Provincial Geographies of India General Editor Sm T. H. Holland, D ...

Provincial Geograph ies of Ind ia

GENERAL E D I TO RSm T. H . HOLLAND

,D .Sc .

,F.R . S .

BENGAL

BIHAR AND OR I SSA

SIKK IM

CAMBR ID GE UN IV E R S ITY PRE S S

C . F. CLAY,MANAGE R

101111011: FETTE R LANE, E .C .

Ehinhurgb I OO PR INCE S STREET

fish) Emit : G . P. PUTNAM 'S SON S

Bumb ag. Qtalt utta am: Mahrag z MACM ILLAN AND CO LTD .

fictonto : J . M . D ENT AND SONS,LTD .

Molina : THE MAR UZEN -KABUSH IKI -KA I S HA

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Hi mHfi

’

i fl sI’

BENGAL

AR AND OR ISSA

S IKKIM

L . S . S . O’MALLEY

OF THE IND IAN CIVI L SERVICE

FELLOW OF THE ROYAL STAT I ST I CAL SOC IETY AND OF

THE ROYAL ANTHROPOLOG ICAL INST I TUTE

Camb r idge

a t the Un iversi ty Press

ED ITOR’S PREFACE

N 1910 ,when I was asked by the Cambridge University

Press to suggest a suitable sub division of the IndianEmpire into natural geographical units for treatment in

separate volumes,I was embarrassed by the fact that the

Province of Bengal,as it had been known for many years

before 190 5 ,was then restricted

,for administrative con

ven ien ce,to the western three- quarters of the old province

,

the eastern districts having been lumped with Assam to

form the Lieut . - Governorship of Eastern Bengal and

Assam . To find an author who could give,in true per

spect ive and as the result of personal intimacy ,an outline

sketch of two such dissimilar units as old Bengal and

Assam seemed to be impossibl e ; and thus it was decided ,

in spite of the obvious disadvantages,especially in nomen

clatu re,to cut off Assam

,which differed so greatly from

the rest of the new province of Eastern Bengal,leaving

to the ingenuity of the author the problem of designingfor the residual area a geographical name that was

sufficiently expressive without clashing with the new

official nomenclature .

Faithfulness,however

,to the principles of classification

on physical and ethnographical grounds brought its oiNn

reward ; for , before Mr O’

Ma llev’

s manuscript got intotype

,a r e- sh u fflin g of boundary lines in 19 12 resulted

in the obliteration of the artificial partition that was

set up in 190 5 : Assam became again a separate ad

ministration under a Chief Commissioner ; Eastern and

Western Bengal were reunited as a Governorship,while

vi EDITOR ’S PR EFACE

the districts,still further west

,in B ihar and Orissa

,formed

a new province under a Lieut .

—Governor .

In many respects the Ganget ic portion of Bihar mightbe conveniently grouped with Bengal

,while the divisions

of Chota Nagpur and Orissa differ in certain featuresboth from Bengal and

,in other respects

,from on e another ,

being still imperfectly connected with natural lines of

communication .

One hopes now that,for the sake of administrative

stability,no further changes in the boundary lines will

be made before this edit ion is out of'

prin t . Accordingly ,

in spit e of overlapping interes ts—the perpetual enemy of

all forms of natural clas s ifica t ion—it i s decided to treat

together in on e volume the newly constituted province of

Bengal,the closely related districts in B ihar

,and the two

less advanced divisions of Chota Nagpur and Orissa .

This decision was mainly influenced by the fortunate

discovery of an author who was personally acquaintedwith both provinces

,with a recent

,precise and evenly

d istributed stock of information gained as Census officerand editor of the new district gazetteers .The success of Mr Thurston’s sketch of the Madras

Presidency and associated States just ifies Mr O’

Malley’

s

adoption of the same model for this second volume of theprovincial series . But it is through chance

,not artificially

designed symmetry,that the next area taken up a fter

Madras follows the order in which British influence hasspread in India .

F eb r u a ry 19 16 .

CONTENTS

PHYS I CAL AS PECTS

MOUNTA I NS AND H I LLS

R I VERSES TUAR I ES AND PORTS

I S LANDS

CLI MATE

GEOLOGY

M I NES AND M I NERALSFLORA AND FORE S TSZOOLOGY

ADM I N I S TRAT I ON AND POPULAT I ONH I S TORY

ARCHAEOLOGY

RACESRELI G I ONSLANGUAGESAGR I CULTURE

I NDUS TR I ES AND MANUFACTURESCOMMUN I CAT IONS

COMMERCE AND TRADE

THE ROLL OF HONOURV I LLAGES ,

TOW NS AND CI T I ES

L I S T OF B OOK S,ETC .

,PLACED UNDER

CON TR I BUT I ON

I NDEX .

2 2 .

L IST OF ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS

S keleton map of D i s tricts an d S tatesA Bengal B i lI n th e TaraiA S ikkim valleyUmga H ill in Gaya d i strict .

A river valley in Chota Nagpu rKinch inj unga b y B u rlington Sm ith ]Kauwad ol H ill in Gaya d is trictV iew in th e Rajmahal HillsCaves in Khandagiri H illPar a snath

A S ikkim s treamA B engal river in th e d ry s eas onMorn ing on th e GangesD amodar riverT i s ta riverA S cene on th e HooghlyThe Port of Calcu ttaS cou r cau sed b y rain [Photo T . H . Holland ,

Geo] .

S u rvey of I n di a ]Land slip on th e Darjeelin g railway ,

1899

Land s lip on a Darjeeling road ,1899 [P li ola T . H .

Holland,Geol . S u rvey of I n d i a ]

Pegmatite band s in s chi s ts [Phota H . H . Hayden ,

Geol . S u rvey of I n d i a ]Basalt d y ke cu t b y ri ver [Phota T . H . Hollan d

,

Geo"S u rvey of I n d i a ]Glos sop ter is commu n i s IR ecord s , Geol . S u rvey ofI n di a

,vol . X X X ]

Railway l ine in North Bengal after the earthquakeo f 189 7 [R ecords , Geol . S u rvey of I n d i a ,

vol . xxx]

X LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS

PAGERai lway map o f th e J h er r ia an d Ranigan j coal

field s [R a i lway Admin i s tr a tion R epor t]I nd igenou s iron smelting [Photo T . H . Holland

,

Geol . S u rvey of I n d i a ]A mica mine [Photo T . H . Hollan d

,Geol . S u rvey of

I n d i a ]Himalayan fores t feet above s ea level)Th e paras i tic p ipa lV iew in th e Royal Botanic Gard en , S ibp u rElephants bathingA camel cartDomes tic bu ffaloesMap of th e Ori s sa S tatesTh e B odh Gaya temp leRailing an d sacred tree at Bodh GayaFiroz Minar at Gau rFor tifica t ion s at R oh tasga rhTomb o f the Emp eror S her S hah at S asaramMap Show ing redi s tribu ti ons of terri tory effectedin 19 0 5 an d 19 12 [S ta temen t exhi b i ting the I

’Wora l

an d M a ter i a l P r ogres s of I n di a ,19 13]

Cave in th e Barabar HillsB u ddhi s tic remains a t Kauwadol

Carvings on railing at Bodh GayaChorten at Darj eelingTiger cave on Udayagiri Hi llElephant cave on Udayagiri Hil l .Temp le at Bhu baneswarCarvin g on Konarak temp leCarved figu re at Konarak templeTomb at Gau rPalace bu ild ings at R oh tasgarh

Bihari cu ltivators in a p opp y fieldA B ihari BrahmanA Nep aliA LepchaNepalese boy sBhotia men an d womenSantals wi th a n i lga i cau ght in th e annu al h untA H ind u temple in S ou th B ihar

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS xi

Pilgrims at GayaThe Ca r Fes tival of JagannathB u ddhis t Lama with d iscip lesJain Shrine at Para sn athThresh ingTread ing ou t the grainVVin n owin g in th e windA pa in or irrigation channelWell irrigationTh e potterTh e village blacksmithA su garcane pres sDry ing j u teS tone carving at KonarakIvory carving of Mu rsh idabad [C C . Du tt

,I vory

Carving i n Benga l]Fi sh trap s in B engalInland fishing in B engalThe country cart o f th e p lainsThe country cart of Chota Nagp u rCargo boats on the GangesA Ganges ferry s teamerA view on the Gran d Trunk RoadRailway map of Calcu tta d is trictV illage shop sV i llagers go ing to market in B engalA rivers id e martLord Clive [after th e painting b y N . Dance in th e

Nation al Portrai t Gallery , London]Warren Hastings [after th e pain ting b y T . Kettlein th e National Portrai t Gallery , Lond on]

Lord D alhou s ie [after th e painting b y S i r J . W .

Gordon in th e National Portrait Gallery ,Lond on]

A S ikkim vi llageA Darj eeling village with Nepalese merry go - roundA B ihar villageA v illage s choolGovernmen t Hou se

,Calcu tta

Darjeeling [Photo b y B u rlin gton Sm ith]Old Gaya from th e Sou th Wes t

xi i LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS

F IG . PAGE9 7 . Gaya from th e Eas t 30 1

9 8 . Corn er o f th e Fort , Monghy r 3 0 4

99 Pu ri d u rin g th e Ca r Fes tival 3 0 7

10 0 . Map o f Bengal , B ihar an d Or i s sa and S ikkim A t en d

Figs . 7 a n d 9 5 a r e reprod u ced from photographs b y Mes srsB u rlington Sm ith

, photographers , D arj eeling ,a n d Figs . 5 5 , 5 6

a n d 9 4 from photographs b y Mes srs John s ton a n d Ho ffmann,

photographers ,Calcu tta . Th e maj ority of th e other i llu s trations

a r e reprod u ced from p hotographs kind ly lent b y frien d s ,among

whom m ay be gratefu lly mentioned M r J . H . E . Garrett,wh o

h as recen tly retired from th e I n d ian Civil S erv ice (Figs . 2, 3 ,

13 ,

2 0, 30 , 32 , 34 ,

65 ,66

, 70 , 7 1, 73 , 76 , 77 , 78 ,84 ; 85 a n d

M r C . E . A . W . Oldham,I .C .S . (Figs . 14 , 31, 5 3 ,

61,67 ,

68, 7 2 ,

79 ,2

, 9 3 , 96 a n d M r Charles Ru s sell (Figs . 8,I o

,11

,15 ,

3 7 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 5 0 , 5 4 ,64 an d Lieu t . -Col . W . J .

B u chan an ,I .M .S . (Figs . 38 an d M r F . Palmer

, C . I .E .

(F i g . the R ev . J . Graham,D .D .

,C . I .E . (F ig . an d

Mr F . W . Martin (Figs . 9 an d

CHAPTER I

PHYS ICAL ASPECTS

THE country dealt with in this volume,though only

on e-ninth of the total area of India,i s nearly as extensive

as the German Empire , while its population is considerablymore than a quarter of that of the whole Indian Empire .

I t includes (a ) The Presidency of Bengal , with an areaof square miles and a population ofpersons . I t is somewhat smaller than Great

‘

Br i ta in ,but

contains nearly a million more inhabitants than the

whole of the Brit ish Isles . (b ) The Province of B iharand Ori ssa

,which extends over square miles and

has inhabitants . Its area is a little greaterthan that of I taly, while it is only a l ittle less populousthan France . (0) The State of Sikkim ,

a small and sparselypopul ated country, with an area of 2818 square miles anda population of persons .The name Bengal has at different periods borne very

different meanings . Under the Muhammadan rule it

designated the Bengali - Speaking area in the alluvialbasins of the Ganges and Brahmaputra , of which thelimits roughly corresponded with those of the modernPresidency . Under Brit ish dominion its significance was

changed . The term“Bengal Establishment ” was applied

to all the settlements of the East India Company in northeastern India

,from Balasore in Orissa t o Patna in the

heart of Bihar . These were grouped together in the

O’

M .

2 PHYSICAL ASPECTS [CH .

Presidency of Bengal , which bore the official t itle of Fort

William in Bengal,Fort William being the name given to

the English settlement at Calcutta in honour of William I I I .

As the limits of British authority were extended,the ceded

and conquered territories in northern India were added tothe Presidency

,until it comprised all the Brit ish possessions

outside the Bombay and Madras Pr esidencies .

This wide connotat ion of the name Bengal was perpetuated until recently by the military system of PresidencyArmies ” and Commands . The whole of northern Indiawas allotted to the Bengal army until 1895 ,

while,from

1895 until the reorganizat ion of the Indian army in 1905 ,

the Bengal Command included the United Provinces,

Bihar and Orissa,Assam

,and parts of the Central Pro

vinces,as well as the present Bengal . The old use of the

term has not altogether fallen into desuetude . The termBengal Civil Service is still occasionally used for members

of the Indian Civil Service serving in northern India,

while the India Office List shows all members of thatservice in the Punj ab , North-West Frontier Province

,

United Provinces,Central Provinces

,Bengal

,Bihar and

Orissa,Assam and Burma as members of the Bengal

Establishment .

Different administrative areas have also gone by thename of Bengal during the last sixty years . In 1854 aseparate province of Bengal was created which included

practically the whole of the present provinces of Bengaland B ihar and Orissa , and also Assam ,

which was detachedand placed under a Chief Commissioner in 1874 . Thenceforward the name was applied to the territory under the

administration of the Lieutenant—Governor of Bengal,

i .e . ,B ihar , Chota Nagpur and Orissa , as well as the

present Bengal,which was

,and still often is

,dist inguished

by the appellat ion of Lower Bengal or Bengal proper .In 190 5 the province of Bengal was reduced to a much

1] PHYSICAL ASPECTS 3

smaller area; as shown in the map on page 158 , but thisarrangement did not last long

,for in 1912 the Presidency

of Bengal was created . The opportunity was taken torevive the old official designat ion of Fort William in

Bengal,but it is usually called Bengal

,and in ordinary

Speech the name of Fort William is only applied to the fort

S ta tes

Beng a l d/s tr /cts

C l Bl b a r ci Or i s s a

di s [n ets

Fig . I . Skeleton Map of Distr icts a n d States

in Calcutta . In this volume the name Bengal refers solely

to the newly created Presidency .

Benga l lies between the twenty- second and twenty

seventh parallels of north latitude,while its limits east and

west lie between the eighty—seventh and ninety- third

degrees of east longitude . I t stretches from the Himalayas

1—2

4 PHYSICAL ASPECTS (on .

to the sea,being bounded on the north by the Himalayan

countries of Nepal,Bhutan and Tibet

,while its southern

coast is washed by the waters of the Bay of Bengal .

To the east lie Assam and Burma,and on the west it is

bounded by Bihar and Orissa . Nearly the whole of it is a

fertile alluvial plain watered b y the Ganges and Brahmaputra and by their numerous tributaries and effluents .

For thousands of square miles neither a hill n or a rock canbe seen

,nor can even a stone be found in the silt - formed

soil . Far different is the appearance of this deltaiccountry from that of the alluvial river-plains to the north

west . The air is n ow languorous and vapour- laden , thevegetation luxuriant and tropical . The firm grey plainof wheat and millets and sugarcane

,dotted with clumps

of park—like trees,gives place to rice swamps and bamboos ,

palm and plantain . Though there is a gradual rise of

level to the north,it i s so small as t o be imperceptible .

Calcutta,86 miles from the sea

,is only 18 to 21 feet ab ove

mean sea level,and Siliguri

,at the foot of the Himalayas

over 30 0 miles from Calcutta , has an elevation of only

40 0 feet . There are , moreover, scarcely any ridges or

marked undul ations to break the uniformity of the levelflats . Monotony therefore is the defect of the Scenery.

At the same time,the monotony of the scenery is relieved

by the prodigality of nature . Heat and humidity producea prolific vegetation . The eye accustomed to the sunbakedplains of northern India is soothed by perennial turf andthe fresh greenness of the countryside ; while scatteredhomesteads

,nestling in thickets of bamboos

,palms

,

plantains and evergreen plants,have a certain quiet charm

of their own .

With the exception of some small areas to the extremenorth and southeast

,which will be described later

,the

whole country is remarkably homogeneous . Certainn atural divisions are

,however

,recognized

,the difference

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6 PHYSICAL ASPECTS (on .

made this part of West Bengal a hive of industry . I t i shere that the Raniganj coal- field is S ituated , while the

iron - ore and clays found in close proximity to the coalmeasures partly feed the blast furnaces at Barakar and

the pottery works at Raniganj .In Central Benga l , lying between the Bhagirath i on

the west and the Padma and Madhumat i on the northe astand east

,we enter on a typical delta , in which the process

of land formation has nearly entirely ceased . Nowherehigher than 70 feet above sea level , it s elevation sinks inthe south to between 10 and 20 feet . The greater portionhas now been raised

,by the deposit of silt

,t o a height

which ensures it against inundation,but at the same time

prevents it from receiving the fertilizing layer that thefloods formerly left behind them . I t is a land of dead and

dying rivers—to use the expressive Indian terms—oi low

rice plains and swamps (called b i ls ) , which will never b efilled in because the rivers no longer distribute the siltladen waters of the Ganges

,being locked into their

channels by the high banks of silt which they have de

posited . Engineering skill has,however, shown that even

the morasses can be made available for tillage and humanhabitation . In the 24—Parganas district the Magra Hatdrainage scheme has recently reclaimed a swampy areaof 290 square miles , where formerly the inhabitants weresaid to be inured to a semi- amphibious life by a longcourse of preparation resulting in the survival of thefittest . There is on e large but shallow lake

,called the

Salt Water Lake , which extends over 30 square miles inthe vi cinity of Calcutta .

Ea stern Benga l, lying to the east of the Padma and theMadhuma t i

, is the united delta of the Ganges and Brahmaputra , in which the creat ive energies of those great rivershave full and free play . I t is a fertile semi - aquatic plain

,

rich in cr0ps of rice and jute,and covered by a network of


rivers ,“

streams and creeks . Boats take the place of carts,

the waterways serve as roads . The land is subj ect toannual inundation and silt fertilization . The slope of

the country is away from and not tovVa rd s the chief rivers,

and the water in the minor channels flows from and n ot

towards the main streams . In the rains a volume of

turgid water spreads itself over the country ; low- lying areasare inundated to a depth of 8 to 14 feet , the water covering

Fi g . 2 . A Ben ga l Bi l

everything but the river banks and the artificial mounds

on which the houses are built . Strange as it may appear,

this is the healthiest part of Bengal and the land is thicklypopulated

,the density in some parts being over 10 0 0 per

square mil e .

The level is only broken by a low tableland in the

north- east,called the Madhupur Jungle

,which , as its

name implies,was formerly covered with forest . Its


average height above the plain is only 40 feet , but itsridges have exercised an influence ou t of all proportionto their height

,for the

‘

hard clay of which they are com

posed has resisted the erosion of the great rivers an d

deflected them to the south - east . These rolling uplandscovered with short grass or dark green forest afford awelcome relief to the monotony of the alluvial flats .

Away from the great rivers with their moving panoramaof boats

,from the dug- ou t canoe to the large cargo boat

with its high bow,broad stern

,bulged- out belly and

Spreading square sails,the scenery is genera lly tame an d

dull

In the lowest parts of all , writes Mr B‘

. C . Allenof the typical district of Dacca

,

“ the depth of the

flood is such that the houses have to be perched on

hillocks , where there is barely room for a cowshed andnone for anything so pleasant as a garden . This dismalcountry is really least unattractive in the rains . I t is

then covered with water,which is green with j ute ,

and all the creeks and channels are ful l . These minorstreams flow between banks which are higher than the

neighbouring country and are generally fringed withtrees , and thus form more attract ive waterways than the

great rivers,from which little can be seen but a dreary

waste of waters,with here and there a few huts rising

precari ously above the flood which threatens to engulf

them . The people who l ive in these tracts have becomealmost amphibious in their habits . In the height of the

inundation no land is to be seen,and all travelling has to

be done by boat . To say that travelling has to be doneby boat gives

,however

,but an inadequate idea of the real

condit ion of affairs . Half a dozen huts are clusteredtogether on a little hillock a few yards square

,and the

inhabitants cannot proceed beyond that hillock,whether

to visit their neighbou rs or their fields,to go to market


or to school,without wading

,swimming or travelling in

or on something that can float . This expression is

used advisedly, for the people by no means confinethemselves to boats . For minor excursions rafts madeof plantain trees are much in vogue or circular earthenware pipkins

,more difficult of navigation than a

coracle . A visitor t o one of these hamlets in the rainsmay see a grey-bearded patriarch swimming towardshim from the fields and may b easked for alms by an old

woman‘

standing in water breast -high amongst the j uteplants .

”

From the preceding pages it wi ll be seen that thegreater part of Bengal is a delta in various stages offormation . The process is connected wi th great changes

in the lower course of the Ganges,which have taken

place within historic times . Formerly the main body

of its waters flowed southwards to the sea through theBhagirath i , but as this channel silted up , the main

stream made its way into other distributaries,moving

further and further eastward until it found an outletin the Padma

,as the present main stream is called .

The effect of it s movements on the land surface is lucidlydescribed by that eminent geologist

,the late Dr Thomas

Oldham,whose description throws such light on the

physical geogr aphy of Bengal , that it may be quotedin exten so.

“ I suppose no on e will hesitate t o acknowledge thatthe whole of the country lying between the Hooghly onthe west and the Meghna on the east is onl y the delta

caused by the deposition of the debris carried down bythe rivers Ganges and Brahmaputra

,and their tributaries .

I t is also equally well known that in such flats the streamsa re constantly altering their courses

,eating away on one

bank and depositing on the other , until the channel inwhich they formerly flowed becomes choked up

,an d the


water is compelled to seek another course . I t is alsocertain that

,in this peculiar delta

,the general course of the

main waters of the Ganges has gradually tracked from thewest towards the east

,until

, of late years, the larger bodyof the waters of the Ganges have (s ic) united with thoseof the B rahmaputra , and have together proceeded to thesea as the Meghna . Every stream

,whether large or small ,

flowing through such a flat,tends to raise its own bed or

channel,by the deposit ion of the silt and sand it holds

suspended in its waters and by this gradual depositionthe channel bed of the stream is raised above the actual

level of the adj oining flats . I t is impossible to suppose ariver continuing to flowalong the top of a raised bank , i fnot compelled to do so by artificial means

,and the con se

qu en ce of this filling in and raising of its bed is that , atthe first opportunity

,the stream necessarily abandons its

original course,and seeks a new channel in the lower

ground adj oining,until , after successive changes , it has

gradually wandered over the whole flat and raised theentire surface to the same general level . The same pro

cess is then repeated,new channels are cut ou t

,and new

deposits formed .

Bearing these admitted principles in mind,look to

the delta of the Ganges and Brahmaputra . The Ganges

river , emerging from its upper levels round the RajmahalHills , and prevented by their solid rocky barrier fromcutting further to the west

,sought its channel in the

lower ground adj oining,and origina lly the main body of

its waters flowed along the general course now indicatedby the Bhagirath i and Hooghly . But , gradually filling

up this channel , i t was again compelled to seek a new coursein the lower, because as yet comparat ively u nfilled - in

,

ground lying to the east . And the same process beingrepeated , it wandered successively from the rocky westernlimit of the delta—fla t towards the eastern . I f this progress


eastwards was allowed to be sufficiently slow to admit ofthe gradual filling in of the country adj oining

,the delta

was formed cont inuously up to the same general level,

and the larger streams or channels , passing through thisflat to the sea

,became unavoidably diminished in S ize

and in the quantity and force of the water they carried,

the main body passing around further to the east and

having its course in the channels successively formedthere .

The southernmost portion of the delta goes by the nameof the Su n da rb an s , meaning literally the forests of su ndr itrees (Her i tiera li ttora li s ) . The area so designated is 650 0

square miles in extent,or about half the S ize of Holland .

It stretches for nearly 20 0 miles along the Bay of Bengal ,and its average breadth inland is from 60 to 80 miles . I t

is sometimes depicted as a desolate region,half—land half

water,a labyrinth of interminable forest and swamp ,

devoid of human habitation . This is n o longer the casewith the northern portion

,where the morasses have been

converted into fertile rice fields . The j ungle is , moreover,being steadily pushed back and the margin of cultivationextending southward . I ts spread is conditional on theeradication of j ungle

,the construction of dams and dykes

to keep ou t salt water, a rainfall sufficient to wash thesalt ou t of the soil , an d last , but n ot least , a supply of

drinkable water—that first essential of human settlementI t need not be altogether fresh

,for the people seem to

get inured to brackish water,which they drink regularly,

wi thout any apparent evil consequences in many parts

fresh water is more difficult to get than food . The southernportion of the Su n darb an s is still a network of tidalwaters

,sluggish rivers

,inosculating creeks and forest

clad islands . No less than 20 0 0 square miles are underforest

,the most plentiful and important species being

the s u ndr i . I t is a sort of drowned land , covered with


j ungle,smitten by malaria

,and infested by wild beasts ;

broken up by swamps,intersected by a thousand river

channels and marit ime backwaters,but gradually dotted

as the traveller recedes from the sea-board with clearings

and patches of rice land .

There are two tracts outside the alluvial areai

wh ich

have still to be described, vi z . a hilly region on the south

east frontier and a small Himalayan area to the north .

The former consists of a succession of low hill rangesoccupying the district of Chittagong, the Chittagong HillTracts and Hill Tippera . In the district first named th e

hills enclose cul tivated river valleys of considerable extent ;they are separated from the sea by a belt of alluvial land ,which near the coast merges into a mangrove swamp withvegetation like that of the Su n darb an s . The Chittagong

Hill Tracts and Hill Tippera are made up of forest - clad hillsand ravines

,sparsely inhabited by aboriginal tribes of

Mongoloid origin,who are only j ust begin ning to learn

the use of the plough .

To the north the frontier district of Darj eeling containsa small portion of the Himalayas . The mountains risefrom the plains in a succession of bold spur s and ridgesseparated by deep valleys and attain a height offeet in the S ingali la range . On one of th e ridges the hill

station of Darj eeling is perched at a height of 70 0 0 feetabove sea level . Below that height many of the slopesare laid ou t with tea- gardens

,but above it primeval forest

still holds its own . The country at the base of the

Himalayas is known as the Ta ra i,i .e . ,

the wet lands . I tis a marshy belt of land

,notorious for i ts unhealthiness

,

which was formerly covered with dense forest . This hasbeen partially cleared away

,giving place to trim tea

gardens and ordinary cult ivation ; but wide stretches areleft , in which the sai l tree (S horea robu s ta) predominates .In this forest region gigantic trees tower a hundred feet or

14 PHYSICAL ASPECTS [CH . 1

soil,climate and rainfall (which reaches 180 inches in

the year) , are all well adapted to the growth of the teaplant

,the cultivation of which is carried on in a chain of

tea- gardens . The land at the foot of these plateaux ,which fifty years ago was under heavy grass and reedj ungle

,has now been brought under the plough and yields

magnificent cr0ps of rice , j ute and tobacco

S ikk im presents the most extraordinary contrastswithin its narrow limits . Its mountains tower up fafabove the snow line

,reaching an altitude of feet in

Kinchinjunga on the western boundary . The valleys

between them descend to a minimum level of little morethan 70 0 feet . Every variety of climate and vegetation isfound—tropical

,temperate and Alpine . On the higher ele

vat ion s is perennial snow . In the lower valleys a tropicalvegetation runs riot in a steamy hot -house atmosphere .

The. rainfall in the south is heavy,averagi ng 133 inches in

the year at Gangtok,but in some of the valleys to the

north it falls to 20 inches or less . I t is a land of stupendousheights and depths ; but what perhaps most strikes theordinary traveller , who has to keep below the snow line ,is the peculiar V - shaped valleys with steep and often

precipitous S lopes . The ri vers at their base run in deepravines , the ascent from which is almost precipitous forthe first few hundred feet . S 0 narrow and deeply cutare their channels , that though their roar may be heardfrom afar , the stream itself is often in

'

visible until withina few hundred yards .The population is practically confined to the ridges

,

slopes and valleys below 70 0 0 feet , that being the highestlevel at which maize

,the staple food of the people , wi ll

ripen . In add it ion to maize,mill ets and pulses are

extensively cultivated , while rice is raised on the S lopesbelow 40 0 0 feet . Irrigation being essential to rice cult i

vation , and there being no such thing in the country as

Fig . 4 . A S ikkim Valley


large level fields,the hillsides are laboriously carved ou t

into terraces,one above the other

,the outer edge of each

being banked up so as to retain a supply of water for the riceplants . Some of the terraced fields are so narrow that theuse of the plough is impossible

,and the soil has to be turned

over with a hoe . From 70 0 0 feet to feet , which isthe level of tree growth ,

the country is under virgin forestand uninhabited except for occasional settlements of

graziers . From feet upwards there is a mas s

‘

of

snow- clad peaks and glaciers,which form the source of

most of the rivers,but from to feet the

aspect is less bare and rugged , and some grassy plateauxwith small lakes are to be found . The ridges at the latterheight are clothed wi th rhododendron and coniferousforests

,while the grass lands are carpeted wi th Alpine

flowers,primulas

,aconite

,iris and th e like .

The province of Biha r an d Oris s a extends from theborders of Nepal and Darj eeling to the Bay of Bengaland the northern districts of Madras . I t is bounded on

the east by the Presidency of B engal and on the west bythe United Provinces and the Central Provinces . I t isby no means a homogeneous area

,for it is made up of

three sub - provinces,viz .

,Bihar

,Chota Nagpur and Orissa

,

which differ widely in their physical features,the character

of their peoples , their languages and land systems .Bihar , which consists of the Patna , Tirhu t and Bhagal

pur Divisions or Commissionerships,has an. area of

square miles and a population of 233 millions , which isvery nearly equal to that of the Punj ab . I t consists ofthe eastern portion of the Gangetic valley that lies betweenthe lower spurs of the Himalayas on the north and the

Chota Nagpur plateau on the south . I t is an alluvialplain watered and drained by the Ganges and its tributaries , such as the Gandak ,

Son,Gogri and Kosi

,which

sometimes sweep down in disastrous floods . The climate


i s drier than that of Bengal,and the rainfall

,which

averages 50 inches in the year , is not only lighter but

more capricious,it s vicissitudes exposing the country

to occasional periods of scarcity . Throughout almostits whole extent the general aspect is that of an unbroken

level,divers ified b y clusters of villages , mango orchards ,

clumps of bamboos and groves of palm trees . In the

hot weather it presents a dreary appearance , for as faras the eye can see there is a wide expanse of bare duncoloured fields enclosed by small embankments which

give them a curious chess-board appearance . In therains; however, it is covered with waving sheets of greenrice and maize

,and in the cold weather teeming crops

of wheat , barley, and other grains and pulses are raised .

Till a few years ago the fields in the vicinity of the

villages were white , during the latter season of the year,

with the opium—yielding poppy, a plant with white flowerswhich is better suited to the climate than the red or

purple variety that is grown in Malwa . Its cultivation

was abandoned in 1911 in order to give effect to theagreement with China for the gradual diminution and finalextinction of the export of Indian Opium to that country .

Bihar is so called after the town of Bihar in the Patnadistrict

,which was its capital at the time of the Muham~

madan invasion . This town , again , derived its name

from a great vihd ra ,or Buddhist monastery

,which was

established there in the tenth century A .D . The Muhammadan s , by a playful conceit , which was, however , based

on a real admiration for its climate and fertil ity,declared

that the name meant the land of eternal spring (from thePersian bahar ) .

Ch ota Nagpur , which consists of the Division of thesame name and of the two small States of Kharsawan and

Saraikela,extends over square miles an d has 55

1

million inhabitants . I t is thus nearly as large as Scotland

A


and has a million more inhabitants . The greater part isan upland region with a general elevation of 20 0 0 to25 0 0 feet . A large part is still c overed with forest

,in

which sdl (S horea robu s ta) predominates , or with lowscrubwood j ungle . Cul tivation is mainly confined to the

valleys an d depressions between the ridges,which are

enriched with detritus washed down from above . Thera infall is fairly heavy

,averaging 53 inches in the year ,

but owing to the broken undulating surface i t runs offrapidl y

,an d to a dmit of rice cul t ivation , which requires

standing water,the S lopes have to be carved into terraces

,

which Spread down them in a fan - like formation . Onthe higher levels maize

,millets

,oilseeds and pu lses are

raised,but the crests of the ridges are infertile . I ts

agricultural resources are l imited , and failures of the

harvests occur periodically, but scarcity does n ot press

hardl y on th e hardy aboriginal races , who can supplytheir n eeds from the forests an d , even in the fat years ,make considerable use of edible j ungle products , such a s

the fruit of the mahua tree (Bas s i a latifoli a ) . On theother hand

,Chota Nagpur possesses great minera l wealth ,

especially in coa l , the principal fields being the Jherr iafield in Manb hfim

,the Giridih field in Hazaribagh (where

also there are mica mines) and the Daltonganj field in

Palaman .

The Scenery is diversified and often beautiful . Opencountry an d rolling downs alternate with richly woodedhills enclosing peaceful and secluded valleys . Streamsof clear Spring—fed water may be seen rippling downover rock- strewn beds , and wooded glens wi th pools

,

shaded and rock-bound,in which Diana and her nymphs

might have disported themselves . Even in the hot

weather,when the whole country seems S corched an d

parched,the eye can be refreshed by the evergreen verdure

of the woods , and there is a welcome touch of colour


in the scarlet blossoms of the pa ld s tree (Bu tea frondosa ) .The name is a corrupt ion of Chutia Nagpur

,Chutia

being a village on the outskirts of Ranchi which was aton e time the seat of the Nagb an s i chiefs , who ruled over

the central plateau .

Oris sa is the name given to the whole country in whichthe speakers of the Oriya language form the dominantpeople . I t includes the Orissa Divi sion and the OrissaFeu datory States , the latter of which occupy as large anarea as Ireland . Al together , thi s sub- province extendsover square miles and has a popul ation of 9 millionpersons . Physically

,i t is a heterogeneous a rea

,for it

comprises two Very different tracts , viz . th e alluvial delta

of the Mahanadi an d other rivers flowing into the Bayof Bengal and a hil ly hinterland made up of the Feu datoryStates and the di stricts of Angu l and Sambalpur .The Feu datory States are sometimes called the Garh jats ,

a hybrid word meaning forts . The Hindustani word garh ,

meaning a fort,has been Persianized into the plural

Garh j at , and the English ,in ignorance of this , have added

the l etter 3,so as to make a double plural like “

for tses .

The name is due to the country having b een's tu dded with

the fortresses of the chiefs ; a similar designation is thatof Chh att isgarh in the Central Provinces , meaning the

land of the thirty- six forts .The three sub—provinces fall within four natural

divisions,viz North Bihar

,South Bihar

,Orissa and the

Chota Nagpur Plateau,the delimitation of which is

determined by physical and ethnological affinities and notby political and linguistic considerations

,as is th e ~case

with the sub-provinces .North Biha r is the portion of Bihar lying to the

north of the Ganges . To the north—east and north-westthere is a submontane strip of prairie land and denuded

2—2


forest,but the remainder of the country is

[ an a lluvialplain nearly entirely under cul t ivation

,which supports

a teeming population ; the density averages 646 personsto the squ are mile and in some parts rises t o over 10 0 0 per

]

square mile . I t is watered by a number of rivers flowingsouthwards from the Himalayas

,which have gradually

raised their beds by the deposition of S ilt and flow on

ridges S lightly above the general level of the surroundingcountry . Most of them are apt to overflow their banks

after heavy rainfall in the mountains of Nepal,and in

past ages they have frequently changed their courses .There are numerous marshes and meres

,some of which

are large enough to be regarded as fresh -water lakes‘

or

lagoons ; they are generally shallow sheets of water,expanding in the rains and contracting during the dryseason . Some represent the deeper portions of abandonedriver beds

, e .g . , the Kabar Tal in the Monghyr districtand a chain of 43 lakes , with an aggregate area of 139square miles

,in Champaran ,

which mark a former channelof the Gandak . Others are merely trough- like depressions

between present river beds . In the rains they are filled

by the overflow of the rivers,

" but for the remainder of th eyear they dry up , either entirely or in part

,an d admit of

cultivat ion or form prairies covered with the rank podgrass and the graceful pampas

,but with an undergrowth

of more succulent herbage , ~which affords abundantpasture for great herds of cattle .

Four of the districts of North Bihar, viz . ,Saran

,

Ch amparan ,Darbhanga and Muzaffarpur

,constitute the

Tirhu t Division , the creation of which in 190 8 broughtinto official use the old popular designation of this part

of the country . Ti rhu t i s a corruption of Tirab hukt i,

a Sanskrit name meaning the river - side land,which can

be traced back to the fourth or fi fth century A .D . ,for it

is inscribed on seals of that period which have been


j ungle ; the soil is poor , it has lit tle or n o irrigation ,

and it yields precarious crops . The land to the north ,

on the other hand,is highly cultivated

,extensively irri

gated and well populated . I t was the ri ce exported from

here that first acquired the name of Patna rice , n ow so wellknown in the market . As early a s the seventh century A .D .

th e Chinese pilgrim,Hiu en Tsiang, noted that the country

grew a ri ce of a delicious flavour,which was commonly

called “ rice for the use of - the great a heretic king

was, he solemnly declared , converted to Buddhism by th e

fragrant scent of this product of the land of Buddhism .

The climate is drier than that of North Bihar , and away

from th e Ganges there i s a marked absence of swamps an dwater- logged areas . Th e rivers, moreover, with th e excep t ion

'

of the Son ,have a smaller ca tchment a rea than

those north of the Ganges , and are n ot of any great size .

Large demands are made on them for irrigation,and the

greater part of their water is diverted into irrigationchannels and reservoirs and thence distributed over thefields . They dry up soon after the cessation of the rai ns ,and for the greater part of the year their channels are eitherwaterless or contain only an a ttenuated stream .

Or is s a proper, as the third natura l division may b ecalled to distinguish it from the sub -

p rovmce of the same

name , stretches a long the sea-board from th e Chilka laketo the Su b arn arekha river and comprises th e threedistricts of Puri , Cuttack and Balasore . I t is a narrow strip ,fifteen to seventy miles broad

,in which three d istinct

zones are found,viz .

,an unproductive maritime belt

,a

central plain of rich alluvium,an d a hilly submontane

tract . The land along the coast is largely impregnatedwith salt . Salt manufacture was formerly an importantindustry and a century ago yielded the East India Companya yearly revenue of -18 lakhs of rupees . I t is a low- lying

swampy area traversed by sluggish brackish creeks which


creep to the sea through banks of black mud bearing amangrove vegetation . I t has aptly been described as the

Sun darb an s on a miniature scale . Near the sea thisdesolate region gives place to sandy ridges

, 50 to 80 feet

high,and the latter to dunes , which are sometimes

covered with creepers and wi ld convolvulus , and driftsof blown sand . The central zone foims the delta of th e

Mahanadi,Brahmani and Baitarani rivers . I t is a fertile

alluvial plain,intersected by deltaic rivers which throw

ou t a network of branches . In many ways it resemblesBengal . A warm steamy atmosphere favours the same

palm and rice cultivation,and all the conditions of a

productive but enervated human existence are present .

In the western fringe the land rises in rocky u ndulations ,isolated peaks and long ranges of hills

,with wooded

S lopes an d fertile valleys .

Ori ssa contains th e on e large lake of the province , theCh ilka Lake . This is a Shallow pear- Shaped lake lyingmainl y in the Puri district

,but extending at its southern

extremity into the Ganjam district of the Madras Presiden cy . It i s 44 miles long and has an area varyingbetween 344 and square miles , for it expands in therainy season and contracts in the dry weather . I t was

originally a bay of the sea,which first began to shoal up

owing to deposits of silt brought inby the rivers and carried

up the Bay of Bengal by the V iolent south winds of themonsoon , and was eventually cut off from the sea by a Spitformed by the same agency . The sandy bar which n ow

separates it from the Bay of Bengal is pierced by on e

narrow outlet,through which the t ide pours in . This i s

sufficient to keep th ewater of the lake salt from Decemberto June , but in the rains the sea water is driven out by thevolume poured in by the rivers

,and the Chilka becomes

a fresh-water lake .

The low mud flats formed by the S il t deposit of

24 PHYSICAL ASPECTS [CH . 1

the rivers which feed it are encroaching on the lake ,and its depth scarcely anywhere exceeds 12 feet an d

averages only 5 to 6 feet . The sea is also incessantlyat work building up the bar ; this is steadily growing

in width,and in some years the channel

,

through it can

only be kept Open by artificial means . There are a

number of islands in the lake , of which the largest , th e

Pariku d islands on the east,are partially j oined to the

bar . One small island in the south,which goes by the

characteristically English name of Breakfast Island , i s

capped by a building and pillar said to have been erectedby an early Collector of Ganj am , who bore th e Pickwickian name of Snodgrass and is th e hero of severalgood stories .The term Chota Nagpur Plateau is used to designate

the elevated country extending from the Gangetic valleyto the hilly tableland '

of the Central Provinces andapproaching close to the Bay of Bengal on the southeast . I t is not intended to imply that it forms a tableland like the steep-walled precipice behind Cape Townwith its long and lofty horizontal top .

' The wordplateau is

,in fact

,a technical expression for an area of

which the lowest levels are at a considerable height

above the sea . The plateau as thus defined extendsfar beyond Chota Nagpur itself

,stretching into the

inner highlands of Orissa on the southeast and , throughthe Santal Parganas

,as far as the bank of the Ganges

on the north- east . The administrative areas includedin it are the whole of the Chota Nagpur Division

,all the

Orissa States,the Angul and Sambalpur districts of the

Orissa Division and the district of the Santal Parganas .

I t is a rugged region of inequalities , consisting of a

succession of plateaux,hills and valleys

,drained by

several large rivers,such as the Damodar , Barakar ,

Su b arn arekh a,Brahmani

,Baitarani and Mahanadi . The


land is still largely covered by forest , and is thin lypeopled

,mainly by primit ive tribes , wh o still u se the

b ow and arrow . One wild race , the Birh ors , live on thewild animals they net , and chiefly on the hanuma

‘

n or

long- tailed monkey,whose flesh they eat

,while th e Skin

is used for their drums . In the more remote areas verylittle change has taken place since 1866, when Sir AlfredLyall wrote

,

“ I suppose there is n o wilder or less knownpart of India than the interminable forests southeast of

Nagpur towards the sea . I t is a hilly forest countryinhabited by what we call forest tribes

,with

‘

here and

there an oasis of cul t ivation and civilized settlement bythe superior races .

CHAPTER I I

MOUNTAI NS AND HI LLS

THE Hima layas (literally the abode of snow, from the

Sanskri t hima ,"snow,

and dlay a ,dwelling- place) are , like

the ancient Gaul,divided into three parts . The first i s

a great range of snowy peaks,which ” form the axi s of the

chain . The second consists of th e Lower or Outer Himalayas, which form a broad belt of mountains of inferiorbut still very considerable height -t o the south of th e

snows . The third is the Sub—Himalayan zone,in which

comparatively low hills are found,either as ridges or spurs

contiguous to the Outer Himalayas or separated from themby flat -bottomed valleys known as Duns . All three arerepresented in the area dealt with in this volume . Thefirst I S found In Sikkim

,constituting a great dividing wall

between it an d Tibet ; the second I n the south of Sikkim andin the Darj eeling district

,where the mountains consist of

I I] MOUNTAINS AND HILLS 27

long tortuous ranges,the general direction of which is

from north to south . A small portion of the third zone

is found in the Sumeswar and D i'

i n Hills In the extremenorth of the Champaran district in Bihar.Sikkim is enclosed on three sides by Himalayan

ranges in a horse- Shoe shape . Th e ma in chain stretchesfrom west to east along the northern frontier as far as

Dongkya feet) . Its mean elevat ion is from

Fig . 7 . Kin chin ju nga

to feet , but several peaks rise to over feet ,prominent among which is Chomiumo feet) . Tothe south it throws ou t , almost at right angles , an immensespur culminating in Kinchinj unga

,which

,with an altitude

of feet,is the third highest mountain in

I

the

world,being exceeded in height only by Mount Everest

feet) and Mount Godwin Austen feet) .

This maj estic mountain lies on the frontier between Sikkim

28 MOUNTAINS AND HILLS [CH .

an d Nepal,considerably to the south of the line of water

parting between the Tibetan plateau an d Indi a . The

n ame means “ the five treasure—houses of the great snows ”

and refers to its five peaks . The highest , which is lit up

with a golden glow by the rising sun , is the treasury of

gold ; another,which remains in a silvery shade till

the sun is well up,is the treasury of

'

silver ; the otherthree are the treasuries of gems , grain and holy books , a

collocation showing the articles to which the Buddhistic

Tibetans,living in an inclement climate

,a ttach most va lue .

