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LIBRARY *

UNIvERSirr OF
CALiFO..N>A

SAN DIEGO

X X

T-

/ /

BEJ^GAL DISTRICT GAZETTEERS.

N A D I A.

{Price— In India ^ Bs. 3 ; in England, IfS, 6d.']

BENGAL DISTRICr GAZETTEERS.

t^A

NADIA.

J. H. E. GAl>finrT$!

imOlLS CIVIL SEB7ICS.

-fr^»i

CALCUTTA:

BENGAL SECKETAEIAT BOOK DEPOT.

1910.

PLAN OF CONTENTS.

Chapter. pages.

I. Physical Aspects 1 — 21

II. History 22 —38

JII. The People . .39 —56

IV. Public Health 57 —66

V. Agriculture 67 — 73

VI. Natural Calamities 74 — 81

VII. Rents, Wages and Prices - . . . .82 —90

VIII. Occupations, Manufactures anh Trades . . 91 — 96

IX. Means of Communication 97 — 103

X. Land Revenue Administration .... 104 — 114

XI. General Administration 115 — 121

XII. Local Self-Government . . . . . 122 — 129

XIII. Education 130—135

XIV. Christian Missions 136—148

XV. The Nadia Raj 149—163

XVI. Gazetteer 164—194

Index 195—199

TABLE OF CONTEI^TS.

CHAPTEE I.
PHYSICAL ASPECTS.

Qeneeai Descbiption — iJoundaries — Natural Configuration — Uiveb Ststem
— Padma — Jalaugi — Bhairab — Bluigirathi — Matabhanga — Churiii — Ichha-
mati — Kaba.lak — Qarai — "NadiI Rivees" — Embankments — Lakes and
Mabshes —Geoloqt— Botany — Fauna— CtiMATE—RAiNPALL

PAGES

1—21

CHAPTER 11.

HISTORY.

Eably HiSTOEr — Tbo Sen Dynasty— Eauly Muhajimadan Rule— AIdohal
Rule— Revolt OF SitIeam Rai — Subsequent Hisioby — First Collec-
tor of Nadia — Lawlessness in beginning of Eighteenth Century — The
Mutiny — Indigo — Nadia as a Liteeaey Centbe

22>.88

CHAPTER III.

THE PEOPLE.

Vabiations in Population -Census of 1901 — Density of Population-
Towns and Villages — Immigration — Emigration— Language — Religions-
Hindus — Hindu Castes — Kuibarttas — Ahir and Qoaia — Urahmans-
Bagdis — Alucbis — Namasudras, Chandals — Kayasthas — Malos— Hindu
Sects — Kartabhajas — Vaisbnavas — Muhammadans — Muhammadan
Classes — Cheistians— Social Cuaeacteeisiics — Eood — Clothing —
Houses — Amusements — Festivals ... ,„ ,.,

39—56

CHAPTER IV.
PUBLIC HEALTH,

Qbneeaii Conditions — Watee-Sopply— Pbincipal Diseases— Fever —
Cholera — Other Diseases and Infirmities — Medical Instiiutioks — Vac-
cination

57—66

X TABLE OF CONTENTS.

CHAPTER V.

AGRICULTUkE.

QnrxKAL CoSDiTiojra— PBijrciPAi. Cbops — Aatama Bice cr Aua — Winter
Rice or Ama/t — Jute — Baii crops — Other crops — Cultivation geneimlly —
RAHrTAlL—CATTiB— Other Domestic anioQala—VMiBHTABY WORK . 67—73

CHAPTER VI.
NATLTBAL CALAMITIES.

FtoODS—FAMijrea— Famine of 1^66— Famine of 1874— Famine of 1897 —

Distrea* of 1908 ... ... • 74-^1

CHAPTER VII.
BENTS, WAOEa AND PRICES.

tvgiTTa— KenU of 1788— Pvcnta of 1872— Carrent Benta— WaoB3— Pbicbs—

.Matbbiai.Co»ditiok OF THE People ... ... •■. 82— 9d

CHiFTEK VIII.
OCCUPATIONS, MANCPACTQRES AND TRADES.

OccoPATiO!r3—MA«rc;pACTrEE3—Cotton-weavin(?— Brass-ware -Sngar Mano-
factare — Minor \faniifactnres — Fi3HBBIB3 — Trade — Trading Clasaea —
Trade Centre*— Trade Rentes ... „. ... „ 01—96

CHAPTER IX.

MEANS OF COMMUNICATION.

Gritrbal Co.vDJTfOKs —Water Commacirations— Railways— Roads — Ferries —

Postal Commnnicationa ... ... ... ... 07 — 103

CHAPTER X.

L\ND REVENUE ADMlNISTFiATION.

BSTWTTR HrflTOBY — E»rly Settlements — Decennial Settlement — Permanent
Settlements- LaxT) TRi«0KB8—p:»tate8— Tenures— Patni Taluks — Utbandi
Tenure ... ... ... ... ... ...104—114

TABLE OF CONTENTS. ^

CHAPTEE XI.

GENERAL ADMI\I3TRAT10N.

ADinja3TBA.TivB Chabqbs aitd Staff— BsTEycB— Land Revenue Cesses —

Stamps — Excise -Income-Tax — Rejistratioa^ADMixisTRATro.f of Jps-

TICB — Civil Justice— Criminal Justice— Poliee — Crime — Jails .. .., 115^-121

CHAPTEE XII.
LOCAL SELF-GOVERX-NfENT.

Di8Tb;ct Bdabd— Local Boards— Union Committees — if uiflolPA litibs

Krishna^'ar — Santipur— Raoiighat— Nabadwip -Kushtia — Kumarkhali —

Meberpur — Biraagar — Chakdaha .. ... ... ... 123^12.9

CHAPTER XIII.

EDUCATION.

PEO&EB33 OP EdUCATIOH — COLLE^IATE EorCATIOy— SeCOXDABT EdCOA-
TI05— PaiMABY EdCCATIOJT — FgilALE EDCCATIOy — Techsical Edfca.

TioH — Tbaisiks Schools— Uuhamstadak Education— Sawskbit
EorcATioy— LiBEABiBS AXD Newspapers ... ... ... 130 — 135

CHAPTEE XIV.

CHRISTIAN MISSIONS.

Chubch MiasiosAE? Socibtz — RIsIohIt Medical Mission — Romax

Catholic Missiox ... ... ... ... 136—148

. CHAPTEE XV.

THE NADIA RAJ.
The Nadia RIj ... ... ... ... ,„ ... 14^ 2g3

Xii TABLE OF CONTEM'S.

CHAPTER XV.

GAZETTEEK.

AMGHATA — GaNGAVAS— ABANGHATA— lUGrLA— HXMAKPOKUH— BiHNAGAK—

Chakdaha— Chapba— CnrADlyGA Subdivision— Chfadanga — Damuk-

Dll — GhOBHPARA — CHUBNt— GOSAIN-DUBGAPUB — HaNSKHALI — KaNCHBA-

PABA — Kapasdanga— Khoksa — Keishnagar Subdivision — Kbishnagab
— KuLiA — Kumabkhali — KcsnTiA ScBDivisiON — KrsHTiA — Meheepub
Subdivision— MEnEBPUB—MuRAGACHnA — Nadia or Nabadwip — Plas-
SET — PoBADAn — Raxaghat Subdivision— Ranaqhat— Ratnapub — San-

TIPUB— SIBNIBAS- SWABOPGANJ .. ... ... ... 164—194

GAZETTEER

OF THE

NADIA DISTRICT.

CHAPTER I.

PHYSICAL ASPECTS.

The district of Nadia forms the north- eastern portion of the Gbneeal
Presidency Division, and lies between north latitude 24° 11' and ^^^sorip-
22° 53', and east longitude 89° 22' and 88° 9'. It extends over""'"'
an area of 2,793 square miles, and has a population, according to
the Census of 1901, of 1,667,491 persons. It takes its name from
the town of Nadia or Nabadwip, situated at present on the west
bank of the Bhagirathi, but the administrative head-quarters
and chief city of the district (although not the most populous)
is Krishnagar, on the Jalangi river, in latitude 23° 24' N. and
longitude 88° 31' E.

The district is separated on the north from the districts of Bound-
Pabna and Rajshahi by the Padma or Ganges ; on the north- a"^^'
west, from the district of Murshidabad, for about three-quarters of
this boundary, by the Jalangi or Kharia; and on the west from
the districts of Bardwan and Hooghly by the Bhagirathi or
Hooghly. On the remaining sides of the district there are no
natural boundaries, but it is bounded on the south by the 24-
Pargannahs district, on the south-east by Jessore, and on the
east by Faridpur. On the western boundary there were two
strips of land included in the district, though they lie, at present,
on the west bank of the Bhagirathi. On the southernmost of
these, which has an area of about 11 square miles, lies the town of
Nadia or Nabadwip ; it is probable that this strip would have
been transferred to the district of Bardwan, within the natural
boundary of which it now falls, had it not been for the previous
history of the river and the anomaly which would have been
caused by including within another district the town from which
the Nadia district derives its name : indeed the order for transfer

tion

2 NAD1A.

was aotually passed by Sir George Campbell, but was resciniled
in the following year by his successor, Sir Eichard Temple. The
other strip is the island of Agradwip, which lies about 15 miles
nortli of Nadia : this, however, was transferred to the district of
Bardwan with effect from 1st April 1888. There seems no doubt
that at one period the main chaunel of the Bhagirathi passed to
the west of both these stiips.
Natural '^^^ Nadia district is a large alluvial plain stretching south-

contigur.i- wards from near the head of the delta formed by tlie successive
rivers into which the Ganges has from time to time distributed
itself. As to the formation of this delta, the following remarks
of Dr. Thomas Oldham recorded in the proceedings of the
Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1870, page 47, may be quoted : —

*' I suppose no one will hesitate to acknowledge that the wljole
of the country, including the Sunderban proper, lying between
the Hooghly on the west and the Meghna on the east, is only the
delta caused by the deposition of the debris carried down by the
rivers Ganges and Brahmaputra, and their tributaries. It is also
equally well known that in such flats the streams are constantly
altering their courses, eating away on one bank and depositing on
the other, until the channel in which they formerly flowed becomes
choked up, and the water is compelled to seek another course. It
is also certain that in this peculiar delta the general course of the
main waters of the Ganges has gradually tracUed from the west
towards tlie east, until of late years the larger body of the waters
of the Ganges have united with those of the Brahmaputra and
have together proceeded to the sea as the ileghna. Every
stream, whether large or small, flo^^ing through such a flat, tends
to raise its own bed or channel by the deposition of the silt and
sand it holds suspended in its waters, and by this gradual deposi-
tion the channel bed of the streams is raised above the actual level
of the adjoining flats. It is impossible to suppose a river con-
tinuing to flow along the top of a raised bank, if not compelled
to do so by artificial means, and the consequence of this filling in
and raising of its bed is that, at the first opportunity, the stream
necessarily abandons its origiual course, and seeks a new channel
in the lower ground adjoining, until after succqpsive changes it
has gradually wandered over the whole flat and raised the entire
surface to the same general level. The same process is then
repeated, new channels are cut out, 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 Rajmahal Hills, and prevented by
their solid rocky barrier irom cutting iuither to the west, sought

PHYSICAL ASPECTS. 3

its channel in the lower ground adjoining, and originally the
main body of its waters flowed along the general course now
indicated by the Bhagirathi and Hooghly. But gradually filling
up this channel, it was again compelled to seek a now course in.
the lower, because as yet comparatively unfilled-in, ground lying
to the east. And the same process being repeated, it wandered
successively from the rocky western limit of the delta-flat
towards the eastern. If this progress eastwards was allowed to
be suflSeiently slow to admit of the gradual filling in of the
country adjoining, the delta was formed continuously up to the
same general level, and the larger streams or channels passing
through this flat to the sea became unavoidably diminished in
size, and in the quantity and force of the water they carried, the
m^n body passing around further to the east, and having its
course in the channels successively formed there. I need not
here point out the successive stages in the formation of the delta,
or shew how these have been exactly paralleled 1)y similar change
in the course and deposits of the Brahmaputra and the other
rivers which unite with the Ganges."

Revd. J. Long, ia an article entitled "The Banks of the
Bhagirathi, " and published in volume YI, December 1846, of the
Calcutta Revieiv, writes thus: "We name this article the banks
of the Bhagirathi, though some Europeans call the river as far as
Nudija the Hugly; but Hugly is a modern name given to it
since the town of Hugly rose into importance ; the natives call
it Bhagirathi, because they say it was the channel Bhagirath
cut in bringing the Ganges from the Himalaya to Ganga Sagar.
This name recalls, what is believed to be a fact, that the Ganges
itself formerly ran by Katwa, Tribeni, and not as it does now
into the Padma; our reasons are, the natives attribute no sanctity
to the waters of the Padma, thinking the Bhagirathi to be the
true bed of the river; hence the water flowing by Bishop's
College is not esteemed holy, as they say that the site of Tolly's
Nala was the ancient bed ; there are no places of pilgrimage along
the banks of the Padma, while on the Bhagirathi are Tribeni,
8agar, Nudiya and Agardip, Dr. Buchanan states on that
subject: '1 think it not unlikely that on the junction of the
Kosi with the Ganges, the united mass of water opened the
passage now called Padma, and the old channel of the Bhagirathi
from Songti (Suti) to Nudiya was then left comparatively dry.
In this way we may account for the natives considering that
insignificant channel as the proper continuation of their sacred
river, as they universally do, a manner of thinking that, unless
some such extraordinary change had taken place, WQuld have been

4 NADTA.

highly absurd.' The names of places near the Bhagirathi ending
in dtrip island, ddngd upland, da/ia abyss, sSgar sea, seem to
indicate that a large body of water formerly flowed near them,"

The country is flat and the general aspect is that of a vast
level alluvial plain, dotted with villages and clusters of trees and
intersected by numerous rivers, back-waters, minor streams and
swamps. The soil is agriculturally classed as high land, and
bears cold weather crops as well as rice. In the west of the
district is the Kalantar, a low lying tract of black clay soil which
stretches from the Mnrshidabad district through the gap in the
north-western boundary between the Jalangi and Bhagirathi,
down into the Kaliganj and Tehata thanas. This tract bears
only winter rice and is specially liable to famine when the
monsoon fails: it is also liable to serious injury from inundations
from the Bhap,'irathi wh-n the Laltakuri embankment in the
Mnrshidabad district gives way.

RivEB At present all the Nadia rivers may be described as off-shoots

of the Padma, or main channel of the Ganges, but it seems clear
that at one time the Granges found its way to the sea along
the course of the Bhagirathi, and in those days, before the Padma
broke its way to the eastward and intersectel the drainage of the
Darjeeling Himalaya?, there must have been some earlier streams to
carry that drainage to the sea, of which the Bhairab is said to have
been one. Now-a-days, however, all the drainage of Northern
Bengal is intercepted by the Padma before it reaches Nadia.

Piidini. r£\^Q Padma impinges on the district at its most northerly

corner, at the point where it throws off the Jalangi, and flows
along the northern border in a direction slightly south of east,
until it leaves the district some miles to the east of Kushtia. It
carries an immense volume of water and is very wide at places.
Except where it is confined by high banks, the main channel is
constantly shifting, whereby many disputes are caused as to the
possession of the chars and islands which are thrown up.

Jalangi. The Jalangi leaves the Padma at the extreme north of the

district, and after forming tlie greater part of the north-western
boundary, passes within the district at a point some miles north
of Tehata. Thence it pursues a tortuous ooun^e in a southerly
direction until it readies Krishnagar, from which point it
proceeds due west until it falls into the Bhagirathi opposite the
iown of Nabadwip.

vWiThh. ^^^^- P'liiiirab, which is by some thought to be of older origin

than the Jalangi, its gen'^rally reputed parent, takes off from
tiiat river at a point a few miles north of Karimpur, and after a
most tortuous course aol0^8 the district^ the general trend of which

PHYSICAL ASPECrs. O

is to the south, loses itself in the Matabhanga not far from
KapHsdanga. During the greater part of the last century there
was very little current in this river, owing to its intake from
the Jalangi having silted up ; in 1874 a high flood cleared away
the obstruction and widened the channel, but, for many years
past, it has been practically dead, and the unhealthiness of
Meherpur, which lies upon its banks, is in great measure attri-
buted to the stagnancy of its waters.

The Bhagirathi impinges upon the district near Plassey, and J^^^|^-
for some distance, forms its western boundary. It takes the
name of the Hooghly from its junction with the Jalangi opposite
Nabadwip town. In its upper reaches it is at present a com-
paratively insignificant stream, but the surrounding country
gi^es evidence of the vast size which it attained, when it formed
the main bed of the Ganges, the name of which is still applied to
it by the villagers along its banks.

The Matabhanga or Hauli leaves the Padma about ten miles JJ;'-^"^
below the point where the Jalangi diverges from it. It flows
first in a south-easterly direction as far as Hat Boalia, where it
bifurcates, and one branch , which is thereafter known as the
Kumar or rangSsi, proceeds, in the same direction, past
Alamdanga up to the boundary of the district which it forms for
a few miles until it passes into Jessore, while the other branch
pursues a very tortuous course, the general trend of which is
to the south, until, after passing Chuadanga, it reaches Kissen-
gunge, east of Krishnagar, where a second bifurcation takes
place, the two resulting streams being known as the Churni and
Ichhamati, and the name of the parent river being lost.

The Churni passes in a direction slightly wf st of south, past Chumi.
Hanskhali and Ranaghat and falls into the Hooghly between
Santipur and Cbakdaha.

The Ichhamati flows in a south-easterly direction and after ichhamati.
forming the boundary of the district for a few miles passes into
the Bangaon Subdivision of the Jessore district.

The Kabadak takes off from the left bank of the MatabhSnga Kabadak.
a few miles below its Junction with the Bhairab, and takes an
almost straight '^outh- easterly course to the boundary of the
district where it passes into Jessore. Its offtake is silted up, and,
within this district, it is now nothing but a khal.

The Garai takes off from the Ganges not far from Kushtia, Garai.
and after flowing in a south-easterly direction past Kumar-
khali and Khoksa, passes over the border into the Qoalunda Sub-
division of the Faridpur district. It throws out two unimport-
ant distributaries from its right bank, named the Kaliganga and

n NADTA.

Daoko, The Garai is gradually silting up, and is now navigable
only during the rainy soason.
"Xai'Ia The whole district is a net work of moribund rivers and

nivEKs." streams, but the Bhagirathi, the Jalangi and the Matabhanga are
the throe which have been for more than a century, and btill are
distinctively known as the "Nadia Eivers." Until the advent of
the railways, these watercourses afforded the regular means of
coramunication between the upper valley of the Ganges and the
seaboard. Ever since the British occupation of the country
much difficulty has been experienced in keeping them open for
navigation throughout the year. They have, when left to
themselves, a very sluggish current which fails to carry off the
large quantities of silt which they receive from the Ganges.
In 1781 Major Eennel recorded that they were not usually
navigable in the dry season. Captain Oolebrook, in a memoir
on the course of the Gauges Q797), writes thus : — "The Bha-
giratlii and Jalangi are not navigable throughout during the
dry season. There have been instances of all these rivers con-
tinuing open in their turn daring the dry season. The Jalangi
used formerly to be navigable during the whole or greater part
of the year. Tlie Bhagirathi was navigable in the dry season
of 1796. The Matabhanga, when surveyed in 1795, was navig-
able throughout in the dry season for boats of a moderate
burden. This year (1797), however, I was informed that the
passage wa? no longer practicable for boats proceeding to
Calcutta. Experience has shown that none of these rivers are
to be depen'led ou," Early in the nineteenth century the Mata-
bhanga appeals to have been more easily navigable than either
the Jalangi or the Bhagirathi, and it is said to have continued
open every year from 1809 to 1818. In 1813 measures were
taken towards improving its chanuel, and a toll was established
to defray the expense of the work. Very little good, however,
appears to have resulted from the efiort then made, for in
1818 " the ob8truetio?is had become so many and dangerous, as to
cause the wreck of innumerable boats, and to entail heavy losses
on account of demurrage paid for detention of ships waiting
expected eargoes. The merchants of CalcuHa in that year
urgently petitioned Government that steps should be taken for
remedying an evil from which the commercial interest suffered
too severely."

In order to allow the ordinary large traffic-boat of 250 to 300
maunds t<) pass by this route, there must be a minimum depth of
not le6« than 2^ or 3 feet. This amount of water can of course
alwiiys bu obtained during the rains from the middle of June to

PHYSICAL ASPFCTS. 7

October. But during the other seven months of the year, obstruc-
tions and shoals form, which render navigation always uncertain,
and often impossible, by the beginning of February. In 1819-20,
Mr. C. K. Hobison was appointed Superintendent and Collector
of the Matabhauga, and he succeeded iu clearing the mouth of
the river, where it leaves the Ganges in the north of the district,
from the sand banks which had formed over sunken boats
and timber. The channel was also narrowed by means of
bandhals described below, and the river rendered navigable from
its head to the point where the Kumar branches off to the east.
This river carried away five-sixths of the supply of water from
the Matabhanga, and an attempt to divert a portion of its current
into the Matabhanga proved unsuccegisful. Shortly afterwards,
My. Robison was succeeded in his office "hj Mr. May, who con-
ducted the duties over twenty years, and first directed his atten-
tion to the damage caused by the numerous trees which were
allowed to grow on the river side, and which fell into the stream
wherever the waters cut into the banks. Many wrecks took
place every year from boats running against these fallen trees, and
Captain Lang states that in 1820 the number of sunken sal
timber logs was incredible. In a single year timber rafts to the
value of a lakh of rupees are said to have been lost. During 1820
and the following year, three hundred sunken timbers and many
boats and frees were removed from the bed of the river, some of
them being buried to a depth of twelve feet in the sand. During
1820-21, the upper channel of the Matabhanga was deepened by
means of bandhals, constructed as follows: — At the shoals, to be
operated on, a line of bamboo stakes is run out from each bank
of the river. These stakes gradually converge so as to force and
concentrate the current into a narrow channel. They are well
driven into the bed of the river, supported by struts, and fastened
at the top by longitudinal ties. Large mat screens {j'hdmps) are
then let down as far as possible, and well secured to the bamboo
frame-work. The first result from the bandhal is a great velocity
within the channel it is intended to create, and a diminished
current on both sides. Owing to the increased pressure below, the
mat screems {Jkdmps) can never be sunk quite to the bottom of
the river, and through the space left there the water rushes with
immense force iu a circular direction, cutting away the sand, and
carrying it under the matting and behind the line of bamboos,
where the stream being sluggish, constant deposit takes place.
The force of the current in the centre of the channel is at the
same time gradually cutting and bearing down stream the sand
m its course, so that by these two actions the depth is increased

8 NADIA.

in the ohaanel enclose! by the bandhal, while on each side of it
towards the hank, large collections of sand take place, materially
narrowing and deepening the stream. The depth of the channel
within the bandhal scarcely varies more than an inch or two, which
is remarkable : and although the rivers may fall two or three feet
after the ba)idhals are constructed, and shoal proportionately at
other points, the uniform depth, be it three, four or five feet, is
generally maintained within their channels till the next rainy
season. All that is necessary is to drive the bamboo piling
further down as the water cuts away the sand, and to tink the
jhamps from time to time to suit the fall of the river. It some-
times happens that the weight of gravel and sand swept away by
the current within the bandhal sinks immediately on getting
beyond it, thus forming another shual which requires the con-
struction of another bandhal to remove it.

These works, carried on in tiie upper channel of the Mata-
bhanga during the dry season of 1820-21, rendered the river
navigable till the end of March, from its mouth to the entrance
of the Kumar, at which point further measures were undertaken
to 3.ivert a portion of its current into the Matabhanga. A cut,
1,540 yards in length, was made to shorten one of the bends of
the latter river, and to increase the fall; a caisson was also sunk,
together with a number of old boats, across the mouth of the
Kumar. These operations involved an expenditure of Us. 14,000.
When the river fell again to its usual dry season level, it was
ascertained that the works had not been without eSect, that the
entrance of the Kumar had shoaled considerably, and that the
depth of the Matabhauga had increased in proportion. Through-
out 1821-22, a depth of three feet of water was always to be found
at the worst shoals, and boats of three hundred maunds burden
passed without difficulty. In the beginning of 1823, a dredging
machine worked by oxen was supplied at a cost of Bs 10,400.
In the meantime, however, the condition of the river had alto-
gether changed, and although the dredge only drew 2 feet 4 inches
of water, it was conveyed up the river with difficulty, and the
entrance^was found so shallow from the masses of sand which had
been thrown up across the mouth by the Ganges,«that the machine
could not be used. Having found the Matabhanga so obstructed,
and seeing no prospect of improving it, Mr. May proceeded in
1823, by order of Government, to inspect the Bhagirathi and
Jalangi. Ihe channel of the former was discovered to be greatly
obstructed by trees which had fallen into its bed during the two
preceding inundations. At the Jalangi head, a little to the west
of the Mstabhanga entrance, sufficient water was found for

PHT8TCAL ASPECTS. 9

boats of three hundred maands burden, there being a depth
of ten feet at the entrance, and only one shoal of three
feet in its course. Here a bandhal was erected, and. a depth of
four feet secured. The Bhagirathi head, which turns off from
the Ganges in Murshidabad district, had shifted about half a
mile to the east of its former position before the rains, and in the
month of December was even more favourable than the Jalangi ;
for, although there was less water at the entrance, yet it lay so
well open to the stream of the Ganges, with no detached sand-
banks near, that there was every prospect of its being kept open
for large boats throughout the season. The dredging boat was
therefore despatched to this river. During 1824, Mr. May was
appointed to the additional charge of the Bhagirathi and Jalangi,
and* a regular establishment was ganctioned for the three rivers.
A great change, however, took place soon afterwards in the
Bhagirathi. At the end of the year it was found that the
entrance of the river had shifted five miles forther westward.
Its new head lay quite open to the direct current down the
Ganges which forced itself with such violence down it, that its
breadth rapidly enlarged from two hundred and fifty feet to
half a mile. Across this entrance there was a depth in January
1825 of twenty-two feet, the shoals down the river were easily
removed by means of handhah, and a depth of three feet was
maintained throughout the dry season from the Ganges to Nadia.

The favourable condition of the Bhagirathi head did not last
long. In 1825 the Ganges altered its course, and the entrance
to the Bhagirathi shifted eight miles to the south-east. The
river became wholly unnavigable as early as November, and it
was found that it would he a useless expenditure to attempt to
improve it. In spite of a second dredging boat, which was
supplied at a cost of Es. 15,000, all the rivers became closed at
the beginning of March 1826.

During the following five years, 1826-27—1830-31, all the
rivers, with the exception of the Jalangi, continued in an un-
satisfactory state as regards navigation, although the usual
operations were vigorously carried on. In 1826-27, the sand-
bank at the mouth of the Bhagirathi was found to have in-
creased in breadth and length. After the rains of 1826 it
extended far below the entrance, and the river became
impassable, except by small boats, before the end of December.
During the inundations of 1829, however, another change took
place at the head of the Bhagirathi, by which the entrance was
removed three and a half miles from its position of the previous
year, and the old channel of 1823 re- opened ; but its course for

10 NAOIA-

some Uiiles being through a loise >audy soil, shoak soou began
to appear, and before January 1830 it again became impassable.

The Jalangi. however, was in a much more iavourable state.
In 1826-27 it was closed for a portion of the year. In 1827-28
it coutiuued navigable for boats of two feet draui^ht during the
grefiter part of the dry season, and in the two following years,
by oont-tnnt attention to the usual works for removing obstacles, it
remained navigable for small boats throughout the dry season. In
1830-31 the river continued navigable for large boats to the end of
December, and for boats drawing two feet throughout the year.

The Matabhanga continued in a bad state throughout the
five years 1826-30. In 1828-29 a steam dredger received from
England was sent to work on this river, but the machinery did
not answer well, and the draught of the boat, six feet, rendgred
her very ill adapted for the river.

During the next few years, very little improvement appears to
have been effected, and, in the case of the Jalangi, greater
difficulties were experienced in navigation than during the pre-
vious five years. In the early part of 1831-32 an unusual flood
occurred in tlie Bhagirathi, caused by heavy rain in the
Rajmahal Hills swelling the tributary streams. The force of
the current cleared away the shoals below Berhampore, and re-
opened the communication for small boats, which had been
entirely closed since January. During the inundation of 1832
an unfavourable change took place at the entrance of the Jalangi,
the head having shifted five miles to the north.

In 1835 doubts seem to have arisen whether the benefits that
accrued from the works were commensurate with the expense
incurred. Orders were given in February to sto]) operations and
the establishment was discharged. Mr. May's report on the work
done during the previous three years showed that 359 bandhah
had been constructed on the different rivers, 118 sunken boats
raised, 219 sunken trees and timbers removed, 12 masonry build-
ings pulled down, and 1,731 tnes cut down on the banks to pre-
vent them falling into the stream. He explained that the
extraordinary deviations annually occurring in the course of the
Ganges, affecting as they did all the streams that flowed from it,
rendered it impossible to lay down any fixed rule of guidance
or plan of operations by which the navigation of the Nadia
rivers could be permanently maintained. An experience of
thirteen years had convinced him that the changes which took
place in the great river during one inundation afforded no data to
determine what the next would l^ing forth, and therefore there
was Lo assurance that the measures adopted for mitigating or

PHYSICAL ASPECTS 11

repairing the evils of one season would be of the least avail in
the ensuing one. Dredging machinery could only be usefully
employed where the stream was rapid. Its use was to stir up the
sand, so that the current might carry it away, rather than to lift
the sand itself out of the bed. In sluggish water, where a
bucketful was raised it was instantly replaced by the falling in of
the surrounding mass.

During two years (1835-37) the operations were stopped, but
in February 1837, Mr. Iilay proceeded, by order of the Govern-
ment, to again inspect and report upon the state of the rivers.
He found that obstacles to navigation had much increased since
the suspension of the works, and in June 1837, he was reappoint-
ed Superintendent. For the next three years the Bhagirathi
wasithe most favourable of the three rivers for navigation.

In August 1810, Mr. May resigned his office, and was
succeeded in November of the same year by Captain Smyth. The
operations carried on by this officer during the next seven years
were the same as those previously adopted by Mr. May. The
rivers continued in much the same state as before, the Bhagirathi
being the most favourable for navigation. In 1840-41 this
stream was kept open for large boats throughout the dry season,
and in 1841-42 for boats of 2i feet draught. In 1842-43,
however, it was found to be in a worse state than at any time
during the previous five years, and many complaints came up of
the obstructions to navigation. Strenuous efforts were made to
clear it of its shoals, and with much difficulty a passage was
maintained throughout the season for boats of from 250 to 350
maunds burden. In 1845-46 the river was kept navigable
throughout the dry season for boats drawing two feet, but in the
following year, 1846-47, it shoaled at the entrance to such an
extent as to close altogether in February 1847. A fresh opening
was made from the Q-anges to the Bhagirathi, and in May, when
the rains set in, this out rapidly enlarged itself, and gave a
depth of from five to ten feet of water, whereas at the old eutrance
there was only a depth of one foot. The cost of the excava-
tion was soon repaid by the increase of the toll collections.

The Jalangi t'emained in a very bad state throughout the
whole seven years (1840-47), and the Matabhanga was never
navigable in the dry season below the point where the Pangasi
branches off from it.

In December 1847, Captain Lang was appointed Officiating
Superintendent of the Nadia rivers, and, in support of further
remedial operations, he brought to the notice of Government
that, during the eight previous years, the total toll collections on

12 NADIA.

the rivers had yielded an average annual surplus of Es. 1,65,090
over the amount expended in keeping open the navigation, includ-
ing the cost of oollecting the tolls, and of all establishments.
During the year 1847-48 the amount of tolls realised from each
of the rivers was as follows:— Ehagirathi, Rs. 1,51,482 ; Jalangi,
Rs. 63,222; Matabhanga, Rs. 24,028; total toll collections,
Rs. 2,38,733. On the expenditure side the charges for facilitat-
ing the navigation were Rs. 36,122 ; for collection of tolls,
Rs. 22,360 ; total expenditure, Rs. 58,482. Surplus of receipts
over expenditure, Rs. 1,80,250.

The same system of operations without much variation was
carried on in the succeeding years. In 1859 a further attempt
was made to improve the current down the Matabhanga, at the
expense of the Kumar, by cutting channels across a few o:^ the
bends in the former. The following year some experiments were
made by towing a rake or harrow over the entrance shoals by a
steamer when the Ganges began to fall in the autumn, but no
success was obtained.

In 1881, Mr. Yertannes, Superintending Engineer, submitted
a memorandum on the state of the rivers. At that period the
Matabhanga had the best entrance. It was said, however, that
this was the first year for nearly 20 years that that river had been
navigable for large boats. Alluding to the oats on the Mata-
bhanga made in 1859, Mr. Yertannes said: — "Of the five cuts-
off made in the river by the late Mr. J. W. Armstrong, four
have already deepened out, and are only a little narrower than
the normal width of the river. These cuts, now that they have
been worked cut, seem to have benefited the river, as far as
navigation is concerned, but I fear that they must have tended
to raise considerably the flood level of the river lower down,
and the damages recently caused to the Eastern Bengal State
Railway, are, I think, more due to this than to any breaching
of the embankments above Murshidabad."

In 1888, the revenue administration of the Nadia Rivers,
which had up till then been ccmtrolled by the Board of Revenue,
■was transferred to the Public Works Department, anfl a separate
division, called (he "Nadia Rivers Division," '^' was constituted,
and placed in charge of an Executive Engineer. Since that
year an average sum of about 1^ lakhs of rupees has been spent
annually, chiefly on training works, to increase the depth in the
dry season over the many shoals which form every year as soon
as the rivers begin to fall. From December 1906 to March 1907
two small dredgers were hired and worked on the head shoal of
the Jalangi river. The experiment coat nearly Rs. 38,000 ; it

PHYSICAL ASPECTS.

was temporarily successful, but no permanent improvement was
effected. Two dredgers were again employed, at a cost of
Es. 12,000, during the following cold weather, in dredging 6^
miles of the Jalaugi river. The result was — in two miles, less
depth than before dredging ; in two miles, depth slightly increased ;
and in 2| miles, maintenance of full depth dredged.

The possibility of maintaining a navigable entrance to the
Bhagiratbi was discussed in 1906, 1907 and 1909. In 1909 the
Steamer Companies submitted a representation strongly urging
that the river be made fit for steamer traffic throughout the year
as the water-route from Calcutta to up-country would thereby be
shortened by 425 miles. In September 1906 the Chief Engineer
estimated that the initial cost of the plant necessary for dredo-ino-
thepff-take of the river from the Granges would be 126 lakhs of
rupees, and that, if the scheme were uadertaken, the yearly
recurring charge for maintenance would be very heavy, and such
as could not possibly be met by any tollage which the steamer
companies could afford to pay : he also pointed out the necessity
of caution in the execution of any works in these rivers, as it was
possible that any channels which might be made might become
larger and deeper, and that this might eventually lead the main
G-anges into the Hooghly and thereby ruin the port and city of
Calcutta. A further point to be remembered was that any
increase in the volume of water passed down these rivers must
mean a decrease in the volume passing down the Q-anoes
below their off-takes, and that such decrease would produce a
deterioration in the present navigable channels of the
Ganges.

According to the figures given in Hunter's Statistical Account
of Nadia and Jessore, the net revenue from the Nadia rivers in
the year 1847-48 was Rs. 1,80,250, and during the ten years
ending with 1870-71, Rs. 1,04,538, the average annual expendi-
ture during this same decade being Rs. 1,4-3,094. The following
table shows the average income, expenditure and financial result
since then : —

Peeiod.

Average
animal
income.

Average annual
expenditure.

Average annual

net surplus or

deficit.

1871-72 to 18S0-81

1881-82 to 1890-91

1891-92 to 1900-01

1901-02 to 1907-08

Rs.

2,32.938
1,95,632

1,27,479
76,629

87,019
1,18,136
1,25,864
1,23,689

Rs.

+ 1,45,918
+ 77,495
+ 1,615
— 47,060

14 NADIA.

Since 1871, there has been a steady decline in the average
income, while the average expenditure has maintained an almost
steady increase : from 1895-96, there has been a deficit every
year ranging from Rs. 2,657 in 1899-1900 to Rs. 1,07,804 in
1906-07. In 1907-OS the total receipts amounted to only
Rs. 35,229. The falling off in the receipts is, of course, mainly
due to the extension of the railway systems, which now carry off
a very large portion of the traffic, which used to find its way
down the rivers, but a further cause is to be found in the reduc-
tion of the tolls which was introduced in 1906. The last two
revised schedules of tolls, sanctioned in 1879 and 1906, are
reproduced below : —

Schedule of tolls to he levied on the Nadia Rivers under Ad V
of 186Uy whatever the distance travelled.

„ Notification No. 175, daterl .'jnth .July 1879— otde Calcutta

^°- Gazette of 30th Jiiiy 1879, Part I, page 789.

1 Pinnaces of 10 oars and under that number, each ...
Ditto exceeding 10 oars

2. Budgerows of 10 oars and under that number

Ditto exceeding 10 oars

3. Bholeahs and boats for personal accommodation, cutters

not being of the description specially defined, and
bulwars, pansways and baggage boats, per oar ... 0 4

4. Empty boats and boats laden with bricks, tiles or other

earthen substances, baked or otherwise, per 100
maunds tonnage ... ... ... 0 2

5. Boats laden with quick-lime, chunam, straw, firewood,

gurran-sticks, thatchiug grass or such like, per 100
maunds tonnage ... ... ... 0 8

6. Boats laden nitli grain, pulse, seed or vegetables of

whatever description and indigo seed, per 100 maunds
tonnage ... ... ... .., o 12

7. Boats of burthen freighted with timbers and bamboos

or with any article not included in the above enu-
meration, per 100 maunds tonnage ... ... 1 0

8. Timljers v\i(h cliowkars and dowkars, if floated on rafts

or othcrwiiie, hot being boats, each timber .^ 0 6

y. Unwrouglit timbers called gholo or floated as above,

each ... ... n Q

Kafts floating 200 bamboos or less, each raft ... Q 3

KaftB floating more than 200 but not more than 40 J ... 0 6

li&lls floating more than 400 but not more than 1,000 ... 0 12

Kafts floating more than 1,000, each raft ... l 8

ts.

PHYSICAL ASPECTS, 16

Schedule of tolh to be levied on the Nadia Rivers under Act V
of 188!i., ichatever the didance travelled.

No. Calcutta Gaeette, Notification No. C, dated Slst July 1906. Rs. A.

1. Passenger boats, accommodation boats, bboleahs,

budgerow.s, pinnaces, bulwares, pansways and ha^'

gage boats, per oar ,.. ... ... 0 4

2. Kiupty vessels, except steamers, per 100 maunds of

measured tonnage ... ... ... 0 4

3. Vessels laden with cargo of any description per 100

maunds of measured tonnage ... ... ] 0

4. Cargo carried in flats or steamers and charged on the

manifest per lOU maunds of cargo ... ... 1 0

5,. Steamers that have been surveyed under Act V[ of
1884, whose tonnage is determined by measurement,
whether laden or empty, per 100 maunds of measured
tonnage

6. Floats or rafts of roughly squared timbers, each timber

7. Floats or rafts of unwrought timbers,'each timber

8. Hafts of bamboos, each 100 bamboos

9. Eeeds, for each hundred bundles of reeds ...
1 ). All boats the toUage of which does not exceed 4 annas

will be allowed to -pass free.

N.B.— Baring the flood season (June to October, both inclusive) half the above schedule
rates will be charged.

This account of the Nadia Rivers may fitly be closed with
two extracts from an article by Sir William Hunter entitled ' A
River of Ruined Capitals,' which appeared in the Nineteenth
Century of January 1888 : —

" The Hugh is the most westerly of the net-work of channels
bj which the Ganges pours into the sea. Its length under its
distinctive name is less than .150 miles, a length altogether
insignificant compared with the great waterways of India.
But even its short course exhibits in full work the twofold task
of the Bengal rivers as creators and destroyers. The delta
through which it flows was built up in times primaeval a
thousand miles off. Their inundations still add a yearly coating
of sliino to vast low-lying tracts, and we can stand by each
autumn and see the ancient secrets of land making laid bare.
Each autumn, too, the network of currents rend away square
miles from their banks, and deposit their plunder as new alluvial
formations further down. Or a broad river writhes like a
monster snake across the country, leaving dry its old bed and
covering with deep water what was lately solid land.

" Most of the channels do their work in solitude^ in drowned
wastes where the rhinoceros and crocodile wallow in the slush
and whither the wood-cutter only comes in the dry months, after

16 NADIA.

the rivers have spent their fury for the year. But the Hugli
carries on its ancient task in a thickly-peopled country, destroy-
ing and reproducing with an equal balance amid the homesteads
and cities of men. Since the dawn of history it has formed the
great high road from Bengal to the sea. One Indian race after
another built their capitals, one European nation after another
founded their settlements on its banks. Buddhists, Hindus,
Musalraans, Portuguese, Dutch, Danes, French, Germans and
English have lined with ports and fortresses that magnificient
waterway.

" The insatiable river has dealt impartially with all. Some it
has left high and dry, others it has buried under mud, one it has
cleft in twain and covered with its waters : but all it has attacked,
or deserted, or destroyed. With a single exception, whatever it
has touched it has defaced. One city only has completely
resisted its assaults. Calcutta alone has escaped unharmed to
tell of that appalling series of catastrophes. The others lie
entombed in the silt, or moulder like wrecks on the bank. The
river flows on relentless and majestic as of old, ceaselessly
preaching with its still small ripple, the ripple that has sapped
the palaces of kings and brought low the temples of the gods,
that here we have no abiding city. It is a vision of the world's
vanities such as the world has not seen sinoe Spenser mourned the
* Ruins of Rome ' : —

Ne ought save Tyber liastning to his fall
Eemains of all : O world's inconstancie !
That which is firme doth flit and fall away.
And that is flitting doth abide and stay."

*' Of all the cities and capitals that man has built upon the
Hugli only one can now be reached by sea-going ships. The
sole survival is Calcutta. The long story of ruins compels us to
ask whether the same fate hangs over the capital of British India.
Above Calcutta, the head-quarters of the Hugli still silt up
and are essentially decaying rivers. Below Calcutta, the present
channel of the Damodar enters the Hugli, and at so acute an
angle, that it has thrown up the James and M^ry sands, the most
dangerous river-shoal known to navigation. The combined
discharges of the Damodar and Rupnarayan rivers join the
Hugli, close to each other from the same bank. Their intrusive
ma?B of water arrests the flow of the Hugli current, and so
causes it to deposit its silt, thus forming the James and !Mary.
In ]8o4 a committee of experts reported by a majority that, while
modem ships required a greater depth of water, the Hugli

PHYSICAL ASPECTS. 17

channels had deteriorated, and that their deterioration would
under existing conditions go od. The capital of British Jndia was
brought face to face with the question whether it would succumb,
as every previous capital on the river had sucoumbed, to the forces
of nature, or whether it would fight theiu. In 1793 a similar
question had arisen in regard to a project for re-opening the old
mouth of the Damodar above Calcutta. In the last ceiitury the
Government decided, and, with its then meagre resources of
engineering, wisely decided, not to fight nature. In the present
century the Government Las decided, and, with the enlarged
' esources of modern engineering, has wisely decided, to take up
the gage of battle.

"It is one of the most marvellous struggles between science and
natur* which the world has ever seen. In this article I have had
to exhibit man as beaten at every point ; on another opportunity
I may perhaps present the new aspects of the conflict. On the ^

one side nature is the stronger, on the other side science is more
intelligent. It is a war between brute force and human strategy,
carried on not by mere isolated fights, but by perennial cam-
paigns spread over wide territories. Science finds that although
she cannot control nature, yet that she can outwit and circumvent
her. As regards the head waters above Calcutta, it is not possible
to coerce the spill-streams of the Ganges, but it is possible to
coax and train them along the desired channels. As regards the
Hugli below Calcutta, all that can be effected by vigilance in
watching the shoals and by skill in evading them is accomplished.
The deterioration of the channels seems for the time to be arrested.
But Calcutta has deliberately faced the fact that the forces of
tropical nature may any year overwhelm and wreck the delicate
contrivances of man. She has, therefore, thrown out two
advanced works in the form of railways towards the coast. One of
these railways taps the Hugli where it expands into an estuary
below the perilous James and Mary shoal. The other runs south-
east to a deep river, the Matla. Calcutta now sits calmly,
although with no false sense of security, in her state of seige
fighting for her ancient waterway to the last, but provided with
alternative routes frbm the sea, even if the Hugli should perish. •
Sedet aeternumque sedebit.'"

The Embankment Act is not, and never has been, in force in rmbinx-
the Nadia district, and there are no embankments which are mbnts.
mainiained from Governiuent or public funds. In 1868 the
Collector urged the necessity of action by Government in the
way of repairing existing, and constructing new, bunds, as
|he zemindars could not be relied on to do anything, and the

18 NADIA.

cultivators bad no ability for oombination. An enquiry was
made by tbe Executive Eneineer, and estimates amounting
to "Rs. 3,494 were sanctioned by Government for repairs to
embantraents on the Jalangi and Matabh§nga rivers. It was,
however, made clear that this was a concession to meet an emer-
gency, and was not to be regarded as a precedent. In 1880 a
report was subraitted by the District Engineer detailing the
embankments which existed on the various rivers by which the
district is bounded or intersected. There are many isolated
embantrrippts which were apparently nearly all submerged by the
flood of 1 879. In the case of a few of the embankments it was
said that tbev were repaired by the Public Works Department ;
for the rest, they were repaired to a small extent by the zemindars
or cultivators. The only continuous line of embankment w^s that
on the left bank of thp Jalangi, and the District Engineer estimated
that it would cost Es. 18,000 to put it into efficient condition.
The Coraraissioner reoomraended some grants in aid for repairing
some of the more important of the embankments, but it does not
appear that thp proposal received the approval of Government.
Two ypars later the Superintending Engineer reported that in his
opinion it was not advisable to retain the Jalangi embankments
generally, though portions might be kept up to prevent inunda-
tion water from needlessly damaging the crops at every rise of the
river. In 1895 the Superintending Engineer was directed to
have the embankments which had been scheduled in 1882
inspected, and to ascertain whether they bad been added to or
altered. A list with notes of the state of repair of each, was
acordingly submitted, but no further action was taken. The
flood water is, however, not greatly affected by such private works
as are still in existence.

lakbs The names of the chief lakes and marshes in the district are

Miusiiis. givsn in the following list: —

Saffrir Subilivision. — Abhangi, Adityapur, Arangsarisa, Aun-
dhari, Bacharaari, Bairampur, Bakshi, Baliaf^aha, Bara Chapra,
BarbhSnga, Bhafanghat, Bhaluka, Chapra, Charatola, Chingri-
mari, Cninifhora, Digri, Dubli, Dumri. Chidaha, Goaradaha
Garpuriii Hansadaha, Hansad&nga, Haridfeha, Jhora, Jhori,
Jiddha, Kaichuui, Kalatola, Kalidaha, Kalinagar, Kalinga,
Kalma, Kaniadaha, Keturi, Khaira, Khana, Nelor, Nutan,
Padma, Paela, Panidiata, Pnaldaha, Sajanipur, Sat-tala, Sona-
juli, Sukni, Tengra, Tungi, Unidpur.

Rdndyhdt Subdivhion. — Amda, Bait, Bara Kaohua, Bayes-
waj, Bhomra, ChSrapta, Chapra, Chinili, DSmrftil, Dhoktadaha,
Dohar, Gang&prasadbaor, Gopaya, Haripur, Jh&kri, Kachua,

PHYSICAL ASPECTS. 19

Kulia, Kataganj, Mogra, MondourS, Morail, Nasta, Nrisingha-
pur, PAnikhali, Pooh&, Saguna, Sat Sholaki, Shejdiar, Ukundi.

Chudddngd Subdivision. — Baradi, Begampur, Bharbharia,
Buiohitola, Chakli, CMndmari, Dalka, Dhfinkholabaor,
Dukmari, Ektarpurbaor, Harda, Kamladaha, Khayerhudat
Kobikhali, Kulbila, Kumridanga, Loknathpur, Medinipurbaor*
Mrigamari, Nalbila, Nalgari, Padmabila, Pakar, Pakhi, Purapara,
Eaipurbaor, Eaisa, Sankarohandra, Sankharia, Solmari, Tentulia.

Meherpur Subdivision. — Alalgari damosh, Asrafpur, Bagha-
dobS, Batkemari, Cbakla, Cbamu Khandaha, Dubukhola, Elangi,
Fatehpnr damosb, Gobri, lobamatidaha, Jalanga, Kisborpur,
Kol Kulbila, Mobisbkbola, Mobisbmari, Nisbobintapurbaor,
Nona, Padma, Pangasi, PStabuka, Eoakul, Ruimari, Sonadaba,
Tenjramari, TeragbariS, Topla.

Kushtid Subdivision. — Amla, BSradi, Boalia, CbSpalgaobi,
Cboroikhol, Gboldaba, Kaobudaba, Mobisbkundi damosb, Sagar-
kbali, Talberia.

Tbe following remarks are taken from tbe Gazetteer volume
of tbe Kbulna district, as tbej are equally applicable to Nadia : —

"Many (bils) are of small size, but otbers are practically
inland lakes. Some are mere accumulations of water upon low-
lying ground, while otbers are natural drainage basins, tbe
level of wbicb does not admit of drainage. Tbeir formation is
due to tbe configuration of tbe district, wbicb is divided by tbe
interlacing of tbe rivers, into wbat are practically islands. Each
of these is bounded by rivers, and the highest level is along their
banks, so that the fall from all directions is towards the centre,
which again is drained by a creek or A;A 5/ communicating with one
of the surrounding rivers. In some places the basin thus formed
is on a fairly bigh level, and the central depression, being suflS-
ciently high to be above water at least during some months of
the year, is used for growing crops. Other such depressions are
water-logged, but can still be used for growing rice, while others
again are inland lakes always under water and cannot be used
for cultivation."

The soil of tbe district is composed of recent alluvium, and Geoloqt.
the surface consistiJ of sandy clay and sand along the course of the
rivers, and fine silt consolidating into clay in the flatter portions
of tbe plain, such as the tract known as the Kalantar.

Tbe stretches of low-lying land under rice cultivation afford botakt.

a foothold for many marsh species, while the numerous ponds and

ditches are filled with submerged and floating water plants.

Remarkable among these for its rarity, and interesting on account

, of its distribution to Europe on tbe one hand, and to Australia

20 MADIA.

OH the other, is tbe floating Droctra. The edges of sluggish
creeks are lined with large sedges and bulrushes, and the banks
of rivers frequently have a hedge-like shrub jungle. The sides
of embankments and village sites, where not occupied by human
habitations, are densely covered with large growths of semi-
spontaneous vegetation, often interspersed with clamps of
planted bamboos, and groves of Areca, Moringa, Mangi/tra^
and Anoua. Waysides and waste places are filled with grasses
and weeds, usually of little intrinsic interest, but uometimes
striking because of their distribution. A large proportion of the
species of this class to be met with in the district have been
inadvertently introduced by human agency, and besides weeds
that are indigenous in other parts of India, European, African
and American species are sometimes found, which can not -only
hold their own with, but actually spread more plentifully than,
similar weeds of truly Indian origin. In man}' places the soil
does not seem to suit mango, jack and other indigenous fruit tiees,
and consequently the poorer classes are, iu times of scarcity and
famine, deprived of one resource which they can fall back upon
in more favoured districts.
Fauna. At the beginning of the nineteenth century tigers were com-

mon in the more sparsely inhabited portions of the district near
the Bhagirathi. A reference has been made to their depredations
in the Gazetteer article on Chakdaha in the last chapter of this
volume. It is, however, many years since the Ubt of these animals
disappeared, and none are now to be found nearer than in. the
Simdarbans. Leopards, however, are still fairly common, espe-
cially in the Meherpur and Kushtia subdivisions ; they do a good
deal of damage to goats and young cattle, and are reported to
kill two or three human beings yearly. Wild hogs are common,
especially where protected for the purpose of pig-sticking : the
record bag of boar for the whole of India was made recently on
the chars of the Padnia iu the north of the district.

Among lesser fauna are foxes, hares and porcupines. Monkeys
(the black-faced Ilanuman or hingur) are numerous and destruc-
tive in the towns, especially Krishnagar, where they cause much
dbmage in gardens, and to the mango crop \vhen it is ripening.
Jackals are credited with carrying oif about 100 infants yearly,
and many cases of hydrophobia are caused by their bites.
Crocodiles are fairly common, especially in the Garai and other
rivers in the north of the district, and they occasionally kill
human beings.

Of gamo-birdfs, the floricau used to breed on tli€ field of
i'lussey, but appears to have deserted the district during recent^

PHYSICAL ASPECTS. 21

years. Snipe are very ooramon in the pouth of the disfrict during
the lattfr part of the rains and the beginning of the cold,
weather. Various kinds of wild duck and other aquatic birds are
found in large numbers in the ea^t and north of the district
during the cold weather, and wild geese are common in the
Padm^. A few partridge and quail are occasionally met with.
Snakes are common, and account for some 400 deaths annually.

Fish abound in most of the rivers and bih, and very large
catches of hilsa are made in the Padma during the rainy season,
and are exported freely by rail from Damukdia, or Sara, on the
opposite bank of the river.

The seasons in Nadia are substantially the same as in other Ciimaib,
parts of Lower Bengal. The cold weather may be said to
coranlence in the latter part of November (the first part of this
month is frequently very warm), and to last until the middle of
February. During these months the prevailing winds are from
the north and north-west, and there is a very heavy dew at night.
During March and April the weather becomes increasingly hot
during the day, though the nights remain fairly cool ; the daily
range of temperature is frequently very high during these
months. The temperature in May is often tempered by severe
'' nor'-westers", which generally come on in the evening, and last
about an hour, during which the rainfall is very heary, and the
thunder and lightning practically incessant. The monsoon as a
rule sets in about the middle of June, and causes some diminution
in the maximum temperatures The rains abate in September,
when the heat again becomes very trying, and remains so until
the oold weather gradually sets in. The mean temperature for the
year is 79°, and it ranges between 69° and 89°. The mean
minimum varies from 52° in January to 79° in June, and the
mean maximum from 77° in December to 97° in May. The
average humidity is 79 per cent, of saturation, varying from 71
per cent, in March to 87 per cent, in August.

The rainy season begins about the middle of June and lasts Ra:npali.
till October. The average annual rainfall for the district is 67
inches, of which 6-5 inches fall in May, 97 in June, 10*5 in July,
11-3 in August, 8'1 in September, and 4*1 in October. Kushti§,
receives rather more rain than the other rain-registering stations
in the district, but, with this exception, the variations from the
district average are very slight.

22 KADIA.

CHAPTER II.

HISTOEY.

gjji y TflEKE can be little doubt that the delta through which the
H18TOHT, Ganges flows was built up from the sea in prehistoric tiiDjes by
the silt which the various distributaries of that river brought
down from the plains and mountains far inland. As Sir
William Hunter has remarked, the " inundations still add a
yearly coating of slime to vast low -lying tracts, and we can stand
ioy each autumn and see the ancient secrets of landmakiug
laid bare," Ptoleoiy's map of the second century shows the
southern portion of the Gangetic delta as out up to such an
extent by rivers and waterways as to consist practically of a
succession of islands. This marked the first stage in the recla-
mation of the land from the sea, and Nadia in those days appears
to have been a fen country intersected with rivers and morasses,
and probably inhabited by a few scattered settlements of fisher-
men and boatmen. In course of time each successive distribu-
tary of the Ganges deposited silt along its banks, and raised the
level of the country until it no longer afforded suflBcient fall for
the escape of the drainage of the hinterland into the sea, when
it broke a fresh channel for itself to the east, to repeat the same
process further on.

