Burdwan District, 1908
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, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.
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Burdwan District
District in the Burdwan Division of Bengal, lying between 22° 56' and 23° 53' N. and 86° 48' and 88° 25' E., with an area of 2,689 square miles. It is bounded on the north by the Santal Parganas, Birbhum, and Murshidabad ; on the east by Nadia ; on the south by Hooghly, Midnapore, and Bankura ; and on the west by Manbhum. The administrative head-quarters are at Burdwan Town.
Physical aspects
About half of the District is flat, and in the east along the banks of the Bhagirathi the soil is waterlogged and swan)py. In the north-west, however, the surface undulates, and it is here that the famous Raniganj coal-field is situated. This corner 01 the District is one 01 the busiest industrial tracts in Bengal, and its coal and iron-fields are thronged by miners from the neighbouring Districts.
The principal rivers are the Damodar, the Dhalkisor or Dwarkeswar, the Khari, the Banka, and the Ajay, all eventually flowing into the Bhagirathi or Hooghly, which demarcates the eastern boundary of the District. The Barakar, though not properly speaking a river of Burdwan, passes along the north-western boundary for a few miles before its junction with the Damodar. The Ajay touches Burdwan at its extreme north-western corner, and forms its northern boundary till shortly before its junction with the Bhagirathi. The Dwarkeswar runs for about 5 miles along the southern corner of the District. The Khari, a tortuous stream rising in the Galsi tJiana, joins the Bhagirathi some 6 miles north of Kalna. The Banka, which also rises in the Galsi thdna and passes through the town of Burdwan, flows into the Khari shortly before its junction with the Bhagirathi. The Kunur, which rises in the Farldpur outpost, is a tributary of the Ajay ; and the Singaran, which flows through the Raniganj thdna, joins the Damodar.
The District is covered by alluvium, except in the Asansol subdivi- sion, where Gondwana rocks are exposed. These strata extend into the Districts of Bankura, the Santal Parganas, and Manbhum, the outcrop covering an area of 500 square miles ; they have a dip of from 5° to 25° to the south, and along the southern boundary are turned up and cut off by a great fault. The total thickness is estimated at 11,000 feet; and the strata are divisible into the Talchers at the base, the Damodar in the centre, and the Panchet at the top. The Talchers consist of fine silty shales and soft sandstones, among which occur, generally towards the base of the group, well-rolled pebbles and boulders of gneiss and other metamorphic rocks.
The Damodar series is subdivided, in ascending order, into the Barakar stage, the ironstone shales, and the Ranlganj stage. The Barakars consist chiefly of sandstones, conglomer- ates, and coal-seams of somewhat irregular character, thinning out at short distances ; black carbonaceous shales with numerous bands of clay ironstone constitute the ironstone shales ; and the Ramganj beds are made up of coarse and fine sandstones, mostly false-bedded and feldspathic, and shales and coal-seams, which are frequently continuous over considerable areas. The Panchet group is composed of greenish and grey shales at the base, superimposed by red clays and coarse sand- stones. All these groups have yielded plant fossils ; and the Panchet rocks contain, in addition, reptilian and fish remains.
In land under rice cultivation are found the usual marsh weeds ot the Gangetic plain and many sedges. On ponds and in ditches and still streams float aquatic plants and many submerged water-weeds. The District contains no forests, but the laterite country is in places clothed with coppices of sal {Shorea robusta). The villages and towns are surrounded by the usual shrubberies of semi-spontaneous and sub- economic shrubs and small trees. Species of figs, notably the pipal and the banyan, make up, along with bamboos, tamarind, red cotton-tree (yBombax malabaricum), mango {JlIa//g//era),AIori//ga, and Odiiia Wodier^ the arborescent part of these thickets, in which are often present the palms Phoenix dadylifera ■a.ndi Borassits flabellifer. Hedges and waste places are covered with climbing creepers and various milkweeds. Roadsides are often clothed with a sward of short grasses, and open glades with tall coarse grasses.