From Kinchinj unga the Singali la range stretchessouthward in a long ri dge , about -60 miles in length ,

which forms the boundary first between Sikkim an d Nepal

and then between Darj eeling and Nepal . The tr i j unctionpoint of Nepal

,Sikkim and British India is at Ph alfit ,

feet above sea level . This ridge is the watershedof two great river systems . The rain that falls on its

western flank makes its way eventually into the Ganges ;the streams that rise along its eastern face swell th e

volum e of the Ti sta,an affluent of the Brahmaputra .

The range is so named after the S inga li la hill feet) ,from which

,as well as from Pha lfi t , incomparable views

of the Himalayas can be obtained . Both command a

panorama of snowy peaks in Nepal,Sikkim an d Bhutan ,

some 20 0 miles long . Forty peaks,each Of which exceeds

feet , stand up north ,east and west

,and a mong

them is Mount Everest,part of which appears from behind

the shoulder of Peak X I I I .From Dongkya a lofty range runs southward under

the name of the Chola range,dividi ng Sikkim from

the -Chumbi Valley an d Bhutan .

‘

The trij unction pointof Sikkim , Tibet and Bhutan is on thewestern shoulderof ~Gipmoch i feet) . Here the range divides into

two great spurs , on e of which runs to the southeast

into Bhutan and the other to the s outh-west into the


Species of orchids and 25 different species of rhododendrons . The latter are n ot the garden shrubs of

Europe ; some form a lmost impenetrable thickets , othersa re great trees with red twi sted stems; Another con se

qu en ce of the heavy ra infall is that leeches abound andare a veritable pest t o travellers and cattle . Duringthe rains on a clear day the scenery vividl y recalls theBiblical account of the good land

,the land of brooks

of water,of founta ins and depths that spring ou t of

valleys and hill s . Onl y too often,however the

mountains are shrouded by envi ous mists . One

wanders through an atmosphere of a lmost everlastingmist an d cloud , amidst a weird array of gaunt moss

covered trees with lon g beard-l ike parasites droopingand dripping rain showers as they are gently stirred bythe wind . The level of the perpetual snow

- line varies

from to feet, an d glaciers extend a l i tt le

lower . There are a few small lakes at high altitudes , suchas Changu near the Nathu La pass and Bidangcho near

the Jelep La,which lie between an d feet .

A railway on the 2 feet gauge has been laid a long a

cart road as far as Darj eeling, 51 miles from the plains ;

i t reaches a height of 740 7 feet at Ghoom ,four miles

from that station . The cart roads can be counted on

the fingers of on e hand, and the other roads are too

steep and narrow for cart traffic . Merchandise awayfrom the railway is borne by human porters

,mules and

pack poni es , th e tracks descending steep valleys and

climbing sharp ridges . Distance is measured not bymiles but by hours .The people live for the most part in scattered home

steads , each surrounded by a patch of cultivation . Villagesare neither numerous n or large

,consisting merely of

occasional clusters of such homesteads . There are two

considerable towns,Darj eeling a n d Kurseong , both ,

l ike

I I] MOUNTAINS AND HILLS 31

Mount Z ion, beautifu l for S ituation . They are hi llsanitaria and educational centres for European and

Eurasian children . Kal impong , on the east of the Ti sta ,is of some importance as an entrepot for wool and otherexports from Tibet

,and is the site of the St Andrew’s

Colonial Homes,in which excellent work is being done

in educating and training poor European and Eu rasianchildren .

Immediately to the south of th e Himalayas,in th e

district of Jalpaiguri,lie th e S in ch u la Hi lls , which range

in height from 40 0 0 to 60 0 0 feet and form the boundarybetween Br it ish territory and Bhutan . The militarystation of Buxa is S ituated

(

on an outlying spur averaging180 0 feet above sea level . It enj oys a rainfall of

209 inches a year and commands on e of the principal

passes into Bhutan,which is known as the Buxa Duar,

i .e the Buxa door .On the north—east of the Bay of Bengal there is a

succession of low ranges running in a south- easterly

direction parallel with each other an d wi th th e coast

line . The Si takund Hill in th e Chittagong district,

which is a place of pilgrimage for Hindus,rises to 1115

feet , but greater altitudes are found in Hill Tippera andthe Chittagong Hill Tracts . The highest peaks are : in

the former , Betling Sib (320 0 feet) , and in the latter,

Keokradang (4034 feet) and Pyramid Hill (30 17 feet) .The only other elevations in Bengal worthy of being

called hills are found on the fringe of the Chota Nagpurplateau ; the highest are Su sin ia (1442 feet) and B iharinath (1469 feet) in the Bankura district .In B ihar and Orissa the only hills north of the Ganges

are the Sumeswar and Dan Hills,which extend over 364

miles in the north of Ch amparan . The Sumeswa r Hi lls ,which run along the northern frontier for 46 miles , formthe lowest and outermost of the Himalayan ranges . They


vary from a few hundred feet in height to 2884 feet abovesea level at Fort Sumeswar , which commands a maj esticview of the Himalayas

,the great peaks of Dhaulagiri

feet) and Gosainthan feet) being clearlyvisible from it .

_

At the eastern extremity of the range

is the Bhikna Thori pass into Nepal,up to which the

railway has made its way . The Dfin Hi lls stretch for20 miles to the south of the Sumeswar range , from which

they are separated'

b y an elevated tableland known as

the Dan Valley . Skirting the hills is the unhealthy submontane tract known / as the Tarai

,consisting mostly of

prairie land an d forest in which th e aboriginal Th aru shave their scattered clearings .Proceeding from west t o east on the south of the

Ganges,the first hill s met with are the Ka imur Hi lls ,

an offshoot of the Vindhyan range , which cover 80 0

square miles in the south of Shahabad . They form a n

undulating plateau that rises abruptly from th e plains in

bold and lofty escarpments . These escarpments, which

are said to be the most prominent feature of the Vindhyan

area , stamping it with a geographical character peculiarlyits own

,occasionally have a uniform slope from top to

bottom,but generally appear as vertical precipices with

an undercliff that forms a talus made up of masses of

debris from above . The drainage falls northwards, by a

series of waterfalls,into long winding gorges that convey

it to the alluvial plains . “ After a clear drop of 20 0 to

60 0 feet , the water plashes into a deep pool , scoopedou t by its continual falling

,on leaving which it runs

through a channel obstructed throughout several miles of

it s course with huge masses of rock fallen from above .

From each side of the stream rise the undercliffs of the

escarpment,covered with j ungle and tangled debris , and

crowned by vertical precipices . The old Mughal fort of

R oh tasgarh is S ituated on a spur to the west , at the top

11] MOUNTA INS AND HILLS 33

of a precipice about 10 0 0 feet high . I t has an elevationof 1490 feet above sea level , and the uplands to the westof it vary from 10 0 0 to 140 0 feet in height . Another hillfort

,which is not so well known

,is Shergarh

,which was

built by the Emperor Sher Shah (1540—45 ) on a plateauon the northern fa ce of the hills .

In the districts of Gaya,Patna and Monghyr there

are a number of low ranges and isolated peaks,which

Fig . 8 . Kauwadol Hill in Gaya distr ict

strike north—eastward until they reach the Ganges at thetown of Monghyr . Those in the south present the appear

ance of a series of Spurs and gentle und ulations risingup into the plateau of Chota Nagpur

,and are clothed

in vegetation . Others have been completely , or almostcompletely

,denuded

,the vegetation having been cleared

away with the axe or disap peared with the erosion ofthe surface soil . Either they are as bare as the rocksof Araby

,or the rock shows through a thin covering of

O’M .


threadbare grass and starveling scrub,useless for pasture

age . Some are composed of giant boulders piled on e

above another as if some Titan had b een at play ; othersare much weathered

,with rounded rain- scoured sides and

easy S lopes ; others again are steep ridges with scarped

faces . The principal ranges are the Barabar Hills inGaya

,the R ajgi r Hills in Patna and the Kharagpur Hills

in Monghyr .

The Ba rab a r Hills,about 16 miles north of Gaya

town,are composed of gneissose granite weathering into

huge boulders,and contain a group of rock- cut caves

dating back to the third century B .C . The Rajgi r Hi llsform part of a long range that stretches north - eastward

from near Bodh Gaya for about 40 miles . They are of

no great height,the highest peak having an altitude of

only 1472 feet , but are of no l ittle historical interest . In

a valley enclosed by two parallel ranges stood the earliestcapital of Magadh a ,

the town of Raj agriha,of which

remains are still extant . Buddha himself frequently

preached here,and it was the scene of the first great

Buddhist Council . The Kh a ragpur Hills form a triangul ar block extending from near Jamalpur to the Jamui

railway station ; the highest‘point is Maruk (1628 feet) ,

a table- topped hill capped with a deep layer of laterite .

They contain several hot Springs,which are believed to

be due to thermo- dynamic action . The best known isSi takund n ear Monghyr , the existence of which is ex

plained by the following legend . Rama,after rescuing

his wi fe Si ta from the demon king Ravana , suspectedthat she might have been false to him . Si ta

,to prove

her chastity,entered a fiery burning furnace

,from which

she emerged unscathed . She then had a bath,and im

parted to the pool the heat which Sh e had absorbed from

the fire . The heat of the water in the spring rises to138

° F and the lowest on record is 92° F . To the south

11] MOUNTA INS AND HILLS 35

west is another group of hills,which are known locally

as the Gidheswar Hills from a peak of that name,but

are referred to in geological works as the GidhaI'

I r Hills .

A little further east the Rajmahal Hills j ut out

into the Gangetic valley,forcing the Ganges to bend to

the east before it finally takes its southerly course to the

sea . With their outliers,they extend over some 20 0 0

square miles ; this is only an approximation ,for the hills

Fig . 9 . View on th e Rajmahal Hills

have never been properly surveyed . They consist of aseries of hills and ridges separated by narrow ravinesand wide valleys . The highest hills rise to a height of

about 20 0 0 feet above the sea . In the south the crests

of the ridges broaden out into tablelands containingstretches of arable land . Throughout the rest of the

fange rugged peaks and ridges prevail,but the S lope of

the interior valleys is easy and affords scope for the

plough . Wherever a plough can work Santal settlements


are found,whether in the valleys

,on the slopes or even

on the brow of a hill . The Santals are , however , com

paratively recent immigrants , the earliest inhabitantsbeing the Maler or Sauria Paharias

,who cling to the

hill tOp s ; their villages are difficult of access and fre

quently can only be got at by a steep climb up a giantstaircase of boulders . The greater part of the RajmahalHills is a Government estate , known as the Daman- i -koh ,

which has an area of 1356 square miles and is maintained

as a reserve for the aboriginal races . The name is aPersian on e

,meaning the Skirts of the hills

,but the

estate comprises n ot only the country at the foot or on

the outer S lopes of the hills,but practically the whole

range from the Ganges on the north to the Brahmani

river on the south .

The Rajmahal Hills have been described as Classicground for the study of Indian geology . They consistof basalt ic lava flows or traps

,with in ter s trat ificat ion s

of shale and sandstone,which have a thickness of at

least 20 0 0 feet . The basaltic trap is quarried for roadmetal and railway ballast in a few places

,and th ere are

also some deposits of china clay,which are being worked

for the manufacture of china and porcelain in Calcutta .

Another important product is sa ba i grass (I‘

s choein u rn

angu stifoliu in ) , which is exported to the paper mills nearCalcutta .

In Orissa each of the sea-board districts has a rockybackbone . The N i lgiri Hill s in Balasore proj ect to within16 to 18 miles of the Bay of Bengal ; they are called

after the State of N i lgiri and were known to old navigatorsas the Nelligreen Mountains . In the Cuttack district the

most important range bears the name of the Assia Hill s .None of th e hills i s of any great height

,the highest

(As s iagir i) not being more than 250 0 feet above the sea ,but considerable interest attaches to the shrines crowning


O f the hills and mountains in Chota Nagpur i t isscarcely an hyperbole to say that their name is legion .

Pride of place i s held by Pa ra s n ath,which towers

,in a

perfect conical form,to a height of 4479 feet above sea

level . I t is so called after Par svanath , the twentyfourth Jina or deified saint of the Jains

,who is said to

have attained Nirvana here . I t is a sacred place of

pilgrimage to the Jains and contains some exquisite little

Fig . 11. Pa rasn ath

shrines . The p lateau on the top was selected as a convales cen t depot for European troops in 1858 , but wasabandoned after ten years

,for the space was confined

,

the water supply was not sufficient for even 10 0 menand the soldiers

’health was affected by their isolation

on the top of the hill .In the north -west of Ranchi and the south of Palamau

there are a number of lofty,

flat - topped hills,called pats ,

I I] MOUNTA INS AND HILLS 39

which are capped by great masses of laterite . The highest

are Netarhat Pat (3356 feet) , Lamti Pat (3777 feet) andGalgal Pat (3823 feet) . The crest of the Netarhat Pat is anundulating tableland 4 miles long by 2% miles broad ,

witha cool climate but a sinister reputation for unhealthiness .

To the east,in the district of Man b hfim

,the Bagh

mundi or Aj odhya range strikes out from the plateauand forms the watershed between the Su b arn arekh a

and Kasai rivers . I t reaches an elevation of 20 0 0 feet ,but is less of a range than a large plateau containinga number of prosperous villages . The Dalma range

in the same district rises to 340 7 feet in the Dalmapeak

,which is really only the highest point in a long

rolling ridge,reached by a gradual rise from lower hills

on either side .

S inghb hfim,the southern neighbour of Man b hfim ,

contains about a score of hills varying from 20 0 0 t o

30 0 0 feet in height . The whole of the southeast of

this district is known as “ Saranda of the 70 0 hills ,a rugged region of mountains and hills covered with

forest,in which there are a few scattered settlements .

This recess has however been penetrated by the captains

of industry,for iron mines have been opened in the hills

of Buda (2738 feet ) and Notu (2576 _

feet ) by the BengalIron and Steel Co . The Saranda hills are separated

from the spurs of the Chota Nagpur plateau by a passa little over 110 0 feet high . The Bengal-Nagpur R ailwayline runs through this natural gap

,but a tunnel 140 0 feet

long had to be bored through the hill at ‘Goilkera belowthe pass .

In the Orissa States there is a succession of rangesrolling back into the Central Provinces and forming thewatersheds of the three great rivers of Orissa . Theriver valleys between them in some places Spread outinto fertile plains

,and elsewhere are penned into narrow

40 MOUNTA INS AND HILLS [CH . 11

gorges and wooded glens . The southernmost valley isthat of the Mahanadi , between which and the Brahmani

is a watershed 20 0 0 to 250 0 feet high . From the northbank of the Brahmani the hills rise into the watershedof Keonj har

,with peaks from 250 0 feet high , culminating

in Ma layagir i (3895 feet) in the State of Pal Lahara .

This watershed,in its turn

,slopes down into the valley

of the Baitarani,from whose eastern bank rise the

mountains of Mayurbhanj . The highest peak in thelatter State is Meghas in i (3824 feet) , a name which means“ the seat of the clouds . The iron ore fields of the

Tata Iron and Steel Co . are situated in another hill inthis State called Gu ruma is in i .

In Kalahandi to the southeast we come to a different

hill system,the principal range being an extension of

the Eastern Ghats of Madras . The hill area in this

State,which is known as the D angar la ,

extends over140 0 square miles and is thus described in the Or i s sa

S tates Ga z etteer ' “ This country is a plateau land,

averaging about 250 0 feet above sea level , comprised of

small valleys shut in on all sides by hills,which rise as

high as 40 0 0 feet and over . The tOp s of these ranges , inseveral places

,form fine plateau lands

,averaging about

two miles wide to ten miles long . The largest and finestare the Karlapat range (3981 feet ) and Bafliamali (3587feet) . The highest hill in the State

,and indeed in all

Orissa , is Bankasamo (4182 feet) . In these hills theI n d ravat i river takes its rise and dashes down in seethingcataracts t o the plains

,where i t j oins the Godavari . Not

far from the place where it flows south through thebarrier of hills

,the Hati river rises on the northern S lopes

and flows due north to j oin the Tel,which discharges

into the Mahanadi .

CHAPTER I I I

R IVERS

EXPER IENCE of English rivers,with their compara

t ively regular flow,relatively permanent beds and fixed

lines of drainage,hardly prepares one for the great sea

sonal variations of rivers which are dependent on the

Fig . 12 . A S ikkim stream

tropical and sub - tropical rains . While the monsoon

is in force,they rush down brimful for the remainder

of the year they have a comparatively small volume ofwater . So much is this the case

,that even in great

waterways like the Ganges and the Brahmaputra,steamers

may ground on sandbanks and stick there for hoursor d ays together ; while in smaller rivers nothing is left

42 RIVER S [CH .

but a small sluggish stream meandering among dry widebanks of sand and mud . The rivers are destructive aswell as b en eficen t

,being apt to overflow their banks

and to flood the adj oining country . The inundation

sometimes causes widespread misery,and at other times

is hailed with j oy,according to its depth and duration

and the fertilizing qualities of its silt . In the deltaictracts the stream sways from S ide to side

,now eroding

the land and n ow forming it . Alluvial formations,called

diaras and char s,which may be either islands or long

riparian spits,are formed wherever a backwater or curve

produces an eddy in the current,which thereupon b e

comes sufficiently checked to deposit its burden of S ilt .These formations may last for years or be washed awayas quickly as they arise .

The actual river channels,moreover

,are liable to

change,the river cutting through its friable banks in

flood and reappearing miles away . All these are ordinaryincidents of deltaic formation . As Mr Fergusson r e

marked fi fty years ago : “ A river runs in a given course ,gradually elevating its bed and the country near it to

or even above the level of the adj acent delta , until on e

of two things happens . Either the river overflows intoa lower tract of country and commences to rai se a newtract

,or

,i f that part of the delta is practically levelled

up and completed,the river is gradually choked up by

its own sediment and dies,and a new river is opened

up in some other part of the delta where the land is

lower and requires raising . The course of nature in thismatter can n o more be interfered with than a pendulum

39 inches in length can be made to beat once in two

seconds by itself .All stages of river life can be seen—the hill torrent ,

the great navigable waterway,the sluggish stream creep

ing to the sea through the solitudes of the Su n darb an s .

I I I ] RIVER S 43

Nor should the dead river be omitted,i .e .

,the dis

tributary which has silted up at the mouth,so that

it no longer receives a supply from active streams . There

are various degrees of decay and decrepitude—weedystreams

,choked wi th vegetation

,that have scarcely

any flow of water,channels in which only a few pools

remain to'

mark the deeper port ions of the river bed,and

finally a dry bed brought under cult ivation . From what

Fig . 13 . A Ben gal r iver in th e d ry s eas on

has already been said it can easily be understood that

the courses of the rivers do n ot always correspond to

those entered in the old survey maps,for since the survey

was made many have changed their courses or have diedof inanition .

With these prefatory remarks we may pass to a briefaccount of the principal rivers

,which belong to on e or

other of three systems,vi z .

,the Ganges

,the Brahmaputra

and the rivers of Orissa

44 RIVER S [CH .

The Gan ges enters Bihar a lit tle to the west of Buxar ,slightly over 10 0 0 miles from its source

,and flows through

it in an easterly direction till i t reaches the Rajmahal

Hills . Skirting those hills , it begins to bend to the south

east and assumes a deltaic character at the offtake ofthe Bhagirath i . At this point it is about 30 0 miles fromthe Bay of Bengal

,and the slope is reduced to six inches

a mile,which would be a low grade even for a canal . I t

Fig . 14 . Morn in g on th e Gan ges

now throws off distributaries,which help to convey its

flood water to the sea . The main stream continues itssouth- eastern direction

,following the channel known as

the Padma . Near Goalundo it is j oined by the Jamuna,

the main channel of the Brahmaputra,an d the united

stream flows into the Meghna estuary 1557 miles from

its sourceIt is well known that the Ganges is a sacred river .

I t i s n ot s o well known,however

,that

,religious sentiment

46 RIVERS [CH .

large steamer traffic and has an extensive transhipmenttrade .

O f the numerous towns along the banks of the Gangesthe most important are Patna

,Monghyr and Bhagalpur .

More than on e town which owed its foundation to the

importance of the Ganges as a strategic route and ahighway of commerce has fallen a vict im to its vagaries .Not to mul tiply instances

,Patalipu t ra ,

the first metro

polis of India , lies buried 18 to 20 feet below the surfaceof modern Patna . The local rat e of silt deposit

,as

evidenced by the depth of sediment and the number of

centuries which have elapsed since the disappearance of

the city,is nearly a foot for every hundred years .

The Son (487 miles long) rises in the Amarkantakmountains of the Central Provinces

,n ot far from the

source of the Narbada,and impinges on Bihar after a

course of 325 miles in the inner highlands . Flowing bythe steep slopes and precipices of the Kaimur Hills , i tdebouches on the Gangetic valley below R oh tasgarh , and ,running north—westward for 10 0 miles

,j oins the Ganges

midway between Arrah and Dinapore . At Dehri the

Grand Chord Line of the East Indian R ailway is carried

over it by on e of the largest bridges in the world ; it

has 93 spans of 10 8 feet each ,and a total length of

feet—figu res which suffice to Show the great breadth of the

river when it reaches the plains . Near its j unction withthe Ganges the Son is spanned by another bridge

,on

which runs the main line of the. Same railway .

The Son drains a hilly area of square miles ,and has a flood discharge of cubic feet per second .

I ts waters are distributed west to Shahabad and east to

the districts of Patna and Gaya by the irrigation system

of the Son canals,which derive their supply from an

anicut or weir feet long) thrown across its b ed

at Dehri .

111] R IVER S 47

The Son has been identified with the E r an n oboa s ,which in the fourth century B .C . Mega sthen es described as“ the third river in all India and inferior to none butthe Indus and the Ganges

,into the latter of which i t

discharges its waters . E r ann oboas is a corrupt ion of the

Sanskrit H i rany abahu ,a name

,meaning the golden- armed ,

which was given to the river because of the colour of

the sand it brings down in flood . Its modern name also

means the golden river .

The Gogra or Ghagra rises near Lake Man asarowar inTibe t

,an d breaking through the Himalayan barrier flows

through Oudh and j oins the Ganges near Chapra . Inthe upper portion of its course i t is so much the largerof the two rivers that it is Open to argument whetherit is the main stream and not properly an affluent of

the Ganges . I t forms the boundary between Bihar and

the United Provinces for about 5 0 miles : the upper

portion of its course is outside the limits of the formerprovince . I t is navigable by light -draught steamers as

far as Aj odhya in Oudh ,and has a large river-borne

trade .

The name is a corrupt ion of the Sanskrit Gha rghara ,

an onomatopoeic word descriptive of laughter or rattling ,which may be translated as “ the gurgling river I t isalso called the Sarj u or Sarayu

,and is referred to by

Ptolemy as the S ara bos .

The Gandak (the Kondochates of Greek geographers)rises in the central mountain basin of Nepal

,which is

known as the Sapt Gandaki,i .e .

,the country of the

seven Gan daks,from the seven streams which unite to

form the main river .

‘

It leaves the hills through a passnear Tribeni in the Ch amparan district , and , after a

course of about 20 0 miles through North B ihar , fall sinto the Ganges at Sonpur nearly opposite Patna . Son

pur is a sacred site at which a Hindu bathing fest ival

48 R IVERS

takes place every year . This is the occasion of on e of

the largest fairs in Northern India,the number attending

it having been known to rise toSoon after its entry into B ihar

,the Gandak loses its

character of a snow- fed mountain stream and becomes adeltaic river with a Shifting channel that carries on a

constant work of alluvion and diluvion . I t is on recordthat the stream was once diverted for over a mile by thesinking of a cargo boat in the channel . I t conveys anenormous volume of water to the Ganges

,its flood dis

charge being and its minimum discharge 60 0 0 ,

cubic , feet per second . The supply has recently been

tapped by the Tribeni Canal,a work

,approaching com

p let ion ,which is designed to irrigate over acres

in Champaran ; its offtake is at Tribeni , whence its name .

The river is also known as the Great Gandak to dis

t ingu ish i t from an old channel called the Little Gandak

or Burh old) Gandak ,which traverses North Bihar

from north -west to southeast and j oins the Ganges nearMonghyr .

The Kos i is formed by the confluence of seven riversin the eastern mountain basin of Nepal , which is con se

quently known as Sapt Kosiki . I t debouches on British

territory in the north - east of Bhagalpur and flows souththrough Purnea

,j oining the Ganges 84 miles from the

point where it leaves Nepal . I ts catchment area isgreater than that of any Himalayan river except the

Indus and Brahmaputra,and comprises the whole coun

try between Kinchinj unga in Sikkim and Gosainthan in

Nepal,some square miles . Debouching on an

almost level plain,i t deposits masses of sandy silt in its

bed and along its banks . I t is subj ect to sudden freshets ,sometimes rising 30 feet in 24 hours , and easily cuts

through the friable soil,finding an outlet through new

channels . Two centuries ago the main stream passed by

I I I] RIVER S 49

the town of Purnea,but it has S ince worked westward

across 50 miles of country . Between 1859 and 1875 i tshifted some twenty miles

,

“ turning,

fertile fields into

arid wastes of sand,sweeping away factories

,farms and

villages,and changing the whole face of the country

from a fruit ful landscape to a wilderness of sand and

swamp . Its silt unfortunately is an infertile micaceoussand

,which destroys the productive powers of the land .

There are no data as to its silt—carrying capacity,but it

has been conj ectured,on the analogy of the Ganges and

Irrawaddy,that it carries 55 million tons of sediment a

year,and that it annually deposits 37 million tons on

the lands along its course . How quickly and deeply it

can overlay the country is apparent from the fate of indigofactor ies which have been abandoned owing to . it s em

croachmen ts . In comparatively few years all that can

be seen of them is the Chimneys,for the buildings are

buried deep in sand .

The Bhag ira th i i s n ow merely a spill channel of the

Ganges . I t is known to have been silting up at least

since 1666,when Tavernier wrote that Bernier was forced

to go overland to Cossimbazar from near Rajmahal ,because a sandbank at its mouth made the river u nn avigable . Historically it is one of the most interesting

rivers in Bengal . On its left bank is the old capital ofMurshidabad

,close to which is Cossimbazar , once a

thriving emporium with English,French

,Dutch and

Armenian settlements . A little further south is thebattle- field of Plassey

,or rather was , for the greater part

of it has long since been washed away by the river .TheBhagira th i forms one of a group of rivers known

as the Nadia R ivers,in which Government maintains

channels for navigation,so that there may be a continuous

water route from Calcutta to the Ganges . These riversare the Bhagirath i , the Bhairab and Jalangi (now united

50 RIVERS [CH .

to form on e river called the Bhairab- Jalangi) , the Matabhanga

,a portion of the Hooghly and some channels

between the Bhagirath i and the Ganges ; their aggregate

length is 509 miles . To enable country cargo boats touse this route

,there has to be a minimum depth of n ot

less than or 3 feet . This depth can always be foundduring the “ rains (June to October) , but during theother seven months shoals form and the current fails

,s o

that navigation is a lways uncertain and often impossibleby the beginning of February .

The southern continuation of the Bhagirath i i s calledthe Hoogh ly , though the villagers on it s banks keep to

the name of Bhagirath i . The reaches below Calcuttaform a tidal estuary

,which will be described in the next

chapter . The portion above Calcutta,as far north as

Hooghly,is practically an industrial suburb of Calcutta

,

being lined with mills and riparian towns . On this riverthe European nations planted their early settlements

,

the Portuguese and English at Hooghly,the Dutch at

Chinsura and Barn agore ,the French at Chandernagore

(which is still a French possession) , the Danes at Serampore and the Ostend Company at Bankib az ar on theeastern bank . Near the town of Hooghly was the royalport of Satgaon , referred to by Ralph Fitch in 1588 as

a fair city for a city of the Moors and very plentifulof all things . Some mounds of ruins

,a mosque and

some tombs are all that is left of what was a flou r ish ing'

emporium with a considerable sea—borne trade .

Between Naihat i and Hooghly the river is spanned

by a railway bridge,over which the produce of the coun

try to the west is carried to the docks for export overseas .

The depth to which the piers are sunk (73 feet below thebed of the river) sufficiently shows the engineers

’ fear of

it s scouring power .The principal tributary of the Hooghly is the Damoda r

,

I I I] RIVERS 5 1

which has a length of 368 miles . Rising in Chota Nagpur,

it flows across the plateau,selecting the easi ly eroded

band of coal—field s,and then through the deltaic districts

of Burdwan,Hooghly and Howrah

,j oin ing the Hooghly

shortly before it falls into the sea . I ts flood volume at

the head of the deltaic portion of its course was estimated

in 1853 at cubic feet per second,while the capacity

of its channel Opposite the town of Burdwan was less than

Fig . 15 . Damoda r river

half of this , and fell , j ust above the tidal portion , to only

cubic feet per second . The difficulty therefore

was to - provide an escape for a discharge far too largefor the lower reaches of the river . The Gordian knotwas cut by maintaining embankments along the left bank

and leaving the right bank,for the most part

,open to

inundation . In 1913 the embankments were breachedby an unprecedented flood

,which laid under water some

120 0 square miles of country an d destroyed,or more

52 RIVERS [CH .

or less damaged , the houses of a quarter of a millioninhabitants .

The Damodar i s accounted a sacred river by the Santals . I t is a solemn obligation among them to cast int oits waters at least some of the charred bones of the dead .

The Brahmaputra , as is well known ,i s on e of the

largest rivers in the world,it s length being estimated

its upper portion has not all been surveyed —at 180 0

miles and its drainage area at square miles :even in the Assam Valley its flood discharge is said tobe over half- a -million cubic feet per second . Only thelower section

,which is locally known as the Jamuna

,lies

in Bengal . Sweeping round the Garo Hills,it enters

Rangpur and then'

flows south for 150 miles until its

confluence with the Ganges . The combined stream finds

an exit t o the sea down the Meghna estuary .

“ In agri

cultural and commercial utility,the Brahmaputra ranks

next after the Ganges,and with the Indus

,among the

rivers of India . Unlike those two rivers,however

,its

waters are'

not largely utilized for art ificial irrigation,

nor are t hey confined within embankments . Thenatural overflow of the periodic inundation is sufficient

t o supply a soil which receives , in addition , a heavyra infall ; and this natura l overflow is allowed to find its

own lines of drainage . The plains of Eastern Bengal,

watered by the Brahmaputra,yield abundant crops of

rice,j ute and mustard

,year after year, without under

going any Visible exhaustion . The Brahmaputra i s navigable by steamers as high u p as Dibrugarh ,

about 80 0miles from the sea ; and in its lower reaches it s broadsurface is covered with country craft of all S izes and rigs

,

down to dug- outs and timber rafts . Large cargo steamerswith their attendant flats

,and a daily s ervice of smaller

and speedier vessels,ply between Goalundo and Dibru

garh.The upward j ourn ey takes four and a half days to

54 R IVER S [CH . I I I

The chief rivers of Orissa are the Mahanadi,Brahmani

and Baitarani . The Mahan adi is,as its name implies

,a

great river,with a length of 529 miles and a catchment

area of square miles . R ising in the hilly country

of the Central Provinces , i t makes its way through Samb a lpu r and the Orissa States in a wide valley, which at

on e place contracts into a narrow gorge . This is theBarmul Pass in Daspalla , 14 miles long and in placesnot more than a quarter of a mile broad

,where the river

W i nds r ound magnificently wooded hills 150 0 to 250 0

feet high . This pass used to be known as the key to the

Central Provinces . Here the Marathas made a stand

during the war of 180 3 , but were driven back in rout b ythe British forces . The Mahanadi debouches from thehills near Cuttack and after numerous ramifications

enters the Bay of Bengal by two estuar ies . One isknown as the Devi ; the other retains the name of theMahanadi and empties itsel f in the sea at False Point .

At Cuttack an anicut has been built across the bed ‘of

the river,which creates a head of water for the Orissa

canal system . During the rains it is a fine river of great

depth and breadth,but after their cessation the stream

begins to dwindle . Rocks,rapids and sandbanks impede

navigat ion in its upper reaches . In th e dry season boat

men are forced to carry rakes and hoes wi th which to

dig a narrow passage for their boatsThe Brahmani and Ba ita ran i rise in and drain the

Orissa States and enter the delta in the Cuttack district .As they approach the sea

,they unite in the Dhamra

estuary,which

,passing by Chandbal i , falls into the Bay

of Bengal at Palmyras Point . The Brahmani , with alength of 260 miles and a catchment basin of

square miles,i s the larger of the two . The Baitarani is

the Styx of Hindu mythology.

CHAPTER IV

E STUAR IE S AND PORTS

A GLANCE at themap will show that the coast lineof the Bay of Bengal is indented by a number of estuariesand silt - formed islands . In Orissa there are the estuariesof the Devi

,Dhamra and Mahanadi

,and a little further

north,in the district of Balasore

,those of the Euraba

lang and Su b a rn a rekha . All have a bar of sand acrossthe mouth

,which prevents the entrance of vessels of

any considerable burden except at high tide . These

sandy bars are the outcome of the eternal war between

the rivers and the sea on the monsoon - beaten coast,the

former struggling to find vent for their columns"

of waterand silt

,the latter repelling them with its sand- laden

currents . In spite,therefore

,of its estuaries and a long

sea coast,Orissa does not contain a S ingle port worthy of

the name . Perhaps the best is Chandbal i,situated 20

miles from the mouth of the Dhamra,but its trade

,which

was never more than a small coasting trade,has been

seriously affected by the competition of the railway . AtFalse Point ships can ride in an exposed anchorage

,and

at Puri there is another unprotected roadstead . FromMarch to October the surf does not allow of ships beingladen and unladen

,but in calm weather they can l ie

within a mile or half a mile of the shore and land theircargoes in in a su la boats . These are surf boats , made ofplanks lashed together with cane strips

,which enable

them to give to the waves . The fishermen use still moreprimitive craft

,the catamaran in vogue being merely

56 ESTUARIES AND PORTS [CH .

four tree trunks held together by wooden pegs,the two

in the middle serving as a keel .Balasore was formerly a considerab le port and was

described by Bruton in 1633 as“ a great sea- town

,whereto

much shipping belonged,and many ships and other

vessels built . I t has shared the fate of other ports inOrissa

,the river having silted up at the mouth and new

land having been formed between it and the sea . Twocenturies ago it was only four miles from the sea , as the

crow flies,whereas it is n ow seven miles inland and more

than double that by water,owing to the sinuous windings

of the Bu rhab alang ,the name of which is admirably de

scriptive,meaning “ the old twister .

” The ruin of the

port of Pipli on the Su b arn arekh a has been even more

complete . I t contained Portuguese and Dutch settle

ments an d was a noted S lave market,to which the Portu

gu ese and Arakanese pirates brought their captives . I t

has entirely disappeared and n ot a trace of it i s left .In Bengal there are many estuaries

,but only two

ports,vi z . ,

Calcutta and Chittagong . The estuaries, p ro

ceed ing from west to e ast , are 14 in number , vi z . ,the

Hoogh ly ,

'

Sat tarmukhi , Jamira , Matla , Bangadu n i , Gu aSuba

,R a imanga l , Malancha , Bara Panga , Marjata ,

Ban

gara , Haringhata or Baleswar,R ab n ab ad and Meghna .

The greatest of these i s the Meghn a , this being the name

assigned to the gigantic t idal river formed by the con

flu en ce of the Ganges and Brahmaputra . The portionbearing this dist inctive name is 160 miles long and varies

greatly in width . In the upper reaches alluvial formationis constantly in operation

,the bank advancing on on e

S ide as fast as it is washed away on the other . Shortlybefore its j unction with the sea the Meghna splits up into

a number of channels separated by low silt - formed islands .

Two of these channels are 20 miles and a third is 10 miles

across . Notwithstanding its vast size and enormous

IV] ESTUAR IES AND PORTS 57

volume of water , navigation is difficult and often d an

gerou s , more especially during the monsoon ,when it is

swept by storms and a high sea runs . Even in the calm

weather which prevails from November to February,the

passage of vessels is impeded by shifting sandbanks and

the great rise and fall of the tide ; this is 18 feet in Spring

tides . It may be mentioned incidentally that there is agreat increase of the tidal range as on e proceeds fromwest to east along the Bay of Bengal . The tide on the

Fig . 17 . A Scen e on th e Hooghly

west rises only twelve or thirteen feet,but on the extreme

west from forty to fifty feet,and the Meghna occupies an

intermediate position . At every full moon and everynew moon

,more especially at the time of the equinox

,

there’

is a bore or tidal wave for several successive days .

I t comes up at the first of the flood tide,with a roar

that is heard miles off,and presents the appearance of

a wall of water,somet imes twenty feet in height

,which

advances at the rate of 14 miles an hour .

As a highway of commerce none of the estuaries is

58 ESTUARIES AND PORTS [CH .

comparable-

to the Hooghly , which is the channel to thePort of Ca lcutta

,80 miles from the sea . That i t is navi

gable by sea—going steamers is one of the many triumphsof human skill over the obstacles imposed by nature ,for its passage is rendered difficu lt not only by rapid

currents and the rise and fall ‘

of the tide—the meanrange is 10 to 16 feet—but also by Shoals and shiftingsandb anks . The most notorious of these are the James

Fig . 18 . Th e Port of Ca lcu tta

an d Mary Sands , which owe their formation to the in trusion of the waters of the Damodar and Ran arayan .

These rivers enter the Hooghly within a few miles of

each other and,arrest ing the flow of it s current

,

bythei r combined discharge

,deposit silt

,which forms the

shoal known by this name . The name itself is derivedfrom the R oy a l f a rm s

"

and M ary ,a ship which was

lost here in 1694 . The skill of the Hooghly pilots,the

IV] ESTUARIES AND PORTS 59

surveying of the river bed,and the dredging operations

which have been undertaken since 190 7 , have made thechannels n ot only safer but also navigable by larger

vessels . In 1857 the permissible draught was only 22 feet .I t has been steadily increased

,until at the present

time the river i s navigated by vessels drawing up to

29 feet , with a length exceeding 50 0 feet and carryingas much as tons of cargo . In 1911

—12 no lessthan 170 0 vessels with a gross tonnage of 62 millionsvisited the port

,the imports being valued at 34% millions

and the exports at 573 millions sterling . The port of

Calcutta n ow accou nts for nearly two- fifth s of the foreignsea-borne trade of India and is worthy of being ranked

among the greatest sea ports of the world . I t may be

added that at Calcutta the river forms a deep trough,

so that large steamers can he within a few feet of thebank

,as shown in fig . 17 .

Chittagong is a port of mIn or Importance . I t is situ

ated on the Karn aphu li river , ten miles from it s mouth ,and till a few years ago was handicapped by the fact

that the river was n ot deep enough to allow vessels of

deep draught t o moor in the stream . Since dredging

operations were taken in hand ,shoaling on the bar at

it s mouth has been checked and the channel considerably

improved . In 1911—12 i t was visited by 388 vessels with

an aggregate tonnage of the trade consisting

almost entirely of tea and raw j ute .

Chittagong is known to have been Visited by Araband Chinese vessels some centuries before Europeannations had access to it . . By the end of the sixteenth

century it had become familiar to the Portuguese , who

called it Porto Grande,or the great port , as distinguished

from Satgaon ,which was called Porto Piquemo , or the

lit tle port . The distinction is due to the fact that thesewidely separated places were thought to be situated on the

60 ESTUAR IES AND PORTS [CH .

eastern and western branches of the Ganges . De Barros,

writing in 1552 ,described Chittagong as “ the most

famous and wealthy city of the kingdom of Bengal,by

reason of it s port , at which meets the traffi c of all that

eastern region .

”

CHAPTER V

I S LAND S

THE islands at the head of the Bay of Bengal belong

to on e or other of three groups . The first consists of

the Su ndarb an s islands interspersed between the estuariesof the Gangetic delta . Th ese are

,from west t o east

,

(1) Saugor Island , (2) Fra sergan j to the west of the

Satta rmukhi, (3 ) Lothian Island at th e mouth of the

Sattarmukh i, (4) Bu lch erry (Balcha r i) Island b etween the

Jamira and Matla , (5 ) Halliday Island in the Matla ,

(6) Dalhousie Island between the Matla and Gu asu b a ,

(7 ) Bangadu n i Island between the Gu asu b a and Ban

gadu n i , (8) Patni Island between the Mal ancha and BaraPanga , (9) Parb h anga Islands (two in number) at themouth of the Mar jata , (10 ) R ab n ab ad Island , at themouth of the R ab n ab ad ,

and (11) Doman ick Islands , a

group of small islands to the east and north- east of

the R ab n ab ad . The largest and most populous of theseis Saugor

,the south ,

of which,however

,is st ill under

dense j ungle . The island known as Fra sergan j i s shown

on the Admiralty charts as Mecklen b erg Island and is

known locally as Narayan tola . I t was renamed by theBengal Government in 190 8 after the then Lieutenant

Governor,S ir Andrew Fraser , A scheme of

reclamation was also undertaken,and i t was hoped to

make the place a seaside resort for the people of Ca lcutta ;but the proj ect was abandoned in 1910 .

62 ISLANDS [CH . V

found it cheaper to have his Ships built there than atAlexandria . In the seventeenth century it became a

nest of Portuguese pirates . A bloody struggle ensuedbetween them and the Muhammadans

,in which quarter

was neither asked for n or given . In 160 7 the Muh am

madan Governor,Fateh Khan , ordered all Christ ians on

the island to be put to death and blazoned on his bannersthe ferocious scroll : “ Fateh Khan

,by the grace of God ,

Lord of Sandwip , shedder of Christian blood and de

stroyer of the Portugu ese nation . The Portuguese ralliedagain under Gonza les , a common sailor whom they electedas their leader

,and recapturing the island butchered .10 0 0

prisoners in cold blood . Gonzales commanded a fleet of

eighty vessels and was undisputed master of Sandwip

and the adj oining islands until his defeat an d death inbattle against th e 'king of Arakan . For fifty more years

Sandwip was held by Arakanese corsairs , who devastatedthe sea-board of Bengal

,until they were rooted ou t by

the Viceroy,Shaista Khan

,in 1665 .

Saugor I s lan d marks the traditional place of the con

flu en ce of th e Ganges and the sea and is the site of

a great annual Hindu bathing festival . Here many

pi lgrims used to immolate themselves and their children

(by drowning or , death in the j aws of crocodiles) until180 2 ,

when th e practice was stopped by the MarquessWellesley . It was this custom which inspired John Ley

den (1775—1811) to writ e the lines :On sea -

g irt S agu r’s d esert i s le

,

Man tled wi th thickets dark an d d u n,

May never morn or s tarlight sm ileNor ever beam th e summer s u n .

Not a l l blu e Gu n ga’s mountain flood

,

That rolls s o p rou d ly round th y fane,Shall cleanse th e tinge of human blood ,

Nor wash dark S agu r’

s imp iou s stain .

CHAPTER V I

CL IMATE

ALTHOUGH the country lies mainly outside the tropicalzone

,its climate is characterist ically tropi cal

,owing to

the fact that over India isothermal lines receive a largedisplacement to the north . The Himalayas furnish anexception to this general rul e

,for at the higher levels

there is alpine cold,while at intermediate levels the more

clement condit ions of the temperate zone prevail . At

Darj eeling,indeed , the average temperature of the year

(53° F or 2 ° lower than at Simla) is very nearly the same

as in London . The highest reading recorded in thisdelightful hill station is 80 ° and the lowest 15 Thearea occupied by the Himalayan mou n ta In s i s relativelys o small

,and conditions are so exceptional

,that

,except

for passing references , they wi ll be left ou t of consideration in the subsequent account .The variations of temperature

,both daily and seasonal

,

are less pronounced in the neighbourhood of the Bay ofBengal than in the inland districts ; and Bengal andOrissa have a more equable climate than either B ihar orChota Nagpur . Bengal has neither the intense summerheat of the latter nor the sharp cold of its winter nights .

In the houses of Europeans fireplaces are the exceptionrather than the rule

,whereas the reverse i s the case in

B ihar . Another feature which distinguishes Bengal i sits high humidity—a feature which is commonly expressedby the saying that it has a damp heat like that of a hothouse . The difference in this respect between Bengal

64 CLIMATE [CH .

and England may be gauged by the fact that at Calcuttathe quantity of vapour in the air is more than doublewhat it is in London . Humidity is highest along thecoast and diminishes the further inland on e goes , but

during the rainy season,when moisture - laden monsoon

winds prevail,the atmosphere is nearly as humid in the

interior as in the sea—board districts . Owing to its humidity

,Bengal is far more relaxing and enervat ing than other

parts of India . Even in the hot weather,though sea

winds mitigate the heat,they saturate the atmosphere ,

and when it is calm,there is a sultriness Oppressive

to persons used to drier climates .Bengal is subj ect t o a heavy rainfall

,though there

are large local variat ions due to the proximity of thesea and the Himalayas . The average fall ranges b e

tween 50 and 75 inches in the south - centre and west of

the province,Calcutta having an average of 62 inches .