According to the references in the Mahabharata, the Raghu-
bansa and some of the Puranas, the delta lay on the boundary
between two powerful kingdoms, namely, Suhma, corresponding
to Western Bengal, and Vanga, or Eastern Bengal, and it is pro-
bable that the Nadia district was under the control of the
kingdom of Vanga in the time of the Raghubansa, t.e.j about
the fifth century A.D. When the Chinese traveller Hiuea
Tsiang visited Bengal in the seventh century, he found two
large kingdoms in the lower delta, namely, Samatata and
TSmralipti. From the general description which he gives of
the former, it seems clear that it must have included what is now
known as the Nadia district, fcamatata appears to be another ,

HISTORY. 23

name for Vaoga, given to it on accouDt of its flat and level
aspect.

In the tenth and eleventh centuries the northern delta seems
to have formed part of the empire of the Pal kings, and it is
certain that it wasi included in the kingdom of the Sen Eajas,
who were masters of both Vanga and Radha. The town of Naba-
dwip is said to have been foanded by Lakshman Sen, son of
Ball&l Sen, and it is probable that Ballal Sen himself used to
visit the locality, as his name is still connected with a mound
and a tank in the village of Bamanpukur which is close by
Nabadwip.

The Sen dynasty is said to have been founded towards the _
close of the tenth century by an adventurer named Samanta Dynasty.
Sen, who is believed to have come from the Carnatic and estab-
lished a kiDgdom on the banks of the Bhagirathi. Samanta
had a son by name Hemanta, about whom very little is known,
and it is doubtful whether he ever actually ascended the throne :
he appears, however, to have been a man of valour^ for in one of
the dokm it is said of him that his enemies withered at sight of
him. Hemanta's son Bijay ruled for a time, and was succeeded
by his 4on, the famous Ballal Sen, who drove the' Pal Rajas out
of Bengal and conquered Bihar. Ballal Sen was succeeded
by his son Lakshman Sen, towards the close of whose lengthy
reign the incursion of the Muhammadans under Muham-
mad Bakhtiar Khilji took place. It seems that Lakshman,
on being driven out of Nabadwip, retreated to Subarnapur, near
Dacca, and it is said that from there he and his successors con-
tinued to govern eastern and southern Bengal until the middle of
the fourteenth century. There has been some controversy as to the
caete of the Sen kings. The name Seu is now generally borne
by Baidyas, but in ancient times it appears to have been borne
exclusively by Rajputs. The Baidya caste is found nowhere in
India except in Lower Bengal, and there can be no doubt that
the Sens referred to in the Mahabharata {e.g. Bir Sen) were
Rajputs and not Baidyas. In the work Dan Sagar, the
authorship of which has been imputed to Ballal Sen himself, it is
expressly stated that the Sen Rajas were Ksbattrias. On a stone
tablet found by Mr. Met calf at a place near Rampur Boalia, there
is an inscription to the effect that Samanta Sen was a descendant
of the Lunar Dynasty ; his forefathers were reigning kings
in the Deccan, and his grandson Bijay Sen conquered Kamrup,
Gaur and Kalinga. Two copperplates of Lakshman Sen have
been found, one in Dinajpur, and the other in the Sundarbans;
both of» these trace the. descent of the Sen family from the

24 NADIA.

Moon, i.e., proolaim them to be of the Lunar Dynasty, feuds
between the two branches of which caused the celebrated war
of the Mahabharata. Again a copperplate of Kesav Sen, son
of Lakshman Sen, was found in Bakarganj, in which the same
claim Qs to the descent of the family is set out, and the genea-
logy is carried down from Samanta to Kesav Sen. In this
latter plate Lakshman is said to have constructed triumphal
pillars in Guzerat, Benares and Tribeni. All these copper plates
puiport to make grants of land, etc. ; .they are of different
generations, and wore found in different places, but they all
unite in saying that the Sens were the descendants of Kshattrias
of the Lunar Dynasty, and in each is an invocation to the moon.
There can thus Le little doubt that the Sens were not Baidyas,
The copper plate of Kesav Ser, in which he is described as' an
independent king, is of further interest as showing that the
Muhammadans had not forced their way into Eastern Bengal
during the first half of the thirteenth century at any rate.

Lakhsman, the last of the tfen dynasty, who exercised any
sway west of the Bhagirathi, was driven from Nabadwip by
Muhammad Bakhtiar Khilji, when he captured and sacked the
town in 1208 A.D. The latter was an Afghan by birth, but he
took service at Delhi, and soon became well known for his
activity, courage and abilities. About the year 1199 A.D. he
was placed in command of an army destined to conquer Bihar.
He carried out his orders with complete success and firmly
established himself at Qaur, from which base he mado preparation
for an incursion into Bengal. It is said that the Brahmans and
astrologers of Nabadwip warned Raja Lakhsman that the long
appointed time for the subjugation of Bengal by the Turks was
at hand, and beg^'cd him to remove his family, property and
the seat of government from Nabadwip to a more eeoure
and distant part of the country, where they would be safe from
any sudden incursion from the enemy. The Haja, however
being very advanced in years and also attached to his capital,
declined to listen to the advice, and took no steps to avoid the
impending danger. In 1203 Muhammad Bakhtiar secretly
assembled his army, and marched from Bihar with such expedi-
tion that he was at the gates of Nabadwip before the king had
any warning of his near approach. The surprise was complete,
and the Raj& only escaped with his life. After sacking the town
Bakhtiar retired to Lakhnauti, and firmly established Mubam-
madau bway in the neighbourhood. It is doubtful whether the
whole of Bengal immediately fell into the power of the Muham-
madauB, as has frequently been stated. It seems that from

HISTOUY. 25

Bakhtiar onwards there was for over 100 years a regular sucoes-
sion of Mulianimadau Governors at Gaur or Lakhnouti, but the
probabilities are that the part of Beugal iu which Nadia lies did
not entirely aekuowLdge the Mussulman Government until many
years later. This point has been dealt with in an article by
Manmohan Chakravarii, entitled "' Disputed or Doubtful Events
in the History of Bengal," published in the Journal of the
Asiatic Society c f Bengal, April 1898. The following extract
is taken from the article: — "The nature of Muhammad-i-
Bakhtiar's conquest appears to have been much exaggerated ;
the expedition to Nadia is only an inroad, a dash for securing
booty natural to these Turkish tribes. The troopers looted the
city with the palace and went away. They did not take
possession of that part, and if they had tried, they would have
most likely failed, as their base in Behar was too far off and too
recent to be of much avail. On removing the seat of Govern-
ment to Lakhuauti, there was an attempt to secure permanent
possession of some part of Bengal. On the north Diwkot,
where he (Khilji] died on his return from the disastrous inroad to
Tibet, was evidently in possession of [Mussalmans, On the south
Lakhnor was outside their jurisdiction, because Muhamraad-i-
Sheran had been deputed with a force towards it at that time,
Diwkot is identified with DaT:damma about 70 miles north-east of
Gaur, Lakhanor is identified with Nagor by Stewart and with
Lacarcondah by Blochmann, but neither identification is satis-
factory, both being far away from the river Bhagirathi. Even if
either of these identifications be accepted, it would not be more
than 90 miles from Gaur. The tract between the two is thus
hardly large, and forms an insignificant part of the Bengal
Province. Tabakat-i itself carefully speaks of Lakhnauti only ;
it is only the later writers who dila'e on the vaunted conquests of
Bengal. In fact if such plundering inroads be magnified into
conquests, and the Hindus of Bengal blamed and vilified for
allowing the so-called easy conquests, then Muhammad of Ghazni
has better claims for being credited with the conquest of all
Hindus<an."

It seems probable that the hold of the Muhammadans upon earit
the pait of Bengral in wiiioh the Nadia district lies was very Muhak-
slight for the two centuries which succeeded the sack of Naba- rttlb.
dwip by Bakhtiar Khan. It apppears, however, that by the
middle of the fifteenth century the independent Muhammadan
kings of Bengal had established their authority, for there is in
Bagerhat, in the Khulna district, a tomb bearing an inscription
whioh shows it to contain the remains of one Kh&n Jah&n Ali,

MrGHiL

26 NADIA.

a Muhammadan governor who died in the year 1459 A.D. Very
little beyond legend is known of this n)an. In the latter part of
the sixteenth century the northern half of the Nadia district
was probably under the rule of Pratapaditya, who exercised
Bway over the greater part of the Jessore and Khulna districts.
Pratapaditya was the grandson of one Ram Chandra, a Kayasth
of Eastern Bengal, who obtained favour at the court of Sulaiman
Karar^ni, one of the last of the independent Muhammadan
kings of Bengal. It is said that Pratapaditya went to the
court of the Emperor at Delhi, and was granted a sanad making
him a Raja, and that he thereupon returned and ousted his
father. Before long he declared himself independent of the
Emperor, and he succeeded in defeating several Mughal
generals who were sent to bring him to subjection. Finally
Man Singh, governor of Bengal, with the assistance of BhabSnand
Majmu&dSr, one of the Rajas of Nadia, surprised his capital,
and captured him ; he was sent oS in custody towards Delhi, but
he put an end to his life on the way, preferring death to the
fate which he expected was in store for him.

In order to keep some hold upon the greater zaminddrsj and
RrLB. " to endeavour to secure as far as possible the regular and prompt
payment of the revenue by them, the country was parcelled out
into districts, each under a military governor, called tbe FaujdAr,
with a small force of soldiers under his command. The Fauj-
dirs were responsible to the Nawabs for the maintenance of
order and the realization of the revenue. The NadiS district
fell within the Jessore Faujddri. In 1696 Subha Singh, a
zemindar of Bardwan, rose in revolt, and, having induced
Rahim Kh&n, the leader of the Afghans in Orissa, to join him,
advanced on Bardwan, seized it, and killed the Raja. The
latter's son escaped to Dacca, and laid his complaint before the
Naw&b, who directed Nurullah Khan, the Faujddr of Jessore,
to punish the insurgents. " But that officer," says Stewart, in
his History of Bengal published in 1813, "who, instead of
attending to his own business, had long employed himself in
commerce and in amassing wealth, and possessed nothing of the
military character but the name, having with much loss of time,
collected a few of the 3,000 horse of which he was the comman-
dant, marched from Jessore and crossed the river ; but on the
approach of the rebels, he shut himself up in the fort of Hooghly
and implored assistance from the Governor of the Dutch settle-
ment of Chinsura. The rebels convinced by this pusillanimous
conduct that they had little to fear from the merchant soldier,
adtanoed boldly, and laid siege to Hooghly; they carried on

HisTouy. 27

their attacks with such vigour that the laujddr became alarmed
for his personal safety, and during the night, having crossed the
river in a boat, made his escape to Jessore. The garrison finding
that their commandant had fled, opened the gates, and the
rebels got quiet possession of that opulent city without any
loss." The rebels then proceeded to harry the districts of Nadia
and Murshidabad. In the meantime Subha Singh was stabbed
by the daughter of the Raj§ of Bard wan, and Rahim KhSn was
unanimously elected as the leader of the rebel army. When
tidings of these affairs reached the ears of the emperor
Auiangzib, he appointed his grandson, Azim-us-Shan, as
Governor of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa, and directed that Zabar-
dast Khan, the son of the disgraced NawSb, should at once
take the field against the rebels, with the assistance of a
number of troops from up-country. The operations, in the course
of which Maharaja Ram Krishna of Nadia appears to have given
material assistance, were finally successful (though the Nadia
district was in the meantime plundered for the second time),
Rahim was killed, and the Afghan raiders were finally hunted
down and destroyed.

Some fitteen years later, during the viceroyalty of Murshid Revolt

Kuli Khan, the north of the Nadia district was again pillaged, ?'

during the revolt of Sit^rftm Rai, the following account of which rh.

is taken from the Riyazu-s-Sal^tin : — "Sitaram, zaminddr of

pargana Mahmudabad, being sheltered by forests and rivers, had

placed the hat of revolt on the head of vanity. Not submitting

to the Viceroy, he declined to meet the imperial oflBcers and

closed against the latter all the avenues of aooess to his tract. He

pillaged and raided the lands adjoining to his zaminddri, and also

quarrelled with the imperial garrison and Faujddrs. Mir Abu

Turab, Faujddr of the Ohakla of Bhushna, who was the scion of a

leading Syed clan, and was closely related to Prince Azim-us-Sh&n

and the Timuride Emperors, and who amongst his contemporaries

and peers was renowned for his learning and ability, looked down

upon Nawab Jafar Khan. Mir Abu Turab tried to capture

Sit&r&m, but was not successful. At length he detailed his

general, Pir Khan, with 200 cavalry to chastise Sitaram, On

being apprised of this, Sitaram, concentrating his forces, lay in

ambush to attack the aforesaid general. One day Mir Abu

Turab with a number of friends and followers went out for

hunting, and, in the heat of the chase, alighted on Sitaram's

frontiers. Pir Khan was not in Abu Turab's company. The

tammdar (Sitaram) on hearing of this, fancying Mir Abu Turab

to be Pir Khftn, suddenly issued out from the forest with his

28 nadta.

forces, and attacked Mir Abu Turab from the rear. Although
the laffor "^ith a loud voice announced his namo, Sit^ram, not
heeding it, inflicted wounds on Abu Turab with bamboo clubs,
and felled him from his horse.

"When this news reached Nawab Jafar Khan, his body
trembled from fear of the Empernr's resentment. Appointing
Hasan Ali Khan, who had married Jafar Khan's sister and was
descended from a noble family, to be Ffrujdar of Bhushna, and
supportir.g him with an efficient force, Nawab Jafar Khan
directed him to capture that troublesome villain (Sitaram). The
Nawab issued mandates to the zatninddrs of the environs insisting
on their not suffering Sitaram to escape across their frontiers,
and also threatening that should the latter effect his escape
across the frontiers of any one, not only would he be ousted from
his z'lmindari but be pun'shed The zominddrs from all sides
hemmed him in, uhen Hasan Ali Khan arrived and captured
Sitaram together with his women, children, confederates and
adherents, and sent them with chains round their necks and hands
to Nawab Jafar Khan. The Nawab, enclosing Sitaram's face in
cowhide, had him drawn to the gallows in the eastern suburbs of
Murshidabad on the highway leading to Jahangirnagar and
Mahmudabad, and imprisoned for life Sitaram's women and
children and companions. Bestowing his zaminddri on RSmjiban,
the Nawab confiscated to the State Sitaram's treasures and effects,
and ex^rpating his family root and branch, he sent an account of
the affair to the Emperor,"

The execution of Sitaram Rai took place in 1712. Maharaja
Krishna (Chandra of Nidia came to the gadi in 1728. During
his administration the district was constantly oppressed by
Marhatta raids, and he was forced for a time to transfer his
residence to Sibnibas in the Kissengunge thana. In 1757
Clive defeated the Mughals at Plassey, and in 1765 the East
India Company obtained the diicdni of Bengal, Bihar and
Orissa. An account of the early British administration of the
district will be found in the chapter in this volume dealing with
Land Revenue Administration.
Firtt In March 1787 the President of the Board of Revenue

S'Na'dJ'a ^^' "^"^° Shore, submitted proposals to the Board for the ''aboli-
tion of the present division of the country into thirty-six differ-
ent establishments for the collection of the revenues; eight of
which have been created since my departure from Bengal in
Ffcbraary 1785," nnd for the establishment in place of them
of twenty, three Collectorehips. In the proposed rearrangement
it was Buggestcd to annex " the greatest part of the Hiighly

HISTORY. 29

Oollectorship to the district of Kishenagur", the President added
that "to this disposition some objectious may be made, but I
know not any other that is preferable." The proposals were
approved by the Board of Reveniifa and submitted to the
Governor-Greneral in Council on i3th March j.787, and accepted
in their entirety at a meetiiig of the Council held on the 21st of
the same month. In accordance with these orders Mr. F. Uedfearn
was appointed as the first Collector of Nadia, with Mr. G. Cherry
as his assistant. It was resolved at the same time by the Supreme
Council that a commission upon the nett collections, at a rate to
be subsequently fixed , should be paid to the Collectors, as " at
present it is well known that their allowances are in few places
equal only to their unavoidable dibbursements, and, in general,
inferior to them."

In the year 1808 the crime of gang-robbery or dacoity was Lawless-
very prevalent in the district. Mr, Lumsden, in a minute recorded noss in
on 13th June of that year, stated " that the existing system of ^®^'°°'°*
police has entirely failed iu its object, and that the detestable eighteenth
crimes oi gang-robbery and murder are now equally prevalent in *^*° "'^*
every part of Bengal (the Division of Dacca, perhaps, excepted)
as at any former period, are truths of too much notoriety to admit
of dispute. The details of the enormities which are still commit-
ted with impunity iu the immediate neighbourhood of the capital
of British India, as described iu the report, are not too highly
coloured." In the course of a report upon the police submitted
by Mr. Secretary Dowdeswell in 1609, abstracts are given of three
Nadia cases which had recently come before the Calcutta Court
of Circuit. A short account of one of these cases may be given, as
it is concerned with the last exploit of a famous outlaw, by name
Bishwanath Sardar, who had for years terrorized the district.
Bishwanath and eight companions were charged with being con-
cerned with othera in a robbery which was committed at the resi-
dence and factory of Mr. Faddy, an indigo planter in the district,
on which occasion Mr, Faddy 's servant was murdered, and Mr.
Faddy himself, and a Mr. Lediard, who was staying with him
were wounded, and property to a considerable amount carried off.
Three of the prisoners under trial were convicted criminals who
had been sent to the Dinajpur Jail, but had succeeded in makin**
tneir escape and returuitg to the scene of their former depreda-
tions, where they had formed a numerous and powerful gan^,
which committed the most daring robberies and cruelties, and
reduced the whole country side to a state of terror. Mr. Faddy
had been most active in communicating to the Magistrate such
information as he could procure for the detection and arrest of

80 NADIA.

the leaders of the gang, and had suooeeded through his head paik
in oompaBsing the capture of one of the principals. The gang
then determined to wreak their vengeance upon him, and, between
3 and 4. a.m. on 27th September 1808, they attacked Mr. Faddy's
house. He and Mr. Lediard were awakened by the report of a
gun. and, on rising, found the house surrounded by dacoits, who,
in spite of all resistance (in the course of which one of the gang
was shot dead), forced their way into the bungalow from all
sides, and four of them seized Mr. Faddy after a considerable
struggle in which he was nearly strangled. Mr. Lediard's gun
having repeatedly missed fire, he received a severe spear wound in
his breast, and was disabled from further resistance. Bishwanath
then called upon Mr. Faddy to deliver up his head paik, who
appeared to be the immediate object of the vengeance of the
gang, and to point out where his own money was. The dacoits
repeatedly dragged Messrs. Faddy and Lediard to a short distance
from the house, treating them with great insult and indignity,
some proposing to put them to death, and others to cut off their
ears and nose. At the approach of day the dacoits retired, carry-
ing ofi with them all the arms in the house, about Rs. 700 in
cash and otber property to a considerable amount. On their way
they set fire to tbe house of the head paik and murdered two of
his relatives. The Court found them all guilty, and sentenced
them to death.

In speaking of the atrocities committed by this and other
gangs, Mr. Dowdeswell observed : "But robbery, rape and even
murder itself are not the worst figures in this hideous and disgust-
ing picture. An expedient of common occurrence with the dacoits
merely to induce a confession of property supposed to be concealed
is to bum the proprietor with straw or torches, until he discloses
the property, or perishes in the flames, and when they are actuated
by a spirit of revenge against individuals, worse cruelties (if worse
can be) are perpetrated by those remorseless criminals. If
the information obtained is not extremely erroneous, the offender
hereafter noticed, who was apprehended through the agency of
Mr. Blaquiere's goi/endas at Patna, himself committed fifteen
murders in nineteen days, and volumes might be filled with the
recital of the atrocities of the dacoits, every line of which would
make the blood run cold with horror."

Mr. Blaquiere, the Magistrate of Nadia, dealt very vigorously
with this state of affairs, and in the course of a year succeeded in
almost freeing the district of these criminals. But those who
had escaped arrest merely went over the borders and recommenced
their depredations in the neighbouring districts. Mr. Blaquiere

HISTORY. 31

was then given junsdiotion over Jessore, Hooghly and Bakarganj,
in addition to his own district, and ho extended his system to
those districts also with great success. 1 n a letter of commenda-
tion which he received from Q-overnment it was said that " the
Honourable the Vice-President in Council considers it only an act
of justice to record on the public proceedings and to communicate
to you, the high sense which he entertains of your services in the
suppression of the heinous crime of gang robbery, and in the
amelioration of the general state -of police in those districts in
which you were appointed to officiate as Magistrate, especially
in the district of Nuddea, where that crime was most prevalent,
and attended with the most fatal con sequences." In token of the
appreciation of (iovernment iMr. Blaquiere was granted a bonus
of Rs. 6,000, and an extra permanent allowance of Rs. 500 per
mensem.

Up till the end of 1808 the police in each district had been a
purely local force, with no departmental head with power to
co-ordinate their efforts in the suppression of crime, but the
success which attended the experiment of placing Mr. Blaquiere
in charge of the police of four districts, led to the appointment of a
Superintendent of Police (subsequently the Inspector-General),
with powers over the whole police force throughout the Province.

One of the chief weapons used by Mr. Blaquiere was the
employment of goyendas or spies. This practice led to a good deal
of controversy at the time, and was strongly denounced by one
or two of the Magistrates, and some of the judicial authorities,
especially by the Judge of the Court of Circuit of the Murshidabad
Division. It was, however, approved by the Government, and
also accepted by the Nizamat Adalat, from whose register the
following extract, dealing with the manner in which goyendas
should be employed, is taken : — " The established duty of goyendas
is to discover the haunts of the dacoits, to watch their movements,
to mix with them occasionally, with the view of obtaining
accurate intelligence respecting their operations and designs for
their employer, to communicate to him the result of their
observations and enquiries, and , finally, to point out to goyendas,
who are usually regular police officers, the persons of the
individuals whom the Magistrate, in the discharge of his public
functions, may order to be apprehended."

The Mutiny affected the district very slightly. In the article Thk
on Kapasdanga in Chapter XVI of this volume an extract has ^^^TUfT.
been given from a letter written in 1857 by the Manager of one
of the largest indigo concerns in the district. There was a certain
amount of trouble in the sister district of Jessore, but practioally

82 NADU.

none in NadiS. In his minute on the Mutiny dated September
30th, 1858, the Lieutenant-Governor, Sir. F. J. Halliday, wrote :
"In the Nadia Division, Berhampore, garrisoned by native troops*
both cavalry and infantry, was rescued from threatened danger,
first by the rapid despatch of European troops by land and by
steamer, and secondly by the prompt aud well conceived measures
for disarming the native garrison. An uneasy feeling meanwhile
extended itself through Krishnagar, Jessore aud the whole
Division. • * * ♦ 'ihe districts generally have been
perfectly tranquil, and furnish little matter to remark upon."
ijTDiGo. During the first half of the nineteeath century the manufac-

ture of indigo was the most important industry in the district.
It sprang originally from very small native factories which were
bought up by Europeans. The district became gradually dotted
with indigo concerns, owned by English capitalists, or by pro-
prietors backed by money advanced by agents in Calcutta, A
great impetus was thus given to the cultivation and manufacture
of indigo. Large factories ra|.iidly sprang up, taking the place
of the smaller native ones. Money was plentiful with " the
planters, and the ryots eagerly took advances to grow indigo.
The cultivation increa^'ed, and the high rates which the dye
then commanded yielded large profits. One of the greatest
difficulties which presented itself in the earlier days of indigo
cultivation was the contention which arose between neiglibouring
planters as to the right to sow in the different villages. This
difficulty, however, gradually righted itself, and boundaries were
laid down between the different indigo factories, beyond which
neither party could extend except under a penalty. At first the
ryots were not averse tc the cultivation, and as the country was
then lower than during later years, and more liable to fertilizing
inundations from the rivers, the plant grew more luxuriantly,
and the crop was less liable to failure from drought. The
European planter soon gained for himself an important position
in the district, although at first he held but little property. The
large native landlords, and holders of sub-tenures, finding that
their influence was interfered with by the planters, endeavoured
to stir up a feeling against them, and to prevent the spread of
indigo cultivation. This led to quarrels, and the planter, failing
to get redress from or through the courts, had recourse to fighting
the native landholder with bauds of clubmen, according to the
practice in Bengal at that time. The planter began also to buy
real property (when it became legal tor Europeans to hold land),
even at fancy prices, in order to get rid of the annoyance and
injury to which iie was subjected by hostile native proprietors.

HISTORY. 83

This, however, was but the commencement of still greater
troubles for the European planter. He had got over his early
disputes with neighbouring planters, and had surmounted the
diffioulty of inimical zamindara by himself becoming a proprietor,
or at any rate l)y buying a sub-tenure upon the lands which
surrounded his factor}'. But the greatest diffioulty still
remained. This was the native agency which he had to employ
in carrying on the cultivation. The district was now dotted with
large concerns, whose managers and eub-raanagers could give
but slight personal supervision to their work, and had to leave
it to native servants. A great deal too much was thus committed
to underlings who fleeced the cultivators, and as the planter
often declined to hear complaints from the latter and redress
their wrongs, a very bitter feeling was engendered against the
factories. This was intensified by illejj;al practices committed
in the badly managed factories to enforce the cultivation of the
plant, and also by a very marked rise in the price of other ajri-
cultural produce, which brought home to the ryots the loss which
they sustained by the cultivation of indigo. Moreover, the
commencement of the Eastern Bengal State Railway through
Nadia at about that time led to a sudden rise in the price of
laboui, with which the planters failed to keep pace. Also the
ryots were in a chronic state of indebtedness to the factories
for advances, which went on in the books from father to son, and
were the source of a hereditary irritation against the planters,
whenever a bau season forced them to put pressure upon the
ryots to pay up. The dislike to indigo, thus generated, grew
apace, and on a rumour being started that the Bengal Govern-
ment had declared itself figainst indigo-planting, the whole
district got into a ferment, which culminated in the disturbances
of 1860. At first all the planters suffered equally, the good
with the bad, and for some time the district lay at the mercy of
the cultivators, and those of them who had acted on their own
judgment, and sown their lands with indigo in the terms of the
contract which they had entered into with the factory, were
seized and beaten by the mob. The Bengal Q-cveroment en-
deavoured to arrest the devastation, and eventually passed Act
XI of 1860 *' to enforce the fulfilment of indigo contracts, and
to provide for the appointment of a Commission of enquiry."

This Commission sat during the hot weather of 1860, and its
report was submitted in August of the same year. The report
gave an account of the various systems of indigo cultivation in
Bengal and Bihar, and divided the subjects of the enquiry into
three heads: — (1) the truth or falsehood of the charges made

84 NADYA .

against the system and the planters ; (2) the changes require!
to be made in the sj'stem, as between manufacturer and culti-
vator, such as could be made by the heads of the concerns them-
selves ; and (3) the changes required in the laws or adminis-
tration, such as could only originate with, and be carried
out by, the legislative and executive authorities.

The general conclusion at which the Commission arrived was
that the cause of the evils in the system of indigo cultivation as
then practised was to be found in the fact that the manufacturer
required the ryot to furnish the plant for a payment not nearly
equal to the cost of its production, and that it was to the system,
which was of very long standing, rather than to the planters
themselves, that blame attached. The only remedy recommended
by the Commission which it was in the power of Government to
apply was a good and effective administration of the law as it
stood. Accordingly new subdivisions were created, and various
other steps taken to improve the efficienuy of the Civil Courts.

The moral effect of the temporary Act of 1S60, and the public
assurance given to the complaining ryots that proved grievances
should be remedied for future seasons, was such that most of the
planters were able to complete their spring sowings, but, as
autumn came on, the state of affairs became very critical. Lord
Caiming wrote : " I assure you that for about a week it caused
me more anxiety than I have had since the days of Delhi," and
"from that day I felt that a shot fired in anger or fear by one
foolish planter might put every factory in Lower Bengal in
flames." The intensity of feeling aroused among the ryots may
be gauged from a note recorded by the Lieutenant-Governor in
September 1860. Sir J. P. Grant wrote: "I have myself just
returned from an excursion to Sirajganj on the Jamuna river,
where I went by water for objects connected with the line of the
Dacca Railway, and wholly unconnected with indigo matters. I
had intended to go up t,he Matabhanga and down the Ganges ; but
finding, on arriving at the Kumar, that the shorter passage was
open, I proceeded along the Kumar and Kaliganga, which rivers
run in Nadia and Jessore, and through that part of the Pabna dis-
trict which lies south of the Ganges \_ue., the north-eastern corner of
the Nadia district, as now (1909) constituted]. Numerous crowds
of ryots appeared at various places, whose whole prayer was
for an order of Government that they should not cultivate indigo.
On my retarn a few days afterwards along the same two
rivers, from dawn to dusk, as I steamed along these two rivers
for some GO or 70 miles, both banks were literally lined with
crowds of villagers, claiming justice iu this matter. Evou the

HISTORY.

women of the villages on the banks were collected in groups by
themselves ; the males who stood at and between the riverside
villages in little crowds must have collected from all the villages
at a great distance on either side. I do not know that it ever fell
to the lot of an iDdian officer to steam for 14 hours through a
continued double line of suppliants for justice; all were most
respectful and orderly, but also were plainly in earnest. It would
be folly to suppose that such a display on the part of tens of
thousands of people, men, women and children^ has no deep
meaning. The organization and capacity for combined and
simultaneous action in the cause, which this remarkable demon-
stration over so large an extent of country proved, are subjects
worthy of much consideration "

Towards the end of September the Government of India
authorized the issue of a notification in the affected districts to
disabuse the minds of the rural population of the erroneous
impression said to have been conceived by them, that Government
was opposed to the cultivation of indigo ; to convey an assurance
to the ryots that their position in regard to past arrangements
would not be made worse than it was, and that, in future
arrangements, their right to free action in regard to indigo, as
in regard to all other crops, would be respected in practice ; to
warn all parties concerned against having recourse to violent or
unlawful proceedings ; and to announce the intention of Govern-
ment not to re-enact the temporary law of 1860.

Reports that the ryots would oppose the October sowings led
the Government to strengthen the military police in the indigo
districts, and to send two gun-boats to the rivers of NadiS and
Jessore, and Native Infantry to the head-quarters stations of
these two districts. Subsequently in the spring of 1861, the
planters complained of the difficulty of realizing their rents, of
being forcibly dispossessed of their nijdhdd lands, and of danger
to their own lives and those of their servants. The difficulty as
to rents being undeniable, extra officials were appointed where
required, and Messrs. 0. F. Montresor and G. G. Morris of the
Indian Civil Service were appointed special Commissioners, the
former for the Nadia district, and the latter for Jessore, PabnS
and Faridpur to settle the rent difficulty. Further steps were
taken to prevent disturbances during the ensuing sowing season.
For a long time there was a complete overthrow of the industry
in Nadia and the adjoining districts, but by degrees, as the
excitement cooled down, those factories which had been most
carefully managed before the disturbances, recovered themselves,
■and eventually most of the concerns which were well backed by

86 NADIA.

capital succeeded in weathering the storm, and were carried on
until the invention of synthetic indigo reduced the price of the
natural dye to so great an extent as praftically to destroy the
industry. Throughout the whol*^ district there is only one concern
in which the manufacture of indigo is now (1909) carried on, and
the outturn of the dye during 1908-09 was only nominal.
Krish- Up till 1854 Na(iia was in the Jessore Division, but, when the

nB^r as office of Superintendent of Police for the Lower Provinces was

Divisional '^ o i /-< • • »

Head- flbolished in that year, a rearrangrement of the CommiSBionera
quarters. Diyig{ons was made, under which the Nadia Division was consti-
tuted, with head-quarters at Krishnagar. For various reasons the
CoiTimipsioner did not take up his residence at Krishiiagar for
more than a year. In Fehruarv 1855 he applied for permission
to remain at Alipore, but after correspondence with the Board of
Revenue, the Lieutenant-Governor decided that the head-quarters
of the Division must he at Krishnagar, In 1860, however, the
MurshidabSd district having in the meantime been included in
the Rajshahi Division, the head-quarters of the Nadia Division
were retransferred to Alipore.
Nadia as The district of Nadia was, for centuries, famous as a centre of
* ^^" literature and learning. In the article upon Nabadwip in the

TBRABY , . .

Ce.nteb. Gazetteer chapter m this volume will be found a short account
of the best known among the men of learning who have brought
fame to the district. Below will be found some remarks, based
chiefly upon Mr. R. C, Dutt's •' Literature of Bengal," on the
connection of Nadia with the literature of the Province.

The earliest of all the Benfjali poets was Jayadeb, who was one
of the ornaments of the court of King Lakhsman J^en at Nabadwip,
in the twelfth century. Many tales are told about him, but very
little is definitely known of his life. He is chiefly famous as the
composer of the Sanscrit poem Gita Oovinda, which consists of a
number of songs on the amours of Krishna and Radha. Mr. R.
C. Dutt in his work referred to above speaks of " the exquisite
music of the songs " and adds " and if the book is rich in its
music, it is no less rich in its descriptions. The blue waves of the
Jumna, the cool shade of the Tamal tree, the soft whispering of
the Malaya breeze, the voluptuous music of Krishna's flute, the
timid glances of the love-stricken milkmaids, the fond working
of a lover's heart, the pangs of jealousy, the sorrows of separa-
tion, the raptures of reunion — all these are clearly and vividly
described in the song of the immortal bard of Birbhum."

The first Bengali poet to write in his own vernacular was
Chandidfis, who was born in the Birbhum district in the fourteenth
century. In the fifteenth century came Krifctib&s, who" was bom*

HISTORY. 87

at Fiilia near Santipur. His great work was a translation, or to
be more accurate, a rescript, in Bengali, of the great Sanscrit epio
Ramayana. Mr, Dutt writes, " It will thus appear that Krittibas'
is not a translation of the Sanscrit work. A class of reciters
called Eathakas have flourished in this country from olden times;
they recite legends before large audiences, they amuse and entertain
their hearers by their wit, or move them to tears by their
eloquence ; and they thus teaoh the unlettered public in the
traditions of the past, and preserve from age to age the literary
heritage of the nation. The Ramayana is a fit subject for
Kafhakas; and the recitation lasts for a month or more, the
speaker taking up the story every day from the point where he
left it on the preceding day. It is supposed with reason that
Krittibas learnt the story of the Ramayana from Kaihikas, and
that., without attempting to translate the Sanscrit epic, he has
given his version of the story as he heard it. The poet has
liimself told us in several places in his work that he has composed
it as he heard it recited." Mr. Dutt then proceeds to give an
interesting comparison between Krittibas' Ramayana and the
Mahabharata of Kasiram Das, who also flourished in the fifteenth
century, and who was born at Katwa, on the opposite bank of the
Dhagirathi to Nadia. " But if Krittibas fails as as a translator,
as a poet and composer he rises in our estimation. His narration
is fluent and easy and often sparkles with the richest humour.
Kasiram Das is a pious and learned student, who has endeavoured
to give his countrymen a condensed translation of the Sanscrit
Mahabharata; Krittibas is a sprightly story-teller who tells the
story of the Ramayana with his own native wit. Kasiram Das
is anxious to teach his countrymen in the sacred traditions, the
undying legends, and the didactic narrations which compose the
bulk of the Mahabharata. Krittibas delights in depicting in vivid
colours the deeds of Hanumau, the fierce rage of the Rakshasas,
the marvellous prowess of the god-like Rama. Kasiram Das
approaches his subject with reverence and writes in a chaste and
dignified though simple style ; Krittibas delights in the somewhat
primitive battles between monkeys and giants, colours his desorip-
tion with his wit, and writes in the style of ordinary villagers.
Kasiram Das' work is the favourite study of pious Hindu ladies,
and of religious and elderly men of the upper classes ; Krittibas
appeals more efi^ectively to the million. The village Mudi (con-
fectioner) reads his Ramayana when waiting for his customers, and
the village Kalu (oil-manufacturer) chants the story of Rama and
Sita as his bullock turns his primitive oil-mill with a slow creaking
Bound. 'So the upper ten thousand Kasiram Das' work is the

38 NADIA.

repository of all the sacred traditions and moral lessons of the
Hindus; to the class of vendors, shopkeepers and the like, as well
as to the upper classes, Krittibas' work is a joy which endureth for
work ( ? ever). For the millions of Bengal, the two works have
been a means of moral education, the value of which cannot be
over-estimated."

None of the writers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries
are particularly connected with the Nadia district, but in the
eighteenth century, when the famous Krishna Chandra Rai was
the Maharaja of Nadia, literature flourished at his court. The two
chief poets of this period were Bam Prasad Sen and Bharat
Chandra Rai. Ram Prasad Sen, who was a Baidya by caste, was
born in Kumarhatta in the Kushtia Subdivision. He commenced
life in a merchant's office in Calcutta, but having shown distinct
literary ability his employer allowed him to return to his native
village on a small allowance ; here he devoted himself entirely to
writing poetry, and his fame spread until it reached the ears of
Maharaja Krishna Chandra, who sent for him to his court and
favoured him with his patronage. He excelled principally in short
poems. Mr. Dutt says of him, " One great charm of his poetry
consists in the simple homely similes, always drawn from familiar
objects of lowly village life. The cultivated rice- field, the ferry-
boat, the village market, the oil mill, such are the objects of his
similes, round which he entwines his feeling songs with the most
touching effect." Bharat Chandra Rai was a man of good family
in the Bardwan district. Owing to various misfortunes he was
compelled to leave his home, and after many vicissitudes he came
to the notice of Maharaja Krishna Chandra, who took him to his
residence at Krishuagar, and appointed him as a pundit of the
court. Mr. Dutt has no great opinion of his abilities ; he
describes him as a somewhat unsuccessful imitator of Mukunda
Ram, who flourished in the seventeenth century ; at the same
time he says that he was a complete master of the art of versifica-
tion, *' and his appropriate phrases and rich descriptions have
passed into bye-words. It would be difficult to over-estimate the
polish he has given to the Bengali language." After the death of
Maharaja Krishna Chandra, the connection of later writers with
the district became very slender, and descriptions of them and
their works would be outside the scope of this volume.

THB PEOPLE.

CHAPTER III.

THE PEOPLE.

When the first census was taken in 1872, the population of vabia-
the district as now constituted was 1,500,397. During the J'^o^^^^Jf
succeeding nine years, there was an increase of 10*8 per cent., hon.
the figures for the 1881 census showing a population of 1,662,795.
Ihere has been very little variation since then, a slight
decrease of I'l per cent, found at the census of 1891, having
been rather more than made up by the increase of 1*4 per cent.,
which the census of 1901 showed. At this last census the
population was returned at 1,667,491. At the censuses of 1872
and 1881, the district included the Subdivision of Bangaon, which
was transferred to the Jessore district between 1881 and 1891,
but the effect of this change upon the population of the district
has been taken into account, and the figures have been adjusted
accordingly. The net variation in the period from 1872 till 1901
was an increase in the population of 167,094 persons, which is
equivalent to 11*1 per cent. This was considerably less than the
percentage of increase in all other districts in the Presidency
Division, with the exception of Murshidabad, which showed an
increase of 9*8 per cent.

In the Bengal Census Report for the census of 1901 it is Census of
remarked that, what with the terrible outbreak of epidemic
fever between 1880 and 1885, and two destructive floods in 1885
and 1890, it was small wonder that at the census of 1891
a decrease of rather more than one per cent, should have been
recorded. The report continues : —

.. " The decade which has just passed has witnessed no such
widespread calamities as that which preceded it, but the condi-
tions have not been favourable to the growth of the population*
Fever has been very prevalent in the south of the district*
especially in the Krishnagar town and in the old jungle-smothered
villages of the Ranaghat Subdivision. In the extreme north*east
of the district also, obstructed draiuaga ibfavoured the spread

40 NAioiA.

of a virulent form of malarial fever whicli has caused a very
heavy mortality. Cholera also was very prevalent, especially in
1891, 1892 and 1896. The only two healthy years of the decade
were 1897 and 1898. The seasons were, on the whole, unfavour-
able to the crops, especially those of 1895 and 1896, in which
years the early rice crop was a little more than a half and a
third, respectively, of the normal outturn. The winter rice
suffered even more, yielding le.'s than half of an average crop in
1895 and barely a seventh in 1896. Distress was severe through-
out the district and deepened into famine in the tracts where
late rice is the staj)le crop. The relief afforded by Government
was eminently successful in preventing loss of life, and the
deaths reported in the years 1896, 1897 and 1898 were less
numerous by nearly 50 per cent, than those of the preceding
trienninm. The statistics were tested, but the results showed
that the reporting was quite as accurate as usual, and the fact
that during tiie same period the reported births exceeded by 7
per cent, those of the previous three years points to the same
conclusion.

" The net result of the present census is an increase of 23,383
persons, or 1*4 per cent. The Ranaghat Subdivision in the
south of the district shows a loss of 6'6 per cent., or 1 per cent,
more than that recorded ten years ago. The Krishnagar thana,
in the head-quarters subdivision which joins this tract, has also
lost ground, though not quite to the same extent as in the
previous decade. The whole of this tract is, as has been already
noted, malai'ious and unhealthy, end its continuous decline must
be ascribed mainly to this cause. The decadent condition of the
weaving industry of S&ntipur may also have contributed to the
falling o2 in that direction. Calcutta and the mills in the
neighbouri.ood attract immigrants from this neighbourhood, but
the total number of Nadia-born settlers in Calcutta and the
24-rargana8 was less in 1901 than it had been ten years previ-
ously. The district has lost by migration during the decade to
the extent probably of about 1 per cent.

"The two eastern thanas of the head-quarters subdivision,
Hinskhali and Kissengunge, show the greatest increase of any
in the diotrict. These thanas lie in the hollow across which the
floods of the Bhagirathi sweep whenever the great Lalitakuri
embankment in the Murshidabad district gives^ way, and they
suffered severely in the floods of 1885 and 1890. The population
of Kissengunge was stationary in 1891, while that of Hanskhali
showed a great decrease. In the two thanas together the present
figures represent a very slight improvement on the population

THE PEOPLE.

recorded twenty years ago. The only other part of the district that
shows a satisfactory rate of progress is the line of thanas stretch-
ing through the centre of the district from Kaliganj to Kuehtia,
which corresponds very closely to the area in which famine relief
operations were found necessary. This aiea, taken as a whole,
is probably at the present time the healthiest part of the district.
The decrease in Kumarkhali, in the north-east, is due to malaria
which, as will be seen further on, has caused an even greater loss
of population in the adjoining parts of Jessore and Faridpur.
The falling off in Karimpur to the north-west is less easy to
explain.'*

The following table shows the salient statiutics of the census
of 1901:—

Subdivision.

Area in
square
miles.

Number of

Popula-
tion.

Popu-
lation

per

square

mile.

Percentage
of variatiou
in popula-
tion between
1891 and
1901.

Towns.

Vil-
lages.

Krishnagar

Ranaghat

Kuslitia

Meherpur

Chuadanga

District
Total ...

701
427

(5'62
487

2
4
2
1

740

568

1,011

607

485

361,333
217,077
486.368
348,124
254,589

515
608
816
551
583

+ 3 53
-5-63
+ 0-71
-I-3-39
+ 3-74

2,793

3,411

1,667,491

597

+ 1-42

The Kushtia Subdivision is by far the most populous portion Density of
of the district. Kumarkhali ia the most densely populated thana '^^^ ^°**
within the subdivision, notwithstaudiug that it lost 4*65 per cent,
of its population during the ten years ending with 1901. It now
supports 947 persons to the square mile, and this though it only
contains one small town vv^ith a population of 5,330 only. The
density of the population decreases towards the west, being 923
in Kushtia, 813 in Naopara and 588 only in Daulatpur, which is
on the extreme west and borders upon the northern part of the
Meherpur Subdivision. The subdivision which shows the least
density is Hanlghat, notwithstanding that it contains a larger

^ • The Drainage Committee of 1907 came to the conclusion that the falling ofiE in
Kaarimpur,was dtie to malarious fever.

42 KADIA.

urban population than any other subdivision. Ranaghat lost
4*6 per cent, of its population between 1881 and 1891, and 5*63
duriug the following ten years, and its density in 1901 \vas only
508 persons to the square mile. The falling off was most marked
in Santipur and Chakdaha thanas. The low density is primarily
due to the continued unhealthiness of the tract, which in its turn
is caused mainly by lack of drainage to carry off surplus water.
In the Krishnagar Subdivision the density varies from 661
persons to the square mile in the Kissengunge thana, to 411 in
Hanskhali; in Meherpur, from 631 in the Gangni thana to 521 in
the Tehata thana ; and in Chuadanga, from 691 in the Alamdanga
thana to 477 in the Jibannagar thana. During the decade
ending with 1901 the greatest loss in density occurred i a the
Santipur thana, and the greatest gain in the Kissengunge thana.
Towns and The district has nine towns, viz , Krishnagar, Santipur, Eana-
iiiagcs. giiat, Chakdaha, Birnagar, Nabadwip, Meherpur, Kushtia and
Kuraarkhali. The average population of these towns is 10,595,
and their inhabitants represent 5 per cent, of the total population
of the district. This percentage is far greater than the corre-
sponding percentage in the sister di-tricts of Jessore and Khulna.
Fifty-four per cent, of the urban population is contained in towns
inhabited by 20,000 persons or over. Tlie rural population is
contained in 3,411 villages, each of which, on an average,
has 461 inhabitants. The average population of the villages is
higher than that in any other district in the Presidency Division.
The following remarks on the towns of the district are taken
from Mr. Gait's report on the Censas of Bengal, 1901 : -■
" Nadia has nine towns, but only one, Ranaghat, can boast of an
increase. The apparent loss of population in Kushtia and Kumar-
khali is due to the exclusion of a considerable area from municipal
limits; Kushtia at least, on its present area, has gained rather
than lost ground. Santipur was once the centre of a flourishing
weaving iudustr}', and its mucins had a European reputation;
but the modern machine-made article has driven them out of the
market ; the weavers are no longer prosperous, and in many cases
th'^y have been driven to supplement the earnings from their
lo'»ms by agricultural pursuits. There was also at one time a
considerable trade in date-sugar, but this too is becoming less
profitable. The earthquake of 1897 destroyed many of the largest
buildings, and these the impoverished owners have been unable to
replace. The result of these adverse conditions is a decline of Hi
percent. Krishnagar, the district hoad-quarters, is also decadent,
chiefly on account of malarial fever which is very prevalent in
the older part of the town. The decline in Nabadwin is, to

THE PJSOtLE. 43

a great extent, fictitious. It is celebrated amongst Vaishnavas as
the birth-place of Chaitanya, and is a favourite place of pilgrimage.
There happened to be very few pilgrims on the date of the
present census, whereas in 1891 and 1881 a great number were
present, especially in the former year, when the Dhulut ceremony
was in progress at the time when the census was taken."

The total number of residents of other districts who were immigra-
found in Nadia at the census of 1901 was 59,010, representing *"'°*
3*5 per cent, of the total population. The great majority of
these, viz., 44,233, came from contiguous districts. In 1891
72,945 immigrants were found in the district. The excess over
the number found in 1901 is probably due to the fact that the
Dhulut ceremony was in progress in Nabadwip when the census
was being taken in 1891, and was attended by 15,000 persons
from neighbouring districts.

The total number of residents in Nadia who were enumerated Emigra-
in other districts at the census of 1901, was 123,737, which *'°°*
represents 7*4 per cent, of the total population of the district.
This is a far larger percentage of emigration than is shown by
any other district in the Presidency Division. Mr. Gait remarks,
" Nadia loses population to all the districts that adjoin it, even
to unhealthy Jessore." One reason which may account to some
extent for the large excess of emigration over iniimigration is the
fact that the demand for labour in Nadia is slack during the
cold weather when the census is taken ; the main crop of the
district is the aus or early rice crop, and when the reaping of
that is finished, it is probable that a large number of agricul-
tural labourers betake themselves to other districts where there is
a demand for labour to cut the winter rice ; many of these would
no doubt remain away until the time for reaping the rabi crop,
and later for preparing the land for the bhadoi crop, afforded
them the prospect of regular employment in their native district.
It is also not improbable that the continued unhealthiness of the
district has a tendency to drive away to more congenial districts
those who are not too much tied down to their own villages.

The language commonly used is the dialect of Bengali called lan-
" Central Bengali." It is the same dialect which is employed ^'^*®*'
in the districts of 24-Parganas, Murshidabad, Midnapore,
Hooghly and Howrah, and, as spoken by the higher classes, is
claimed to be the most pure form of Bengali. Ninety-nine per
cent, of the people of the district use this language, and of the
remainder, about three-quarters use Hindi, and tho rest other
languages. The number of persons speaking Hindi rose from
9,098 in 1881 to 12,319 in 1901.

44 KADIA.

rbi,i. The population of the district is almost entirely made up of

oioNs. Hindus and Muhammadans; the former number 676,391, cr
40*56 per cent, of the total population, and the latter 982.987, or
58*95 per cent ; there are 8,091 Christians ; but no other religion
has even 20 adherents in the district. In 1872 Hindus formed
45'3 per cent, of the total population, and the Muhammadans
54*3; in 1881 the corresponding figures were 42*85 and 56*82; in
1891 they were 41*9 and 57*0. It will thus be eeen that the
proportion of Hindus to Muhammadans in the district has been
steadily declining during the last 40 years. A similar and nearly
equal decline has taken place in the Jessore district, while in
Khulna the reverse tendency is to be observed, though not to a
marked degree. It is a curious circumstance that in these three
adjoioing districts the Muhammadans are overtaking the Hindus
in the two most unhealthy districts, while in the comparatively
healthy district of Khulna, fche Hindus are very slowly over-
taking the Muhammadans. In the province^ as a whole, Muham-
madans are increasing more rapidly than Hindus, and at the
1901 census Mr. Gait made an enquiry as to why this should be
60, and he came to the conclusion that in the province as a whole
the main explanation oi the relatively more rapid growth of the
Muhammadan population must be its greater fecundity, one
reason for which is that the Muhammadan widow remarries more
readily than her Hindu sister, and another that the Muhammadan
has a more nutritious dietary than the Hindu.
Hindus. The most remarkable fact in connection with Hindus disclosed

at the census of 1901 was that the decline in their numbers was
almost entirely among females; the total loss was 12,833, and of
these only 162 were males. This disparity is not to be observed
in the sister districts of the Presidency Division. Hindus out-
number Muhammadans in the Krishnagar and Ranaghat Sub-
diviirioiis, but by only about 4 per cent, in the former and 16 per
cent, in the latter; in the other three subdivisions Muhammadans
largely predominate, Hindus forming considerably less than a
third of the population in the Kushtia Subdivision and only
slightly over a third in the Meherpur Subdivision. One reason
for the preponderance of the Hindus in the two southern sub-
divisions is that in them are situated the large municipal towns,
and it is a curious circumstance that although Muhammadans
form the majority of the whole population, they are in a very
considerable minority in the towns, where they form only 26*3
per eui.t. of I ho population. A further reason is that these two
subdivisions lie along the most sacred part of the Bhagirathi,
and are therefore specially attractive to Hindus. A third reason

THF PROPLB. 45

may be that Krishnagar has for many years been the head-
quarters of the Hindu Nadia Eaj.

The Kaibarttas are the most numerously represented caste in Hindu
the district; they were returned at nearly 111,000 at the 1901 Ca"»«-
census. There are seven other castes with more than 25,000
representatives each, namely, in numerical order, Ahira or Q-oalfis,
Brahmans, Bagdis, Muchis, Namasudras (Chandals), Kayasthas
and Malos. Nadia is, in this respect, differentiated from the
sister districts of Jessore and Khulna chiefly by the relative
importance of the Kaibarttas and the unimportance of the
Namasudras and Pods,

The Kaibarttas are mainly agriculturists and occasionally Kaibai t.
fishermen. They have representatives in every thana in the
district, but are most numerous in Tehata, Daulatpur and
Damurhuda. In the Tehata thana they form about 20 per cent,
of the population. They are nearly all classed as Chdsi Kaibart-
tas. At the time of the census they urged that they should be
treated as entirely different from the Jaliya Kaibnrttas^ and
many of them entered their caste as Mahishya, an ancient caste
of much respectability which is said to be descended from a
Kshatriya father and Vaisya mother. They were permitted to
enter themselves as Mahishyas, as this is a name which is assumed
by no modem caste, and it was not likely to lead to confusion ;
but in the course of tabulation all the so-called Mahishyas were
classed as Chau Kaibarttas. There seems to be no room for
doubt that the two sections of Kaiba.rttas are of common origin,
and in remote tracts inter-marriage is still permitted between
them ; at the same time the process of differentiation has proceed-
ed so far in the more advanced portions of the Province, that
they constitute practically separate communities.

The census of 1901 showed 71,380 Ahirs and Goalas in the Ahirand
district. In Bihar the two terms are interchangeable ; in Bergal ^^"'*-
the term Ahir is used only by persons of the Bihar caste, but
doubtless many of these also showed themselves as Goalas ; it was
not therefore found practicable to differentiate them in the course
of tabulation.

This community numbered 47,002 at the 1901 census. They BrShman*.
are divided into two classes, Rarhi and Barendra, so called
according to the names of the different divisions of the country
assigned to the Brahmans by Ballal Sen, King of Bengal, in the
twelfth century. The Rarhi Brahmans originally came from the
districts west of the Bhagirathi, and the Barendra Brahmans
from the country north of the Padma. The Brahmans form, by
themselres, the first group in caste precedence in Bengal proper.

46 NADIA.

The number of Bagdis in the district is steadily increasing ; in
1872, with the Bangaon Subdivision iuoluded, there were 35,576,
whereas in 1901 there were 46,435,. They are fishermen, cultiva-
tors, palanquiu-bearers, etc., and, in caste precedence, they rank
very low, being in the last group but one. Mr. Gait remarks of
them " This caste gave its name to, or received it from, the old
division of Ballal Sen's kingdom known as Bagri, or South
Bengal Mr. Oldham is of opinion that they are the section of
the Mai who accepted life and civilization in the cultivated
country as serfs and co-religionists of the Aryans." The distri-
bution of the Bagdis is very local, their habitat being practically
confined to the Bardwan Division and two of the adjoining:
districts of the Presidency Division.

Muchis numbered 40,113 at the 1901 census. This caste is on
the decline in the district.

The Nama9udra9 were returned at 37,695 at the census of
1901. The main habitat of this caste is in the more eastern
districts, and Nadia is the most westerly district in which they
form an important item in the sum total of the population. It is
only within comparatively recent years that they have assumed
the name of Namasudra ; formerly they were known as Chandals.
The following story as to the origin of the Pods and Chandals is
current in Khalna : — A beautiful girl succumbed to the bland-
ishments of a low caste lover and gave birth to a son. The
intrigue and its result were kept secret, and in due course the
girl was married to a man of her own rank in life. She had
several other sons, who were brought up in comfort, while her
first-born shifted for himself as best he could. When the legiti-
mate children grew up they learnt the story of their mother's
frailty, and persecuted their half-brother in all possible ways-
Once when he was away from home they pulled up his paddy
seedlings and planted them upside down. This was more than
the bastard could bear, and he was about to commit suicide when
the goddess Lakhsmi appeared and caused the plants to bear a
crop of golden grain. The bastard is said to be the ancestor of
the Pods, while the legitimate sons were the forebears of the
Chandals.

The Namasudras show considerable aptitude for organization,
and it was at much pains that they succeeded in geUing their
present designation recognized, in place of the term Ohandal, to
which they objected. They appear to liave a genuine desire to
raise themselves as a class, and in March 1908, they held a
verv largely attended meeting at which the following resolutions
were passed: — " (1) That the Namasudra conference bs made

THE PEOPLE.

permanent by yearly meetings to be held in the different distriotg
for the discussion of social matters and the spread of education ;
(2) that a village committee be formed in every Namasudra
village, and unions of 15 such villages, and a district committee
in every district ; (3) that for acquiring funds for a Namasudra
contribution fund, village communities, unions and district
committees be authorised to collect subscriptions. A handful of
rice should be set apart before meals in every family, and collected
weekly by the village committee. Every member of village com-
mittee will pay a monthly subscription of one anna, of unions
two annas, and district committees four anuas. Three per cent,
of the expenses incurred in srdddha, marriages and other occasions
must be reserved for this fund ; (4) that as some active measure
should be adopted towards social reform, it is resolved that any
Namasudra marrying his son under 20 or daughter under 10 will
be excommunicated. The committees and unions must be
specially careful about strict compliance with these resolutions."

