Satpuras
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.
Satpuras
(or Satpuras). A range of hills in the centre of India. The name, which is modern, originally belonged only to the hills which divide the Narbada and Tapti valleys in Nimar (Central Provinces), and which were styled the satputra or ' seven sons ' of the Vindhyan mountains. Another derivation is from satpura ( c sevenfolds J ), referring to the numerous parallel ridges of the range. The term Satpuras is now, however, customarily applied to the whole range which, com- mencing at Amarkantak in Rewah, Central India (22 41' N. and 81 48' E.), runs south of the Narbada river nearly down to the western coast. The Satpuras are sometimes, but incorrectly, included under the VINDHYA range.
Taking Amarkantak as the eastern boundary, the Satpuras extend from east to west for about 600 miles, and in their greatest width, where they stretch down to Berar, exceed 100 miles from north to south. The shape of the range is almost triangular. From Amarkantak an outer ridge (see MAIKALA) runs south-west for about 100 miles to the Saletekri hills in Balaghat District (Central Provinces), thus forming as it were the head of the range which, shrinking as it proceeds westward from a broad table-land to two parallel ridges, ends, so far as the Central Provinces are con- cerned, at the famous hill fortress of ASIRGARH. Beyond this point the Rajpipla hills, which separate the valley of the Narbada from that of the Tapti, complete the chain as far as the Western Ghats. On the table-land comprised between the northern and southern faces of the range are situated the Central Provinces District of Mandla, and part of Balaghat, Seom, Chhindwara, and Betiil.
The superficial stratum covering the main Satpura range is trappean ; but in parts of the Central Provinces crystalline rocks are uppermost, and over the Pachmarhi hills sandstone is also uncovered. In Mandla the higher peaks are capped with laterite. On the north and south the approaches to the Satpuras are marked as far west as Turanmal by low lines of foot-hills. These are succeeded by the steep slopes leading up to the summit of the plateau, traversed in all directions by narrow deep ravines, hollowed out by the action of the streams and rivers, and covered throughout their extent with forest
Portions of the Satpura plateau consist, as in Mandla and the north of Chhindwara, of a rugged mass of hills hurled together by volcanic action. But the greater part is an undulating table-land, a succession of bare stony ridges and narrow fertile valleys, into which the soil has been deposited by drainage. In a few level tracts, as in the valleys of the Machna and Sampna near Betul, and the open plain between Seom and Chhindwara, there are extensive areas of productive land. Scattered over the plateau, isolated flat-topped hills rise abruptly from the plain. The scenery of the northern and southern hills, as observed from the roads which traverse them, is of remarkable beauty. The drainage of the Satpuras is carried off on the north by the Narbada, and on the south by the Wainganga, Wardha, and Tapti, all of which have their source in these hills.
The highest peaks are contained in the northern range, rising abruptly from the valley of the Narbada, and generally sloping down to the plateau, but towards the west the southern range has the greater elevation. Another noticeable feature is a number of small table-lands lying among the hills at a greater height than the bulk of the plateau. Of these, PACHMARHI (3,530 feet) and CHIKALDA in Berar (3,664 feet) have been formed into hill stations: while Raigarh (2,200 feet) in Balaghat District and Khamla in Betul (3,800 feet) are famous grazing and breeding grounds for cattle. Dhupgarh (4,454 feet) is the highest point on the range, and there are a few others of over 4,000 feet. Among the peaks that rise from 3,000 to 3,800 feet above sea-level, the grandest is TURANMAL (Bombay Presidency), a long, rather narrow table-land 3,300 feet above the sea and about 16 square miles in area. West of this the mountainous land presents a wall-like appearance towards both the Narbada on the north and the Tapti on the south. On the eastern side the Tasdin Vali (Central India) commands a magnificent view of the surrounding country. The general height of the plateau is about 2,000 feet.
The hills and slopes are clothed with forest extending over some thousands of square miles ; but much of this is of little value, owing to unrestricted fellings prior to the adoption of a system of conservancy, and to the shifting cultivation practised by the aboriginal tribes, which led to patches being annually cleared and burnt down. The most valuable forests are those of sal (Shorea robustd^ on the eastern hills, and teak on the west.
The Satpura Hills have formed in the past a refuge for aboriginal- or Dravidian tribes driven out of the plains by the advance of Hindu civilization. Here they retired, and occupied the stony and barren slopes which the new settlers, with the rich lowlands at their disposal, disdained to cultivate ; and here they still rear their light rains crops of millets which are scarcely more than grass, barely tickling the soil with the plough, and eking out a scanty subsistence with the roots and fruits of the forests, and the pursuit of game. The BAIGAS, the wildest of these tubes, have even now scarcely attained to the rudiments of cultivation ; but the GONDS, the KORKUS, and the BHILS have made some progress by contact with their Hindu neighbours.
The open plateau has for two or three centuries been peopled by Hindu immigrants; but it is only in the last fifty yeais that travelling has been rendered safe and easy, by the construction of metalled roads winding up the steep passes and enabling wheeled traffic to pass over the heavy land of the valleys. Till then such trade as existed was conducted by nomad Banjaras on pack-bullocks. The first railway across the Satpura plateau, a narrow-gauge extension of the Bengal- Nagpur line from Gondia to Jubbulpore, has recently been opened. The Great Indian Peninsula Railway, from Bombay to Jubbulpore, runs through a breach in the range just east of Asirgarh, while the Bombay-Agra road crosses farther to the west.