I t rises to between 75 and 120 inches in the southeast ,east and north . The precipitation is naturally greatestin

,and at .the base of

,the Himalayas

,which arrest the

rain - bearing currents from the Bay . Kurseong , at an

elevation of 50 0 0 feet , has a mean of 159 inches and Buxa ,at their foot

,of 20 9 inches a year . In the province of

Bihar and Orissa,however

,the average for the year is

only from 5 0 to 58 inches , vi z ., 50 in Bihar , 53 in Chota

Nagpur and 58 in Orissa .

There are three well—defin ed seasons known as thecold weather

,the hot weather and the rains . The cold

wea ther lasts four months , viz . ,from November to the

end of February . January is the coldest month in Bengal ,where the mean maximum is AS a rule

,i t is cool

rather than really cold,but the nights are somet imes so

cold as to make the use of great coats necessary even toEuropeans ; the thermometer has been known to fall t o

34° in the submontane country and to 39

° near the sea .

V I] CLIMATE 65

Another feature of the cold weather in Bengal is theoccasional occurrence of low- lying fogs

,which dissipate

wi th the rising sun .

January is also the coldest month in Bihar,but in

Chota Nagpur and Orissa the lowest readings are recordedin December

,when the temperature does not exceed

71° in Orissa

,while it is seven degrees lower in Chota

Nagpur . The average night temperatures in these twomonths vary from 51

° in Bihar to 57° in Orissa

,the lowest

recorded at the meteorological stations being 34° and 40

°

respectively . Even lower temperatures have been ob

served by private individuals ; at Christmas , 1912 ,it was

only 25° in the Kaimur Hills . This is a delight ful season

of the year in Bihar . There is a keen but bracing sharpness in the morning

,followed by bright cloudless days

,and

the nights are often so cold as to render fires a necessity .

On the Chota Nagpur plateau there are sharp frosts,and

ice,an inch thick

,may be seen in ba sins left out in the

Open overnight . Ice was regularly obtained for the tableof the old Nawabs of Bengal from the R ajmahal Hills .

Th ere i s an almost entire absence of rain except forshowers

,which occur so frequently about Christmas

time,tha t they are referred to as the Christmas

rains .

The h ot wea ther lasts from March to Jun e and isushered in by a rise of temperature

,which is

,however

,

neither uniform n or contemporaneous The upwardmovement begins in January near the coast and in Febru ary 10 0 miles inland

,and is established everywhere by

March In Bengal there are occasional local storms ,called nor’ westers

,generally accompanied by rain ,

which affords an ephemeral relief from the heat . Hotdry westerly day-winds from the arid plains of CentralIndia penetrate to Bihar

,which feel almost like the blast

from a furnace . Heavily laden with dust , they give

5

66 CLIMATE [CH I

rise , n ow and then,to fierce but Short dust storms and

whirlwinds . Low humidity is combined with very high

temperatures , the maximum ranging f rom 10 9° to

The fierce sun parches the vegetation and leaves the

plains bare to nakedness . In some places,such as Gaya ,

Dehri an d Sasaram ,the h eat forces Europeans to sleep

out under the Open sky . The temperature in their housesduring the daytime is

,to some extent

,reduced by means

of screens of the khas—khas grass ; these are placed at thewestern windows and doors and kept constantly wet , soa s to cool the air as it passes in . High temperaturesare also common in the districts of south-west Bengal ,which have a surface soil of . laterite and are affected bythe hot winds blowing down the Gangetic plain ; the

maximum recorded in this province is 117° at Bankura

and Midnapore .

The ra ins last from June to October . During these

five months nine- tenths of the annual rainfall is receivedfrom the south -west monsoon

,and the whole appearance

of the coun try is transformed . Each small depressionbecomes a puddle

,the embanked fields are under a sheet

of water,and the rivers fill their channels from bank to

bank . The commencement of the rains usually takes

place in the second half of June,but is sometimes deferred

till July . I t is popularly called the “ burst of the mon

soon,though frequently there is n o sudden incursion of

the monsoon currents,but a gradual succession of cy

clonic storms from the Bay of Bengal . Thenceforward the

rainfall is determined by such storms or by inland dep res

sions , which form over the central districts of Bengal andmove slowly westward . The flow of the currents fromthe Bay is northwards over the eastern districts of Bengal ,until they meet the Himalayas

,by which they are de

flected westward . Owing to their great ascensional mot ion

,there is heavy precipitation on the. southern slopes

VI] CLIMATE 67

and spurs of those mountains : the monsoon fall at

Darj eeling averages 114 inches , the heaviest monthlyrainfall being 32 inches . July and August are universally the wettest months

,and the strength of the currents

begins to fall off about the middle of September . Thesucceeding four to six weeks are the most trying periodof the year , as the sodden soil lies reeking under a scorching sun

,and the air is still heavily Charged with moisture

Fig . 19 . Scou r cau s ed b y ra in

even the Bengalis,habituated as they are to sultry heat

,

call this month the rotten month .

The pleasantest part of the country during the rainsis the Chota Nagpur plateau

,where the temperature

falls more rapidly than elsewhere ; the fall at Hazaribagh ,

for instance,is more than twice as much as it is

at Berhampore,though the two places are in the same

latitude . This peculiarity is ascribed to the greater

5—2

68 CLIMATE [CH . V I

cloudiness of the plateau du r mg the daytime and to

greater radiation at night,when the Ski es are much

freer from cloud .

The cyclones which come up from the Bay of Bengalare allm arked by the same features of a vorticose motion

(the wind moving in a di rection opposite to that of thehands of a clock ) , a progressive advance towards the

Fig . 2 0 . Lan dslip on th e D a r j eelin g Rai lway , 1899

coast and very heavy rainfall over and near the area

of disturbance . A remarkable instance of such rainfallwas the precipitation of 24 inches at Darj eeling on 24th

and 25th September , 1899 ,by a cyclone which was first

noticed as developing to the southeast of False Point

on 21st September ; of this total , 14 inches fell in 12 hours .Such excessive and sudden rain , fall ing on S lopes already

saturated by_

an unusually heavy monsoon produced

70 CLIMATE [CH .

disastrous landslips,which caused the loss of many lives

and widespread destruction of property . One landslipwas 70 0 0 feet long from top to bottom ,

and there were

countless others of smaller size , so that the mountainslooked as i f some Titan’s knife had been taking slicesou t of them . The Himalayas , i t may be added , areliable to soil- cap creeps (called schu ttru ts chu ngen bySwiss geologists) , and Sir J oseph Hooker mentions inhis H ima lay an j ou rn a ls several enormous landslips thathe saw during his travels among them .

Between 1737 and 1910 there were 366 cyclonicstorms and cyclones in the Bay of B engal

,but only 142

were severe,of which 55 were felt in Bengal or on the

coast . The cyclones which occur during the full force of

the monsoon are generally of small extent and rarely

attain hurricane force . The most Violent , for which thename of cyclone is popularly reserved

,are

,as a rule

,

generated during the transit ion per iods b efore and after

the full establishment of the monsoon , i .e .,during the

months of April and May,October and November . Their

most striking feature is an accumulation of water at andnear the centre

,which progresses with the storm and

forms a destructive storm—wave,when it strikes the low

lying coast . I t then sweeps inland,and the damage

caused is terrible . I n the cyclone of October,1864 ,

the

storm-wave drowned people and did great damage

to shipping at Calcutta,while that of October

,1876,

submerged a great part of Backergunge and the adj oiningdistrict s to a depth of 10 to 45 feet , causing at least

deaths .In conclusion

,brief mention may be made of the

curious phenomenon called the Barisal gun s . This is a

name given to sounds resembling the report of cannon or

loud explosions,which are heard in the Su ndarb an s

,more

particularly in the Vicinity of Barisal in the Backergunge

VI] CLIMATE 71

district . They are described as being like the dull,

muffled boom of distant cannon,and sometimes also as

like a cannonade between widely separated armies . Manyexplanations have been put forward

,on e being that they

are due to the discharge of ball- lightning,and their cause

is still uncertain . I t is noticeable that the sound alwayscomes from the direction of the sea and during the mon

soon when there is a heavy surf ; and the most probable

explanation is that they are due to the great rollers,a

mile or more long,beating on the coast .

CHAPTER V I I

GEOLOGY

IN the nomenclature of Indian geology there are fourgroups of rocks

,of which the two oldest are u n foss ili

ferous,while the two youngest contain fossil remains . The

oldest,which is

,in fact

,immeasurably old

,is known

by the name of Archaean (literally ancient , from the

Greek n

’

pXfi,meaning beginning) , and consist s of crys

ta llin e rocks,gneisses and schists

,S imilar to the forma

tions coming under the same designation in Europe and

America . The second,which lies on i t with marked

unconformity,i s distinguished by the name of Pu rdn a

(an Indian word meaning old) and corresponds to muchof the system known as Algonkian in America . The

lower and older group of fossili ferous strata is calledD ravidian and may be correlated with the Cambrian ,

Ordovician,Silurian

,Devonian and Carboni ferous sys

tems of the European Palaeozoic . Such rocks are preserved in the Central Himalayas

,but are unrepresented

in the area under consideration . The upper and younger

72 GEOLOGY [CH .

Which goes by the name of Ary an ,comprises all strata

from the Permo- Carboniferous system to th e present day .

For . convenience of reference in the subsequenta ccount , the different formations are shown below withtheir approximate ages in European and Americanequivalents

Late r ite ,r iver allu via , s an d - d u n es ,

beach d epo s its Post-Ter tia ry CS iwa lik s er ies of th e S u b Himalay a a nd

amo z om

Chi ttagon g hi lls Tertia ry

Un rep resen ted Creta ceou s

Gon dwan a sy stem

Un r ep resen ted

rana

Vi nd hy an an d Cu d d a pah sy s tems

D h arwar s , gn ei s s es , s chi s ts an d d e

formed (gn ei s sos e ) er u p tive r ockscheean

Mes ozo ic

Palaeozoic

Algonkian

Archman

The hilly country of the Chota Napgu r plateau b elongs to the gneissic tableland of Peninsular India

,and

the Himalayas to the extra—Peninsular a rea , while thelevel country between the two (in which , however , - thereare outcrops of old gneissic and granitic rocks) is part of

V I I] GEOLOGY 73

the Indo-Gangetic plain . In the Peninsular area themountains are all remnants of large tablelands

,the

gradients of the river valleys are low,and the broad open

valleys are merely denudation hollows cut by water out

of the original plateau . The entire country presents thegentle undulating aspect peculiar to an ancient landsurface . In the extra-Peninsular area

,on the other hand ,

the mountains are the direct result of the disturbance thecountry has undergone in late geological times . As a

result of this , the natural features are the very reverse

of those that obtain in the Peninsular tracts ; the valleysare deep and narrow

,and the ri vers are torrential and

actively engaged in deepening their valleys .

The Archae an sy s tem is well represented in SouthBihar

,Chota Nagpur and Orissa

,where it includes three

classes of rocks . The first,which covers a considerable

area,consists of foliated gneisses of various kinds grouped

together under the name Benga l gneis s .

The second class consists of rocks which were originallysedimentary and volcanic

,but have been altered into

quartzites,schists and slates . This ancient stratified

series is very similar to that designated the Dha rwarsy s tem in Southern India (from its exposure in the dist r ict of Dharwar on the north-western border of Mysore) .In South B ihar it forms several ranges and groups of

hills,of which the most important are the Kharagpur

Hills ; in these the slate , being regularly cleaved and ofgood quality

,is quarried to a certain extent . In Chota

Nagpur a gigantic intrusion of igneous basic diorite runsthrough the schists

,forming a lofty range

,which culmi

nates in the Dalma peak in Man b hfim,whence the name

D alma trap” has been derived The Dharwar rocks in

S inghb hfim have a special interest on account of thevaluable minerals they contain . Gold is sometimesfound in the quartz veins

,but has not yet been worked

74 GEOLOGY [CH .

successfully . The copper deposits are really of greatereconomic importance , the

,

ore being sometimes con cen

tra ted along Special bands in the schists .

Thirdly , we find great granitic masses and innumerableveins of granit ic pegmatite intruded both among the

schists and the Bengal gneiss . The coarsest grainedpegmatites , which cut across the schists in narrow sheets ,are the most valuable because of the mica they contain ;

Fig . 2 2 . Pegm atite ban ds in s chists

they form a rich m i ca-bearing belt i n Hazaribagh,Gaya

and Monghyr . In its more massive form the gneissose

granite is relatively fin e- grained and very homogeneous .It weathers into great rounded hummocks that have

caused it to be known a s dome gn eis s .

”

The Puran a group is chiefly represented by the great

Vindhyan tableland,of which the Kaimur Hills west of

R oh tasgarh in Shahabad form the easternmost termination .

The rocks of the Vindhyan system being unfossili ferous ,

V I I ] GEOLOGY 75

their geological age cannot be determined exactly,but

there i s reason to believe that they may be partly,or

wholly,older than Cambrian . In the Kaimur Hills three

stratigraphical subdivisions are conspicuous,vi z .

,in order

of superimposit ion,Kaimur sandstone

,Bij a igarh shales

and Rohtas limestone . The Kaimur sandstone covers thegreater part of the plateau on the top of the hills , forms

the upper portion of the precipitous escarpments overlooking the Son and const itutes the whole of the northerncliffs . It is an excellent building material and has beenlargely quarried near Sasaram , The Bij a igarh shales andR ohtas limestone form the undercliff facing the Son ,

andare also seen in river gorges to the north

,such as that of

the Durgauti . The limestone , which is called after theold fort of R oh tasgarh ,

has a thickness of 50 0 feet and is

a fin e- grained,evenly bedded rock

,largely burnt for lime .

The B ij a iga rh shales (so called after another hill fortin the Mirzapur district of the United Provin ces) areintensely brittle and frequently so black in colour as to

be easily mistaken for coal . The lower Vindhyan seriesis found in Sambalpur

,where it is an extension of the

great Chh at t i sgarh basin . The lowest beds are of sand

stone,and the commonest rock on the surface is lime

stone ; at on e place the rocks have a thickness of perhaps

350 0 feet , and there are four distinct zones of limestone .

The Barapahar Hills in the same district are an outlierof the V in dhya s and consist of an accumulation of shales ,sandstones and quartzites

,the relations of which are of

a complicated character and indicate a region of special

disturbance .

Another subdivision of the Purana group is knownas the Cuddapah system from the strata forming a largearea in the Cuddapah district of Madras . Examples ofthis are found in Chota Nagpur and also in the Mahanadivalley

,where they consist of a lower group ,

composed

76 GEOLOGY [CH .

pri ncipally of quartzit ic sandstones,and an upper group

of limestones and shales .

The Purana is separated by a huge gap in geologicalhistory from the Aryan group , the earliest members of

which constitute the Talcher series . These , the oldestrocks after the V in dhyas , form the lowest stage in a great

system of fresh -water deposits known as the Gon dwan asys tem ,

the age of which,as determined by fossil remains ,

is partly upper Palaeozoic and partly Mesozoic . Gondwana is the name given to a continent which once extendedto Central and South Africa

,and was bounded on the

north by a , great central ocean . The latter , named by

geologists Tethys (after the wife of Oceanus) , flowed overCentral Asia

,it s southern limit being on the line n ow

occupied by the Central Himalayas . The system is

divided into two portions , the lower of which contains

valuable coal seams,while the upper is practically devoid

of coal . Th e former has three series , vi z . , Talcher ,Damu da and Pan ch et , which consist almost exclusivelyof shales and sandstones . The Upper Gondwanas - arerepresented by the Rajmahal and Mahadeva series .

The Talchers , which have been named after on e of

the Orissa States,in which they were first separated from

the overlying beds,consist of soft sandstone and silty

shales . Near the base of the series is a conglomerateof boulders

,which appears to be due to ice act ion .

Glacial action is dist inctly indicated by the appearanceof rounded and sometimes striated boulders and pebbles

lying in a matrix of soft silt,which would n ot exist i f

they h ad been carried down by rapid streams . Greatcold also accounts for a remarkable absence of signs ofli fe

,only a few fossil plants having been found in the

upper layers .Next in order of age comes the Damu da s er ies

,which

is divided into three stages,called

,according to their

78 GEOLOGY [CH .

preserved fossil plants,mostly cycadaceous plants

,with

some ferns and conifers , similar to those found in theUpper Gondwanas at Jubbulpore and in Cutch . The

basaltic traps,with their associated sedimentary beds ,

attain a thickness of at least 20 0 0 feet,of wh ich the

Fig . 24 . Glos sopteri s commu n is

non - volcanic portion never exceeds one hundred feet .

Cycads’

and ferns distinguish the flora of the Upper

Gondwanas from that of the Lower Gondwanas , in which

Glos s opter i s (v. figure 24 ) i s prominent . The remark

able agreement between the Glos sopter i s (Gondwana)

VI I] GEOLOGY 79

flora of India and the fossil plants of similar formationin Australia

,Africa and South America can only be

explained on the assumption that these lands , now sepa

rated by the ocean,once constituted a great southern

continent .

Towards the end of Cretaceous and in early Tertiarytimes there were great convulsions which resulted in the

break- u p of the Gondwana continent . Volcanic activitywas accompanied by enormous flows of basic lava in the

peninsula,of which the best known is that called “ Deccan

trap . The Eurasian ocean of Tethys was driven back ,

and a great folding movement gave rise to the modernHima laya s . I t must not be imagined that this was the

first appearance of these mountains . They were markedou t in very early t imes—a range of some sort certainlyexisted in lower Palaeozoic t imes—and it was only thefolding , that took place in Tertiary times , which raised

them to be the greatest of the world’s mountain ranges .

Gondwana strata are found in Darj eeling which wereincluded in the final folding movement . The latter is

thus described by the Geological Survey Department :“

The great outflow of Deccan trap was followed by a

depression of the area to the north and west,the sea in

eocene times spreading itsel f over R aj putana and the

Indus valley , covering the Punjab to the foot of the

Outer Hima layas as far east as the Ganges,at the same

time invading on the east the area now occupied by

Assam . Then followed a rise of the land and consequentretreat of the sea

,the fresh -water deposits which covered

the eocene ma rine strata be ing Involved in the movementas fast as they were formed

,until the Sub -Himalayan

zone river d eposits,no older than the pliocene . became

tilted up and even overturned in the great fold ings ofthe strata . This final rise of the Himalayan range inlate Tertiary times was accompanied by the movements

80 GEOLOGY [CH .

which gave rise to the Arakan Yoma and Naga Hills onthe east , and the hills of Baluchistan and Afghanistanon the west . The rise of the Himalayan range may be

regarded as a great buckle in the earth’s crust,which

raised the great Central Asian plateau in late Tertiarytimes , folding over in the Baikal region against the solidmass of Siberia and curling over as a great wave on thesouth against th e firmly resisting mass of the Indianpeninsula .

”

Rocks of diverse formation are found in the differentzones into which the Himalayas are divided . In the

Tibetan plateau marine fossiliferous rocks are found ,

ranging from lower Palaeozoic to Tertiary times . Granite

rocks form the core of the snowy peaks and also occurin the Lower Himalayas

,fringed by crystalline schists .

The Outer Himalayas are formed of old unfossiliferousrocks

,probably of Purana age , while the rocks in the

Sub -Himalayas are of Tertiary age . Coal is found inthe Gondwana beds in Darj eeling . Copper is verywidely disseminated and forms distinct lodes of value in

Sikkim . I t~

i s also found in Darj eeling in a series calledDaling

,after an old Bhutanese fort to the east of the

Tl sta . Another series , which is largely developed in

Jalpaiguri,i s known as the Buxa series from the frontier

station of the same name .

The formation of the Chittagong Hills is also to be

ascribed to later Tertiary times . Here a substratum of

Tertiary rocks was buckled up into parallel folds by amovement connected with that which elevated the

Himalayas .

Of post-Tertiary deposits the most extensive is theIndo-Gangetic a lluvium of the plains formed by theGanges

,Brahmaputra and other large rivers , such as

those of Orissa . The prevailing materi al is a sandy

mica ceou s and calcareous clay . An old and new alluvium

1111] GEOLOGY 81,

are recognized,the latter of which consists of the fluvia t ile

deposits n ow in course of formation . The old alluviumgenerally forms high beds of clay

,which are undulating

from the effects of denudation . It is distinguished by

nodular secretions of lime carbonate , called hanka r , whichare used for making lime and for metalling the roads .The application of kankar to the Grand Trunk Roadduring the viceroyalty of Lord William Bentinck gave

rise to an atrocious pun,the Viceroy being nicknamed

William the Conqueror . The alluvial deposits are of great

depth . A boring at Calcutta went down 481 feet withoutany traces of a rocky bottom or marine deposits . Anotherboring at Lucknow went down nearly 10 0 0 feet

,and the

only S ign of an approach to the bottom was the appearance

of sand near the end of the hole .

The most interesting of the recent formations , from a

geological point of View ,is la ter ite . This is a name de

rived from the Latin later,meaning a brick

,which was

given,in 180 7 , by Dr Francis Buchanan-Hamilton

,in

allusion to the way in which it can be cut up into brickshaped blocks for building purposes . I t may be definedas a surface decomposition product of a rusty red colour

,

which it owes to diffused ferruginous products . Aspointed ou t in the Madras volume of this series , theessential feature in which it differs from all ordinaryrock-weathering products is due to the fact that

,instead

of consisting largely of ordinary clay,which is hydrous

silicate of alumina,it contains the alumina largely in a

free state,thus resembling in constitution the material

known as bauxite,which is used as the main source of

aluminium . Thus,some of the deposit s of laterite in

India might ultimately prove to be of commercial valueas sources of the metal aluminium . They ,

however ,differ greatly in quality from place t o place

,and in many

cases have been mixed up with other detrital material .

O’

M .

82 GEOLOGY [CH .

There i s a high- level laterite,resting on the old rocks at

whose expense it has been formed,an d a low- level laterite ,

which is merely a detri tal form . The former is found asa cap on the summit of several hill s

,as already mentioned

in Chapter I I . The latter forms a broken band or mantlestretching from near the Bay of Bengal (in Orissa andMidnapore) to Rajmahal , and generally occupying theeastern fringe of the gneissic tableland . Wherever seenin this area , it is detrital an d contains pebbles of quartz ,felspar an d other rocks

,the source of whi ch is indicated

by the way in which they increase th e nearer we get tothe gneiss rocks to the west . The true la terite occursin massive beds , from which sl abs are excava ted for

building . I t is easy to cut an d shape,an d becomes hard

and tough after exposure to the a ir , so that it makes

an admirable buildin g material . Some of the temples atVishnupur in Bankura are built of it

,and in spite of it s

nodular str ucture and irregular surface , it has been usedfor carvings . La terite gravels are also found

,which are

used for road metalling . These gravels pass by almostimpercept ible gradations into solid lateri te on the one

hand and on the other into a coarse sandy clay, con

taining so few ferruginous nodules that it has scarcely a

reddish tint .Seven severe earth quakes are known to have . occurred

in the last 150 yearS, viz . ,in 1762 ,

1810 ,1829,

1842 ,

1866,1885 and 1897 , while th e shock of the Kangra earth

quake oi 4th Apri l , 190 5 , was felt as far south as Fa lse

Point , and as far east as Lakhimpur (in Assam beyondthe eastern boundary of Bengal) . The first . of these

'

earthquakes is said to have caused a permanent su bmer

gence of 60 square miles near Chittagong,while further

to the south it raised the coast of Foul Island nine

feet and part of Cheduba Island 22 feet above sea level .This has n ot been the only change of elevation in this

VI I] GEOLOGY 83

part . M oh it,a Turkish work on navigation in Indian

waters,written in 1554 ,

refers to islands,which have

since entirely disappearedThe most violent earthquake on record was that of

12th June , 1897 ,which did extensive damage to masonry

buildi ngs within an area of square miles , whilethe shock was distinctly felt over squar e miles .The focus of the disturbance was near Cherrapunj i in

Fig . 2 5 . Ra ilway lin e in North Ben ga l a fter th eea rthqu ake of 1897

Assam . The epifocal area , which extended over

square miles , was situated in Western Assam and EasternBengal . Here “ the river Channels were narrowed

,rail

way lines were bent into sharp curves and bridges compressed

,while fissures and sand-vents opened in myriad s .

”

Next year more than 50 0 0 small shocks were recorded inthe same area .

Within comparat ively recent geological times therehave been other rises a n d sub sidences of land , particularly

6—2

84 GEOLOGY [CH .

in a portion of the Su n darb an s . A peat bed,writes

Mr R . D . Oldham,in the M a nu a l of the Geology of

I ndia,

“ i s found in all excavations round Calcutta,at

a depth varying from about twenty to about thirty feet ,and the same stratum appears to extend over. a largea rea in the neighbouring country . A peaty layer has beennoticed at Port Canning

,thirty—five miles to the south

east,and at Khulna

,eighty miles east by north

,always

at such a depth below the present surface as to be somefeet beneath the present mean tide level . In many of the

cases noticed,roots of the s u ndr i

'

tree were found in thepeaty stratum . This tree grows a lit tle above ordinary

high-water mark,in ground liable to flooding

,so that

,in

every instance of roots occurring below the mean tidelevel

,there is conclusive evidence of depression . This

evidence is confirmed by the occurrence of pebbles,for

it is extremely improbable that coarse gravel shoul d have

been deposited in water eighty fathoms deep,and large

fragments could not have been brought to their presentposition unless the streams which now traverse the coun

try had a greater fall formerly ,or unless

,which is perhaps

more probable,rocky hills existed which have now been

covered up by alluvial deposits . The coarse gravels andsands

,which form so considerable a proportion of the

beds traversed,can scarcely be deltaic accumulations ,

and it is therefore probable that when they were formed ,the present site of Calcutta was n ear the margin of thealluvial plain

,and it is quite possible that a portion of

the Bay of Bengal was dry land .

There is also a large depression or hole,called the

Swatch of No Ground,in the Bay of Bengal j ust off

the coast of Khulna,where the soundings suddenly

change from five to ten fathoms to 20 0 and even 30 0

fathoms . It s ori gin is uncertain , but it is probably due

to the fact that sediment is carried away and deposit ion

86 MINES AND MINERALS

coal - field , the Raniganj field,which lies mainly in Burd

wan, has been worked far longer , systematic mining

having been started a century ago ; the annual productionis now four million tons . The Giridih field , which covers

VI I I ] MINES AND MINERALS 87

11 square miles in Hazar ibagh and is estimated to contain 82 million tons, produces the best coal in India .

The mines,which are worked by the East Indian Railway

Company,have an annual output of tons . Other

collieries of minor importance are situated in the Dalton

ganj field in Palaman,the outturn of which is only

tons a year .

There are also large coal seams higher up the valley of

the Damodar river,which have not yet been exploited

owing to the absence of railway communication . Nearthe western boundary of the Jher r ia field i s that of

Bokaro , covering 220 square miles , with an estimatedcontent of 150 0 million tons ; and close by ,

in the districto f Hazaribagh ,

is the Ramgarh field (40 square miles) ,in which

,however

,the coal is believed to be of inferior

quality . A still larger field in the same district is that

called Karanpura,which extends over 544 square miles

and has an estimated capacity of 90 0 0 million tons .

The Palaman d istrict contains two other fields,which

have also n ot been worked owing to their inaccessibility ,viz .

,the Au ranga and Hutar fields . The former has an

area of 97 square miles , and the quantity of coal availableis est imated at 20 million tons of indifferent quality .

The Hutar field covers 79 square miles , and its coal i s

believed to be fully up to.

the average of Indian coals ,but only three seams of a thickness that could be worked

with profit have so far been discovered .

Coal deposits also exist along the valley of the Mahanadi river

,notably in Sambalpur

,Gangpur and Talcher .

Six thousand tons were raised in the district first namedin 1911. The Santal Parganas contain a few small

mines , which merely supply local wants . Coal measuresoccur in the Gondwana strata of Darj eeling , but theseams are badly crushed and the coal is so flaky , thatit is of l ittle use except for making coke or briquettes .

88 MINES AND MINERALS [CH .

Coal mining is by far the most important of the mineral industries

,employing a labour force of about

persons . The winning of the coal i s comparatively easy,

most of it being got from inclines driven into the outcrops

of the seams . There are few deep shafts,and the depth

of the maj ority of the mines varies from a few feet t o

350 feet ; the work consists mainly of driving galleriesto extract the coal

,leaving pillars to support the roof .

There is,fortunately

,very little fire- damp or dust

,for

the mines being shallow,with a superincumbent stratum

of porous sandstone,most of the collieries are damp or

even wet with water . Owing to the facilit ies of miningand the cheapness of labour , the pit -mouth price is lower

than in any other mining country,the average per ton in

1912 being only R S . 3—10 in the R aniganj field and R s . 2 —14

in the Jher r ia field . The actual outturn per miner is

however less than half what it is in England ; in fact ,i t has been calculated that a Bengal mine requires2% times as many underground workers as an

'

E nglish

mine . This is the inevitable result of the almost casual

character of the labour force . The Indian miner has beendescribed as being still t o some extent a miner bycaprice

,and alternates mining with the tillage of his

fields . Even when at work , he does not work steadilyand without interruption

,so that the average number

of working days in the y ear is only 220 .

The coal put on the market , which is known as Bengalcoal

,i s a good to middling steam coal , the percentage of

ash ranging from 10 to 15 and of fixed carbon from 5 0

to 60 . The greater part is consumed in the railways,j ute

mills an d other manufacturing concerns in India . The

largest consumers are the railways,which take 4% million

tons a year ; a test carried out a few years ago with firstclass Bengal coal showed that it runs 26 lbs . per trainmile

,N atal coal 27 lbs . ,

and Australian coal 30 lbs I ts


second half of the seventeenth century,referred to Sou

melpou r”as a region rich in diamonds

,which contained

the most ancient mines in India . Clive having been

invited by the Raj a to s tart a trade in the stones sentan agent

,Mr Motte

,there in

‘

1766, as h e wished to usediamonds as a means of transmitting money to England .

Motte purchased several,but the scheme of trade never

materialized . There is also a record of several valuablediamonds having been found at Sambalpur early in thenineteenth century ; on e, which the Maratha commandantconfiscated

,weighed 672 grains or 210 carats—a weight

which places it among the largest diamonds of the world .

For the last sixty years,however

,few diamonds of any

value have been found . Soon after 1856 a ,lease of the

right to mine for diamonds was given out,but could not

be made to pay even at the modest rental of Rs . 20 0 a

year ; and in recent times the Operations of a syndicateproved a complete failure .

Chota Nagpur also appears to have been famous for

it s diamonds in Mughal t imes ; they were found in theriver Sankh and were occasionally paid as tribute to theDelhi Emperors . I t is said that when Captain Camac

came to Chota Nagpur at the head of a Brit ish force in1772 , the Raj a wore a diamond worth R S . in histurban . With a subtlety worthy of a better cause , the

Captain offered to exchange his hat for the Raj a’

s turbanas a symbol of friendship . This interested offer the R aj ahad reluctantly to accept .

Gold i s obtained by washing the sands of the Subarn arekh a and Mahanadi . The washers , who are called

Jhoras , make but a poor livelihood of this business , theirearnings not averaging more than four annas (4d . ) a day .

Many ancient surface workings are still extant in Singht

'

im,where there are thousands of stone crushers and

mortars,which were used for grinding the vein stuffs . In

VI I I ] MINES AND MINERALS 91

1890 there was a remarkable gold boom ,when 32 com

p an ies , with a capital of nearly a million pounds , wereformed for the exploitation of th e deposits of Chota Nag

p ur . Only on e mine was productive , a small bar of goldbeing found in i t every month .

,When it was discoveredthat this mine had been regularly “ salted

,

” the boomcollapsed .

-A special inquiry into the value of Chota Nagpur asa gold-producing area was made by the Geological SurveyDepartment ten years ago

,and the conclusion arrived at

was : “ There may be,hidden away in the dense forest

and covered up by the soil and by the vegetation of

centuries,quartz veins rivalling those of Southern India .

Certainly it was the supreme height of folly to deny thepossibility . Bu t

,with the data at hand

,there

,

can be

only on e conclusion ,viz . ,

that with two doubtful exceptions

,there is little scope for the legit imate investment

of capital in the recovery of th e gold of Chota Nagpur ,whether from its sands or from its quartz veins .

I ron ore is found (1) in thin alluvial deposits in anumb er

.of places

, (2) as masses of haematite and magn et ite in metamorphic rocks in S inghb hfim

,and (3 ) as

nodul es in the ironstone shales of the R aniganj coal- field .

I t has been smelted from time immemorial in smallprimitive furnaces

,b u t except in the more remote areas

this industry has succumbed to the compet it ion of cheapimported iron and steel . I t st ill survives in Chota Nag

pur,the Orissa States and the Rajmahal Hills , wher

’

e ironore i s extracted on a small scale and smelted to providethe Villagers with agricultural and domestic instruments ,such as ploughshares

,mattocks and knives . The Santals

and other aborigines also prefer iron’

made in this way fortheir axes and the heads of their arrows . Inquiry goes toShow that though the methods of smelting are wastefuland the yield is small

,the iron produced is of good quality,

94 MINES ANI ) MINERALS (c u .

States of ( langpur a nd Kalahandi . I t has only recently

been worked,but the ou tput is a l ready tons .

Mica is quarried in the . d istricts o f Hazarib agh ,( laya

md Monghyr , across the j unct ions o f wh ich st retches amica-bearing bel t

,some (30 miles long a nd 12 miles broad .

The mineral is found in th e veins o f a coarse -g rained

granite , ca lled pegmatite , and is technically called mu sco

vile ,owing to its being used in Russia in the place of gl ass

Fig . 28 . A m ica m in e

fo r windows . The ind u stry,which was pract ica lly non

existent 25 years ago ,ha s recently d eveloped rap id ly in con

sequence o l'

the increasing numb er o f uses “

fo r which mica isrequired ,

a nd in consequence o f the invention o f micanit e,

wh ich ha s found a u se fo r the smalle r grades which usedto be tre ated a s wa ste . Owing to the g reater d emand ,

imp roved method s o f working have b een in l roduced . Ten

ye ars ago the practice was to work by hand a ny pro

d uc tive veins that we re fo u nd outcropping on the sur face .

V i n ] MINES AND MINERALS 95

A string o f coolies brought up the mineral on rude bambooladd ers . Every morning

,before beginning work

,they

baled out the water that gathered in the workings over

night . Work was a t a standstill during the rains . I f

d iff iculties were met with,e .g .

,i f the yield fel l oft or too

much water accumulated,the mine was abandoned . I t

soon became so covered with debri s,or so water—logged ,

that the vein itsel f was often completely obliterated . Now

i t i s reported,

“ The gradual exhaustion of the outcropworkings is compell ing some owners to introduce moremodern methods of working . Already vertical shafts , well

timbered or supported by masonry,are being sunk to

reach the veins below the old workings ; steam andhand-pumps are superseding the old - fashioned methodsof unwatering the mines

,winches are taking the place

o f swingpo les to raise the mineral , and manual labour isbeing economized generally .

”

Rel iable statistics of output are not available,but i t

m ay be estimated that one - third of the world’s present

supp ly of mica is produced from this area ; a labourforce o f over persons is employed .

The chief source of saltpetre in India is North B ihar ,where sali ferous earth is found in the vicinity o f thevillage homesteads . I t occurs in the form of a whitee f‘florescence of d ried salt

,which is collected and made

into a crude and impure saltpetre by a rough process of

fi ltration . I t is further refined in small village refineries

before being sen t to Calcutta,where it is either exported

or puri fied to a higher degree A b y - product is sulphateo f soda

,which is used for fattening cattle

,manuring cer

ta in crops and curing hides .Sa ltpetre , being in great demand in Europe for the

manu facture o f g unpowder , was one of the princ ipal exports from India

,and the Eu ropean mercantile companies

competed for the trade . We find that in 165 0 ,when the


English were meditating an advance from the sea- board,

their agents who were instructed that “Pa ten n a being on

all sides concluded the best place for procuring peter,

they are to make a trial how they can procure the samefrom thence .

” Tavernier,who visited Patna in 1666

with Bernier,also wrote : The Holland Company have

a house there by reason of their trade in saltpetre,which

they refine at a great town called ChouparHe further stated that the Dutch had imported boilers

from Holland and had tried to start refineries of theirown

,but had not succeeded because the people

,afraid of

losing their profits , refused to supply them with whemwith which to bleach the saltpetre . Before the end of

the seventeenth century the English had made a settle

ment at Patna and had acquired peter godowns ” atChapra

,and fleets of their boats laden with their supplies

were to be seen on the Ganges . The Court of Directors

were never weary of asking for saltpetre from Patna,

where it could be had so good and cheap,that the con

tract for it was discontinued on the west coast in 1668

and at Masulipatam in 1670 .

There are six s la te quarries in the Kharagpur Hills

near Monghyr,where slate has been worked by a Euro

pean firm for the last fifty years . The stone is a slightlymetamorphosed phyllite

,and is mainly used for roofing .

I t can also be employed for enamelling slate,e .g .

,for

dadoes,socalled marble clocks

,etc .

The other m in era ls of the country are at present of

only minor economic importance and may be dismissed

briefly . Stea tite i s widely distributed in Chota Nagpurin the form of potstones , which ,

as the name implies,are

made into pots,as well as plates

,cups

,etc . Several

minerals are found in conjunction with mica . In thepegmatite veins which are the source of mica there havebeen discovered ( I ) large crystals of b ery l with clear

98 MINES AND MINERALS [CH . V I I I

bridge at Sara . This durable stone was formerly usedfor temples and forts in the n elgh b ou rhood . The magnificen t temples at Puri

,Bhubaneswar an d Konarak ,

’

similarly show to what good purpose the stone of the

Ori ssa hills can be employed . In the Himalayas,again ,

a gneiss is quarri ed,which is easily split up into blocks .

Lastly,there is abundance both of laterite and of the car

bonate of lime called kankar , which have been adj udged

by good authority to be “ among the most valuable assets

in building material possessed by the country .

”

Clays , which are almost ubiquitous , are utilized for the

manufacture of bricks,t iles and the common unglazed

pottery which is turned ou t on the primitive potter’s

wheel . A large manufacture of glazed tiles and drainpipes is carried on in the pottery works of Messrs Burnand Co . ,

at Raniganj ; the material is obtained from

the coal measures in the neighbourhood . Fire - clays a re

plentiful on the west coast of the Rajmahal Hills , but

are mostly found,in beds

,in the Damodar rocks of the

coal- fields . Many of them are said to be perfectly in

fusib le and their texture as fine as that of the best

Stourbridge clay . I t is believed that they are suitable

for retorts for gas manufacture as well a s for fire—bricksin fact

,that they would answer most of the requirements

for which Stourbridge clay is n ow used . China- clay or

ka olin is found in the white Damodar sandstone of the

R ajmahal Hills , where its presence is due to the decompo

s it ion of felspar . I t is extracted from the sandstone bya p roces s of crushing

,washing and settling and is used

by the Calcutta Pottery Company for the manufacture

of china and porcelain .

CHAPTER IX

FLORA AND FORES TS

VARIETY of vegetat ion is the necessary resultantof great diversity oi .

- physical condit ions in an area

which extends from the Himalayas to the sea,which on

on e side verges on the tableland of Central India and on

another is merely a continuation of the Gangetic plain ,and which includes not only mountainous and deltaic

country, but also arid and humid regions . The Hima

layas are rich in the flora of a temperate climate

conifers,oaks

,maples , chestnuts , walnuts , rhododendrons ,

etc . Bihar forms part of the upper Gangetic valley, and

its indi genous species are those of a dry tropical country .

For botanical purposes i t is divi ded into two parts sepa

rated by the Ganges . The northern area of Tirhu t lies

from west to east between th e Gandak and the Kosi ;th e southern portion , t o which the name Bihar is given

in a restricted sense , extends to the banks of the B hagi

rath i .“ Greater diversity of surface and less humidity,

writes Sir David Pr a in in Benga l Plan ts , account for

the presence in B ihar of many Species that are absent

from Tirhu t . Another and,though an accidental

,not

less important factor in influencing the vegetation of

Tirhu t is the density of the population . So close,in

consequence,i s the tilth

,that throughout whole district s

field is conterminous with field , and the cultivated landabuts so closely on wayside and water- course as to leaveno foothold for th ose Species that form the roadside

hedges and fill the weedy waste places so characterist ic

of Lower B engal .”

I oo FLORA AND FORESTS [CH .

In Bengal we come to the humi d region of the Gangeticdelta

,with a luxuriant evergreen vegetation

,the villages

being commonl y imbedded in orchards and groves of

mangoes,

figs,such as banyan and piped, bamboos and

di fferent kinds of palms . Over large areas the flora isaquatic or palustrine ; the b i ls or marshes are coveredwith sedges

,reeds and lil ies

,which are sometimes matted

together into floating islets . One anomalous featur e isthe occurrence

,on ri sing ground between the b i ls

'

inMymensingh

,of a few plants typical of the Khasi Hill s ,

wanderers from the hil ly region to the north .

In the Su n darb an s the common trees and plants of

Bengal are replaced by an entirely d ifferent class of

vegetation . The swampy islands along the sea face aremostly covered with a dense evergreen forest of a purely

Malayan type,and contain species not found elsewhere

in our area except on the coast of Chi ttagong and Ori ssa ,where there is a similar swampy mangrove growth . A

most remarkable character of‘

the estuarian vegetation

is the habit of several of the endemic Species to send upfrom their subterr anean roots a mul titude of aerial roots ,in some cases several feet l ong

,which act as respiratory

organs .

Orissa and Chittagong have two other distinctivebotani cal featur es . In the former

,a pecul iar li ttoral

vegetation,with several species characterist ic of the

Coromandel coast,i s found in the sand-hills between the

alluvial rice fields and the sea . The flora of the latter ismainly that character ist ic of Arakan ,

with a considerable

admixture,however

,of species typical of Cachar and a

few Special forms of its own .

Chota Nagpur is,for the most par t , b otamca lly um

explored,but is mainly covered with deciduous—leaved

forest . I ts flora contains not onl y representatives of

dry hot countri es but also , in the deep damp valleys of

10 2 FLORA AND FORESTS

act like a sponge,the rain percolating through the ground

gradually . On bare treeless slopes,however

,the rain

ploughs through the exposed soil and washes it away . Thewater , instead of reaching the streams and rivers gradually ,

swells them suddenly,with the result that there are

abrupt and violent rises in their level,which cause floods

,

or even changes in the river courses,in the plains below .

The principal forests are those of the Himalayas,

the Tarai the Su ndarb an s,Chittagong and Singhbhum .

The Hima layan fores ts are found on the ridges of

the mountains in Sikkim and Darj eeling and in thevalleys between them . Sikkim is as well-wooded as

,

perhaps,any country in the world . Nearly. the whole

country is under“

virgin forest from a height of 70 0 0

to feet,the latter being the limit of tree growth ;

and the forests contain a large supply of valuable

timber, mainly oaks , chestnuts , various conifers , rhododendrons and small j unipers . At present

,however

,their

economical value is very small owing to their inaccessi

b ility ,their distance from existing markets and the high

price of transport . Nine—tenths of the forests are foundon the higher elevations ; the S lopes below 70 0 0 feet

have mostly been denuded and brought under cultivation .

The forests of Darj eeling are extremely diversified ,including semi- tropical , temperate and sub- alpine species

according to th e level of the l pes and valleys . S al

(S hor ea robu s ta ) is at once the predominant and mostValuable tree in the lowest zone , it s t imber being inlarge demand for railway sleepers . The rubber tree

(Fi cu s ela stica ) , though somewhat rare , is indigenousin this area . In the temperate zone oaks , magnolias ,chestnuts

,laurels

,maples and a bewildering var iety of

other trees are found . The most conspicuous are the

magnolias, which i n spring

,when still leafless

,star the

hill—S ides with their gorgeous white and pink flowers .

1x] FLORA AND FORESTS 10 3

The most useful are the following : the champ (M i chel iaexcels a ) i s used for panelling and the flooring of houses .The ta n (Cedr ela toon a ) furnishes on e of the best plankingwoods in India it is largely used for tea boxes

,as are

also the lampati a (D a a banga son n erafloides ) and severalkinds of laurels . Two Species of oaks are available forheavy beams

,while the wood of the walnut (j uglan s

r egia ) is equal in quality to the best English walnut .

