Balasore Town
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.
Balasore Town
Head-quarters of the District and subdivision of the same name. Bengal, situated in 21 30' N. and 86° 56' E., on the right bank of the Burhabalang river, about 15 miles from its mouth, though only 6 miles in a direct line from the sea. Population (1901), 20,880, of whom 16,671 were Hindus, 3,688 Muhammadans, and 510 Christians. The name is probably derived from the temple of Mahadeo Baneswar, which is still standing, and was so called after Banasura, its traditional founder.
Balasore was the first place occupied by the English in Bengal. It owed its importance not so much to its convenience for trade with Orissa as to the safety of its roadstead, near the mouth of the Ganges, which enabled sea-going ships to unload their cargoes into smaller vessels for transport up the Hooghly. The earliest mention of the name in the English records is in 1633, when a party of factors, who had reached Orissa on a voyage from Masulipatam, received permission from the local governor to trade at Balasore ; but the factory does not seem to have been permanently established until 1651.
The staff usually consisted of a chief and four other factors, subordinate to the agency at Hooghly. The most interesting event in its history is connected with the war between the English Company and Aurang- zeb. In 1687, when Job Charnock was driven out of Hooghly, he avenged himself by sacking Balasore ; and a similar exploit was re- peated in the following year by Captain Heath, who had been sent out in command of a fleet from England. The importance of Balasore declined as the navigation of the Hooghly became more familiar to European pilots, while its local trade was affected by the Maratha invasion of Orissa, and also by the silting up of the channel of the Burhabalang river. During the eighteenth century it was re- garded as a seaside health resort for the inhabitants of Calcutta.
Governor Drake himself was there in 1756 when the trouble with Siraj-ud-Daula first began. After the fall of Fort William, the factors at Balasore safely witharew and joined the fugitives at Ealta ; but the little sub-factory of Balramgarhi (or Balramgachi) at the mouth of the Burhabalang river was never abandoned, and had the honour of being formally proclaimed the seat of the Presidency. In 1803, when Orissa was conquered from the Marathas, Balasore was occupied, with trifling opposition, by a small force sent by sea from Calcutta. The French, Dutch, and Danes also possessed settlements at Balasore. The two latter, known as Ulanshahi (Hollandais-shahi) and Denamar- danga, were ceded to the British in 1846. The French settlement or loge, known as Farasdanga, was never ceded ; it is subject to the authority of the Administrator at Chandernagore. The lease of the territory, which is only 38 acres in area, is disposed of annually by auction.
Balasore lost a great deal of its importance when Government abandoned the monopoly of the salt manufacture and trade in 1863; but the port still possesses a large trade, and is in charge of the Port Officer at Cha.ndba.li. The principal exports are rice and stoneware quarried chiefly in the Nilgiri hills ; and the principal imports are cotton twist, European cotton piece-goods, kerosene oil, and salt.
Balasore was constituted a municipality in 1877. Though it includes an extensive bazar, the town is in reality little more than a collection of hamlets, the area within municipal limits being 5 square miles. The income during the decade ending 190 1-2 averaged Rs. 18,000, and the expenditure Rs. 17,000. In 1903-4 the income was Rs. 18,000, of which Rs. 8,000 was derived from a tax on persons (or property tax) ; and the expenditure was Rs. 16,000. The chief buildings are the usual public offices, the District jail, the general hospital, and a charitable dis- pensary, while the railway bridge over the Burhabalang is an imposing structure. The jail has accommodation for 163 prisoners, who are em- ployed on oil-pressing, weaving of coarse cloths and carpets, and cane and bamboo work. The chief educational institutions are the Govern- ment high school and a high school maintained by the American Free Baptist Mission.