There were 30,578 Kayastbas in 1901. This caste appears to Kiyastbas.
be somewhat on the decline. They are to be found all over the
district, but are most numerous in the Kaliganj, Krishnagar,
Nakasipara and Kumarkhali thanas.

The Males numbered 26,049. They are of low caste and are Malos.
chiefly fishermen, boatmen and labourers.

There are only two Hindu sects which call for special remark ; Hindu
these are the K.artabhajas and Vaishnavas. Earti.

The Kartabhaja sect was founded about the middle of the eight- *%'3«.
eenth century, and took its origin at the village of Ghoshpara, in
the Chakdaha thana. The name of the founder was Ram Saran
Pal, who was by birth a Sadgop and by profession a cultivator.
With him was associated a religious mendicant who was known
as Fakir Thakur. A local legend relates how, while Ram
Saran was tending his flock, Fakir Thakur suddenly appeared
before him and asked for a cup of milk. While he was drink-
ing it, a messenger came up and said that Ram Saran*s wife had
been taken seriously ill an i was at the point of death. Fakir
Thakur offered to go and cure her, and taking some mud from
the nearest tank, he anointed the body of the dying woman with
it and restored her instantly to full health and strength. Ho
then said that he must himseli: be born of the woman whose life
he had saved, and, miraculously disappearing, was in due time
born as Ram Saran's son, and received the name of Ram Dulal.

According to another account Ram Saran was born in Jagdis-
pur near Chakdaha ; he caused dissensions in his family owing to
the faot ihat he gave himself up entirely to religious exercises

48 NABIA.

and neglected temporal aifairs ; not caring to remain mth. his
family under such oircumstancesi, he left them and went to
Ghoshpara where he found favour with one of the leading
refidents, and was allowed to settle there and marry the daughter
of one Gobinda Ghosh. Not long after his mnrriage he was
visited by a strange Fakir, who informed him that he had just
been beaten by some soldiers of the Nawab of Bengal, and had
had to make his escape by miraculous means ; he had in his hand
a small vessel, and he said that he had gathered the water of the
Ganges in it, in order that he might pass over dry shod. Ram
Saran comforted him, and before he took his departure persuaded
him to leave behind the miraculous vessel, which is still preserved
as a valuable relic in the family of Babu Gopal Krishna Pal.
The Fakir settled in his own village in the Bangaon Subdivision
of Jessore, and there established a band of Fakirs, who performed
many miracles, and propagated many tenets of the new faith over
all the districts of the Presidency Division.

Eam Saran Pal is believed to have died in the year 1783, and
his place as head of the sect was taken by his son Kam Dalai, or
Dulal Chand. He appears to have been a man of marked
personality and considerable power of proselytism. He impressed
a number of leading men of his time with his teaching, and had
added very largely to the numbers of sect by the time of his
death, which took place in 1833. He was succeeded as Karta
(which was the name given to the head of the faith) by his son
Iswar Chandra, but since the death of the latter, there has been
no generally recognized Karta ; at present each of the four sur-
viving members of the family of the founder heads a separate
church, which is attended by his special adherents and admirers.
Under these circumstances the popularity of the sect is naturally
declining.

The census of 1901 furnishes no reliable indication as the
number of the sect. The great majority entered their religion as
Hindu or Muhammadan, as the case might be, and in compiling
the returns it was not found possible to differentiate the sect.

The following account of the tenets of the sect is taken from
a note furnished by Babu GopSl Krishna Pal: "The Kartabhaja
sect, or as the members themselves call it, the "Satya Dharma,"
or the " Sahaj Dharma " (the true religion, or the easy religion)
is, if I may be permitted to say so, a man- worshipping sect, and
its object is to call forth and develop the latent divinity in man.
Ibis it seeks to accomplish, not by renouncing the world and
its cares as something transitory and illusive, but by going
through life's struggles manfully and heroically, "sustained

THE PEOPLE. 49

throughout with love for mankind and reverence for nature.
Far from being atheists, as some writers have described us to be,
we believe in the existence of a personal Grod, whom we can love
and adore, tut the Mukti, or salvation, we seek to attain is not
one of annihilation, or of absorption, but one in which we shall
live in subordinate co-operation with the supreme Godhead.

"We liave no outward characteristic that would mark us out,
no marks on the forehead or elsewhere, no special garb, no parti-
cular ornament or instrument. Neither have we any secret
signs, nor any secret rites and ceremonies. Ours is not a guru-
worshipping sect, as some have taken it to bo. In fact as a
safeguard against any possible misconception as to the rights
and obligations of a religious preceptor, and the consequent
misuse of his privileges, the terms ' guru ' and ' sishya ' are
never employed among us ; on the contrary the words used are
"mahashay" and"varati". * * It will thus be seen that
the '' mahashay " is merely a teacher and has no right to exact
any divine homage from his ' varatis '.

" The duties enjoined upon the members are, inter alia, the
following :—

(1) Never to utter any untruth. iV.5. — This injunction

is so strictly observed by the majority of the mem-
bers, that our sect has come to be called the ' Satya
Dharma ' sect. * * *

(2) Every day to repeat the mantra in the prescribed

manner for at least three times on each of these five
occasions, early in the morning when rising from
bed, then again after morning ablutions, in noon
after bath and before dinner, in the evening, and
lastly in the night when retiring to bed.

(3) Fridays to be held as sacred, and to be observed with

fast and religious meditation and discourses, and,
where practicable, to hold or attend in the evening
religious meetings of the sect.

(4) Always to abstain from meat and intoxicating liquors.

To the above may be added.

(5) To attend diligently the festivals held at Ghospara,

and to pay or remit something to the gadi in recog-
nition of the spiritual headship of the Karta.

" One of the most important points to be noticed in connection
with our sect is the complete separation that has been made both
in theory and practice between social and spiritual matters. In
respect of the former the members are at perfect liberty to follow

50 NADIA.

the customary rules and usages of their families and communities,
and it is only in matters purely spiritual that they are amenable
to the control of the sect. From the spiritual point of view all
members stand upon the same footiug, and no distinctions based
on caste, wealth, etc., are recognized, eo that a person of however
low a social status he may be, provided that he has sufficiently
advanced in spirituality and in the development of his physical
powers, is unhesitatingly accepted as the spiritual guide by
those who are socially his superiors.

" Thus persons who would otherwise have practically no status
in the Hindu society, do find that by being admitted into our
sect, vast opportunities open bef^tre them of being useful to others
and thereby incidentally of distinguishing themselves. It is
this highly liberal and democratic character of our sect, coupled
with proofs positive of its utility in the shape, for instance, of a
rapid developme»t of psychical powers, which chiefly induces
outsiders to join our ranks. And however much one may differ
from the founder as regards his tenets and similar other matters,
one certainly cannot deny that he who has laid the foundation
of this all-compreheusive system of spiritual co-operation, in
which degraded humanity finds a cordial welcome and ready
recognition, is simply for this, if for nothing else, entitled to the
everlasting respect and gratitude of the whole mankind."

The sect is, of course, anathema-maranatha to all the followers
of pure and orthodox Brahminism, and this accounts, to a great
extent, for the unfavourable comments upon it which have occa-
sionally appeared in print, and also for the fact that it does not
appear to bear a very high repute amongst Hindus generally.
Vaiehna- The following extract is takea from Mr. Gait's report on the

'"'• census of 1901 : — " Modern Yaishnavism, as preached by Ghai-

tanya, represents a revul-ion against the gross and debasing re-
ligion of the Tantras. Chaitanya was a Baidik Brahman and
was born in Nabadwip in 1484. He preached mainly in Cen-
tral Bengal ami Orissa, and his doctrines found ready accept-
ance amongst large numbers of people especially among those who
were still, or had only recently been, Buddhists. This was due
mainly to the fact that he ignored caste and drew his followers
from all sources, so much so that even Muhammadans followed
him. He preached vehemently against the immolation of animals
in sacrifice and the use of animal food and stimulants, and taught
that the true road to salvation lay in Bhakti, or fervent devotion
to God. Be recommended Radha worship, and taught that the
love felt by her for Krishna was the best form of devotion. The
ficceptable offerings were flowers, money and the Uke, but the

THE PEOPLE. 61

great form of worship was that of the Sankirtan, or procession
of worshippers playing and singing. A peculiarity of Chaitanya's
cult is that the post of spiritual guide or Gosain is not confined
to Brahraans, and several of those hest known belong to the
Baidya caste. Tliey are ail of them descended from the leading
men of Chaitanya's immediate entourage. The holy places of the
cult are Nabadwip, Chaitanya's birthplace, and in a still greater
degree Brindaban, the scene of Krishna's sport with the milk-
maids, which Chaitanya and his disciples rescued from jungle,
and where he personally identified the various sacred spots, on
which great shrines have now been erected. At Nabadwip the
most important shrines are in the keeping of Brahmans who are
themselves staunch S'ikias.

" In course of time the followers of Chaitanya split into two
bodies, those who retained and those who rejected caste. The
latter, who are also known as Jat Baishtams or Bairagi, consist
of recruits from all castes, who profess to intermarry freely among
themselves, and, except for (he fact that outsiders are still admit-
ted, they form a community very similar to the ordinary Hindu
caste. Its reputation at the present day is tarnished by the fact
that most of its new recruits have joined owing to love intrigues,
or because they have been turned out of their own caste or for
some other sordid motive. Those who have retained their caste
and are merely Vaishnavs by sect are, of course, in no way
connected with the Jat Baishtams just described, and their
religion if-', on the whole, a far purer one than that of the Saktas.
The stricter Vaishnavs will have nothing to do with Saktism and
are vegetarians, but amongst the Bagdis and other low classes
many of the professed followers of the sect will freely eat animal
food and follow in the Durga procession, though they will not
on any account be present when the sacrifices are offered up."

The Muhammadan population of the district increased fromMuHAM-
947,390 in 1891 to 982,987 in 1901. As noted above, the loss ^*°^^'-
of the Hindu population was almost entirely among women ; the
same tendency is to be observed among the Muhammadans, though
not to so marked an extent, for the increase in their numbers
was made up mostly among males. The following remarks mav
be quoted from Hunter's Statistical account of Nadia : '* The
existence of a large Musulman population in the district is
accounted for by wholesale forcible conversions at a period
anterior to the Mughal Emperors, during the Afghan supremacy
and also to the circumstance that Nadia was the highway between
the great Muhammadan settlements of Murshidabad and Dacca.
The o^jly form of sectarianism which Muhammadan religion has

NADTA.

Muliani"
mad an
clashes.

CUBIS.
TIANS.

Social
charac-
tbbistic3.
Food.

developed in the district is a rather powerful Faraizi community.
They are not actively disloyal, but cultivate their fields like the
rest of the peasantry. Forty-two years ago the case was very
different, aud the fanatic leader, Titu Mian, found in Nadia a
sutiJcient body of disaffected Faraizi husbandmen as to lead him
to set up the standard of revolt and for a s-hort time to defy the
British Government." The Faraizi sect is not now of much
importance.

The Kushtia Subdivision contains the largest Muhammadan
population, and nest to it the Meherpur Subdivision. Generally
speaking, Muhammadans predominate in the eastern portion of the
district, away from the Bhagirathi, sacred to the Hindus.

The vast majority of Muhammadans returned themselves as
Shekhs at the 1901 census, this class showing a total of 895,724.
The number of Jolahas was 20,016, aud of Atrafs 19,332. No
other class returned even as many as 10,000. The higher classes
were in a very small minority, only the Pathans (8,79-i) and
Saiads (7,093) numbering over 1,000. There is a good deal of
ambiguity in the term Shekh, and it is certain that most of those
who have been returned as such are not true Shekhs.

The total number of Christians enumerated in 1901 was
8,091, being 794 more than were enumerated in 1891, and 1,669
more than were enumerated in 1881. All but 179 of these are
natives of India. The Church of England has 5,836 followers ;
next to this is the Eoman Catholic Church with 2,172 followers ;
there are very few followers of other Churches or sects. Nadia
has more Church of England converts than any other district in
Bengal except Ranohi. For further information about the
Christians in the district, a reference should be made to the
chajiter upon Christian Missions in this volume.

The ordinary food of the people consists of rice, fish, pulses
[ddh, vegetables and milk. Well-to-do Muhammadans indulge in
animal food, generally the flesh of fowls or goats. There is a
tendency among the more advanced of the Hindu community
also to partake more freely of meat. The lowest classes of the
Hindus e.it pork, and Bunas are fond of the flesh of the flying-fox.
A 11 olassos are partial to feathered game when they can get it.

The cultivator generally starts the day with a meal of cold
rice, [which has been kept over from the evening meal. About
midday he usually paitakes of a hot meal, which is brought out
to hira in the field by one of his household. The principal meal
of the day is taken after suaset, generally at about 9 p.m. The
consumption of tea and aerated waters is increasing among those
who can afford these simple luxuries.

THE PEOPLE. 63

The Collector; reports that the condition of the people as clothing,
regards dress and other comforts has improved greatly of recent
years. A well -to-do man dresses during the hot weather in a
dhuii, worn long and loose, and a shirt, worn outside the dhud,
or a loose coat. He also wears a chadar, or shawl, of silk or light
cotton during the summer, and of wool or heavy material during
the winter. The richer people use coats made of serge or flannel,
and costly shawls. Some Muhammadaus prefer their character-
istic costume consisting of a long chapkan and pyjamas. The
pandits and Brahmans who perform priestly duties wear plain
borderless dhiiiis, and cov«r their bodies with a chadar of cotton or
broadcloth. They generally wear slippers of Indian pattern,
whereas the BngUsh pattern of shoe is preferred by all other
classes who can afford it. The ordinary cultivator wears a short
coarse dhuti, and carries a gamchd (towel) on his shoulders. In
the winter a woollen vest or jersey is frequently worn. By women
the sdn is universdly worn; this is a sirgle cloth about five yards
long, half of which is worn below the waist, and the other half
over the head and body. A bodice is also commonly used under
the sari. Well-to-do ladies have rich silk adris worked with gold
thread, and fine silk bodices trimmed with lace. Gold and silver
ornaments are worn more or less by all women except widows.

As is the case in most of the Lower Bengal districts, the village Houses,
is generally a loose agglomeration of bdris, or homesteads, rather
than a compact collection of houses. Except among the poorest
classes, the ordinary bdri contains at least three huts or houses,
and is frequently surrounded by a fence made of grass or the dried
stalks of jute. The principal house serves as a bedroom, another
is used as a reception room and the third as a cow-shed. The dwel-
ling house usually has a high plinth so that the floor may be well
above flood level in the rains. I'he walls of the houses are
generally made of mud ; but in the Chuadanga and Kushtia
Subdivisions split bamboos, or bamboo mats plastered with mud are
frequently used. The doors and door-frames are as a rule made
of wood, with wooden bolts or chain fastenings ; the poorer classes
use mat screens for doors. The roof is thatched with the long
coarse grasses of various kinds which grow in the district, and in
bazars corrugated iron sheets or flattened kerosine oil tins are
frequently placed on top of the thatch as a protection against fire.
In the old Hindu bdris there is always to be found a pujdr daldn
or a chandi ?nandap. The former is a large brick-built structure
with a certain amount of architectural decoration, in which the
presiding deity of the house is installed and worshipped. The
latter, which serves the same purpose, is a thatched house in the

ments.

54 NADIA.

bdri of humbler folk. These arrangements for worship are some-
times omitted in modern built biris. Every husbandman of
means has in his bdri a circular hut built on a raised platform
with bamboos and the leaves of the date palm, which is used as a
granary. The thatch of the houses has to be repaired every
year, and ought to be renewed every other year. Two-storied
brick-built houses are gradually becoming more common, espe-
cially in the towns. For fuel the ordinary villager uses cakes
of dried cow-dung, the stalks of jute and other plants, and the
dried branches of trees.

The Collector reports that owing to the facilities of communi-
cation afforded by the railway, there is a marked tendency on the
part of the rural population to settle in towns and seats of com-
merce. Many inhabitants of Santipur and Rauaghat are daily
passengers to Calcutta, where they have their business. Some
residents of the district live in Calcutta during the week, and go
home for the week-end. Day labourers migrate in search ol work
to towns and into the neighbouring districts, but they always
retain their connection with their native villages.
Amuse- The principal amusements of the people consist of various

theatrical and musical entertainments. The performance of what
is called the Mnnsdr Bhdsan is very popular. In this a descrip-
tion is given of the strife between Chand Saudagar, a rich
merchant, and Mansa, the snake goddess; the latter, having
destroyed six of the merchant's sons, causes a snake to bite the
seventh and last son on the day of his marriage. Behula, the
bride, by her chastity and devotion to her husband, at last succeeds
in arousing the compassion of the goddess, and she restores the
husband to life. The legend is sung in verse to the accompani-
ment of music and dancing, the performers generally being either
Muhammadans or Muchis.

Pirer gdn is a popular entertainment among Muhammadans.
It consists of a musical recitation of the supernatural powers and
wonderful feats of a Muhammadan saint named Manik Pir. This
saint is held in much esteem even by Hindus, especially those of
the Goala caste.

The kathdkala is a recital of the E-amayana or the Maha-
bhanta by a Brahman to an audience consisting chiefly of
illiterate females, whf> cannot read the sacred books. The recital
gues on nifiht after night for about three hours at a stretch.

Thejatrd is an entertainment of a higher class, consisting of
the performance of a mythological piece, generally selected from the
Raraayana or Mahabfiarata. There are many ^a^/ a parties in the
dihtrict, but the chief among them is that which was conducted

THE PEOPLK.

and managed by the late Moti Rai of Nabadwip, which is
considered the best in Bengal. The usual charge for a single
performance by this party is Rs. 150.

In the towns there are amateur dramatic societies which
give public and private entertainments ; in RanSghat alone there
are four such societies, each of which has its own stage and
appurtenances.

In every large village, or group of villages, there is a place
called the bdrdi/drifa^d, which is reserved for the worship of the
village deity, and for the performance of jdtrdH and other enter-
tainments. There is usually a committee for the collection of
subscriptions to pay the expenses of the bdrd/jdn's^ and though
Hindus are generally the organizers, Muhammadans also subscribe
willingly. A portion of the subscriptions is used on the worship
of the local godling, bat the greater part goes in defraying the
expenses of the entertainments. The two bdrdydri melag held in
the Kanaghat bazar are the most popular in the district ; people
come in from all the country round to attend them, and a brisk
trade is carried on by local and other shopkeepers and itinerant
vendors.

Among the younger generation cricket, football, and even
lawn tennis, are gradually replacing the indigenous games.

The chief indoor games which are indulged in are chess,
draughts and card games.

In the statement below will be found a list of the chief festi- festivals.
vals held in the district.

Month

Serial

111

No.

which

held.

Jan.

Feb,

))

Name of
festival.

Mallikpiir ...

Tehata

Mian Sahiber

Dhulat

Dharmatola...

M uragachha

Raita

Kali Puja ...

Maghi Purni-

ina.
.'Eaidyanath-

tola.
Saraswati Pu.

ja.

Dura-
tion

Num-
ber
of

thops.

200

100

200

300

Daily

average
attend-
ance o/
people.

700
5,000

300
1,000
3,000
1,500

]50
4,000
2,000

Name of

village

where held.

Patuli

Tehata

KaghHbpur

Nabadwip..

Cliapra ..

Muragachha

Bait a

Khoksa

Chakdaha

500 Baidjanath

tola.
500 Bhowanipur

Name of
subdivision.

Ranaghat.
Meherpur.
Ranaghat.
Sadar.

Kushtia.

Ranaghat.

Meherpur,

NADIA.

Serial
No.

Month

in
which
hold.

Name of
Festival.

Dura-
tion
in
days.

Num.

her

of
sbops

Daily
average
attend-
ance of
people.

Name of

village

where held.

Name of
subdivision .

Mar.

Mahismurdini 5

150

1,000

Bara Bazar,
Riinaghat.

Ranaghat.

Chandghar ...

150

4,000

Chfindghar

Me her pur.

Kali Puja ,.,

100

Bara Gangdi

Kushtii.

Ghoshpara ..,

250

10.000

Ghoshpara

Ranaghat.

„

Dol Purnimii

2,000

Birahi

»f

Riim Navami

300

Bhiiramara

Kushtia.

Apr,

Annapurna ..,

200

Khalisakundi

•f

•>

Bara Dol ...

200

3,UO0

Krishnagar

Sadar.

May

Ju^al Kishor

200

Aranghata

Ranaghat,

Ulai Cluindi

200

2.000

Hirnagar ...

„

June

Dashahara ...

4,000

Nabadwip...

Sadar.

>»

Murutia

5,000

Murutia ...

Meherpur.

July

Ra(h Jatra ...

100

Ilaludbarla

Kushiia.

Ambubachi ,..

100

4,000

Matiari

Sadar.

Gazir

200

Saukarpur

Ranaghat.

Aug,

Brahmanitola

5u0

Nakilsiparii

Sadar.

Nov.

Rash

100

8,000

Nabadwip...

»'

300

10,000

Santipur ...

Ranaghat.

j»

2,000

Rtildauga ...

Meherpur.

99 •••

300

Chandbilla

>»

Dhiirma
Thakiir.

300

Kayetpara

Ranaghat.

Dec.

Ganga Puja...

100

Gotpara ...

Sadar.

31.

Annapurna ...

100

1,000

Chota Bazar
Ranaghat.

Ranaghat.

Kuliii

200

10,000

Kuha

PUBLIO HEALTH. '^*

CHAPTER IV.

PUBLIC HEALTH.

The Census report of the Nadia district for the year 190 1 speaks genebal
of the district as " once famous as a health resort," but this ^^g^^'
reputation appears to be based mainly, if not solely, upon a few
vague references to visits to it from more unhealthy spots, and
it is extremely improbable that the district, as a whole, could
ever have been anything but absolutely unhealthy. Certainly
during the laf-t fifty years or more it has been uniformly
malarious to a high degree, and it has, in addition, suffered from
two serious epidemics of fever. Eecent enquiries have shown
that there is little or no jastification for the opinion, which has
occasionally been expressed, that the present condition is of
comparatively recent date, and has arisen from causes which
should have been preventible. The first serious epidemic of fever,
of which there is any complete record, occurred in the early
sixties of the nineteenth century ; it was investigated by a com-
mittee (usually referred to as the Epidemic Commission) under
the presidency of Mr. Anderson in 1864, in which year it began
to abate, though there was a subsequent slight recrudescence in
the early seventies.

This first epidemic of fever is thus described in " Bengal
under the Lieutenant-Governors " by C. E. Buckland : —

" A very fatal epidemic had of late years shown itself in
some of the villages of the Fresidency and Burdwan Divisions,
but the steps taken to afi'ord relief, viz., the appointment of native
doctors and the gratuitous distribution of medicine, failed to check
its progress. Towards the close of J 862 a special officer. Dr. J.
Elliot, was deputed to visit the affected districts. He traced the
progress of the disease, from the Jessore and Nadia districts to
Hooghly, Barasat and Bardwan, and explained the various
predisposing causes which enabled an ordinary epidemic fever
to become a scourge, less virulent, but, in its effects, not less
desolating than cholera. The disease was described as differing
only in its intensity from the ordinary form of malarious fever,

58 NADIA.

' being of a more congestive oharaoter than the ordinary inter-
mittent, but presenting all the grades of severity between the
remittent and intermittent types ' ; and its excessive virulence in
these districts was attributed solely to villages being undrained,
houses unventilated, tanks uncleaned and overgrown with noxious
weeds, and to the tangled growth of jungle and rank vegetation
with which the Bengali loves to surround and to obscure his
dwelling.

" The mortality from the epidemic fever arising from this
sanitary neglect had in some villages amounted to 60 per cent,
of the population, and, in the presence of this constantly recurring
visitation, the remnant who had escaped immediate death lingered
on in a state of apathy and despair, unable to help themselves, and
destined, unlesss vigorous external aid was afforded them, to fall
certain victims to the fever which had already nearly depopulated
the neighbourhood. Government at once proceeded to carry out
the remedial measures proposed by Dr. Elliot, namely, the
removal of superabundant and useless trees, shrubs, bamboo
clumps and plantain groves, from the immediate vicinity of houses,
the pruning and thinning of trees, the removal of trees and
bamboos from the sides of tanks, the uprooting and burning of
low bushy jungle, vegetation and rank grass, the deepening and
cleaning of the larger tanks, and the filling in of all useless tanks,
watercourses, and other excavations in the neighbourhood of
houses, the appropriation of particular tanks exclusively for the
supply of drinking water, the construction of a few drains and
paths in each village, and the proper ordering of burial-grounds
and burning ghats. This is one of the first notices of the so-
called ' Burdwan ' fever which recurred again several years after
this date, and will be mentioned in due course. It not only
carried oS its victims in large numbers, bat the health of the
whole population appeared to be deteriorated thereby. The
sanguine hopes that were entertained in 1862-63 of the measures
adopted were never realized. The fever was, generally
speaking, an unusual phase of the malarial fever from which
Lower Bengal is never free. The efforts of Government to
mitigate its ravages were to some extent successful : after a time
it appeared to die away of itself. But in J 863-64 Ithis epidemic
fever again appeared. The sanitary measures ordered had,
wherever cairied out with tolerable eflSciency, greatly mitigated
the intensity of the scourge, but they failed generally through
the want of willing co-operation on the part of the people and
their zamindars, and this again was owing to their inability to
understand that a comparatively new visitation like the epidemic

PUBLIC HEALTH. 59

oould be in any way connected with the unwholesome state of
the villages, which was assuredly no new thing. A special
commission drew up a report on the subject, containing a full and
complete account of the nature, history and probable causes
of the disease, and offering some valuable suggestions for
dealing with it. The epidemic was described as a congestive
remittent fever, running its course to a fatal termination, usually
with great rapidity, and, where not at once fatal, leaving the
patient so shattered as to be generally unable to resist a recurrence
of the attack. So fatal was it that no less than 30 per cent, of
the whole population of the affected area were carried off by it.
The Commission came to the conclusion that the miasma, which
was the immediate cause of the disease, was the result of a great
dampness of the earth's surface, and that this damp had been
intensified to an unusual degree of late years, owing to the fact
that there had been a gradual filling up of the bils by the deposit
brought in from the rivers, and that this again had been supple-
mented by a gradual, but continuous, rising in the level of the
river-bed itself, thus causing a general derangement of levels so
as seriously to affect the natural drainage of the country. The
remedies proposed were an improved system of drainage
througliout the country, the burning of weeds, dried grass and
jungle in the villages, especially at night time, the filling up of
the small and filthy holes and clearing of the larger pools and
tanks in the villages, and the removal of low brushwood and the
thick accumulations of fallen leaves and branches. It was pro-
posed ttiat steps should be taken for a supply of pure drinking
water, by reserving certain tanks under the charge of the police
for drinking water only, and by erection, if possible, of public
filters. The Commission insisted very strongly on the necessity
of stringent measures being taken in all larger villages for the
proper disposal of dead bodies. They condemned the practices of
uneducated medicine vendors who went about the villages
making money out of the ignorance of the people by the sale of
drugs of the nature of which they equally were ignorant, and
suggested the registration of qualified practitioners. It is on
record that 'the epidemic fever disappeared entirely after the
cyclone of 1864, and there was no return of it in 1865 to attract
attention.' But it reappeared in 1866 and 1867."

There was another serious epidemic which lasted from 1880
to 1885, and was enquired into by the Nadia Fever Commission
in 1881-82. The district was again extremely unhealthy in the
years 1902 and 1905, and was visited by the Drainage Committee
in the cold weather of 1906-07. The following extract is taken

60 KADIA.

from the report of that Committee, which was submitted to the
Government in April 1907 : —

"It is impossible to differentiate between the physical features
of the different portions of the Nadia district. The whole area
consists of an alluvial plain, which still receives a fair share of
the Gangetio flood through the channels of the Jalangi, Mata-
bhanga and Gorai, but is subject to general inundation in years
of high flood only. Backwaters, minor streams and swamps
intersect it in all directions. A low-lying tract of black clay
soil known as the Kalantar, stretches from the adjoining district
of Mursbidabad through the Kaliganj and Tehata thanas on the
west, but these areas do not present any special features from the
point of view of health. A comparison from the different
thanas arranged according to the average (n) total and (b) fever
mortality during the five years 1901-05 does not disclose any
marked variation in the position of each. Santipur is compa-
ratively rather less feverish, and Kushtia rather more so, than its
position in the list according to total mortality would presume.
Taking the average annual district death rate from fever for
the same period, 33 3, it may be said that those thanas which
have a corresponding rate of 35 and over are specially unhealthy,
and those with a rate of 30 and under comparatively healthy,
looking to the general conditions of the district. On this basis
the most unhealthy thanas in Nadia are those of Gangni and
Karimpur adjoining one another on the north-west, and Jiban-
nagar, Kumarkhali and -Naopara in the east. The more healthy
thanas comprise those of Krishnagar, Ch&pra and Meherpur,
forming a little strip from north to south in the centre of the
district, and Chakdaha in the extreme south. It is difficult to
connect the figures showing the variations in population in the
three censuses of 1881, 1891 and 1901 with a theory of the pro-
gressive deterioration of health in thanas which now show the
highest rates of mortality from fever, but the outbreaks of
epidemic fever in the district between 1861 and 1864 and
again between 1880 and 1885 have complicated the conclusions
as to normal health which may be deduced from the various
fluctuations. In the census report of 1901 the thanas of
Eanaghat, Santipur and Chakdaha (comprising the Ranaghat
subdivision), Krishnagar and Kum&rkhali are mentioned as
being specially malarious, but only in the case of Kumarkh&li
is this borne out by the figures of mortality from fever between
1901 and 1905. As regards Karimpur, recently particularly
feverish, the ceneus report notes the falling off in population
between 1891 and 1901 as difficult to explain. The traats reported

PUBLIC HEALTH. 61

to US by the District Magistrate ' after consulting the local
officers, old residents and well known zaminiars,' as specially
unhealthy are Kumarkhali, Jibannagar, Ohakdaha, Gangni,
Alamdanga, Daulatpur, and some villages in the Meherpur and
Krishnagar thanas. Except as regards Kumarkhali, Jibannagar
and Gangui, the figures of mortality quoted scarcely support the
statemeut, while the further allegation that 'almost in every
village in the Meherpur Subdivision and in some villages of the
Kumarkhali, Daulatpur and Alamdanga police-stations caalaria
fever has increased considerably in recent times ' requires further
verification before it can be accepted. A comparison between the
total number of births and deaths registered during the five years
1901-05 shows an increase of population in the thanas of
Krishnagar, Chapra, Kaligauj, Daulatpur, Meherpur and Alam-
danga only. The local enquiries of Captain Stewart and Lieu-
tenant Proctor in Nadi§, were too brief to permit of a comparison
covering the whole district, but in the three thanas of Ganguij
Kumarkhali and Jibannagar total spleen rates of 80, 47 and 67
were recorded, although the number of villages examined (^43 in
all) was small. The most interesting point elicited was the
probable presence in the Gangni thana of Leishman-Donovan
infection in considerable araount, which renders nugatory the spleen
test as evidence of the prevalence of malaria. In respect of malaria
only it was surmised that the three thanas suffer about equally.
The statement of the villagers in Gangni that fever had been
severe within the last two or s^'x years is noticeable, and is
consistent with the fact that between the censuses of 1891
and 1901 the thana showed an increase of 8*5 per cent., i.e., was
not particularly unhealthy. * * * Looking to the available
evidence touching the medical history of the district we arrive
at the following, conclusions : —

(a) the whole district is very unhealthy ;

{b) similarly, the whole district is feverish ;

(c) investigation upon a small scale has demonstrated the
fact that some of the fever is probably due to Leish-
man-Donovan infection, but that the greater part is
malarial ;

((/) the most malarious thanas are those of Gangni, Karim-
pur, Jibannagar, Kumarkhali and Naopara;

(e) the least malarious areas are the Krishnagar, Chapra,
Chakdaha, and Meherpur thanas."
Drinking water-supply is still bad, though the District Board Wateb-
has for some years been endeavouring to improve it by construct- sppp^-t-
ing masonny wells along the principal roads, and in many of the

62 NADIA.

big villages. Kutcha ring wells are common, but are not often
used for drinking purposes owing to religious scruples. Tanks are
very common in the villages, and form the usual water supply-
when there is no river handy ; they are generally very dirty and
weed-grown, and are used for washing and other domestic pur-
poses as well as for drinking. "Where no tanks or wells exist,
drinking water is got from any casual collection of water, how-
ever dirty and unwholesome it may be. When river water is
drunk if: is generally obtained at a spot which is also used as a
batiiing-ghat, and it must be remembered that, for the greater
part of the year, most of the rivers have very little current.
The sides of the riv^ rs and khaU are generally used as latrines.

In 1867 the general want of water and the decadence of the
tanks in the district were brought to the notice of Government.
An enquiry was held, and the Executive Engineer advocated the
digging of tanks at the expense of Government. The Collector
suggested that legislative inteifereuce was necessary in order to
coujpel the landlords to provide their tenants with an adequate
water supply, but no action was taken by the Government.
Pbikcipal By far the greatest number of deaths are returned under
^l^t^^^' tlie head of fever. It is probable that the total death rate as
now recorded is reasonably accurate, but there can be no doubt
that a very large proportion of tae deaths attributed to fever are
due to diseases other than malaria. The village chaukidar is able
to detect cholera, small-pox and some other diseases with well
defined symptoms, but most of the diseases which present any
dilficulty in diagnosis are classed as fever. The returns under
this head are, therefore, less accurate than those under any other
head. The Medical Officers who were deputed to assist the
Drainage Committee of 1906-07 specially enquired into 195
deaths in the Nadia district which had been reported as due to
fever ; they found that 40 per cent, of these cases were due to
malaria, acute or chronic, and the remaining 60 per cent, to
bronchitis, pneumonia, phthisis, dysenterj', diarrhoea, typhoid,
Leislimau-Donovan infection and other causes. A sirrilar en-
quiry was held in the Dinajpur district iu 1904, when it was
found that less than one-third of the deaths classified as due to
fever were actually caused by malaria. It seems probable
that, ordinarily speaking, not more than one-third of the
deaths imputed to fever are the direct result of malaria, though
it must be remembered that malaria is probably the indirect
cause of a much larger proportion, owing to the enfeebleraent
which repeated attacks of it cause. The conditions of registration
being much the same iu all districts, the returns, though incorrect

PUBLIC HEALTH.

absolutely, give a fairly accurate idea of the relative prevalence
of malaria in different districts. During the five years ending
with 1907, the death rate from fever averaged 34-12 per annum,
which was the highest return from this cause of any district in
the Province. During the five years ending with 19o3, and
dur:ng the previous five years, the corresponding figures were
28-82 and 27-13, the district taking the 7th aud 13th place,
respectively, in the Province.

The Drainage Committee of 1906-07 found that the local
conditions which contributed to the spread of malaria were : —

{a) The insanitary state of the village sites due to,

(1) the thick jungle in which the houses lie imbedded

(the spleen rate in villages in which jungle was
thick was found to be 71-7, as against 44-5 in
villages in which it was moderate or little),

(2) the laige number of tanks, pits and collections of

water scattered about them,

(3) the cultivation of rice in close proximity to the

houses,

(4) the bad drinking supply, and

(5) promiscuous defoecation ;

(b) the water-logged state of the country.

The operation of these two factors is in two directions, namely,
that of directly increasing the amount of malarial infection
by facilitating the breeding of mosquitoes, and of predisposing
the constitutions of the local residents to attacks of malaria by
weakening them in other directions.

Next to fever the greatest mortality is caused by cholera, for Cholers
which disease the Nadia district has an unenviable reputation.
It has been said that cholera made its first appearance in India in
the town of Nabadwip. The disease is endemic in the district
and severe epidemics occur from time to time. It is generally at
its worst during the cold weather months, and it gradually
subsides as the year advances, and usually ceases during the rains.
There was a very severe epidemic during the cold weather of
1895-96, the daily number of deaths at one period being as
many as 300. During the five years ending with 1907 the death
rate from cholera averaged 3'83, Nadia taking the fourth place in
this respect of all the districts in the Province. In the five years
ending with 1903, and in the previous five years, the rates were
3*95 and 2*32, Nadia being 3rd and 11th, respectively, in the
Provinces

64 NADIA.

Other Other diseases are not important, and claim very few victims

diseases compared with fever and cholera. Diarrhoea and dysentery
infirmitiee. prevail at times, but not of a severe type, the deaths due to these
diseases seldom exceeding "12 per mille. Small-pox is even less
prevaleDt and is responsible for very few deaths. Plague has
never become epidemic. Leprosy is not common. Infirmities
such as insanity, deaf-mutism, and blindness are comparatively
rare; according to the census of 1901 there are only 26 insane
persons and 38 deaf-mutes per 100,000 of the population, the
figures in respect of the former comparing vary favourably with
those of the other districts in the Presidency Division.
Mbdical There are r2 dispensaries and hospitals in class III under
T^oNs^'^' Government supervision in the district; they are supported by
local funds. There are also two dispensaries in class V. The
most important of all these is the institution at Krishnagar,
in which 16,420 out-patients and 412 in-patients were treated
during the year 1907. Attached to this hospital is a separate
building for the accommodation of female patients, which was
erected in 1895 through the munificence of Babu Nafar Chandra
Pal Ohaudhuri. The next institution in respect of attendance is
that at Eauaghat, the headquarters of the Ranaghat Subdivision;
this was attended in 1907 by 10,004 o'lt-patients and 102
in-patients. There are three other class III institutions in the
Ranaghat Subdivision, namely at Santipur (attended by 9,951
out-patients and 23 in-patients), at Ula (attended by 6,27b out-
patients), and at Chakdaha (attended by 5,978 out-patients)*
There is also a class V dispensary at Belgharia, supported by the
trust fund created by Babu Kailash Chandra Mukhopadhyay.
In the Sadar Subdivision, besides the hospital at Krishnagar
there is a hospital at Nabadwip called the G-arrett Hospital,
after a former Collector, and a dispensary at Debagram ; the
former was in 1907 attended by 4,238 out-patients and 35 in-
patients, and the latter by 6,110 out-patients. In the ChuadangS
Subdivision there is only one medical institution, namely a dis-
pensary at Chuadanga itself, in which 5,74l out-patients were
treated in 1907. In the Meherpur Subdivision there is a hospital
at Meherpur (attended by 8,120 out-patients and 59 in-patients),
a dispensary at Shikarpur (attended by 5,644 out-patients)
and a dispensary for women and children at Ratnapur, main-
tained by the Church of England Zenana Mission Society, aided
by the District Board. In the Kushtia Subdivision lie the
remaining two class III medical institutions, namely a hospital at
Kushtia and a dispensary at Kumarkhali ; during 1907, 7,088
out-patients and 66 in-patients were treated at the former and

PUBLIC HEALTH. 66

2,854 out-patients at the latter. There is also in the KushtiS
Subdivision a class V dispensary at Amta, maintained by the
Sh&ha Babus of that plaoe.

The total income of these hospitals and dispensaries during the
year 1907 was Es. 28,100 and the expenditure Rs. 22,433. Out of
the income nearly Rs. 16,000 was contributed from the funds of
the District Board and Municipalities.

Out of the 89,370 cases treated during 1907 by far the largest
number fell, as was to be expected, under the head of malarial
fevers. The next most prevalent disease was " other diseases of
the skio," which accounted for rather over 10,000 oases, as
compared with 36,000 cases of malarial fever. It is noteworthy
that skin diseases appear to be relatively much less prevalent in
Nadia than in Khulna and Jessore, the two sister districts on the
east of the Presidency Division. Diseases of the digestive system,
diseases of the respiratory system, diseases of the eye, ulcers and
worms account, in the order mentioned, for between three and
four thousand cases each. The only other diseases calling for
mention are leprosy and rheumatic affections, of which the
district appears to be relatively free, as compared with other
districts in the Presidency Division ; and diseases of the spleen
which are relatively far more common than in the other districts
of the Division.

Besides the above institutions which are under Government
supervision, there are nine private hospitals and dispensaries at
which free medical aid is dispensed. The most important of
these is the dispensary and hospital at Dayabari, on the outskirts
of Ranaghat, instituted by the Ranaghat Medical Mission but
now maintained by the Church Missionary Society ; at this insti-
tution 18,350 patients were treated in 1908. Next to this comes
another institution maintained by the Church Missionary Society
at Santirajpur, in the north of the Meherpur Subdivision ; here
15,064 patients were treated in 1908. The other private insti-
tutions are at (1) Natuda in the Chuadanga Subdivision, main-
tained by Babu Nafar Chandra Pal Chaudhuri ; (2) Nakasipar^
in the Sadar Subdivision, maintained by Babu Debendra Nath
Singh Rai ; (3) Meherpur, maintained by the Mallik family ; (4)
Meherpur, maintained by the Church of England Zenana Mission
Society, for women and children only ; (5) Selaida, in the Kushtia
Subdivision, maintained by Babu Rabindra Nath Tagore; (6)
Sutragarh, in the Ranaghat Subdivision, maintained by Babu
Kartik Chandra Das ; and (7) Krishnagar, maintained by the
Church of England Zenana Mission Society, for women and
children only.

66 NADTA.

Vaccina. Vaccination is compulsory within the limits of the nine Muni-
TioN. cipalities, where paid vaccinators are employed. In the rural
areas, where vaccination is voluntarj', the operation is performed
by licensed vaccinators who charge two annas for each successful
case. It is reported that the people have no particular prejudice
against vaccination. During the year 1907-08 (the season for
vaccination is September to March) 54,493 persons were suceess-
fuUy vaccinated, giving a ratio per thousand of 34"66 ; this ratio
is higher than in any other district in the Presidency Division,
with the exception of the 24-Parganas.

AOHIOULTUTIE.

CHAPTER V.

AGBICULTCTRE.
According to tlie census of 1901, 56 per cent of the popula- Gknbbai
tion of the district are employed, or directly interested, in l^^^^l'
agriculture. This percentage is remarkably low.* being less than
that in any other district in the Province, except Hooghlv and
Howrah, which show 53-8 and 42*3 per cent., respectively, of
their populations as engaoed in agrionlture. This is accounted
for to a certain extent by the'fact that Nadia has a relatively high
urban population, but the main reason is the infertilitv of the
land. The soil varips but little all over the district ; except for the
traot Icnown as the K'alantar, and some portions of the TCushtiS
and Ranaghat Subdivisions, it is almost universally a light pandy
loam, nossessinar but little fertilising pcver. and incapable of
retaining moisture. Tn earlier days, before the rivers had
oomplefed their work of land making-, tho district was far more
liable than it is now fo considerable inundations, which, althousrh
they mijyh^- destrov the oron which was actuallv standinsr at the
time of their visitations, brouffht with them a coatinar of silt, which
ensured an excellent outturn for the following crop. This
enrichment of the soil, however.no longer takes place as frequently
as it is used to. and as the vprv liffht manuring which is applied
is insufficient to compensate for the loss occasioned to the soil by
croppinar, there oan be little doubt that the land is getting less
and less capable of srivine" a e-ood return."'" This is particularly
noticeable in the steadv diminution whioh has be^n taking place
of late in the net area cropped in the district, which means that
if, ic! bpioominsr incrpasinfflv -nenessarv to allow the land to lie

* The Collector states that he doubts the accnrncy of these fi^nrea : he would
put the percentage a*' about 80. as many day labourers are direc+ly intereited m
agrricultnre, nnd rely on field work for a livi'ne : he thinlcs th«t 56 per centF
probahly represents only those who actually hold lands on lease, ittlandi, Jama o
otherwise.

+ The abandonment of indiero cultivation has also reduced the fertility of thelandl
it it reported that buinper crops fof paddy were obtained when it was grown in
jotation"with indigo

68 NADIA.

fallow for longer perioda between croppings. During the last
five years for which statistics are available, the average area of
culturable waste other than fallow was about 348,000 acres ; of
current fallows, about 400,000 acres ; and of net cropped land,
about 520,000 acres ; in other words the iiet cropped area was
only about 41 per cent, of the total culturable area. The
corresponding percentages in the two sister districts of Khulna
and Jessore for the same years were about 74 and 89, respectively.
The only conclusion that can be drawn from these figures is that
the soil in Nadia is not sufficiently fertile to enable the same
percentage of the population to depend upon agriculture as
would be the case were the district more favourably ciroum-
stanced in this respect than it is. Other reasons have been
suggested, such as the precarious nature of the tenure under
which a large proportion of the land is held, and loss of vitality
and energy among the inhabitants owing to repeated attacks of
malaria; but though these may be contributing causes, there
seems little doubt that the main reason why the percentage of the
population engaged upon agriculture is so comparatively low in
Nadia is that the land is, on account of its infertility, incapable
of affording a livelihood to a large percentage.

The physical characteristics of the district are almost uniform
thrcughout, and the agricultural conditions vary but little. The
only tract of any size which presents any marked differences
from the general average is that known as the Kalantar. This
tract commences in the Murshidabad district, comes into Nadia
through the gap on the western boundary between the Bhagirathi
and the Jalangi, and stretches through the district in a south-
easterly direction. It is about 15 miles long and 8 miles
broad. It is low-lying, and the surface soil has hardened into
a comparatively stiff black clay, which, under favourable condi-
tions, produces a good crop of dman rice, but is too water-logged
for any autumn crop, and is unsuitable for regular winter crops.
The inhabitants of this tract, being dependent upon the one crop,
which is liable in some years to be swept away by violent floods,
and in other years, when the monsoon fails, to die for want of
moisture, are naturally more exposed to famine than those of
the other parts of the district, where a second crop may afford
Eome compeneation for loss of the first.

No irrigation is practised in the district, the chief reason being

t hat the surface is so uniformly level as to afford little or no

scope for canals and distributaries.

Pbi»- As elsewhere in lower Bengal, the most important crop is

cBors. rice, but Nadia differs from all other districts in depending far

AGRIOULTITRE. 69

more upon the autumn -variety than upon the winter variety. In
this district the autumn rioe crop occupies 69 per cent, of the normal
net cropped area ; this percentage is more than double that of any
other district in the province, except Sambalpur, in j which it is 47.
Winter rice covers 23 per cent, of the normal net cropped area
No summer rice is grov^n. Rabi crops, of which the most
important are (1) gram and (2) other rabi cereals and pulses,
occupy 56 per cent, of the normal net cropped area ; jute occupies
14 per cent.; while sugarcane is comparatively unimportant)
occupying only 2 per cent. The reason why the total of these per-
centages exceeds 100 is that so large a proportion as three-fourths
of the total cropped area is twice cropped. It is said that more than
a thousand different varieties of rioe are grown ; many considerable
villages have a variety of their owa, and old varieties are constantly
being replaced by new ones. In a report issued by the Director
of Agriculture it is remarked that " paddy is perhaps the best
instance known of the variations which plants have undergone
under cultivation. Originally an aquatic grass, the one charac-
teristic which it has most persistently retained amidst all the
changes brought about by differences in climate, soil and mode
of cultivation, is the need of a large quantity of water for its
proper growth * * * It is the belief of the raiyats that,
give the paddy but this one thing needful, it will grow in
any soil and under any climate. Indeed the facility with which
it adapts itself to the different classes of soil from the stiffest
clay to the lightest of sands, and from the peaty to the
saline, is simply wonderful. Compared with the advantages of a
proper supply of water, all other questions in its cultivation,
namely the quality of the seed used, the nature of the soil on
which it is grown, the manures applied, and the mode of
cultivation adopted, are things of very minor importance."

The autumn rice or an^^ is also known as bhadoi rice, after Autumn
the name of the month in which it is harvested. As already ^^^sT
stated it is by far the most important crop which is grown in the
district. It requires less water than the other varieties of ricOj
and in fact it cannot be grown on land which is liable to be
flooded during the rains to a depth of more than two feet, as
it does not grow to a height of more than three or three
and-a-half feet, and it does not possess the power of accommodat-
ing its growth to the depth of the water surrounding it, as
do the long stemmed varieties. Cultivation of the land for it
commences as soon as the early showers permit of ploughing
and the seed is sown broadcast in April or May. As soon as
the young plants have attained the height of 5 or 6 inches, the

70 Ka1)1a.

field is harrowed with a view to somewhat thin out the crop, and
also to prepare the way for the first weeding. During May and
the first half of June it is most necessary to keep the fields
clear of weeds, and it is the amount of labour required in this
operation which makes the aus a more troublesome crop even than
the transplanted dman. Under favourable conditions the crop
is ready for the sickle in August or September. The rice yielded
is of coarse quality, and difficult to digest ; it is used by the lower
classes only. The outturn is less in weight, aud fetches a lower
price than that afforded by the aman crop, but it provides the
raiyat with a food grain, and his cattle with fodder, at a time
of the year when both are scarce. Moreover it is ofE the
ground early enough to permit of the preparation of the land
for the rahi or winter crop, which gives it another advantage
over the aman, The normal outturn of aus rice in Nadia
is 12 maunds per acre, which compares favourably with the
figures for other districts, notwithstanding the infertile nature
of the soil ; but this result is only obtained by allowing the soil
far more frequent and prolonged periods of rest ,than are
necessary elsewhere. Aus paddy is one of the best cleaning crops
for lands which have become badly infested with weeds ; and it
is occasionally grown for this purpose. It is specially useful for
ridding from ulu grass land on .which it is desired to plant out
an orchard.
Wintpr The crop of next importance to the district is the winter rice

rice or ^j. fl^^orfj. It is in this class that the most varieties occur, and
it furnishes all the finest qualities of rice. The preparation of
the land for this crop begins early in the year, In April or
May the seed is sown very thick in a nursery, and when the
seedlings make their appearance another field is prepared into
which to transplant them. For this purpose it is necessary to
repair the embankments round the field so that it shall retain all
the rain which it receives. It is then repeatedly ploughed up
until the surface is reduced to thick mud. The seedlings are
then taken out of the nursery and transplanted into rows about
nine inches apart, where they are loft to mature, the only
subsequent operation being one or two weedings in the latter part
of August. The crop is harvested in November or December.
The most critical period for this crop is when it begins to blossom
in the latter part of October. If there is not sufficient moisture
at this time, no grain will form in the ear. The soil most suited
to the dman crop is one that contains a large admixture of
clay. In Nadia d??w?j rice is nearly the sole crop in the
Kalantar, and it is also grown fairly extensively in the Kuahtia

AGRICULTURF. 71

Subdivision. The normal yield is about 13| maunds of rice
per acre, which is less than what is obtained in the other districts
of the Presidency Division.

The cultivation of jute has been steadily increasing of late Jut*,
years, and this crop now occupies 14 per cent, of the normal net
cropped area. Generally speaking, it does well on lands which
are suitable for aus rice. The preparation of the land for this
crop begins as soon as sufficient rain to moisten it has fallen.
It is first ploughed twice or thrice and then allowed to rest for a
time, while the cultivator manures it with cow-dung and any other
fertilizing agent upon which he can lay his hands. It is ploughed
again in May, and the surface rendered as fine as possible, after
which the seed is sown. When the seedlings are five or six
inches in height, a harrow is passed over the field with a view to
thinning out the plants where they are too thick, and also to
assist) in the absorption of moisture by breaking up the surface of
the ground. The first weeding does not take place until the
plants are about a foot high ; every effort is then made to entirely
eliminate the weeds, and if the work is well done no further
weeding is required. The crop matures in August or September,
and it is then cut and tied up in bundles about 15 inches in
diameter, which are steeped in the nearest stagnant water for
about a fortnight until the stalks have become sufficiently
decomposed to admit of the extraction of the fibre from them.
In performing this operation the stem is broken near the root,
and the broken portion drawn ofE ; the protruding end of the fibre
is then grasped, and, by gradual pulling and shaking, the rest of
the fibre is extracted from the stalk. It is then well rinsed in
water, and hung up on bamboos in the sun to dry. Jute is an
exhausting crop to the land, and cannot be grown on the same
plot for two years in succession. Some of the loss to the land is
made up by scattering on the surface the leaves of the plant which
are stripped from the stalks before they are steeped.

The quality of the jute grown in the Nadia district is inferior
to that grown in the districts north of the Ganges. One reason
for this is that in the latter districts the best lands are devoted to
the crop, whereas in Nadia and other districts in the Presidency
Division less care is taken in this respect ; a further explanation as
regards Nadia itself lies in the inherent infertility of the soil.
The best jute has its fibres in long thick clusters, soft and fine,
yet strong, of a white glistening colour and free from particles of
bark or wood. The inferior qualities have a coarse red fibre.
The length or shortness of the stem is said not to affect the price ;
only its fineness^ cleanness and silkiness are looked to.

MADIA.

Other
crops.

SoN Babi crops generally are sown in October and early November,

•«®I** and reaped in March. The most important of these are gram,
the normal acreage of which is 80,000, representing 14 per cent,
of the normal net cropped area ; and those which fall under the
head of "other rabi cereals and pulses," such as peas and inasuri:
these latter occupy 10 per cent, of the normal net cropped area.
Wheat has declined in importance, and its normal acreage is now
only 23,100. Barley is only grown on 7,500 acres. The normal
outturn of the rabi crops in Nadia is rather under the average
outturn in the other districts of the Presidency Division.

Crops producing oilseeds occupy, between the different
varieties, about 22 per cent, of the normal net cropped area. In
Bome parts, especially in the Chuadanga Subdivision, the cultiva-
tion of chillies {capsicum frutescens) and turmeric forms an
important feature of the rural industry, and the peasant relies
upon it to pay his rent. Indigo, the manufacture of which was
once the most important industry in the district, now occupies
only about 1,000 acres About 20,000 acres are devoted to
orchards and market-gardens. Generally speaking, the quality
of the mangoes is not good, and in some parts of the district,
especially in the Kalantar, even the common mango does not do
well.* The cultivation of potatoes is extending especially in the
south of the district near the railway line, in which parts other
garden produce is freely grown (where the conditions of the soil
permit) and exported to Calcutta.

So long ago as in 1872 the Collector reported that the
proportion of spare land capable of being brought under cultivation
was small, and probably as scarce as in other district in Lower
Bengal. The proportion of such land is still smaller now, and
Consequently there is room for very little extension of cultivation.
Moreover, little or no improvement in the methods of agriculture
is observable, and but little progress in the way of the introduc-
tion of new or better varieties of crops.
RuiTFALi. The character of a harvest depends, within certain wide limits,
more on the seasonable distribution of the rainfall than on its
absolute quantity. Although a well marked deficiency in the
rainfall will certainly entail a deficient crop yield, yet the
magnitude of the deficiency will depend on the distribution of the
rain which fell. In the month of Baisakh (April-May) there
should be light showers to facilitate the preparation of the land
and supply moisture for the sowing of the aiis. During the
month of Jaiutha (May- June) rain is not required, but in Asarh

• The cultivation of good mangoes from grafts Ib increaslngi and many of th*
amindaT9 nc«' have good mango orchards.

Cultiva-
tion gene-
rally.

AGRICULTURB. 73

(Jane-July) there should be heavy falls to give plenty of moisture
for the young cms crop, and to permit of the sowing of the dman
seed in the nurseries. Heavy rain with intervals of fine weather
for transplantation of the a/nan seedlings and for weeding is
required during the month of Sraban (July- August). During
Bhadra (August-September) longer intervals of fine weather are
required to facilitate the reaping and threshing of the aus crop.
Showers at intervals of about a week are required in Aswin
(September-October), and lighter and less frequent showers in
Kartik (October-November). There should be no rain in
Agrahayan (November-December), but showers in Mftgh (De-
cember-January) are useful ; a proverb which is frequently
quoted in the district runs ^^jadi harshe mdgher sheshdhanya raj A
puny a desk," if it rains at the end of Magh, rich will be the
king and blessed the country. No rain is required in the last two
months, Phalgun and Chaitra.