Leopards are found in the jungles adjoining the Bhaglrathi, and wolves and hyenas are also occasionally met with. Exceptionally high day temperatures are the feature of the hot season, the mean maximum rising to ioi° in April. The mean tempera- ture for the year is 80°. Humidity is comparatively low, the mean for the year being 77 per cent. The annual rainfall averages 54 inches, of which 9'2 inches fall in June, 12 in July, and 11-7 in August.
In 1770 the town of Burdwan was practically destroyed by a rising of the Damodar, and the whole country between this river and the Ajay was submerged. In September, 1823, the Damodar and Bhaglrathi flooded the country, causing immense damage and loss of life ; and in 1855 there was another serious flood, when the embankment on the right bank of the Damodar was destroyed. The country is now protected by embankments along the left bank of the Damodar and the right bank of the Ajay.
History
Burdwan has been identified as the Parthalis or Portalis which, according to the Greek geographers, was the royal city of the Gangarides. In the seventh century, under the Gupta kings, the District formed part of a kingdom known as Kama Suvarna, and subsequently, under the Sen dynasty, of the Rarh division of Bengal ; more recently Gopbhum appears to have been the seat of a Sadgop dynasty with head-quarters at Amrargarh, where the long lines of fortification which enclosed the town are still visible.
Burdwan is first mentioned in Muhammadan histories in 1574, in which year, after Daud Khan's defeat and death at Rajmahal, his family was captured in the town of Burdwan by Akbar's troops. About ten years later the District formed the scene of several engagements between Daud's son Kuttu and the imperial forces. In 1624 prince Khurram, afterwards the emperor Shah Jahan, captured the fort and town of Burdwan. Soon afterwards Abu Rai, a Kapur Khattrl, migrated to Bengal from the Punjab and founded the Burdwan Raj. The year 1696 was marked by the rebellion of Subha Singh, zamindar of Chitua and Barda, who, with the help of the Afghans, slew the Raja of Burdwan and overran a great part of the province. In the beginning of the eighteenth century the Marathas made their appearance at Katwa, and for the next fifty years the District suffered severely at their hands, the inhabitants frequently leaving their villages and seeking a refuge in the swamps. In 1760 the District of Burdwan, together with Midnapore and Chittagong, was ceded to the East India Company by Mir Kasim Khan on the deposition of Mir Jafar Khan from the governorship of Bengal. At that time it comprised the present Districts of Burdwan, Bankura, Hooghly, and a third of Birbhum. In 1805 the Bishnupur zamlnddri (Bankura) was included in the Jungle Mahals, and in 1819 Hooghly was also separated from it. Numerous minor transfers took place until the year 1885, when the District assumed its present proportions.
Some interesting tombs are found in Burdwan town, and groups of Siva lingam temples at Burdwan and Kalna. In the Garh jungle near Senpahari in the Kaksa thdna are the ruins of a fort said to have been built by Raja Chitra Sen ; and near Barakar at the foot of the Kalyaneswarl hill are temples whose building is attributed to an ancestor of the Raja of Panchet. The temples at Begunia near Barakar also deserve mention.
Population
The population of the present District area decreased from 1,486,400 in 1872 to 1,394,220 in 1881, and to 1,391,880 in 1891, but rose again to 1,532,475 in 1901. The District for many years suffered from a malarial fever of a very virulent type to which it gave its name. The real ' Burdwan fever,' which often proved fatal within one or two days, appears to have died out, though the District is still subject to fevers of a remittent type, the waterlogged tract along the bank of the Bhagirathi being particularly unhealthy. Cholera is seldom absent and is markedly endemic in the Kalna thdna, but there have been no outbreaks of special violence in recent years. The mortality due to this cause in 1902 was 1-87 per 1,000. Leprosy is very prevalent, and 2-39 per 1,000 of the male population were afflicted with the disease in 1901. The increase of population in the last decade is due to the recovery of the District from the Burdwan fever and to the industrial development of the Asansol subdivision. The principal statistics of the Census of 1901 are shown below : —
The principal towns are Burdwan, the head-quarters, RanIganj, Asansol, Kalna, and Katwa. A remarkable increase has taken place in the Asansol subdivision, where the development of the coal trade, especially in Asansol and Barakar, has created an enormous demand for labour. In the Asansol thdna alone the population has increased by more than 31 per cent, since 1891 and by 130 per cent, since 1872. In addition to the coal-mines, the iron- works, paper- mills, and potteries attract labourers in large numbers from Bankura, Manbhiim, Hazaribagh, the Santal Parganas, Patna, Gaya, Shahabad, Monghyr, and the United Provinces. On the other hand, numerous clerks emigrate to Calcutta and labourers to Assam. The vernacular is the dialect of Bengali known as Rarhi boli or the western patois. Hindus number 1,221,027, or more than 79 percent, of the population^ and Musalmans 287,403, or 18 per cent.; among the remainder are 21,048 Animists and 2,960 Christians.