Fig . 29 . Himalayan forest feet above sea level )

In the sub - alpine region there are forests of S ilver fir

(Abi es 'W eb b iana ) and rhododendrons , highly picturesquebut of little economic value at present owing to difficultiesof transport . Several species of aconite are found cattlecrossing into Darj eeling have to be muzzled to preventthem eating the poisonous plants . The undergrowthbetween 70 0 0 and feet consists of almost im

penetrable thickets of bamboos,of which little use has

hitherto been made but an agreement has recently been

104 FLORA AND FORESTS [on

concluded under which they will be exploited for the

manufacture Of paper pulp ; a lease for the collection Of

nettle fibre has also been given ou t .

In the Ta ra i fores ts Of Darj eeling and Jalpaigurisoi l is n ot only the most plentiful but also the most

important commercial tree . I t varies from canopiedhigh forest , sometimes with 20 0 stems to the acre , to

a thinly scattered growth . There is said to be an almost

unlimited demand for its t imber from the railways ,and a large quantity that is n ot cut up into sleepers

is exported to Eastern Bengal . A special difficulty

encountered in these forests is the evil fertility of creepers ,which

,i f not cut back

,half strangle the trees and impede

n atural reproduction .

The Su n da rb an s fores ts supply immense quantities Of

timber , fuel and thatching materials to the lower deltaicd istricts

,for which

,indeed

,they are practically the only

source available . The predominant tree is that fromwhich they derive their name—the sa nd r i (Her i tiem

li ttor a li s ) , the timber Of which is in large demand forboat -building . Two gregarious palms are common ,

vi z .

the N ipa f ra tican s and the Phoen ixpalu dos a . The formeris a low stemless palm with a large head of nuts and tuftsOf feathery leaves

,Often 30 feet long , which are largely

used for thatching . Similar use is made Of t h e frondsOf the Phoen ix

,a dwarf S lender- stemmed tree

,with a

dense mass of foliage . Near t he sea front the forestis almost entirely composed Of mangroves , which extendinto tidal water . At some places

,however

,they are

separated from the sea by a line Of low sand- hills,which

have a few p lan ts ch aracter ist ic Of other Asiatic shores ,such as the mandar (E ry thr i n a indica ) . The latteris a thorny leguminous tree that is used to shade youngbetel

,

—nu t_

"

pa lms in plantations and also grows thicklyround -

V il la ge S ites l '

10 6 FLORA AND FOR ESTS (on .

There is a magnificent specimen in the Botanical

Gardens in Calcutta .

“ According to the latest measure

ments published,the main trunk is 51 feet in girth (at

5% feet from the ground) , and 562 aerial roots have struck

Fig . 3 0 . The paras itic p ipa l

downwards into the soil . The diameter Of the space

covered by it is 264 to 287 feet , and the circumference

of its leafy crown is j ust on 10 0 0 feet . The pipa l i s a

parasit ic plant that tears even solid masonry asunder

s fer i li s ma la r obora fici—but when standing alone i s

IX] FLORA AND FORESTS 10 7

a noble and graceful tree . Like the banyan,it i s accounted

holy among Hindus,and it is sacrilege to cut it down .

O f greater economic use are bamboos,the utility O f

which is manifold,and the various palm trees . The

exudat ion Obtained by tapping the date palm (Phoen ixsy lves tr i s ) is made into a coarse sugar in Bengal ; theoutturn O f the sugar so manufactured is estimated at1% million cwts . a year

,mostly produced in the district

Of Jessore . In Bihar it supplies a thirsty population

wi th the liquor called toddy (a corrupt ion of the Indianname taxi ) . When fresh and unfermented

,it is a mild

refreshing drink,perhaps oversweet for European palates

when fermented it is a heady liquor that steals the brainsaway . The betel- nut palm (Ar eca ca techu ) , which insome places grows almost in forests

,brings in a handsome

revenue .to the peasants in Eastern Bengal it is estimatedthat in Backergunge alone there are 27 milli on of thesetrees , yielding 60 0 0 million nuts per annum . Theyhave a long productive life

,beginning to bear when

six to ten years Old and continuing to do so for fiftyto sixty years . The cocoanut is put to various uses .

From its kernel sweetmeats are made and oil is extracted,

while the milk is drunk ; ropes and matting are madefrom the husk the Shell is used for hookahs and cupsand when the tree is past bearing

,i t is cut down and

hollowed ou t into a canoe or cut up into rafters . The

wood of the palmyra or fan palm (Boras su s flahellifer ) ,which is common both in Bihar and Bengal

,is put to

the same uses,while its leaves are used for thatching .

In the drier country found in Chota Nagpur and theadj oining plains the most useful tree is the in ahu a (Ba s s ia

la tifolia ) , which supplies the people with food ,wine , Oil

and ‘ t imber . Its flowers are edible,and being rich in

sugar , afford a fairly nutrit ious food ,which enters largely

into the diet Of the aboriginals . The thin white carpet

10 8 FLORA AND FORESTS [CH .

which the flowers spread over the ground,when they

fall , has been compared to the fall Of manna in the wilderness , and the resemblance is enh anced when the villagers

turn ou t . with their baskets to collect and carry them

home . There they are spread ou t in the sun to dry,

and then stored away for future consumption.The

pulp of the fruit is also eaten,and Oil is expressed from

the kernel , while the tough wood Of the trunk is used for

Fig . 3 1. View in th e Royal Botan ic Ga rden , S ibpu r

the naves Of cart wheels . The heart of the kend (D iospy rosmelan oxy lon ) yields the ebony Of commerce ; lac ispropagated on the pa las (Bu lea frondosa ) ; tussoresilk-worms feed on the a sa n (Termi n a lia tomen tos a ) ;the pods Of the red cotton tree (Bombax ma la bar icu ni )shed a coarse cotton when they burst ; and the long

coarse sa ba i grass (I schoeni u in angu s l ifoliu ni ) is madeinto a strong twine or exported to the paper mills nearCalcutta for manufacture into paper . The raising of

this grass is Of especial importance in the Rajmahal

1I O ZOOLOGY [OH .

and Hill Tippera) , and the first b y the remainder Of Bengaland Bihar and Orissa . The higher alt itudes of theHimalayas form part Of a fourth sub- region

,the Tibetan

,

which has a fauna resembling that Of Central Asia and

belonging to the Holarctic or Palaearctic zoological

region .

The most interesting zoological areas are the Himalayas

,the country to the east Of the Bay Of Bengal and

the Su n darb an s . The last has been described as possessing an abundant pachydermatous fauna

,the stronghold

of gigantic and d estructive saurians and peculiar fish

a curious and anomalous tract,for here we see a surface

soil composed Of black liquid mud supporting the hugerhinoceros

,the sharp- hoofed hog ,

the mud-hating tiger,

the delicate and fastidiously clean spotted deer—we seefishes cl imbing trees

,wild hogs and tigers

,animals

generally avoidin g water,swimming across the broadcast

rivers,as if for amusement . Outs ide these areas the

larger mammals have mostly disappeared owing to the

Spread Of cult ivation and human habitation , but theyare still found in th e sparsely inhabited hilly regions

and in the forests which have not yet yi elded to_

the axe

of the pioneer and the subsequent advance of the plough .

O f the Prima tes , the long- tailed grey langur or sacredHanuman (S emnopi thecu s en tellu s ) and the shorter

tailed Bengal or Rhesus monkey (M acacu s rhesu s ) a re

very widely distributed . The white-browed . Gibbon ,

called hoolock from its cry,and on e lemur are found in

the country to the east Of the Bay . Thi s I s also the

habitat of the brown stump- tailed monk'

ey (M . arctoides )of Burma , which is distinguished by a tai l so short as tobe almost rudimentary

,and of th e long- tailed capped

or toque monkey (M . pi lea iu s ) Of Ceylon . Here too

th e Himalayan monkey (M . as sa in en s i s ) and a large

Himalayan langur (S . s ch i s taceu s ) a re met with , as well

x] ZOOLOGY 111

as in the Himalayas,where the latter i s hardy enough

to live among the snow- laden boughs of fir trees in thehigher altitudes .The Ca rn ivora include many Of the Felidae or cat

family . The tiger was once so plenti ful that it i s stillcommonly Spoken Of as the Bengal tiger . About 170 2

a Dutchman is said to have shot 23 tigers in a weeknear Plassey

,where the country is n ow entirely free

from these brutes . A black tiger has been seen in Chitta

gong,and those frequentin g the sand du n es

.along the

sea face of the Su n darb an s have almost lost their stripesin adaptation to their environment

,SO that their coats

are Of a tawny orange wi th only a few dark lines . Inthis estuarine labyrinth they commonly swim across the

creeks and rivers,and on e is known . to have made its

way across the mouth Of the Hooghly,a distance of eight

mil es . A certain number are habitual man- eaters , more

especially in Chota Nagpur and the Su n darb an s ; in1911

—12 the number Of deaths reported as due to themin Bengal and Bihar and Orissa was 433 . Of the habitsOf the Su n darb an s man- eaters Bernier wrote in the

seventeenth century : I t is in many places dangerousto land

,and great care must be taken that the boat ,

which during the night is fastened to a tree , be keptat some distance from the shore

,for i t constantly happens

that some person or another falls a prey to tigers . Th ese

ferocious animals are very apt,i t is said

,t o enter into

the boat itsel f,while the people are asleep

,and to carry

away some victim ,who; i f we are to believe the boatmen

Of the country,generally happens to be the stoutest

and fattest Of the party . I t is customary for parties

of woodmen entering the Sun darb an s forests to take with

them a faki r or holy man,who is believed to have the

power Of driving away tigers by his spells . Unfortunatelyfor this belief

,the faki r himself is sometimes carried

112 ZOOLOGY (011.

Off . In Chota Nagpur an d the Orissa States man - eaters

are killed by means Of a huge b ow,with a large p oisoned

arrow,which is placed by the side of paths frequented

by them . I t is discharged by . a string stretched acrossthe run some 18

'

inches from the ground . A safetystring is put higher up to warn the casual passers by Of

their danger,but this I s Of no use when ,

as has happenedbefore this

,an aboriginal is returning home so drunk

that he crawls along on his hands and feet .

LeOpargls , which are widely distributed ,also occasion

ally acquire a taste for human flesh,and are more danger

ou s than even tigers , as they have the advantage Of being

ab le . to climb trees . Their size and markings vary

considerably,and black leopards are met with east of

the Bay Of Bengal . The snow- leopard or ounce and the

lynx are peculiar to the higher alt itudes in the Himalayas ,while the clouded leopard is found on the lower l pes

and also to the east Of the Bay . A few cheetahsor hunting

leopards have been shot in the Orissa States . O f othercats the most fr equent is the j ungle cat (Feli s Chau s ) ,which resembles the Indian domestic eat

,but is larger

and fiercer . The fishing cat (F . viverr in a ) , which is socalled because it feeds chiefly on fish

,l ives on the banks

of marshes and rivers in Eastern Bengal . There are

several species of civet cat,from which the civet drug

is Obtained—among others,the palm civet

,which is also

called the toddy cat from its real or imaginary liking for'

palm j uice or toddy . The bear cat (Arcticti s b in tu rong) isconfined to the forests east Of the B ay . Alone Of the

animals in Europe,Asia and Africa

,i t has a prehensile

tail,with which it can suspend itself

,at least when

young .

‘Of the dog fam i ly , th e Indian wolf survives and stillhas the propensity for children which is SO familiar

a theme in children’

s story books ; in the district o f

114 ZOOLOGY [OH .

The In sectivora include hedgehogs,moles and shrews .

The best known is the grey musk shrew,commonly

called the musk rat from its musky smell,which is due

to the secretion of two glands . The tupaias or tree

shrews are arboreal animals,which look like a cross

between a rat and a squirrel,but are distinguished from

the latter by their ears and teeth .

The Chiroptera have several representatives , Of_

wh ich

the most familiar is the fru it - eating flying fox . During

the day hundreds Of them may be seen hanging,like

great fruit,from the branches Of their favourite trees ;

in the evening they sally forth in search of food,

flying

on wide membranous wings .The roden ts include rats , mice , porcupines , hares ,

etc . By far the most important of these is the commonIndian rat (M u s ra ttu s ) , for it harbours the plague flea ,that every year slays its thousands and tens Of thousands .

The prevalence Of plague is determined by its d istribution .

This fell disease is r i fe in Bihar,where the tiled—roofed ,

mud-walled houses are infested by rats . Eastern Bengal ,however

,is immune from the pestilence

,for here the

M u s ra l lu s is not a domestic animal,

finding little shelterin houses built Of brick

,bamboo -matting

,

or wattle

with roofs of corru gated iron,split bamboos or thatch .

The loathsome bandicoot is a large rat,two feet in length ,

which burrows under houses . The name is a corruptionof the Telugu pandi—koku ,

or pig- rat,

” which is attributedto the animal grunting like a pig . The commonestsquirrel is the prettily striped palm squirrel

,which is ,

however , more Often seen in gardens than on palm trees .

Marmots are found in the higher altitudes Of the Himalayas

,and in the forests lower down flying squirrels

may be seen,in the dusk of the evening

,volplaning

down from tree to tree on expanded membranes .

The order Of ‘Un gu lata (hoofed animals ) is a large one ,

x] ZOOLOGY 1I 5

including elephants,rhinoceros

,camels

,antelopes and deer

,

horse,swine

,Sheep

,goats and oxen . Tame elephants are

kept by Raj as and wealthy landlords . Wild herds haunt

the Tarai and the forests Of Angul and the Orissa States .

They sometimes ascend the Himalayas to a height Of

feet,and have been seen roaming about in the

snow . They are particularly mischievous and destruct ive

in the Tarai . Here the telegraph wire has to be attached

Fig . 3 2 . Elephants bathin g

to the trees,for telegraph posts are pulled down as fast

as they are put up . They are captured in kh eddah s

or stockades in Angul and by means Of noosing in Ja lp a iguri ; altogether , 227 were taken in these two districtsin the decennium 190 2

—12 .

Three species Of rhinoceros survive in diminishednumbers

,vi z . ,

the great Indian rhinoceros (R . u n icorn i s )in the Tarai

,the j avan rhinoceros (R . sonda icu s ) , a

116 ZOOLOGY [OH .

smaller on e—horned variety,in the Su n darb an s and

a two- horned variety (R . s uma iren s i s ) in the countryeast Of the Bay . A specimen of the hairy- eared rhinoceros

(R . la s ioti s ) was captured many years ago in Chittagongand sent to the Zoological Gardens in London . Camelsare confined to the h ot dry climate Of Bihar ; a camelcart service is maintained in the Gaya d istrict .

Fig . 3 3 . A camel ca rt

The ox tribe is represented by several species , both

wild and domesticated . The gau r (Bos gau ru s ) , miscalledthe bison by sportsmen

,i s st ill fairly plentiful in Singh

bhum,the Orissa States and the Tarai . The gayal or

in i thu n (B . fxon ta li s ) i s found in a wild state in the countryeast of the Bay a fine specimen (8 feet 7 inches in height)was shot a few years ago in Chittagong . Domesticated

herds of gayal and of yaks (well designated Bos gru n n ien s ,or the grunting ox) , which make excellent milch cattle ,

118 ZOOLOGY [CH .

Of the latter is usually called the black buck its Spirallytwisted horns

,seen from the S ide or singly

,have possibly

given rise to the legend Of the unicorn . The four

horned antelope (Telxacei'u s qu adr icorn i s ) is somewhat

rare . The Indian gazelle (Ga z ella b en n etti ) , otherwiseknown as the chinkara or ravine deer

,is found in the

Chota Nagpur plateau and the country at its base . Themembers Of the deer family are many

, vi z . ,the sambar ,

which is the noblest Of them all,the mu n tj ac or barking

deer,SO—called from its dog- l ike bark

,the chi ta l or spotted

deer,the hog deer , the t iny mouse deer and the hard

s ingha (literally twelve-horned) or swamp deer . The

hornless musk deer , . which yields the musk of commerce

,occurs in the higher elevations Of the Hima

layas .

Wild pigs are numerous and do great damage to thecrops Of rice

,as they press down the stalks between

their feet,so as to bring the grain to their mouths

,and

make long swathes in their passage . As for the horse,

there is nothing to add to the account given in a recent

Government publication,viz . , The only local breed is

the country ‘tat which is an Obj ect Of compassionwherever on e meets it owing to the cruelty to which

it is subj ected by the maj ority of owners .The only other order of land mammals is called

Eden tata (toothless) and consists Of the pangolins (M an i s ) .They have an armour of horny scales and feed chiefly

on ants , whence they are called scaly ant- eaters .The aquarian mammals comprise Ceta cea ,

i .e .,whales

,

dolphins and porpoises,and S iren ia ,

Of which the dugong

is the only representative: In addi tion to the whales,

dolphins and porpoises found in the Bay Of Bengal,

there is a fresh -water species,the Gangetic dolphin or

porpoise,which is a familiar S ight in the Ganges and

Brahmaputra .

’

The dugong is seen Off the coast"

of

X] ZOOLOGY 119

Chittagong,where at least on e Specimen has been captured .

I t has been suggested that this marine mammal is theoriginal Of the mermaid with a glass and a comb inher hand

,the fable having its source in the distant

S ight Of a dugong in the shallows , half out Of water ,a ttacked by hammer- headed sharks

,with their hammers

Shining in the sun like mirrors,and by saw- fish with

their comb - like snouts .The varieties Of birds are so numerous

,that all that

can be attempted is a brief summary as follows :Pa s seres . A large order including crows , magpies , j ays ,

thrushes,bulbuls

,the drongo or

“ king crow,warblers

,

Shrikes,

flycatchers , finches,swallows and martins

,larks

,

wagtails,and the sparrow

,which is as ubiquitous as the

crow . This order includes the tailor and weaver birds,

so called from the ingenious construction Of their nests .

The commonest Of the babbling thrushes are knownas sat bha i or the seven brothers , because they go aboutin bands

,Often seven in number . The ma in a i s a

favourite cage - bird,and can be easily taught to talk .

The handsomest are perhaps the golden oriole,the

paradise flycatcher and the S lender-billed irridescent sunbird

,sometimes miscalled the humming- bird .

E u ry laemi and P ici . Broadbills and woodpeckers

respectively .

Zygodacty li . Barbets,Of which the best known is

the Coppersmith bird,with a monosyllabic metallic

call took,took resembling the hammering Of copper

vessels .

An s iodacty li : Rollers , bee- eaters , kingfisher s , hornbills (miscalled toucans) and hoopoes . The Indianroller is usually called the blue j ay from its colour . Theplumage Of some kingfish er s is a blending Of metallicand turquoise blue Of great brilliance

,but the commonest

is a black and white bird . The hoopoe , like the wagtail ,

120 ZOOLOGY [CH .

Is a harbinger Of the cold weather ; the Muhammadans

believe that it was a favourite bird of Solomon and

consequently never molest it .M acrochi res . Swifts and nightj ars or goatsuckers .

Trogon es . Distinguished by the structure Of theirfeet , the first and second toes being turned backwards .

Coccyges or cuckoos . The European cuckoo breedsin the Himalayas

,where its familiar note is frequently

heard in the spring . Other members Of this family

are the coucal or crow pheasant,the loud-voiced koel

and the “ brainfever bird“ which is so called from the

wearisome repetition,in a high crescendo

,of i ts call—note

,

which closely resembles the sound Of the words “ brainfever .

”

Ps i tz‘aci or parrots . Mostly green long- tailed parroquets .

S tr iges or owls, on e Of which is regarded with super

s t it iou s dread .

Accip i tres or birds Of prey, including vultu res , eagles ,hawks

,kites

,etc . The Brahmani kite is sacred to

Vishnu . Vul tures on the other hand are regarded wi th

lively horror as birds of i ll omen some people will evenpull down their house if a vulture alights on it .

Colu ni bae and Ca ipophagin ae. Pigeons and doves .

Pterocletes . Sand- grouse .

Ga llin ae or game birds proper , pea fowl , j unglefowl

,pheasants

,partridges

,quails

, etc . Pea fowl arenot killed by orthodox Hindus , who hold them sacred

to the god Kartik . The red j ungle foWl is said to bethe bird from which the domestic fowl is derived .

Hemipodi i , which resemble quails but are distin

gu ish ed from them by having no"

hind toe .

Gra llae. R ails and cranes . The great bustard has

been shot in Gaya .

L imi colae. Plovers,snipes and wading birds Of many

kinds,which are cold-weather migrants from beyond

122 ZOOLOGY [CH .

an annual toll Of li fe. In the Su nda rb an s i t i s not safe

to bathe unless the water i s enclosed by palisading,

and even then the wily crocodile sometimes makes his

way in,during the night

,from the land side and catches

the early bather . Both sea and fresh-water turtles,

and land and water tortoises,are found .

O f the many l i z ards the commonest i s the thicktongued little house gecko

,which climbs over the walls

and ceilings Of houses by means Of plates on the surface

of its digit s . The name is a Malay word imitative Of

its cry . A large Species found in Bengal is known

scientifically as Gecko s len tor , and in the vernacular

as Touk- ta i , from its loud call . The monitors,or Vara

n idae,which have the nostrils hal f -way " between the

lip and t h e eye , a re called iguanas by Europeans and

goh—samp by Indians . They are popularly credit ed with

a virulent poison,probably because they have forked

tongues,whence also the name Of bis—cobra ( from b i sh ,

poison) . The blood- sucker is a harmless spiny- crested

lizard,also supposed to be venomous It owes its

ferocious name to - the red colour assumed by the maleduring the breeding season

,and is sometimes incorrectly

called a chameleon .

India is inhabited by all the known families Of living

s n akes , and our area has it s ful l share . The largestis the python

,miscalled the boa constrictor by Euro

peans,which is said to grow to a length of 30 feet and

certainly attains 20 feet . Another large and common

non—venomous snake is the dhan i an or rat - snake,which

feeds on frogs,l izards and small animals . The carpet

snake (Ly codon au licu s ) , which ,as its scientific name

implies,frequents dwelling houses

,i s an innocuous li ttle

snake which is bel ieved to be venomous,probably from

its likeness to the deadly kara i t . The common poisonous

snakes are either sea snakes or the following land snakes

x] ZOOLOGY 123

the cobra,the fierce ka i a it (Bu nga i/u s coeru leu s ) , the

raj - sauna (literally king snake) or banded ka ra i t (B .

fascia lu s ) , R ussell’

s viper,and the savage litt le carpet

viper (E chi s car in ata ) . The formidable venomous snake

called hamadryad or king cobra (N a ia bu nga ru s ) , whichgrows to a length Of 12 feet , i s found in some localitie s ;i t owes its scientific name Of Ophiophagus to its pecul iarhabit Of eat ing its own kind .

The b atra chians include various species Of frogs and

toads . One species of the Caudata or tailed batrachians

(newts and salamanders) has been found in Sikkim .

Fish . Sharks,Skates and rays are plentiful in the

Bay Of Bengal and its estuaries . Hammer- headed sharks

are frequently caught Off the coast Of Chi ttagong,where

too a saw- fish has been captured having a saw- snout

50 % inches long and 11 inches broad at its j unction with

the head .

Favourite edible fish are hi lsa , bhekti and mango

fish . The hi lsa is a richly flavoured fish of the herring

family (Clupeidae) . I t is a true Shad closely allied to

the Allice shad Of Europe ; the name Allice is indeedprobably derived from the Bengali name O f the fish,vi z . i li sha . The bhekti (La tes ca lca r ifer ) is an estuarinefish . The mango - fish (Poly nemu s paradi s eu s ) was described by Walter Hamilton in 1820 as the best andhighest flavoured fish not only in Bengal

,but in the

whole world . Its name is due to its smell beingslightly ' like that O f the mango fruit . The Indian

name is taps i , meaning a devotee , which is ascribed to

the fact that it has whiskers like a Hindu ascetic .

Pomfret of an excellent flavour are also caught for thetable . The SO—called whiting Of Calcutta is not one Of

the cod family,like the European whiting , but one

Of the Sciaenidae . The curious name Of Bombayduck or bummalo‘ is given to dried fish Of the species

124 ZOOLOGY [OH .

known as Ha rpodon n ehereu s , which is plentiful in theBay . The mahseer (Bar bu s tor ) is found in the rivers Ofthe Himalayas and some other hilly regions

,and affords

excellent Sport to fishermen . The Indian trout (Ba r i li u sbola ) i s indigenous in the streams of Chota Nagpur .

Both the carp family and the Silurids are well rep resented ; some Of them grow to a length Of 6 feet , and on e

Of the larger Silurids is spoken of as the fresh—watershark .

Some fish have dist inctive peculiarit ies Of structure .

The koi or climbing perch (An a ba s scanden s ) is a smallfish which climbs by means Of spines along the marginof it s gills

,and can live for a long time ou t Of water . In

the Su n darb an s hundreds Of them may be seen hangingon the mangrove stems a few feet above the level Of thewater . Another curious fish is the Tetrodon or balloonfish

,which has the power Of inflating itsel f like a

balloon , thus erecting its Spines , when taken ou t O f thewater .

Prawns , shrimps and crabs are common , and thereare oyster beds in the Chilka lake and a long the Cuttack

coast .

CHAPTER X I

ADMIN I S TRAT ION AND POPULAT ION

IN addition to the territory under direct Brit ishadministration

,both Bengal and Bihar and Orissa contain

some“ principalit ies,known as Na tiv’

e Sta tes , which are

ruled over by Indian princes or chiefs . They are n ot

independent,for the Governments Of Bengal and Bihar

and Orissa exercise a general control over their administration

,but the laws that are in force‘ in British territory

126 ADMINISTRATION AND POPULATION [OH .

Admini strator , subordinate to the Governor of the FrenchPossessions in India

,whose headquarters are at Pondi

cherry .

As regards Brit ish territory,Bengal is administered

by a Governor- in - Council and Bihar and Orissa by aLieutenant - Governor—in - Council . The meaning of these

terms is that the governing body in each province isan Executive C oun ci l presided over in on e case by a

Fig . 3 5 . Map of th e Or is sa States

Governor , as in Madras and Bombay , and in the other b y aLieutenant-Governor . The former is drawn from theranks Of English public men . Th e latter is a member

Of the Indian Civil Service,who has proved his capacity

as an administrator during a long service in India . Bothhold Office for a term of five years , as also do the MembersOf Council . The number Of the latter is limited to four ,Of whom two at least must have been twelve years inthe service Of the Crown in India . Up to the present ,

X I] ADMINISTRATION AND POPULATION 127

the Council has been a triumvi rate,two being European

members Of the Ind ian Civil Service and the third anIndian private gentleman . The Governor and Lieutenant—Governor can overrule their Councils in mattersof grave importance

,but otherwise the Opinion Of the

maj ority prevails . Each province has a Leg isla tive

Counci l for the enactment of laws of provincial applica

tion and for the discussion of provincial finances andadministration . They are composed partly of Officialmembers and partly of non- Officia l members , aggregating

51 in Bengal and 43 in Bihar and Orissa . The non

Official members form a permanent maj ority ; most Of

them are elected to represent different classes or interests,

but a few are nominated by Government .References to and from the Government Of India ,

other governments and the local Officers are dealt withby the Secreta ria t

,i .e . ,

a staff Of Secretaries and Under

Secretaries . The highest revenue authority is the Boa rd of

R evenue,which was formerly composed Of two members

but now has only on e . There are separate D epa rtments

for other special branches Of administration ,e .g .

, police ,education

,agriculture

,public works

,medical

,j ails

,

forests and excise,the heads Of which deal directly

with Government . Both Governments are,to a certain

extent,peri patetic . Calcutta is the capital Of the Bengal

Government,but it s summer headquarters are at Dar

j eeling,and it also spends a portion of the year at Dacca .

Patna has been chosen as the cap ita l of the newly createdGovernment Of Bihar and Orissa

,and here buildings

are being erected for the accommodation Of its Offices .In the meantime

,it has its summer headquarters at

Ranchi .The unit of general administration is the d istrict .

Each district is under a District Officer,who is designated

Collector in respect Of his authority in revenue matters

128 ADMINISTRATION AND POPULATION [CH .

and District Magistrate by virtue of other functions .

He is the handy man of the Government,being

responsible for practically every branch of administrationin his district . Bengal contains 27 districts , excluding

the city Of Calcutta for which special arrangements

are made,and Bihar and Orissa has 21 districts . Their

average area is 2840 square miles in the former , and

3961 square mi les in the latter province ; the average

population is approximately 1% millions in each caseThe largest are Ranchi and Hazaribagh ,

each of whichcontains over 70 0 0 Square miles

,but Mymensingh has -the

greatest population ,viz .

, 45 millions . Compared with

European countries , Ranchi is very nearly as extensive as Wales

,while Mymensingh has more inhabitant s

than Ireland . This last district,however

,has proved

so unwieldy that it is to be subdivided into three

districts .

The district s of Chota Nagpur,the Santal Parganas

and Angul in B ihar and Orissa , and those Of Darj eeling ,Jalpaiguri and the Chittagong Hill Tracts in Bengal

,

have a simpler form of administration than the others .They are known as Non -R egula tion Dis tricts

,because

they are n ot subj ect to all the R egulat ions and Acts,

many Of which are unsuitable for aboriginals in a some

wha t backward state Of civilizat ion .

The district s a re grouped together by Divis ions ,the Officers in charge Of which are called Comm is s ion ers .

They have powers of inspect ion and control over the

District Officers and form intermediate authorities betweenthem and Government . There are five divisions in eachprovince

,the number of districts in them varying from

three to eight . For j udicial purposes , each district , or

a small group of two or sometimes three districts , i s

under a D is trict and Ses sions Judge .

The districts,with five exceptions

,are subdivided

130 ADMINISTRATION AND POPULATION [CH .

duties , income - tax and a public works cess . In the greaterpart Of the country the land

'

revenu e was fixed in per

petu ity in 1793 by a measure known as the PermanentSettlement . Although

,writes Sir Alfred Lyall in The

R i se of the B r i ti sh D omi n ion i n I nd ia ,the measure

has cut Off the Indian treasury from all share in theincrease of rents and the immense Spread Of cultivationalthough

.

it has prevented the equitable raising of theland revenue in proportion with the fall in value of the

currency in which it is paid—yet i t has undoubtedlymaintained Bengal as the wealthiest province Of the

empire . TO be more precise,the rental Of the landlords

has increased four or five fold since 1793 ,but the amount

contributed by them to the State has remained the same .

The land revenue is a light tax,the incidence per

cultivated acre being only eight annas in Bihar and Orissaan d fifteen annas in ' Bengal

,which is much less than

elsewhere in India . One- fifth Of the land is temporarilysettled ,

i .e . , the amount of land revenue is periodicallyrevi sed

,so that the State obtains a proportion Of the

increased assets . In such areas the incidence is aboutdouble what it is in permanently settled areas .The following statement shows the districts

,divisions

and States in each province,together with their area ,

popula tion an d density according to the census of 1911

Ar ea in NO . p er

D istri ct squ a re Popu lation squ a rem iles mile

TOTAL—BURDW AN D IVI S I ON I I 4

X I] ADMINISTRATION AND POPULATION

D i s trict or State

TOTAL—PRES IDENCY D IVI S I ON

TOTAL~ R AJ SHKH I D IVI S I ON

TOTAL—D ACCA D IVI S I ON

Chi ttagon gChittagon g Hi ll Tra ctsNoakhaliTipp er a

TOTAL—CH I TTAGONG D IVI S I ON

TOTAL—BR IT I SH TERR I TORY

Cooch BeharHill Tippera

TOTAL—NATIVE STATE s

Tota l—Ben g a l

Area in

squ a rem i les

I I "773

Pop u lation

131

60 1

2 87640

5 80

5 0 2

132 ADMINISTRATION AND POPULATION [OH .

Area in NO . p er

D is tr ict or S tate squ are Popu lation squ a rem iles m ile

TOTAL—PATNA D IVI S I ON 1

TOTAL—TI RHUT D I VI S ION

Bhagal pu rMon ghy rPu rn eaS an tal Pa rgan a s

TOTAL—BHAGAL'PUR D IVI S I ON

TOTAL—ORI S SA D IVI S ION

TOTAL—CHO‘TA NAGPUR D IVI S I ON

TOTAL—BRI TI SH TERRI TORY

Kha r sawanS a r a ikela

TOTAL—CHOTA NAGPUR STATES

CHAPTER X I I

H I STORY

Preh is toric movements . The earliest inhabitants are

believed to have been Dravidians,a prognathous curly

headed race,whose origin can only be a matter Of specula

tion . Dravidian languages still survive in Chota Nagpur,

the Orissa States and the Santal Parganas , where theyare Spoken by primitive races of archaic type . Thenorth—eastern passes and the Brahmaputra valley areb elieved to have afforded a pa ssage

'

to the next hordesof immigrants

,who were tribes speaking languages Of

the Mon -Khmer family . The intimate connection betweenthese languages and those of the south- eastern Pacificshows that the peoples who - Spoke them extended fromIndia across Assam to Indo- China and thence acrossMelanesia an d

’

Polyn es ia as far as Easter Island . Foresttribes in Malacca

,Pegu and Indo- China still use these

forms Of speech,wi th which the Nicobarese Khasi Of the

cent ral hills Of Assam and the Munda tongues of ChotaNagpur are closely connected . The possibility Of a

common origin is further suggested by the discovery of

peculiar Shoulder—headed celts in the Malay Peninsulaand the valley of the Irrawaddy on the on e hand and inthe present home Of the Mundari races on the other ;while the monoliths and flat stone slabs erected as sepulchral monuments by the Khas is in Assam and the Hos

and Mundas in Chota Nagpur have a similarity that

can hardly be regarded as fortuitous .

Later in the days of unchronicled antiquity came

CH . X I I] HISTORY 135

swarms of immigrants from the west Of China,who also

followed the northeastern route,descending the Brahma

putra to Assam and thence to Bengal . The Mongoloidelement which they introduced is st ill strong in theKoches and Meches of North Bengal and is probably alsoto be traced in the Pods and Chandals of the lower delta .

The last notable movement was the influx of Aryans ,who poured down from the north-west along the courseOf the Ganges . Their earliest settlement was in NorthBihar

,where the V ideh as founded the kingdom Of Mith ila ,

a kingdom which is celebrated in legendary lore as havingbeen a centre Of civilization

,culture and learning under

the pious rule of king Janaka . The wave of conquest

and civilization next Spread across the Ganges to SouthBihar , and thence gradually extended eastwards andsouthwards into Bengal and Orissa . In this part of thecountry the numerical inferiority Of the Aryans precludedwars of extermination . Conquest was followed by partialamalgamation with the earlier settlers , who learnt th e

arts,language

,and -religion Of their new rulers . As late

as the sixth century B .C . Bau dhyayana described the

people Of Magadha and Anga , i .e .,South and East Bihar,

as of mixed origin,while the Pu nd ras (in North Bengal) ,

the V anga s (in East Bengal) and the Kalingas (in Orissaand part Of Madras) were regarded as outside the paleOf Aryan civilization .

Early Hindu an d Buddhis t Period . Reliable historyis first reached

,in the sixth century B .C . ,

with the riseof the kingdom Of ~Magadha (South Bihar) , which underthe Mau ryas was to be the nucleus of an empire stretchingfrom sea to sea . The first capital was at Raj gi r in thePatna district

,whence the Sa isu naga kings extended

their conquests north Of the Ganges . There they established their suzerainty over the Lich ch avis , one of a

confederate group of tribes governed by an oligarchical

136 HISTORY [CH . X I I

republic , who had their capital at V aisali , the modernvillage of Basarh in the Muzaffarpur district . The chief

interest of the Sa isu naga kings , however , l ies in the factthat their rule synchronized with the birth Of Jainism

and Buddhism , and that their territory was the cradleof both those religions . Mahavi ra

,the founder Of Jainism

,

was the s on Of on e Of the Lich chavi princes and spenthis early manhood I n a monastery at V a isali he died

,

after 42 years of preaching,at Pawapu r i in the Patna

district . Gautama Buddha,though born outside the

limits of Magadha ,spent many years Of his life in its

rocky hills and warm fertile plains,attaining Buddhahood ,

or supreme enlightenmen t , under a p ipa l tree at BodhGaya .

Not long after Buddha ’s death the capital was transferred to Pata lipu tra ,

a city now buried deep beneaththe silt Of the Ganges

,over which the modern town Of

Patna has been built . This city became the capital Of th egreat Mauryan empire founded by Chandragupta

,during

whose reign it was visited by the Greek envoyMega s then es .

His account Shows that the court was maintained withOriental splendour

,while

,

the empire was divided intosatrapies

,it s administrative system resembling that of

the Persian monarchy . The city itself stretched along

the bank of the Ganges for 9 or 10 miles , with a breadthOf 1% to 2 miles . I t contained a popu lat ion estimated at

and had a highly organized system Of admin is

trat ion . One body had functions resembling those of

the Board of Trade,another discharged the duties Of

foreign c onsuls towards foreign residents and visitors .There was an Irrigation Department to control theuse Of canals

,while other bodies had the supervision

Of industries and manufactures,and enforced th e registra

tion of births and deaths . The empire developed stillfurther under Asoka (272—31 the monk emperor ,

138 HISTORY [CH . X I I

who made Buddhismthe State religion . His conversion

to Buddhism is said to have been due to his horror andremorse at the bloodshed a ttending the conquest Of

Kalinga , i .e . , Orissa and the northern sea- board Of Madra s ,’

when persons were made prisoners,

were

slain and many more perished miserably even allowingfor exaggeration

,the figures Show what a teeming popu la

t ion the land bore and what immense forces were putinto the field . With thi s addit ion to his territories ,the empire Of Asoka stretched from the Arabian Seato the Bay of Bengal and comprised as large an area

as the Briti sh territory in India .

After Asoka’s death the Maurya dynasty was over

thrown , and outlying provinces asserted and achievedtheir independence . The country again became partof a united empire in the fourth century when

the Gupta dynasty rose to power . Some account Ofthe state Of th e country under their rule is given by theChinese traveller Fa Hien

,who visited Bihar and Bengal

early in the fifth century . The palace and other buildingsOf Asoka at Patalipu tra were still standing and of such

grandeur that they appeared to be the work of geniirather than of men . The country was studded withrichly endowed Buddhist monasteries

,rest—houses were

provided for travellers on the roads,and th e sick received

treatment free Of charge in charitable hospitals . Marit imetrade flourished

, Tamralip t i (the modern Tamluk in theMidnapore dist rict) being the chief eastern port fromwhich vessels traded to Ceylon and the far East . There

had,indeed

,long been intercourse between the sea- board

district s of Kalinga and the Malay Archipelago , wherethe Indians introduced their writ ing and chronology :though Kalinga has disappeared from Indian nomen

clatu re, Indian immigrants to the Malay States are still

known as Klings .

Fig. 37 . Railing an d s a cred tree at Bodh Gaya

140 HISTORY [CH .

Another and more famous Chinese pilgrim,H iu en

Tsiang , vi si ted Bengal , Bihar and Orissa in the seventhcentury an d found Buddhism and Hinduismflourishing

side by side . Shortly before his Vi si t the Buddhistshad been ruthl essly persecuted by Sasanka ,

king OfBengal

,who sacked Pataliput ra ,

burnt down the sacredtree Of Buddha

’s enl ightenment at Bodh Gaya , destroyedmonasteries and scat tered the monks , carrying hisravages up to the foot of the Himalayas . The faith had ,however

,revived under the patronage Of Harsha , who

was the undisputed monarch Of Northern India at the

time Of Hiu en’TS iang

’s visit . The prosperity of the

Nalanda monastery (in the Patna district) s ufficiently

shows how rapid had been the recovery . I t'

was , infact

,a university rather than a monastery

,containing

monks and students,

( and has aptly been calledthe Oxford Of Buddhist India . Learned men

,wrote

Hiu en Tsiang , who desire to acquire renown come

in multitudes—

to settle their doubts,and then the streams

Of their wisdom Spread far and wi de .

The death of Harsha was followed by an invasionOf the Tibetans and Nepalese

,and for several centuries

there was no central predominant power . Out Of thegeneral confusion the Palas emerged in the ninth century

as rul ers first Of North Bengal and then Of Bihar . Thesekings continued the royal tradit ion of l iberal patronageOf Buddhism ; and a splendid vihara o

‘

r monastery,established by the first Of the line

,gave its name to the

town Of Bihar,which was the headquarters of their

Governors,and subsequently to the surrounding province .

In the twelfth century the Sena kings, who had united

nearly the whole of Bengal under on e rul e , gradually

encroached on the territories of the Palas and eventuallywrested North Bengal from them . Unl ike th e Palas,the Senas were devout Hindus and warm patrons Of’

142 HISTORY [CH .

Of the city for over two miles , and on them men ,women

and children were hanged,for days together

,after - in

describable tortures . After this,Benga l

'

was ruled forhalf a century by descendants Of Balban , whose subj ection

Fig 3 8 . Fi roz Min ar at Gau r

to Delhi was s o loose as to be merely nominal . Twicethe Tugh lak emperors had to lead their armies against

rebellious or usurping viceroys,

first in 1324 and aga inin 1333 , when Bahadur Shah , who had proclaimed

x11] HISTORY 143

himself king in Eastern Bengal , was overthrown andkilled . Vengeance did not end wi th his death ,

for his

skin was stripped from his body,stuffed wi th straw

and paraded through the different provinces as a warningto others . Five years later Fakh r - u d - d in Mubarak Shahsucceeded in establishing his independence

,and Bengal

broke away from the empire .

Independent Kings . Bengal now enters on the second

stage OfMusalman domination , the period of independence ,during which four dynasties and 24 kings follow

’

ed eachother in the course Of 20 0 years . The first dynastyreigned for nearly a century and a half

,with on e brief

interlude when they were supplanted by a Bengali Hindu

and his descendants—a remarkable break in the long line

of foreign Musalman rulers . Next (1486—90 ) came a shortlived line Of S lave kings

,who were set upon the throne

by the pretorian guard Of Abyssinian and negro slaves .At first the protectors Of the dynasty

,the guards

soon became masters of the kingdom,while the palace

eunuchs supplied the actual rulers as Fer ish ta remarked ,

the people Of Bengal would Obey any on e wh o killedthe king and seized the throne . The tyranny Of these

u surpers led to a rising of the Old nobility and the fou nda

tion Of the Husaini dynasty,which endured for another

half cen tury . Its founder , Ala- u d - d in,who was an

Arab by descent , and his son,Husain Shah

,were able

administrators and great conquerors,carrying their arms

eastward into Assam , southward into Ori ssa and westward into B ihar

,which since 1397 had been subj ect t o

the kings Of Jaunpur . The last Of the line was drivenout by Sher Shah

,the Afghan Governor of B ihar

,after

which Bengal acknowledged the suzerainty of the Delhiemperors .

Bengal appears to have prospered under its independent kings . A splendid court was maintained , first

146 HISTORY [OH .

Of Babar in 1629, soon rallied under Sher Shah ,an am

b it iou s leader who combined administrative ability with

military talent . His dreams of a restoration of theAfghan ascendency were realized by a series of successeswhich made him master of Bengal

,as well as Of Bihar

,

and in 1540 secured for him the throne Of Delhi . AfghanGovernors and kings ruled at Gaur until 1564 ,

and then

Fig . 40 . Tomb of th e Emperor Sher Shah at Sas aram

a t Tanda , a place in’

the Malda district,which has dis

appeared , having been swept away by floods in 1826.

The most notable event of their rule was the conquestof Orissa , which in 1568 was wrested from its Hinduking with the usual rapine and iconoclasm of Musalman

invasions . The Afghan d omination came to an end eight

years later , when Daud Khan , the last Bengal king,was defeated and slain by Akb ar ’

s army at R ajmahal .

X I I] HISTORY 147

Mugha l rule . Bengal,Bihar and Orissa were now

annexed to the Mughal empire,but many years elapsed

before Akb a r’s rule was firmly established . A formidable

rebellion broke out among the Mughal nobles,the Afghans

were in a constant state Of revolt,and several Chieftains ,

Hindu as well as Musalman,enj oyed semi - independent

power,secure in the protection afforded by the swamps

and morasses of the lower d elta . Well might AbulFazl

,the historian of Akbar , give Bengal the name of

Bu lghakkhan a or home Of revolt—a name recalling the

description Of it as a centre of disaffection and rebelliongiven by Barani three centuries before . Separate Governors were appointed for B ihar and Bengal

,while Orissa

was sometimes attached to Bengal and at other timeswas placed under a separate Governor . The Governorshipof Bihar was usually the stepping- stone to the more

responsible and more lucrative Viceroyalty Of B engal .