The local cattle are very inferior ; the pasturage available for Cattli.
them is deficient both in quantity and quality, and no care
is taken to improve the breeds by selection or otherwise. The
prices are low, averaging about Rs. 25 for a cow and Rs. 30 for
a bullock. The practice of employing buffaloes in agricultural .
operations has become in rocent years much more common than
it used to be, as one pair of them can do the work of two
pairs of the miserable local bullocks. The price of a bu£Palo
is about Rs. 40-

The local breed of ponies is wretched ; the average price is Other
about Rs. 37. Goats are fairly common, but are not as a rule ^"l"^**'*^
kept as a means of making a livelihood. Sheep are occasionally
imported, but are rarely bred in the district. Pigs are kept by
Bunas, and some of the lowest castes of Hindus.

The District Board expends about Rs. 1,000 per annum on its Vbtebi-
Veterinary establishment. naby

WOBK.

74 NADIA.

CHAPTER VI.

^'ATURAL CALAMITIES.

Floods. Before the Ganges broke its way to the east, the district must
have been liable to terrible floods, but there have not been many
occasions during the last hundred years on which inundations
sufficiently serious to affect the general prosperity of the people
have] occurred. In 1801 a very destructive inundation took
place necessitating Government aid for the sufferers, and a sum
of lis. 3,171 was expended on relief. The next serious inunda-
tion took place in 1823, but no definite information is now forth-
coming as to its extent. Such also is the case with the floods of
1838, 1857, 1859 and 18fi7, but a full account of the inundation
of 1871 is on record. Rain fell at short intervals throughout the
hot weather of that year until the ordinary monsoon set in, but
though it was unseasonable, the prospects of both the early and
late rice crops were excellent until the beginning of August, when
the rivers began to rise. By the middle of that month it had
become evident that a serious inundation was to be expected.
The portions of the head-quarters subdivision lying in the
Bhagirathi and the Meherpur Subdivision were the first to suffer ;
the north-east and central parts of the district were next affected,
and, lastly, the eastern part of the Chuadanga Subdivision. The
Bhagirathi rose and fell three times, and the other rivers twice,
on each occasion the Bhagirathi being some days in advance.
Rather more than half the rice crop was lost, and it is estimated
that 200,000 head of cattle perished either from starvation or
disease. The people suffered severe hardships for two and a half
months, but there was very little loss of life, as the water rose
slowly. It was hoped that with the subsidence of the floods the
cold weather crops would give a good outturn, but this did not
prove to be the case, as the sowing season was much retarded and
many valuable crops were not put down at all. However, the
poorer classes benefited by the increase in the demand for
labour occasioned by the loss of so many cattle, and only a small
amount was expended from public funds for the relief of pressing
necessities.

NATURAL CALAMITIES. 75

In 1885, which was a year o£ a very high flood, the embank-
ment breached at Laltakuri on 23rd August, and water passed
through it until the end of September. For three weeks the
discharge through the breach was at the enormous rate of 50,000
cubic feet per second. The inundation came down into the
district through the Kalantar, and by 1st September it had
reached the Bagula railway station ; eight days later it topped,
and then breached, the railway embankment, and it then passed
along into the Ichharaati and finally breached the Central Bengal
Railway.

The Bhagirathi went into very high flood again in the year
1889, but much less damage was done in the district than in
1885, as the Jalangi and Matabhanga did not simultaneously go
into flood.

In September 1900, owing to torrential rain over the whole of
south-west Bengal, the district was again visited by floods.
Considerable damage was done in some of the large municipalities,
and in the rural tracts nearly 3,000 kutcba and 1,000 pucka
houses collapsed, and seven lives were lost. The damage to crops
and cattle was not, however, very serious, and no distress requir-
ing Government relief came to notice.

There is no record to show the extent to which the district Famktss.i
suffered in the famine of 1769-70. The famine of 1866 was
severely felt. Great damage had been done in the district by a
cyclone which swept across it in 1864, and a severe drought F*"^i»» of
occurred in the following year. At the end of October 1865 the
Collector reported that the outturn of the rice crop was expected
to be less than half that produced in ordinary years, and that the
prospects of the winter crops were very bad. By the beginning
of 1866 prices had risen to double the ordinary rates and distress
had commenced.

In March the missionaries of the Church Missionary Society
addressed the Lieutenant-Governor on the subject. One of these,
the Rev. T. G. Lincke, stated that " a certain measure of rice
which some years ago cost three or four pice, now sells at thirteen
or fourteen pice, which alone is sufficient to account for the
present distress of the poor. Were I to tell the instances of how
long many must go without food, and what sort of materials they
contrive to convert into food, you could not believe it, for it
is really incredible and yet it is true nevertheless." Another
missionary, the Rev. F. Schurr, of Kapasdanga, declared that
" respectable farmers are so much reduced in circumstances that
they cannot employ nearly so many day-labourers as they used
to do ia former times, and consequently the labouring classes ar«

76 NADIA.

reduced to the point of starvation. They are now able to glean
a little wheat, gram, etc., but after a month all the crops will
have been gathered in, when nothing can be obtained by gleaning
in the fields. They are now thrown upon roots, berries, etc., for
their chief support, and when that supply is exhausted, they will
be forced to eat the rind of trees, grass, etc. I never witnessed
such misery in my life."

This appeal of the missionaries resulted in official reports being
called for. A thorough inquiry was made, from which it
appeared that the distress was severest in the central portions of
the district, while in those parts in which much of the land is
devoted to date trees, chillies, tobacco, and other of the more
lucrative crops, the distress was least felt. On the 30th April
1866, it was reported that the suffering was much less in the
neighbourhood of Kushtia, Chuadanga and Meherpur than in
other parts. " Regarding the rest of the district," the Collector
stated, " all accounts agree that there is great distress. There is
no famine, for grain is to be had, but there is very little money
to buy it at the prevailing prices. For some months the poor
(and in this word I include all the working classes) have not had
more than one meal a day, and it is to be feared that many have
not had even that."

On receipt of this information, Government sanctioned the
expenditure of Rs. 20,000 on road-making and other relief-
works. In May public meetings were held at Krishnagar,
Ranagh&t and Chuadanga, and subscriptions were raised for the
relief of the sufferers. Before the end of the month relief works
had been started at different places where most needed, and a sum
of Rs. 5,000 was assigned to the district by the Grovernment from
the unexpended balance of the North- West Provinces Famine
Fund. In June the distress became severe, and it was calculated
that about 2,500 persons were employed on the special relief works,
and on public works of all kinds about 4,000. In August a
further sam of Rs. 30,000 was granted for relief works. Kitchens
were established at different places for the distribution of cooked
food, and in some few instances allowances were made to a limited
number of people at their own homes. The general distress
began to diminish in August, when the early rice crop, which is
extensively grown in the district, began to come into the market.
In the beginning of September steps were taken to gradually
contract the relief operations, and in October only three or four
centres remained open in the part of the district which had
Buffered most. Relief works were suspended on 10th October,
but it was found necessary to resume them for a time in November,

NATURAL CALAMITIES. T7

as the cold weather crop did not afford so much employment
as was expected. In the western part of the district the distress
caused by the famine was aggravated by floods from the Bhagira-
thi, which almost totally destroyed about 18,000 acres of rice.
The aggregate daily number of persons who received gratuitious
relief throughout the operations was returned at 601,123, and the
aggregate daily number employed on relief works was 337,059
includiog thoso employed up to February 1867, in order to finish
some works of great public importance. The average daily
number employed during the last week of May was 550; during
the last week of June, 4,415 ; during the last week of July, 12,059 ;
during the last week of September, 460. The total expenditure
on gratuitous relief was Rs. 35,488, of which Rs. 24,500 was pro-
vided by Government and the balance raised by private subscrip-
tions. The expenditure on relief works was Rs. 48,000. As
regards the method of payment to persons attending relief works
the Collector reported that no wholesale contractors were
employed ; " the work-people were paid direct, generally by daily
wages, which varied according to sex and age from three pice
to ten pice, but sometimes by task work. Payment in food was
attempted once or twice, but it was found that charitable relief
gave quite enough in that respect, and money payments prevailed
everywhere."

The district suffered again from famine in 1874. Great dis- Famine of
tress had been caused by floods in 1871. The following year was
on the whole prosperous, though there were not wanting periods
of unpropitious weather or circumstances of partial failure in
some of the crops ; it was not however, a bumper season, nor such
as to make good all the losses which had been incurred in the
preceding year. The rainfall in 1873 was both deficient in
quantity, and unseasonably distributed, the most marked feature
being the failure in September and October, in which months
only five inches fell. The effects on the harvest varied remarkably
in different localities ; in some the early rice crop was excellent,
in others it was much below the average ; but the winter rice
on high lands completely failed, though a fair outturn was
obtained in marshy lands. Taking the whole district, the early
rice probably gave an average outturn, while the outturn of
the. winter rice did not exceed one-third of what it usually
yielded. The area affected covered 528 square miles and
comprised the whole of thanas Kaliganj and Nakasip&ra»
three-fourths of Tehata and Chapra, and one-fourth of Kotwali'
the last-named being the tract adjoining the Nakasipara th&na
severe distress was, in fact, practically confined to that portion

78 NADIA.

of the district, ^hioh is known as the Kalantar. Relief works
were opened in February 1874, and were maintained until
September. The averaQ:e daily number of persons who attended
them varied from 1,662 in February to 5,006 in July. The
amount expended on relief works was Rs. 1,39,712, and in
gratuitous relief Rs. 54,000. In addition, 264 tons of food-grains
were distributed in charitable relief works and 115 tons advanced
on loan, also the sum of Rs. 1,30,662 was expended in cash
loans.
Famine of The famine of 1896-97 affected the district much more

X897

severely. As usual the Kalantar, in which nothing but a man
rice is grown, suffered the most. The average outturn of the
dman crop in the district during the preceding nine years was only
8 annas, nearly 3 annas worse than in any other district in
Bengal : in the years 1894 and 1895 it was 12|- and 7^ annas
respectively : in 1896 it was not more than 2 annas, as owing
to the failure of the monsoon and the absence of the usual
inundations, there was no moisture to swell the grain. The
average outturn of the aus rice during the preceding nine years
was under 10 annas, and in 1895 it was 9 annas ; in 1896 the
outturn was only 6 annas. The portion of the district which
was first affected was the Kalantar, in which a test work was
opened as early as 15th November. During January relief works
had to be opened in thanas Karimpur and Daulatpur. Four
more thanas, viz., Chapra, Gangni, Meherpur and Naopara, were
affected during the following months, and, finally, between June
and September it was found necessary to provide work, though
not gratuitous relief, in thanas Alamdanga and Damurhuda.
The total area affected covered 1,182 square miles, with a
population of 625,840. The distress was intense over 503 square
miles with a population of 266,777. Relief works were
open from the middle of November 1896 till the middle
of September 1897: they were attended in all by close
on three million workers, who excavated 105 million cubic
feet of earth at a cost of 3i lakhs of rupees: this large
amount of earthwork cost only 6 per cent, more than it would
have at ordinary rates, which compares very favourably with the
result obtained in the 1866 famine, when it was estimated that
the earthwork cost double the ordinary rates. The average
daily attendance on the relief works ranged from 573 in the last
week of November 1896 to 29,545 in the third week in June
1897. Five major works were taken up by the Public Works
Department, and 48 minor works under Civil Agency. Among
the former the most important was the excavation of a channel

NATURAL CALAMITIES. 79

to connect the Bhairab with the M&tabhanga near ShikSrpur;
this was finished in time to carry the flood waters of the M&ta-
bhSnga into the Bhairab, which greatly improved for a time the
water-supply of a large part of the Meherpur Subdivision : the
canal, however, has since then silted up to a great extent, and
the Bhairab has lapsed into its old condition of stagnancy.

Gratuitous relief was afforded from January till September •
The aggregate number of persons so relieved was rather over six
millions. The daily average relieved ranged from 1,675 in the
third week in January to 77,233 in the third week in June. No
gratuitous relief was found necessary in the affected portion of
the Chuadanga Subdivision. The only form which gratuitous
relief from Government funds took was the grant of doles of
cleaned rice at the rate of half and quarter of a seer per diem for
adults and children respectively. In return for the doles, those
who were fit for light work were required to either twist 3| seers
of jute into string, or spin one seer of cotton into thread, per
week. Some of the string and cotton thus obtained was issued to
a few weavers who were in distress, and the matting and cloths
woven by them were sold. From 1st August kitchens for the issue
of cooked food to the dependents of workers were opened. Poor-
houses were very sparingly used. The following paragraph is
taken from the chapter dealing with gratuitous relief in the
final report on the famine submitted by the Collector,

" Very few general remarks would appear necessary. It was
found in this district that the exaction of a task in return for
doles made little or no difference to the number of applicants for
relief, though it caused Government very considerable extra
expense. If circle oflBcers do their duty properly there should be
no need to impose a task unless some task could be devised by
which Government at any rate would not be a loser. These
remarks do not of course apply to artizans. The system of sub-
circle oflBcers has worked well. Before it was introduced, circle
officers had to spend so much of their time in the purely mechani-
cal duty of superintending the issue of doles, that they were
unable to give sufficient attention to the extremely important work
of careful house-to-house visitation. The system of relieving
dependents of relief workers upon the works does not appear satis-
factory ; it is liable to abuse and is also rather hard upon the
dependents themselves, in that they have to undergo a considerable
amount of exposure to the weather. It is desirable that gratuitous
relief and relief to workers should be kept entirely separate?
and consequently it is, in my opinion, better that dependents
of relief workers should be relieved in their own homes."

80 NADIA.

The total expenditure on reKef was about 8;^ laklis of rupees,
of which 3^ lakhs were expended on the wages of workers, and
3| lakhs on gratuitous relief ; the expenditure works out to an
average of a trifle over one anna per diem per person relieved.

In the chapter on general remarks and recommendations in
the Collector's final report, the following passage occurs : —

" The famine of 1896-97 was far more severe in this district
than was that of 1873-74. Notwithstanding this, it was found
possible in the present famine to close Government relief a
month to six weeks earlier than was possible in 1873-74. As
stated, however, under chapter VII, I believe that it was mainly
because by somewhat liberal administration during the time of
cultivation of the aus crop, the people were enabled to obtain a
better outturn than would otherwise have been possible, that it
was not necessary to continue Government relief for a month or
six weeks more. There are in my opinion no indications that
the people have shown in the present famine increased resources
and more resisting power than in previous famines. The people
of the Kalantar are all wretchedly poor and hopelessly in debt ;
the great majority of them hold lands under the uthandt system,
and being practically tenants-at-will. are entirely in the hands
of zamindars. In fact, under present circumstances, there is no
reason for supposing that their power of resisting famine has
in any single way increased during the last 20 years."
DUtre«8 of Famine conditions prevailed again in the district in the year
1908. 1908, though it was not found necessary to formally declare
famine under the Code. The rainfall in 1907 was very similar
to that in 1896, the most prominent feature being the almost
complete failure of the monsoon in the months of September and
October, whereby the outturn of the dman rice was reduced to
only 13 per cent, of a normal crop. The distress affected an
area of about 800 square miles, with a population of 435,000 ; as
usual, the Kalantar was the tract to suffer the most. A few
relief works were opened in January, but they did not attract
many labourers, and it was not until March that the pinch became
sufficiently severe to cause the people to come in at all freely.
In April about 3,400 persons attended the relief works daily, and
this number rose to 5,677 in June, after which the attendance
gradually fell off until September, by the end of which month it
was found unnecessary to keep the relief works open any longer.
A total sum of Rs. 9,859 was expended on gratuitous relief, but
there was some confusion in the accounts which renders it
impossible to state the total number of persons so relieved. No
kitchens or poor-houses were opened. A total sum of Rs. 6,69,535

NATURAL CALAMITIES. 81

was distiibuted in loans under the Land Improvement and
Agriculturists' Loans Acts, principally during the months of
April and May, and the Collector remarks that this " put heart
into the people, prevented demoralization, and stimulated agri-
cultural operations."

The total amount expended on relief works was Es. 1,59,414,
and the total amount of earth-work executed was G^i million
cubic feet ; this gives the rem.arkably low rate of lis. 2-5-6 per
thousand cubic feet. The piece-work system was adopted, and
the average daily wage earned amounted to 3 annas 2 pies
owing to the adoption of this system, the expenditure on gratui-
tous relief was much less than it would otherwise have been.

There was far less actual lack of food than was the case in
1896-97, and no steps were necessary to bring grain into the
affected area. The tendency which has been observed in other
districts towards a considerable increase in the power of the
people to resist famine conditions was clearly indicated in Nadia
in 1908 ; for though the failure of crops in 1907 was very similar
to that in 1896, and the prices of food grains were considerably
higher in 1908 than they were in 1897, yet the distress appears
to have been far deeper in the earlier than in the latter of these
two years.

NADIA.

CHAPTEH VII.

Rents.

Rents of
1786.

EENTS, W.^GES AND PRICES.

Between the years 1786 and 1795 A.D. lists of rates of rent were
filed by the landholders, and the following figures, which have
been compiled from those lists, show the rates which then prevailed
in twenty parganas of tlie district for the varying descriptions of
lands which bear the most important crops. They are of interest
in that they were the basis upon which the permanent settlement
of 1793 was made. In considering them it should be remembered
that the local bigha is equivalent to one-third of an acre. The
figures noted against each crop represent the rate of rent in Indian
currency per bigha of the land upon which that crop is grown.

Aus rice.

Aman
rice.

Home
stead

•

Tobacco.

Jute.

Sugar-
cane.

Fan.

A. V.

Rs. A.

A. p.

Rs. A. P,

Rs.

A. P.

AshrafabSd

1 3

17 7

...

Bagwan ...

9 9

0 14

s" 5

• ...

4 C

Faizullapur

5 0

1 6

Havilishahr

9 9

1 10

1 "g 9

Jaipur

6 6

0 9

0 13

1 10 0

"7 0

Khosalpur

5 0

2 4

18 0

0 0

Knsdaha ...

6 0

0 14

1 0

li" C

1 13 3

10 0

Krishnagar

8 3

0 14

1 13 3

4 0

Kubazpu'..,

4 3

1 3

...

Mahntpur...

7 3

0 14

1 13 3

Manijuani

9 2

0 14

9" 9

1 13 3

8 0

Mntiari ...

5 0

0 9

0 13

Nabadwip

13 0

1 3

0 13

4 0

Pajtiaur ,.,

7 3

1 3

1 10

1 13 3

1 0

Pat Mahal

14.

8 0

1 0

Plassey ...

1 2

0 9*

0 11 6

16 8

Kajpur

5"'o

I 8

...

Saiitipur ...

7 3

0 14

0 li

1 "3 G

4 0

Srinagar ...

8 3

0 14

1 2

1 13 3

...

Ukhra ...

7 8

1 3

...

No records exist to show the rates wliich prevailed in the
other parganas.

RENTS, WAGES ANP PRICES,

In July 1872 the Government of Bengal called for a return uents of
showing the prevailing rates of rent then paid by the cultivators ■'•^^^•
for the ordinary descriptions of land on which the common crops
are grown, and the following information is condensed from the
report which was submitted by the Collector of Nadia. For
ordinary land producing rice or miscellaneous crops, the iitbandi,
or year by year, rates are given ; and as these rates were only
charged according to the quantity of land actually under
cultivation, they are higher than by the jama, or leasehold
system, under which land is taken for a term of years at an
annual rate, which has to be paid whether the land be cultivated
or not. The Collector stated that, as a general rule throughout
the district, the rate for jama lands was about half that for
utbandi. Garden or orchard lands, however, were never leased
on the utbandi system, and for such the jama or leasehold rates
have been given. This explanation must be borne in mind in
perusing the following list of rents for the several subdivisions of
the district : —

(1) Head-quarters subdivision
parganas : —

1. Bagwan.

2. Belgaon.

3. Faizullapur.

4. Islampur,

5. Jehangirabad.

6. Khosalpur.

7. Kubazpur.

8. Mahatpui.
Mahmudalipur,
Mamjuani.
Matiari.
Manoharshahi.

9.
10.
11.
12.

13.

in which lie the following

14. Nadia.

15. Palashi.

16. Patmahal.

17. Eajpur.

18. Raipur.

19. Santipur.

20. Taraf Munsifpur.

21. Umarpur.

22. Umarpur, taraf Digam-

barpur.

23. Umarpur Digambarpur.

24. Ukhra, Chakla Krish-
nagar,

dman rice only, or aus
oilseeds, etc., or if sowa

Munsifpur.
Ordinary high lands, producing
rice, with a second crop of pulses,
in jute, 12 annas to Re. 1-4 per bigha ; the same land, if culti-
vated with pepper or indigo, from Re. 1 to Re. 1-4 per bigha ;
the same land if under sugarcane, Re. 1-4 to Rs. 2 per bigha ;
very deep marshy land in which the latest winter rice is sown
on the chance of its not being entirely submerged, from 6 annas
to 12 annas per bigha; exceptionally high lands, near home-
steads, frequently formed by elevations made for houses, and
sides of tanks, and artificial mounds en which tobacco, betel-leaf,

NADIA.

cotton, mulberry, garden produce, etc., are grown, from Rs, 2-4
to Rs. 2-12 per bigha ; the same land when used for plantain
gardens from Re. 1 to Rs, 2 per bigha ; jama rates for orchards
of mango, jack, or bamboos, Rs. :i-8 to Rs. 5 per bigha.

(2) Chuadanga Subdivision, in which lie the following
parganas : —

Ashrafabad.

10.

Matiari.

Bagwan.

11.

Nandalalpur.

Burapara.

12.

Nagarbanka.

Husainujial.

13.

Obania

Ilunkhaui.

14.

Rajpur.

Kasimnagar.

15.

Shahujial,

Kasimpur.

16.

Taraf Munsifpur.

Mahmudshahi.

17.

Ukhra, Chakla Krishna

Makimpur.

gar.

18. Umarpur.

High lands growing dman rice only, or aus rice with a second
crop of pulses, oilseeds, etc., or for jute only, from 12 annas to
Re. 1-4 per bigha ; the same land, if cultivated with pepper or
indigo, from Re. 1 to Re. 1-4 per bigha; the same kind of land,
growing sugarcane, from Re. 1-8 to Rs. 2-4 per bigha ; very deep
marshy lands, in which late winter rice is sewn, none in cultivation;
exceptionally high lands near homesteads, on which tobacco, betel-
leaf, cotton, turmeric and garden produce is grown, from Re. 1-8
to Rs. 2-12 per bigha ; plantain gardens Rs. '2 per bigha; Jama
rates for jack, mango and tamarind orchards, Rs. 5 per bigha.

(3) Ranaghat Subdivision, in which lie the following
parganas : —

Arsa.

12.

Pajnaur.

FaizuUapur.

13.

Pajnaur Srinagar.

Ilalikanda Paji

laur.

14.

Patmahal.

Haviliehahar.

15.

Ranihati.

Havilisliahar

and

16.

Raipur.

Arsa.

17.

Selampur.

Jaipur,

18.

Srinagar.

Jaipur Atali.

19.

Taraf Santipur.

Kaugachi.

20.

Ukhra.

Khosalpur.

21.

Ukhra, Chakla Krishna

10.

Krishnagar.

gar.

11.

Marojuani.

22.

Ukhra and Pajnaur.

High lands, growing dman rice only, or aus rice, with a second
crop of pulses, oilseeds, etc., or jute only, from 8 annas to Re. 1-1
per bigha ; same description of land, if cultivated with pepper or

RENTS, WAGES AND PRICES.

indigo, 10 annas to Re. 1-1 per bigha ; same land under sugar-
cane from Re. 1 to Re. 1-11 per bigha ; exceptionally liigli land
near homesteads, on which tobacco, betel-leaf, cotton, turmeric?
garden produce and plantains are grown, from lie. 1-4 to lis. 2-8
per bigha ; the same land on which betel-leaf alone is grown from
Es. 2-2 to Rs. 3-6 per bigha. Potatoes were grown in this
subdivision only. Jama rates for mango, jack and tamarind
plantations, from Re. 1-11 to Us. 2-4 per bigha.

(4) Kushtia Subdivision, in which lie tho following parganas: —

Anupampur.

23.

Jhaudia.

Aurangabiid.

24.

Kantanagar.

Eegamabad.

25.

Kasimnagar.

Bhandardaha.

26.

Kururia.

Baradi.

27.

Kasimpur.

Baria.

28.

Laduani.

Bamankarna,

29.

Laskarpur.

Bara Fatehjangpur.

30.

Makimpur.

Brahmapur.

31.

Mahmudshahi.

10.

Birahimpur.

32.

Nagarpota.

11.

Brajamula.

33,

Nagarbanka.

12,

Bajuras Mahabatpur.

34.

Nazir Inayetpur.

13.

Bhabananda Diar.

35.

Raj pur.

14.

Bhaturia.

36.

Rukunpur.

15.

Fazilpur.

37.

Sankardih.

16.

Gajnabhipur.

38.

Shahujial.

17.

Hapauia.

39.

Shah Jahannagar.

18.

Husainujial.

40.

iSherpur Beria,

19.

Hunkhani.

41.

Sadaki.

20.

Islampur.

42.

Tappa Chapila, pargana

21.

Jahangirabad.

Bhaturia.

22.

Jiarakha.

43.

Taraujial.

44. Taragunia.

High land, growing dmcin rice only or aus rice with a second
crop of pulses or oilseeds, etc., or jute only, from 12 annas to
Re. 1 per bigha ; the same land growing indigo, the same rates ;
pepper or chillies were hardly ever grown in this subdivision ;
sugarcane land, Re. 1-13 per bigha ; very low marshy land on
which late winter rice is grown, of which there was a good deal
in the Kushtia Subdivision, from 3 to 4 annas per bigha;
exceptionally high land near homesteads on which tobacco,
betel-leaf, cotton, turmeric, garden produce and plantains are
grown, from Re. 1-7 to Rs. 2-3 per bigUa ; jama rate for
mango, jack and date orchards, Rs. 3-8 per bigha.

S6 NADTA.

(5) Meherpur Subdivision, in which lie the following par

ganas : —

Ashrafabad.

14.

Kajipur.

Bagwan.

15.

Manikdihi.

Belgaon.

16.

Nandalalpur.

Betai.

17.

Nagarpota,

Bhandardaha.

18.

Patkabaria.

Dogachi.

19.

Palashi.

Fatehjangpur.

20,

Pipulbaria.

Goas.

21.

Pajpur.

Gurar Hat.

22.

Shahujial.

10.

Husainujial.

23.

Shahbazpur.

11.

Hunkhani.

24.

Taraf Bati.

12.

Hauspur.

25.

Taraf Munsifpur.

13.

Kasimnagar.

26.

Taragunia.

27. Ukhra, Chakla Krishnagar.

High lands, growing arnan rice only, or atis rice with a second
crop of pulses, oilseeds, etc., or jute only, from 6 annas to Re. 1-4
per bigha; for land growiug pepper or indigo, the rates were about
the same ; sugarcane from Re. 1 to Rs. 2 per bigha ; exceptionally
high land near homesteads, growing miscellaneous crops as noted
above, from Re. 1 to Rs. 2-8 per bigha ; j<ima rates for mango,
jack, tamarind and bamboos, from Rs, 5 to Rs. 6-4 per bigha.

During the eighty years separating the periods when these
two sets of rates prevailed, rent generally rose at least 30 per
cent., and in some instances as much as 100 per cent.
Current "^^^ uthandi system appears to be gradually giving way to the

rents. leasehold system, but it still covers about 65 per cent, of the
cultivated land. This tenure is not peculiar to the Nadia dis-
trict, but is specially common in it. Under it the tenant pays
rent only for the land which ho cultivates each year, and he
cannot acquire occupancy rights unless he tills the same land for
twelve years consecutively, which, in fact, he rarely does. Mean-
while the landlord can raise the rent at his pleasure, and if the
tenant refuses to pay, he can be ejected. This tenure deprives
the tenant of any incentive to improve the land, and at the same
time encourages rack-renting. The land generally being sandy
and of poor quality, it has frequently to bo left fallow to recover
some degree of fertility ; during these periods, of course, the land-
lord receives no rent where the utbandi tenure is in force. This
being so, the rate of rent for land under the latter tenure is
naturally higher than for leasehold land, for which the ryot
has to pay his rent every year, whether or not he has been able

BENTS, WAGES AND PRICES,

to put it under crops. In 1872, as has been stated above, the
rate of rent for ntbandi lands was about twice as high as that for
leasehold lands, Since then the disparity has increased, and it is
reported that as much as Rs. 4 to Ks. 8 per bigha is now paid for
uthandi lands, as compared with 5 annas to 14 annas for similar
lands held on long or permanent leases. The ordinary rate during
recent years paid by occupancy ryots for rice land varies from 7
annas to Se. 1-8 per bigha, and it is thus clear that the increase
in the rate observed up to 1872 has been more than maintained.

About the year 1850 the wages of ordinary labourers Waohs.
were from 1|- to 2^ annas per diem; of agricultural labourers
from 2 to 3 annas ; and of ordinary masons, about 2^ annas. In
1870 coolies were earning from 3 to 4 annas ; agricultural labour-
ers about the same ; masons 4 to 5 annas ; and blacksmiths and
carpenters about 4 annas. In 1890 agricultural labourers were
earning about 6 annas per diem, and masons, carpenters and
blacksmiths from 10 annas to Re. 1-4. At present (1909) day
labourers receive from 4 annas to 8 annas per diem, and, in times
of great demand, as much as 10 annas; masons, carpenters and
blacksmiths receive from 12 annas to Re. 1. There has thus
been an almost continuous rise in the wages of labour, both
skilled and unskilled, during the last sixty years. According to
the census of 1901 the percentage of the population engaged
upon general labour is as high as 17.

Agricultural labourers are frequently paid in kind when
employed on reaping, and arrangements are occasionally made
under which the labourers employed in cutting a field of paddy
receive, in lieu of wages, a proportion of the crop varying with
the state of the labour market. Women seldom engage in
agricultural labour, but children are regularly employed on
looking after cattle.

The following statement shows the number of seers per rupee Peices.
at which the three principal food-crops grown in the district sold
during each quinquennium from 1861 onwards : —

Commor rice. I

Qrara.

Wheat.

1861-65

1866-70

1871-75

IB76-80

14,

1881-85

1886-90

1891-95

2«

1896-00

1901-06

NADIA.

During this period the average annual price of rice was
cheaper than 20 seers for the rupee in three years only, namely in
1859, when it was 24 seers for the rupee, and in 1881 and 1882,
when it was 21 seers. The average annual prioe was dearer
than 12 seers for the rupee in ten years ; namely, 1874 (11*46
seers), 1879 (11 seers), 1892 (10 65 seers), 1893(11-64 seers),
1897 (8'87 seers), 1900 to 1903 inclusive (11-30 to 11*90 eeers),
and 1906 (8-93 seers). The high prices of 1874 and 1897 were,
of course, due to the famines which visited the district in those
years; those in 1879 were probably due to the famine of 1877-78
over a large part of India ; those af 1892 aud 1893 were probably
due to the famine of 1891-92 in Bihar and other parts. There
appears to be no special reason to account for the high prices in
the other years mentioned, except the fact that the crop was
not a good one in Nadia and the neighbouring districts, and the
general tendency to rise in prices.
Matbbial '^^^ following extract is taken from Hunter's Statistical
Condi- Account of Nadia, as showing the material condition of the people
Qp ^yj, in the early seventies of the ninteeuth century : —
People. " The condition of the people, as regards dress and other com-

forts, has of late years steadily improved. A well-to-do shop-
keeper dresses during the warm weather in a waist-cloth {dhuti)
and a loose sheet (c/mfi^ar), both of thin cotton, costing together
about 4.S,, and a pair of shoes costing about 2s, During the
winter a stout cotton chadar^ a woollen wrapper, or a coarse shawl
takes the place of the thin muslin chadar. Generally speaking,
he lives in a brick-built house, having four or five rooms, contain-
ing as furniture two or three plank bedsteads {takhtpoih), with
one or two wooden chests for keeping clothes, and some brass
plates, drinking vessels, etc. Ihe female meaibtrs of his house-
hold wear a single cotton cloth, five yards long, with a broad
stripe near the margin {sari), throughout the whole year, with gold
and silver ornaments to the value of £20 or £30. The widows,
of whom one or two are generally to be found in a household,
have, of course, no ornaments.

•' The ordinary food of his household consists of rice, split peas
[ddl), fish, vegetables and milk. The Collector estimates the
following to by the monthly expenses in a middling-sixe household
of a well-to-do trader :—llice, two and a liaU hundredweights
(three and a half maunds), value I85. ; split peas, 40 lbs.
(half a maund), value 4s. ; fish ba. ; vegetables, 4.!(. ; oil, 5s. ;
clarified butter {gJd), 2«. ; fuel, 48. ; fodder for cows, of which
two or three are usually kept. As. ; salt, !:>•. '6d. ; spices, including
pan, 48. ; clothes, Ss. ; sweetmeats, 48, ; a servant to look after

RliJNTS, WAGES AND PRICES. 89

the cows, 48.; coutingeucies and other expenses, 8s.; total,
£<i I OS. o(/. This is the scale for a fairly prosperous shopkeeper
or village merchant.

" An average husbandman dresses in a coarser dhiiii and carries
a bathing towel {(jdincJid) over his shoulders in lieu of a chadar.
Occasionally he wears a coarse muslin sheet or shawl and wraps
it round his waist. In the winter he adds to his dress a thick
Madras cloth chadar. He lives in a hart or inclosed homestead,
containing a hut which serves as a bed room, a cattle shed, and an
outside shed for the master of the house to sit and receive his
friends. The walls of the huts are built of mud or split bamboos,
or bamboo mats plastered over with mud ; the roofs are made
of a bamboo framework covered with thatch-grass. The
furniture of the house consists of one or two plauk bed-
steads (takhtpos/i) and a wooden chest. The ordinary food of
a husbandman's household consists of coarse rice, split peas
(ddl), vegetables and milk. Generally speaking, he obtains the
rice, peas and vegetables from the land he cultivates, but has
to buy fish, oil, salt, ?pioes and clothes. As for fuel, the dung of
his cattle, and the stalks of certain plants, such as ar/mr, which
he cultivates, supply his wants in this respect. The Collector
estimates the monthly expenses of such a household (not includ-
ing the value of the rice, pulses or vegetables, which the head of
the family grows himself) to be as under — Fish, 2s. ; extra vege-
tables, Is. ; oil, 3s.; salt. Is. ; spices, including pan, 3s.; fodder for
cattle, over and above grazing, 3s. ; clothes, 4s. ; rent, 6s. ; contin-
gencies and other expenses, 4s. ; total £1 7s. Such a scale
would show a total outlay of about £2, if we add the home grown
rice and split peas. This, however, is the scale of living of a
prosperous farmer. The majority of cultivators do not spend
anything like that amount on the maintenance of their house-
holds. A husbandman with five acres, which is a fair-sized
holding, and as much as a man with a single pair of oxen can till,
spends under £1 a month including everything."

Though there has been some improvement in the material
condition of the people of this district, especially in their power
of resistance to famine conditions, there can be no doubt that they
are not as well off as the inhabitants of the neighbouring districts.
This fact is probably due in the main to three causes — first, the
unhealthy climate which must re-act unfavourably upon both the
physical and moral qualities of the people; secondly, the compara-
tively unfertile nature of the soil, and thirdly, the precarious tenure
upon which so large a proportion of the land is held. There
seems but little immediate chance of a marked improvement

90 NADIA.

in any of these respects, and it is probable that for many
years to come the material condition of the people of the Nadia
district must compare unfavourably with that of the inhabitants
of the other districts in the Presidency Division. The class who
have suffered most during the recent years are the upper middle
class, or hhadrnlok, especially those with small fixed incomes, who
find it very difficult to keep up appearances and maintain their
traditional style of living in these days of high prices. Landless
labourers, of wliom there are many in the district, also suffer, not-
withstanding the marked rise in the wages which they receive.
On the wliole there has perhaps been some improvement in the
standard of living, and simple luxuries are more commonly used
than they were, but the vast majority lead but a hand-to-mouth
existence.

OCCUPATIONS, MANUFAOTUUKS AND TRADES. 91

CHAPTER VIII.

OCCUPATIONS, MANUFACTURES AND TRADES.

According to the statistics obtained at the census of 1901, the Ocoupa-
number of persons in the district supported by agriculture is '^^°^^'
934,451, which represents 56 per cent, of the total population.
Of this number 33 per cent, are actual workers, and the remain-
ing 67 per cent, dependents. Among the workers the largest
groups are (1) rent-payers, who number 271,000, exclusive of
15,000 who are partially non-agriculturists ; (2) agricultural
labourers, who number 25,000, and (3) rent-receivers, who number
12,000. The next most numerous class consists of those who are
supported by the various industries; these number 264,290 or
158 per cent, of the total population. Forty per cent, of this
class of the population are actual workers and amongst them the
largest groups are (1) fishermen and fish-dealers 22,500, (2)
milkmen and dairy farmers, 9,500, (3) cotton-weavers, 8,300, (4)
oil-pressers and sellers 8,000, (5) rice-pounders and buskers 8,000,
and (6) grain and pulse-dealers 7,000. The professional classes
number 38,420, which represents 2*3 per cent, of the total popu-
lation. Of these 41 per cent, are actual workers and 59 per cent,
dependents. In this class are included 4,400 priests and 2,000
persons engaged in the practice of medicine. Commerce has
only 16,173 followers, of whom 34 per cent, are actual workers;
the commercial classes form 1 per cent, of the total population.
Among those engaged in other occupations are 90,000 general
labourers, many of whom, however, probably are mainly agricul-
tural labourers, and 5,000 boatmen.

There is a great disinclination among the inhabitants of Nadia
to allow their women to work in the fields ; this is particularly
noticeable among the Muhammadans, who form the majority
of the population, and some trouble was caused in the 1897
famine owing to the difficulty of getting able-bodied women of
tiie lower orders to attend the relief works. Only 800 female

dS KADIA.

appear among the 25,U00 actual workers employed on as^rioul-
tural labour. The occupations on which females are engaged
may be grouped into three classes ; those which are followed by
women independently without reference to the work of their male
relatives, such as midwifery, domestic service, rice-pounding, etc. ;
those which are supplementary to their husbands' occupation,
such as cotton-spinning carried on by the wives of weavers, and
the selling of fruit, vegetables, milk and fish by the wives of
fruit and vegetables growers, cow-keepers and fishermen;! and,
lastly, those in which both sexes work together, such as basket-
w'eaviug, and, to a smaller extent, general labour. The occupa-
tions which females follow, either independently or as a supple-
ment to some kindred employment of their male relatives, are
generally distinguis-hed by two characteristics — their simplicity,
aud the small amount of physical labour which they involve.
The only largely followed occupations in the Nadia district in
which the females exceed the males are domestic service, grain and
pulsedealing, rice-pounding aiid religious mendicancy.
Manu- At the end of the eighteenth and beginning of the nineteenth

FACTUBEs. (jgntm-y^ Santipur was the centre of a great and prosperous
Cotton weaving industry. It was of sufficient importance to be the
weaving, head-quarters ol: a Resident under the East India Company, and
during the first few years of the nineteenth century the Company
purchased here £150,000 worth of cotton cloths annually. By
1813 the industry had begun to decline, being unable to face the
competition of cheaper piece-goods from Manchester, aud in 1825
it received a severe shock from the introduction of British thread,
which has fince been used almost to the entire extinction of
country yarn. Another great industry which flourished during
the first-half of the nineteenth century, but has since been extin-
guished, was the manufacture of indigo. A full account of the
rise and fall of this industry has been given in the chapter on
History in this volume, and a reference may be made to that for
further information oa the subject. There are now, in the
twentieth century, no large organized industries in the district,
which therefore possesses no commercial importance. Generally
speaking, the local artizans supply only the necessaries uf life,
e.g., food and drink of the commonest description, coarse cloth,
roughly constructed boats, brass utensils, etc.

In 1898 the District Officer reported that *' in almost all villages
in this district there are a few families of Tantis and Jolahas.
They turn out coarse cloth for the use of cultivators, but their
number is gradually decreasing, and the profession is deteriorat-
ing on account of English- manufactured cloth which is cheaper.

OCCUPATIONS, MANUFACTURES AND TRADES. 93

In several villages which had a reputation for doing business in
weaving, this industry is altogether abolished, such as Chakdaha,
Tehata, iJamurhuda and Dagalbi, though in some of these places
the profession is still lingering." The main cent?es of the
industry in the district are Santipur, Kushtia, Kumarkhali, Hari-
narayanpur, Meherpur and Krishnagar. The only place in which
fine muslin is manufactured is Santipur; the particular speciality of
this place is known as Santipur cloth, and it is specially admired for
its thin texture, and embroidered and flowered work. Mr. Banerjie.
in his monograph on the cotton fabrics of Uengal, published in
1898, says that the outturn of the cotton cloths in Santipur was
then worth about 3J lakhs of rupees per annum ; if those figures
are correct, there has been a very great decline during the last ten
years, for the value of the present (1909) outturn is not nearly so
much.

The only places in which the brassware industry is carried Brass-
on to any extent are Nabadwip and Meherpur, and even in these ^"^®'
two places no really fine work is attempted ; piactically nothing
but utensils for ordinary household purposes, and for use in
religious ceremonies, is turned out.

Sugar-refining by European methods has been tried in the ^^^s^^'
district, but it proved unsuccessful. There are, however, some Jure." *^"
refineries in native hands at Santipur and Alamdanga.

The sugar dealt with is almost entirely that derived from the
juice of the date-palm. The following account of the manufacture
of this class of sugar is taken from Mr. O'Malley's Gazetteer
Volume on the Khulna District : — " ihe first process consists of
tapping the tree, which begins when the tree is ripe and continues
each year thereafter. When the rainy season is over and
there is no more fear of rain, the cultivator outs off the leaves
growing out of the trunk for one-half of its circumference, and
thus leaves bare a surface measuring about 10 or 12 inches
each way. This surface is at first a brilliant white, but becomes
by exposure quite brown, and has the appearance of coarse mat-
ting. The leaves are cut oi! by a man who climbs up the tree
supporting himself by a strong rope, which he passes round the
tree and his own loins. He slides the rope up and down with
his hands, setting his feet firmly against the tree, and throwing
the weight of his body on the rope. In this manner his hands
are free, and he cuts the tree with a sharp knife like a
bill-hook,

" After the tree has remained exposed for a few days, the
tapping is performed by making a cut into the exposed surface
in the shape of a broad V, and then cutting down the surface

94 NADIA.

inside the angle thus formed. The sap exudes from this triangu-
lar surface, and runs down to the angle where a thin bamboo is
inserted, in order to catch the dropping sap and carry it out as by
a spout. Below the end of the bamboo an earthenware pot is hung
at sunset, and the juice of the tree runs down into it. In the
morning before sunrise the pots are taken down, and are generally
full. The juice is extracted three days in succession, and then
the tree is allowed to rest six days, when the juice is again
extracted for three days more.

"The next process consists of boiling the juice, and this
every ryot does for himself, usually within the limits of the palm
grove. Without boiling, the juice speedily ferments aud becomes
useless, but when once boiled down, it may be kept for long
periods. The juice is therefore boiled at once in large pots
placed on a perforated dome beneath which a strong fire is kept
burning, the pared leaves of the trees being used with other
fuel. The juice which was at first brilliant and limpid, become
now a dark brown, half-viscid, half-solid mass called gur^ which is
easily poured when it is still warm, from the boiling pan into
the gharas or earthenware pots in which it is ordinarily kept. It
is then sold to refiners, and manufactured into sugar."
Minor There is a factory at Kushtia, under European management,

™r"s" ^^' '^^ which are mauufaotured machines for pressing sugarcane on
the well-known Bihia pattern. The ryots have taken readily to
these machines, which are avast improvement upon the primitive
methods which were formerly adopted for extracting the juice
from the cane. The machines are generally let out on hire, as
the price of them is beyond the means of most cultivators. At
Ghurni, a suburb of Krishnagar, clay figures of remarkable
excellence are manufactured ; they find a ready sale wherever
offered, and have received medals at European exhibitions.
Little or no manufactures are carried on in Nadia in working up
fibres or reeds into mats or baskets.
FisHEB. A. not inconsiderable proportion of the population depend

1KB. upon fishing for a livelihood : — The following description of

the methods of capture employed is taken from Mr. O'Malley's
book on Khulna: — "The methods employed for catching fish
are both numerous and ingenious. One favourite engine consists
of a large bag net suspended on two long bamboos stuck out
at one side of the boat ; sometimes the boat with the net thus
expanded under water is driven slowly against the current.
Sometimes otters are tied bj a rope to the boat, and trained to
plunge about by the side of the net, so as to frighten fish into it.*

• otters are rarely, if over, used in Nadia.

tures.

OCCUPATIONS, MANUFACTURKS AND TRADES. 96

The fisherman then raises the net quickly by standing on the
inside ends of the bamboos, and thus gets all the fish that may
be in it. Another common method (rather applicable to marshes
than to rivers) is as follows. On the surface of the swamps,
large patches of weed called dhap are formed, which on
the subsidence of the water, sometimes float out of the
marshes and so down streams. These patches the fishermen
fix by placing stakes round their circumference, and then leave
them for a day or two. The fish congregate beneath them, and
the fishermen by drawing a net round the place and removing the
weeds catch them in large quantities. On the borders of shallow
rivers branches of trees are also placed iu the water for the same
purpose, viz., to attract fish to one place. * * *

" The fishermen in the marshes often carry in their boats an
instrument like a long broom, with spear heads in place of bris-
tles. When they pass a big fish they dart this collection of
prongs at it, and usually succeed in bringing it up impaled on
one of its points. This, however, is not a regular, but only supple-
mental, mode of fishing, for men do rot go out to fish armed
solely with this weapon. On narrow shelving banks a round net
is sometimes used. The fisherman goes along the bank, watching
till he sees a place where some fish are lying. He then throws
his net in such a manner that before touching the water it has
spread out into a large circle. The edges of the net are heavily
weighted with lead and falling on all sides of the fish imprison
them. Cage-fishing by means of fixed cages of wicker work is
also common. Every little streamlet, and even the surface
drainage on the fields and ditches, show arrays of these traps
placed so as to capture fish. The same method is used, but on a
larger scale, in shallow and sluggish rivers, where, in many cases,
lines of wicker traps may be seen stretched across the river from
bank to bank. Another plan for Icapturing fish is by attracting
them at night by a bright light and trapping them.

" The metliods described above are used by single fishermen, or
by a few men together. The fish, however, have sometimes to
stand more formidable battues, when a party go out with nets
or cages, and laying a large trap, drive into it many hundred fish
at a time.'*

The exports from Nadia consist mainly of its surplus crops, and Teadh.
among these jute takes the foremost place. During the last two
years the average export of jute has been close on one million
maunds per annum, in addition to which some twenty thousand
maunds of gunny bags were exported. About three-quarters of
this large export is carried away by railway and the rest by

96 NADIA.

water. Next to jute come gram and pulses, of which from oae-
quarter to one-half a million maunds are exported annually, ther
actual quantity varying with the outturn of the rahi crops. Un-
refined sugar and gitr between them form an important item in
the list of exports ; in 1908-09 over 140,000 maunds of these items
were exported. A considerable amount of linseed is grown in the
district, and in good years the export of this article is not far
short of 200,0'JO maunds. Other oilseeds are of little importance.
The export of Indian made cotton goods is steadily decreasing,
and in 1908-09 they only reached the inconsiderable total of
1,983 maunds,

Among imports tlie most important during the past two years
have been rice and paddy, which between them have averaged
nearly one and a quarter million maunds per annum. Other
important articles of import are coal from Banlwau and Man-
bhum, and salt, keiosene oil and piece-goods from Calcutta.
There has been of late j^ears some increase in the use of small
articles of luxury, such as umbrellas, shirts, coats, cigarettes and
enamelled iron goods, and the import of these shotvs a corre-
sponding rise.
Trading 'pbe principui castes engaged in commerce are Kayasths, Telis,

Baruis, Sahas, iMalos, Namasudras and Muhammadans.

The chief railway trade centres are Ohuadanga, Bagula, Rana-
ghat, iJamukdia and Poradah : there are also less important centres
at Darsana, Sibnibas, Kumarkhali, Krishnagar, Uebagram,
Kushtia and Chakdaha. Those of river traflSc are Nabadwip,
Kaliganj and Matiari on the Bhagirathi ; Karimpur, Tehata
Andulia, Krishnagar and Swarupgauj on the Jalangi ; Hanskhali
and lianaghat on the Churui ; Hat Boalia, Ohuadanga, Subalpur,
Eamnagar, Munshiganj, Damurhuda and Kissengunge on the
Matabhanga ; Nonaganj on the Ichhamati ; Alamdanga on the
PangSsi ; and Kushtia, Kumarkhali and Khokta on the Garai.
Opportunity for trading purposf^s is freely taken of the numerous
fairs and religious festivals which are held in the district. The
best attended of these are the festivals held at Nabadwip in
February and November; at Santipur in November; at Kulia in
January ; and at Ghoshpara in March.
Trade The external trade of the district is carried on by the Eastern

routes. Bengal State Railway and its branches, aud steamers and country
boats on tlie rivers. A large amount of rice and paddy is also
imported into the district by carts from Jessore and Khulna.
The internal trade is carried on by country boats and carts. The
greater part of the trade, both import and export, is with
Calcutta.

Trade
centres

MEANS OP COMMUNICATION.

CHAPTER IX.

MEANS OF COMMUNICATION.

Of the five subdmsions in the district, all but Meherpur a^® ^"^"f**^
traversed by at least one branch of the Eastern Bengal State xions.
Railway. The Meherpur subdivision is cut off from the
railway and is unfortunate in its water communications as
well; this subdivision is bounded on the north-east by the
Matabhanga, and on the north-west by the Jalangi, which also
outs through a portion on the west, but the only river which
traverses it is the Bhairab, and that is now so hopelessly
silted up as to be useless as a means of communication except
during the height of the rains. However, it is fairly well off in
the way of roads, though it has only one road of the first class.
The RanSghat subdivision is well served in every respect.
Rin§.ghat itself is an important junction on the Eastern Bengal
State Railway ; from this place the new branch leading to
Murshidabad, and the central branch (formerly known as the
Central Bengal Railway) both take off from the main line, the
former roughly to the north-west and the latter in a direction
slightly south of east. There is also the light railway which
takes off from the east bank of the Churni, not far from R&nSghat,
and leads to Krishnagar vid Santipur. As regards waterways
there is the Hooghly which forms the eastern boundary of the
subdivision, and throughout this part of its course is navigable
by steamers throughout the year ; there is also the Churni, which
traverses the northern part of the subdivision and joins the
Hooghly not far from Chakdaha. There are two first class roads,
one from Banaghat leading to Santipur and the other from
Chakdaha to the eastern boundary of the district. The Krishnagar
subdivision is also very well served. It is traversed throughout
its greater length by the Murshidabad branch of the Eastern
Bengal State Railway ; and, through the eastern portion, by part
of the main line. It also has connection with Santipur by a light
railway. As regards waterways it is bisected roughly from north
to south by the Jalangi; its western boundary is the Bhfigirathij

NADIA,

Water

oommuni"

cations.

and to\s'ard6 the east it is traversed by the Churni. It has three
first class roads, oonriecting the head-quarters station with Bagula
on the east, the eastern bank of the Bhagirathi opposite Nabadwip
on the west and Santipur on the south ; there are also good
second class roads leading to the north and north-west. The
Chuadanga Subdivision is bisected by the main line of the
Eastern Bengal State Railway, and is also served by the river
Matabhanga from north to south, and by the river Kumar or
Pangasi on the north-eastern boundary. It is also traversed from
north-east to south-west by a first class road, leading from
Meherpur over the eastern boundary of the district into Jessore.
The Kushtia Subdivision is served by the main line of the
Eastern Bengal State Railway from near Alamdanga on the
south to Damukdia on the north, and by the Goalundo branch
from the junction at Poradah to the eastern boundary of the
district at Khoksa. It is almost completely surrounded by rivers,
except for portions of the eastern boundary ; the Padma runs
along the north and the Matabhanga along the west and south ;
the Kumarkhali thana, which forms the north-eastern corner of
the subdivision, is traversed by the Garai. As regards roads it is
perhaps the leapt well served of the subdivisions.

A full history of the river system of the district has been
given in chapter I of this volume. Now that the railways have
reached their present stage, the importance of maintaining a
through connection by water between Calcutta and North-West
India is no longer as paramount as it was. But the Nadia rivers
fitill have a good deal of local importance, and Government goes
to a considerable expense to keep them open for navigation for as
many months in the year as is possible. Several regular services
of steamers are maintained. Messrs. Hoare Miller and Company
run a daily service between Calcutta and Kalna in Bardwan,
calling at Santipur. The same Company run another service
between Kalna and Murshidabad, calling at Nabadwip on every
alternate day during the rainy season, and, during the dry season,
from Kalna to Nabadwip twice a week. These services are on
the Hooghly or Bhagirathi. Until Krishnagar was connected
up by rail with the main line of the Eastern Bengal State
Railway, and a bridge built over the Jalangi, steamers used
occasionally to come up the Jalangi to Kriebnagar, and even
beyond that town, when there was sufficient water in the river for
them. A steamer of the India General Steam Navigation and
Railway Company plies twice a day (except on Sundays) between
Kushtia and Pabna. Other steamers belonging to the same
Company, and to the River Steam Navigation Concpany ply daily

MEANS OP COMMUNICATION.

between Daraukdia and GodagSri on the PadmS. . Other through
steamers between Patna and Dacca call at Damukdia at irregular
intervals. Country boats on their way from up-country to
Calcutta 0 jme down either the Bbagirathi or the Jalangi, which-
ever at the time offers the better facilities for navigation. The
annual report of the district for the year 1908-09 shows that
the imports into, and the exports from, the district by the rivers
were, in that year, 388,049 and 33,105 maunds !of 'goods, respect-
tively. The chief items among the imports were paddy 300,695
maunds; rice 69,268 maunds; and coke and coal 14,723 maunds.
The only other article of which 1,000 maunds or over was
imported by river was unmanufactured tobacco, the import of
which was 1,343 maunds. Among exports by river the chief
items were raw jute 12,751 maunds ; gram and pulses 7,330
maunds; and gur (molasses) 2,781 maunds. Kerosene oil
amounting to 6,302 maun ds, also appears among the exports, but
is not, of course, a true export of the district.

The Executive Engineer, Nadia Eivera Division, has furnished
a statement of the various classes of boats which are ordinarily
used upon the rivers in the district, and it is reproduced below —

Name of
boat.

Used by manjMs
ol—

Description of

important
cargo carribd.

Capacity in
maunds.

Reuabcs.

Down

Up.

Malini ...
Patli
Bhar
Katra

Sarong
Sangri

Pansway ...
Khajnaghattrt

Jang
Ulak

Kosa
Phukni ...

Up-country
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto

Ditto
Murshidabad and
Malda districts.

Nadia and
Bardwan.
Ditto

Rajshahi
Faridpur

Pnrnia
Howrah

Grain ...
Do. ...

Do.
Stoneware

Grain ...
General
cargo.

Ditto ...

Rice
Jute

Jute and
nnmanu-
tactured
tobacco.

Rice and
grain.

1
a

%
1

500 to 2,500
Ditto ...
Ditto ...
Ditto ...

200 to 1,000
Ditto ...

100 to 1,000
Ditto ...

200 to BOO
500 lo 1,600

100 to 500
!i00 to 1,000

f Ply only during the
C rains, via Bhagiratbi.

■) All the year round If the
> river is navigable, vid,
* Bhagiratbi.

■) Throughout the year for
J- intermediate traffic, viSi,
J Jalangi and Matabhanga.

)Only during the rains,
J via Matabhanga.

All the year round, via
Bhairab.Jalangi, a few
vid Bhagiratbi.

Throughout the year vid
Hooghly and lower
reaches of Jalanjsi,
Bhagiratbi and Mata.
bbanga.

The Malini is described as being round both in the stem and
the stern, with stern somewhat higher than the bow ; it is wider
and of greater draft than most other boats used on these rivers ;
the oars are worked from the roof.

a 2

100 NADTA.

The Pafli is a flat-bottomed, clinker-built 'boat, of lesa width
and draff tban the JUdJini ; the oars are worked from the roof.

