the Assigned Districts in
Berar, yielding a gross revenue of Rs. 3,200,000 (say £320,000), were
y the British ish administration thehe Haidarábás
taken in trust by the British Government for the purposes specified in the
treaty of 1853. Under British administration the revenues of Berar have
greatly increased. The surplus is paid over to the Haidarábád State.
The present Nizám , Mir Mahbub Alí, was born in 1866 . He is the
first Muhammadan ruler in India, and is entitled to a salute of 21 guns.
Themilitary force of the Nizam consists of 71 field and 654 other guns,
551 artillerymen , 1400 cavalry , and 12,775 infantry, besides a large
body of irregulars.
Haidarábád (Hyderabad). — Chief city and capital of Haidarábád
State ; situated in lat. 17° 21' 45" N., and long. 78° 30' 10 " E., on
the river Musí, which is here between 400 and 500 feet wide. It
stands at a height of about 1700 feet above sea level, and is distant
389 miles north -west from Madras, 449 south- east from Bombay, and
962 south -west from Calcutta . No Census of the population of the
town has been taken, but it has been estimated at 200,000. The
scenery around Haidarábád is wild and picturesque, the country being
hilly and dotted with numerous granite peaks and isolated rocks.
Approached from the west, the appearance of the city is very striking ;
the palace and mosques and magnificent pile of buildings erected for
the British Residency towering above the outer wall.
A large lake, a few miles south of Haidarábád, supplies the town .
When full, this sheet of water is nearly 20 miles in circumference, and
covers an area of 10 ,000 acres.
The palace of the Nizám , the mosques, and the British Residency
are the principal buildings. The former has, however, no pretensions
to splendour, but is of considerable size. M . Langlès describes it as
being more than a league in circumference, and guarded by a valiant
body of Amazons. Haidarábád is a greatMuhammadan stronghold , and
contains several mosques. The Jamá Masjid or . Cathedral' Mosque,
so called after the one at Mecca, from which it is designed, is large, and
crowned byminaretsofan extraordinary height. The pillarswithin consist
each of a single piece of granite,and are very lofty. In the environs of
Haidarábád there are many fine gardens, with gorgeous pavilions. That
of the Nizám 'sminister is said to be wonderfully beautiful. It is enclosed
by high walls, and in the centre is a marble tank. Carved trellis-work
forms an important feature in the building. One of themost interesting
places in Haidarábád is the College or Chár Minár (so called from its
4 minarets), built upon four grand arches, at which the four principal
streets of the city meet. Above are several storeys of rooms, and
 512 HAIDARABAD CITY .
formerly each storey was devoted to a science. These apartments are
now turned into warehouses.
On the north side of the Musí is an extensive suburb known as the
Begam or · Princess ' Bázár, because the imports levied there are a
perquisite of the Nizam 's principal wife. The British Residency is in
this quarter, and communication between it and the palace of the
Nizám is maintained by a handsome bridge, planned by Colonel
Oliphant, late of the Madras Engineers. It was built in 1831, of
squared granite,and has eight arches ; the roadway is 24 feetwide. The
British Residency was designed by Mr. Russell, and is remarkable ,
among other things, as having been constructed entirely by native
workmen. The north front looks away from the river and the city . It
is adorned by a splendid portico, to which leads up a flight of twenty
two steps, having on either side a colossal sphinx. From the summit of
the steps six Corinthian columns, faced with chunám stone of dazzling
whiteness, rise to the top of the upper storey of themain building. The
Company's arms, in alto -relievo, form the central ornament. The interior
of the portico is elaborately carved, and the whole building stands in
ornamental pleasure grounds, enclosed by a wall with two gateways.
The staircase is the finest in India , each step being a single block of
the finest granite ; the walls are richly decorated, and the apartments
are furnished with the utmost luxuriance . The pavilions, galleries, and
terraces are ornamented in the florid style of Oriental architecture, with a
profusion of delicate trellis-work ,painting, and gilding. The finest private
residence in the city is the palace of the Bára Dari or ' Twelve Doors,"
now occupied by the present Minister of the Nizám , Sir Sálar Jung.
History. — Haidarábád was founded in 1589, by Kutab Shah
Muhammad Kuli ; in 1512, the fifth in descent from Sultán Kulí Kutab
Sháh , the founder of the dynasty at Golconda, Muhammad Kuli,
removed the seat of government from Golconda on account of its want
of water and consequent unhealthiness, and built a new city on the
banks of the Musí river, 7 miles from his former capital. He called it
Bhágnagar, ' Fortunate City ,' from his favourite mistress, Bhagmati ;
but after her death he named it Haidarábád, “ The City of Haidar,
though formany years it retained its former appellation. A finemosque
and the Chár Minár were among his public works. The history of
Golconda and of Haidarábád after 1589 are almost identical. Soon
after establishing himself in his new metropolis, Muhammad Kuli
carried on with the neighbouring Hindu Rájás the war which his
predecessor, Ibráhim Shah, had begun . He extended his conquests
south of the Kistna river ; the strong fortress of Gandikota was captured,
and one of his detachments sacked the town of Cuddapah. Some of
his troops penetrated even to the frontiers of Bengal, and Muhammad
Kulídefeated the Rájá of Orissa, and subjugated the greater part of
 HAIDARABAD CITY. 513
the Northern Circars. In 1603, an ambassador from Shah Abbas,
King of Persia, arrived at Haidarábád with a ruby-studded crown and
other magnificent gifts. The palace of Díl-kusha was allotted to the
envoy, who remained there six years, receiving from Muhammad
Kuli £2000 annually for his expenses. When the ambassador left for
Persia, an officer of the court of Haidarábád accompanied him ,bearing
return presents, and amongst them some gold cloth manufactured at
Paitan , which it took five years to make. In 1611, Muhammad Kulí
died, after a most prosperous reign of thirty-four years. The principal
memorials of this monarch are the palace and gardens of Iláhí Mahál,
the Muhammadi gardens, the palace of Nabat Ghát, and the Jamá
Masjid or 'Cathedral' Mosque. According to the accounts of Mir
Abú Tálib , the king's private treasurer, £2,800,000 was expended on
public works during the reign of Muhammad Kulí, and £24,000
was distributed every year among the poor. The king's example of
liberality was followed by his nobility ; and the number of handsome
buildings throughout the dominions of the Kutab Shah monarchs is
unsurpassed , if not unequalled, in any other of the Muhammadan
kingdoms of the Deccan.
Muhammad Kuli was succeeded by his son , Sultan Abdulla Kutab
Sháh . The Mughals under Shah Jahán, the fifth Emperor (1627-58),
now make their appearance in Southern India . Aurangzeb, Shah
Jahán's son , was sent as viceroy into the Deccan by that prince, who
seemed bent on compensating for failures beyond the Indus by the
subjugation of Bijapur and Golconda. The immediate cause of his
attack on the latter kingdom was an appeal from Mír Jumlá , the Prime
Minister, whose son had involved him in a dispute with the court.
Mír Jumlá , finding himself unable to obtain such concessions as he
desired from his own sovereign, determined to throw himself on the
protection of the Mughal emperor. Such an opportunity for intrigue
suited Aurangzeb 's character, and he strongly urged his father to
entertain Mir Jumla 's petition. Sháh Jahán , influenced by this advice,
issued a mandate to Abdullá to redress the complaints of his minister ;
but Abdullá was so incensed by this questioning of his independence
that he sequestrated Mir Jumla's property , and committed his son,
Muhammad Amin, to prison. Sháh Jahán now despatched Aurangzeb
to carry his demands into effect by force of arms. Under pretext of
escorting his son Sultan Muhammad to Bengal, to wed the daughter
of his brother Prince Shujá , Aurangzeb made a treacherous attack on
Haidarábád. The road from Aurangabad (the capital of the Deccan )
to Bengalmade a circuit by Masulipatam in order to avoid the forests
of Gondwána, and thus naturally brought the viceroy within a short
distance of Haidarábád. Abdullá Kutab Sháh was preparing an
entertainment for Aurangzeb's reception , when he suddenly advanced
VOL. III. 2 K
514 HAIDARABAD CITY.
as an enemy, and took the king so completely by surprise that he had
only time to flee to the hill-fort of Golconda, 7 miles distant, whilst
Haidarábád fell into the hands of the Mughals, and was plundered and
half burned before the troops could be brought into order. Abdulla
did all in his power to negotiate reasonable terms, but the Mughals
were inexorable ; and after several attempts to raise the siege by force,
he was at last forced to accept the severe conditions imposed on him ,
viz., to give his daughter in marriage to Sultan Muhammad, with a
dowry in land and money ; to pay a crore of rupees (£1,000 ,000
sterling) as the first instalment of a yearly tribute ; and to make up the
arrears of past payments in two years. Mír Jumlá remained in the
service of the Mughals, and became a favourite general of Aurangzeb,
and one of themost useful instruments of his ambition.
Abdullá died in 1672, and was succeeded by his son-in -law , Abú
Husáin , who in his youth had been notorious for dissipated habits.
He fell entirely under the influence of a Marhattá Bráhman, named
Madhuna Panth, who became his Prime Minister. In 1676, at the
invitation of this man , Sivají, the founder of the Marhattá supremacy,
entered Haidarábád with a force of 70 ,000 men , on his way to the
Karnatic. He also concluded a treaty with Abú Husáin . Sivaji's
reception at Golconda afforded grounds for a war with the State of
Bijápur, but the invasion was resisted and defeated by Madhuna Panth .
Sivají died in 1680, and was succeeded by his eldest son , Sumbají,
with whom Abú Husáin also entered into an alliance. Aurangzeb was
prevented from at once turning his arms againstGolconda, owing to a
convention made by his son, Prince Muazím . When , in 1686 , Khán
Jahán was sent against that State, and found himself unable to oppose
its army, he begged urgently for reinforcements ; and Prince Muazím
was despatched to his assistance. The leader of the Golconda troops
proved unfaithful to his cause ,and allowed the united forces to proceed
unmolested to Haidarábád, where he joined the Mughals with the
greater part of his troops. The king, Abú Husáin , shut himself in the
fort of Golconda ; and Haidarábád was again left open to plunder.
Madhuna Panth was killed in a popular tumult, and the king accepted
such terms as he could obtain . A payment of 2 millions sterling in
money and jewels was demanded . The treaty , however, was of short
duration , for in 1687 Aurangzeb formally declared war against Abú
Husáin . The king bravely defended the fort ofGolconda for seven
months, and lost it at last by treachery, and was sent a captive to
Daulatábád,where he resided until his death . Abú Husáin was a very
popular monarch, and many anecdotes of his virtues are still current
in the Deccan . Aurangzeb immediately took possession of all the
territories of Bijápur and Golconda, but his occupation was little more
than military . The Districts were farmed out, and were governed by
 HAIDARABAD CITY. 515
military leaders, who received 25 per cent. for the expense ofcollecting
the revenue.
No event of any importance occurred at Haidarábád until 1707, the
year of Aurangzeb's death . A dispute for the crown took place between
his two sons, Prince Azím and Prince Muazím . The latter was
victorious, and ascended the throne as Bahadur Shah. Prince Kám
Bakhsh refused to acknowledge his brother as king, and Bahadur Shah,
after attempting in vain to win him over by concessions, marched
against him to the Deccan, and defeated him in a battle near Haidar
ábád ( February 1708 ), in which Kám Bakhsh was mortally wounded .
Bahadur Shah then made a truce with the Marhattás ; and affairs in
the Deccan remained quiet until the end of his reign, in 1712 . The
viceroyalty was given to Zulfikár Khán , an adherent of Prince Azím ;
and the administration of the government to Dáúd Khán , a Pathán
officer,who had distinguished himself under Aurangzeb. The death
of Bahadur Shah was followed by struggles amongst his sons. The
incapacity of the eldest, Jahándár Shah, had given a great ascendancy
to the second,who was supported by the army and most of the nobility.
A battle ensued ; Azim -us-Shán was repulsed and slain , and Jahándár
Sháh remained undisputed master of the throne. One of his first acts
was to put all the princes of the blood within his reach to death .
Among those whom he could not get into his power was Farrukh
Siyyar, the only son of Azim -us-Shán ; but the cause of this prince was
espoused by the governor of Behar, Sayyid Husáin Ali. The rivals
met near Agra on the 28th of December 1712 ; and on the ist of
January 1713, Farrukh Siyyar ascended the throne, and conferred
dignities upon all his adherents. Among these was Chin -Khilich Khán ,
a noble of high rank, and a brilliant statesman, to whom was given the
title of Nizám -ul-mulk Asaf Jáh. Zúlfikár Khán was put to death, and
Sayyid Husáin Alí appointed viceroy of the Deccan in his stead. But
the Emperor was jealous of his powerful subject, and wished to get
rid of him . He therefore wrote to Dáúd Khán, promising him
the viceroyalty if he would attack Husáin Alí on his arrival in the
Deccan and destroy him . No more acceptable commission could have
been offered to Dáúd Khán than that of revenging the death of his
friend and patron Zulfikár ; and taking up a position at Burhanpur, he
proclaimed himself viceroy, and awaited Husáin Ali's appearance. A
severe battle was fought, in which Dáúd Khán was on the point of
victory when he was struck by a bullet, and killed instantly (1716 ).
Husain Alí immediately took the field against the Marhattás, but was
completely routed. He and his brother Sayyid Abdulla Khán , the
Wazir of the Deccan , now united their forces against Farrukh Siyyar,
whose schemes for the destruction of Husáin Alí had proved abortive.
In December 1719, the allies advanced upon Delhi, and the Emperor
516 HAIDARABAD CITY.
mands, thar session of In Februa
submitted to their demands, that became more exorbitant day by day,
and ended in their obtaining possession of the royal citadel and palace ,
which were occupied by their troops. In February 1719, Farrukh
Siyyar was deposed, and , two months later, put to death by order of
Husáin Ali and Abdullá Khán . The Sayyids now selected Rafi-ud
daulá , who died in a few months. He was succeeded (1719 to 1748 )
by Muhammad Shah, who was the last Independent Emperor that sat
on the Delhi Throne. The first great event in his reign was the over
throw of Husain Ali and his brother,which was effected in great measure
by a league between Nizám -ul-mulk , and Saádat Khán, his coadjutor
and rival, and afterwards the founder of the Oudh dynasty. Chin Khilich
Khán saw in the disturbed condition of the country an excuse for
raising troops ; and as he perceived the difficulty of establishing a
permanent control at Delhi, he determined to lay the foundation of
his power on a firmer basis, and turned his attention first to the Deccan .
His plans against the Sayyids succeeded. In October 17,20, Husáin
Ali was assassinated, and at the end of the year Abdulla Khán was
defeated and taken prisoner by Muhammad Shah ; but the power of this
monarch was rapidly declining. In January 1722, Chin Khilich Khán
arrived at Delhi, and assumed the office of Wazír. He found the court
in a state of the utmost weakness ; theEmperor and his favourites were
given up to pleasure ; and after somemonths of mutual dissatisfaction ,
they devised plans to free themselves from the troublesome counsels
of Chin Khilich Khán, also called Asaf Jah. TheWazir was despatched
against the refractory governor of Guzerat, but speedily returned,
strengthened by the addition of a rich Province. In October 1723 ,
shortly after this victory, Asaf Jah resigned his post as Wazír, and set
off for the Deccan , a proceeding amounting in reality to a declaration
of independence. The Emperor, although he graciously accepted Asaf
Jah's resignation , and conferred on him the title of Lieutenant of the
Empire , — the highest that could be conferred on such a subject, — did
not on that account abate his hostility. He sent orders to the local
governor of Haidarábád to endeavour to dispossess the viceroy, and
assume the government of the entire Deccan in his place. Mubariz
Khán entered zealously on this task , and succeeded in gathering
together a powerful army. Asaf Jah protracted his negotiations for
several months, and endeavoured to sow sedition among the adherents
of the governor. At last he was forced to come to open war, and soon
gained a decisive victory over Mubariz, who lost his life in the battle ,
fought in October 1724. As the Emperor had not avowed the attack
which he had instigated, Asaf Jah, not to be outdone in dissimulation ,
sent the head of Mubaríz to court with his own congratulations on
the extinction of the rebellion . He then fixed his residence at
Haidarábád, and became the founder of an independent kingdom ,
 HAIDARABAD ASSIGNED DISTRICTS. 517
now ruled over by his descendants, who derive from him the title
of the Nizams of HAIDARABAD STATE. (In the compilation of this
section, considerable use has been made of Elphinstone's History of
India .)
Haidarábád (Hyderabad) Assigned Districts. — A Province in
Central India , better known under the nameof Berar, administered by a
British officer, entitled the Commissioner of Berar, under the Resident
at Haidarábád. Bounded on the north and east by the British Com
missionership of the Central Provinces, on the south by the Nizam 's
Dominions, and on the west by the Bombay Presidency. Lies
between 19° 26' and 21° 46' n. lat., and between 75° 58' 45" and
79° 11' 13" E. long. Population , according to the Parliamentary Blue
Book of 1878, based on the Census of 1867, 2,226,496 persons ; area,
17,728 square miles ; average density , 126 persons per square mile .
The following article is mainly compiled from the Reports by the
Resident at Haidarábád from 1872 to 1876, which, in their turn , are
based, as regards their topographical and historical sections, on Mr. A .
C . Lyall's excellent official account of the Province.
Physical Aspects. — Berar is, in the main , a broad valley running east
and west, lying between the Sátpura range on the north and the Ajanta
range on the south. The old local name of the valley at the base of
the Sátpuras was Berar Payanghát ; that of the tracts situated among
the uplands and hills of the Ajanta range, being Berar Bálághát. The
real strength of the Province is found in the valley at the base of the
Sátpuras. This valley is watered or drained, as the case may be, by
the Púrna (an affluent of the Tápti), and a perfect network of streams
descending into the main river both from the hills in the north and
from the hills in the south . Its soil is one vast superstratum of black
loam overlying trap and basalt. Its rainfall is regular and copious ; its
area is now entirely cultivated, the whole surface being covered over at
harvest time by a sheet of crops. Its population is dense, and con
sists of Kumbís and other hardy and industrious agricultural tribes.
It is traversed from west to east of its whole length by the railway
from Nagpur to Bombay. It possesses one of the richest and most
extensive cotton fields in India , and several cotton marts of the very
first rank. Its other products, especially millet and oil-seeds, are also
excellent. Altogether, it is one of the most promising regions to be
seen in India ; and in respect to natural and material advantages, it
surpasses any tract in either the Central Provinces or the Deccan,
The area of Berarmay be reckoned at a little more than 17.000 square
miles, being about equal to that of the kingdom of Greece without the
Ionian Islands. Its population is double that of Greece. Its length
from east to west is about 150 miles, and its breadth averages 144
miles. The principal rivers are the Tápti, the Púrna, the Wardha, and
518 HAIDARABAD ASSIGNED DISTRICTS.
the Penganga or Pranhita. The Province has but one natural lake,
the salt lake of Lonár, a great curiosity. The only forests worth
mention are those on the Gawilgarh Hills, where about 400 square
miles are conserved by the Government. In South Berar there is an
additional forest area of 246 square miles under conservancy. The
chief timber tree is the bábul (Acacia arabica ). Iron ore is plentiful
throughoutlarge tracts on the east, especially in the hills about Káranja,
and along the low range close to Amráoti on the north -east. It is not
worked by the natives, and the proportion of iron in the ore has not
been scientifically determined . The only District within Berar which
yields coal is that of Wún, where, stretching along the valley of the
Wardha river in a direction rudely north and south, a group of beds
of thick coal of fair quality has lately been found. This group may be
said to extend from near the Wardha river on the north to the Penganga
on the south . The beds associated with the coal can be traced
throughout, and, although there has not yet been time to prove the
existence of coal throughout the entire distance, there can be little
reasonable doubt that it will be found to occur.
