Ahmadnagar District
This article has been extracted from THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908. OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS. |
Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts.Many units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.
Ahmadnagar District
District in the Central Division of the Bombay Presidency, lying between 1820' and 19 degree 59' N. and 73 degree 37' and 75 degree 41' E., with an area of 6,586 square miles. To the north- west and north lies Nasik District ; on the north-east the line of the Godavari river separates Ahmadnagar from the Dominions of the Nizam ; on the extreme east, from the point where the boundary leaves the Godavari to the extreme northern point of Sholapur District, it touches the Nizam's Dominions, a part of the frontier being marked by the river Sina ; on the south-east and south-west lie the Districts of Sholapur and Poona, the limit towards Sholapur being marked by no natural boundary, but to the south-west the lineof the Bhima, and its tributary the Ghod, separate Ahmadnagar from Poona ; and farther north the District stretches westward, till its lands and those of Thana meet on the slopes of the Western Ghats. Except in the east, where the Dominions of the Nizam run inwards to within 10 miles of Ahmadnagar city, the District is compact and unbroken by the terri- tories of Native States, or outlying portions of other British Districts.
The principal geographical feature of the District is the chain of the Western Ghats, which extends along a considerable portion of the western boundary, throwing out many spurs and ridges towards the east. Three of these spurs con- tinue to run eastwards into the heart of the District, the valleys between them forming the beds of the Pravara and Mula rivers. From the right bank of the Mula the land stretches in hills and elevated plateaux to the Ghod river, the south-western boundary of the District.
Except near the centre of the eastern boundary, where the hills rise to a considerable height, the surface of the District eastwards. beyond the neighbourhood of the Ghats, becomes gradually less broken. The highest peaks in the District are in the north-west : the hillol Kalsubai, believed to attain a height of 5,427 feet above the sea ; and the Maratha forts o Patta and Harischandragarh. Farther south, about 18 miles west of Ahmadnagar city, the hillof Parner rises about 500 feet above the surrounding table-land and 3,240 feet above sea-level.
The chief river of the District is the Godavari, which for about 40 miles forms the boundary on the north and north-east. The streams of the Pravara and Mula, flowing eastwards from the Western Ghats along two parallel valleys, unite, and after a joint course of about 12 miles fall into the Godavari in the extreme north-east ol the District. About 25 miles below the junction ol the Pravara, the Godavari receives on its right bank the Dhora, which rises in the high land in the east, and runs a northerly course of about 35 miles.
The southern parts are drained by two main rivers, the Sina and the Ghod, both tributaries of the Bhima. Of these, the Sina, rising in the highlandsto the right of the Mula, flows in a straight course towards the south-east. The river Ghod, rising in the Western Ghats and flowing to the south-east, separates the Districts of Ahmadnagar and Poona.
The Bhima itself, with a winding course of about 35 miles, forms the southern boundary of the District. Besides the main rivers, there are several tributary streams and watercourses, many of which in ordinary seasons contheue to flow throughout the year.
No detailed geological survey of the District exists. From some observations of Mr. Blanford's, publlrshed in 1868 in the Records of the Geological Survey of India, it is known that Ahmadnagar consists principally of horizontal beds of basalt belonging to the Deccan trap series. The valley ol the Godavari in the neighbourhood of Paithan is occupied by pliocene or pleistocene gravels, shales, and clays, con- taining bones of exthect mammalia.
The District, particularly the Akola taluka, possesses a varied flora, the Konkan forest type being prevalent on the rainy Ghats, and the less numerous Deccan types appearing on the plains and hills to the eastward. The banyan, nandruk, babul, nim, and mango grow on most roadsides ; and among wild flowers, Clematis, Cleome, Capparis, Hibes- cus, Heylandia, Crotalaria, Indigofera, Ipomoea, and leucas are common. Pomegranates and melons of good quality are grown in the District.
Tigers are seldom found, but leopards are not uncommon. Wolves are occasionally met with. In the open country antelope are numerous. Among game-berds, partridge, quail, and sand-grouse are noticeable. There are a few duck and snipe. Hares are common.
The climate is on the whole genial. The cold season from November to February is dry and invigorating. A hot dry wind from the north-east then sets in, lasting from March to the middle of May, when sultry oppressive weather succeeds, till, with the break of the south-west monsoon, about the middle of June, the climate again becomes temperate and continues agreeable till the close of the rains in either early or late October.