Of the Hindus, the semi-aboriginal Bagdis (198,000) are the most numerous caste; the Bauris, another aboriginal race, number 113,000, Brahmans 110,000, and Sadgops 106,000. The Sadgops, with the Aguris (66,000), who have sprung from them, have their head-quarters here. The Santals (46,000) are chiefly employed in the coal-fields, though small settlements of them are to be found in the jungle through- out the District. Of the total population, 58-9 per cent, are supported by agriculture, 16-7 per cent, by industries, 1-3 per cent, by commerce, and 2-3 per cent, by the professions.
The number of Christians more than doubled between 1891 and 1 901 ; but native Christians number little more than a third of the whole, and the increase is mainly due to the large number of Europeans and Eurasians attached to the railways and collieries. The Church Missionary Society is at work in Burdwan town, and the Wesleyan Methodist Mission supports a leper asylum and other charitable institu- tions at Ranlganj. A Roman Catholic mission has a church and a boarding-school in Asansol, where the Methodist Episcopal Mission also maintains a leper asylum, orphanage, and school ; while at Kalna a dispensary is kept up by the Scottish Free Church Mission. Native Christians numbered 1,027 1901.
Agriculture
The alluvium which covers the greater part of the District is extremely fertile ; but the uplands in the west and north are sterile, and in the undulating rocky country in the extreme north-west maize is the only crop that thrives. 1 he chief agricultural statistics for 1903-4 are shown below in square miles :—
Nearly a quarter of the cultivated area is twice cropped. Rice is the most important staple, occupying 1,221 square miles, or more than three-quarters of the total cultivated area ; the winter rice covers four- fifths of the whole. Both the winter and early rice crops are trans- planted, the latter being generally transplanted at the end of May and cut in the beginning of September, while the winter crop is transplanted in July and cut at the end of November or the beginning of December.
In the Asansol subdivision rice is in some_ parts grown only in the hollows between the undulating hills ; but the slopes are often terraced for rice cultivation, the water being retained by embankments, and jn such cases the crop is reaped considerably later than elsewhere. Sugar-cane, oilseeds, and pulses are grown everywhere, and a small quantity of jute in the thdnas of Kalna and Jamalpur. Maize is raised on the western border, and 1,700 acres are under indigo, though this crop is dying out. Potatoes are largely grown.
The area under cultivation is more or less stationary, but the amount of orchard and garden produce is increasing. An agricultural farm is maintained by the Burdwan Raj at Palla near Burdwan town, where experiments are conducted under the supervision of the Agricultural department. Little advantage has been taken of the Land Improve- ment Loans Act till recently ; during the scarcity of 1897, Rs. 23,000 was advanced, and applications for loans are now becoming frequent.
The cattle are poor, and there are no large pasture-grounds except along the banks of the Bhaglrathi ; but straw and grass are plentiful. Annual fairs are held at Agradwip, Uddhanpur, Dadia, Bagnapara, and Kanchannagar ; these are primarily religious gatherings, but are used also for trade purposes.
About 33 square miles in the Burdwan and Jamalpur thdnas and in the Memari outpost are irrigated from the Eden Canal and its dis- tributaries ; and elsewhere small streams and tanks are often utilized for irrigation, the water being lifted on to the fields by hollowed tree- trunks known as dongas. In the Kaksa thdna near the Damodar a few shallow irrigation wells have been sunk.