The Bhnr ia a stronc, heavily built boat, capable of carrying
stone, coal and similar articles ; it is of equal width for nearly the
whole of its length, and has very blunt stem and stern.

The Eatrn is a flat-bottomed, clinker-built boat, of very light
draft for its size ; when loaded it is generally towed ; when empty
it is driven by oars worked from inside the roof. This partioular
type of boat seems to suit the exigencies of traffic on the NadiS
rivers, and the proportion of them to be seen is yearly increasing.
The Sarong is a much smaller boat, with rounded bow, and flat
stern ; it is comparatively narrow, and has a deep draft for its
size.

The Sdngri is a peculiar shaped boat, with a bottom bulging
down below the keel on each side ; it has a very low free-board,
and is in consequence liable to be swamped when the rivers are
in flood.

The Ulal- is a long, well-shaped boat, covered with a roof
throughout its length.

The Thuhni is a biggish boat, open with the exception of a
email portion in the stem, which is roofed over.
Railways. rpj^^ district is now n909) very well served with railways.
About 170 miles of the Eastern Bengal State Railway, all broad
gauge, lie within its borders. The main line from Calcutta to
Siliguri passes through the district, roughly from south to north ;
the distance from Kanohrapara on the southern boundary to
Damukdia on the Padma is about 92 miles, and this section has
21 stations. The Lai Gola branch takes off from Eanaghat junc-
tion ; it passes in a north-westerly direction ; the portion within
the district is about 48 miles in length, and there are 8 stations
upon it. This branch traverses the Kalantar, which is the tract
that is most liable to famine in the district and generally contains
the lowest stock of food grains. In the 1896-97 famine the supply
of food suddenly gave out in this tract, and, in the absence of the
railway, which had not then been constructed, the greatest difficulty
was experienced in importing enough grain to prevent deaths
from starvation. If another famine should unfortunately occur,
this line will save the District Officer much of the anxiety which
his predecessors had to bear. The central branch of the Eastern
Bengal State Railway also takes off from RanSghat junction; only
about nine miles of it (with two stations) lies within the boundaries
of the district ; it passes in an easterly direction through the
Ranaghat subdivision into the Bangaon subdivision of the
Jessore district. The Goalundo branch takes off from Poradah

MEANS OP COMMCNIOATION. 101

junction, and passse3 in an easterly direction fcr about 21 miles,
when it crosses the boundary of the district near Khoksa into
Faridpur ; there are five stations on this portion of the line. The
light railway which runs from Aistola Ghat, on the right bank
of the Churni about two m'les from Eanaghat, to Krishnagar rid
Santipur, is about 20 miles in length, and has seven stations.
This line was constructed by Messrs. Martin and Company at a
cost of Rs. 7,00,000, upon a guarantee by the District Board of
4 per cent, interest on the capital expenditure. The line was
opened in the year 1898, and was worked by the company until
it was taken over by the Eastern Bengal State Eailway on Ist
July 1904. During the intervening years it never worked at a
profit of more than 3 per cent., and the District Board in
consequence lost a considerable sum annually in making good
the guarantee which it had given. The arrangements for crossing
the river at Aistola Ghat were defective, especially during the
rainy season, and it was this and the fact that the stations at
Santipur and Krishnagar are at some distance from the centre of
the town, that caused the receipts to fall below the figure which
it was expected that they would reach. Orders have recently
been issued for the preparation of detailed plans and estimates
for the construction of an extension of this line from Ghoralia
station to Kalna Ghat via Santipur city, and from Santipur city
to Santipur station on the light railway ; also for the construction
of a new bridge over the Churni, and the conversion of the
present broad gauge siding from Eanaghat station to Aistola
Ghat to 2 feet 6 inch gauge.

A detailed project and estimate amounting to Es. 15,36,522,
as finally revised, have been prepared for constructing a 2 feet
6 inch light railway, 56 miles in length, from Krishnagar to
Jalangi, vid Meherpur.

A rough project and estimate have also been prepared for a
branch from Shibnibash station on the Eastern Bengal State
Eailway to Kotchandpur in Jessore. The Manager of the Eail-
way has recommended a line vid Khalispur, Kaliganj and
Jhenidah ; the length of this would be about 65 miles, and the
estimated cost is Es. 52,49,115. From statistics which have been
taken it appears probable that this line could count upon gross
earnings of Es. 90 per mile per week from the date of its
opening.

The total rail-borne imports into, and exports from, the
district during the year 1908-09 amounted to 1,374,277 and
1,642,660 maunds respectively. Among imports the most
important items were— paddy 622,399 maunds; salt 212,124

102 NADIA.

mannds ; kerosene oil 116,369 maunds; and rice 113,207
maunds. Among exports the most important items were — raw
jute 755,324 maunds ; gram and pulses 474,934 maunds ; " other
food-grains" 114,456 maands; and gar (molasses) 84,189
maunds.
Roads. The District Board maintains 107 miles of road of class I,

metalled, bridged and drained throughout ; 230 miles of class
IIA, unmetallod but bridged and drained throughout ; 392 miles
of class IIB, unmetalled and partially bridged and drained ; 21
miles of class IV, banked but not surfaced, partially bridged and
drained ; and 52 miles of class V, cleared, partially bridged and
drained. Village roads to an aggregate length of about 526 miles
are also maintained by the Board.

The chief roads in class I are described below.

BagiiJa to Erkhnagar.— JJnnl Krishnagar obtained a direct
railway pervice this was the moat important road in the district,
as it connected the head-quarters with the railway. It is about
9^ miles in lengtli, and a metalled surface 12 feet wide was
formerly kept up ; the width is now being gradually reduced to
8 feet, as the traffic along the road has greatly decreased since the
advent of the railway. At the third mile the Churni river has to
be crossed by a ferry.

Rdnarjhdt to Sdntijjur. — This is about eight miles in length. A
metalled surface nine feet wide is maintained. The Chumi river
has to be crossed by a ferry in the let mile.

Krh/inogar to Sdnfipur. — The total length of this road, in-
cluding four miles within municipal limits and maintained by
municipalities, is 14 miles ; the metalled surface is 9 feet wide.
This road is not interrupted by any ferries. According to local
tradition this road was originally constructed by Maharaja
Kudra Eai of Nadia.

Chuaddmjd to Meherpur. — This road is 17^ miles in length,
and has a metalled surface eight feet in width. It is interrupted
by two rivers, one of which has to be crossed by a ferry. It is of
importance, in that it furnishes the nearest outlet to the lailway
from the Meherpur Subdivision.

Chudddngd to Jhenida. — This is in continuation of the last-
mentioned road. It is ten miles in length, with an 8 feet wide
metalled surface. It is an important feeder road for the railway.

Other roads of this class are : (1) Kushtia to Salgamedia, 8
miles, not now of much importance; (2) Kushtia to Daudpur,
6 miles ; (3) Kissengunge to Uansada on the Jessore boundary,
11 miles ; (4) Krishnagar to Nabadwip, 7 miles ; (5) Chakdaha
to Balia on the Jeeaore boundary, 10 miles.

MEANS OF COMMUNICATION. 103

Among the class IIA roads the longest are : (1) Krishnagar
to Plassey, 31 miles, of diminished importance since the opening
uf the Lalgola extension of the Eastern Bengal State Kailway ;
(2) Krishnagar to Jaguli, 32 miles ; (3) Meherpur to Gopalpur
lid Mamdagari, 23 miles ; (4) Darsana railway station to
Kedarganj vid Kapasdanga, 17 miles.

In class IIB the three longest roads are Krishnagar to Meher-
pur, 25 miles ; Meherpur to Kaliganj via Plasipara and Mira,
29 miles ; and Nischintapur to Hat Boalia, 23 miles.

The District Board maintains eight major and three minor Perries,
ferries. The most important ferries are those utfl) Subalpur over
the Matabhanga on the Darsana railway station to Kedarganj road ;
(2) Nouaganj, over the Ichhamati, on the Bagula to Chankhali
road ; (3) Meherpur, over the Bhairab, on the Meherpur to
Nandanpur road. The total income which the Board derived
from ferries during the year 1908-09 was Es. 5,486.

The district contains altogether 143 post offices, and 529 miles Postal
of postal communication. The number of postal articles deli' communj.
vered in the year 1908-09 was 187^97, including 109,300 '^"°°''
post cards and 49,828 letters. The value of money-orders issued
in that year was Rs. 15,87,646, and of those paid Rs. 25,59,647.
The total number of Savings Bank deposits was 16,300, the
amount deposited being Rs. 13,18,196. There are eight postal-
telegraph offices situated at Krishnagar, Kumarkhali, Kushtia,
Kushtia Bazar, Meherpur, Nabadwip, RanSghat and Santipur ;
8,794 messages were issued from these offices in 1908-09.

104 NADIA.

CHAPTER X.

LAND EEVENDE ADMINISTRATION.

KEVENrE The revenue system of the Mughal Empire was never strictly
introduoed into that part of Bengal ia which the Nadia district
lies. The country was only partially under the sway of Delhi
during the 13th century, and in 1340 the governor declared
himself independent. For the next two hundred years it was
nominally ruled by independent Muhammadan Kings, but their
power was never sufficiently absolute to render them secure from
invasion or re-conquest without the assistance of the local Rajas
and zamindars, who were, more or less, given a free hand in the
revenue administration of their own territories. During the
sixteenth century Lower Bengal passed from the hands of the
Afghans into those of the Mughals, but Akbar's detailed revenue
settlement did not extend to so distant a part of his empire. During
the seventeenth century Lower Bengal was in a great state of
disorder, and each Raja and zamindar endeavoured to make
himself as independent as he could. It was not until the advent
of Murshid Kuli Khan as governor in 1704 that any real attempt
was made to enforce the regular payment of the land revenue.
Murshid Kuli Khan was a strong and despotic ruler, and during
his governorship, which lasted till 1726, many zamindars were for-
cibly dispossessed for non-payment of their dues to the state.
In the year 1722 Murshid Kuli Khan drew up a " Jumma
Settle- Caumil Toomary, or more perfect standard account of the
MBNT. imperial revenues of Bengal." In this account the whole province
was divided into *' Chucklahs " or large divisions of territory
constituting an equal number " of separate foujedari and aumildary
zelahs of civil and military jurisdictions — a compound of the 34
ancient districts of oircars which nevertheless were still to be
distinguished." In this account two-fifths of the district of Nadia,
which was then known as "Oukerah," were included in the
Murshidabad Chaklah, and the remaining three-fifths in the
Hooghly, or Satgaon Chaklah. A further " Toomar Jumma " of
Bengal was diawn up by Sujah Khan who succeeded Murshid

LAND REVRNUE ADMINISTRATION. 105

Kuli Khan and in. the abstract o£ this a8 given by Mr. J. Grant
in his " Analysis of the Finances of Bengal," written in 1788,
the following passage is to be found : —

" Nuddeah, properly Oukerah, and more recently called
Krishnagar from the propensity of Indian landholders to derange
the ancient established system of Government ascertaining their
own relative situation, and hence attribute princely consequence
to themselves by deriving local designations from their proper
names, was originally bestowed in the beginning of this century
on Ragooram, a Bramin, descended from Bobanand, the first con-
spicuous man of the family distinguished by the title of Mazumdar
as holding the ofiBce of temporary substitute, recorder of the
Jumma or rental of the circar of Satgaon. The district though
large and wonderfully fertile in all the dearer productions of
Indian soil capable of an easy, quick transportation by the river
Hooghly to all the great foreign settlements in Bengal hath yet,
from the tolerated corrupt practice of zamindari defalcations,
heightened in the present instance by fraudulent alienations of
lands or exemption in the payment of the established dues of
Government in favour of inferior brother members of the same
religious caste, ever remained prodigiously underrated in the
general assessment of the province, and in the proportional one
of the Ausil Tocmary, only set down perghs. 73, valued at
Rs. 5,94,846."

According to the "Jumma Bandobust teshkhees kool", an
account which appears to have been rendered officially by the
kanungos to the Naib acting on behalf of the East India Com-
pany as sovereign representative of the Mughal Emperor, the
total net revenue of the district was nearly eleven lakhs m the
year 1763, and at this rate it was settled with Maharaja Krishna
Chandra. At the first settlement after the acquisition of the
Diic&nl by the East India Company, the jama was reduced by
Muhammad Reza Khan to Rs. 3,74,964. On this point, and on
subsequent variations, Mr. J. Grant wrote as follows in his
" Analysis of the Revenue of Bengal" : — " No hustahood seems to
have been then formed of the modem actual value of the district.
It was assessed generally on the Ausil by towfeers and abwabs.
In this state it might have been expected that, if remissions
had really been necessary, the amount would have fallen upon the
new additional increases. Yet the contrary happened, and the
deductions were made from the standard toomary jumma or the
old well-established profits accruing on the jageer lands. From
this time forward the ostensible formal bundobust seems to have
been slowly decreasing until the year 1778 immediately after the

106 NADIA.

famine and on dismission of the Naib Dewan, when suddenly it
was raised, no doubt, on very suflBcient grounds, beyond all former

example to a gross annual demand of Es. 12,66,266.

* * * *

" To conclude, in 1190 (1783 A. D.), the clear revenue stipula-
ted for, notwithstanding a formal increase of one lack of rupees,
stated to have been brought on at the institution of the Committee
in 1188, did not much, if at all, exceed eight lacks of rupees, so
that, in right and moderation equitable policy, three laoks ought to
be regarded as the recoverable defalcation or effective increase
capable of realization on the latter jumma, payable to the
exchequer, forming the comparison with the rent roll originally
established before the reduced settlement of M. R. Klian in
1765. Considering, indeed, the vast known resources of this
fertile extensive district (exclusive of arable lands turned into
pasture, to evade payment of the expedient dues of Government,
of fraudulent alienations of territory, with collusive reductions
chiefly in favour of Brahmins, of the anjcient rates of assessment
specified in the Pottahs of the ryots) , the improvement of which
its finances are immediately susceptible, might fairly be stated at
seven lacks."

Generally speaking, Mr. Grant formed the opinion that the
resources of the country had been much under-estimated.
Mr. Shore, however, in his minute of June 1789, contended that
this proposition was a fallacy, and that the then assessment was
nearly equal to what it should be. The opinion of the former
prevailed, and in the percianent settlement the land revenue for
the district was fixed at Rs. 12,55,325.

The Diicdni of Bengal was assigned to the East India
Company on 12th August 1765. It was not considered advisable
at first to take the administration of the revenue out of the hands
of the native omcials, but the attempt to maintain the old system
was found disastrous from all points of view, and, therefore, in
1769 British Supervisors were appointed to superintend the
local collection of revenue. The Supervisors acted under the
control of two Provincial Councils at Murshidabad and Patna.
The reports which were submitted by the Supervisors showed
that the whole country was in a state of great disorder ; so, in
1772, the Court of Directors determined upon a radical change,
under which the whole control was taken over by the Company.
The chief revenue office was removed from Murshidabad to
Calcutta, and a Collector assisted by a native officer called Duvdii
was ajipointed for each district. The system of mixed European
and native agency in the districts produced only a partial

LAND REVENUE ADMINISTRATION. 107

improvement, and was in ita turn abolislied, the European Collec-
tors being recalled from the districts in the year 1774, and the
collection of revenue being entrusted to native agents, called
Amils, under tlie superintendence of six Provincial Councils.
In course of time it was found that the work of supervision could
not be adequately carried out by these Provincial Councils, and
in 1781 they were abolished, their place being taken by a Com-
mittee of Revenue (subsequently the Board of Revenue), with
headquarters at Calcutta, and European Collectors were again
placed in charge of each district.

The first regular settlement after the assumption of the Diwani r^ ,
was made for a period of five years from 1772. It was concluded niat.
with the highest bidders, whether they were the previous zamindars ^'^'^^f"-
or not. This system led to great speculation, as a result of which
most of the old families in Bengal were more or less ruined, and
the remissions and irrecoverable balances reached an enormous
figure. The annual settlements which were in force from 1777
till the time of the Decennial Settlement in 1790, were based on
no proper data, and were little less disastrous in their effects. By
1790 the district, which 30 years before had been settled with a
single zamindar, the Maharaja of Nadia, had been split up into
261 separate estates, held by 205 registered proprietors. This
partition was due, first to the selling off of portions of the Eaj
to cover defaults in the payment of land revenue, and second
to the creation of tdivks, or subordinate zamindaries. The
Maharaja, when anxious to raise money had made over portions
of his estate to those who were willing to oblige him, either
rent free, or on nominal rent, and the portions so made over
were called idhiks ; for a time the tdlukddrs continued to pay the
land revenue due upon their talvM through the Maharaja, but
it was subsequently ordered that these grants were to be treated
as separate estates, and the land revenue due upon them was to
be paid to Government direct, and not through the Maharaja.
The great Raj, which once covered the whole district, has, by
mismanagement and misfortune, been so greatly reduced that it
now (1909) produces only about one-fifteenth of the total land
revenue of the district.

In 1793 the Decennial Settlement was made permanent. „
The effect of this was to place all classes of zamindars on a nent
uniform legal basis, and so "in a short time to obliterate the ^'^^^'^'"•
previous differences in the customary status which had grown
out of differences in origin. Even before the permanent settle-
ment, the revenue farming system adopted by the East India
Company from 1769 to 1788 had tended to obscure such

108 NADIA.

differences. For the effect of the farming system was to'level
down the ancient zamindars."* The only condition common to
all zamindaries before the permanent settlement was that each
zamindar held a sanad from the state authorizing him to collect
the land revenues. The essential portions of the sanad which
was granted to the Eafa of Bishnupur in 1780 are reproduced
below, because they represent the form of title under which the
Bengal zamindars held in the eighteenth century, a form very
similar to that under which certain parganas were settled with the
East India Company itself in 1757-68. *' The office of zamindar
of the aforesaid pargana has been bestowed, agreeable to the en-
dorsement from the beginning of the year 1187, Bengal era, to the
cream of his peers, Ohaitan Singh the grandson of Qopal Singh,
zamindar, deceased, on his consenting to pay the royal peshkmh^
etc., of 186 goldmohars and 2 annas. It is required of him that,
having executed with propriety the duties and functions of his
station, he be not deficient in the smallest respect in diligence
and assiduity, but observing a conciliatory conduct towards the
ryots and inhabitants at large, and exerting himself to the utmost
in punishing and expelling the refractory: Let him pay the
revenue of Government into the treasury at the stated periods, let
him encourage the body of the ryots in such manners that signs
of an increased cultivation and improvement of the country may-
daily appear, and let him keep the high roads in such repair that
travellers may pass and repass in the fullest confidence and
security.

" Let there be no robberies or murders committed within his
boundaries: but (God forbid) should any one notwithstanding be
robbed or plundered of his property, let him produce the thieves,
together with the stolen property, and, after restoring the latter
to the rightful owner, let him assign the former over to punish-
ment. Should he fail in producing the parties offending, he must
himself make good the property stolen. Let him be careful that
no one be guilty of misconduct in his behaviour, or commit
irregularities of any kind. Let him transmit the accounts required
of him to the Huzur (Chief Eevenue Officer), under his own and
Kanungo's signature, and, after having paid up the whole revenues
completely to the end of the year, let him receive credit for the
Maskurat (allowance to the zamindar), agreeably to usage, and
finally let him refrain from the collection of any of the abwab
abolished or prohibited by Government."

The counterpart which was executed by the Eaja, is, mutatis
mutandis, in almost identical words. Every such sanad was

•^Hunter'B Bengal Mjacellaneous Records.

liAND REVENUE ADMINISTRATION, 109

granted to the person named in it, and no mention was made of
his heirs or successors. It is true that a transfer was generally
recognizee!, and a fresh snnad lasned. on 'payment oi peshkash^ or
transfer fee, but the zamindar had no absolute right to sell or
bequeath his estate ; such right, however, lie obtained under the
permanent settlement, and this resulted in some instances in the
zamindar having to part with the whole or portions of his estate,
in order to satisfy his creditors. Other forces of disintegration
came into play. The Government demand, as fixed at the
permanent settlement, was one which left but a small margin
of profit ; punctuality of payment was insisted upon ; the rights
of the ryot to hold at customary rates were secured by law, but
the power of the zamindar over them was limited, and he had no
power to enforce punctuality of payment to himself. The result of
all these disabilities was that by the close of the century the
greater portion of the Nadia Raj had been alienated.

Some few remarks are necessary in connection with the status
of the ryots. By section 7 of the Permanent Settlement Regula-
tion of 1793 the zamindars were required " to conduct themselves
with good faith and moderation towards the dependent talukdara
and ryots." In section 8 it was declared that " it being the duty
of the ruling power to protect all classes of people, and especially
those who from their situation are most helpless, the Governor-
General in Council will, whenever he may deem it proper, enact
such Regulations as he may think necessary for the protection
and welfare of the dependent talukdars and ryots and other cultiva-
tors of the soil." But though the rights of the landlords were
defined, the rights of the tenants against the landlords were only
reserved, and were not defined. It was intended that there should
be an interchange of pattahs and kabuUyats between the zamindSrs
and the ryots, under which the rent payable should be definitely
fixed in perpetuity, but there was a general refusal on the part of
both classes to carry out this intention. In the meantime the
necessity of securing the landlords in the realization of their dues
from the ryots resulted in the enactment of the Regulations of
1799 and 1812, under which the landlords obtained practically
unrestricted power over the property, and even over the person, of
their ryots, and it was many years before the ryots were relieved
of these disabilities. " The failure of all the attempts made to
control agrarian relations led the Court of Directors in 1824 to
sanction a proposal to make a survey and reeord-of-rights of the
permanently settled districts of Bengal, as being the only means
of defining and maintaining the rights of the ryots. More than
sixty years, however, were to elapse before this vast undertaking

110 NAmA.

was begun. But for temporarily settled areas, Regdation VII of
1822 provide! that all future settlements of the land revenue
should be preceded by a record of "the rights aud obligations of
various classes a ud persons possessing the interest in the land or
in the rent or produc3 thereof." And this course was followed in
the resumption to revenue of lands held revenue-free under
invalid titles. These proceedings were carried out mainly
between 1830 and 1850, and in many districts covered considera-
ble areas. ♦ ♦ * rpj^g work done in connection with
these resumption proceedings supplied Government for the first
time with a really detailed account of the rights and obligations
of different classes of landlords and tenants."* These proceedings
finally eventaated in Act X of 1859, which is entitled an Act to
amend the law relating to the recovery of rent, and which has
been described as the first effective step taken by the Legislature
to discharge the duties in connection with the ryots undertaken
at the Permanent Settlement.

Land At the time of the permanent settlement there were four classes.

EsTA'^s^ of Zamindars in Bengal. They are thus described in the intro-
duction to Hi;nter's Bengal Manuscript Records. "The first class
of Bengal zamindars represented the old Hindu and Muham-
madan Rajas of the country, previous to the Mughal conquest by
the Emperor Akbar in 1576, or persons who claimed that status.
The second class were Rajas, or great landholders, most of whom
dated from the 17th and 18th centuries, and some of whom were,
like the first class, de facto rulers in their own estates or temtories,
subject to a tribute or land tax to the representative of the
Emperor. These two classes had a social position faintly resem-
bling tho Feudatory Chiefs of the British Indian Empire, but
that position was enjoyed by them on the basis of custom, not of
treaties. The third and most numerous class were persons whose
families had held the office of collecting the revenue during one
or two or more generations, and who had thus established a
prescriptive right. A fourth and also numerous class was made
up of the revenue farmers, who, since the dhcdni grant in 1705,
had collected the land tax for the East India Company, under
the system of yearly leases, then of five years' leases, and again
of yearly leases. Many of these revenue farmers had, by 1787,
acquired the de facto status of zamindars." The original differ-
ences in the holdings of these four classes of zamindars were
obliterated by the Permanent Settlement, and from 1793 onwards
all estates, whatever their origin, wore placed on a uniform basis.

• Introduction lo Ratnplni's Bengal Tenancy Act,

IANI> REVENUE ADMINISTRATION 111

The proprietors of estates are known as zamindara or taliikdars.
The latter originally paid their quota of land revenue through
the zamindars from whose estates their properties had been carved
out. But, partly at their own request, in order that they might
receive protection from the exactions of Ihe zamindars. and partly
for other reasons, the taluks were finally completely separated
from the parent estates, and recognized as separate estates with
land revenue payable direct to the State. In the year 1790-91
the total number of estates in the district was 261, held by
205 registered proprietors, paying a total land revenue of
Rs. 13,55,325, the average payment by each estate being
Es. 5,210, and by each proprietor, Rs. 6,030. By 1799-1800 the
number of estates had increased to 737, and the registered pro-
prietors to 413, paying a total land revenue of Rs. 12,45,815 ;
the average payment for each estate being Rs. 1,830, and for each
proprietor Rs, 3,260. By 1850-51 the number of estates had
increased to 3,064, with a total land revenue of Rs. 11,74,490 ;
the average amount paid by each estate being Rs. 380. The
current land revenue demand for 1908-09 was Rs. 9,02,228, due
from 2,455 estates, the average demand from each estate being
Rs. 368. The falling off in the total demand, and in the number
of estates, is due to reductions in the area of the district. Out
of these, 2,245 estates, with a revenue of Rs. 8,09,902, are per-
manently settled ; 194 estates, with a revenue of Rs. 73,768, are
temporarily settled, and 16 estates paying Rs. 18,558, are
managed by the Collector direct. In addition, there are 298
revenue-free estates, and 9,213 rent-free lands, which pay road
and public works cess. The gross rental of the district has been
returned at 33| lakhs, and of this the Government revenue demand
represents 26*7 per cent. The incidence of the land revenue
demand is Re. 0-15-3 per acre of cultivated area.

The only classes of tenures which call for special remarks are Tenures.
(1) Patni taluks, and (2) Utbandi tenures.

The Patni taluk had its origin in the estate of the Maharaja of Patni
Bardwan. At the Permanent Settlement the assessment of this Taluks,
estate was very high, and in order to ensure easy and punctual
realization of the rent, a number of leases in perpetuity, to be
held at a fixed rent, were given to middlemen. These tenures
are called Patni {i.e., dependent) taluks, and are in effect leases
whioh bind the holder by terms and conditions similar to those
by which a superior landlord is bound to the State. By Regula-
tion XLIV of 1793 the proprietors of estates were allowed to
grant leases for a period not exceeding ten years, but this pro-
vision was rescinded by section 2 of Regulation V of 1812, while

112 NADU.

ty Regulation XVIII of the same year proprietors were declared
competent to grant leases for any period, even in perpetuity.
Finally, Regulation YIII of 1819, known as tlie Patci Sale Law,
declared the validity of these permanent tenures, defined the
relative rights of the zamindars and their subordinate talukdars,
and establiished a summary process for the sale of such tenures
in satisfaction of the zamindar's demand of rent. It also
legalized under-letting, on similar terms, by the patuidars and
others. Since the passing of this law this form of tenure has
become very popular in Nadia with zamindars who wish to divest
themselves of the direct management of their property or part
of it, or who wish to raise a lump sum of money. It may be
described as a tenure created by the zamindar to be held by the
lessee and his heirs or transferees for ever at a rent fixed in
perpetuity, subject to the liability of annulment on sale of the
parent estate for arrears of the G-overnment revenue, unless
protected against the rights exerciseable by auction-purchasers by
common or special registry, as prescribed by sections 37 and 39
of Act XI of 1859. The lessee is called upon to furnish
collateral security for the rent and for his conduct generally,
or he is excused from this obligation at the zamindar's discretion.
TJnder-tenures created by patnidars are called darpatni, and
those created by darpatnidars are called sepatni tenures.
These under-tenures are, like the parent tenures, permanent,
transferable and heritable, and have generally the same rights,
privileges and responsibilities attached to them. The first eSect
of this system was to introduce a class of middlemen who had no
interest in the ryot, except to extract as much from him as they
possibly could. By degrees, however, the sons and grandsons of
the original tenure-holders acquired something of the sense of duty
to their tenants which the hereditary possession of landed property
gives, and it is probable that the ryot is no worse off now than
he would have been, had the system never been introduced,
utbaiidi The particular tenure which is known by the name Vthnndi

tenure. apparently had its origin in the Nadia district, from which it
has spread to neighbouring districts, thou?:h in no district is it
as common as in Nadia, where about five-eighths of the cultivated
lands are held under it, The literal meaning of the term is
"assessed according to cultivation." In 1861 Mr. Montresor,
who bad been deputed to investigate locally certain complaints
of some European proprietors in the district, desoribbd the
system as follows : —

" The Utbandi tenure apparently has its origin in this district
and is peculiar to Nadia. There is, in almost every village, ^

LAND REVENUE ADMINISTRATION. 113

oertaia quantity of land not included in the rental of the lyot,
aod which, therefore, belongs directly to the recognized proprietor
of the estate. This fund of unappropriated land has accumulated
from deserted holdings of absconded tenants, from lands gained
by alluvion, from jungle lands recently brought into cultivation
by persons who hold no leases, and from lands termed khaa
khamdr, signifying land retained by the proprietor for his
household.

'* In other districts lands of the three first descriptions are at
once leased out to tenants, but in Nadia it appears to be different.
Owing either to the supineness of the landlord or to the paucity
of inhabitants, a custom has originated from an indefinite period
of the ryots of a village cultivating, without the special permission
of the landlord, portions of such land at their own will and
pleasure. This custom has been recognized and established by
the measurement of the lands at the time the crop is standing,
through an officer on the part of the landlord styled hakana,
and when the assessment is accordingly made."

In the report of the Government of Bengal on the Bengal
Tenancy Bill (1884), the lUbandi holding was described as
follows : —

" A tenancy from year to year, and sometimes from season
to season, the rent being regulated not, as in the case of
hdlhdsili, by a lump payment in money for the land cultivated,
but by the appraisement of the crop on the ground, and according
to its character. So far it resembles the tenure by crop appraise-
ment of the hhdoli system, but there is between them this marked
difference, that while in the latter the land does not change hands
from year to year, in the former it may."

The Bengal Government, when the Tenancy Bill was under
consideration, proposed to treat utbandi lands as ordinary ryoti
lands were treated, i.e,^ to presume that tenants of utbandi lands
were settled ryots if they had held any land in the village for 12
years, and to declare that they had, as settled ryots, occupancy
rights in all lands held by them in the village. The Select Com-
mittee did not, however, agree to this proposal, and applied the
provisions relating to Char and D'ldra lands to utbandi lands also.
Accordingly by section 180 of the Bengal Tenancy Act, it was laid
down that an utbandi tenant can acquire no rights of occupancy
until he has held the same land for 12 years continuously, and
that, until he acquires such a right, he is liable to pay the rent
agreed on between him and the landlord. Under these circum-
stances it is of course practically impossible for a tenant to
acquire a right of occupancy, except with the consent of the

114 NADIA.

landlord. The most authoritative ruling of the law courts as to
the nature of this tenancy is that delivered by the Chief Justice
(Sir W. C. Petheram) and Tottenham, J., in the case of Beni
Madhab Chakravarti rersus Bhuban Mohan Biswas (I. L. E.., 17,
Cal. 393). This ruling concludes with the following words : —

" The description of utbandi seems to refer rather to particular
areas taken for cultivation for limited periods, and then given up,
than to holdings of which parts are cultivated and other parts
lie fallow, while the rent for the whole is assessed year by year
with reference to the quantity within the holding under cultivation
in that year. A holding of the latter description hardly seems
to answer to the general conception of utbandi.'"

The subject of this particular tenure oame prominently
before the Government of Bengal during tlie years 1900-1903.
In the annual report for the year 1900 the Collector remarked
that advantage had been taken of the prevalence of the utbandi
system to extort excessive rents. The remark attracted the
attention of Government, and an enquiry was held chiefly with
a view to ascertain whether any amendment of the law was
necessary. After considering the matter in all its bearings
the Lieutenant-Governor came to the conclusion tnat "the
system, though theoretically unsound, is practically unobjection-
able ; it is of great antiquity ; it has its champions ; and no one
contends that the need for change is acute " ; there was no need
for immediate legislation, but the Commissioner should continu-
ously direct his attention to the system, and promptly bring to
the notice of Government any signs of its abuse.

GENRBAL ADMINISTRATION. 115

CHAPTER XT.

GENERAL ADMINISTRATION.

Tht5 administration of the district is in charge of the Collector Adminis-
under the Commissioner of the Presidency Division, whose head- ^^^^ivb
quarters are in Calcutta. For some years until 1860, Krishnagar and
was the head-quarters of the Division, but as it was found more ^'^^^^•
convenient that the Commissioner should reside in Calcutta,
the head-quarters of the Division were transferred there, and
have remained there since.

For general administrative purposes the district is divided into
five subdivisions with head-quarters at Krishnagar, Ranaghat,
Meherpur, Chuadanga and Kushtia. The head-quarters of the
Ranaghat Subdivision were at Santipur until the year 1863, when
they were transferred to Ranaghat, where they have remained
since For five years, viz., from 1892 to 1897, the Chuadanga
Subdivision was abolished, the area covered by it being amal-
gamated with the Meherpur Subdivision; but ill the latter year
it was re-establiehed in deference to the petitions filed by the
inhabitants of the eastern portion complaining of the distance
which they had to travel to reach the Court at Meherpur,

The head-quarters subdivision is under the direct superin-
tendence of the Collector, who has a staff of four Deputy Col-
lectors, one Probationary Deputy Collector, and one Sub-Deputy
Collector. A Deputy Collector is in charge of each of the
four outlying subdivisions, and he is, as a rule, assisted by a
Sub-Deputy Collector.

The total revenue of the district in 1880-81 was Rs. 16,68,000, REVENtJE.
with theBangaon Subdivision included. In 1890-91, the Bangaon
Subdivision having in the meantime being transferred, it was
Rs. 14,98,000. In the course of the following ten years it rose to
Rs. 16,58,000, and in the year 1908-09 it was Rs. 21, 71, 586.

As elsewhere, the land revenue forms by far the most important Land
item of receipt in the district. According to the best information ^^evenue.
now available, the land revenue payable in the year 1790-91
amounted to Rs. 13,59,935 ; in 1799-1800 to Rs. 13,49,633; in
1850-51 to Rs. 11,74,492; and in 1871-72 to Rs. 10,17,550.
These successive declines were not due to any alteration in
the rate of levy, but to transfers of outlying portions of

I 2

116 NADIA.

the district to other districts. There has not been much
variation in the land revenue demand since the Bangaon
subdivision was transferred to Jessore in 1883. The current
demand for the year 1908-09 was Es. 9,02,228, of which about
90 per cent, was due from the proprietors of permanently
settled estates. There were 2,245 such estates with a current
demand of lis. 8,09,902 ; 194 temporarily settled estates, with
a current demand of Es. 73,768; and 16 estates, held direct by
Government, with a current demand of Rs. 18,558. The Govern-
ment estates are scattered throughout the district, but the most
important ones are in the Meherpur and Kushtia subdivisions.
The total cost of management in 1908-09 was Es. 1,321, equal
to 7 per cent, of the demand. The gross rental of the district
was returned at Rs. 27,76,530 when the Eoad Cess Act was
introduced in 1880. It is now estimated to have risen to
Es. 33,64,219, showing an increase of Es. 5,87,689. There has
been but little extension cf cultivation during these years, and
nearly the whole of this substantial increase in the gross rental
must be attributed to increase in the rate of rent.

Cesses. Eoad and Public Works cesses are, as usual, levied at the maxi-

mum rate of one anna in the rupee. The average collections
during the quinquennium ending with the year 1899-1900
amounted to Rs. 1,54,684; during the following quinquennium
(ending with the year 1904-05) they amounted to Es. 1,69,093;
in .the year 1908-09 the collections were Es. 1,83,697. The
current demand in the year 1908-09 was Es. 1,83,111 ; of this
sum Es. 1,57,878 was due from 3,383 revenue -paying estates ;
Es. 2,382 was due from 298 revenue-free estates; and Es. 22,851
from 9,213 rent-free lands. The number of estatesjassessed to
cesses is 12,894, and the number of recorded shareholders is
18,075. There are 21,081 tenures assessed to cesses, with 34,386
shareholders. The current demand of cesses is equal to about
one-fifth of the current demand of land revenue.

Stamps. Next to land revenue, the sale of stamps forms the most im-

portant source of revenue. The receipts upon this account have
been steadily increasing since the year 1896-97 ; they averaged
Es. 3,37,000 for the quinquennium ending with that year ;
during the following quinquennium they averaged close on
Es. 3,70,000 ; in 1904-^5 judicial stamps alone furnished
Es. 3,73,473, and in the year 1908-09 judicial stamps to the
value of Es. 3,87,022, and non-judicial stamps to the value of
Es. 83,842 were sold. The increase in the revenue from stamps
is almost entirely due to the greater sale of judicial stamps, caused
by the growth in the number and value of rent and civil suits.

GENERAL ADMINISTRATION. 117

The income from excise lias been steadily increasing for many Exciso.
years. In 1894-95 it was Es. 1,21,293. During the next five
years it increased to Rs. 1,30,081. By 1904-05 it had reached
Rs. 1,52,828, and in the year 1908-09 it was Rs. 1,74,188, which
works out at the rate of one anna eight pies per head of the
population for the year. There are three main sources of the excise
revenue, viz., country spirits, ganjaand opium. Up till the close of
the year 1906-07 the outstill system v/as in force. The country
liquor shops had if alien into the hands of monopolists, and the
liquor sold was both bad in quality, and expensive in price. With
effect from Ist April 1907 the contract distillery system was intro-
duced. Under this system the local manufacture of country spirits
is prohibited, and a contract is made with a firm of distillers for all
the liquor which is required for consumption in the district. The
contractors are forbidden to hold any retail licenses for the sale of
the spirit, but are allowed the use of the distillery and depot build-
ings for the storage of liquor. The spirit is brought from the
distillers to the various depots, and is there blended and reduced to
certain fixed strengths, at which alone it may be supplied to retail
vendors, and sold by the latter to consumers. A. maximum price is
fixed for retail sale. The Collector reported as follows at the close
of the first year after the introduction of this system : — " The sale
of country liquor of fixed strengths at a fixed price has induced
people to use country liquor in preferenoe to cheap imported liquor.
Under the old system the vendors diluted and adulterated the
liquor and fixed their own prices, and so many preferred to buy
cheap imported liquor from Calcutta. The Excise OflScers have
been exercising a salutary check by testing the strengths of liquor
in the shops, and in the custody of consumers, and so the public
are assured of getting liquor of full strength. While the new
system has increased the number of consumers, there has been no
tendency to increase of drunkenness. The Excise Deputy Col-
lector and the subordinate inspecting staff made it a point during
the year under report to visit all fares and festivals, but they
have seldom come across any drunken and disorderly people."

After country liquor the next most important source of excise
revenue is that derived from the sale of ganja, i.e., the unimpreg-
nated dried flowering tops of the cultivated female hemp plant
{Cannabis Indica), and the resinous exudation on them. The
revenue under this head also has been steadily rising of late years.
In 1898-99 it was Rs. 32,380, and in 1908-09, Rs. 43,807. The
incidence of license fees on consumption is usually high in Nadia.
Opium is the third article important from an excise point of
Tiew. The revenue under this head was Rs. 39,178 in 1908-09 ;

118

NADIA.

Income-
tax.

Registra*
tiou.

Admims-

lliATlON
OF

JUBTICB,
Civil

Justice.

it has remaiued almost constant during the last twenty years,
between Es. 38,000 and Rs. 40,000.

The other items which go to make up the excise revenae are
the receipts from tdri, pachktcdi, imported wines and liquors, and
chctrasj which in the year 1908-09 aiuounted respectively to
Es. 4,123, Ks. 4,132, Es. 6,382 and Es. 1,744. There are also a
few petty miscellaneous items, none exceeding Es. 100.

The receipts under the head of income-tax amounted in 1892-93
to Es. 44,372 payable by Es. 2,021 assessees. By 1901-02 the
receipts had risen to Es. 61,514 payable by 2,587 assessees ;
but in the year 1902-03 the steady increase, which had up till
then been maintained, received a severe check by the exemption
of incomes between Es. 500 and Es. 1,000, and in the year 1908-
09 the net collections amounted to Es, 46,563 only, payable by
1,046 assessees. As regards revenue from income-tax, Nadia
takes the third place among the districts in the Presidency
Division, producing less than the 24-Pargana8 and Murshidabad,
and more than Jessore and Khulua.

There are 11 offices for the registration of assurances under
Act III of 1877, including the Eegistrar's office at Kiishnagar.
In the five years 1895 — 99 the average number of dooaments regis-
tered per annum was 23,687, and in the next quinquennium (1900-
— 04) it was 26,123. In 1908 the number of registrations rose to
31,783. The following statement gives a list of the registry offices
in the district, and the salient statistics for the year 1908 : —

Xame.

Documents
registered.

Receipts,

Kxpenditure.

Krisliuagar
Kuslitia
Aicberpur
Chuadanga
Rauaghat
Santipur
Kuuiarkliiili
■ilirpur

Birohi (at Chakdaha)
Ramuapar
Shikarpur

Total

4,878
3,181
1,764
2,976
2,649
1,049
6,131
2,970
3,510
1,775
900

Rs.
10,481
3,365
2,915
3,514
3,262
1,328
5,763
3,563
3,681
1,965
1,245

lia.

6,355
2,820
1,749
2,590
2,027
1,809
2,777
2,810
2,178
2,032
1,728

31,733

41,082

28,875

The averflge number of civil suits disposed of annually
during the quinquennium ending with the year 1899 was 19,737,
and during the following quinquennium 23,848. During the
year 1908 the number of suits disposed of rose to 30,133, of
which 389 were on the file of the District Judge, 773 on that of

GENEBAL ADMINISTRATION.

119

the Subordinate Judge, and 28,971 on the files of the Munsifs.
The increase in civil litigation is more marked in the Nadift
district than in any other district in the Presidency Division,
In 1905 the Collector remarked in his annual report that '* the
public complaint continues of the cumbrous Civil Court pro-
cedure and delay in the disposal of cases and consequent heavy
expenses incurred by the parties." The Judicial stafl in 1908
consisted of the following officers : — One District Judge, one
Subordinate Judge and two Munsifs at Kjishnagar ; one Muusif
at Rauaghat; two Munsifs at Chuadanga; three Munsifs at
Kushtia ; and two Munsifs at Meherpur.

Crimiual justice is administered by the District Magistrate Criminal
and the various Magistrates subordinate to him, under the"^"^^'^®-
appellate authority of the District and Sessions Judge. The
sanctioned staff at Krishnagar consists, in addition to the District
Magistrate, of three Deputy Magistrates of the first class, and one
Deputy Magistrate of the second class or third class. Besides
these officers there is generally one Sub-Deputy Magistrate with
second or third class powers at head-quarters. The four Sub-
divisional Officers are invariably Magistrates of the first class,
and they are generally assisted by a Sub- Deputy Magistrate
vested with second or third class powers. In addition to the
Stipendary Magiatrates, there is a Bench of Honorary Magis-
trates at each of the subdivisional head-quarters, and at Naba-
dwip, Jamsherpur and Santipur ; and there are also Honorary
Magistrates with powers to sit siugly at Kumarkhali, Meherpur,
Chuadanga, Kushtia and Ranaghafc.

For police purposes the district is divided into five adminis- Police,
trative subdivisions each in charge of an Inspector. In the
Krishnagar Subdivision there are 7 thanas, viz ^ Kotwali, Naba-
dwip, Chapra, Hanskhali, Kaliganj, Nakasipara and Kissen-
gunge. In the lianaght subdivisiou there are 4 thanas, viz.j
Haringhata, Ranaghat, Santipur and Chakdaha. In the Kushtia
Subdivision there are 6 thanas, viz., Kushtia, Mirpur, Daulatpur,
Damukdia, Kboksa and Kumarkhali. In the Meherpur Sub-
division there are 4 thanas, viz., Meherpur, Karimpur, Gangni
and Tehata. In the Chuadanga Subdivision there are 4 thanas,
viz., Chuadanga, Damurhuda, Alamdanga and Jibannagar.
There are thus 25 thanas in the district, exclusive of the town
outposts in the nine municipalities. The present (1909) sanctioned
strength of the district police force is 1 Superintendent, 1
Deputy Superintendent, 7 Inspectors, 58 Sub-Inspectors, 63
head-constables, and 598 constables, exclusive of 29 town
chaukidars. The total strength of the force is therefore 767 men,

120

NADIA.

Crime.

representing one policeman to every 3*7 square miles, and to
every 2,203 of the population. The total budget grant for the
maintenance of the force is Rs. 1,64,222. The town police,
employed in the nine municipalities consist of 16 head-con-
stables, 183 constables and town chaukidars. The rural police,
for the watch and ward of villages in the interior, consist of
3,485 chaukidars working under 346 dafadars, representing one
rural policeman to every 435 inhabitants.

At the beginning of the eighteenth century the district was
notorious for the crime of gang-robbery or dacoity. Stern steps
were, however, taken during the viceroyalty of Murshid Kuli
Khan (1704 — 1725) to suppress the crime, and he succeeded to
a great extent. The following extract is taken from Stewart's
History of Bengal, published at the beginning of the nineteenth
century :— " Moorshud Cooly was indefatigable in the extirpation
of robbers. Whenever a robbery was committed, he compelled
the Foujedar, or the zemindar, either to find out the thief, or to
recover the property. The goods or their equivalent in money
were always restored to the persons who had been robbed, and
the thief, whenever caught, was impaled alive. At Outwah and
Moorshudgunge he erected guard-houses for the protection of
travellers ; and gave the command of the police guards to one of
his slaves, named Mohammed Jan, who was of a savage dis-
position, and who was always attended by a band of execu-
tioners ; and, whenever he caught a thief, used to have the body
split in two, and hung upon trees on the high road ; from which
circumstance he was nick-named the Kolhareh or axe. By
these severe means, during Murshud Cooly Khan's government,
travellers were protected on the roads, and every man slept
securely in his own house."

Under the less vigorous government of Murshid Kuli Khan's
successors dacoity again became prevalent, and great disorder
reigned for some years after the English obtained the Diwdni in
1765. It was not until the beginning of the nineteenth
century that real efforts were again made to put it down.
The vigorous administration of Mr. Blaquiere, first as
Magistrate of Nadia, and later as Superintendent (or Inspector-
(jeneral) of Police, had the effect of practically ridding the district
of dacoits by the end of the first decade of the nineteenth century.
Since then, though the crime has not been extirpated, Nadia no
longer bears the unenviable reputation which it bore for the
greater part of a century. At present there is no form of crime
which is specially prevalent in the district. River dacoity, which
is characteristic of the eastern districts of the Division, is

GENERAL ADMINISTTIATION. 121

practically uiikaown in Nadia. Professional cattle thefts are
fairly common, but not to any very marked extent. In the year
1908 the proportion of cognizable crime to population was one
offence to 438 persons. Burglaries and thefts formed about 65 per
cent, of the total cognizable crime reported. Among heinous
offences there were 11 murders and 10 dacoities.

There is a district jail at Krishnagar and a subsidiary jail at Jails,
each of the outlying subdivisions. The head-quarters jail has
accommodation for 180 prisoners in all. There are barracks with
separate sleeping accommodation for 125 male and 12 female
convicts ; the hospital holds 18 beds ; there are four separate
cells ; the undertrial ward has accommodation for 19 persons ; and
the separate ward for civil prisoners, for 2 persons. This jail
is generally over-crowded, and a proposal has been submitted for
increasing the accommodation by the erection of new barracks.
The Meherpur Subsidiary Jail has accommodation for 11 males
and 3 females ; at Kushtia there is accommodation for 20 males
and 4 females ; at Ranaghat for 9 males and 2 females ; and at
Chuadanga for 9 males and 3 females. The mortality in the
head-quarters jail frequently compares unfavourably with the
average jail mortality of the Province. In 1907 it amounted to
50 per mille. In this connection the following remarks are
extracted from the annual administration report of the Inspector-
General of Prisons for the year 1907 : — " There were nine deaths
in this jail with a daily average population of 171 •87. I made a
special enquiry into the health of the prisoners at Krishnagar
Jail. The district has been unhealthy during the year, and an
epidemic of pneumonia affected the jail, and caused five deaths
out of the nine in this jail, Ihe other fatal cases were (1) acci-
dental, (2) a hill boy received into jail in a dying state, and a
third, a sudden death from peritonitis. The arrangements now in
vogue for the early detection and prompt treatment of the sick
and weakly are satisfactory, and have greatly improved during
the past year. I have reason to hope that the jail will show a
better record soon, but it always receives a very high percentage
of prisoners suffering from enlargement of the spleen and from
malaria."

The industries carried on in the district jail are mustard-oil
pressing, surkhi making, wheat grinding, weaving and spinning.
In 1907 the avemge earning per head of persons sentenced to
labour was Rs. 10. According to Hunter's Statistical Account
the average earning amounted to Es. 17 in 1854-55 ; to Es. 8 in
1857-58;toEs. 8inl860-61; andto Es. U in 1870. During
the last 30 years it has varied between Es. 8 and Es. 15,

122 NAUIA.

HOABD

CHAPTER XIL

LOCAL SELF-GOVEENMENT.

District The premier institution of Local Self-Government in the dis-
trict is the District Board, which was constituted under Act 111
(B. C.) of 1885. Under the same Act five Local Boards were
simultaneously constituted, viz., one in each of the five subdivi-
sions of the district. Elections for the Local Boards were held,
for the first time, in 1886, and the 31 elected members fell
under the following classes : zamindars, 16; pleaders, 9; traders,
3 ; and other occupations, 3. On an average for the whole dis-
trict, the attendance of the electors was fair, the percentage of
those who recorded their votes varying from 20 in the Kotwali
Thana to 83 in the Gangni Thana. As soon as each Local Board
was completed by the appointment of the nominated members,
it met to elect two members to represent it on the District Board ;
the ten members thus elected were supplemented by ten nomi-
nated by Government, and the District Board, thus constituted,
took the place of the late District Road Committee on 1st October
1886. The constitution of the District Board has remained
unaltered since. At the general election which was held in the
year 1905-96, the attendance of the electors left a good deal
to be desired, and elicited from Government the remark that *' it
is still the case that, except in the neighbourhood of Calcutta,
little or no interest is taken in the elections." At the last general
election, held in 1908-09, the attendance of the electors was small,
and little interest was taken in the proceedings.

During the year 1895-96 four Union Committees were consti-
tuted, namely Muragachha and Kissougunge in the Sadar Sub-
division; Poradah in the Kushtia Subdivision; and Chuadanga
in the subdivision of the same name. Tiiese same four com-
mittees are still working, and their number has not been added
to. The committees have been entrusted with the control of
pounds, village roads, sanitation and water-supply ; in regard to
Primary Schools their authority is restricted to inspection, and
no power of control has been given to them.

LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT. 123

The District Board consists of 20 members, exclusive of the
District Magistrate who is ex-officio Chairman. As already stated,
ten of the members are elected by the five Local Boards, and of
the remainder five are eX'Offi,cio members and five nominated.
Nadia is a poor district for its size, and the sources of income of
the District Board are more inadequate than in the other districts
of the Presidency Division. Its average annual income, including
provincial grants, for the seven years ending with 1904-05 was
Rs. 1,55,350, and the average annual expenditure for the same
period on major heads was Rs. 1,0 i,910 made up as follows
civil Works, including public works establishment, Rs. 63,512
sanitation and water-supply, Rs. 2,400 ; medical relief, Rs. 2,966
and education, Rs. 36,032. In 1907-08 the total income,
excluding opening balance, was Rs. 1,96,149; the principal
receipts were Rs. 88,680 from rates, Rs. 47,567 from civil works
(including Rs. 40,010 from contributions and Rs. 6,042 from tolls
on ferries and roads), Rs. 34,423 from pounds (which are more
profitable in Nadia than in any other district in the Division),
and Rs. 21,192 contributed by Government. The incidence of
taxation per head of the population was ten pies. The total
expenditure in the same year was Rs. 2,31,324, of which
Rs. 1,51,820 was spent on civil works; Rs. 47,543 on education ;
Rs. 8,516 on medical relief ; and Rs. 8,477 on famine relief.

The Board maintains 107 miles of metalled, and 716 miles of
unmetalled roads, in addition to a large number of village roads
with an aggregate length of about 526 miles. The cost of
maintaining these roads in 1907-08 averaged Rs. 313, Rs. 29
and Rs. 17 per mile, respectively. The following extract is taken
from the quinquennial administration report of the Presidency
Division for the period ending with 1904-05: — "The District
Board of Nadia expended Rs. 57,857 on the improvement of
roads and construction of bridges, of which the metalling of the
Krishnagar-Plassey road, the improvement of the Bhairamara-
Taragonia road, the bridging of the Hansdanga and Bhauga
khak on the former road, and of the Arangsdrisha khal on the
Krishnagar-Meherpur road, were the most important. For all
these special grants were given from provincial revenues. The
Board could not spend much on new works, and in all such
enterprises they had to be materially assisted by Government, as
the district is large, while its cess income is limited, and it
contains a number of district and feeder roads originally con-
structed from provincial funds before District Boards came into
existence." In 1871, according to Hunter's Statistical Account
of the district, there were in it 284 miles of roads (number of

124 NADIA.

miles metalled unspecified), regularly kept up, besides minor
tracks and routes from village to village, and 44 roads maintained
by the landholders and peasantry. The annual cost of mainte-
nance of these was about Es. 45,000; whereas Es. 1,13,000 was
spent on roads in 1907-08.

The Board leased out 250 pounds, from which it derived the
substantial income of Es. 34,423 in the year 1907-08. Its
expenditure on education during the same year was Rs. 47,543,
the greater part of this sum, i.e., Es. 37,090, falling under the
head of grants-in-aid to primary schools, and Es. 2,114 only
going towards secondary education. It maintained three Middle
schools, and 45 Aided : it also aided 97 Upper Primary, and 643
Lower Primary schools. Its expenditure on hospitals and dis-
pensaries was Es. 6,255 (for which sum it maintained two and
aided uine dispensaries), and on sanitation Es. 864.

Local ^\^Q five Local Boards at Kvishnagar, Eanaghat, Chuadanga,

Meherpur and Kushtia exercise jurisdiction over the subdivi-
sional charges of corresponding names. They were among the
first Local Boards to be established in the Province. The
Kriahuagar Local Board has 12 members, of whom 2 are
elected and 10 nominated. The Eanaghat Local Board has nine
members, of whom 6 are elected and 3 nominated. The Chua-
danga Local Board is similarly constituted. The Meherpur
Local Board has nine members, of whom 6 are elected, 2 nomi-
nated and one is ex-officio. The Kushtia Local Board has nine
members of whom 4 are elected and 5 nominated. The functions
of these bodies are unimportant, consisting mainly of the
administration of village roads, the control of pounds and
ferries, and the distribution of grants-in-aid tojPrimary schools.

Union There are four Union Committees, as noted above. They

ti™.™* " each have jurisdiction over 10 square miles, with an aggregate
population of ^2,890, ranging from 13,197 in the Mura-
gachha Union to 8,545 in the Poradah Union. Muragaohha
has nine members, and the other three seven members each.
Each Committee received a grant of Es. 300 from the District
Board in 1907-08, and each expended its full income. The duties
at present entrusted to these Committees consist of attention to
village sanitation, and the up-keep of village roads and drains
within their respective jurisdictions.

Mrwici- There are nine Municipalities within the district, viz.,

Krishuagar, Santipur, Eiinaghat, Nabadwip, Kushtia, Kumar-
khali, Meherpur, Birnagar and Chakdaha, In 1907-08 the total
number of rate-payers was 26,340. The percentage of rate-
payers to total population within municipal limits varied from 23"1

PAtlTIBS.

LOCAL SBLF-GOVEKNMENT. 126

in Meherpur to 36*1 in Nabadwip, the corresponding percentage for
the whole of the Presidency Division being 19*8. The average
incidence of taxation per head of population was Re. 1-4-7, ranging
from 8 annas 3 pies in Meherpur to Re. 1-10-2, in Krishnagar;
the Divisional average for the same year was Re. j-8-9.