The temperature varies from 45° in January to 106 degree in May, the average being 75 degree . During the twenty years ending 1903, the annual rainfall at Ahmadnagar averaged 23 in inches The heaviest rainfall, namely 26 inches, occurs in the Jamkhed and Shevgaon talukas, and the lightest, 18 to 19 inches, in Sangamner, Karjat, Shrigonda, and Kopargaon. Frost has occasionally been registered in the District during the last thirty years, and severe hail- storms are not unknown.
The early history of Ahmadnagar centres in Paithan in the Nizam's territory on the left bank of the Godavari. The District was held from about 550 to 757 by the Western Chalukyas of Badami. It then passed into the hands of the Rashtrakutas, who retained it till 973. They were followed by the Western Chalukyas of Kalyani (till 1156), the Kalachuris (1187), and the Deogiri Yadavas, who were displaced by the Musalmans in 1294 ; but the power of the Deogiri Yadavas was not crushed till 1318. In 1346 there was widespread disorder.
The governors appointed from Delhi were replaced in that year by the Bahmani Sultans of the Deccan, who held their court at Daulatabad and then at Gulbarga and Bedar. About 1490 the governor in charge of the District revolted and succeeded in establishing himself as an independent ruler. He founded the Nizamshahi dynasty, and built the city and fort of Ahmadnagar on the field of his victory.
In the sixteenth century the kingdom extended over the Konkan as far as Kalyan, but progress on either side was checked by the Faruki dynasty in Khandesh and the Bejapur kings, whose dominions almost surrounded it. The history of the State is in fact the history of the local wars in which it engaged to extend its rule or to maintain its existence, until it was subdued by the Mughals in 1600 ; it again became independent under Malik Ambar, and enjoyed a gleam of prosperity until it was finally subverted by Shah Jahan in 1635.
Maratha inroads commenced in the reign of Aurangzeb, who died here, and on the decay ol Mughal power the fort was surrendered to the Marathas in 1759. The Peshwa granted it to Sindhia in 1797, and in 1803 it capitulated to the British under Wellesley. It was restored at the peace; but in 181 7, after the fallof the Peshwa, the District finally became British. The Nizam ceded 107 villages in 1882 and Sindhia 120 villages in 1861, which were added to the District.
In recent years Ahmadnagar received the first batch of Boer prisoners sent to India during the South African War. About 500 arrived in Ahmadnagar in April, 1901, and were confined in the fort till the close of the war. The District possesses some cave temples and numerous Hemadpanti remains dating from the twelfth century. The Brahmanical Dhokesh- war caves in Parner are ascribed to the middle of the sixth century, and the caves and temple of Harischandragarh to the Hemadpanti era. A few Musalman buildings, now reduced to ruins, are to be found in Ahmadnagar City.
A beautiful little mosque known as the Damri Masjid stands to the north of the fort. Hemadpanti temples, built olstone pieced together without mortar, and ascribed by the people to the Gauli-raj, which are found at Shrigonda, Pedgaon, Haris- chandragarh, Akola, Jamkhed, Rassin, Telangsi, and many other places, appear to have been built in the days of the Yadavas of Deogiri. The Lakshmi Narayan temple at Pedgaon is profusely decorated, and its outer walls are richly embellished with sculptured figures. It belongs to the thirteenth century.
There are numerous forts of historic interest in the District. At Manjarsamba, 8 miles north ol Ahmadnagar, a fort crowning the Dongargaon hill is said to have been the favourite haunt of Valmiki, the author of the Ramayana, and reputed founder of the Mahadeo Kolis. The forts of Palia and Harischandragarh have already been mentioned. At the end of the Pravara valley, 18 miles west of Akola, is the fort ol Ratangarh, the rock-hewn gates ol which com- mand a magnificent view over the Konkan.
The forts are supplied with water by cisterns cut in the rock of the hills on which they stand. Temples o importance are found at Sidhtek and Miri.
The number of towns and villages in the District is 1,349. The population at the last four enumerations was: (1872) 777,251, (1881)
750,021,(1891) 888,755, and (1901) 837,695. The decline during the last decade was due to the famineoF 1896— 1900. The distribution in 1901 was as follows : —
The chief towns are Ahmadnagar, the District head-quarters Sangamner, Pathardi, Vambori, and Kharda. The average den- sity of population is 127 persons per square mile, hut the Karjat taluka, the most thinly populated owing to the large extent of rocky and uncultivable land, has a density of only 63 persons per square mile. Marathi is spoken by 90 per cent, of the total population. Some of the Bhil tribes in the hills speak a dialect ol Marathi. Of the popula- tion in 1901, 90 percent, were Hindus, 5 per cent. Musalmans, 2 per- cent. Christians, and 16,254 Jains.