Minerals
The character of the coal-field has been described under Geology. The average of 31 assays of samples from different mines gives, as a result : moisture, 4-80 per cent. ; volatile matter, 25-83 per cent. ; fixed carbon, 53-20 per cent. ; and ash, 16-17 PS'^ cent. The field extends from Andal to Barakar in the Asansol subdivision. In spite of the difficulties caused by the scarcity of labour and shortage of wagons, the mining industry has made very rapid strides of late years. In 1903 there were no mines, with an output of 2,759,000 tons, the number of work-people employed being 30,566. Most of these collieries are managed by European companies with head-quarters in Calcutta, but some of them, notably the Siarsol collieries, are owned and worked by natives.
Most of the pits are shallow and are worked by a system of inclines ; cages are, however, used in all the principal European collieries, the deepest pit being one in the Disergarh colliery near Barakar. The coal is used by steamers, factories, and railways throughout India. Most of it is taken by rail to Calcutta, whence large quantities are exported to Bombay and Colombo. The miners are chiefly local Bauris or immigrant Santals. They are usually paid 5 annas for loading a half-ton tub, and at this rate a man can earn 1 2 annas a day.
An iron-field is situated near Barul, about 1 1 miles north of Ranl- ganj, and pig-iron is smelted at the Barakar Iron and Steel Works. In 1904 the out-turn was 40,000 tons of pig-iron valued at 17-30 lakhs, and 15,000 tons of castings valued at 12 lakhs. The ore is obtained chiefly from the ironstone shales of the Damodar series. Below the ground the ore is in the form of carbonate, but at the surface it consists of hematite and limonite.
The out-turn of the pottery works at Ranlganj was valued at 7 lakhs in 1904. The clays used are chiefly obtained in the neighbourhood of the coal-measures, and consist of more or less decomposed shales. A quantity of laterite road-metal is exported by rail from the Kaksa thdna in the Asansol subdivision.
Silk and cotton-weaving were formerly important industries ; but they have suffered from competition with English-made goods, though silk is still manufactured in small quantities at Radha- kantpur and Memari, and cotton in other places. Araaeana Brasswork is made at Dainhat, Begunkhola, Banpas, and several other places, and cutlery in Burdwan town. Shellac and lac dye are manufactured at Dignagar in the Ausgram thdna.
Trade and Communication
The District contains some important factories. The Bengal Iron and Steel Works at Kendwa, near Barakar, manufacture railway plant, and employ 1,900 operatives ; the out-turn in 1903-4 was 43,737 tons, valued at 24-6 lakhs. Messrs. John King & Co., Engineers and Founders, of Howrah, have a branch of their business at Barakar. The Raniganj potteries employ 1,500 operatives and turn out drain-pipes and roofing tiles ; art pottery is also manufactured. The Bengal Paper Mills at Raniganj employ 775 operatives, and in 1903-4 made 2,884 tons of paper valued at 8-65 lakhs. The Bengal Dyers and Skinners Company have opened works at Bansra, near Raniganj, and manu- facture a tanning extract from myrabolams which is exported to Scotland. Finally, there are three oil-mills in Raniganj and two in Burdwan town, the out-turn of which was valued in 1901 at 5I lakhs.
The principal exports, besides coal and iron, are rice, pulses of all sorts, rape-seed and oil-cake, while the imports are English piece-goods, salt, spices, and castor-oil. The imports and exports are mostly from and to Calcutta, but there is a considerable export of grain to the west. The chief centres of trade are the towns of Raniganj, Asansol, and Burdwan. The importance of Katwa and Kalna has declined since the opening of the East Indian Railway. This now carries most of the trade, and the railway stations at Memari, Mankur, Panagarh, and Guskhara have become important centres.
The East Indian Railway chord-line (broad gauge) runs through the length of the District, the loop-line branching north at Khana Junction. The Jherria branch extension leaves the chord-line at Sitarampur, having a station at Barakar. The Andal loop separates from the chord- line at Andal and goes round to the north of the coal-fields, rejoin- ing the chord at Alipur; there is also an extension from this line to Tapasi. From" Asansol a cross-line connects with the Bengal-Nagpur Railway at Sini.