The Xrishnagar Municipality was established in the year Krishna-
1864, and its affairs are administered by a committee consisting ^^^•
of 21 members, of whom 14 are elected, 3 nominated and
4 ex-officio. The area within municipal limits is about 7
square miles, and there are 6,226 rate-payers, their percen-
tage on the total population being 25'3, The average annual
income for the five years ending with 1905-06 was Rs. 48,129
and the expenditure Rs, 45,107. In 1907-08 the total income,
exclusive of the opening balance, was Rs. 48,317, and the
incidence of taxation was Re. 1-10-2 per head of the population.
The main source of income was a tax on holdings, which was
levied at the rate of 7^ per cent, on the annual valuation, and
yielded the sum of Rs. 23,389. Part IX of the Act is in force,
and latrine fees are levied in accordance with a sliding scale on
the annual valuation of the holdings ; the tax collected under
this head amounted to Rs. 11,836. The only other item of any
importance on the receipt side was the rent of pounds, which
yielded Rs. 869. The total expenditure during the same year
amounted to Rs. 48 479. The largest item in this was
Rs. 17,748 (equal to 36'6 per cent, of the total expenditure) for
conservancy. Public works accounted for Rs, 11,728 (24'1 per
cent.) ; medical relief, for Rs. 8,480 (17*4 per cent.) ; education,
for Ra. 950 (1"9 per cent.) ; while Rs. 923, or 1*9 per cent, of
the total expenditure, was devoted to water-supply.

The Santipur Municipality was established in 1865 with 24 Santipur.
Commissioners of whom 16 were elected and the remainder
nominated. The Subdivisional Officer of Ranaghat was the ex-
offlcio Chairman.

This constitution continued till the year 1903, when the
Commissioners were superseded by Grovernment for contuma-
ciously refusing to introduce Part IX of the Act, and give
proper attention to the conservancy of the town. The munici-
pality was, however, re-established in September 1904, with nine
Commissioners appointed by Government, and the same ex-officio
Chairman as before. The elective system has not, however, been
restored up to date (1909).

The area within municipal limits is about 7 square miles,
and the number of rate-payers is 7,824 or 29*1 per cent, of the
population.

126 NADIA.

The average annual income for the five years ending in 1904-05
was Re. 30,386, and the average expenditure Hs. 29,725. In
1907-08 the total income, exclusive of the opening balance, was
Rs. 43,646, and the incidence of taxation was Re. 1-5-2 per head
of the population. The tax on holdings ie in force ; it is levied at
the rate of 7 per cent, on the annual valuation of the holdings, and
in the year mentioned it yielded Rs. 19,775, The latrine tax,
which was introduced during the year in which the Commissioners
remained superseded, is levied at the rate of 7 per cent, on the
annual valuation of the holdings, and it yielded an income of
Rs. 11,871. Pounds produced Rs- 704. No other item on the
receipt side calls for notice. The total expenditure in this same
year was Rs. 49,822, the largest item on this side being Rs. 18,588
(37*3 per cent, of the total expenditure) for conservancy. Rs. 8,078
(16'2 per cent) was expended on education ; Rs. 5,732 (ir5 per
cent), on public works; Rs. 2,933 (5'8 per cent.; on medical
relief, and Rs. 647 (r2 per cent) on water-supply.

Rauagbat. The Ranaghat Municipality was established in the year 1864
with 14 Commissioners, of whom 5 were appointed ex-offlcio,
and the remaining 9 nominated by Government. When Act
III (B.C.) of 1884 came into force, the number of the Commis-
sioners was raised to 18, of whom 12 were elected and 6
nominated ; there has been no change in the constitution since
then. The area within municipal limits is about 2h square miles,
and the number of rate-payers is 7,824, or 29'1 per cent, of
the total population. The average annual income for the five
years ending with 1904-05 was Rs. 11,810, and the average
expenditure Rs. 11,776, In 1907-08 the total income, excluding
the openiug balance, was Rs. 14,128, and the incidence of
taxation was Re. 1-6-5 per head of the population. The tax
on holdings is in force, and it was levied at the rate of 6^ per
cent, of the annual valuation. The latrine tax is also in force and
is levied at the rate of 5-^- per cent, on the annual valuation of
the holdings. The income from the former of these two sources
was Rs. 6,252, and from the latter Rs. 4,283. There is no other
item on the receipt side which calls for notice. The total expen-
diture in this same year was Rs. 15,004. Rupees 6,217 or 41"4
per cent, of the total expenditure, was devoted to conservancy ; the
next most important item was public works, on which Rs. 2,558
(17-04 per cent.) was expended. On medical relief Rs. 2,576
(17*1 per cent), was expended, on education Rs. 368 (2'4 per
cent.), and on water-supply Rs. 303 (2'01 per cent.)

Nabudwip. ^^^ Nabadwip Municipality was constituted in the year 1869.
There were originally 12 Commifisioners, of whom 8 were elected

LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT. 127

and the remainder nominated. But in January 1904 the Com-
missioners suffered the same fate as those of Santipur, aud for
the same reason. They were superseded until March 1905 when
the Mimicipality was re-establiehed with 9 Commissioners
appointed by Q-overnment. In September 1907 the elective
system was restored, and the town has now (19u9) 12 Commis-
sioners, of whom 8 are elected and the remainder nominated.
The area within municipal limits is about 3|- square miles, and
the number of rate-payers is 3,931, or 36*1 per cent, of the total
population, The average annual income for the five years
ending with 1905-06 was Ks. 12,777, and the average expendi-
ture Es. 11,635. In 1907-08 the total income, excluding the
opening balance, was lis. 14,801, and the incidence of taxation
was Be. 1-2-4 per head of the population. The tax on holdings
is in force, and it is levied at the rate of 6;^ per cent, on the
annual valuation of the holdings ; it produced an income of
Rs. 6,227. The latrine tax is also in force, and it is levied at
the same rate as the tax on the holdings ; it produced an income
of Rs. 5,577. The income derived from fees paid under the
Puri Lodging House Act, which is in force in this town, is not
included in the above figures ; the sum realized under this head
amounts to about Rs. 3,000 per annum. The total expenditure
during the year 1907-08 was Rs. 15,214. The principal items
of expenditure were as follows ; — Rs. 6,955 (45*7 per cent, of
the total expenditure) on conservancy ; Rs. 2,737 (17*9 per cent.),
on public works ; Rs. 1,886 (12 3 per cent.) on medical relief, and
Rs. 498 (3'2 per cent.) on education. The expenditure on water-
supply was only Rs. 23, or 1 per cent, of the total expenditure.

The Kushtia Municipality was established in the year 1869, KusLtia.
with 12 Commissioners, 8 of whom were elected and the rest
nominated. There has been no change in the constitution since
then. The area within municipal limits is about 3 square miles,
and the number of rate-payers is 1,290, or 24-2 per cent, of the
population of the town. The average annual income for the
five years ending with 1904-05 was Rs. 9,258, and the average
expenditure was Ks. 8,534. In 1907-08 the total income, exclu-
sive of the opening balance, was Rs. 9,236, and the incidence of
taxation Re. 1-6-1 per head of the population. Both of the
main systems of taxation are in force, viz., that on holdings, which
is levied at 6 J per cent, of their annual valuation, and that on
persons, for which there is no fixed rate. The former produced
Rs. 1 ,600 and the latter Rs. 1,556. The latrine tax is also in
force, and the income from it was Rs. 2,343 ; it is levied at the
rate of 5 per cent, on the annual valuation of the holdings. In

128 NADIA.

the year under reference the total expenditure amounted to
Rs. 10,785, out of which the chief item was conservancy, -which
accounted for Rs. 3,200, or 29"6 per cent, of the total expenditure.
Other important items were public works Rs. 3,084 (28'G per
cent.) and medical relief Rs. 1,116 (10-3 per cent). The ex-
penditure on water-supply was Rs. 634 (5*8 per cent.) and on
education Rs. 297 (27 per cent.).
Kumar- The Kumaikhali Municipality was established in the year 1869

•''"*^'- -^ith 6 Commissioners, all appointed by G-overnment ; the number of
Commissioners was raised to 9 in 1875 ; in 1884 the privilege of
the elective system was conferred upon the town, 15 Commis-
sioners being allotted for ifc, of whom 10 were elected and the
remainder nominated. There has been no change in the constitu-
tion since then. The area within municipal limits is about 2^
square miles, and the number of rate-payers is 1,176, or 25*5
per cent, of the population of the town. The average annual
income for the five years ending with 1904-05 was Rs. 5,876, and
the average annual expenditure Rs. 5,702. In 1907-08 the total
income, exclusive of the opening balance, was Rs. 6,092, and the
incidence of taxation Re. 1-2-9 per head of the population. The
main source of income is the tax on persons which is levied at no
fixed rate; this tax produced Rs. 2,789, The latrine tax is also
in force, and is levied at the rate of 7^ per cent, on the annual
valuation of the holdings; the income from this source was
Rs. 2,094. The total expenditure during the same year was
Rs. 6,342. Consfvancy accounted for the expenditure of
Rs. 2,248, which represents 354 per cent of the total expenditure.
The other main items on this side o£ the account were : — public
works, Rs. 1,476 (23*2 per cent.) ; medical relief, Rs. 530 (8*3 per
cent.) ; and water-supply Rs. 170 (2'6 per cent.). The expendi-
ture on education was only Rs. 120, or 1*8 per cent, of the total
expenditure.
ML-berpur. The Mehcrpur Municipality was established in the year ] 809
with 9 Commissioners, of whom 6 were elected and the rest nom-
inated. There has been no change in its constitution since then.
The area within municipal limits is about 7^ square miles, and
the number of rate-payers is 1,334 or 23*1 per cent, of the total
population. The average annual income for the five years ending
with 1904-05 was Rs. 3,841, and the average expenditure
Rs. 3,440, In the year 1907-08 the total income, exclusive of the
opening balance, was Rs. 4,324, and tlie incidence of taxation
was 8 annas 3 pies per head of the population. The main source
of income was the tax on persons (not levied at any fixed rate),
which pioduced Rs. 2,370. Part IX of the Municipal Act is not

LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT, 129

in fcrce. The income from pounds was Rs. 441, which reprepents
the large proportion of over ten per cent, of the total income.
The total expenditure during the same year was Es, 3,958, of
which E.S. 1,156, or 29*2 per cent, of the total expenditure, went
on medical relief. Es. 528 (13*3 per cent.) was spent on water-
works; Rs. 915 (23*1 per cent.) on public works ; Es. 284 (71
per cent.) on conservancy ; and Rs. 181 (4'5 per cent.) on
education.

The Birnagar Municipality was established, in the year 1869 I^^'nagar.
with 12 Commissioners, of whom 8 were elected, and the remain-
der nominated ; there has been no change in the constitution
since then. The area within municipal limits is about 2 square
miles, and the number of rate-payers is 790, or 25*2 per cent, of
the total population. The average annual income for the five
years ending with 1904-05 was Rs. 3,993, and the average
expenditure Rs. 2,875. In the year 1907-08 the total income,
exclusive of the opening balance, was Rs. 3,535, and the incidence
of taxation was 1 o annas 3 pie per head of the population. The
main source of income was the tax upon persons, which is levied
at no fixed rate ; this produced Rs. 2,768. Part IX of the
Municipal Act is not in force, and latrine tax is consequently not
levied. The total expenditure during the same year was Rs. 4,287,
of which Rs. 1,504 (35 per cent, of the total expenditure) was
devoted to public works; Rs. 844 (19*6 per cent.) to medical
relief; Es. 590 (13 7 per cent.) to water-supply; Rs. 350 (81 per
cent.) to conservancy ; and Rs. 114 (2'6 per cent.) to education.

The Chakdaha Municipality was established in the year 1886^ Chakdaha.
with 12 nominated Commissioners ; there has been no change in
the constitution since then. The area within municipal limits is
about 5 square miles, and the number of rate-payers is 1;.340,
or 24*4 per cent, of the total population. The average annual
income for the five years ending with 1904-0v5 was Rs. 3,739, and
the average expenditure Rs. 3,605. In 1907-08 the total income,
exclusive of the opening balance, was Rs. 4,293, and the incidence
of taxation was 11 annas 1 pie per head of the population. The
main source of income was the tax upon persons, which is not
levied at any fixed rate ; this produced Rs. 2,592. The latrine
tax is not in force. A comparatively large income, Rs. 1,056,
accrued from the tax on animals and vehicles. The total expendi-
ture was Rs. 5,148. Rs. 1,093, or 212 per cent, of the total
expenditure, was devoted to medical relief; Rs. 1,368 (26-5 per
cent.) to public works; Es. 854 (16'5 per cent.) to water supply;
Rs. 274 (5'3 per cent.) to co nservancy ; and Rs. 174 (3'3 per
cent.) to education.

130 NADIA.

CHAPTER Xlir.

EDUCATION.

TJON.

Pbogiiebs The Nadia district has for centuries been famed for its
ot D0CA. |gj^pyjj3g_ l)^^ jjj early days literacy was confined to a few
privileged castes, and even now it cannot be said to have diffused
among the masses to the extent which would have been expected.
It is true that the census of 1901 showed that there had been
a relatively large improvement in this respect during the
preceding twenty years, but the percentage of males recorded as
literate was only equal to that for the whole of Bengal, which
is certainly not in keeping with the reputation of the district,
especially considering its proximity to the metropolitan area,
which is naturally the most favoured part of the Province from
the point of view of education. There are no statistics to show
what proportion of the people could read and write at the time
when the first census was taken in 1872, but the Subdivisional
OflScer of Chuadanga made a detailed, enquiry into this point
over the greater part of his subdivision in the year 1871-72,
and from the figures obtained by him it appears that at
that time only 2*4 per cent, of the people were sufficiently
literate to be able to read and write. The percentage of literate
males was 5*5 in 1881, as is evidenced by the figures of the
census of that year. The censuses of 1891 and 1901 showed
7"1 and 10-4 of the male population respectively as literate, 10*4
being the exact percentage of male literacy of the Province as
a whole in 19U1. The percentage of male literacy thus increased
nearly twofold in the 20 j'ears ending with 1901.

In tlie year 1806-57 there were only 19 Government and
aided schools in the district; these were attended by 1,865
pupils. By 1871 the number of such schools had increased to
252, attended by 0,120 pupils. In addition to these there were
255 private schools attended by 6,40G pupils. There were thus
in all 507 schools attended by 15,516 pupils. In comparing
thrsf figures with those cf subsequent years, it must be remem-
bered that in 1871 the Bangaou subdivision of the Jessore

EDUCATION.

13l

district was still included in Nadia, it not having been transferred
to Jessore until 1883. By 1895 the number of schools had
increased to 973, and the attendance to 31,304. In 1908-09 the
corresponding figures were 1,175 and 41,505 respectively. Of
these latter schools 4G were maintained or aided by Municipalities
and 738 by the District Board. Included in the above were
one High English school with 216 pupils, 4 Middle English
schools with 517 pupils, and 41 Primary schools with 2,052
pupils, which were chiefly maintained by the Church Missionary
Society.

There is one Arts College in the district, namely, that at collk-
Krisbnagar. It was founded by the Government in 1845 andisEDucA-
under the control of the Director of Public Instruction, Bengal. '^^°^'
Any person who has passed the University Entrance Examina-
tion may be admitted. Students pay a monthly fee of Es. 5.

The College stands upon an enclosed compound of upwards
of 100 bighas. It occupies two buildings. The larger one,
which is the main College building, is a handsome structure
covering about three bighas, or one acre. It was erected in
1856 at a cost of Es. 66,876, of which about Es. 17,000 was
contributed by private persons. There are thirteen free student-
ships which are within the gift of the subscribers to the cost
of the building, each donation of Es. 1,000 having entitled the
donor to nominate to oue free studentship in perpetuity, and
each additional Es. 500 to one further similar nomination. The
smaller building is a later addition, in which parts of the Physical
and Chemical Laboratories are located. Part of the ground
occupied was purchased by Government ; for the remainder the
College is indebted to the munificence of the Maharaja of Nadia
and Maharani Swarnamayi of Cossimbazar.

In 1871 the B.A. classes were abolished by Sir George
Campbell, then Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal, and for some
years the College only afforded instruction up to the First
Examination in Arts. In 1875, however. Sir Eichard Temple,
on the petition of the chief inhabitants of the district, consented
to restore the College to its former status, provided that a
considerable share of the increased cost was subscribed by the
community. A sum amounting to more than Es. 40,000 was
subscribed during the year, and with this endowment B.A.
classes in the B course were opened. Classes for the A course for
the B.A. were opened in June 1888.

The College, which was affiliated in 1857, has been affiliated in
Arts up to the B.A., and in Science up to the B.So. Standard,
under the new regulations.

K 2

132 NADIA.

A prize of Rs, 80, founded by Babu Mohini Mohan Ray in
1883, and called tlie Mohini Mohan Ray prize, is awarded
annually to the student who most successfully passes the B.A.
Examination with honours, or to a graduate of the College who
passes the M.A. Examination in any subject.

Another prize of Rs. 8, founded by Babu Syama Charan
Maitra, and called the " Smith and Macdonell Prize," is annually
awarded to the student who most successfully passes the F.A.
Examination and prosecutes his studies for the B.A. Examination
in the Krishnagar College.

The College endowment funds now amount to Rs. 46,500.

There is a Hindu Hostel attached to the College, which is
under the direct control of the Principal, and is managed by a
Superintendent who is also the Gymnastic Master of the College.

The College has been very sparsely attended by Muhamniadans
(during the five years ending on 31st March 1907 there was never
at one time more than one Muhammadan on the rolls), and in
1905 the Principal reported that the Muhammadans of the town
and district could not afford to give their children a proper educa-
tion. It was thought that the absence of a Muhammadan boarding
house in Krishnagar was partly responsible, and, in July 1906, the
funds necessary for opening a hostel for thera were sanctioned,
and it was arranged that one of the College Maul vis should reside
in it as Superintendent. However, up to the end of 1907, no
application for accommodation in this boarding-house had been
received, and the funds sanctioned had not been utilized.

In 1909 the staff consisted of the Principal, five Professors,
four Lecturers, and an Assistant for eaoh of the Laboratories.
The number of students on the rolls was 124.
Sbcon- III the year 1856-57 there were only three aided Higher and

DARY Middle schools in the district. The number of Higher schools,
TioN. had increased to 11 by the year 1871-72. In the year ending
on Slst March 1899 there were 16 High English schools. Ten
years later, fe., on 31st March 1909, there were 25 High scliools
in the district. Of these, one, Krishnagar Collegiate School, was
maintained by Grovernment ; one, Santipur Municipal school,
was maintained by a municipality ; 17 were aided by the District
Board and municipalities ; and 6 were unaided. These 25
gchools were attended by 4,813 pupils, giving an average of 192
pupils per school. The average cost of these scliools for the
year was Ks. 4,047. The names of the two schools which are
supported entirely from the public funds have already been
given. The following schools are aided by Concernment: —
Auila Sadarpur, Belpukur, Bhajanghat, Chuadanga, Gosaiu

EDUCATION. 133

Durgapur, Harinarayanpur, Kumarkhali, Kushtia, Majdia Rail-
bazar, Miiragachha, Meherpur, Ranaghat, Sudhakarpur, Shikar-
pur, Krishnagar Church Missionary Society, Jamserpur. The
Nabadwip Hindu school is aided by the Nabadwip | Municipality'
The following are private and unaided schools, which, however,
have been recognized by the Calcutta University :— Krishnagar
Anglo-Vernacular school, Khoksa Janipur, Sutragarh (Maharaja
of Nadia's) High English school, Santipur Oriental Academy,
Juniadaha, Natudaha. None of these unaided schools were in
existence even ten years ago.

In 1898-99 there were 48 Middle English schools, and the
same number were in existence on the 31st March 1909. The
average cost of these schools was Rs. 949, and the average
attendance at them was 78 pupils. The number of Middle
Vernacular schools was, in 1871-72, 31, including 4 unaided ;
in 1898-99 28 (none unaided) ; and on 31st March 1909, 13
only. The average expenditure on these schools in the year
1908-09 was Rs. 588, and they were attended on the average by
64 pupils. The falling ofi in the lowest of these three classes of
schools, and the increase in the highest, are a clear indication of
the desire of the people for an English education rather than a
purely vernacular one.

The number of Primary schools, including pdthshalds, was 229 Primary
in 1871-72. In 1898-99 there were 85 Upper Primary and (315 tion.
Lower Primary schools. On the 31st March 1909 there were
123 Upper Primary and 706 Lower Primary schools. The
total number of pupils at the three periods mentioned were 4,836,
20,824 and 26,117 respectively ; the latter figures do not, however,
include the pupils who are attending the Primary classes of
secondary schools ; taking these in, the total number of pupils
reciving primary education on 31st March 1909 was 31,235. The
spread of primary education has more than kept pace with the
increase in the population during the last 30 or 40 years, and
this notwithstanding the fact that there has recently been some
falling off in the number of schools owing to the insistence upon
greater efficiency in the teachers.

The progress of female education has been more marked than Femalb
that of male primary education. In the year 1871-72 there uon.
were only 21 girls' schools ; by the year 1898-99 their number
had increased to 103 ; and on 31st March 1909 there were 152
primary schools for girls only, in addition to which 689 girls
were attending at primary schools for boys. During the year
1908-09 the number of girls and women attending classes at
public institutions increased from 4,275 to 4,763, the increase

CAt EDU

CATION.

134 NAtolA.

being made up of 10, or 6*2 per cent, in the number oi pupils
in epecial schools, and 468, or 11*3 per cent., in secondary and
primary schools. The number of girls in the middle stage of
education was 10, and in the primary stage 4,572. There are
two Model Primary Schools in the district, one at Santipur and
the other at Nabadwip ; each of these is attended by more than
50 pupils and has three qualified teachers ; they aro shortly to
be recognized, as Government institutions. One female teacher
was employed during the year at a cost of Rs. 389 to impart
instruction in zenanas ; she had 25 pupils.
Techxi- There is no public technical institution in the district, but

an Industrial School is maintained at Ohapra by the Church
Missionary Society. This was attended by 33 pupils in 1908-09,
and. the cost was Rs. 1,050. The school received no direct
assistance from either Government or the District Board, but
the latter paid the sum of Rs. 588 for special scholarships for
boys leaving the school for further training in the KanohrapSra
workshops and elsewhere. The Divisional Commissioner has
recently (1909) given this school special grants for the purchase
of a steam engine and of a screw-turning lathe.
TBAiyiNQ The Church Missionary Society maintains a first grade Train-
ScHooLs. jjjg School at Krishnagar. It had 27 pupils on the rolls on
3 1st March 1909. The total expenditure was Rs. 9,069, of which
Rs. 2,800 was met from provincial revenues, and the balance by
the Society. There are ten Guru Training Schools, which are
attended by 134 pupils; they are maintained at a cost of
Rs. 14,709 which is met from provincial revenues and fees. A
Training School for females is maintained at Krishnagar by the
Church of England Zenana Mission Society ; it is attended by
36 pupils, and six-sevenths of the cost is borne by the Society,
the balance being covered by a contribution from provincial
revenues.
McHAM- Although the ratio of Muhammadans to Hindus in the district

vDvcL ^^ o-hout 6 to 4, the ratio of Muharamadan pupils at the schools
TioN. to Hindus is about 1 to 2. The Muhammadans of the district
cannot therefore be described otherwise than as backward in
education ; but they are steadily improving their position in this
respect. In 1871-72 the ratio of Muhammadan pupils to Hindu
was 1 to 8, and in 1898-99 it was I to 4; the fact that during the
last ten years the disparity has been further reduced lo 1 to 2,
gives hopes that the advantages of education are receiving wider
recognition among the Muhammadan community.
aANBKBiT 'iWg h^g begQ (Jqj^^j. ^10^ -j^ ^I^Q article upon the town of

Tioa, Nabadwip in the Gazetteer Chapter of this volume.

PArEIiS.

EDUCATION. 135

There are small libraries at Eanaghat, Kauchrapara, Santipur, libbaribs
Meherpur, and Haradham. There is a useful library attached ^^° News-
to the Krishnagar College, but this is not available to the public.
One weekly newspaper, Banga Ratna, is printed in Calcutta and
published in Krishnagar, but it has a very small and purely
local circulation. A weekly paper, Banga Lakshmi, and a
monthly magazine, Jtibak, are printed in Calcutta and published
in Santipur ; they also have a very restricted circulation.

136 NADlA.

CHAPTER XI^.

CHRISTIAN MISSIONS.

According to the last (1901) census, there are 7,912 ludian
Christians in the Nadia district. This number is exceeded only
in three districts in the Province, namely, 24-Parganas, Santal
Pargauas and iiauchi. Out of the total number of ludian
Christians returned, 5,715 belong to the Anglican Church, and
2,125 to the Roman Catholic Church. In the following pages a
short account is given of the work of the dilferent Missions in the
district.
Chubch "phe first recorded visit of Church of England missionaries to

-Mission""

4itY the district occurred, in 1822, whan Messrs. Hill, Warden and

SociKrr. Trawin of the London Missionary Society went to Santipur to see
whether it would make a suitable mission station. They reported
that " the people have much simplicity and received the truth
more earnestly than tlie Bengalies generally." They recom-
mended the establishment of a station here for various reasons,
among which was "the favourable disposition of the moral feel-
ings of the people, which, we conceive, has been cherished
materially by the general instruction which has been diffused
by the Company's school." No specific action, however, appears
to have been taken upon this report.

In 1832, a Mr. Deerr, who was then stationed at Kalna in the
Bard wan district, went to Krishnagar for a change of air, and,
while there, opened two schools in the town of Nabadwip and one
at Krishnagar itself. For the next few years work consisted
mainly in the establishment of more schools, but, in 1838, 560
persons were baptised at Krishnagar, llanabandha, Bhabarpara,
iSolo and Anandabash, and a mud churcli was built at Bhabarpara.
In 1840 mission houses were built at Kapasdanga, Chapra and
Katnapur, and another church was built at Solo. The following
year the foundation-stone of the present church at Chapra was
laid, and the church at Krishnagar was commenced. The plans
of the latter were drawn up by Captain Smith, and the cost was
met from subscriptions from the residents and others, on condition

CHRISTIAN MISSIONS.

137

that the Church Missionary Society should hold English as well
as Bengali services in it. Both these churches were opened in
1843, and have been maintained ever since. By 1843 the
Christian community numbered 3,902, and free boarding-schools
had been started in which 42 boys and 22 girls were being fed
and taught. During the next few years one or two other churches
were built and mission houses opened, and the work spread over
the gieater part of the district ; but most of the missionaries
engaged in it appear to have been disheaitened at the progress :
the general trend of the reports submitted by them was that they
distrusted the motives of the converts. There can be little doubt
that the large access to the community in 1838 was caused mainly
by the distress which resulted from the great inundation of that
year and the hope that admission to the church would secure some
relief from temporal necessities. The question of caste had also
begun to give trouble. In 1850 the school at Chapra was
commenced, and in the following years some attempts were made
to impart industrial training. The conditions that prevailed in
the church about this time were not considered satisfactory, as
may be seen from the following extract from a report submitted
by the Revd. S. Hasell in 1859 :—

"It is oj course possible to sketch a very dark picture of any
of the congregations in this zillah, and perhaps one of the darkest
might be Ohupra, but still there is another view, and the people
are not, I firmly believe, so much to blame as would appear on
the first glance. They | have been trained to be what they are, by
the over-anxiety, kindness and liberality of England.

" I will try to explain. There has always been an anxiety to
get a number of Christians and to get all their children to school.
There has been no lack of funds for the erection and maintaining
in efficiency the machinery as schools, churches, etc. The poor
have been, until very recently, liberally provided for. The
Missionary has been all things to all men, always ready to listen
to any tale of distress or suffering, and always anxious to assist
to the utmost of his power every applicant. The teachers have
always been employed, when necessary, in pleading the cause
of any oppressed by zemindar, and in every possible way the
whole mission establishment has been at the service, so to speak,
of the Christian, and they have not failed to perceive that
in some way or other are they of some importance. The
education provided for their children they neither want nor
appreciate, and the anxiety for their spiritual welfare, which
leads the missionary to beseech them in Christ's stead to be
reconciled to God, they regard as the result of fear lest

138 KAMA.

they ehoiild leave the Mission ; in short, many put on the
protcssiou of Christianity as a means of improving their worldly
condition, and it is not surprising, after the number of years
during which they have realized that as a fact that they should
avail themselves of any new opportunities which may arise
apparently tending to that eud. To be more explicit, it may be
put thus : for years my predecessor here, with untiring zeal and
self-denial, devoted himself wholly to the people. He made
their care his own, and wearied himself to provide for their
temporal wants and necessities, in the hope of securing their atten-
tion to spiritual things. Many, now the heads of families, have
grown up under his kind, fostering care, and treasure up his name
among their household treasures. Surely neither he nor they
can be blamed ; but he leaves for Europe, I take charge, and
gradually reveal my inability to follow in his footsteps, I have
no money to lend. I cannot, and will not, superintend the
many modes of employment which his ingenuity had davised to
assist them. They are told over and over again that they must
now begin to help themselves. The style of living in the schools
is reduced almost to the standard of that of the parents of the
children; clothes are no longer dealt out with a liberal hand to
those women who called themselves poor. The burden of support-
ing the really poor is thrown at once and for ever on the congrega-
tion, and, in short, everything by degrees is being cut off that in
any way partakes of the nature of support. As a natural
consequence, the people are displeased ; the teachers, who are so
intimately mixed tip with the people, that they have scarcely an
independent opinion, secretly agree with them, whatever they may
say to me openly ; and thus the whole community is prepared to
murmur, and the least spark leads to an explosion. There is,
however, still enough left, and more than enough, to keep the
congregation together : unless some greater inducement present
itself .... They would join any man, be he Baptist, Inde-
pendent, or Papist, if he came and really paid down enough to
render it worth their while to leave us. The Grospel has not taken
such a hold upon them as yet, as to render them proof against
temptations, especially when the zemindar is pressing them hard
for money. This must be considered before any judgment is
passed upon them. The Mission has been very like a damp hot-
house, and it is no wonder that some of the plants should fade
and look sickly for a time, now that they are exposed to the
influence of a more natural atmosphere.

*' I believe, however, that in time they will be healthier and
more independent ; but it will take time, it may be years j

CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 139

meanwhile we may go on gradually withdrawing aid, and wait,
and watch and pray."

In 1863, the Christian community was reckoned to bo about
3,800. In the following year the Training or the Normal School,
which had first been established at Solo, then transferred to
Kiapasdanga, then located for a time at Santipur, was finally
moved to Krishnagar, where it has remained and been maintained
ever since. There is nothing special to record of the next ten
years or so, but towards the end of the seventies the caste question
had become acute. The following extract from a report submitted
by Mr. Yaughan in 1878 may be quoted : —

" When fifteen months ago I arrived in this district, my
first anxiety was to understand the actual state of things. I
had a general impression that the condition of the mission was
far from satisfactory. I am bound to say that the reality has
proved to be worse than my fears.

" The standard of education throughout the whole district was
found to be mournfully low ; a painful state of ignorance marked
great numbers of our Christians ; a general neglect of religious
Ordinances, disregard of the sabbath, or other inconsistencies were
all too apparent. The lack of earnestness and piety in too many
of the Society's agents was also a very disheartening feature.
Then, again, the fact that, for a long series of years, not a single
convert had been made from the surrounding heathen, was strange
and anomalous. The outer circle of darkness and death had
derived neither light nor life from the Church in its centre.
Indeed, a bare idea of the church being an aggressive and evange-
lizing agency seems to have never entered the minds of the
Christians.

" Not a little struck was I the other day in coming upon an
entry made by Bishop Milman in a church book here. His
Lordship had made a visitation of the district just two months
before his death. His words are, 'the Church has come
to be looked upon as a kind of "ia^J/', (caste), which is well enough
in its way and may be acquiesced in, but not to be wondered at,
or attractive to others.'

" And yet there are elements of better things in the Church.
The people are affectionate and trustful, they are intelligent, they
are industrious and fairly energetic, nor are godly souls wanting
among them.

" But the elements of good spoken of are no new thing ;
they have existed all along in the mission ; yet, notwithstanding,
a living death has for 40 years characterized! the Church. This
state of things has led some persons to ask whether there might

140 NADIA.

not be some hidden evil, some radical error, operating to the
prejudice of the Mission, and nullifying every effort to raise and
improve it. This conjecture, I am convinced, was a true one:
and God in His goodness has brought the root-evil to light.
Within the last few months strange facts have been revealed, that
the whole body of our Christians, the Society's agents included,
have for 40 years been fast bound in the bonds of caste : indeed,
at no period has caste ever been renounced ; it was brought over
bodily with the people at the time of their baptism, and for all this
time has that heathenish and deadly institution maintained its
Bway in the Mission.

" The first thing which awakened my surprise and suspicion
was the discovery that the Christians were spilt up into sections
bearing distinctive names, answering to their caste-standing
prior to their conversion. Thus the Hindu converts and their
descendants have ever called themselves ' Hindu Christians.' In
the same way the converts from the Musalman pale have ever
clung to the term ' Musalman Christians.' And es in their
unconverted state it was unlawful to mingle their blood, so to this
day the ' Hindu' and 'Musalman' Christians, respectively, refuse
to intermarry. Nay, the very sub-castes of the former standing
have been maintained in unbroken integrity. Thus the
Christians are subdivided into two sections called ' Satgeya ' and
' Soterapera,' answering to Musalman sects in this district.
These again kept up the traditious of their Moslem forefathers
and refuse to intermarry. The grandchildren of the first
converts as rigidly maintain their caste prejudices and exclusive-
ness as did their ancestors ages ago. The hallowed fusing power
of the Gospel has been lost, and the glorious oneness of that
faruily which is the Church and household of God has never been
realized.

" But it is in relation to other sections of the Christian com-
munity that the worse aspect of caste feeling presents itself. The
members of this section are called ' Moochie Christians.' As their
name implies, they were converts from one of those despised castes
who occupy the lowest place in the Hindu system. As dealers in
skins aud leather, they were abhorrent to orthodox Hindus, who
worship the cow. Hinduism thus fixed its unmerited stigma upon
them. Christianity has not removed that stigma ; for although
baptised and grafted into the Church of Christ, their Christian
brethren have ever regarded them with loathing and animosity.
Besides personal dislike, a selfish consideration had actuated the
other sections in their treatment of these brethren. They found
that by denouncing the moochies they obtained perfect toleration.

CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 141

and even caste recognition, among their heathen neighbours ; but
to own the moochies, and treat them as brethren in Christ, would
have severed the dubious tie which they wish to maintain with the
outer circle. Accordingly for all these years their effort has been
to ostracise those poor brethren, and even to drive them beyond the
pale of Christianity. If a native Pastor ventured to baptise a
moochie infant, he was threatened with desertion by the rest of
his people ; when a poor moochie brother ventured into a church,
the congregation indignantly protested; if they presumed to
approach the holy table, the other communicants declared they
would withdraw. It is a sad and strange story, and one ceases to
wonder that under such a state of things the Church's life was
faint and slow."

In 1880 Mr. Vaughan wrote : —

" It will soon be two years since the outbreak at BoUobhpore
with its strange revelations, startled us. That unlooked-for event
brought to light hidden evils of which hardly any one had dreamt,
and went very far towards accounting for the past history of this
Mission. It largely explained the strange enigma that, despite
all effort to the contrary, the Church in these regions had remained
lifeless and inactive, and had made for well nigh forty years hardly
any accessions from the outer mass of heathen darkness.

" It showed that caste, with all its deadly and deterrent
influences, had been imported into the church by the first converts
and had lived on in unbroken integrity for all those years; that
the same impassable barriers, as Hindus, Mussalmans and moochies
before their conversion, continued still, to divide them as fellow
Christians ; so to divide them that not even would they meet at
the Holy Supper of love,

"But it is important to guard against too sanguine expec-
tations: indeed, few persons who rightly comprehend the nature
of the evils which have oppressed this Mission, would look for a
speedy triumph. To suppose that caste prejudice, which is burnt
into the very nature of the people, will expire in a day, is a great
mistake. ,

"Sombre, therefore, as the general aspect of things may be it
is not unbroken gloom; streaks of light and hope cheer us on every
way. For these we are most thankful, but I am particularly
anxious that too much should not be made of the signs of good
which have been vouchsafed us. I have seen more than Dnce
the statement that ' the caste struggle is well nigh over, and that
signs of spiritual awakening are appearing throughout the
district.' I cannot bear out such a statement. The caste struggle
is not over, and we could not make a greater mistake than to
assume that it was,"

142 NADIA

In 1881 Mr. Vaughan reported that for some time no outward
expression of caste feeling had given trouble, and the following
year Mr. Clifford, who succeeded him, reported to the same eSeot,
but added that the feeling was not eradicated, but only sup-
pressed, and that the hope lay in the nest generation. This hope
appears to have been fulfilled, for there is no further reference
to the matter in later reports, and it is to be presumed that the
caste question has now ceased to cause trouble.

After a period of financial diflSculties, which led to the closing
of some outstations, work was resumed with vigour, and in 1885
the Bishop visited the district and remarked that *' the wonder-
ful improvement effected during the last five or six years shows
how much depends upon wise, systematic supervision and mutual
confidence: there is now no more hopeful and interesting mission
in North India than that in the Nadia district." In the same
year the Church of England Zenana Mission Society com-
menced work in the district.

In 1886 was held at Balabhpur the first meeting of the Nadia
District Native Church Council, which, together with a sister
council in Calcutta, had been constituted in accordance with a
resolution of the Bengal Native Church Council held at Krishna-
gar in May 1884. The ultimate object of the District Council
is to provide the native Christian community, which inhabits
65 villages, distributed among the nine parishes of Balabhpur,
Chapra, Ratnapur, Kapasdanga, Solo, Joginda, Eanabandha,
Bahirgachhi, and Krishnagar, with a self-supporting, self-govern-
ing, and self-extending system, thus giving the scattered
congregation a federal union throughout the district. The
council has a Chairman (also known as Superintendent), Vice-
Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer, and the body is composed of
all the pastors under the District Council and two delegates from
each of the Church Committees in the district. The income of
the Council is derived from the grant from the Church Missionary
Society ; from a fixed rate paid compulsorily every month by the
workers under the Council ; and from contributions from friends
and from the members of the Churches. The Chairman, or
Superintendent, has to be constantly on the move, visiting the
parishes, keeping the workers up to the mark, examining schools,
chechiug accounts and aiding Pastors and Committees with advice.
The Council has provided many native Christians for work in
Bengal and other parts of India, and has certainly influenced
missionary work in India.

Steps were taken in 188 G for evangelizing the northern part
of the district, in the commencement of the system known as the

CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. 143

Associated Band of Evangelists' Bcheme, with head-quarters at
Shikarpur, at which place a house, church, and hospital and
dispensary were subsequently built. In 1891 the Church
Missionary Society Girls' School was put on a satisfactory basis,
and has done excellent work since. During subsequent years
great improvements were effected in the large school at Chapra
and in the Training School at Krishnagar.

In 1906 the Society took over the Kanaghat Medical Mission,
of which an account has been given below. It is reported tliat
in 1907 the numbers attending the dispensary continued at about
800 a week up till August, when the increase became rapid and
the numbers nearly doubled during September. The plan of
having two days a week at the dispensary at Ranaghat was
adhered to, and from February till the end of June the outstation
at Kaliganj was open at first two days a week, and thereafter
one day a week, on account of the small staff and the difficulty
of reaching the place during the rains : the total attendances at
Kaliganj were about 37,000. In the Eanaghat hospital 282
in-patients were treated, and 37 major and 76 minor operations
were performed.

The following extract is taken from the report of the Superin-
tendent of the Chapra School for 1907: —

" Last year two hundred and fifty-two pupils were on the roll,
divided roughly into —

Christian boys 150 (114 are boarders).
Mohammedan boys 20.
Hindu boys 20.

" One boy died of fever, but the general health of the school
was good. We stood first and second both in the Middle Verna-
cular and Middle English sections amongst the Church Mis-
sionary Society Schools of the district at the annual examination
in September, thougli we did not get a coveted Government
scholarship.

"The Industrial Department needed further arranging and
development and its funds replenishing, and I found it necessary to
collect money for it from Home friends who sent £160. One believer
in industrial work, living in Calcutta, sent me £100 unsolicited.
In my letter I also mentioned the need of a European Manager
or Foreman for the Department. I have just found a man
with experience, who, I trust, by giving his undivided attention
to it, will carry out the purpo.se of its establishment, viz., the
proper training oE the boys, now 30 in number, who are learning
carpentry and smith work. A new opening for boys appeared

144 NADIA.

in the newly established Eifle Factory at Ichapur, not far from
Kanobrapara, and there a hostel was opened and placed under
the caie of a catechist last April. It has suffered the ups and
downs of crery new project, and has added much to the financial
burdens which the missionary at Hat Chapra seems always bound
to bear."

The report for tbe year 1907 of the Chairman of the Native
Church Council of the district contains some remarks of general
interest; and a portion of it ia reproduced below : —

" To take the year as a whole, its characteristics have been very
sober. It has been one of the unhealthiest years I have ever
experienced, and many of my workers have been laid aside with
protracted illness, and more with occasional spells of sickness,
incapacitating them for work ; so that in many places it has
meant leading the sick and wounded to the fight. Cholera and
malaria are still laying many low all round me as I write

"In addition to this, it may be said that temporally I have
never known a worse year. Famine prices have ruled and for
persons of small fixed income, it is specially hard to have food-
stuffs of all kinds doubled in price right through the year. It
has meant real privation to many, and at such a time as this,
it has been especially trying that a diminished income from
home has kept us from granting increases urgently needed, and
made it necessary to reduce our staff while straining every nerve
by urgent appeals to friends, withholding special help, and
spending every pice that came to our hands to keep the existing
work going. It has also been a year of political unrest. The
growth of the nationalist movement is having a marked effect
upon the Missionary cause, for it spurns and repudiates all
European connexion, including religion, and seeks to cling to
all indigenous things, including Neo-Hinduism. Throughout
the educated classes all over the country there is a growing
impatience toward European authority and control, and dim
perception, or foreshadowing of a national life and spirit, among
races and creeds hitherto absolutely separated and aloof, and an
utter absorption in political questions to the exclusion of all else.
The Native Christian community has been also stirred by this
movement ; its spirit has penetrated the churches, and several
members have been prominent in it. Through all its trials the
year has been a year of grace, and in mony cases one is able to
report more than usual patience, unmurmuring loyalty and
growth in grace. Writing of the workers, brings the work to
my mind, I read in your pamphlet on the Bengal Mission
* that the post of a European Superintending Missionary is no

CHRISTIAN IvnSSIONS. 145

sinecure ; he has to be daily in the saddle (whether supported by
bicycle or horse), visiting the different villages (he has nine
parishes having an average of seven villages attached to each),
examining the schools, one in each village, and generally seeing
that each one of his 75 or 80 workers is doing his share of the
work faithfully and zealously', and, it might well be added, this
in a climate almost as deadly as West Africa, that invalids men
home, stricken down by fever year by year, so that a really old
Missionary is not to be met with in this plain that either drowns
or burns, a desert and a swamp, by turns."

According to the returns for 1907 five European and eight
Indian Clergymen were at work in the district at the end of that
year. There was one boarding-school for girls, at Krishnagar,
attended by 76 pupils, all Christians, and maintained at an
annual cost of Rs. 5,700. There was one High School, also at
Krishnagar, attended by 233 boys, of whom 50 only were
Christians, and maintained at a cost of Rs. 5,402, of which sum
Rs. 1,540 was provided by Government. Throughout the
district 43 day schools were roaintained at a cost of Rs. 10,717
(Rs. 1,400 being provided from public funds), and were attended
by 1,241 boys ^including 200 Christians) and 412 girls (including
282 Christians). The above figures will show that a large
proportion of the expenditure of the Society in the district goes
towards providing secular education to non-Christians.

The Ranaghat Medical Mission was established in 1893 by RakI-
Mr. James Monro, cb., a retired member of the Bengal Civil m^^Jical
Service. During his service Mr. Monro had been struck with Missiox.
the need for Mission work in Bengal, and the members of his
family resolved to join their parents in the work. The district
of Nadia was well known to Mr. Monro, who at one time was
in charge of it, and when, in 1892, the Secretary to the Calcutta
Committee of the Church Missionary Society suggested Ranaghat
as a suitable place for the work of Mr. Monro and his family, the
suggestion was accepted. The' Mission| is| conducted in accord-
ance with the principles of the Church of England, and the
sphere of its operations was in 1901 constituted a Missionary
district by the Lord Bishop of Calcutta. It was carried on by
Mr. Monro and his family, assisted by various workers who joined
them from time to time, until the end of 1905, when, owing to
various difficulties, chiefly in the matter of "stafE, it was made over
to the Church Missionary Society, by which it is now being
maintained on the same lines as those conceived by its founder.

The Mission opened a dispensary and a hospital in Ranagha*
in July 1894, and in the firet nine months gave free medical i

L I

Ufi

NAniA.

advice and medicine to nearly 28,00C out-patients, subject only
to the condition that they attended a short service which was lield
before the medical work commenced. During this same period
49 in-patients were treated in the hospital. In the cold weather
evangelistic visits were paid to a good many villages in the
neighbourhood of Ranaghat. In 1895 the medical work was
continued in the same manner, except for a period of one month,
during which it was necessary to give the much overworked staff
a short rest. In this year, the enormous number of 68,000 out-
patients, coming from 1,349 villages, were treated at the dispen-
sary and 122 in-patients received into the hospital. A small
school was started in connection with the Mission, and bible-
classes and services on Sundays were commenced. Itinerating
work was carried on to a certain extent, so far as the exigencies of
the medical work allowed. The record of 1896 was much the same
as in the preceding year, but the work in 1897 was interrupted
by the great earthquake which played havoc with the buildings
occupied by the Mission. Between 1898 and 1902 the medical
work was extended by establishing out-dispensaries at three or
four outlying villages, and a considerable number of patients were
attended by the members of the Mission while on tour. In 1902
the head-quarters of the Mission was removed to a site about a
mile from Raoaghat, where a village has now been built, to which
the name of Dayabari (home of mercy) has been given. The settle-
ment at Dayabari contains a dispensary building, which, with the
waiting sheds attached, is capable of affording accommodation
for 1,000 out-patients ; hospitals (with operation-room and store-
houses attached) with room for 40 beds; barracks for the
unmarried subordinate staff ; accommodation for women attached
to the Mission ; school for girls and infants ; seven bungalows
containing an aggregate of 44 rooms for the accommodation of
the members of the Mission ; and a small church with mud walls,
which it is now intended to replace with a masonry building.
Four-fifths of the cost of this settlement, which was considerable,
was borne by the members of the Mission, and the balance was
met by contributions received from friends. The work was
carried on with full vigour during 1903 and 1904, but operations
had to be limited during 1905 ov?ing to illness among the staff
and other difficulties, which led, as has been stated above, to
the handing over of the Mission to the Church Missionary Society
on Ist January 1906.

During the 12 or 13 years of its existence as a separate entity,
the Mission did an enormous amount of good, as may be gathered
fj-om the following statistics; at the head- quarters dispensary

OHRISTIAN MlSfllONS. 147

over 250,000 ouf-patients were treated, and 100,000 at out-
Btations; about 30,000 patients were treated by members of tbe
Mission wben on tour; and well over 2,000 in-patients were
received in the hospital This is indeed a noble record of human
sufferingr relieved, and the poor of the Ranawhat subdivision owe
a deep debt of gratitude to Mr. Monro and his family.

In 1855, at the reques*; of the Rig-ht Reverend Dr. Carew, '^o"*'
Archbishrp of Calcutta and Vioar- Apostolic of Western Bengal, missiob.
the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith sent
out three missionaries from the Seminary of St. Calocera in
Milan, namely Fathers Albino Parietti, Antonio Marietti and
Luigi Limana, They arrived in Calcutta on 17th May 1855, and
on 15th June following they reached Berhampore, wliich they
made their head -quarters. They worked in the districts of
Murshidabad, RafshShi, Malda, Bogra, Nadia and Jessore, and
in a part of the Sundarbans. In 1 857 Father Limana went to
Krishna^ar and settled down in a small house, which served also
as a chapel for the few Catholic residents who had hitherto been
receiving occasional visits from a Calcutta priest. These converts
having left the place or died, the house was let to the Municipal-
ity, and was used as a small hospital. In 1860 the Mission was
re-started by Father Limana with the help of another Father and
four Sisters of Charity. Thev founded a boarding-school for boys
and another for 'srirls. Four years afterwards other missionaries
and nuns joined them, and they were able to start work in the
interior of the district. In 1866 the first village mission was
started by Father de Conti and Father Brioschi at Dariapur in
the Meherpur subdivision Not being very successful there,
Father Brioschi moved to Fulbari, where he built a church, and
commenced working in the neighbouring villages. In September
1886 the Diocese of Krishnagar was constituted, comprising the
districts of Nadia, Jessore, Khulna, Murshidabad, Faridpur,
Din&ipur, Bogra, Malda, Jalpaiguri, Rangpur, Rai'shahi and
Cooch Behar. Monsignor Pozzi. the first Bishop, died in October
1905, and he was succeeded by the present (1909) Bishop,
Monsignor Taveggia.

At Krishnagar there is the Cathedral Church of the Divine
Saviour, built in 1898. There is also a boarding-school and
orphanage for Bengali boys, and the Convent and Orphanage for
Bengali girls. Attached to the Convent is a home for widows
and catechumens, and also a refuge for the aged and incurable
under the care of the Sisters of Charity. There are churches at
Bhabarp§ra, Fulbari, Meliapota, Ranabandha and Pakhura, with
resident clergy at BhabarparS and Ranabandha. At Bhabarpara

148 NADU.

the Sisters of Charity maintain a school and an orphanage for
Bengali girls. The Catholic population of the district is about
3,350 and of the Diocese about 6,300. The girls at the Convent
in Krishnagar make beautiful Italian hand-made lace of any
design or pattern. Attached to the Mission there are many
primary schools, some of which receive stipends from the District
Board.

THE MADIA RAJ.

149

CHAPTER XV.

THE JVADIA KAJ.

The following account is based maialy upon an article which
appeared in the Calcutta Review of July 1872. It was repro-
duced almost verbatim by Sir W, W. Hunter in his Statistical
Account of Bengal, and he remarked that the incidents related
rest chiefly on local traditions, which vary in different districts,
and that some of them must be received with caution.

The Nadia family derives its descent directly from Bhatta-
D&rayan, the chief of the five Brahmans who were imported
from Kauauj by Adiaur, King of Bengal, for the performance
of certain purificatory rites. The following are given as the
Buooessive Rajas of Nadia : —

Ram Samuddhar.

Durga Das (Majmua-d&r

Bhabanand.)
Sri Krishna.
Gopal.
Raghab.
Rudra Rai..
Ramjiban.
Ram Krishna.
Ramjiban.
Raghu Ram.
Krishna Chandra.
Siva Chandra.
Iswar Chandra.
Giris Chandra.
Sris Chandra
Satisa Chandra.
Ksitish Chandra,

Bhattanarayan.

Nipu.

Halayudh.

Harihar.

Kandarpa.

Biswambhar.

Narahari.

Narain.

Priyankur.

Dharm&ngar.

Tarapati.

Kam.

Biswanath.

Ram Chandra.

Subuddhi.

Trilochan.

Kansari.

Shashthidas.

Kasinath.

Interesting particulars are related of the career of some of
the above-mentioned Rajas, but generally overlaid by tradition

150 KADIA.

Siftiag the wheat from the chaff, it appears that Bhattanar&yan
built up his estate from the villages which Adisur had in part
sold and in part granted to him. These villages were enjoyed
by him exempt from taxation for twenty-four years. The
legends by Sanskrit writers of the Rajas, commencing from
Nipu, the son of Bhattanarayan to Kam are of little conse-
queuce. They are said to have been wise and virtuous rulers,
but it appears that their administrations were sterile of recorded
events. Biswanath was the first Raja who proceeded to Delhi,
and was confirmed in the Raj by the Emperor, in consideration
of an annual tribute. He made additions to his ancestral zamin-
daris by the purchase of Pargana Kamkadi and other proper-
ties. The next Raja whose administration deserves to be chro-
nicled was Kasinath. He was the first of his race who met with
conspicuous misfortune. During his government it happened
that from a troop of elephants, which had been sent from the
iiaja of Tripura to Akbar, Emperor of Delhi, being his annual
tribute, one large elephant escaped, and strajang about in a great
forest, broke into villages and alarmed their inhabitants. The
Raja of Madia learning that the elephant had broken into one of
his villages and done considerable mischief, hunted the animal to
death. This circumstance having been reported to His Majesty,
peremptory orders were issued to the Mussalman Governor of
Bengal to take the Raja prisoner, and send him to Delhi.

On the invasion of the Musalmans, the Hindu prince, Kasi-
nath, having received timely information of the proceedings of
the enemy, fled towards the banks of the Bhagirathi, but the
army of the Governor followed and captured him. He was there
put to death. His wife who was with child went to live in the
house of Harikrishna Samuddhar. Her child, when born, was
named Ram. He acquired much learning, and became a great
favourite with Harikrishna, owing to his man}^ amiable qualities,
and his descent from an illustrious family. Harikrishna died,
bequeathing to Ram his littie kingdom of Patkabari, which is
supposed to have been situated between Plassey and Jalangi,
on the banks of the river Julangi. lu consequence of Ram
being born in the house, and having inherited the kingdom
of Samuddhar, he was called by the name of Ram Samuddhar.
His wife bore him four sons, called Durga Das, JagadiB,
Uariballabh, and Subuddhi. Durga Das, the eldest Raj Kumar,
was once amusing himself on the banks of the river witnessing
pports and dances, when a Muhammedan chief arrived from
Delhi in a large fleet and with a numerous retinue. His
arrival was the signal for the stoppage of the dances and the

THE MADIA RAJ. 151

disappearance of the spectators. Durgft Das was the only
person who maintained his place. The chief asked him : " Tell
me, Brahman, how many Zeros is it from here to the city
known by the name of Hugli ? " Durga Das gave the re-
quired information, at which the chief said to him: "I am
highly pleased with your fearlessness and other virtues ; come
with me, then, to the country of Hugli." Durga Diis readily
obeyed, and, accompanying him to Hugli, was appointed Kanungo.
The young Raja at first demurred to the appointment, and
said: "We are kings by inheritance, and know not how to
serve others." The chief replied ; " Then I will write to the
Sultan of Delhi, that he grant you a title and a kingdom; but
now do as I bid you." Durga Das obeyed this injunction, and
entered upon the duties of his oflBce as Kanungo. On the recom-
mendation of his superior, the Emperor conferred upon him, in due
time, the title of Majmuadar Bhabanand. Some time after, he
retired from the service, and built a palace at Ballabhpur, and
having inherited the kingdom of his father, Ram Samuddhar,
ruled for twenty years. His other brothers lived in happiness, each
building a palace of his own, Hariballabh at Fathipur, Jagadis at
Kodalgachhi, and Subuddhi at Patkabari. The family originally
resided in a palace in Pargaca Bagna, constituting the largest
zamindari of the Nadia Raj. But after Kashinath paid the
forfeit of his life for killing the elephant, his son Ram lived and
ruled in Patkabari.

At this time, of all the contemporaneous Rajas, Pratapaditya,
the chief of Yasohara, or Jessore, was the most powerful. He
had subdued, or rather humbled, eleven Rajas ; Bengal being
now supposed to have been divided into twelve principalities or
large zamindark. He defied even the authority of the Emperor
refusing him tribute, and vanquishing more than once the
Mughal troops. The Sundarbans placed him for a time in an
impregnable position, and enabled him to carry on a guerilla
war. He was an usurper, having banished the rightful Raja, his
nephew Kachu Rai. In spite of his adverse circumstances
Kachu Rai contrived to acquire a respectable knowledge of the
Sastras and of the military art as then practised.