The climate differs very little from that of the Deccan generally,
except that in the Payanghát valley the hot weather is sometimes
exceptionally severe. It sets in early, for the freshness of the short
cold season disappears with the crops, when the ground has been laid
bare by carrying the harvest ; but the heat does not much increase
until the end of March. From the ist of May until the rains set in ,
about the middle of June, the sun is very powerful, though its effect is
not intensified by the scorching winds of Upper India . The nights
are comparatively cool throughout, probably because the direct rays
of the sun have their influence counteracted by the retentiveness of
moisture peculiar to the black soil, and by the evaporation which is
always going on. During the rains, the air is moist and cool. In the
Bálághát country, above the Ajanta Hills, the thermometer stands
much lower than in the plains. On the loftiest Gawilgarh Hills, the
climate is always temperate ; the sanitarium of Chikalda is on this
range, a few miles from Ellichpur. The average rainfall for the whole
Province is not yet accurately known ; it is said to be about 27 inches
a year in the valley , and above 30 inches above the Gháts. On the
Gawilgarh Hills it is, of course, much heavier.
Administration. The Province of Berar is divided into two Divisions,
distinguished as East and West Berar. Hence, probably, the origin of
the common expression “ the Berars,' which has, however, no warrant
either in the history or the geography of the country. Five Districts
and one Subdivision of a District, each with an average area of 2833
square miles, are comprised in the above two Divisions. These ,again ,
are subdivided into 21 tahsilis, or revenue and judicial Subdivisions,
 HAIDARABAD ASSIGNED DISTRICTS. 519
with an average area of 810 square miles. There are 71 magistrates
of all grades, most of them exercising civil and revenue powers.
There are 7662 villages in Berar, at an average distance of 23miles
from the nearest court. One Commissioner has his headquarters at
Akola, the other at Amráoti. The principal towns of the Province are
- AMRAOTI, population 23,410 ; KHAMGAON , 9432 ; ELLICHPUR,27,782 ;
AKOLA, 15 ,920 ; SHEGAON , 7450 ; Akor, 14,006 ; KARANJA, 11,750.
There are not more than 31 towns in which the population exceeds
5000. Marathi is the local vernacular of the whole Province .
The land revenue demand in 1872 - 73 was Rs. 5,904,058
(£590 ,406), and the gross revenue, Rs. 8,097,824 ( £,809,782). Sub
joined is a table showing the contributions to these totals from the
several Districts, with the population of each as ascertained by the
Census of 1867, since which date signs of increase, especially in the
town population, have been plainly observed :
AREA, POPULATION, AND REVENUE OF BERAR.
Area in Land Revenue Gross Revenue Population in
Name of District. Sq. Miles , in 1872 -73. in 1872- 73 . 1867.
1878.
Rs. Rs.
Akola , 2,654 1,767,013 2,400,032 460,615
Amráoti,
Ellichpur
. 2,767 1, 426 ,600 2,151,747 501, 331
, : 2,623 909,371 1,260,105 278,576
Buldána , . 2,807 930,772 1,075,888 365,779
Wún , . . 3,919 382,363 645,690 323,689
Básim , 2,958 487, 939 564, 362 276 ,408
Unaccounted for, . 20 ,098

Total, . . 17 ,728 ( 5,904,058 | 8,097,824

£590 ,406 T£809 ,782

History.-- In early times, the greater part of the Deccan , as far north
ward as the Narbadá (Nerbudda),was subject to Rájput princes of the
Chalukya race,whose capital was at Kalyán near Gulbarga, from about
1000 A .D. to 1200 A.D . Rám Deo, who was conquered and slain
by Alá -ud-dín , was the last of the Yadava line of kings, who reigned
not without fameat Deogarh , themodern Daulatábád, down to the end
of the 13th century A .D. We may be allowed to guess that Berar
was at one period under the sway of Kalyán, or of Deogarh, probably
of both successively, though the south -eastern District of the old Pro
vince may have belonged to the kingdom ruled by the ancient Hindu
Rájás at Warangul. Remains of ancient Hindu architecture attest
the received hypothesis that the Province must long have formed part
of that principal Rajput kingdom which occupied the heart of the
Deccan . But local tradition tells of independent Rájáswho governed
520 HAIDARABAD ASSIGNED DISTRICTS.
Berar from Ellichpur, which is said to take its namefrom one of them ,
called Rájá Adil. The same authority states, what may possibly be
corroborated by architectural relics which have yet to be examined
by the competent antiquary, that the princes or governors of Berar,
immediately before the Muhammadan invasion , were Jains. In A . D .
1294, Alá-ud -dín , nephew and son -in- law to the Delhi Emperor
Firoz Ghilzái, made his first expedition into the Deccan . After defeat
ing the Yadava Prince Rám Deo at Deogarh , he is said to have been
bought out of the country by a heavy ransom , accompanied by the
cession of Ellichpur. Soon after his return to Upper India, Alá-ud -din
murdered his uncle and usurped the Delhi throne. Throughout
his reign the Deccan was plundered by successive bands of Muham
madans from the north ; but on his death , the Hindus seem to have
recovered the Provinces previously subject to Deogarh . However,
this insurrection was crushed in 1318-19 by Mubarak Ghilzái, when
he flayed alive the last Hindu Prince of Deogarh ; and Berar has ever
since been nominally under the dominion of Muhammadan rulers.
Under them it has always kept its distinct name; and there is reason
to believe that from the first it formed a separate Provincial charge, of
course with constant change of boundaries. In 1351, on the death of
the Emperor Muhammad Tughlak , the southern Provinces fell away
from his house, and for 250 years maintained their independence of
Delhi. For the next 130 years , Berar remained under the dominion
of the Bahmani kings, so called because the founder of their line was
either a Brahman or a Bráhman's servant. This man ruled all the
Deccan under the title of Alá-ud -dín Husáin Shah , and divided his
kingdom into four Provinces, of which Mahur, Rámgarh, and part of
Berar formed one. On the collapse of this dynasty in 1526 , we find
Berar one of the five kingdoms into which the Deccan had virtually split
up, fairly embarked on a period of independence under the Imad Shahi
Princes, whose capital was Ellichpur. The founder of this dynasty had
been , it is said , a Kanarese Hindu captured in war, whom Khán Jahán,
Governor of Berar, promoted to high office. He rose to the title of
Imad - ul-Mulk , and the command of the Berar forces. But he
bequeathed to his successors no share either of his good fortune or
ability. An attack by the allied Kings of Bijápur and Ahmednagar gave
Berar to the latter in 1572. The Ahmednagar dynasty , however, was
not destined long to hold possession of the prize. The cession of
Berar to the Emperor Akbar by the Ahmednagar Government took
place in 1596. In 1599, the great Emperor himself came down to
Burhanpur and organized his recent conquests. Ahmednagar was
taken , and all the country recently annexed , including Berar, was
placed under Prince Danyál (the Emperor's son ) as viceroy, Berar
retaining its separate formation as an imperial subah, of which the
 HAIDARABAD ASSIGNED DISTRICTS. 521

extent and revenue are pretty accurately known from the Ain -i-Akbari.
The death of Akbar in 1605 distracted for a time the attention of the
Mughal Government from their new Province in the Deccan ; and
Málik Ambar, who represented Nizam Shahi independence at Daulat
ábád, recovered the greater part of Berar. This man, an Abyssinian by
race, is well known as the great revenue administrator of the Upper
Deccan . He first made a regular assessment by fixing theGovernment
share in the estimated produce, commuted to money value, says Duff's
Mahrattas ; but the hereditary revenue officers of Berar assert that
the assessment was on the quality of land , at so much per bighá ,
said to have been made in 1612. Málik Ambar held his own in these
parts until he died in 1628. In 1630, the Mughals recovered Berar,
and re-established the imperial authority . Shah Jahan divided his
Deccan dominions into two governments, of which one comprised
Berar, Payanghát, Jálna, and Khandesh ; but these were soon reunited
under one head. The revenue assessment was reorganized, and the
fasli era introduced from 1637-38. It is very difficult, and would not
be very profitable, to pursue the separate thread of Berar Provincial
history through the tangled coil of Deccan warfare, from A.D . 1650,
when Aurangzeb became Viceroy of the Deccan , until the hour when
he died at Ahmednagar, in A. D. 1707. Berar underwent its share
of fire and sword, Marhattá plundering and Mughal rack-renting.
After Aurangzeb's death , the Marhattás consolidated their predominance,
and chauth and sardeshmúkhi were formally granted by the Sayyid
Ministers of the Emperor Farrukhsiyyar in 1717 upon the six and a
half súbahs of the Deccan. But, in 1720, Chin Khilich Khán , Viceroy
of the Deccan, under the title ofNizam -ul-Mulk , won his independence
by three victories over the imperiallieutenants, or rather over the armies
commanded by the partisans of the Sayyid Ministers who governed in the
Emperor's name. Nizam -ul-Mulk had been joined by the Subahdar of
Berar. The first battle was near Burhánpur in A .D . 1721; the second
at Bálápur soon after ; and the last decisive victory was gained, in
August A . D . 1724, at Shakar-Khelda, called Fateh -Khelda from that day,
in the present Buldána District. From this date Berarhas always been
nominally subject to the Haidarábád dynasty . Thematerial and even
moral injury caused to this Province by the wars of the 18th century
must have been wide and deep. Described in the Ain-l- Akbari as
highly cultivated , and in parts populous, supposed by M . de Thevenot
in 1667 to be one of the wealthiest portions of the Empire, it fell on
evil days before the close of the 17th century . Cultivation fell off just
when the finances were strained by the long wars ; the local revenue
officers rebelled ; the army becamemutinous ; and the Marhattás easily
plundered a weak Province,when they had divided its sinews by cutting
off its trade. Wherever the Emperorappointed a jágírdár the Marhattás
522 HAIDARABAD ASSIGNED DISTRICTS.
appointed another, and both claimed the revenue, while foragers from
each side exacted forced contributions ; so that the harassed cultivator
often threw up his land and joined in the general business of plunder.
The Marhattás succeeded in fixing their hold on this Province ; but
its resources were ruined , and its people must have been seriously
demoralized by a régime of barefaced plunder and fleecing, without
pretension to principle or stability. By the partition treaty of
Haidarábád (dated 1804), the whole of Berar, including Districts east
of Wardha, — but excluding certain tracts left with the Nágpur chiefs
and the Peshwá, — wasmade over in perpetual sovereignty to the Nizám .
The forts ofGawilgarh and Narnala remained subject to Nágpur. A fresh
treaty wasmade in 1822, which settled the frontier of Berar, and con
ferred upon the Nizám all the country west of the Wardha. The tracts
lying east of that river were at length formally ceded to Nágpur ; but the
Districts taken by the Peshwá in 1795, and those which had been left
to the Bhonslá in 1803,were all restored to the Haidarábád State. The
disbanding of large numbers of troops filled the country with gangs of
plunderers ; and it was sometimes necessary for us to interfere for the
preservation of peace, as in 1849, when Apa Sahib was captured and
his followers dispersed. Meanwhile, the Nizam 's finances had sunk
into such a desperate state, that in 1843, and in several succeeding
years, the pay of the force maintained under the treaty of 1800 had to
be advanced from the British Treasury . The total bankruptcy of the
Haidarábád State at length necessitated, in 1853, a new treaty , under
which the existing Haidarábád contingent force is maintained by
the British Government, in lieu of the troops which the Nizám had
been previously bound to furnish on demand in time of war ; while , for
the payment of this contingent, and other claims on the Nizám , Districts
yielding a gross revenue of 50 lakhs of rupees were assigned to our
Government. The territory made over to the British under this treaty
comprised , besides the Assigned Districts as they now exist, the Dis
tricts of Dharaseo and the Raichur Doáb. It was agreed that accounts
should be annually rendered to the Nizám , and that any surplus
revenue should be paid to him . On his part, he was released from the
obligation of furnishing a large force in time of war ; while the con
tingent ceased to be part of the Nizám 's army, and became an auxiliary
force kept by the British Government for his use. The provisions of
the treaty of 1853, however, which required the submission of annual
accounts of the Assigned Districts to the Nizám , were productive of
much inconvenience and embarrassing discussions. Difficulties had
also arisen regarding the levy of the 5 per cent. duty on goods under
the commercial treaty of 1802. To remove these difficulties, and at
the same time to reward the Nizám for his services in 1857, a new
treaty was concluded in December 1860, by which a debt of 50 lakhs
 HAIDARABAD ASSIGNED DISTRICTS.
due by the Nizám was cancelled ; the territory of Surapur, which had
been confiscated for the rebellion of its Hindu Rájá , was ceded to the
Nizam ; and the Districts of Dharaseo and the Raichur Doáb were
restored to him . On the other hand ,the Nizám ceded certain Districts
on the left bank of the Godavari, traffic on which river was to be free
from all duties ; and agreed that the remaining Assigned Districts in
Berar, together with other Districts, yielding a gross revenue of Rs.
3,200,000 (£320,000),should be held in trust by the British Government
for the purposes specified in the treaty of 1853 ; but that no demand
for accounts of the receipts and expenditure of the Assigned Districts
should be made. Certain territorial exchanges were also effected, with
the object of bringing under British administration those lands within
the Assigned Districts which were held in jágír for payment of troops,
or which were allotted for the Nizam 's privy purse. The history of
Berar since 1853 is marked by no important political events beside
the change made under the treaty of 1861. Its smooth course was
scarcely ruffled even by the troubles of 1857 ; whatever fires may have
been smouldering beneath the surface, the country remained calm ,
measuring its behaviour, not by Delhi, but by Haidarábád . In 1858,
Tántia Topí got into the Sátpura Hills, and tried to break across south
ward that he might stir up the Deccan ; but he was headed back at all
outlets, and never got away into the Berar valley. The Province has
rapidly progressed under British rule. When it was made over to us,
writes Sir Richard Temple in his official report, “ the neighbouring
Districts were full of families who had emigrated thither from Berar,
and who, with the usual attachment of the people to their original
patrimony, were anxious to return on any suitable opportunity .
Thus hundreds of families and thousands of individuals immigrated
back into Berar. Many villages in the Nágpur country lost many of
their hands in this way, and were sometimes put to serious straits.'
The American war, which shortly supervened , stimulated the cotton
trade to an enormous extent in Berar ; wages rapidly rose with the
unprecedented demand for labour which followed ; and the opening up
of the railway system has tended still further to enhance the prosperity
of the Province.
Population . — The first — and , up to the present time ( 1879), the only
- Census ever taken in the Province was carried out in November
1867. It disclosed a total population of 2,231,565 persons, dwelling
in 5694 towns and villages and inhabiting 495,760 houses ; area,
as then estimated , 17,334 square miles. A more accurate survey
(Parliamentary Abstract, 1878 ) gives the area at 17,728 square miles ;
and the last return from the Government of India (quoted in the
same Blue-Book ) makes the total population 2 ,226,496. So many
years have elapsed since the Census of 1867, and this enumeration
524 HAIDARABAD ASSIGNED DISTRICTS.
was altogether of so experimental a character, that it is not con
sidered advisable to give in this place the details then elicited. These
will, however, be found in the articles on the Districts constituting
the Province — viz. AMRAOTI, AKOLA, ELLICHPUR (including MELGHAT),
BULDANA, Wun, and Basim . The average density of the population
in Berar is 126 persons per square mile, - a number higher than in any
Division of the neighbouring Central Provinces, though far below the
average of the North -Western Provinces.
The largest towns of the Province are ELLICHPUR (pop. 27,782),
AMRAOTI (23,410), AKOLA (15, 920), and Akot ( 14,006 ).
Agriculture. — The Berar cultivator follows a primitive system of
rotation of crops. Hemanures very little, though as much as he can,
since heis obliged to use so much dung for fuel thathe has little to spare
for his fields. Good cultivable land is never enclosed for hay and
pasture, though plenty of grass is cut and stacked from wide unculti
vated tracts; and the working bullocks are well fed , partly on this
hay, more generally on the joár stalks, a little on cotton seed.
Large droves of cattle, sheep , and goats graze on commons and barren
wolds. From wells the cultivators irrigate patches of wheat, sugar
cane, opium , and market-garden produce. At places they obtain water
from small reservoirs and surface streams, especially under the hills
and to the southward . But in the Berar valley, which contains the
richest land, water is scarce even for the drinking of man and beast;
there is a dearth of grass and wood ; hired labour is insufficient and
dear. Capital in agricultural hands is scanty . The cultivators are
slowly (though surely) emerging out of chronic debt. Agriculture is
supported by the good -will with which all small money-lenders invest
in it, because there are no other handy investments which pay so
well as lending on bond to the farmers. Cultivation is obliged to sup
port the peasant and his family, to pay the State revenue, to return the
capital invested with not less than 18 per cent. interest to the Márwári
money-lender, and to furnish the court fees on litigation whenever the
rustic sees a chance of evading his bond. But the petty cultivatorkeeps
his hold of the land ; no one can make so much out of it as he
can ; and he is much aided by the customs of metayer tenancy and
joint-stock co-operative cultivation , which enable him to get cattle,
labour, and even a little cash on favourable terms. On thewhole, the
Berar cultivator is lazy and easy -going, starts late to his field and returns
early . Neither hope of great profits nor fear of ruin will drive him
to do the full day's work which is extracted from the English farm
labourer. The area under cultivation in 1872-73 was estimated at
5,691,921 acres. Joar and cotton are the staple crops of the Province,
occupying respectively 37 and 29 per cent. of the entire cultivated area.
The other principal crops are wheatand inferior grains, oil-seeds and
 HAIDARABAD ASSIGNED DISTRICTS. 525
fibres. Sugar-cane, opium , and tobacco are also grown to a small
extent. The average rental of cotton land is Is. ind . per acre ;
wheat and oil-seed land , 25. to 25. 3d . ; tobacco land, 3s. 4d. ; land
under opium , 6s. 8 }d. ; and that under sugar-cane, 8s. 8 }d. per
acre. The yield per acre of the different crops is as follows: - Rice,
209 lbs. ; wheat, 214 lbs.; joár, 313 lbs. ; gram , 163 lbs.; cotton ,
148 lbs.; opium , 4 lbs.; oil-seeds, 204 lbs.; and tobacco , 238 lbs.
There is a Government farm at Akola , where numerous interesting
agricultural experiments have been carried out. Average prices of
produce in 1872-73 were returned as follows:- Clean cotton , 43s. 8d.
per cwt.; wheat, 55. IIs. per cwt. ; gram , 6s. id . per cwt. ; rice, gs. 6d.
per cwt. ; joár, 4s. 8d. per cwt. ; oil-seeds, 16s. per cwt.; and tobacco,
418. per cut. Wages in the same year varied from is. 4 d. to is. iod.
a day for skilled labour, and from 3 }d. to 63d. per diem for unskilled
labour.
Manufactures and Trade.— A rich agricultural Province like Berar
finds it more profitable to raise raw produce to pay for imported
manufactures, than to pursue manufactures of its own. Cotton
cloth, chiefly of the coarser kinds, some stout carpets, and a few
charjamahs, or saddles, are made within the Province. A little silk
weaving goes on , and the dyes are good at certain places. At
Dewalghát, near Buldána, steel is forged of fair quality. Nágpur
supplies fine cloths ; nearly all articles of furniture or luxury come from
the west. The following statement shows the value of the imports and
exports in 1872-73 :

TRADE OF BERAR IN 1872 -1873.

Value of Im - Value ofEx
ports. ports . Total Value.
EAST BERAR Rs. Rs. Rs.