The grand trunk road traverses the District for 100 miles ; this and portions of the Ranlganj-Midnapore road and the Lithoria road, near Sitarampur, are maintained by the District board with the help of a grant from Provincial funds. The District board maintains in all 175 miles of metalled and 253 miles of unmetalled roads, the most im- portant being those connecting Burdwan town with Katwa, Kalna, Arambagh, and Bankura.
The chief waterway is the Bhagirathi, up which steamers ply to
VOL. IX. H Kalna all the year round ; country boats also bring down a large quan- tity of grain from Nadanghat, the principal rice mart in the interior. There are important ferries over the Bhaglrathi and the Damodar.
Famine
Burdwan suffered severely in the great famine of 1770. In 1866, the year of the Orissa famine, numbers of destitute persons flocked in from the surrounding Districts, and relief was given ^ ^' to 348,000 persons. Part of the District suffered during the famine of 1873-4, and there was some distress in 1884-5, when relief measures had to be undertaken in some isolated tracts and Rs. 7,000 was spent on gratuitous relief. Again in 1904 the failure of the rice crop caused considerable distress in the Katwa and head- quarters subdivisions. The area affected was about 376 miles, and relief works were opened by the District board ; but at no time did the number on relief rise above 2,981. Besides this expenditure, Rs. 35,000 was advanced in the shape of loans and Rs. 3,000 was spent in gratuitous relief.
Administration
For administrative purposes the District is divided into four sub- divisions, with head-quarters at Burdwan, Asansol, Kalna, and Katwa. The staff subordinate to the Magistrate- Collector at head-quarters consists of five Deputy-
Collectors and occasionally a Joint-Magistrate. A Covenanted Civil Servant assisted by a Sub-Deputy-Collector is in charge of the Asansol subdivision ; a Deputy-Collector assisted by a Sub-Deputy-Collector is in charge of the Kalna subdivision ; and a Deputy-Collector with a kd?tungo is stationed at Katwa.
The civil courts at Burdwan are those of the District Judge, an Additional Judge, a Sub-Judge, and five Munsifs ; there are also Munsifs at Ranlganj and Kalna, and two at Katwa. The criminal courts are those of the Sessions Judge, the District and subdivisional magistrates, and their subordinates. Dacoities frequently occur, and petty thefts and burglaries are very common in the Asansol subdivision, especially in the neighbourhood of Asansol.
At the settlement of Todar Mai the present District of Burdwan fell within various sarkdrs, portions of which were subsequently amalga- mated into one great zamhidart, including the whole of Bankura and Panchet (Manbhum) together with parts of Hooghly and Birbhum. It had a revenue of 20-47 lakhs, and was granted to the East India Company in 1760. At the time of the Permanent Settlement in 1793 the Maharaja of Burdwan, with whom it was settled, entered into an agreement to pay a revenue of 40-15 lakhs of sicca rupees and 1-94 lakhs pulba?idhi (for up-keep of embankments). He experienced great difficulty in meeting the Government demand on this huge estate, but solved it by the creation of permanent leases known as fai?n tenures, whose rent was fixed in perpetuity, but which could be summarily sold in default of payment. The pat/nda/s in their turn let their lands on lease to dar-patniddrs, dar-painiddrs to sipaf/iiddrs, and in some rare instances si-patniddrs created chahdrum patnis.
The sales were at first held by the Maharaja, but subsequently the tenures were recognized by Government, and by the PatnT Sale Law (Regulation VIII of 1819) their sale was placed in the hands of the Collector. Most of the District is now held in patni from the Burdwan Raj. There are also a large number of aimmd estates, originally granted free of revenue by the Muhammadan government, and other revenue-free estates and rent-free tenures, but many of the old service holdings, e. g. the gJidtivdli lands, have been resumed. The land revenue demand of 30-49 lakhs is higher than that of any other part of Bengal, the incidence of Rs. 2-10-9 P^'" cultivated acre being exceeded only in the neighbouring District of Hooghly.