The majority of the population are Marathas (327,000 Marathas and 17,000 Maratha Kunbes), who are generally cultivators and artificers, and, as a rule, darker in complexion than the Brahmans. Besides the low or depressed castes— Mahar (65,000), Mang (21,000), Dhangar (40,000), and Chamar (15,000) — there are many wandering tribes which the chief are called Vanjari (32,000), Kaikadi, and Kolhati. Of hill tribes, besides the Bhils (14,000), the Thakurs (7,000) and Kathodis (125) may be mentioned; they form a distinct race, generally met with in the wilder tracts in the west of the District. The members of these tribes are still fond of an unsettled life, and have to be carefully watched to prevent their resuming their predatory habits. Others of numerical importance are Brahmans, mostly Deshasths (33,000), Kolis (30,000), and Malis or gardeners (36,000). With the exception of a few Bohras, who engage in trade and are well-to-do, the Musalmans are in poor circumstances, being for the most part sunk in debt. They are chiefly Shaikhs (29,000). The Muhammadan priest or Mulla, besides attending the mosque, kills the sheep and goats offered by the Hindus as sacrifices to their gods.
So thoroughly has this strange custom been incorporated with the village community, that Marathas generally decline to eat the flesh of a sheep or goat unless its throat has been cut by a Mulla or other competent Musalman. Since the District came under British management, there has been a large immigration of Marwaris.
These men come by the route of Indore and Khandesh, and are almost entirely engaged in money-lending and trading in cloth and grain. Agriculture supports 60 per cent, of the population, while industry and commerce support 18 and 1 per cent, respectively.
In 1901 there were 20,000 native Christians, of whom 7,000 were Anglicans, 4,000 Roman Catholics, 8,000 belonged to minor denomi- nations, and 1,000 were unspecified. They belong to the American Marathi Mission, the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, and the Roman Catholic Mission.
The American Mission commenced work in 1831, and was followed by the S.P.G. in 1873. At present the Ahmadnagar missions have three churches and numerous schools. The American Mission maintains a carpet factory and two experimental weaving institutions, and the hands trained by this mission are em- ployed in a factory maintained by the Indian Mission Aid Society.
The chief soils are kali (black), tambat (red), and barad (grey), including pandhari (white). Towards the north and east the soil is, as a rule, a rich black loam, while in the hilly part towards the west it is frequently light and sandy. By reason of this variation in soil, it is said that a cultivator with 10 acres of land in the north of the District is better off than one with a holding twice as large in the south.
Though a single pair ol bullocks cannot till enough land to support a family, many cultivators have only one pair, and manage to get their fields ploughed by borrowing and lending bullocks to one another. Garden lands are manured ; but, as a rule, for ordinary ' dry ' crops nothing is done to enrich the soil. Cultivators are employed in ploughing in March, April, and May ; in sowing the early kharif crops in July ; and in harvesting the early crops from November to February.
The District is almost entirely ryotwari, only about 13 per cent, of the total area being held as inam or jagir. The chief statistics of cultivation in 1903-4 are shown below, in square miles : —
The staple food-grains grown are jowar (1,064 square miles) and bajra (1,556). The excess of bajra over jowar is due to abnormal seasons during the last few years. Usually the area under the former is smaller. Wheat (309) and gram (123) are grown in the vicinity of the rivers Godavari and Bhima.
In the Akola taluka, where the soils are suited to the cultivation of coarser cereals, vari and ragi are cultivated. The pulses are tur (105), math (103), and kullrth (115). In the east, cotton (225) is cultivated, and hemp or san (40) in some of the superior soils near the Godavari. Safflower covers 170 square miles, and sesamum and linseed 57 and 50 square miles respectively. Among other products, sugar-cane to a small extent, tobacco, pan, and vege- tables of many kinds are raised in irrigated lands.
cotton was first introduced by a Hindu merchant of Ahmadnagar in 1830. It prospered and is now largely grown in the east. The ryots have availed themselves extensively of the Land Improvement Loans Act, and more than 39 lakhs was advanced during the ten years ending 1904, including 25 lakhs under the Agriculturists' Loans Act. Of this sum 8 lakhs was advanced during the famineof 1896-7, and 27.7 lakhs during the four years ending 1902-3.