From Central Provinces (northern
and eastern border), . 8, 262,275 11,524,255 19,786,530
From Central Provinces and Nizam 's
Dominions (south -east & southern
border ), · · · 4,472,631 2, 306, 737 | 6,779,368
WEST BERAR
From Khandesh and Bombay
(western border), . 5,749,060 9,447,633 15,196,693
From Aurangabad and Tálna
(south -western border ), . . 1,395,384 1,381,135 2,776,519
Total, 19,879,350 24,659,760 44,539, 110
£1,987,935 | £2,465,976 | £4,453,911
 RABAD CT
526 HAIDA DISTRI , SIND .
Of the total value of the goods imported into the Province, 25.8 per
cent.were conveyed by rail, and 18.8 per cent. by road. Similarly of
the exports, 43'2 per cent. are credited to rail, and 12'2 per cent. to
road .
The following is the quantity of goods exported and imported :
Imports — 2,084,538 maunds, viz. by rail, 1,295,236 ; and by road,
798,302 : exports — 1,374,812 maunds, viz. by rail, 1,054,411 ; and
by road, 320,401.
Administration . — The gross revenue of the different Districts of the
Province in 1872-73 has been given above (p . 519), the total amounting
to £809,782, of which £590,406 was derived from land. The total
expenditure in the same year was £656 ,627, of which £303,886 were
spent on the military establishments (Haidarábád contingent), and
£266, 156 on the Civil Department. From the very outset the work
of education in the Assigned Districts seems to have been fostered by
Government without any local assistance. No independent exertion on
the part of the people preceded the introduction of the State system ;
and great difficulty has been experienced in obtaining the support of the
leading individuals, whether in town or village. The classification of
Government schools and the average daily attendance in 1872-73 are
thus shown :- 2 high schools, with 122 pupils ; 50 middle-class schools,
3268 ; 326 lower -class schools, 7233 ; 25 female schools, 457 ; and
I normal school, 29. Bráhmans are represented in the Berar schools
by a proportion of nearly 6 per cent., and the Muhammadan element
is increasing. Though the percentage of schoolboys to the total
population is indicated by so low a figure as `7 , it should be borne in
mind that nearly half that population consists of females, and that the
Census returns of 1867 show 57 boys under 13 years of age to every
100 men . If a calculation based on these figures can be trusted, we
may infer that 2 or 3 out of every 100 boys in the Province are
enrolled in Government schools. The police force in 1872-73 con
sisted of 2632 officers and men , costing £53,852, of which £48,119
was debited to Provincial and £5733 to municipal funds. These
figures show one policeman to every 847 of the population. In the
same year, 11, 104 persons were arrested, of whom 8027 were finally
convicted.
Haidarábád (Hyderabad ). - A British District in the Commissioner
ship of Sind, Bombay, lying between 24° 13' and 27° 15' n. lat., and
between 67° 51' and 69° 22' E. long. Area, according to the Parlia
mentary Blue- Book of 1878, 9053 square miles ; population (1878),
721,947. Bounded on the north by Khairpur State ; on the east by
the Thar and Párkar Political Superintendency ; on the south by the
same tract and the river Kori ; and on the west by the river Indus
and Karachi (Kurrachee) District.
 HAIDARABAD DISTRICT, SIND. 527
Physical Aspects. — The District is a vast alluvial plain , 216 miles
long by 48 broad. Fertile along the course of the Indus,which forms
its western boundary , it degenerates towards the east into sandy wastes,
sparsely populated, and defying cultivation. Themonotony of its great
flats is relieved only by the fringe of forest which marks the course of
the river, and by the avenues of trees that line the irrigation channels
branching eastward from the beneficent stream . The Tanda Deputy
Collectorate , in the south of the District, has a special feature in its
large natural water-courses, called dhoras, and basin -like shallows,
or chhaus, which retain the rain for a time sufficient to nourish the
hardy bábul trees on theirmargins. In the Haidarábád táluk, a limestone
range, called the Gánja , and the pleasant frequency of garden lands
break the tiresome landscape. Except in these two divisions, the
District is an unrelieved plain ; its western side, however, intersected
by canals ; its eastern, beyond the limits of artificial irrigation, a sandy
waste . The soil, wherever irrigated, is very fertile . The following
five varieties — Dasar, light and loose ; paki, firm ; chipka, a mean
between the two ; gisar and kaswari, rich clays — produce all the
necessary crops. Other varieties are sandy, and some of them saline,
such as the wariási, shor, kalrathi, kalar, etc. The chief indi
genous forest trees are the pipal (Ficus religiosa), ním (Azadirachta
Indica ), tali or blackwood (Dalbergia latifolia ), sirih (Albizzia lebbek ),
ber (Zizyphus jujuba), bahan (Populus euphratica), bhar (Ficus
Indica), kandi (Prosopis spicigera ), geduri (Cordia latifolia ), bábul
(Acacia arabica), with several varieties of tamarisks. In a District so
grudgingly favoured by Nature, an extensive fauna is not to be looked
for. The hyæna, wolf, fox, jackal, the smaller deer, and the hog almost
complete the list of wild mammals. Among birds, the bustard alone
is remarkable . Venomous reptiles abound. The Indus supplies a
great variety of fish , one of which, the pala, is said to be peculiar to
this river.
History. — The history of Sind, since 1768, centres in this District,
for all the events of the last century affected more or less nearly Haidar
ábád, the modern capital of the Province. Under its old name of
Neránkot, this city was, in the 8th century, sufficiently important to
be the first object ofMuhammad Kasim 's invasion of Lower Sind. A
hundred years later , Ghulam Shah , the Kalhora chief, burst out from
the desert, overthrew his usurping brothers, and made Neránkot, then
renamed Haidarábád, his capital. Thenceforth this District assumes a
foremost place in Provincial history. Under the Tálpur dynasty , it
remained the leading State ; and within its limits were fought the battles
of Miáni (Meeanee) and Dabo, which decided in the British favour the
fate of Sind. Its local history is, however, so mixed up with that of the
Province, that little could be here said of it separately which will not
 AR ABAD ICT IND
528 HAID DISTR , S .
more properly find a place under the history of SIND. The area
and boundaries of the District have not been changed since 1861;
but prior to that date , the Umarkot District (now under the Thar
and Párkar Political Superintendent) and a large portion of the eastern
delta (now part of the Shahbandar Deputy Collectorate ) were included
within Haidarábád. The parganás of Kandiáro and Naushahro were
resumed by Government in 1852, from the domains of Mir Ali
Murád of Khairpur, on his public conviction for forgery and fraud, and
transferred to this Collectorate.
Population . - According to the general Census of 1872, the popu
lation of Haidarábád District is divided as follows : - Muhammadans,
560,349 ; Hindus, 118,652 ; other creeds and tribes, 44,882 ; total,
723,883. Of the Muhammadans, more than three-fifths, or 373,705,
are Sindis, chiefly Sunnis of the Halpotro, Junejo, Dul, Powár,
Thebo, Sumro, Sand , Katiyar, and other clans, — the descendants of the
original Hindu population converted to Islám during the Ummayide
dynasty of Khalifas. These Sindis have a fine physique, but an
inferior moral character, being reputed unclean and cowardly , although
quiet and inoffensive ; and are looked down upon by the more warlike
tribes of the District as natural serfs. Their language is Sindi, of the
Sanskrit family of speech, and more closely connected with the
Prákrit than either Marathi, Hindi, Panjábí, or Bengálí. It has three
dialects, all of which meet in this District as on common ground
namely, the lari, or dialect of Southern Sind ; the siraiki of the
north ; and the thareli, " the language of the desert.' Next in point
of numbers among the Muhammadans are the Baluchis, aggregating
in this District 128,785 persons, and subdivided into a great number of
tribes, the chief being the Rind, Bhugti, Chang, Tálpur, Jatoi, Laghári,
Chandio , Kaloi, Khoso, Jakráni, Lashári. They are descended from
the mountain tribes of Baluchistán, through whom they trace their
origin to Aleppo in Syria . Their leading clan is the Rind, and its
members are held by the rest of the community in high respect. Fairer
in complexion than the Sindis, they are also a hardier race ; honourable
after their own code, and manly in field -sports. They are Sunnis by
religion. More important, however, as regards social status and per
sonal character are the Patháns, found chiefly about Haidarábád and
Upper Sind, with the naturalized Sayyids, divided into four families,
the Bokhári, Matári, Shirazi, and Lekhiraji. Together they number
15,815 persons. They are superior to the foregoing in personal ap
pearance and morale. From their being held in great esteem by the
princes of the Kalhora dynasty, they acquired considerable grants of
land, which they still hold . The remaining Muhammadan classes
worthy of special mention are the following :- (1) Memons, formerly
Kachhí-Hindus, who emigrated to Sind under the Kalhora rule, and
 HAIDARABAD DISTRICT, SIND. 529
devoted themselves to agriculture and cattle -breeding. They now
supply a learned class, who have donemore than any other to introduce
the sacred sciences into Sind, and are accordingly held in high respect.
(2) The Khwajas, fugitives from Persia when their creed (the Ismáilyeh
heresy) was persecuted by Haláku Khán. They have isolated them
selves from all the other Muhammadans of the District, not only by
maintaining their own special tribunal in religious differences, and
separate officers (Mukhi, etc.), but by the singularity of their dress, in
which they avoid dark blue, the colour of the country. The Memons
and Khwajas aggregate 13,000. (3 ) Sidhis, natives ofMaskat (Muscat),
Zanzibar, and Abyssinia , who until the British Conquest were bought
and sold as slaves. (4) The Shikáris or Daphers of Tanda number
1353. Though Muhammadans they eat carrion , and are excluded
from the mosques . — Among Hindus, the most numerous caste is the
Vaisya or Baniya, aggregating about 85,000, and of these nearly four
fifths belong to the Loháno tribe. The subordinate ranks of Government
service are almost exclusively recruited from the Lohános, and the vast
majority of Hindu shopkeepers and traders also belong to this caste.
In their complex subdivisions, they are mixed up with the Muham
madans. Although wearing the thread, they become the disciples of
Musalmián teachers, assume their dress, eat meat, drink spirits, and dis
regard all the customs of orthodox Hindus with regard to receiving food
from inferiors, etc. Their marriage ceremonies are so expensive that
many remain single till late in life. The Súdras, a servile caste, follow
next in numerical importance,aggregating in this District about 18,000.
The most numerous guilds are— the sonárs or goldsmiths, who, owing
to the popular taste for ornaments, are, as a rule, well-to -do ; sochis or
shoemakers,who will not, however, skin carcases or tan leather, but
buy it from the Muhammadan muchi ; khátis or dyers ; and hajáms
or barbers. They have all adopted the thread, intermarry only in their
own castes, and have no priests but Bráhmans. Nevertheless they are
held in Sind in no higher estimation than elsewhere. Bráhmans of
pure descent are not numerous in this District, their aggregate in the
four Deputy Collectorates being under 4000 ; but their acknowledged
superiority to the castes around them invests their small community
with interest. They are divided into two chief septs, which do not
intermarry — the Pokárno and Sársudh . The former are the more
orthodox Hindus, refusing flesh ,wearing the turban and never the Sind
cap, reading Sanskrit, abstemious in habit, and employing themselves
only in instructing the Hindus in their religious duties, or deciding for
them questions of horoscope and ceremonial. The Sársudh, though
not abstaining altogether from meat, conform sufficiently to the tradi
tional usages of high -caste Hinduism to be held in great respect, not
only by inferior castes of Hindus, but also by the Sikhs. The Sikhs
VOL. III. 2 L
 530 HAIDARABAD DISTRICT, SIND .
so called are in reality a nondescript class, recruited from both Hindus
and Muhammadans, containing, however, a percentage of veritable
followers of Nának. They are divided into two well-defined sects, the
Loháno Sikh and the Akali or Khálsa, which differ in certain details
of food and shaving the hair. Their devotions are conducted in the
Punjábí language, and their holy books, the Adi Granth, etc., are
in the guardianship of appointed udhasis, in special dharmsálás.
Altogether they aggregate about 23,000 in Haidarábád District, nine
tenths of the whole inhabiting the Naushahro Deputy Collectorate.
The religious mendicant classes of the District are those of India
generally — the yellow -clothed Sanyasis, Jogis, and Gosáins, who subsist
by begging and by the sale of amulets and written charms. All the
Hindus, except the mendicants , who are either buried or thrown into
the river, according to their testamentary wish , burn their dead with
complex funeral rites. In attire, dwellings, and food, the people of
Haidarábád do not differ from the general population of the Province.
Both Muhammadans and Hindus are addicted to ganja , an intoxicating
preparation ofhemp; and the lowest classes of the latter consume country
spirits largely . Opium is much used , and its use is said to be on the
increase. As regards occupation, the Hindus of the District may be
called the shopkeeping class ; the Muhammadans, the artisan and
agricultural. The Hindu is astute in business, supple with his superiors,
industrious, timid ; the Muhammadan is idle, improvident, and often
licentious, butmore independent and outspoken, and of a finer physique.
Agriculture.— Of the total area of the District, about one-half is
uncultivable ; 2,300,000 acres are cultivable though not cultivated , and
566,800 are under cultivation. Agriculture in Haidarábád is entirely
dependentupon artificialirrigation. There are in the four Deputy Collec
torates composing the District 317 canals, 300 of which are Government
property. Fifty of these are main channels,which tap the Indus direct ;
the remainder are connecting branches. The revenue derived from this
source is very steady, never having risen above £104,514 nor fallen
below £93,423 between the years 1864 and 1874. The cost of clearance
has, however, been equally regular, and during the same decade has
reduced the net annual income by an average of £22,000. The
irrigation carried on by means of these canals can be divided into
three classes — (1) where the water has all the year round to be
raised by machinery ; (2) where at high food the water will without
artificial aid fill the canal ; ( 3) where machinery is never required,
the land lying so low as to be subject to inundation at every rise
in the river. All three tend to make cultivation imperfect. In the
first case, the cost of raising the water, estimated at 8s. the acre
twice as much as the land assessment - prevents any large recourse
to it. In the second, the cultivator is tempted to trust to luck,
 HAIDARABAD DISTRICT, SIND. 531
and thereby save expenditure on lifting apparatus. In the third, the
fields lie at the mercy of the most treacherous of rivers. Agriculture,
it has been said of this District, is looked upon as a lottery, in which
the cultivator stakes a certain amount of labour and seed on the
chance of getting an exactly suitable flood. If the water rises too
high, or not high enough, he loses his crop. The result is bad cultiva
tion , for the majority of the cultivators risk only the careless preparation
of a small patch , which , if a prize turnsup, will suffice for their wants ;
and if a blank, will not seriously embarrass them . Irrigation is carried
on entirely by the wheel for the kharif crops, and by wheel or mok
flooding for the rabi. Three varieties of the Persian wheel are in use
the charkha, requiring for efficiency more than one pair of bullocks; the
húrla , for which one pair suffices ; and the piráti (not common ), which
is worked by men . The relative powers of the three are as 20, 11, 4 .
Cultivation from wells is confined entirely to garden lands, the water
lying everywhere at so great a depth that well-sinking is only remune
rative where , as in the Haidarábád táluk, the neighbourhood of the
railway admits of high profits on exceptional crops. The canals begin
to fill about May, in proportion to the annual rise of the Indus, and
are again dry by October. None are perennial in the Tando Deputy
Collectorate , and in Hála only one — the Mahmúda. There are
three principal crops - namely, the spring (rabi), sown in June and
reaped in October ; the autumn (kharif ), sown in October and reaped .
in March ; and the peshrás, sown in March and reaped in May and
June. The last is not grown in the Tando Deputy Collectorate. A
fourth crop, called adáwas, finds a nominal place in Naushahro
between April and August. The crops of the rabi, grown on land
previously saturated by canal flooding or rain (sailábi and baráni),
without any further irrigation during growth , are wheat, barley, castor
and other oil- seeds, pulses, and vegetables. Those of the kharif, which
are sown immediately after the annual rise of the Indus commences,
are joár, bájra , til,rice, cotton , sugar-cane, chana, hemp, tobacco, water
melons, indigo. Those of the peshrás are sugar-cane, joár, bájra, some
pulses, and cotton . The average yield per acre of the above may,
approximately , be taken to be as follows:— Rice, 111 cwts.; joár, 9 ;
bájra , 7 ) ; cotton (uncleaned), 2 ; til, 4 ;'tobacco, 54 ; hemp, 5 ; sugar
cane, 23 ; wheat, 4 ; barley, 4 ; pulse, 5. The cultivators of the District
do not follow any method of rotation in their crops. Their implements
are of the usual primitive kind, and correspond in general character to
the European plough, harrow , spade, hoe, drill, and sickle.
The land tenures of the District are simple. Broadly divided, all
land is either assessed ' or ' alienated.' In the former case, the land
is cultivated either by the zamíndár himself, or by occupancy holders
and tenants-at-will. The occupancy holder (maurasi hári) is really
532 HAIDARABAD DISTRICT, SIND.
an hereditary cultivator, for his rights are heritable and transferable ;
and the samíndár, except as regards the actual payment of rent, has no
power over him . The tenant-at-will (ghair maurasi) is legally the
creature of the zamindár ; but the large landholders in the District do
not exercise their powers oppressively. The zamindár's own tenure is
hardly more definite here than elsewhere in India , and whatever of cer
tainty it possesses is owing entirely to British legislation. The last native
dynasty of Sind recognised no zamindárí rights whatever ; but recent
orders of Government have extended to the larger landholders leases
on very favourable terms, and they enjoy, therefore, a tenure carrying
with it nearly all the rights of veritable proprietorship . In the
second class of lands (the alienated ) there are four chief varieties, each
having subdivisions, viz. jágirs, pattidáris, khairats (charitable grants),
garden and forest grants. The jágírs of the District were at the first
settlement computed at 40 per cent of the total acreage, but now
only about one-sixth of thewhole is alienated, as follows : — These jágírs
are officially classified according as they are permanent and heritable,
for two lives only , or merely life grants. All alike are subject to a cess
of 5 per cent. for local purposes, and pay besides to Government a per
centage of the produce assessed according to their class, the maximum
being one-fourth . Pattidári grants, which are of Afghán origin , exist only
in the Naushahro division . They obtained recognition at the settlement
from the long possession of the then incumbents, dating, in the majority
of cases, from the first reclamation from waste or purchase from the
earliest proprietors. The total area held on charitable grants is not
great. Garden grants are held free of assessment or at a nominal rate,
so long as the gardens are properly maintained ; and, in the sameway,
húrís or tree-plantation (not orchard) grants are held rent free so long
as the land is exclusively reserved for forest growth . Seridári grants
are those made in consideration of official services.
For the purposes of assessment, villages are classified into six
varieties, the maximum rates in each ranging as follows :- On land
perennially irrigated , from is. 6d. to gs. ; on sailábi lands, from is to
75. ; on mok lands, from is. 6d . to 5s. 6d.; on land irrigated by wheel
for part of the year only, from is. to 4s. The average rate per acre
on cultivable land is about is. 5d. Formerly the Government assess
ment was levied in kind (khasgi), but on a petition from the zamindars,
the payment has since been received in cash . The zamindárs,however,
are paid by the tenants in kind at the following rates :- On land under
charkhi cultivation , one-third of the produce ; on mok and sailábi lands,
two-thirds. In the case ofthe best lands, yielding cotton, tobacco, sugar
cane, etc., the zamindár receives his rent, as a rule , in cash.
Manufactures and Trade. — Themanufactures of the District maintain
the excellence for which they have been famous from early times. The
 HAIDARABAD DISTRICT, SIND. 533
Haidarábád táluk in particular still enjoysmuch of its old pre-eminence
for lacquered work, enamelling (the secret, it is said ,of one family only),
and gold and silver embroidery. In the fighting days of the Mirs,
the arms of Haidarábád were also held in the highest esteem ; but
owing to the reduced demand for chain armour, shields, and sabres
under British rule, the trade is now in abeyance. In the Hála Deputy
Collectorate, special features of the local industry are striped and
brilliant cloths known as súsis and khesis, and also glazed pottery .