Nearly all the revenue is paid by 5,005 permanently settled estates, but 133 estates are temporarily settled and 38 held direct by Government, the revenue being Rs. 10,600 and Rs. 3,000 respectively. Rents rule higher than in any other part of Bengal, except Hooghly. They are lowest in the poor paddy lands in the RanTganj and Asansol thdnas, and highest in the rich alluvial soil farther east, ranging from Rs. 3-6 per acre in high lands to Rs. 9 in low lands, the average being Rs. 7-12-7.
The following table shows the collections of land revenue and of total revenue (principal heads only), in thousands of rupees : —
Outside the six municipalities of Burdwan, Kalna, Katwa, Dain-
HAT, Raniganj, and Asansol, local affairs are managed by the District
board, with subordinate local boards at Asansol, Kalna, and Katwa.
In 1903-4 the income of the District board was 2-74 lakhs, of which
Rs. 1,67,000 was derived from rates ; and the expenditure was
3-07 lakhs, of which Rs. 1,94,000 was spent on public works and
Rs. 62,000 on education.
An embankment starting at Silla, 20 miles west of Burdwan town, protects the left bank of the Damodar. Another important embank- ment runs along the right bank of the Ajay in the Asansol subdivision, extending 7 miles from Gaur Bazar to Kajladihi, 4 miles from Bishnu- pur to Arjunbari, and ri miles from Satkahania to Sagarposta, a total length of 22 miles. The Eden Canal has been already mentioned.
The District contains 20 police stations and 14 outposts. The force under the District Superintendent in 1904 consisted of 7 inspectors, 42 sub-inspectors, 59 head constables, and 540 constables, including 154 town chaukiddrs stationed in the six municipalities ; there was also a rural police force of 4,918 village watchmen and 393 daffadars or head watchmen. There are still many watchmen, called phdriddrs, paiks, and ghaiivd/s, who hold land in return for police services ; but the majority of them have been replaced by paid watchmen under the Village Chaukidari Act, and the ghdhvah lands are now under re- sumption. The District jail at Burdwan town has accommodation for 256 prisoners, and subsidiary jails at the three subdivisional out-stations for 88.
In 1901 the proportion of literates was 8-5 per cent. (16-2 males and o-S females). The total number of pupils under instruction increased from 45,442 in 1881-2 to 47,139 in 1892-3 and 48,084 in 1900-1. In 1903-4, 47,434 boys and 3,396 girls were at school, being respec- tively 41-3 and 2-9 per cent, of the children of school-going age. The number of educational institutions, public and private, in that year was 1,412, including one Arts college, 138 secondary, 1,225 primary, and 48 special schools. The expenditure on education was 3-28 lakhs, of which Rs. 23,000 was met from Provincial funds, Rs. 57,000 from District funds, Rs. 4,000 from municipal funds, and 1-55 lakhs from fees. The most important institutions are the Burdwan Raj College and a technical school in Burdwan town. A free high English school, established in 1863 by the trustees of the will of the late Babu Sarada Prasad Singh Rai, at Chakdighi also deserves mention. Of the primary schools nine are for the education of aboriginal tribes.
In 1903 the District contained 10 dispensaries, with accommodation for 108 in-patients ; the cases of 56,000 out-patients and 2,086 in- patients were treated, and 3,918 operations were performed. The expenditure was Rs. 27,000, of which Rs. 1,700 was met by Govern- ment contributions, Rs. 7,000 from Local and Rs. 13,000 from muni- cipal funds, and Rs. 4,000 from subscriptions.
Vaccination is compulsory only within municipal areas. Elsewhere it is backward, and in 1903-4 only 45,000 persons, representing 31 per 1,000 of the population, were vaccinated, or rather less than the general average for Bengal.
[Sir \\. W. Hunter, Annals of Rural Bengal (1868), and Statistical Account of Bengal, vol. iv (1876) ; ' Burdwan Raj,' Calcutta Review (1872) ; A. C. Sen, Agricultural Expe rime fits and Inquiries in the Burdivdn Division {Calcutta, 1886, reprinted 1897); W. B. Oldham, Some Historical and Ethnical Aspects of the Burdwdn District (Calcutta, 1894); W. T. Blanford, 'The Raniganj Coal-field,' Memoirs, Geological Survey of India, vol. iii, part i.]