The introduction oftongas or pony carriages during the last thirty years has interfered with the breed of fine, cream-white, straight-horned Hunum bullocks formerly used for riding or drawing carts. Efforts are being made by Government to revive the famous breed of Bhimthadi horses, which was allowed to degenerate after the establishmentof British supremacy in 1803 and was largely drawn upon during the Afghan War. Fourteen horse stallions, as well as five pony stallions, are stationed in the District in charge of the Army Remount department, and an annual horse show is held at Ahmadnagar, when prizes are given for good young stock and brood mares.
Dhangars keep a class of specially good ponies, which are known as Dhangaris. Goats are numerous, and sheep, though fewer in number, are kept by all except the richer and higher classes.
Irrigation from wells and water channels is common. Of the total cultivated area, 98 square miles, or 2 per cent., were irrigated in 1903-4. Government canals supplied 8 square miles, wells 84, and other sources 6 square miles.
The Government works include the Bhatodi lake and the Ojhar and Lakh canals. The Bhatodi lake was constructed by Salabat Khan, the minister of Murtaza Nizam Shah I (1565-88), and was restored by Government in 1871. It is 10 miles from Ahmadnagar and supplies 719 acres ol land, the estimated area which it could irrigate in a good year being 1,500 acres. When full it has an area of 315 acres, with an available capacity of 154 millions of cubic feet. The Ojhar canal, with head-works in Sangamner, is 27 miles long, irrigating an area ol about 7,400 acres. It was commenced as a relief measure in 1869 and completed in 1879.
The Lakh canal, with head- works in the Rahuri taluka, is 23 miles long and supplies 186 acres. It was completed in 1873-4. Both the canals draw their supply from the Pravara river. The capital outlay up to 1903-4 on the Lakh. Ojhar, and Bhatodi works exceeded 10 lakhs. There are two irrigation works for which only revenue accounts are kept. Nearly 30,000 wells are used for irrigation, chiefly to water small patches of garden crops.
The area of forest land in Ahmadnagar is 849 square miles, of which 458 square miles are under the controlof the Forest department. Nearly 40 per cent, of the forest area is in the Akola and Sangamner talukas. The total revenue is about Rs. 25,000. The commonest tree in the plains is the babul; bor, nim, tivas, karanj, saundad, and hiver are also found.
Hill forests belong to three classes : the lower slopes, the central teak region, and the evergreen western forests. The lower slopes are bare and yellow, broken only by rui, the hekle, and other scrub. The central region possesses teak of excellent quality.
It is treated as coppice, the demand being chiefly for poles and rafters. Under the teak, dhavda, khair, and some other kinds of underwood are encouraged. The characteristic trees of the western forests are anjan, jambul, beheda, ain, and karvand.
Limestone is found in abundance throughout the District, and also trap suitable for building purposes. A variety ol compact blue basalt is worked near Ahmadnagar. Veins of quartz and chalcedony, agate and crystals occur in the Shrigonda taluka, and stones resembling cornelian are procurable in the rocky plain which lies westward of Ahmadnagar city.
The chief industries are the weaving of saris or women's robes and inferior turbans, and the manufacture of copper and brass pots. Weaving is said to have been introduced into the District soon after the founding of the city of Ahmadnagar (1494) by a member of the Bhangria family, a man of considerable means and a weaver by caste. Of late years the industry has somewhat declined.
This change seems due to the competition of European and machine-made goods. The yarn consumed in the looms comes chiefly from Bombay, being either imported from Europe or spun in the Bombay mills.
Ahmadnagar saris have a high reputation ; and dealers still journey from neighbouring Districts and from the Nizam's Dominions to purchase them. Many ol the weavers are entirely in the hands of money-lenders, who advance the raw material and take posses- sion of the article when made up. An ordinary worker will earn when at his loom about Rs. 5 a month.
The weavers, as a class, are said to be addicted to the use of intoxicatingliquors. In 1820 this craft was almost entirely confined to members of the weaver caste, Sali or Koshti. But many classes, such as Brahmans, Kunbis, Kongadis, and Malis, now engage in the work.
Among hand industries formerly of importance
are the manufactures of paper and carpets. Country paper has been
supplanted by cheaper articles brought from China and Europe, and
Ahmadnagar carpets have ceased to be manufactured except in a
recently established factory. There are five cotton-pressing factories, of
which three are working and employ about 200 persons.
In former days a considerable trade between Upper India and the seaboard passed through this District. The carriers were a class of Vanjaras called Lamans, owners of herds ol bullocks. But since the opening of the two lines of the Great Indian Peninsula Railway, the course of traffic has changed.