Fortified with this knowledge, and relying upon his rights, he
proceeded to Delhi, for the purpose of moving the Emperor to
recognise his claim to the Jessore Raj. On reference being made
to the Subahdar of Jahangira (Dacca) and the Faujdar of
Hooghly, they reported favourably on the claim of Kachu Rai
The Emperor, already enraged against Pratapaditya for his
insolence and rebellion, determined to punish this jefractory vassal

152 NADIA.

for his usurpation, and appoint his nephew to the Kaj. Accord-
ingly he deputed his general Man Singh to Jessore for the
purpose of bringing the rebel Raja to subjection. The avenging
Muhammadau army with their general arrived by boat at Chak-
daha, on the road to Jessore. But their arrival was the signal
for the flight of all the neighbouring Rajas. Majmuadar
Bhabanand was the only Raja who remained at his post. He
paid his homage to the general, and offered a golden ring and
other ornaments as his nazar^ declaring : '* Lord of great power !
on your arrival all kings of this land have fled ; only I, lord of a
few villages, have remained here to see your grace, the king of
Justice ; if you desire me, who am here to congratulate you, to
do any thing for you, be pleased but to order it." To this Man
Singh replied: "Well, then, Majmuadar, make the necessary pre-
parations for passing the river, that my soldiers may safely reach
the opposite bank." *' My Lord," answered the Majmuadar,
*' although I have but a small retinue, yet at the orders of your
grace all shall be performed." He then collected a large number
of boats and transports, and led the whole army across the river.
When Man Singh himself had reached the opposite bank, he
offered his thanks to Majmuadar for the seasonable aid. But at
this time the further march of his army was arrested by stormy
weather, which lasted for a whole week. What between this
untoward event and the shortness of rations, the army was nearly
ruined, but Majmuadar became the Commissary-General, and fed
the troops from his own stores. When the weather cleared up,
Man Singh thus addressed the Majmuadar, " Tell me after how
many days or on what day can I arrive from here at the capital
of Pratapaditya ? and on which side is the entrance of the army
practicable? Write it do^n accurately, and give it to me."
Majmuadar prepared and submitted the required statement.
Man Singh was much pleased with the information supplied to
him, and spoke to him thus: *' Oh, high-minded Majmuadar,
when I return again from the subjugation of Pratapaditya, you
shall utter a wish, and I will certainly grant it. But come your-
self along with me to the capital of Pratapadiyta." Pratapaditya
defended himself boldly, but after showing a great deal of
courage, was overcome. His fort was stormed, and he was
captured, pinioned, and shut up in an iron cage to be taken up
to Delhi.* He died on the way at Benares. Man Singh, on his
triumphant return, thus addressed the Majmuadar: "I have
been pleased by the zeal you have manifested in this war, and

• Compare the account of the downfall of Pratapaditya t;iveu by Mr. O'Malley
ill Tol. XV (KLulna), Beugal DiBtrict Gazetteers, p. 31.

THB MADIA RAJ. 163

you also saved the lives of my soldiers during the foul weather
which lasted without iuterruption for seven days. Utter there-
fore any wish you please, and I will certainly fulfil it."
Majmuadar then narrated his antecedents, informing Man Singh
of the flight of his grandfather Kashinath, and his subsequent
capture and violent death, with the settlement of his grandmother
and father at Patkabaii ; and expressed a wish to be reinstated in
his ancestral possessions. Man Singh promised to further his
petition, and took him up to Delhi. He then presented the
Majmuadar to the Emperor Jahaogir, and brought to His
Majesty's notice the services rendered by him in the expedition
against Pratapadiyta. His Majesty was much pleased with the
conduct of Majmuadar, and in compliance with the recommenda-
tion of his General, restored him to his Raj, and conferred on
him the title of Maharaja. These events are popularly assigned
to the end of the 16th, or first years of the 17th, century.

According to Bharat Chandra, the author of Annada Mangal,
who flourished in the time of Raja ■ Krishna Chandra, the
Emperor Jahangir held an animated discussion with the
Majmuadar on the comparative merits of the Muhammadan and
Hindu religions. His Majesty dwelt on the evils of idolatry.
He pointed out the absurdity of worshipping images of stone,
wood, and clay, instead of the one true and living God. He
condemned the law under which the Hindu women losing their
husbands are precluded from re-marrying, and deplored their
perpetual widowhood as unnatural and revolting. He also
condemned the shaving of the beard, and the expression of
homage by prostration and lowering of the head, as undignified.
He characterized the Brahman priests as a crafty tribe, doing one
thing and teaching another. He lamented the future of the
Hindus who were wedded to a debasing and demoralizing
idolatry, and inculcated that God was not incarnate, but formless.
The Majmuadar attempted a feeble and inconclusive reply,
arguing that the Puranas and Kuran inculcated substantially the
same cardinal doctrines ; that whether God was incarnate or not,
those who worshipped Him were equally entitled to salvation ;
that all objects, whether stone or clay, were pervaded by the
spirit of the Creator. The only remarkable idea to which
Majmuadar gave utterance in the course of the discussion, was
that there was not much to choose between Muhammadanism
and Hinduism, but that the religion of the Feringhis (Europeans)
was better than both, inasmuch as it acknowledged neither the
rite of oiroumcision practised by the Muhammadana, nor that of
Karnubedh, or ear-boring, practised by the Hindus ; but that it

154 KAblA.

recognized only one God, ignored all distinctions of castes, and
laid no restrictions on eating and drinking.

Majmuadar returned to his palace at Ballabhpur, and took
possession of the 14 Parganas which the farmdn of Jahangir had
awarded him. He erected a palace in the city called Matiari,
and removed there because it wo.s more central than Ballabhpur
with reference to his newly acquired and extended dominions.
He also built another palace in the village called Dinliya, and
set up an image there.

About this time the Subahdar of Jahangira (Dacca) began to
cast eyes on the kingdom of the Majmuadar, and with a view to
obtain the government of it, sent a messenger called Murad to
call him into his presence. Majmuadar obeyed the summons,
and proceeded to Jahangira, accompanied by his grandson
Gopiraman, On his arrival he was treacherously cast into prison.
But the grandson so pleased the Subahdar by the exhibition of
his extraordinary prowes», that he persuaded His Excellency to
liberate his grandfather. On his arrival at home^ the Majmuadar
showed his gratitude to the gods by pujds and sacrifices.

After this the Majmuadar announced to his three sons, Sri
Krishna, Gopal and Gobind Ram, his intention to divide his Raj
among them. " Take my kingdom; I have divided it into equal
shares." But the eldest, Sri Krishna, objected. "No, the
kingdom shall not be divided ; to the eldest according to custom,
belongs the whole." '* You are very wise and learned," replied
the Majmuadar angrily, " why do you not procure yourself another
kingdom? " " If Your Highness's feet permit me the observa-
tion," answered Sri Krishna, " what is there wonderful in that ? "
Fired by this ambition to win bis way to a kingdom, he proceeded
straight to Delhi, and obtained with much difficulty an audience
from the Emperor, to whom he communicated his circumstances
and wishes. His Majesty, pleased with his self-reliance and enter-
prise, conferred on him a Jarnidn assigning over the government
of two valuable Parganas, Kushdah and Ukhad. Some time
after he acquired this estate, he returned home and delighted his
old father with the recital of his adventures. After the death of
the Majmuadar, Gopal and Gobind Ram governed the divided
Raj of their father, and Sri Krishna ruled over the Parganas he
had gained for himself. Sri Krishna died childless of small-pox :
his brother Gopal, too, alter seven ye dars,eparted tliis life. He
was bucceeded by his son Raghab, who erected in the village
called Reui a large residence, containing magnificent palaces and a
seraglio. Raghab alto excavated an immense lake, and celebrated
its dedication to Siva with haorifioes and a public festival.

THE NADIA RAJ. 165

Righab was scrupulously punctual in the payment of the
tribute to the Emperor ; and his punctuality was rewarded by a
donation of elephants from His Majesty. He was succeeded by
his son Eudra Rai, whose career was eventful. Rudra Rai
erected at Nabadwip a temple dedicated to Siva. He changed
the name of the place Reui, where his father had built a royal
residence, into Krishnauagar (Krishnagar), in honour of Krishna.
He also constructed a canal extending northward and southward,
and connected it with the moat surrounding Krishuagar.
The Emperor having heard of his ' public spirit and enterprise,
conferred upon him by farmdn the government over the two
Parganas Khari and Juri ; and as a token of further favour,
confirmed his title of Maharaja. Moreover His Majesty accorded
to him a concession which none of his predecessors, and in fact
no other Raja of Bengal, had been able to obtain, to erect upon
his palace a turret, which is called the Kangarh, and also made
a donation of arrows, flags and drums. In acknowledgment of
these favours, the Maharaja sent to the Emperor a nazar of
1,000 head of cattle, a mass of gold equal to his own weight,
and other valuable gifts.

Basking in the imperial favour, the Maharaja did not think it
worth his while to conciliate the Governor of Jahangira (Dacca),
or to send him tribute. The Governor being highly irritated at
his conduct, wrote to the Faujdars of Murshidabad and Hooghly
and other subordinate authorities, to inform them that Rudra Rai,
affecting equality with himself, would neither pay the tribute
nor obey his orders, and directed them to contrive to take him
prisoner and send him to the city. In compliance with these
orders, Rudra Rai was enticed by some stratagem to the vicinity
of Hooghly, and thence brought to Jahangira (Dacca). Rudra
Rai paid the Subahdar his respects, and observed the etiquette
due to the Nawab, thereby disarming his anger. His Excellency
was much pleased with him, and showed him great attention. He
obtained his permission to return home and brought with him from
Jahangira an architect named Alam Khan, by whose aid he
erected a new palace at Krishnagar. He also built a separate
ndch-ghar or concert-hall, and also a pilklidna or stables for his
elephants and horses. But the most useful public work carried
out by him was a broad and high causeway between Krishnagar
and Santipur, connecting his new capital with one of the most
populous towns and celebrated cloth-marts of his Raj. The
grave of the Musalman saint Alam Khan is still found in Krish-
nagar Chauk. He himself is canonized and is generally called
AU&ldastur Pir. Though fond of magnificent buildings tho

156 NADIA.

Maharaja Rudra lived a very simple and primitive life. His
personal wants were few, but his donations were many and large.
He governed his Raj with justice and impartiality, tempered of
course by his recognition of the prescriptive rights and privileges
of the Brahmanical class. He was succeeded by his son Ram-
jibau. The latter having incurred the displeasure of the Faujdar
of Jahangira, was displaced in the Raj by his brother Ramkrishna,
who had a long and prosperous reign. During his time, the Raja
of Bardwan plundered the capital of Sobha Sioh Raja of Cbitua,
a pargana in the district of Midnapore. The latter, resenting
his attack, and being resolved to revenge himself, led his army
through a wood by an unknown route, passed the river Damodar,
and took up his station before Bardwan. He attacked the
Bardwan chief and slew him, and established his authority over
Bardwan. Jagadram, the son of the Raja of Bardwan, took
refuge in the court of the Raja of Nadia. Emboldened by his
success, and strengthened by the co-operation of Rahman Khan
of Orissa and the Marhattas, Sobha Sinh sent his Generals
against several royal cities, and attacked the authority of the
Delhi Emperor in Bengal The latter was greatly enraged by
the intelligence of the conquest of Bardwan by Sobha Sinh. He
immediately organized an expedition for the purpose of punishing
the rebel Raja of Chitua, and placed at his head the General
Azim-us-Shan When the Mughal army arrived at Murshidabad,
news reached them of the death of Sobha Sinh. He was killed
while in a fit of drunkenness by the daughter of Krishna Ram,
the late Raja of Bardwan. in defence of her honour. Upon this
Himmat Sinh, the younger brother of Sobha Sinha, oame with a
great army to Bardwan, and began to plunder that city as his
brother had done. He also attacked Ram Krishna, the Raja of
Nadia but was defeated. At this time Prince Azim-us-Shan
arrived from Murshidabad at Plassey. Having heard there of
the outrages committeJ by Himmat Sinh, he hastened with his
army to Chitua, where he attacked Himmat Sinh, and defeated
him. The prince is said to have used in the battle tire-arms
called Jelala or Jinjal, a short of musket fixed on a swivel.
Prince Azira-us-Shan remained for some time in Bengal for
the purpose of regulating the affairs of Bardwan and other
districts. The Rajas of Bengal waited upon and paid homage
to His Higliness, but most of them oame attended with only
a few followers, not daring to show their wealth. Ram Krishna
came surrounded by a stately retinue, on which the Prince
declared: "These are no princes^ but offspring of low
families, else they would have been attended by retinues.

THE NADU BAJ. 167

But Prince R§m Krishna is the offspring of a great family, for he
alone has a stately retinue, comparable to ray own ; he himself,
too, appears like a second Kandarpa, and shines before one like
the sun, and is like Vrihaspati in his spirit ; he ia surrounded by
numerous soldiers, waited upon by hosts of ministers, who them-
selves are honoured by retinues in splendid carriages. Thus he is
a man gladdening the eyes of such a person as I am, and certainly
the first among the Princes of Gaur and those of other countries."
The result of this interview was the growth of a great intimacy
between the prince and the Raj^. The prinoe repeatedly declared
the great pleasure he had derived from his intercourse with Ram
Krishna, and expressed the opinion he had formed of his ability
and character. The prince having settled the affairs of Bardwan
and the neighbouring districts, proceeded to Jahangira, where he
resided for some time. While he was at Jahangira (Dacca), the
prinoe reported to the Emperor the valuable services rendered by
Ram Krishna.

R&m Krishna administered the affairs of Nadia Raj for a
long time, living happily at the new capital Krishnagar, and
receiving from the prince Azim-us-S^han valuable support in the
discharge of his duties. He also lived on terms of amity with
the then Governor of the English settlement at Calcutta ; the
latter, in token of his regard for the Rafa, placed at his disposal
a garrison of 2,500 soldiers. He was of a stirring and aggres-
sive nature. A violent difference having arisen between Ram
Krishna and the Raja of Yasohara (Jessore) in regard to the
boundaries of certain villages, he marched to Jessore and vanqui-
shed the Raja. This achievement, as well as the favour he
enjoyed at the Court of Delhi, established his power on a solid
foundation, enhancing his influence over the neighbouring Rajas
and securing him against the extortions and oppressions of the
Subahdar, But the Subahdar, being determined to do him an
injury, allured him to Jahangira (Dacca), where by treachery he
was closely confined. He died in prison of small-pox. The news
of his death greatly grieved Azim-us-Shiin, who instructed Jafar
Khan to confer the Raj on the lineal descendant of Ram Krishna.
His Highness wrote to the Subahdar to ask if there was a son, a
foster-son, a grand-son, or any such relation of Riim Krishna, in
order that the Raj should be conferred on him. Jafar Khan
replying that there was no such relation, the prince ordered,
*' Then give it to any minister of Ram Krishna who is fit for the
government and who will protect the wife and family of Ram
Krishna.*' Jafar Khan replied, " Your Highness, there is no such
minister ; Ram Krishna's elder brother, however, Prinoe RSmjibau,

158 NADTA.

lives in prison here. If you command, I will commit the kingdom
to him." No other alternative beinsr left to him, the prince sanc-
tioned the proposal of Jafar KhSn. Ramjiban was thus entrusted
with the Raj for a second time. He had, of course, to pay the
full price for the favour thus shown by Jafar Khan. He was
fond of poetry, and especially of the drama. He pafronized
the nataTxH and his court was frequently enlivened by dramatic
performances. He had 'a son, Rag-hu Ram, who combined a
benevolent heart with a p^enius for warlike pursuits, and rendered
sipnal service to Jafar Khan by assisting his General, Lahurimall,
in vanquishing the army of the Raja of Rajshahi. The latter, in
eonpequence of a quarrel with the Subahd^r, had taken up his
position with a considerable force near the village of Birkati. In
recognition of this service, his father Ram Jiban, who had been
a second time imprisoned by Jafar Khan, not at Jahangira
(Dacca) but at Murshidabad, his new head-quarters, was liberated.
Raghu Ram, during the lifetime of his father, had a son born to
him, for whom a glorious future was predicted. When the child
had reached the age of six months, Ram Jiban celebrated with
great pomp his Anndprdsan, or the ceremony of feeding him with
rice for the first time. He invited learned pandits and powerful
Rajas from Anga, Banga, Kalinga, Kasi, Kanchi and the
adjacent provinces. The child whose Annaprdsan was celebrated
with such splendour was named at that ceremony Krishna
Chandra.

Ramjiban was at this time summoned by Jafar KhSn to
Murshidabad, to settle the accounts of the tribute due from him
and he died at that city.

Ramjiban was succeeded by his already celebrated son Raghu
Ram. Having governed the Raj for two years at Krishnagar,
he was arrested by orders of Jafar Khan, carried to Murshid-
abad, and kept there in confinement. He was a very benevolent
man, and dispensed his charities from the jail.

After some time he was released and allowed to resume the
management of the Raj. He, however, survived his liberation for
only four months. Ha died on the banks of the Bhagirathi in
1782, and the same year Krishna Chandra was anointed as
Maharaja.

One of the first acts of the Maharaja Krishna Chandra Rai
was the celebration of yajiins, or festivals called A(jinhotra and
Tidj-peya. He spent twenty lakhs of rupees in the ceremony.
Learned pandits from different parts of Bengal and from Benares
came by invitation to assist in the performance of the j/ajnas. They
were rewarded with valuable presents, according to their respective

THE NADIA HA J. 159

ranks, and In turn for the same, as well as for the recognition
of the merits supposed to inhere in the performance of the
yajnas, they oonferrf^d upon him the title of Aginhotri Bdjpei
Sriman Maharaj Rdjendra Krishna Chandra Rat.

He was ;fond of sport and delighted in hunting, being a
fearless rider and a good shot. On one occasion he set on foot a
great hunting expedition, and went in pursuit of game to a
place now'known as Sibnibas. He was so struck with the beauty
of the place and its pleasant situation on the banks of the river,
that he built a palace there for his occasional residence He called
the palace the Sibnibas Eajbari, and the river Kankana. He
established in connection with the palace an asylum for the infirm
and the aged poor, and also several pathsdlds and tois for the benefit
of Sanskrit scholars

Krishna Chandra is described in the Annada Mangal as the
patron of the four '^amdj's, viz., Nadia, Kumarhatta, Santipur and
Bbatpdra, all of which towns were noted for learning, and as the
seats of scholars. In order to encourage the cultivation of Sans-
krit learning, he fixed a monthly allowance of Es, 100 as stipends
to students who came from a distance to study in the ink of
Nadia. This allowance was perpetuated by his grandson Iswar
Chandra, who made arrangements with the Government for its
punctual payment, and Es. 100, subsequently increased to Es. 300,
is now paid every month from the Collectnrate of Nadia. The
munificent patronage accorded by him to various branches of
learning formed a leading glory of his administration, and still
renders it famous. There is a Bengali proverb still current in
the country, that any one who does not possess a gift from
Krishna Chandra cannot be a genuine Brahman. The custom of
inviting and giving pecuniary presents to learned Brahmans on
occasions of srdddhas^ marriages, etc., received encouragement
from him.

The political condition of Bengal during the time of Maharaja
Krishna Chandra Rai was extremely critical and unsatisfactory.
It was complicated by the dissensions of the Subahdars and their
principal officers, arising from the tyranny of the former, and
culminating in civil wars. It was further complicated by inces-
sant warfare waged by the Marhattas. The evils attending this
state of things were the destruction of crops, with the consequent
scarcity of grain, the depression of foreign and inland trade, and
the ])rev8lence of universal oppression.

In A D. 1739 Sarfraz Khan became SubahdSr of Bengal.
His oppression had alienated from him his chief officers and the
leading noblemen of the country. Among the former were the

160 NADTA.

Topkhana Daroga and Haji Harait, brottors of Ali Vardi Khan,
Governor of Patna, and Alam Chand. Among the latter was
Fathi Chand, who had received from Aurangzeb the title of Jagat
Seth, and who was esteemed the greatest banker and ♦he most
opulent subject in India. His indignation against the public
misgovernment was intensified by a private wrong perpetrated
by Sarfraz Khan. He had about this time married his grandson,
Mahtab Rai, to a handsome girl, and the fame of her exquisite
beauty having reached the ear of Sarfraz Khan, the latter longed
for the possession of her person. He sont for Jagat Seth, and
demanded a sight of her. The Seth remonstrated against his
demand as a gross violation of his honour and caste, but Sarfrfiz
Khan insisted on committing this outrage She was carried off
by force to the palace of the Subahdar at night, and sent back
after a few hours. This indignity rankled in the heart of Jagat
Seth, and his whole family influence was exercised with a view to
the dethronement of SarFraz Khan. He was pined in this pro-
ject by Hem Chand and Haji Hamit, the latter not only wanting
to get rid of the oppressor, but to place his brother, Ali Vardi
Khan, on the throne. The triumvirate arrived at the resolution
'* that none could be secure in their lives, honour, or property
whilst Sarfraz Khan remained invested with the Subadarship.'*
They further resolved that " Ali Vardi Khan was the only one
capable of rescuing the provinces from apparent and inevitable ruin,
and that he should be immediately advised of their sentiments,
and entreated to concur with their proposal, by preparing for a
speedy march to Bengal to take upon himself the government."

The events which followed belong to the general history of the
Province. Ali Vardi dethroned the tyrant and was himself suc-
ceeded by his adopted son Siraj-ud-Daula, (whose violence and
perfidy ended with the battle of'Plassey. The part taken^y
Krishna Chandra of Nadia in the establishment of the English
power reflected credit on his foresip'ht, and in recognition of the
services rendered by him, Lord Clive conferred on him the title
of Rajendra Bahadur. He was also presented with a dozen guns
used at Plassey. They may be still seen in the Rajbari.

The Maharaja was a scholar, and fond of the society of
scholars. He also patronized musicians of the upper provinces,
and was a great connoisseur in matters regarding oriental masic.
As a patron of architecture, he constructed a large building for
pujd in the Rajbari, and built a marble staircase for going down
the 8acre<l well Gyan Bapi in Benares, for the benefit of the
pilgrims. He was universally considered the head of Hindu
society, and the arbitrator on all questions of caste.

THE NADIA RAJ. 161

In 1758, the Nadia Raj became a defaulter to the English
Government, on which Mr. Luke Soraf ton proposed to send a trusty
person into Nadia to collect the revenues for the Maharaja, and to
deprive him of all power in his district, allowing him Rs. 10,000
for his subsistence. It appears from the proceedings of the Govern-
ment, dated 20th August 1759, that the revenue of the Maharaja
Krishna Chandra for the Pargana Nadia was nine lakhs of rupees,
less Rs, 64,048, being the revenue of Nadia lands included in East
India Company's land, so that the net amount was Rs. 8,35,952,
This amount was payable by monthly kists or instalments. For
its punctual payment the Maharaja entered into the following
agreement : — "I promise to pay the above sum of Rs. 8,35,952,
agreeable to the kistbandi, without delay or failure. I will ;iay
the same into the Company's Factory. I have made this that it
may remain in full force and virtue. Dated the 23rd of the
moon Tulhaide [sic), and the 4th August, of Bengal year 1166."

Maharaja Krishna Chandra died at the good old age of 70,
and left six sons and one daughter.

Siva Chandra, the eldest son of the deceased Maharaja,
succeeded to the title and estate of his father, in accordance with
the provisions of the will of the latter. Krishna Chandra was
one of the first Hindus who adopted the custom of making
written wills, a practice unknown to the sdsiras.

Siva Chandra retained in his employ the old officers of the
Raj and availed himself of their experience. He managed the
affairs of his estate with great tact and judgment. He was a
more profound scholar in Sanskrit than even his father. A
manuscript work of his composition has been lately disoovered.
He was a religious man and spent a large portion of bis time in
performing ceremonies. He celebrated the Soma Yaga, and died
at the age of 47, leaving one son and one daughter.

Siva Chandra was succeeded by his son, Iswar Chandra, a
generous and extravagant prince, who diminished the estate to
the extent of three lakhs of rupees. He built a villa called
Sriban, situated in a romantic spot about two miles from the
Rajbari. Iswar Chandra died in the fifty-fifth year of his age,
leaving one son and one daughter. The son, Girish Chandra, a
young man sixteen years of age, succeeded to the title and
property. During his minority the estate was managed by the
Court of Wards. Like his fatlier, he was a very extravagant
man, and a considerable part of the property was in his time sold,
owing to the non-payment of the Government revenue.

The debotiar lands which had been expressly set aside for the
worship of the family idols, yielding an income of about a lakh of

162 NADIA.

rupees a year, and some zarjindaris heavily encumbered, were alonfe
left to him of an inheritance which at one time embraced a vast
extent of country, and comprised eighty- four pargonas, the seat of
great manufacturing industries, and rich in agricultural resources.

Girish Chandra, like his predecessors, was a great encourager
of Sanskrit learning, and delighted to reward the learned men of
his time. During his administration the celebrated poet, Rasa-
sagar flourished, and was for a long time an ornament of his
Court. Girish Chandra had two wives, but left no issue at the
time of his death, which took place in the sixtieth year of his
aoe. Before his decease he adopted a son named Srisa Chandra,
who succeeded bim.

Srisa Chandra was only 18 years of age, and had scarcely
passed his minority, when he took charge of the estate. By tact,
sagacity, and -judgment he managed to clear off the encumbrances
and increased the income to some extent. He was an intelligent,
affable man, and very popular with all who came in contact
with him,

Srisa Chandra, tbough representing the most orthodox family
in Bengal, emancipated himself from the fetters of bigotry, and
caught the spirit of innovation characteristic of the present age.
He introduced European customs, and observed no distinction of
caste in eating and drinking. When the first petition for
legalizing the re-marriage of Hindu widows was prepared, he
headed the list of subscribers to the document. He also opposed
the system of Hindu polj'gamy, and heartily joined in the
movement for abolishing it, except in certain cases. He establish-
ed an Anglo-Vernacular school at his own residence, with a head
master, three assistant masters and two pandits, without aid
either from Government or subscriptions from private sources.
He also presented to the Government the tract of land on which
the Krishnagar College stands, and subscribed a large sum for
its erection. Though not a scholar he was a great admirer of
learning, and had his two sons educated at the Government
College. He was tolerably conversant with Persian and Sanskrit ;
a patron of Hindu music, and himself a good singer ; his name
was known to all the celebrated singers of the day, and they
came to him even from distant places like Delhi and Lucknow.

The Government recognised and confirmed his title of Maha-
raja Bahadur, and bestowed upon him the usual khilat and other
honours anpertalning to the same. Srisa Chandra died in the
thirty-eighth year of his age, leaving one son and one daughter.

Satisa Chandra succeeded his father at the early age of
twenty, and carried still further his imitation of English habitfl»

THE NADU RAJ. 163

He died at Masiiri on the 9th October 1870 in the thirty-third
year of his age, and was Buoceeded by his adopted son, the present
(1909) Maharaja Kshitish Chandra, during whose minority the
estate was again managed by the Court of Wards. He oame of
age in May 1889, and was installed by Sir C. S. Bayley, the then
Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal, at Krishnagar in July 1890.
He has maintained the tradition of his house as a supporter of
learning.

At present the total land revenue payable by the estate is
Rs. 62,542, while its annual value, according to the Road Cess
returns, is Rs. 2,17,790. The largest compact block within the
estate lies in the Chapra thana : the remainder consists of emaller
blocks, scattered over the thanas Kotwali, Santipur, Kissengunge,
Chakdaha, Ranaghat, Gangni, Tehata, Hanskhali and]Jibannagar,

164 NAPIA.

CHAPTER XVI.

GAZETTEER.

Amghata— Gangavas:— Gangavas is the name given to *
portion of the village of Amghata, which is situated about 6 miles
west of Krishnagar. It lies on the Alakananda, which was an
off-shoot of the Jalangi falling into the Bhagirathi. but has now
silted up. The waters of this stream, owing to its connection with
the Ganges, were considered holy, and a palace was built on the
banks by Maharaja Krishna Chandra, and named Gangav6s, i.e.t
residence on the Ganges. Temples were also erected in which the
images of Hari and Hara and six other gods and goddesses were
installed, and provision was made on a liberal scale for their
worship. As a consequence the fame of Gangavas spiead far and
wide, and it became a place of pilgrimage, at which a large
number of persons assembled on the Paush Sankranti, Barun and
Dasahara days, to bathe in the sacred -waters of the Alakananda,
and pay their homage at the various shrines. When the stream
silted up, the place gradually lost its importance, and the temples
were neglected and fell into ruins. Only those of Hari Hara and
Kal Bhairav have withstood the ravages of time, and now one
Brahman, on a small pittance allowed by the present Maharaja of
Krishnagar, performs the daily j)f<;a to the idols. The Earn
padak {i.e., footprint of Ram) which is still to be seen here is said
to have been brought from the Chitrakuta hills.

Araughata— Village situated in the Ranaghat Thana about
6 miles north of Ranaghat. It lies on the main line of the Eastern
Bengal State Railway and has a station called after its name-
The population is about 600, most of whom are low class Muham-
madans. The river Churni passes by the village and on its bank
is the Hindu temple of Jugal Kishwar, which is believed to have
been constructed about 1728 A.D., and which contains the images
of Krishna and Eadha. According to tradition the f(»rmer was
bi ought from Brindaban and first installed at Samudragarh (near
Nabadwip), whence it was transferred to Aranghata by Ganga
Ram Das, th.e first mahanth of the temple. The image of RadhS
is said to have been brought from the palace of Krishna Chandra,
the famous Maharaja of Nadia, who made a grant of 125 bighaa
of rent-free land for the support of the temple. A big fair is held

GA2ETtEBR. l65

here annually throughout the month of Jaista, and is attended
by pilgrims from all parts of Bengal : among the visitors females
predominate, owing to the belief that any woman who visits the
temple will escape widowhood, or, if she be already a widow, will
be spared from that fate in her next birth. To the south of this
temple there is another, and a more ancient one, containing the
idol of G-opi Nath, but this possesses no special fame or sanctity.

Bagula. — A small village and a station on the Eastern Bengal
State Railway. Until Krishnagar received a direct railway service,
it was the nearest railway station to that place, with which it
is connected by a metalled road 11 miles in length. It is now of ^
little or no importance. It was for some time, from 1862 onwards,
an outstation of the Church Missionary Society.

Bamanpukar. — A village in the Kotwali Thana on the east
bank of the Bhagirathi opposite Nabadwip. There seems no doubt
that a portion of the old Nabadwip of the Hindu kings of Bengal
lay within this village : the remainder of the site now lies under
the waters of the Bhagirathi. In the village there is a large
mound which is called Ballaldhibi and is believed to be all that is
left of the palace of Ballal Sen ; and near by is a tank which is
called Ballaldighi.

Birnagar, — The ancient name of this small town was Ula.
It ,is in the Ranaghat Subdivision about five miles from
Ranaghat and 13 from Krishnagar, and is situated in 23° 15' N.
and 88°34' E. Its population was 3,124 in 1901 as compared with
3,421 in 1891, and 4,321 in 1881. Its present (1901) population
is made up as follows : — Hindus, 2,380 ; Muhammadans, 735 ;
and Christians, 9. The town was constitued a Municipality in
1869, with 12 Commissioners, 8 of whom are elected and the
remainder nominated. The Subdi visional Officer of Ranaghat
was ex-officio Chairman until 1901, but since that year there hae
been a non-official Chairman. The average annual income and
expenditure was from Rs. 3,500 to Rs. 4,000 until 1906-07. In
the last two years the figures on both sides of the account have
increased, and in 1908-09 the incomo was Rs. 5,483 and the
expenditure Rs. 5,735. The public buildings are (1) the Muni-
cipal Office, (2) the Municipal Charitable Dispensary and (3) the
Municipal Market.

One of the earliest traditions connected with this town is that
it was once visited by Srimanta Saudagar, the mythical Hindu
merchant-prince. At that time tho Ganges flowed pastHhe place,
and as Srimanta was sailing up to it, a terrific storm came on.
In response to divine inspiration he called upon Ulai Chandi, one
of the wives of Siva, the destroyer, to help him. She answered

166 NABIA.

his prayer and protected his fleet ; whereupon he instituted a
special worship of her in this place, which has been carried on to
the present day. The Ulai Chandi festival is celebrated here
annually in the month of Baisakh, and is attended by 10,000
pilgrims, who, it is said, are housed and fed by the residents.

According to tradition the present name of Birnagar (anglici,
town of heroes) was conferred upon the town in recognition of
the bravery of its iahabitants in capturing noted dacoits on two
occasions. The first capture was that of a notorious bandit, who
was known as Shena Shani, a native of Santipur, and a Goalft
by caste : it is said to have been effected by Anadi Nath Mustafi,
of the Mustafi family of Ula. The second capture was that of
the gang of daooits who were headed by Baidya Nath and Biswa
Nath, and ravaged the district during the latter part of the
eighteenth century, Babu Mahadeb Mukbapadhjay is said to
have effected this capture, though this is somewhat at variance
with the account of the destruction of the gang which has been
given by Sir William Hunter.*

•Since the above was written, the following letter, dated 29th October 1800.
from Mr. J. Lumsden, Registrar, to the Secretary to the Qovernment in the
Revenue and Judicial Departments, has been traced, and may be quoted in txtenso,
"Sir, — In a trial before the Third Judge of the Calcutta Court of Circuit atthe last
Jail delivery for Zilla Nuddea which came under reference before the Nizamat
Adawlut, it appeared in evidence that a night attack having been made oa the
house of Mahadeo Muckerjee, a respectable resident in the village of Ooloo, by a
large Gang of armed Dacoits, the Inhabitants of the Village immediatedly assem-
bled, surrounded the House, and after a desperate Resistance in which nine of the
Villagers were wounded, apprehended on the spot eighteen of the Robbers, who were
tried and convicted and sentenced to perpetual Imprisonment and Transportation.

2. The Judge of Circuit considered the Inhabitants of Ooloo as entitled to
•ome mark of Distinction for their Behaviour on this occasion, and the Nizama*
Adawlut concurring in this Opinion, desired him to propose some specific Recompense
which might with propriety be made to them.

3. I have now received the Orders of the Court to transmit to you the enclosed
copies of two letters from the 3rd Judge of the Calcutta Court of Circuit on thig
subject, and to request that you will lay them before the Most Noble the Governor-
General in Council, with their recommendation that hii Lordship will be pleased to
authorize the Magistrate of Nuddea to pay a reward of twenty sicca Rupees to
each of the nine Villagers who were wounded in apprehending the Robbers, and to
change the name of the Village from Ooloo to Beernagur, as proposed by the Judge,
notifying the same by Proclamation in the manner suggested in Mr. Camac's
Letter of the 25th instant.

4. The timid Behaviour of the Natives of Bengal in general, in deserting their
Habitations and Property when attacked by Gangs of Dakoits, is to be ascribed, in
the opinion of the Court, more to the horrid acts of Barbarity which are often
jicrpetratcd by the Robbers, than to any want of personal Courage, and it is believed
M)at the occasioiml notice and approbation of an Opposite Line of conduct by
Government, may operate as a spur to excite others to follow the example, and by
creating a Spirit of Emulation throughout the Country, may prove the most effectual
means of checking the Depredations of the banditti, and raising up opponents to
them iu every village."

9AZETTEER. 167

The Mastafi family was founded by one RSineswar Mitra,
who visited Delhi in the time of Aurangzib, and who is said to
have much impressed the Emperor with his scholarship and
personal appearance, and to have obtained from him an intro-
duction to Murshid Kuli Khan, then Nawab of liengal. The
Nawab gave him a high post in the Accounts Department, in
which he so distinguished himself and did such good work, as to
earn for himself the title of Mustafi. This title has been retained
in the family during the eight generations which have passed
since it was conferred. Owing to partition and litigation the
fortunes of the family have greatly declined and they are no
longer well off.

The Mukhopadhyay family, whose founder is alleged to have
been instrumental in the capture of the gang of Baidya Nath
and Biswa Nath, are the local magnates of Biruagar, and keep
open house for all who care to avail themselves of their
hospitality when visting the town.

Birnagar was once a large and prosperous town, but the
epidemic of malarious fever in 1857 caused great ravages in the
place, and it has been steadily declining ever since.

The following account of the place is taken from an article
by Revd. ' J. Long which appeared in the Calcutta Review in
1846. "Not far from Ranighat is Ula, so called from Uli,
a goddess whose festival is held here, when many presents
are made to her by thousands of people who oome from
various parts. There are a thousand families of Brahmans,
many temples and rich men living in it. As Guptapara is noted
for its monkeys, flalishar for its drunkards, so is Ula for fools,
as one man is said to become a fool every year at the mela. The
Baraari Puja is celebrated with great pomp ; the headmen of the
town have passed a bye-law that any man who, on this occasion
refuses to entertain guests, shall be considered infamous, and,
shall be excluded from society. Saran Siddhanta of Ula had
two daughters, who studied Sanskrit grammar and became very
learned. In 1834 the Babus of Ula raised a large subscription
and gave it to the authorities to make a pukka road through the
town."

Chakdaha. — A town in the Ranaghat Subdivision on the
main line of the Eastern Bengal State Railway, situated in
23° 6' N. and 88° 33' E., not far from the left bank of the
Hooghly river. Tradition says that bhagirath, when bringing
the (ianges from Himalaya to Granga Sagar to water his fore-
fathers' bones, left the traces of his chariot wheel {chakra) here ;
henoe the name. Not much appears to be known of the anoieat

168 KAMA.

history of the town, but it is believed that the army of General
Man Singh was weatherbound here for some days, on its way to
the subjugation of PratSpaditya at the close of the sixteenth
century. Chakdaha, as well as Bansbaria and Ganga Sagar, was
once notorious for human sacrifices by drowning. In Hamilton's
"Description of Hindostan," London. 1820, it is stated that " this
town was formerly noted for voluntary drownings by the Hindoos,
which however latterly have become a mere ceremony of immer-
sion without any fatal result." Stavorinus, 1785, writes, "The
village of Chagda, which gives its name to the channel, stands a
little inland, and there is a great weekly market or bazar here :
the channel terminates about three Dutch miles inland, and on
its right has many woods in which are tigers and other wild
beasts; on entering the woods a little way, we soon met with
the traces of tigers in plenty, and therefore we did not think
it prudent to venture further ; we met in the way the remains of
a Bengali who had been torn in pieces by a beast of prey."
There is other evidence to show that tigers were not uncommon
in the district in the latter part of the eighteenth century ; it is
said that during that period persons travelling in the neighbour-
hood of Nabadwip were compelled to sound instruments to
frighten these animals away ; in 1802 expeditions were made to
.Krishnagar to hunt them, and as late as 1825, a tiger was killed
at Dhogachhia 6 miles west of Nabadwip. Tigers have long
since disappeared, but leopards are still found occasionally
in the district, especially in the Meherpur Subdivision.

At the beginning of the nineteenth century, dacoits committed
great havoc in the neighbourhood of Chakdaha. At the trial of
Bome men who had committed a dacoity in the town, one of the
witnesses stated that "the country is in the hands of the dacoits,
and they do not scruple to plunder in broad daylight." In 1809
one Hanif, with eight companions, was hanged in the town for
dacoity.

Chakdaha used to be an important trade centre, but a change in
the course of the river aSected it adversely in this respect. The
only public buildings now in the town are the Municipal ofiBoe,
dispensary and hospital, and the office of the Sub-Registrar.
The town was constituted a Municipality in 1886, with 12 Com-
missioners, all of whom are nominated. The population in 1901
was 5,482 as compared with 8,618 in 1891. Its present (1901)
population is made us as follows: —

Hindus .., 4,300

Muhammadans ... 1,181

Christian ... 1

GAZETTEER.

16»

The average annual inoome for the quinquennium ending
with the year 1894-95 was Rs. 3,844, and the expenditure
Rs. 3,984. There was but little variation during the following
ten years, but from the year 1905-06 there was a considerable
increase in the figures on both sides of the account. In 19U8 09
the income was Rs. 4,669, and the expenditure Rs. 4,259,

Chapra. — A village about ten miles north of Krishnagar on the
read between that town and Meherpur. It has been a centre oi
work of the Church Missionary Society for nearly 70 years. A
church was built here in 1841, and a school was started in 1850 :
the latter is now a most useful institution ; in 1908, there were 202
boys on the rolls, and teaching was carried on up to the Middle
English Standard. There is a thana in the place, and not far off,
on the banks of the Jalangi, is the village of Bangaljhi, wbich
was once an important river-mart, and in which there is still a
certain amount of local trade.

Chnadanga Subdivision — Forms the central portion on the
eastern side of the district, and lies between 23° 22' and 23° 50'
N., and 88° 38' and 89° 1' E., with an area of 437 square miles.
It is bounded on the north-east by the Kumar or Pangasi river;
on the north-west by the Meherpur subdivision ; on the south-west
by the head^quarters subdivision ; and on the south-east and east
by , the Jessore district. It has no natural boundaries except upon
the north-east. It is traversed by the Matabhanga or Haulia
river, upon which lies its head-quarters. The subdivision consists
of a flat widespread plain intersected by numerous streams,
which have now in many instances silted up. The '[population
which suffered a decrease of 3*5 per cent, in the decade ending in
1891, more than made up the loss by an increase of 3'74 per cent,
in the following decade, and was, in the census of 1901, returned
at 254,589, which gives a density of 583 persons to the square
mile. The variations in the decade ending in 1901 ranged from
an increase of 1"54 per cent, in the Jibannagar thana to an
increase of 9*65 per cent, in the Damurhuda thana. The subdivi-
sion contains 485 villages, but no towns, Chuadanga being its
head-quarters. From 1st April 1892, it was amalgamated with
the Meherpur subdivision under one Subdivisional Officer, but on
1st April 1897 it was re-established in response to a petition from
the inhabitants of the villages on the east, complaining of the
great distances which they had to travel to reach the Court. For
police purposes, it is divided into four thanas, viz., Chuadanga,
Damurhuda, Alamdanga, and Jibannagar.

Chuadanga. — This village is the head-quarters of the subdivi-
sion to which it gives its name. It is situated in 23° 39' N. and

170 liAbiA.

88" 51' E., Jon the left bank of the Matabhanga river. It is
traversed roughly from north to south by the main line of the
Eastern Bengal State Railway, which has a station here ; and
from west to east by a metalled road from Meherpur over the
boundary into the Jessore district. It is an important trade
centre. It contains the usual public offices of the head-quarters
of a Bubdivision. Its population was returned at 3,147 in the
census of 1901.

Damukdia.— A village on the Padma in the extreme north of
the district, and within the Kushtia Subdivision. It is the
southern transhipment station for the crossing on the Ganges on
the Eastern Bengal State Railway. There is a police outpost in
the village.

Ghoshpara. — A village situated iu the Chakdaha thana of the
Ranaghat subdivision, about five miles north-west of the Kauchra-
para Railway station. It is also known under the name of
Nityadhan. This village is the head-quarters of the Kartdhhdjd
sect of which an account has been given in Chapter III above.
According to Babu Gropal Krishna Pal, who has witten an
interestino- note on the sect, festivals are held at Ghoshpara at the
Dol Jatra, in the month of Falgun ; at the Rath Jatra in the
following month ; on the anniversary of the death of Ramdu Lai,
or Dula'l Chand, the son of the original founder of the sect, in *he
month of Chaitra ; on the anniversary of the death of the founder,
in the month of Asarh ; and on the anniversary of the death of
the founder's wife in Aswin. The places visited by the pilgrims
are the room where the founder's wife was buried, the room
containing the relics of the founder, and the room containing
the relics of his son; in each of which places daily prayers are
also offered. In addition to the above, two tanks, named
Dalimtala and Himsagar, are also visited by the pilgrims:
both of these tanks are associated with the name of the Fakir
who assisted in the founding of the sect. Except for its
connection with the sect, the village of Ghoshpara is of no interest
or importance.

Ghurni. — The north-eastern suburb of the town of Krishnagar,
famous for the manufacture of clay figures and models of remark-
able excellence. The industry is carried on by a few men of the
Kumar or potter casts, and specimens of their work have received
medals at the London and Paris exhibitions. Ghurni is said to
liave been the birthplace of Gopal Bhar, the celebrated jester of
the court of Maharaja Krishna Chandra.

Gosain-Durgapur. — A village in the Kushtia Subdivision
about 5 miles to the south-east of the Ilalsa railway station. A

0AZETT2E11. 171

fair is held here annually on the full moon day in the month of
Kartikj in honour of the idol Eadha Eaman, which is installed in
a temple in the village. According to local tradition, this idol
was stolen by a band of outlaws and presented by them to the
saint Kamala Kanta Goswami, iu return for his having miraculous-
ly quenched their thirst with a small lota full of water. Shortly
afterwards, the saint, who was young and good-looking and deeply
learned in the Sastras, was seen by the princess Durga Devi,
who had accompanied her father to the spot on a hunting expedi-
tion. The father consented to their ma.rriage, and made a grant
of several villages as a dowry. The temple bears an inscription
to the effect that it was erected by Raja Sri Krishna Rai in
1674 A.D., and was dedicated to the idol which it contains.

Hanskhali. — A village on the Churni river at the point where
the metalled road from Bagula to Krishnagar crosses that river.
It was, before the advent of the railways, a river-mart of some
importance, but has now greatly declined, especially since Krish-
nagar obtained a direct railway service. It is a station for the
collection of Nadia Rivers tolls. There is a thana on the right
bank of the river by the ferry.

Kanchrapara. — A fairly large village in the extreme south of
the district, and about 3 miles west of the station on the main
Ime of the Eastern Bengal State Railway^ lo which it has been
given its name. It is about a mile to the west of the Hooghly,
and is on the road to Ghoshpara, the seat of the Kartabhaja
sect. At one time Kauchrapara was a big and important
village, and was very largely attended by visitors on the occasion
of the celebration of the Rath Jatra festival. It is now, however,
on the decline, an 1 is being depopulated by malaria. The village
temple of Krishna and Radhika is said to have been built by the
Malliks of Calcutta in 1708.

Kapasdanga. — A village in the iJamurhuda thana of the
Chuadanga subdivision, about 7 miles from the Ramnagar railway
station on the Eastern Bengal State Railway. An out-station of
the Church Missionary Society was established here in 1840, and
has been maintained since. Kapasdanga was visited by a Mr.
Innes in 1841, and he described the Bhairab river, on which it
stands, as " a beautiful river whose banks are richly ornamented
with fine trees, and the water of which is truly excellent and
wholesome." This description is very far from representing pre-
sent conditions ; the place has been notoriously unhealthy for
years, and there seems no doubt that thisunhealthiness is directly
attributable to the stagnancy of the river. In 1843 a church was
built, which was replaced by a somewhat larger building in 1893.

172 1Hkt)TA.

There is a school in the village. About a mile away is &
cemetery.

One mile to the east of Kapasdanga is Nischintapur, the head-
quarters of a concern which formerly used to cultivate indigo but
now does zamindari only. The property was once known as the
"Katchee Katta" Concern, and it lay along the line of the
Eastern Bengal State Railway from near Munshiganj to Poradah.
The following extract from a letter written in 1860 by the then
Manager is of interest : — "In the year 1849 I joined the Katohee
Katta Concern as an Assistant in the Pykeparrah Division. Owing
to high inundations and the crops having failed some years pre-
vious to my coming, the whole of the country was nothing but
waste lands and jungles all round my four factories, and I may
say for miles together. It used to be a favourite hunting-ground
of the Nawab of Murshidabad, when he gave large parties in
Mr. Torrentine's (?) time; his last was 1851, as the country after
that began to clear up. In 1850 the villages were mostly deserted
and the few houses that were left were in a most miserable condi-
tion. Mr. Montresor, who was then Magistrate of Nadia, can
prove the above, as he was with me in Pykeparrah in March 1850
and saw the state the country was in then. Now I can say that
in the 10 years that I have managed the Concern, fronr 1849 to
I860 (I took the management of the whole Concern in 1850), tlw
whole of these juQgles and waste lands have been brought into
cultivation, and for miles now around Katchee Katta, Pykeparrah
and Doorgapore Divisions not a bigba of waste land is to be
seen. Mr. Forlong, who has been over all that part of the
country lately, can swear to the truth of what I assert. Not less
than 40 to 50,000 bighas of lands were brought into cultivation
in the Katohee Katta Concern while I had the management of it.
Numbers of large and prosperous villages now existing were
formed by me, and this was done by my cultivating a portion of
lands, neezahaci, for one year, and then abandoning them to the
ryotts ; in many instances I dug the lands with my own coolies,
and after this was done, the ryotts used to pay me my expenses,
and they took the land for paddy. That is the system I pursued
for several years."

In 1857 the Manager wrote thus with reference to the mutiny.
" Since these unhappy disturbances began, the factory business
everywhere has gone on as regularly and quietly as if mutiny in
the couiitry had never taken i)lace. I wish only the want of rain
had frightened me as little as the mutiny or disbanded sepoys
have done, and I should have had little indeed to make me
anxious."

GAZETTFETl. 173

Ehoksa. — A village in the Kushtia Subdivision in the north-
east corner of the district about 3 miles to the south-west
of the railway station which is named after it. It is situated
on the banks of the Sir a j pur river or khdl^ an oflF-shoot of
the Garai. A fair is held here in honour of the goddess
Kali, during the month of Magh every year. It was established
by one of the Rajas of Naldanga, who is said to have dis-
covered there a stone sacred to the goddess. There is a thana in
the village.

Krishnagar Subdivision.— Head-quarters subdivision of the
district, lying between 23° 17' and 23'' 49' N. and 88° 9° and
88° 48° E. It has an area of 701 square mile?, and consists of
a wide alluvial plain, bounded on the west by the Bhagirathi,
and intersected by the Jalangi \9hich flows past the head-quarters
station, and, eight or nine miles further on, joins the Bhagirathi
opposite Nabadwip. The population, which had decreased by
6*9 per cent, in the decade ending in 1891, increased in the
following decade, by 3*5 per cent., and, in the census of 1901
was returned at 361,336, which gives a density of 515 persona
to the square mile. The variations in the decade ending in
1901 ranged from an increase of 15*38 per cent, in the Kissen-
gunge th[|ina to a decrease of 5*69 per cent, in the Kotwali
thana, which °was the only thana which did not show an increase.
Tlie subdivision contains two towns, Krishnagar (population
24,547), the head-quarters of the district, and Nabadwip (popula-
tion 10,880) ; and 740 villages. For police purposes it is divided
into seven thanas, viz., Kotwali, Chapra, Hanskhali, Kaliganj.
Nakasipara, Nabadwip and Kissengunge. The famous battle-
field of Plassey lies in the extreme north of the subdivision in
the Kaliganj thana.

Krishnagar. — Head-quarters of the district, situated in 23°
24' N. and 88° 31' E., on the left bank of the Jalangi, about
9 miles above its junction with the Bhagirathi.

The town covers an area of about 7 square miles, and its
population was 24,547 in 1901, as compared with 25,550 in 1891
and 26,750 in 1872 ; this steady decline is probably due to the
ravages of malarial fever, for which the town is notorious. A
few years ago the municipality took a loan from Government to
re-excavale the stagnant bed of the Anjana river, which passes
through the town and is believed to be one of the causes of the
prevalence of fever ; but the scheme has not been a success. The

present (1901) population is made up as follows: Hindus

16,220 ; Muhamraadans, 7,449 ; Christians, 864 ; and other
religions, 14.

174 NADIA.

The original name of Krishnagar is believed to have been
Reui. In this village a palace was erected by Maharaja Raghab,
whose son Rudra Rai changed the name to Krishuagar or Krish-
nanagar, in honour of Krishna. Since then the town has
remained, almost continuously, tlie residence of the Maharafa of
Nadia. A municipality was constituted in 1864' with 21 Muni-
cipal Commissioners, two-thirds of whom are elected and the
remainder nominated.

The income during the year 1883-84, which is the first year
for which records are now available in the Municipal office, was
Rb. 23,539, and the expenditure Rs. 25,482. There was not
much variation until the five years ending with 1900-01, during
which the average annual income was Rs. 43,609, and the
average expenditure Rs. 39,391. Since then there has been a
steady advance in both income and expenditure, the figures for
which, for the year 1907-08, were Rs. 58,541 and Rs. 58,117
respectively, including advances and deposits. There is only one
major building which belongs to the municipality, namely the
Municipal office.

Up till 1898 the town was without the benefit of a railway
service, and the nearest railway station was Bagula, on the
Eastern Bengal State Railway, with which it was oonnj^cted by a
metalled road about 11 miles in length, broken at Hanskhali by
the Churni river, which was unbridged and had to be crossed
in open ferry boats. In 1898 a light 2^ feet gauge railway was
constructed from Krishna gar via Santipur to Aistola Gh§,t, on
the right bank of the Churni, near Ranaghat, and the Eastern
Bengal State Railway ran a siding down to the opposite bank
from Ranaghat station. Finally in 1906 the Ranaghat-Lalgola
branch of the Eastern Bengal State Railway, with a station at
Krishnagar, was opened, and the town was at last placed in
direct railway communication with Calcutta.

Krishnagar contains the usual public offices, including the
District Jail, which has accommodation for 189 prisoners, the
manufactures being mustard oil, mats and surkhi or brick-dust,
all of which are sold locally. In addition to these buildings
there is a Government College affiliated to the Calcutta Univer-
sity, which was attended by 82 pupils in 1907-08 : the total
expenditure in that year was Rs, 29,983. Attached to the
college is a Collegiate sohool. The attendance at both these
institutions has shown a steady increase since 18H1.

The town is a centre of Christian evangelistic enterprise :
it is tho head-quarters of a diocese of the Roman Catholic Church,
and an important station of tho Church Missionary Society,

GAZETTEER. 175

pRoh of these bodies having' its own church and schools. The
Church of England Zenana Mission also maintains here two
dispensaries, a hospital and two schools.

The great Hindu Swinging festival (Baradol) is celebrated
in Krishnagar annually in Maroh or April, when 12 idols, belong-
ing to the Maharaja of Krishnagar and representing Sri Krishna
in twelve different personalities, are brought together to the
Rajbari from different parts of the district and worshipped.
Some 20,000 pilgrims assemble every year for this festival, and
a fair lasting for three days is held simultaneously.

The town suffered somewhat severely in the great earthquake
of 18P7 : some masonry buildings were destroyed and many were
seriously damaged, including the Oolleotorate office, the main
entrance of which collapsed.

Kulia. — Small village, situated in the Chakdaha thana of the
RanSghat subdivision, about 3 miles north-east of the Kanchra-
par5 Railway station. A fair is held here annually on the 11th
day of Paush : it is called the Apradh Bhanjan Mela. There are
various legends as to the origin of this fair: that which, perhaps,
obtains the greatest credence is that the place was onoe visited by
Chaitanya, who was well entertained there by one Debananda,
after having been refused hospitality in the neighbouring village
of Kanchrapara, and he was so pleased with the treatment which
he received, that he sanctified the place and declared that all who
worshipped there on the 11th day of Paush would be absolved of
all their sins. There is a temple in the village, known as
Debanandapat : it is of comparatively recent date and is said to
have been built by Babu Kanai Lai Dhar of Calcutta. Adjoin-
ing the temple are some tombs, among which is alleged to be that
of Debananda.

Kumarkhali. — A town in the Kushtia subdivision, situated
in 23° 52' N. and 89° 15' E., on the left bank of the Garai
river. It is a station on the Poradah-Goalando branch of the
Eastern Bengal State Railway, and is a trading centre of some
importance. During the mercantile days of the East India
Company, a Commercial Resident was stationed at Kumarkali,
and a large business in silk was carried on : the only relic of those
days now to be found is a cemetery with a few tombs, the
earliest dating from 1790. The town was originally included in
the Pabna district, and it had a Munsif's Court, subordinate to
the District .Tudge of Pabna : on its transfer to the NadiS district
in 1871, the Munsif's Court was abolished.

The town was constituted a Municipality in 1869, with 6
Commissioners, all appointed by Government: the number of

176 NADTA.

Coramlssioners was inoreased to 9 in 1875: in 1884 the privilege
of the elective system was conferred upon the town, and sinoe
then there have been 15 Commissioners, of whom 10 are elected
and the remaining 5 nominated.