This effective work is turned to various ornamental purposes, especially
tiling, and is remarkable for excellence of both glaze and colour. In
the Tando Deputy Collectorate, the manufacture of carpets, silk thread ,
and gold and silver ornaments of good workmanship is carried on to
a great extent. The Naushahro Deputy Collectorate has no special
manufactures, except salt. This is produced in sufficiently large
quantities to allow , after local consumption, of a considerable exporta
tion . In nearly all the villages of the District, some manufacture is
carried on ; blankets, coarse cotton cloths, camel saddles, and metal
work being perhaps the most prevalent.
The total number of fairs is 33, and the average attendance at each
about 5000 ; they last from three to eighteen days.
The transit trade of the District is very considerable . The returns
for Hála and Tando show totals in the money value of the goods in
transit of £190,000 and £90,000 respectively ; but returns for the
other two Deputy Collectorates of the District - namely, Haidarábád
and Naushahro - are not available. The municipality of Haidarábád
derives an annual income of £6000 from tolls on transit trade.
Salt of excellent quality, and in considerable quantity , is found in
Tando ; but owing to cost of transport, and the opposition of the Bombay
salt merchants, it cannot be got into the market. Tando exports salt
to the value of only £1000, and receives from transit dues on that
article £ 150.
Means of Communication ,etc. — The roads ofthe District aggregate 1925
miles in length , of which 263 are trunk roads,metalled, bridged, and
marked with milestones. The Sind Railway does not actually enter
the District, but touches at Kotri, on the opposite bank of the Indus
to Gidu-Bandar (34 miles from Haidarábád ), where a steam ferry
connects Haidarábád with Kotri. The telegraph passes through the
District in several places, twice through Hála and once through the
Haidarábád and Naushahro Deputy Collectorates. The only station
in the District is at Haidarábád, whence also two lines branch off - one
going northwards to Rohri, and the other eastward, viâ Mirpur Khás,
to Umarkot. Postal communication is represented by i disbursing
station (at Haidarábád), 12 non-disbursing stations, and 6 branch offices.
The ferries number in all 68, one (at Mitháni) being also a station
534 HAIDARABAD DISTRICT, SIND.
of the Indus flotilla, and another (at Gidu) a steam -ferry. A small
income is derived from this source, the returns for Tando showing £62
per annum . There are in the District, 10 travellers' bungalows and 16
dharmsálás. Dispensaries are 4 in number, with an annual admission
of gooo patients, and an average daily attendance of 139. Besides
these institutions, there is at Haidarábád a civil and police hospital, a
convict hospital (in the jail), and a charitable dispensary, with , in 1874,
18,592 admissions and an average daily attendance of 145.
Administration . — The chief revenue and magisterial authority of
Haidarábád District is vested in a Collector and Magistrate, who is
assisted by 4 Deputy Collectors, for Hála, Tando Muhammad Khán ,
Naushahro, and Haidarábád táluks respectively, besides a Huzúr
Deputy Collector permanently settled at the city of Haidarábád, and
a Cantonment Magistrate. The District and Sessions Judge holds
sessions at the towns of Haidarábád, Sakrand, Hála, and Tando
Muhammad Khán several times in the year, and at Umarkot in the
Thar and Párkar Political Superintendency once a year. In each
Deputy Collectorate there is a subordinate judge with powers up to
cases of £500, who goes on circuit within his jurisdiction . The
subordinate revenue staff consists of 13 mukhtiárkárs, each of whom
collects the revenue and exercises limited magisterial powers within
the limits of a táluk ; and tapádárs, responsible for the correct
measurement of lands, enumeration of irrigation -wheels, etc., each
within his tapá. The crimes most prevalent throughout the District
are cattle -stealing, thefts, burglaries. The total of all offences during
1874 was 5749, of which about 1500 fall under those three heads.
The civil courts in the same year had before them 4711 cases,
aggregating a value of £42,810, distributed as follows:— Hála , 1296
cases, value £ 14,578 ; Tando Muhammad Khán, 642 cases, value
£9164 ; Naushahro, 1391 cases, value £7825 ; Haidarábád, 1382
cases, value (táluk) £3333, (city ) £7909. It is noteworthy, that in
the Tando courts the Hindus filed against Muhammadans twice as
many suits as against Hindus, and that the Muhammadans filled ten
times asmany against Hindus as against their co-religionists.
The canal divisions are supervised by executive engineers of the
Public Works Department, with assistants and suitable establishments .
The northern half of the Collectorate is included in the Rohri Canal
division , the canals in the southern making up the Fuleli division ,
while those in the Nára valley of this District are included in the
Eastern Nára division .
The police force of Haidarábád District is under the charge of a
European District Superintendent, with headquarters at Haidarábád,
and consists of the following :- District police (including 116 horse
and 37 camel police ), 336 ; town police , 167 ; armed foot police, 279 ;
 HAIDARABAD DISTRICT, SIND. 535
municipal police , 94 ; total, 876 men with 4 inspectors and 19 chief
constables. There is therefore i policeman to every 11 square miles
and to every 824 of the population .
The revenue of the District is derived chiefly from the land.
The following is a statement of the average net land revenue for three
successive periods of six years each — 1856 -62, £107,506 ; 1862-68,
£106 ,670 ; 1868-74, £111,655. The receipts from the farm of liquor
shops has shown a steady advance from £3126 in 1856-57 to £9640
in 1873-74, the number of stills during that time having, nevertheless ,
declined from 20 to 8, and farmers'shops from 158 to 146. Since 1863,
in which year the Government distilleries at Haidarábád and Kandiáro
were abandoned, all farms for the sale of liquor are sold by public
auction to the highest bidder. During the same period (1856 to 1874 ),
the number of European liquor-shops has risen from 1 to 6, and the
receipts from £1, ros. to £60. The drug revenue, which in 1856
realized £1618, had risen by 1873-74 to £5304, the number of shops
meanwhile dècreasing from 213 to 180. Neither the imperial nor the
local revenue of the District shows much variation during the past ten
years, the former being in 1864, £137,112, and in 1874, £144,944 ;
the latter in 1866 , £10 ,326, and in 1874, £12,434. The local fund
revenue is made up from three taxes, levied under Act viii. of 1865 — viz.
the i anna cess (about 6 per cent.), the 3 per cent. jágir cess for roads,
and the 2 per cent. jágír cess for schools. The forests in this District,
32 in number - occupy an area of 183 square miles, and yield an annual
revenue of £12,216 . The only jail in the District is at Haidarábád ;
average daily population , 500 ; cost of prisoners, about £5 each per
annum ; rate of mortality, 7 :6 per cent. Lock-ups are attached to the
headquarters station of each mukhtiárkár. The total number of
Government schools for boys has risen from 21 in 1868 to 55 in 1874,
and the number of pupils from 1355 to 3227 ; the number of girls'
schools during the same period has increased from 10 to 12, and the
roll from 262 to 368. These figures include the returns for the high ,
normal, engineering, and Anglo -vernacular schools in Haidarábád city,
where also the Church Missionary Society supports a school with about
100 pupils. Little seems to be known of the private indigenous schools,
except that they are of a very inferiorkind. The fisheries of the District
yielded in 1873-74 a revenue of £119 in Hála, £973 in Haidarábád,
and £ 545 in Tando. They are carried on , not only in the Indus, but
also in the Fuleli river and some of the dhandhs and kolábs or natural
reservoirs in which the flood waters are retained. The pala fish is the
staple ofthese fisheries,and for a part of the year formstheprincipalfood
of great numbers of the people. The municipalities of the District are
22 in number, deriving their revenue from fees on imports, licence fees,
market tolls, cattle pound fees, etc., and expending their income upon
 AD
536 HAIDARAB TALUK , SIND .
local conservancy, lighting, police, public works, and grants-in -aid to
local education . The statistics of these institutions in each of the four
Subdivisions of the District are as follows :— Hála, 9 municipalities,with
incomes ranging from £57 to £682 ; Haidarábád , 3, viz. that of the
city with an income of £10,913, and two others with an aggregate
income of £64 ; Tando, 5, average revenue £189 ; Naushahro , 5,
average receipts £190.
Climate. - Considerable variations of climate obtain within the District.
In the north , thehot season of Apriland May is followed by two months
of flood, the restof the year being cold and dry. In the central tract, in
cluding Hála and the Haidarábád táluk, the cold season succeeds the hot
without any intervening inundations to graduate the transition ; and the
change occurs sometimes with such suddenness that, to quote a local
saying, ' sunstroke and frost-bite are possible in one and the same day.'
In the south , the temperature is more equable throughout the year,
60° F . and 100° F . representing the extremes. Following these climatic
variations, the medical aspects of the District Vary, the fevers so
frequent in the northern division being almost unknown in the southern
portion,where there are no floods to leavemarsh land behind them . The
rainfall averages only 54 inches per annum , the local distribution being ,
Hala 55 inches, Haidarabad 6 , Tando Muhammad Khán 4, Naushahro
51 inches annually. In 1869, there was an extraordinary fall of 20
inches all over the District. The same year ismemorable for an out
break of epidemic cholera , and in Haidarábád táluk of severe fever. In
normal years, the District is healthy as compared with other parts of
India . Fevers, however, are very prevalent in September and October ,
when the inundations cease and the canals are drying up, and they last
till the northerly winds set in .
Haidarábád ( Hyderabad). — One of the four Subdivisions of
Haidarábád District, Sind, lying between 25° 10' and 25° 31' n. lat.,
and between 68° 19' and 68° 41' E. long.; bounded on the north and
east by the Hála Deputy Collectorate ; on the west by the river Indus ;
and on the south by Tando. Area, 416 square miles, or 266 ,240 acres,
of which 34,988 are cultivated, 43,068 cultivable, and 188,184 uncultiv
able. Population , according to Census of 1872, 98,217, or 236 to the
square mile . The táluk is divided into the 7 tapas of Hátri, Gundar,
Husri, Khathar, Bhindo, Káthri, and Fazal-jo -Tando ; and contains 59
villages and 6 chief towns, viz. Haidarábád, Jám -jo- Tando, Káisar-jo
Tando, Khatián, Gidu-Bandar, and Husri. The general aspect of the
táluk is more diversified than that of the rest of the District, for the
Gánga range runs through 13 miles of its length , and besides the
extensive forests there is a large proportion of garden land. It is well
provided with canals, there being 43 (all Government property ), with
an aggregate length of 177 miles, and yielding an average annual
 HAIDARABAD TALUR, SIND. . 537
revenue of £7330 . There are no floods or lets in this táluk except in
the villages of Seri and Jám Shoro, and only one dhandh or natural
reservoir - fed by the Núrwah channel. The seasons, according to the
native division, are four — the kharif, rabí, peshrás, and ádáwas- viz .
February to March , April to July , August to October, November to
January ; but in average years the transition from the hot weather to
the cold is so sudden that intermediate seasons can hardly be recog
nised. Themean yearly temperature is 80° F., varying from an average
of 64° in January to 92° in June ; average annual rainfall,676 inches.
The prevailing winds are northerly from November to March, and
for the rest of the year from the south , the hot wind from the
desert being felt in May. The arable soils of the táluk do not differ
from those of the rest of the District ; and the only mineral peculiarity
is the met, a kind of fuller's earth dug from mines in the Gánja Hills,
which is largely used by the natives as soap. The farm of these mines
realizes a revenue of £450 per annum . The fauna and flora are not
specially remarkable . The chief timber-tree is the bábul, extensively
grown in the forests of Miáni (Meeanee), Kathri, Ghaliúm , Khathar,and
Husri,which aggregate an area of 12,070 acres, yielding to Government
an annual revenue of £1837. They were all planted by the Mirs of
Sind at different dates between 1790 and 1832. The three fisheries of
the táluk (the Bádá, Sipki, and Karo Kháho) yield an annual revenue
of £973.
The population of the Deputy Collectorate, 98,217, was divided in
the Census of 1872 as follows:- Muhammadans, 65,627, including
9939 Baluchís, 46,361 Sindís, 2322 Sayyids, 1402 Memons and
Khwajas, 927 Mughals, 449 Patháns, and 136 Brahúis ; Hindus,
27,304, including 20,861 Vaisyas, 4540 Súdras, 1198 Bráhmans, 720
Kshattriyas, and 163 miscellaneous (Kachhis, Bhíls, etc .) ; Sikhs, 4454.
These figures are inclusive of the native military establishment, but
exclusive of the Europeans, Eurasians, Pársís, Goanese, etc., official and
otherwise, living in the cantonments.
The revenue and magisterial charge of the táluk is vested in a
Deputy Collector, with i mukhtiárkár and 7 tapádárs. In the city of
Haidarábád, there is also the Huzur Deputy Collector, the Cantonment
Magistrate, and the subordinate judge of the Civil Court. The police
of the táluk and city aggregate 405 men , of whom 333 are in the city ,
and the remainder, 72, distributed over the táluk in 15 thánás or
outposts.
The revenue of the táluk for 1873-74 was £22,179, being £20, 162
imperial and £2017 local, derived from the following sources :
Imperial— land tax, t£8038
a l t r a i o n abkári oror eexcise,
;; abkári xo £7377 ; stamps, £3757 ;
t
os £358
psalt, s
egi ,, £240 ; telegraph, £281; fines and fees, £84 ;
and ; rregistration
postal and miscellaneous, £27 : Local- cesses on land and sayer or
 D
538 HAIDARABA TOWN, SIND .
customs, £490 ; percentage on alienated lands, £26 .; cattle pound
and ferry funds, £510 ; fisheries, £906 ; tolls, £85.
The topographical survey of the táluk for the purposes of settlement
was completed in 1858. The prevailing tenure is the usual zamindár
of the District. There are in the táluk 50 jágirdárs, holding between
them 63,902 acres, or one- fourth of the whole area, 62,506 being
arable, and paying an annual revenue of £440. A single jágirdár,
Mir Muhammad Khan Khanáni, holds above 28,353 acres. The
number of seri grants is 47 ; total acreage, 1140 ; and there are
besides 42 máfidárs holding small patches rent free.
Three towns — HAIDARABAD, ADAM -JO - TANDO, and KAISAR - JO
TANDO — have been constituted municipalities, the annual income being
£10 ,978.
The only medical establishments, jails, post office, and telegraph
station in the District are in HAIDARABAD City, as also are the chief
educational institutions.
Haidarábád (Hyderabad ). — Municipal town and chief town of
Haidarábád District, Sind. Lat. 25° 23' 5" N., long. 68° 24' 51" E ;
pop. (1872), 35,272, of whom 13,065 are Muhammadans, 16 ,889
Hindus, 367 Christians, and 4951 'others.' The suburban population
is reckoned at 5880. The municipal area is about 15 square miles.
The municipal revenue (1873-74) was £10,913, and the disbursements,
£8495 ; rate of municipal taxation , 6s. 2d. per head. Upon the site
of the present fort is supposed to have stood the ancient town of
Neránkot, which in the 8th century submitted to Muhammad Kasim
Sakifi. In 1768, the present city was founded by Ghulám Shah
Kalhora ; and it remained the chief town of the Province until 1843,
when , after the battle of Miáni (Meeanee), it surrendered to the British
and the capital was transferred to Karáchi (Kurrachee). The city is
built on the most northerly hills of the Gánja range, a site of great
natural strength , 31 miles east of the Indus, with which it is connected
by the high road to Gidu -Bandar, where a steam -ferry crosses the river
to Kotri on the Sind Railway. In the fort, which covers an area of
36 acres, are the arsenal of the Province, transferred hither from
Karáchi (Kurrachee) in 1861, and the palaces of the ex-Mirs of Sind.
Haidarábád is at present supplied with water from the plains below
the town ; but a system of works is now ( 1877) under construction ,
which provides for bringing water from the Indus at Gidu-Bandar,
and storing it in a reservoir for the city and a well in the fort.
Haidarábád is the centre of all the Provincial communications- road,
telegraphic , postal. From the earliest times, its manufactures
ornamented silks, silver and gold work,and lacquered ware — have been
the chief of the Province, and in recent times have gained prizes at the
Industrial Exhibitions of Europe. A local specialty is the manufacture
 HAIDARABAD PARGANA AND TOWN, OUDII. 539
of the earthen vessels, mati, which are used by the pala fishermen to
buoy themselves up on the water while fishing. Statistics of the local
trade are not available ; but, as the municipality derives an annual
income of £6000 from tolls on various articles , it must be very con
siderable. The chief public institutions and buildings are the jail
(capable of holding 600 convicts), the Government Anglo-vernacular,
engineering, high, and normal schools, post office, municipal markets ,
court-houses, civil and police hospital, charitable dispensary, library,
travellers' bungalow , and lunatic asylum . To the building of the last,
Sir Cowasjee Jahángir Readymoney subscribed £5000. The barracks,
occupied by artillery and infantry , European and native, 1216 strong
are built in 12 blocks, with hospitals, bázár, etc ., to the north -west of
the city. The only noteworthy antiquities are the tombs of the Kalhora
and Tálpur Mírs. The Residency, memorable for its gallant defence
by. Sir James Outram against the Baluchís in 1843, situated 3 miles
from Haidarábád, is known as Mír-jo -Tando, being the residence of
some of the ex-Mirs of Sind. For further history , see Sind PROVINCE.
Haidarábád. — Pargana of Nighásan tahsil, Kheri District, Oudh.
A part of the old parganá Bhúrwára belonging to the Ahbans and
Pásis ; afterwards seized by the Sayyids, and then occupied by the
Gaurs, with whom a zamindári settlement was effected about 1792 A.D.
Since then various branches of the old Ahban family have recovered
possession , and they now own the principal estates. The rest of the
zamíndárs are retainers or followers of the Sayyids and the chakládárs.
Along the banks of the Kathná, which forms the western boundary ,
the land lies very low , and is covered with jungle. The ground slowly
rises, and the cultivated tract commences about 2 miles from the
river. The soil here is a light domát, but it rapidly improves, and
about half a mile from the border of cultivation is of the very highest
quality, producing every variety of crop, and paying high rents. The
belt of villages lying across the centre of the parganá, most of which
are the property of Government, produce sugar of the greatest purity,
which requires hardly any refining to make the clearest candy, and
realizes a considerably higher price than any other in the Shahjahanpur
market. Fine groves also dot the parganá. Area , 98 square miles, of
which 41 are cultivated. Pop. (according to the Census of 1869, but
allowing for recent changes), Hindus, 30 ,997 ; Musalmáns, 4711 ;
total, 35,708, viz. 19 ,297 males and 16 ,411 females. Number of
villages, 108 ; average density of population, 317 per square mile. In
the south of the parganá ,near the Kathná, are the ruins of the jungle
fort of Mahmúdábád ; a similar fort is found at Ahmadnagar. Both
attest the former greatness of the Sayyids of Piháni, by whom they
were erected.
Haidarábád. — Town in Unao District, Oudh ; 19 miles north of
540 HAIDARGARH - HAILAKANDI.
Unao town. Lat. 26° 55' N ., long. 80° 17' E. Founded about 180
years ago by Haidar Khán , who named it after himself. Pop. (1869),
Hindus, 3043 ; Muhammadans, 766 ; total, 3809, dwelling in 788 mud
houses. Two weekly markets ; small annual trading fair. Average
sales, about £2400.