Trade is carried on almost entirely by means of permanent markets. From allparts of the Districtmillet and gram are exported to Poona and Bombay. The imports consist chiefly of English piece-goods, the-sheets, metals, groceries, salt, yarn, and silk. Except three or four mercantile houses in Ahmadnagar city there no large banking establishments in the District. The business of money lending is chiefly in the hands of Marwari Banias, most of them Jains by religion, who are said to have followed the Muhammadan armies at the end of the fifteenth century.
They did not, however commence to settle in the District in large numbers until the accession of the British in the first quarter of the last century. Since then they have almost supplanted the indigenous money-lenders, the Deccan Brahmans.
The Dhond-Manmad State Railway, connecting the south-eastern and north-eastern branches of the Great Indian Peninsula Railway at the stations named, runs for a distance of 245/2 miles (very nearly its entire- length) through this District, passing through Ahmadnagar city. Some cotton traffic has been diverted by the construction of the Nizaim's Hyderabad-Godavari Valley Railway from Manmad to Hyderabad.
The District is wellsupplied with roads, the chief leading from Ahmad- nagar to Poona, Dhond, Malegaon, and Paithan, while good roads also run to Akola, Jamkhed, and Shevgaon. Of a total length of 758 miles of road within its limits, 398 miles are bridged and metalled and 360 miles are unmetalled. Avenues of trees are maintained on 13 miles.
The District is liable to drought, and numerous famines are recorded in its history. The first is the awful calamity at the close of the fourteenth century, known as Durga-devi, which com- menced about 1396 and lasted nearly twelve years. In 1460 a failure of rain caused what is known in history as Damaji Pant's famine. In 1520 no crops were grown, and the failure of rain caused famine in 1629-30. In 1791, 1792, and 1794 there was much misery owing to the increase in the price of grain, occasioned by the disturbed state ol the country.
A few years later (1803-4) the depre- dations of the Pindaris who accompanied the army of Holkar inflicted much suffering, and so severe was the distress that children are said to have been sold for food.
The price of wheat rose to Rs. 2 a pound. Besides scarcity due to the droughts of 1824, 1833, 1846, and 1862, severe famines occurred in 1877, 1897, and 1899-1900. In 1877 an unusually large number of the famine-stricken emigrated to the Nizam's territory and Khandesh.
The Dhond-Manmad Railway was the principal relief work opened, but it attracted only those whose homes were near. After twenty years the District again suffered from famine, owing to the- failure of the autumn rains of 1896. Relief works were opened in November, and the numbers mounted rapidly, till in September, 1897, there were 86,745 persons on the works, and 23,184 persons in receipt of gratuitous relief.
The following rains were again indifferent, and distress lingered in the District for some years. In 1899 the monsoon opened well, but the long droughts of July, August, October, and November ruined the crops. At the height of this famine there were nearly 241,000 persons on works and 29,000 in receipt of gratuitous relief. The faminecontinued into the next year on account of the small out-turn ol the harvest, which averaged about one-fourth of the normal for the whole District. It is calculated that the excess of mortality over the normal was 28,400 and that 162,000 cattle died. Exclusive of advances to agriculturists and remissions, the famine cost more than a crore. Remissions of land revenue and takavi advances amounted to nearly 30 lakhs.
For administrative purposes the District is divided into eleven talukas : namely, Ahmadnagar, Parner, Shrigonda, Karjat, Jam- khed, Shevgaon, Newsasa, Rahuri, Kopargaon, Sangamner, and Akola. The Collector has two covenanted Assistants and one Deputy-Collector recruited in India.
The District and Sessions Judge is assisted by one Subordinate Judge under the Dekkhan Agriculturists' Relief Act, and seven other Sub- ordinate Judges for civil business. There are altogether forty-one courts in the District to administer criminal justice. The commonest forms of crime are murder, dacoity, robbery, and theft.
The earliest revenue system of which traces remained at the beginning of British rule is the division of the land into plots or estates known as munds, kas, and tikas or thikas. These names seem to be of Dravidian, that is, of south-eastern, origin.
They need not date from times farther back than the northern element in Marathi, as, among the great Hindu dynasties who ruled the Deccan before the Musalman invasion in 1294, the Rashtrakutas (760-973), the Chalukyas (973-1184), and perhaps the Deogiri Yadavas (1150-1310) were possibly of southern or eastern origin.