Not that the former was ill paid : according to the

contemporary account Of Sir Thomas R oe ,it s incumbent

in 1620 drew a fixed salary which,in modern money ,

would amount to nearly a year,beside the large

sums which he could make ou t of the taxes . The headquarters of this Officer were at Patna , which had becomethe entrepot Of a large trade extending as far as Tibet ,China

,Persia and even Europe . Both he and the Viceroy

(Nawab Nazim) of Bengal held Office at the pleasureOf the Emperor

,and

,while the empire was in full vigour

,

Were .kept under close control . They were liable to

recall for inefficiency and were also frequently changedfor fear that they might become too powerful .During the first century of Mughal rule there were

22 different Governors of Bengal,and the capital was

shifted more than once . At the end Of the S ixteenthcentury it was transferred from Tanda to Rajmahal ,which occupied an important strategic position

,as i t

10—2

148 HISTORY [CH .

commanded the Teliagarh i pass , the key of Bengal

as i t was called . Thence the Viceroy moved in 160 8

to Dacca , where his presence was required to directoperations against the Ahoms of Assam and to check

the raids of the Maghs,or Arakanese

,and of Portuguese

corsairs . The last-named constituted a permanent menaceto the security of the southern

~

districts . They carried

their ravages as far -as Dacca,and had depopulated the

sea- board,so that

,as Bernier noticed

,there were many

fine islands deserted,which were form erly thickly peopled ,

a nd no inhabitants b u t ; wild beasts . These pirates

had their strongholds in the island of Sandwip and at

Chittagong , which had not yet been reduced by theMughals but was subj ec t t o the king of Arakan . I t wasn ot till 1666 that the Viceroy

,Shaista Khan ,

rooted out

these nests of pirates and added them to his dominions .Th e value of the trade of the country duri ng this

century,though only a fracti on of what i t now is, may

be gathered from the pages of B ernier : Bengal i s,

a s i t were,the general magazine n ot onl y for Hindostan

or the empire Of the great Moghul , but also for a ll thecircumj acent kingdoms and for Europe itself . B ernier

was astonished a t the vast quantity of cotton clothwhich the Dutch alone exported; especially to Java

an d Europe , not to mention what the English , Portugueseand Indian merchants took . The like might be said

of the silk and silk stuffs : on e could not imagine

the quantity expor ted every year . Saltpetre was

brought down in flot illas of country boats from Patna

and whole shiploads taken overseas by the Englishand Dutch . Rice was exported to Madras , Ceylon and

the Maldives,sugar to the Deccan ,

and even to Arabia ,Persia andMesopotamia . In a word

,Bengal is a country

abounding lfl all things .I n 1704 Murshid Kuli Khan made a new capit al

150 HISTORY

culminating in the tragedy of the Black Hole . Calcutta

was recaptured by Clive and Admiral Watson,and peace

concluded with the Nawab early in 1757 . The peace

lasted only a few months . A plot for the overthrowof Siraj - u d - daula was formed at Murshidabad , andovertures were made to and accepted by Clive . In June1757 he advanced with a body of 10 0 0 Europeans and20 0 0 sepoys , and having routed the Nawab

’s army

of men at Plassey,proceeded to install Mir Jafar ,

one of the principal conspirators . Mi r Jafar,though

amenable to the point of obsequiousness , soon provedinefficient . Having failed to carry ou t his undertakingto provide funds for the pay of the troops , on which

the power of the Brit ish rested,he was deposed and

Mir Kasim Al i set up in his place .

Mi r Kasim,who made his headqu arters at Monghyr ,

was n ot content to be merely a puppet Nawab . Hisefforts to enforce the authority which properly belonged

to his Office brought him into conflict with the English .

W ar broke ou t , but ended as soon as the trained leviesof the English took the field

, n ot , however , before 198

unfortunate English prisoners at Patna had been butcheredin cold blood

,under Mir Kas im’

s orders,by a renegade

German Officer in his service . Mi r Kasim took refuge

with the Vizier of Oudh,who was defeated by the English

troops at Buxar in 1764 . The success of the Englishbrought the Emperor himself a suppliant into their

camp , and next year he made the East India Companya grant of the Diwani or financial administration of Bengal

,

Bihar and Orissa . This was a mere empty form ofwordsso far as Orissa was concerned

,for the Mughal writ

did n ot run in that province,which was still in the grip

of the Marathas . As the Diwani included the administra

tion -

of civil j ustice and the right to maintain the army ,as well as the collection of the revenues, this g rant

X I I] HISTORY 151

made the English masters of the country de j u r e as wellas cle fa cto. Warren Hastings removed the capita l

from Murshidabad to Calcutta in 1772 ,when also the

direct revenue administration was made over to European

officer S° while in 1790 Lord Cornwallis announced that

he had resolved to accept the superintendence of criminal

j ustice throughout the provinces .” The only function

of‘

Government that st ill remained to the Nawab wasthus transferred to the English ,

and the Nawab lostthe last Shadow of his authority .

Growth of the English Power . I t was little morethan a century and a half since the English had firstappeared as humble merchants begging for permission

to engage in t rade and for land on which to build factories .

Two English merchants , who had come overland t oPatna

,started business there in 1620 , but left the place

next year , and a second attempt to establish an agencythere in 1632 ended in failure . The real advance was

to be made from the sea- board . In 1633 a band of eight

Englishmen under Ralph Cartwright set sail from Masulipatam in a crazy native j unk and established factoriesfirst at Hariharpur in the Cuttack district and then atBalasore . In 1650 it was resolved t o go further inlandand found settlements in Bengal itsel f . The first settle

ment was made at Hooghly , and shortly afterwardsfactories were started at Cossimbazar

,Patna and Dacca .

All these were good centres from which to tap trade,

but all had on e defect , viz . , that the factories were liableto attack , and their goods to confiscat ion ,

by a hostile

or capricious Governor . The Directors Of the East India

Company at length determined to free themselves fromdependence on the native authorities

,who

,they declared

,

having got the knack of trampling upon us and extortingwhat they please of our estate from us

,by the besieging

of our factories and stopping of our boats,will never

152 HISTORY [CH .

forbear from doing so till we have made them as sensibleof ou r power as we have of ou r truth and justice .

The policy of securing a fortified post on or near

the sea had long been urged by their Officers and wasat last accepted by them . The S it e of Calcutta wasselected by Job Charnock

,who had had enough

’

of

fenceless factories and resolved to create for his mastersa stronghold which would be a surer guarantee than any

fa r in an . The Directors approved his choice of the place

as the best an d fittest on the Main ,” as well they

might , for i t had strong n atural defences , while theHooghly river

,the natural gateway of the foreign trade

of Bengal,ensured easy access to the sea and could

a lways be commanded by the sea power . The first

permanent settlement was made here in August 1690 ,

an d though the pioneers suffered grievously from disease

and death , 460 ou t of 120 0 settlers dying before January1691,

the new town grew steadily . The English had

thus at length a pied a terre of their own ,and in the

eighteenth century their trade and political power rapidlyincreased

,until , as we have seen , they held Bengal in

the hollow of their'

hand .

The secret of their success i s well explained by SirAlfred Lyall in The R i se of the B r i ti sh D omin ion i n I ndi a

The inherent feebleness of ou r adversaries , the inabilityto govern or defend their possession s , obviously explainswhy the English

,wh o could do both , so rapidl y made

room for themselves in a country, which, though richand populous, was in a practical sense masterless . I tmust a lso be remembered tha t Bengal an d the otherprovinces bordering on the sea in which theEnglish

won these facile triumphs , were far more defencelessthan the inland country

,partly through the dilapidation

of the central power , partly because the people of these

tracts are naturally less warlike than elsewhere , and

154 HISTORY [OH .

country was added to their charge by the conquestof Ori ssa , which for the last half century had sufferedfrom the misgovernment of the Marathas . Their

administration , wrote Mr Stirling in his Accou n t ofOr i s sa was fatal to the welfare Of the peopleand the prosperity of the country

,and exhibits a picture

of misrule,anarchy

,weakness

,rapacity and violence

combined , which makes one wonder how society canhave been kept together under so calamitous a tyranny .

Here , as elsewhere , it was the task’

of the Bri tish to evolveorder ou t of chaos , to substitute the settled orderly ways

of peace for a reign of rapine .

One of the most fascinating but least known chaptersin the history of B ri t ish rule in this part of India is the

pacifica t ion of semi- savage races and the conversion

of restless marauders int o quiet cultivators . This waseffected partly by force of arms and partly by the personal

influence of individual officers . Such an Officer wasCleveland , who before his death , at the early age of 29in 1874 ,

had won over the Paharias of the RajmahalHills

,hitherto known and feared as savage bandit t i .

The epitaph on his tomb at Bhagalpur records Without

bloodshed or the terror of authori ty, employing onlythe means of conciliation , confidence and benevolence ,he attempted and achieved the entire subj ection of th e

lawless and savage inhabitants of the Ju ngleterry of

R ajamah all , who had long infested neighbouring landsby their predatory incursions

,inspired themwith a taste

for the arts of civilized life and attached them to theBritish government by a conquest over their mindsthe most permanent as the most rational mode of

dominion . The same words might be used to describe

the work of many another Officer unknown to fame .

The chief sphere of such work was Chota Nagpur,

the home of numerous non-Aryan tribes , who were

x11] HISTORY 155

never properly subjugated either by the early Aryaninvaders or by the Pathan and Mughal emperors , orindeed by any outside power . until the advent of theB rit ish . Their country was in fact almost terra i n cogn i tato the Mu salman s , among whom it was known as Jharkhand

,i .e . ,the forest land

,a vast unexplored tract stretch

ing from R oh tasgarh to the borders Of Orissa . Here

irritating and inglorious little wars had to be wagedagainst elusive bands . I t is all a j oke

,wrote one

Officer in 1768 ,to talk of licking these j ungle fellows .

They have not the least idea of fighting ; they are likea parcel of wasps ; they endeavour to st ing you with

their arrows and then fly Off . Gradually,however

,

under the influence of a succession of firm but sympatheticOfficers , these restless races were .tamed and civilizedrather than subjugated .

Further t o the southeast the Brit ish came into

contact with the Khonds,who still practised human

sacrifice . In Spite Of every effort,this horrid practice

was not really put down until the despatch of an expedition in 1847 , when districts unheard of and unvisited

by any European were traversed over ; more gloomy

pesti lential regions were rarely seen .

The work among the aboriginals was checked morethan once by rebellions connected with agrarian discontent .In Chota Nagpur there were risings in 1811,

1820 and1831, which can be traced to the Oppression of theaboriginals by Hindu and Musalman landlords . A moreserious rebellion broke out in 1855 among the Santal sof the Santal Parganas

,who were infuriated by the

exactions Of Hindu land- j obbers and usurers . Seeingtheir lands usurped by others

,and themselves reduced

to bond- servants,they rose with the idea of avenging

themselves on their Oppressors and found themselvesarrayed , with their axes , bows and arrows , against the

156 HISTORY [CH .

British army . They themselves declared that theywere warring , n ot against the British but against the

Bengali s on the lat ter they perpetrated fiendish ou t

rages—S low roasting of men,ripping up of women , torture

of children , and drinking of the blood of their victims .

The rising was suppressed after a desperate but hopeless

resistance , but really did good , for i t drew attention tothe gr ievances of the Santals and led to the introductionof a system of administration suited to their n eeds .On the north- east the British were forced to make

small extensions of the frontier , mainly in consequence

of the aggression of hill races,who mistook long- suffering

for weakness and regarded concessions as proof of t imidity .

In 1814 ,during the Nepal war

,the Brit i sh entered into

an alliance with the,R aj a of Sikkim ,

and in 1835 Ob

fained from him a lease of the site Of Darj eeling and

some surrounding mountains for use as a sanatarium .

His seizure in 1849 of Dr Campbell , Superintendentof Darj eeling , and of Sir Joseph Hooker, while travellingin Sikkim

,led to the annexation of the land bestowed on

him after the Nepal war,which now forms the Darj eeling

Tarai . A succession of outrages committed by the

Bhutanese,capped by insults offered to a British envoy

in 1864 ,brought about the Bhutan war of the same

year,which ended in the ces s ion Of the Duars in Jal

paiguri and of Kalimpong in Darj eeling . Th e only othernoteworthy event in the frontier history i s the Sikkimwar of 1888 , in which the Tibetans were driven ou t of

a part of Sikkim which they had occupied .

To the extreme southeast,the Chittagong Hill Tracts

were long exposed to raids by savage hill tribes , whowere sometimes impelled by the pangs of hunger and the

hope of plunder t o d escend on the peaceful vi llagesof the plains , at other times urged by a murderous thirstfor blood , their sole Obj ect being t o Obtain heads . These

158 HISTORY [CH .

the cries wi th which on e zamindar attacked a weakeron e , on e village preyed upon a neighbouring hamlet ,or a dozen scoundrels knocked down and fleeced a solitarytraveller .

Bengal was directly administered by the Governor

General , or in his absence by the senior member of hiscouncil

,until 1854 ,

when it was placed under the charge of

a Lieutenant—Governor . Assam was detached and placed

Fig . 41. Map sh owin g redis tr i b u t ion s of ter r itoryeffected in 190 5 and 1912

under a Chief Commissioner in 1874 , but , even after thisreduction

,the province had an area but little less than that

of France or the German Empire,while it s population

had risen by 190 1 to over 78 millions and was considerablymore than a quarter of that Of the whole Indian Empire .

This being too large a charge for on e administrat ion ,Bengal was divided in 190 5 . The eastern portion (abouton e—fourth of the whole area) was separated and , with

X I I] HISTORY 159

the add i tion of Assam ,was constituted the province

of Eastern Bengal an d Assam under a LieutenantGovernor with headquarters at Dacca . The remainder

of the province continued to be administered fromCalcutta by the Lieutenant -Governor of Bengal (whowas given an executive Council in but five States

on the borders of Chota Nagpur were transferred to the

Central Provinces in exchange for four other States

and the district of Sambalpur .This partition aroused deep discontent among the

Bengali Hindus,who resented their division between

two separate administrations . I t also afforded an oppor

tu n ity for the development of seditious schemes previouslyconceived . A party hostile to British rule came into

prominence,revolutionary organizations

,which had been

in.

existence long before,gained ground

,and there was

an outbreak of political crime , marked by the use ofbombs and the assas sin

’s pistol,and

,also

,in Eastern

Bengal , by the plunder of defenceless villagers . Inthe hope of removing grievances and allaying unrest ,a fresh scheme of division was carried ou t in 1912 ,

whenalso the capital of India was moved from Calcutta toDelhi . Assam again became a Chief Commissionership ,

the whole of the Bengali- speaking area was constituteda Presidency under a Governor in Counci l

,and B ihar

,

Chota Nagpur and Orissa were made a separate province,

known as B ihar and Orissa,under a Lieutenant-Governor

in Council . The map on the opposite page shows theareas affected by the partition of 190 5 and the repa r

t ition of 1912 .

CHAPTER X I I I

ARCHAEOLOGY

THE province of Bihar and Orissa is singul arly rich inremains Of a date anterior to the Christian era . They

belong to the Bu ddhis t per iod and , for the most part , com

memorate the greatness of the Mauryan empire . The oldest

and most interesting are found at Patna and Bodh Gaya .

In the former the remains of a great pillared hall wereunear thed In 1912

- 13 , which date back to the third century B .C . Thiswa s a stately building of nearly a hundred

columns,which I s said to have a remarkable similari ty

to the splendid Hall of a Hundred Columns at Persepolis .

I t was erected by the emperor Asoka,and

,with the

exception Of s tapas and a cha i ty a hall recently discoveredat Sanchi , is the Oldest structure known to exist in

India . At Bodh Gaya the Oldest Buddhist memorialis a stone railing ornamented with friezes

,panels and

bosses,which display considerable artistic Skill . The

temple itself,which has a tower 180 feet high , i s a modern

re storation carried ou t by the Government , but it is

claimed that in its main features it reproduces themagnificent fane on which the Chinese pilgrim Hiu en

Tsiang gazed with rapt reverence and admiration in

the seventh century . Here too is a large collect ionOf s tapa s , which pilgrims to this Mecca Of the Buddhisticworld left as memorials of their visits . They are of

all sizes and extend over many centuries,beginning

wi th the simple monolith_

Of the early ages—the s iapa

was originally a copy in brick or stone of an earthen

CH . X I I I ] AR CHAEOLOGY 163

of the great Persian king Darius . Immediately above

the Dhauli inscription the rock has been carved into the

likeness of an elephant , which is the Oldest known stonecarving of that animal in India .

To the Mauryan period also belong the so - calledcaves in the Barabar Hills of Gaya . These are really

chambers hewn ou t of the solid rock,which served as

hermitages . The skill with which the early Indian

Fig . Ca rvin gs on railin g at Bodh Gaya

mason could manipulate such intractable material asthe hard granite of these hills is shown by the steely

polish produced on the chiselled stone . The Khandagiriand Udayagiri Hills in Puri are also honeycombed wi throck- cut chambers and cells of the Mauryan age

,which

are the Oldest authenticated Jain remains .Buddhist ic statuary of a later date is common in

the Gaya district . With the exception of the Graeco

Buddhistic sculptures of Gandhara , these images are

I I—2

164 AR CHAEOLOGY [CH .

the only class of Indian Buddhistic art that has come

down through the long procession of the ages in a fairstate of completeness .

‘

The noblest monuments Of the Hindu period are the

temples at Konarak and Bhubaneswar in Puri . The

shrine at Konarak is also commonly known as the B lack

Fig . 45 . Chorten at D a r j eelin g

Pagoda,this being a name given to it by early navigators

to dist inguish it from the next landmark along the coast,

the temple of Jagannath at Puri , which was knownas the Wh ite Pagoda . Built in the thirteenth century A .D . ,

it has excited admiration for over six centuries and has been

held to be the finest extant Hindu temple . There is,

”

writes Sir J . H . Marsh all , Director- General Of Archaeology

166 AR CHAEOLOGY [CH .

originally 190 feet high ,was crowned by a great stone

slab , 25 feet thick , the weight of which is estimatedat 20 0 0 tons . A huge piece of sculpture representing

a l i on rampant on an elephant, 20 feet in height

and 15 feet long at the base , proj ected from the

spire , as in other Or iss an temples , but has now fallento the ground . How such ‘enormous stones were raisedis a mystery

,

-but the tradit ion is that the structure

Fig . 47 . Elephan t cave on Udayagir i Hill

was imbedded in sand and that they were brought upthe slope on rollers . The temple was dedicated to the

sun—god ,the wheels and horses of his chariot being

carved in stone to indicate its character , and it has beendescribed as the most exquisite memorial of sun—worshipin India .

The temples at Bhubaneswar,of which about one

hundred are still standing,were built at different times

X I I I] ARCHAEOLOGY 167

between the eighth and twelfth centuries A .D .,and are

magnificent examples of the Or is s an style of architecture .

Many of them are covered with richly wrought mouldings

and exquisite minute carving . Most people,wrote

Fig . Temple at Bhu ban eswa r

Mr Fergusson , would be of Opinion that a buildingfour times as large would produce a greater and moreimposing architectural effect ; but this i s not the waya Hindu ever looked at the matter . Infinite labour

Fig. 49 . Ca rvin g on Kon arak temple

170 AR CHAEOLOGY . [CH .

ornamented with carvings in low relief . One of them,

which is called Jor Bangla (meaning the pair of bungalows) , looks exactly like two B engali huts j oined togetherwith a tower in the midd le . The word bungalow

,it

may be added,originally meant merely a Bengal house .

In B ihar,on the other hand

,the distinctive feature

of temple architecture is a pyramidal spire or tower,

Fig . 5 1. Tomb a t Gau r

the outline of which was almost certainl y suggested by

the natural bend of bamboos planted apart and brought

together at the top .

The same imitation of the structure of the common

Bengal house is observable in th e Muh ammadan per iod ,

when Bengal produced a pecul iar style of architectureunlike the usual Saracenic . Owing to the absence of

stone throughout the greater part Of the country the

X I I I] ARCHAEOLOGY 171

Muhammadan builders had recourse to brick . The

use of brick forced the builders to elaborate a localarched style of their own , and further , as Mr Fergussonpointed out

,to introduce a new mode of roofing

,which

,

though but li ttle agreeable to ou r tastes,came to be

regarded by the natives,whether Hindu or Muhammadan

,

as a most elegant form,and spread

,in the seventeenth

century,as far up the Gangetic valley as Delhi

,and a

little later even to Amritsar . The curvilinear formgiven to the eaves

,descending at the corners of the

structure , was almost certainly suggested in the formof the huts

,constantly roofed with bamboo s and thatch

,

in which the Bengalis always use a curvilinear form ofroof .

” A typical specimen of this form of roof is shownin fig . 5 1.

The buildings of the pre -Mughal period are further

distinguished by a massive solidity due to the use of

the same building material . The erection of large

buildings of brick required heavy piers for the archesand thicker walls than t hose constructed entirely of

stone . Such piers and walls,when enriched by a casing

of moulded tiles,would appear still heavier ; and for

tiles,when Opportunity Offered

,a facing of carved stone

might be substituted . This Bengal style is not likeany other

,but a purely local one

,with heavy Short

pillars faced,at least

,with stone

,supporting pointed

arches and vaults of brick . The finest examples are

found at the old capitals of Gaur and Pandua . At Ga’

uron e of the most conspicuous monuments is a tower

,

85 feet high ,called the Firoz Minar (fig . Not far

off in the town of Old Malda is a curious structure—a

brick tower from which proj ect stones cut t o resembleelephants’ tusks .

The Pathan style of architecture , which developedin North—West India

,is far . more graceful . One of the

172 ARCHAEOLOGY [CH .

most magnificent Specimens of this style is the mausoleumof the emperor Sher Shah (1540—45 ) at Sasaram (fig .

This is an imposing structure of stone rising from a large

terrace,which is built in the middle of a spacious tank

almost large enough to be called a lake . The apex Ofthe dome is 10 0 feet from the base

,and rises to a height

oft

150 feet above the level of the water . The tomb,

in which is the severely simple grave of the emperor,

is remarkable for the great span of its dome,which is

Fig . 52 . Pala ce bu ildin gs at R oh tas ga rh

13 feet wider than the dome .of the Taj Mahal , and forgrandeur and dignity I s sai d to be unequalled in NorthernIndia .

Hill fortresses of the Pathan and Mughal period are

extant at Shergarh and R oh tasgarh (fig . 39) in the KaimurHills . Shergarh

,which was erected in the t ime of Sher

Shah ,contains some underground chambers—afeature n ot

found in any other building in the east of India . Rohtasgahr contains the palace of the Mughal Viceroy of Bihar ,

174 R ACES [CH .

leaf-wearers is applied to them . In the more remote partsof the Orissa States the men still wear only a few leavespinned together

,while the women have nothing more

than an apron of leaves . Till the nineteenth centurythey had no knowledge of the metals and used only

stone implements . The language of these people containedno word for iron or any other metal

,and similar signs

of barbarism are found in th e speech of other tribes .

Along the Himalayas , for example , there are , as Hodgsonpoints ou t , remnants of races who express agricultureby the term “ felling or clearing the forest

,who

have no names for village,horse or money of any kind

,

and whose language is destitute of terms for almost

every abstract idea . How closely the wi ld life of thej ungle presses on modern civilization may be illustrated

by two personal experiences . In the course of a morning

I have been in a town with a system of electric lightingand have found in the forest sticks of wood that someman Of the woods had used to Obtain fire by friction .

In another town I have seen a large meeting of educated

Hindus listening wi th rapt attention to an address on

Theosophy by Mrs Besant,and have been given most

vivid descriptions of evi l spirit s by an educated Hindu,

whose language recalled the account of genii familiarto readers of the A ra b ian Nights n ot many miles away

were villagers who told the tale of a b oy who had been

carried Off and brought up by wolves .

I n'

sp ite of diversit ies , the constituent elements of‘

the population may be reduced to a few distinct types,

the origin of which may be.

traced to the early movements

of the people sketched in the preceding chapter . There

are three main stocks,viz .

,Dravi dian

,Mongolian and

Aryan,or more properly Indo -Aryan , which represent

ethnological strata , the later being superimposed on

and largely commingled with the earlier . The oldest

xrv] RACES 175

races are the Dravidians , wh o survive , l ike an islandin a sea of, alien races , in the hilly country of ChotaNagpur

,the Orissa States and the Santal Parganas .

Mongolians are found in the mountainous country tothe extreme north and southeast of Bengal , and there

i s also a strong Mongoloid strain in some Of the tribalcastes of the plains of Bengal . Lastly

,there is the

Aryan element,which has modified the original type

in nearly all parts,the higher castes having the strongest

and the lower castes the weakest infusion of Aryan

blood . That i t is n ot more in evidence is due to thefact that n ot only was the Aryan invasion late chronologi cally,

but the invaders were n ot numerous enoughto supplant the races whom they found in possession .

Generally speaking , the further on e proceeds from Bihar ,the first home of Aryan colonists , the more attenuated

does the Aryan strain become . The Meghna is believedto have marked the limits Of the wanderings of the Aryans

referred to in the M ahabharata,and the country to the

east of it was stigmatized as Pandava ba rj i ta desh ,a

land O f utter barbarism . The popular proverb that themen of Eastern Bengal are no men

,while the Oriyas are

tailless monkeys , enshri nes the tradition of ages anddates back to a time when the people of Eastern Bengaland Ori ssa had so li ttle Aryan blood ,

that the Aryans

higher up the Gangetic valley looked down on them asinferi or races with no claims to brotherhood . The

present inhabitants of the country belong either to on e

or other of these three main stocks or represent typesformed by their fusion or admixture . Altogether

,four

di fferent types are distinguished by ethnologists on thebasis of anthropometrical data , vi z . , Aryo

-Dravidian,

Mongolo-Dravidian , Mongoloid and Dravidi an .

The A ryo-D ravid ian is

,as the name implies

,the

resu l t of the intermixture , in varying prop ortions , of

176 RACES [OH .

the Indo-Aryan and Dravidian types,the former pre

dominating in the higher and the latter in the lowersocial groups . I t is found among the people of Bihar

an d i s characterized by a long head with a tendencyto medium

,a complexion ranging from lightish brown

to black , and a nose varying from medium to broad .

The Mon golo -D ravidian or B engali type is peculiarto Bengal and Orissa , where it has representatives amongall classes . I t is a blend of the Mongolian and Dravidian

races,wi th a strain of I n dO—Aryan blood in the higher

social groups . Men of this type are dist inguished by

broad heads and dark skins,and usuall y have a good

crop of hair on the head,other signs of their origin being

a medium stature and a medium nose . Not all are true

to this type,for many of the higher classes have fair

skins and fine narrow noses,which point to an Aryan

ancestry . NO special theory,

” writes Mr J . D . Anderson ,in The Peoples of I ndi a ,

i s required to account forthe physical and mental qualiti es Of the Mongolo-Dravidians of Bengal . NO doubt the original population wasDravidian with a strong intermixture of Tibeto—Burmeseblood

,especi ally in the east and north - east . Bu t the

Hindu religion,developed in the sacred Midlands round

Benares,‘ spread to Bengal

,bringing with it the Indo

European Speech which in medieval times became the

copious . and supple Bengali tongue . From the west

too came what we In Europe would call the gentry,the priestly and professional castes . These have acquiredmost of the local physical characters

,dusky skin

,low

stature,round heads . But in nearly all cases

,the fineness

and sharp outline of the nose shows their aristocrat icorigin

,and in some cases a Bengali Brahman has all

the physical distinction Of a western pr i est or sage .

The Mon goloid type is found in the Himalayan area

to the north,among the Lepchas an d severa l Nepalese

178 RACES [OH .

There is no little truth in the saying Religions in the

East take the place of nationalities . The line of religious

cleavage is not confined to differences of creed . TheHindu

,for instance

,practises early marriage and regards

widow marriage as disreputable . The reverse is the caseamong the Muhammadans

, who ,largely on this account

,

are increasing much faster than the Hindus . Thereis also considerable difference between their receptivenessof education . The Bengalis as

"

a whole are the mosteducated people in India—n ot only does the province

conta in a larger number Of literate persons than any

other,but the proportion of literates to the general popu

lation is higher than elsewhere . The Muhammadans however lag far behind the Hindus . The former representmore than ha l f the population

,but contribute only three

tenths of those able to read and write ; there are fiveliterate Hindus to every two literate Muhammadans .There is even greater disparity in the case of those whohave received an English education

, 2 per cent . of theHindus , but only 3 per mille of the Muhammadans h avmga knowledge of that language . Their superior educationalqualifications have gained for the Hindus a predominatingposit ion in the professions and public service , and they

also have the larger share in the industries and commerce

of the country .

Considerable misconception has been caused byMacaulay’s highly colour ed account of the Ben galis

as a compound'

of effeminacy ,craft and subtlety . He

himself had only a few years’ experience of Calcuttaand did n ot come into contact with village life . How

different this is,may be realized from a brief description

of the people in a typical Bengal district . The people ,accord ing to the R angpu r D i s tr ict Ga z etteer , are generallygood- natured

,charitable

,pat ient and sociable . They are

usually peaceful and law- abiding .

i

Ou t of the courts , that

X IV] RACES 179

is to say when n ot tutored by mu hhtears and aiwan ia s,

they are generally truthful in the main,though prone to

exaggeration .

Love of litigation is the weak point Of these patient

tillers of the soil,and makes them an easy prey to the

diwan i a s above mentioned ,who are their professional

advisers on legal and other affa irs . The diwan ia runs

h is client’s cases for him

,drafts his petitions

,and engages

and instructs his rnukhtears a n d pleaders . No villager

will take a step or give any information without firstconsulting him . Were the checks imposed by a sense of

duty and public Opinion present,such a system would be

of incalculable benefit to the people . But unfortunately

they are not,and the average diwan ia takes advantage

of the ignorance and blind trust of his clients to Servehis own ends . He finds it profitable to encourage and

prolong litigation,to concoct false cases and tutor wit

nesses,to instigate crime and to hinder the investigations

of the police . The maj ority are sea- lawy ers and touts

of the worst description . Almost every village has on eor more of these functionaries . O ther Gazetteers bearS imilar witness to the litigious spirit of the Bengalis .

The charge of universal effeminacy brought by

Macaulay is disproved by specific instances,such as the

cool courage of Bengali elephant hunters,the intrepid

skill of those excellent sailors , the lascars of Chittagong ,etc . Bishop Heber indeed says that Clive

’

s army wasraised chiefly from Bengal

,but the sepoys he recruited

in Bengal were mostly u p—countrymen

,and n ot Bengalis .

It is,however

,true that the Bengalis generally are not

robust . Their physique is the produ ct of their environ

ment,for they live in a fat and fertile land

,with a humid

and enervating climate,in which fever is rife . Even

the hardiest races would find their energies sapped bycenturies of fever . The Bengali

,therefore

,compares

I 2—2

180 RACES [CH .

unfavourably in physique with the countrymen of NorthernIndia . He is light of bone and deficient in muscularstrength

,and has a low level of metabolism . His want

of robustness makes him less fitted than more stalwartraces for hard and exhausting labour

,and produces

a natural dislike for bodily drudgery . At the same time ,the Bengalis generally are well- to- do ,

according to Indian

economic standards,and can afford to employ foreign

labour . They are n ot forced by necessity,like the

Biharis,to migrate periodically in search of employ

ment which will eke ou t the income from their ancestralfields and orchards ; and they leave others to supply

the g reater part of the labour required for the mills andmines .As regards mental qualities

,the Bengali has a quick

alert intellect,which comes to maturity at an early

age . He is stronger in destructive criticism and analysis

than in constructive genius,and has a great command of

language and argument . The u p- countryman

,who is

better at deeds than words,is somewhat suspicious of

this mental agility,and has put his estimate of i t in two

proverbs . One is : “ The Bengali is the brother of the

white ant,which builds nothing but undermines palaces

the other is : “GO to Europe for manufactures , and to

Bengal for talk .

For some time past there has been a ferment of

new ideas,which s tu ltifies the Old aphorism of the

“ unchanging East . The idea of nationalism has taken

root,and on e of its products has been an effort to make

the country industrially independent . The Swadeshi

movement has led to the formation of companies ,which however are only too often ephemeral , and the

establishment of small factories,

financed , organizedand directed by the B engalis themselves . A society

has been formed to enable young men to be trained

182 RACES [CH .

but the charge is too sweeping and neglects other qualities ,such as stability of Character and power of conduct . I tis true that they are conservative

,and that they have

neither the mental ver sat ilitv n or the education of the

Bengalis,though an exception must be made Of the writer

ca ste of Kayasths,whose shrewdness and a cumen are

proverbial . On the whole , they are men of slow thoughtsbut long memories

,vigorous and disciplined—traits

Fig . 53 . Bihar i cu ltivators in a poppy field

recognized by the Bengalis themselves , who employ them

to guard their persons and property in preference to theirown countrymen . The Bhoj puris , or inhabitants of Saran

an d Shahabad , in particular , are wanting neither in

enterprise n or resourcefulness . They are described by

S if George Grierson as an energetic race ever readyto

'

accommodate themselves to circumstances . An

a lert and active nationality, with few scruples and

X IV] RACES 183

considerable abilities,dearly loving a fight for figh t ing

’

s

sake,they have Spread all over Aryan India

,each man

ready to carve his fortune out Of any Opportunity whichmay present itsel f to him . They furnish a rich mine

of recruitment to the Hindustani army ,an d ,

on theother hand

,they took a prominent part in the mutiny

of 1857 . As fond as an Irishman is of his stick,the

long- boned,stalwart Bhoj puri

,with his staff in his

hand,is a familiar obj ect striding over fields far from

his home . Thousands of them have emigrated to BritishColonies and have returned rich men ; every year stilllarger numbers wander over Northern Bengal and seekemployment

,either honestly as palki -bearers or otherwise

as dacoits . Every Bengali zamindar keeps a posse ofthese men

,euphemistically called da rwan s

,to keep his

tenants in order . Calcutta , where they are employed ,and

feared,by the less heroic natives of Bengal

,is full of

them .

”

The readiness of the Biharis to migrate is partly

the result of economic necessity .

“ In many parts thepopulation is so dense as to be congested ; there is a host

of landless labourers—they an d their famil ies number

4-3 millions , or a fifth of the total population —and aconsiderable proportion Of the peasants

’

holdings are toosmall to support them , unless supplemented by the

wages Of labour . There are , moreover , no large industries ,now that the cultivation and manufactu re of Opium hasbeen s topped

’

an d the indigo industry is moribund

and agriculture requires few hands during the greaterpart of the cold weather . Every year

,therefore

,at

this season hundreds of thousands Of B iharis leave theirvillages to work in the mills , docks and factories or onthe roads

,railways and fields of Bengal . They return ,

for the most part,with their savings after four or five

months to resume the cult ivation of their own land,

184 RACES [CH .

and in the meantime remit money home to their relations .

This annual exodus of able- bodied workers is steadily

developing as the B ihari rea lizes that a few months’

labour in Bengal will provide him with a nest - egg for theyear . It increases greatly if . the crops are short in Bihar

,

but even in 1911,after bumper crops had been reaped

,

there were nearly 151million Biharis in Bengal at the timeof the censu s . Bengal benefits greatly from this mobility

Fig . 54 . A Bihar i Brahman

of labour , and its chief manufactures depend largely on

Bihar for their supply of labour .

Or iya s .The Oriyas recall the Old idea of the mild

Hindu,being a kindly , peaceable . and gentle race .

A century ago they were described as the most mild ,quiet and inoffens ive people in the Company

’

s terri

tories. an d this account st ill hold s good . They are

somewhat are n ot averse to leaving

186 RACES [CH .

with saffron,in order to produce a golden hue

,which is

supposed to enhance their b eauty .

Hima layan hi llmen . The Himalayan hillmen includethree distinct groups

,vi z . , the Lepchas , Bhotias and

Nepalese . The Lepcha s ,who are the aborigines of Sikkim ,

are a peaceful and somewhat primitive people , who are

Fig . 55 . A Nepal i

never so happy as when they are in their native woods .

They are born naturalists,learned in the lore of the j ungle ,

and have separate 0 names for practically every bird ,

orchid and butterfly . Originally they practised nomadiccultivation , and they still do so where the forests arefree

,but in the more set tled parts they have taken to

regular t illage . They still eat freely of j ungle produce ,

X IV] RACES 187

from choice and not from necessity more than 10 0

different kinds of forest fruits and fungi are said to enterinto their fare . They live for the most part in the lower

valleys,and do not stand cold well . They are averse t o

settled labour and fixed employment,and are being

Fig . 56. A Lep cha

largely supplanted b y the Virile Nepalese . They makeexcellent servants

,however

,and though generally wanting

in enterprise,some have gone far afield and done excellent

entomological work in far distant countries , such asBurma

,the Andaman and Nicobar Islands , Sumatra ,

Borneo and the Malay Archipelago,the Celebes , New

188 RACES [CH .

Guinea and Central Africa . The Lepchas in Central

Africa were left stranded by the death of their Europeanmaster far from civilization , but managed to find theirway back to Darj eeling wi th the help Of the long arm

of Brit ish authority .

The Bhotia s are of Tibetan stock ,the name meaning

the people of Bhot , the Indian name for Tibet (whichis a corruption Of the Mongolian Thu b ot ) . There arefour different groups Of them

,all Of which are represented

in Darj eeling and Sikkim,viz . , (1) the Sikkimese Bhotias ,

who are the descendants of Tibetans who settled in Sikkimand in termarried with Lepchas

, (2 ) Sharpa Bhotias,

wh o come from the east of Nepal,shar meaning east ,

(3) Dru kpa or Dharma Bhotias,whose original home

was in Bh otan , and (4) Tibetan Bhotias from Tibet .They are burly mountaineers with splendid muscular

development , ‘Powerfully'

bu ilt,they are capable of

carrying the heaviest weights—there i s a story that inthe days before the railway on e of them carried a pianoup the hills to Darj eel ing 70 0 0 feet above the plains .

They are sometimes described as surly and truculent,but

th e writer of this volume . has found them cheery merrypeople

,quick to enj oy a j oke , an d most willing and re

sourceful workers .

The Nepa lese met with in Darj eeling and Sikkim

are immigrants or descendants of immigrants from the

east of Nepal .‘

They are more Mongolian in appearancethan the Nepalese of central Nepal

,being generally

stuggy lit tle men,with slant ing almond- shaped eyes

,an

almost hairless face and a bullet head . Their character

is happily described by Colonel Waddell in Among the

H ima lay a s' Though small

‘

in stature,these Nepalese

have big hearts,and in many ways resemble the bright ,

j oyous temperament of the Japanese , though lackingaltogether the refinement of the latter . Naturally

190 RACES [CH .

as men , and children are taught to carry burdens almostas soon as they can toddle . Though Hindus for themost part—a few are Buddhists—they are n ot trammelledby caste restrictions like the Hindus of the plains

,and will

cheerfully accept any employment except a few that areregarded as unclean and degrading . Though no greatscholars , they Show considerable aptitude for work ofa practical kind

,e .g .

,they master the mys ter ies of the

Fig 58 . Bhotia men an d women

tea- garden engine- room and quickly pick up a workingknowledge of machinery in electric light an d railwayworks . Drinking

,gambling and improvidence are their

weak points . They are fond of tea and of a mildlystimulating drink called maru a

,but what they really

love is a good strong spirit . 'They are also confirmedcigarette smokers

,men

,women and children favouring

cheap American brands at ten cigarettes a penny . They

RACES 191

have a simple delight in good clothes,ornaments and

j ewelry . Women may commonly be seen dressed in

velvet and decked ou t with heavy silver necklaces andamulets—sometimes even

,on gala days

,with gold nose

rings and solid but thin gold plates that serve as earrings .

Trib es of th e Chota Nagpur Pla teau . The name Kolis commonly used to designate the n on -Aryan tribes

of the Chota Nagpur plateau , which are known to the

ethnologist as Dravidians . I t is generally held to bea variant of a word meaning man

,by which in on e

form or another,such as HO

,Hor and Horo

,many of

these tribes designate themselves in their native tongue .

The name with them is a simple but proud appellat ion

,having the sense of the Latin V i r the Hindus

probably adopted the form of Kol in derision because

of its similarity to a Sanskrit word meaning pig .

Their home is in Chota Nagpur,the Orissa States

and the Santal Parganas,but there are large colonies

in the districts on the fringe of Chota Nagpur . Some

detached outliers are also found far afield in NorthBengal

,notably in Jalp aiguri , where they man the tea

gardens,and in the Ba r in d

,where they have cleared

away the j ungle and made themselves new homes .

Altogether they number over 5 millions , the most numerousrace being the Santals (who call themselves Hor ) , whoaggregate a little over a million . O ther large and rep re

sen tat ive tribes are the Mundas (whose own name forthemselves is Horo) , Oraons , HOS and Khonds . Oneof the most primitive races consists of the Sauria Paharias

(who designate themselves Maler) , wh o cling to the hil ltops o f the Rajmahal Hills . All these have

.

kep t their

purity Of race and retained their tribal languages andcustoms , but some , such as the Gonds and Bhumij

,

have become largely Hinduized an d have aband onedthe language of their ancestors . The same is also the

192 RACES [CH .

case with the Sava rs,originally a wild wandering forest

tribe , who have been identified with the Suari of Plinyand the Sab aroi of Ptolemy .

These races are generally small in stature and of a light

build . The average height of a man is 5 feet 3 inchesand his weight 10 5 lbs . , while a woman averages 4 feet11 inches in height and 945 lbs . in weight . I t i s n ot

possible to . give an account of all the different races ,but a brief sketch may be given of the Santals , the

most interest ing of all , with special reference to certain

characterist ics which they have in common with others .The Santals preserve two features of an earlier stage

of civi lization . Though n ow for the most part settled

cul tivators , they excel in clearing forest and have especialskill in converting j ungle and waste l and into fert ilerice fields . When

,wrote Colonel Dalton

,through

their own labour the spread of cultivat ion has effected

denudation , they select a new site , however prosperousthey may have been on the old

,and retire into the back

woods,where their harmonious flutes sound sweeter ,

their drums find deeper echoes,and their bows and arrows

may once more be utilized . In the second place ,they are ardent hunters

,as destructive of game a s of

j ungle . The happiest day in the year is that on which

they have a common hunt,when

,armed with spears ,

axes,bows and arrows

,clubs

,sticks and stones , they

beat through the j ungle in thousands,killing every

beast and bird they come across . In their ordinarydealings they display a cheerful straight forwardness ,Open bluntness and simple honesty

,which are refreshing

to a European accustomed to the somewhat gloomyand secretive denizen of the plains . Their word is their

bond,and a knot on a string is as good as a receipt .

They are plucky to a degree . A well authenticatedstory is told of two Santal herd smen

,who espied the tail

194 RACES [CH .

each volley quarter was Offered . Each time the Santalsreplied with a discharge of arrows . At last , when their

fire ceased , the sepoys entered the hut and found that

only on e old man was left alive . A sepoy called on

him to surrender,whereupon the old man rushed upon

him and cut him down with his battle—axe . The same

war proved them to be capable of inhuman cruelty .

When a Bengali money- lender fell into their hands,they

first cut Off his feet , with the taunt that that was four

annas in’

th‘

e rupee,then hewed Off his legs to make up

eight annas,then cut his body in two to make up twelve

annas , and finally lopped Off his head,yelling ou t in

chorus that he had full payment of sixteen annas in the

rupee . They regarded,i t must be remembered

,the Ben

galis as their bitter enemies,and to this day they have

an intens e dislike of the dikku s , or foreigners , as they callthe Hindus and Mu salman s of the plains .

They are thri ftless and careless of the morrow .

Bumper crops mean increased Opportunities for drinking .

Like the blind watchmen of Isaiah,they say in their

hearts :“ We will fill ourselves with strong drink

,and

to-morrow shall be as this day . Their love of drinkmay be realized from the attitude of an old headman ,

whom a missionary was trying to convert . The Oldman asked whether the God of the Christians would

allow Old people to get drunk twice a week . When heheard the shocked reply Of the missionary

,he quietly

said : Then teach the boys and girls,but leave us

alone . They enj oy a carouse,and their harvest festival

i s a saturnalia,in which they give themselves up to

drinking,dancing

,singing and sexual license . The

women enj oy considerable freedom . They are not kept

to house-work,but also do outdoor work , labouring

in the fields and on the roads to eke ou t the family income .