Haidargarh . — Tahsil or Subdivision of Bára Bánki District, Oudh ;
bounded on the north by Bára Bánki and Rám Sanehi tahsils, on
the east by Musáfirkhána tahsil of Sultánpur, on the south by
Mahárájganj tahsil of Rái Bareli, and on the west by Mohanlalganj
tahsil of Lucknow ; lying between 26° 31' 30' and 26° 51' n. lat., and
between 81° 12' and 81° 39' E. long. Area, 297 square miles, of which
181 are cultivated. Pop. (according to the Census of 1869, but allowing
for recent changes), 206,663, viz. 104,445 males and 102,218 females ;
including Hindus, 184,333 ; Muhammadans, 21,317. Number of
villages or townships, 372 ; average density of population, 685 per
square mile .
Haidargarh. — Pargana of Haidargarh tahsil, Bára Bánki District,
Oudh ; bounded on the north by Siddhaur parganá , on the east by
Subehá pargana, on the south by Bachhráwán parganá of Rai Bareli,
and on the west by Lucknow . Originally occupied by the Bhars, who
were dispossessed by Sayyid Míran , and afterwards extirpated by Sultán
Ibrahim of Jaunpur. It is now chiefly in the possession of the Amethia
clan of Rajputs. Area, 103 square miles, of which 59 are cultivated.
Government land revenue, £ 18,819, or an average of 5s. 8 d. per acre.
Autumn crops - rice of excellent quality , cotton , hemp, millet, and
pulses ; spring crops — wheat, barley, gram , linseed, peas, sugar,
tobacco, and poppy. Of the 118 villages of which the pargand is
composed,61} are tálukdári, 29} zamindári, 26 pattidári, and i bhaja
chára . Pop. (1869), Hindus, 67,676 ; Muhammadans, 3882 ; total,
71,558, viz. 36 ,307 males and 35,251 females ; average density of
population , 694 per square mile. Grain is exported to Lucknow ,
Sultánpur, Dariábád , and Cawnpore ; principal imports, cotton and salt.
Saltpetre is manufactured in four villages to the extent of 35,000
maunds, or 1277 tons, annually. Seven market villages.
Haidargarh. — Town in Bára Bánki District, Oudh ; 25 miles east
of the headquarters station. Founded by Amir -ud-daula Haidar Beg
Khán , Prime Minister of Nawáb Asif-ud -daula . It is now the seat of
the tahsil revenue courts, but otherwise of little importance.
Haidargarh . — Pass in South Kanara District, Madras. - See
HASSANGADI.
Hailakandi. - Subdivision in the south of Cáchár District, Assam .
Area, 344 square miles ; pop. (1872), 65,671.
Hailákándi. — Village in the south of Cáchár District, Assam , on
the right or east bank of the Dháleswari river. Headquarters of the
 HAING -GYI- HAJIPUR. 541
Subdivision of the samename, and also a tháná or police station. It
gives its name to a fertile valley, which is entirely laid under water
by the floods of every rainy season .
Haing -gyí (or Negrais). — An island in the Bassein or Nga-won river,
in Pegu Division, British Burma. Lat. 15° 54' N ., long. 94° 20' E. It
is situated near the western bank , 34 miles distant from Pagoda Point,
and is rendered conspicuous by a hill at its northern end, which slopes
away towards the centre. A narrow belt of level ground skirts the
coast. The channel between Negrais and the Bassein is imile broad
on the south and 4 ; miles broad on the north , opposite the abandoned
station of Dalhousie. For the history of Negrais Island, see BASSEIN
DISTRICT.
Hajamro. - River of Sind ; one of the central deltaic channels of the
Indus ; debouches into the sea south -east of Karachi (Kurrachee), in
lat. 24° 6 ' N ., and long. 67° 22' E .
Hájíganj. — Town and headquarters of a police circle (tháná), in
Tipperah District, Bengal ; situated on the Dákátiá river. Lat 23° 15 '
N ., long. 90° 53' 30" E . An important seat of river traffic. Betel-nut
is extensively cultivated, and a considerable trade in the article carried
on with Dacca, Náráinganj, and Calcutta .
Hájípur. Subdivision of Muzaffarpur District, Bengal. Area, 662
square miles, with 1306 villages and 77,203 houses ; lying between 25° 29'
and 26° 1' n. lat., and between 85° 6' 45" and 85° 41' E. long. Pop.
(1872), 543,845 — Hindus, 493, 308, or 90°7 per cent. ; Muhammadans,
50,489, or 9'3 per cent. ; Christians, 44 ; ' others,' 4 ;- males, 257,373,
and females, 286 ,472. Proportion of males in total population, 47°3
per cent.; average density of population , 822 per square mile ; number
of villages per square mile, 1'97 ; persons per village, 416 ; houses per
square mile, 113 ; persons per house, 7.6 . The Subdivision, which
was formed in 1865, comprises the 4 police circles of Lálganj, Mahwá,
Hájiganj, and Mohnár.
Hájípur. — Municipal town and headquarters ofHájípur Subdivision,
and a police circle (tháná), Muzaffarpur District, Bengal; situated on
the right or east bank of the Little Gandak, a short distance above its
confluence with the Ganges opposite Patná. Lat. 25° 40' 50" N., long.
85° 14 ' 24" E. Said to have been founded by one Hájí Ilyás, about 500
years ago, the supposed ramparts of whose fort, enclosing an area of
360 bighás, are still visible . The old town is reported to have reached
as far as Mohnár tháná, 20 miles to the east, and to a village called
Gadái-sarái on the north . Hájípur figures conspicuously in the history
of the struggles between Akbar and his rebellious Afghán governors of
Bengal, being twice besieged and captured by the imperial troops, in
1572 and again in 1574. Its command of water traffic in three
directions makes the town a place of considerable commercial im
542 HAJO - HALA DEPUTY COLLECTORATE .
portance. Pop. (1872), 22, 306 — viz. Hindus, 18,765 ; Muhammadans,
3510 ; Christians, 27 ; ' others,' 4 ; - males, 10,737, and 11,569 females.
Municipal revenue (1876-77), £457 ; expenditure , £648 ; incidence of
taxation , 47d. per head of population within municipal limits. Within
the limits of the old fort is a small stone mosque, very plain , but
of peculiar architecture, attributed to Hájí Ilyás. Its top consists
of three rounded domes, the centre one being the largest. They are
built of horizontally placed rows of stones, each row being a circle, and
each successive circle being more contracted than the one immediately
below it, until the key-stone is reached, which is also circular. Two
other mosques and a small Hindu temple are in the town or its immediate
vicinity. A Buddhist temple is surrounded by a sarái or rest-house,
built for the accommodation of the late Sir Jang Bahadur, on the
occasion of his visits from Nepál. Besides the ordinary courts, the
town contains a school, police station, post office, charitable dispen
sary , and distillery .
Hájo . — Village in the north of Kámrúp District, Assam , near the
left or east bank of the Baraliyá river, and about 6 miles north of
the Brahmaputra . In the immediate neighbourhood is the celebrated
Mahámuni temple , situated on the summit of a low hill. The place
is annually visited by thousands of pilgrims from all parts of India, not
only Hindus, but also Buddhists from beyond the Himalaya, who
venerate it as a spot rendered sacred by the presence of the founder
of their faith .
Hála . - Deputy Collectorate of HAIDARABAD (HYDERABAD) Dis
TRICT, Sind, situated between 25° 8' and 26° 15' n . lat., and between
68° 16 ' 30" and 69° 17' E. long. It is bounded on the north by the
Naushahro Deputy Collectorate ; on the south by Haidarábád táluk
and Tando ; on the east by the Thar and Párkar Political Superin
tendency ; and on the west by the Indus. Area , 2500 square miles ;
population (1872 ), 216 , 139. The Deputy Collectorate is divided into
4 táluks, viz. Hála, Alahyár-jo- Tando, Shahdádpur, Mirpur Khás. It
contains 245 villages and townships, 14 ofwhich have a population over
800. In general aspect, it is an unbroken plain , sandy and unprofitable,
on the eastern side ; but intersected by canals and fringed with forest
on the west. These canals, 95 in number, are, with the exception of
one, Government property ; they have an aggregate length of 1874
miles, and yield an annual income of £27,995. Temperature, 74° to
103° ; average annual rainfall, about 6 inches. The only peculiarity
in the soil is an unctuous earth called chániah, said to have been
obtained from lakes near the town of Hála , and eaten , especially by
women . Chániah is now the name of a compound of soda , largely
used in the glazing of pottery . Snakes abound, and are very destruc
tive to human life. The chief tree is the bábul. The forest areas
 HALA DEPUTY COLLECTORATE. 543
aggregate 24,764 acres, yielding in 1873-74 a revenue of £3066.
They were all planted between 1790 and 1830 by the Mirs of Sind .
The fisheries, eight in number , yield a revenue of £130 .
The population of the Deputy Collectorate (216,139) was divided
in the Census of 1872 as follows: - Muhammadans, 176,773 ; and
Hindus, 39,366 . In character, habits, dress, etc., the inhabitants of
Hála are not distinguished by any peculiarities from those of the rest
of the District. As elsewhere in Sind, the prevalent crimes are cattle
stealing, theft, and housebreaking. The criminal returns for 1874 show
a total of 1611 offences, or 1 in 134 of the population . The civil
returns for the same year give a total of 1296 suits, value £14,578.
The chief revenue and magisterial charge is vested in a Deputy
Collector and Magistrate , who has under him a mukhtiárkár for each
of the 4 táluks, and a tapádár for each of the 24 tapás. The only
civil court in the Deputy Collectorate is that at the town of Hála,
presided over by a native subordinate judge, who goes thence on
circuit annually to Adam -jo - Tando, Alahyár-jo-Tando, Mirpur Khás,
and Shahdádpur. The Hála police number 164 officers and men, or i
constable to 1317 of the population . Forty-three of the whole are
mounted. The only jails are the 4 lock-ups at the mukhtiárkár stations.
The revenue of the Deputy Collectorate for 1873-74 was £39,314,
being £36,970 imperial and £2344 local, derived from the following
sources :- Imperial — Land tax, £29,285 ; abkári, £3250 ; stamps,
£3054 ; salt, £ 124 ; registration , £522 ; postal and miscellaneous,
£669 : Local— Cesses on land and sayer, £1782 ; percentage on
alienated lands, £65 ; ferry funds, £363; fisheries, £130. A topo
graphical survey for the purposes of assessment was completed in
1865. The rates of the Settlement concluded in 1871-72 for ten years,
vary from is. for inferior soils to 8s. for high- class irrigated lands.
Tenants, as a rule, pay the zamindár in kind , but the Government
dues are now received in money. The prevailing tenure is the ordinary
zamíndári of HAIDARABAD DISTRICT, but jágirs are very numerous, 98
grantees holding between them 250,000 acres, 97,000 of which are
cultivable. The total number of seri grants is 68, aggregating 912
acres. The number of mafidars is 48.
There are 9 municipalities within the Deputy Collectorate - Alahyár
jo - Tando, Adam -jo -Tando, Hála , Ghotána, Khokhar, Matárí, Mírpur,
Narsapur, Shahdadpur — with an annual aggregate income of £2535.
The only dispensaries are at Hála and Alahyár-jo -Tando - total admis
sions (during 1874), 4543 ; average daily attendance, 40. There are in
all 20 Government schools, with an attendance of 849 ; the indigenous
schools number 11, with 120 scholars. At the village of Saláro, near
Hála , an experimental cotton farm and economic garden is maintained
by Government.
544 HALA - HALA, OLD.
The trade of the Deputy Collectorate is confined almost wholly
to agricultural produce. Exports, £139,798 ; imports, £85, 163.
Transit trade, about £190,000. Lacquered ware, glazed pottery (for
which prizes were gained by the Hála workmen at the Karachi
(Kurrachee) Exhibition of 1869), and striped cloths called súsis and
khesis are the chief manufactures. There are in all 22 fairs, the chief
one (a Hindu) being attended annually by 35,000 persons ; the
remainder are Muhammadan fairs, with an average attendance of
3000. Roads aggregate nearly 600 miles in length ; none are metalled,
and very few even partially bridged.
The chief antiquities are the ruins of BRAHMANABAD and Khudábád.
The latter, 2 miles from Hála (New ), was once the favourite residence
of the Tálpur chiefs, and is said to have rivalled Haidarábád in size
and population. The ancient tombs at Lál-Udero, Kámáro , and Myo
Vahio are all noteworthy.
Hála . — Táluk of the Hála Deputy Collectorate, Sind. Pop. ( 1872),
78,237 ; area , 524 square miles ; revenue for 1873-74, £13,467,
being £12,471 imperial and £996 local.
Hála , New . - Municipal town and chief town in the Hála Deputy
Collectorate, Haidarábád District, Sind ; formerly known asMurtizábád.
Lat. 25° 48' 30 '' N., long. 68° 27' 30'' E. ; pop. (1872), 4096 — including
2646 Muhammadans (mainly agriculturists of the Memon tribe ), and
1234 Hindus (chiefly Lohános and Bhabras,traders ). Municipal revenue
(1873-74), £275 ; expenditure, £263 ; rate of taxation, n }d. per
head. The local trade consists chiefly of grain , piece-goods, ghi, cotton ,
and sugar, valued approximately at £3900. The transit trade (in the
same articles) is valued at about £700. Hála has long been famous
for its glazed pottery and tiles, made from a fine clay obtained from the
Indus,mixed with powdered flints. The ornamentation is brilliant and
tasteful. The súsis or trouser-cloths, for which Hála is also celebrated ,
are manufactured to the value of £750 yearly. Hála was built about
1800 A.D. in consequence of HALA (OLD ), 2 miles distant, being
threatened with encroachment by the Indus. Among the antiquities
round which the new town has grown up are the tomb and mosque of
a Pír or saint, who died in the 16th century, and in whose honour a
fair, largely attended by Muhammadans from all parts of the Province,
is held twice a year. The British Government contributed, in 1876 ,
£100 to the repair of this tomb. Hála is situated on the Aliganj
Canal, and is immediately connected with the Trunk Road at two
points. It contains a subordinate judge's and mukhtiárkár's courts,
dispensary, and travellers' bungalow .
Hála, Old . — Town in the Hála Deputy Collectorate, Haidarábád
District, Sind. Pop . ( 1872), 2467,mainly agriculturists. It is said to
have been founded about 1422 A.D., but was partially abandoned in
 HALANI_ HALEBID . 545
1800 A . D . owing to threatened encroachments of the Indus ; and HALA
(New ) was built in its stead , 2 miles off.
Háláni. — Town in the Naushahro Deputy Collectorate, Haidarábád
District, Sind. Pop. (1872), 1633,mainly agriculturists; the Muhamma
dans are chiefly Sahatas, and the Hindus are Lohános and Punjabis.
Export trade in grain ; annual value, £700. Near Háláni the Tálpur
forces defeated in 1781 the last of the Kalhora dynasty , and the tombs
of the chiefs who fell in the battle mark the spot. The town lies on
the high road, and is about 200 years old .
Halaria . - One of the petty States of South Káthiáwár, Bombay
Presidency ; consists of 4 villages, with 3 independent tribute-payers.
The revenue in 1876 was estimated at £1500 ; tribute of £10 is paid
to the Gáekwár of Baroda, and £7 to Junagarh .
Haldá. — River of Chittagong District, Bengal ; one of the chief
tributaries of the Karnaphulí. Navigable by native boats for a distance
of 24 miles throughout the year, and for 35 miles in the rainy season .
One of the principal fishing rivers of the District.
Haldí. — River of Southern Bengal, rising in lat. 22° 18' 30 " N ., and
long. 87° 13' 15'' E., near the western boundary of Midnapur District.
Flows south -south -east till it falls into the Húgli, in lat. 22° 0' 30" N.,
long. 88° 6' 15" E., near Nandigaon , in the Tamlúk Subdivision, a few
miles south of the confluence of the Rúpnáráyan and Húgli. The Haldi
is a large river at its mouth , and is navigable throughout the year up
to the point where it receives its principal tributary , the KASAI, beyond
which it dwindles away into an inconsiderable stream . Its other
tributary is the Káliághái, a non -navigable stream , which takes its rise
in the north -west of Midnapur, and empties itself into the Haldínear
Náráyangarh police station. The Haldí is connected with the Rúpná
ráyan on the north, and with the Rasúlpur river on the south , by a
tidalnavigable canal. — See RUPNARAYAN and RASALPUR CANAL.
Halebid ('Old Ruins'). — Village in Hassan District, Mysore. Lat.
13° 12' 20" N., long. 76° 2' E .; pop. ( 1871), 1207. The site of
the ancient city of Dorásamudra or Dvárávatipura, the capital of the
Hoysala Ballála dynasty . It was apparently rebuilt in the 13th cen
tury by King Vira Someswara, described in certain inscriptions as the
founder. To him is assigned the erection of the two magnificent
temples in honour of Siva, which rank among the masterpieces of
Hindu art. The larger of these , the Haisaleswara temple , though
never completed , has elicited from Mr. Fergusson the opinion that,
ótaken altogether, it is perhaps the building on which the advocate of
Hindu architecture would desire to take his stand.' Its dimensions are
roughly.200 feet square, and 25 feet high above the terrace on which
it stands. The material is an indurated potstone of volcanic origin ,
found in the neighbourhood, which takes a polish like marble. The
VOL . III. 2 M
 I
546 HALER - HALON .
ornamentation consists of a series of friezes one above another, each
about 700 feet long, and carved with the most exquisite elabora
tion. One frieze alone represents a procession of not less than 2000
elephants. The smaller or Kaitabheswara temple has unfortunately
been entirely split to pieces in recent years by the growth of trees and
their roots through the joins of the stones. Some of the most perfect
sculptures have been removed to the Museum at Bangalore. There
are also ruins of Jain bastis and of other buildings in the neighbour
hood . The city of Dorásamudra was taken and sacked by the
Muhammadans in 1310, and the capital of the Ballálas transferred to
Tondanur.
Haleri. – Village in the territory of Coorg, which has an historical
interest as the first settlement of the family of Lingayats from Ikkeri in
Mysore, who established themselves as Rájás of Coorg in the 17th
century. The old palace is still in existence. It is built on the usual
plan of Coorg houses, though on a larger scale, and with breastworks
and other defences. Lat. 12° 27' N., long. 75° 52' E.
Halhaliá.– River of Bengal, formerly a considerable stream rising
in Maimansinh District, which has now almost disappeared, or been
absorbed by the Brahmaputra or Jamuná. Branches of it, however,
remain on both sides of the Jamuná, that on the west bank being much
the larger of the two, and flowing in a very tortuous course through
Bográ District, for about 30 miles, until it joins the Karátoyá at Khán
pur. The lower part of the Halhalik is navigable for large boats.
Chief markets on the banks — Kaliání, Páchibári, Dhunot, Gosáinbárí,
and Chandanbásia. The Halhaliá is locally confounded with another
river, theManás, which has almost disappeared in consequence of the
same causes to which the Halhaliá itself owes its diminished size.
Haliyál.-- Municipal town in Supá Subdivision of North Kanara
District, Bombay. It lies in lat. 15° 19' 50" N., and long. 74° 48' E.,
to the south -west of Dhárwár. Pop. (1872), 5071 ; municipal revenue
(1874-75), £363; rate of taxation, is. 4d. per head. Post office and
dispensary.
Hallár (or Halawar ; otherwise known as Nawánagar). — A tract
of country in Kathiáwár, Bombay ; lying between 21° 44' and 22° 55'
n . lat., and 69° 8' and 71° 2' E. long. Takes its name from the Halla
Rájputs, andUDincludes,
Rájputs, DHROamong Kothers,
otka thehoutchiefships
5000 sq uaofre NAWANAGAR,
miofl tract not
RAJKOT, GONDAL, L, an
AL , DHROL, andd KOTRA SUNGANI. Limits
strictly defined , but includes an area of about 5000 square miles
Hálon . - River of Berar, rising in 22° 6 ' n . lat., and 81° 5 ' E . long.,
about 8 miles south of the Chilpighat in the Máikal range ; flows
northwards for about 60 miles through Bálághát and Mandla Districts ,
Central Provinces ; and falls into the Burhner, in lat. 22° 40' n ., and
long. 80° 47' E. Average elevation of its valley, 2000 feet.