The mund or large estate was the aggregate of many fields or tikas, together or separate, or part together, part separate. The assess- ment on the mund was a fixed lump sum for all the lands in the estate or mund, good, fair, and bad. In the settlement of has or small estates the division ol the village lands was into smaller parcels than munds, and, unlike the assessment on tikas or shets, the assessment on each kds in a village was the same. The next system of revenue management was Mallk Ambar's (1600-26).
This combened the two great merits of a moderate and certain tax and the possession by the cultivators of an interest in the soil. Instead of keeping the state sole landowner, he sought to strengthen the government by giving the people a definite interest in the soil they tilled.
He made a considerable portion of the land private property. The revenue system which the English found in force when they conquered Ahmadnagar arose in the latter part of the seventeenth century. It was based upon the usual Maratha .claim to the chauth or one-fourth of the revenue, but was greatly complicatedby conthiual assignments of revenue to chiefs, and by the grant to many proprietors of the right to hold and collect the rents of many estates in the District.
Uncertainty as to the amount of revenue due, and as to the persons to whom it was payable, caused great hardship to the people. Nana Farnavis endeavoured to ameliorate their condition by the introduction about 1769 of an alternative system, known as kamal, based upon the estimated value of the soil and the highest rent it could bear consistent with the prosperity of the country ; but this system proved unworkable and gave place to an older system, the kasbandi begha, which with modifications existed up to the date of British rule, and for some years after that date.
A series of bad harvests and other causes prevented the British taking any steps towards the settlement of the revenues till 1848.
The first settlement took place between 1848 and 1876. Resettle- ment operations were commenced in 1875, and completed throughout the District by 1890. The revision in nine talukas disclosed an increase in the cultivated area of 5 per cent., and enhanced the assessment from 9 to 15 lakhs.
The average assessment on 'dry' land is R. 0-9; on rice land, Rs. 1-9 ; and on garden land, Rs. 1-8.
Coliections ol land revenue and ol revenue from all sources have been, in thousands ol rupees : —
Local affairs are managed by five municipalities -namely, Ahmad- nagar, Bhingar, Sangamner, Vambori, and Kharda — and by a Dis- trict board with eleven taluka boards. The annual receipts of the municipalities average about 3/2 lakhs. The District and local boards have an average revenue of nearly 2 lakhs, the principal source of their income being the land cess. About Rs. 70,000 is spent annually on the maintenance and construction of roads and buildings.
The District Superintendent of police at Ahmadnagar is assisted by two inspectors. There are 16 police stations in the District. The total number of police is 772, including 13 chief constables, 157 head constables, and 602 constables. The mounted police number 9 under one daffadar. In addition to the District jail at Ahmadnagar with accommodation for 1,200 prisoners, there are11 subsidiary jails in the District which can accommodate 266 prisoners.
The daily average number of prisoners during 1904 in all the jails was 858, of whom 5 were females.
The District holds a medium position as regards the education of its population, of whom 4-7 per cent. (8.9 males and 0.4 females) were literate in 1901. In 1881 there were 219 schools, attended by 11,140 pupils.
The number of pupils rose to 19,698 in 1891, and to 20,135 m 1901. In 1903-4 there were 412 schools in the District (including 24 private schools), of which 3 were high schools, 4 middle, and 378 primary.
These schools were attended by 14,884 pupils, of whom 2,781 were girls. Of the 388 institutions classed as public, 197 schools were supported by local boards, 20 by municipallties, 120 were aided, and 51 unaided. A training school for masters and two industrial schools are located at Ahmadnagar.
The total expendi- ture on education in 1903-4 was 1.8 lakhs, of which 72 per cent, was devoted to primary education. Towards this, local boards and munici- palities contributed respectively Rs. 23,000 and Rs. 10,000, while Rs. 14,000 represented fee-receipts.
Besides the civil hospital at Ahmadnagar, there are nine dispensaries and one private medical institution in the District, with accommodation for 97 in-patients. In 1904 the total number of cases treated was 57,989, ol whom 652 were in-patients, and 1,744 operations were per- formed. The total expenditure on medical relief was Rs. 17,219, of which Rs. 10,024 was derived from Local and municipal funds.
The number of persons successfully vaccinated in 1903-4 was 23,354, representing a proportion of 28 per 1,000, which exceeds the average for the Presidency.
[Sir J. M. Campbellr, Bombay Gazetteer, vol. xvii (1884) ; Selections from the Records ol the Bombay Government, No. CXXIII ; Revision Settlement Report ( 1 8 7 1 ) . ]