Similar characteristics are possessed by other races ,

X IV] RACES 195

and may be illustrated by a few typical examples . The

Hos,for instance

,are described as follows by Colonel

Dalton : Whilst they still retain those traits which

favourably distinguish the aborigines of India from

Asiatics of higher civilization—a manner free from

servility,but never rude a lOve

,or at least the practice ,

of t ruth a feeling of sel f- respect,rendering them keenly

sensible under rebuke—they have become less suspicious,

less revengeful,less bloodthirsty

,less contumacious

,and

in all respects more amenable to the laws and the adviceof their Officers . They are still very impulsive

,easily

excited to rash,headlong act ion

,and apt to resent

imposition or Oppression without reflection ; but theretaliat ion

,which often extends t o a death-blow

,i s done

on the spur of the moment and Openly . They are as

quick to admit an Offence as they are rash in committ ing

it . A few years ago on e of them who had a quarrelwith another man cut Off his head with an axe

,and then

marched Off several miles to the police station,with the

head in his hand,and gave himself up . Another good

example of their spirit i s afford ed in the conduct of a

woman,who

,when her husband had been killed by a

leopard,beat in i ts head with a stone till she had killed it .

The Khonds furnish an interest ing example of aprimitive race of improvident habits . In them

,however

,

the love of their land appears to be stronger than thelove of drink . The resul t has been an entirely independent

temperance movement . In 190 8 they took a vow togive up the use of intoxicating liquor , but their goodresolutions were not proof against t emptation . R ealizingtheir weakness

,they petitioned Government in 1910 t o

close down every liquor shop in their country . It was,

they declared , no use to reduce the number of Shops .

They woul d go any distance t o get liquor : its mere smellgave them an intense craving for drink . Drunkenness

13—2

196 RACES [CH .

had , they said , done enough harm already,leading to

poverty, wife- beating , and—worst'

Of all the loss of

their lands . Their request , it may be added , was grantedas an experimental measure .

The same deep attachment to the land characterizes

other aboriginal races,who cling to their ancestral

fields with grim tenacity . I t i s therefore at first sight

surprising that they should emigrate so freely : Assam

contains over a quarter of a million emigrants from the

Chota Nagpur plateau , and Bengal nearly half a million .

The explanation is economic pressure . The land whichthey till is generally p oor , and their methods of cult ivation

are primitive . New areas,i t i s true

,are cleared and

Opened ou t , but they are prolific races and the extensionof the area under t illage is incommensurate with the

increase of population . The aboriginal,moreover

,does n ot

care to cult ivate more than is required for his immediateneeds . He makes no provision against bad seasons

,

and as his savings go in the l iquor shop ,he has n o reserves .

Their readin ess’

to emigrate has been the gain of otherparts

,more especially as they are free from the caste

restrict ions of the Hindus and are not fastidious abouttheir work . The tea- gardens of Assam and the Duars have

been Opened ou t by them ,and are still largely dependent

on their labour . The forests of the Bar in d have yielded

to their axes . The railways draw largely on them bothfor construction and maintenance . The mines find

them good coal - cutters,but they are fit fu l workers ,

being content i f their earnings are enough t o give them

food,pay Off debts and enable them to get drunk fairly

frequently . Even the most energetic will n ot work

more than five days a week ,and they return to their

homes periodically to till their fields,enj oy a fest ival , etc .

Eura s ian s . Lastly,mention must be made of the

Eu rasians, who owe their origin to intermarriage or

CHAPTER X V

REL IG IONS

THE great maj ority of the people are either Hindusor Muhammadans . In Bihar and Orissa the Hindusnumber 32 millions , or four- fifth s of the population

,

while in Bengal the Muhammadans predominate,aggre

gating 24 millions and outnumbering the Hindus by a

little over 3 millions . The latter province contains

more Muhammadans than the whole of Turkey (asconstituted before the Balkan war) , Persia and Afghanistan taken together . The most distinctively Hindu

areas are North Bihar and Orissa . The former wasan early centre of Aryan civilization

,and is to this day

a land under the domination of a sept of Brahmansextraordinarily devoted to the mint , anise and cumminof the law . Orissa has long been regarded as a holyland of Hinduism ; even the Muhammadan conqueroris said to have exclaimed This country is no fit subj ect

for conquest it belongs entirely to the gods . In the

isolation which it t ill recently en j oyed,the power of the

Brahmans remained unimpaired,and of all races in the

two provinces the Oriyas are the most priest—ridden .

The Muhammadans form a small minority in Bihar

and Orissa and are largely exceeded by the Hindusin West Bengal . In the alluvia l river basins of theGanges and Brahmaputra their strength grows more andmore as on e proceeds eastwards

,until in Eastern Bengal

they are twice as numerous as the Hindus .

CH . xv] RELIGIONS 199

Hin duism presents many aspects—as a faith ,a system

of philosophy and a social system—and its featuresare so kaleidoscopic as to defy concise definit ion . Perhapsthe most satisfactory and comprehensive summary of

its manifold nature is that given in an article whichappeared recently in The Rou nd Ta b le. Hinduism is a

congeries of cults rather than a religion—less even of areligion than a social system . I f it originated in a primi

t ive nature worship,developed through an era of ritualism

and metaphysical specul ation into a universal pantheism

of a lofty type , it only survived and spread by the ad

mission and assimilation of aboriginal cults and ignorant

superst itions . O f dogma it knows little or nothing . I thas room for the philosopher and the demon-worshipper ,for the ecstasies of the saint and the unspeakable orgies

of the W am—Margi . Having never moralized its con

cep t ion of the divine , it has no sanction in religion for

right and wrong conduct . R itual is i ts essence andObservance its test of merit . The caste system

,moreover

,

the on e solid reali ty which it has thrown up and its

on e unifying and controlling influence , though developed

by the priesthood to strengthen their own authority ,

and now inextricably interwoven with the code of

Observances set up in lieu of a faith,has only been given

religious sanction by a fiction . Hinduism is,in effect ,

a religion of caste rules and usages ; its sanctions are

ult imately social ; it s laws immemorial group customs ;and it s tribunal the committee of the fraternity . Thus ,although it enshrines for the student and thinker a

profound and impressive philosophy,it presents itsel f

to the man in the street n ot as a statement Of the eternal

principles Of morality but as a formidable code-

Of etiquetteruling the details of his domestic li fe . He finds it greatlyconcerned that he should not marry the wrong woman

or dine with the wrong man , hardly a t all concerned

200 RELIGIONS [CH . Xv

that he should not bear false witness or lead a li fe Ofimmorality . In matters of faith it i s a gO- as- you- please

religion in which a man can believe much what he likes

provided he conforms with established usage . Antiquityconsecrates the usage

,and the Brahman is the repository

of the key to the maze,the exponent and policeman

of the whole system . Acceptance of caste,of the au

thor ity Of the Brahman and Of the sanctity of the cow,

makes the orthodox Hindu,and in practice every Hindu

believes in transmigrat ion and recognizes some god or

other of the crowned pantheon in his domestic cere

moni es .

As a rough and ready classification,it may be said

that the mass of the Hindu people are polytheists,and

that a large proportion of the educated classes are monotheists

,while others of the educated minority

,more

especially those who have had a Brahmanical training,

are pantheists . Whatever school Of thought is followed,

what most impresses a European observer is the n on

ethical basis of Hinduism,which differentiates it sharply

from such a religion as Christianity . Its gods are n on

moral they impose n o moral law . I t has no clear- cutdefinite creed ; i t knows no Ten Commandments . The

pantheistic Hindu believes in a d ivine impersonality and

a final absorption which have per se no concern withmorals . The monotheist looks t o his god as the means

of saving him from the circle of rebirth . The polytheist

regards the gods not as directors of morals,but chiefly

as the dispensers of material good and evil in this temporal

world .

The Hinduism of the masses is ch iefly ch aracter i z ed

by an idolatrous polytheism,

of which the outwardand visible sign is an anthropomorphic image -worship .

Each cult and sect has its own Special gods or goddesses,

but all combine to revere other deit ies of the pantheon

20 2 RELIGIONS [CH .

and will j oin in their worship . Th e gods are kittlecattle and a wise man honours them all . The story ofan old Brahman told by Mr Wilkins in M odern H in

du i sm is typical of this att itude . In his private worship

he first made an Offering to his chosen deity,and then

threw a handful of rice broadcast for the other deities,

and hoped,by thus recognizing their existence and

authority,to keep them in good humour towards him

self . The Hindu pantheon is further very elastic . Acontemporary record informs us that towards the closeof the eighteenth century an English Magistrate

,named

Tilman Hen ckell , was actually deified during his lifetimeby some poor salt makers whom he had protected from

oppression . In the last few years the terrors of pl ague

have led to the apotheosization of the spirit of the pesti

lence , this latest recruit to the legion of deities beinggiven a place in the village shrines . At the s ame time ,there is a vague notion

,even among the polytheists

,

Of a supreme dei ty,who reigns but does n ot govern .

He is too sublime to be troubled with temporal - affairs .

Wh at is man that Thou regardest him"The working religion of the peasant

’s everyday life

consists Of the propit iation of j ealous gods in order thatthey may n ot afflict their worshippers or may grant them

material blessings . Their religion is deeply infected

by Animism of the character described below,in which

the main ingredient is a belief in evil spirits and godl ings ,who have not been admitted to the orthodox pantheon .

In many part s they set up a shapeless stone or stock , oreven a little heap of earth

,to represent the spirit or god

l ing . Here they themselves or n on—Brahman priest smake simple Offerings and oblations

,while hard by there

may be a temple to on e of the great Hindu deities wi thit s elaborate ritual and Brahman ministrant . Th e

primitive propit iat ion of spiri ts and the worship of the

xv] RELIGIONS 20 3

Hindu gods go on side by side,and the same men make

Offerings to both .

Worship in the temples is not congregational but

individual . I t is also vicarious,for the sole celebrant

is the Brahman priest . He repeats the man tras and

makes the Offerings ; the worshipper stands apart .In fami ly li fe

,as apart from temple worship

,the most

important functionary is the gu ru ,who init iates all

properly brought up Hindu boys into spiritual life by

whispering in their ears some mystic syllables . Withoutsuch initiation a man is n ot ful ly a Hindu his Offerings

have n ot complete efficacy,and he himself will be con

demmed to the cycle of rebirth . On this account menwho have put off this ceremony will have it performedwhen they are on their death- bed . The gu ru s act as

Spiritual preceptors , advise their disciples on sacred

matters,hear the confessions of the penitent

,and receive

deep veneration . They have been described as theworking clergy of Hinduism

,as the on e force which

serves to promote an ideal of morality .

Bengal,Bihar and Orissa contain several important

p la ces of p ilgrimage , visits to which do much to keepalive the flame of religious faith . Chief among theseis Puri

,which contains the far- famed shrine of Jagannath ,

an incarnation of Vishnu . Here all castes may eattogether of the holy rice which is distributed amongthem : in the presence of the god caste distinctions

are obliterated , and all are equal . The Rath Jatra orCa r Fes tiva l , in which the image of Jagannath is placedon his car and rides in procession down a broad street

,

attracts immense multi tudes . The image is a rude

wooden block,with stumps of arms

, which is renewed

periodically . The fest ival is especially auspicious whena new body has been given to the god

,as in 1912 ,

whenthere were a quarter of a million pilgrims . Cases of

206 RELIGIONS [CH .

of the Hooghly,which marks the spot where the holy

waters of the Ganges mingle with the sea . Till a century

ago , when the practice was stopped by the British Government , i t was customary for parents to throw children

into the sea , to be drowned or devou‘red by crocodiles

or sharks , in order to appease , or win the favour of, thegods . Other celebrated places of pilgr image are the

shrines Of Si takund in Chittagong and Baidyanath inthe Santal Parganas .As regards s ects

,the unlettered peasant in many

parts of Bihar and Chota Nagpur would be hard put

to i t to say whether he was a Vaishnava or a Saiva .

Elsewhere , however , there is a sharp line of sectarian

cleavage . The difference between the sects lies in the

god to which a man looks to grant him mukti or salvation ,i .e .

, cessation ffom reincarnat ion . This is n ot a matter

concerned with the present life,but with the hereafter .

In this respect therefore the ideas Of the Hindu properare on a di fferent plane from those of th e animistic

Hindu already described . The Sa iva looks to Siva tosave him

,and his idea of salvation is pantheistic in that

it means the loss of identity by absorption . The Va ish

n ava or worshipper of Vishnu loathes the idea of loss

Of identity . His faith is based on a con ception of a God

Father,and he hopes to gain salvation by bhakti , i .e . ,

fervent love Of a personal deity . As Sir George Griersonpoints ou t

,St Augustine’s commentary on faith

—Q uidest credere in Deum Credendo amare

,credendo diligere ,

credendo in eum ire et eju s membris in corpora r i—isalmost word for word what a modern Hindu would sayabout bhakti . To the Vaishnava the first commandmentis : Thou shalt love the Lord thy God—but his religionbeing purely personal

,he omits the second Christian

commandment—Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself .Vaishnavism is popular among the lower classes in Bengal

X V ] RELIGIONS 20 7

and is almost universal in Orissa , where , however , thepeople have added to the worship of Krishna the worship

of his beloved Radha , so that the Obj ect of adoration

has a dual personality .

A third sect,which is common only in Bengal , i s

that of the Sakta s,who worship the act ive female principle

or power (s akti ) as manifested in on e or other Of the

goddess wives of Siva, vi z .

,Durga

,Kal i or Parvat i .

The goddes s is commonly addressed as Mother , but thisdenotes destruct ive energy rather than maternal tender

ness . Their scriptures are the Tantras,and the worship

is associated with blood Offerings,the sacrifice of

goats,etc . One extreme branch indulges in secret

orgiast ic rites of indescribable indecency : even thismay be said to have some scriptural sanction

,for the

adoration of naked women is inculcated by on e of the

Tantras .

Other sects have sprung up in which the worshipof the Guru

,i .e . ,

the founder of the sect. or it s presenthead

,overshadows and almost supplants the worship

of the godhead,whom he interprets t o

,or represents

among,men . The neurotic hysteria which underlies

the seeming impassivi ty Of many Bengali s has also ledto the creation of small sects

,in which worship

,what

ever it s esoteric meaning,appears to verge on sexual

mani a . A sect of this kind,wh ich recently gained

some notoriety, combined a quasi—religious frenzy witherotic orgies

,its founder having ordained the adoration

of nude women,who were represented as incarnations

of Kali .

Dur ing the last century there has been a revivalof Hinduism

,which has found expression in two directions .

On the one hand,attempts are made to rationalize

Hindu customs and beliefs ; on the other , there is a

reactionary assertion of the excellence of old customs and

20 8 RELIGIONS [OH .

ideals , which sometimes manifests itself in unexpected

ways for instance , the suicide of widows is greeted withimplicit approval

,as a S ign of the s ati spirit

,in quarters

where more enlightened views might be expected .

One outcome of“

the n eo-Hindu movement has been

the creation Of new schools Of thought,the earliest of

which is the Brahmo Samaj . This is a theistic b odyfounded by Raj a R am Mohan Ray (17744 833 ) andlargely moulded to its present form by Keshab Chandra

Sen (1838 The doctrines which it professes are

similar to those of Unitarianism . I t has not much

numerical strength,i ts adherents numbering only a few

thousands,mostly Bengalis . There has also been a con

s iderab le disseminat ion Of the pantheistic beliefs known

as Vedantism by a body called the Ramkr ishn a Mission .

I ts founder was Ramkr ishn a Parah amsa (1834 but

its chief protagonist was Swami Vivekananda,who died

in 190 2 ; among its members wa s a gifted Europeanlady

,the late Sister Nived ita (Margaret Noble ) . I ts

most characteristic features are an ardent nationalist

feeling,an ideal of socia l service and a spirit of tolerance

to foreign travel and the eating Of meat . Another newreligious body is the Arya Samaj founded by Dayan an dSaraswati (1827 which originated in the Punjab and

the United Provinces,and has made its way into Bihar .

I t appeals to the Vedas as the vehicle of truth and in

spiration,advocates monotheism

,denounces idolatry and

is in favour of social reform .

The main doctrines Of Muhammadanism are-

s o well

known that they scarcely require explanation . Briefly

they are There is one God . Muhammad is His prophet .

The Koran contains His ordinances .”Worship is con

gregat ion a l , and all Muhammadans are on a religiousequality

,though in practice this doctrine is so far

departed from,that the low- born sweeper may n ot enter

2 10 R ELIGIONS [OH .

to th e 't ru e faith,and denouncing God’s wr ath on

’

theindifferent . A great body of the Bengali Muhammadanshave purged themselves of rural superstitions

,and

evinced such an ardour Of revivalist zeal as occasionallyto c ause some little inconvenience to the Government .In these last words the writ er refers to the Wahabi

movement,which aimed at restoring Islam to its pristine

purity and simplicity by stripping it Of later accretionsand Of anyth ing savouring Of idolatry . Politically

,it s

doctrines were dangerous, for the j ihad or war againstinfidels was preached . A series of fron tier wars

,for

which Bengal and Bihar supplied money and recruits,

awoke Government to the menace of the crusade, and

the conspiracy was broken up by the trial and convict ion

of it s ringleaders . Thereligious stimulus of the movementis n ot yet spent . It s reforming spirit is st ill alive in thepuritanical sects known as Ahl - i -Hadis in Bihar andFaraz is in Bengal , of whom the latter have a strongfollowing . The Faraz is claim to Observe the fa rai z or

divine ordinances of God without the glosses of scholiasts,

and do n ot adhere to any of the regular schools of doctrine

of the orthodox Muhammadan world . Other Muh am

madan s they regard as be- shara i s , i .e . , men who do notfoll ow the scriptures strictly . They interdict the veneration of Pirs or saints , denounce the use of music at cere

monies and ' processions,and do not even Observe the

mau lu d or anniversary of the death of the Prophet .They may be dist inguished by their dress

,for they

let the dhoti hang straight down from the waist withoutpassing the end through the legs . Other Muhammadanstie up the dhoti but loosen it before praying so thatit may hang down

,as it is considered irreverent to expose

the leg above the knees . The Faraz is carry the ideafurther by lettin g the dhoti hang well below the knees

on all occasions . Some of them have curious economic

XV] R ELIGIONS 211

Vi ews . They hold that the earth is the gift of God

and that man is made for His servi ce . Man shouldlive by agriculture and never take service under others

,

for by so doing he will neglect the service of God .

Another schismatic sect which'

is beginning to makeconverts among the educated Muhammadans of Bihar

is that of the Ahmadia s,which was founded by Mirza

Gu lam Ahmad (1839 a native of Kadian in the

Punjab . The chief differences between them and orthodoxMuhammadans are as follows . The latter believe that

a Mahdi or Messiah will appear who will convertunbelievers at the edge

'

Of the sword . The Ahmad ias

deny that there will be any such advent and declarethat the true Messiah is Ahmad , who came to establishIslam by peaceful means . Other Mu salman s hold thatthe Koran is the final divine revelation . The Ahmad ias

hold that divine revelation still continues,and that

Ahmad was a specially favoured recipient of such revela

tion . Their doctrines have a strong anti - Christian bias .

The orthodox Muhammadan belief is that at the endo f the world Daj jal

,who is the power of evil

,a kind of

Anti- Christ,will hold rule until Chri st appears and over;

throws him,with the aid of Mahdi

,when the whole

world will be converted to Islam . The Ahmad ias identifyDaj jal with the teachings of the Christian Church

,which

they declare t o be false ; they say that the advent of

Daj jal has come to pass with the spread of Christ ian

missions . The Christ ian account of the divinity,death

and resurrection of Christ is denounced as an invention .

Jesus,they say

,did not die on the cross

,but only swooned

he did not rise from the dead,but recovered from the

swoon ; he did not ascend to heaven,but came to

Afghanistan and India to preach to the lost tribes ofI srael and

'

he died , and was buried ,at Srinagar in Kash

mir , where his tomb may be seen to this d ay .

14—2

2 12 RELIGIONS [OH .

In Spite of the efforts of resident and it inerary preachersand teachers

,the religion of the Muhammadans of the

lower,uneducated Classes is debased and superst it ious .

They are,wrote Sir Edward Gait in the Bengal Census

Report of 190 1,deeply infected with Hindu superstitions

an d their knowledge Of the faith seldom extends beyond the

three cardinal doctrines of the unity of God,the mission

of Muhammad an d the truth of the Koran .

” Some

would go even further . One Muhammadan gentlemaninformed me that the low classes profess t o be Musal

mans, but to them Islam is only circumcision and the

eating of cow’

s flesh . The lower classes are also dividedinto social groups like the Hindu castes with rigid rulesregarding intermarriage and commensality . A curious

instance Of such caste laws ish

fou n d among the Baramas ia s

of Bogra , wh o are so called because they live in boatsfor the twelve (bara ) months (mas ) of the year .

“ This

manner of li fe is preserved by no less a sanction than

absolute loss of caste for any member of the tribe whois found on shore after the j ackals begin to cry . In

most parts of Bengal the Muhammadans have formed

a ssociations for the advancement of their cause , and

branches of the Anjuman Islamia are to be found in

the most backward villages .

The great maj ority of the Muhammadans are believed

to be descendants of local converts from Hinduism .

In Eastern Bengal,in particular

,there must have been

great mass movements resulting in the generaladoption of the faith of Islam . There are

,however ,

notable exceptions,as in Chittagong The high cheek

bones,hook noses and narrow faces Of many Of the

inhabitants of Chittagong proclaim their ' Arab origin .

Again,the muscular

,bull- necked strong- featured and

thick- bearded dweller on the char s i s a very differentcreature from the flesh les s , featureless , hairless inhabitant

214 RELIGIONS [CH

In the latter case we have fetichism, i .e the worship

of a visible Obj ect supposed to possess active power .

As a rul e, the spirits are represented by some actualObj ect . They may live in a tree

,a hill

,a rock

,a river

,etc .

Or they may be represented by a little heap of earth ,

a'

log Of wood or a stone , which may be left in the rough

or have some crude carvi ng ; in on e place I have seen

a pair of wooden clogs and a low wooden.

seat placed

at the shrine for the Spirit’s use . These Obj ects are

general ly smeared with vermilion , and at them libations ,offerings and sacrifices are made .

Natural calamities,the fai lure of crops and the

sickness of cattle are ascribed to the anger of evil spirits .The cause of illness is demoniacal possession

,n ot in

sanitary conditions or the anopheles mosquito . The

remedy lies n ot in mediu m , but in exorcism . Wizards

an d exorcists are consequently important personages,

while witches are dreaded as the natural enemies of

man . This belief gives rise to bru tal murders ; inS inghb hfim ,

when the Mutiny of 1857 caused a temporarybreakdown of law and authority, the Hos made a clean

sweep of a ll women whom they suspected to be witches .

Nor"i s this belief to be wondered at when women them

selves have a firm conviction Of their supernatural powersfor evil and declare themselves to be wi tches . A few

years ago in Palamau a cultivator, who was watchinghis crops by night

,returned home to find that his child

had just died . In front of the house an old hag was

crouching on the ground . Sh e h ad swept a patch of

earth quite clean,and on it had placed the body of a dead

vole with its head pointin g to the place where the childlay . Behind it were the bodies of three grasshoppers ,and behind them again five clay figures representingmice . These she was pushing forward ,

as i f to attackthe house

,muttering strange incantations to herself .

xv] RELIGIONS 2 15

Animism is still the religion of 35 million persons ,but is confined to the aboriginal races . Even amongthem it is yielding to the steady advance of Hinduism ,

which has been aptly likened to a b oa constrictor absorbing rival faiths . I t winds round its opponent

,crushes

it in its folds,and finally causes it

‘

to disappear in its

capacious interior .

Mention may be made here of the movements , hal freligious and half agrarian

,that from time to time occur

among the people of Chota Nagpur and the SantalParganas . They have a direct connection with agrarianunrest

,and show signs of the influence of Chr ist ian

ideas , which the recipients have distorted rather thanadopted . A new cul t of this kind arose in Ranchi in1897

—99 ,its founder being a Munda named B irsa

,who

was an apostate from Christianity . His teaching was

partly spiritual,partly revolutionary . He proclaimed

that the land belonged to the people who had reclaimedit from jungle

,and no rent should be paid for i t . They

shoul d ri se , expel all foreigners and rule themselves . Theguns of their enemies would be turned to wood , and theirbull ets to water . There was but one God , one day aweek shoul d be Observed as a sabbath ,

and the worship

of other gods and devils must be given up . They must

lead clean lives ; murder , stealing and lying were tobe regarded as deadly sins . Birsa himself professed

to have received divine revelation during a thunderstorm—an idea based on the message delivered fromSinai amid thunder and lightning . He asserted thathe was the Messiah and claimed divine powers of healing .

All who did not j oin him were doomed to destructionin a flood , which .would overwhelm the world and destroyall but those who were with Birsa . His crusade broughtabout an armed rising of the deluded peasantry , whichwas easily put down

,and B irsa died in j ail in 190 0 .

216 RELIGIONS [CH .

Buddhism has almost ent irely disappeared from theland of its birth . Even before the Musalman invasion

the steady pressure of Brahmanism had relaxed it s holdon the people

,while the persecution of Hindu rulers

reduced the number of it s followers . One favouritedevice was to institute debates on the rival merits of

the two religions,death being the penalty of defeat ;

when the j udge was a Hindu prince,the verdict was

a foregone conclusion . Many of the chief princes,

says the S ankara V ij ay a , W ho professed the Wi ckeddoctrines of the Buddhist and Jain religions were van

qu ish ed in scholarly controversies . Their heads werethen cut off with axes , thrown in mortars , and ground

to powder by pestles . The intolerant fury of the

Musalman invasion destroyed the monasteries , whichwere the chief centres of the faith

,while the .monks

were either slain or sought refuge in and beyond the

Himalayas . Such a clean sweep was made. at Bihar ,

for instance,that when the rude Musalman ca u e

’

ror

sought for some on e to explain to him the contents

of . the great monastic library , not a single man could

b e’

foun d wh o could do so .

Survi va ls of Buddhism can be traced in the cult

of Dharma among the lower castes in Bengal , but in

the interior it lingers on as a religion only in Orissa .

There it is professed by a few thousand weavers,whose

name of Sarak indicates their descent from the Sravaka s ,an order of Buddhist monks . The only places where

it is the active religion of a considerable proportion

of the population are the extreme south—east and northof Bengal . In the former there are nearly

Buddhists,mostly Maghs

,the descendants of emigrants

from Arakan . Their religion is a debased form of

Buddhism infected both by Hinduism and Animism .

The other centre of the faith is the mountainous region

218 RELIGIONS (on .

The prayer flags are merely strips of cotton cloth withprayers printed on them

,which are attached to pieces

of string or fastened to long bamboo poles ; as theyflutter in the wind

,

’

the prayers are borne to the earsof the Spirits . The prayer wheels are cylinders of wood

or metal containing prayers printed on'

s lip s of paper .Small wheels are carried on the

"

person and turned by

hand . Large wheels,containing thousands of prayers ,

Fig . 63 . Bu ddhist Lama with d isciples

are worked by water power . There are also paperwheels inscribed with prayers which revolve over thehot air of a candle . In all cases the wheel must follow

the course of the sun if you turn it in the reverse direction ,you bring down curses

Christian missionary enterprise was init iated by Au

gu s t in ian and Jesuit priests , who first came to Bengal inthe second half of the sixteenth century . The Capu c

‘i in s

xv] RELIGIONS 2 19

followed early in the eighteenth century and succeeded

in establishing stations in'

Nepal , and even at Lhasa ,in addition to those in Bengal

‘an d Bihar . The first

Protestant missionary was Kiern ander,who settled in

Calcutta in 1758 ,and the first organized Protestant

mission was the Serampore Mission,which was started

by William Carey towards the close of the eighteenth

century . So far the most fruit ful field for the missionaryhas been not the plains of Bengal but the hilly countryof Chota Nagpur . The neo-Hindu movement and ther ise of the Brahmo Samaj have checked the spread of

Christian propaganda among the higher class Hindus .More success has attended work among the lower classes

,

such as the Namasu dras in the sul try swamps of Bengal .But the greatest progress has been made among‘ the

aboriginal races of Chota Nagpur, especially in Ranchi .Out of every 10 0 persons in this district thirteen are

Christ ians,the total number of native converts being

or double the aggregate for the whole of Bengal .Here the work of the Christian missionary is facilitatedby the fact that the aboriginal is not t ied by the castesystem like the Hindu . Conversion does not entailexcommunication with consequent severance from thefamily circle and loss of a ll share in the family property .

Other influences which work on th e minds of such people

as the Oraons are explained as follows b V Colonel DaltonThe Supreme Being , who does not protect them fromthe spite of malevolent spiri ts , has , they are assured ,

the Christians under his special care . They consider

that,in consequence of this g uardianship ,

the witches

and b in—i ts evil spirits) have no power over Christians

and it is,therefore

,good for them to j oin that body .

They are taught that for the salvation of Christiansone great sacrifice has been made

,and they see that those

who are baptised do not in fact reduce their live stock

RELIGIONS [CH .

to propitiate the evil spirits . They grasp at this notionand

,long afterwards , when they understand it better ,

the mystical washing away of sin by the blood of Christ

Fig . 64 . J a in shrine at Pa rasnéth

is the doctrine on which their simple minds most

dwell .The spread of Christ ianity has been very rapid in the

ten years preceding the census of 1911,during which the

number of converts has risen by or 5 0 per cent .

222 LANGUAGES [CH .

The Tibeto- Chinese family comprises the Tibeto-Burman

languages,which are subdivided into two branches

,

viz . , Tibeto—Himalayan , such as Bhotia , Lepcha andNepalese tribal languages

,and Assam-Burmese

,such

as Burmese,Garo , Mech and Tipura .

Bengal may be regarded as uni—lingual,for nine

tenths of its inhabitants speak Bengali . The remainingtenth are temporary or domiciled immigrants , or belong

to the hill races‘of the Himalayas or the south—east

frontier, who retain the Tibeto—Chinese speech of their

forefathers . The province of Bihar and Orissa,on the

other hand,i s polyglot . Bihari i s the vernacular of

Bihar and some adj oining districts,and Oriya of Orissa ,

while the Chota Nagpur plateau is the home of those

early indigenous languages which go by the name of

Dravidian and Munda . In a’

few districts the speakersof different languages dwell s ide by side

,and the want

of a common form of speech adds considerably to the

difficulties of administration and education . In th e

Santal Parganas , for instance , four distinct languagesare current

,three in Manbhum and Singhbhum and two

in Purnea . The following table shows the number of

persons speaking the main languages according to the

census of 1911.

Lan g uages Ben ga l B ihar a n d Or is s a S ikkim

In do -Eu rop eanB enga li

B i har i , H i n d ia n d Urdu j

Or iy a

N epa l iMu n d a .

D r avid ia nTibeto-B u rma n

As s am-B u rmese

X V I ] LANGUAGES 223

Benga li is not only spoken throughout Bengal , but

Spreads across its borders , being the mother—tongue oftwo—thirds of the people of Manbhum and of two- fifth s

in Purnea . I t has been described as a language ascopious and expressive as Greek itself

,but the slurred

consonants and broken vowels make it diffi cult for a

foreigner to master . Sanskrit words have been introdu ced wholesale into the modern literary Bengali , in

consequence of which some of the book language isunintelligible to the uneducated masses . Sanskrit izationis a foible of cul tured Hindus . The Mu salman s , on the

other hand,are fond of interlarding their speech with

Urdu and Arabic words,producing

_

a patois which is

called Musalmani Bengali .Bihari

,Hin d i and Urdu are dist inct languages

,which

are grouped together simply because they are not dist ingu ish ed in the census returns . Popularly they areall called Hindustani , which is , strictly speaking , a local

vernacul ar of Hindi spoken between Meerut and Delhi .I t has, however, spread all over Northern India and becomea Zi ngn af ran ca . Urdu is a Persianized form of Hindustani ,i .e . , the Persian character is used for writing it and anumber of Persian and Arabic words have been addedto its vocabul ary . The great maj ority of the peopleof Bihar, however , speak neither Hindi n or Urdu ,

butB ihari , which the Hindus call Hindi and the Mu sa lman s

Urdu . There are three dialects of Bihari known asBhojpuri , Magadh i and Maithili . All three are writtenin the Kaithi character

,which is a form of Devanagari ,

the character generally used for Hindi ; the latter isdistinguished by a straight line at the top of theletters .

Oriya has the advantage of being pronounced as iti s spelt , each letter being clearly sounded . I t i s com

prehensive and poetical , with a pleasant sound ing and

224 LANGUAGES [CH .

musical intonation , and by no means d ifficult toacquire and master . On the other hand

,i t has a

perplexing character , due to the fact that until recenttimes it was written with a stylus on palm leaves

a fragile material , which is apt to split i f a line followsthe grain . To avoid this

,the scribes discarded the long

straight line of Devanagari and substituted a series of

curves round the let ters . I t requires remarkably

good eyes to read an Oriya printed book,for the exigencies

of the printing press compel the type to be small , andthe greater part of each letter is this curve

,which is

the same in nearly all,while the real soul of the character ,

by which on e i s distinguished from another,i s hidden

in the centre , and is so minute , that it i s often difficult

t o see . At first glance an Oriya b ook seems to be allcurves

,and it takes a second look to notice that there

i s something inside each .

Nepa li , which has affinities with Hindi , i s the lingn afran ca of the Himalayas . The Nepalese are usually

bilingual , Speaking their tribal language among them’

selves and Nepali in their dealings with othersThe Munda lan guages are Spoken by many tribes

in Chota Nagpur,the Orissa States and the Santal

Parganas the languages are named after th e tribes ,e .g . , Santali , Mundari , Bhumij , Ho, Juang , Kharia , etc .

They are,writes Sir George Grierson

,the greatest living

authority on Indian languages,agglutinative

,and pre

serve this characterist ic in a very complete manner .

Suffix is piled upon suffix,and helped ou t b y infix

,t ill

we obtain words which have the meaning of a wholesentence . For instance

,the word da l means strike

,

’

and from it we form the word da -pa - l - ocho- akan - tahen - tae

ti ri—a - e,whi ch signifies ‘he who belongs to him who

belongs t o me will continue lett ing himself be caused tofight .

’ Not'

on ly may we , but we rn n s t employ this posy

226 LANGUAGES [CH .

an d the allied language of Mru , the latter of which isa Vernacular of the Chittagong Hill Tracts . Burmese

is Spoken by persons , . mostly Maghs residentin the Hill Tracts and Chittagong . For the most part

,

the Maghs are descendants of emigrants from Arakan,

and use a dialect current in Arakan , which they call

Magh and others Arakanese .

CHAPTER XV I I

AGR ICULTURE

THE supreme economic importance of agriculture

may be realized from the fact that three—fourths of thepopulation are dependent on it for a means of l ivelihood .

At the census of 1911 it was found that in Bengal 35millions

,and in B ihar and Orissa 30 millions , subsisted

on the cultivation of land . The great maj ority of thisvast host have no occupation apart from agriculture ,while on e in every twenty of those engaged in n on

agricul tural pursuits supplements his income by owning

or t illing some land or by working,at intervals

,as a

field labourer . I t is no exaggeration therefore to saythat the success or failure of the crops every year is amatter of Vital importance .

Bengal is practically free from any anxiety on thisaccount

,for its harvests are generally assured by an

abundant rainfall and the periodic overflow of siltladen rivers . B ihar and Chota Nagpur are more exposedto the vicissitudes of the seasons . Here droughts sometimes cause scarcity and have been known to culminate

in famine . Provided,however , that the rainfall is

XVI I] AGR ICULTUR E 227

adequate and timely—a fit fu l distribution is as dangerousas an actual deficiency in the amount—the crops aresufficient n ot only for the annual food- supply of the

people,but also for export overseas and to other parts

of India .

Agriculture,as practised in either province

,may

be described as petty agriculture,for the country is

Fig . 65 . Threshin g

parcelled out in small farms,and the fields are often

so tiny as to be mere plots ‘of land . That the land brings

forth enough to feed the people and also to provide asurplus for export is due to the patient Skill acquiredby centuries of inherited experience

,and to the frugal

li fe of the inhabitants,as well as to the natural fertility

of the soil . I ts productive powers owe little to manure .

15—2

228 AGR ICULTURE [CH .

Firewood is usually so'

s carce that cowdu ng ,mixed with

straw , i s made into cakes for‘

the domestic fires . In

Eastern B engal , however, there 1s n o

'

n eed of artificialfertilization

,for the land is annually enriched by the

silt deposit of the rivers . The agricultural implements

in general use are so simple as to be a lmost primitivethe plough

,for i nstance , i s an iron- tipped share attached

to a long pole—but they serve excellently for the soilthey work . Forest tribes still pract ise nomadic cultiva

tion in Sikkim,the Orissa States

,the Chittagong Hill

Tracts and Hill Tippera . A patch of j ungle is burntdown

,and seeds dibbled into the soil

,which is enriched

by the ashes of the trees . A few cr0ps are taken,and then

the people move off and make fresh clearings .

Rice and j ute predominate in Bengal , where riceI S the staple food of the people ; in Eastern Bengal

these two cr0ps are grown almost exclusively . There

is/

a greater variety of cr0ps in Bihar and Chota Nagpur,

where the masses do not live on rice but on other cereals ,such as maize

,wheat and barley

,and various pulses

and millet s . There are three harvests in the year ,called aghan i , bhadoi and ra b i . The agkan i harvest ,consisting almost entirely of winter rice , takes place

early in the cold weather ; the bhadoi in the rains and

the ra b i in the spring .

R ice is by far the most important crop ,occupying

a s it does from one—half (in B ihar and Orissa) to twothirds (in Bengal) of the cropped area . The districts

of B engal , i t has been said ,a level area of nearly on e

hundred thousand square miles,unbroken by a single

hill,rich in black mould and of boundless reproductive

fertility,constitute the great rice—producing area of

Northern India . The Indian name of this cereal showsthe estimation in which it is held

,viz . ,

dhan,meaning the

supporter of mankind . Among Europeans in Indi a rice in

230 AGR ICULTURE [CH .

the all - important winter cr0 p to maturity . I f the supply

fails then , the plants wi ther and the crop is a partialor complete failure .

W h ea t and b a r ley are not of much importance inBengal , where they are confined to the western districts ,but are cul t ivated extensively in Bihar

,from which

there are large exports of wheat . Ma i z e or Indian cornis on e of the chief staples of the latter sub—provincean d al so of Chota Nagpur . M aru a (E leu s in e coracan a )i s a valuable millet which is raised in the same areaduring the rains ; the grain is converted into flour and

consumed by the lower classes . Other mill ets grownfor local consumption are kodo (Paspalu ni scrob i cu la iu rn ) ,chin a (Pan icu ni mi li aceu ni ) and j u ar (S orghum vu lgare) .Pu ls es of many different k inds are cul tivated duringthe cold weather in -both provinces

,the most extensively

grown being gram (Ci cer ar ietin u rn ) , which furnishesa sustaining food and an excell ent fodder for horses .Among the n on - food crops jute easily takes the

first place in value,for practically all the sacks of the

world are made from the fibre which it yields .

. It scultivation is almost entirely a monopoly of Bengal ,where it thrives on almost any soil having the necessary

depth an d sufficient water t o keep the soil moist . Outside that province the only large j ute district is Purnea ,though a certain amount is produced in Orissa . The

area under th e crop has extended with the demandfor the fibre

,t ill i t amounts to three million acres .

A million tons of fibre are brought yearly to Calcuttato feed the local mills and for foreign export ; and itis estimated that are paid every year to the

agriculturists for the raw material . The cr0p is cutin August and September

,and the stalks

,made up into

bundles,are immersed in water . .The steeping process

is known as retting . After about three weeks , the bark

xvn ] AGR ICULTURE 231

i s easily stripped from the stem , and the fibre is separated

by washing in water and beating . It is then dried inthe sun and made into hanks for despatch to market .

Other fibre crops of minor importance are san hemp

Fig . 67 . Winn owin g in th e win d

(Cr otola r i a j u n cea ) and dha i n cka (S es ban i a acu lea ta ) , thefibre of which is mad e locally into nett ing and cordage

,

The true hemp or ga nj a (Can n a b i s sa tiva ) is cultivated forthe sake of the intoxicating drugs obtained from its

leaves , flowers and resin . The cultivation is carried

232 AGR ICULTURE [ CH .

on, under Government supervision ,

in a limited areain the district of Raj shahi .

Oi ls eeds are grown extensively,the principal being

linseed , rape- seed ,and mustard . Linseed is the produce

of the common flax plant,which is cul tivated for the

sake of the oil obtained from its-

seed . Sesamum or

gingelly is also a common crop in nearly every district .Cotton is produced on a small scale for domestic use ;the local cottons are short—stapled inferior variet ies .There is an extensive cul t ivation of suga r can e , mainly

for the local manufacture of the coarse sugar ca lled

j aggery and molasses ; the export trade h as been almostext inguished by the compet ition of Java sugar . Thereis a larger area under tob a cco than in any other p rovince. I t is raised almost ever'ywhere in small patchesfor home use

,and on an extensive scale

,for trade and

export , in North Bihar , Cooch Behar , Rangpur andJalpaiguri . The leaf is exported to Burma

,where i t

is made into cigars smoked by the Burmese themselvesthe Burma cigars of - the market are mostly made fromMadras tobacco .

Lastly,there are three Special creps , which , like j ute ,

furnish the raw material for important industries , viz .,

indigo,cinchona and tea . The Op ium

“

i ndustry is nowextinct

,the cult ivation of poppy for the purpose having

been stopped in accordance with an agreement madeby the Government with China . The crop was fairly

widespread in Bihar,the drug being manufactured

(from the poppy exudation produced by scarifying the

peppy capsules) in the opium factory at Patna . Thecult ivation of indigo , on ce a large planting industry,has greatly diminished

,owing mainly to the competit ion

of the synthetic dye made in Germany,and

,in a minor

degree,to the good prices commanded by other crops .

I t has all but disappeared in Bengal,but is st ill carried

234 AGRICULTUR E [CH .

rain . For its conservati on the slopes are laid ou t ina series of terraced fields spreading downwards in a fanShape . They have earthen banks at the lower side toretain the water

,which passes down from field to field

moistening each in turn .

An ingenious system of irrigation is practised in SouthB ihar

,and more particularly in the Gaya distri ct

,where

the people impound the drainage wa ter and also pressthe rivers into service by diverting the water to the

land on e i ther S ide . There are thousands of artificial

reservoirs made by means of retaining embankments

constructed across the line of drainage,and a network

of artificial channels called pa in s leading from the r iversto the fields some of the latter are ten to twenty miles

in length and irrigate hundreds of villages . The wholeforms a remarkable and ingenious system of artificial

irrigation , which is admirably supplemented by the mannerin which the water is distributed from field to field andretained in them by a network of low banks .

In B ihar and Chota Nagpur irrigation from wellsis common in the cold weather

,the water being raised

by asimple lever appliance like that illustrated in fig . 69 .

This cons ists of a long“

beam or bamboo working on anupright forked post

,which serves as a fulcrum . At

on e end the beam is weighted by a stone,a mass of dried

mud or a log ; at the other is a r 0pe with a bucket

attached . The rope is pulled down till the bucket i simmersed as soon as the tension is relaxed

,the weight

attached to the lever raises the bucket . The wateri s then empt ied into the channel leading to the field .

There are several cana l sy s tems with a network

of distributaries , which are an insurance against cropfailures

,scarcity and famine . The Son Canals , which

take off from the river Son,ir r igate

‘

the greater portionof Shahabad and smaller areas in Patna and Gaya . The

XVI I ] AGR ICULTUR E 235

Orissa Canals , which derive their supply mainly fromthe Mahanadi , perform a similar office for Cuttack .

Between them,these two systems irrigate acres .

A small system is at work in Midnapore,and a large

Fig . 69 . Well i rr igation

scheme has recently been completed in Champaran ,

by which the Tribeni canal will Spread the water of the

Gandak over the north of the district .

CHAPTER XV I I I

INDUS TR IE S AND MANUFACTURES

FROM an industrial point of Vi ew the country mayb e regarded as in a state of transition . Agriculture

monopolizes th e energies of the maj ority of the people .

The vi llage is the main unit of economic life , the Villagearti sans supplying the simple needs of their neighbours

though some of their products,notably their hand

woven cott on cloths,have been supplanted by machine

made imported articles . On the other hand,organized

industr ies and manufactures of considerable importancehave come into existence within the last century . A

large labour force is employed in coal-mines , ju te mill s ,tea—gardens

,iron and railway works ; and labour is

becoming more mobile,scores of thousands of able

bodied men migrating every year t o meet the demandof the manufacturing centres . Machinery is being em

ployed to an increasing extent ; factories are springingup in the towns ; the j oint - stock company coexist s with

the older and simpler form of private partnership .