 HALWAD - HAMIRPUR DISTRICT. 547
Halwad. - Fortified town in the peninsula of Káthiáwár, Bombay
Presidency ; 85 miles south-west of Ahmedabád . Pop. (1872), 6391.
Lat. 23° 1' n., long. 71° 14' 30 " E.
Hambar.– Village in Firozpur (Ferozepore) District, Punjab ; on the
road to Ludhiána, 104 miles west of Firozpur. Lat. 30° 57' n., long.
75° 46' E.
Hamirpur. -- A British District in the Lieutenant-Governorship of
the North -Western Provinces, lying between 25° 5' and 26° 10' n . lat.,
and between 79° 22' 45" and 80° 25' 15" E. long. Area, 2287 square
miles ; population in 1872, 529,137. Hamirpur forms the south -western
District of the Allahábád Division . It is bounded on the north by the
Jumna (Jamuna) ; on the north -west by the Native State of Báoni and
the Betwa river ; on the west by the Dhasan river ; on the south by
the Alípura , Chhatarpur, and Charkhári States ; and on the east by
Banda District. It encloses the Native States of Saríla , Jigni, and
Bihat, besides portions of Charkhári and Garauli. The administrative
headquarters are at the town of HAMIRPUR ; but Rath has the largest
population in the District.
Physical Aspects. — Hamirpur formspart of the great plain of Bundel
khand, which stretches between the banks of the Jumna (Jamuná) and
the central Vindhyán plateau. The District is in shape an irregular
parallelogram , with a general slope northward from the low hills on the
southern boundary toward the valleys of the Jumna and Betwa, which
limit it on the north and west. The hilly southern region is composed
of scattered outlying spurs from the main line of the Vindhyán
range. Their general elevation does not exceed 300 feet above the
Jumna valley, or a total of about 800 feet above the level of the sea,
and their sides are almost bare of trees or jungle. They are rendered
picturesque, however, by the artificial lakes of Mahoba, for which the
District is celebrated. These magnificent reservoirs were constructed
by the Chandel Rájás, about 800 years ago, for purposes of irrigation
and as sheets of ornamental water. They are hemmed round on two or
three sides by rocky hills, while the outlets are stopped by dams of
massive masonry,whose antiquity conceals all traces of their artificial
origin . Many of them enclose craggy islets or peninsulas, crowned by
the ruins of granite temples, exquisitely carved and decorated. The
largest lake has a circumference of about 5 miles. As we descend
from the hill and lake country, we arrive at the general plain of the
District, which spreads northward , almost unbroken by isolated heights,
in an arid and treeless level towards the broken banks of the rivers.
Of these, the principal are the Betwa and its tributary the Dhasán ,
both of which are unnavigable. On the triangle formed by their
junction with the stream of the Jumna stands the town of Hamirpur,
which is thus isolated from the remainder of the District by the
548 HAMIRPUR DISTRICT,
Betwa river and the Native State of Báoni. The Hamirpur bank of
the Jumna is high and rocky ; its opposite shore is low and shelving.
There is little waste land, except in the ravines by the river-sides. The
deep black soil of Bundelkhand, known as már, retains the moisture
under a dried and rifted surface, and renders the District fertile ; but
unhappily the káns grass, the scourge of the Bundelkhand agriculturist,
has overrun much of the country .
History. — The early annals of Bundelkhand, of which Province
Hamirpur forms a portion, have been briefly sketched in the article
on BANDA. During the Chandel supremacy, from the gth to the 14th
century , MAHOBA, on the south of the District, was the capital of that
dynasty . The Chandels adorned the town and its neighbourhood with
many splendid edifices, remains of which still exist in great numbers ;
besides constructing the noble artificial lakes already described. The
last of their Rájás, Parmál, was defeated in the year 1183 by Prithi
ráj, the Chauhan ruler of Delhi ; after which disaster the Chandel
princes abandoned Mahoba and fixed their capital at the hill fort of
KALINJAR , in Banda District. About twelve years later, Máhoba was
conquered by Kutab-ud -din , the general of Shaháb -ud-din Ghori, and,
with occasional interruptions, remained in the hands of the Musalmáns
for 500 years. In 1680, the District came into the possession of
Chhatar Sál, the greatnational hero of the Bundelas, and was the theatre
of many battles during his long struggle with the imperial forces. On
his death , about 1734, he assigned to his ally, the Peshwa of the Mar
hattás, one-third of his territories ; and Máhoba formed a portion of the
region so granted. The larger part of the present District of Hamirpur
fell to his son Jagatráj. During the next seventy years the District
continued under the government of his descendants, who, however,
carried on among themselves that intestine warfare which was universal
in Bundelkhand throughout the latter half of the 18th century.
Rival Rájás had forts in every village, and one after the other collected
their revenue from the same estates. Moreover, the Bundela princes
were opposed by the Marhattá chieftains ; and Ali Bahadur, an illegiti
mate descendant of the Peshwa's who had made himself Nawáb of
Bánda, succeeded in 1790 in annexing a portion of the District. He
was defeated by the British , and died in 1802. The British District of
Bundelkhand was formed in the succeeding year (1803), a part being
granted to our ally, Rájá Himmat Bahadur, as the price of his
allegiance. The town of Máhoba itself, with the surrounding country,
remained in the hands of the Pandits of JALAUN , until, on the death
of their last representative in 1840, it lapsed to the British . The Sub
division known as Jáitpur was ruled by the descendants of Chhatar
Sál until 1842, when the last Rájá , believing that our reverses at Kabul
would prove fatal to British rule , revolted, and having been easily
 HAMIRPUR DISTRICT. 549
captured , was removed to Cawnpore, receiving from us a pension of
£200 a month . Jáitpur was handed over to another claimant, who
mortgaged it to the Government and died without issue in 1849. His
territories lapsed to Government, andhave since formed a part of Hamír
pur District. When the British first occupied Hamirpur in 1803, they
found it in the same wretched condition as the remainder of Bundel
khand. The land had been impoverished by the long war of indepen
dence carried on under Chhatar Sál; overrun and ravaged by predatory
leaders during the disastrous period of Marhattá aggression ; and devas
tated by robber chiefs, who levied the revenues on their own account,
granting receipts for the payment, which the authorized collectors were
obliged to accept. As early as 1819, the attention of Government was
called to the fact that many estates were being relinquished by the
zamíndárs, through their inability to meet the demands for the land
revenue. In 1842,land in Hamirpur Districtwas reported to be utterly
valueless, and many instances were adduced in which purchasers of.
estates had been completely ruined through over-assessment. Several,
estates were held by Government for arrears of revenue, because no
purchasers could be found for them . A new land settlement was
effected in 1842 on a greatly reduced assessment. On the outbreak of
the Mutiny, Hamirpur exhibited the same return to anarchy which cha
racterized the whole of Bundelkhand. On the 13th of June 1857, the
56th Native Infantry broke into mutiny,and the massacre of Europeans
began . Only one Christian escaped with life. The surrounding native
chiefs set up rival claims to portions of the British territory, and
plundered all the principal towns. The Charkhári Rájá alone main
tained a wavering allegiance, which grew firmer as the forces of General
Whitlock approached Máhoba. That town was reached in September
1858, and the fort of Srinagar was destroyed. After a short period
of desultory guerilla warfare in the hilly regions of Bundelkhand , the
rebels were effectually quelled , and the work of re-organization began .
Since the Mutiny, the condition of Hamirpur seems to have improved ;
but it has not yet recovered from the long anarchy of the Marhattá rule ,
and the excessive taxation of the early British period. The poor and
neglected aspect of the homesteads, the careless and apathetic appear
ance of the people, and the wide expanse of shadeless plain , all bear
witness to the prolonged disorganization and mistaken economy of
former days.
People. — The Census of 1842 and that of 1853 did not include the
whole of the present District, which has since been enlarged by the
addition of Máhoba and Jaitpur ; and they are consequently of little
use for purposes of comparison . The Census of 1865 gives a popula
tion of 520,941 persons, and that of 1872 states the number as 529,137,
showing an increase of 8196, or 1'57 per cent. In 1872, there
 550 HAMIRPUR DISTRICT.
were 121,011 houses ; number of persons per house, 4 '37 ; houses
per square mile, 52.88 ; inhabitants per square mile , 231'21. Classified
according to sex, there were 276 ,196 males, and 252,941 females ; pro
portion of males, 52'19 per cent. The preponderance of males is due
partly to the unwillingness of the Rájputs to state the number of their
women , and partly to the former prevalence of female infanticide.
Classified according to age, there were, under 15 years— males, 97,904 ;
females, 83,909 ; total, 181,813, or 34 36 per cent. As regards religious
divisions, the Hindus numbered 493,877, or 93:6 per cent.; and the
Musalmáns, 33,658, or 6 .4 per cent. Of the Hindus, Bráhmans num
bered 58,637, or 11'i per cent. ; Kshattriyas, 43,092, or 8 :1 per cent. ;
Vaisyas, 19,147, or 3 7 per cent. ; and Sudras, 373,001, or 70 *7 per
cent. The Bráhmans are mainly engaged in agriculture, and have
consequently lostmuch of the respect due to their caste. The Rájputs
have been very minutely reckoned in the Census, in order to dis
cover which classes amongst them are addicted to infanticide. They
amount to 62 clans ; three of which were found to be specially guilty
of the practice - namely, the Parihárs, Chauhans, and Bais. The
Chandels and Bundelas, the old dominant classes, have now sunk to
548 and 612 respectively ; most of whom still cling to the neighbour
hood ofMáhoba, the seat of their former supremacy. The Bais are far
the most numerous of the Rajput classes in the District. Among the
Vaisyas or trading classes the only division of any peculiarity is that of
the Márwárís, who number 200. They act as bankers and money
lenders, but they have also acquired much landed property. Among
the Súdras or low castes, the most numerous are the Lodhis, the
Chámárs , and the Koris. The Musalmáns are the descendants of
converted Hindus, who were originally Thákurs, and their habits are
still much the same as those of their fellow -Rájputs. The Census of
1872 returned 31,570 landowners, 207,636 agriculturists, and 289,931
persons engaged in other occupations. There are very few wealthy
inhabitants, the landowners being often scarcely at all better off than
their labourers, and living in much the same style. There are no native
Christians in the District, nor has any settlement been effected by the
Brahma Samáj. The Musalmáns are making no converts. The Dis
trict contains 6 towns with a population of more than 5000 persons
namely, RATH, 14,515 ; HAMIRPUR, 7007 ; MAHOBA, 6977 ; MAUDHA,
6025 ; SUMERPUR, 5599 ; and JAITPUR , 5159. The urban population
is on the decrease. The language in common use is Bundelkhandi,
which is a dialect of Hindí.
Agriculture. The staple produce of the District is grain of various
sorts, the most important being gram . Other pulses , wheat, and millet
are also largely cultivated. Theautumn cropsare heavier than the spring,
cotton being the most valuable amongst them . Its cultivation is on
 HAMIRPUR DISTRICT. 551
the increase. Out of a totalarea of 1,464,641 acres, 320,057 acres are
returned as barren, and 1,144,584 as cultivable, of which latter area
only 762,212 acres are actually under cultivation . Manure is little used,
except for garden land. Irrigation is practised on only 16 ,000 acres,
chiefly in the south, where water can be obtained from the artificial lakes
constructed by the Chandel princes. There are fourteen small canals
connected with these lakes, and belonging to Government ; but they
supply water to an area of only 820 acres. The remainder of the
irrigated land is watered by hand labour. The out-turn of bájra, a
kind of millet much grown in the District, is about £1, is. 6d. per
acre ; that of til, an oil-seed, about £1, 4s. per acre. In Hamirpur,
as elsewhere in Bundelkhand, the cultivators have suffered much from
the spread of the káns grass, a noxious weed, which overruns the fields
and is found to be almost ineradicable wherever it has once obtained a
footing. It is usual to abandon the lands thus attacked, in the hope
that the káns may use up the soil, and so finally kill itself out, which
it is said to do in from twelve to fifteen years. The peasantry are
hopelessly in debt, and careless as to comfort or appearances. Most of
the landowners have no capital, and the few wealthy zamindárs are
foolishly penurious in all matters of improvement. The land is for
the most part cultivated by tenants-at-will. Out of 1159 estates in the
District, 657 are held on zamindári tenure, in which the rights of the
coparceners are denoted by fractions of the rupee ; 317 by pattidári,
possession in severalty ; and 185 by bháyachára, or brotherhood, in
which mode of tenure the gain or loss is distributed by fixed shares, and
the revenue apportioned by custom . Rents vary much with the nature
of the soil ; the best lands are returned atfrom 12s. to £1, 4s. per acre ;
the poorest at from 25. to 4s. Few farms extend to 100 acres ; from
20 to 25 acres form a fair-sized holding. The rates of wages are as
follows : - Smiths, 4 d . to 6d. per diem ; bricklayers and carpenters, 3 d .
to 4 d. ; labourers in towns, 3d. - in villages, 24d . Wages have risen
from 15 to 100 per cent during the last twenty years. The average
prices of food grains for the ten years 1861-71 are as follows:- Gram , 4s.
8d. per cwt.; bájra, 4s. 58d. per cwt.; wheat, 6s. 2 d. per cwt.; barley ,
45.Natural
5 d. per Calamities.
cwt. On the whole,
- The pricesofhave
District
been rising
Hamirpur
of late
is little years.to
subject
blight or flood ; but droughts and their concomitant, famine, are un
happily common. The last great famine was that of 1837, which pro
duced so deep an effect upon the native mind that the peasantry still
employ it as an era by which to calculate their ages. The scarcity of
1868-69 was severely felt in Hamirpur, though most of the deaths which
it induced were due to disease rather than to actual starvation . It
pressed more heavily on the upland villages than on the country near
the banks of the Jumna. Symptoms of distress first appeared early in
552 HAMIRPUR DISTRICT.
the year 1869, and the scarcity was not allayed till November. Relief
measures were adopted in March , partly by gratuitous distributions,
chiefly bymeans of localworks. During the whole period of distress , a
daily average of 546 persons received gratuitous aid , and 2736 persons
were employed on famine works. Gram , the staple food of the people,
rose from its average of 4s. 8d. per cwt. to a maximum of 1os. 8d. per
cwt. in September. Famine ratesmay be considered to be reached when
gram sells at 8s. 3 d . per cwt., and Government relief then becomes
necessary. This test, however, cannot altogether be relied on , as the
cultivators cease to employ labour on the approach of scarcity , and
prices becomemerely nominal, the poorer classes having no money to
purchase food. In portions of the District,a regular scale of remission
of revenue and rent, in famines of varying intensities, has been drawn
up, and neither Government nor the zamindárs are permitted to recover
more than the stipulated proportion. Themeans of communication are
now probably sufficient to avert the extremity of famine.
Commerce and Trade, etc. — The commerce of the Hamirpur District
is chiefly carried on by means of its great river highway — the Jumna.
The cotton and grain , which form the staple exports, are carried down
ward ; while rice, sugar, tobacco, and Manchester goods constitute the
chief imports upward. The navigation between Allahábád and Agra is
rendered dangerous by shoals, rocks, and sunken trees. Efforts have
been made to improve this part of the river, but with little success.
About one-fifth of the grain raised in the District is exported, and the
remainder used for home consumption. The manufactures consist of
coarse cotton cloth and soapstone ornaments. No railway passes
through the District, and the nearest station is Mauhar, on the East
Indian main line, about 30 miles from the town of Hamirpur. There
is only one metalled road, between Hamirpur and Naugảon , 70 miles
in length ; and there are four other fair-weather roads. The only print
ing-press in the District is at Hamirpur ; it is used for lithographic
work in Hindi and Urdu.
Administration. The first land settlement, in 1805, included only a
small portion of the present District ; and much of the revenue was
necessarily remitted, owing to the depredations of freebooting chiefs.
The second arrangement, two years later, was equally futile , from the
samecause, and from the badness of the seasons. From 1809 till 1842
the assessments were several times increased, in face of the fact
that the revenue could not be collected, through the poverty of
the zamindárs. Large balances were constantly accruing. Unfortun
ately the area and fiscal divisions for these settlements varied so much
that the statistics are not available for purposes of comparison . In
1842, the District had become so impoverished that a considerable
decrease in the Government demand became imperatively necessary.
 HAMIRPUR DISTRICT. 553
The incidence of the land revenue was accordingly altered in that year
from 3s. 10 d . on the cultivated area, to 35. 3 } d . This settlement,
which continued in force until 1872, is considered to have been a fair
one, and succeeded in removing the pressure of former assessments.
The total land revenue demand for 1870-71 amounted to £108,410, of
which £108,332 was collected . The number of estates was registered
at 1127, and the proprietors or coparceners at 28,086. Average land
revenue paid by each estate, £96 , 4s., and by each proprietor,
£3, 18s. The District is administered by a Magistrate, Assistant
Magistrate , Settlement Officer, Deputy Collector, and five tahsildárs.
There are 10 magisterial courts. In 1871, there were 25 police stations,
with 534 men ; giving i policeman to every 4 .28 square miles and to
every 975 inhabitants. The cost of the police was £8058, chiefly
paid from imperial funds. The regular police were supplemented by
1953 village watchmen (chaukidárs), or i to every 242 inhabitants.
The total number of persons convicted for all offences, in 1871, was
1088, or 1 person in every 486 of the population. The District con
tains one jail, the average daily number of prisoners in which amounted
to 400 in 1850, 72 in 1860, and 129 in 1870, or '076, '013, and .024 of
the inhabitants, respectively . Although the Musalmáns only number
6 .4 per cent of the whole population , they formed as much as 23: 2 per
cent. of the prisoners in 1870. Education has spread considerably of
late years. In 1850, there were only 1078 persons under instruction in
the District. In 1860, there were 104 schools, attended by 1414 pupils ,
and maintained at a cost of £582. By 1870 , the number of schools
had increased to 112, and the pupils to 3066 ; while the amount
expended upon education had risen to £1354. The greater part of
the expense is borne by Government. In 1872, there were 1023
Hindu males and 4 Hindu females, 856 Muhammadan males and
9 Muhammadan females, who could read and write. The District is
divided into 8 fiscal divisions ( parganas). It contains no municipal
towns at present, as Ráth , which for a short time was erected into a
municipality, found its trade impaired by the octroi, and was accord
ingly relieved of its burdens.
Medical Aspects. — The climate of Hamirpur District is dry and hot,
owing to the absence of shade and the bareness of the soil, except in
the neighbourhood of the Mahoba lakes, which cool and moisten the
surrounding atmosphere. No accurate thermometrical observations
have yet been taken. The rainfall was 17' 2 inches in 1868 -69 (the year
of scarcity) ; 37' 1in 1869-70 ; and 38 'i in 1870-71. The two last read
ings may be accepted as the average of ordinary good seasons. In
1871, the total number of deaths recorded was 11,251, being at the
rate of 21'52 to each thousand inhabitants, a figure probably below the
truth . Of these , 5804, or il'14 per thousand, were assigned to fever
554 ' HAMIRPUR - HAMPI.
(which is endemic in the District), and 3182 to bowel complaints.
Hamirpur is comparatively free from small-pox, only •54 deaths per
thousand of the population being due to this cause. Snake bites and the
attacks of wild animals were answerable for 68 deaths ; and 38 were
attributed to suicide. There are charitable dispensaries at Hamirpur,
Máhoba, and Ráth.