The population in 1901 was 4,584, as compared with 6,165 in
]M91, and 5,251 in 1872. The present (1901) population is made
up as follows: — Hindus, 3,242, and Muhammadans, 1,342.

The only public building is the Municipal Office, The
average annual income and expenditure of the town during the
quinquennium ending with 1894-95 were Es. 4,064 and Es. 4,415
respectively, and during the next quinquennium, Es. 5,836 and
Es. 6,215 : there has been but little variation since, and in the
year 1908-09 the income was Es. 6,131, and the expenditure
Es. 6,583.

Kushtia Subdivision. — The northernmost subdivision of the
district, lying between 23° 42' and 24° 9' N., and 88° 44' and
89° 22' E., with an area of 596 square miles. It is bounded on
the north by the Padma, and on the south-west by the Mata-
bhanga which separates it from the Meherpur aiid Chuadanga
subdivisions: on the south and east it is bounded respectively by
the Jhenidah subdivision of the Jessore district, and the Goalundo
subdivision of the Faridpur district. The subdivision is a wide
alluvial plain of great fertility and densely populated. The
population, which had increased by 6*4 per cent, in the decade
ending in 1891, gained a further slight increase of "71 per cent-
during the following: decade, and, in the census of 1901, was
returned at 468,368, which gives a density of 816 persons to the
square mile. The variations in the decade ending in 1901
ranged from an increase of 7*19 per cent, in the Kushtia thana to
a decrease of 4'69 per cent, in the Kumarkhali thana. The
density of the population in these two thanas is extraordinarily
high, being 923 and 997 persons to the square mile, respectively.
The subdivision contains two towns, viz., Kushtia (population
5,330) and Kumarkhali (4,584) ; and 1,011 villages. For police
purposes it is divided into four thanas, viz., Kushtia, Kumarkhali,
Naopara and Daulatpur.

Kumarkhali was at one time the headquarters of a subdivi-
sion of the Pabna district ; it included the thanas of Kumarkhali
and Pangsa. On the formation of the Goalundo subdivision of
Faridpur district in 1871, Kumarkhali thana was transferred to
the Kushtia subdivision, and Pangsa thana to the Goalundo
subdivision.

Kushtia. — Headquarters of the subdivision of the same name,
Bituated in 23° 55' N. and 89° 9' E„ on the right lank of the

GAZETaTER.

177

Garai, not far from the point at which that river leaves the
Padma. The SnbdiviBional headquarters were originally located
at old Knshtia, which is about 3 miles from the two villages of
Bahadurkhali and Mahajhampur, which form the town now
known as Kushtia. It lies on the Poradah-Goalando branch of
the Eastern Bengal State Railway, and has a flag station opposite
the Subdivisional offices, and a station in the town, about 1^ miles
further on. It is the centre of a considerable trade in rice,
pulses, molasses and jute. The Mohini Cotton Mills, established
in Kushtia by a retired Deputy Magistrate as a Sicadeshi enter-
prise, have not met with much success. During the rains the
town is connected by river-steamer with Pabna, but soon after the
advent of the cold weather this service has to be stopped owing to
the fact that sufficient water does not remain in the mouth of the
Garai to afiford a passage for the steamer. The population in
1901 was 5,330, as compared with 11,199 in 1891 and 9,245 in
1872. The large decrease in population is due mainly to a
revision of the area within Municipal limits. The present (1901)
population is made up as follows : — Hindus, 3,066 ; Muhammadans,
2,235 ; and Christians, 29. The town was constituted a Munici-
pality in 1869, with 12 Commissioners, 8 of whom are elected and
the remainder nominated.

The incotae and expenditure of the town remained at about
Eso 6,000 till the year 1898-99, when, with the introduction of
Part IX, it rose to about Rs. 9,000. In the year 1908-09 the
income was Rs. 13,683, and the expenditure Rs 10,513.

Kushtia contains the usual public offices of the headquarters
of a subdivision. Sugar-cane crushing mills of the well known
Bihia pattern are manufactured here. The Church Missionary
Society has a branch in the town. There is a cemetery here
which was consecrated by the famous Bishop Cotton in 1866. It
was on the very day on which this ceremony took place that he
lust his life. Returning to the river steamer for the night, he
had to embark by a slippery plank ; his feet gave away, and he
fell into the flowing stream never to be seen again. The accident
was regarded as a public calamity. A special notice was pub-
lished in the Gazette of India in the following terms:—" There
is scarcely a member of the entire Christian community through-
out India who will not feel the premature loss of this Prelate
as a personal affliction. It has rarely been^' given to any body
of Christians in any country to witness such depth of learning
and variety of accomplishment, combined with piety so earnest,
and energy so untiring. His Excellency in Council does not
hesitate to add the expression of bis belief that large numbers,

178 WADIA.

even amoDg those of Her Majesty's subjects in India who did
not share in the faith of the Bishop of Calcutta, had learned to
appreciate his great knowledge, his sincerity, and his charity, and
will join ia lamentiug his death " The Secretary of State, in
acknowledging the receipt of the despatch announcing the Bishop's
death, recorded that " the loss of a Prelate who discharged the
duties of his high office with such zeal, devoteduess, charity and
sound judgment, cannot fail to be sensibly felt both by the
Government with which he was connected, and by the Diocese
over which he presided ; and I have to express my entire con-
currence in the sentiments recorded by j^our Government."

Meherpur Subdivision— Forms the north-western portion of
the district, and lies between 23° 36' and 24° U' N., and 88° 18'
and 88° 53' E., with an area of 632 square miles. The subdivi-
sion is bounded on the north-west by the Jalangi, on the
north-east by the Matabhauga, on the south-east by the
Chuadanga subdivision, and on the south by the headquarters
subdivision. It is a deltaic tract with a considerable portion
of low-lying black clay soil, on which aman rice alone can
be cultivated. It is divided from north to south by the dead
river Bhairab. The population, which suffered a small loss of
•5 per cent during the decade ending in 1891, increased by
3*39 per cent during the following decade, and, in the census of
1901, was returned at 348,124, which gives a density of 551
persons to the square mile. The variations in the decade (Hiding
in 1901 ranged from a decrease of 5-53 per cent in the Karimpur
thana, to an increase of 8'52 per cent in the Qangni thana.
The subdivision contains one town, viz. Meherpur, with a popu-
lation of 5,766, and 607 villages For police purposes, it is
divided into four thanas, viz., Meherpur, Karimpur, Gangni and
Tehatta.

Meherpur.— Headquarters of the subdivision of the same name.
It is situated iu 23° 47' N. and 88° 38' E. on the silted up Bhairab
river. It covers an area of about 7 5 miles, and in 1901 had a
population of 5,76G, as compared with 6,820 in 1891 and 5,562
in 1872. The present (1901) population is made up as follows: —
Hindus, 3,968 ; Muhammadans 1,787; and Christians, 11. The
town lies 18 miles from the nearest railway station, Chuadanga,
with which it is connected by a metalled road, interrupted by two
unbridged rivers. •

Meherpur was constituted a municipality in 1896, with 9
Commissioners, of whom 6 are elected and the remainder nomi-
nated. The income of the town has steadily risen during the last
twenty years. It was Bs, 2,069 in 1890-91, and Ks 4,754 iu

GAZETTEER. 179

1908-09, The expenditure has followed the income. It is more
an aggregation of rural villages than a town, and it seems prob-
able that it would, not have been coDstitutod a municipality,
had it not been for the fact that it is the site of the headquarters
of the subdivision.

The town contains the usual Subdivisional offices, Munsif's
Court, Municipal office, Sub -jail, hospital and District Board
inspection bungalow. The Church Missionary Society has a
branch here. The only manufacture is brass-ware.

Muragachha — Village in the Nakasipara thana of the
head-quarters subdivision, about 12 miles north-west of Krish-
nagar. It is now a station on the Ranaghat-Lalgola branch of
the Eastern Bengal State Railway. The population is close on
600^ about two-thirds being Hindus, and the rest Mubammadans-
The village has two temples, one dedicated to the god Siva, and
the other to the goddess Sarvamangala ; the latter is said to have
been built in 1870 by Devi Das Mukhopadhyay, a salt Dewan
of Hijli, who also established a High Eng-lish School in the
village. A fair is held in honour of the goddess on the day of
the full moon in Baisakh : it lasts for three days, and is attended
by one to two thousand pilgrims. The importance of the village
dates from the time of Dewan Devi Das, whose family, known
as the Deivan family of Muragachha, is still one of the most
reypected in the district.

Nadia or Nabadwip. — The town from which the district
derives its name. It lies in 23° 24' N. and 88° 23' E., on the
west bank of the Bhagirathi, opposite the confluence of the
Jalangi with that river : it covers an area of 3| square miles,
and 'has a population (1901) of 10,880, as compared with 13,384
in 1891 and 8,863 in 1872. The present (1901) population is
made up as follows • —Hindus, 10,416; Mubammadans, 457;
and Christians 7. This great preponderance of Hindus over
Mubammadans in a district in which the latter form 59 per cent,
of the total population, is remarkable.

There are three different traditions as to the origin of the
name Nabadwip: the first is that the town originally stood on
an island, which was called Nabadwip (ie., new .island), to
distinguish it from Agradwip (former island) which lies about
15 miles up the Bhagirathi from Nabadwip ; the second is that
it was formerly the resort of a recluse who used to practise his
religious rites at night surrounded by 9 lights, whence it came
to be called ' Nava-dip ' or ' nine lights,' but this derivation, as
will be observed, does not account for the letter * w ' in the last
syllable ; and the third is that it formed one of a group of nine

180 NADTA.

islands (Nava-dwip), an account of which is given by Narahari
Das in his * Nabadwip Prikrama Paddhati.'

Navadwip is a very ancient city, and is reputed to have been
founded in 1063 A.D. by one of the Sen kings of Bengal, who
is said to have been induced to transfer his capital there from
Gaur, on account of its superior sanctity owing to its position
on the sacred Bhagirathi ; and also, probably, because it was
considered less liable to Mughal raids. On the east bank of the
river, immediately opposite the present Nabadwip, is the village
of Bamanpukur, in which are to be found a large mound known
as ' Ballaldhibi,' said to be the remains of the King's palace,
and a tank called ' Ballaldighi.' These names go to prove that
Ballal Sen had some connection with the place, though it is not
universally admitted that the actual capital was transferred there
from Gaur.* It is clear, however, that it was the constant resort
of the kings of Bengal until 1203 A.D., when it was captured
by Muhammad Bakhtiar Khilji, and the foundation stone of
the conquest of Bengal by the Muhammadans was laid.

The following account of the capture and sack of Nabadwip
is taken from the Eiazu-s-Salatin, as translated by Maulvi Abdus
Salam (Calcutta, 1904).

"^That year Malik Bakhtiar, bringing to subjugation the
Subah of Behar, engaged in introducing administrative arrange-
ments, and the second j^ear coming to the kingdom of Bengal
he planted military outposts in every place, and set out for the
town of Nadiah, which at that time was the capital of the Eajahs
of Bengal. The Eajah of that place, whose name was Lakh-
mania, and who had reigned for eighty years over that kingdom,
was at the time taking his food. Suddenly Muhammad Bakh-
tiar, with eighteen horsemen, made an onslaught, so that before
the Rajah was aware, Bakhtiar burst inside the palace, and
unsheathing from the scabbard his sword that lightened and
thundered, engaged in fighting, and put the harvest of the life of
many to his thundering and flasliing sword. Rajah Lakhmania
getting confounded by the tumult of this aflair, left behind all
his treasures and servants and soldiers, and slipped out bare-foot
by a back-door, and, embarking on a boat, fled towards Kamrup.
Muhammad Bakhtiar, sweeping the town with the broom of
devastation, completely demolished it, and making anew the
city of Lakhnauti, which from ancient times was the seat
of Government of Bengal, his own metropolis, he ruled over
Bengal peacefully."

• In the Ain Akbari it is noted that in the time of Lakahman " NadiS was the
capiuil of Bengal, and abounded with wiedom,"

GAZETTEER. 181

For many centuries Nabadwip lias been famous for its
sanctity and learning. From its earliest da3''S the patronage
of the Hindu kings and the sanctity of its site attracted,
from far and near, erudite scholars, who taught Sanskrit
philosophy to thousands of students. Of such were Halayudha,
Pasupati, Sulapaui and Udayanaoharya, who are believed to
have flourished there during the reign of Lakshman Sen,
and also Abdihodha Yogi, a Pandit from the upper country,
who is said to have been the first scholar to set up a school
of logic in Nabadwip. The most celebrated of the native
savants of the place were Basudev Sarbabhauma, who, while a
pupil of Pakshadhar Misra, the first logician of Mithila, is said
to have learnt by heart the whole of the treatise on logic ; and
his distinguished pupils, Raghunath Siromani, the author of the
Didhiti and the commentary on the Gautam Sutra ; Eaghunandan
Smavta Bhatacbarya, the most renowned Pandit of Smriti, whose
school is followed even today throughout the whole of Bengal ;
Krishnananda Agambagis, whose work on Tantra philosophy is
the standard book on the subject; and Gauranga, or Chaitanya,
the great Vaishnava reformer of the 16th century. Chaitanya
was the son of Jaganath Misra, and was born at Nabadwip
in 1485 A.D. He was undoubtedly a man of great intellect,
but the key-note of his philosophy was universal love, and he
is||ltill spoken of as the ' Apostle of Love.' He was the founder
of the Vaishnava sect, and has still a very large following
throughout Bengal.

The present Nabadwip still continues to be famous for its
Sanskrit teaching. The indigenous Sanskrit schools known as
tols, in which Smriti (Hindu social and religious law) and Nyaya
(logic) are taught, form the principal feature of the town. A
valuable report was submitted upon them by the late Professor
E. B. Cowell in 1867. This report contains a full account
of the schools, the manner of life of the pupils and the works
studied. Mr. Cowell describes the tol as consisting generally
of a mere collection of mud hovels round a quadrangle,
in which the students live in the most primitive manner.
Each student has his own hut with his brass water-pot and
mat ; few have any other furniture. A student generally
remains at the ioi for 8 or 10 years according as he is
studying Smriti or Nyaya. No fees are charged, and, until
comparatively recent yeais, the pandit even provided his
pupils with food and clothing. He himself makes his living
by the presents which his fame as a teacher ensures him at
religious ceremonies.

182 NADTA.

The following extract is taken from Professor Cowell's
report : —

" I could not help looking at these unpretending lecture halls
with a deep interest, as I thought of the pandits lecturing there
to generation after generation of eager inquisitive minds. Seated
on the floor with his 'corona' of listening pupils round him, the
teacher expatiates on those refinements of infinitesimal logic
which make a European's brain dizzy to think of, but whose
labyrinth a trained Nadia student will thread with unfaltering
precision. I noticed during my visit middle-aged and even grey-
haired men among the students of the celebrated tols."

Sir William Hunter remarks : " The sole end of the Nadia
scholastic training is Vichara, i.e., to win the victory at a festival
by adroit arguments, which silence the opponent for the time
being. According to the established rule in Hindu dialectics,
the disputant first presents his opponent's views, and exhausts
whatever can be adduced in their favour, and then proceeds to
overthrow all that he has just brought forward, and to establish
his own opinion. The pandits, therefore, come to a discussion
with a store of plausible arguments on both sides, and love to
oppose a popularly received opinion in order to win credit by
successf idly supporting an apparently hopeless cause. The very
form of Hindu logic involves error, and it is so bound up with
technical terms, that it is apt to degenerate into a mere pla/ of
words. This tendency reaches its climax in the Nadia schools.
Mr. Cowell in three of the toh listened to the students exercising
themselves iu such discussions. He noticed the intense eagerness
of the disputants, as well as ihe earnest sympathy of the surround-
ing students and juandits. A successful sophism was responded to
by a smile of approval from all."

In 1829 Professor Wilson found between 500 and 6U0 pupils
studying at the tols. In 1864 Mr. Cowell found Vi tols attended
by about 150 pupils. In 1881 there were 20 toh with 100
pupils, in 1901, 40 with 274 pupils, and in 1908, 30 with 260
pupils. Maharaja Krishna Chandra instituted a monthly
allowance of R.-s. 100 for the maintenance of the toh. This grant
was confirmed by the Committee of Revenue in 1784, but was
stopped in 1829 on the ground that no mention had been made
of it in the correspondence relating to the Decennial Settlement.
However, iu the following year, on a remonstrance from the
Nabadwip students, and on tho recommendation of the Murshi-
dabad Commissioners, the grant was renewed and has since been
raised to Rs. 300 per month : in addition to this, Government now
awards stipends of Rs. 100 and Rs. 60 per mensem to the First

GAZTETTEER. 183

and Second Professors of Nyaya, and Rs. 50 to tbe First Professor
of Smriti. Mathematics, Astronomy, and Philosopliy (other than
Nyaya) are not regularly taught here. About 1870 a Professor
of Philosophy, by name Kashinath Sastri, a native of Orissa, set
up an unsuccessful tol, and during the last few years a pandit
from the North- West has been teaching Darsan and Vedanta to a
few pupils. Formerly the almanacs of Nabadwip were of great
repute, and their meteorological predictions were held to be
infallible ; but the Acharya .astrologer} class has become nearly
extinot.

Sir William Hunter remarks : " The past of Nadia raises
very high expectations, but its present state is disappointing. It
is not an ancient city with venerable ruins, crowds of temples,
a great population and time-honoured tola in every street, with
numbers of learned pandits, such as one might expect from its
antiquity. All that meets the eje is a small rural town with little
clusters of habitations, and a community of Brahmaus, busied
with earning their bread, rather than in acquiring a profitless
learning. The caprices and changes of the river have not left
a trace of old Nadia. The people point to the middle of the
stream as the spot where Chaitanya was born. The site of the
ancient town is now partly char land, and partly forms the bed of
the streanl which passes to the north of the present town. The
JJhagirathi once held a westerly course, and old Nadia was on the
same side with Krishnagar, but about the beginning of this (19th)
century the stream changed and swept the ancient town away."

The town, being situated on the bank of the holy Bhagi-
rathi, is frequented by pilgrims from all parts of Bengal, chiefly
those of the Vaishnava sect, who bathe in the sacred waters, and
at the same time pay their homage at the shrine of Chaitanya.
The concourse of pilgrims is very large at the time of the full
moon in the months of Baisakh, Kartik and Magh. In order to
enable the Municipality to make better conservancy and sanitary
arrangements for these large gatherings, the Pilgrims' Lodging-
house Act IV (B.C.) of 1871 was extended to the town of Nadia
by Government Notification dated 8th August 1891, and the
annual income from this source is now above Rs. 3,000.

Nabadwip was constituted a municipality in the year 1869
with 12 Commissioners, of whom 8 were elected and the re-
mainder nominated. In January 1904 the Commissioners were
superseded by Grovernment for contumacy, but the munici-
pality was re-established in March 1905 with 9 Commissioners
nominated by Government, though the elective system was not
restored till September 1907.

184 NADIA.

The principal industry of the place at present is the manufacture
of brass utensils. It was, in former times, noted for its manufacture
of conch-shell bracelets, aud one of the streets is still known as San-
kari Sarak. The East India Company once had a cotton spinning
factory here, the site of which is pointed out by old inhabitants.

The present site of the town is not satisfactory : it lies below
the level of the river when in flood, and is full of pits and hollows
where water stagnates during the rainy season. At one time it
was protected all round by embankments, but those have been
suffered to fall into bad repair. The cost of restoring them satis-
iactorily was estimated at Rs. 10,000, and Sir John Woodburn,
while Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal, offered a Government
contribution of Es. 5,000 provided that an equal amount were
raised locally : advantage was not, however, taken of the offer,
and nothing has yet been done to restore the embankments.
Under such circumstances it is remarkable that the health of the
town does not compare more unfavourably than it does with
that of other towns in the district.

That the climate of Nabadwip was at one time considered
beneficial, or at any rate less unhealthy than that of Calcutta, is
clear from the following extracts which have been taken from the
" Diary and Consultations Book of the United Trade Council of
Fort William in Bengal": —

"673. The Governor goes for a change of air. •

The Governor having for Severall Mouths been very much
„ , ,^,o Indisposed and being advised by the Physi-

January 3rd, 1713. , . \ . -kt i z £ r. c a-

tians to go up to Nuddea lor change ot Air>
as the only means left for the Recovery of his health — Agreed
That during his absence the Worshipful Bobert Hedges Esq. aot
as Chief and Transact all affairs with the rest of the Councill, and
allso take charge of the Cash — Ordered that the Doctor go with
the Governour, and considering the troubles in this Country, that
Captain Woodvill with 50 Soldiers go as a Guard."
*' 688. Return of the Governor

This day the Governour returned from Nuddea, where lie has
„, 1^,, been some time for the Recovery of his

February I7lh. ^^ ■,.^ ,i

Health.
"691. The Governor has a relapse.

The Governor not being perfectly recovered of his Illness and
„ , _„ , beginning to relapse which the Doctors

February 23r J . » ,,.«. i. ,1 • <•

impute to the difference between the air or
this place and Nuddea, where he has been lately for the Recovery
of bib health, and therefore advise him to go up thither again,
Agreed that Mr. Hedges aot as Chief during his absence.

GAZETTERR.

185

"Ordered that Thirty Soldiers do go up with the Governor as
a Guard, also that Severall of the Company's Servants who are
now indisposed go up with the Govr. for the Recovery of their
Health."

The change does not appear to have afforded any permanent
benefit to Mr. Russell, for his health became hopelessly impaired,
and he was forced to leave India for good at the close of the
year.

Plassey. — Village in the head-quarters Subdivision, situated
in 23° 47' N. and 88° 16' E, on the east bank of the Bha-irathi,
near the point at which that river first impinges upon the district.
It is famous as the scene of Olive's victory over Sirajud-daula,
Nawab of Bengal, on 23rd June 1757. After the capture of
Calcutta by Sirajud-daula in June 1756, Olive was despatched
with a force from Madras, and he recaptured Calcutta in January
1757. After prolonged negotiations he succeeded in gaining
over Mir Jafar, the Nawab's general, whom ho promised to
instal as Nawab in place of Sirajud-daula. In March Chander-
nagore was taken from the French, and on the 13th June a
fresh advance was made ; Katwa (on the west bank of the Bhagi-
rathi in the Bardwan district) was captured on the 18th, and on
the 22nd the troops marched to Plassey, where Sirajud-daula was
encamped 'with an army of 50,000 foot, 18,000 horse and 50
pieces of cannon, mostly 24 pounders and 32 pounders drawn by
oxen. To oppose this army Olive had a force of 900 Europeans,
of whom 100 were artillery men, and 50 sailors, 100 Topasses
or Portuguese half-castes, and 2,100 sepoys ; the artillery con-
sisted of 8 six-pounders, and 2 howitzers. Olive encamped in a
mango-grove, the greater part of which is believed to have since
been cut away by the Bhagirathi. and the enemy were entrenched
on the river bank to the north of him. At daybreak on the
23rd the enemy advanced to the attack, enveloping Olive's right,
Mir Jafar being on the extreme left of the line. Both sides
maintained a vigorous cannonade until 2 o'clock, when Sirajud-
daula returned to his entrenchments. At this Mir Jafar lingered
behind on the left, and eventually joined the British. Olive
advanced and cannonaded the Nawab's entrenchment, and entered
his camp at 5 o'clock after a slight resistance, Sirajud-daula
having already fled to Murshidabad. This decisive victory was
won with only a small loss, but it made the British masters of
Bengal. In 1883 the Bengal Government erected on the spot
a somewhat meagre monument to commemorate the battle : the
inscription upon it is simple, but dignified, and consists of the
one word "Plassey." During the last few years the Imperial

186 NADIA.

Governmeiit has erected au obelisk on a black marble base, and 36
masonry pillars hava been set up to indicate tbe supposed
positions of the different troops engaged in the battle on both
sides. Up till 1905 the site of this famous battle was very
inaccessible, being 34 miles from tbe nearest railway station,
but in that year the Ranaghat-Lalgola branch of the Eastern
Bengal State Railway was opened with a station only 2 miles
south-east of the place, and a metalled road now runs from the
station to the furnished D^k Bungalow which has recently been
constructed on the field by the Pablic Works Department.
Cannon-balls have constantly been found by the cultivators while
tilling the soil, and the writer w^as presented with two, one large
and one small, when visiting the village in 1897. The place is
of no importance, except as being the site of the famous battle.

Poradah. — A village in the Naopara thana of the Kushtiii
subdivision. It is a station on the Eastern Bengal State Railway
and the junction from which the Poradah-Goalundo extension
branches off from the main line.

Ranaghat Subdivision.— The southernmost subdivision of
the district, lying between 23° 53' and 23° 2C' N., and 88° 20'
and 88° 45' E., with an area of 427 square miles. The subdivi-
sion is a deltaic tract, bounded on the west by the Hooghly,
on the south by the Barasat subdivision of the 24*Pargana8
district, on the east by the Bangaon subdivision of the Jesso:^
district, and on the north by the Krishuagar subdivision. It
contains much jungle and numerous marshes and backwaters,
and the whole tract is malarious and unhealthy. The population,
which had decreased by 4'6 per cent, in the decade ending in
1891, suffered a further decrease of 5"63 per cent in the following
decade, and, in the census of 1901, was returned at 217,077,
which gives a density of 508 persons to the square mile. The
variations in the decade ending in 1901 ranged from a decline
of 1*5 per cent, in the Ranaghat thana, to a decline of 8'16 per
cent, in the Santipur thana, which suffered a greater loss than
any other thana in the district. The subdivision contains four
towns, viz., Ranaghat (population 8,744), Santipur (26,898),
Chakdaha (5,482) and Birnagar (3,124) ; and 568 villages. For
police purposes it is divided into three ttianas, viz., Ranaghat,
Santipur and Chakdaha. The head-quarters of the subdivision
was originally at Santipur, but was transferred to Ranaghat in
Iho >ear 18(i3.

Ranaghat. — Head-quarters of the subdivision of the same
name. It is situated in 23° 11' N. and 88° 34' E., on the
Churni river : it covers aa area of about 2^ square miles, and

OAZETTEER. 187

in 1901 had a population o£ 8,744 as compared with 8,506 in
1891 and 8,871 in 1872. The present (1901) population is
made up as follows : Hindus, 7,405 ; Muharamadans, 1,268 ;
and Christians, 71. The town contains the usual subdivisional
oflfices, Munsif's Court, Municipal office, Sub-Jail and hospital.
It has been the headquarters of the subdivision since 1863, before
which year the headquarters was at Santipur. It was consti-
tuted a municipality in 1804 with 14 Commissioners, 5 of whom
were appointed ex-ofpcio^ and the remaining 9 nominated by
Government. When Act 111 (B.C.) of 1884 came into force,
the number of the Commissioners was increased to 18, of whom
12 were elected and 6 nominated : there has been no change
since. The income and expenditure of the municipality during
the first 20 years of its existence averaged Rs. 6,933 and
Rs. 6,907 per annum, respectively ; there was but slight variation
during the nest ten years, but, with the introduction of Part IX,
both income and expenditure increased to over Es. 10,000 per
annum during the quinquennium ending with the year 1899-
1900. In 1907-08 the income was Rs. 14,128, and the expendi-
ture Rs. 15,004.

Ranaghat carries on a large river traffic, and is one of the
principal seats of commerce in the district. It is an important
railway junction, as here the Jessore and Khulna branch, and
'the Ranaghat Lalgola branch meet the main line of the Eastern
Bengal State Railway. There is also a light railway connecting
the town with Kiishnagar via Santipur.

The Ranaghat Medical Mission was established here in 1893
by Mr. J. Monro, c.b. : the head-quarters of this Mission has since
then been moved to a site just outside the limits of the town.
An account of the Mission will be found in Chapter XIV of
this volume.

Very little seems to be known of the early history of this
place. It is said to have been originally called Ranighat after
the Rani of the famous Krishna Chandra, Maharaja of Nadia.
It is on record that dacoits swarmed here in 1809 when Mr. Tytler
was Magistrate.

The town is the seat of the Pal Chaudhuri family of Ranaghat
referred to by Bishop Heber in his journal. The family was
founded by Krishna Chandra I'anti and Sambhu Chandra Panti,
two brothers who were originally petty traders in the place. It
is said that their wealth originated in the fortunate purchase from
Ganga Ram Das IMahanth, the founder of the Jugal Kishwar
temple at Aranghata, of a large store of grain, which appeared
to have been hopelessly damaged by insects, and was to have

188 NADIA.

been thrown away, when Krishna Chandra appeared on the
scenes and offered a small sum for it, which was accepted.
When the grain came to be removed, it waa found that only the
outer layer had been damaged, and it was sold at an enormous
profit. This occurred in 1780, acd with the capital thus amassed,
which was increased by judicious trading, the brothers became
great merchants, and almost monopolized the trade in salt, which
at that time was sold by auction by the Board of Reyenue. The
family were most munificent in charity and works of public
utility, and it is said that the Marquis of Hastings offered Babu
Krishna Chandra the title of Eaja when he visited Ranagliat in
the course of a tour ; but, being of a modest and retiring disposi-
tion, he declined the offer, preferring to retain merely the title
of " Pal Chaudhuri," which had been conferred upon him by
the Maharaja of Nadia, and has been borne by the family
ever since. For the two succeeding generations the family were
deeply involved in the famous Pal Chaudhuri suit in the Supreme
Courtj which lasted from 1821 to 1850, being carried four times
in appeal to the Privy Council, and which cost them an enormous
sura o£ money. Babu Sri Gopal Pal Chaudhuri, the great-
grandson of one of the founders, was a very public-spirited
zamindar ; he subscribed largely to many works of public utility,
and founded the Ranaghat High English school, which has
since been mainly supported by his descendants. The present
head of the family, Babu Nagendranath Pal Chaudhuri, served
Government for 21 years in the Provincial Civil Service, and
now, in his retirement, is Chairman of the municipality. The
family now own zamindaris in the districts of Nadia, Khulna
and Jessore, the Government revenue of which aggregates about
Rs. 53,000.

Ratuapur. — This village has been a centre of Church Mis-
sionary Society work since 1840, and is now the head-quarters
of the Ratuapur Parish, and has a population of 627 Protestant
Christians. It is in the Meherpur thiina of the M eherpur Sub-
division, and about 11 miles from the Darsana station on the
Eastern Bengal State Railway. There is a fine church in the
village, and a boarding-school for boys, which was established
in 1842. The Zenana Mission have here a hospital, dispensary
and home for converts.

Santipur. — A. town in the Ranaghat subdivision, situated in
23° 15' N. and 88° 27' E., on the left bank of the Hooghly.
The town covers an area of about 7 square miles, and its popula-
tion in 1901 was 2G,898, as against 30,437 in 1891, and 28,635
in 1872. Though there has thus been a decline, it is still the

GAZETTEER. 189

most populous town iu the district. Tho present (1901) popula-
tion is made upas follows:— Hindus, 18,219; Muharamadans,
8,672; Christians, 6; and other religions, 1. Santipur is about
equi-distant from Krishnagar and Rana^hat, and is connected
with each of these towns by a good metalled road, and also a
2 feet 6 inches gauge light railway. The road between
Krishnagar and Santipur is believed to have been originally
constructed by Rudra Rai, the Maharaja of Nadia, who is
reputed to have given its present name to the former of these two
towns. Santipur is also connected with Calcutta by a steamer
service on the Hooghly.

Very little information is forthcoming in connection with the
ancient history of this town. It can be gathered, however, that
Santipur was in existence at the time of Raja Ganesh, who ruled
Bengal in the 12th century. It is said that forts were at one
time erected at Santipur by the Mughal Emperors. The names
of Sutragarh, Saragarh and Top-khana, which are attached to
certain portions of the town, support the popular view, but no
trace of the alleged fortifications can now be found. In the
latter part of the 15th century, Adwaitacharya, who was supposed
to be an incarnation in one person of both Vishnu and Siva,
flourished here : it is said that Ohaitanya took his initiation
from Adwaitacharya, who, afterwards, himself became a disciple
of Chaitanya. Ever since then the place has been held sacred.
In the time of Rudra Rai, Maharaja of Nadia, it was a populous
town and a celebrated cloth-mart. In the old days of the East
India Company it was the site of a Commercial Residency, and
the centre of large Government cloth factories. The Government
purchases of Santipur muslin, which then had a European
reputation, averaged over 12 lakhs during the first 28 years of the
nineteenth century. None of these factories are still in existence,
the last ruins having been pulled down and sold between 1870
and 1^80; only the name of the suburb Kuthirpara remains to
indicate that there were once rows of kuthis or factories in the
neighbourhood. It is said that the Commercial Resident enjoyed
an annual salary of over Rs. 42,000, and lived in a magnificent
house with marble floors, built by himself at the cost of a lakh of
rupees : the Marquis of Wellesley spent two days there in 1802 :
the ruins of the house were finally sold for Rs. 2,000.

Holwell was landed at Santipur as a prisoner on his way to
Murshidabad, after havioDg survived the misery of the Black Hole :
he was marched up to the Zamindar of Santipur " in a scorching
Bun near noon for more than a mile and a naif, his legs running
in a stream of blood from the irrigation of the irons." From

190 NADIA.

thence he was sent in an open fishing boat to Murshidabad,
" exposed to a succession of heavy rain or intense sunshine."

It is stated that in the early part of the 19th century no place
was so infested with dacoits as Santipur, until the appointment
of a resident Deputy Magistrate, and the provision of swiftly
sailing guard-boats which put a great check on river dacoity.

There are many mosques and temples in the town. The
oldest mosque is in Topkhana; it was erected by one Tar
Muhammad in the year 1115 Hijri, during the reign of the
Emperor Aiirangzib : it is now in a very dilapidated condition.
Of the temples, the three most famous are that of Syamachand,
built in 1726 at tlie reputed cost of two lakhs of rupees, by one
Ram Gopal Khan Chaudhuri, whose family is still one of the
wealthiest in Santipur ; that of Gokulchand, built about 1740 ;
and that of Jaleswar, said to have been built by the mother of
Maharaja liam Krishna of Nadia about the beginning of the
Ibth century.

Santipur was constituted a Municipality in 1865, with 24
Commissioners (of whom 16 were elected and the remainder
nominated), and an ex-officio Chairman in the person of the
Subdivisional Officer of Eanaghat. The Commissioners were
superseded by Government in 1903 for contumacy in the matter
of the introduction of Part IX : the Municipality was, however
re-established in September 1904, with 9 Commissioners ap-
pointed by Government, and the same ex-officio Chairman as
before, but the elective system has not up to date (1909) been
restored.

The average annual income has been steadily rising during
each quinquennium since that ending with the year 1889-90,
when it was Rs. 20,892 as compared with Es. 30,786 in the
quinquennium ending with 1904-05 : there has been a further
large increase since then, chiefly owing to the introduction of
Part IX, and in 1908-09 the income was Rs. 48,514. The
expenditure has varied with tlio income from Rs, 22,722 in the
quinquennium ending with 1889-90 to Rs. 41,519 in 1908-09.

The major buildings belonging to the Municipality are,
(1) the Municipal office with outhouses, tanks and garden,
covering ab('Ut2 acres, (2) the Municipal school building with out-
houses, etc., also covering about 2 acres, and (3) the charitable
hospital and dispensary with a compound surrounded by brick
walls, covering a little less than one acre. '

The manufactureo of Santipur are in a decaying condition.
The cloth industry has been practically killed by the competition
of machine-made goods, and the weavers are no longer prosperous.

GAZETTEER. 191

The East India Company once had a sugar mannfaotory in the
town, but this has met with the same fate as the cloth factories ;
however, there are still some native refineries in which date-palm
molasses, imported from the neighbouring district of Jessore, is
refined. There is a certain amount of local trade in other
articles.

The town is visited by a large number of pilgrims at the time
of the full moon in the month of Kartik, when the Eash Jatra
festival lasts for two days and ends with a procession in which the
idols of the Gosains are carried about on elevated wooden plat-
forms, Santipur is also a celebrated bathing place.

The town suffered severely in the earthquake of 1897: many
of the largest buildings were destroyed, and the impoverished
owners have been unable to restore them.

Sibnibas. — A village on the bank of the river Churni, nearly
due east of Krishnagar, in than a Kiesengunge of the Head-
quarters Subdivision : the name of this village has been taken for
the station upon the main line of the Eastern Bengal State
Railway which was formerly called Kissengunge, the change
being necessitated by the fact that there ere at least two other
railway stations in India named Kissengunge, whereby confusion
was caused in the booking of parcels and goods.

Sibnibas was established as a country seat in the first half of
the 18th century by the great Maharaja of Nadia, Krishna
Chandra. Two accounts are given of the reason why he selected
the place. The first is that, while out hunting, he casually came
upon it and was so struck with its beauty and pleasant situation
on the banks of the Churni, that he built a palace there for his
occasional residence. According to the second account, the place
was selected because it was surrounded on three sides by the
Churni and thus afforded a comparatively safe and easily-
defended retreat from the incursions of the Mahrattas who were
giving much trouble in those days. It is said that through the
bounty of the Maharaja no less than 108 temples were con-
structed in the place. Sibnibas was deserted by Maharaja Shiv
Chandra, son of Krishna Chandra, and now only five temples
survive in a more or less dilapitated condition. Of these three
are of fair size, standing about GO feet in height ; two contain
images of Siva, 9 feet and 7| feet high, and the third contains an
image of Eamchandra, about 4 feet high. A fair is held here on
the Bhumi Ekadashi day, and is visited by about 15,000 persons.
Tho village was purchased in 1860 by .Qne Swarup Chandra
Sarkar Chaudhuri, whose son, Babu Brindaban Sarkar Chaudhuri,
is said to have done much to improve its material condition.

192 NADIA.

In 1S24, Sibmb§8 was visited by Bishop Heber on his way by
boat to Dacca and the following account is taken from his Journal
(London, 1828). The gentleman with whom he had an inter-
view may have been a descendant of Krishna Chandra, but he
was certainly not the then Maharaja of Nadia —

" We landed with the intention of walking to some pagodas
whose high angular domes were seen above the trees of a thick
wood, at some small distance, which wood, however, as we
approached it, we found to be full of ruin?, apparently of an
interesting description. . . . As we advanced along th©
shore, the appearance of the ruins in the jungle became more
unequivocal, and two very fine intelligent looking boys, whom we
met, told me, in answer to my enquiries that the place was really
Sibnibashi, that it was very large and very old, and there were
good paths through the ruins. . . . We found four pagodas,
not large but of good architecture, and very picturesque. . .
The first (temple) which we visited was evidently the most
modern, being, as the officiating Brahmin told us, only fifty-
seven years old. In England we should have thought it at
least 200, but in this climate a building soon assumes, without
constant care, all the venerable tokens of antiquity. It was very
clean however, and of good architecture, a square tower, sur-
mounted by a pyramidal roof, with a high cloister of pointed
arches surrounding it externally to within ten feet of the spring-
ing of the vault. The cloister was also vaulted, so that, as the
Brahmin made us observe with visible pride, the whole roof was
" pucka" or brick, and "belathee " or foreign. A very handsome
gothic arch witli an arabesque border, opened on the south side,
and showed within the statue of Rama, seated on a lotus, with a
gilt but tarnished umbrella over his head, and his wife, the
earth-born Seeta, beside him. From hence we went to two of
the other temples, which were both octagonal, with domes not
unlike those of glass-houses. They were both dedicated to Siva
and contained nothing but the symbol of the Deity, of black
marble. . . . Meantime the priest of Rama, who had
received his fee before, and was well satisfied, came up with
several of the villagers to ask if I would see the Rajah's palace.
On my assenting they led us to a really noble gothic gateway,
overgrown with beautiful broad-leaved ivy, but in good preserva-
tion, and decidedly handsomer, though in pretty much the same
style with the " Holy Gate " of the ' Kremlin in Moscow.
Within this, which, had apparently been the entrance into
the city, extended a broken, but still stately, avenue of
tall trees and on either side a wilderness of ruined buildings,

GAZETTEER. 193

overgrown with trees and brush-wood. I asked who had
destroyed the place and was told Seraiah Dowla, an answer
which (as it was evidently a Hindoo ruin) fortunately suggested
to me the name of the Raja Kissen Chand, On asking whether
this had been his residence, one of the peasants answered in the
affirmative, adding that the Raja's grand children yet lived hard-
by . . . Our guide meantime turned short to the right, and
led us into what were evidently the rains of a very extensive
palace. Some parts of it reminded me of Conway Castle, and
others of Bolton Abbey. It had towers like the former, though
of less stately height, and had also long and striking cloisters of
Grothic arches, but all overgrown with ivy and jungle, roofless and
desolate. Here, however, in a court, whose gateway had still its
old folding doors on their hinges, the two boys whom we had seen
on the beaoh came forward to meet us, were announced to us as
the great-grandsons of Raja Kissen Chand, and invited us very
courteously in Persian to enter their father's dwelling. I looked
round in exceeding surprise. There was no more appearance of
inhabitation than in Conway. Two or three cows were grazing
among the ruins, and one was looking out from the top of a
dilapidated turret, whither she had climbed to browse on the ivy.
The breech, /)f a broken cannon, and a fragment of a mutilated
Inscription lay on the grass, which was evidently only kept down
by the grazing of cattle, and the jackals, whose yells began to be
heard around us as the evening clossd in, seemed the natural
lords of the place. Of course I expressed no astonishment, but
said how much respect I felt for their family, of whose ancient
splendour I was well informed, and that I should be most happy
to pay my compliments to the Raja, their father. They imme-
diately led us up a short steep straight flight of steps in the thick-
ness of the wall of one of the towers, precisely such as that of
which we find the remains in one of the gateways of Rhuddlan
Castle, assuring me that it was a very "good road " and at the
door of a little vaulted and unfurnished room like that which is
shown in Carnarvon Castle, as the queen's bed chamber, we were
received by the Raja Omichand, a fat shortish man, of about 45,
of rather fair complexion, but with no other clothes than his
waist cloth and Brahminical string, and only distinguished from
his vassals by having his forehead marked all over with alternate

stripes of chalk, vermilion and gold leaf I

confess I was moved by the apparent poverty of the representa-
tive of a house once very powerful, and paid him more attention
than I perhaps might have done had his drawing room presented
a more princely style. He was exceedingly pleased by my calling

194 NADIA.

him " Maharaja," or Great King, as if he were still a sovereign
like his ancestors. . . . The news had probably spread through
the village that a " burra admee " (a great man) had come to see
the Raja, with divers account of our riches and splendour, and
about one o'clock an alarm of thieves was given by my sirdar-
bearer, who happening to look out of one of the cabin windows,
saw three black heads just above the water, cautiously approach-
ing the sides of the vessel. His outcry of " Dacoit, Dacoit"
alarmed us, but also alarmed them; they turned rapidly round,
and in a moment were seen running up the river banks. Thus
we had a specimen of both the good and evil of ludia."

Swarupganj. — A village on the south bank of Jalangi at its
juuetion with the_Bhagirathi. It was at oue time an important
mart, and centre of river trade, but with the opening of the
railways it has lost its importance. It is a station for the coUeo-
tion of Nadia Rivers tolls.

INDEX .

196

J AM) EX.

Administeation, Land Revenue, 104
to 114 ; General, 115 to 121 ; of Justice
119 to 121; of Civil Justice, 119; of
Criminal Justice, 119 to 121.

Administrative Charges and StafF, 115.

Agradwip, 2, 179.

Agricultural Labourers, migration of
43 ; wages of, 87.

Agricultural population, 67.

Ageicpltuee, 67 to 73.

Ahirs, 45.

Amin rice, cultivation of, 70.

Amghata-Gangavas, 164,

Amta dispensi.ry, 64.

Amusements, 54 to 56.

Aranghata, 164, 187, 188.

Arts College, 131, 132.

Aus rice, cultivation of, 69.

Bagdis, 46.

Bagula, 165.

Baidya caste, 23.

Bakhtyar Khilji, 23, 24, 180.

Ballal Sen, 23, 180.

Bamanpukur, 165, 180,

Bandhals, description of, 7, 8.

Bangaon Subdivision, transfer of, 39.

Baradol festival, 175.

Barayaris, 55.

Bardwan fever, 58,

Barley, 72.

Belgharia dispensary, 64.

Bhabanand Majmuadar, 26,

Bliagirathi river, description of, 5.

Bhairab river, description of, 5.

Bharat Chandra Rai, 38.

Bits, 19.

Birds, 20, 21.

Birnagar, description of, 165 to 167.

Birnagar Municipality, 129.

Blacksmiths, wages of, 87.

Blaquiere, Mr., vigorous administration
of, 30,31.

Blindness, 64.

Boats, classes of, 99, 100.

Botany, 19, 20.

Brahmans, 45,

Brasswate, 93, 181.

CAiAMiTiEg, Natuhal, 74 to 81.

Carpenters, wages of, 86 .

Cattle, 73.

Census statistics, 39 tc 41.

Cesses, 116.

Chaitanya, 43, 50, 181, 189.

Chakdaha, description of, 167 to 169.

Chakdaha dispensary, 64.

Chakdaha Municipality, 129.

Chandals, 46.

Chandidas, 36.

Cbapra, 169.

Obapra School, 143.

Chillies, 72.

Cholera, 63.

Cheistiak Missions, 136 to 148,

Christians, 52.

Chuadanga, 169, 170. ''

Chuadanga, dispenstiry, 64.

Chuadiinga^ Subdivision, 169.

Church Missionary Society, 136jto 145.

Churn i river, description! of, 5,

Civil Justice, 119.

196

I N D K 5C .

Climate, 21; of Nabadwip, 184.
Clive, 1S5, 186.
Clothing, 53.

Collector, first, of Nadia, 28, 29.
College, Arts, 131, 132.
Commerce, 01.
Commission, Epidemic, 57.
Commission, Nadia Fevers, 59.
Committee, Drainage, 59.

COMMUNICATIOX, MEANS OP, 97 to 103.

Communications, postal, 103.

Cotton, Bishop, death of, 177, 178.

Cotton-weaving, 92, 93,

Conrts, 119.

Crime, 120, 121.

Criminal Justice, 119 to 121.

Cropped area, 67, 68.

Crops, other, 72.

Crops, principal, 68, 69.

Cultivation generally, 72.

Dacoity, 120 ; in 1808, 29, 30.
Diimukdia, 170.
Darpatni tenures, 112.
Dayabari, hospital, 65, 146.
Deaf -mutism, 64,
Debagram dispensary, 64.
Decennial Settlement, 107.
Density of population, 41, 42.
Diarrhoea, 63,
Diseases, principal, 62, 63.
Diseases, other, 63, 64.
Dispensaries, 64.
Distress of 190S, 80, 81.
District Board, 122 to 124.
Domestic animals, 73.
Drainage Committee, 59.
Dredging in Nadia rivers, 9 to 13.
Dress, 89,
Dysentery, 64.

liarthquakc of 1897, 42, 175, 191.
Kastern Hengal State Railway, 100.
Edocatjon, 130 to 185.

Emb:>nkments, 17, 18.
Epidemic Commission, 57.
Estates, number of. 111.
Excise, 117, 118.

Famines, 75 to 81.

Famine of 1866, 75 to 77.

Famine of 1874, 77, 78,

Famine of 1896-97, 78 to 80.

Fauna, 20.

Female education, 133, 131.

Females, occupation of, 91, 92.

Ferries, 103,

Festivals, 55, 56.

Fever, 62, 63.

Fish, 21.

Fisheries, 94, 95.

Floods, 74, 75.

Food, 52, 88.

Ganja, 1 17.

Garai river, description of. 6.

GeNEEAI, ADMI^flSTRATION, 115 to 121.

Geology, 19, '

Ghoshpara, 47, 49, 170,

Ghurni, 170.

Goalas, 45.

Gosain — Durgapur. 170.

Got/endaa, employment of, 30, 31.

Gram, prices of, 87.

Hanskhali 171

Health, Public,|57 to 66.

Heber, Bishop, 187, 192 to 194.

Hindu castes, 45.

Hindu sects, 47.

Hindus, 44j 45.

HiSTOEY, 22 to ?8.

Holwell, 189, 190.

Hospitals, 64.

Houses, 53.

Ichhamati river, description of, 5.
Income-tax , 118,

INDi; X

197

Indigo indnstry, rise and fall of, 32 to

36.
Indigo, cultivation of, 72.
Infirmities, 63, 64.
Insanity, 64.
Institutions, medical, 64.

Jails, 121.

.lalangi river, description of, 4.

Joyadeb, 36,

' ' Jumma Bandobust Teshkhees Kool, "

105.
" Jumma Canmil Toomary, " 104.
Jute, cultivation of, 71.

Kabadak river, description of, 5.

Kaibarttas, 45.

Kalantar, 60, 68.

Kanchrapara, 171.

Kapasdanga, *171, 172.

Kartabhajas, 47 to 50, 170.

Kasiram Das, 36.

Kayasthas, 47.

Khoksa, 173.

Krishna Chandra Rai, Maharaja, 38.

158 to 161, 191.
Krishnagar, description of, 173 to 175.
Krisbnagar, hospital 64.
Krishnagar, C. E. Z. VI. s. dispensary,

65.
Krishnagar, Municipality, 125.
Krishnagar-Ranaghat Light Railway,

101.
Krishnagar Subdivision, 173.
Krittibas, 36.
Kulia, 175.

Kumarkhali, description of, 175, 176.
Kuniarkhali dispensary, 64,
Kumarkhali Municipality, 128.
Kushtia, description of, 176 'o 178.
Kushtia hospital, 64.
Kushtia Municipality, 127.
Kushtia Subdivision, 176.

Liihourers, agricultural, 87; ordinary, 87.
Lakes and marshes, 18, 19.
Lakshman Sen, 28, 36.
Laltakuri embankment, 75.

Land Revenue Administration, 104
to 114.

Language, 43.

Leishman-Dnnovan infection, 61, 62.

Leopards,! 20, 168.

Leprosy, 64, 65.

Libraries, 135.

Literacy, e.^tent of, 120.

Literature in Nadia, 36 to 38, 181.

Local Boards, 122, 124.

Local Self-Govebnment, 122 to 129,

Mahishyas, 45.

Malaria, 62, 63, 65.

Males, 47.

Mangoes, 72.

Man Singh, 26, 152.

Manufactures, 92 to 94.

Manufactures, minor, 94.

Marshes, 18, 19.

Masons, wages of, 86.

Matabhanga river, description of, 5.

Material condition of people, 88 to 90.

Means of Communication, 97 to 108,

Medical institutions, 64.

Medical Mission, Ranaghat, 145 to 147.

Meherpur Subdivision, 178.

Meherpor, description of, 178, 179,

Meherpur Municipality, 128.

Meherpur hospital, 64.

Meherpur Mallik dispensary, 65.

Meherpur C. E. Z. M. S. dispensary, 65.

Melas, 55, 56.

Migration, 43.

Missions, Cheistian, 136 to 148.

Muchis, 46.

Mughal rule, 28, 27.

Muhammadans, 51, 52,

Muhammaclan classes, 52,

Muhammadan Education, 134.

198

INDEX.

Municipalitu'B, 124 to 129.
Mur5;?acblia, 179.
Mursliid Kali Khan, 101, 120.
Mutiny, the; 31,32, 172.

Nabadwip, dcscrlptio i of, 170 tc 185.
Nabadwip, capture of, 24, 25.
Nabadwip hospital, 64,
Nabadwip, Municipality, 126.
Nadia Fevers Comtnission, 50.
Nadia Raj, 149 to 163.—
" Nadia Rivera;," account of, 6 to 17.
"Nadia Rivers," revenue of, 13, 14.
" Nidia Rivera," Division, 12.
Nakasijiara dispensary, 65.
Nauiasudras, 4'3.
Natnda dispensary, 65.
Natural con figuration, 2 to 4.

Natjeal Calamities, 74 to 81.

Newspapers, 135.
Niscbintapur, 172. ,

OcccPAXiONS, Manufactuees and
Tbades, 91 to 96.

Occupations, 91, 92.

Opium, 118.

Padma river, description of, 4.

Patni Taluks, 111, 112.

Parganas, Headquarters Subdivision, 83.

Ditto, Chuadanga Subdivision, 84.

Ditto, RanSjjhat Subdivision, 84.

Ditto, K'lsbtia Subdivis-on, 85.

Ditto, Meherpur Subdivision, 86.
Peofle, the, 89 to 56 ; materi.,1 coudi-

tion of, 88 to 90.
Permanent Settlement, 107.
Physical AspEcrs, 1 to 21.
Plague, 64.
Plaasey, 185, 186.
Pods, 46. «

Police, 119, 120.

Poradab, 186.

Postal communications, 103.

Potatoes, 72.

Pounds, 124.

Pratapaditya, 26, 151.

Prices, 87, 88.

Primary Education, 133.

Projects, railway, 101.

PnBLic Health, 57 to 66.

Rabi crops, 72.

Kailways, 100 to 102,

Railway projects,' 101.

Rainfall, 21, 72.

RXJ, N4D1A, 149 to 163.

Ram Prasad Sen, 38.

Ram Saran PTil, 47, 48.

Hanaghiit, description of, 186 to 188.

Kanaghat Subdivision, 186.

Ranaghat Municipality, 126.

Eanaghat-Krisbnagar Light Railway,

101. ,

Rana^bat hospital, 64.
Ranaghat Medical Mission, 65, 145 'to

147, 187.
Ratn »pur dispensary, 64, 188.
Registration, 118.
Religions, 41.

Rents, Wages, and Peices, 82 to 90,
Rents, 82 to 87.
Rentiil of district, 116.
Resumption proceedings, 110.
Reui, 174.
Revenue, land, of district, 105, 106,

111, 116.
Revenue of district, 115.
Revenue of *' Nadia Rivers, " 13, 14.
Rice, varieties, of, 69 ; prices of, 87.
Rice, autumn or aus, 60.
Rice, winter or atmn, 70.
Riyazu-s-Salatin, quoted, 27, 180,
Road cess,tll6.
Roads, 102, 103, 123.
Roman Catholic Mission, 147, 148.
Route* trade ; 96.

T NDKX

199

Samatata, 22.

Sanad of Raja of Bishnupur, 108.

Sanskrit education, 131, 181,

Santipur, description of, 188 to 191.

Santipur, Municipality, 125.

Santipur, hospital, 64.

Santipur, muslin, 93, 189.

Santirajpur dispensary, 65,

Schools, 130, 131.

Secondary education, 132, 133,

Selaida dispensary, 65.

Sen Dynasty, 23.

Settlement, Decennial, 107 ; Permanent,

107.
Shikarpur dispensary, 64.
Sibnibas, 191 to 194,
Sitaram Rai, 27.
Skin diseases, 65,
Small-pox, 64.

Social characteristics, 52 to 56.
Soil, character of, 67.
Stamps, 116, 117.
Steamer services, 98.
St^^ha Singh, 26, 27.
Sugar manufacture, 93, 94,
Suhma, 22.
Supervisors, 106.
Sutragarh dispensary, 65,
Swarupganj, 194.

Taluks^ painty 111, 112.
Taluks, Talukdars, 107,
Tamralipti, 22.

Technical Education, 184.

Temperature, 21.

Tenures, 110 to 114.

rcnure, utbandi, 86, 112 to 114.

Thaniis, 119, 120.

Tigers, 20, ir,8.

Tolls, in Nadia rivers, 12, 14, 15.

Toll, Sanskrit, 181, 182.

Towns and villages, 42.

Trade, 95, 96.

Trade centres, 96.

Trade routes, 96.

Trading classes, 96.

Training schools, 134.

Turmeric, 72.

Ula, 166.

Ula dispensary, 64.

Union Committees, 122, 124,

Uthandi tenure, 86, 112 to 114.

Vaccination, 65, QQ.
Vaishnavas, 50,
Vaishnavism, 50.
Vanga,

Veterinary work, 73,
Villages, 42.

Wages, 87.

Water communic;itionB, 98 to 100.

Water-supply, 61, 62,

Weaving industry, 92.

Wheat, 72 ; prices of, 87,

B. S. Press-7.10-1910-2602J— 540— E. J. H.

ms^.

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