The organization of manufacturing industries hasn ot proceeded very far as yet

,as may be realized from

the statistics of concerns employing , 20 hands or more

which were obtained at the census of 1911. The result

was to Show that there are 1466 su ch concerns with

employ és in Bengal and 583 withemp loy ee

's in Bihar and Orissa . In the former province

the j ute mills and tea-gardens each account for on e

third of the employ és . No province in India has such

238 INDUSTR IES AND MANUFACTURES [CH .

works a litt le furnace with a goat - skin bellows such as

Tubalcain may have used . The potter turns a primitivemud wheel

,on which he shapes vessel s of an immemorial

form with his thumb . The stock- in - trade of the goldsmith and S ilversmith consists of a hole in the mudfloor of his workshop

,which serves

,

as a furnace , anearthenware bowl

,fans with which to blow up the fire ,

and a box of hammers , pincers , chisels and other tools .

Fig . 70 . Th e potter

Yet some of the products are famous for fineness of

workmanship . The yarns for the gossamer- like Daccamuslins were so fine

,that 1 lb . weight of cotton was

spun into a thread nearly 253 miles long . This wasaccomplished with the aid of a bamboo spindl e notmuch bigger than a darning needle

,which was lightly

weighted with a pellet of clay .

” Wonderful stories

are t old of the delicacy of the Dacca muslins . One

XVI I I] INDUSTRIES AND MANUFACTURES 239

texture called a b rawan,or running water

,was so fine

that when the emperor Aurangzeb reproved his daughterfor appearing in scanty clothing

,she pleaded that she

was wearing seven thicknesses of the cloth Anotherwas supposed to be as light and transparent as dew

,

whence its name of sha bn am (dew) . A weaver is saidto have been banished from Dacca for neglecting to preventa cow from eating a piece that had been spread ou t

on the grass to dry,which the cow mistook either for

dew or a Spider’s web . Again,to take the case of iron

work,a cannon made by a Dacca blacksmith in 163 7 ,

which may still be seen at Murshidabad,i s 17% feet long

and weighs over 7 tons . Another,at B ishnupur in the

Bankura district,which is made of h0 0 ps or cylinders

of wrought iron welded together,is 123 feet long and has

a bore of nearly a foot . W ith these prefatory remarkswe may pass to a survey of the principal industries :the mineral industries have already been dealt within Chapter VI I I .

Jute manufacture , the chief manufacturing industryin Bengal

,i s nearly S ixty years old

,the first j ute mil l

having been built on the bank of the Hooghly in 1854 .

There are now 57 mill s at work , with looms andspindles . These mills , which are S ituated in

Calcutta and its neighbourhood,consume fu llv hal f the

j ute produced in India and provide employment forpersons . The wage bill amounts to a

year,and the capital invested to At present

they produce only the coarser kinds of articles , suchas gunny bags and hessian cloth . Gunny means merelysacking

,for which j ute fibre is the cheapest known material .

There are also a large number of j ute press- houses in thesame locality and in the j ute growing districts

,in whi ch

baling is carried on,i .e . ,

the j ute is pressed into bales ;the standard bale of export weighs 5 maunds or 40 0 lbs .


Cotton mills are of m in or impor tan ce ,b ut . fourteen

have been established in Bengal either for spinningand weaving or for ginning and cleaning . Thefirst cotton

mil l in India was started near Calcutta in 1818 . Cottonbeing the staple art icle of clothing

,hand weaving is st ill

a widespread cottage industry ,though it has greatly

fallen off owing to the sale of machine-made articles .

Fig . 71. Th e village blacksmith

As a rule only coarse fabrics are turned out,but fine

muslins are produced by the weavers of Dacca . Thecensus of 1911 shows that this industry is the means

of subsistence of persons .Bengal is the principal s i lk -producing province in

India . Its annual output is est imated at lbs .

of raw silk,of which less than a quarter is made up


generally speaking,the higher the elevation of the

gard ens,the better the quality of the leaf . The bud

makes Orange Pekoe and Broken Orange Pekoe,the

young leaf next to it Souchong,and the coarser leaf

Pekoe Souchong . The obj ect ionable method of rollingthe leaf by hand

,which is pract ised by the Chinese

,

has long been . given up,and machinery is employed for

the different processes of rolling,drying

,si fting

,etc .

Fig . 72 . A s u ga r can e p res s

B ihar has practically a monopoly of ind igo manu

facture,but the value of this monopoly has long been

diminishing owing to the manufacture of a cheap synthetic

dye in Germany . The production is only a third of whatit was in 1896 before the artificial article came on themarket . Scores of factories have been closed or have

taken to other creps , The gross annual outturn of indigodye averages about cwts .

,valued at 33 lakhs

of rupees .

XVI I I] INDUSTR IES AND MANUFACTURES 243

Tob a cco now occupies as large an area as indigo inB ihar and thrice as much in Bengal . The bulk is

exported in a crudely cured form to Burma for manufacture into cigars

,but the local manufacture of cigarettes

is developing rapidly in Bengal,while in B ihar the

Peninsular Tobacco Co .,

financed by an Anglo—Americansyndicate

,has set up a large cigarette factory, with

up- to-date machinery

,at Monghyr .

Fig . 73 . D ry in g jute

Sugar manufacture has suffered from the importation

of bounty- fed sugar,but is carried on in small refineries

,

mostly under Indian management,in both provinces .

Molasses are also made by nearly every cult ivator with

the aid of small roller mills worked by bullocks,as illus

tra ted in fig . 72 . The sugarcane is pressed betweenthe rollers

,and the j uice extracted is boiled in Shallow

16—2

244 INDUSTRIES AND MANUFACTURES [ca

i ron pans . W hen it thickens,it i s poured into pots

and hardens with exposure to the air .The manufacture of b ras s and copper ware and of

b ell-meta l , is a flourishing Village industry carried onwith simple appliances .

'

The demand is lit erally enormous , for brass and copper take the place held by glassan d porcelain in Europe . Not only are domest ic utensils

made of Copper and brass in general u se—the formeramong Muhammadans and the latter among Hindus

,

wh o have a prej udice against iron vessels—but everyHindu requires for his ablutions a brass melon- shaped

vessel , called a lota ,and every Muhammadan a spouted

vessel , called a tan ti , which is exactly like a teapotwithout a lid . The shape of the latter is due to the

inj unction in the Koran that ablutions shoul d be performedin running water . This cannot a lways be got

,and so

,

by a kind of legal fiction,water falling through a spout

fulfils the letter of the law . The industry is on e of the

few indigenous industries which has n ot been affected

by competition,though the use of enamelled articles

is on the increase . The maj ority of the b ra z ier s’and

coppersmiths’ products are intended for practical every

day use by a frugal people , and ornamental work is rare .

Vegetable Oi ls are manufactured in a few large millsand generally

,on a small scale for domestic use , in small

hand mills . They are also largely used for the anointmentof the person : oil

,in fact

,takes the place of soap , the use

of which is a luxury not known to or in request amongthe masses . Formerly castor and other vegetable oils

were used for illumination,but they have been supplanted

by imported kerosene oil , which may be said to have

effectedI

a domestic revolution in the economy of the

people . There are large bulk oil depots at Budge

Budge near Calcutta,where the manufacture of kerosene

oil t ins has recently been started . Twenty years ago

246 INDUSTRIES AND MANUFACTURES [CH .

The a rtis tic in dus tries are neither numerous norimportant . The chief centres of gold and silver workare Cuttack

,Calcutta

,Dacca

,Murshidabad and Kharagpur

in Monghyr . The Special ity of Cuttack is fine filigreework , l ike Maltese silver filigree . The wire into which

the S i lver is drawn ou t IS'

SO fine that 120 feet can be

got from a rupee’s weight of silver . The spidery webof wire is manipulated with great skill

,and articles of

Fig . 74 . Ston e ca rvin g a t Konarak

extreme delicacy are produced . At Calcutta and Dacca

r epou s séwork is produced ,and at Kharagpur the artisans

make gold and silver fish wi th flexible bodies formed of

thinly beaten overlapping scales ; a small cavity in the

head of the fish serves as a receptacle for perfume .

Ivory ca rving is carried on by a small number of

workmen at Murshidabad . The carving displays the

finish and minuteness characteristic of true Indian art .


One Special feature i s the absence of j oins ; the carversso d isl ike having to j om pieces together that they would

rather make a small art icle in which none are requiredthan one made of several pieces which would sell for

Fig . 75 . Ivory ca rvin g at Mu rshidabad

twice or thrice as much . They will carve.

any figurebut that of Krishna

,as i t is against their creed to create

or sell the deity who is the obj ect of their worship . The

industry is languishing . It was introduced when the


Nawabs of Bengal had their court at Murshidabad and

flourished with the support of the Nawabs and theirentourage . Since the Nawabs ceased to rule and their

court disappeared,the demand for such dainty but

expensive work has fallen off .

Magnificent specimens of s ton e ‘

ca rvin g may be seen

in the old temples of Orissa . In the Opinion of Mr E . B .

Havel] , the Orissa carvers acquired the most extraordinary technical skill in architectural decoration Hinduart has known . There is a pitiable remnant of this

splendid art still struggling for existence all over theOrissa Division

,but unless Government adopts some

more effective measures for preserving it than those

hitherto employed,it is n ot likely to survive many years .

Or issa carving i s often not very inferiorto the old work . I n style it is much more interestingthan the better known sandstone carving of R aj putanaand

'

the Punj ab,which is often monotonous and more

suggestive of furniture than of architectural,

decoration .

While the Orissa carvers are in n o way inferior to those

of North-West India in delicate surface ornamentation,

they have not hampered themselves by the limitations

of a wood- carver’s technique,but have fully realized

the technical possibilities of their material for producing

bold effect s of light and shade suitable for architectural

work .

Gold and silver emb roidery i s worked at Patna andMurshidabad

,gold and silver wire being worked on caps

,

j ackets and the trappings of horses and elephants . Silk

brocades heavily embroidered with gold and silver wireare known as kincobs

,a corruption of karn khwab . Mus

lins'

embroidered by hand with silk or coloured cott on

thread,which are k nown as kas ida s , are produced at

Dacca and exported to Turkey . Cotton brocades embroidered in the looms at the same place go by the name

250 INDUSTRIES AND MANUFACTURES [CH .

vast number of those who catch fish for'

h ome consumption

in their own ponds,

fields and ditches (as illustratedin fig . 77) at the close of the rains

,when the flood

water recedes . Fish is a staple article of food in B engal,

and it is officially stated that the fishery possibilit iesof the province are nowhere exceeded

,except perhaps

by those of the United States of America . At present,

however,the supply is unequal to the demand . I t comes

Fig . 77 . Inlan d fishin g in Ben ga l

almost entirely from the inland fisheries,and the fishing

grounds in the Bay of Bengal are scarcely touched .

The fishermen generally are quite ignorant of the methodsof fish—curing

,and large quantities of fish are regularly

lost through this cause alone . By—products are never

utilized ; means of transit of fish from on e place toanother are generally inadequate .

‘ There is no closeseason for any species of fish

,and inconceivable numbers


of eggs of many Species are destroyed yearly . Anicutsare thrown indiscriminately across rivers and streams

,

and no fish - ladders are provided . Figure 76 showshow completely a stream may be blocked for the captureof all fish making their way up it . A Fishery Department

has been started by Government in each province forthe development of the industry by the investigation

an d improvement of the sources of supply .

CHAPTER X IX

COMMUN ICAT ION S

FROM the earliest times the rivers appear to havebeen the most important means of internal commu n ica

tion . Other trade routes,such as roads

,railways and

canals,are almost ent irely modern . Until the establish

ment of Brit ish rule there were few roads practicablefor wheeled traffic throughout the year

,and merchandise

was mostly conveyed by the slow-moving cargo boat

or the pack- bullock . Those roads that were maintained

owed their existence to their value as strategic routes,

the most important being a highway,constructed by the

emperor Sher Shah (1540 which is said to have stretchedfrom Bengal to the Punjab and was the precursor of theGrand Trunk R oad . In the turmoil accompanying thedownfall of the Mughal Empire the roads fell into general

neglect , and as late as 1833 we find an entry in Shore’sN otes on I n dian Afia i r s stating : “

AS to the roads ,excepting those within the limits of civil stations , sixteenmiles between Calcutta and Barrackpore is all we haveto boast of .

252 COMMUNICATIONS [CH .

I t was not till 1854 that the first length of railwayline (from Howrah to Pandua near Burdwan) was opened ;three years later

,when the Mutiny broke out , it ex

tended only as far as R aniganj . Thence the troops

had to march to the north-west along the Grand TrunkR ead

,a long route marked at all t oo sh ort intervals

by little cemeteries containing the graves of cholera

Fig . 78 . Th e cou ntry ca rt of th e pla in s

Victims . Even until 1891 there was no direct railwaycommunication between Bengal and the Central Provinces

,

Madras and Assam . New the traveller can go directto Nagpur by the great Bengal-Nagpur Railway and

so on by a new and shorter route to Bombay ; he canpass through the whole province

aof Orissa and down

the east coast to Madras,instead of crossing the continent

twice—fir st to Bombay and then back again to Madras


Darj eeling Cart Road ,on e of the finest mountain roads

in India , which mounts 70 0 0 feet (from Siliguri t o Darj eeling) in 51 miles , the ruling gradient being 1 in 31.

I t was commenced in 1861 to replace a military road built

by Lord Napier of Magdala,which was too steep and

narrow for cart traffic .

The following statement[Sh OW S the ra i lways in each

province and the length of open line in 1912 . Thereis no railway in Sikkim .

Ra ilway B en ga l B i ha r an d Or i s s a

As s am—Ben ga lB en ga l D u a r s .

B en ga l—Nagp u rB en ga l and Nor th Wes te r n .

Eas ter n B en ga lEa s t In d ian

Tota l

There are two gauges—the metre gauge of 3 feet

33 inches north of the Ganges and the broad gaugeof 5 feet 6 inches south of i t : the opening of a bridge

across the Ganges near Sara has resulted in the extension

of the broad gauge up to Santahar on the Eastern BengalR ailway . Elsewhere connection between the two systems

is effected by ferry steamers .The As sam -Benga l R a ilway is a metre gauge line ,

opened in 1895 ,connecting Assam with Chittagong ,

where it has its terminus . Connection with Calcutta iseffected by a branch line to Chandpur

,whence steamers

run to Goalundo to meet the trains of the Eastern Bengal

State R ailway .

The Benga l-Duars R a i lway was opened in 1895 and ,

as it s name implies,serves the area in Jalpaiguri known

X IX] COMMUNICATIONS 255

as the Duars . I t i s on the metre gauge and connectswith the Eastern Bengal State R ailway at Jalpaiguri

and Lalmanir Hat .

The Benga l-Nagpur R a i lway i s one of the mostimportant of all the railway systems , for it connects

Bengal with Orissa and Madras on the south and with

the Central Provinces and Bombay on the west . I talso serves Chota Nagpur and taps the Jher r ia coal

Fig . 80 . Ca rgo boats on th e Gan ges

field,access to which makes it a large coal carrier . I t

is a broad gauge line having its terminus at Howrahand large works at Kharagpur . The latter is thej unction for the coast line to Madras and the main lineto Nagpur .

The Benga l a n d North-W estern R ailway has p ract ically a monopoly of the traffic in North B ihar

,where

it has taken over the working of the Tirhu t State


Railway line . I t is a metre gauge line running westward into the United Provinces and connecting with

the Eastern Bengal State Railway at Katihar on the

east .

The E a s tern Benga l R a i lway runs from Calcutta

(Sealdah) to North and Eastern Bengal , and also to Assam .

I t was formerly known as the Eastern Bengal State

R ailway . I t works the Cooch'

Beh ar Railway (33 miles)and has taken over the line of the Bengal Central Railway

from Calcutta to Khulna .

Fig . 81. A Gan ges fer ry steamer

The E a s t Ind ian R a i lway , the largest system in thetwo provinces

,is the main channel of communication

between Bengal,Bihar and the north-west of India .

There are three principal lines . The Loop Line,the

oldest of the three,was constructed to follow the Ganges .

I t takes off at Khana near Burdwan and runs close tothe southern bank of the Ganges from Rajmahal to

Buxar,whence it proceeds to Mogh als ar a i near Benares .

The Chord Line strikes across the Loop Line from Khana


is effected by means of loops or spirals and also of reverses,

the train being taken up inclines laid ou t in zigzags .W a ter commun ica tion s are of exceptional importance

in Bengal,where the river surface

,even in the dry season

,

extends over 50 0 0 square miles . During th e rains thegreater part o f Eastern Bengal is flooded and underwater ; here the rivers and creeks serve for roads boats

take the place of carts and steamers of trains . Everyon e travels b y water , and on a market day in the

Fig . 82 . A view on th e Gran d Tru n k Road

flooded tracts hundreds of boats will be met comingfrom and going to the bazar . The vessels are of everyshape and S ize

,ranging from the earthenware pipkin

in which children paddle themselves to school,or from

one house t o another in the Village,to the huge top - heavy

country boats capable of holding 160 0 maunds of j ute .

Steamers,both passenger and cargo

,wi th attendant

flats,ply on the Ganges and Brahmaputra as far as the

United Provinces on on e side and Assam on the other .

X IX] COMMUNICATIONS 259

The chief centre o f the steamer traffic is Goalundo,which

lies near the j unction of the Ganges and Brahmaputra

a n d is the eastern terminus of the Eastern Bengal R ailway system south of the Ganges . From this placesteamers run to Narayanganj and Chandpur , connecting

L1/looa

RGACHI

Broad -Ga uge ,

Broad -Gauge,

S i ng/e I/n c

Na r row-Ga uge ,

Fig . 83 . Ra ilway map Of Calcutta d istr ict

at the former with the railways of Dacca and other

Eastern Bengal district s and at the latter wi th theAssam-Bengal R ailway .

There is also a continuous water route between EasternBengal and Calcutta

,the Vessels using which make their

I 7—2


way through the Su ndarb an s by a succession of navigablechannels known as the Ca lcutta an d Ea s tern Can a ls . This

is a system of natural channels , connected by a few artificial canals

,by which the produce of Eastern Bengal and

the Brahmaputra valley is brought to Calcutta without

having to go ou t into the Bay of Bengal . Their length isa little over 110 0 miles . The western terminus is Calcutta .

Their obj ective to the east is Bari sal , the headquartersof the great rice- producing district of Backergunge

,

nearly 20 0 miles east of Calcutta . As the traff i c passingalong these channels averages a million tons a year

,

valued at nearly four millions sterling,this may be

regarded as on e'

of the most important systems of

in land ch annels in‘

the world . There is also a certain

amount of navigation on the canals proper, such as theSon and Orissa Canal s

,and the Orissa Coast Canal . The

traffic along the canals has,however

,largely diminished

owing to the competit ion of the railways .

CHAPTER XX

COMMERCE AND TRADE

As in other part s of India,the people

,though inde

pendent of imports for their food,rely mainly on other

countries for their clothing,their manufactured goods

and their luxuries,while the bulk of the exports consists

of agricultural products . The foreign trade centresalmost entirely in Calcutta

,which

,though n o longer

the official capital of India,has a good claim to be con

s idered i ts commercial capital . I t is the natural en trepOtfor the produce of the Gangetic and Brahmaputra valleys

,

262 COMMERCE AND TRADE [CH .

exceeds that of the raw fibre shows the extent to which

production has been developed in the local mills . Thelargest . supplies are shipped to the B rit ish Isles andthe United States

,the former taking two- fifth s of the

raw j ute and the latter two- fifth s of the manufacturedj ute . Grain and pulses occupy the second place in the

list of exports,the best customer being Ceylon , to which

two- fifth s of the tot al quantity are consigned . Third

Fig . 85 . Villagers goin g to ma rket in Ben gal

in importance comes tea,exported from the gardens in

Darj eeling , the Duars and Assam ; Russia is the largestconsumer after the United Kingdom . Other importantexports are oilseeds

,hides and skins and opium

,the last

of which is valuable rather than bulky . The United

Kingdom takes altogether 30 per cent . of the exports,other British possessions 18

,the United States 15 and

Germany 11 per cent .

XX] COMMERCE AND TRADE 263

Cotton goods,which furnish the clothing of the masses

of India,predominate among the imports ; the United

Kingdom claims all but 5 per cent . of their value . Theyare f ollowed

,longo in terva llo

,by metals

,for Ind ia i s

almost entirely dependent on foreign countries for its

supply of iron,steel and copper . The

‘ir value only

slightly exceeds that of imported sugar,which is nearly

all obtained from Java . Next come,in the order shown ,

mineral oils,machinery and mill work

,railway plant

and rolling stock,hardware and cutlery . The imports

of kerosene oil in 1911—12 reached the enormous total

of 32 mill ion gallons—nearly double the‘ figure of

,the

preceding year—of which two—thirds came from theUnited States and a little under one- third from Borneo .

This extraordinary rise was due to a rate war betweenthe Standard O il Co . and the R oyal Dutch Shell Transport

Combination . The shares of the import trade among theprincipal importing countries were—the United Kingdom69 per cent .

,other British possessions 4 ,

Java I O,Germany

5 a nd the Uni ted States 3 .

Intern a l trade is'

concerned mainly,wi th the same

articles . Calcutta is the receiving cen tre'

for both Bengaland Bihar and Orissa

,and also serves Assam

,the

United Provinces and,to a minor extent , the Central

Provinces . Rice is exported to the United Provinceswhere the demand is in excess of the local supply

,tobacco

to Burma,silk to the Punjab and the west of India .

and coal to all parts of the continent . The fron tiertra de with Nepal , Bhutan ,

Sikkim and Tibet is small

in volume and of no great value ; the main staple of

export from Tibet is raw wool .Outside Calcut ta the principal trade centres are

Howrah,Chittagong

,Patna

,Dacca

,Cuttack and Nara

yangan j . The place last named deals with a fifth ofthe total j ute crop other j ute en trepOts are Chandpur ,

264 COMMER CE AND TRADE [CH . XX

Goalundo,Kushtia

,Madaripur and Siraj ganj . In the

interior a considerable trade is carried on by itinerant

dealers with carts,pack- bullocks or boats

,wh o buy up

produce from the cultivators and distribute salt,Oil; etc .

In Eastern Bengal the markets are generally S ituated

on the rivers,and Country boats penetrate almost every

river and creek'

bringing the villagers their supplies and

Fig . 86. A rivers ide mart

taking their surplus produce from them . The smaller

Villages contain few if any shops,and goods are mostly

bought and sold in'

the markets held once or twice a weekin the larger Villages

,or at the periodical fairs held in

connection with the recurring religious festivals . Inth is respect the country is not unlike medieval England ,where nearly all buying and sell ing took place at weeklymarkets or annual fairs .

266 THE ROLL OF HONOUR [CH .

his foundation in 1693 after 37 years of hard service inthe exhausting climate of B engal .The annal s of the next century are crowded with the

Fig . 87 . Lord Clive

names of men so famous that their achievements need notbe recapitulated

,such as Lord Cl ive

,W a rren Ha s tin gs ,

the first Chief Justice of Bengal,S ir E l ij am. lmpey

XX I] THE ROLL OF HONOUR 267

(1732 and Warren Hastings’ malignant enemy,

S ir Phi lip Francis (1740 who was almost indubitably

the writer of The Letter s of j u n iu s . A hero who is not so

well known is John Zephaniah Holwell (1711 origin

Fig . 88 . Wa r ren Hastin gs

ally a su rgeon , who became Zamindar of Calcutta , conducted the defence of Fort William in 1756 after Drakehad fled , and was one of the 23 survivors of the BlackHole . He is called by Orme “ the gallant defender

268 THE ROLL OF HONOUR [CH . XX I

of the Fort an d the asserter of th e reputat i on of thenation .

To Lord Cornwa llis , Governor-General of India from1786 to 1793 , Bengal is indebted for the Permanent

Settlement,and to Lord Da lh ous ie (1848—56) for its

creation as a separate province . During Dalhou s ie’s

administrat ion,moreover

,the country began to receive

th e gi ft s of modern Civilization . A cheap and uniform

postage of ha l f an anna (a halfpenny) a letter was introdu ced

,the first telegraph line from Calcutta was set up ,

and the first railway line in Bengal was opened .

The following is a list of the Lieuten an t-Govern or s who ‘

administered Bengal after Lord Dalhousie (with the yearsin which they were appointed)—Sir Frederick Halliday1854 ,

Sir John Peter Grant 1859, Sir Cecil Beadon 1862 ,

Sir William Grey 1867 , Sir George Campbell 1871,Sir

Richard Temple 1874 ,Sir Ashley Eden 1877 ,

Sir R ivers

Thomson 1882,Sir Stuart Bayley 1887 , Sir Charles Elliot t

1890 ,Sir Alexander Mackenzie 1895 ,

Sir John Woodburn1898 ,

Sir James Bou rd illon 190 2 ,Sir Andrew Fraser 1903 ,

Sir Edward Baker 190 8 and Sir William Duke 1911.

The shortlived province of E astern Bengal and Assamhad only three Lieutenant-Governors , vi z .

,Sir Bamfylde

Ful ler,Sir Lancelot Hare and Sir Charles Bayley . The

la st was transferred to Bihar and Or is sap

in 1912 , whenLord Carmichael was translated from Madras to Bengal .

O f administrators working in a smaller sphere themost notable are Augus tus Clevelan d (1755 ca lled“ the du lce d'ecu s of the early Civil Service ,

” who effectedthe pacificat ion of the wi ld tribes of the Rajmahal Hills ,and two military officers

,Maj or Samuel Ca r ter is Ma cph er

s on (1806—60 ) and General S ir John Campb ell (1802by whose exertions human sacrifice was stopped among

the Khonds of Orissa .

One sailor and many soldiers have dist inguished


themselves in ou r area . The sailor was Adm ira l W a ts on,

who cooperated with Clive in the recapture of Calcut tain 1757 and is commemorated by a monument in West

minster Abbey . Sir Hector Mun ro,who at the age of

38 won the great victory of Buxar took over thecommand on the death of Ma jor Adams

,who with a few

English veterans and a small force of sepoys, wen the

battles of Giria and Udhu a Nullah ,captured Murshidabad ,

Monghyr and Patna,and died , worn ou t by his labours ,

in January 1764 . With him must be mentioned “ the

truly gallant R an fu r lie Kn ox, who died the same yearafter a short but glori ous career . Patna was rel ievedby his extraordinary forced march in 1760 ,

when he

marched from Burdwan,at the head of only 20 0 Europeans,

and covered 294 miles in 13 days duri ng the fierce heat

of May . A gallant soldier himself, he found a kindred"

spirit in R a ja Sh itab R a i (afterwards Rai Rayan and NaibNazim) , a Kayasth generalwh o fought by his side

“ This,

Knox exclaimed,pointing to Shitab R a i covered with

the dust and blood of battle,is a real Nawab . I never

saw such a Nawab in my life .

Three of the heroes of the IndianMutiny may besingled ou t for mention ,

of whom two were civilians

Herwa ld W ake (1823 Magistrate ofArrah,and Vica rs

Boy le (1822 a railway engineer,the two leaders of

the defence of the Arrah House against overwhelming odds,

and S ir Vincent Eyre (1811 who organized a reliefexpedit i on on his own init iat ive and cut his way throughto their rescue . In the early days of his service Eyre

was kept as a hostage by the Afghans (in andafter his ret irement he organized an ambulance servicefor the sick and wou n ded

‘in the FranCO-Prussian war .

The ti tle of Genera l Lloyd to fame is based not on hissuccess as a soldier—he was a successfu l general in the

Santa] war , but failed when in command at Dinapore

xxx] THE ROLL OF HONOUR 271

during the Mutiny—but on the fact,recorded in his

epitaph,that “ to his exertions and personal influ en c

wi th the R aj a of Sikkim the province of Bengal is indebtedfor the sanitarium of

“

Darj eeling . He discovered theplace in 1829 and died there in 1865 .

Our knowledge of the country in early times is derivedfrom a large number of travellers

,of whom the earliest

was Mega s th en es . He resided at Patalipu tra , as an envoyfrom Seleu cos t o Chandragupta , and h is account of the

country “ cont inued up to the S ixteenth century to bethe principal authority on India for European wri ters .

The statements he recorded are so precise , that more i sknown in detail about the court and administration of

Chandragupta in the fourth century B .C . than about anyother Indian monarch prior to Akbar in the sixteenthcentury A .D .

,with perhaps the exception of king Harsha

in the seventh century .

” Our knowledge of the latteris obtained from that pi ous and precise Chinese pilgrim

,

Hiu en Ts ian g , wh o Visited the holy places of Buddhismand left a careful and accurate record of his travels .There is also a brief but interesting accou n t

'

from the

pen of an earlier Chinese pilgrim,Fa Hien

‘

,who came

in quest of sacred Buddhist books and images in the fifthcentury . The last of the great Asiat ic travellers was theArabian I b n Batuta ,

who left Tangiers in 1325 and VisitedBengal in the course of his wanderings .

The earliest European traveller in Bengal was theVenetian nobleman

,Nicolo de Conti

,who

,accompanied

by his wi fe , sailed up the Ganges in the first half of thefifteenth century . The country was visited in the nextcentury by two more Italians , yi z .

,Ludovico di V a r th ema

and , towards its Close , Caes a r de Federici . The first

Englishman known to have reached this part of Indiawas R a lph Fitch , a London merchant who made his wayto it overland and about 1588 visited Patna , Hooghly ,


Cooch Behar and other places in Bengal .h

His is the firstEnglish account of Bihar and Bengal . The first Dutch

pioneer was Lin s choten (1583 who gives a lurid description of the lawlessness of the Portuguese . An August inian friar of the latter nation

, Seb a s tian Man r ique ,who

was sent to Bengal about 1612, has left an interest ing

account,in which h e mentions the self- immolation that

took place on Saugor Island , the Oppressive rule of theMughals and the difficulty of making the landlords pay

their revenue “ He who gives blows is a master . Hewho gives none is a dog

” was his conclusion about the

people . Two other famous travellers during the seven

teen th century were / th e French physician,Bern ier

,and

the French j eweller, Tavern ier , th e lat ter of whom first

V isited Bengal in 1641 and again accompanied Bernierthere in 1666.

W i lliam Bruton is not so well known,but to him we

are indebted for th e earliest fir st - hand account of Orissa,

to which he came with the English expedition underRalph Cartwright in 1633 . The people he found notableingenious men

,let it be in what art or science 'soever .

Very full informat ion about the sta te of the country

under Aurangzeb is given in the voluminous diary of

W i lliam Hedges , Agent in Benga l from 1681 to 1688,

“ a simple but most quaint and interesting writer , by

Th oma s Bowrey (1669—79) in his Cou n tr i es rou nd the

Bay of Benga l , and by Nicola s Graa f, a Dutch doctor

wh o travelled up to Patna in 1670 to attend the head of

the Dutch factory . On the way, having stopped to makea drawing of the fort at Monghyr , he was arrested as

a Spy and thrown into a dark noisome dungeon . Lessimportant travellers are . the Dutch captain Gautier

S chouten (1658 Streyn sh am Mas ter,the President

of Madras,who came to Bengal on a tour of inspection

in 1676 and 1679, Capta in A lexan der Hami lton (1688—1723)


been described by,Professor Blochman n as the fullest

account in Persian of the Muhammadan history of Bengal

which the author brings down to his own t ime (1786An English translat ion by Maulvi Abdus Salam appearedin 190 4 .

j

The fullest English history of B engal , from the first

Muhammadan invasion down,

to 1757 , is that compiled

from Muhammadan Chronicles by Ma jor Ch a r les Stewa r t ,which was published in 1813 . Profes sor Blochman n

,th e

learned translator of the A in - i -Akba r i , was a German

wh o entered the English army in 1858 in order to getou t to India an d was engaged in educational work inCalcutta from 1860 till his death in 1878 . Of modernhistorical writers the most graceful is S ir W illiam Hun ter

(1840 whose An na ls of R u ra l Benga l appearedsix years a fter he had j oined the Bengal Civil Service .

His facile pen illuminated.

statistics and geography aswell as history

,and his last work was a History of Brit ish

India . Other writers on historical subj ects are R amesh

Ch an dra Dutt,another versat ile member of the Indian

Civil Service,and Ch a r les R ob er t W ils on (1863

whose E a r ly An n a ls of the B r i ti sh in Benga l is a standardwork .

The vernacular litera ture of Bengal is rich in great

n ames . Jayadeva , the writer of the Gi ta Govinda,

a Sanskrit poem,which has been called th e Indian

Song of Songs ,” was born in B irbhum in the twelfth

century . The chief poets of th e fifteenth century wereBidyapa ti , the only great poet of Bihar

,and h is friend

and contemporary Ch an didas , another native of Bi rbhum ,

the earliest vernacular Bengali poet, who is regarded

as the father of Bengali lyric poetry . To the samecentury belong the Bengali translation of theM ahabharata

by Kas iram Das of Burdwan and to the sixteenth centurythe Bengali version of the Ramay an a by Kr ittib as of


Nadia,both of which are classics . The greatest of the

writers of the seventeenth century was Mukunda Ram,

of Burdwan ,commonly called Kabi Kankan or the Jewel

of Bards . The theme of his poems was the goddess

Chandi or Durga , whose praises were also sung in thenext century by Ram Pra sad Sen of Nadia and Bha ra t

Chandra R a i of Burdwan .

In the beginning of the nineteenth century there was

a revival of Bengali l iterature under English influence ,and Bengali prose was created . Its father was thereligious and social reformer Raj a Ram Mohan R ay

(1774 whose successors were I swa r Chandra Vidyasaga r (1820 also prominent in the cause of socialreform

,and Aksh ay Kumar Da tta (1820 Poetic genius

flourished during the same period . I swa r Chan dra Gupta

(180 9—58) produced satires which earned for him the title ofthe greatest Bengali humorist . The chief dramatic writerwas Din a b an dh u Mitra (1829 whose N i l D a rpan ,

dealing with the abuses of indigo planting,led to the

imprisonment for libel of its translator,the R ev . James

Long . Even greater than these was the epic poet,Michael

Madhusudan Da tta (1824 who was educated first inthe Hindu College and later

,after his conversion to Chris

t ian ity in Bishop’s College . He is held by Mr R . C . Dutt

to be the greatest literary genius of the century,while

Sir George Grierson points out that he ranks higher inthe estimation of his countrymen than any Bengali poet

of this or any previous age .

Bank im Chandra Cha tterj i (1838—94) is the founderof the modern school of Bengali fiction

,which

,whether

or not it deserves to be called “ the best product of Bengali

prose , certainly exercises immense influence . Amonghis successors may be mentioned Na b in Chandra Sen ,

whose recent death was deplored as a loss to Bengal iliterature

,and Piyari Chand M itra ,

who wrote under the

18 —2


n om-de-plume of Tekch an d Thakur and whose novelA llaler Cha rer D u la

'

l (1858) has been compared by European critics wi th the

'

b es t works of Moliere and Fielding .

The poetic genius of R ab in dran ath Tagore has recently

received international recognition with the bestowalupon him in 1913 of the Nobel prize for l iterature .

The intellectual act ivity of th e end of the eighteenthand early part -of the nineteenth century was shared inby many European scholars . R esearches in the Virginfield of Sanskrit learning and Indian an t iqu it ies

‘

were

made by S ir W i lliam Jon es (1746—94) who founded theAsiatic Society of Bengal

,Henry Thomas Coleb rooke

(1765 Hor a ce Hayman W i lson (1786—1869) andJames Pr in s ep (1799 to whose memory the citizens

of Calcutta erected Pr insep’

s Ghat . D avid Ha re (1775a ph ilan th rOpic watchmaker of Calcutta

, en thu

s ias t ically promoted the cause of English education forIndians a n d secured the foundation of the Hindu College

in 1818 . In this college the Eurasian poet Deroz io (180 931) was a teacher .

Indian archaeology has had on e of i ts greatest exponents

in R a jen dra Lala Mitra (1824 while the first syst ematic

explorations in ou r area were made by Gen era l A lexan der

Cun n in gh am (1814 the first Director of the Indian

Archaeological Survey .

Other branches of science are well represented . J ames

R en n ell (1742“ the father of Indian geography,

was the first to make a survey of Bengal and wasadj udged worthy of burial in Westminster Abbey : Mostof the earlier cartographers were foreigners , such as

Ga s ta ld i D e Ba rros (1553 Blaev (1650 ) andVa len tijn The list of Superintendents of the

Royal Botanic Garden at Sibpur near Calcutta contains

the names of some .of the greatest Indian botanists , such

a s R oxb u rgh (175 1 the “ father of Indian botany ,


W illiam D an iel],who spent ten years (1784—94) painting

in India,W i lliam Hodges (1744—97) and the Bohemian

portrait - painter Johan n Zoffan y (1733Bengal has produced several religious and social

reformers,of whom the greatest was Ch a ita n ya (circ ,

1485 a nat ive of Nadia,who for four centuries

has been worshipped as an incarnat ion of Vishnu . In

more modern t imes we have R a ja Ram Moh an R ay

(1772 wh o fought against sati and polygamy,advocated the remarriage of widows and in 1828 founded

the Brahmo Samaj . His crusade against polygamy

an d in .favour of widow remarriage was carried on byI swa r Chan dr a V idya saga r (1820 while the Brahmo

Samaj movement was developed by t h e saintly Mah a r shiDeb en dra Nath Tagore (1818 the well- knownKesha b Chan dra Sen (1838 who established ‘ an

eclect ic Church,and his successor Pra tap Chan dra Ma z um

da r (1840A recent Vedantic sect owes its inspirat ion to Ram

Kr ish n a Pa rah am s a (1834 whose life and doctrines

form the subj ect of Max Muller’s R am Kr i shn a : H i s

Life and S ay ings . The chief apostle of the creed was

Swam i Viveka n an da (1863—190 2 ) and one of its best

known adherents was the lat e S is ter Nived ita (Mi ssMargaret Noble) .The first Protestant missionary in Bengal was a Dane ,

Z a cha r iah Kiern an der (1711 who was sent ou t to

Cuddalore by the English Society for Promoting Christian

Knowledge and came to C alcutta in 1758 . The Baptistmissionaries

,D r W i lliam Ca rey (1761 D r J oshua

Ma r shman : (1768—1837) and W i lliam W a rd (1769who started the Serampore Mission in 1799, are even

more famous In missionary annals . It i s on xth e broad

foundat ions which they laid that the edifice of modern

Indian missions has been erected . They were the first


to translate the B ible into Indian languages,the first

books printed in Bengali were issued from their pressand they even started a Bengali newspaper . At Serampore they had close relat ions with D aniel Corrie

,a Bengal

chaplain who was the first Bishop of Madras,and another

celebrated missionary,Henry Ma rtyn ,

who worked both

at Serampore and Dinapore and died in 1812 in Armenia ;there

,according to Macaulay

’s epitaph,in manhood

’

searly bloom

,the Christ ian hero found a pagan tomb .

The first missionary of the Church of Scotland was D r

Alexander Duff (1806 wh o first arrived in Calcutt ain 1830 after being wrecked Off Saugor Island and on asecond visit devoted himself to the evangelization of

rural districts .

The see of Calcutta has been held by several eminentdivines

,and in some cases peaceful Careers have ended

in tragic deaths . The first Bishop ,D r Middleton ,

described by Charles Lamb

,a fellow- student at Christ

’

sHospital

,as “a scholar and a gentleman in his teens

,

founded Bishop’s College and died of fever in Calcuttain 1822 ,

eight years after his arrival . There is a monument

erected to him in St Paul’

s Cathedral in London . Hissuccessor

,the wellknown Bishop Heb er , author of some

of the best hymns in the Engli sh language and of manyindifferent poems , died four years later from burstinga blood—vessel in a swimming bath at Trichinopoly .

D r D an iel W ils on built the cathedral at Calcutta and was

buried there in 1858 , and his successor , Bishop Cotton ,who started schools in the hills for European and Eurasianchildren

,was drowned at Kushtia in the Nadia district

in 1866, through the simple accident of slipping on a

steamer gangway and falling into the river .

CHAPTER XXI I

V ILLAGES , TOWNS AND CI T IES

OUT of every 10 0 persons 94 l ive in Villages I n Bengal ,and 97 in Bihar and Orissa , while Sikkim contains n o

place sufficiently large an d popul ous to be dignified withthe appellat ion of a town . Even the t owns are , t o alarge extent

,rural in character . Many of them are

l ittle more than overgrown Villages in which the peoplemay be seen grazing their cattle and f illing their fields .

Others are collect ions of villages,with a central urban

area , grouped together for municipal purposes but others ,such as the mill towns along the Hooghly

,are busy in

du s tr ial centres resounding with the whir of machinery .

In Bengal there are 124 towns , of which only three

(Calcutta , Howrah and Dacca) havea popu lation exceedingwhile two more

, V i z . Man iktala and Bhatpara ,have a population of over The most distinctively

urban areas are the metropolitan district s of the 24—Parganas, Howrah and Hooghly outside their limits thereare only three town"with over inhabitants .

Two- fifth s of the entire urban population are residents of

Calcutta and its suburbs,including Howrah .

B ihar and Orissa contains only 76 towns , of whichPatna alone has over inhabitants

,while Bhagalpur

,

Cuttack , Darbhanga and Gaya have overThe following is a list of the Chief towns and cities :

the bracketed figures after each name Show the populationat the census of 1911.

282 VILLAGES , TOWNS AND CITIES [CH .

for the defence , during the Mutiny of 1857 , of the Little

House , a small building built for use as a billiard room ,

which was held against an overwhelming force of mutineers

(estimated at by 9 Europeans , 6 Eurasians ,

3 Indian civilians and 50 Sikhs .“ As long as Englishmen

love to hear of fidelity and constancy and courage bearingup against fright ful odds , there i s n o fear lest they forget

the name of the Little House at Arrah .

Asan s ol A subdivisional headquarters , inthe Burdwan district . An important railway j unction

and one of the chief centres of the coal industry .

Ba idya b ati on the Hooghly river in Hooghlydistrict .

Ba idyanath . See Deoghar .

Ba las ore Headquarters of Bal asore districton the Bu rh ab alang river . Formerly a large port and

emporium,it contained English

,Dutch

,Danish and

French factories ; there are old English and Dutch

cemeteries with monuments dat ing back to the seventeenthcentury . The name is a corruption of Bal eswar .

Ba lly in the Howrah district , on the riverHooghly adj oining Howrah .

Bankipore . See Patna .

Bankur a Headquarters of Bankura district .

Ba r isal Headquarters of Backergunge . An

important inl and steamer station and centre of the rice

trade .

Ba rn agore in the 24-Parganas on the Hooghly .

I t was the seat of a Dutch factory in the seventeenth

century and is now an industr ial town with large j ute

mills .

Ba rra ckpore A subdivisional headquarters

in the 24-Parganas on the river Hooghly . It is a favouriteplace of residence for Europeans and contains two munici

pa lit ies , North and South Barrackpore , and a cantonment .

XX I I] VILLAGES,TOWNS AND CITIES 283

The last was the scene of on e of the first overt acts of

mutiny in 1857 ,when it was the headquarters of the

Presidency division of the army . South of the cantonment is Barrackpore Park with a country house of the

Governor of Bengal . I t was originally the residence of

the Commander—in - Chief,but about a century ago became

the country house of the Governors- General of Indiabeginning with the Marquess Wellesley .

Berhampore Headquarters of Murshidabad,

Fig . 91. A Da r j eelin g village W ith Nepales e merry -gO- rou n d

situated on the river Bhagirath i . It was made a Britishcantonment after the deposition of Mir Kasim

,and troops

were stationed in it t ill 1870 . The first outbreak duringthe Mutiny of 1857 took place here . The barracks arenow used for civil purposes . I t has waterworks and

a large college . I t was the headquarters of the R aj shahiDivision t ill 1875 ,

when the district was transferred to

the Presidency Division .

Bettiah A subdivisional headquarters i nChamparan . It is also the headquarters of the Bett iah

284 V ILLAGES,TOWNS AND CITIES [CH.

R aj and of the Prefecture Apostolic of Bettiah and

Nepal . A Capuchin Mission has been established heresince 1745 , when the Capuchins abandoned their work inTibet .

Bhadreswa r in Hooghly district on the riverHooghly . A rapidly growing mill town

,the population

of which has been trebled since 1872 .

Bhaga lpur Headquarters of the Bhagalpur

district and Division,S ituated on th e Ganges . I t contains

two monuments t o Augustus Cleveland . At Sabaur ,a few miles off

,is the Agricultural College of Bihar and

Orissa .