Hamirpur. - Northern tahsil of Hamirpur District, North -Western
Provinces ; consisting of the narrow tongue of land enclosed by the
confluence of the Betwa and the Jumna (Jamuná),together with a large
strip of country on the eastern bank of the former river. Area, 367
square miles, of which 226 are cultivated ; pop. (1872), 95,388 ; land
revenue, £21,113 ; total Government revenue, £22,434 ; rental paid
by cultivators, £39,351; incidence of Government revenue per acre,
IS. 9 d.
Hamirpur. — Administrative headquarters of Hamirpur District,
North -Western Provinces. Lat. 25° 58' n ., long. 80° 11' 50" E.; pop.
( 1872), 7007. Situated on a tongue of land at the confluence of the
Betwa and the Jumna (Jamuná), on the right bank of the latter river.
Founded , according to tradition, by Hamír Deo, a Karchuli Rájput,
expelled from Ulwar (Alwár) by the Muhammadans. Capital of a
District under Akbar. Possesses little importance apart from the
presence of the civil station . Hamir's fort and a few Musalmán tombs
form the only relics of antiquity . Several Europeans were murdered
here during the Mutiny. Court-house, police station, hospital, jail,
dispensary, school, circuit-house,travellers' bungalow , two saráis, bázár.
No manufactures ; small trade in grain . The civil station is small, and
deficient in houses and roads. Lies on the route from Banda to Cawn
pore ; distant from the former 36 miles, from the latter 39 south , from
Kálpi 28 south -east, from Agra 155 south -east, from Allahábád 110
north -west. Local taxation supports a municipal police of 12 men, at
an annual cost of £81.
Hamirpur. - Southern tahsil ofKángrá District, Punjab ; consisting
of a wild mountain country, but more thickly inhabited than the other
portions of the District. Area, 660 square miles ; pop. ( 1868), 180,132 ;
persons per square mile, 273.
Hampi. Ruined city in Bellary District, Madras. Lat. 15° 19' 50"
N ., long. 76° 30 ' 10 " E. ; on the south bank of the Tungabhadra , 36
miles north -west of Bellary. The site of the ancient capital of the
Vijayanagar kings. The ruins cover 9 square miles, including Kamla
pur, on the south , and Anagundi, the later seat of the dynasty.
Hampi was founded on the fall of the Ballála dynasty , about
1336 A . D ., by two brothers, Bukka and Harihara , whose descendants
flourished here till the battle of Tálikot, 1565 A . D ., and afterwards at
Anagundi, Vellore, and Chandragiri for another century, until finally
 HAMPI, RUINED CITY. 555
overwhelmed by the advancing powers of Bijápur and Golconda.
During the two and a quarter centuries that the Vijáyanagar Rájás held
the city of Hampi, they extended it and beautified it with palaces and
temples .
Edwardo Barbessa describes the capital as of great extent, highly
populous, and the seat of an active commerce in country diamonds,
rubies from Pegu , silks of China and Alexandria and Cuinabar,
camphor,musk , pepper, and sandal from Malabar.' The palaces ofthe
king and his ministers, and the temples, are described as stately
buildings of stone,' but the greater part of the population lived in
“ hovels of straw and mud.' In the travels of Cæsar Frederic , the
palace is thus spoken of : ' I have seen many kings' courts, yet have
never seen anything to compare with the royal palace of Bijianuggur,
which hath nine gates. First, when you go into that part where the
king lodged, there are five great gates, kept by captains and soldiers.
Within these are four lesser gates, which are kept by porters, and
through these you enter into a very fair court at the end .' He describes
the city as being 24 miles round, enclosing several hills. The ordinary
dwellings were mean buildings with earthen walls, but the three
palaces and the pagodas were all built of fine marble. Of the remains
of all this greatness now visible, Mr. Kelsall, in his Manual, says :
Many of the buildings are now so destroyed that it is difficult to say
what they were originally meant for, but the massive style of archi
tecture and the huge stones that have been employed in their con
struction at once attract attention. Close to Kamalapur there is a fine
stone aqueduct, and a building which has at some time or other been a
bath . The use of the arch in the doorways, and the embellishments
used in decorating the inner rooms, show that the design of this
building was considerably modified by the Musalmáns, even if it was
not constructed by them altogether. A little to the south of this is a
very fine temple, of which the outer and inner walls are covered with
spirited basso-relievos, representing hunting scenes and incidents in the
Rámáyana. The four centre pillars are of a kind of black marble,
handsomely carved. The flooring of the temple, originally large slabs
of stone, has been torn up and utterly ruined by persons in search of
treasure , which is supposed to be buried both here and in other parts
of the ruins. The use of another covered building close by, with
numerous underground passages, has not been ascertained. It also
is covered with basso -relievos, in one of which a lion is represented.
At a little distance is the building generally known as the “ Elephant
Stables," and there seems no reason to doubt that it was used for this
purpose . Two other buildings, which, with the “ Elephant Stables,”
form roughly three sides of a square , are said to have been the concert
hall and the council room . Both , but especially the latter, have been
556 HANDIA - HANGO .
very fine buildings.' Besides these , the remains of the zanáná and the
arena are still visible. But the huge monoliths applied to various
purposes form perhaps the most distinctive feature of these ruins — one,
a water-trough, is 414 feet long ; another, a statue of Siva, 35 feet high.
There are two fine temples, between which the road passes, butwhich
are remarkable for nothing but the enormous size of the stones which
have been used in their construction . Masses of cut granite, many of
them 30 feet in length by 4 in depth , are seen high up in the wall, and
no explanation can be given of the mode in which they were placed in
their present position. There are also several temples in a fair state of
preservation, notably one dedicated to Vishnu,about three-quarters of a
mile from the palace, and close to the river. It is entirely of granite ,
and contains some splendid monolithic pillars, richly carved. The
inscriptions at Hampi have contributed materially to our knowledge of
Vijáyanagar history. There is still a great annual festivalhere, although
the village is insignificant in size, with a population of less than 500.
Handiá . — North -eastern tahsil of Allahábád District, North -Western
Provinces, lying along the northern bank of the Ganges. Area, 286
square miles, of which 172 are cultivated ; pop. (1872), 166,677 ;
land revenue, £29,165 ; total Government revenue, £32,097 ; rental
paid by cultivators, £40,880 ; incidence of Government revenue per
acre, 3s. 24d .
Handia . — Ancient Muhammadan town in Hoshangabad District,
Central Provinces,on the Narbadá (Nerbudda) river; with a dismantled
stone fort, said to have been built by Hoshang Shah Ghorí of Málwa.
Lat. 22° 28 ' 30" N., long. 77° 2' E. Handia was the headquarters of a
sarkár or District under Akbar's rule, and, lying on the old high-road
from the Deccan to Agra , attained considerable size and prosperity , as
appears from its ruins. On the withdrawal of the Mughal officials,
about 1700 A . D ., and the construction of a better road across the
Vindhya Hills, viâ Indore, Handiá sank into insignificance. The
Marhattás gave it up to the British in 1817. Pop . (1870 ), 1992.
Hangarkotta. — Port in South Kanara District, Madras ; situated
about 5 miles from Old Bárkúr, at the mouth of the Silánadi river,
and 10 miles north of Udipi. Called in the Government accounts the
port of Bárkúr. Considerable export trade in rice (principally to Goa),
etc., and import trade in cotton, piece-goods, cocoa-nut oil, and salt
from Goa. Value of imports in 1874-75, £3300 ; exports, £37,900.
Hango. — Village in Bashahr State, Punjab ; situated near the north
eastern base of the Hangrang Mountains, at the head of a flourishing
valley,watered by three tributaries of the river Li. Lat. 31° 49' n., long.
78° 34' E. Contains a temple of local reputation, described by Thorn
ton as devoted to a mixed faith , partly Hindu and partly Buddhist.
Elevation above sea level, 11,400 feet.
 HANGRANG - HANSKHALI. 557
Hangrang. — Mountain pass in Bashahr State, Punjab, between
Kunáwar and the Chinese territory. Lat. 31° 48' N., long. 78° 35' E.
Thornton states that the valley to the south is well wooded and culti
vated , but the northern slope is thickly covered with snow . Elevation
of crest above sea level, 14,800 feet.
Hangu (or Miranzái). — Western tahsil of Kohát District, Punjab ;
consisting of the Miranzái valley, inhabited by a tribe of Bangash
Patháns, and annexed in 1851. Two years later, the inhabitants
rebelled, and were reduced in 1855 . Area, 400 square miles; pop.
(1868), 36,060 ; number of villages, 38.
Hangu . — Village in Kohát District, Punjab, and headquarters of the
tahsil. Lat. 33° 32' N ., long. 71° 6 ' E. Lies in a small open plain , 25
miles west of Kohát. Picturesquely situated close under steep hills on
the north ,with 2 shrines, one of which overlooks the village westward .
The tahsildár of Hangu is chief of the upper Bangash , and through
him Government conducts all its dealings with the Orakzái borderers.
Hánsi. — Tahsil of Hissár District, Punjab, lying between 28° 50'and
29° 25' n . lat., and between 75° 50' 30" and 76° 22' E. long.
Hánsi. — Municipal town of Hissár District, Punjab, and head
quarters of the tahsil. Lat. 29° 6' 19" N., long. 76° 0' 19" E. ; pop.
(1868), 13,563, consisting of 7830 Hindus, 5718 Muhammadans,and 15
Christians. Lies on the Western Jumna Canal, and on the Hissar and
Delhi road, 16 miles east of the former town. Founded, according to
tradition, by Anang Pál Tuár, King of Delhi. Centre of local admini
stration under Hindus and Muhammadans, and long the principal town
of Hariána. Desolated by the famine of 1783, after which it lay in
partial ruins for many years. In 1795, the famous adventurer George
Thomas, who had seized upon the greater part of Hariána, fixed his
headquarters in the town. Thenceforth , Hánsi began to revive ; and on
the establishment of British rule in 1802, it was made a cantonment,
where a considerable force, consisting chiefly of local levies, was
stationed. In 1857, the troops mutinied,murdered all Europeans upon
whom they could lay their hands, and combined with the wild Rajput
tribes in plundering the country . On the restoration of order, it was
thought undesirable to maintain the cantonment. A high brick wall,
with bastions and loopholes, surrounds the town, while the canal, which
flows at its feet, contributes to its beauty by a fringe of handsome trees.
Since the Mutiny, however, the houses have largely fallen into decay,
and the streets lie comparatively deserted, owing to the removal of the
troops. A large dismantled fort overlooks the town on the north .
Local trade in country produce — cotton , ghi, and cereals. Tahsili,
school-house , police station , sarái. Municipal revenue in 1875 -76,
£461, or 9d. per head of population ( 12 ,251) within municipal limits.
Hánskbáli. — Town and headquarters of a police circle (tháná) in
558 HAPUR - HARAPPA .
Nadiyá District, Bengal ; situated on the left bank of the Churni river.
Lat. 23° 21' 30 " N., long. 88° 39' 30" E Seat of considerable trade.
Hápur (Hauper). — South -eastern tahsil of Meerut (Mírath ) District,
North -Western Provinces, lying along the western bank of the Ganges,
and irrigated by distributaries from the Ganges Canal. Area, 408
square miles, of which 284 are cultivated ; pop. (1872), 205,140 ;
land revenue, £29,412 ; total Government revenue, £32,534 ; rental
paid by cultivators, £59,568 ; incidence of Government revenue per
acre, 25. 3d .
Hápur (Hauper). — Ancient town in Meerut District, North -Western
Provinces, and headquarters of Hápur tahsil. Lat. 28° 43' 20" N., long.
77° 49' 45" E.; pop. ( 1872), 14,544, consisting of 8696 Hindus, 5847
Musalmáns, and i Christian . Lies on the Meerut and Bulandshahr
road, 18 miles south of the former city . Founded, according to tradi
tion , in 983 A.D ., by the Dor chieftain Hardatta, from whom it took the
name of Harípur. Perron , the French general in the service of the
Marhattá chief Sindhia, established in the neighbourhood a system
of jágírs or grants for his disabled veterans. During the Mutiny,
Walidad Khán of Málagarh threatened Hápur, but was obliged by the
loyal Játs of Bhatona to retire. Several fine groves surround the town,
but the wall and ditch have fallen out of repair, and only the names of
the five gates now remain . Tahsili, police station, school-house, dis
pensary, 3 saráis, 28 mosques, 25 temples. Considerable trade in
sugar, grain , cotton , timber, bamboos, and brass utensils. Municipal
revenue in 1875-76, £1208 ; from taxes, £932, or is. 3gd. per head of
population . Well adapted for horse - breeding ; headquarters of the
famous Hápur Stud.
Harái. — Chiefship in the north of Chhindwara District, Central
Provinces ; comprising 91 villages, of which 86 are inhabited . It
consists of a mountainous country north of Amarwára , and a lowland
tract opening on the Narbadá (Nerbudda) valley , and containing a
masonry fort,where the chief resides. Heis a Gond, and receives from
Government £600 per annum , in commutation of former privileges.
Chief village, Harái, lat. 22° 37' N., long. 79° 16 ' E.
Haramak . - Mountain in Kashmir State , Punjab ; a peak of the lofty
range which bounds that kingdom on the north . Lat. 34° 26' N., long.
75° E. Thornton states that a small lake, known as Gangá Bal, nestles
on its northern slope, and forms an object of great veneration to the
Hindus. Estimated elevation above sea level, 13,000 feet.
Haraotí (Harowtee).-- State in Rajputána. – See KOTAH .
Harappa. – Village in Montgomery District, Punjab ; lying on the
south bank of the Rávi, 16 miles south -east of Kot Kamália . Lat.
30° 40' N ., long. 72° 53' E . Now a hamlet of no importance ,
but identified by General Cunningham with the site of a town in
 HARCHOKA - HARDOI DISTRICT. 559
the territory of the Malli, attacked and taken by Alexander the
Great. The ruins cover an area 3 miles in circumference, scat
tered over with large broken bricks. The principal remains occupy
a mound forming an irregular square, with sides about half a mile
in length . On the western side, where the mass of ruins lie, the
mound rises to a height of 60 feet, and encloses solid walls built of
huge bricks, and apparently belonging to some extensive building.
Coins of early date have been picked up amongst the débris. Tradi
tion assigns the foundation of the ancient city to an eponymous Rájá
Harappa. The only modern public building is a police station ; but
till quite recently, Harappa ranked as headquarters of a tahsil.
| Harchok . – Village in Chảng Bhakár State, Chutin Nagpur. Lat.
23° 51' 30 " N ., long. 81° 45' 30" E. ; situated on the Muwahi river near
the northern boundary of the State. Remains of extensive rock
excavations, supposed to be temples and monasteries, were discovered
here a few years ago.
Hardá . — Western tahsil or revenue Subdivision in Hoshangábád
District, Central Provinces. Pop. (1872), 128,543, residing in 413
villages or townships and 23,960 houses ; area, 1851 square miles.
Hardá. — Chief town and civil station in Hardá tahsil, Hoshangábád
District, Central Provinces. Lat. 22° 21' n ., long. 77° 8' E.; lying on the
high road to Bombay. Being a station of the Great Indian Peninsula
Railway, it has superseded HANDIA, which is 12 miles distant. Under
the Marhattás an amil or governor resided at Hardá ; and on the
opening of the campaign of 1817, Sir John Malcolm made the town
his headquarters. Since the cession in 1844, this already thriving
place has been further improved, mainly by Mr. J. F . Beddy, formerly
Assistant Commissioner at Hardá , who among cther benefits secured
a good water supply by throwing a dam across the river. Principal
trade, export of grain and oil-seeds. Pop. (1877 ), 9170.
Hardoi. - A District of Oudh in the Sítápur Division or Com
missionership , under the jurisdiction of the Lieutenant-Governor of
the North -Western Provinces, lying between 26° 53' and 27° 47' n. lat.,
and between 79° 44' and 80° 52' E. long. Area (Parliamentary Return ,
1878), 2285.64 square miles; population , according to the Census of
1869, 931,517 persons. In shape,the District formsan irregular parallelo
gram between the Gumti and Ganges ; greatest length from north -west
to south-east, 78 miles ; average breadth , 46 miles. Bounded on the
north by Shahjahanpur and Kheri ; on the east by Sítápur, the Gumti
marking the boundary line ; on the south by Lucknow and Unáo ; and
on the west by Farrukhábád, from which it is separated by the Ganges.
Physical Aspects. — Hardoi is a level District, the highest point lying
north of Piháni, near the Gumti, 490 feet above sea level. The country
continues high along the Gumti, with a breadth of from 3 to 8 miles,
560 HARDOI DISTRICT.
sinking eastward into the central plain, which is from 10 to 20 miles
broad, and intersected by the Sái river. Beyond this plain the country
again rises, forming the watershed between the Sái and Garra , with
other tributaries of the Ganges, the elevation being from 470 to 480
feet. The main portion of the District is formed by the valley of the
Sái. Beyond the Garra lies the valley of the Ganges, with an elevation
of 396 feet at Sándi. Towards the Ganges, near Sándi and Bilgrám ,
the land is uneven, and often rises into hillocks of sand, cultivated at
the base, and their slopes covered with lofty munj grass, whose large
waving white plumes form a graceful feature in the landscape. Wide
usár or saline plains run through the middle of the District on each
side of the line of railway, and are almost wholly uncultivable. The
soil of Hardoi is lighter than that of perhaps any other District of
Oudh, 27 per cent. being sand, 56 per cent. loam , and 17 per cent.
clay. The rivers of Hardoi, commencing from the west, are the
Ganges, Ramganga, Garra, Sukhetá, Sải, Báita and Gumti The
first three are navigable by boats of 500 maunds or about 17 tons
burden. The Gumti is here a small river,whose dry -weather discharge
is not more than 300 cubic feet ; it has high sandy banks, and is easily
fordable. The Sái is also an insignificant stream in Hardoi. There
are no river marts in the District except Sándi on the Garra , and no
fisheries or river-side industries are carried on, with the exception of a
little timber traffic on the Ganges. Several large jhils or lakes are
scattered throughout the District, the largest being that of Sándi,
which is 3 miles long by from 1 to 2 miles broad. These jhils are
much used for irrigation , 126,000 acres being watered from them .
Large tracts of forest jungle still exist, and formerly afforded shelter to
bands of robbers. Tigers have been exterminated, but leopards are
still found in the northern jungles. Antelope, spotted deer, and
nilgái are common. The mallard, teal, grey duck , and common goose
are more abundant in Hardoi than in any other District of Oudh ; and
the chain of jhils which dot the lower levels of the Sái valley abound
in all kinds of water-fowl. Fine rohu fish are found in the Garra and
Rámganga rivers.
History. — The early traditions of this District go back to the days of
the Mahábhárata , and relate how Balárám , the brother of Krishna,
accompanied by Brahmans,was making a tour of the sacred places of
the land . On coming to Nimkhár, he found certain holy Rishis
engaged in hearing the sacred books read ; and as one of them would
not rise to salute him , he smote off his head with a blade of kusá grass.
