Sylhet, South

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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.

Sylhet, South

Subdivision in the south of Sylhet District, Eastern Bengal and Assam, lying between 24° 7' and 24° 40' N. and 91° 37' and 92° 15' E., with an area of 840 square miles. The general appearance of the subdivision is that of a level plain, into which three spurs project from the Tippera hills. As in the east of Sylhet, the rainfall is very heavy, but the average at Maulavi Bazar (104 inches) is considerably less than in the north of the District. The popula- tion rose from 369,641 in 1891 to 379,158 in 1901 ; but the whole of this increase was due to the tea-garden population, which numbered about 70,000, and the village population decreased by nearly 4 per cent. The density is 451 persons per square mile, which is considerably above the average for the District as a whole. The head-quarters are at Maulavi Bazar (population, 2,481), situated on the Manu river at the northern extremity of a range of low hills. It contains a small jail and the courts, but is otherwise of little importance. The staple food-crop is sail, or transplanted winter rice. The cultivation of tea is an important industry; in 1904 there were 55 gardens with 33,410 acres under plant, which gave employment to 102 Europeans and 38,555 natives. The Assam-Bengal Railway runs through the south of the subdivision, but the principal rivers, such as the Kusiyara and Manu, are also largely used as trade routes. For administrative purposes South Sylhet is divided into the three thanas of Maulavi Bazar, Kamalganj, and Hingajiya, and contains 1,022 villages. The subdivisional magistrate is almost invariably a European. The demand on account of land revenue and cesses in 1903-4 was Rs. 2,27,000.