Bhatpara in the 24-Parganas on the river

Hooghly . It was once a centre of Sanskrit learning ,and is n ow a thriving mill town : it s j ute mills (chieflyin the quarter called Kankinara) employ overhands . It s population has increased fivefold in the lastthirty years owing to the labour recruited by the mills .

Biha r A subdivisional headquarters inPatna district . I t was a capital of the Pal a kings , on e

of whom founded a large Buddhist monastery or vi ha ra,

from which the town and province derived their names.

The monastery was destroyed when the place was takenand sacked in the first Muhammadan invasion . I t

contains a ruined fort,a sandstone pillar with inscript ions

dat ing back to the fi fth century and some tombs of

Muhammadan saints .

Bi shnupur or Vishnupur A subdivisional

headquarters In Bankur a district . It was the capitalof some chiefs

,called the Raj as of Ma llab hfim

,who rul ed

over a considerable t ract . Remains of their rul e are

seen in some shallow artificial lakes,the fort with some

old cannon,and twelve temples

,built between 1622 and

1758 ,which are fine specimens of the Bengali type of

temple architecture .

286 VILLAGES,TOWNS AND CITIES

'[CH .

the light of the world) and of Kutub - u d - din,the foster

brother of Jahangi r, who met his death while helping

in the assassination of Sher Afghan . Her husband

having been removed in this summary fashion,Jahangi r

married the widow and made her his consort in empire .

Buxar A subdivisional headquarters in

Shahabad . Here was fought the decisive battle of Buxarin 1764 . The old fort overlooking the Ganges

,which

is now used a s a residence,passed into the hands of the

Engli sh after this victory .

Ca lcutta . The capital of Bengal and until 1912 ofIndia . With it s suburbs and Howrah

,it is

‘not only

the largest city in India,but also

,next to London

,the

most populous city in the British Empire . As explainedin the Census Report of India Just as

,when speaking

of Lon don , we may mean either the Municipal and Parlia

mentary City of London with a night population of lessthan or the administrative County of Londonwith 45 millions , or Greater London including the OuterRing

,that is

,the Metropolitan and City Police districts

,

with 73millions so also in Speaking of Calcutta we may

mean Calcut ta proper,or the area administered by the

Calcutta Municipal Corporation with the port,fort and

canals,the population of which is or this area

plu s the suburban municipalit ies of Gossipur-Ch itpu r ,

Man iktala and Garden Reach with inhabitants ,or lastly Greater Calcutta

,which also includes Howrah ,

with an aggregate population of 313 . The suburban

municipalities di ffer only from Calcutta in respect of theirmunicipal government . From a structural point of Viewthey cannot be distinguished . The buildings are con

t in u ou s throughout , and there is nothing to show where

on e municipality begins and the other ends . The suburbanwater—supply is drawn from the Calcutta mains . Howrahagain is separated from Calcutta proper only by the river

XX I I] VILLAGES,TOWNS AND CITIES 287

Hooghly . I t is j ust as much a part of Calcutta as Southwark is of London . Like the suburban municipalitiesit is the dormitory of many persons who earn their living

in Calcutta proper and its industrial li fe is inseparablefrom that of the metropolis .Calcutta proper has an area of 32 square miles , and

the suburbs,i .e . the three municipalit ies above mentioned

,

of 10 Square miles . The area administered by the

Fig . 93 . A village s chool

Calcutta Corporation is nearly 19 square miles , the Portextends over 11 square miles , and Fort William and

the large Open space called the Maidan over two squaremiles .

To use a trite phrase,Calcutta is one of the many

triumphs of science over nature , for originally it wasa fever- infested swamp - girdled spot that seemed marked

ou t by nature as unfit for human habitation . Themortality among the early European settlers was fearful

288 VILLAGES,Tos AND CITIES [CH .

out of 125 0 inhabitants , 450 d ied in s ix months . I tsname was identified with Golgotha

,a place of Skull s

,

and it was long regarded as a tropical pest- house . I t is

indeed not so long S ince Rudyard Kipling dubbed i t“

the city of dreadful ni ght . Now it has been purifiedand rendered sanitary and is as healthy a place as anyin Bengal .

Being a city of modern growth,i t has no pretensions

to the archaeological interest of the old capita ls of departeddynasties . I ts chi ef glories are natural—the Hooghly,a river broad and deep enough to be a highway for oceancommerce , and the Maidan ,

a gr eat park- lin e plainbetween the r i ver and the city . I t has been oftencal led a city of palaces ” but it

'

must be admi t tedthat those who so described it must have had either

an imperfect acquaintance with palaces or a very in

adequate concep tion of what p alaces are . The greatness of Ca lcutta l ies not in its buildings but in it s

commerce,Of which the visible representations are th e

shipping in the Hooghly,the prosaic docks and j ett ies

,

the banks and the off i ces of its merchant pri nces,to some

of whi ch the term palatial mi ght properly be applied .

The original Vil lage of pal aces ” i s Chowr ingh ee ,a noble

thoroughfare run ning parall el t o the river and boun dingthe Maidan . The principal residential quarter of Eur opeansand wealthy Indi ans is approximately bounded by thi s

road,by Park Street (so cal led because it passed the park

like garden of S ir El i j ah Impey ) , and Lower CircularR oad

,which follows par t of the alignm ent of the Maratha

Ditch,which the Engli sh constructed as a defence against

Maratha raids . There are a number of other fine streetsand squares

,many commemorat ing the names of India

’

s

great statesmen,such as Clive Street , Cornwall is Street ,

VVell eSley Street and Dalhousie Square , the last a fitting

termination of another fine street , Old Court House

CH . XX I I] VILLAGES ,TOW NS AND CITIES 291

the Nepal War of 1814—15 to a victorious conclusion .

There are also a number of statues on the Maidan erected

in honour of many Viceroys,a few soldiers and one sailor

(Sir William Peel , the leader of the Naval Brigade in theMutiny) . The finest is an equestrian statue , by Foley, ofOutram S it t ing bareheaded on his horse and looking back

to chee r on his troops to Victory . In another part of theMaidan the Victoria Memorial Hall is in course of erectionthis will be a noble building commemorating the great

Queen-Empress . O f other buildings the most noticeableare the High Court the design of wh ich was

suggested by the Town Hall at Ypres,the

,Town Hall

next it (180 4)—a building characterist ic of the period

the Indian Museum,founded in 1814 ,

and the ImperialLibrary

,formerly called the Metcalfe Hall . after Lord

Metcalfe , Governor- General in 1835—36 and afterwards

Governor of Jamaica and Governor-General of Canada .

There are many large Government offices recentlyvacated by the Government of I n d ia

,wh ile the Government

of Bengal Secretariat is located in Writers’ Buildings inDalhousie Square . This is a modern building

,but its

name is a survival of the time when the officers of the

East India Company were known as Writers . The Indianname is Company Barrack ,

which dates back to the time

when the site was occupied by a building in which theyoung officers of the Company resided when they firstarrived from England . Close to it is a monument inmemory of the Victims of the B lack Hole

,a replica in

marble of on e erected by Holwell , wh ich'

Ca lcu tta owesto Lord Curzon . The Post Office

,a few yards off

,was

built over the Chamber in which they were done to deathand occupies part of the site of old Fort William . The

present fort was completed in 1773 . The small bronze

dome,set on a marble base

,between it and the river , i s

the Ellenborough Monument,which was made out of

I 9—2

292 VILLAGES , TOWNS AND CITIES [CH .

old cannon under the orders of Lord Ellenborough,

Governor-General from 1842 to 1844 .

Calcutta is the seat of a University and has a goodlynumber of edu cational inst itutions

,of which the largest

is the Presidency College . The Madrasa,the principal

Muhammadan college in Bengal,was founded by Warren

Hastings in 1781, an d Bishop’s College by Bishop Middleton

in 1820 . The‘

b u ild ings at Sibpur , on the other side of

the Hooghly,which the latter originally oc cupied

,now

accommodate a Civil Engineering College . With their

Gothic architecture,turrets and smooth lawns

,they recall

an Oxford or Cambridge college . La Martiniere,opened

in 1835 , owes its existence to a legacy of General ClaudMartin (1735 a French military adventurer and

philanthropist . The oldest and finest of the many hospitalsis the Presidency General Hospital the original buildings

(n ow demolished) belonged to Kiern an der , the first

Protestant missionary in Bengal,and were made over

to the East India Company in 1769—70 for use as a hospitalfor European soldiers

,Indian sepoys and the civil pOpu la

t ion .

Last but n ot least of the bui ldings of Calcutta maybe mentioned Kali Ghat

,the shrine of Kali

,a far- famed

place of pilgrimage,which is especially dear to Bengali

Hindus . It has a sacred site,being built on Tolly

’

s

Nullah,an old channel of the Ganges

,which was canalized

by Colonel Tolly in 1776—7 .

The Zoological Gardens in Alipore were opened in

1876 by the Prince of Wales , afterwards Edward VI I .

The Eden Gardens,close to Government House , are named

after the Misses Eden,sisters of Lord Auckland , Governor

General from 1836 to 1842 . The Botanic Gardens atSibpur were started in 1787 at the instance of Colonel

Robert Kyd,Military Secretary of Government , an

ardent horticulturist,who was their first Superintendent .

294 VILLAGES,TOWNS AND CITIES [CH .

1656 t ill 1825 ,when it was ceded to the English . The

only memorials of Dutch rule are part of their barracks,

a cemetery wi th tombs dating back to 1743 ,an Octagonal

church with old hatchments,which was built in 1767 ,

and the Commissioner’s house on the river bank,which

was the Dutch Governor’s residence . The Armenian

Church is the oldest in Bengal next to that at Bandel,

having been built in 1695—7 .

Ch itpu r . See Cos s ipu r .

‘

Chittagong Headquarters of the Chittagongdistrict an d division

, S ituated on the river Karn aphu li ,10 miles from its mouth . I t is a picturesque place witha number of hillocks

,150 to 20 0 feet high

,on which

bungalows are built .

A famous port as early as the fourteenth century,

when it was visited by Ibn Batuta,the Portuguese traders

and pirates o f the S ixteenth century called it Porto Grande

or the great port . The Mughal forces took it f rom theArakanese in 1666

,and in 1760 it was ceded to the English .

I t was a favourite health resort in the days of WarrenHastings and Sir Will i am Jones

,the latter of whom had

a house there . I t is the terminus of the Assam—BengalR ailway and has a considerable foreign and coasting

trade .

Com i lla Headquarters of Tippera district .

Cooch Beh a r Capital of Cooch Behar State ,containing the palace of the Maharaj a .

Cos s imb a z a r . A town in Murshidabad district on

the ri ver Bhagira th i , which was formerly an importantemporium and centre of the S ilk trade

,with Dutch

,

French and English factories . As late as 1759 Rennell

described it as “ the general market of Bengal S ilk .

The English and Dutch cemeteries contai n interesting

monuments ; in the former is the tomb ofWarren Hastings’

first wife and infant daughter . At Saidabad , where the

xxxx] VILLAGES,TOWNS AND CITIES 297,

French and Armenians h ad settlements , is an Armenianchurch erected in 1758 .

Cos s ipu r -Ch itpu r A municipality comprising

Cos s ipu r and Ch itpu r in the suburbs of Calcutta .

Cuttack Headquarters of the Cuttack distriet and division . The capital of the independent kings

of Orissa,and later of its Mughal Governors

,i t was occu

pied by the Marathas from the middle of the eighteenthcentury until 180 3 ,

when it was taken by a Brit ish force .

The fort,which recalled to the mind of Motte , an English

traveller in 1767 ,the west side of Windsor castle

,h as

been demolished and most of its buildings converted into

road-metal or utilized for other buildings . The Commiss ion er

’s house

,called Lalbagh

,occupies the site of the

Governor’s palace,which was large enough for a zenana

of 30 0 women . The town lies between the Mahanadi

and . Katju r i , and is protected from their floods by em

b ankmen ts . I t contains a college and the headworksof

,the Orissa Canals

,and is noted for d elicate silver

filigree work . The name is a transli teration of Katak,

meaning a fort . The civil station was a cantonment

till a few years ago .

D acca Headquarters of the Dacca districtand division . It was the capital of the Governors of

Bengal for nearly a century (from 160 8 to 1639 and again

from 1660 to but few buildings of particular meritwere erected by them . From Tavernier

’

s account itappears that even in 1666 they regarded Dacca as acamping ground rather than as a capital to be b eau t ified .

The Governor’

s palace,he said

,is a place enclosed

with high walls,in the midst whereof is a piti ful house

built only of wood . He generally lodges in tents whichhe causes to be set up in the great court of that enclosure .

The principal memorials of their rule are the remainsof the Lalbagh fort commenced in 1678 but neve r


completed,two dilapidated buildings of Sha ista Khan

,

called the Bara Khatra (1664) and Chota Khatrathe Husaini Dalan (1642) and some mosques . No traces

remain of the old English , French and Dutch factories .Dacca was the capital of the province of Eastern Bengalfrom 1905 to 1912 , when a Government Hou se was builtfor the Lieutenant-Governor and fine buildings for the

Secretariat . The latter are to be utilized for a University,

which ‘ i s shortly to be inaugurated . Other buildingsare th e Dacca College , Mitford Hospital , the Dhakeswar i

temple (whence the town probably derives it s name)and Ahsun Manzil , the pa lace of the Nawab of Dacca ;the latter traces his descent to a Governor of Cashmere

,

who retired to Bengal after the sack of‘

Delh i by NadirShah . Wa terworks were established in 1878 . Thereis a large river frontage which has led to Dacca beingdescribed in the language of hyperbole as the Venice of

the East—a very poor compliment to Venice . I t has

long been famous for delicate han d-woven muslin sfabrics ca lled j happan s an d ka s ida s are still exported to

Turkey an d Arabia .

Da lton gan j Headquarters of Palamau distri ct .It is n amed a fter Colonel Dalton , Commissioner of ChotaNagpur and author of A D escr iptive E thn ology of Benga l ,who founded it in 1862 . Waterworks were installed

in 190 4 .

Da r b h an ga Headquarters of Darbhangadistrict . I t contains the palace of the Maharaj a of

Darbhanga,the wealthiest landowner in the province

of Bihar and Orissa and a member of its first ExecutiveCouncil . The family is descended from a Brahman priest ,who acquired land and power in the sixteenth century .

The civil stat ion is S ituated in the suburb of Lah er iasara i .

Da r jeelin g A Himalayan hill- station,which

is the headquarters of the Darj eeling district,and

,in


Its situation is singularly beautiful,for it forms

a kind of stage in an amphitheatre of mountains . The

eye sees at a glance “ the shadowy valleys from which

shin ing mist - columns rise at noon against a luminoussky, the forest ridges stretching fold behind fold in softlyundulating lines , dotted by the white specks which mark ;

the situation of Buddhist monasteries,to the glacier

draped pinnacles and precipices of the snowy range .

Kinchinj unga feet) is only 45 miles distant as thecrow flies

,and on either side of it is a line of peaks

clothed in eternal snow . The climate is temperate,the

average temperature of the year being only two degrees

above that of London,but it i s subj ect to very heavy

rainfall—there is a fall of 10 5 inches from June to

October—and i t is often shrouded in mist .The place was discovered in 1829 by General Lloyd

and ceded by the R aj a of Sikkim in 1835 ,because

,as

stated in the deed of grant , the Governor-General had“ expressed a desire for the possession of the hill of Dar

j eeling on account of it s cool climate,for the purpose of

enabling the servant s of his Government,suffering from

sickness,to avail themselves of its advantages . Govern

men t Hou se,the summer residen ce of the Governor of

Bengal was built in 1879 ,and the construction of the

railway in 1881 brought the place within a day’

s j ourney

of Calcutta . I t contains several schools for the education

of European and Eurasian boys and girls (of which theprincipal are St Paul’s School and St Joseph’s College ) ,a sanitarium for Europeans and Eurasians and anotherfor Indians

,a Botanic Garden

,a R oman Catholic con

vent,a Church of Scotland Mission and a Buddhist

monastery .

Deogha r A subdivisional headquarters in

the Santal Parganas and a much frequented place of

pilgrimage,containing the temples of Baidyanath . I t is

XX I I] VILLAGES , TOWNS AND CITIES 299

popularly known as Baidyanath , but that name havingbeen adopted for the railway j unction close b y and thetown that Sprung up round it

,the residents changed the

designation to Deoghar,meaning the home of the gods

,

in order to distinguish the two .

Dinajpur Headquarters of Dinaj pur district .It has a fine maidan or public park nearly two miles in

circumference .

Din apor e A subdivisional headquarters andcantonment in Patna district . There was an outbreakof the troops here in the Mutiny of 1857 .

Dum -Dum A town and cantonment inthe 24

-Parganas . The name means a raised moundor battery

,an artificial acropolis

,and was first applied

to a fortified building standing on such a mound,which

is said to have been a country house of Lord Clive . The

place has been a cantonment since 1783 and was the headquarters of the Bengal Artillery until 1853 . I t was herethat the seeds of the Mutiny were sown

,when musketry

classes were held to instruct the sepoys in the use ofthe new E nfield rifle with its obnoxious cartridges . I tcontains the ammunition factory of the Ordnance Department

,which manufactures arms

,Shells

,etc .

,and has given

its name to the Dum-Dum bullet,which was first made

here .

Dumka Headquarters of the Santal Parganas . One of the most picturesque stations in B iharand Orissa .

En glish Ba z a r Headquarters of Malda distriet

,so called from having been the seat of an English

factory started in 1676. The cutcherry or court -houseis the old Commercial R esidency

,a fortified building

dating back to 1770 . There were also Dutch and Frenchsettlements here ; the house of the Civil Surgeon was

a Dutch convent .

30 0 VILLAGES,TOWNS AND CITIES [CH .

Fa ridpur Headquarters of Far idpu r dis trict .Gan gtok . Capital of Sikkim containing the palace

of the Maharaj a and the Residency of the Political Agent .I t I S set in the midst of the Hima laya s f a t -a height of

50 0 0 feet , and commands a fine Vi ew of the snowy range .

Garden R each A municipality in the suburbsof Calcutta and a thriving industrial place . The kingof Oudh resided here after his deposition in 1856.

Gaya Headqu arters of Gaya district . With

Fig . 96. Old Gaya from th e South-West

its temple- crowned hills overlooking the river Ph algu ,

it is perhaps th e most picturesque town , and it is certainly

one of the hottest stations,in Bihar and Orissa . The

situation of the old town on the high rocky ground

and its medley of temple spires,lofty houses and ghats

leading down to the river form a combination that is

unique in this part of India .

Gaya is one of the great places of pilgrimage in India for

Hindus,who Visit i t and make offerings for the salvation

of their ancestors,to deliver their souls from hell and


ancient railing of Asoka and the s tupas of different

centuries to the humble votive offerings of the present

day . This Buddhist Holy of Holies is now in the hands

of Hindus .

Haz ar ib agh Headquarters of Hazaribaghdistrict

,1997 feet above sea level . I t was a canton

ment until 1874 ; some of the barrack build in gs have

been utilized f or a reformatory school . I t also contains

a mission station and college of the Dublin University

Mission .

Hoogh ly . Headquarters of the Hooghly district on

the Hooghly river . With Chinsura it forms a muni

cipality having inhabitants . The Portuguese

made a settlement here in the - sixteenth cen tury,before

the end of which it became the royal port of Bengal .The Portuguese fort was taken by the Mugh al forces in1632 and the survivors of the S iege were carried off intoslavery . Soon after 1650 ,

the English established a

factory,which was their head Agency in Bengal . A

Portuguese Church (1660 ) at Bandel is the oldest churchin Bengal ; the monastery adj oining it was formerlyoccupied by Augu st inian friars . The Hooghly Imambara

is an imposing building and the largest institution of it s

kind in the province .

Howrah Headquarters of Howrah district .An industrial city of modern growth ,

with large manufactures

,which stretches along the Hooghly for seven

miles . I t is the terminus of the East Indian and Bengal

Nagpur R ailways and is connected with Calcutta by theHowrah bridge .

Ja lpa igur i Headquarters of the Jalpaiguri

district and the R aj shahi division , and acentre of the teaplanting industry of the Duars .

Jamalpur A subdivisional headquarters in

Mymensingh .

XX I I] VILLAGES,TOW NS AND CITIES 30 3

J amalpur A town in Monghy r containinglarge works of the East Indian R ailway .

J es s ore Headquarters of Jessore district .Kha ragpur Town and raila j unction

in Midnapore district,containing the engi neeri ng works

of the Bengal-Nagpur Railway .

Khulna Headquarters of Khulna district ,on the fringe of the Su n da rb an s .

Krishnaga r Headquarters of Nadia districtand of a diocese of the R oman Catholic Church . I tcontains a College and a mission station of the Church

Missionary Society .

Kurs eong A subdivisional headquarters ofDarj eeling district . I t is a hill station

,situated on

a ridge of the Himalayas , with an elevation varying

from'

70 0 0 t o 50 0 0 feet . There are several educational

institutions for Europeans and Eurasians .

Man ikta la A municipality in the suburbs

of Calcutta .

Headquarters ofMidnapore district .

Monghyr Headquarters of Monghyr districtsituated on the Ganges . I t is an old town

,the history

of which can be traced back to very early times . Itsposit ion made it of strategic importance throughout

the period of Muhammadan rule,and it was the capita l

of Mi r Kasim from 1761 to 1763 ,when it was captured

by the English under Maj or Adams . The amenitiesof a British cantonment are preserved in the fort

,of

which the gates,battlemented walls and some bastions

are st ill standing . Its picturesque position on the Gangesled Sir Joseph Hooker to describe it as by far theprettiest town he had seen on the river , and it has beenj ustly admired by many other travellers . A house onPi r Pahar Hill

,three miles t o the east

,was the residence

of Gurghiu (Gregory) Khan ,the Armenian general of Mi r


Kasim . About two miles further on are the sacred hotsprings of Si takund .

Motihari Headquarters of Ch amparan dis

triet , S ituated on the bank of a lake,which at one time

formed a reach of the river Gandak .

Murshidab ad . A town on the Bhagirath i in Mursh idab ad district

,containing the palace of the . Nawab

Bahadur of Murshidabad,a lineal descendant of Mi r

Jafar Khan .

‘

I t was the capital of Bengal from 1704

Fig . 98 . Corn er of th e Fort, Mon ghy r

to 1772 ,during which t ime the Nawabs built themselves

palaces and adorned the city with other fine buildings .

After the battle of Plassey,Clive wrote—“ This city is

as extensive,populous and rich as the city of London

,

with this difference,that there are individuals in the first

possessing infinitely greater property than in the last

city . Murshidabad has now suffered from a centuryof decay and the earthquake of 1897 . Some of the

buildings have been swept away by the Bhagirath i ,


Bengal and the agencies of several large j ute firms . Duringthe j ute season “ the river is packed with shipping and themills with coolies .

Nawab gan j A town and river mart in Maldadistrict .

Noakhali Headquarters of Noakhali district .Pab n a Headquarters of Pabna district .Pa tn a Capital of B ihar and Orissa

,

extending along the Ganges for - about nine miles ; i t

includes Bankipore,a suburb in which are the headquarters

of the Patna district and division . The modern city is

built over Patalipu tra ,the capital of India under th e

Mauryan emperors . Remains of this ancient city,in

cluding a great pillared hall of Asoka,have been found

20 feet below the surface . The present city has had an

eventful history . I t became the capital of Bihar in theS ixteenth century

,and

,after its capture by Akbar i n

1574 ,was made the seat of the Mughal Viceroys

,more

than on e of whom was a prince of the imperial family .

I t has been taken and retaken,has suffered siege and Sack,

an d h as~

witnessed the proclamation of two Emperors.I ts final capture by the English took place after the“ Mas sacre of Patna

,when 198 European prisoners

were murdered,under Mir Kasim

’

s orders,by the vile

Somru,a German renegade whose original name was

Reinhardt . An obelisk marks the grave of the Victimsof this tragedy

,which surpassed the Black Hole of Cal

cu tta in horror , for i t claimed more victims , i t wasplanned deliberately and it was carried ou t in cold bloodby a European .

In spite of its historic past,the city has few buildings

of archaeological or artist ic interest . Scarcely any areconstructed of stone mud and brick predominate . Theoldest is amosque of Sher Shah (1540—5 ) another mosqueerected in 1626 is the handsomest and perhaps the most

xxxx] VILLAGES,TOWNS AND CITIES 36 7

interesting is a temple erected by R anj it Singh,the

lion of the Punj ab,

” on the site where Govind Singh ,

the great Sikh Guru and creator of the Sikh militarybrotherhood

,was born . Certainly the most curious is

the Gola (granary) at Bankipore,a beehive - shaped

structure of brick, 96 feet high ,

which was built in,

1786

for the st orage of grain as an insurance against famine .

Some of the buildings in the Opium Factory formed partof the old Dutch Factory

,and there is a Roman Catholic

Fig . 99 . Pu ri du r in g th e Ca r Festiva l

church built in 1772-

9 . The principal educational

institutions are the Patna College and the Bihar Schoolof Engineering . Close to the latter is the Patna OrientalLibrary with a . fin e collection of Arabic and Persianmanuscripts

,some of which are exquisite specimens

of caligraphy originally belonging to the Mughal Emperors .

The city is to be the seat of a High Court and University,

an d buildings are being erected for the residence of the

Lieutenant - Governor and the accommodation of theprovincial Secretariat . It has been d eclining for many

2 0—2


years past owing to loss of trade and continued epidemics

of plague ; but it is hoped that the est ablishment of

the capital will restore its waning prosperity .

Puri Headquarters of Puri di strict situatedon the Bay of Bengal . It contains the temple of Jagannath

,a Splendid fane eight centuries old . The tower

i s 190 feet high outside the Lion Gate or main entrance

I S a beaut iful pillar of the sun-

god ,15 feet high ,

which

was brought here from Konarak . Puri is a world- famousplace of pilgrimage

,at which is celebrated every year

the Car Fest ival that has made Jagannath’s Car ”

a familiar expression in the English language . The caritsel f i s sometimes erroneously called Jagannath

,but this

is the designation of the god,an incarnation of Vishnu

,

and means Lord of the World . Owing to its situationon the sea

,Puri has of late years acquired some popularity

as a health resort .

Purn ea Headquarters of Purnea district .

I t was the capital of Muhammadan Governors,who

could put an army of men into the field ; one of

the line ‘unsuccessfully d isputed the throne of Bengal

with Siraj - u d—daula .

Purulia Headquarters of Manbhum districtand a j unct ion for the railway line to Ranchi .

Rajmahal A subdivisional headquar ters of

th e Santal Parganas on the Ganges . I t was the capital

of Bengal from 1592 to 160 8 and again from 1639 toThe remains of the capital extend for four miles on the

west of the modern town ,but most of the build ings have

been destroyed or are in ruins .

R ampur Boalia Headquarters of R aj shahidistrict

,situated on the Ganges . It contains an old

Du tch factory and a large College .

Ranchi Headquarters of R anchi district

and of Chota Nagpur . It is also the hot weather capital

3 10 VILLAGES , TOWNS AND CITIES [CH . XX I I

Serampore A subdivisional headquarters

of Hooghly district , on the river Hooghly . I t was a

Danish settlement for a century and a half,and was

ceded to the Brit ish in 1845 . The principal memorials

of the Danes are their cemetery with tombs datingback to 1781,

their church erected in 180 5 and dedicated

to St Olaf,the j ail built in the same year

,and the Gover

nor’s house,which is n ow the court -house . In the Mission

Cemetery are the graves of Carey, Marshman and Ward ,who established the well -known Serampore Mission in

1799 . Interesting buildings connected with them arethe Serampore College which they founded

,the Mission

Chapel,the Pagoda , an abandoned Hindu temple which

Henry Martyn fit ted up as an oratory,and Aldeen House

,

the residence of their friend,the Rev . David Brown .

The town also contains large j ute mills,a Roman Catholic

church of 1776, and a temple of Jagannath the Car

Festival celebrated here every year is the largest of it s

kind outside Puri . The name is a corruption of Srirampur .

S irajganj A subdivisional headquarters of

Pabna district on the river Jamuna . An important

centre of the j ute trade .

Suri Headquarters of Bi rb h fim district . The

cemetery contains the tomb of John Cheap,the first

Commercial Resident in Bi rb h i'

im,who was styled Cheap

the Magnificent ” and has been immortalized in Sir William

Hunter’s An n a ls of R u ra l Benga l . Suri is also the mi se

eu - s ee‘n e of the same writer

’

s delightful work The Old

M i s s ion a ry .

Ti taga rh A town in the 24—Parganas on

the river Hooghly with a paper mill and large j ute mills

employing over hands .

Vishnupur. See Bishnupur .

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Adminis tration Repor t o f B engal for 19 11—12 .

Adminis tration Report of B ihar an d Oris sa for 19 11—12 .

B ALL , V . Econ om ic Geology of Ind ia, 188 1.

Tavernier’s Travels in Ind ia , 1889 .

BEAL , S . B u ddh is t Record s o f th e Wes tern World ,1884 .

BERN I ER,F . Travels in the Mogu l Emp ire , 189 1.

B UCKLAND, C . E . D ictionary o f Ind ian B iography ,

19 0 6 .

CROOKE,W . Things Ind ian, 19 0 6 .

D is trict Gazetteers o f B engal an d Eas tern Bengal .DUTT , R . C . Literatu re o f Ben gal , 189 5 .

GAI T , S i r E . A . Cen s u s Report of B engal , 19 0 1.

Geological S u rvey of Ind ia, Record s an d Memoirs of .

GR I ERSON, S ir G . A . Lingu is tic S u rvey o f Ind ia , 190 4

—8 .

HOLDERNES S, S ir T . W . Peop les an d Problems o f Ind ia , 19 12

HOLD I CH,S i r T . H . Ind ia (Reg ions of the World S eries ) , 19 0 4

HUNTER,S ir W . W . H is tory o f British Ind ia, 1899—19 0 0 .

The Ind ian Emp ire , 189 2 .

Imperial Gazetteer o f Ind ia, 190 7—0 9 .

LANE -POOLE, S . Med iaeval Ind ia (S tory o f th e Nations S eries ) ,

19 0 3 .

LYALL, S i r A . C . Briti sh Dom inion in Ind ia , 190 7 .

OATEN ,E . F . Travels in Ind ia

,19 0 9 .

OLDHAM , R . D . Manu al o f th e Geology o f Ind ia,189 3 .

O’MALLEY , L . S . S . Cens u s Report o f B engal , Bihar an d Ori s sa

an d S ikkim,19 11.

F RA I N,S i r D . Bengal Plants ,

19 0 3 .

S M I TH ,V . A . Early H i s tory o f I n d ia

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S tatemen t o f th e Moral a n d Material Progres s o f Ind ia from19 0 1

—2 to 19 11—12 .

S TRACHEY , S i r J . C . Ind ia,i t s Adm inis tration a n d Progres s .

19 11.

INDEX

Adm in is tra tion 12 4—30

Afghan ru le 145—6

Aga rta la 2 81

Agri cu ltu re 2 26—35Ahmad ias 2 11

Ajodhya r an ge 39Al i Vard i Khan 149Alipore 2 81

Allu vial d epos its 80

Amo - ch u r i ver 5 3An glo - In d ian s 19 7An gu l 13 2

An im ism 2 13—5

An timon y 9 7Apa t ite 9 7Archaean sy stem 73Archae ology 160—73Ar chitectu re 169

—7 1

Armen ian s 19 7Ar r ah 2 8 1

Ar rah - S asa ram r a ilway 2 5 7Artis tic in d u s tr ies 2 46

—9

Ary a S amaj 2 0 8

Ary an s 175Aryo

-D ravi d ian s 175As an sol 2 82

As oka 136—7 , 160 ,

161

As s am—B en ga l ra i lway 2 5 4As sam—B u rmes e lan gu ages 2 2 5As s ia hills 36

Athga rh 133Athma llik 133Au r an ga coal- field 87

B ackergu n ge 3 1

Baghmu n d i r an ge 39Ba i d y abati 2 82

Ba i dy an ath 2 0 7 , 298

B a itaran i r iver 5 4Bakhtiarpu r -B i ha r r a i lwayBala sore 5 6, 132 , 2 82

Bally 2 8 2

Bamra 133

B an kipore 3 0 6, 30 7Ban ku ra 130 ,

2 82

B an y an trees 10 5—6

B a raba r hi lls 34 ,163

B a raka r 9 3B a ramba 133Bar a s e t -Bas i rhat ra ilway 2 5 7B a r in d 5B a r i sal 2 60

, 2 82

B a r i sal gu n s 7o

B a rley 2 30

B a rmu l p as s 5 4B a r n agor e

'2 82

B a r r ackpore. 2 82

B au d 13 3B au xite 9 7Bea r s 113B ell -meta l wa re 2 44Ben gal, mean in g of n ame 1—3 ;gen era l d es cr ip tion 1—4

Ben ga l an d Nor th-Wes tern ra il ;

way 2 5 6

B en gal-D u ars r a i lway 25 4Ben gal-Nagpu r r a ilway 25 5Ben ga li lan gu age 2 2 2—3Ben ga lis 177

—8 1B erhampore 2 83B er n ier 2 72

Bery l 96Bettiah 2 83Bhad r eswa r 2 84Bhagalpu r 13 2 , 2 84Bhagir a th i r iver 49Bhatpara 2 84Bhotias 188

Bhu ban eswa r 166—9Bhu tan wa r 15 6

Biha r an d _ _Or is s a , gen era l d e

s cr ip tion 1,16—24

B iha r 16,17 , 19

—2 2, 284

B i har i lan gu age 2 2 3B i har is 181—4B i ls 6

314 INDEX

D in apore 299D i s tr ict boa rd s 12 9D i s t r icts 12 7

—8 , 130—3

D r avid ian lan gu ages 134 , 2 25D ravi d ian s 175 , 177D u ar s 13D u ff

,Alexan der 2 79

D um -D um 245 ,299

D umka 2 99D an hills 32

D u tt, Ramesh Chan dra 2 74

Ea rthqu akes 82‘—3

Eas t In d ian r a ilway 2 5 6

Eastern B en ga l 6—9Eas tern Ben ga l r a ilwayElephan ts 115Embroidery 2 48

—9En glish B a zar 2 99En glish ru le 15 1

-9

Estu ar ies 5 5—60

Ethn ology 173—9 7

Eu ras ian s 196—7

Execu tive cou n ci l 126

Ey re ,Vin cen t 2 70

Factor ies 2 36—7

Fa Hien 138 , 2 71

False Poin t 5 4 , 5 5Fam in e of 1770 15 3Fa raz is 2 10

Fa ri dp u r 131, 30 0

Fau n a 10 9—24

Fibr e crop s 2 30—1

Fi sh 12 3—4

Fi shi n g 2 49—5 1

Fitch ,Ralph 2 71

—2Flor a 99

—10 9Fores ts 99—10 9Fort William 2 , 3Fr an ci s , S i r Phi li p 267Fr as er i s lan d 60

Gan d ak r iver 47—8

Ga n ges r iver 9—11, 44

—6Gan gp u r 133Gan gtok 30 0

Ganj a 2 31

Gard en Reach 30 0

Ga rh jat s 19Gau r 141,

14 5 , 146 , 171

Gay a 131,2 0 5 , 30 0

—2 Jagan n ath 2 0 3Gay a d is trict 163 , 234 Ja in i sm 136 ,

2 2 1

Geology 71—85 Jalp a igu r i 131,

2 32 , 2 4 1, 30 2

Gi r id ih coa l—field 86—7 Jamalpu r 2 5 7 , 30 2 , 30 3Gi ta Govin d a 2 74 James an d Ma ry S an d s 5 8

Gmaton g 2 9Gn eis s 73Goalu n d o 2 5 9Gogra r iver 4 7Gon dwan a sy stem 77Governmen t 126—9Gran d Tru n k road 2 5 3Gr ier son , S i r George 2 77Gu ruma i s in i 4 0 , 9 3

Has tin gs , Wa rr en 15 1, 266

Hatia i sland 61

Hazar ibagh 13 2 , 30 2

Heber , Bi shop 2 79Hedges , Wi lliam 2 72

Hill Tipp era 12 , 12 5 , 131

Hills 26—40Hima layan hillmen 187

- 9 1

Himalayas 26—31 ; forests o f

10 2—4 ; geology of 79Hin d i 2 23Hin dol 133Hin du i sm 198—20 8Hin du stan i 2 23Hi story 134

—5 9

Hin en Ts ian g 2 2,140 ,

2 71

Hodgson ,B . H . 2 77

Holwell, John Zephan iah 267Hooghly 130 , 30 2

Hooghly ri ver 5 0 , 5 8- 9

Hooker , S ir Joseph 273Hos 195 , 2 14Hot weather 65

—6Howr ah 130 , 30 2

Howr ah-Amta r a ilway 2 5 7Howr ah—Sheakhala r a ilway 2 5 7Hum id i ty 63

—4

Hu n ter , S ir Willi am 2 74Hu tar coa l—field 8 7

I b n B atu ta 2 71

Ichapu r 2 45Impey , S i r Eli j ah 267In d ian corn 2 30

In d igo 2 32 ,2 42

In d u str ies 2 36—5 1

I ron 9 1—3

I r r igation 2 33—5

I slan d s 60—2Ivory ca rvin g 2 46

—8

INDEX

Jamu n a r iver 5 2J ay adeva 14 1, 2 74

J e lep La 29Jes sore 13 1, 30 3

J h er r ia coa l- fie ld 85Ju an gs 173Ju te 2 30 ,

239

Kaba r Tal 2 0

Ka imu r b i lls 3 2 , 33 , 74—5 ,

Kalahan d i 133Kalighat 2 0 5Kalimpon g 3 1

Kaoli n 9 8

Ka ran pu ra coa l-field 87Keon jhar 133Khan d agi ri hill 3 7 , 163Khar agpu r 2 46 , 2 5 5 , 30 3Kha r agpu r h i lLs 34 , 73Kharsawan 13 2

Kh on dpara 133Khon d s 15 5 , 194Khu ln a 131, 30 3Kid derpore 2 9 3K iern an d er , Zacha r iah 2 78

Kin chin ju n ga 2 7 , 28

Kols 177 , 19 1

Konar ak 164- 6

Koros , Cs oma d e 2 73Kos i ri ver 48

—9

Kri shn aga r 2 49 , 30 3Ku rs eon g 30 , 31, 64 , 30 3Ku shti a 263Ku tu b d ia i s lan d 61

L ac 2 45Lan d reven u e 130

Lan d s lip s 68—70Lan gu ages 2 2 1—6Later ite 81—2Lead 9 7Legi s lati ve Cou n cils 12 7Lep chas 186—8Lieu ten an t-Govern or s 268

Li ght ra i lway s 2 5 7Lillooah 2 5 7Limes ton e 9 3Lin seed 2 3 2

Li za rd s 12 2

Lloyd , Gen eral 2 70

Local s elf-governmen t 129

Madari pu r 263Mad hu p u r j u n gle 8

Maghs 148 , 2 16 ,2 26

Magra Hat d ra in age s cheme 6

3 15

Mahan ad i r iver 5 4M a hu a trees 10 7

—8Ma iskhal i sla n d 61

Ma i ze 2 30

Mald a 13 1,2 41

Man b hfim 13 2

Man er 173Man gan ese 9 3Man goes 10 9

Man ikta la 30 3Man u fa ctu res 2 36

—5 1

Ma ratha s 149 , 15 4Ma rkets 264Ma rshman , Joshu a 2 78

M a s u la boats 5 5Mau ry a d yn as ty 136

—7

Mayu rbhan j 12 5 , 133Megas th en es 2 71

Megh as in i 40Meghn a 5 6—7 ,

175Meteorology 63

—71

Mi ca 9 4Midn apore 130 , 235 , 30 3Min erals 85

—9 8

Min es 85—9 8

Mi r Kas im Ali 15 0

Mi s s ion a r ies 2 18—9Molybd en um 9 7Mon ghy r 132 ,

2 43 , 30 3Mon golo—D ravi d ian s 176

Mon goloid type 176

Mon soon 66

Mot ihari 30 4Mou n ta in s 26-

40

Mu gha l ru le 147—5 1

Mu hamma d an s 19 8 ,2 0 8- 13

ru le of 141—5 1

Mu n d a lan gu ages 2 24Mu n ro ,

Hector 2 70

Mu r shid Ku li Khan 14 8—5 0

Mu r shi dabad 13 1, 149 , 241, 2 46

248 ,2 49 . 3 0 4

Mu s a lman s , s ee Mu hammadan s

Mu tiny o f 185 7 15 7Mu za ff a rp u r 13 2 , 30 5Mymen s in gh 13 1, 30 5

Nad ia 131

Nad ia r iver s 49Naray an ga n j 25 9 , 30 5Na r s in ghp u r 133Nawabgan j 30 6awab s o f Ben gal 149

—5 1

Nayaga rh 13 3Nep a les e 188—9 1Nepali la n gu age 2 2 4

316 INDEX

Neta rhat 39Ni lgi ri 133Nilgir i hi lls 36

Noakhali 13 1, 30 6

Non - r egu la tion d is tr icts 12 8

Nor th Ben ga l 5Nor th B iha r 19—2 1Oils 2 45O i ls eed s 2 3 2

Opium 2 3 2

Op ium cu lti vation 17Or aon s 19 1

Or is s a 19 ,2 2

, 2 3 , 10 0,2 48

Or i s s'

a can als 2 34Ori s sa Feu d a tory S tates 39 , 40 ,

125Or iy a lan gu age 2 23Oriy as 184

—6Pabn a 13 1, 30 6

Paddy 2 29Pal Laha ra '

133Pala Kin gs 140

Pa laman 13 2

Palm trees 10 7Pan d u a 145 ,

171

Para snath 38 ,2 2 1

Pa r ti tion of Ben ga l 15 8—9

Pata li pu tra 46 , 136

Patn a 13 2 ,136 , 147 , 15 0 , 160

2 2 1, 248 , 30 6—8

Pa tn a S ta te 133Perman en t S ettlemen t 19 3Ph a lfit 2 8

Phy s ical asp ects 1—26Pilgr images _

2_

O3—6

P ipa l trees"

10 6

Pip li 5 6Plas sey

'

49 ,15 0

Popu lation , s tati s tics of 130—3

Ports 5 5—6 0

Pots ton es 96

Pottery 9 8

Pu ls es 2 30

Pu ran a grou p 74Pu r i 13 2 ,

2 0 3 , 30 8

Pu rn ea 132 , 30 8

Pu ru lia 30 8

Q u in in e 2 4 5

Races 173—9 7

Ra ilway s 2 5 4—8

Ra in fall 64 , 66

R a irakhel 133

Ra j gi r hills 34Rajmahal 147 , 30 8Rajmahal hi l ls 35 , 36 , 9 7 , 9 8Rajmahal rocks 77- 8

Raj shahi 13 1, 2 3 2

Ramga rh coa l -field 87Rampu r Boalia 30 8

Ran chi 132 , 2 15 ,2 19 , 30 8Ran gp u r 13 1, 2 32 , 3 0 9

Rani gan j 30 9Ran igan j coal-field 86

Ran pu r 133R ay ,

R am Mohan 2 75 , 2 78Reli gion s 19 8—22 1Ren n ell , James 2 77Rep t iles 12 1—3Reven u e 129

—30

Rhin oceros 115—6

Rice 2 2 8—9River s 4 1

—5 4

B iy a z a—s - S a latin 2 73Road s 2 5 3

—4

R oh tasga rh 3 2 , 33 ,

-172

S a i r -u l -M u ta'

khar in 2 73S a ivas 2 0 6

S akchi 9 3 , 30 9saktas 2 0 7S d l trees 10 2 , 10 4 ,

10 5S a lt Wa ter Lake 6

S a ltp etre 9 5S ambalpu r 87 , 89 ,

13 2 , 30 9S an dwip i s lan d 6

_

O—1S an tal Pa rgan as 13 2 ,

2 2 2

S an tal rebe lli on 15 5 ,19 3

—4

S an tals 173 , 19 2—4

s an tipu r 30 9Sa ra ikela 132

sar an 13 2

saran d a hi ll s 39S a saram 172 ,

2 49 , 30 9satgaon 50 , 5 9S a u gor is lan d 62 ,

2 0 5S au r ia Pahari as 177 ,

19 1

S ava r s 19 2

S ecr eta r i at 12 7S ed i tion 15 9S en ,

Keshab Chan d r a 20 8

S en , Nabin Chan d r a 2 75S erampore 3 10

S es amum 23 2

Shahabad 13 2

S herga rh 33 , 172

S ikhs 2 2 1

S ikkim 14—16 , 89 12 5 , 156 ,

2 17S ilk 2 40

—1

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