In order to purge himself of his guilt, it was required of him that he
should rid the holy men of a certain demon named Bil, who dwelt in
a lonely spotwhere now stands the town of Bílgrám , and who used to
persecute the worshippers at Nimkhár, by raining blood and filth upon
 HARDOI DISTRICT. 561
their sacrifices. Bálárám accordingly slew the demon, and a low
mound at Bílgrám is still pointed out as the site of his abode. Passing
from mythological times, the first authentic historical records of Hardoi
are connected with the Musálman colonization. Báwan was occupied
by Sayyid Sálár Masáúd in 1028 A . D . The Shaikhs declare that they
conquered Bílgrám in 1013,but the permanent Muhammadan occupation
did not commence till 1217. Gopámau was the earliest conquest in
Oudh effected by Sayyid Sálár ; and descendants of the early conquerors
are still to be found . The settlement of Páli by a Pánde Brahman, a
Risaldár, and a Shaikh, all three of whom are represented at this day by
men of property in the neighbourhood, is a curious illustration of the
occasional stability of oriental families. Isauli in Bangar was also
conquered by Sayyid Sálár ; but Sándi and Sándíla were not occupied
until long afterwards. The latter was the capital of a Pási kingdom ,
which seemsto have spread over the country down both banks of the
Gumti and the Sái, extending from its original seat at Dhaurahra and
Mitauli. The Pásis are still very powerful in Hardoi. Owing to the
situation of the District on the eastern side of the Ganges, and to the
fact of its commanding the fords near the great city of Kanauj, Hardoi
formed the scene of many sanguinary battles between the rival Afghán
and Mughal Empires. It was here that the Sharki kings of Jaunpur
mustered their forces, and bid defiance to the Lodi sovereigns of Delhi.
Here , again , the Khilji for a brief space rallied his forces against the
Mughals, and established his headquarters at Bílgrám . In yet later
times, Hardoi formed the border-land between the Nawab Wazir ofOudh
and the Rohillá Afgháns. It was this constant passage of armies
which rendered the formation of any organized government in Hardoi
impossible till after the accession of Akbar. In his time the whole ot
the north of the District was a jungle , and the few settlements which
had been made there were mere military outposts. With the Mughals,
cannon came into general use ; and the fords of the Ganges lost their
former strategical importance, as the crossing of troops could be pro
tected by the new engine of warfare. Hardoi then ceased to be the
natural meeting place of eastern and western India ; jungles were
cleared ; new Muhammadan colonies were established at Gopámau by
Akbar, and at Sháhábád and Sándi by Shah Jahán. It is not clear
what were the precise relations of these Musalmán chieftains to their
Hindu neighbours. The Bilgrám family pretend to have had authority
over parganás Bawan, Sándi, and Hardoi. But the few villages com
prising their present estate appeared to have been slowly acquired by
purchase at different times, extending over a long period . In like
manner, the Sándíla Musalmáns are not even mentioned by Colonel
Sleeman as landlords, and the larger part of their property was acquired
at a very recent date. The country was probably covered with jungle ,
VOL. III. 2 N
562 HARDOI DISTRICT.
and the few scattered villages of Hindus were dominated by the brick
forts of the Musalmáns. The principal landed clans of Rajputs are the
following :— The Ahbans, really Cháwar Kshattriyas,who claim to have
sprung from Rájá Gopi, and to have occupied GOPAMAU, having pre
viously ousted the Thatheras, about 100 A .D . The Sombansís came from
Kumhráwán to Sándi about 1400 A . D . Their chief was compelled to
yield to the Musalmáns, but he retained Sándi for some time, and then
abandoned it for Sivajípur, where his descendant still remains. The
Gaurs, the most powerful clan in the District, occupy the central tract,
having, as alleged , driven outthe Thatheras from Báwan and Sára during
the time of the Kanauj sovereignty, about u18 A.D. The Nikumbhs
say that they came from Ulwur (Alwár) about 1450 A.D.; the Katiars
from Farrukhábád about 1550 ; and the Bais of Gundwa from Bais
wára. Under native rule , Hardoi was the most turbulent of all the
Districts of Oudh . It was divided into the chaklás of Sándíla , Sándi,
Páli, and Tandiáon , the latter including the wild tract of Bangar, east
of and along the Sái, in which the Pásis, the ancestral lords of the soil,
had taken refuge, and maintained a guerilla warfare against all authority,
Hindu or Musalmán, supported in many cases by their Kshattriya neigh
bours. Ahrori, in parganá Gopámau, was theirmain residence. Colonel
Sleeman in his · Diary,' under date 22d January 1849, thus describes
the state of this part of the country : ‘ Tandiáon, 8 miles west. The
country level; in parts well cultivated, particularly in the vicinity of
villages; but a large portion of the surface is covered with jungle,
useful only to robbers and refractory landholders, who abound in the
parganá of Bangar. In this respect, it is reputed one of the worst
Districts of Oudh. Within the last few years, the king's troops have
been frequently beaten and driven out with loss, even when com
manded by a European officer. The landholders and armed peasantry
of the different villages unite their quotas of auxiliaries, and concentrate
at a given signal upon the troops when they are in pursuit of robbers
and rebels. Almost every able-bodied man of every village in Bangar
is trained to the use of arms ; and none of the king's troops, save those
who are regularly disciplined and commanded by European officers,
will venture to move against a landholder of this District. When the
local authorities cannot obtain the use of such troops, they are obliged
to conciliate the most powerful and unscrupulous by reductions in the
assessment of the lands, or additions to their nankár. This, be it
remembered, was written in 1849, shortly before the annexation.
Hardoi, together with the rest of Oudh , became British territory
under Lord Dalhousie's Proclamation of February 1856. Since the
Sepoy rebellion in 1857, civil order has been firmly established, and
nothing has occurred to disturb the peace of the District.
Population. — The population of Hardoi District, according to the
 HARDOI DISTRICT. 563
Census of 1869, amounted to 931,517 persons, of whom 500,994 were
males and 430,523 females ; number of villages or townships, 1961–
houses, 180,590 ; average pressure of the population on the soil, 407
per squaremile. Hardoi is themost thinly populated District in Oudh ,
except Kheri and Bahraich. The Hindus number 845,293, of whom
54'1 per cent are males and 45'9 per cent, females. Female infanti
cide was formerly extremely common in Hardoi, and the small pro
portion of females is probably due to the fact that the offence has
not yet been altogether stamped out. The Muhammadans number
85,824, of whom 51 per cent. are males and 49 per cent, females ;
Christians, European and native, 48 ; ' others,' 352. The most
numerous caste are the Chamárs , 144,208, who thus form 18 per cent.
of the Hindu population. Next in order of number come the Bráh
mans, 112, 101 ; and the 44 clans of Rajput Kshattriyas, 75,708.
These and the foregoing are mostly yeoman proprietors and cultivators,
The other principal high castes are — Vaisyas, 25,631 ; and Káyasths,
9479. Of lower castes, there are — Ahírs, 65,214 ; Pásis, 62,367 ;
Muraos, 49,440 ; Garerias, 30,815 lation 26,613. The strongest
an ; Kahárs,
opu
IS (Muh ppopulation
sections among the Muhammadan 13 . Patháns, 15,584 ;
26,6the
are
Shaikhs, 11,926 ; Juláhás (Muhammadan weavers), 11,144 ; Sayyids,
5350. Only 809 are returned as Mughals. The Musalmáns reside
principally in the large towns, but even in these they form the minority
of the population . In some cases they have inhibited the building of
temples ; and recently, on a protest being made against a temple being
erected by a Hindu Rájá on his own land in the town of Sándíla, it
appeared on inquiry that no Hindu temple had ever been built in the
town, owing to the bigotry of the Muhammadans. But such instances
are not common, and Musalmáns often join in the Rámlilá , and other
religious celebrations of the Hindus. Hardoi has a larger town
population than the other Oudh Districts. Out of 18 towns in Oudh
containing upwards of 10,000 inhabitants, 5 are situated within this
District. None of them , however, are places of any trade, and only
one, Sándi, is situated on a navigable river. The 9 largest towns and
their populations are — SHAHABAD, pop. (1869) 18,254 ; SANDILA, 15 ,511;
BILGRAM , 11,534 ; MALLANWAN, 11,670 ; SANDI, 11,123 ; PIHANI,
7582 ; HARDOI, 7156 ; GOPAMAU , 5949 ; and PALI, 5122, - all of which
see separately. Ofthese, the first seven have been subjected to local
taxation for the maintenance of a town police ; butHardoi town is the
only regularly constituted municipality. The different villages and town
ships are thus classified in the CensusReport of 1869 : - 595 contain less
than 200 inhabitants ; 655 from 200 to 500 ; 395 from 500 to 1000 ;
151 from 1000 to 2000 ; 32 from 2000 to 5000 ; 4 from 5000 to
10,000 ; and 5 from 10,000 upwards. The principal religious fairs are
the following : - At Bílgrám , in September,on the occasion of the Rámlilá
564 HARDOI DISTRICT.
festival, lasting ten days, and attended by about40,000 persons; at Hattia
Haran, during the whole month of Bhádra (August and September ),
attended by 100,000 persons ; at Barsuya, in April and November, the
Pramhanska Samadh festival, lasting for only a single day on each
Progether with sevemercial importand other food
occasion , and attended by from 15,000 to 20,000 persons. These,
together with several other smaller fairs , are held for religious purposes,
Agriculture. — Rice, wheat, and other food grains
c form the great
rops cul
staples of agriculture. With regard to the crops cultivated , the
seasons of sowing and reaping, rates of rent, condition of the cultivators,
etc., the remarks on these heads made in the articles KHERI and
LUCKNOW apply equally to this District. The area under crops is
844,560 acres, or 1319 square miles, being somewhat more than half the
entire area . Excluding revenue-free grants, the area is thus classified :
- 59 per cent. under crops ; 2 per cent. groves ; 25 per cent. arable
waste ; 5 per cent. barren ; 5 ) per cent. water area ; 3 per cent. roads
and village sites. A plough and pair of oxen are able to cultivate 6
acres of loam or clay, or 8 acres of sandy soil. The average price
of wheat and bájra for the three decennial periods ending 1870
are returned as follows: — 1841-50, wheat 3s. 5 }d., bájra 35. 2d.
per cwt. ; 1851-60, wheat 35. 2d., bájra 3s. id. ; 1861-70, wheat 45.
2d., bájra 45. 3d . per cwt. The average rates in 1870 for different
varieties of food grains at the Mádhuganj mart were as follows:
Common unhusked rice, 4s. 9 d . per cwt. ; common husked rice, ios.
8d.; wheat, 5s. uid.; barley, 4s. 2d. ; bájra , 5s. 4d. ; joár, 5s. id .;
gram , 45. 7d..; arhar, 45. 4d. ; urid, 7s. 6d. ; moth , 7s. ; múg, 55. 7d. ;
masuri, 4s. 8d. per cwt. The food grains in common use among the
peasantry are maize, kodo, bájra, and joár, made into bread-cakes ;
barley and gram parched and eaten dry ; and peas, moth, and urid as
pottage. Two meals are taken a day, at noon and sundown. Fish are
abundant, and ought to form an important article of diet, but owing to
the dearness of salt, the people are unable to cure them ; and thus,
while they are used as manure at one time of the year, there is a
scarcity during the remaining months. Landed property in Hardoi is
more evenly divided under the different tenures than is usual in Oudh .
The distribution is as follows: - Tálukdári, 392 villages ; zamindári,
795 ; pattidári, 753 villages. Of the total of 1961 villages, the various
clans of Kshattriyas hold 1157 ; the Musalmáns come next with 406 ;
and following them are the Kayasths with 157, and the Bráhmans with
150. Hardoi is conspicuous for the absence of the great feudal
chiefships so common in other Oudh Districts. There are only 18
tálukdárs, holding altogether 432 villages (comprising 364, 925 acres),
and paying £ 36,035 of Government revenue. The largest estates are
those of Khaslat Husáin , 53,857 acres, paying £5116 ; and of Rájá
 HARDOI DISTRICT: 565
Sir Hardeo Bakhsh , 43,166 acres, paying £4406 of Government
revenue. The small proprietors number 21,758, holding 1569 villages,
covering 1,105,000
2 lesacres, hiah of 50 eacres.s
w or an aaverage
of 6 mi ho to Sh ,etc.— Th de .,
Communications, Trade, Commerce, etc. — The Oudh and Rohilkhand
Railway from Lucknow to Shahjahanpur runs through Hardoi for a
distance of 62 miles, with stations at Sándila , Kachoná, Sítápur road,
Hardoi, Chandpur, and Sháhábád. There are also 329 miles of raised
and bridged roads, and 73 miles of minor roads, intersecting the
District. The principal imports are cotton, salt, country cloth , and
European piece-goods ; the chief exports being food grains, sugar,
tobacco, horned cattle, and hides. In 1875, the value of the imports
was returned at £102,952, and the exports at £62,977. The only
manufacture of any note carried on is in the weaving of a peculiar
description of muslin known as mahmudi.
Administration. — The judicial staff consists of 3 European and 6
native magistrates, besides 6 native honorary magistrates, all of whom
have also civil and revenue powers. The total revenue of the District
in 1871 amounted to £158,676 , of which £145,213, or 90 per cent.,
was derived from the land ; and the civil expenditure to £18,705. At
the recent revised land settlement, between 1864 and 1868, the Govern
ment land revenue demand was enhanced by 42 per cent. In 1875 ,
the gross revenue amounted to £170,952, of which the land con
tributed £151,396 ; total civil expenditure, £18 ,476. The pre
sent incidence of land taxation is at the rate of 3s. 4 d. per cultivated
acre, or 25. 4 d. per acre of cultivable land . The regular police force
in 1873 consisted of 436 officers and men, maintained at a cost to
Government of £6610 ; the village watch or rural police numbered
2625, maintained by the landholders or villagers at a cost of £7350 ;
and the municipal force of 85 men, costing £685 from municipal
funds. Hardoi District possesses a singular immunity from crime.
Education has made considerable progress. In 1873, there were
4762 scholars attending 102 schools (of which 13 were girls' schools).
By 1875, the number of schools had increased to 142, and of pupils to
5877. There are no newspapers , or literary or educational societies, in
the District ; nor are there any poorhouses such as exist in Şítápur
and Lucknow , nor any charitable endowments.
Medical Aspects, etc. — The climate of Hardoi does not differ from
that of Oudh generally , except that it has perhaps the smallest rainfall
of any District in the Province. The average annual rainfall for
the ten years ending 1872 was about 32 inches, that of the Province
generally being about 42. In 1873, the rainfall was only 21 inches,
and in 1874, 31 inches, being the lowest recorded in Oudh in each
year. The average mean monthly temperature for the three years
1869 to 1871 was as follows : - January , 59° F . ; February , 66°;
 HARDOI TAHSIL AND FARGANA.
March , 75º ; April, 75°; May, 92 }°; June, 94 *° ; July, 87º ; August,
86 ! ° ; September, 82}°; October, 77° ; November, 69° ; December,
61°F. Malarial fevers are the only prevailing endemic disease of the
District, and are attributable to the extensive marshes. Epidemic
cholera occasionally occurs, and small-pox prevails annually, generally
in the cold season . Cattle diseases known as paschima and kurá are
common .
Hardoi. — Tahsil or Subdivision of Hardoi District, Oudh ; lying
between 27° 9' and 27° 39' n . lat., and between 79° 52' 30 " and 80° 31°
E . long., and bounded on the north by Sháhábád tahsil, on the east
by Misríkh tahsil of Sítápur, on the south by Sándíla and Bílgram
tahsils, and on the west by Bílgrám . Area ,638 square miles, of which
359 are cultivated. Pop. (according to the Census of 1869, but
allowing for recent transfers ), 229,229, being Hindus, 216,275, and
Muhammadans, 12,954 ; the number of males was 125,329, and of
females, 103,900. Number of villages or towns, 504 ; average density
of population , 358 per square mile . The tahsil consists of the 5
parganás of Bangar, Gopámau, Sára (South ), Báwan, and Barwán .
Hardoi. - Chief town and administrative headquarters of Hardoi
District, Oudh ; on the Oudh and Rohilkhand Railway, 63 miles from
Lucknow , and 39 from Sháhjahánpur. Lat. 27° 23' 40" N., long. 80° 10 '
5 " E . The town appears to have been founded more than 700 years
ago by a body of Chamár Gaurs from Narkanjári, near Indore , who
drove out the Thatheras and destroyed their fortress, the remains of
which still exist in the shape of large mounds. The present town is
largely built of bricks dug out of the old Thathera remains. Hardoi
itself is a place of no importance ; and was selected as the head
quarters of the District on the occupation of the country after the
Sepoy Mutiny of 1857, apparently for its central position. Pop.
(1869), Hindus,6317 ; Muhammadans, 839 ; total, 7156, residing in
1313 houses. The Government buildings consist of the usual courts,
police station, jail, school, dispensary, tahsildár's office, etc. Bi-weekly
market. Hardoi has been constituted a municipality under Act xv. of
1867 ; revenue in 1876 -77, £552, derived almost entirely from octroi ;
expenditure, £532.
Hardoi. — Parganá of tahsil Digbijáiganj, Rái Bareli District, Oudh ;
bounded on the north by the little river Naiya, on the east by Sim
ráuta , on the south by Rái Bareli, and on the west by Bachhráwán
parganás. The land was formerly occupied by the Bhars, who suc
ceeded in defeating a party of Sayyid Sálár's invading force about 1030
A.D. They continued to hold this parganá, just in the centre of Oudh,
and far from any seat of civilisation, 400 years longer, till the beginning
of the 15th century , when they were attacked and utterly annihilated
by Ibrahim Sharki of Jaunpur, who bestowed the estate upon one of
 HARDOI TOWN - HARDUAGANJ. 567
his followers, Sayyid Jalál-ud-dín , whose descendants still reside in
the town. Area, 15,561 acres ; Government land tax,£3996, or at the
rate of 5s. 1}d. per acre ; pop. ( 1869), 15,706, residing in 23 villages,
of which . 15 are tálukdári and 8 the property of village communities .
The soil is very fertile, raising the best crops ; and rents in con
sequence are high . In one township , Asni - celebrated for its tobacco
- the rents are as high as £4, 16s. per acre. Kurmís are the chief
cultivating caste. Saltpetre and salt were formerly manufactured, but
this industry has been discontinued since the British annexation. Two
small markets, in Atehra and Pára Khurd. About 15,000 maunds of
wheat are annually exported to Lucknow and Cawnpore.
Hardoi. — Town in parganá of same name, Rái Bareli District,
Oudh ; situated on the road from Digbijáiganj to Bachhráwán , 12
miles north of Rái Bareli town, and 4 miles east of Thulendi. Lat.
26° 28' n., long. 81° 15' E. Founded by a Bhar chief named Hardoi,
i prior to Masáúd's unsuccessful invasion. On the extermination ofthe
Bhars by Sultán Ibráhim of Jaunpur, a mud fort was built here , the
ruins of which still exist. Pop. (1869), 1590, being Hindus, 1407,
and Muhammadans, 183 ; number of houses, 260. Two masonry
: mosques, an Idgah, and Hindu temple.
Harduaganj. — Municipal town in Aligarh District, North
Western Provinces. Lat. 27° 56' 30 " N., long. 78° 11' 40" E. ; area,
80 acres ; pop. (1872), 6970, consisting of 6353 Hindus and 617
[ Muhammadans. Lies in the open plain , 6 miles east of Aligarh.
Founded by Hardwá or Bálárám , brother of Krishna, but containing
no remains to justify this mythical antiquity. Occupied by Chauhan
Rájputs after the Musalmán conquest of Delhi. Plundered during the
Mutiny by neighbouring villagers. Fine open bázár lined with good
shops, police station, post office, school. Rámpur station on Oudh
and Rohilkhand Railway lies 3 miles north ; and the Ganges Canal,
passing i mile east, carries off most of the local traffic. Imports, - salt,
timber, and bamboos ; exports, - cotton and grain . Canal irrigates
surrounding lands. Municipal revenue in 1875-76, £ 462 ; from taxes,
£393, or is. 6d. per head of population (5200) within municipal limits.

END OF VOLUME III.

MORRISON AND GIBB , EDINBURGH ,

PRINTERS TO HER MAJESTY 'S STATIONERY OFFICE .